While the mortal world prepared for a day of festivities for what they called the Halloween, the mythical creatures of Fall Hollow prepared for their own celebration that was of an even more ancient tradition.
They referred to it as the Samhain or the Day of the Dead.
It was the first day of three of which Samhain Festival fell, roughly, halfway between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice. The moon's powerful pull influences highly on the living dead. Mostly, it was just a night which demons prey and possessed on the weak.
Val was at No Exit--in a club down in the Meatpacking District-- trying to blend in, as she study the crowd, but as always, she stood out among them like a fish out of water. The place was dark, the walls painted a flat black, and the only light came from a couple of strobes that reflected off the metal cages. Half of the people there were trying to look like vampires, with dead white skin, and the other half was trying to look poetically scary. The DJ was playing some sort of house music at a decibel level too high to calibrate, and the wall at the back was covered with people either seeking out for victims or getting off against it.
Tonight, it was just another excuse for the youngsters to dressed up in slutty or flashy costumes and party the night away and Val's night off. Since the beaches were off limits until the weather became warm. She thought a little bit of alcohol and music will put her more in the celebrating mood.
The mermaid squeezed through the crowd, trying to look like she had a destination in mind and not so much like she was alone. She had found a tattered black top at a store, which the clerk said she looked "hot". The top had rips in it and an uneven hem, and there was one strategic hole that one of her teens had enlarged with a scissors, cutting close enough of the gauzy black fabric to reveal her belly button. Then, paired off with some tight jeans which took almost an hour to pull on. All to help her blend into the wild scene of the club.
Then she saw him.
He was like the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. There was a bunch of kids surrounding him, but he stood a head taller than the rest of them. His skin was rice paper white, of course, and his eyes were totally black and surrounded by thick eyeliner. There wasn't even a pinpoint of light reflected in them. His black hair flowed over his shoulders and halfway down his back. His nose cut his face like a blade and his black mouth looked both cruel and sensuous.
Something wasn't right.
"Do not look at me, do not look at me, do not look at me," she whispered, barely moving her lips, any sound drowned out by the sudden onslaught of Coldcut.
And then it happened.
He turned his head slightly and saw her staring at him and his eyes seemed to lock onto her. She wanted to leave and yet she just stood there, besotted at the sight of him. The stare lengthened, her mind with just the slightest motion of the dark stranger's body, a path opened up between him and Val and within seconds he was standing in front of her.
Val's head tilted back to look up at him, her face felt warm and her mind came to an ease. People moved away from them, giving the two space. The look of fear in her eyes and the corners of his mouth turned up. "You're a juicy little one, aren't you?" he asked.
His hand felt hot to the touch when pushed back the hair that was falling over her neck. She couldn't see any pupils; the entire eye was black, and yet they seemed to have depth. Val felt like she was hallucinating, a magic pull she felt towards him.
a an Insuccubus. This one was the first she had ever counter.
"Come along, Little One, and let's play," he said to me in a low, seductive voice. He took her by the hand and led Val to an empty space against the wall. With a tug of her hips, he placed her in front of him, slid a little down the wall so that his knees were bent, and then lifted her so that she was balancing at the top of his thighs--his very strong, very muscular thighs that she glimpsed through his fishnets. His lips were at the top of her head, taking a sniff of her scent.
" AS I expected; wet sand, sea water, seashells, and the boardwalk. I never had a mermaid before," he chuckled. She shook her head, avoiding his eyes for the first time.
The sudden feeling of sharp nails gave him a moment's pause, but everything about the mermaid was so beautiful, so all-encompassing that the faint jolt of alien-ness was quickly eased, until he felt his face was on fire. Five long claw marks covered the side of his face, he quickly released his hold on her and brought his hands to his face.
A dark expression crossed his face, one of anger, " I am going to enjoy feeding on your soul."
