AN: I swear I haven't forgotten this story!

Psychometry

Chapter Two

Revelations

The ballroom was filled with people dancing, drinking and feasting, but Maria's eyes kept darting fervently around the room, scanning for signs of her daughter. Sarah's dress was impossible to miss, made of the finest silks and a dazzling array of blues and greens to bring out her eyes.

And yet Maria couldn't find her at all.

"Richard," she murmured, barely resting a hand on his arm, worry creasing the lines around her eyes. "I don't think I've seen Sarah at all for the last half hour." Another look around the room revealed that both the young earl, Adam-or-something (Maria had hardly paid him attention after introductions) and Sarah's young lady-in-waiting, Tanya, were present, and yet, Sarah was nowhere to be found.

Richard was otherwise occupied with a swathe of noblemen all vying for an audience with the king, a chance to impress. "Don't worry, darling, I'm sure she's alright. You know how she is - probably fussing with her hair or throwing one of those tantrums of hers where she stalks off into a corner."

Maria pursed her lips, wanting to believe him but realizing that something in her gut told her otherwise. Her mind kept playing over Sarah's worried question about curses, and she had done her best to wave off those concerns, but deep down, Maria had reason to worry.

Try as she might, she had never forgotten the night that completely changed their lives. She remembered the haunting gaze of the Erlking, the sibilant hiss in his whisper of wishes granted and promises made. She and Richard had grown complacent, having once lived with the shadow of their fear hanging over them, waiting for the Erlking to come and collect his debt. But as the years passed and Sarah grew, they allowed themselves a reprieve from the worry, almost as if they had dreamt it.

But they hadn't, had they?

A fear had always lingered in the back of Maria's mind, gnawing at her deep in the night when Richard lay snoring beside her and Sarah was safely tucked away in her own rooms. She had to wonder if perhaps the debt being collected was that Sarah would live a lonely, spinster life. She would never marry, never bear children, never -

And then she would usually cut off that train of thought because what good did it do?

No, their family - Sarah - wasn't cursed, that was just ridiculous.

Lost in her own reveries and worries, loud gasps and startled cries tethered Maria back to the present, and her gaze instantly grew sharp as she saw the flames on the candles burst before winking out, like a sudden wind had streaked across the room.

"Richard?" She questioned, a twinge of panic creeping into her voice. "What's going on?"

Richard's brow creased, and he stood from his spot at the center of the table, staring directly down the makeshift aisle toward the grand double doors.

Before he could supply any word of response, the doors slammed open as if on their own.

The large room seemed to be overtaken by a sudden chill, and the rising murmurs of panicked guests began to reach a crescendo.

And then, just as soon as the chaos had begun, a hush descended upon the crowd.

Maria frowned, brows furrowing as a silhouette appeared in the doorway, pale moonlight illuminating them from behind.

The blood then drained from Maria's face as the shadow took more concrete form, details slowly emerging to unmistakably appear in the form of her greatest savior and biggest regret.

"Well, well, well," a soft drawl called from the figure, who slowly proceeded down the aisle left open for him. As he walked by, the candles slowly flickered back to life, an eerie processional for the forgotten Erlking. "I see you've thrown another party for the guest of honor, and yet I find that I have once again been waylaid." A sharp tsk.

"Richard," Maria murmured, grasping his upper arm tightly. "He's here…he's here and where is Sarah?"

Richard was too stunned to respond, slowly moving from around the table to stand at the top of the low set of stairs. The inhuman face gazing up at him from the aisle looked at him expectantly, a small curve of a barely there smile taunting him as if to say 'miss me?'

"It's…it's been years…" Richard trailed off, mouth hanging slightly ajar. "I…we…"

The Erlking raised a winged brow. "We had a deal." He paused, mismatched eyes boring into Richard's before a sudden mock sympathy glittered in them. "Or don't tell me you've forgotten…" he trailed off, allowing the two petrified mortals to stare at him in horror.

Clasping his hands behind his back, the Erlking straightened once more, as though he was being merely conversational. "Well, let me remind you then. In exchange for healing your daughter of her horrible affliction, you agreed to pay any price." He paused, letting his words sink in. "And I've come to collect," he finished softly, a ghost of a smile playing at his lips, as though this was all inevitable. And in a way, it had been.

Maria swallowed past the lump in her throat, fighting the thudding beat of her heart against her chest. Something told her this payment he was looking for would be something she would not be willing to give. And if she didn't give it, then what? She had no doubt that the ramifications would be even worse than this. Perhaps she had always known in the back of her mind since that fateful night that the payment he would come looking for would be too great. But then, she had also grown complacent with time, slowly forgetting the encounter altogether, as though it had all been some nightmare that finally found its end. Besides, she had told herself at the time that any price would be worth saving Sarah.

"Your price?" She ventured, internally relieved that while her voice sounded timid and small, it did not break.

"I've already found it," he grinned, a smile all sharp teeth and guile.

With ambarely visible movement of his wrists, the Erlking produced several glowing baubles that seemed to grow larger in size before bursting into a shimmer of sparkling dust, blocking Maria and Richard's vision as he disappeared from sight.

The dust cleared, and the sight before them elicited a strangled cry from Maria's mouth and a curse from Richard's lips.

There, tucked against the crook of the Erlking's arms, lay Sarah's slumbering form, still dressed in the same attire from the party. It was as though she had merely decided she had been too tired to continue with the revelry and promptly took a doze. Nestled limply in between her palms on her lap lay a half eaten peach.

"What have you done to her?" Richard seethed, taking a step forward. For once, he couldn't seem to summon any of the fear that lurked close to the surface when reference to the Erlking and all memories of that night dredged back up. "Put her down!" He roared.

"Richard!" Maria tried to grab for his wrist to no avail. She darted glances between him and the Erlking. All she could think was that they had to do whatever they could to ensure that Sarah was safe. One wrong move, and maybe the Erlking would take his anger out on her.

Exasperated, Maria turned fully to the Erlking. "Why her? What could you possibly want with her?"

The Erlking's eyes narrowed, as though she had asked a treacherous question. Maria thought it was perfectly fair to wonder why this immortal, otherworldly being had any interest in their daughter. Her heart skipped a beat, recalling tales long ago told that the Erlking snatched away children, either turning them into ugly monsters, devouring them, and sometimes altogether making them disappear.

But Sarah wasn't a child any longer…shouldn't that have counted for something? Why would the Erlking care nearly two decades later?

"What I want with her certainly has no bearing on you. As far as I am concerned, we made a deal, and you promised to grant payment for any price I asked."

Maria tried to force down the venom that she wanted to unleash, talking about her daughter as though she were chattel.

Before she could risk exposing herself to the Erlking's wrath, the young suitor chose this moment to intervene. Maria nearly cursed, wishing the boy didn't decide now of all times to try and be a hero.

"Unhand her!" Adam marched up to the small congregation that held the entire room hostage. To his credit, his voice did not waver. Maria had to assume that he truly wasn't bright if he couldn't recognize that what they were dealing with was no ordinary human. "She is to be my betrothed," he announced it so confidently, and Maria would've stifled a laugh at how stupid he looked had the stakes not been so high.

Maria saw the shift in the Erlking's expression as he turned to appraise the young man storming up to him. She couldn't help but think the boy looked more like a puppy than a lion while the Erlking had all the predatory grace of a hunter. He'll eat him alive.

"Well now, that is certainly news to me." The Erlking smiled, like a cat that had just found its prey.

Adam puffed his chest ever so slightly, brown eyes glowing with a challenge in them. "Set her down. Whatever this is, surely it can be resolved without all of…this," he nodded around vaguely, as if suddenly realizing for the first time that he truly had no idea what he had just walked into. Which he didn't. No one in this room could understand, and Maria couldn't ignore the fact that all the gossip and rumors would only grow. Not that it mattered at this point.

"I'm afraid that isn't going to happen." The Erlking feigned looking apologetic, though it was clear he most certainly was not. "She is already my betrothed, after all."

Gasps and startled murmurs suddenly swelled in the room, as though whatever spell the Erlking's entry had caused finally lifted. People glanced between the main players on stage, the night having suddenly gone from a party to a sordid affair.

Maria couldn't focus on any one thing that was being said, her ears pounding with her rushing blood.

That can't be true, her mind whispered on repeat. She found herself desperately flipping through her memories of that night, trying to recall exactly what was said and what wasn't. She remembered Richard trying to barter and the Erlking rejecting him. Scenes flew through her mind, distorted and unfocused, but she always remembered the fact that he had never shown interest in what they offered.

His words from that night suddenly came unbidden, as though locked away in the far recesses of her mind, tucked so far back so that she would never have to remember.

"'Nothing good in life is free.'"

Before Maria could do anything further, Adam drew his sword, impulsive and determined and frightfully careless. But then next to her, she could see the fury in Richard's eyes. He was rarely ever prone to anger, these last six months notwithstanding, but this was perhaps the most frightening he had ever looked.

"GUARDS! Seize this man!"

"No!" Maria shouted, her voice drowned out by the din of panic that began to rise in the crowd. The sound of metal as swords were withdrawn from their sheathes created a cacophony of chaos, and people were suddenly screaming, rushing toward the doors.

The Erlking stayed rooted to his spot, Maria noticing the barest tightening of his grip around Sarah.

He shifted Sarah's prone form to rest fully in the crook of his right arm as he turned back toward the doors, left arm outstretched.

They shuttered with a bang as loud as when he had opened them. Partygoers that had nearly made it shrieked in terror when that exit had been closed off. Like startled sheep, they all began to turn immediately in search of another exit, but the Erlking went ahead and slammed those shut, all with the casual flick of his wrist.

Adam rushed towards him, sword drawn. The glint in his eyes showed he aimed to mortally wound the Erlking, despite the fact that it would take more than a blade to bring down an immortal.

The Erlking didn't so much as flinch as the boy drew closer, nor did he make to move.

"Careful, you try to cut me down, and you'll only end up hurting my bride. I don't think any of us will like that outcome," he said as though it were a joke. "Her least of all."

Adam faltered clumsily as he registered the Erlking's words, noticing that he in fact did not seem poised to move or avoid his attack.

Just then, it was as if the air had been sucked out of the room.

The screaming and chaos from just mere moments ago went silent while people stood rooted to their spots in whatever last moment of action they had been about to take. They all looked like a macabre still-life painting, no one able to make a sound or so much as take the tiniest of steps.

But they could hear.

The Erlking gave a smug smile to Richard and Maria, who stood before him frozen with terror, their eyes barely able to track him.

It was at this moment that Sarah slowly came to, eyes hazy and unfocused with sleep. She felt something warm pressed against the left half of her body, and she nearly leaned into it before waking fully with a start.

She was supposed to have been at the party!

And she was…until that strange man had appeared. As if on cue, Sarah caught a glimpse of the half-eaten peach in her hand, deceptively benign. But Sarah knew that it was the reason she was so out of sorts. The last memory she had was biting into the peach, as if caught in a trance.

Sarah then felt that warm something against her body move, and she realized belatedly it was someone's chest rising and falling.

Looking up, she found herself gazing into the mismatched stare of someone who she could only describe as otherworldly. She felt herself getting lost for a moment, wondering why he looked so familiar despite having never seen him before.

Dread pooled in her stomach as she suddenly recalled why he looked so familiar.

Scrabbling against him, Sarah pushed off his chest, clawing wildly.

"Let me go! Now!" She snarled. "You did this to me!" Sarah accused, holding up the offending peach before letting it drop from her hands, as if holding it alone left her vulnerable to its effects.

"It was merely a gift," his voice was low and, to her irritation, there seemed to be a thread of humor coloring his tone. If this was his idea of a joke, it was sick.

Sarah was about to lay into him again, when she abruptly stopped. She slowly looked around, as if having only recognized where she was. The ballroom, when she last left it, had been teeming with people dancing, drinking and laughing along with bursts of lively music filling the space.

Turning to look behind her, she saw the frozen figures of her mother and father. Her father's face was stuck with his mouth open, as though he were yelling while her mother's facce was panic-stricken, green eyes wide with terror. Sarah then noticed the way her mother's eyes slowly moved, as though she were fighting whatever held her in place and desperately trying to make eye contact with her.

Sarah felt her heartbeat thud violently, her thoughts becoming muted by the dull roar in her ears.

"What's happening…" she murmured softly, slowly turning back around to take stock of the whole room.

Everyone around her was as stuck as her parents, some mid-fleeing, others with their arms raised in panic against the closed doors. A glass of wine was suspended midair after getting knocked in the fray, the contents half-way out, having yet to spill on the floor.

She turned in a daze, eyes catching the sight of Adam, his hands gripping his sword above his head, a snarl permanently etched on his face. Sarah tried to locate Tanya but couldn't find a glimpse of her in the frozen chaos.

Tearing her gaze away from the haunting scene before her, she looked to the Erlking.

"You did this…" her voice was soft, a statement, not a question.

At his stoic gaze, Sarah felt her fists ball up, a warm flush spreading between her chest and up her neck.

"You did this." She this time projected her voice, allowing all her anger and indignation to color it, to show this strange being that she was not about to cower before him as she suspected he wanted her to. "Undo this! Right now!" She yelled.

"Sarah, please. Your indignation, while endearing to be sure, does not have a long shelf-life with me."

Sarah's face twisted with fury. "Why are you doing this?" She thought that maybe if she could at least understand what his motivations are, she could work out some sort of solution. There had to be a reason, no matter how insane this outcome currently was. "I don't even know you!"

"Well, consider me heartbroken." The Erlking placed a hand over his heart mockingly, as though with just a few words, Sarah had shattered him. "I would think your parents would've at least mentioned me a time or two considering I did save your life."

"What…?" Sarah's anger ebbed away fractionally as confusion began to seep in. "I don't…no,' she shook her head. "We've never met." Her tone was firm.

"Well, maybe you'd believe me if I gave your dear mother a chance to explain."

Sarah's eyes widened as she turned to look back at her mother's frozen form.

As if an unseen force had released its hold on her, Maria choked out a gasp. She was still unable to move the rest of her body, but at least she could speak.

Not that these were words she ever wanted to share. She had hoped (naively, this she now realized) that what they had offered that night to the Erlking could be forgotten with time. Maria felt it was blasphemous to think this, but there was a part of her that thought if she had known what the outcome of his so-called generosity would end up being, she may have never sought him out.

Maria internally recoiled at the turn her thoughts took, at the idea of preferring to let her only child succumb to death.

But then, what kind of life would this be, trapped with the Erlking? She couldn't even begin to fathom what he would want.

Taking a shuddering breath, Maria felt tears welling in her eyes as she stared at what felt like her own reflection whenever she looked at Sarah too closely.

"You have to understand that what we did was out of love for you. You must understand this." Her tone was pleading but firm, willing Sarah to sense the sincerity in her voice.

Sarah's eyes widened in shock.. Tremors wracked through her, all sense of imperiousness and fury slowly leeching out.

"So you know him?" Her voice was a tiny whisper, almost sounding like a child's. Maria felt the hurt and confusion in them just as it was plainly on Sarah's face. "So…so when I asked…" Her voice grew in volume, sounding even louder amidst the suffocating silence. "When I asked you if we were cursed, were you lying? Because what else could explain this!"

"No!" Maria exclaimed, desperate to alleviate her daughter of any fears. "No! Of course not! Oh, Sarah…no, you have to believe me. I swear to you that while we made a deal with the Erlking to save you from your illness, we didn't know what he was actually plotting. I would've never let him claim you." Maria's eyes lit with an intensity becoming of a queen, regardless of how powerless her body felt in this moment.

But there was a small, reactive part of Sarah that latched onto words that weren't said. "'I would've never let him claim you,' just as surely then meant, 'I would've rather let your illness take you.'"

And while Sarah knew that the immortal before her was nothing short of a nightmare, she wasn't exactly sure that she would rather her parents have chosen a different path.

"Why did you lie?" Sarah asked, devoid of the emotions that moments earlier had been stronger than a storm at sea.

"I'm so sorry, my love. You know the last thing I ever meant to do was hurt y-"

"That's enough." The Erlking flicked his wrist carelessly in Maria's direction, her words abruptly being cut off. "Straight from the horse's mouth, as they say," he gave a mirthless smile.

Sarah felt frozen, rooted to her spot feeling caught in between the grief and anger of her parents' betrayal and the very real and present danger the Erlking was presenting as he slowly moved toward her.

"I'm not marrying you," she stated, balling her hands into clenched fists at her side. "I don't know what to believe or how to make any sense of this, but whatever happened between you and them has no bearing on me." She lifted her chin, looking every bit the royalty she was. "I refuse."

The Erlking, rather than looking angry or annoyed, instead seemed to find her utterly amusing. His dark eyes glittered with emotions Sarah couldn't place - she didn't really know if immortal beings really had them to begin with. But she did see the subtle upturn of the corner of his mouth, as though she had just said something damning.

Instead of giving into her fear and curiosity, Sarah chose to remain silent. She said her piece, and now it was up to him to choose how to respond.

Clasping his hands behind his back, the Erlking looked down at the ground, as if suddenly very intrigued by his own boots. "Did it ever occur to you, pet, how unlucky you've been in trying to find a suitor?"

Sarah pressed her lips together, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of answering, even as a pit of dread began to pool in her stomach.

"One might think that it's just been a series of unfortunate events, some bad stroke of luck…but you and I know better than that, don't we?" He smiled at her, wolfish and cunning.

Sarah took the smallest step back from him, suddenly aware he had slowly been descending on her.

"You can't be serious," she breathed, her chest rising and falling in a mixture of fear and revulsion at the thought. "Every single one of those men…"

"Hunting accident, death by carriage, drunkenly stumbling off a bridge…" He enumerated each death on a finger, as if he were listing off ingredients to a dish. "But if you don't believe me…" A vicious smile twisted his features as he suddenly appeared by Adam, faster than Sarah could blink. "I could give a live demonstration." His gloved hand wrapped around the nape of Adam's neck, fingers teasingly tensing and untensing around it. It was strikingly apparent how weak humans seemed in the presence of the Erlking.

Sarah could see the fear and fury warring for control in Adam's eyes. He looked as if he were in pain, not because the Erlking was hurting him per say, but because he was suddenly so lacking in power. His life could end before he even blinked.

"Stop!" Sarah shouted.

"And why should I?" The Erlking replied, all boredom. But Sarah could sense there was an edge to his question, as though he really were curious as to why she thought he should listen to her.

"He didn't do anything wrong," Sarah sputtered. "His only mistake was being here at the wrong time." She turned her eyes on Adam's, willing him to see how deeply sorry she was. She knew it wasn't technically her fault he was in this situation, but she still felt responsible.

"I can be generous, Sarah," the Erlking murmured. "But I'm unfortunately not so sure about him returning the favor."

Before Sarah could say anything, the Erlking closed his fist around the boy's neck, and just like that, he slumped to the floor, the thud of his body hitting the floor sounding like an avalanche in the dead silence.

Sarah could feel the blood drain from her face, spots dancing before her eyes. The overwhelming urge to retch filled her as the sound of Adam's neck snapping replayed over and over in her ears. She saw the way his eyes stared into hers, glassy and unseeing, his neck bent oddly.

"Nononono…" Sarah murmured quietly, unaware that she was clutching her own arms, rocking softly. "This is a nightmare, it has to be." She blinked furiously, as if doing so could erase what she just saw.

"Oh, I assure you it most definitely is not." The Erlking barely glanced at Adam's prone body before walking over to Sarah, who at this point had lowered herself to the ground, unable to break eye contact with Adam's blank gaze. He was going to haunt her, she just knew it.

"Pet," a soft murmur and the warm touch of leather against her cheek brought her back to the situation at hand. "Get up, we must leave."

"No," Sarah whispered, eyes trailing back to Adam. "No!" She shouted, returning her gaze to the

Erlking's inhuman face. "I won't marry you, and I certainly won't go anywhere with you!" She clawed at his wrist, internally seething at how feeble she must've looked. But Sarah didn't care. The only thought she had was to do anything and everything within her power to avoid being trapped with him. Immortal or not, her reason for being alive today or not, he was still a murderer.

The Erlking's gaze turned flat, the amusement he had been displaying more readily quietly slipping away.

"I should've known you wouldn't come easy," he finally sighed, grabbing her wrists as she pitifully fought him.

"Let's try this again, shall we?" He slowly leaned his head down, and Sarah became acutely aware of how close his lips were to hers. She wanted to recoil, lean away in disgust, but his left hand had snuck around to grasp the back of her neck, keeping her still. Sarah's heart beat faster and faster, a frenzied rhythm she couldn't control.

And then his lips had pressed against hers, sealing her fate.

She would later look back at this moment and be stunned that the first thought that came to mind was, he tastes like peaches and cool summer nights. His lips were softer than she had expected, and yet they would still forever brand her, searing this nightmare into the fabric of her memories.

But as it were, in this moment, she felt her eyelids drooping once again, her tenuous grip on reality slowly slipping from her. She felt her body begin to slump forward, but strong arms were there to catch her.

"Sweet dreams, princess."

AN: Phew~ let me know what you think, and many thanks as always for reading, reviewing, favoriting/following, etc!