Little Red Riding Hood: Werewolf Slayer (Merlin's Hoods Book 1) by Waters Carl

Author:Waters, Carl [Waters, Carl]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781939805065
Publisher: Bright Sons Media
Published: 2015-11-03T05:00:00+00:00

11

Grandmère and I sat beside the merry fire, drinking chamomile tea with honey. Grandmère said it was the best thing for shock, and perhaps she was right. The horror of the day hadn’t fully left me, but for now, I was warm and safe and surrounded by the people I loved. My grandmother had cleaned and bandaged Théodore’s wounds with another of her herbal remedies. He would make a full recovery, but he wouldn’t be chopping down any trees anytime soon. This seemed to suit him just fine.

Earlier that afternoon, we had dragged the headless wolf corpse out back and heaved it onto the woodpile. We had added twigs and dry grass to the makeshift pyre and then lit it. Grandmère had carried the severed head and tossed it almost casually onto the fire, as if this were something she did every day. Wiping her hands on her apron, she had ushered us back into the house and made lunch.

“So that was a werewolf,” said Théodore. He stared absently into the fire, and I laid a hand on his knee. Smiling, he looked up at me. “I’m not going mad, am I?”

I shook my head. “No. That was most definitely a werewolf.”

“But…they’re fairy tales, stories told to frighten children so they won’t wander off into the woods.”

Grandmère tutted. “You saw him with your own eyes, Théodore. Did that look like a fairy tale to you?”

“No,” I said. “It was a nightmare.”

“The proper term is a Lycan or loup-garou,” said Grandmère.

I turned to her, studying her lined face. She seemed strangely untroubled by all of this.

“How do you know so much about them?” asked Théodore.

“Before dear Adela took up the Red Hood, I spent almost twenty years hunting the beasts. Now it’s your turn, Giselle. I’m sorry that the burden of it has fallen to you so young, but you’ve shown that you’re more than capable. It’s time you claimed your birthright.”

I gaped at her. I’m sure I looked like a gutted fish, but my brain was having a hard time wrapping itself around this new information. Magic cloaks and werewolves were difficult enough to accept, but imagining Grandmère as a monster hunter was almost too much.

Théodore squeezed my hand. “I always knew you were special,” he said.

I found my voice at last. “But…how many werewolves are there? How am I supposed to slay them? Why didn’t Mama tell me any of this?”

Smiling sadly, Grandmère said, “I don’t know why my daughter chose to keep things secret. Maybe she wanted to protect you, to give you a more normal childhood.” She got up and poured herself another cup of tea, then brought the kettle over to refill our mugs. Grandmère sighed and sank back down into her chair. “Adela and Alison were raised knowing what’s out there in the woods at night. Perhaps I should have tried harder to shelter my girls.”

My heart lurched at the sound of my aunt’s name. I hadn’t yet had the courage to tell Grandmère that Alison had killed my mother.

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