Was there a better feeling than the kiss of moonlight? Its soft, pale glow gave my dark fur and silvery sheen. I pawed amongst the dark conifers at a leisurely pace and occasionally howled into the empty canopy above. It was a lonely life as the de facto protector of the Grimm Forest. I cackled low and dryly at the absurdity of it. 'The Big Bad Wolf'. I hadn't harmed anyone in decades. Nevertheless, someone needed to keep the more mischievous fable figures in check, and even with a bit of bemoaning, it was a responsibility that I was apt for.

My lupine ears snapped to attention at the sound of tiny footsteps, skipping to be exact, along the forest's main trail. To hear the gait of a tiny human at this witching hour; in a black flash I made for the sound.

I crept from the shadows of oak trees, glancing a ruby cloak as it disappeared around the bend. The humming was clear now, some nursery rhyme or the other. The distance was closed, and from a new vantage point could I make out the nimble features of a young girl. Bathed in moonlight herself, the child appeared far too comfortable. Some primal instinct begged that I ignore the matter entirely but how pathetic would it be to leave a helpless whelp lost in the forest? Perhaps I'd developed too much of a conscious.

Tact did not befit me, and approached with all the couth that a hulking lycanthrope could muster. I was only a few meters away on the trail when the child spun on her heels, giving her crimson cloak and fanciful flourish, "What a big doggy!"

Her voice was high-pitched, squeaky even, yet betrayed a certain intelligence that lit my instincts ablaze with caution; her features soon affirmed my sixth sense. Beady, crimson eyes, pale unblemished skin and two inch-long fangs. A vampire. The little angel of blood rocked on her heels while swinging a rather large picnic basket, "I've always wanted a big doggy..." With preternatural speed, the girl's hand darted inside the basket, retrieving a thick leather collar.