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Baring Bones: A Halloween Story - Chapter 3


Shahrazad2

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Baring Bones: A Halloween Story - Chapter 3

 

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 4 (and Bestiary Notes)

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I gradually regained some sense of self, feeling suspended in darkness. It was like being under water, except it lacked the joy I’ve always experienced swimming in pools or riding the waves in the ocean. Instead of that buoyancy, the weightlessness I was experiencing felt heavy, immobilizing me instead of enabling me to move in three dimensions. Nothing was visible except my own body, drifting helplessly. A sudden fear struck me. “Am I… dead?”

 

Instantly the darkness boomed with a strangely familiar voice… the deepest and richest of the voices from the chorus earlier.  “NO, CHILD, YOU ARE NOT DEAD… THOUGH NOT FOR LACK OF TRYING. YOUR BLOODLINE’S FIRST ATTEMPT AT JOINING THE CHOIR SINCE BEFORE THE DAWN OF HISTORY, AND YOU TRY TO REVERSE… WELL, ME? I KNOW THAT YOU HAVE BEEN TAUGHT NOTHING OF YOUR GIFTS, AND ARE ONLY LEARNING IN RESPONSE TO THE IMMEDIATE THREAT OF THE SPECTRE, BUT TRYING TO UNDO DEATH IS A LAST RESORT. LITERALLY.”

 

My head pounded, both from the thunderous voice and my own condition. “So, you’re death, but I’m not dead? Is Claudia ok? Is Kellan?”

 

“I AM… COMPLICATED. MY KIND DO NOT HAVE NAMES, ONLY TITLES. YOU MAY CALL ME THE HELPFUL ONE. YOU HAVE ASKED FOR HELP, AND IT HAS BEEN GRANTED. PART OF THAT ASSISTANCE IS THAT I WILL HELP RETURN YOU TO THE WAKING WORLD… BUT DO NOT RISK YOURSELF SO GREATLY IN THE FUTURE.  CLAUDIA WILLIS IS ALIVE THANKS TO OUR INTERVENTION, BUT I WOULD NOT SAY SHE IS WELL. KELLAN IS CURRENTLY FREE OF THE SPECTRE’S CONTROL, BUT HE IS STILL A TARGET… AND THE LOST SOUL IS VERY CLOSE TO ACHIEVING HIS GOALS. YOU MUST LOCATE THE SPECTRE’S PHYSICAL REMAINS AND USE THEM TO SEPARATE HIM FROM HIS STOLEN POWER, AND SUMMON ME THROUGH THE CHORUS.”

 

I was about to ask more questions, like “where are his physical remains” and “will this restore the drained partiers” and “what’ll happen to Kellan’s new muscles,” but suddenly the darkness lit, and I saw what I was talking to, and the sight was impossible, horrific, and strangely eye-catching!

 

Hovering before me in the formerly lightless void was an enormous monster, whose body was made of billions of… eyes and tongues! Behind it, thousands of wings whirled as swiftly as a hummingbird’s, but I could somehow see all of them if I focused, making out every detail of red, green and silver feathers. An ancient-looking tome floated in front of it, and even as I watched, new words blazed onto the pages, as if being burned there by some unseen magnifying glass. Instead of a head, the monster had four faces, like floating masks. One was that of a child of indeterminate gender with faintly Asian or Native American features. The second was elderly and Caucasian, but so wrinkled with age that, again, I couldn’t tell if it was male or female. The third looked like an African or mixed heritage woman, with long hair that was braided on one side and cascaded loose on the other. The final face was my own, with a knowing smirk spread across his (my?) lips.  All four faces opened their mouths, and the powerful voice spoke yet again, despite seeming to boom around me and not emerge from any of the lips. “TIME GROWS SHORT. YOU CANNOT REMAIN IN THIS STATE BETWEEN DEATH AND LIFE ANY LONGER WITHOUT PASSING ON PERMANENTLY, AND THERE ARE OTHER PLANS IN STORE FOR YOU.  YOU WILL NEED THIS.” It began to sing, the music washing over me, and I found that I was wearing my costume wings, undamaged by the fishhooks, and that they spread, bearing me aloft on the river of sound, leaving the creature far behind. The next moment, I found myself in darkness again, but feeling something warm and hard cushioning and supporting me. I finally worked my eyes open, and found myself being held, bride-style, and nuzzled, by the new and improved Kellan, who was sitting in the passenger seat of his car. I twisted my head around and saw Claudia dozing on the back seat, but smiling, a healthy blush spread across her cheeks. Kellan shifted, and murmured as he came awake.

 

“Heeyyyy… you’re awake. Feel ok?” He mumbled in my ear, making the hairs on the back of my neck raise in excitement. I couldn’t speak, but blushed and nodded.

 

“Good.” He breathed in deeply, his beautiful face an inch from mine. “Thank you for saving Claudia and helping me yet again. I was out of control. But… you can’t hurt yourself. Whatever you just did, it nearly killed you… you weren’t breathing and didn’t have a heartbeat. I had to use CPR and rescue breathing on you until your chest started rising again. I brought us here to take a breather. But don’t you dare put yourself at risk like that again. What the hell happened? I thought I heard you humming and then you seemed to go into a trance. Then Claudia was healed and you came back for a moment before toppling over. Don’t do that to me again, man! I only just met you, and I want to keep you around for a looooong time.”

 

I gulped at that last statement, but managed to nod in agreement. I then filled Kellan in on the out-of-body experience, the overwhelmingly beautiful chorus, and the insanity-inducing monster that helped me return Claudia to the world… and then did the same to me. At that point Kellan frowned. “Huh… I dozed off for a bit here in the car, and just woke up when you started stirring, so I didn’t notice it ‘til now… but your wings WERE tattered when I carried you here… and now they aren’t.”

 

I froze at that revelation. “Really?” Kellan nodded, making the dark, wavy layers of his rock-star hair flop back and forth over his blue eyes. He reached out with his newly-muscled arm and pulled the door open, letting me slide out of his arms and stand (shakily) on my own two feet. The way he’d cradled my 6’2” frame in his football player’s arms was a bit weird, as I wasn’t used to being the shorter guy, much less being held by someone. However, as he stepped out of the car after me, I found myself looking up at a 7’1” hunk.

 

He stretched, his biceps bulging in his torn black sleeves, his huge pecs warping the image of his costume’s ribcage, his nipples visibly erect through the fabric in the cool November air, and his shirt riding up to reveal his sculpted abs and a dark treasure trail showcased between his iliac furrow by his marble-pale skin. Once he finished stretching, he bent over, showing me the square shape of his muscle butt, while reaching into the car to retrieve my wings… good as new!

 

“Weird,” I commented, running my fingers over the undamaged fabric of the black wings.  “Just one more strange thing to add to an already bizarre evening.”

 

Kellan nodded. “For sure. But hey man, it’s getting kinda chilly. I don’t think I’m feeling it as much as I should now that I’m supercharged with ghost lightning or whatever, but I bet you could use some more warmth. Lemme just get Claudia comfortable.” With that, he popped the trunk and grabbed some extra blankets, and quickly wrapped them around his girlfriend, making her shift and wake up, smile at him, and murmur something I couldn’t hear, before snuggling into the blankets as he closed the car to keep the cold air out. Kellan and I then headed up towards the bonfire.

 

As we trudged uphill, I tilted my head and frowned, before asking, “You didn’t feel any drain, and Claudia was fine in the car? She didn’t get… sucked dry… like the other partiers?”

 

Kellan shook his head back and forth, affirming that the instant-lifelessness effect I’d spotted earlier hadn’t occurred. “No… I didn’t feel anything, and Claudia’s fine. You didn’t see anything, did you?” After I confirmed that everything seemed fine when we were at the car, he relaxed. “I admit I was more focused on you and Claudia, so I wasn’t really looking around at anyone else… but now that you mention it, I didn’t hear any engines start or see any car lights. Maybe it’s just the fact that I was the one who opened the car, not Claudia, and this ghost thing needs me? Or maybe you burned it out back at the dance floor?”

 

I shrugged, but then grimaced. “I wish… but you said you didn’t notice anyone leaving… I’d think that if the white flames had gotten rid of the ghost for good, they’d be back to normal. Besides… the big eyes-tongues-wings-faces creature said the ghost was still a threat.” As we approached the campfire, I could see the filaments of otherworldly light moving about … and somehow, I could hear them, like the hiss of the devil’s fiddle strings as he challenged Johnny for his soul. “And the threads of light are here, too… whatever’s going on, it’s not over,” I concluded.

 

Kellan’s impressive shoulders slumped and he groaned in frustration. “Right. So, what’s the next step, besides getting toasty by the fire?”

 

I blushed at the suggestion of “getting toasty” with the big guy, but tried to ignore it, hoping the darkness hid my reaction. “I’m not sure… the journal I found includes some descriptions about various supernatural effects and creatures, but aside from ghosts, I’m not really sure what to look for, and it’s not like this thing was written as an encyclopedia. Having to search through it… in Latin… is going to be time-consuming.”

 

The bonfire’s warmth soaked into my skin, though the tinny noise of the glowing strings sent chills down my spine. Getting this close to the cords and knowing that I was the only one able to notice them was even more frightening than their deadliness. Kellan glanced in my direction, and he frowned, slinging a muscular arm over my shoulder, letting me lean back and rest my head on the curve of his bicep.

 

“Hey, Angelo,” he asked in his richer, more resonant voice “Are you ok? If you’re still out of it from singing for Claudia or whatever it was you did, we could go to the main house instead and get you a couch to lie down on or something.”

 

“Thanks,” I replied. “But I’m ok… it’s just creepy to see what I’m seeing, with the strings and all. I’m ok… just uneasy.”

 

Kellan nodded, and squeezed my shoulder. “Ok… we can work with that.” He then shot an oddly mischievous look at me, and grinned. “Wanna hear what making out with Claudia felt like?”

 

Assuming that non-sequitur was Kellan’s somewhat hearty, boyish way of distracting me with a change of subject, I shrugged and nodded. He seemed to take an almost puppylike glee in his new body and increased sexuality, and that excited energy seemed odd coming from a guy as big as a horse. I wondered just how greatly his personality and attitudes and even language had changed over the events of this evening. They way he was currently acting was a far cry from the terse, unwelcoming indie guy earlier. If we couldn’t figure out what was going on, how much more would he change? If we did solve the mystery, would he even want to go back? Before I could ponder these questions further, he began to speak, and I focused on his deep voice.

 

“It was WILD, man,” the big guy enthused, his pale cheeks becoming slightly flushed, his eyes fluttering shut as he sank into the memory of his powerful body pressed against his girlfriend. “They were playing our song… ‘Beyond’ by Butterfly Three-Way. It was booming from the speakers and the air was hot as people danced around us. Claudia leaned against me and tossed her hair back, and my hands slid down her shoulders, feeling how fragile and tiny they seemed under my big hands. She smelled soooo good… shampoo with violets and cherries, perfume with I don’t know what in it, and all that.”

 

As if being drawn back to that moment, he breathed deeply, his huge boxer’s chest inflating, the black fabric with painted-on ribcage stretching to try and accommodate the bulging muscles as they expanded. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that his muscles weren’t the only things expanding. In the glow of the bonfire, the black lycra of his pants shifted, and his already visible bulge started to grow larger and thicker as it stretched towards his right thigh. His voice, now sounding huskier than before, picked up again.

 

“She pressed against my body, man, and she cooed… she actually cooed… when she felt how hard I was… I am. She said that she wanted to drive me over the edge right then and there… purred it into my ear, and then she raised her arms as if she wanted to be picked up. I could never do that before, but now, it just seemed right, like I’d always been able to do it… and like I’d done it a hundred times. I reached down, felt how light she was in my arms, and lifted her up to my chest. Feeling her body clinging to mine… it was soooo fucking hot, dude! Almost literally… I felt like I was on fire, or in a desert, or something, and every nerve was alive! It was freakin’ intense!”

 

Now his stance had widened, and his package (still barely wrapped) was straining away from his body. Some of the girls (dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow, Edward Scissorhands, Mad Hatter, Sweeney Todd, and Willy Wonka) seemed to have noticed, and were gossiping behind their hands and occasionally pointing at him, while others were fanning their faces and blushing, or looking longingly at it. Kellan took no notice, though his breathing was heavier, his face was flushed, and a trickle of sweat was running down his forehead. I also noticed that, despite the heat of the bonfire, his nipples were erect, and clearly visible as they pressed against the fabric of his costume. He reached up a big hand seemed to almost caress his pecs for a moment, before sliding his long, thick fingers down over his abs, brushing them over the fur of his treasure trail.

 

Then, his hand froze and he went still. Kellan took a deep breath, then another, and then a third, before he was able to speak. “I… I think that’s when the thing… the mist, ghost thing…  I think that’s when it struck. I just found myself unable to stop. It’s like nothing else mattered except feeling good and getting off… as hard as I could. I think I forgot Claudia even existed, except as a fuck toy or something. I’m… I’m not like that… I’m not!” Then he paused, before asking, “… am I?”

 

Taking a deep breath to bring myself back from watching Kellan actually turn himself on, I collected my thoughts before speaking. “No… I don’t think you are someone who treats others as… uh… fuck toys. I think that, while you do like yourself this way, mostly, and you do like growing… that the ghost is trying to use you somehow… and its selfishness is overwhelming your normal personality while it tries to remake you. I think that if we can get rid of the ghost, you’ll be no more of a danger to society than… well, anyone else.”

 

Kellan’s face broke out into a gentle grin. “Thanks Angelo… just hearing you think things through makes the whole situation a lot better. I’m glad I’ve got you watching my back.” He pulled me into a lingering, if one-armed, hug, and then leaned back. “So, what should we do first? Any other spots on the property you want to check out that might be haunted?”

 

Just then, one of the guys by the fire, well into his cups and dressed like Super Mario, pushed his friend (dressed like Wayne from Wayne’s World), who pitched forward dramatically, almost knocking into me and spilling unidentifiable alcohol everywhere. I saw “Wayne” coming towards me, drops of liquid from his cup moving through the air in what seemed like slow motion before falling into the bonfire and making it blaze upward in a sudden burst of flames.  At that moment, though I was off balance and leaning precariously towards the fire, I felt powerless… there was no music, no altered consciousness, no change in the sinister ribbons of light… just me, a mere mortal.

 

However, if I was a mere mortal, that couldn’t be said for Kellan. His powerful arms slid down me and gripped my hips, lifting me up in the air and back from the flames… and a good two feet off the ground… without raising a sweat, before placing me on his shoulder. His skin was flushed, but not with exertion… he was angry!

 

“WHAT THE HELL,” he roared at the drunk guys, so loudly that I thought for a second that the flames cringed and blew in the opposite direction, as if from a strong wind. “YOU’RE PLAYING AROUND A BONFIRE? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MINDS? MY FRIEND COULD’VE BEEN BURNED!”

 

The guys visibly quailed before the force of Kellan’s ire, but tried to drunkenly bluff their way through it. “C’mon mannn… we were jus’ havin’ fun. No harm meant,” slurred the one who’d done the initial pushing. His friend, however, wasn’t quite so smart. Filled with liquid courage, “Wayne” retorted, “’Sides, you may be big, but if you’re an ass bandit, you should get out of the way of a real man, fucker.”

 

The conversation and laughs and exclamations of shock around the bonfire went silent. The “Mario” went white and tugged on his homophobic pal’s shoulder, trying to pull him back. But it was too late.

 

Kellan took in a deep breath, the only sound besides the cackling of the flame to pierce the leaden silence. When he spoke, his words were measured but echoing, as if it was taking all of his musician’s eloquence and impressive restraint to speak calmly and not simply punch the guy… which, given the fact that he’d cracked a wall when he was less built, would be a very bad thing. “One. Gay people are real men and women. Two. They do not have to get out of the way of anyone, just because he thinks he’s hot stuff. Three. I’m not just big… I’m stronger than five of your drunken asses. Four. I’m not gay, but I have responsible, sober friends, including my pal here, who are. My friends are important to me. Five. If I see or hear of you mistreating anyone else at this party, it’ll go badly for you. Very badly.”

 

“Wayne” clearly didn’t have a clue (or had pickled his brain cells) because he actually dared to retort, “Oh yeah? This’ a free country, you freak. What’re you gonna do about it? You lay a finger on me and I’ll make sure everyone knows you’re throwing your weight around.”

 

From my perch on Kellan’s brawny shoulder, I could actually see his handsome face stretch into a smile that could’ve come from the same grave as his costume. “I don’t have to touch you, asshole. I’m stronger than that.” I felt his sinewy frame shift under me, and looking down, realized that he was raising his foot, almost in a bizarrely muscular parody of Captain Morgan… and then he slammed it down!

 

Resting on his broad shoulder, I felt only a momentary shift of hard muscle beneath me, and Kellan had been braced for the force by his own power. Everything around us fared much worse, as a shockwave appeared to spread out from Kellan’s thunderous footstep, causing the logs of the bonfire to collapse in on themselves, sending sparks blazing high into the night sky and knocking Wayne, Mario, the assorted female Johnny Depps, and the other people around the fire to the ground. Squeals and shouts of shock and outrage, spilled drinks, and a cloud of dirt fill the air, though not high enough to reach me, perched on top of Kellan’s 7 foot body.

 

“Now,” boomed Kellan’s voice. “Apologize. Or. Get. The. Hell. Away. From. US!” The drunken jerk from earlier scrambled, almost crab-walking, to back away from my new friend as if the hounds of hell were after him, and his friend split as well. The conversation picked up again as Kellan reached up and gently lowered me to the ground, and looked me over, as if examining me for any damage. “Hey, sorry about that, Angelo…” he murmured, leaning down to bring his face closer to mine. “I’m sure you could’ve handled that punk, but he got on my nerves. Are you ok? I didn’t hurt you when I picked you up or something, did I?”

 

I finally got my tongue to work, and stammered, “ Uh... n-no, b-but, GEEZ! When did you figure out you could do that with one stomp of your foot?”

 

My “hero” frowned, looking throughtful. “Huh… I don’t know… I mean, obviously I’m way stronger than I should be, even with these muscles,” he continued as he flexed one of his biceps, showing off the veins snaking across the muscle. “But I just suddenly knew I could do that... creepy!”

 

The sight of the hunk shuddering at his uncanny knowledge of his abilities broke the image of the furious Hercules from a few moments ago, and I had to smile even as I thought about the possibilities. “Huh… the monster I encountered said that the ghost had goals involving you, and that’s why it keeps going after you… maybe it’s trying to prepare you for something it wants you to do? So it’s giving you these abilities and the knowledge … muscle memory, maybe… to use them? Can you think of anything else that you can do with your strength?”

 

Kellan closed his eyes and seemed to take a moment of thought, before shaking his head. “No… I don’t think I even knew I could do that foot-stomp thing until I was angry enough to do it. If I can do other stunts like that, I don’t think I’ll know about it until they come up somehow.”

 

Then we were interrupted, as one of the ladies (dressed as Victor from the Corpse Bride) came forward, blushing through her pale makeup, and said, “That was pretty awesome, the way you stood up to that jerk. He’s been hitting on my friends and I all night, and it’s cool that your friend has someone like you to look out for him.”

 

Kellan smiled down at her, and chuckled. “Nah, you got it all wrong… this guy’s my guardian angel… he looks out for me. I just try to return the favor when I can.” He then nodded to me, “Hey, Angelo, do the wing thing!”

 

Always willing to show off my costume, I tugged the strings that caused my dark wings to unfold and fan the air, and the girl clapped enthusiastically. “That’s incredible! Can you guys take a picture with my friends and I?”

 

Kellan laughed this time. “Sure… though I gotta warn you, I’ve got a girlfriend, and my pal here appreciates the, uh, less-fine sex, as you might’ve overheard.” There was a lot of booing and teasing and pouty faces (seeing Captain Sparrow pout through fake facial hair was somewhat unnerving), but we all lined up and the girls roped a passing witch into taking pictures of the whole group, facing the fire. The light hurt my eyes a bit, and I had to force myself to keep from squinting, holding my face in a wide, fragile-seeming smile. Surrounded by the enthusiasm of the girls, with Kellan by my side, I felt glad that I’d come to the party, even if it’d been one weird event after another, and began to relax… a moment too soon.

 

As the girls dispersed, the fire abruptly blazed green, and from their depths emerged a spindly, wraithlike figure of emerald luminescence. With long, wickedly taloned fingers and skeletal features, it reached out towards me… or towards Kellan. Its claws poured jade fire towards my new friend, and I tried to deflect them, only to see the streams separate and slide around my outstretched arm, like a river moving around a stone! I looked around, hoping that the ghost’s public actions would attract some attention from the others, but the Johnny Depp Girls had all gone inside to get new drinks, and the new people standing around the bonfire didn’t seem to notice anything awry, going about their business and joking, drinking, and huddling by the unnatural flames as if this happened all the time.

 

Kellan moaned throatily as the flames poured into him, so deeply it was almost like the rumbling growl of a lion. “Oh yeah… feels… so fucking gooood!” As I turned towards him, I could see his skin crawling as the muscles underneath swelled and shifted, faster than before! Slices of his black shirt began to tear, showing glimpses of pale skin underneath that became more and more striated with muscle.

 

“C’mon Kellan, last time I couldn’t free you because you were into it… don’t lose me here. I need you to resist it if we’re going to stop it,” I murmured, trying to build up my rage and direct it at the green energy. Kellan just shook his head and looked down at me as he began to grow taller.

 

“Angelo, I don’t want to stop it. God, this feels fan-TAS-tic! Look at me. LOOK AT ME,” he crowed as his muscles rippled. He now stood about two feet taller than most of the other party guests, and was about twice as thick as any of them, with huge muscles that resembled those of a massive football player, with some elements of powerlifter from the sheer size of his muscles thrown in as well. Looking down, I saw that his crotch was noticeably growing erect… and Kellan was now massively hung, if the imprint of his cock as it strained against the costume’s fabric was anything to go by. As my poor brain tried to wrap around the concept that my new friend was turning himself on as his body grew, Kellan seemed to come to a decision, heralded by another shuddering groan. “That’s it. I can’t stand this. I need to act on my horniness… and I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile!”

 

His hands were larger than they’d been when he’d lifted me out of the way earlier, but they were at least as fast. I found myself lifted off my feet again, clasped against the biggest, tallest, most muscular guy I’d ever seen or heard of, and felt his lips press against mine.

 

I swear I saw fireworks.

 

His strength was tremendous, and his muscles were hard, but his lips were… teasing, gentle, playful, sweet, exploring, caressing, warm, soft, and inviting. His entire body as he moaned with satisfaction, almost purring as he deepened the kiss. He was supporting my weight with one hand clasped over my butt, clutching my black jeans between the folds of my wingtips, while the other hand stroked through my curls, cradling my skull. The kiss was powerful and unasked for… but it certainly wasn’t unwelcome, just unexpected. It was clearly driven by his changing hormones, but it was an act that was filled with emotion and intimacy as well as hunger. I began to kiss back… and surrendering my higher thoughts to make way for my increasing attraction to Kellan finally broke through the block keeping me from converting the ghost’s energies. Instead of wrath, I drew on the passion, the lust, the connection between the two of us, and I could hear a higher, flutelike music trickling from the Choir’s realm as I felt the white flames blaze through our embrace, while the ghost’s howls (sounding faintly like “What continues to thwart my efforts to possess this host?!) faded away around us.

 

Kellan slowly lowered me away from his lips, his eyes still shut. His breathing was heavy, but he didn’t seem to be as crazed as before. I placed my hand over his huge chest, and felt his heart pounding. “Kellan,” I murmured. “Are you ok?”

 

He nodded, then murmured. “I’m sorry, Angelo. That was… it was… I…” He stopped and gathered his breath, his huge lungs inflating and his sculpted chest rising in response. “Ok… let me try that again. I could tell you were interested in me from the moment you complimented my costume. It’s just a skeleton suit… nothing special except that it’s skintight. You have moving wings. You complimenting me is like a bonfire complimenting a candle flame. The only appeal was my body. And yeah, it was a bit creepy of you, but you were cool about it. But before this spook started messing with my body, I hadn’t really been attracted to guys… or at least, not enough to ever want to act on it. Then… I started growing, and you were always there. My senses are stronger now… more vivid, I guess, and I can always tell where you are anywhere on this property. Now I’m the creepy guy, because this whole situation is creepy, and you’re there for me, and god, do I ever need to get off badly… you look and smell sooo good, and your voice makes my heart speed up when you talk, even if you’re getting all cerebral or goofy. I’m still just as into Claudia… god I want to fuck her… but I’ve reached the point where I’m so horny I’m, looking at guys and going ‘Why not? He’d be a good lay’ … and I’m sure you’d blow my mind. And when those girls were around us, I wanted to get naked with them as well… and you… I just wanted all of us to go off somewhere, strip out of our costumes and go crazy! Heck, I was even curious about getting with those drunken jerks earlier, even when I was yelling at them.”

 

As he trailed off, I wondered about those ideas. “Hey, do you think your personality and mind is changing? You seem to be more interested in me, like you mentioned, but how about your memories and other interests? Claudia seemed to have her memories of what you looked like when she first met you altered. Claudia said you met in Econ class, you still remember your band and the songs you play, the chords and all that?”

 

He frowned and closed his eyes in concentration, before nodding. “Yeah… I don’t think there’s anything wrong with my memory, though I’ll need a bigger, more resilient guitar if I’m going to play with the band anymore. I can still picture where my fingers need to be, play the songs in my head, etc. And we did meet in Econ, but I wasn’t built at all, despite what she said. But as for my personality… yeah, maybe. I always figured myself for a one-woman guy, but now… I guess I’m bisexual, and I’m not sure I’d be satisfied sticking with just one person… at least, not for sex. I feel like I still want to spend the rest of my life with someone, but maybe it should be more than one someone.” He took that moment to meet my eyes. “I should be embarrassed by showing off all this skin, and wearing clothes this tight and tattered, but I’m proud of it… I want to show off. I barely want to wear clothes at all.”

 

In the echoing silence from Kellan’s last statement, I realized that it was weirdly quiet. “Uh… is everyone staring at you holding me in the air,” I asked tentatively. He tore his gaze from my face and went still, his eyes wide. “Uh, no… it’s worse.”

 

He lowered me to the ground and I turned around… and saw that everyone around the campfire was slumped over on the ground, drained of their lives. I felt like I was going to be sick, and the ripples of red light centered on the flames continued to dance menacingly across my vision. “Oh Angelo,” Kellan murmured, his powerful voice throaty and wobbling from shock and regret. “I-I did this? I hurt everyone here just so that I could grow bigger and get hornier?”

 

“No,” I insisted. “This isn’t your doing or your fault. You’re just as much a victim as they are… and it’s time to stop being victimized and get proactive about saving them! It sounds like there’s music going on inside, and I can see people dancing by the windows, so not everyone’s gone… and look, the hayride’s coming around, so obviously it’s still being piloted by someone and still has living passengers. I think that means we still have time. We need to find the body of this jerk ghost and send him to the monster, and hopefully he’ll be able to help us return everyone to normal… ok?”

 

Kellan nodded, still looking shaky, but with increased determination in his eyes. “Can… can we check on Claudia first? I need to know if she’s still alive. I know my new… urges… make me not the best boyfriend ever, but I still love her.”

 

Geez, the guy had to be going through a rough time, what with all of this going on. Who’d have thought that having a superhuman body would come with so many awful strings attached? I nodded, saying, “Sure, let’s go. She probably shouldn’t be left in the car for so long, even if she was sleeping.”

 

We didn’t have to go far, however… Claudia met us halfway. “Oh, there you guys are,” she said, yet again seeming to not notice Kellan’s new growth spurt.  “Thanks for letting me get some rest… I needed it. How’s the party so far? Everything I’ve seen seems like it’s quieting down.”

 

Kellan and I exchanged a glance, and then I said, “About that… there’s something you should know.” Before I could spill the beans, however, the hayride pulled up, letting off its (thankfully mobile) passengers and looking for others to get on. “Ooooh, hold that thought, Alfredo,” Claudia said, holding up one skeleton-painted nail on her index finger while I ground my teeth at her inability to remember my name. “Kel, can we do the hayride? It’s been too crowded all night, and I wanted to try it out… it’s finally thinned out… looks like we’re the only ones who want to do it now.” I was going to interject by describing how the hayride was really just a boring ride around the edges of the property which had some Halloween decorations hanging from trees… no monsters or chainsaw murderers jumping out at you, no cool displays, just a ride in a tractor-pulled wagon. However, with an apologetic look at me and a shrug of his huge shoulders, Kellan said, “Sure, babe. Angelo, you want to come with? We can fill her in on the weird stuff going on during the ride.”

 

Claudia was shooting a death glare at me (I did feel like a bit of a jerk for making out with her boyfriend a few minutes ago) and switching it to a pout when Kellan turned to look at her, but this nightmare was really more important than giving her time to get busy with and possibly drive my new friend to put her in a coma again, so I nodded my assent, and we all climbed onboard.

 

The hayride had wooden planks as a floor, with a metal frame around it. Bales of hay lined the middle, but the sides of the hayride had some pews taken from the chapel. The top of the metal frame was lined with interconnecting black ropes, designed to look like a spider’s web, and spiders, bats, and pumpkins of various sizes were hanging from the railings or the web. As the engine started and the hayride took off, rumbling down the dirt path, towards the road, past the cars draped with drained bodies, a sense of foreboding began to fall over me. I was missing something… but I wasn’t going to leave Kellan (and Claudia) alone to figure it out.

 

Kellan was filling Claudia in on all the supernatural events, but it was slow going. It seemed like the ghost had really messed with her head. “So…” Kellan was saying. “Do you remember the day we met?”

 

Claudia smiled. “How could I forget? I went to the gym with my friends and there you were, pumping away. I spilled my water bottle all over myself just staring at you, and you were so nice and offered me your towel to dry off… along with your number. When I found out that you were a musician as well, it just made you seem even more amazing!”

 

Kellan and I gaped at Claudia as she blithely related all this stuff about them that apparently had never happened, while the hayride rumbled past the fields and towards the tree line. Then a searing flash of red light struck the front of the tractor, and the hayride rumbled off the front of the path straight towards the trees! Claudia screamed, I gripped the railing to brace myself, and Kellan… suddenly wasn’t there. With a speed that defied the eye, he leapt from the hay bale, tore off the spider web ceiling, somersaulted out of the wagon and over the tractor, and took the entire machine straight into his prodigious pecs. The entire ride rocked, and I just managed to grab hold of Claudia before we hit. “GUYS,” Kellan roared, his voice booming. “I’VE GOT THIS, BUT CAN YOU COME AND SHUT IT OFF? I CAN’T BE IN TWO PLACES AT ONCE!”

 

Making sure Claudia was unhurt, I climbed out and clambered up into the tractor wagon, fiddling around with the switches and levers (hey, I’ve never driven a tractor… I’m a suburb kid) while I tried not to be distracted by the sight of Kellan’s muscles flexing and throbbing beneath the tattered remnants of his costume, which now barely covered his crotch and upper chest. The sleeves had ripped off, letting his thickly muscled arms bulge as they held back an entire tractor, and his enormous height made him almost eye level as I was sitting in the tractor seat. Finally, I managed to shut it off, and my huge friend released the tractor, while we all paused to catch our breaths. “What happened,” he finally asked.

 

“I saw a red light, like back at the manor, lash out here,” I replied. “But I have no idea where the driver’s body is.”

 

“Back there,” came the strained, frightened voice of Claudia from behind us. We turned and saw her, shivering and rubbing her arms nervously. “He was all gray and dead-looking… I… I think he rolled out of the tractor when he died.” She then ran into Kellan’s arms, and he lifted her into a comforting embrace.

 

I noticed more of the red lights, rippling in the darkness. “Guys, I think there’s something over here causing the red light… stay back… we don’t need you growing out here, Kellan, and Claudia, it could target you next. If anything comes for you, call out, and I’ll be there ASAP.”

 

Before they could object, I stumbled through the underbrush, eventually emerging in a clearing filled with rocks. In the moonlight, the rocks seemed oddly shaped and oddly white. I leaned forward for a better look and gasped, scrambling backwards until I collided with something warm. I looked up and saw Kellan there, steadying me. “What’s wrong, Angelo?”

 

I mutely waved at the clearing. “It’s bones… it’s full of bones!” He looked up and stepped forward. “I’ve never seen this stuff here, and I used to explore these woods with my cousins all the time,” he said. I looked around and asked, “Could the recent storms have washed away the soil?” He shrugged, then crouched down, showing off his v-shaped back and his perfect muscle butt, but his words stopped me from salivating too much. “I don’t think these are human bones… or not exactly.”

 

He waved me over, and, taking a closer look, I could tell what he was getting at. One of the skulls had short horns. What I’d taken for hands appeared to be oddly-shaped claws. I saw some structures that resembled the wings of bats, and others that looked like elongated horse or canine skulls, or long snakelike tails. The skin and organs were all long gone, and they’d clearly been there longer than I’d been alive, but they also seemed oddly well-preserved, like some sort of elephant’s graveyard for supernatural creatures. Then it clicked for me.

 

“The journal… it said that this place, the church camp that used to be here, was actually some sort of witch hunting inquisition thing.  The author, Quincy Gosser, claimed to have killed all kinds of monsters… maybe this is where he buried them?”

 

Kellan shuddered. “I kinda wish he was still around. I bet he’d be able to handle the ghost.” Then he caught sight of an extremely large humanlike skeleton. “Or maybe I’m personally better off with him in the grave.”

 

Then the cold became bitter, as if the heat was sucked out of us. I saw the red lights begin to dance around us, and heard footsteps. Kellan and I turned to see Claudia walking towards us, smiling… with glowing green eyes. “’Tis funny that you shoulde say that,” she said with a weirdly dual voice, both her own, and one that sounded male and older and old-fashioned. “Because I am sore tired of the grave, lad, and your body will be my ticket out of it.” With that, dark green flames poured from her body and washed over Kellan. They seemed to burn endlessly, and I couldn’t get close… until the flames left Claudia, lying in a gray-skinned, lifeless heap, and pulsed across Kellan’s body. His eyes took on that green glow, and he turned to me, a wicked smile spreading across his face even as his muscles began to swell again. “There you are… finally, I have human flesh again, and actually perceive you, Abomination. I am sure that your sacrifice will give me the power to extend my abilities across the world, just as the lives of every drunken fool on this property have enabled me to possess one of my descendents and remake his form. Let the world welcome back the great Quincy Gosser!”

 



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