Riley and Brad were also vampire hunters. Riley stood taller than Winona by a couple of inches while Brad stood shorter than her by half of an inch.
Bonnie—as with her brother (Dakota’s dad)—was born in the United States, but her parents were from Holland. Dakota’s dad stood six-foot-four and Bonnie stood five-foot-ten.
After the introductions were over, Bonnie invited them to sit in the living room. Once everyone was seated, Bonnie began telling stories about Winona’s childhood. Riley listened eagerly.
Several hours later, in an upper class neighborhood, Ellen, Everett, Jessica, Karla, Simon and Karla’s date Allen went to a costume party in Allen’s minivan. The house that was hosting the party was not much smaller than Jessica and Karla’s mansion.
Ellen (as earlier) was dressed as a vampire; Everett as a pirate captain; Jessica (as earlier) as super girl; Karla as a female grim reaper; Simon as a doctor and Allen as a cowboy.
As they were walking from the minivan to the house, Karla—as if it was an afterthought—uttered, “Oh, uh, Ellen. Any more psychic visions?”
“No,” Ellen said sullenly as she glanced nervously towards Allen. Allen didn’t seem to have heard as he was talking to Simon. “Just that one and only time.” Ellen then continued barely loud enough for Everett, Jessica and Karla to hear. “Harris, on the other hand, has learned to move small objects through telekinesis.”
“Jessica and I still haven’t attempted astral projection yet,” Karla said.
“We’re still reading the books on astral projection and self-hypnosis,” Jessica added.
Ellen nodded before saying, “Perhaps I should get books on how to develop my psychic powers.”
“Or maybe you just need to duplicate the conditions of when you had done it,” Jessica suggested.
“And to do that I’ll need to be mentally linked with you and Harris,” Ellen said before they entered the house.
“Perhaps you just need to duplicate your emotions at the time,” Karla suggested.
“I don’t even remember what my emotions were,” Ellen retorted before a man at the door greeted them.
The man was handing out color-coded armbands to indicate who were the minors and who were the adults.
The house was packed with partygoers in assorted costumes, and half of them were friends and classmates from school. The other half were strangers and their ages ranged from fifteen years old to twenty-nine years old. Five thirty-something-year-old adults or older—three men and two women—were there as chaperones.
Against one of the walls of the large party room was a long table, and setting on the long table were two large bowls of non-alcoholic punch and a wide assortment of food.
On the floor next to the long table were two kegs of beer, and the five older adults were taking turns at standing next to the kegs while making sure that the minors stayed sober.
A record DJ was playing CDs on the opposite side of the room, and between the DJ and the food were dancing couples.
As the evening slowly progressed, Ellen, Everett, Jessica, Karla, Simon and Allen socialized, drank punch and danced.
After being there for an hour, Ellen had finally decided to try the barbeque little smokies.
A pallid-looking seventeen-year-old male dressed in everyday clothes stood next to the food table while talking to anyone who would talk to him.
As Ellen was walking up to the table, she noticed that the seventeen-year-old was looking curiously at her.
“Hi,” Ellen told him before she grabbed an empty Styrofoam plate.
“Hello,” the teenager said politely.
“So are you enjoying yourself?” Ellen asked as she filled her plate with little smokies.
“As much as I can.” When Ellen gave him a curious look he supplied, “I don’t really like Halloween.”
“Bad experience?” Ellen asked as she continued to fill her plate.
“You may say that,” he said with an amused grin.
“Mmm, bummer. I actually like Halloween.”
“From your vampire costume, I suspected as much,” he said. Ellen just politely grinned. “Do you really believe that vampires dress like that?” When Ellen gave him a curious look, he added, “If they really exist, of course.”
Ellen slightly grinned before answering, “If they really exist, I bet I couldn’t pick out a vampire if I was standing next to one.”
The teenager amusingly grinned as if he was thinking of an inside joke. He then gestured towards a mirror that showed his and Ellen’s reflections while saying, “At least I know you’re not a vampire.”
Ellen followed his gesture. After seeing what he was talking about she faced the teenager again. “If vampires exist, I have a feeling that them not having reflections is a misunderstanding of the facts.”
“What do you mean?” he asked curiously.
“If vampires exist then maybe witches exist,” Ellen began. “So perhaps a witch has to cast an incantation on a mirror that would make it capable of reflecting spirits and souls before a vampire’s reflection can’t be seen.” The teenager’s expression went from amusement to an expressionless one. “Of course I’m only fictionalizing and throwing out what-ifs.” When the teenager nodded with a polite grin, Ellen stuck out her hand to shake hands. “I’m Ellen by the way.”
The teenager stared at Ellen’s hand without taking it while saying, “Excuse me for not shaking your hand, but I am a severe germ-a-phobic.”
Ellen dropped her handshake offer before saying, “Hey, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. So what’s your name?”
He slightly hesitated before lying convincingly, “It’s Patrick.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Patrick.”
“Likewise,” he said. “So do you think that there are witches out there… somewhere?”
A vision of Ellen’s nightmare wizard had flashed across her mind, and in her vision, the wizard was ritually killing someone in New Orleans.
When Ellen saw that the teenager was looking curiously and slight disturbingly at her, she shrugged and questioned rhetorically, “Who knows?” She then quickly gestured towards her group while saying, “I really need to rejoin my friends.”
The teenager politely grinned and nodded while saying, “Of course.”
Ellen nodded with a grin before turning and walking away quickly with her plate of little smokies.
“Why did you lie about your name?” the teenager faintly heard a familiar female voice asking from a different direction.
The teenager faced the eighteen-year-old woman—who stood thirty feet away—before grinning and softly saying, “Vampires not seeing their reflections, unable to enter a house uninvited and bursting into flames in direct sunlight are myths as you well know, but many myths have a grain of truth to them.”
“What are you talking about?” the eighteen-year-old woman asked without moving towards him. “And what does that have to do with you lying to that girl about your name?”
“Most of those vampire myths came about after a witch or a wizard had cast his or her spell to either identify one or to defend against one. However, the real danger for a vampire against a witch or a wizard is when a witch or a wizard knows a vampire’s true name—his or her birth name. If a witch or a wizard knows a vampire’s birth name then that witch or wizard could turn a vampire into a pyre with a simple chant.”
The