Hello all! I hope this story find you well :D This is actually a response to a few different prompts over on the kinkmeme but its also an idea I've been playing around with for a while lately. I'll try to update as often as I can but I have classes during the day so it may take a bit longer than usual! Also, I'm kinda mixing book and movie verse a bit in this chapter; basically this is all taking place very shortly after Abe moved to Springfield and before he told Speed about vampires. Hope that's not too confusing O.o Hope you all like it!

Disclaimer: I own nothing =/

Abe had been missing for three days. Three days since he'd walked away from the modest storefront after closing and disappeared into thin air all together. Saturday to Tuesday…three full days of seeing neither hide nor dark hair of the tall, gangly young man who stocked the shelves of the store by day and poured over law books by candlelight at night. Three days and Abe was still gone.

Speed bounced on the balls of his feet, chewing his thumbnail nervously. He kept glancing toward the front door, praying silently that his assistant shop keep would come stumbling through the door with some account of his whereabouts for the fast few days. Sadly, his prayers were never answered; each customer who came through the door, valued though they were, left a bitter, disappointed taste in the back of Speed's mouth because each one was never the one he was looking for.

A coil of anxious energy had wound itself deep into the pit of his stomach, twisting and curling like a serpent writhing its way across a warm surface. He drummed his fingers across the countertops, checked his pocket watch again (the fourth time in an hour), and turned to take a visual inventory of the shelves behind him. Everything was immaculate as it had been the last time he'd checked, every bottle and bag, every jar and jug in the precise order it should be in. Speed couldn't stand it; the perfection reminded him that he was the only one here and that he'd been keeping the shelves spotless ever since Abe's disappearance.

At first he hadn't been worried, he'd simply chalked it up to the whims of a young man in a new town and believed Abe to be off finding some sort of adventure/trouble to get himself tangled up in. He'd had a full lecture prepared for him the following morning when he woke alone, Abe never having returned the night before and leaving him to open the store by himself. His lecture had faded into irritation, then anger, then disappointment, and finally concern. It wasn't right; no matter what Abe had decided to do with his spare time, he was still a very responsible young man and wouldn't shirk his duties to Speed or the store. It had been well over thirty-six hours since he'd last seen him and Speed knew something was definitely wrong.

He'd set out that night after closing, knocking on the door of every tavern and business in the town, hoping for some sign or glimpse of his wayward friend. His search had been fruitless, no one claiming to have seen Abe come by within about a day or two. Abe was well known enough in the town by now to have a fair few citizens who would recognize him as he passes down the street so for no one to have seen him at all for at least two days was an oddity all its own. He vaguely wondered if Abe had left town, perhaps to attend to an ill family member or some other emergency. That idea was quickly erased on the knowledge that Abe would have at least left a note if that had been the case. He would never simply leave town without having a reason for doing so.

Speed even went so far as to visit the jail at that point, wondering, hoping, praying that Abe had simply managed to swim his way into the bottom of a bottle and gotten thrown into a cell to sober up. The cells were empty though, clean and barren and unused for a least a week. The guard had told him he hadn't seen him either but that he would keep an eye out for him and that the best thing he could do was to go back to the store and wait for Abe to return on his own. That had been Sunday night, it was now Tuesday morning and Abe was still gone.

Speed glanced back toward the door again, a nervous habit more than anything now. He knew that no matter how many times he looked at the door, Abe was not about to come strolling through it. He chanced a glance behind the front counter, his eyes landing on one of the leather bound journals that Abe always kept around him to write in. The journal was thick with Abe's notes and observations, his handwriting impeccably neat in some areas and nearly illegible in others. The whole front of the journal was filled with crisply folded pieces of paper with very neat, very intelligent script written on each page. Speed had never met the author of the letters but he recognized his handwriting from the dozens of letters that filled Abe's journals. The handwriting was almost as distinguishable as the person himself though his true identity remained a mystery to Speed.

When Abe had first come to work with him, late one night as they both lay in the still, dark silence of the pre-dawn hours, he'd given Speed very specific instructions. Speed hadn't understood at first, he still didn't really understand now, but now seemed to be the time where the instructions were becoming necessary. Late that night, when there was not a sound but their own breathing, Abe had very calmly and very seriously told Speed that if anything were to ever happen to him, he should locate a man named Henry Sturges and inform him of the incident. Speed had no idea who Henry Sturges was at the time nor did he know why he should be the one to be notified in the event of anything happening to Abe. Similarly, Abe had not been specific as to what exactly might happen to him, what tragedy may befall him that Henry Sturges must be made aware of. It was all very secretive, very conspiratorial, and Speed had been half asleep at the time so he was willing to agree to nearly anything while in his state of half-consciousness. Now that Abe was missing, now that the coil of tension that had taken up residence in his stomach had morphed from simple concern to outright dread for his friend, now Speed felt it was necessary to make contact with this mysterious Henry Sturges.

He walked across to the journal, lifting it from its place behind the counter carefully and glancing back toward the door feeling that the minute he touched the sacred book, Abe would come bursting back through the doors like it had all been an elaborate trick. When nothing happened, when Abe still failed to appear, Speed sighed and untied the twine wrapped around the book, carefully pulling it away and opening it to the first page. Abe's handwriting covered every square inch of the page, the ink dark and vivid against the white paper. Speed didn't read it, he knew it wasn't his place to read another man's secret thoughts, but he flipped through the well used pages until he came across the letters.

Each one was tucked into a page with a corresponding date from which it had been received. Some were old, from several months ago, others more recent and spanning only a few weeks. The most recent one had been from three weeks previously, the address written up in the top corner of the page indicating it had come from a location that was little over a half day's ride from Springfield. Speed pulled the letter from the page, glancing over the contents with the briefest eye to be sure it had come from the correct person. At the bottom of the letter, in very precise print, were the words

Ever,

-H

There was no doubt in his mind that this letter had come from Henry Sturges; the very same Henry Sturges that Speed had been entrusted to find if ever the occasion arose. Well, the occasion was here, Abe was in trouble and, in Speed's mind, most certainly in danger, and there was nothing else to do but track down this Henry Sturges fellow and inform him of his friend's disappearance.

Speed tucked the letter into his pocket, walking to the back of the store and grabbing his hat and coat. He stepped outside and locked the door behind him, leaving the store and its patrons to their own devices for the day. Henry's letter tucked carefully in his pocket and Abe's disappearance weighing heavily on his mind, Speed set off to find a horse for his journey.

OOOOO

The sun was setting by the time he finally arrived at the cabin, the surrounding trees dark and looming overhead. It was silent this far into the forest, the nearest town easily five miles away in any direction. A few birds remained high up in the trees, chirping and singing their last songs of the night while looking down at the black-clad figure on horseback curiously. Speed was alone, unarmed, and beginning to wonder if this wasn't one of the most foolish ideas he'd ever had.

The cabin looked abandoned, the windows dark and the chimney devoid of the smoke that would indicate someone living there. Speed pulled the letter from his pocket again, reading over the address once more and glancing back at the vacant cabin. Surely this was the correct place, it was the only cabin for miles around, but it certainly looked deserted. Speed frowned and dismounted from his horse, tethering the reigns to a nearby tree and approaching the empty cabin cautiously.

The door swung open with a touch, illuminating the dark interior briefly with the dim light from outside. Speed took a wary step inside, looking around the empty cabin cautiously for any signs of life. It was completely barren, nothing but a blank wooden table taking up one corner of the room. The tabletop was covered in a very fine layer of dust and grit and the floorboards creaked and groaned ominously with each step Speed took. His footsteps echoed loudly in the silence of the cabin and he could hear nothing over the sound of his own breathing as he stepped into the center of the room. The fireplace was empty, not even housing the ashes of a fire built long ago, and the air in the room felt stale and heavy like it hadn't been disturbed in a long time.

Speed frowned as he gazed around the room again, taking in the absolute nothingness inside. This had to be the cabin from the letter, it was the only one that matched the address at the top of the page, and yet…and yet there was no one here. The cabin was empty and useless, apparently abandoned and left for the elements to do with it what they willed. There had to be some mistake, perhaps he'd read the address wrong and the cabin was actually located in the complete opposite direction and he had simply been confused and-

"May I help you?"

Speed gasped and whirled around on his heel, his eyes wide and heart pounding rapidly in his chest. There was a man standing in the threshold of the door, his features hidden in shadow and his gaze leveled on the young man standing in the middle of the cabin. He held a small lamp in one hand, the flame low enough to dimly light the dusty floor of the room but not enough to reveal his face or anything else of his appearance. He was dressed in a dark jacket and a dark hat that made him resemble a living shadow more than an actual man. Speed felt his breath catch in his throat a bit.

"I said, may I help you?" The man repeated and Speed felt it would be in his best interest to answer him this time around.

"A-Are you Henry Sturges?" He stammered, inwardly cursing himself for stuttering like an idiot in the presence of this mysterious man.

The man in question cocked his head to one side, regarding the other with something akin to measured curiosity. "I am," he answered simply, taking a further step into the cabin and setting the lamp on the table. The light was now just high enough to reveal some of his facial features and Speed let his eyes roam his face carefully. He was young, only a bit older than Speed himself, with dark hair held back behind the brim of his hat. He was a bit on the short side, well, shorter than Speed himself, but he radiated a kind of power that made the other man keep his distance. Something about him seemed impossibly old, ancient and primordial in a way, and Speed was only very slightly aware that the man didn't cast a shadow across the floorboards of the cabin. "And who might you be?"

Speed was shaken from his thoughts by the realization that the man, Henry, had spoken to him. He cleared his throat, suddenly finding it very hard to speak (something that had never been difficult for him) and answered. "My name is Speed…uh, Joshua Speed. I'm uh…well, I'm a friend of Abe's."

"Indeed?" Henry looked at him a bit more carefully now, removing the dark glasses that had hidden his eyes from view. His gaze reminded Speed of one a cat gives to a mouse right before it pounces. "And may I inquire as to the reason behind your visit, Mr. Speed?"

"Um well…it's…it's about Abe, actually. I…uh…" Speed sighed and took a deep breath, settling his nerves and forcing himself to speak more clearly. "Abe told me to come find you if anything ever happened to him and-"

"Has something happened?" Henry's voice cut him off before he had a chance to finish and Speed felt himself swallow convulsively at the sharpness in the other man's voice.

"Well, I don't exactly know…" Seeing the critical look Henry was giving him, Speed hastened to finish his answer. "I mean, I haven't seen him in a few days and its not like him to disappear like this because he's usually very responsible and dependable and he wouldn't just vanish for no reason and-"

"Speed," Henry's voice was quiet and calm but there was an underlying quality to it, a tone that made Speed believe it was entirely possible this man would throttle the answers out of him if necessary. "Tell me what happened."

Speed sighed and looked at him carefully. "Abe is missing and I'm afraid he may in some kind of trouble."

Something impenetrably dark passed through Henry's eyes and if Speed didn't know any better, he would have sworn the other man's eyes went completely black for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice still maintained the measured composure it had before but there was something different to it, a kind of lashing iciness like frost clinging to the blade of a sword. "I see. And when was the last time you saw him?"

"Saturday evening," Speed answered carefully, feeling each word he said held immeasurable importance to the man across from him. "We had closed the store and I asked if he wanted to come with me to the pub down the street. He told me he an errand to run but that he would meet me there. He never came." There was a very slight stiffening of Henry's shoulders but Speed continued undeterred. "I checked all over town, asked everyone I knew if they'd seen him but they all said no. I thought he would return on his own but he never did." Speed shook his head, the twist of dread in his stomach rearing up again as he spoke. "This isn't like him, he's always been very responsible and reliable, and I've never known him to avoid his duties to the store or to his studies. I'm worried for him."

Henry nodded just slightly, his gaze and expression dark in the shadows of the cabin. He was silent for a long time, one hand resting on the tabletop near the lamp. Speed noticed the pallor of his skin, the near translucence of his flesh in the dim light of the lamp but he didn't comment on it. There was something unusual about this man, this mysterious Henry Sturges that Speed had been sent to find. There was something very unusual indeed but Speed knew better than to say anything. This man could be the devil himself but if he could help him find Abe then Speed didn't care; in fact, he'd gladly shake his hand when it was all said and done.

"Very well," Henry said softly, his voice causing Speed to jump just slightly. His tone was cold and calculating, determined and, worst of all, angry. Speed knew then and there that he never wanted to be near this man when he was crossed. "Thank you for informing me of this matter, Mr. Speed. I shall see to it immediately." Henry turned on his heel and exited the cabin, his dark coat and hat blending in with the deepening shadows outside.

The lamp was left on the table, the flame flickering faintly, and Speed was left speechlessly in the middle of the cabin. When he finally found the ability to move again, he rushed toward the door, stepping out into the darkened trees surrounding the cabin. "Wait a minute! Where are you-"

There was nothing and no one there, the forest devoid of all human life except for himself. He looked left and right, peered into the trees and strained his eyes so hard he developed a headache but he could see nothing. There was no Henry, no silhouette, barely even any footprints to indicate he'd been there at all. It was as if he'd simply vanished into thin air.

Speed felt a chill ripple through him that had nothing to do with the cold gusts of wind that were now winding their way through the trees. He glanced around again, pulling his jacket closer to himself and feeling a prickle of apprehension crawl up the back of his neck. He started back out to his horse, stopped, doubled back and retrieved the lamp from the table in the cabin. He fed the flame, making the lamp burn brighter, and pulled himself back up onto the saddle. He felt like he'd just made a deal with the devil. Another chill raced through him and he spurred his horse, pushing it to go faster and put as much distance between himself and that empty cabin and its mysterious inhabitant as possible.

More to come soon! :D