Scarlet (Little Red)

XXIV. Family Business

Ruby sipped on her cup of tea as her ankle laid behind the other, back straighten in a mannerly method. Axe was resting on the armrest of the chair with an arm bent on Ruby's shoulder. "You aren't concerned that our daughter is marked by a werewolf?"

She placed her cup down; a low tinking sound echoed throughout the room. "No...Why should I?"

"Well...considering your family history of hunting wolves."

Ruby's eyes gazed out the glass window seeing Scarlet and Raoul in the midst of a snowball fight. Raoul threw the ball lightly at her while she covered herself behind a tree, massive waves of laughter erupting throughout the estate. Raoul ran towards Scarlet with a loud teasing growl exiting his throat as he leaped on top of her. "I'm going to eat you! Rawr!" He shoved his face on her neck causing her to laugh harder.

"History is history darling." She crossed her legs, "Times has changed, and we can only change with it. Being stuck in the past is like swimming against the current - you won't get anywhere."

He lifted a brow, "And you aren't concerned that the little pup will break our baby's heart?"

Ruby smiled, "No dog will choose their mate over the hand that fed them," she said before gazing out the window once again.

Scarlet wrapped her arms around Raoul's neck as he carried her inside the estate. "No regrets?"

Even when Raoul had chosen Scarlet, she would ask him the same two worded question every day. Raoul could feel it - her doubts and insecurities. No, he could hear it from her mind. Sometimes, in the midst of the night, Scarlet refused to sleep - afraid that Raoul would leave without a single trace.

Raoul would only hold her tighter as he replied with the same word. "Never."

He didn't care how much time he had to say it.

He didn't care if Scarlet asked the same question every day for the rest of their lives together.

What he does care is her happiness.

If he had to tell her that he loves her a hundred time a day to make her smile only once - he would.

After the eventful evening with Scarlet, Raoul allowed the warm water to gaze against his skin. The water pours down, it drips by his side, as his mind fades into dullness and everything is a foggy illusion. The sensation of the steamy water calms him; taking his mind off of things. His mind swirls, and it feel like he is standing under an everlasting waterfall. Ever so beautiful, but it can never last.

He reached for the off button implemented on the cream colored tiles wall and stepped out. His eyes scanned the bathroom, seeing a large hot tub in the corner of the room with multiple mirrors coating the walls. There was a fresh scent of pines lingering in the air from the opened window. "So, this is my life now" he mumbled under his breath.

He grabbed a towel and rushed it down his body then wrapped it around his torso. Stepping out of the bathroom, Raoul noticed that Scarlet was bound under the sheets, tired from their activities earlier. He smiled, seeing her curled around, revealing her bared body. Gently, he grabbed the blanket and wrapped her back up, to make sure she doesn't catch a cold.

Once he got dress, Raoul stepped out of the bathroom, eyes meeting with Axe. He shut the bathroom door, "Mr.Hood," he formally greeted him.

Axe's eyes pinned on the numerous amount of bite marks on Raoul's neck. "I see you had a good time with my daughter," his tone was slightly sour.

Raoul placed a hand on his neck and rubbed it lightly, giving Axe a tight smile. Axe sighed, then turned around, signaling Raoul to follow him with a single head tilt. Raoul followed Axe down the hallway, towards his studies. He watched as Axe removed a book, scanned his eyes, thumbprint, and finally spoke into the monitor. "Axe Hood."

One metal door slide open after another. "Remember when I asked you how much you're willing to sacrifice for Scarlet?"

"Yes."

"And your response?"

"Everything."

Axe nodded in approval before stepping inside the dimly lit hallway towards another metal door. The door opened showing numerous amount of stairs. The stairs were slapped against the stone wall, too close to the entrance and were uncommonly narrow. The rail was merely a piece of metal, and each stepped taken seemed to echoed inside Raoul's ears.

"Now, you must know about the Hood's curse," Axe stated, hiding his hands behind his back.

"Yes."

"And I assumed Scarlet had told you how we actually made our fortune?"

"Yes."

"But, do you know how we make the drugs?"

Raoul stopped walking as his eyes stared at the numerous creatures floating inside the tubes. There were wires hooked in every inch of their pale bodies. They hover there like dolls...animals, limbs at awkward angles and heads held in such a way that they cannot be sleeping.

Axe stepped forward, eyes grazing across the numerous amount of blue tubes. "Did you know that every creature holds a bit of magic? It doesn't matter if you're a fairies, witches, mermaids, hunters, humans...werewolves. We all have a bit of magic inside of us."

He walked towards the cooling cabinets filled with tiny pills. "And to find a method to extract that magic can make you quite a fortune." He took one out and scanned it, "Unfortunately, everything comes with a price and with magical extract comes death."

Axe walked towards Raoul who was still hypnotized by the bodies floating inside the tubes. He noticed Axe beside him who signaled him to open his palm which he did. Axe placed the pill down, "You will never expect that such a small thing can make such a large impact...Such as forcing a wolf to shift at such a young age." He turned his body, "or even kill a werewolf's wolf."

Raoul dropped the pill onto the floor as his eyes widen. Axe shakes his head and picked up the tablet, putting it back to its original spot. "Now, that you know everything. I'm going to ask you again - Are you staying?"

He could feel it, the blood flowing through his veins pulsing his heart. Sweats drenched down his neck while his throat felt like the desert. He feel like he was laying in a pool of blood.

Raoul remembered when he was a werewolf, he ran across this slaughterhouse, and he could never forget the scent. The smell was the same. He knew what happened under the radar wasn't right, atrocious.

However, in the cruel moment, he remembered the woman sleeping not too far away. It feel as if his life with her seemed like fantasy and now this was the awakening.

His whole life, living in the woods alone, he would never imagine meeting such an angel. Scarlet had been real, and when he looked into her eyes, he knows she was waiting for him. He told her not to worry, that he would never leave, that his heart would always belong to her.

She is his angel...an angel drenched in blood.

"Yes."