Samhain (Matilda Kavanagh Book 2) (17 page)

“Help yourself,” I said.

Laney flashed me a bright smile before running into the kitchen as light as a pixie.

As the sun set and night settled over the city, the trick-or-treaters flooded the building. Humans and supernaturals alike vied for candy and watched the tricks provided by the Brighthaven neighborhoods. Soon the whole building was filled with squealing and laughing children. It was awesome.

After a few hours, the three of us were sitting around the kitchen table, drinking spiked hot chocolate. It was getting late, and the trick-or-treaters were dwindling down until the majority of them were teenagers, hoping to take the leftover candy off people’s hands. I didn’t mind teenagers—hell, I didn’t mind adults—trick-or-treating, as long as they dressed up.

“Trick or treat!” a group of boys called from the front door.

I adjusted my hat and pushed away from the table, but when I got to the door, my smile faded. Five boys were at my door, all of them nearly six feet tall, and not one of them had a costume. They didn’t even have those cheap rubber masks or a smudge of makeup.

“You have got to be kidding me.” I placed one hand on the door jamb and the other on my hip as I glared at them.

“Trick or treat!” the ring leader said again with a bright, wide smile. He was holding a plain pillowcase, and from the bulge in the bottom, I could see he’d already hit a fair number of houses.

“No,” I said.

“Um…” the kid said.

The group shared looks, their mouths opening and closing without any words coming out.

“You’re out of candy?” one of the boys in the back asked.

I glanced over my shoulder to see my cauldron was still half full of chocolate. “No.”

The boys exchanged looks again before returning their attention to me.

“You come to my door asking for candy that I bought with my own money, seeing all the effort I put into giving you a good show, and you can’t even put the tiniest, tiniest effort into some sort of costume? I don’t think so.”

“But it’s Halloween.”

“Yes, it is,” I agreed. “And you aren’t holding up your end of the bargain.”

“Bargain?”

“Yes, the way this works is you dress up for my amusement, and I give you candy for your effort. I’m not going to give you candy just because you asked for it.”

“If you don’t give treats, you get a trick,” one of the as-yet-silent boys in the back said. He was a little taller than the rest, and his round head was covered in light peach fuzz. His jaw was a little too wide and his eyes a little too far apart. He was probably the only one who could get away with claiming to be a serial killer without wearing an actual costume.

“Threatening me won’t get you candy either. As a matter of fact…” I pushed away from the doorframe and stepped into the hall, making the boys surround me in a half-circle. “If you threaten me again,
you’re
going to get a trick. I can promise you, you won’t like it.”

The serial killer look-a-like took a half step closer to loom over me. I felt a cruel smile curl my lips. I called power to my hand until my fingers were tingling. I let the electric bolt shoot from my hand and strike the boy in the foot. He jumped almost two feet and squealed in pain. He dropped his skateboard and grabbed his foot, hopping on the other as he looked at me in shock. The other four boys all took a few steps back from me.

“Now,” I said very calmly, placing both hands on my hips. “You go and put together some sort of acceptable costumes and come back, and you can have all the candy I have left in that bowl.”

The boys exchanged looks again, their eyebrows climbing their foreheads.

“Seriously?” one of them asked.

I nodded. “Seriously. But I mean it.” I wagged at finger at them, tiny sparks of light jumping around my finger. “You’d better come back with real costumes, or you’re gonna get the trick of your lives.”

Grins spread across their faces, and even serial-killer boy looked intrigued. They whooped and hollered as they rushed back to the elevator. As the doors closed on them, they bent close together and whispered their plans. I laughed and walked back into the apartment.

“That was awkward,” Laney offered over the rim of her mug.

Whelan snorted. “No, that was awesome.”

“You could’ve just given them the candy,” Lane said. “What is the big deal?”

“The big deal is I don’t owe them anything.” I took my chair again, careful to sweep the train of my dress out of the way. “I could just shut my door, turn off my light, and pretend I’m not here, but I don’t. I like this holiday, as bastardized as it is. I like seeing kids dressed up in their zombie-princess-spaceman-monster glory, and for their effort, I’m happy to give them candy. But if they don’t even take the time to smear some shoe polish under their eyes and say they’re a football player, or roll around in the dirt and say they’re the risen dead, then they don’t get my candy.”

“She has a point,” Whelan said.

I poured more chocolate into our mugs, and Whelan added a healthy dollop of Irish cream to each. I checked the clock and saw it was just past ten o’clock, which meant the trick-or-treater parade was probably over. I switched off my playlist of creepy music and horror movie soundtracks and put on the latest by Black Witch White Magic. As I was dispelling the fog in the hallway, the elevator
binged
and the doors opened to reveal Ronnie and Joey.

Ronnie had dressed up as well, but instead of playing to her witchy abilities, she’d gone with some sort of medieval princess. Her ropy red hair was done up in a complicated braid with strands of silver and gold, and she had a delicate circlet over her forehead. Her dress was moss green and cream with ivy embroidered all over. Her sleeves came down over her hands, held in place with a ring slipped over each middle finger. As she walked, I saw her silver slippers peeking out from under her hem. As far as costumes go, it was very pretty, but not very Halloween-y if you asked me.

Joey, on the other hand, had gone goth pixie, and it was serious. Her bubblegum pink hair was the only color on her entire body. She was dressed head to toe in black, from her combat boots, to her ripped fishnet stockings, to her tattered tutu skirt and black tank top that looked painted on. She’d even painted her face in silvery black designs that swirled away from her eyes to disappear into her hairline. But most impressive of all were the pixie wings fanning out behind her. They were iridescent silver, glittering in the hallway light as they bounced gently in time with her steps.

“Wow, Joey,” I said when they got closer. I realized I had been staring open-mouthed at her.

“Right?” Ronnie said. “You should’ve seen the teen boys when they saw her. Thought I was gonna have to mop the floor.”

“You didn’t give them candy, did you?” I demanded.

“Oh, Mattie.” Ronnie sighed as she brushed past me into my apartment.

“They weren’t wearing costumes!”

“That’s what I said,” Joey chimed in.

I heard a choking noise and turned in time to see Laney wiping her mouth and shooting glances at Joey as she walked into the room.

“It’s a holiday, ease up,” Ronnie said, pulling my attention away from the suddenly angry human at my table.

“No.” I walked into the kitchen to give my spell pot a stir.

“Oh gods,” Ronnie groaned.

She plugged her nose with two fingers as she grabbed two more mugs out of the cabinet. Wolf’s bane might repel werewolves, but it did a pretty good job of keeping pretty much anyone else away as well.

“You know, last year you pulled that ‘no costume, no candy’ campaign, and they egged your door,” Ronnie said as she filled the mugs for her and Joey.

Whelan smiled at Ronnie as he added the appropriate libations to each mug. I shook the spoon before setting it on the rest, once again catching Laney glaring at the two new women in the room.

“Laney,” I said, drawing her attention. “Everything okay?” I arched my eyebrows and tilted my head, trying to convey to her that she needed to relax.

A flush colored her cheeks, and she nodded, trying to rearrange her face before anyone else noticed anything.

I walked back to the front door to turn on the rest of the lights in the hallway. I stopped short when I heard the elevator again. A cold lump formed in the bottom of my stomach. Ronnie’s warnings had gotten to me, damn it all. I held my breath as the doors slid open and revealed the same five boys from earlier. I laughed as the hoard of zombies shambled down the hall toward me.

They’d ripped their T-shirts and smeared dirt all over themselves. Their faces had smudges of mud on them, as if they had just escaped their graves. There were even tufts of grass in their mussed hair. They made the appropriate moaning noises with slack jaws and rolling eyes.

“Braaaaaaiiiiins!” one of them called, his hands in front of him with his fingers crooked into claws.

I laughed hard enough to cause a stitch to form in my side. I heard the others coming from the kitchen to join me to see what I was laughing at.

Each boy held a bag in front of them, and the ring leader from earlier said, “Caaaannnndy!” The four other boys took up the new call and echoed him, demanding the candy in the bowl behind me.

“Well done,” I said and clapped my approval.

They stayed in character until I picked up the cauldron and crossed the threshold to divide the chocolates among them. Then they jumped in place, smiles breaking over their dirty faces. They whooped and hollered in excitement.

“Didn’t think you were really gonna give us all of it,” Serial Killer Joe said as the last few pieces fell into his bag.

“It’s okay. I don’t need this much candy lying around.” Truth be told, I had a small stash hidden in my nightstand, just waiting for me.

They all thanked me profusely, digging their hands into their bags as they hurried back down the hall to the elevator. I waved good-bye and ushered my friends back inside. I waved my hand above my head and said, “
Lux lucis
.” The lights in the hall came up to full brightness.

Setting the empty cauldron on the table, I hooked the door with my foot to nudge it closed, but a pale hand stopped the door just before it shut. I spun around, another cold fist forming in my stomach, as the door swung back open.

“Heya, Mattie,” Fletcher said with a bright smile.

I touched my chest, feeling my heart thudding in relief, and laughed lightly. “Fletcher, hi.” I held the door open for him.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said quickly. “Just, you know, jumpy, I guess.” I shook my head and waved him in so I could close the door.

“Are you having a party?” Fletcher asked as he turned around to face me.

“Not on purpose,” I said as a new song came on. It was loud and fast, perfect for dancing. “But I suppose I am.”

“Then I got here just in time.” Fletcher flashed that smile again and caught my hand.

He pulled me off my feet, twirling me around the room before I came to halt against his chest. He bowed me backward, his face close to mine, and winked. The group at the table cheered.

Chapter 12

After my momentary surprise wore off, I laughed. My fingers were curled into Fletcher’s arms, my whole body as tight as a violin string. Slowly, Fletcher stood us upright, keeping his hands on the small of my back. I felt the heat of them through my dress – he must’ve fed before coming over.

“Yes, let’s have a party!” Joey said from the kitchen. She bounced in place, and her iridescent wings fluttered so fast that they became invisible. She clapped and spun on the spot and rushed into my kitchen.

“Don’t mess up the potion,” I called to her as I heard glasses and bottles clink together.

“So what’s up?” Fletcher asked over my shoulder, his face so close to my ear that I felt his breath on my neck. The faint tang of iron was still on his breath from his feeding.

“What do you mean?”

Fletcher stood back and gave me a look. I just stared back at him, waiting for him to explain his question.

“You were so nervous when I came down the hall that it almost smelled like rotting flowers,” he said.

“Gee, thanks.” I made a face at him.

“You know what I mean. Or,” he paused, making a face as he looked toward the kitchen, “it’s whatever is coming out of your kitchen.”

“Probably both,” I sighed. At his look I said, “Just all this crap with the Weres.” I waved and turned away from him to go help Joey with the drinks. “It’s on my mind, you know.”

“If you need help…”

I knew we were both remembering the last time he’d offered to help me. I had snapped at him that I didn’t need a man to protect me. “Thank you.”

Fletcher nodded. In another moment, the light in his eyes was back, and everything felt normal again, as though the world had shifted and set things right.

“We should go to the roof,” Ronnie said. “There’s a mini garden up there, and lights, and it’s all pretty.”

“Yeah, sure.” I shrugged, not unhappy that my apartment wouldn’t be trashed by our impromptu party.

Everyone chipped in on hauling things up to the roof, and with the string lights lit up, it was pretty nice. The moon was nearly full and wholly bright, hanging just to the east of the city. Only a tiny sliver was missing from it. In the distance, I heard the echo of a wolf’s howl. Ronnie’s eyes found mine, and we shared a long look. Whose howl was that? One of Jameson’s pack or one of Tollis’s?

“Mattie?” Whelan’s voice pulled me away from Ronnie’s worried eyes. “What are you gonna do with that potion anyway?”

“What?” For some reason, I couldn’t follow his words. Thoughts of bloodthirsty wolves were running through my mind, and all I could hear were their desperate howls.

“The wolf’s bane you’re brewing?” Whelan bent closer to my face, watching me closely.

Soon my mind sped up, and I realized what he was asking. “Oh, right, um…” I shook my head, trying to knock the unfamiliar wolves from my mind. “You wear it like cologne. I pour some into an atomizer, and you spritz it on, like, all over.”

“But it stinks,” Laney protested. Her face was scrunched up as though she had sucked on a lemon.