Moonlight Denial: Shades of Moonlight Book One

“Oooooo, well, color me impressed,” Nicoli said as his face was practically against the window. His father and he were driving up to Town Hall and the whole building was decked out in Halloween decorations from top to bottom.

A pumpkin patch had been arranged at the entrance to the building with hay, scarecrows and all. Almost life sized ghost sheets hung from the walls along with bats, webs, and spiders. Masses of black and orange streamers decorated Town Hall in imitation of a TP attack gone wrong and a giant banner hung above the door saying, “Happy Halloween.”

“They really go out for this kind of stuff, don’t they?” Nicoli asked as he tore his face away from the window long enough to look at his father.

Lance chuckled and smirked at his son.

“Of course, did you expect anything less from the people of Whixton?”

“Good point,” Nicoli agreed as he gazed out at the building again.

“Hmm, maybe we should have come a little earlier, most of the parking spaces seem to be taken,” his father murmured as he inched the car through the rows of cars.

“Oh! Oh! There’s one!” Nicoli exclaimed when he spotted a free space hidden by a van.

When they secured the space as their own the two exited the car and headed toward the big building. Even as they approached they could hear music spilling out from the open doors and into the night air.

Nicoli was surprised by how excited he felt. There was even an extra spring in his step. He hadn’t realized just how much he had been looking forward to letting loose and partying, having fun, and just being a teenager.

“So, I finally get to meet your friend Amelia, right?” Lance asked as they walked up the concrete pathway to the entrance.

“Yep, she should be around here somewhere,” Nicoli replied and began looking around for the red head. “She said she’d meet us in front of Town Hall.” He then frowned and furrowed his brows. “But I don’t see her.”

“Well, I’m sure she’ll turn up eventually. Maybe she was sucked into the excitement inside,” his father suggested.

“Yeah, you might be right,” Nicoli murmured.

They were almost to the steps when something caught Nicoli’s attention. He stopped in his tracks and tilted his head as he examined an unusually large pile of hay. He could have sworn…

“Nicoli, what’s wrong?” Lance asked. He had noticed his son wasn’t by his side anymore and stopped a few feet ahead of him.

“Uh, nothing, Dad,” Nicoli muttered as he scratched his cheek. His eyes were still fixed on the pile of hay. “I just – I thought the hay moved.” He then laughed sheepishly and shook his head. “But that’s rather sill –”

Nicoli was cut off as a figure burst from the hay and tackled him. He was only able to let out an odd yelp as he and the person went tumbling back into the small hay field on the other side

“Nicoli!” he heard his father cry out in alarm.

A soft groan rose from the boy and his eyes fluttered open when he felt the person on top of him move. He stared into familiar hazel eyes and was struck by a dazzling, white smile.

“Hey, Amelia,” Nicoli said weakly, still winded from the blow.

“Hi, Nicoli, I was wondering if you were ever going to show up,” the girl said with a big grin as she shifted so she was more comfortable on Nicoli’s stomach. “It was starting to get really itchy under there. I was just about ready to tackle whoever came by next.”

“Lucky me for coming at just the right time,” Nicoli muttered and shifted uncomfortably. “Can you get off me now? You’re crushing my organs.”

Amelia was about to reply when footsteps came towards them.

“Nicoli, are you all right?” Lance asked worriedly.

“Oh, he’s fine,” Amelia answered for him and was thrown a dirty look from the boy beneath her. “A light little thing like me couldn’t hurt such a strong guy like Nicoli.”

Lance stared at her and didn’t reply. Nicoli had told him about how...eccentric she was, but he hadn’t taken it seriously.

A sigh made everyone pause and Nicoli had to lean sideways to watch a man, who was almost as tall as his father, walk up to them. He was clothed in priest’s robes and glasses adorned his face. What caught his interest was the man’s short, scruffy hair was almost the same shade of red as Amelia’s.

“I’m terribly sorry,” the man said, his voice soft and his expression apologetic. “I tried to stop her, really I did, but when she gets it in her head to do something…well, she’ll do it.”

Amelia giggled as she leaned back enough to look up at the man.

“You can’t be too sorry, Preston, since you are the one that helped cover me in hay,” she said teasingly and giggled again when the man flushed, making his pale skin stand out more.

“O-only ‘cause you would have blackmailed me!” Preston sputtered, causing the girl to only laugh more.

“As fun as it is to watch this,” Nicoli said, drawing attention back to himself. “Amelia, I think my liver just fell asleep, so can you please get. Off. Me!”

The girl was about to make a witty comeback when hands abruptly slipped under her armpits.

“You heard the man, so I think its time to respect his wishes, my little monkey,” Preston said. The man was stronger than he looked as he lifted Amelia right off Nicoli and about a foot into the air before setting her down beside him.

Amelia blinked at the sudden upheaval then pouted and glared at the man.

“Awe, Preston! You’re no fun!” she yelled childishly before crossing her arms and turning her back on him.

Preston simply sighed and gave another apologetic look to Lance, who chuckled and nodded his sympathy before bending down to help his son up.

“That wasn’t really how I wanted to start this night,” Nicoli murmured as he brushed the hay from his clothes. He then picked up his hat that had been knocked off and plopped it back onto his head.

“Again, I’m terribly sorry,” Preston said. “Ow!” He clapped his hand over the spot on his arm Amelia had just hit.

“Stop saying you’re sorry all the time, it gets annoying,” Amelia chided him then stuck out her tongue when the man glared at her.

“Uh, so you gonna introduce us or something?” Nicoli said before the childish antics could continue.

“Oh! That’s right. You guys have never met Preston,” Amelia said, abandoning her raspberry she had been prepared to blow. She slipped her arms around one of Preston’s and hugged it tightly. “This is my cousin Preston. Our moms are sisters so that makes us first cousins,” Amelia introduced and puffed out her chest proudly as she spoke, as if the two hadn’t just been bickering.

“Hello,” Preston said with a smile and a slight nod of his head.

“Preston, this is my friend Nicoli that I’ve been telling you about,” Amelia then continued, pointing at the boy in black.

“I figured as much. It’s nice to meet you, Nicoli,” Preston chuckled then held out his free hand toward the boy.

“Nice to meet you, too. Glad to see someone normal from her family. I was beginning to think all of you were as crazy as Amelia,” Nicoli said with a smirk as he shook Preston’s hand, who also laughed. Nicoli then yelped and hopped on one foot to grab his ankle when Amelia kicked his shin.

The girl upturned her nose at the nasty look he gave her and turned her attention to Lance.

“And this is…um…somebody…” Amelia murmured, realizing that she didn’t know the man she had been about to introduce.

Lance chuckled in amusement and offered his hand to her.

“I’m Lance Vurkeshaun,” he said.

Amelia’s eyes widened in excitement and she was quick to let go of Preston’s arm to take Lance’s hand.

“Oh, wow, so that must mean your Nicoli’s dad, right? It’s great to finally meet you!” she asked excitedly as she shook his hand vigorously.

“Uh, yeah, that’s right,” Lance replied sheepishly as his arm was jerked up and down along with his hand.

“Who else would I come here with?” Nicoli asked, knowing full well Amelia knew that only his dad was able to make it to the party.

“Hey, you never know for sure,” Amelia said defensively as Lance and Preston shook hands. “So, are you guys ready to go have some fun?” she then asked and began to sway her body to the rhythm of the music that was still coming from the building.

“I know I am,” Lance said with a wide grin. “I haven’t been to a Whixton party in ages.”

“Oh, yeah,” Amelia said, staring at Lance with wide eyes. “You used to live here, right, Mr. Vurkeshaun?”

“That’s right. I’m a Whixtian, born and raised,” the man said proudly.

“Then how the heck did you spawn such an anti-occult kid?” Amelia snickered and bumped her hip into Nicoli’s, who made a cry of protest.

“I wonder that myself sometimes,” Lance replied, tilting his son’s hat forward.

“Dad, don’t encourage her,” Nicoli grumbled, as he righted it.

“Well, if we are all excited to enjoy the night there is no point spending it out here in the cold while the festivities are inside. Why don’t we move our discussion inside?” Preston suggested.

“Preston’s right!” Amelia exclaimed. She then proceeded to turn both Preston and Lance towards the entrance to Town Hall and began pushing them from the small pumpkin patch and up the pathway. “Come on, Nicoli!” she called back to the boy.

“I am not your dog,” Nicoli snapped at her, but had to follow anyways. It wasn’t like he wanted to stand there all night.

When they were near the entrance Amelia stopped pushing the older men and fell back in step with Nicoli. When the light coming from inside poured over them it was the first time Nicoli got a good look at Amelia. Through all the excitement the boy hadn’t had a chance to actually look at her and see what she was wearing.

“Amelia, what exactly are you?” Nicoli asked curiously.

Amelia was dressed in a black leather top. It had red strips and zigzags going down the front and short sleeves and the red was outlined in white. She had a matching round, cylinder like hat and a plain black skirt that was a few inches above her knees. What confused the boy were the black feathered wings attached to her back and what appeared to be a monkey tail sewn into the back of her skirt that curled at the end.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Amelia asked him with an incredulous look.

“If it was obvious, why would I be asking?”

Amelia huffed at him and threw her hands up in exasperation.

“I’m a flying monkey from “The Wizard of Oz,” duh!” she told him. “How the heck could you not know that?”

“…Oh,” Nicoli murmured as he took her in once more. He then simply shrugged. “It’s not my fault that I thought you were going to dress up as something a little cooler.” The boy then yelped and saved his hat from falling as Amelia slapped him upside the head.

“Shut up, Zor-dork.”

When they entered Town Hall Nicoli was struck by the grandeur of the inside of the building. The first room was large and, if Nicoli didn’t know any better, he would have thought it made up the entirety of the building. It was also decorated just as well as the outside. Streamers draped and hung down from almost every inch of the ceiling along with the same kind of spiders and bats from outside. Giant posters and Halloween murals hung on the walls and near two of the walls tables were lined up and filled with food.

The small stage that would normally be used for someone speaking about any such matter of the town instead had a DJ and music flowed from his machine to fill the room and move the people on the dance floor. Speaking of people, the room was packed to the gills with people in a wide variety of costumes. They were loitering around the food tables, dancing on the dance floor, or just milling about talking with friends on the sidelines.

Nicoli was so distracted as he was looking around he didn’t notice when his father stopped.

“Oof!” Nicoli almost fell back from colliding into Lance’s back, but luckily Amelia grabbed his arm and helped get his balance back.

“Ow, Dad, why did you stop?” the boy asked as he rubbed his sore nose.

“Sorry, I was trying to see if I could spot Lloyd. He told me to find him as soon as I arrived,” Lance said and gave an apologetic smile to his son.

“Who’s Lloyd?” Amelia asked curiously.

“He’s my boss and also an old friend,” Lance answered with a smile.

“Oh, you mean Lloyd Flemer – Flemmy – Flemmpert,” Nicoli said, unable to remember the last name.

Preston and Amelia glanced at each other before looking back at the father-son duo.

“You mean Lloyd Flembart?” they asked in unison.

Nicoli raised an eyebrow and Lance stared at them in surprise before chuckling.

“I’m guessing you know him?” he asked.

“Do we ever!” Amelia exclaimed, becoming excited once more.

Before Nicoli could ask her why this thrilled her so much, Preston said,

“If memory serves, he was by one of the food tables further towards the back last time we saw him.”

“Come on, we’ll go show you,” Amelia said and without another word plunged her way into the mob of party goers with Preston right on her heels, chiding her about pushing innocent civilians out of the way.

Nicoli and Lance stared after them in utter confusion, but they snapped out of it and started following the red heads before they lost them.

“Son, I’m sorry I ever doubted you when you told me how…peculiar Amelia was,” Lance told his son with a smile as they made their way through the sea of costumes.

“Told you,” Nicoli said smugly.

By the time they reached their destination the crowd had thinned out a bit, being that the sidelines were receiving less action than the dance area.

“Ah, so there he is,” Lance said, catching Nicoli’s attention toward a group a people just at the end of the food table.

From everything his father had told him about Lloyd, Nicoli’s eyes were drawn to one man in particular. He was a tall man dressed as a pirate, eye patch, bandana holding back jet black hair, gold hoop earring in one ear, the works.

When they approached Lloyd turned towards them just in time to have his arms filled with a tackling Amelia.

“Uncle! Uncle! We brought you a present!” she told him with a big smile, hanging from his neck like the monkey she was dressed up as.

“A present?” Lloyd asked, his voice deep and rich and his smile charming. “What kind of present did you get me, my little darling?” he asked as he held her up with one arm wrapped around her waist.

Lloyd looked up when Amelia pointed towards Lance and his smile grew into a smirk.

“Ah, you brought me one of my little minions,” he said as he set Amelia down on the ground. “Such a good little monkey, I’ll give you a treat later.” He patted the back of her head affectionately as the girl beamed at him.

“Minon? Excuse me?” Lance said incredulously, but he soon broke into a smile as well. “That’s some big talk coming from the scrawny little crybaby that used to follow me around school.”

“Ooh, burn,” Lloyd snickered before holding his hand out and shook hands with Lance when the other man took it. “Good to see you somewhere outside of work. For awhile I thought that Museum had become your life.”

“Oh, it has, don’t worry about that,” Lance told him with a chuckle.

Lloyd also chuckled before his gaze fell on the boy dressed completely in black at Lance’s side.

“Ah, this must be the son I’ve heard so much about. Nicoli, right?” he asked as he held out his hand.

“Uh, yeah, that’s right,” Nicoli said, taking the man’s hand. He was surprised by how strong Lloyd’s grip was and tried not to wince when they shook hands. “So, wait, you’re Amelia’s uncle?” he asked curiously. He hadn’t seen that one coming.

“That’s right,” Amelia said with her thousand watt smile. “This is my Uncle Lloy-Lloy.”

“Lloy-Lloy?” Lance snickered and earned a dirty look from the other man.

“How come you didn’t tell me you worked for one of Amelia’s relatives?” Nicoli asked, thinking that would have been information worth sharing.

“Possibly because I didn’t know that,” Lance replied, causing his son to look at him strangely.

“Oh? Did you not tell your best friend you married a Fairbrooke?” a woman’s voice said.

A beautiful, slender woman walked up beside Lloyd and put her hands around his arm. She was also dressed as a pirate, though her clothes were much more flattering than the ones on Lloyd. Lush strawberry blonde hair spilled around her shoulders and she had the same hazel eyes as Amelia.

“Auntie Hailey, I was wondering where you ran off too,” Amelia said before securing her arms around the woman’s waist in a tight hug.

Hailey simple laughed and stroked the back of the girls head lovingly, the hat being in the way of the rest.

“I didn’t run far, I assure you,” she said before smiling at Lance. “And you must be Lance, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said holding out her hand.

“Likewise, it’s nice to finally meet the woman Lloyd won’t shut up about,” Lance said, kissing the back of her hand.

“Well, I can’t help bragging about marrying the greatest woman in Whixton,” Lloyd said with a smug grin as he put his arm around her waist once Amelia let go.

“And this must be the charming young man my sweet little niece keeps raving about,” Hailey said, ignoring her husbands complement as she turned to Nicoli.

Before the boy could open his mouth Amelia had her arms draped around him. She was being very clingy tonight.

“Yep, this is my new pet, Nicoli,” she said proudly.

“Pet?” Nicoli asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

Hailey giggled and smiled at Nicoli.

“That’s good, I’m glad Amelia is making new friends,” the woman said before leaning closer and her smile became softer with a hint of a leer in it and when she spoke her voice was low. “I do hope you take good care of my little niece, young man. If she gets into any trouble or anything I’ll be counting on you to protect her as best you can. Okay?”

“Um…yes, ma’am?” Nicoli said uncertainly, wondering what she meant by that.

“Oh, Auntie, like I’m the one that needs protecting?” Amelia asked with a pout.

That only got a giggle from Hailey before she turned her attention back to the two men who had engrossed themselves in talk about the museum and other business matters.

Nicoli wasn’t very interested by this and took the time to turn to Preston, who had been standing off to the side and was being very quiet.

“So, does that mean they’re your parents?” he asked.

Preston laughed and shook his head.

“Oh, no, no, they’re my aunt and uncle, too,” he replied.

“Yeah, Preston’s mom is a different sister,” Amelia chimed in.

Sheesh, they’re a big family compared to mine, Nicoli thought.

“Hey, why don’t you youngsters go run off?” Lance’s voice said, drawing the other three back into the main conversation.

“Yeah, there’s no reason to stand here and listen to two old guys badger on about the good old days,” Lloyd said as he put his arm around Lance’s neck.

“Who are you calling old?” Lance muttered.

Lloyd simply smirked at him before grinning at the others.

“Unless you guys want to stay here and listen to us talk on and on and on and on –”

“Nope, not in the least,” Amelia said with a big smile. She then spun both Nicoli and Preston around and began pushing them away from the adults. “We’ll just be on our merry way then!”

“We’ll probably leave around 9 or 9:30 so find me then, Nicoli!” Lance called after them.

“Will do, Dad!”

Once away from the adults the first thing Amelia did was drag her two male companions out onto the dance floor. Through a medley of songs they danced together as much as they could in the space given from the mob of people and Amelia was able to embarrass both Nicoli and Preston by making them dance together in very close contact, though Preston seemed to be more flustered about the whole thing. Nicoli didn’t think the man’s face could be the same color as his hair, but he had been proven wrong.

When Amelia finally had mercy on them and let them escape from the dance floor the three of them found a vacant spot near one of the walls to simply talk. It was then Nicoli was able to learn more about the Fairbrooke family.

The main bulk of the family consisted of Amelia’s and Preston’s mothers’, Aunt Hailey, her husband Lloyd, and their eight year old daughter named Nicole. There was another uncle, who was the brother of the three sisters, who also lived in Whixton, but couldn’t make it to the party that night.

Amelia was an only child and her mother was single. She seemed a bit unwilling to explain why her father wasn’t in the picture and Nicoli had no desire to delve into it further. Preston had an older sister who lived in New York, but he, like Amelia, only had a mother. His father had died of cancer when he and Amelia were younger and afterwards, with nowhere to go, Amelia’s mother allowed Preston, his mother, and his sister to come live with them, so they all lived under the same roof.

Nicoli hadn’t thought Preston was that much older than him, but he was, in fact, twenty-two – The boy made sure to make a mental note that he was old enough to buy alcohol – Preston attended a small community college in a neighboring town, but, to spare expenses, still lived at home with the others. In all, through out their talk, Nicoli thought Preston was a good guy – definitely saner than Amelia could ever hope to be – and the boy concluded that he liked him and that they could be good friends.

“So, wait, where is your mom?” Nicoli asked as he and Amelia raided one of the food tables. Preston had found a few of his friends and left the teenagers to their own devices. “You were so excited to meet my dad, but I haven’t seen your mom yet,” he said as he shoved a couple of “dirt” covered gummy worms into his mouth.

“Oh, she’s not here,” Amelia told him as she picked out a cookie in the shape of a bat. “She’s at the cemetery with Preston’s mom.”

That made Nicoli halt in his scavenging and stare at her with wide eyes.

“Da cementary?” he muttered around half a gummy worm dangling out the corner of his mouth and remnants of the chocolate dirt littered the corners of his lips.

“Stop being gross,” Amelia scolded and shoved the rest of the worm into his mouth as she nibbled on her cookie.

Nicoli coughed and nearly choked, but was able to chew up the rest of the gummy and swallow it.

“Why would your moms’ be at the cemetery?” he asked as he wiped his mouth with the back f his hand.

“Preparing for the “Death Serenade” of course,” Amelia said matter-of-factly, but her smile faded when Nicoli continued to stare at her in confusion from his two eye holes. “Yoooou don’t know what that is, do you?”

“Not a clue,” Nicoli answered as he took a sucker from one of the candy dishes.

“Oh, well, it’s an event we have every Halloween. Since this holiday really is for the spirits and all that a group of us meet at the cemetery to perform what we call the “Death Serenade.” At midnight we play music, either classical, rock, country, we even did rap last year, but, anyways, any music we think the spirits might enjoy and we go about fixing up all the tombstones. We clean them of dirt and dust, and decorate them with flowers and beads and stuff and we laugh and have a good time while doing it to make the spirits happy,” Amelia explained.

“Wow…sounds intense. A little ridiculous to do that for dead people, of course, but intense,” Nicoli said as he stuck the sucker in his mouth. For some reason he was finding it harder and harder to make up mocking remarks regarding the supernatural. It could have something to do with personally knowing a vampire and a ghost, but he had to shape up least Amelia became suspicious.

She didn’t seem to detect the lame attempt at an insult as she gave him another good smack upside the head. Only harder this time

“Ow!”

“Hey, I’ve been supportive in your non-believer beliefs of the occult and all that, but I won’t let you say something like that about one of our most cherished rituals. It’s not so much about ghosts and spooks, as you might think, but a way for us to respect the people who came before us and died here and are forever immortalized in the sacred dirt of the cemetery,” she scolded and had one of the most venomous glares Nicoli had ever seen.

He stared at her in awe for a moment as he rubbed the back of his head. A feeling of guilt in the pit of his stomach made him want to give himself a good smack, too.

“Yeah, you’re right, sorry, Amelia,” he apologized with his head bowed humbly. “That was a rather ignorant thing for me to say. I didn’t mean anything by it, really.”

Amelia glared at him for a little while longer, to make sure he was really sorry. She then smiled with a soft sigh and placed her arm around Nicoli’s shoulders.

“You can be a big ass and a bastard, Buddy, but I’ll make you a tolerable ass, bastard yet,” she told him with a grin.

Nicoli smiled around his sucker and loosely placed his arm around the girl’s waist, being careful of her wings.

“You sure you’re up for that kind of challenge?” he asked coyly.

“Ha! Nicy, I’ve hardly begun to whip you into shape,” Amelia replied in a heartbeat.

They laughed and released their one armed hugs as they searched for more goodies on the table.

“So, do you want to go?” Amelia then asked.

“Hmm?” Nicoli looked at her curiously, unsure of what she meant.

“To the “Death Serenade.” At midnight I’m going with the rest of my family to join up with mine and Preston’s mom. You’re welcome to come along to see how it –”

“Sorry, but that ain’t gonna happen,” Nicoli interrupted her with a firm shake of his head.

“What? Why?” Amelia asked, perplexed. Her eyes then narrowed into another glare. “Do you still think it’s that stupid?”

“It’s not that, I swear,” Nicoli quickly assured her. “It’s just I…have a thing about cemeteries, that’s all,” he told her, averting his gaze and rubbing the back of his neck.

“A thing about cemeteries?” the girl echoed in confusion.

“Yeah, I just, I can hardly stand to be near one, let alone in one,” he explained. “I get all weirded out and freeze up then feel like I’m about to have an epileptic fit or something. It’s not pretty.”

“So, you’re really scared of cemeteries?” Amelia asked slowly, finding it hard to believe someone could have that great of fear of such a place.

“I guess you can call it a phobia, or whatever, all I know is that I’m never gonna go in one willingly, so I won’t go with you tonight, sorry,” he said, but his resolve stood firm.

“Huh…well, I just learn something new about you everyday,” Amelia said as she examined a cupcake with green ooze filling, debating on whether to try it or not. “But that’d just be cruel of me to force you to go if you’ll have that bad of a reaction, so I won’t. I’ll just take a lot of pictures and show them to you later,” she compromised.

“That’d be just fine,” Nicoli agreed with a smile. “Cause, trust me, Amelia, you’re a cool friend and all, but if you even tried to drag me into that cemetery, I’m sorry, but I’d punch your lights out.”

“Ooooooh I’d love to see that!” Amelia said with a mischievous grin, curious if Nicoli actually had it in him.

Both the teenagers jumped when hands were placed on their shoulders unexpectedly.

“Now I thought I said I wanted you to protect Amelia, not knock her on her rump.”

Both Nicoli and Amelia looked up to see Hailey standing behind them with a smile on her face.

“Er, uh, no, Mrs. Flembart, it was a joke. I actually wouldn’t do it,” Nicoli quickly retracted, hoping the woman hadn’t taken him seriously.

“I knew it was too good to be true,” Amelia muttered in disappointment. After she sighed she looked back up at her aunt questioningly. “What’s up, Auntie?” she asked.

“I was wondering if you could come help me for a moment, Amelia,” Hailey requested with her smile still in place. “We’re trying to set up a few games for the kids in one of the other rooms. You know, bobbing for apples and those kinds of things, but the rest of the women and I thought you could give us your expertise, being the master at Halloween games and all.”

A grin spread across Amelia’s face and she clapped her hands.

“Yeah! That’d be great! I’d love to help,” she agreed enthusiastically.

“Good, I’m glad,” Hailey said, her smile never changing as she turned Amelia away from Nicoli, but before she began to walk away she looked back at the boy. “Sorry, Nicoli, but this calls for a woman’s touch, so I hope you don’t mind if I steal Amelia from you for a bit.”

“Oh, of course not, Mrs. Flembart,” Nicoli assured her with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I’m not one to interfere in a woman’s duty.”

Hailey nodded and began to lead Amelia away, but Nicoli couldn’t help but notice the confused look the girl gave her aunt, as if what the woman said had made no sense to her.

When Nicoli couldn’t see Amelia’s swaying monkey tail anymore he sighed around his now bare stick, the hardened, sugary substance long since gone. Something about Amelia’s aunt sent shivers up his spine. It was as if a predator lurked behind her kind smile, ready to tear the boy apart without a second thought. It unnerved and confused him, to say the least.

“I can’t tell if she’s just naturally like that or if she just doesn’t like me,” he muttered to himself. With no obvious answer in front of him he decided to mull over it later. He turned back to the food table and wiggled his sucker stick about in his mouth, deciding what to try next.

A light giggle behind him caught his attention and Nicoli turned just in time to see a girl walk by him. She was dressed as some type of Egyptian Princess or something: a black wig, heavy eye makeup, golden bangles on her wrists, a light wrap dress, all the works. She was a pretty thing too and her costume only accentuated that.

He had seen her a couple times all ready while dancing with Amelia and Preston. The way her body moved while she was dancing was enough to catch his interest and he could have sworn she had been making eyes at him every time they made the briefest of eye contact, but he couldn’t be sure.

All his doubts were swept out from under him as the girl stopped and turned enough to smile coyly at him and flutter her eyelashes in just the right way. Then she went on her way, but more slowly this time, as if tempting Nicoli to follow.

The boy couldn’t help the big grin that spread across his face. It had been awhile since he chased a good skirt. He hadn’t been lying when he told Amelia that he had had his fair share of girlfriends. Back at his old school he had been somewhat popular, being friends with a well liked jock like Zack helped in that respect, as well as his own charm and cuteness he could turn on at the drop of a hat. So he always was able to get a girl if one were to catch his interest.

Since moving to Whixton he had no urge to look around for any girls, what with the situation with Ethan, coupled with almost everyone at school hating him, and the girls’ not giving him the time of day. But, like he had said, it was his night to let loose and get back to his roots and his Egyptian Princess seemed more than willing to help him with his dry spell.

Nicoli took the chewed up stick out of his mouth and threw it behind him with a flick of his wrist. His cape fluttered and his boots clacked against the floor as he followed after his Egyptian Princess. His prey had a fair amount of a head start, but the chase was always part of the fun.

He weaved around other people, who seemed intent on blocking his way, and he made sure to keep his sights on his prize so as not to lose her. He soon gained ground and was just a few feet behind the Egyptian Princess when a hand shot out from around a pillar he was passing and grabbed hold of his shirt. Nicoli yelped as he was yanked around and behind the pillar.

The girl stopped and turned to look behind her, having heard the noise. She looked around for a moment then pouted when she realized the handsome young Zorro wasn’t following her like she thought he would. Pity, he had been cute, oh well. Then she continued on her way.

“Hey, what the fuck is the big idea!?” Nicoli snarled after he was pushed back against the pillar. He made to glare up at his attacker, but it instead turned into a wide eyed expression when he saw the last person he thought he’d see.

“E-Ethan?” he sputtered in shock.

The vampire gave a toothy smirk as he placed a hand on the pillar, near Nicoli’s head, and leaned against it.

“Hey, Kid, how’s it goin’?” he asked innocently, trying not to snicker at just how much he had surprised the boy.

Nicoli continued to stare at him for a few moments before his glare was resurrected. With both hands he pushed against Ethan’s chest, sending the man stumbling back a few steps.

“What the fuck are you doing here!?” the boy demanded, his hands clenched into fists at his side.

Ethan couldn’t help the surprise in his expression at Nicoli’s reaction.

“What do you mean, “What am I doing here?” It’s Halloween, am I not allowed to have a little fun?” the vampire asked.

“No!” Nicoli immediately replied, stomping his foot on the ground to strengthen the word’s meaning. “This was my night to just be a normal, fun-loving teenager. No vampires, no ghosts, no nothing and you’re ruining it!”

Ethan simply stared at Nicoli once the boy was done with his tantrum. The parts of his cheeks the mask wasn’t covering were red and flushed from all of his yelling and he was panting to regain the breath he had used and the glare those blue eyes were giving the vampire was nothing but fierce.

Ethan chuckled as he slipped his hands in the pockets of his old blue jeans.

“You’re cute when you’re angry,” he said simply and watched as the boy’s flush deepened and he tore his eyes away with an embarrassed huff. “Sorry to ruin your fun there, Nic, but I need a chance to loosen up too, ya know? And I thought we were friends now, so what’s the harm of spending such a fun occasion with a fellow friend?” he asked, trying the guilt trip card.

“Look, we may be some sort of odd variation of “friends,” but I wanted to spend this night with Amelia, my dad and meet Amelia’s family, and possibly get to know that girl that you totally made me lose track of, by the way!” Nicoli snapped.

“You mean the one dancing with the guy in the lame vampire costume?” Ethan asked as he peered around the pillar and pointed out to the dance floor.

“Huh?” Nicoli turned and looked to where the vampire was pointing. What he saw made his mouth drop open and a plaintive whine escape him.

His Egyptian Princess was dancing with some loser in what was a very lame vampire costume. Painted on white skin, fake, clunky fangs with less than convincing blood dribbling down the corner of his mouth, and a ridiculous looking wide collar cape around his shoulders.

The Egyptian Princess and the lame vampire were dancing together and the girl had her arms thrown around the man’s neck and was pressing her body fully against his as they moved against each other to the rhythm of the music.

“Do people have no respect for vampires anymore?” Ethan muttered in distaste.

“Auuugh, that could have been me!” Nicoli exclaimed and proceeded to hit his head against the pillar a good few times. He then turned back to the vampire and glared at him as he righted his now crooked hat. “I hate you so much right now.”

“Oh, come on, I did you a favor,” Ethan said. “You’re way too good for that little skank.”

“Who said I was looking for quality?” Nicoli grumbled as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the pillar. He then sighed over his lost prize before staring up at the jerk and looking him over. “And just what are you supposed to be?” he asked to get his mind off his loss.

Ethan was very plainly dressed. He was wearing a plain white shirt with a leather jacket over that. His sunglasses were folded up and dangling from the collar of the white shirt. Old blue jeans clothed his legs and beat up old boots were on his feet. The vampire’s wavy blonde hair looked like it had been gelled back, but one rogue lock refused to be tamed and hung over his forehead and curved near his eye. In all it was a very…mediocre costume.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Ethan asked with a raised brow.

“Why is everyone asking me that tonight?” Nicoli muttered and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers. He then sighed and looked up at Ethan wearily. “No, Ethan, it’s not obvious.”

The vampire chuckled and smirked at him.

“Here, I’ll give you a clue.” Ethan then leaned back in only what Nicoli could describe as a “cool, non-caring pose” and then gave a double thumbs up and said one word,

“Aaaaaaaay.”

After the sound was issued Nicoli stared at the vampire strangely for a very long time. He wasn’t serious, was he?

“Holy shit, you’re Fonzie?” he asked.

“Damn straight, gotta love a classic character,” Ethan said as tugged up the collar of his jacket with a cocky smirk. The smirk disappeared, however, when the vampire noticed Nicoli was still looking at him oddly. “What? You have a problem with the Fonz or something?” he asked, hands going to his hips as he frowned at the young man.

“Weeelll, no, there’s nothing wrong with Fonzie, I love “Happy Days” reruns just as much as the next guy, but it just seems…odd, for you,” Nicoli said awkwardly, unsure how to voice his response. “Let’s just say, out of all the Halloween costumes in the world, this is the last thing I expected.”

Ethan chuckled as he swept his hand over his gelled back hair, the rebellious lock falling into place once more.

“Then that just goes to show you have a lot more to learn about me, doesn’t it?” he asked. “Besides, it’s not like I could go hog wild on a decent costume. Money is precious at the moment so I have to use what’s available to me,” the vampire added as he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets.

“So, basically, you’re only dressed up as Fonzie because you’re cheap and or broke?” Nicoli asked with a smirk.

“Har, har, hush,” Ethan said and flicked the boy’s hat so it almost flew off his head. “But, truthfully, having fun isn’t the only reason why I’m here,” the vampire told Nicoli, his voice and expression turning serious.

Nicoli blinked at the sudden switch and his own expression became troubled.

“What is it?” he asked. The boy watched Ethan glance from side to side at the other people around them before he leaned in close to Nicoli.

“We have to talk about You–Know–What,” Ethan whispered in Nicoli’s ear.

The boy groaned as the vampire pulled away.

“You’ve gotta be kidding. What part of, “This was my night to just be a normal teenager,” didn’t you understand?” Nicoli snapped. The last thing he wanted to do that night was talk about the Hearts.

“I’m sorry, Nicoli,” Ethan apologized. “But we have to discuss it. Now.”

“Why now?” the boy demanded.

“Because we’ve run into some…complications that need to be dealt with, and soon,” Ethan told him.

Nicoli’s brows rose. That sounded less than good. The last time Ethan and he had talked everything had been going fine so far.

“Complications? What kind of complications?” he asked.

Ethan raised a finger to his lips, signaling Nicoli to be quiet, as he glanced around again.

“We can’t talk here, there are too many people that can overhear,” he said as a couple stumbled by laughing and talking loudly.

“I see what you mean,” Nicoli murmured as he watched the two go by. “Besides if my dad or Amelia, especially Amelia, see me talking to you there’s going to be a lot of suspicion and questions they’ll want me to answer. So privacy would be better.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page then,” Ethan said with a nod. “There’s a small hedge maze behind the building and past the garden. Meet me there in about five minutes and then we’ll talk.”

Nicoli nodded and watched as, without another word, Ethan turned on his heel and walked away from him, disappearing into the multitude of people. Nicoli glanced around at the people around him, seeing if anyone had seemed to take special interest in his conversation with the strange man. When he felt no ones attention had been on him he moved off in the opposite direction Ethan had gone.

Soon enough he found himself back at the food table he had been at before he chased after the Egyptian Princess. Five minutes. He just had to wait five minutes before he slipped out of the building. Simple enough. He just hoped Amelia’s aunt would keep her busy for that long so he could sneak out without difficulty.

“Nicoli,” a familiar voice said behind him.

The boy nearly jumped out of his boots and he whirled around to face the one person he didn’t want to see.

“Whoa! Jesus, Amelia, you scared the shit out of me,” Nicoli said and held his hand to his chest as he felt his heart thud against his ribcage. The sheepish smile the boy was sporting faded when he saw the girl didn’t laugh at him or at least smile. Instead she was staring at a spot on his face, not looking him in the eye, and her lips were pulled into a frown.

“Amelia? What’s wrong?” he asked in concern, never having seen her look so…upset.

“Nicoli, why…?” Amelia’s voice was soft, so soft Nicoli had to strain to hear it over the music. The question was left hanging in the air and the girl glanced out of the corner of her eye at something.

Nicoli followed her gaze and his heart stopped for a full second when it seemed like she was looking at the last spot he wanted her to notice: the pillar where he had spoken with Ethan. But before Nicoli could be sure that’s what Amelia was looking at her eyes were forward once more.

“Amelia, come on, you’re freaking me out, what’s wrong?” he asked again, praying beyond all hope she would say nothing about the strange blonde haired man.

Amelia’s eyes went to the floor and she sighed deeply before her gaze shot up and locked on Nicoli’s in a glare.

“Why couldn’t you have made a better impression on Auntie Hailey!?” she yelled at him, making the boy give a start in surprise.

Nicoli blinked at her in confusion.

“W-what?” he stuttered, thinking he hadn’t heard her right.

Amelia sighed and her head bowed again.

“Auntie Hailey just got done telling me that she’s…unsure about you,” the girl muttered miserably.

“Unsure about me? What’s that supposed to mean?” Nicoli asked, his own frown now appearing.

“I dunno, it’s just that she’s not sure whether or not you’re right for me…friend wise, of course,” she said, quickly elaborating what she meant. “She said she wasn’t sure if she could trust you to be a good friend to me.”

Nicoli stared at her in disbelief. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. So he had been right when he first thought the woman didn’t like him.

“But that’s ridiculous, Amelia!” Nicoli exclaimed, causing the girl to look up in surprise. “You can’t listen to her, I mean, I know she’s your aunt and all, but she’s wrong. We’re already good friends. No.” Nicoli put his arm around Amelia’s shoulders comfortingly with a big smile. “We’re great friends. You said it yourself that I was already like a dear friend to you and you’re the same to me, no matter what your aunt says.”

Amelia stared up at Nicoli for awhile, taking in his words. The gloom around her then melted away into her usual cheery disposition and she threw her arms around Nicoli’s neck in a hug.

“Damn straight, Nicoli. We’re friends and we’re going to stay that way, no matter how much Auntie Hailey thinks you’re a shady character.”

“Shady character?”

“Come on, let’s go prove her wrong right now,” Amelia said as she pulled away and grabbed Nicoli’s hand. “Come play a game of bobbing for apples with me and see how you stack up against the champ,” she boasted with a smug smile.

The girl pulled Nicoli toward the doorway that would lead to the room where the games were being held. She only took a few steps before she was pulled to a stop. She looked back at the boy curiously to see his face was troubled, but then the expression vanished in an instant.

“What’s wrong? Come on,” Amelia prodded and gave Nicoli’s hand a tug, but the boy didn’t move.

Instead Nicoli gave her an awkward smile and shook his head.

“Actually, Amelia, I really have to go to the bathroom,” he lied lamely. The five minutes were almost up and he had to go talk to Ethan before the vampire came looking for him out of impatience.

“The bathroom?” Amelia echoed before frowning at him. “Why didn’t you do that while I was gone?” she asked.

“Well, the thing is, I actually went after a girl while you were gone, you know, to dance with her or whatever, but, as you can see, that didn’t turn out so well,” he said and pointed to his Egyptian Princess that was now dancing with a man in a werewolf costume. Amelia had been right. There were a lot of people dressed as werewolves.

“So, I never had a chance to go to the bathroom,” Nicoli told her. “Why don’t I meet you there? I’ll only be a few minutes,” he then said.

Amelia’s eyes lingered on the Egyptian Princess before traveling back to Nicoli. For some reason, the boy noted, she looked almost reluctant to let him go.

“Okay, fine, go to the bathroom. I’ll meet you there,” she said, her voice lackluster at best.

Nicoli nodded and made to go, but was stopped when he realized Amelia still had hold of his hand.

“Uh, unless you want to use the buddy system, I kinda need my hand to go,” he told her with a light chuckle.

“Oh, right,” Amelia said and unwillingly let Nicoli’s hand slip from hers.

“I’ll be right back!” Nicoli said with a wave then vanished into the thick crowd.

Amelia stared after him for a long moment. As she stood there her hand came up and she began chewing on her thumbnail.

“Nicoli,” she whispered and the name was a cross between a whine and a plea.

Without warning Amelia darted out onto the dance floor, looking like a woman on a mission. She ducked and weaved around people and almost plowed a few over. She looked around frantically as she ran and she picked up her pace when she spotted what she was looking for.

Preston was still with his small group of friends and he looked over when Amelia ran up to him.

“Oh, hey, Amelia. Guys, you remember my cousin – Ah!” he cried out when Amelia grabbed his arm and began pulling him away.

“Yeah, hi, nice to meet you. I just need him for a second!” she yelled back to the confused looking group as they watched the tall red head be dragged away by the smaller girl.

“Amelia, what are you doing!?” Preston demanded as he tried to keep up with the girl. His robes were making the task harder than it should have been.

“Just shut up and come on!”

The order was enough to silence the older man. It wasn’t everyday his cousin spoke so harshly or sounded so serious.

When they reached a more vacant part of the room Amelia released her hold on Preston and let him straighten himself out.

“Now, can you please tell me what all of this is about?” he asked sternly, but his face softened when he saw that his little cousin looked extremely worried and she fidgeted by pulling at a strand of her hair and worrying her lip. “Amelia, what’s wrong?” he asked, gentler this time.

Amelia looked up at him and her eyes were big and pleading.

“Preston, I need you to do me a favor. It’s really important.”

==================================Ch. 14 End