Disclaimer: I am not Mercedes Lackey and while I like to think that I can do her justice, yeah. She's so much better than me! I'm just playing in her world. I do own Sabrina, Erika and the various people that you don't recognize. Please don't steal them!
AN: Okay. This is a little out there. It's a cross over with Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, although I don't use any of the BtVS characters. I'm just using the ideas that the wonderful Josh Whedon created.
Chapter 2.
Bumps in the Night
It had been six moons since Sabrina had found her way to The Companion's Rest. She had decided against continuing to Haven, since she didn't know her aunt and Erika had become a surrogate mother to her. She had become close to several members of the village and her days were full of laughter as the more outgoing girls told her of their exploits as littles.
She was chatting with one of her closest friends in the village, Andria, when Erika walked in, a serious expression on her face. Sabrina noticed the expression and queried her, "What's wrong?"
Erika looked at her. "I don't know," she said shaking her head. "There have been reports of possible monsters coming out of the Pelagiris Forest."
Andria shuddered and quickly bade them farewell to finish shopping for her mother. Sabrina looked at Erika. "Monsters out of the Pelagiris? Could it be Hawkbrothers?"
Erika shook her head. "Contrary to popular belief, the Hawkbrothers are not in the habit of attacking villages." She sighed. "It concerns me."
Sabrina looked at her in confusion. "Why? The Pelagiris Forest is far enough away from here that the Guard will be able to protect us from any monsters."
"It's just a feeling," Erika replied somberly. "Well, worrying about it won't do anything about it and I've been told that Heralds have carried the news to Queen Selenay, so hopefully Herald-Mage Elspeth and Adept Darkwind can prevent anything from happening."
Sabrina smiled, feeling confident in the heroes' ability to save the day. "They saved us from the Mage Storms." She had seen several Heralds pass through the village of Sweetgrain, named for the sweet grains that were grown there for horse feed. She admired the beautiful white Companions that they rode on and while she wasn't sure if she believed the tales of Companions talking to their Heralds, she had seen intelligence shining in their eyes. The Heralds, all dressed in the white uniform of their calling, were very friendly and she never had to fear them making inappropriate comments to her. She felt at ease with them more than she did anyone except for Erika herself.
Erika started to say something when a stream of customers entered the inn. Without a word, both women went to work.
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Sabrina dropped into her bed a little after midnight. The dinner rush had been busier than usual. She had heard some interesting bits of conversation about the Monsters coming out of the Pelagiris Forest. From what she had overheard, they looked just like humans, but were completely vicious. Members of the village militia were going to be stepping up their training, just in case the monsters made it to the village. Sighing, she put her sleeping shift on and crawled under the covers, too exhausted to do anything but close her eyes.
She was running through a dark alleyway, hearing footsteps come closer to her. Sabrina turned around quickly, seeing the deformed face of the man chasing her. She gasped for breath, trying to lengthen the distance between them as fear overcame her. She turned out of the alleyway and onto the open road. She saw a house in the distance and put on a burst of speed, hoping to make it to safety. She had just made it to the gate when she felt the monster's hand grab her. She tried to scream, but the sound was muffled by his hand. She stared, with wide eyes, as he lowered his face to her neck.
Sabrina awoke with a gasp, her mind overflow with the images she had seen. Shaking her head, she sat up in the bed, telling herself that it was just a bad dream; she just had an overactive imagination. But as much as she tried to convince herself, she wasn't sure if that was true.
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A couple of days had passed since Sabrina had the dream. It had not made a reoccurrence, so she put it out of her mind. There was still a slight undercurrent of uneasiness throughout the village. She noticed that people still continued about their business, but with more caution. Rarely would you see anyone about the village on their own, and after dark—well let's just say that there was very little activity.
As a result of the tension, business at the inn was fairly busy during daylight hours, but after dark, it dropped dramatically to just the customers at the inn. Sabrina and Erika took the respite with a sigh of relief. It gave them time to thoroughly scrub and fix anything that needed it.
Sabrina was also taking the time to make some new clothes for the upcoming Harvest Festival. She wanted something more festive than her current skirts and blouses.
So she was working on embroidering the skirt when Erika walked in, looking very nervous.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Erika looked up at her. "Letter from my niece who lives near the Pelagiris. Says that the rumors of monsters are true and people are just disappearing from the villages at night. No sound, very little signs of struggle. The Guard has stepped up their presence, but the abductions are still occurring."
Sabrina drew her brows together. "Do they know what these monsters look like? How can we defend against them?"
Erika shook her head. "No one who has seen them is around any longer."
Sabrina shivered a bit. "That's—That's just scary."
Erika nodded somberly. "It is certainly unnerving." She looked around at the empty room. "I think I'll retire for the night."
Sabrina nodded, coming to the end of her pattern. "I think I shall, too. See you in the morning."
The next moon passed in much the same way. The thread of uneasiness that had woven itself throughout the village just seemed to grow tauter. Sabrina kept having the same dream of being attacked, sometimes the dream continued until she felt teeth biting her neck, other times, it stopped just as she was grabbed. Needless to say, she wasn't sleeping well.
She also noticed that the people were a lot less carefree. Even Andria was more subdued. They still met up a couple of times throughout the fortnight, but didn't talk for very long. Each of them seem to be rushing to complete everything that required leaving the safety of the indoors, so when Andria came running into the inn breathless, both Erika and Sabrina were startled.
"Did—did you hear?" Andria panted out.
"Hear what, childing?" Erika asked her.
"Widow Dosley has gone missing," she stated. "Happened last night. She was out at the baker's and got to talking to the baker's wife. She swore she'd be fine, since she just lives a few houses down, but she never made it home. They found her basket of bread by her door this morning."
Sabrina gasped in horror. "Lady Bright!"
Erika looked at both of them. "This weirdness is just getting worse. Sabrina, do not go anywhere alone and do not go out after dark. Andria, you'd better get home to your parents, before they start to worry."
Andria nodded. "Yes, ma'am," she responded as she turned to walk out of the end.
Sabrina looked at the serious expression that had overtaken her mentor's face. "I'll make sure all of the shutters and doors are locked tight before we retire."
Erika nodded her acknowledgement and both went on with their day. After closing, Sabrina went around to make sure that all the shutters were secured and the locks fastened against unwelcome visitors, then went to bed.
Marks later, a sound awoke her from her slumber. Sabrina sat up, feeling a touch of fear at the unexpected sound. Grabbing a robe, she wrapped it around her body before carefully opening her door. She peered up and down the hall, looking for the source of the sound, but not seeing anything.
Bang!
She turned her head, cursing under her breath that there were no customers staying in the inn. "Erika?" she called out tentatively, but got no response. She turned and made her way to her bedside table, to grab the candle that she had left there. Turning, she lit it from the banked coals in the fireplace. Slowly she gathered her courage and walked towards the stairs. She walked down the stairs, cautiously making her way towards the banging noise, coming from the kitchen.
As she drew near the doorway to the kitchen, her candle began to flutter. Cupping her hand around the flame to protect it, she glanced into the kitchen and noticed the door flapping wide open and banging against the wall of the inn.
Feeling panic rise in her chest, she ran towards the door, looking to see what had caused the door to open. She started at the door in puzzlement, when she saw that the latch was intact. "Erika?" she called out again, seeing if she was in the courtyard, but still no response.
Sighing in frustration and fear, she closed the door and latched it shut again. Worried she made her way to Erika's room, only to find it empty.
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AN: Thanks for reading! Please review!
