Chapter One

AN: This fanfiction is inspired by my favorite story and two songs. The first song being Sam the Sham's Little Red Riding Hood and the second song being Bullet For My Valentine's Waking the Demon. The story is, of course Little Red Riding Hood, but with a different fairy tale twist. This story has been eating at me, begging me through dreams and wild thoughts to put it into words for others to enjoy. I do not own the fairy tales or the Fairy Tail characters. Please read and review.

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There once was a kingdom not far from here where the Goddess of the Moon fell in love with a mortal man. A love more true could never be found as Celenixia bathed her beloved Metalicana in adoration and devotion. The couple grew closer each night as the ancient Celtic warrior lay beneath the Goddess's silver light, until one night Salixo, God of the Trees became angered by the forbidden display of affection between the Lady of the Stars and the barbarian mortal. Longing for the love of Celenixia herself, Salixo attacked her human love, cursing him to live out his life as a blood thirsty beast.

Awakening as a fur covered, snarling creature instead of the handsome man that he went to sleep as, Metalicana let out a tormented howl, begging his love to help him reclaim his human body. Tears flowed from Celenixia's eyes, forming oceans and rivers as she searched for a way to save the one who held her heart. Months passed and no answer came to her. Distraught over the hopelessness of Metalicana's situation and her steadily growing stomach, Celenixia came to a desperate answer.

Once her child was born, she'd give the remainder of her life and power to ease the curse bestowed upon her family. Instead of living and dying as a ravenous beast, her descendants and the descendants of the man she loved would live as wolves in the light of day, but during the hours in which they were bathed by the moon's glow they would walk as mortal men again, until the day would come when her soul would dance under the starry night with her beloved again and true loves kiss free them from their cursed prisons.

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Crimson orbs watched from the undergrowth of the forest floor as a young maiden glided past, her red sandals dancing effortlessly over the leaf covered dirt path. Her red hooded cape fluttered in the gentle breeze caused by the motion of her body as her skirt clad legs propelled her forward toward an unknown location. Dazzling, sky blue locks fell from beneath the scarlet fabric catching the eye of the beast. Dressed in an simple black dress, the likes of which told of a village background, the girl sang as she walked on.

The beast followed the strange girl through the forest awaiting the moon's glow, carefully hidden so as not to frighten her. The trees began to glow in the dying sun, the birds ceased to sing. Shadows grew longer, darker, but still the youth walked on, spirit never dying. Her singing changed to that of a soft lullaby. The words of her song were hypnotic, but were that of a long dead people forgotten by time. The language of the Moon Tribe of Alikani island flowed fluently from her full lips, the lullaby of the wolf echoing through the trees.

"Sing me a song sweet beast

Of a love doomed from the start

Howl to me a ballet of longing

As the moon and the stars gleam above

Sing to me a song of hope

Tell me how you fell for the moon

Sing of the curse bestowed by the trees

How man became beast and sang to me

The moon and the wolf sing harmony

As the beastly cries echo on the dark

I'll free you one day my love

I promise I'll save you my dear"

The lullaby wasn't as pretty once translated from Moon-speak. The girl's voice danced around wolf as he stalked after her. She walked this path every month just before the full moon traveling from the village near the lake to the darkness of the mountain forest to see her grandfather during the Ceremony of the Moon.

The village gathered all the by the lake every night during the full moon to present their children to the Moon Goddess. It was a ceremony started with the founding of the village. Legend has it that the founder of the village happened upon a blue haired maiden in the lake as he traveled. Her bared skin was as pale as the moon itself and her eyes shown in the colors of the earthy ground. The young woman spoke only the language of the Gods, leading the man to believe she was descended from the heavenly beings themselves. Fearing the wrath of her parents, the man built a cabin next to the lake he found her in and every night, in the light of the moon the man lead the girl out into the lake as bare as the night he found her. Together they called to the moon a prayer to see the girl safely back to her heavenly home. Every morning the sun's rays danced upon her porcelain skin in shades of orange and red. As the time passed, the gods having never reclaimed their fallen daughter, the maiden remained in the cabin with the man, she began to learn how to speak his language, cook, clean, and act respectfully as a new member of his culture.

Then, on a moonless night, the two fell in love. Months passed and the maiden's stomach began to swell. Men and women who knew the man began to build homes near theirs. Slowly, a village formed, but the man and the blue haired maiden continued to go to the lake during the full moon. As time passed the children, grandchildren, and future descendants of the maiden met at the lake during a full moon to bathe naked in the light of their Goddess.

Not a single child born from the blood of the maiden bore a head of blue hair. It was as though the young woman had withheld her heavenly glow from her young. As time went on people began to question the origin of the maiden's birth, her story became nothing more than a local legend, drifting to the back of the villagers' minds. The ceremony continued, more as a habit than anything else.

That was until one full moon in mid October, as the cries of a newborn babe filled the night. The descendants of the maiden had gathered in the lake as they did every full moon when suddenly a young girl by the name of Landi screamed out in pain. She fell to the ground and as the villagers rushed to her side, she cried out a second time as a small newborn pushed its way from her loins to fall onto the dirty ground.

Landi having never been carnally loved, was fearful of the babe. Refusing to name her or touch the child. Seeing the tiny being as a blessing from the Goddess herself, Landi's arranged marriage was pushed forward by her father. Within the fortnight Landi and her approved suitor were wed. Darion accepted the child as if she were his own, much to Landi's dismay, naming her Levalanti after the Moon-speak word Levalantant or Moon-born. The name was more due to her soft blue hair than her birth by the light of the full moon, however.

Fearing the Goddess should take back the child she blessed his wife with, Darion forbid his daughter from participating in the Moon Ceremony. As the child grew older she was sent to visit his father in the mountains during the full moons so as to separate her from her peers who participated in the ritual. Little did they know, by sending Levalanti into the trees they had set her fate in motion, for she had attracted the attention of Gajeel, the famed black wolf that lived in the trees.

The wolf, now stalking the young maiden, was known as Iron Wolf. The name seemed to suit the wolf for neither iron nor steel had been strong enough to cage the large, raven black wolf. Trappers and hunters from surrounding villages had tried with all they had to take down the beast, failing each time. Bodies of the wolf's victims were found all throughout the trees, but, still the wolf had never hurt the blue haired girl singing as she walked carefree through his domain. Five years, she passes down this path as the full moon made its appearance. Five years, he's watched her, protecting her from other beasts. Five years, he's gone with little more than her voice singing songs about his ancestor, Metalicana, who fell in love with the moon as thanks for her safe passage through the trees.

"Gajeel," the girl suddenly stopped, speaking his name softly to the trees. Not wanting her to see him he froze in the undergrowth, crouched to the earth. "You can come out, old friend. It's been five years that I've walked this path with you following in the darkest of shadows. I sing to you in hopes of safe travel and every time I pass free of turmoil. I have a gift as thanks for your mercy."

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Two Months Later

Levy ran through the trees, blood dripping from her blue locks, tattered clothes hanging by threads. Screams of dying women and children followed her as the night sky filled with dancing red and orange light. Clouds of black filled the night blocking the stars from sight. Tears ran from her eyes as her father's cold, lifeless face lay imprinted in the back of her eyelids, reminding her of her loss with every blink. The now cold strip of skin, once warm with her mother's grip, a constant reminder that she was alone in the world as her mother's dying words bounced around in her head. Run to the trees, the Gods will protect you. Flee before you're seen, my child, you must live. In her dying breath, Landi had accepted her daughter only long enough to push her away from the corpse of her father and out towards the trees.

The cut on Levy's forehead, pouring warm blood over her skin, had made it hard to see out of her left eye, but still the girl ran. Prayers for help and safety filled her mind as the night grew colder. Trees sent menacing shadows dancing in the light of her village burning to the ground, claiming both the dead and the living in a searing blaze. Fear kept Levy running, her legs burned and her lungs screamed in agony but still she ran.

A howl in the dark, gave the girl pause. Slowing to a walk, Levalanti moved through the forest as silent as the wolf watching her from afar. Unsure if it was her traveling companion or a different predator, Levy caught hold of a low hanging branch and swung her small form up into the tree. Quietly, she moved up the tree until it's dark leaves hid her from sight. Moments later, three shadows approached from the direction she had just come from.

"Where did the little wench go?" growled a tall man to the left of the tree. In the faded light of the dying village fire she could make out a few details of his face. It appeared the man had a rat-like face, his big teeth faintly lit up as he spoke. A thin mustache dripped from hie upper lip as his tiny, vile eyes peered through the trees.

"I swear I saw her run this direction." a smaller, slim man spoke. He seemed to ware the earth itself around his body. He wore what appeared to be a shiny, smoothed crystal over one eye.

"Juvia saw her as well. The girl must know the trees well. Shall we keep searching?" A woman's voice joined the other two but she was blocked from sight.

"Let's go. She'll die out here soon enough. No mere maiden can hold her own against the wild for more then a day or two."

As the group receded, their footsteps dying out, Levy thought about her options. She was about half a night's run from her village in the opposite direction from the mountains in the dead of night. Her friends and family were killed by an invading army from the land on the other side of the forest looking for something called the Wolf's Moon. She was possibly surrounded by forest predators and had no way to ward them off. Levy knew if she were to survive for the night she'd sleeping in a tree. Making herself as comfy as possible, Levalanti began to dose off just as the light began to lighten.

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AN: So this is the beginning of To Kiss A Wolf. Let me know what you think. The lullaby, names, language, and location are all made up. Let me know what you think.