A Meadow Full Of Oak Trees

Prologue

16 years ago

Third Person's PoV

The village people gathered on the village hall to discuss the matter of a plan.
A plan to rid their village of the ruthless killer they called Claw. He would come every month without fail and kill a single person. No more, no less. Just one. And no one knew when no one knew who, just once a month and one person. It had been happening for years. And they wanted him gone. They discussed setting a trap for him and capturing him, but no one knew how to make a trap. They considered giving him a peace offering of poisoned food, but no one had any poison.
Then the old man of the third house down on main street spoke up "How about a sacrifice? An innocent for our lives?"
People nodded in agreement with the idea, then it would be only one life against the fifty of the village. Well forty nine.
"But who would we sacrifice?" Someone from the crowd said.
Then from the edges of the hall a baby cried. The orphaned child who was beloved by her parents but sadly they had died in a fire not a few months before. No one wanted the child really but it was fed and watered most days. They could rid the village of the screaming at three am and the constant bickering over whose house tit would sleep at next.
The village unanimously agreed to give the baby as the sacrifice and to leave it in the square where the body of the victim was always found for Claw to find. With a large sign saying "sacrifice for our lives".

Claw's PoV

I walk into the little village, it could be on a postcard if the people weren't so stupid. But I still come here for the monthly kill. It's fun to see them traumatised. I don't normally kill anyone just torture for a payment but this town is ridiculous, the amount of people who have no life or are just pointless to society is honestly heartbreaking. So I kill one a month just to slice up their boring lives.
But today as I walk into the tiny village square there's a Moses basket sat there with a large banner that looks hand painted, these really don't have lives, that says please take this as a final kill. An innocent for our lives.
Slightly confused by what they mean I walk to the Moses basket and peer inside to see a pair of big, grey eyes staring back at me, a head of toffee coloured hair and tanned skin. The baby has no blanket wrapped around it on the cold night, only a nappy and the basket. Quickly I remove my coat and wrap the child in it, holding it to my chest. I pick up the Moses basket and carry the child home to my mansion not too far from the village.
"Emma!" I shout my maid's name needing her help for this situation. I would trust Emma with my life. She's been here for me since before I can remember and right now I could really use a woman's input.
She appears round the corner, wiping her hands on her apron and leaving trails of flour behind.
"Yes sir?" She says looking up before squealing out "Is that a baby?"
"Indeed it is Emma. How very observant of you. I shall explain later how I came in possession of the child but for now we don't have supplies for a baby so take any money you need from the safe and go out and buy food and nappies and all that stuff, and I'll stay here and order the baby room stuff. What colour shall we go for?"
"Frost blue sir." She says.
"Very well. Frost blue it is. Now go before the shops close."
She nods at me before scurrying off to the money room and out the door five minutes later.