Red

Chapter Eighteen: Rose-Red and Snow-White

"Am I ready to die? What kind of question is that?" 

Snow stood. She was wearing a silk black bathrobe and, for no reason at all, impossibly tall black heels. With these on, she was easily over six feet tall. "A rather good one, considering you're about to." 

I stared at her and said something really intelligent like, "Um, okay." 

I have learned that when faced with death I'm not the quickest on my feet. 

"So, a werewolf, huh?" Snow turned to apply more lipstick. 

"Pardon me?" 

"Oh, don't play dumb. I can sense it. You're not a full werewolf, of course, but you do have explosive anger, super speed, strength, and agility, and unusually sharp teeth and nails. And I'm sure your sense of smell and sight is impressive, too." 

"I'm not a full werewolf? What does that even mean?" 

"You were scratched by one, weren't you?" 

My hand instinctively went to my side, where four perfectly even scars had been since that day. "How do you know?" 

Snow shrugged. "Upside to being a witch. Of course, there isn't really a downside..." she tapped her nails on her table as if thinking. 

"Why did you kill your friends?" I changed the subject. 

Snow ignored my question. "I've been planning this since your aunt married my daddy. I was, of course, going to pin this on her, but then I heard this funny little prophecy." 

"You didn't hear-" 

"Oh yes, Sorrell Benedict, I did." 

A shiver ran down my spine. "What did you hear?" 

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I glanced down at it. Gran was wondering where I was. 

I bit back a laugh. Great timing as always. 

"Just that you were going to change the world or some shit. And I thought, I like the world the way it is. And you're prophesied to kill someone I love dearly, and I'm not going to let that happen." She stepped towards me, a menacing look marring her graceful features. 

"I'm prophesied to kill who?" 

"Not important." She waved my question away. 

"I mean, it kind of is." I stuck my hand in my pocket and discreetly tried to text Gran my location.

"Like werewolves, you can only be killed by silver. Luckily," Snow smiled wickedly, digging into her dressing gown pocket, "I have my silver dagger right here." 

I jerked away from her. "Werewolves can kill witches, Snow." 

Her smile grew wider. "You kill me, I pin this whole thing on you, darling Red. Although," she pouted her lips. "I'm doing that anyway. I'll just say you tried to frame Arreus because of your unfortunate run-in when you were little. Perhaps I'll say you tried to kill me, so I went into hiding?" She clapped her hands. "Ooh, yes, that's quite good. And to make it better, I'll steal your little boyfriend, Gran, and kill Imelda and those children you're watching." 

I heaved a ragged gasp. "Why?" 

She shrugged. "Well, Gran's actually pretty hot, so I don't mind-" 

"You are not going to hurt any of them. I will destroy you." In the mirror, I could see my eyes had gone amber as opposed to their normal brown. 

Snow beamed. "Oh, there's that classic werewolf anger. Come on now, doggie, come tear me apart." She patted her thighs condescendingly.