Page 2 of The Witching Hour
“Halloween isn’t ridiculous. It’s fun,” I argued as I climbed up the ladder to hang extra cobwebs on the ceiling of my covered porch. I’d decorated it a week ago, but I’d decided this morning that it needed more oomph before all the fun started tonight. “I’m looking forward to seeing all the kids dressed in cute costumes when they come to trick-or-treat.”
“You’re seriously going to skip the coven’s Samhain Eve bonfire to hand out candy to children?” my dad sneered.
I had never missed a Samhain or Beltan celebration during my eighteen years on this planet. They were our two biggest holidays, and everyone in the Bane coven attended. But I had been feeling the strongest urge to distance myself from my community while I still could. Also, trick-or-treating looked like so much fun in the movies, so I wanted to see whatHalloween was like for the mundanes. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be a disappointment. I had more than enough of that in my life already.
Glancing over my shoulder, I confirmed, “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“Unbelievable,” he muttered, stomping across the porch to trot down the stairs.
My mom followed him but paused at the top to say, “We didn’t raise you to be so self-involved. You’ve let your powers fool you into thinking that the world revolves around you, but it doesn’t.”
Luckily, she swiftly moved down the steps after lobbing that verbal barb at me. If she had stuck around for much longer, I wasn’t sure I would’ve been able to hold back an angry retort, which wouldn’t help the situation at all.
Arguing with my parents never accomplished much. I had learned long ago to pick my battles, like I’d done with Midnight and moving to this house. I tried my best to only push back when it was important to me, but it was getting harder since my last birthday. Most likely because I felt the clocking ticking down on my freedom. I wanted to enjoy it as much as possible…while I still could. Starting with celebrating Halloween with my neighbors.
As my parents climbed into their car, I carefully hung the extra cobwebs, adding plastic spiders here and there. When I was done, I climbed down and dusted off my palms. Staring up at my decorations, I grinned. With my house looking as though it truly was haunted—like I’d recently heard one of the neighbor kids tell one of their friends when they walked past—tonight would be perfect.
2
REN
You would think that vampires despised Halloween. Particularly with all the kids dressing up as what folklore, movies, and books had convinced humans were “real” vampires. However, their ridiculous notions were often a source of amusement for most of us.
Although, they were not entirely off the mark when it came to nightwalkers, the vampires that nightmares were made of. Unable to be in the sun and susceptible to garlic, holy water, and a stake to the heart, nightwalkers were made through a bite, not born.
Unlike daywalkers—which included me and my family—who were impervious to all of those tools. We were extremely hard to kill, and while we didn’t turn to ash in the sun, we were still nocturnal creatures. Our eyes were sharpest in the dark, and the moonlight wouldn’t burn our very pale, sensitive skin. It had only taken getting sunburned once for me to learn that being dubbed “daywalkers” didn’t mean shit about how we lived.
Anyway, the kids were pretty cute with their fake fangs and Transylvanian accents.
But I never expected what I saw when I joined my brother’s five-year-old daughter, Maxine, and four-year-old son, Marshall, for trick-or-treating.
I teleported to a spot between the two houses nearest them to avoid being seen by one of the many humans in the area. Then I moved quickly to catch up with them. The kids were debating approaching the house because it was supposedly haunted. Marshall wanted his dad to walk with him, which left Maxine looking unsure about what to do.
“I’ll go with her,” I offered with a big grin as I strode toward them from the darkness.
“Uncle Ren,” Maxine screamed as she threw herself into my arms.
My smile faltered when I got a good look at her, and I gasped in shock before turning accusing eyes to my sister-in-law. “Is that a fucking vampire costume?” I growled, losing my normally calm and respectful demeanor.
“Yup.” Maxine grinned up at me, while several nearby parents glared at me for my crude language. “Marshall’s a vampire, too.”
I shook my head. “I don’t even know what to say.” I was stunned that Braeden would allow his kids to wear these costumes. Although, judging by the look on his face, he wasn’t happy with the situation. But his consort, Callidora, was clearly amused by his grouchy attitude.
“I’m being i-iro—” Maxine heaved a sigh of frustration and asked, “What was it again, Mommy?”
“Ironic, sweetie.”
She nodded as she tugged on my wrist to lead me up to the house she’d been afraid of. But with her brother almost to the door, it seemed she was now in a rush to get up there too. “Uh-huh. That.”
“You do realize you’re going to have your hands full when she’s a teenager, right?” I murmured to Callidora as we flanked her daughter and hurried up the sidewalk.
“Absolutely.” She beamed a smile my way and used telepathy to add,But at least we won’t have to deal with the boy-crazy stage human parents go through.
My laughter hung in the air when we reached the steps to the house. It wasn’t difficult to guess how the rumor that it was haunted had gotten started since the owner had done a great job decorating for Halloween. The ceiling over the covered porch was swathed with cobwebs, and a convincing-looking witch’s broom was propped in the corner. A black cat peered out the first-floor window, and candles flickered upstairs. The woman who opened the door was dressed in a long hooded black cape, and a smoking cauldron sat on a table to her left.
“Twick or tweat,” Marshall cried, smiling up at her as he held out his bag.
I walked Maxine up to stand next to her brother so she could get her share of the loot, too. When she echoed the saying, the witch held a bowl of candy out to them. “The two of you are such convincing vampires, I think you should get extra treats. Go ahead and pick out a few.”