Her blood colored the snow like paint splatters on a canvas. There was something so childlike about it. The way it marked the ground so haphazardly, so erratically, so beautifully.

The blood was red, a dark black hue of red. As red as her cloak that fluttered violently behind her in the winter wind, as red as her lips that had yet to turn pale at the cold, as red as her brightly dark colored red fingernails.

She clutched her stomach where the red liquid trickled through her fingers, dripping freely down, leaving a red trail behind her. She struggled through the deep snow, her breath harbored and heavy, leaving small puffs of visible air with every breath she took.

With empty strength, she collapsed beneath the snow covered pine trees. With one hand she pulled off the sack she wore beneath her cape on her back while the other was still pressed against her wound. She pulled out a roll of bandage and some special ointment. Where she then applied the latter on her wound and then laboriously tied the bandage around her stomach.

The telltale red seeped through the wrapped bandage, but she knew only time and patience would heal it.

But she neither had the time nor the patience.

Tonight was the night of blue moon. The second full moon that appears in a single calendar month. Finally, after two years and eight months, the day had come once again.

She never did like it when the blue moon occurred in December where the cold and biting winds were endless.

But it was her duty to finish her job no matter the condition or the time.

She closed her eyes momentarily, enjoying the small time she had to rest before she had to move once again. But even with her eyes closed, her other senses were on high alert, trained to catch anything out of the ordinary.

She opened her eyes and watched serenely as the snow fell relentlessly down, a sign of the soon to be coming snowstorm. She knew she had to finish soon or else the snow would hinder her.

However, before getting up and moving on, her eyes trailed from the falling white snow down to her arms which were relaxed on her outstretched legs. Engraved on her left wrist and down to her mid-forearm was a single etched out rose. A black rose that seemed to be inked on like a tattoo. But only few knew that on the day she was born, the black rose was already there. And upon a closer look, one would see that a smidge of red dotted the outline of one of the petals, barely but surely there.

Her sensitive ears picked up a howl from the distance, and she knew it was time to move on. Pulling on her leather gloves that she had stripped off after the previous fight and shaking off any excess snow, she headed deeper into the forest.

The further she trekked through, the more the forest seemed to bend against her will. The less light that penetrated though the clustered trees from the setting sun, the more adrenaline she felt with each step. The rush of blood and nervousness pounded through the frame of her body as she slowly inched her way through the dark expanse of the trees until she reached the middle of a clearing at the heart of the woods.

A wide open space with untouched snow covering the ground where in the springtime, it would be full of wildflowers. But in the winter, the snow made the space to seem forlorn and isolated.

She stopped, frozen in her own steps, as she strained her ears and eyes for any movement. The full moon was already well above her, shining down bright beans of glimmering moonlight.

Suddenly, from her immediate right at the edge of the clearing, a dark blur rushed towards her in a split second, unseen by the eye.

But right before the mass even touched her, she jumped back agilely and stood her ground. She narrowed her eyes and eyed her opponent in front of her.

A wolf, bigger than the average one, had his body tensed up while a growl came from his throat and out through his sharp teethed mouth. Blood and saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth as, he too, eyed her with dark black eyes.

“I must thank you for this,” the girl said, putting her hand over her wound as she tossed off her sack and threw it aside. “Caused me quite the trouble.”

The wolf, who almost towered over the girl completely, growled endlessly. He raised his head and howled to moon, almost as a battle cry.

The girl narrowed her eyes and the wolf once again rushed towards her head-on. She took his attack the same way, but right at the last second as they were about to clash, she somersaulted between his legs and from behind him, threw three daggers at him.

The silver daggers gleamed from the moonlight as they sailed through the air, where only one found its target. It embedded itself in one of the wolf’s hind legs causing him to collapse momentarily on the ground.

The girl wasted no time as she rushed towards the wolf once again, pulling out a pair of sais which as she launched herself up in the air to attack his neck.

The wolf immediately dodged her attack with a large spin of his body and soon after attacked her with his razor teeth. His teeth grazed her left arm but it was enough so that her black sleeve was ripped to shreds and free-flowing blood streamed from her arm.       

She hissed from the pain as she stumbled back and fell. She immediately put pressure on her arm, but the wolf gave her no time to rest. He immediately jumped into the air towards her, mouth gaping open as he stared down at her.

But as he was ascending down on her, she used her feet to push against his body and catapulted him across the clearing as she was forced back a few feet from the force of his weight.

She pushed herself up and ran towards the wolf as he was struggling to get up. With her sais still in hand, she tried to attack him again, but he turned his head towards her and engulfed her sais with his jaw, hands included.

She clicked her tongue in disappointment as she pulled her hands out but her leather gloves snagged on his teeth just as he snapped down, rendering her sais into chunks and her gloves now lost in his mouth.

She jumped back several pace, shaking her hands down roughly which, unfortunately, had caught on the tips of the wolf’s teeth, even with the protection of the gloves, and caused bloody marks on them.

Her blood dripped from her wounds, causing the already bloodied snow to be stained even more with that dark vibrant red. “Those were my favorites,” she mumbled despondently.

But she had no time to mourn over her loss, as the wolf recklessly charged at her again. She ran towards it and jumped, landing onto its snout with one foot which she then projected herself forward with a front flip, landing neatly on the wolf’s back.

She pulled out some more sliver daggers which she then tried to cut through the wolf’s thick fur. And even though she had caused several injuries, the wolf seemed unperturbed by her actions.

He then sprung up and roughly flipped himself backwards, intending to crush the girl from the behind, but she pushed off his back with the palms of her hands. But the wolf swung his large tail just as she jumped off, tossing her body violently to the side.

She hit the ground roughly, but luckily the snow decreased the impact. She slowly tried to stand up but winced as she fell to her knees. She looked down to see the wound on her stomach from before had opened up and started bleeding again. She grunted as she ripped the edge of her cape to help staunch the blood, but as she looked down, a large shadow was descending upon her.

An anguished howl sliced through the air, shivering through the forest as birds who were peacefully settled burst from the trees and away from the vile noise.

Dark red blood dripped down from her hands like the flow of a stream, covering her lower body and the snow with a dark shade of red. A large puddle of warm blood was already accumulating on the ground, causing a stark difference with the snow.

Her arms were raised high in the air, her dark eyes staring directly into even darker ones, and her fingers wrapped around the handle of a long thin blade which was rooted in the wolf’s upper chest. She knew she missed his heart, but it was enough to cause a heavy blood flow and ultimately lead to his death.

Her arms, heavy with weight, relaxed, pulling the medium-sized sword out, resulting in an even heavier blood flow from the wolf.

The wolf whimpered, knowing well enough that he lost this battle, as he slumped forward without any resistance.

The girl caught him, despite his large stature, as the wolf’s head laid peacefully on her shoulder. She watched as the dark brown matted head with blood became smaller and thinner with a lighter brown colored hair on the top. She watched as the black pupil-less eyes hard with anger became a chocolate brown, warmer and softer. And the body that once was full of blood and fur now became smooth and cold.

“Hi there, Red,” said the mouth with slight tremble from the cold.

She looked around and found her sack which she tossed off earlier a little beyond her boots and another pair of bare-footed human feet. She precariously used her foot, careful to keep a hold on the cold body, to pull her bag towards her. She pulled out a wool blanket, clearly not big enough for the person in front of her, but enough to cover himself. She draped it over his shoulders and he muttered a small thanks.

He snuggled deeper into the blanket, still relying on heavily of the support of the girl in her embrace, and chuckled with labored breath, “I always hate when the blue moon occurs in winter.”

A moment of silence passed between them before she spoke. “You owe me a pair of new sais. You know those were my favorite.”

“I know,” he chuckled. “But you like them more than me?”

She nodded stonily.

He laughed loudly, his laugh filling the cold air. “Well, I’m sorry. I can’t do much about them. And I’m sure you’ll find another weapon to love. You always do whenever I break them.”

She huffed out loud, her breath forming a little cloud.

He snorted. “And don’t you think you were being a little too harsh? I think you stabbed me more than fifty times.”

She rolled her eyes. “It was revenge for the wound you caused me before. I do believe that it’s a little unfair to injure the opponent before the fight, no?”

He laughed while coughing out blood. “Can’t help it,” he said as he winked. “My wolfy instinct marks you as an enemy. Enemy equals kill. And killing is what I do. Thus I try and kill you,” he grinned cheerfully.

“Wolfy instinct, my ,” she hissed. “You told me last time that your human mind is still alert when you’re a wolf.”

He shrugged. “It may be alert, but it doesn’t mean that I can control my body.” He gave her a slight smile. “And the only time I get to see you like this is, well, now.”

He pushed out of her embrace slightly, enough to give her a once over. He grinned deviously. “And I have to admit, you’re looking very lovely today.”

Her red cape was tattered and bloodied from the battle, fluttering slowly from the wind. Her trusty brown combat boots were beaten down and frayed from previous wear. Her black tights were shredded in places where her skin was peeking through. Her left sleeve was completely gone, ripped off from her near encounter of the wolf’s jaw and her skin was riddled with goosebumps. Her black short hair was plastered against her face, sticky from sweat and perspiration and small frays of hair quivered in the wind. Her lip was cut open, speckled with dried blood, and a nasty wound situated itself right above her left eye, near her temple, due to her fall.

She glared at him. “After years of this, you tell me this now? When were you all dashing and charming like this?”

He grinned at her. “I thought it every two years and eight months, nine-hundred seventy-three days to be exact this time. I didn’t want to spoil you too much. And I’m charming and handsome all the time, thank you very much.”

She shook her had and looked down at herself, which she then gave the man an amused look. “But I must say, this is one of my better days.”

The boy laughed at her words, but only for a fleeting moment before coughing violently as the girl rubbed his back soothingly in their embrace.

He sighed and rested his head again on her shoulder, arms wrapped around her waist, hers on his.

“Hey, Jin?” he mouthed her name breathlessly against her ear.

“Hmm?” she hummed back.

“I love you,” he whispered as he kissed her softly on her cheek. His strength left him as he collapsed forward, his body heavy on her arms.  

She winced as a soft glowing light overtook his body, encompassing his entire body from head to toe. She closed her eyes from the intensity of the light despite the soft glow and felt the weight disappear from her arms. Opening them once again, the view of the male was gone and on the floor was the blanket he once wore.

She delicately picked it up with her left hand, the rose mark now bloody red, and found a red rose beneath the blanket.

She brushed the petals delicately and whispered, “I love you too, Sunggyu.”

She stood up and grabbed her sack, swinging it over her shoulder, and trekked away from the single rose that seemed to bloom in the middle of the clearing of snow.

Once she reached the edge, she took a fleeting look back, at the large expanse of snow that was now etched with red blood. And for a moment it looked like rose petals were scattered across the expanse.

Turning her head away, she walked slowly away in the moonlight, not once looking back again.

Miles away from the bloodied battlefield, she watched the sunrise from under a bare oak tree. The view of the sunrise was beautiful to anybody but her. To her, it meant the coming of another long pursuit.

She instead looked at the rose mark on her arm, now etched in blood red instead of inked black. She stoked it lightly before turning it over and setting her hand on the ground.

The mark she was cursed with since the day she was born. A mark that chosen her as the hunter and him as the hunted.

That every time the blue moon rose, she would have to defeat and kill him. For he had too much power as the last pure werewolf of the world. That if there was nobody to defeat him, he would destroy the world.

And for their eternal lives and into the next, she would have to kill her true love every night of the blue moon.

She closed her eyes and pictured the rose petals scattering in the wind, floating to the corners of the earth, where they would settle and regenerate the love of her life once again. And at that moment, a piercing howl ran through the chilling air, echoing through every crack and corner of the earth itself. A howl that was only heard by her ears and her ears alone.

Her dark eyes shot open, an intensity glaring across them.

The hunt was on.

Little Red Riding Hood with Kim Sunggyu (Infinite)

A/N: And first up is Sunggyu from Infinite as a werewolf. I like how that sounds. But honestly, you didn't know it was him until the end. So, it could have been anyone you were thinking of in the beginning.

I’m thinking about going with Infinite members first. Or maybe I should switch it up and pick another group. Hmmm, decisions, decisions.

I picked Little Red Riding Hood because it’s one of the more popular used adaptions, and I wanted to give it a try.

I always wanted to write an action kind of scene. And the melancholy feel adds a nice touch to it, I think.

This plot actually has potential, but I’m not sure how I would go on about this. But I like it, nonetheless.

Tell me what you think!

With ideas to spare, let’s see what I’ll cook up next.