The pain that exploded in her head as she opened her eyes made her want to throw up. She tried to move her arms and found that she couldn’t. She slowly opened her eyes again trying to figure out what was going on. When her eyes opened she was facing a tree.

Her arms were tied together at the wrist and she was hanging a few inches off the ground. She was hanging just enough to make sure she would swing. It was still dark outside so she couldn’t have been out too long. Her head hurt and she was queasy.

Warm hands slid across her rib cage and held onto her breast. She felt the warm breath on her neck just before she heard Micah ask, “Are you awake?”

He squeezed her breast and licked her ear. She tried to tell him not to touch her, but the gag prevented that. So she tried to squirm out of his touch, but the pain that shot through her arms was enough to make her scream in pain.

He let go and turned her to face him. “I wouldn’t move if I were you. You have been hanging a little over 24 hours. And those poor arm muscles have not been used.”

He pushed her so she would sway a little. The pain made her whimper because she knew he wanted her to scream again, but she refused.

“Ouch that does hurt, doesn’t it? I was starting to think I might have hit you a little too hard. Sorry about that, but you are a fighter, and I didn’t want any more problems out of you.”

Cordelia did the only thing she could do, she glared at him. He laughed and walked away.

‘I cannot believe I was fooled and seduced by him. By a werewolf.’ she thought angrily. ‘Lord please let someone come and find me.’

Micah walked back to her with the oldest of the three brothers. “Phillip, hold her legs so she doesn’t fall.”

Phillip wrapped his arms around her waist without speaking. He still hadn’t spoken in front of her.

Micah grabbed her face so she would look at him. “I’m going to pull the rag out of your mouth because darling, this is going to hurt, and I want to hear you cry.”

His tone was mocking and cruel. He took the rag out of her mouth and pulled her sword off his hip. With one swing at the ropes, it cut clean through. She collapsed into Phillip’s arms and had a second to catch her breath before the pain shot through her.

She had been stabbed and beaten before, but this was the worst pain she had ever felt. She bit her lip to keep from screaming because she knew that was what he wanted. He had even said that was why he had taken the gag out of her mouth.

The pain wasn’t getting any better, in fact, it was starting to get worse. Phillip laid her gently on the ground and stepped back. She writhed on the ground unable to move her arms. She had no control of them and the pain from them waking up was unbearable.

Cordelia couldn’t keep quiet any longer. She felt the blood running down her chin from biting her lip and finally she screamed. She screamed out as pain and darkness overtook her once again.

As she woke, she heard someone talking. It made her insides freeze because she knew that voice.

“Wh-wh-what have y-y-you done to h-h-her Micah? Y-y-you p-p-promised you wouldn’t h-h-hurt h-h-her,” Deacon John said anxiously.

“Relax John, all Micah did was cut the bitch down. It was her arms waking up that made her scream like a little girl,” the youngest brother hissed in her face.

He was stalking around her and leaned in close to pull her hair, but she refused to flinch away from him. She noticed he had one of her knives on his hip and one tied to his leg. ‘If I get my knives back, he is going to die,’ she thought, glaring into his face.

She wanted to know why John was working with them. Cordelia was lying on her side and couldn’t see John; she wanted to look at him.

“John would you please walk over here so I can see you, I want to make sure you are okay.” Her voice was dry and hoarse from screaming.

“Of c-c-course my d-d-dear,” she heard John say, and then she saw his feet. She looked up and saw his face. It was still just as pale as it was the other day. Only now, he was smiling. “Is this b-better?”

“It would be nice if I could sit up, but I guess this will have to do. Why John, why would you do this?”

“W-w-well, you see C-Cordelia it’s c-c-complicated. Oh, f-for heaven’s s-s-sake could one of you p-p-please move her? I cannot t-t-talk to her like th-this.”

Phillip scooped her off the ground and sat her down, leaning on the tree. He never looked at her, but he wasn’t rough with her either. As he was leaning away she whispered, “Thank you.”

Phillip paused, still not looking at her, nodded once, and walked back to his brothers. He seemed to not hate her as the others did. Maybe she could use that to get out of this alive.

John walked up close and squatted down in front of her. “I wouldn’t get too close to her, John,” Micah warned.

John laughed, “I’m n-not afraid of C-Cordelia hurting me. We h-have known each other our wh-whole lives. You w-wouldn’t h-h-hurt me would you C-Cordie?”

“John, did you help them get me?” she asked him.

The youngest brother laughed, “Yeah, he did. He was spilling his sniveling little guts about you.”

“Shut up, David,” Micah snapped and the laughter stopped.

“John?” Cordelia asked softly.

He leaned in a little closer to hear her. “I hope they eat your face off,” she said just before she kicked him in the face. She kicked him with as much force she could get from where she was sitting. There was a loud crunch and he fell backward. He was holding his face and screaming as blood poured between his fingers.

She heard Micah laugh, “I told you, John. She is all about loyalty, and you gave her to the monsters.”

John managed to choke out, “Sh-she broke my n-n-nose. I’m going to k-k-kill h-h-her.”

He lunged for her, landing on top and ended up rolling them together off the tree. He had his hands on her neck squeezing. She tried bucking him off, but he squeezed tighter. If her hands and legs were not still tied she would have beaten him off her, but she couldn’t and he was choking her to death.

John was pulled off with such force that it lifted her up too. His fingers slid off and she fell back to the ground with a hard thud. Micah had John by the throat. With one hand he bounced the smaller man onto the tree and held him there by his throat.

“I have been searching for her for a month and now that I have her, I will not allow her to die by your hands, priest,” he growled in John’s face. It had gone from red to a rich purplish-blue. Blood was pouring onto Micah’s hand.

“Micah you’re killing him!”

“Why are you worried about his life, Cordelia, he just tried to kill you? Besides, I think this priest has served his purpose.”

In one swift motion, Micah let go of John’s throat and then snapped his neck. John’s body crumpled and fell to the ground beside her. She was left lying there staring into John’s large dead eyes.

Tears filled Cordelia’s eyes. John had tried to kill her but he was one of the first friends she had made, outside Cade. Thinking of Cade made the tears harder to control. She prayed to God that Cade would find her before it was too late.

“Cordelia, please tell me you are not crying. I thought you were made of tougher stuff than that. For a brief moment watching you fight them in your kitchen, I thought you would be fun to fight. Now you’re giving me doubts.”

“Untie me and I will correct your doubts,” she hissed.

The three brothers laughed

“I’m going to untie you Cordelia, and we are going to fight. If you win and kill me you’re free to go.”

“Do you think I’m stupid? I know what will happen. I will kill you and then they will kill me. Besides, it’s not a fair fight. I can’t fight you without weapons or proper clothes.”

Phillip stepped closer and lifted Cordelia back into the sitting position and he spoke for the first time. “We will not kill you if you defeat him. We have given our word to let him fight you for all of our revenge. If by some miracle you beat him, we will let you go.”

“What revenge? What have I done?”

Phillip looked sadly at her, shook his head, and walked away.

“I think I have the right to know what I have done if I’m going to fight you,” she snapped looking at Micah.

“I told you my wife was dead. You killed her Cordelia. You killed her and my son in a cave up on Wicker’s Ridge. Your team was called in to kill us after I killed the neighbor. She had seen my daughter change one night and started screaming. I had to protect my family. My wife didn’t even know what I had done.”

Micah paused closing his eyes. When he opened them they were a glowing bright green and his voice was low.

“Your team killed my daughter and almost killed me, but you; you killed my wife and son. I know it was you because as I laid there dying, you continued to chase her. I didn’t see your face, but I saw your hair. It was sloppy of your men not to make sure I was dead before they ran off to help you.”

She remembered the woman and the boy. They were the first ones they had killed on their last mission.

“So you see Cordelia, that is why I want revenge. You killed my wife and kids.”

“And she was our sister!” David spat.

Cordelia said nothing. What could she say? After a few moments, she asked, “How did you find me?”

“We separated and traveled to the villages that have the Red Hoods. I knew my Aunt Helen lived in one of those villages, so I used this as an opportunity to find out if the Red Riding Hood lived there. It was my luck that I ran into John that night I met you. Aunt Helen was very much closed mouth about the Hoods; if you can believe that woman being quiet about anything,” Micah said, looking at her wryly.

“Anyway, John was drunk and sitting by himself, talking about how he wished he could have been with them to kill all those monsters. I pretended to be interested in his stories and that’s when he let slip that the Red Riding Hood lived in this very village. I sent Mark that night to go find David and Phillip. And then I met you.”

“If you knew then that I was who you were looking for, why did you not kill me that first night? Why did you…” she stopped and thought, ‘Seduce me.’

Her blush gave away what she was thinking and she heard Micah chuckle softly.

He came and squatted down beside her, instead of in front like John had done. “I didn’t know for sure you were her the first night. By the way you pulled that sword and had enough control to stop before you took Helen’s head off I knew you were a Red Hood. As for the other question…”

He ran his fingers on her face and then ran them through her hair. Cordelia jerked her head away from him, but couldn’t go far because he held her hair. Micah leaned into her and nuzzled her neck. He kissed it and whispered in her ear, “I seduced you because I wanted you the moment I saw you. You have fire and together we have passion. Even now you feel it, Cordelia.”

She fought harder to get away from him because she would never say it, but she did feel it. She needed him to stop touching her. “Please, Micah stop, how could you have sex with me after I chopped off your wife’s head?”

He stopped kissing her neck, his whole body went rigid and he growled.

One of her smaller knives almost slid out of his pocket. If she could continue to distract him, she might be able to get it. She leaned closer to him and breathed into his ear, “Did you think of her dead body while you were inside me?”

He made a low howl, and grabbed her on either side of her head and pulled her to her feet. His green eyes glowed with anger.

Cordelia smiled at him, “Do you still want me, Micah?”

He jerked her to him and made a noise between a growl and howl. That was the movement she needed. Her fingers slid over the hilt and she managed to tuck it into the rope a second before he threw her away from him. She landed hard on her side a few feet away from him and heard him charging. Her body turned over as quickly as she could.

Micah reached her and jerked her to her feet again by her hair. ‘If I survive this I’m cutting it all off,’ she thought angrily.

“You’re clever aren’t you? I know what you’re trying to do. You want me to kill you quickly don’t you? Well, I’m not going to Cordelia. You are just a toy for me. I’m going to cut you loose and let you run for your freedom. We will chase you and hunt you down like the monster you are.”

Phillip came close and said softly, “Micah, I heard something in the woods”

Cordelia started screaming. Micah turned her so her back was to his chest and put one hand over her mouth and the other one on her throat. “Shut up!” he hissed. “You guys go check it out.”

The three men spread out into the woods. Micah slid so his back was against the tree with her sitting on his lap and then they didn’t move. They were both silent for what felt like forever, listening for any noise. Then it came. There was a snarling sound then another. A fight was going on and it was getting closer. She started to scream again, and then once more, everything went black.

Cordelia woke to water being thrown on her face. She was lying on something hard and cold and everything sounded echoed and strange. Her eyes adjusted to the dark and there was a single candle lit, but the room was so big it didn’t offer much help. She was in a cave and there was dried blood on the floor.

‘Oh dear Lord, I’m in the cave that I killed Micah’s wife.’

“Get up Cordelia. I can hear from your breathing. You know where we are. There has been a change of plans for you. I believe your team has killed my brothers-in-law. I now have no one; but that statement is not true, Cordelia, I do have someone. I have you. I was thinking while I was waiting for you to wake up that I have already bitten you. I bit you during sex, remember? Come the next full moon you might turn into a werewolf, but if I bite you again it will guarantee that you will.”

Cordelia thought she was going to throw up. He had bitten her and she had liked it at the time, but she hadn’t known he was a werewolf.

“You’re crazy. I would rather die than become a werewolf,” she screamed.

Micah smacked her and she fell back to the floor. She was on her stomach and felt him sit on her legs. She started to thrash around until she felt him undo the rope on her ankles. He shifted his body so his knees went between her legs spreading them apart.

The only clothing she had on was the nightgown he had given her and Micah had the hem sliding it up her legs. That started her thrashing again. He pinned her arms under her so she couldn’t even cut her hands free.

“Stop fighting me, Cordelia. The bite could be pleasurable if you just let your body take over and not fight me. It will happen, regardless, so try to relax.”

“No!” she screamed and tried to push him off.

Micah howled out in pain and rolled off her. She took advantage of the moment and rolled over. That’s when she saw Cade standing in the doorway. He had thrown a knife into Micah’s back. 

A wave of relief washed over her and she scooted back until she could use the wall to slide up into the sitting position. With shaky hands, she used the knife to cut herself free. It slipped a couple of times, but she didn’t care because her hands were finally free.

“Cord you okay?” Cade asked, not taking his eyes off Micah.

“I’m good now.”

“I’m going to rip your guts out,” Micah growled. In the blink of an eye, he transformed and charged Cade. Cade already had his sword out and he ran to meet Micah.

They collided with a loud thud. They were a blur of fists and claws and Cordelia saw blood, but couldn’t tell whose it was. Micah got the upper hand and slammed Cade down, but he was holding Micah’s arms up keeping the claws and teeth off him. She heard the rest of the team coming down the tunnel. Micah must have heard them too because he raised his head.

Cordelia needed that second. She jumped on Micah’s back and used that little knife to slice his throat. It didn’t go all the way through, but he fell off Cade grabbing his throat as the blood ran through his fingers. Cordelia picked up Cade’s sword and stabbed Micah in the heart. She pulled the sword out and stabbed him again and again and again.

She felt arms go around her and then Cade’s soft calm voice in her ear, “Cordelia he’s dead.”

“We thought he was dead last time too,” she snapped, stepping out of Cade’s arms and took off Micah's head.

“Now he’s dead,” she said.

***

Two days later they were back in the village. None of them talked on the way home. They were waiting for her to say something first and she didn’t feel like talking. Anna gave Cordelia her cloak and they circled her, blocking her from everyone’s prying eyes. They walked her into the church to talk to the Bishop.

She and Cade explained everything they knew. She did not tell him about being seduced, but she told him everything else, even the betrayal and death of Deacon John. When they were done, the Bishop informed her that Micah had killed Helen.

That bit of news was more than she could handle at the moment. Cordelia collapsed onto the floor and began to cry. Cade collected her off the floor and walked her home. Once there he insisted on staying at the cabin with her. He fixed her a bath and helped her wash her hair while she told him everything. This time she left nothing out. 

He touched the bite mark and told her it wasn’t that deep, but they agreed not to tell anyone about it. He also told her that he would never tell anyone about what she had done with Micah. 

Cade stayed the night and held her while she slept.

***

High on a mountain, deep in the woods, Cordelia howled as she chased down a deer. It had been one year since the incident with Micah. She and Cade had gotten married two days after the incident and at the first full moon when she changed, they knew they had to leave.

Cade rocked the small, green-eyed, red-haired baby. “Shh, Helen, mommy will be home at dawn.”

The monster hunter had become the monster.