Bad Blood

She took a breath and greeted the audience. “Thank you for coming today. My statement will be brief and only a few questions will be taken.” She glanced down at her notes, happy for the short respite from the glaring television camera lights. This announcement wouldn’t make her popular, but it might keep her city from dissolving into an irreparable nightmare. She hoped eventually the people would understand. She’d done her best to arrive at a compromise between what Creek wanted and what she thought would keep the citizens from rising up against her.

Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as she thought. She brought her head up and forced herself to look confident and mayoral. “A recent and credible threat against our city has made it necessary for all of tonight’s Halloween activities to be canceled and a curfew put in place.”

Murmurs of dissent rose from the press core. One person shouted out, “Miserable kids equal miserable parents, and parents vote.” Another: “What kind of threat? Is this because of the serial killer?” That comment brought more noise from the crowd.

She held her hands up, asking for peace to continue. She hated that they’d leaped right to the serial killer conclusion. That would only raise more panic. “Trick-or-treating will be allowed from five p.m. to six-thirty p.m. Curfew begins at seven p.m. sharp. Any unauthorized persons out after that time will be considered dangerous and treated accordingly. Arrests will be made. Please understand that the Paradise City Police Department is handling this situation with all seriousness, and the safety of our citizens is their first priority. Help them do their job by staying inside. Thank you.”

A reporter from the PC Pace stuck his mike toward her. “Mayor White, is this threat because there’s a serial killer loose in Paradise City?”

She paused before leaning toward the microphone. “I cannot reveal anything that might damage the ongoing investigation, but I will say that this threat is of a homeland security nature.”

“Terrorism?” another reporter asked.

“We’re not labeling the threat in any way at this time.” She glanced at the chief. He nodded, having already agreed to back her decisions. She closed her remarks. “Thank you for your time.” With a cacophony of questions still raining down, she clicked off her lapel mike and stepped away from the podium.

Luke immediately moved between her and the crowd. “Your car’s waiting.”

“Thank you.” Luke and John could have been twins. Maybe they were. He went ahead of her, checking the exit before he let her out. The car idled at the sidewalk.

A group of kids, all in Halloween costumes, came charging around the corner. Luke put his hand out, holding her back.

“They’re just kids,” she scolded him.

A straggler in an odd little costume trailed behind the rest. He veered toward them with a horrible laugh and a mouthful of teeth that looked surprisingly real. His tongue wagged out, eyes shimmering yellow.

Yellow? Before she could say anything, Luke pushed her toward the car. “Get inside.”

She stumbled, her hand making contact with the handle as the little beastie leaped toward Luke. He caught it by the throat. Its tail whipped out and opened a bloody line across his cheek. The next second, faster than she could follow, he had a dagger rammed up the creature’s sternum and was dropping it to the sidewalk.

It melted into a gooey, yellow-green puddle.

She took a step toward Luke. “That wasn’t a kid.”

“It might have been to start with, but by the time it got to us, it wasn’t anymore.” He stared at her, shaking his head slightly. “You should have canceled trick-or-treating, too.”

Creek had said cancel everything, but he didn’t understand what it took to run a city, to keep your constituents happy. “I didn’t think anything would happen until after dark.”

He glanced at the mess at his feet, then back at her. “Now you know better.” He stepped over the puddle and opened the car door. “Get in—you’re safer in there. We’re going straight to John and Creek, let them know what happened. You do know where they are, don’t you?”

“Yes.” Not exactly.

“Great. I just need to talk to maintenance, tell them not to let any of this get on their skin.”

She wanted to ask why but that could wait until later. “What was that thing? I mean, besides a formerly human child turned monster.”

“Goblin.” He shot a sideways look into the car’s interior.

She got in. The second he shut the door and headed back inside, she dialed her secretary. The office phones must be rattling the walls after that press conference.

Valerie picked up on the third ring. “Mayor’s office.”

“Val, it’s me. I need you to check the tax records, get me the address for Maris Lapointe.”

“The cosmetics mogul? She lived out on Mephisto somewhere, I think. At least I thought I read that in the papers once.” Lola heard keys clicking. “Here it is… yep, Mephisto. Number six.”

“Thanks. Phones going nuts?”

“You have no idea. Did you really cancel Halloween?”

“Be happy it wasn’t Christmas.”

“Holy stones, you’ve got some big ones.”

Lola laughed, despite the situation. “They’re about to get even bigger. I need to issue an addendum to the press conference. Ready?”

“Go.”

“Due to further threats, all Halloween activities, including trick-or-treating, have now been canceled. The mayor’s office thanks the citizens of Paradise City for helping to keep us all safe by their cooperation.”