-
Charley woke up feeling quite chipper. He didn’t care what kind of torture Regine had in mind for him. He was doing something good in the evenings when he wasn’t trying to memorize scripts. He assisted Lyra’s friends or the Avengers as they called themselves on evening patrols, hunting and killing the other kind of vampires and demons.
He will never forget seeing Lyra in her Slayer Star costume for the first time. She just looked cute in it and once he saw her fight in costume he wondered if he should create his own costume to fight along side her and just figured to dress up as Chaz Broker. He also wondered why the others didn’t have any costumes unless that was just Lyra’s shtick.
Charley had worried what Lyra’s friends thought about him being a vampire. Both Ronnie and Ace treated him as a friend of a friend, which usually meant they may treat him as a friend. Xander and Faith treated him in a professional matter. They also acted like a second set of parents to Lyra whenever he kissed her. The only person who gave him trouble was Tyler. The young man never spoke to him and always tried to keep his distance. Charley knew why even though he was a different kind of vampire than the one that turned Cheryl.
“Good evening,” he greeted as soon as he climbed out of his coffin. With a change of clothes he went to the shower and cleaned himself, got dressed and brushed his hair.
“You got mail,” were the first words that fell out of Bosworth’s mouth.
“Oh?” Charley asked as he pulled out his thermos from the fridge and placed it in the microwave. “I’m not interested in a discover card.” He never got mail at the house. He did get fan mail, but it was sent to the studio.
“From your girlfriend.” Bosworth smacked his face with the letter.
“A letter from Lyra,” Charley said. He grabbed the letter from the servant and sat down at the breakfast nook. “Run along now and go attend to Regine and Belle.” His first out of the coffin routine was different from the others. Bosworth would prep a couple of baths for the others. He would help them both out and dress them into a bathrobe.
“Enjoy your cow blood,” Bosworth said. He flipped off Charley before he walked off.
Charley took sip from his blood as he opened his letter. It was an invitation to the homecoming dance. She also bought him a ticket. The instructions read that she would arrive with her friends at their school. While they can all cram into Ace’s car for patrols it would be better if they took separate cars for that night since they would be all wearing costumes and dresses. That was another instruction. Since the dance would be so close to Halloween everyone would be in costume.
“In costume,” Charley repeated. “I can do that.”
-
Xander took a sip of his iced coffee drink as he watched the two Slayer’s work on their swordsmanship. They had moved up from just merely showing Lyra how to thrust and parry to actually dueling each other. Faith was still holding back a bit, considering that Lyra was still learning.
“Have you done that?” Ace asked. He was sitting next to Xander and was staring at a piece of notebook paper with some writing on it. Xander had thought it was either homework or notes the kid had taken during class.
“Sword fighting?” Xander removed his gaze from the Slayers. “I admit I have dabbled in that art.”
“No,” Ace said. “Invite a girl to a dance.”
“That?” Xander asked. “I’ll admit that is even scarier. I have invited several girls to actually dance with me, but only a few took up that offer. I did date a contender for homecoming queen and I was invited by a girl to the prom.” He closed his eyes as he thought about Cordelia and Anya.
“So how do you do it?” Ace asked.
“You just ask her,” Xander said. “Just go up and talk to her. Sure you will feel this great weight just uh weighing down on your shoulders and you will be sweating buckets up to that moment, but the sooner you get it out of the way then the sooner you will get rid of that feeling. Now the crush of having your feelings pureed or the sweet drunken feeling of being accepted all depends on her answer.”
“Got it,” Ace gulped.
“So who is they mystery girl?” Tyler asked.
“Your cousin,” Ace said.
“Nerissa?” Tyler asked. He pursed his lips and furrowed his brow. “You want to invite Rissa to homecoming?”
“As a friend,” Ace explained. “To just come along with us. We can fit three people in the back. No one else has a date-“
“Except Lyra,” Ronnie interrupted. She was in the middle of doing her math homework.
“Except for Lyra,” Ace said. “It will be fun and we all are going to be there.”
“That’s true,” Xander said. “I convinced your school to allow Faith and I to be chaperones.”
“Why?” Ronnie asked.
“Past experiences,” Xander said. He remembered the Slayerfest that occurred during his senior year homecoming and the hellhounds that threatened to attack the prom.
“So what we can expect on Halloween night?” Ronnie asked. “Will things be really scary?” She looked frightened.
“Actually no,” Xander told her. “The unholy and supernatural like to take a night off on Halloween. However the had been a few times when some strange things happened on Halloween, but that was caused by regular humans using magic.”
“So if anything happens it’s because of our fellow species,” Ronnie said. She pressed her lips together and nodded. “What exactly happened?”
“The first time a chaos worshipping jerk put a spell on the costumes purchased from his shop. It caused the wearers to become the costume they wore. I actually became a soldier.”
“You became something that could fight,” Ace pointed out.
“That was a good thing,” Xander said. “Another time at a frat party some frat boys accidentally summoned the power of a fear demon. Our greatest fears came true.”
“How scary was this guy?” Ronnie asked
“He looked pretty scary, but he was only this big.” He held his fingers apart by a few inches.
“Tiny demons I can handle,” Ace said. “I hoped my costume choice is good in case we do become them.”
“What is it?” Ronnie asked.
“A Jedi.”
“Great, so instead of being afraid of little creepies we have to be afraid of you with a light saber.”
“Actually,” Xander said as he raised a finger. “When you become the costume it affects you mentally, so you have the proper knowledge and skills.”
“Bring on the magic.” Ace spread out his arms and looked at the ceiling. “Are you and Faith going to be in costume?”
“Yup,” Xander said. He hoped the kids would not press further and ask what the costume will be. He could not believe Faith talked him into it.
“Time’s up,” Rissa knocked on the door. She opened the door and stepped inside. “Clean up time. Restore everything to where you found it.” She had changed the colored streaks in her hair to black and bright orange
“Bossy,” Tyler commented as he packed up his books. “Ace are you sure you want to go through with this? You have my blessing no matter what.”
“Thanks,” Ace said. His voice came out as a squeak.
“Remember you are just inviting her as a friend,” Xander told him.
“Gotcha.” Ace stood up and walked over to Rissa. “So uh do you have a thing this Saturday?”
Rissa turned to him. “What do you mean by thing?”
“Plans,” Ace coughed out. “Do you have any plans this Saturday?”
“Nope.”
“Our school’s homecoming is this Saturday and we are all going together as a group-“
“Sure.”
Ace blinked. “You want to join us for our dance?”
“I don’t have any other plans.” She seemed amused.
“It’s got a Halloween theme so everyone will be in costume.”
“Sound’s even better.”
“We’ll pick you up at seven,” Ace told her.
“Great now help your friends clean up.” Rissa spun around and left the room.
“Wow,” Ace said as he leaned against a wall. He smiled at Xander. “You are right, master.”
“You have learned well young padawan.”
-
Alicia Montgomery stared at the slip of paper in one hand and the bowl of water on the table. She couldn’t believe what she was doing, not that it would work, but a part of her wishes that it did. She placed the bowl on the pentagram she drew on the floor of her parents’ garage.
“You who broke my heart, You who stole my love, you both shall be punished tonight. Medea Kerkopes I call you forth to exact my revenge. Make them suffer, make them feel pain.” She placed in two pictures she cut out of last year’s school yearbook. The first was of her ex Garret and the second was of Jocelyn. She placed both into the bowl of water. “Hunt them down and burn them.” She grabbed the safety pin and used it to prick her finger. A single drop of blood fell into the bowl.
The light bulb flickered a few times and the wind whistled outside.
Alicia sat up. “It didn’t work. Magic is not real. It did not work.” She did however feel a little bit better.
-
Lyra wondered when Charley was going to arrive and what he was going to be dressed as. She pictured him in his Chaz Broker costume but figured he might go for something a little bit different. She didn’t dress up as Slayer Star after all.
“Can you see where you are going?” Tyler had asked Ronnie as they walked up to the Tupper Ware Center. He was dressed as a generic pirate captain. He decided it would be in bad taste to wear an eye patch.
“I can see just fine,” Ronnie said. She was dressed in a white gown and had pale bluish gray makeup spread across her face. She wore a long black wig that fell forward.
“Sorry,” Tyler said. “Just making sure you don’t trip on anything. Or accidentally walk the plank.”
“I don’t walk planks,” Ronnie said. “I just walk out of wells and through television screens.”
Lyra smiled at the two and glanced back at Ace and Rissa. Ace had donned a pretty good Jedi costume. He even tried to gather what hair he could to make into the braid and clipped to his belt was a plastic light saber toy.
Rissa wore a white dress with a red jacket and had a blond wig on her head that was topped with a nurse’s hat. She said it was a character from Silent Hill. Lyra had no idea which character. She never played the game and only watched the movie.
The five of them gave their tickets at the door to Mr. Forrester, the chemistry teacher and proceeded inside to the waiting area.
“I wonder when Charley is going to get here,” Ronnie said.
“Me too,” Lyra said. “I wonder what Faith and Xander are dressed up as.”
“They could be in the main ball room already,” Ronnie told her.
“Could be. Now I just need to use the bathroom,” Lyra said as she slipped away from her friends.
There were a few other girls in the restroom when Lyra exited the stalls. Several of them were doing some last minute make up touches and talking about the dance. Lyra ignored them as she checked her own reflection. She had chosen to go as 80’s style Madonna. She had donned a dress with a poofy tutu style skirt and wore a short black and gold jacket over it. She had the fingerless lace like gloves and lacy stockings on her legs. She had teased her hair and put in the same bow. She also wore the long heavy rosary necklaces and several bracelets
A few people were giggling. They both were dressed in various costumes that have been worn by Lady Gaga in the past. People were certainly not creative when it comes to costumes.
When Lyra had left the bathroom the doors to the ballroom had opened. She caught up with her friends as they entered the large room.
“Should we find a table first?” Tyler asked.
“Later,” Rissa said. “I came to a dance and that is what I intend to do.”
They didn’t have to wait long for the music to start and it started with a good beat. The five of them danced together as a group amongst the others in the large dance floor. Lyra tried to mimic some of the dance moves from the 80’s, something that Madonna would dance to before she tried to dance the same way she had seen Faith dance. The song ended and another one began and no one lost a beat.
“Damn,” Ace gasped after the fifth song had ended. “I need a break.”
“You out of shape?” Tyler teased.
“He’s right,” Rissa said. “I need a break too, not all of us are athletes like you.”
“I am pretty thirsty,” Lyra said. “We should get some punch or soda and find a table.”
“Buffet table is over there,” Ronnie said as she pointed out the table in question. “And there are two chaperones standing in front of it. It could be Xander and Faith.”
“Why are your personal trainers acting as chaperones?” Rissa asked as they walked over to the table.
“They really had nothing better to do tonight,” Ace said.
Lyra decided to start of with a glass of punch. As she filled her glass she noticed that the chaperone in front of her and her back turned to them. She was wearing a tight black leather cat suit and wore a bright orange-red wig. There was only one person who would be bold enough to dress like that.
“Great costume, Faith,” Lyra commented before she took a sip.
“Thanks,” the girl that dressed up as a cheerleader said. Faith had dressed in the red and white short sleeved shirt with matching pleated skirt and put her hair into pigtails. She also had her make up different with pastel eye shadow and bright pink lipstick.
“Faith?” Lyra just blinked. “But who is dressed as the Black Widow?”
“It’s Molotov Cocktease,” Xander said as he turned around revealing a well rounded and realistic looking bust. He had also put on a fake mole, along with some red lipstick. He had switched out his regular eye patch with one that was heart shaped.
“Oh my god,” Ace gasped.
“Holy shit,” Tyler added.
“Xander?” Ronnie could not blink.
“Wow,” Rissa chuckled. “That took balls.”
“More like took the balls away,” Ace said. “Why?”
Xander shrugged. “I got tired of either being Fury or a pirate every year. My one eye gives me limitations.”
“But what if something happens and we do turn into our costumes?” Lyra asked and bit her tongue. How would they be able to explain that to Rissa when she asked.
“I think that will be interesting if it happens,” Faith said.
“Right,” Tyler said after he nearly drained his glass. “I think we will be finding a table now.” He ladled in a little more and led the group to a vacant table that no one staked their claim on.
The five of them sipped their drinks and nibbled on pretzels and chips that were placed in bowls that every table had. They decided not to talk more about Xander’s costume and instead of the dance itself. To their luck, Rissa did not bring up the question of becoming their costumes.
Lyra was still laughing at one of Ace’s jokes when everyone went quiet. “What?” She smelled a floral scent a few seconds before a daffodil appeared in front of her, held in a hand that was clad with a white glove.
“Sorry it isn’t a corsage,” Charley said.
“Charley,” Lyra spun around.
“Why would I miss this?” Charley was dressed in a black tuxedo with a red cape, black top hat and a white mask that covered his eyes. “Or you?”
“Nice costume,” Lyra commented.
“I love yours,” Charley said. He held out his hand “Would you like to dance?”
“I would love too,” Lyra said and accepted his hand. They walked back to the dance floor and. She continued to hold his hand and wrapped another arm around his waist. She pulled back when he cringed. “What’s wrong?”
“Just a little sore in various places,” he explained.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He wrapped both his arms around her mid section.
She put her arm around his waist and this time he didn’t cringe. The two of them waltzed and swayed to the slow song while the lights had shifted to several dots of blue.
“I don’t want this moment to end,” Charley said. “Not soon anyway.”
“Neither do I,” Lyra said. “Charley why did you use a daffodil?”
“They are the birth flower of March. I know it’s supposed to be roses but I can’t handle them. My kind can’t handle them. We burn up at the touch.”
“I’m sorry,” Lyra said softly. “I didn’t know. I do like daffodils.”
“I wish I knew what your favorite kind of flower was.”
“Orchids.” She placed her head against his chest.
A screech cut through the music followed by several more and scream from a boy and girl. Everyone stopped dancing and the lights turned on.
Three black and white furry creatures were attacking a couple dressed as a cat girl and the Mad Hatter by trying to cover them in what looked like burning gold.
“Not tonight,” Lyra hissed and ran over to the creatures. She tore one off while Charley grabbed another. Faith ran over and grabbed the third.
The girl screamed as she ran out of the ballroom. Lyra struggled to wrestle with the monkey like creature she had torn off. It had blue gray skin and black and white fur. It’s long baboon like snout had tusks and the top of it’s head had knobby looking horns.
The beast bit Lyra’s hand and ran into the direction off the other girl. Another girl broke free from her group of friends and ran after her.
“Damn it,” Charley said as the one he tried to fight also broke free.
“What the hell are those things?” Ronnie asked as she ran up with the others.
“Terrifying space monkeys?” Ace suggested.
“Never a night off when you are a Slayer,” Lyra said as she tore off after the creatures. She had no idea why they had targeted that couple. She recognized the girl as Jocelyn Andrews. Lyra knew she had started dating Garret Binoit.
Lyra caught up with one of the beasts in the hall. She pounced on the creature.
The creature turned around and created a liquid gold secretion in its hands. Lyra did not want to think about what that was and grabbed the beast by its throat and squeezed as hard as she could and throttled it. She stopped when she heard a snap.
“Did you get it?” Charley asked.
“Yes,” Lyra answered as she stood up. “There is still another.”
“Your friends are taking care of the third,” Charley said. “We have to find that other one and the girls.”
“I might find them in a place you can’t go,” Lyra said and ran to the nearest ladies room. She stuck her head inside and saw that both girls where inside. “Are you okay?”
“She will be,” the second girl said. It was Alicia Montgomery. She was dressed in an 18th century gown and was placing folded paper towels under a water faucet. “I’m sorry.” Tears were running down her face.
“Don’t be,” Jocelyn said. She had removed her costume and had the damp paper towels plastered on areas on her arms and chest.
“It is,” Alicia said and applied another damp towel. “I Invoked them and now I revoked them.”
“You may have wanted something bad to happen to us,” Jocelyn told her. “But there was no way you could have done this.”
“But I could and did.” She was crying so hard she was shaking.
“I’ll tell some of the administrators where you are,” Lyra told them. “I’m pretty sure they have called the paramedics and animal control about now.” She stepped out of the bathroom and nearly ran into Charley. “Sorry.”
“Are they in there?” He asked.
“The girls are,” Lyra said. “I think they are going to be okay.”
“That’s good,” Charley said and placed an arm around her. “Sorry about the evening.”
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.” She wasn’t sure how it could be Alicia’s fault either. Unless she used some magic spell to summon those creatures. “We need to let someone know where they are.”
He nodded. “I’m not used to all these demons.”
“Just vampires?”
“Just them. Your friends say it is because our dimensions merged?”
“That’s what they say and it would make sense since there ware two different kinds of vampires now.”
“I hate to sound selfish but I’m glad we merged.” He looked up. “Lyra get down.” He pushed her out of the away and rolled on the floor next to her.
The third monkey creature landed where the two of them were standing. It glared at them while it made more of the burning gold in its hands and hissed. The beast launched itself.
Only to be grabbed by one of it’s legs by someone wearing a black leather duster. The mystery figure snapped the neck of the creature and dropped it on the ground.
“You best watch your back there, Niblet. I’ve seen a few Slayers die that way. I should know. I killed two of them myself.”
-