UnEnchanted (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 1)

“Little girl, you should know better than to traverse dark alleys alone. Tch tch tch.” The familiar voice made Mina shudder in terror. How had he found her? It was the same man with the wolf tattoo who assaulted her behind the library. The man chuckled and sniffed the ripped piece of her jacket and began to rub it along his face as if learning her scent. His hands looked longer than humanly possible and his nails were dark and dirty.

“Leave me alone, or I’ll scream,” Mina threatened.

“Oooo. I like it when they scream,” The wolf man countered, taking another step forward. Using his long fingernails he tore the piece of cloth easily, like a knife through butter.

Mina bolted. Holding onto the notebook, she ran like crazy down the alley, desperately hoping to make it to the road before he caught her. But speed was on her attacker’s side as she was jerked backward by the hood of her jacket, smacking her tailbone against the pavement.

Mina jerked away as the man made a grab for the notebook. She bit his hand and he roared, the notebook fell and was flung open. Mina tried to scream, but he lunged for her throat and began to squeeze.

“Please, somebody help me!” Mina choked out. The wolf man was about to backhand her when a blurry form leapt toward him and knocked him off of her.

Coughing and scrambling away on her hands and knees, Mina grabbed the notebook and tried to make a run for it. One part of her told her to forget it, flight over fight, save her own skin. But another part needed to look, needed to see who it was that was helping her. Craning her neck, Mina saw and gasped. It was a young man who couldn’t have been older than seventeen. How could she abandon him? Mina froze, but she didn’t know how to help. The boy was definitely overpowered and outweighed, but he looked determined.

Wolf man lunged, the boy feinted to the right and sidestepped; turning, he spun his body into the older, stronger man and was able to land a side kick to his solar plexus. Grunting, he lowered his head and pretended to lower his guard. The dark-haired boy ran and was going to kick him in the face but the man lunged forward, snapping his jaws very similar to a real wolf and knocked the boy out of the air as if he were swatting a fly.

The boy landed on the ground and tried to roll but the wolf man was everywhere and soon the he was trapped within reach of the man’s huge forearms.

The man laughed evilly and grabbed the boy around his chest, lifting him into the air hoping to crush him.

“Use the book!” the boy yelled.

“What?” Mina asked.

“Turn the page.” He was struggling and losing the fight. “Think of something you’re scared of.”

Grabbing the notebook that had landed open, she flipped the page as a childhood fear flashed through her mind. She gasped as a bright light flooded the alley and the notebook grew warm to the touch. A loud buzzing noise grew in volume. Mina dropped the notebook as golden bees of light flew out of the book and straight for the man with the wolf tattoo. It looked to be painful, because he hollered and fell backward, crawling away from the bees. A few more whimpers followed, then he gave up and ran out of the alley, the light diminishing after him.

Mina looked in surprise at the boy, who was bent over catching his breath. “Grey Tail will be back, there’s no question about that. You need to be more careful.” The boy looked Mina over. “What was fate thinking, choosing you? And BEES? Really? That was the best you could come up with?

Mina turned to look at the boy. “What are you talking about?” she nearly cried, her voice raised in anxiety. “Who are you? Who’s Grey Tail, and how do you know about the book?”

“Doesn’t matter,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “We all know about the book. All you need to know was that I’m here now and he’s gone.” The boy put his hands in his pockets and didn’t make any move to come closer to Mina. She looked him over head to toe.

Mina took a few steps back away from the boy. “That’s not good enough. I’m in charge of protecting this and I need to know who you are and how you found me.”

The young man looked at Mina warily and spoke, “Don’t worry, girl. I have no interest in the Grimoire. Or in you.”

Mina’s mouth opened and closed in obvious shock. She had never been treated with such disdain – okay, maybe once or twice at school, but never from a perfect stranger.

“So you know about the Grimoire?”

“More than I want to,” he said, his lip curled in contempt He began to walk away, but Mina realized he might be her only chance at getting some answers.

“Wait! Are you a Grimm too?

He laughed. “Not on your life.”

“Then who are you?”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be asking who, but what.” He paused and looked at her.

An otherworldly chill ran over Mina’s skin and she swallowed nervously. “Okay, then what are you?”

He smiled and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Now that would be too easy, wouldn’t it? I suppose you’ll have to guess.”

Can’t you just tell me? I don’t have time to play twenty questions.” Mina asked, surprised at the desperation in her voice. The boy obviously knew the man with the wolf tattoo and about the family curse.