A Cursed All Hallows' Eve

  Goliath ripped the head off the other one, and then did the same to the demon I had distracted.

  “Argh!” he screamed as he spun around looking for more creatures to fight.

  There were none. They were all dead, and in pieces, scattered on the ground around each of us, piled high in a grisly collection of parts that had once belonged to a demon horde. I looked at the others. I was the only one sucking in large gulps of air from adrenaline and exertion. Nerves ricocheted around my core, and I was suddenly extremely turned on.

  The wolf began nosing at a pile in front of him, and then he pivoted, hiked up a leg and peed on it.

  “Very well done, indeed,” Vlad laughed as he straightened his tie and jacket. He barely looked mussed, except for the gore splattered across his face. The black on black suit hid the rest.

  Goliath turned to me, somehow that wolf mask smiled again. “You are so sexy.”

  “I am so hot for you right now,” I said. “I’d kiss you if you had lips.” I gestured at his face.

  He placed his hand on his collar bone, at the base of his neck and began running his hand up his neck. Fur and all, that was a sexy neck. I had a thing for Adam’s apples. As his hand moved up, I expected him to push the mask back over his head. That was the motion. That is not what happened.

  As his hand passed over his face, the air around him vibrated. The mask was gone, not in a quick sleight-of-hand fashion, but gone. Actually all the fursona elements were gone. The fur body suit, the clawed hands, all of it gone.

  “Oh.” It was a miracle I could form a single syllable.

  The hottie anime man had nothing on the K-pop quality god that stood before me. His smolder did not say wholesome and cute, it said sexy hot. He still had those intense amber eyes as he did in the costume. And now he had lips, pouty and kissable, and twitched up in a sexy smirk.

  “Hi,” I managed a second syllable.

  “Hi,” he chuckled back at me as his lips descended to mine.

  Stunned as I was, I was not exactly capable of kissing. So, I let him do all the work. He did it well. His lips were soft and warm. His technique was masterful, with soft seeking presses, playful bites, and--

  My brain stopped as his tongue took over. I struggled with the timing of my breathing. This was overwhelming. Goliath was comfort and need, but the back of my brain struggled to process everything that had just happened.

  “You okay?” he asked, pulling back from the kiss.

  “Champ, it looks like you suck at kissing.” Vlad slapped him on the shoulder.

  “Asshole, can’t you see I’ve rendered her completely breathless.”

  I had a hard time focusing, not just on the closeness of their faces, but in general. My brain wanted to scream but it didn’t exactly know why. I mean, logic said Goliath protected me, he’s a great kisser, and I wasn’t paying attention to how his costume came off. Logic said of course creepy crawling demonic mummy things emerged from a hole of boiling clouds in the air over our heads; of course we just kicked ass and the bodies around us were shriveling up further into desiccated dust.

  Of course.

  I blinked at Vlad as he reached for my cross. “It’s not blessed.”

  He pulled his hand back with a hiss. “But it is silver. Well played Gloria.”

  He didn’t seem bothered that Goliath and I had just been swapping spit, and were still wrapped around each other. Not unlike how fur boy had been earlier at the club when it was me wrapped around Vlad.

  “That explains how the demon jumped locations.”

  I jumped out of Goliath’s embrace. I hadn’t noticed when Biker joined us. He sauntered up pulling a long-sleeved T-shirt on over his head. Where had he been? And when had he changed out of his furry gear? And where was the wolf?

  “Huh?”

  I was one hundred percent incapable of functioning at full mental capacity. Biker, and it totally was him, same voice, same coloring as his wolf costume—that’s an odd consistency to have, wouldn’t the costume be the color the fur body suit material came in, and not match the hair on his head?—same general physique. Where Goliath had muscles to spare, he was overall narrower. Biker was broad. His muscles had muscles.

  He jabbed a thumb up at the space where the demons had emerged. “Portals. We’ve got demon portals. And I’m afraid your friend is with a lesser-prince temporal demon.”

  I did my best imitation of a goldfish: blink blink blink. “A what?”

  “He means a Kung-fu master level demon. Boss demon,” Goliath tried to explain.

  “I’m sorry, but your friend is in grave peril if we don’t find her,” Vlad said.

  “Would she have given him her name?” Biker asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean she probably told him her name was Vin. That’s what she tells most people.”

  “She wouldn’t know not to give him her true name,” Goliath added.

  “But, she wouldn’t have. When you say true name, you mean birth name, not a nickname or a shortened variation right?”

  “What are you getting at dear?” The way words rolled off of Vlad’s tongue made me go weak in the knees.

  “Vin’s name isn’t Vin.” Before I could continue a warm human hand covered my mouth.

  I looked up into Goliath’s eyes. I gave him a nod of understanding. Don’t say her name out loud.

  “And you know he’s a demon how?” I asked.

  The three men, and they were all men now—furry costumes were gone, fake fangs gone—cast glances at each other.

  Vlad straightened up and cleared his throat. “It’s a good night to track demons.”

  I stared at him, my eyebrows lifted. I needed much more information than that. I turned my head to Biker and looked to him for more of an explanation. He shrugged.

  “So you’re a demon hunter,” I pointed at Vlad, “who likes to dress up like a billionaire vampire for Halloween.” I wiggled my finger back and forth between Biker and Goliath. “And your boy band decided to go out in expensive furry costumes, but Posh decided to follow after the smokin’ hot anime guy. Why? To pick up any cast-offs from all the women?”

  “You’re halfway there, darlin’,” Biker said. “Look, we gotta get across town. Do you have a car? I’ll explain on the way.”

  Vlad extended a hand to me. “Your ride.”

  “I can walk,” I sneered.

  He huffed and looked at my shoes. “We don’t have time.”

  I squeaked. As Vlad was telling me to get on his back, Biker lifted me into position. I guess I didn’t have a say in the matter.

  Chapter Four: Flash Bang Wow

  “I’ll drive,” Biker said.

  I popped open the trunk before tossing him the keys. I kicked my heels off and grabbed a pair of tennis shoes I had for later when my feet got tired. Goliath had already climbed into the backseat Vlad was wedging himself into.

  “Spare clothes?”

  “Vin’s decoy costume,” I announced as I slid into the front passenger seat and scooted the seat as far forward as I could.

  “Why did they put a back seat in this thing if they weren’t going to make it large enough for people to sit?” Vlad complained.

  Biker swung my little car in a large U-turn and zoomed off toward the far side of the city.

  “Okay guys, spill. What’s going on here? Where did you stash those costumes?”

  “Why are you so obsessed over our costumes?” Goliath asked.

  “Not costumes,” Biker grumbled.

  “Okay not costumes, fursona wear. I’m concerned because I have friends into cosplay. I know those things are not cheap to make, and yours were… are really high quality. The animatronics in the face masks alone had to cost you hundreds if not thousands, easily.”

  “Not costumes,” Biker repeated himself.

  “Whatever.” I turned back to face front and flopped into my seat. “You don’t want to talk about the costumes, fine. Would one of you maybe like to explain what the fuck those things wer
e back there, and what’s a lesser-prince tempura demon?”

  “Temporal,” Biker laughed, “temporal.”

  “He’s a demon who can shift through time and space. That portal back there was sloppy on his account. Basically he hadn’t closed the door after himself. And it’s All Hallows Eve. Demons like to come out and play. This one is an incubus, and collecting women.”

  “Wait, incubus, I know that term. That just means he’s out for sex right?”

  “Not this one, darling. This one is more powerful than a random horny minor demon. This one will devour his mates in the end. Consuming them until they rend their own flesh with maddened need for him.”

  “That’s why he was so pretty,” I practically whispered.

  “Pretty? That’s what does it for you?”

  “Ho there Goliath, that sounds like you’re jealous,” Biker laughed.

  “I’m not jealous of some freak with long hair.”

  I turned to see him cross him arms and huddle into himself.

  “So anime guy is a demon, and he lured Vin into his web. Why didn’t he get me? I mean I think…thought he was hot too.”

  “That would be my doing. I didn’t make contact with your friend, but I caught you,” Vlad explained.

  “The eye thing?”

  “Yes. I compelled you to not want to look at other men. Thus protecting you from the incubus.”

  “Thus keeping her for yourself. Pretty selfish move there Vlad. I thought you were there tracking the incubus, not out to seduce one of your own.”

  Vlad cleared his throat. “I was tracking Irdu. That’s why I was in the club. As far as seducing my own conquest, why not multitask? You must admit our dear Gloria here is worth seducing.”

  “You were enthralling her,” Goliath practically growled.

  “Enthrall, seduce. Semantics. Besides, you did a fine job of keeping her from succumbing.”

  “Wait, hold up. Vlad, you were making me like you? I mean I really like you.”

  “That much attraction is already there. I was keeping your attention on me, the fact that you wanted to give it to me made everything so much easier,” Vlad chuckled.

  Biker swung the car around a tight corner, and I slid into him. My hand missed his leg, and I accidentally pressed against his crotch trying to right myself.

  I looked into his eyes. There was a substantial amount of crotch under my hand. “Maybe I should have called you Goliath.”

  He gave me a wink and a smile, and helped me back into my side of the car.

  “Are you moving in on my woman?” Goliath complained.

  I turned on him. “Look dude, you are hot, but I am not your woman. I’m my own woman.”

  “But Vlad…”

  “But Vlad nothing. And you nothing. Right now we should be focused on finding your buddy Posh, and my friend before some demon does something unspeakable to her.”

  “Irdu, his name is Irdu. And you are going to want to use his full name Irdu Lili Demon of Sumeria,” Biker started.

  “That will compel him to listen to you. You can interrupt him, grab his attention,” Vlad continued.

  “Can I make him do what I want?” I asked.

  “No, but you can burn him with that cross,” Goliath said.

  “The cross didn’t seem to do much,” I complained.

  “This demon isn’t Christian, and that cross isn’t blessed. But it is silver, and supernaturals don’t like silver,” Vlad said.

  I toyed with the cross. “Is that why you don’t like it?” I asked Vlad.

  He gave me a sharp nod.

  “What about you?” I asked just as I placed the cool metal against the exposed skin on Biker’s forearm.

  The car swerved and he clamped his other hand over the spot I touched. “What the fuck did you do that for?”

  “Oh, like that hurt you,” I snarked in reply.

  Biker lifted his hand, and underneath I could see the angry red skin, and blisters forming.

  “No,” I started. “No, no, no, no. This isn’t happening.” This wasn’t real. The silver on that cross did not just burn the man driving my car like a bat out of hell across town to who knows where and I was willingly going along for the ride.

  “Stop the car. I need to get out.”

  He glared at me and kept driving.

  “Stop the car,” I screamed and began beating my feet and hands against the car. Thrashing as if I could make him stop.

  The tires squealed and I could smell the burn of rubber as he stopped in the middle of the street. I scrambled to undo my belt and open the door. I fell out of the car and was on my feet and running. I knew enough back in the club to not take a drink I hadn’t seen prepared myself, but… Oh God, there were two of them, what if they had distracted me? The demons were just a hallucination. I had gone with them to one location, and I was willingly going to a second. How stupid was I? Never let them get you to a second location. Oh crap, I was gonna die. One of their friends had Vin. I would never see her again. She would never meet some nice man her parents approved of. I didn’t want to be killed on Halloween. What a stupid cliché mistake that would be.

  I tripped and fell. Rolling myself into a ball of pain. My knee hurt, and I had ripped my yoga pants. I blew on the palms of my hands that had gotten pretty scratched up. Tears stung my eyes, and I felt the build up of snot fighting my nose’s ability to breathe.

  “Gloria,” Goliath’s soft voice was in my ear. I felt his arms wrap around me in an attempt to be soothing. They were warm, but I took no comfort from them.

  “Go away, you’re just setting me up for something very bad. Why don’t you do whatever it is right here and get it over with. I don’t want to be scared.” I sniffed.

  His lips were soft and pliant on mine. His tongue did a little twirl thing, and I stretched my arms out and around his neck. How could someone who wanted to hurt me be such a good kisser? Maybe if I let him distract me with his lips I wouldn’t notice the bad things so much when they happened.

  “No one wants to hurt you. Quite the opposite dear. We want to protect you.” Vlad’s voice cut through the fog that Goliath’s lips generated.

  Goliath stopped kissing me. “Biker wants to show you something.” With a finger under my chin he guided my head up to look at the large man who stood over us.

  Biker posed with his arms to the side, palms up. Once he saw that I was watching he crossed his arms, and for lack of a better description, he folded in on himself. The air did that shimmering thing it had when Goliath took his costume off. Only now Biker didn’t take his clothes off, he changed them, and he now wore a wolf.

  He was a wolf, but the way the shift happened it was more like putting on a sweatshirt.

  Vlad knelt down next to where Goliath held me. “You have handled tonight with such grace and aplomb. A little reality check and self-preservation was not uncalled for. Maybe we could have handled our explanation better. Biker, Goliath, and their friend Posh are all werewolves, and I am in fact a vampire. But not a billionaire. Those are the truly reprehensible monsters in the world. Why hoard such wealth when they could easily make the world better for so many people, and never feel the loss financially?”

  I gulped, and looked from the blond wolf in front of me to the smart ass vampire next to me. “Are you at least rich?”

  He answered me with a hearty laugh.

  “Should I pet you?” I asked Biker.

  The wolf wagged its tail, and twisted up and back into the man. He had started out dressed, but now he was naked. “That’s an invitation I will gladly take you up on.”

  I don’t know where the clothes came from, but Biker was suddenly pulling on a pair of jeans, and the shirt he had on earlier. Right now my head needed to wrap itself around werewolves and vampires and demons. I would deal with disappearing clothes being available when needed at a later date and time.

  I looked at Vlad. “You’re really a vampire?”

  He nodded.

  “You’re really a we
rewolf?” I asked Goliath. “That’s what Biker meant when he said not a costume?”

  He nodded. “Not a costume, just a controlled shift.”

  Biker reached out a hand. I took it and let him pull me up to my feet.

  “I’m sorry I burned you.”

  “It was a mistake, you had no reason to think that’s what was going to happen. Are you okay?” He looked deep into my eyes.

  “Maybe not, but I will be.”

  His kiss was hot and full of passionate promises, and completely unexpected. I melted into him and kissed him back with as much enthusiasm as I could manage with my fried brain.

  “Better?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  He turned and headed back to the car.

  Goliath wrapped an arm around my shoulder and walked me back.

  “Hey, about that kiss…” I started.

  “Which one?” Goliath asked. “There’s been a bit of that going on. Me-you. You-him. You and the vampire.”

  I swallowed a hard invisible lump. “I’m not usually so scattered. It must be the adrenaline and all this running after Vin and that Irdu Lili. I just don’t want you to think that I’m a tease or something.”

  “Nobody thinks that Gloria. Don’t worry about it. We have other things to focus on right now.”

  He climbed into the crowded back seat and let me take shotgun again.

  My little car had some vim and vigor to it, but I never knew it could perform like it was designed for high speed chases. Biker maneuvered through streets I didn’t recognize and I sat there thinking entirely too much. I was on a demon hunting expedition with werewolves and a vampire. And they were all distractingly smoking hot, and they all seemed to like me.

  “Why me?” I asked.

  “Why you what?”

  “Why did you stop me from being entranced by the demon? Why are you helping me find Vin?”

  “I can answer the first question,” Vlad began. “You were the first one I could make eye contact with. The extra level enthrall was originally unintentional. I was looking into a lot of eyes when I first entered the club.”

  “Okay, but what about you guys? You danced with me, you bought me a drink.”