‘No one has ever trusted me before.’
She took his paw in her hand. ‘You’ve had a bad life. I am sorry about your family.’
‘I too am sorry about your father’s daughter.’
‘Must you kill a human every ten years?’ she asked but had a horrible feeling that she already knew that answer.
‘I must.’
‘You didn’t come to me for a meal and shelter, did you?’ she sat against the tree and closed her eyes.
‘No.’
She nodded. ‘I think I knew all along.’
‘I needed you, Ruby. I cannot survive in this body any longer. I am a part of you. That’s why you can think like an adult.’
‘You promised not to kill them,’ she whispered.
‘I promised not to hurt them by my hand. I am afraid, dear Ruby, that it is time.’
She nodded and got to her feet, still sore. ‘Not my father, though.’
She walked around the garden, ripping down the herbs. Then she snuck to the stable and locked the doors, placing chains around the building.
Finally, when all was done, Red merged with Ruby until they were one.
‘It will be by your hand,’ he said in her voice and walked into the shack. Crone jumped as the door slammed. Red felt anger pierce through him. He never planned to kill them, just Jorim, in revenge. But he had grown fond of little Ruby, and they hurt her. Crone, of course, only saw Ruby as herself.
‘Want another beating? Be quiet,’ he hissed. She grabbed a poker from the fire and stood before him. ‘What are you going to do with that?’
‘This,’ she said, and with inhuman strength, she beat him to the ground. Jorim came out and looked down at the bloody scene, horrified.
‘No, Ruby, NO!’ he screamed, but she wasn’t listening as the wolf had taken over her body. ‘Wolves,’ he shouted. The wolves tried to come to help, but they couldn’t get out of the barricaded doors.
Ruby’s teeth sank into Crone’s neck. Grin and Jorim tried to pull her off him to no avail. She was stronger than both of them combined were; well, the wolf’s soul was. She had his strength. Panicked as gurgled screams filled the room, Jorim hit Ruby over the head with a candlestick to try to stop her.
‘I don’t want to hurt you. I made her a promise, but I will if you do not stop.’
‘What?’ Jorim said, shaking. ‘Ruby, what the hell has gotten into you?’ He turned to Grin. ‘Grab your brother and put some ointment on the bites.’
‘No!’ Ruby ran at Crone and with one blow to the back of the head with the poker, his skull cracked, and he fell to his knees, and then dropped to the ground with a dull thud.
Jorim ran at her. She turned and aimed it at his chest. He ran into it, gasped, and then looked down at Ruby’s innocent blue eyes. In them, swirling patterns circled her pupils. On closer inspection, he could see that they were faces. One of them was Ruby’s, his other daughter who was killed.
‘Redell?’
‘I ate her; my parents killed her and gave her body to me so that I could build my strength,’ he admitted. ‘I have her soul.'
‘Please, let her soul free.’
‘I cannot. But do not despair,’ Red said. ‘You will be joining her any moment now and Crone.’ Crone’s face joined Ruby’s in her eyes. Jorim coughed, spitting blood that glistened on Ruby’ cloak.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘You killed them all. You KILLED them ALL!’ Ruby screamed until her words dried out. Her pleas for her father’s return echoed through the trees. Slowly, the branches changed from a glistening brown to a dark grey. The trees were dying. Murder and betrayal tainted the fairy’s magic that lived in the woods.
Her grandma, on seeing the flowers wilt and the branches snap and dry out, ran from the cottage. The boundary spell placed there to protect her from killing her family had broken.
‘I don’t understand,’ Grandma said. ‘The spell was always to stay up for as long as my family is alive – oh.’
Grandma wept. Redell spotted Grandma crying and sneered. ‘Grandma, Grandma, Grandma,’ he said, circling the frail old woman. ‘Ruby never made me make any promises about you.’
‘Redell,’ she said, standing up. ‘Here to finish what you started?’
‘It was a part of the deal that I made with the witch.’
‘Ah,’ she said, realising her fate. ‘Well, what are you waiting for?’ She grabbed her walking cane and whacked him with it.
‘Ow,’ he shouted and ripped the cane from her hands. ‘You old co—’
Ruby screamed as she approached. Grandma took in the terrible sight. Ruby was covered in blood from head to toe. It soaked her hair, and bits of flesh were still trapped in Ruby’s teeth. ‘You killed them. I hate you. I hate you!’
‘You do not,’ he said simply and held her at arm's length. ‘I did what I had to do. I did not mean to kill your father, so for that, I apologise. You wanted your brothers dead, and now they are. You should be thanking me.’
‘My poor father,’ she cried.
‘Ruby, you didn’t,’ Grandma said with disbelief.
‘They beat her,’ the wolf said. ‘You can see her bruises if you want?’
‘Why are you attacking my grandma? What did she do to you?’ Ruby spat.
‘Deals were made with the witch. I cannot stay alive in my body for much longer. I must become one with you for good. She will make that happen, providing I kill your grandma. If not, I die. And no offence, old lady, but I’d rather you die than me.’ With that, he snapped her neck. He turned to Ruby. ‘Quick and painless. I will not eat her either, for you.’
‘Like hell are you becoming a part of me,’ she screamed and ran fast. He tried to stop her, but the cloak, the thing he had given to protect her, them both, was his enemy. He could not harm her to stop her from leaving.
She got back to the shack and grabbed all of the herbs from the kitchen, rubbing them over her body. ‘Good luck trying to possess me now, demonic wolf.’
***
The witch stirred her cauldron until the bubbling black liquid turned into a cool shade of green. ‘Throw this on her. It will counteract the herbs, allowing you to enter her mind. Once there, I will make the spell permanent. Remember, once in there, you must kill Ruby’s spirit if you wish to take over her completely. If not, you will never truly be full.’
‘I know,’ he said and left with the potion. As he went through the woods, he noticed he was becoming more human-like by the day. As his parents were from a long line of shapeshifters, it would make sense for him to morph slowly into the thing he has been spending so much time with.
Twigs broke under his half feet, half paws. He noticed how eerily quiet the forest had become since the fairies left. Most of the wildlife had left with them, and a shadow of gloom overshadowed the once magical place.
He reached the shack, noting the herbs were back, surrounding the cottage. ‘Ruby,’ he shouted. She appeared cleaner with no cloak. ‘Where is the cloak? It’s the only thing protecting you from harm.’
She went back inside and grabbed the cloak. ‘Hopefully, it will protect me from you.’
She stepped out, near the barrier. ‘I will not hurt you,’ he said. ‘You know this. I cannot go into your mind now, not with the herbs on you. I cannot do anything. I just miss you. I want to tell you that I think I can bring back your father.’
‘You’re lying,’ she mumbled.
‘I would not lie to you, my friend,’ he said. She realised as he stood before her, that he was young himself. Looking more human than ever before, he must have only been fifteen himself. A child, like her. Could he protect her from the woods?
‘Okay,’ she breathed and stepped over the barrier.
‘Not wearing that cloak,’ he said, ‘would have prevented me from doing this …’ He entered her mind, after throwing the potion on her.
Once in her head, he saw her, her soul. She had a beautiful soul, just with ragged edges. ‘I trusted you,’ her soul said to his.
‘I mus
t destroy your soul,’ he said slowly. Could he? He couldn’t. Not his friend. ‘But I cannot. Help me find a new host. I will not hurt you.’
‘Like hell will I help you find a new host,’ she said and then made her body drink a drink she made with herbs earlier, just in case this happened. It forced his soul to the bottom reaches of her mind, suppressing the wolf half of her. She just hoped she’d be able to continue drinking it for long enough to keep him at bay until she could find a more permanent solution.
CHAPTER SIX
Fifteen years had passed. Red had noticed that she had aged slower and slower each year. Once she reached sixteen, she had stopped aging completely. Her eyes, once a beautiful blue, turned a glistening violet once the wolf had tried to take over her body. In them, as it had done the wolf’s, were the souls of her victims, swimming in the purple sea. Taking Red’s souls meant that she had become immortal in a sense. The wolf’s souls were enough to give her a life expectancy of a thousand years.
‘One thousand years too many,’ Red muttered. With every person she’d kill, the longer she’d live, and she did not want to stay forever sixteen.
Unloved, dangerous, and alone.
If she had known that the ‘promised friendship’ made in blood between her and the wolf meant they would be one, she would never have agreed. She’d have rather lived with her brothers forever. At least, Grandma and Jorim would still be alive.
Two years ago, she went back to the town where she was born and to the palace. There, she fell in love, but it wasn’t meant to be. They were taken from her, and Ruby was sent back to the enchanted woods. One of the wolves who had stayed behind stayed with Ruby, who now called herself Red. She protected Ruby from harm after she was left with nothing.
She looked around. The primroses, the pretty leaves, and glistening branches were gone and replaced by dead trees—well, dead everything. The magic that the woods held had disappeared from all of the death.
Red decided to stay in the Dead Woods, where she was safe, and more importantly, where she couldn’t harm anyone else. Hopefully, no one would ever come into the woods. All except the witch who had cursed her grandma and who, sadly, was untouchable. Red had tried, but the witch, Gertrude, was conniving, powerful, and had the power of foresight, which meant she couldn’t even come close to the cottage where the witch lived without Gertrude knowing about it.
She looked around the desolate area and tried to make the best out of a bad situation. She redecorated the shack, made a lovely shelter for Jarsa, her pet wolf, and did her best to keep visitors away from the woods.
After finding out that Gertrude was behind her grandma’s death and the wolf entering her mind to begin with, she vowed to make sure that if she couldn’t kill her, she’d at least make sure that no one else would come to the woods and make deals with the hag.
Red settled down and ate some rabbit. She loved rabbit. ‘Delicious,’ she said and gave some to Jarsa to eat.
The red cloak, soaked with the blood of her father and brothers, stayed hung up on the hook. Red never put it on again.
Read on for an excerpt of Into Wonderland
Book three in the Haunting Fairytales Series
INTO WONDERLAND
Sherwood Forest was once an enchanting place. Now, it was dark, foggy, and empty of all animals. It had been taken over by the doctor and his daughter, Clarissa.
When Clarissa was young, she was beautiful, but as she grew older, her obsession with beauty grew. Obsessed with having a better nose, she chopped at it, trying to distort it in any way she could. She saw a woman with beautiful blue eyes and tried to inject blue ink into her own brown eyes. She had been saved from blindness by her father's skills, but it made the brown look duller, and her eyes now had a glazed, distant look to them. Then she saw a woman with the most luscious lips. Clarissa then tried to stretch her own lips, but instead, they tore and went out of shape. The uglier she got, the more she tried to fix her mistakes. Continuously chopping at body parts, she ended up killing the woman she had envied who had the beautiful blue eyes and took them, placing them into a jar of special liquid.
The stress of trying to become beautiful turned her hair grey, and she barely ate, giving her a skeletal appearance.
After her mother had died, her father gave all of his attention to Clarissa, devastated at what she had become. As a wealthy doctor, men should have been lining up at their door with marriage proposals for his daughter, but no man came.
The other women in the village mocked her for her appearance and threw stones at her. They laughed and laughed, and at night, Clarissa would cry until she eventually slept.
Late one night in the depths of the forest, she came across a man named Vanity. He said he was a demon and wanted to rid himself of his suffering.
He said he would give his soul to the forest, giving Clarissa the power to get revenge on all the beautiful people who had mocked her. In exchange, she must simply make sure that any beautiful woman or man who ventured into the forest died so that he could have their souls for his own. He gave her the gift of immortality, and a potion that would give one other that gift too.
When she went home that evening, she spiked her father’s wine with the potion, and he too became immortal. For years after, she killed those who wandered in the forest but grew tired as too many went there. Her father hired men to do the job for them and bring them body parts.
He promised Clarissa that they would find a way to build someone made from parts of the most beautiful people. However, no matter how many parts he had, he could never make it come alive.
Clarissa never told her father the truth; that she wanted to take the body parts and put them on her. So he could rebuild her. She knew he would never agree, so she kept quiet, waiting for her opportunity.
Years passed, and the doctor slipped further into madness with each death, each failed body, and grew sick at the sight of Clarissa. She had turned him into a monster.
He used to look at her with love and compassion. She was his only daughter, and he saw past the ugliness. He always called her his little duckling. Sweet, innocent, and beautiful in his eyes.
Now, she was not that. Now, she was as ugly on the inside as she was on the outside.
She was nothing but his ugly duckling. She had turned into Vanity and was eviler than anyone else in Sherwood Forest.
♥♥♥
Robin Hood watched the trees narrow and darken his path. The screams of those whose skin were being peeled from their faces and hearts had just met the sharp end of a dagger grew louder. Robin covered his ears and looked up through the dark canopy of leaves. Tears trickled down his cheeks. His merry men were not very merry anymore. They had been turned into skinners by the doctor. The forest was filled with them. Men who searched for beautiful women and handsome men, killed them, and took their best body parts, delivering them to the mad doctor and his daughter.
Robin continued to run hand in hand with his wife. They climbed a tree as they heard more skinners jog through, looking for their next victim. It had happened in such a blur; one minute, he ruled the forest, hunting for food, living with his merry men and his one true love. Then, one night, the forest grew colder and darker, and he later found out that was when Clarissa had struck a deal with the demon, Vanity.
Robin had always stolen from the rich, including the doctor. Then, as if the trees themselves were enchanted, his merry men were entranced and became ruthless killers.
Robin looked around and sighed. The doctor wanted revenge on Robin, who had stolen from him many times. Robin looked at his wife, Marian, and sighed. ‘You all right, love?’
She shook her head and rubbed her swollen stomach. ‘I can’t keep running. The baby’s kicking, and my back hurts.’
He squeezed her hand. ‘We need to get out of here.’ He looked down through the branches. ‘Wait here. I’ll go down and check the path to make sure it’s clear. We can get out through the west side of the forest.’
She leaned in and b
rushed her lips against his. ‘Be safe, my love.’
‘Always.’ He jumped down and ran down the path, looking into the dense forest on either side of the path to see if anyone was watching him. He ran up the path further and turned off to the west. He saw the path run downhill and end by a gate. The coast was clear.
A woman’s scream protruded through the forest. ‘Marian!’ He turned and ran back. His heart raced and sweat trickled down his face. He reached the tree where he had left her but no one was there.
‘Robin!’ Marian screamed. He ran toward her screams and saw three of his merry men, who were entranced, surrounding his wife’s body. One was holding a knife, and they were all covered with blood. They turned on Robin and growled.
Robin pushed forward and hit one of them, grabbed the knife, and twisted it in his hand and pushed it into the man’s throat. Robin looked at his old friend as he fell to the ground with gurgled screams. Tears brimmed in his eyes. ‘Please,’ he spluttered. ‘I don’t want to kill any of you. You’re not yourselves!’
They didn’t care, and as if they were in a trance, they lunged at Robin. He pulled the knife out of the man’s throat and stabbed both of them, pushing them both to the ground, and then kneeled at Marian’s side. ‘Sweetheart,’ he said shakily. ‘Love? Answer me!’
Her throat was covered with blood and a large dagger stuck out from her stomach. ‘No!’ He screamed, making the crows in the distance fly off. He gagged as he checked the cut. ‘Please, don’t leave me …’
He cried into her dress before feeling rage bubble in him. ‘I swear,’ he said to her lifeless corpse, ‘I will make that ugly cow pay for what she has done!’
He looked back at the corpses of three of his men and pressed his lips together. ‘I will avenge all of you!’
He turned and ran down the winding path. He escaped through the gate and kept going until he reached the nearest town and walked into an inn.
He had to find a way to rid the forest of Clarissa. She was immortal, which meant he needed to find a magical object. He needed a witch, and to get to the closest one, he would need coins.
Journey to Neverland (Haunting Fairytales Series Book 2) Page 16
