Writer's note: Hey everyone, here's the third installment! Feel free to play the clip linked above: it's fairly accurate to what I think Grey would've been hearing once she entered Granny's house, minus the crackling fire. This chapter is a little short, but I promise to write more soon: please enjoy! <3

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The wind howled and sent Grey crashing into the door. The rain stung the exposed skin on her arms while it pelted down onto her cloaked head and back, blowing sideways into her, even though she was beneath the awning of her grandma's porch.

Please be alright, please be alright, please be alright!

The same prayer kept ringing through her head as she ran to her house for the past 30 minutes. She would've reached the home sooner, had the storm not hit, impeding her from going any faster and blurring her vision making her stop frequently to check that she was taking the right shortcuts. It was dangerous to keep walking on the road, especially if she were to run into the Scarlet Hunter again.

Fumbling with the doorknob, as her wet hands made grabbing the metal infuriatingly difficult, she hesitated a moment. Normally she would knock and barge through the door— even though her granny was a tough old wolf and always complained about 'no one having manners,' she loved being surprised with visits, even if she already could smell them coming.

Smell! That's it! She'll smell that it's me once I'm inside and if the Scarlet Hunter made it here before me, she could smell it too.

Finally catching a grip on the door, she opened it slowly. As she cautiously stepped inside, she crouched behind the door as she closed it slowly behind her; her ears pricked for any movement as her eyes adjusted to being able to see fully again. Her eyes felt extremely dry and raw from the water running down her face for the past half hour. Since her kind had capabilities that were more extraordinary than those of humans, it made them both exceptionally sensitive and susceptible to anything that targeted their five senses.

Since she had entered through the back door, she found herself within the kitchen, which was uncharacteristically dark and gloomy. From the outside, she had noticed that there was no light emanating from the house; but now she shivered from more than just the wet clothes that clung to her skin and the lack of warmth within the home.

Scanning around, there seemed to be nothing out of place, except there were several uncooked meat pies on the island counter.

That would have been our dinner if I had only left earlier...

Yet, Grey also couldn't help toying with the thought, that perhaps these meat pies were not made by her granny, but instead—

Grey resisted the urge to slap her cheeks and balled up her hands into fists as she grabbed at the fabric of her sopping cloak. Her gut churned as she realized that her once bright red cloak had begun to look the same bloody color as he Scarlet Hunter's had. It took every scrap of willpower within herself to drag her eyes away from herself and push her body to slowly inch forward into the gloom of the house.

Crossing through the hallway that stood between the kitchen and the combined living and dining room, she could sense that this room was as unoccupied as the last. Her eyes took in the quaint room; her granny may not have had the most impressive or large house, but it made up for that with coziness. As much as the old wolf hounded Grey out in the practice fields, she balanced it out by sharing baked goods and sitting near the fireplace with her only female granddaughter, telling her stories of old.

Grey's eyes were then drawn to the fireplace which embers still pulsated a deep, dark red. She tiptoed closer and saw that the fireplace had been stirred up, the ashes mixed with charcoal: several portions were hardly charcoal, but charred firewood, hinting that the fire couldn't have been put out more than two hours ago.

The last place Granny could be is on the second floor...

Tiptoeing carefully, she backed away from the fireplace and into the hallway again. She could've taken the shorter route of going through the opposite entranceway, but she had a feeling that would put her

As she walked down the hall approaching the bottom of the staircase, she paused. Her forehead began to tingle. She rubbed her forehead, thinking that a piece of hair was causing the reaction. But the spidery feeling of her dancing nerves did not stop. It seemed that something deep inside her was telling her that going upstairs was a place that she did not want to be. She took two steps back and glanced up the stairs, the darkness seeming even more ominous than the floor that she was on.

Why does it feel like there is something evil that way? Am I sensing the Scarlet Hunter? Or perhaps, Granny is already—."

Grey shook her head. No, Granny is alright, I don't smell any blood. But still, what is this I'm feeling.

Grey walked forward, grabbing the banister with her right hand, as her foot met the first step. Immediately, she felt a cold shock slam into her body— an icy blast had blown down the stairs, whipping her cape and long hair out behind her. Simultaneously, there was a slight chuckling in her ear, a voice that was hardly human, "Huehehe."

Shocked beyond being able to scream, she jolted backward and without thinking, raced for the front door. Grabbing the door handle she was about to turn it as—

Crash!

The door came crashing in, giving Grey only a fraction of a second to dodge being squashed flat. She flew back a few feet, managing to gain enough balance to land on her butt. She tried to sit up and get into a crouch to run again, but the glint of steel pointed at her face made her freeze.

She stared up at the tall human standing before her, feeling her heart drop as time moved slowly like tipping honey out of a jar. The stranger's hood was no longer on; a bolt of lightning crackled across the sky before ending with a crashing boom of thunder as the sudden light caused his eyes to flash red.

With his claymore pointed at her head, only an inch in front of her face, the Scarlet Hunter said,

"So, we meet again, Little Red Riding Wolf."