Wicked Roots
“So you don’t know what the price is?” Lucy asked the store clerk behind the counter.
“I’m sorry, it’s not in our inventory, so it’s price isn’t listed either.” The clerk apologized.
Lucy pouted, it was the only witch costume in the store she had been able to find, and all the other stores she had gone to were either out, or didn’t have it in her size. Lucy was thirteen, the age where many children began to discard the ritual of trick or treating, and doth there wasn’t much of a market for costumes her size and above. She could have made it herself, if she wasn’t a total flop at sowing and didn’t want to have to confess to others that her mother had made her costume.
As for –why- it had to be a witch: truth was, Lucy was sick of seeing robots, aliens, super heroes, super villains, cosplayers, and video game characters on Halloween night. What happened to ghosts, goblins, zombies, the creature from the black lagoon, walking pumpkins, vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein’s Monster, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, and of course, witches? Not politically correct Wiccan, but witches! The wicked kind who love to curse boys and girls just for the sheer joy of it? Not to teach them a lesson or to help others, but only for their own amusement! Lucy was a fundamentalist when it came to mythos, or so she believed herself to be.
Vampires, werewolves, and all the rest, had been watered down and used as the latest firepower for the traditional message ‘don’t be scared of what you don’t understand’ and changed into poor misunderstood people rather than the stuff of nightmares they had been born out of! And while Lucy knew the costume was based greatly on the old Hollywood version of witches, she wanted it; she’d play a witch as they were meant to be played!
The store had apparently changed owners a while back, and the previous owner hadn’t been good at record keeping, in fact, all he seemed to keep was the names of his customers . . . strange man. Even stranger was the urban legend he had blown up when a couple Jehovah’s witnesses has shoved a min-bible in his hands asking if he knew how to get to Heaven.
Lucy didn’t believe in that of course, she believed in staying true to source material for myths, but she knew in the end that’s all they were, myths.
After flipping through the inventory book once more, the clerk got on a cell phone with his manager, and was given an estimate price. They price they decided stung Lucy’s purse, but it was worth it. The formula for the costume wasn’t that particular, pointed hat, black cape, broom, dark dress, etc. What made it fantastic however, was all the effort that had gone into their generic formula. Nothing was plastic: nor was anything polyester, everything was cloth or leather. Even the earrings, a miniature pot and crystal ball, were glass and ceramics rather than cheap plastic like any other costume Lucy had seen. It truly looked like someone had taken the Hollywood version of the wicked witch, and given it a real world flavor.
After paying the hefty sum (to a teenage girl at least), Lucy exited the store, her new wares in tow, to where her mother was waiting in the family car reading War and Peace.
“How’d it go dear?” Her mother asked hoping that her child wouldn’t be let down by this store like they had the others. It was a local store rather than a chain store, so it was possibly it had been missed by the normal shopping hordes for the late Halloween goer.
“Perfect. You won’t believe it! They didn’t even have it on the inventory. And the spot I found it in was covered in dust!”
“Looks like you got real lucky then.” Her mother smiled.
“Sure seems that way.” Lucy agreed.
Then the predator struck. “Then you won’t mind taking Ashley along on your Halloween party.”
And the prey futilely tried to escape. “But, but mom! Me and all my friends will be there!”
“Your party begins at five, Trick or Treating is at six, I, nor your father, can take her this year, you’ll still be able to enjoy yourself and take her out, besides, and we don’t pick you up until nine, so you won’t lose that much of your own time.”
Hope beyond hope last-ditch attempt to escape. “Why can’t Jason do it?”
“Your big brother has a Algebra II test tomorrow.”
“All he does is watch anime all night.” Lucy mumbled. Jason had a photographic memory and his need to study was minimal after he had memorized the material once.
“Be that as it may, Ashley seriously wants to go with you, and I already told her that you would, it would hurt her to have to tell her no.”
Lucy somehow managed to control herself, “You had me say yes before even asking me?!”
“I’m sorry Lucy but what’s done is done, or would you rather have to deal with Ashley tomorrow?”
Lucy shivered; the little pest had perfected the fine art of revenge before she even knew what revenge was! “All right, fine, I’ll do it.”
“That’s my girl.”
An hour or so later Lucy began to slip on her costume. Thank goodness it was her measurements, she didn’t want to have to go through the misery of refitting it. The costume was so wonderful, now in the sanctuary of her room, Lucy was able to take in all of its details.
She knew better than to think the costume jewelry scattered about the costume could somehow be real. Even if the storeowners hadn’t known about it, nobody in their right mind would make a costume with real gems. The hat was pointed, but not rigidly so, the brim was broad but not a perfect circle, the gloves were fine but give off the illusion of being home made. Or was it an illusion? Everything about the costume screamed it had been a hand made job. Nothing looked mass produced or pre-made; everything had been made just for this costume. Even the caped looked like, well, what a proper witch would wear. And the dress didn’t look like it had fallen out of one of Jason’s Anime Girl magazines either.
Everything fit like a glove, like it, or she, had been made to fit. Everything was comfortable, and at the same time practical for a young upstanding witch. The stockings and boots slipped on easily, the dress fit her body without trouble and the gloves were perfect. The hat neither fell off her head nor covered her eyes. No matter how she turned or carried herself the cape never got caught on anything. The wand was no magician’s wand, this was no unassuming black stick with hidden arcane power this was a witch’s wand! The twisted piece of wood felt smooth and warm in her hands, capped with a grinning goblin’s head sneering the direction the wand was pointed.
She let herself go and pretending she wasn’t just wearing the costume, that the costume was actually embracing her! Everything felt right, and looking in her full-length mirror, everything looked right too. She wasn’t ugly, but personally, it would have felt wrong to wear this costume with add-ons that weren’t part of the original. And she could create a smirk that looked frightening enough when she wanted.
She gave herself a twirl, yes; this was how a witch was supposed to look! Not some super hero, or some housewife who used a magic broom to clean the kitchen for her hubby! Not some poor misunderstood soul who had a talent no one understood! But a witch! An agent of chaos and human fears!
Then the knocking came and shattered her fantasy.
“Lucy? You ready? “ Her mother called through the door.
“Yes mom! Be right there!”
“Okay! We’ll be down stairs!”
Lucy sighed, always when she was really getting into it her mother had to spoil things! She looked in the mirror one last time and touched the glass, “Too bad there can’t be more of us around huh? – Yeah, but don’t worry, this’ll be a night to remember, with or without the brat dragging us down! – Okay, let’s go out there and scare off some worse creatures with the lesser of two evils.”
Grabbing her wand, and glancing over her shoulder at her reflection one last time, Ashley left her room.
“That’s your wiccan eh? Where’s the ears and tail?”
One of the many, -many- animes Jason had watched, had included a cat girl who was a wiccan, and Jason, had jumped to the conclusion that was the name of the species of cat girl, rather than anything else.
Lucy glared at her brother from his open door (she’d tattle on him later, mom hated it when he left his door open if he had one of his DVDs on least it pollute Ashley fragile little mind), where he sat on his bed watching an anime. They all looked exactly alike to Lucy.
“For your information, I’m a witch! And second! Wiccan is not a cat girl! Get it straight!”
“Well it should be, the meaning of words change all the time, so why not? That’s how the piggy bank got named.”
Lucy never liked it when Jason could actually say something that sounded logical!
“Oh-Whatever.” Lucy didn’t have time for this: she marched down stairs to where her mother and the brat were waiting. She allowed herself to step into her fantasies a bit.
Lucy waved the wand. “Wiccans are but catgirls to you, then be a catgirl in a tutu!” She cackled at the mental image.
Lucy spotted the brat in a fairy princess costume. Well, it was better than last year when she had gone as Sailor Moon, and as one of the Tellitubbies the year before that.
Her mother wasn’t wearing a costume; yet, she and Lucy’s father wouldn’t change into their costumes until they were at the company party, for whatever reason Lucy didn’t care to know.
“All set honey?”
“Yes.” Lucy nodded, looking ever so darkly at the brat.
“Let’s go then, and remember to look after Ashley.”
“Yippee!” The brat declared as they all left the house, leaving Jason with his precious anime upstairs.
Jason was sitting on his bed, watching an anime with a paper thin plot and cardboard cut out character, which happened to include a cat girl maid, who zapped other girls and turned them into cat girl maids: the only real reason Jason owned the DVD at all. His wall-to-wall carpet had countless soda stains, his black hair just barely stayed out of his vision as he gazed at the Television, and he didn’t remember the last time he had changed his jeans.
Never taking his eyes off the TV, Jason got off his bed and began to do stretches to work out the kinks of having sat down for so long. Eyes glued to the TV, stretched one arm, then the other, then raising one leg horizontal and reach out with both arms to touch the base of his feet. The strain was intense on his body, but subtly became easier the longer he did it.
Smiling to himself, Jason repeated the routine, warming up. The DVD ran it’s course and shut off, but by this time, Jason wasn’t paying attention. Still smiling softly, with a dull look in his eyes, Jason began to pirouette. He spun clumsy for a minute but then became graceful, confidently keeping his blond tail even and circular around him as he twirled.
Jason completed his warm up, and began to dance, his blond hair tied back to keep it out of his eyes. His lithe figured leapt across the wooden floor, her body’s curves would catch the eyes of anyone who saw her. Mathematics emptied out to make room for dance recitals. A serene look still on her furry features, Janko blissfully danced. She looked at herself in the mirrors that ran along the walls, and felt satisfied in the bright pink tutu she was wearing. This American dance studio was so nice, but she felt the need to leave town and go home to Japan, tonight in fact, before her exchange family came home. She just had a bad vibe about something she knew she wanted to avoid that made her triangle ears twitch.
Lucy was of two minds to brood in the backseat with the brat as they drove to the house of one of Lucy’s friends, or to feel excitement at the up coming event. She knew she’d suffer for having Ashley along for the ride, and knew she was going to miss out on something if she had to take the brat Trick or Treating. But it was now effectively out of her hands and she had to ride with it.
Stopping in front of the house, and being told one last time on the particulars of a safe Halloween, Lucy and Ashley were dropped off, and knocked on the house’s front door.
The house just wasn’t scary enough in Lucy’s opinion. No broken windows to scare off most people, no dim lights to lure the curious, no giant spider webs or twisting shadows to eat away their wits? And why did it have to have such a good paint job? A sublime hint of decay was always proper for a haunted house. And those pumpkins didn’t look like they could scare anyone.
The pumpkin headed figure that answered the door, her friend’s mother, greeted them with a ‘Boo.’ How disgraceful, that was supposed to scare someone?
“Oooh! A witch and princess of fairies!” She laughed from inside her costume, “Come in, come in, Elise is already in the living room waiting for you Lucy, your mom called and told us about Ashley.”
Lucy smoldered, again, her mom had pretty much said yes for her without even asking if she’d say ‘yes.’
“Okay Miss Pumpkin!” Ashley squealed happily and darted in looking for candy, Lucy followed behind.
The inside was even worse. Brightly lit, everything the floors and walls perfectly maintained, and not a cobweb in sight. There was no fear here, just good cheer. Lucy felt a sense of revulsion. Why did humans have to always turn objects of fear into something tame?
Elise greeted them at the doorway to the living room. She wasn’t in costume, nor were about half of the people here. Lucy was doth greeted by something new to vex about in so many minutes! Lucy gripped the wand tightly in her hand.
She said lowly, “This is pathetic.”
“Lucy?” Elise asked surprised.
“Pathetic. All of this. Humans, treating all Hollow’s Eve as if it were some sort of game. They’ve forgotten what they’re trying to keep at bay, what they’re trying to seal away in the dark where it can’t hurt them. Forget the pagans and their nature worship.”
“Lucy are you feeling all right?” Those strange harsh words were coming out of Lucy’s mouth, but they didn’t sound like something Lucy would say.
“Gotcha!” Lucy laughed, “Just playing around.” She lied.
“Don’t do that. I know it’s Halloween but you can take sometime too far.”
“Okay, I won’t make that mistake again.” Something about Lucy’s choice of word sent a chill down Elise’s spine. “So how come yer not in costume?”
“I just couldn’t find anything that felt like me, and ya know some kids aren’t interested in dressing up anymore.”
“Too bad… wouldn’t it be better if everyone was in, heh, costume?” Lucy said with a sly grin.
Elise didn’t know what kind of game Lucy was playing now, but figured to play along, after all, when Lucy was involved it was almost always fun.
“Yeah, too bad a lot of people just don’t seem to have the Halloween spirit, then we could all be creepy things in the dark.”
“Maybe we could change that.” Why did that sound like a ‘royal we’?
“I don’t think everyone would be happy if we asked them to put on masks or let us do face painting.”
Lucy put a gloved hand on Elise’ shoulder. “Now don’t you worry about a thing. I’ll take care of all the details, go and have fun, I’ll be with you in a minute, and don’t get wound-up. I promise, not one of them is going to mind.”
“Well… okay… but don’t do anything like last year, mom got –so- mad when you chipped the ceiling with your hanging Banshee, you couldn’t come over till Christmas.” Lucy seemed to shudder at the last word.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be nothing like that, but I want it to be a surprise…”
“Okay Luce’ I trust you. See ya in a minute?”
“See ya in a minute.” Lucy nodded in return.
Lucy looked in the entryway mirror. She felt weird, but at the same good, whole, and… right?
She touched the mirror with her fingertips. She felt, cool, she felt, a level of debasement. She felt goals more important than the methods to achieve those goals. She looked into her own eyes, and for a moment felt like she didn’t even recognize them. Then everything was all right. Everything was perfect. She cackled with glee. She knew what she had to do. Naw, what she wanted to do! And problem with this house, that had her friends in it, wasn’t that there wasn’t enough fear… there weren’t enough things here to produce fear.
It was time to rectify that.
She balanced the wand on her fingers, the goblin grinning at her and she grinned back. And she felt truths flowing into her mind. The original shop owner: was a pathetic leech, fallen messenger who held so much power, and wasted it all torturing bugs, one that could only find satisfaction in suffering and death, fear was just icing on the cake. Well, Lucy and Ashley both DID usually eat the frosting first and forget about the cake…
Just then Ashley found the biggest candy bowl and began darting around the room like a comet. Once, this would have embarrassed Lucy, now Lucy had bigger fish to fry. Lucy said to herself, “Let the fun begin.”
The humans who were in costume mostly were suited to Lucy’s tastes, good, that would make things easier.
Holding the wand like a conductor’s baton, Lucy whispered to herself words that were not English. A friend of a friend of a friend who passed by her at that time, leaving the party early, heard her, didn’t understand a word, and had nightmares for a year of his life.
Lucy turned on one heel towards Elise’ mother who was on door duty. Lucy clasped Lucy’s arms behind Lucy’s back, her mouth was a sweet smile, but her eyes had a slant to them was slightly unsettling. “Mrs. Erwins.”
“Yes Lucy dear?” The middle-aged woman said behind her full head pumpkin mask.
Lucy’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, “I believe you have your name wrong. You are Mrs Pumpkin. You are only Mrs. Pumpkin. You have only been Mrs. Pumpkin. You will only be Mrs. Pumpkin. There is no Mrs. Erwins. There never was a Mrs. Erwins. There never will be a Mrs. Erwins. Now, who are you?”
“Mrs…. Pumpkin.” The woman said haltingly and dull. If this was not All Hollows Eve, if this was not the release of power that had been pent up for so long, if Mrs. Erwins’ guard hadn’t already been down around Lucy, this trick would have never worked. But it had worked. And Lucy wasn’t done yet.
“Now Mrs. Pumpkin, you are not human, you could never be human, you have never been human. You are a thing of fear. You are Mrs. Pumpkin, that is all you are.”
“I am, Mrs. Pumpkin, that is all I am.” As she spoke, her face vanished from behind the mask. The mask itself became larger, rounder, into a true hollowed pumpkin. From inside, the glow of a candle could be seen. The green leotard and leaf poncho she was wearing thinned and twisted upon itself, becoming nothing but vines that had the vague shape of something with two legs and two arms. The creature crouched as it looked down at the dark haired girl.
“Now how do you feel Mrs. Pumpkin?”
The creature’s voice was echoing, the flame inside flickering as it spoke. “I feel, the power, this is our night Madam Lucy.”
“Good.” Lucy looked at the candy; she was so tempted her hands shook. It wasn’t from any human compassion she relented on the idea of cursing the treats, but she needed to keep things under her control until she was ready, and didn’t want to accidentally grab the attention of something she didn’t want to. “Continue as is, but sure to put the fear of the night back into any child who comes here looking for treats.”
“Yes Madam Lucy.” The creature bowed its orange, almost empty head.
Satisfied, she waltzed into the living room, she looked at Elise, Ashley, and all the other party guests, yes, these would do nicely. Stepping into one of the hallways, she took some black sheets that she knew Elise had in one of the hall drawers and began to hang them up in front of the door and along the hallway then took the mounted mirror and repositioned it at the end of the hall.
Using her wand again, and speaking in a black tongue, nightmarish shadows twisted and warped around the sheets and mirror, creating frightening half-images that you could never be sure of what precisely they were or where they were. The hallways dimmed and were perverted to a half-glow of twilight.
Closing the hall behind her, Lucy stepped back into the living room. It was a fairly sized party, and she had several hours before midnight, but she wanted to move things along.
“I have a secret prize, a very good prize,” She lied to the costumed guests, one after the other. “The first person who can reach past the haunted hall at the end will win the prize and bragging rights,” that last part of course, did them all in. So one by one, like lambs to the slaughter Lucy led them inside.
Lucy didn’t bother memorizing their names, their names were meaningless, and even they wouldn’t remember them soon enough. The first was a boy in a cheap sheet ghost costume. He shuddered and quivered at Lucy’s illusions before they finally came to the mirror.
“We’re almost there.” She said to him. “Look into the mirror, and tell me what you see?”
“I, er, just see me.”
“Who is me then?”
“Me is Allen Ricks.”
“Really? All I see a ghost. A spirit. The lingering soul of someone who is no longer supposed to be in this world. Look into the mirror. Do you see a human? Do you see a Allen Ricks? No. You don’t. All you see is a ghost. A ghost. You feel almost nothing, you don’t feel much of anything. You don’t mind being a ghost, you don’t mind much of anything really. Now doesn’t that sound more correct?”
“Yes… a ghost… nothing else…” The boy said, his voice empty and emotionless, his costume with nothing inside it, becoming more and more transparent by the second.
“Ghost might have names, but nobody knows them, so who can be sure? You are a ghost. Ghost haunt. You should be haunting right now. Doesn’t that make sense?”
“Yes….I should be haunting…” The white shade said before vanishing into thin air. Somewhere in the house, banging of steps, harsh thumbing, and cool whispers could be heard.
Next was a girl in a cute home made basic spider costume with just some antennae and paper arms, but not for long.
“Look into your eyes, there are more than one, much more than one, four, six, eight. They look like rubies don’t they? Lay down, isn’t that much better? After all, spiders go on eight legs. No, not two arms and two legs, but eight legs, yes, that’ll do. Isn’t that rear of yours a little small? It should be bigger, and bigger, and bigger. After all, it has all your children in it. Your babies. Your precious offspring. They are all yours. And you are their mother. Yes. You are Mother. For they are your children. Yes Mother.”
Lucy smirked as the giant spider only hissed and crawled upwards on the walls and across the ceiling, to find a proper place to lay its eggs, and when they hatched, they would spread their cobwebs all across the house, as any proper haunted house should have.
Third, was a much younger girl in a simple goblin mask.
This time Lucy whispered the girl a dirty joke. The girl fell over backwards in shock and dismay. Then Lucy narrowed her eyes and told it again, this time, the girl giggled.
Lucy then proceeded to tell the small girl jokes that would make a sailor die from the curtness. And each time the girl laughed harder. As the mask began to show expression and the eyes become solid red, Lucy lead the small girl to the basement, and continues to tell her dirty jokes. She did this because she didn’t want the carpet ruined when the goblin peed on itself with glee as she continued the lowbrow toilet humor Lucy still had standards after all.
Leaving the goblin to reek havoc in the basement, Lucy collected her next victim. Or victims this time, cause she chose to take a trio of friends dressed up like zombies from Thriller with the music playing from an I-pod.
Lucy felt a headache coming on, “Look into the mirror.”
“Why?” “Yeah why?” “We got past your horror show, so where’s the prize?”
“To GET the prize.”
“Is this a joke?”
Finally, Lucy just grabbed the I-pod and stamped on it. Then poured more magic than she meant to at the trio, and instead of becoming a three headed, soulless, mindless corpse like she intended: they leaned against each other, and fell to the floor. Their costumes vanished: their flesh melded, and was covered by black fur, their bodies becoming one large canine one. Cerberus rose to its feet less than a minute later, all three heads glaring at her. In the fastest thinking she could manage, she produced a triple spiked collar and somehow managed to float it around the guardian of Hades’ necks before it tore her apart literally three ways from Sunday. Leading them along by a chain, she managed to pull the powerful hell beast down to the basement with the goblin who quickly vacated the underground chamber at the sight of the greater monster. Lucy could tell that all three of Cerberus’ heads wanted to eat her. Chaining all it’s limbs to the wall, she got as much distance as she could, let go of the chain collar, and raced back upstairs and locked the door behind her. The triple snarling didn’t stop all night.
“Okay, no more trying to create soulless undead tonight.” She thought. She sadly had to scratch off vampires and zombies from her list of nightmares to create tonight.
Mummies however, still held the soul of the person after they died, thus her next target.
“So what do you see in the mirror?”
“I just see me.” The lady said through his bandages.
“You shouldn't speak. Mummies do not speak. What you see in the mirror is a mummy. And you said what you saw was you, thus you are a mummy and thus you do not speak, you moan. You are old, older than old, you are an immortal pharaoh. The desert sands are your blood, the bandages your skin. Now look upon me my majesty.”
The mummy looked upon her, and moaned, cross her arms in a sacred fashion standing tall and proud.
“And what shall you do to those who have violated the sacred final resting places of the kings of Egypt?”
The mummy moaned angrily, reaching its arms out in a strangling style. Lucy nodded in satisfaction.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Boogy-Man, all were reborn that evening through their costumed representations.
Finally, Lucy had burned through the humans who were in costume. She allowed the monsters now to return and mingle among the humans. People of course were thrown off by their suddenly better costumes, and better play acting, too good in fact. Lucy knew they were getting scared fast. It didn’t matter. The room darkened with the monsters’ presence, making the perfect conductor for her magic.
She stood on a table, and everyone wondered what crazy stunt she was about to pull. They got their answer, though they’d never know it, as she hit them with the granddaddy of all her suggestion spell, only able to pull it off now with the monsters all around her boosting the plausibility of her power.
“Look to your left, look to your right, those ‘people’ next to your aren’t ‘people ’in costumes. But monsters, real monsters! The stuff of nightmares made real. This is a party for monsters, creatures of horror. Clearly, if this is a party for monsters, and you were invited and are attending this party, that must mean –you- are all monsters as well, it’s only reasonable.”
Of course she didn’t expect it to be that easy, she saw the powers of reason and logic fighting back against her in those eyes.
“My, it seems your faces have fallen off. Look here, under the table.” And one of the monsters pushed out a box full of masks, not of movie monsters, or ghost story horrors, but monsters without names, reason, or legend… yet! “These are faces, and there is an exact number of masks that of those of you who have lost your faces, so clearly, these are your faces, now isn’t it nice I found your faces for you? You should really put them back on.”
With a glassy look in their eyes, every boy and girl there lined up, and took out a mask, and placed it over their face without hesitating. Then like store dummies, they lined up in a row across the wall in front of the fireplace.
“Those are your real faces, you are attending this party. Those are the faces of monsters, this is a party for monsters. Therefore, you are monsters, you can only be monsters. You were always monsters, you were never human, you will always be monsters, you are not ever going to be human. You don’t have names, you never had names, humans haven’t given you names yet in their shrieks of terror as they lay eyes upon you. Only then will you have names, the names of monsters.”
The other door to the living room opened, right on time. “Lucy?! What’s going on here! My mom is acting really weird! What’s with-“ Lucy never let her finish, a monster next to the door pulled a dark black mask over her head.
“Surprise Elise! Isn’t this cool?! It is very cool isn’t it? I know you’re not afraid, cause you’re not. You know you’re not worried about your mother. Because you’re more interested in this.”
Elise’ form got smaller and smaller, becoming blacker and blacker, until the black cat blinked at Lucy.
“You’re my familiar Elise, you remember being my familiar right? Yes you do remember. Now come up here dear.”
The black cat obeyed without a second thought and soon sat on the table next to her mistress.
“Now for the big smash, “ Lucy sneered at the masked human standing side by side, “One, two, three!” Then Lucy spat out a word so ugly it made the plants in the room die. And the masks, were no longer masks.
These things had no names, none yet, they only knew the fear they craved. A girl became a towering three eyed horned thing with a slug body. A lad became two faced snake with the neck down body of a bull. Each creature was more bizarre and biological defying than the last. A girl became something with mouths for hands and a ball for a body. They made a mixture of sounds too unnatural to write down, and the house, was the last part transformed. It aged a century in the blink of an eye, decay spread everywhere, and the hallways took on a infinite number of twists and turns, the rooms never in the same place twice.
The whole house practically vibrated with power now, having taken in the fear, and the darkness, and seeping them into its wood and foundation.
Hours later, long past the time for Trick or Treaters, Lucy's parents drove up to the curb to pick up their children. They were stunned by the dramatic last minute changes the Erwins had made to the house since dropping of Lucy and Ashley. Why hadn't they made these changes the day before Halloween? Now they would just have to tear them down the day after. It was a shame almost.
They got within five feet of the twisted looking front door before the fake wolf ears they were both still wearing fused into their skull, blood flowing through them as their human ears disappeared. Dark and silver fur spread evenly across their entire bodies as their mass doubled, then doubled again. Their fingers and toes became sets of claws. A tail sprung from their backsides as they hunched over slightly, their faces pulling out into fang filled muzzles. A wind swept through their minds, telling them all they needed to know, all they needed to think. Their jobs, their names, their memories, their friends all fell to the wayside. The curse, the gift, would tell them what to think, what to do, it was true freedom.
The beasts tore their restrictive clothing off as it cut into their increasing muscle mass. The Alpha Male Werewolf and Alpha Female Werewolf looked at each other and growled with desire. A desire to spread their curse to all they came across. Nothing in their eyes suggested they had ever been human.
The door opened and the monsters lunged at the person beyond, only to stop dead in their tracks, fall to her feet, look up at her, and howl in perfect sync.
They eagerly accepted the scratching behind the ears from their Mistress, the one they protected and served, the one for whom their entire existence was defined by. They circled around her on all fours and stood at her sides.
Looking at the two monsters that had been her parents, and then behind her at the ones that had been her friends, she grinned sadistically.
She held her wand up high, and lead the parade of subconscious fear and archetypes of horror though the suddenly mist laden city. Lucy made a long, and inhuman cackled, confident there hadn't been a single detail she had overlooked, the time for human to know what real fear was had come again!
All the while. No thing paid attention or paid heed to a small pixie, a fairy of royal lineage, as she flew at lightning speed away from the dark house, to tell those who slept or walked in guises, that the nightmares walked among mortal men again. And thus those wielded the light would be needed to keep them in their place inside the dark.
~ Fin
