And So The Dead Orchestra Plays, And The Revenants Choir Sings

Halloween Special!!

The clock struck seven at night, and all was quiet. The sun had set, and night time was slowly creeping over the sky. It was All Hallows Eve, and the creatures of the night were slowly beginning to rise from their hiding spots, to haunt the night.

Past the city, and far from hearing distance of the laughs of children, five vampires roamed the halls of their beautiful gothic mansion. Most of which were simply bored, but one vampire in particular, with the name of Teru, had a feeling of uneasiness. The full moon that shone ominously outside didn’t lift his spirits either.

While he lay calmly across a daybed, brooding, the darkness swept over him, wrapping him in what seemed like a mist.

Suddenly, his heightened senses picked up a sound that made him jump. It wasn’t a frightening sound, but the unfamiliarity of it seemed to scare Teru. He’d heard it once before though, but he couldn’t remember the source’s name. Then, he heard a sound he recognized, the doorbell ringing. Confused at who on earth come to their house, let alone would be able to find it, he slowly approached the door, and opened it, to the biggest surprise of all.

“Trick or Treat!!” A group of young children yelled. Teru froze, with an expression of such shock that some of the children laughed. They were all dressed in various outfits, some covered in bright colors, and one, who just seemed to be covered in a white cloth, with two holes in the front.

“Wha….” Teru muttered to himself.

“Trick or treat!” The children repeated, and their high pitched squeals caused him to flinch back.

“Uh…Wh-Who are you….?” He naively asked. An adult at the back of the group standing by a truck, which explained the noise Teru heard, spoke up.

“It’s Halloween, of course! They’d like candy.” The woman explained. Teru still seemed puzzled.

“C-Candy….?”

“Yeah!” One of the kids chirped, and Teru jumped again.

Then, another child; a girl, approached Teru with a smile, and suddenly, hugged him tightly. Teru’s face turned red, and he didn’t know how he could ever react.

“Your costume is really pretty, mister.” She said, looking at Teru’s clothes, “Are you a prince or something?”

“U-Uh……I…. thank you….” He mumbled. The girl only hugged him tighter. It didn’t hurt, but he was so shocked that it almost made his knees buckle.

“And your house has great decorations! It looks like a haunted mansion.” A boy said, and Teru looked at the façade of the beautiful home he lived in, and saw how the gray walls and leafless trees could mislead children to think it was a ‘haunted house’. The children came closer to Teru, making him blush, and become nervous, unsure of how to give them what they wanted.

“I...I don’t have candy….G-Gomen nasai….” He apologized, stepping back into the door. He saw the children’s smiles fade, and they all thanked him. Then, they just left. Teru ran back inside, without a second thought, eager to get away from the most embarrassing experience he’s had in his eternal life.

Hizaki had been outside, tending to the rose garden, when she also became aware of an eerie feeling in the night. The full moon seemed unsettling. She wandered back inside the mansion, and paced back and forth across the front hall, unable to realize why she had such an odd feeling.

Then, the doorbell rang, and she curiously opened it, to a crowd of young boys and girls.

“Trick or Treat!” they yelled cheerfully. The beautiful princess looked at the children intriguingly, wondering where they had come from, and why they were there.

“Can I help you?” she asked, in a gentle voice.

“Candy, please!” a little boy exclaimed, with a wide grin.

“C-Candy!?” Hizaki questioned in a puzzled voice, and the child nodded in anticipation.

“I...I don't have candy...” she murmured, but when she noticed how the faces of the children became filled with sadness, she straightened up, and said in a determined voice, “Wait! I’ll be right back. I’ll have something for all of you.”

Quickly, she ran as fast as light, into the house, and out the back until she reached the garden again. She picked as many different colored roses as she could find, and ran back to the children waiting for her. The entire process had taken only half a minute.

“Here. I know it’s not quite as good as the sweets you were hoping for, but it is all that I can get you at the moment.” She made small bouquets of roses and gave each child one. She knelt down in front of the youngest girl, in the costume that seemed to look a lot like her own clothes; a princess’ dress. She gave her three beautiful red roses, and put a tiara she had been wearing, onto the girl’s head. “Now you look like a real princess.” She said. The girl smiled, and hugged Hizaki tightly.

“I like your princess costume. You’re really pretty.” She complimented. Hizaki smiled gently, and gave the girl a soft hug back. While they left, she and the young girl waved to eachother with smiles on their faces. After a few moments of watching them leave, she receded back into the house, and shut the door behind her; smiling to herself as she did so.

Yuki was practically steaming. The doorbell had been ringing all for most of the night; twice in the last hour. The wretched sound not only irritated him to no end, but he still had no idea who had been doing it. When the doorbell rang for a third time, Yuki was close enough to the entrance, that he slammed the door open, almost ripping off its hinges.

“WHAT!?” he screamed, right into the faces of three little children. Their delighted grins quickly faded to pouts of fear.

“T-Trick or treat….” One dressed as what seemed to be a brightly colored witch mumbled, cringing back into her group of cohorts. The mother of one of the children stepped forward from behind, with an expression of disdain at the vampire, though he didn’t notice or care.

“Is there something I can do for you?” Yuki asked; a hint of annoyance in his tone.

“It…its Halloween…” another child whispered. Yuki suddenly realized what they actually wanted, and his demeanor became slightly calmer.

“Oh…that’s right…” he muttered, running a hand through his slick dark hair; he’d changed it back to its natural color a few days after they’d left the hotel. “I, um… I do not have anything to give you…. I’m truly sorry…” he apologized, and the children understood him, even in his elegant tone. Then, the little girl who had seemed so frightened of him, wrapped her small arms around Yuki’s thin waist. He let out something that sounded like a gasp of surprise, and stared down at her, as if she was the strangest thing he’d ever seen in an eternity. He eventually managed to pat the child’s back, because he was unwilling to embrace her like she had done to him.

She pulled away with a huge grin, and picked up her also multicolored broomstick. “That’s okay, mister. Happy Halloween!!” she exclaimed, and waved happily goodbye as they left. Shortly after, Yuki returned to the halls of his home, darkened by the night. He silently tried to ponder over what odd feeling was growing inside his unbeating heart.

The moon shone with an ominous glow in her crystal ball. Jasmine You looked over it suspiciously. As if beckoning to the future for more revelations, she waved her decorated hands over the glass sphere, and when the misty darkness inside of it finally began to disappear, a loud ringing noise echoed through the house, disrupting her concentration, and the image faded.

“Hmph!” she pouted in anger, and left her room to answer the door. As it opened, she found herself staring into the made up faces of children.

“Trick or treat!” they shouted. Jasmine remained still, unsure of what to say or do. This was one of the only times she didn’t have a clever response to something. This situation left her mind completely blank.

“…Excuse me?”

“Trick or treat!” they repeated, with smiles that seemed to expect a gift of some sort.

Jasmine then remembered the date. October Thirty-first; also known as, Halloween. A well known holiday where children take on the looks of monsters and fairy tale creatures, and parade around their neighborhood asking for treats. As the children waited for her, she thought more of how they’d found her home, which she shared with four others. It was extremely well hidden, but not completely invisible to the public.

“Hey,” one of the children began, causing her to come back into focus. It was a little boy, dressed as a pirate, he asked her, “…Are you an okama or something?”

“EH!?!?!? OKAMA!?!?!” the dark sorceress screamed, feeling extremely insulted. “I’m no okama, you insolent boy!”

“Rin!!” A woman, most likely the boy’s mother, yelled at him. “You apologize to that woman right now!” the boy mumbled an apology, and Jasmine stared; irritated. After a few moments, they still remained.

Jasmine debated to ask why they stayed, but she eventually realized they were awaiting a treat, or a gift of some sort. “Hmm….” She mumbled, pursing her red lips, “Ah! I know!” she then took off a ring from each of her fingers, and placed one into each bag a child was holding. The children seemed to not be pleased, but Jasmine was exceedingly satisfied with herself. “Well then, farewell.” She waved her embellished hand at them gracefully, and returned to her supernatural practices. “Perhaps, this night will prove to be more interesting than I’ve expected…”

It was nearing the end of the night, and so far, Kamijo had been too occupied to answer the door, the multiple times it rang. But, now it was almost eleven o’clock out night, and most of the evening’s trick-or-treaters have gone home.

The extravagant vampire lounged across a deep red sofa, holding a rose over his face, as if the sweet scent could give him life. Through the stained-glass windows, the moon shined different colors on Kamijo’s pale skin.

The ringing of the doorbell yet again echoed throughout the halls. Reluctantly, Kamijo approached and opened the door, being the only one of the five who knew what to expect.

“Trick or Treat!”

Kamijo’s character immediately changed, to something more childish, to appeal to the hearts of the children before him. “Well, now, what are all of you supposed to be?” he spoke in a bemused tone.

“I’m a princess!!” a little girl yelped.

“A cat!”

“What are you supposed to be, mister?” a young boy asked Kamijo. The dark Lord sat down on his knees so he was at height with the children, and whispered in a mysterious tone.

“Well…it’s supposed to be a secret. But I’ll tell you anyway…” he spoke in a soft undertone, giving the children a look that caused them to come closer to hear. “I’m a vampire.”

“Ooooh!!!” They squealed, as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Kamijo grinned.

“Well, I take it you kids want something, right?”

“Candy!!!” They cried happily.

“Well, of course!” he pulled a large bowl filled with candy, seemingly out of thin air to the children, but it was really hidden in a small cabinet near the door.

From behind a wall, the other four vampires peeked curiously at Kamijo. They all had facial expressions of shock, and mumbled things like. ‘Where did he get that candy!?’ and ‘How is he so good with children!?’

“How!?” Teru cried, accidentally out loud. The others gasped, and pulled him back, causing them all to fall on the floor backwards; just getting out of Kamijo’s view as he turned to see where the sound came from.

“Keep quiet! He’ll see us!” Hizaki scolded him, holding her finger over her mouth as an example. And they all then began silently spying on their master, yet again.

The children happily took handfuls of sweets out of the bowl Kamijo held, as he encouraged them to take whatever they wanted. They all waved with huge smiles as they left.

“Happy Halloween!” Kamijo called, waving back at them. Once they were out of sight, he retained his natural attitude, and shut the door. While he walked back, the vampires again receded back into their hiding spot nervously, but still staring at Kamijo, in complete and utter shock. “What are you all staring at?” Kamijo asked, passing them by with a grin of amusement.

“…How does he do that!?” Jasmine’s voice broke the silence, after he was out of sight, causing the rest of them to start ranting about it too.

“Oh, and one more thing.” The dark Lord’s voice broke their talking, as he somehow appeared behind them. “Never forget the candy.” Then, without another word, he walked off down the hall again, leaving the others in astonishment, just as the moon came forth from behind the clouds, illuminating their mishaps into the night sky.