Title: The Monster's Alphabet

Author: alliterator

Summary: A series of vignettes, from Adam to Zookeeper. Spoilers for all seven seasons.

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine; everything belongs to the great and power Whedon.

Hansel and Gretel

Takes place in 1249

"There are demons that thrive on fostering persecution and hatred among the mortal animals. Not on destroying men, but on watching them destroy each other. They feed us our darkest fear, and turn peaceful communities into vigilantes."

 - Giles in Gingerbread

Gregory moved through the forest, leaving footprints in fresh snow. The snow was so think in some places that his boot would sink in almost all the way.

"Quickly, it's over here," he heard Sam say. Sam had come to him an hour before and told him that there were bodies in the wood and that he should come quickly. "We're almost there," Sam said.

"How much farther is it?" Gregory asked. He was the local constable and he was obligated to investigate, but he would much rather be at home in front of the fireplace and not out here, treading through snow.

"Only about half a farthing," Sam said. Gregory wondered if Sam had just imagined what he saw. Sam wasn't the brightest – he was mildly retarded, but hid it well. Gregory kept this secret from the other townspeople – after all, Sam was a good enough person – but now he wondered if perhaps Sam had started hallucinating.

Suddenly, Sam stopped dead in his tracks. "We're here," he said. He raised his hand and pointed at a clearing up ahead. "They're in there. I don't want to go any further."

"I'll go," Gregory said. "You can stay here." Sam nodded his head and Gregory entered the clearing.

At first, all he saw was snow. And then he saw them. Faces sticking out of the snow, skin blue, frozen. Two of them. Children. They were only children. Gregory ran to where they were buried and frantically started to dig them out, hoping against hope that they were alive, but knowing in his heart that they had succumbed to killing frost.

As he uncovered their bodies – which were covered in rags, entirely inadequate for this type of weather – Gregory noticed something else. There was a mark upon their hands. When he examined it, he saw that it was a symbol of a half-moon and three stars.

"Witches," Gregory whispered. "I'll make them burn for this."

And back in the woods, Sam, shivering, turned to the little boy and girl and said, "I did good, didn't I?"

"Yes," the little boy said.

"But," the little girl said, "you have to make the bad people pay now."