Party Monster

In a hallway, lit cozily with sparse sconces, a few people leaning against the walls either deep in conversation, or embraces, one of its four doors opens. From it walks a beautiful man with smooth skin, dark eyes, and an unbuttoned shirt through which peaked the middle of his chest and abdomen, speckled with streaks and tiny drops of blood. From behind him, you could see in the bedroom where there still lay a couple of others who were bent over a slowly twitching body in a massive four poster bed. Blood had long since ruined the sheets. Before he closed the door, he relished in the sounds of wet sucking and a death rattle, for just a few seconds. With finality, Nico Esperanza closed the door. Taking a minute to wipe at his bloodstained lips, he readjusted his shirt and buttoned the bottom two, before walking down the hallway and out into the beating heart of his get together.

The red strobe flashed erratically around the corners of the room, and on the wet floor underneath the stomping, shuffling heels and boots. At the front of the room the DJ booth appeared to be empty, save for a near translucent, blue shimmer in the air just inside of it. Loud, frenetic rhythms and synthetic beats blared from the speakers on all sides, shivering into blood vessels and muscles from top to bottom.

Nico Esperanza smoothly navigated the dance floor, gliding past gyrating hips and undulating waists, all flailing arms and heads seemed to bounce off of a force field that existed specifically to aid his effortless trek around the party. The blood he'd just consumed was almost too warm inside of him, tinted with the drugs they'd carefully applied to their meal- its high kept it pliant and less likely to make a mess, and in turn it fed inside of the consumers a warm haze that tinted their vision with an almost copper-like sheen, buttery and tinted. Every movement felt smoothed over, every intake of breath like frost and spice. As he walked past, he would hear hoarse calls of gratitude or murmured bargains of flesh, offered to him, the host of the party.

"Excellent party as always Nico!" A brunette with blown out pupils grinned dazedly as he was sandwiched between two black haired beauties, their smiles growing wider as their teeth slowly sharpened. Nico had never met that man once, and after the twins were done with him, he'd likely never see him again . . . outside of a missing person's copy.

"Come play Nico." A redhead purred, eyes flashing viridian and gold across spliced pupils. Her hands reached out to playfully flutter over his shoulders, the vines creeping between her knuckles and from underneath her nailbeds ghosting along his collarbones. He laughed lowly, husky whispers of later, later making her retreat with a playful pout.

"Man when are we gonna fucking eat Nico?" A gravelly demand from a hulking figure casually spread across a lounge chair along the fringe of the dancefloor, nearly covered completely in giggling, whispering bodies that brushed the fur along his cheeks, pet his thick mane of hair. His eyes were brilliant, luminous white, like the moon that ruled him.

"Give it another hour." Nico beseeched with a charming grin, eyes looking over the adoring group practically at the shifter's feet. "You've already got your dinner gathered, just give it a little more time." A grumbling assent let Nico turn away and continue to his destination.

More hands reached for him, beckoned to him, but never, ever touched him. He was far above their level.

Nico walked to the bar and ordered a Mexican Blood Chocolate- cayenne pepper, B- blood, and freshly ground cocoa- when he felt a presence just behind his right shoulder. Nico glanced over, and saw Vance, a loyal follower and one of his younger "children."

"Nico." Vance did not look him in the eyes as he spoke, his tone reverent, though otherwise his body language was as casual as you'd expect of a young man in a party. "Jackie sent a newbie."

Nico hummed lowly, swirling the last dregs of blood and chocolate around in his glass. "He knows I only deal with him. Kill whoever it is."

Vance shrugged. "Jackie called the minute she got to our doorstep and asked you give her a chance. Something about a protege, he's getting old, she's got some hot new shit . . ." Vance paused, before daring to bring his eyeline up further, just to the bridge of Nico's nose. "I think it's worth a try. The mixers smell good as fuck."

Nico laughed, tilting the glass back and draining it before slamming it back onto the black lacquer top, and turning to his underling. "Fuck it, lead the way."

Vance lead him along the edges of the room, passing through a doorway leading into a quieter salon, through there and down a hallway that brought them further into the mansion, into a place the partiers left behind only heard whispers of. Here, Vance lead Nico into his living room, where the rest of their group awaited them. Sprawled around the furniture were his ten children, beautiful and vicious, uncut gems frozen in time. Their eyes cut immediately to his form as he stalked in, but he could sense within them the same luxurious drowsiness, a slowdown of movement that spoke of their prior enjoyment of the handful of mortal guests that would be lured in as evening appetizers. He had to applaud them on their sense of tidiness, though, Nico admitted as he turned his gaze to the main attractions.

A plump woman in a smart charcoal suit stood in front of the closed fireplace, hair neatly pulled back into a glossy ponytail, and smoked out eyes demurely staring at the coffee table that still bore evidence of white powders and smudged lipsticks. To her left, a group of seven girls fidgeted in slow, drunken movements, poorly stifled giggles hidden behind scarlet lips. Nico arched an eyebrow as he observed that all the girls were dressed in slightly different, yet similarly skimpy outfits, and . . . all were also stylized in a patchwork style like that of a zombie, or that girl from that one annoying fucking Burton film. He hated it, but his eldest daughter insisted on playing it every Christmas. Thinking of her, he looked over to the statuesque platinum blonde who had her hungry eyes pinned on a swaying redhead . . .zombie . . . school girl?

"And are the costumes some cute attempt at meeting the party spirit?" Nico asked, looking back to the charcoal suited woman.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Esparanza." The buxom woman took two steps forward until her wide legged trousers brushed the edge of the low table, in danger of being smudged with traces of powder. "My name is Elaine Sanderson, here in place of Jack Reeds. Thank you for allowing me the honor of showing my first product rollout. I did, in the spirit of things, decide to make the presentation a little festive," Elaine paused to let out a gentle laugh. "It is Halloween after all. And I do so find interest in reanimation type magics. But on to business! You will detect notes of the familiar, along with some new ones brought about by carefully combining a mixture of xylazine and a drop or two of a pleasant, almost floral, herbal tincture. I do hope you enjoy."

Elaine stepped to the side and waved her hands forward, her seductive zombie girls slowly tottering forward in their towering heels as they shared secretive, giddy smiles with each other.

"They smell really good." Nico murmured to himself, giving it a minute of thinking, before nodding sharply. "Very nice, Ms. Sanderson, thank you for the lovely gift. Please help yourself to anything of your fancy at the bar . . . we shouldn't be the only ones drinking."

His children of the night chuckled as they grabbed at their chosen girls, and because they were dutiful children, they'd left him with the best one of all. A brunette with waist long, shining hair and khol-lined eyes like a wolf's peering at him. Her glossy black lips slowly inclined into a smile, made wider by the rough "stitching" that stretched from one ear to the next. She stepped forward slowly, coquettish swing to her hips, and he raised a hand up to beckon her forward. When she got close enough his hands moved to slide up and around her gently tapered waist, and with a sudden aggression pulled her straight into his chest. Playfully, he laced a hand through one of hers and held it up, beginning a mimicry of a waltz as he lead her to his plush wingback chair and dropped down on it. Smirking at the flurry of giggles from the beauty nearly on top of him, he utilized some of that extraordinary speed and strength of a vampire to grab her chin between his thumb and index finger, and move her head down to look at him. The sudden movement nearly choked off all her giggles, and he could see some wariness in her eyes. Still, her lashes fluttered at him, and her body that had gained some tension, slowly relaxed on top of him.

With a slow, impish grin, Nico carefully shook her chin, and murmured, "I feel like I've seen those pretty eyes before . . . but I think I'd recognize such a beauty as you." He cocked his head to the side. "Have you fluttered past me at some prior party, pretty thing?"

He knew she hadn't. Most humans at his parties were party snacks. Whatever human wasn't being eaten there was property of one of his guests, and an agreed upon no-go.

"Do vampires dream?" The girl above him asked in a husky whisper, fingers tapping out a song he couldn't quite figure out on his chest.

Nico laughed gently. "Not really." Some hallucinations off of bad trips, perhaps, but no dreams. Sleep was usually a requirement for such.

"Then where would we have met?" The girl asked, an innocent lilt in her voice that only fed the hunger in his belly. And he would sate that hunger now, with something far better than her strangely knowing gaze. It occurred to him in a distant part of his mind that perhaps he should investigate that sense of knowing . . . but the warm simmer of the cocktail from his last human mixer still worked on his mind, a wave that eroded in quick fashion any worries or frets he'd usually have. Fuck, the drugs were fantastic this time around.

Nico didn't answer the girl, and instead applied gentle pressure to extend her chin up and slightly to the side, freeing up access to her smooth neck. Thankfully there was no body paint or foundation here, that shit always made the aftertaste slightly chalky and bitter. Nico's soft exhalation up and down the skin of her neck made the girl shiver, and he smiled to himself as his law dropped, and fangs extended. With a snarl, he sunk his teeth into the girl, who flinched and yelped, but he no longer cared about her sounds. He joined his children in a chorus of bloody satisfaction, the sounds of drinking shifting bodies combined with the bestial growls deep in their chests. Chests that slowly heaved as they drank their fill. Drinking, consuming, reveling . . . Chests that, one by one, began to stutter. Sputtering, faltering, understanding . . .

Then concaved. Fearing. Then freezing.

"Mm," Elaine purred from her seat at the bar. She swirled a tiny amount of rye whiskey in her glass. "I love the taste of Tetrodotoxin."

Nico was still at the sputtering, confusing part when he registered a thud. Then another, then another body that dropped right onto the glass coffee table, breaking it and ripping the quiet atmosphere asunder with the cacophony of crashing glass and choking agony. Nico unlocked from the neck before him with a hoarse, gasping choke as whatever was in the blood began to seize upon him with fiery vengeance. His body was simultaneously burning and yet numb. He couldn't move . . . he hadn't felt like this since his sire had turned him all those centuries ago in that dark, cavernous bedroom.

Nico slumped against the chair, body jerking in attempt to complete a full motion that it couldn't successfully see through. The girl, who had stopped whimpering and writhing the minute Nico left her neck, gently rose up and then dipped down to kiss Nico on his cold, blood speckled cheek. With wide eyes, he watched her rise up and turn to face the others. He saw then that all his children were in varying states, but all worse off than him. His eldest was the one who had fallen into the coffee table, her near white locks covered in glass and sprawled over the ground, her face. Her sclera was nearly as brilliant a shade as her irises, her mouth gaping wide open in an attempt to breathe as her body gave small jerks yet remained sprawled, limbs akimbo, on the ground. He could see one son slumped over the bar and rasping choked groans, and just out of the corner of his left eye, Vance was half off the couch, shivering. All the girls they'd been eating, were now stood up and moved with a casualness that belied having just been robbed of their life essence. They looked unaffected save for the smears of blood at the bite point.

"Wha . . ." Nico wheezed, hands trembling. His rage was growing even as his motor controls were waning. How dare these blood bags harm his children and he? They, and that worthless bitch Sanderson, would pay dearly when he was able to just . . . get . . .

"You really don't remember me?" The wolf eyed wretch that he'd been drinking from asked with a small tilt of her head, and a growing grin. Elaine rose up from where she'd been watching all of this with an air of contentment, and walked to stand by the girls side.

"Yes, don't you remember my sister?" Elaine asked with a twinkling grin.

What the fuck-

"Ooh, I can see the confusion! And the overwhelming pain." Elaine giggled as she clapped her hands once. Without a word, the girls- including the apparent sister- began to move around the room, back to their victims. They began to pull out thin wooden lengths from underneath their skirts, previously attached to garters, and Nico's eyes widened when he understood the shape and eventual intention.

Elaine began to explain as Nico watched his firstborn get a stake through the eye, and dragged down her cheek. "You actually remember her from a party three months ago. One of your minions were, er, recruiting bottle girls for your party from the gym she likes to go to. Now my sweet, naive sister, just saw an opportunity to make some summer cash and definitely forgot all my warnings of going to strange parties . . . she's just so trusting! And you . . . you abused that trust, didn't you Nico? When you saw those big, bright eyes and thought to yourself: Now, I simply must watch the light go out of them!" Elaine paused to compose herself, and in that brief two breaths pause Nico listened to his eldest's broken screams, and how she was soon joined by the rest of her siblings. Her sister stood by her side through it all, glowing gaze locked on Nico's agonized facial expressions. "You killed my sister. Luckily she has a habit of writing down every little activity and detail in her planner, so I was able to make some deductions and track her body down from where your people had dumped it after the party. I was able to bring her back fully to life- after sacrificing your courier- and then I decided . . . well, you've had your fun for long enough. If Nico Esparanza is too stupid to recognize a daughter of the Sanderson coven when he sees one, then he won't make it much farther into his immortal life-"

Nico interrupted her with a burst of strength. It showed as a hoarse whisper and a trembling jaw. "You . . . kill . . ."

"Yes, I will kill you." Elaine nodded, looking around to see how her girls were doing. Nina was doing something very creative with the guts of one of the younger ones, and Vivienne was just stabbing at random. Good thing vampires only died if you staked them through the heart, it allowed the girls plenty of time to . . . work through their issues. She continued explaining.

"It took some time to track down victims who were still fresh enough, and whole enough to return to life. These girls I didn't get to fast enough to return to life completely, like my sister, but they have all agreed that partial life is better than nothing, and with my magic to keep them looking still human and not like a, well, a Nicotero or Romero zombie . . . it's all good! They've just got some special dietary restrictions now . . . and luckily they've got all this meat." The last word was punctuated by a stake being driven through the heart of the first vampire kill of the night. Elaine smiled when Nico wailed at his first daughter's demise. "Oh, what a shame."

"Please-"

Elaine loudly tutted, cutting off Nico's attempt to bargain. "Oh, it's too late for that sunshine! Your family's gonna die. You're gonna die. I am going to take over your assets, kill your friends and ransom the children of your allies who are all conveniently here so we don't start some big witch vs. vampire tussle, and then I'm going to enjoy a big fucking bar of chocolate for a job well done. Clear?" She gave Nico a menacing glare, then smiled wickedly when Nico finally lost the ability to speak and just began choking out vowels and syllables. "Wonderful. You're up Baby!"

"I told you not to call me that." Her sister grumbled as she finally unsheathed her stake, and finally made her moves towards her murderer.

"Yeah Elaine, you know Barbara hates that." Vivienne teased gently as she placed her stake over her murder's stuttering chest and began to gently, yet firmly tap it down with a broken off piece of the coffee table. Vance garbled wetly as he was slowly staked through.

That was not dignified with a response as Barbara Sanderson, baby of the Sanderson family coven, clambered atop Nico's lap and rested her weight on his thighs. All this time, she'd been smiling and giggling, but now she stared at Nico with no expression on her face. Just staring at him. Nico stared back, fear in his gaze for the first time in over 300 years. Like the strike of snake, Barbara's hand reached up and grasped Nico's chin, jerking his head up. Her thumb and all her fingers squeezed into the flesh, forcing Nico's bloodstained mouth into a wet, unattractive pout.

"Have you seen my eyes before?" Barbara asked quietly, wooden stake coming up to trace the hollow just underneath Nico's eyes. Nico couldn't answer even if he tried, and oh how he tried, stuttering sounds and short gasps escaping him. "Do you recognize my beauty now?"

Barbara took a deep breath and slowly raised her stake high in the air. "Aren't you glad you'll have something so beautiful to look at while you die?"

The stake came down. Nico keened.

Thank you for reading the third installment of "Fright Feast!" Stay tuned for the next and final one coming on Halloween. If you liked this story, please like and share, and check out it's predecessor Antarctic Death Shot! Stay safe, and happy hauntings~!