Little Red Sweetheart

The Better To Save You With

    “Last chance…” one of the men toys.

    “f**k off!” I spit. If I’m going to die, I’m at least going to do it with style.

    “You f*****g b***h! I’m gonna mount you and you better love every second of it, cunt.” Another voice calls. Fear rises and bubbles inside me. 

    I try to block out their taunts. I have to. I’m going to freak out if I don’t. I pull out my headphones and plug them into my phone. The music doesn’t completely do the trick but it’s enough. I grab a small set of scissors I can only guess the use of, and hold it to my chest.

    Deep breaths. No fear.

    The sound of the door splitting comes through. A hand reaches through, slicing open on the sharp wood, reaching up to unlock the door. Blood oozes from the cuts, but I take my chance and dive in, slamming the scissors into his hand. The screams of pain completely drain out my music for a second, and the hand retracts quickly back out, only getting more cut by the door. One of them slams against it, nudging the door open for a brief moment.

    “I’m gonna f*****g kill you, you b***h!” Honestly at this point, their threats are losing their impact a little. They’re not exactly very original, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that every time they talk my skin crawls. 

    Splinters fly towards me as they break the door open more. Scar face sticks his ugly mug in the much wider gap in the door now, with a terrifying smile. He says something but my music covers it up. I grab the Lysol canister next to me and spray it into his face. His howls of pain reverberate off the tile floor. He disappears from the gap, and I smile smugly.

    My ringtone chimes in, cutting out my music. Eyes wide I answer it.

    “Hey, this number called me a few minutes ago. Who is this?”

    “Shepard!” I practically yell. It takes him a second but then he responds, “Rose? Hey, Sweetheart, so you decided-” 

    “Someone grab her or do something! Just kill the b***h, forget playing with her, it’s not worth it! I’m gonna tear that moon damned cunt in two!” Scar face yells. Shepard goes silent.

    “You got yourself into some pretty big trouble, huh?”

    “Shepard, I need you, I’m at Donin Drive off of Summer Street, you know where that is?”

    The phone clicks as Shepard hangs up on me. I set it down shakily as my music turns back on. He has the address and sounded serious once he knew what was up. I bite my lip and hope for the best. He’s really my only chance at this point. It’s time to really focus now, no distractions. Sighing, I take my headphones out and slide my phone into my pocket. 

    As soon as I do, a hand erupts through the door again, swiping at my legs. It’s dirty, with short sharp claws bursting out where the fingernails should be. It gets dangerously close to my right leg, and I pull back instinctively. The door starts to swing open, but I kick it shut again, adjusting my position to stay out of reach. Snarls come from the Werewolves outside the door, annoyed they missed their chance.

    They slam the door again, it jolts from the force. I look around for anything I have left to use, anything to get that clawing hand away from me. But there’s nothing. Their taunts have died down for now, only snarls and growls coming from beyond the door. My view is obstructed by the hand, but I think I see a glimpse of a large gray wolf stalking impatiently in the guest room.  

    I can’t hold back a wolf if it charges.

    The thought chills my blood. If they decide to charge the door it’s gonna break and then there won’t be anything between me and them. For a brief second I consider giving them the amulet, but I can’t do that. I made a promise to Gale, and if this is as powerful as she says, I can’t let it fall into the wrong hands. Besides, there’s no guarantee it would save my life and after as much as I’ve pissed them off I doubt they’ll be willing to make a deal. 

    The hand suddenly swipes left, catching me off guard. Searing pain. I yell out, yanking my leg back without thinking. The claws dig deep, ripping down from a little below my knee to the top of my combat boots as I do. Tears wheal up in my eyes, blood gushing from each of the five ragged cuts. 

    The door finally gives away, splinters falling around me as the large wolf lands on top of me. I scramble forwards, wincing as pain shoots up my leg. Jaws snap right where my neck had been, before it realizes it’s target is missing. One of it’s paws is bleeding and I jam my finger into the wound. It howls it pain, half-shifting back into a man to grab their hand that I had previously slammed scissors into, and now my own finger.

    Hands grab my feet and yank me out from under him. I try to punch whoever pulled me, but the man catches my hand. He twists it back and I can’t stop myself from crying out. He pins me down, slamming my hands down on the ground.

    “Let me kill the b***h, Hugh! I deserve to more than either of you!” Scar face hisses.

    “Enough, enough, you two may just wanna kill her but I still want a reward. Let me have my fun then you two can have yours,” Hugh breathes, staring at me with hungry eyes. I spit in his face. He laughs.

     “So feisty! Good, I like a fighter.”

    He glances up to the scarred man, then nods towards me. Scar face sighs, then approaches and holds my hands down. Hate boils in his eyes as he stares murderously at me. I thrash around, trying my best to loosen myself. Hugh reaches to his waist, unbuckling his belt. I yell in anger, spitting and trying to bite, kick, or punch my way out of this. He folds the belt and shoves it into my mouth as a gag.

    “You’ll wanna bite down on that w***e, I’ma take my time with you.”

    It tastes terrible, like sweat and dirt, I scream against the leather. As Hugh goes back to undo his pants, the wounded man from earlier stalks over and steps down on my hand. Hard. Between the pain in my leg and the pain in my hand, not to mention the fear of this entire situation, I can’t hold back the tears or screams anymore. 

    Hugh grabs my shirt, tearing it open, revealing the medallion laying against my breasts. A hush comes over us all. Scar face gently reaches out for it.

    “All of this,” he mumbles, “for something so small.”

    Seeing my chance, I manage to spit out the belt and bite down on his arm. As the scarred man yells and pulls back, I yank my hand from under the gray wolf guy to grab Hugh by his hair. Hugh cries out and pulls away, a clump of blond hair left in my hand. I yank my good leg up, my knee finding its intended target. Hugh screams, reaching down to hold his damaged jewels, and I kick him square in the jaw. 

    I scramble away, somehow getting to my feet and limping out of the room. My eyes land on the flight of stairs. I push myself towards them, praying I figure out a fast way down. 

    Bang!

    Something collides into me, and I let out a yowl as we both tumble down the stairs. I see gray fur between hitting the stairs every other few steps. My head slams into one, instantly making me dizzy. The snapping of jaws is so close to my head. We land at the base of the stairs. I scurry back, trying to put as much distance as possible between us. The wolf is quickly back on its feet again, eyes glaring at me in a fierce scowl. It leaps on top of me, easily overpowering me and forcing me onto my back. It’s jaws dive for my neck. I scream in pain as it bites down, the bones in my arm crunching loudly. 

    He releases it, pulling back in confusion as he realizes my jugular is not between his teeth. I forced my arm into his maw to save my life and I had paid the price. Blood oozes from several puncture marks, my forearm bent in a weird way. I feel like passing out, my head is so woozy and the pain so intense. My time is up.

    The wolf snarls, and victory glints in his eyes, seeing that I can’t fight anymore. He howls, and dives down to finish me off. I close my eyes, ready to embrace death. 

    The weight of the wolf is yanked off of me and I open my eyes. A large black wolf rolls across the floor with the gray one, both of their snarls ripping through the air. I watch in awe as the black one quickly gains the advantage and snaps its jaws around the others neck. A sharp crack rings out and the gray one goes limp. My breath catches in my throat as the world starts to fade around me. Cautiously, the black wolf stalks over to me. A smile creeps onto my face despite the pain as I fade into darkness.

Shepard.