Deliciously Deadly: a Red Riding Hood retelling

Chapter 16

Dawn perched on the rooftop of an inn, effortlessly balanced at its very edge. Even with wisps of black hair and the fabric of her hooded cape fluttering with the breeze, she blended into the dark canvas of the night like a black panther on the hunt.

"Our targets are in that room." Squinting, she pointed at a window on the second floor of a large house across the street. "'Tis an expensive contract, this one."

This late into the night, the streets were quiet, the only activity that of the hoot of owls and the drunken murmurs of men who meandered their way through dank alleyways and along the harbour; occasionally, some unlucky fella might fall into the piss-filled water with a loud plop, as one did just now. But all of that were too far from this inn for anyone to hear, unless they had the keen hearing of a wolf.

That was part of the reason why Cain was known to be the deadliest among the Enforcers—when he wanted to be, at least—for he could see the dark, hear from a distance, and sniff any tracks better than any other man could. The problem was that being good at something could be very different to enjoying it.

"Are you listening, Wolf?" Dawn hissed and clicked her fingers before his face. "Our instructions mentioned that after a few failed assassination attempts, our targets have increased their security and the place is practically crawling with guards. You cover me, disable them, and I'll handle our targets."

Cain had worked with Dawn enough to understand that by 'disable', what she really meant was 'kill as quickly and ruthlessly as you can'.

He nodded, only because there was no other choice.

Satisfied, Dawn checked their surroundings one more time, then stepped right off the edge to land soundlessly in an empty alleyway.

Cain followed suit, and together they crossed the street with their hoods pulled up, scaled the tall walls of the house and up onto the tiled rooftop, both sets of their footsteps quieter than the scuttle of a mouse.

As Dawn continued to stealth her merry way across the roof over to where the target room was, Cain peered over the eaves to study the layout of the courtyard below.

Despite the modest size of the courtyard, men stood guard at every corner, window and doorway. It wasn't surprising if the house's residents had dealt with previous assassination attempts, though it did mean that the interiors of the house were likely crawling with guards per Dawn's instructions, and the best way for her to slip into the room would be via the window.

Unfortunately, with the guards down in the courtyard having a direct view of the window, he needed to kill them all, create a diversion, or both.

Further down along the rooftop came a familiar whistle. To all the guards below, it would have sounded like the soft chirp of a nightingale; to Cain, it was a signal from Dawn to do his thing.

For as long as the blood debt remained unpaid, she was his mistress. So heed her command, he did.

In the same instant that Cain leapt off the rooftop, his bones and muscles stretched and twisted into the shape of a wolf of monstrous proportions. And when he landed, it was on top of a guard with his claws buried into the man's back.

Before the first cry of alarm went up, he'd already ripped out the throat of his next victim.

Within the next thirty seconds, the entire house and courtyard came alive with the screams of "Monster!", "Kill it!", "MONSTERRRRR!". With the exception of those wolf ears, none else detected the scrape of window shutters being opened on the second floor and the muted thud of Dawn's boots finding their landing.

If all went according to plan, he may not need to kill many here before they withdrew. But for now, he continued to leap from one guard to the next, tearing into flesh with teeth and claws.