"Miss Lina? Mister Gourry? Mister Zelgadis?" Amelia wandered through a forest, separated from the group. Fog was settling in, making it harder for her to see where she was going.
"Where is everyone?" Amelia was near tears.
A noise in the nearby thicket caught her attention.
"Miss Lina?" Amelia stepped cautiously closer to the source of the sound.
Instead of her companion, a huge snarling wolf jumped out at her! Amelia gasped and fell backward, but caught herself before she hit the ground. In a quick motion she sidestepped the wolf, then cast a spell.
"Burst Flare!"
Nothing happened! Amelia gasped in shock, scrambling out of the way as the wolf lunged at her again. Amelia turned and fled, looking for a safe haven.
The wolf pursued after her.
"Miss Lina! Mister Gourry! Mister Zelg-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" Amelia screamed as the wolf bit into her leg, causing her to fall to the ground.
"Help me, PLEASE!!" Amelia, beyond hysterical, screamed for all she was worth.
The wolf pounced on her neck. Amelia let out one last blood-curdling scream as the wolf bit into her throat, silencing her cries forever...
"GAH!" Zelgadis shot straight up in bed. His heart beat rapidly as he tried to catch his breath.
"Uh? What'sa matter?" Gourry was startled out of sleep.
Zelgadis looked about trying to orient himself. It was a dream...he was still in his room, now with a puzzled Gourry looking at him with concern.
"Zelgadis? Everything okay?" Gourry yawned.
Zelgadis relaxed back into his bed. "Yes, sorry. It was just a bad dream."
"Well it's over now so you can go back to sleep." Gourry lay back down and resumed snoring.
A dream...but what had happened to scare him so badly? Whatever it was, it left a horrible sense of dread.
RATTLE! RATTLE! RATTLE!
Lina rolled over in her sleep.
SCRITCH! SCRATCH! SCRITCH!
"Mm..go 'way." Lina was not about to wake up.
RATTLE! RATTLE! ...CREEEAK...
Sleep suddenly was the last thing on Lina's mind. That couldn't have been a good sound. Lina lifted her head off of her pillow and looked about the room. Her eyes picked up on the door. The door that was currently open. Lina looked about to have her fears confirmed: the room was empty!
Lina cried out in alarm as she shot out of bed. In her haste she got tangled in the bed sheets and fell onto the floor in a heap.
"I still think you're worrying about nothing. Did you really have to get up so early?" Gourry yawned tiredly.
"If you had seen what I saw, you would be wide awake too." Zelgadis grumped. He hadn't exactly wanted to wake up before sunrise either!
"Yeah, I guess." Gourry was too tired to put up much of a fight.
"Shh!" Zelgadis hushed Gourry. "Did you hear that?"
Zelgadis and Gourry were silent as they strained their ears to hear.
WHUMP!
"Lina's awake." Gourry noted.
"She doesn't sound very thrilled." Zelgadis added.
"Think we should go check on her?"
"May as well." Zelgadis sighed.
The two men left their room and crossed the hall over to Lina's.
"The door's open. That can't be good." Gourry poked his head in. "Lina?"
Lina was hopping about the room in an attempt to get dressed quickly. "Don't just stand there! Go after her!"
Gourry and Zelgadis blinked in confusion. They realized what Lina meant just as they heard a scream.
"Amelia!"
Zelgadis took off down the hall, toward the source of the scream. After Lina finally got the rest of her clothes on, she and Gourry followed.
When Zelgadis got to the bottom of the stairs, he found an old woman seated on the floor clutching her chest.
"What happened?" Zelgadis asked.
"I wa-was just stepping out, when this monstrous wolf charged at me! It knocked me aside and ran out the door." The old woman caught her breath, then looked up to see who she was talking to. She screamed again, and scooted away as fast as she could. "DEMON!!"
Zelgadis panicked and ran out of the inn! He quickly lowered his hood over his face as he looked for Amelia.
There! Zelgadis spotted Amelia dashing away at top speed and gave chase.
"Amelia, stop! Where are you going?" Zelgadis could see she was hearing him, so why was she still running?
Zelgadis continued to chase Amelia, until she dashed into an alley, only to find a dead end!
"Come on Amelia, stop this! What's wrong?" Zelgadis gasped as the wolf turned to face him.
Amelia snarled viscously at him, a yellow gleam in her eyes. As Zelgadis approached, she bared her teeth, snarling louder, and laying her ears flat against her head.
"Amelia, it's me, Zelgadis." he cautiously stepped closer.
If Amelia recognized him, she didn't show it. She became more agitated as he approached, then finally lashed out at him, clamping her jaws down on his arm.
Zelgadis grit his teeth. He didn't feel any pain since the wolf's sharp teeth couldn't pierce through his skin, but he knew he could cause Amelia serious harm if he jerked his arm away. He also didn't want her getting away, so he gripped her collar with his free arm.
Amelia growled at him, but held fast.
"Amelia, you can't give in to this. Think about what you're doing!" Zelgadis pleaded.
"Sleeping!"
Zelgadis looked up in time to see Lina leap down from the rooftop, and tap Amelia's forehead. Zelgadis saw the wolf fight to stay awake, but the spell was too strong. Just before she succumbed entirely, her eyes returned to their normal blue hue.
Zelgadis saw what looked to be a tear trickle out of the corner of her eye, then the wolf collapsed into a heap.
"You okay?" Lina asked Zelgadis.
"I'm just fine." Zelgadis frowned as he freed his arm from the wolf's slack jaws.
"What's the matter?"
Zelgadis looked at Lina. "We need to get her to Seyruun, now."
Lina could see the fear in Zelgadis' eyes, not needing any further explanation.
"Hey Lina, why'd you leave me behind?" Gourry yelled from the rooftop.
Zelgadis continued to give Lina a serious look, then knelt down to gather up the sleeping wolf.
Lina looked up at Gourry, who was now climbing down the side of the building as best he could. "Gourry, be-"
Gourry lost his grip and fell the rest of the way to the ground, landing on his feet. He cringed from the sudden impact.
"Never mind." Lina shook her head as she walked over to Gourry. "You okay, Gourry?"
Gourry rubbed his feet for a moment. "Yeah, I'm fine. What about you, Zelgadis?"
"Yes, but Amelia won't be if we don't hurry." Zelgadis sounded deadly serious.
"We will, Zel, after we take an extra precaution." Lina countered.
"What kind of precaution?" Gourry asked.
"We were lucky that Amelia decided to take a bite out of Zel. I want to make sure she doesn't try to sample anyone else." Lina replied.
"What do you mean?" Gourry blinked.
"Just come on." Lina led the somber group out of the alley.
Man, I was hoping to make this chapter much longer, but...Writer's Block has struck! That, and our cherry tree decided to produce a TON of fruit this year, so I've spent the past week up a tree. (The joys of living in the country. At least I like these kind of cherries! -Not to be confused with pie cherries. *gag*) I actually have a very good idea of where this story is going, I just got totally hung up on one stinking line of dialogue! I've been working through it slowly, and hopefully I'll be back to writing a few pages every other night soon.
Also many thanks to everyone who left feedback! I couldn't believe how many reviews I got for the last chapter! (I guess I must be doing something right.) ^_^
Blah, I spoke too soon. I've just been asked to go pick the dreaded pie cherries, so I'd better get this up! See you all next chapter, provided I haven't fallen out of a tree...