I'll bet you're a cheap date. Not that anyone's complaining...

It late, and I'm relaxing after a long night of handing out treats. I tell ya, that old man knew what he was about. I had exactly enough treats for everyone who showed up. Kind of a shame, actually, because I've got nothing left to snack on. Oh well.

Funny, there sure were a lot of kids wearing bat wings this year. Must be a Batman sequel coming out, or something.

"Mommy, mommy! Come look!"

"What is it, honey?" Janis Roberts put down her book, and got up to see to her daughter, while reminding herself what a bad idea it had been for her husband to have let Chelsea have that extra piece of candy. Too much sugar, and now she's bouncing off the walls.

"C'mon, Chelsea, it's time to go to sleep," she said as she entered the bedroom.

"But mommy, look!", and with that little Chelsea lauched herself off the bed and flew about the room, sustained by a pair of purple bat wings.

Another Halloween and once again Castle Gudanov is left with a full bowl of candy next the front door. Not a single vistor, I guess that's what happens when you live in an isolated castle, in the middle of a haunted forrest, on the other side of a river with one ferry that doesn't run very often.

Oh well, at least Halloween has become a very profitable time since buying out Sang Sacre Candy Suppy Co. last year.

"Happy All Saints' Day?" Well, that's a new one on me, but I don't mind. The landlady seems the type to mind her own business, and the room is very nice for what I'm paying. What am I paying, anyway? The figure seems to have slipped my mind.

The room is a little short on closet space, but the tables are large and solid. They'll do. The fireplace is a nice bonus, and the windows seems well insulated. Maybe when the fog clears I'll have a view. Time will tell.

I toss my battered suitcase onto the sturdiest table and flip back the latches. A bottle of red wine, a single crystal goblet the collected works of Poe and a few changes of underwear. I had a good reason for this. What was it?

...the children flap their leathery wings on the way home from school.

I watch them from my tiny balcony. They swoop and holler and squeal with joy. Beneath them, a school bus lumbers slowly, empty and purposeless, the driver craning his head to watch his erstwhile charges gallivant in the afternoon sun.

"I suppose I could do something," I mutter, puffing my pipe.

"Yeah," Hector acknowledges from inside. His voice carries his uninterested shrug.

"It's probably Gudanov's fault."

"Probably."

I sigh and let my eyes wander to the dark forest, the lone castle on the horizon.

"What's on FX?" I ask.

The fireplace looks really empty, but I can fix that. There's a pile of old branches below the oak tree in the back yard. Don't think I'll bother with the elevator, though. It looks a bit creaky.

The air is chill but dry and refreshing. I toss the branches into a basket lent by kindly Mrs. Thorne. Above the oak, a huge bird circles. A cormorant? How far are we from water?

"Hi, new lady!" it shouts, before wheeling away. I pull my glasses out of my coat pocket to take a look. Hmmm. A flying child. Not knowing what else to to, I wave, and turn to walk back to the house.

I'm staring at myself in the mirror, stunned. Good lord. I look completely different. That Magda, she works wonders.

I turn back to Hec, giving him a knowing grin. "Now it's your turn," I say before heading back into the warehouse storage area.

I rifle through a number of costumes -- the pirates of Penzance (heh. spelled that wrong.), that guy from Adia, Simba from the Lion King -- before finally pulling out a gorgeous costume circa the 18th century.

"You know this is just an elaborate excuse to get you into tights, right?" I say to him as I hand over the costume.

After a brief dog fight with those nasty concrete replica gargoyles from the castle on the hill, the Squadron and I head for the Cathedral. It's an odd sort of cathedral, open to any and all services that don't leave permanent stains on the floor or use anything but willing sacrifices. I don't know who did the verification spells, but I remember the hoo-rah when that one visiting druid just contemplated a particularly realistic solstice ritual. Just as well. It's much more fun to be able to party with the guest stars of the sacrifices after hte fact than find enough boxes to put them in.

The Cathedral gargoyles are throwing a party, and while I'm invited, the buffet doesn't have anything that appeals to an organic creature. Bob drops me off on the bell tower, and I confirm I'm meeting him just before dawn to go home. I briefly wish he'd dropped me off a little further down, that's a lot of stairs down to the ground floor, and the Samhain ritual should be about to start.

"Okay with the tights, but I'm not putting on a peruke. Nice coat though."