This chapter took me almost a week to finish. It's the biggest one yet, with 3k words.

It didn't help that I had a big family wedding in between. Those things take forever. But at least you get to order a lot of fancy and expensive drinks for free.

But onward to the real questions you want answered: What happens with Adam? Is he going to find love at first sight with Penny, and is she going to show him the righteous way? Will Mechanical Bull become OTP? Find out below.

7. Truly a Monster

"So, hum, this is our house." Yang raised her arm despite the stinging sensation below it, gesturing in a wide circle to point at the whole interior they were walking into. The raven-haired girl nodded quietly from underneath her arm, trying to cross the doorway without letting the blonde fall. She might have been able to walk, but Blake had been the one to inflict the damage, so she had volunteered to help carry her, now that her own affliction was visibly improving. And to everyone's surprise, the brawler had been considerably tame during the trip back.

"Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" Ruby muttered under her breath, surprised equally due to the lack of inappropriate jokes, and her sibling's ease to accept being helped by a non-human. The archer would've had no trouble, but her sister had always been more suspicious, yet for some reason she was perfectly unfazed this time around.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a cold and rigid hand reaching for her arm, trying to offer some form of comfort. She smiled at Penny, not having the heart to tell her the golem had misread the reaction. She wasn't upset, just very astonished.

The humanized lycan set the homeowner down on a chair, after a loud conflict about whether or not she should be going to bed, to which Yang argued that there was too much they still needed to discuss and she wasn't going to leave just yet. Everyone took a seat, except the marble statue who leaned against the nearby wall.

"So, what's the deal with this Adam?"

"We've known each other since we were cubs. You have to understand, life isn't easy for our kind." She looked at the sculpture, expecting an understanding look, but found nothing. "We're chased and killed because humans fear us, always have to be on the run. Large communities fend off attackers better, but they also become more of a target."

"That's what happened to us, we had a large pack, but all it took was a couple of men sneaking past us and the forest was set on fire. When we tried to run, they were waiting with swords and pitchforks. It was a massacre, and for every one of them that bled, ours fell twofold. I lost everything that day, my family, my home, Adam was the only one who stayed with me. But it changed him. He only wanted revenge, to throw himself back at the enemy. While we were together, I managed to calm him down and convince him not to. Until… one day, we were hunting and a farmer saw us. Adam said we couldn't leave witnesses, that he would tell others where we were. Before I could stop him, he ripped the man's throat open and he…"

Her voice cracked, yet she still managed to fend off the tears. The blonde squeezed her shoulder, and she breathed slowly, before proceeding.

"…he ate him. That's when I lost him too. He gained a taste for human flesh, and he always wanted more. He called it poetic justice. I left as soon as I could, and I've been by myself ever since. You call us monsters, but Adam… he is truly a monster. He wanted to fight back, but he only made people even more scared of us. I don't think I'd recognize the thing he's become."

The room was dead silent, all its inhabitants trying with effort to chew through the lifetime of sorrow they'd just been presented. It was hard to talk after all that, none of them knew what the most sensible thing to say was. After some time, Blake was the one to speak.

"So, if you're going after him I'm game. It's time to put a stop to his madness."

"Are you sure? He's your childhood friend and all…"

"Like I said, he's not who he was all those years ago. It's my fault he became like that, and I need to stop running from my mistakes." And looking at Yang, she added. "Besides, you're in no condition to fight. Your sister is going to need all the help she can get."

"Oh no, there's no way in hell I'm staying behind on this one! I'm fine, don't treat me like some sickly old lady."

"Adam is not someone to take on lightly, he's strong, way stronger than me! In your state you'd be a liability, and you'd end up getting hurt. You could lose an arm, or worse." Knowing her sister, she would not back down so easily, so Ruby decided to make her an ultimatum.

"Look, Yang, you're staying at home unless you want to be bait."

All eyes in the room turned to her in a flash, wide in bewilderment.

"What? It's a legit hunting strategy!"

"Really, sis? Bait? Ouch…"

"So, it's decided that Yang's not coming. What now?" Penny interjected for the first time since they had returned. From her expression, the huntress assumed she was, understandably, still scared.

"We plan ahead. No offense, but you girls lack strategy."

The man stood quietly in the middle of the open field, as if waiting for something unknown. Of course, 'he' was in fact waiting, and it was no man, but a carefully disguised hulking mass of marble, courtesy of Yang's wardrobe. Above the thick white stone, she wore pants, boots, a shirt and a jacket, all within the shades of orange and brown the blonde seemed to prefer. Penny wasn't accustomed to the feel of cloth against her skin, her own attire was just as marbley as her, but she did rather enjoy the autumn theme of the colors. Her head was partially covered by a large hat, casting shadows over her eyes.

The marble skin was an evident signal that she wasn't truly human, but within the darkness of the night even the enhanced eyes of their target wouldn't notice until it was too late. The idea of painting her in a soft pink to complete the camouflage had been thrown on the table, but it was eventually deemed excessive. Although not as much as Ruby's plan of building a scarecrow full of cough remedy, to put the creature to sleep when he ate it. It was something the archer had heard of in a story, but just the medicine alone would've been too costly for any of their limited purses.

She glanced around to check if her co-conspirators were in position, then started walking around as casually as possible. Her smell, or rather Yang's, since her material was essentially odorless, began to spread around the surrounding area to attract the intended guest. Leaving the brawler behind meant someone else had to take on the mantle of bait, and the golem had been the obvious choice. She was unmistakably the one best outfitted to take a punch from any colossal beast, plus she knew this predicament had been brought around for her sake, so she felt eager to repay the kindness whenever possible.

The wind was soft, the moon hung high in the sky, and Penny was starting to have second thoughts. It was taking too long, maybe the trap had been just as much of a failure as the previous one, the one intended for Blake. That fight had ended on a positive note solely because the raven-haired lycan had preferred talking to killing. If this new foe was as great as she said, the sculpture feared for her friend's lives.

Her fears were quelled, only to be relit once more, by the sound of a long and loud howl. Facing the sound, she could spot only a silhouette in the distance. It was covered in fur, head sharp and angular like a wolf, only three times the size of one. The enormous fiend was circling her from afar, letting his presence be noticeable to strike fear into her heart. It was a typical predatorial tactic, and it was most certainly working. She was terrified, there was absolutely no way they could survive that thing, much less defeat it.

An animal of instinct, it could smell the fear, feeling the prey losing composure, and it started to move forward, its four legs taking deliberately menacing steps towards the lonely victim. Penny moved back a few paces, from both the terror and the remembrance of the plan to lure the beast. It took all her self-control not to forsake the ploy and flee, but she knew there were others counting on her, others that did not have a built-in armor. She had to do this, al she needed was to get him to the right spot a little further...

The lycan stopped and sniffed the ground, before leaping over the concealed hole they had set up for him to fall in. They had figured he would notice, but it was an honest attempt just the same. The time had come for plan B, and the girl made of marble internally thanked Blake for her thorough scheming. Knowing the enemy was half the battle, and now they would test how well the two parties fared in the other half.

The stone girl put the right foot behind the left one, to get firmer footing, and tensed her legs, switching into a battle stance with her fists raised above. Staring at the ugly and furry face of danger, she inhaled and exhaled to calm herself. She reminded herself of the primary function her father had built her for, fighting and protecting. She was prepared to fall if it meant defending those she had recently found herself caring for. Her newfound confidence took form of a whisper in her lips. I'm combat ready!

They stared at each other, standing by the edge of the forest, tall pine trees marking the end of the field they had set for the confrontation. His walk turned into a full sprint, his shape growing bigger as he got closer. When he jumped at her, claws at the ready, Penny responded in kind by side stepping his attack, and leaving him open to external assault. The tip of the jacket was caught before she could completely dodge, tearing it at the sleeve, baring her smooth white skin for all to see.

The monster froze for a split second, confused by the inhuman shape now revealed to him, and the temporary hesitation soon proved to be a mistake, as two arrows flew in. One hit him in the shoulder, the other superficially perforating his side, barely missing the target. A third bolt joined in, but was struck right out of the air, useless now that the fiend had figured out the ruse.

Luckily, the hidden archer was not the only ace up their sleeve, and the marble girl avoided another blow in time to see a large black panther emerge from the shadows of the trees. After taking a swift strike to the head, the wolf-lycan opted for a retreat, now faced with overwhelming numbers. Pacing behind solely until he was out of range, he released a deep growl in frustration. His eyes were filled with rage and blood lust, and he never ceased to look at Blake, consumed by fury of seeing his old partner return.

There was another arrow, but he barely took the effort to deflect it. Trading a glance, the two bestial girls ran forward, each one taking one side of the opponent. Adam waited for them, before flexing his legs and jumping up, using on leg to vault over Penny's head and completely avoid the coordinated attack. His acrobatic stunt had him now positioned by his former partner's left, the panther trapped in between him and the statue.

He pressed his entire weight into a tackle that sent the raven-haired animal flying, stumbling with enough force to sweep her stony ally off her feet as well. They both collided with a nearby tree with a massive cracking sound. Blake ignored the noise, and went back to the fight, but Penny had other concerns in mind. It wasn't just any tree they'd had been thrown against, and she was almost certain it had been planned by their foe, as she heard a whimper just before Ruby tumbled with her back to the ground, her perch collapsing quickly. The sculpture's eyes widened as she powerlessly watched the entirety of the tree break and fall on top of her helpless friend.

Penny ran, trying to get the log off of the huntress. It's wasn't overly heavy, the reason why the silver-eyed girl still seemed to be alive, but the sheer size made it difficult to move. Behind them the fight seemed to stop, and voices could be heard in a fiery argument.

"Why are you doing this, Blake? Why must you hurt me?" he had a gravelly voice, hatred could be sensed in every word.

"Because you are insane!" The dark-haired girl's tone was a muffled cry, like her throat was clenched.

"Insane? I'm fighting for our freedom! Have you forgotten what they did to our families, our clan? Have you turned weak, living with enemy?"

"Is it weak to want peace? To want the bloodshed to end?"

Together, they managed to roll the trunk away, and Ruby recovered her breath, now that there wasn't anything pressing against her lungs. She appeared mostly fine, apart from the toll on her physical strength it had taken, clearly too spent to continue the struggle. Silently she motioned her colossal friend to flank the distracted Adam, while she hid behind the log, firing with her bow in safety.

Turning, Penny saw a lean and tall man with red hair grabbing the panther-lycan, now in human form too, by the neck, suspending her in mid-air. She stepped to the side, to avoid his line of sight, and snuck onto a critical position, waiting for the right moment.

"Peace is impossible! They will always hunt you and find you. Unless you find them first."

Adam screamed as his monologue was interrupted by an arrow hitting his arm, forcing him to drop Blake. In one smooth motion, he turned and leapt to the direction of the shot, reverting back to beast before he even landed. The archer tried to avoid the monster who was now completely focused on her, but her muscles weren't responding properly, and he managed to strike her arm with one of his claws.

Penny sprinted at them, but before she could get within reach, she saw a dark-red liquid pour from the huntress' forearm.

She'd seen blood before, but this was different.

It wasn't just blood.

It was Ruby's blood.

And Ruby's voice, screaming in pain.

Her friend. The one person who had trusted her, given her hope.

There was only one thought in her mind.

Destroy.

Destroy the one who hurt Ruby.

Make him pay.

All semblance of control abandoned her, she completely gave in to the monster within. She had been built to fight, and that was now her only directive. Nothing mattered, nothing but seeing Adam dead.

A yell escaped her lips, and the wolf looked over in time to see a golem jumping at him. She landed on top of him and straddled his chest, feeling legs pointlessly struggle underneath. Her biggest weakness might've been her weight, but it was now her strongest asset too, and the animal was caged under her. He tried to punch her, but she merely grabbed at his fists and twisted, hearing the sound of bones cracking.

Ignoring his howls of pain, she descended one fist on his face. Then, the other. Again, and again, and again.

"YOU… WILL… NOT… TOUCH… MY… FRIENDS!"

"YOU WILL… NOT… HURT RUBY!"

She lost count of how many times she'd pounded into his skull, smashed bone now mixed with blood and flesh in a messy pile of gore. She kept going, absolutely out of her mind, only stopping when she heard a loud pleading voice behind her.

"Penny, stop! He's already dead! Please, you're scaring me…"

The statue regained her senses, and saw what she'd done. Somehow the lycan was back in human form, and her hands were dripping crimson from the disgusting remains of what once had been his face. Getting up, Penny took a step to the red-hooded girl, concerned about her well-being.

"Are you okay?"

The other girl cringed and stepped back, avoiding her gaze. Her arm was now bandaged with the ripped sleeve of her now crimson shirt, but her eyes well filled with unspeakable horror. It was then that the realization hit Penny. Ruby was afraid of her.

"I think we should go home." Blake appeared from behind them, trying to fill the dreaded silence. She was slightly shaken as well, and refused to face the corpse of her former her partner.

"You go ahead, I think I need a moment." Ruby uttered the words while intensely staring at the floor.

The sculpture felt her arm being pulled, and she looked back one last time before walking away, filled with regret.

What the hell was that? She just flipped and… calm down, Ruby, there's still a job to do.

Breathing in deeply, the silver-eyed youngster approached the body and took out her hunting knife from her belt. It was a stroke of luck that the furry wolf ears were undamaged, surviving only for being soft and malleable in comparison to the rest of the skull. She removed them carefully, trying to contain her revolted stomach.

She was sure Blake would've objected to her actions. If the rumors were true, and the animal ears were the key to the lycan's transformation abilities, the raven-haired creature for sure would've though it unforgivable. Hence why Ruby had sent them away, wanting to see the task to the end no matter what.

She still had a contract to fulfill. Too much had happened, and she wasn't going to throw it all away. Not even after witnessing in shock what her marble friend was capable of.

She had a witch to visit.

Well, I guess there was no true love waiting for Adam this time. Too bad.

And if anyone had been wondering why the fic had an M rating since the start, this chapter was the reason. Pretty gorey imagery going on there.



I considered making Adam a Bull-shifter, because of his surname and clothing-motif, but in the end wolf made more sense to me. It's not just the Red Riding Hood theme, but the way his character is drawn, thin and edgy (badumtss) reminds me a lot of a wolf. He has a very sharp canine-like face.

I enjoyed reading your thoughts on Blake a lot, and I'm sure I'll enjoy whatever you have to say next. See you next time.

