Image: Marlith (Own work) 

This week’s Wicked Wednesday prompt is ‘Dark Street’. Something that might have happened on one in real life, or something that we wish had happened on one.

My original plan was to write a short, dark piece for this brief – I have the most fantastically vivid picture in my head of a woman being pushed, stomach-first, against an alley wall, loose grit pressing into her hands, her knees scraping against raw bricks as she’s taken by a shadowy stranger – but then I remembered I had the below story (or the start of it, rather) sitting in my Drafts folder. It’s another modified fairy tale, an alternate version of Red Riding Hood.

I’ve not written much more than what I’ve posted here but, reading it back, I think I want to continue developing it.

I do rather like the idea of being devoured …

 

HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF

“Well, well, well. Look who it is.”

Alice froze mid-step. Felt her skin prickle and the hairs on the back of her neck lift. The voice had come from deep within the shadows of the alleyway but there was no mistaking who it belonged to.

Shit.

From the gloom, a tall, broad shape sauntered towards her, slow and easy, coming closer and closer until, finally, a hard-looking face, punctuated by a pair of predatory dark eyes swam out of the blackness.

“Little Red,” the man drawled, coming to a stop in front of her, an amused look on his hard face. The toes of his heavy boots almost touched her own.

Automatically, Alice reached up to smooth a hand over her hair. “Don’t call me that,” she muttered – then immediately kicked herself for not remaining silent. What the hell do you think you’re doing?! Shut up! Don’t challenge him!

A sardonic eyebrow lifted. “Or what, Red? You’re gonna shut my mouth for me?” His gaze drifted down her body. Zeroed in on the v between her legs. “Cover it with something?” The flash of white teeth and the throaty rumble of his chuckle as he laughed at his own words made Alice clench her fists.

“What do you want, Wolf?” she asked, quietly.

The smile disappeared. “You know exactly what I want, Red. The only question is when you’re going to give it to me.”

A shiver ran down her arms, raising thousands of painful little goose pimples, rushing over her belly and down her legs until her skin felt like it’d been stretched on a curing rack. Anger overrode fear. “Screw off, you dirty bastard,” she hissed, moving to push past him. “It’s never ever going to happen.”

Wolf didn’t try to stop her as she hurried away, pulling her coat tightly around her, desperate to get to the end of the alley and the brightly lit street beyond. But his mocking voice slid through the night air like a knife, chasing after her even as she put some distance between them.

“You keep telling yourself that, darlin’,” he taunted. “But one of these days I’m going to fucking eat you alive.”

Alice walked faster, forcing herself not to respond. Or turn around.

Oh, God.

Everyone knew about Wolf’s … appetites. And, unless she was very much mistaken, he’d decided she was going to be his next meal.

 

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