Name pronunciations: Circe (Sir-see) Elena (El-EE-na

Chapter 1: The Storyteller

The rain started as a light mist, then thickened into a steady drizzle. Autumn pulled her hood lower, black fabric brushing against pale cheeks. Her plastic pumpkin bucket swung with each step, already heavy with candy wrappers.

Sabrina adjusted her crooked witch hat, squinting through the fog. "Your teeth are showing again," she whispered, nudging Autumn's elbow. A group of teenagers passed them on the sidewalk, their zombie makeup streaking in the downpour.

Autumn’s fangs retracted with a soft click as she pressed her lips together, tasting rainwater and the faint tang of cheap face paint. Ahead, porch lights glowed like hazy beacons through the downpour, each one a promise of chocolate or gummy worms. Sabrina’s broomstick—a spray-painted yard sale find—caught on a wet pile of leaves, and she stumbled, cursing under her breath. 

"Witches shouldn't be this clumsy," she muttered.

They rounded the corner onto Elm Street, where an unexpected crowd had gathered beneath a skeletal oak tree. An old man stood at its center, draped in moth-eaten purple robes that swallowed his frail frame. His warlock hat tilted precariously as he gestured with a gnarled walking stick, its tip carved into a serpent’s head. "Mark my words," his voice rasped, cutting through the rain like a knife. "Tonight’s no ordinary Halloween. The veil’s thin as cobwebs. Things crawl through."

Autumn froze, plastic pumpkin bucket thumping against her thigh. The man’s eyes—milky and wide—locked onto hers, and she felt a chill that had nothing to do with the rain. He leaned closer, the scent of damp earth and cloves clinging to him. "Creatures of ink and nightmare," he whispered, just loud enough for the girls to hear over the drizzle. "Werewolves, vampires... they’ll walk among us before midnight. Best be home, children. Bolt your doors."

Then he vanished. Not with a pop or a flash, but in a sudden, thick puff of smoke the color of wet charcoal. It billowed outwards, heavy and acrid, making the crowd cough and stumble back. Sabrina gagged, waving a hand in front of her face. "Ugh! Burnt hair and... rotten eggs?" 

The smoke clung, tasting bitter on Autumn’s tongue, before dissolving into the rain as if it had never been there. Where the old man stood, only muddy footprints remained, already washing away.

An owl hooted loudly, making Autumn jump. Her knuckles were white as she clutched her pumpkin bucket, and she looked warily around.

"Girl, you need to chill," Sabrina said, her pointed red and black witch hat nearly blowing off in the sudden wind. "That old man was just Mr. Hallow, and his tradition is to scare people with his spooky stories, like everyone else."

"But..." Autumn started, but Sabrina interrupted her. 

"There's no reason for you to be so jumpy. Where's your bravery!? If you can't handle a story, how are we going to finally brave the cemetery?" 
Autumn nearly gasped and stopped in the middle of the street.

"The cemetery?" She croaked, not feeling nearly as courageous as the moment she had vowed to 

walk through the cemetery on the night of Halloween.

"Well, um, it's already pretty late, and we don't want to get stuck in the rain. It might pour harder," Autumn said quickly.

"Oh, don't chicken out now!" Sabrina exclaimed with a frown. "The cemetery is just up the next corner, we're nearly there! No rain is gonna stop us!"

But monsters might, Autumn thought nervously. 

Autumn sucked in a breath. "You're right," she said, trying to imagine her and Sabrina rushing through the cemetery with the full orange moon looming brightly above them, not a thing going wrong and them walking calmly back to their houses as champions.

"Let's go then!" Sabrina said with a wave of her hand, hurrying past the few houses with their porch lights off, a sign that no tricker treaters should ring their doorbells.

They rounded a corner and walked up the hill. Sabrina's tall wedge-heel boots clacked loudly as they made their way to the creaky iron gate.

Sabrina paused at the front of the gate, her eyes skimming the eerie land beyond.

"W-wait!" Autumn stuttered as Sabrina reached for the rusty handle of the gate. "Um, er, uh..." Autumn's nervous mind couldn't search for a reason to stop Sabrina.

"No, no," Sabrina said with a shake of her head. "You're brave, Autumn! It's just a quick jog through a land with dead people buried under the ground. Let's go." 

Sabrina pulled on the handle, and with an echoing creek, the gate slowly pulled back, allowing them into ground filled with the deceased.

"Come on," Sabrina said quietly, excitement glittering in her dark brown eyes. She took a step into the cemetery, and a sudden gust of wind whipped Autumn's dark cloak off her head, making her curly brown hair swirl in the gale.

"Autumn, come on!" Sabrina said, extending her hand. 

With an audible gulp, Autumn forced her shaky hand to take Sabrina's.

Sabrina pulled her officially into the cemetery, and more wind would've blown her witch hat off if she hadn't been holding firmly onto it with her free hand.

Chapter 2: The Cemetery

Autumn could hear the creepy music from the horror movies she and Sabrina had recently watched. It echoed around her head on auto repeat, enhancing Autumn's terror.

"Just a quick jog," she mumbled, clutching her best friend's hand tightly.
"Calm down," Sabrina soothed. "Do I need to remind you that Halloween creatures are all made up to scare people for a holiday?" 

Autumn nodded, muttering Sabrina's words as they made their way up the thin dirt path.

The cemetery was quiet and unsettling, and Autumn kept her eyes on the path that would lead her out of the formidable land.

Finally, after what seemed like hours but couldn't be more than ten minutes, they came near the end of the cemetery. 

Autumn allowed her eyes to look up from the shadowed ground, and she saw the back gate of the cemetery rising above the hill.

Finally! Autumn thought gratefully, sucking in deep breaths as they made their last steps to approach the gate.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Sabrina said, patting her arm.

"I guess not," Autumn mumbled, her cheeks warming.

"Now, let's go home and pig out on some more candy," Sabrina said, reaching for the handle of the gate.

Suddenly, there came a gust of wind so strong it pushed Autumn and Sabrina back.

Sabrina scrambled to grab her hat as it skitted across the path.

Autumn let out a squeal as a strong tremor shook the ground beneath her. Then, another one, and another one, until the whole Earth was quaking.

"What's happening?" Sabrina shrieked, jumping onto Autumn and clutching her.

"I don't know!" Autumn cried, holding onto Sabrina just as tightly.

The ground trembled as hard as the girls, and the sound of squelching mud and rustling leaves filled the air.

More powerful winds blew, and a wall of leaves in a perfect circle formation surrounded the girls. They couldn't see a thing past the thick wall of colorful foliage.

Autumn had practically lost her mind with fear. "HELP!" She screamed. "HELP US, SOMEBODY!"
Tears ran down her face, washing off some of her pale face paint that was likely a color similar to her actual skin at the moment.

Then, the wind died down to a cool breeze, and the leaves fell to the ground and scattered. 

"What was that?" Autumn squeaked. 

"If this is a prank, whoever planned it is going to pay. No one scares me or my bestie like that!" Sabrina growled.

"Ah, revenge. What a sweet word, is it not?" Said a voice, light, airy, and otherwordly.

"H-hello?" Sabrina said, looking around.

"Good night, ladies." A slender woman with long, billowing hair like a dark waterfall crept out from behind a tree. She was wearing a light dress with layers of white tulle, and her feet were bare.

What creeped Autumn out the most was how pale her skin was. It was nearly a perfect white. Streaks of red lined the woman's face at random, and her piercing blood-red eyes studied them. Her veins were deep purple and clearly visible under her milky skin.

"W-wow," Autumn croaked. "What a wonderful costume you have, madam."

"Well, if you mean my dress, I suppose it is quite lovely," the woman said.

Sabrina nodded. "It's very pretty," she said politely. 

The woman slunk closer to them, eyeing them with her terrifying eyes. "Who are these young ghouls I lay my beautiful eyes upon?"

Autumn chuckled. "I'm a vampire, and my friend Sabrina is a witch."

The woman gave them a wide smile, her teeth slightly stained with red and terrifyingly pointed.

"Another dear vampire, and a witch full of youth. What a pleasure it is to make your acquaintance," the woman bowed.

"Tis a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Autumn said, trying to copy the woman's strange accent.

"How nice to meet another bootiful vampire," Sabrina joked.

"Ah, bootiful! Like a ghost! I love it! I have a ghost friend who will be most delighted at that humorous sentence," the woman said.

"What is thy name?" Autumn asked her.

"Thy name is Circe Darkblood,"  Circe said. "Now, what is my new acquaintances names?"

"My name is Autumn Nyx," Autumn said, stating her middle name. She never spoke her surname.

"And my name is Sabrina Raven," Sabrina said, positioning her witch hat stately back on her head.

"What pleasureful names!" Circe exclaimed. "Why don't we go get ourselves a midnight feast? I heard there are plenty of mortals out on this wondrous night for us to suck dry!"

Autumn laughed. "We must decline your gracious offer. We have important places to be very soon, so we must be scurrying along. Good night, enjoy your bloody feast!"

"Oh, I will, Miss Autumn. Goodbye," Circe said, waving her hand and making a dark cloak appear. She put it around herself, and in a flap of fabric, she was gone.

"What a fun lady," Sabrina said. "What an interesting Halloween! I can't wait to tell everyone at school tomorrow about what happened! Come on, Autumn!"

Autumn rose from her position on the ground, sighing in relief. That Halloween sure had been frightening, but it was all almost over. She was going to go home and await for the next year. 

Chapter 3: The Revelation

Autumn peeled off the damp cloak, letting it slump on her floorboards like a shadow. Rain still tapped against her bedroom window, a steady rhythm that should have been soothing. Her fangs had retracted fully hours ago, leaving only the faintest ache in her gums, a phantom reminder. She unclipped the plastic pumpkin bucket, its weight surprising – half candy, half rainwater. The cheap face paint felt like a greasy mask now. She reached for a makeup wipe, the cool, chemical scent sharp in the quiet room. Outside, the skeletal branches of the old oak scratched against the glass, a sound suddenly too much like that warlock’s gnarled stick scraping pavement.

The night's events had left her slightly shaken, but she reminded herself that it was all in good fun.

Suddenly, there was a thump on her bedroom window. 

Autumn looked up, expecting a damp twig or something, but there, just outside her window, was Circe. 

"You tricked me!" She hissed, her voice muffled from the glass separating them.

Autumn shrieked in surprise, tripping over her own feet and sprawling across the hard floor.

"Circe, what do you mean?" She asked, getting up off the floor. "I did nothing!"

"You lied, you ghastly mortal!" Circe snarled. "Come, open this window and meet your demise!"
"Demise?" Autumn said in surprise. She shook her head. "Circe, it's late. You should know better than to scare children after nine o' clock."

"After nine o' clock!" Circe screeched in rage. "I'm a vampire, I don't have time limits for feasting! I'll do it all night long if I please, you little whippersnapper!"

Autumn began to feel afraid, and questions rose in her head. How had Circe gotten onto her window? After all, she was on the last level of her Victorian-style house.

"I despise liars! Despise them!" Circe said, her long, jagged sleeves flapping in the wind. 

"I didn't mean to lie, now go away!" Autumn exclaimed, covering the window with her velvet curtains.

"I will not 'go away'!" Circe said. "I won't!" 

Circe seemed to be a very irascible woman.

"If you don't go now, I'm getting my mom! I might even get the police!" Autumn called through the window.

"I don't care, more people for me to eat!" Circe said. "Get out here!"

Suddenly, all went quiet.

"Circe? Hello?" Autumn said. She did not open the window, knowing it might be a trick.

Clanks and clinks filled the room, and after a minute, the window shattered and Circe jumped into her room. A terrible grin spread across her pale, beautiful face.
"There you are!" She said.

"HELP! MOM, DAD, HELP!" Autumn cried, rushing for her door.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere," Circe said, appearing in front of the door.

"But how did you-" Autumn was interrupted by Circe leaping for her, tackling her to the floor.

Autumn kicked and screamed as Circe held her down.
"This is what I call revenge!" She said in delight.

"NO! HELP!" Autumn yelled at the top of her lungs.

As she writhed, Circe's razor sharp nails cut into her arm, which bled freely.

Autumn screamed in pain. It felt like she had dipped her arm in acid.

Circe seemed to go into a frenzy at the sight of her blood.
"Oh, how delicious you'll be." She said, leaning towards her neck. "Then you will really be like me! A bite kills and transforms, you know!"

Autumn screamed louder than she had ever screamed before. Why weren't her parents coming?
Then she remembered.

They weren't going to be back until ten, they said! 

But suddenly, there was a thump, and Circe let out a little squeak.

Then she keeled over, unconscious, right on top of Autumn.

"Is Autumn okay?" "Did that crazy lady kill someone!?" Nervous voices came from the doorway, but Autumn wasn't able to look past her shoulder.

"Quick! Get the lady off of her!" The warm, high voice was familiar...

"Sabrina!" Autumn shrieked in joy.

"Autumn, you're alive!"  Sabrina exclaimed, moving Circe's body. "I knew that lady was strange! She must have followed us!"

Autumn leapt onto Sabrina, sobs breaking free.

"S-she was on the window, and she yelled at me, and broke the window, and attacked me, and oh Sabrina I would be dead if it weren't for you! Thank you!" Autumn said between sobs.

Tears poured down her face as she clutched Sabrina harder than ever before.

"Who the heck was that?" A girl said. She had shoulder-length pale blond locks and warm brown eyes. She was in a simple black dress with high heels. This was Sabrina's sixteen year old sister, Elena. 

"Her name is Circe," Sabrina said, looking at Circe with anger and disgust. "She took being a vampire to the next level, in a really bad way."

But something had been nagging at the back of Autumn's mind for some time now.