Cloaked In Red Chapter 3, a wolf among us fanfic

The girl in the red cloak narrowed her eyes at him. "That's a cheesy line to say to your victim." A rustle was heard some distance away. The Wolf could smell the fear pouring off of her as she looked in the direction of the noise. That was when he realized that the fear he smelt from her, wasn't a fear of him, but for something else. "I need to go." She says in a panic.

"What?"

"If you aren't going to hurry up and eat me then I need to go." She started walking off, pulling the basket closer to herself.

"Wait." He growled after her. 'Grr, this was not the plan.' She didn't fear him, but was scared of some noise in the forest. The Wolf didn't want the first human that he ate to be somebody who was not afraid of him, he needed somebody who feared him. But her smell enticed him. He would be back for her. That was a promise.

Bigby pulled out his favorite brand of cigarettes, Huff n' Puff. He took a long drag as he reviewed everything that happened just hours ago. He was walking past a mundy coffee shop when he heard his name. "Hm?" he turned to see Renee come out of the coffee shop, dawning the coffee shop uniform. "Renee? You work here?" The strong smell of coffee must have masked her scent

"It's been tough lately. I have no other options left." Bigby frowned at her. Her only other option would be for her to go to the farm with the rest of the fables that either can't afford to stay glamoured or are too poor to still function and work in the mundy world. Her story was not the first. He was sure that the nameless working girl was out of options, lowering herself to prostitution.

"You should have said something to me. You know that I will help you, no matter what." She gave him a kind smile.

"That's exactly why I didn't say anything. Don't worry, Bigby, I can take care of myself. Here." She handed him a coffee. "You look like you could use it." He gave her a look. "Don't worry; I messed up on somebodies order. It would just be thrown in the trash but then you came by. Take it." Bigby sighed, and relieved her of the coffee. Their hands grazed each other, and as always, his inner beast tried hard to claw his way out to her. It took everything in him to hold the beast at bay.

Renee could see the stress on his face and gave him a concerned look. "Are you okay?"

He nodded, taking a step back from her. "Yah. Just sheriff stuff. I need to meet up with Snow about an issue, but I'm sure I'll see you around."

"We do have a knack for bumping into each other. Take care, Bigby. And make sure that you are eating right." Bigby snickered. He couldn't tell if she was referring to eating healthy or not eating people.

"As you wish, your majesty." He smiled at her. She gave him a small wave before turning and going back to work.

Bigby walked into the business office, seeing that there was already a line of fables, all waiting to have a meeting with Crane. Which meant that they would all be meeting with Snow since Crane runs off at the slightest bit of stress.

"What, are you blind? Can't you see there's a line." One of the fables stepped out of line to confront him. "I've been waiting here a half hour already and you just get to walk in?" The fable with black hair and one eyes misted over got up in Bigby's face. "Must be nice being the sheriff. Get to do whatever the fuck you want."

"I kind of work here." Bigby said matter affactly, expressing through his tone that he doesn't want to be here at the office.

"And what great work you do sheriff." The fables tone was of fake admiration.

Bigby let his comment slide. "Hm… that didn't feel very genuine." He walked into the business office.

"Fucker." The fable called out to Bigby before the door swung closed.

Bigby walked into what he knew was going to happen. A stressed out Crane yelling at Snow. "And now you tell me that there is a killer on the loose?" Cranes voice carried over like the wimp he was."You two tittering behind my back." Snow stuttered between his barrage f insults. "Cuz you are the one bringing this to me, Miss Snow. The one who so simply stumbles upon this catastrophe on our very door step. The last thing I need with Mayor Cole away is a hysteria among the fables. Do you understand me?" Cranes printed his bony finger at Snow.

It angered Bigby the way he talked to Snow. He let out a low growl as he approached them.

"Yes, of course…" Snow was about to retort back when Crane interjected.

"Don't interrupt me!"

Snow wouldn't have it anymore and huffed. "You asked me a question."

Crane scoffed. "Don't change the subject. You are to blame for the unpleasantness, Miss Snow."

"I brought you this news as soon as I could." She scowled at him.

"You are trusted to keep things running smoothly around here. This is a disaster!" Crane straightened his glasses. "Who else is to blame if not you?"

Bigby heard enough. "Back off, Ichabod! It's not her fault and you damn well know it."

Snow scowled at Bigby. "I don't need your help Bigby."

Bigby brushed off her comment and continued glaring at Crane. "Instead of trying to assign blame here, maybe we should figure out how to catch the fucker who did this."

"Oh, says the man who is most to blame for this catastrophe. How convenient." Crane says sarcastically. "Sheriff, you are the one charged to protect the citizens of Fabletown. Your failure to do so cost someone their life, and the safety of the entire community." Crane sat down behind his desk, Bigby figured it was because he wasn't man enough to stand up and face him. He seemed to calm down. "Tell me you've been doing something. Are there any leads? Suspects? Anything? Anything at all?"

Bigby sighed. "The Woodsman is a person of interest. From what we can gather, he was the last person who was seen with the victim." Though when he said it out loud, he couldn't fully believe that Woody would be able to do something like that.

"The Woodsman? That drunk wreck was the cause of all this." Crane narrowed his eyes.

"It's only a lead. Nothing certain."

Crane stood up at that comment. "Well that better be certain sheriff or I'll have you and Snow out of a job. You two need to hndle this quickly and quietly." Crane glowers at them, then looks to Snow. "Make sure you call Vivian to let her know that I'm coming in early for my…massage. And where is that bottle of wine I told you to get?" Snow looked around on his desk in disbelief.

"I swear I…"

Crane scoffed, cutting her off. "Never mind. I'll go and get it myself. Seems that I can only rely on myself to get things done around here. Do your job sheriff, or I'll find someone who can." He slams the office door behind him.

'That's it!' thought Bigby. "You know what…" He turned and gave Crane a growl, but stopped when Snow put her hand on his shoulder.

"You'll only make things worse." She said softly. She sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Well that could have gone better."

"I hate to say I told you so but I did tell you not to tell him."

"I know…I probably should have listened to you." Snow watches as Bigby pulls out his Huff n' Puff. "He doesn't like it when people…" Bigby gives her a look of 'I-don't-give-a-damn. "Never mind."

"So…" He takes a big drag. "Wine to a massage? That's odd."

"I know, the weird part about it is that he actually is being nice to someone. And I know I bought that damn bottle."

"I don't understand why you let him make you go on these stupid errands as if you're his wife." Bigby immediately regretted saying wife, knowing it would strike a nerve with her history with men.

"Sometimes you just have to pick and choose your battles." Bigby could understand that, and was glad that she didn't get outwardly mad at him for his comment.

"Is he gone?" Came a timid voice from behind the bookshelves.

The head of a green monkey peaked out to see that Crane had left. The green monkey then stretched its wings and stumbled over to them with a half empty bottle of wine that looks strikingly like the one that Snow had bought for Crane.

"Bufkin!" She gave him a stern look. "Drinking? This early? Where did you get that?" She leaned down closer to his level.

"It was by Mr. Ichabod's desk." He gave her an apologetic look.

"Then don't you think that it belongs to him?" He gave her a shrug and a small smile. She sighed, taking the bottle so that he wouldn't drink anymore. "Bufkin can you get the books."

"Which books?" Bufkin eagerly replied.

"The ones with all the fables in it."

"Mmmm… Not sure that was any more specific." Bigby mumbled.

Snow scowled at him. "Then bring the first three. We'll have to start there." She watched him fly off. "He knows which ones I'm talking about. There is bound to be some information on her here, at least her real name." There was some awkward silence while waiting for Bufkin. "Um… I'm gonna sort through some of my paperwork that I need to catch up on while I wait. Why don't you consort the mirror and see if you can find anything."

"Sounds like a good idea." He approached the mirror, which to someone just glancing looks like just a regular mirror. But once he was standing in front of it, the mirror turned cloudy and revealed a face. "Hey, magic mirror, I've got a question."

The mirror narrowed his eyes. "You know the rules."

"I don't have time for this shit."

"You're impatience is callow, you're needlessly cruel, but have some respect for our historied rules."

Bigby sighed and tried his best to make his questions rhyme. "Mirror mirror…" He groaned. "If you're able, tell me all about this fable."

"See, was that so hard?" The mirror smiled.

"Yah, I'm about two seconds away from kicking a hole in you." He crossed his arms trying to restrain his anger.

"Fine. Of which fable do you wish to know?" he asked curiously.

"Show me… Snow." Even though she was in the office, he wanted to say her name just for kicks. The mirror changed once more and revealed Snow on the phone, dealing with business matters.

"Not much of a request. She's in this very room. Get serious please."

Bigby sighed and scratched his scruff. "I don't know her name."

"Well until you do, I can't help you."

"Then show me the Woodsman." The mirror revealed a drunk and staggering Woodsman staggering down a street. "Where is he going?"

"What you see is complete; he is staggering down a street."

"What street?" Bigby was getting annoyed.

"I'm sorry, Bigby." The mirror shook his head. Bigby already knew that the mirror only had so much magic.

He sighed. "Fine…" A thought popped into his head. "Show me… Renee, the Little Red Riding Hood." The mirror changed to Renee walking down the dark streets. The expression on her face was of fear. She kept looking back behind her as if there was somebody following her. Bigby could feel the anger and concern building up inside of him. Once again, her fear was misplaced. "Where is she?"

"Bigby, we have already been through this." Bigby grabbed the mirror so hard, you could hear the wooden frame start to crack. His eyes began to glow yellow. "Breaking me won't help." The mirror said, trying to calm him down.