A Dark-Hunter Halloween

A Dark-Hunter Halloween

“Please, akri!”

“No, Simi.”

Stomping her foot like a petulant child, Simi sauntered away from the human boy dressed as a vampire. She had been delighted to find the boy. The boy, no older than eighteen and probably on his way to a party, has also been delighted…at first. When Simi started talking barbeque, Acheron, leader of a group of immortal warriors known as the Dark-Hunters, had to intervene.

Whirling on the spiked heel of her thigh-high boots, Simi confronted the terrified human again.

“You’re lucky, boy. If akri hadn’t been here, you’d be toast. No, not toast. Barbeque. Flame-broiled. Mmm,” Simi’s eyes closed as if savoring the thought. When they snapped back open, her eyes flashed red for a moment before returning to the vibrant green shade she was wearing tonight. “You’d deserve it, too. You got Simi all excited, thinking she was gonna get to fry some Daimon. But, no. You just had to be a human. Why you dressing as a Daimon anyway? I know why. ‘Cause you’re a poser.” Ash rolled his eyes at Simi’s latest word. She had been calling everyone posers for the past week.

Simi whirled back around. Her black hair gleamed as it caught the light from the full moon. The still stunned human looked to Ash. Shrugging his leather-clad shoulders, Acheron walked off after Simi.

“Why’d you stop me, akri?” Simi asked once he had caught up.

“You know why, Sim. You can’t eat the humans.”

“Not even just one? There’s so many of them. The wouldn’t miss him,” she pleaded.

“Someone would miss him. Then I’d catch hell from Artemis.” And that was something Acheron avoided at all costs. Not that he was afraid of her. More like he didn’t want to put up with her tantrums. They were exhausting, even for someone who had been putting up with them for the last millennia.

“Pfft!” Simi snorted. “That old heifer can’t do nothing to you, akri. She can’t do nothing to the Simi either. But I’d like to see her try. The Simi could roast that red-headed cow. Haven’t had fried Olympian in a long time, akri.”

Sighing, Ash said, “No, Simi. We’ve talked about this before. You can’t eat her.”

Simi pretended not to hear him.

“Wow! What a costume!” The exclamation came from an elderly woman on the front porch of an old Victorian they were passing by. “Here, Sugar. Take some candy. You had to have put a lot of work into that outfit.”

“Ooo! Candy!” Snatching the chocolate from the woman’s outstretched hand, Simi bounced back to the sidewalk where Ash was waiting.

“Look, akri! That old human gave me candy But, what costume is she talking about?”

“Come on, Sim. We need to get to Sanctuary,” Ash said, referring to a popular biker bar in New Orleans that was owned and operated by a very special family.

Ash could understand the woman’s assumption that Simi’s appearance was a Halloween costume. Halloween was the only night that Ash allowed Simi to walk about with free reign in her choice of form. Well, within reason, of course.

The five inch stiletto boots Simi wore brought her to a little over six foot tall. She was still over half a foot shorter than her akri (lord and master), but at six-eight, Ash’s height was nothing to sneer at. Simi’s waist length midnight hair was arranged in soft curls, giving the illusion of innocence. However, there was nothing soft or innocent about her horns. The could be lethal when Simi was angry, or upset, or mildly irritated. The pleated black skirt she wore was held together at her hip by an anarchy patch and extra-large safety pins. An acid green corset top and black coffin-shaped PVC purse completed her goth look. The finishing touch was her wings. Midnight black, but tipped in green, Simi was quite proud of her wings.

Most humans they met on the street gave them a wide berth. If Simi’s strangely attractive looks brought the men closer, one glimpse of Acheron sent them scurrying away. Although  he physically only appeared to be twenty-one, Ash had a body that sculptures were modeled after. It wasn’t just his physically intimidating looks that tended to make people wary. Ash put off an aura so powerful, the average person went scampering away as fast as they could. The goth looks and powerful body Ash sported only made them go faster. He was primal, dangerous, perfect. He radiated power.

“Akri,” Simi said interrupting his thoughts, “What are they doing?” She pointed to a group of costumed children running up to a house. An angel, the Hulk, a witch, and a pumpkin were an odd mix.

“They’re trick-or-treating, Sim.”

“Huh?”

“They dress up and go door to door for candy.”

“Why?”

“That’s what children in this country do on Halloween.” Simi thought over this statement for a moment.

“So, if the Simi was little,” she reasoned, “she would get more candy?”

With a flash of light that Ash hoped no one noticed, she
changed. No longer looking like a twenty-year old, Simi now appeared to be  a seven-year old human child. She was now wearing a black toga-like dress, but had kept her hair, eyes, wings, and horns the same.

“Look, akri, I’m an evil angel! Think I’ll get lots of candy?”

Trying to conceal his smile, Ash replied, “Of course you will.” Ash held his hand out to Simi. In his hand appeared a pumpkin-shaped bucket with the face of a jack o’lantern. Squealing in delight, Simi snatched the bucket and ran to the porch of the nearest house.

“Well, aren’t you adorable!” the woman exclaimed.

“That’s right, and I want candy!” Chuckling softly, the woman poured a handful of candy into the bucket

*****

By the time Acheron and his demon made it to Sanctuary, Simi had managed to collect three buckets of candy. Flashing back to her “normal” guise, Simi proudly displayed her treats to the assembled crowd. She hissed threateningly at Marvin the monkey when he tried to snatch one of her blow-pops.

“Oh, no you don’t, monkey. This is my candy. If you don’t leave it alone, I’ll barbeque you. I don’t wanna do that ‘cause then Wren would be sad. Besides, monkeys don’t make good barbeque. Hardly any meat, and all that fur. It would be a waste. So, you just leave my candy alone.”

“Simi, are you going to eat that all by yourself?” Ash asked.

“Uh-huh,” came her reply as she popped a Snickers into her mouth.

“Great.” Ash said ruefully, “Sim, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.

“Yeah it is. I got it, I eat it.”

About fifteen minutes later, when the house band, the Howlers, started playing, Simi ran to the middle of the dance floor, and the assorted crowd gave her a wide berth. With the exuberance brought on by eating two of her buckets of candy, Simi swung her horns in time to the music, reminiscent of a head-banger. As she danced, occasionally her wings would flap with the beat and Simi would float off the floor for a few moments.

“Good thing we closed the bar early tonight for our own private Halloween party,” said Mama Lo, mother to the Peltier clan and owner of the bar. “It would get a little sticky trying to explain her to the tourists.”

*****

Simi danced with abandon for about two hours before shuffling back to the bar from which Ash had been keeping an eye on her.

“Akri, I don’t feel so good. Simi wants to go home.”

“I told you not to eat all that candy,” he replied.

With a flash they were back in Katoteros.

“You’re back early,” a voice called. Ash turned to face Alexion.

“Simi has a bellyache,” he said.

“Oh, Sim, you didn’t eat another parking meter, did you?”

She stuck her tongue out at him.

“No, too much candy. Here,” she thrust her remaining bucket at Alexion. “You can eat the rest of Simi’s candy.” She stomped off to her room.

After bringing Alexion up to date on the night’s events, Acheron went to bid Simi good-night.  He opened the bedroom door to find the seven-year old version on the canopied bed.

“I’m so tired, akri,” she said through a yawn.

“I know. All that sugar burned you out. Does your stomach still hurt?”

“Not so much,” she replied. “Mostly, I just wanna sleep.”

“Okay. Good-night, Simi,” he said, kissing her on the forehead.

“Night, akri.” Ash turned to walk out the door. “Akri?” He looked back. “Was my costume good?”

“It was the best, Simi. You were a beautiful angel.” She smiled as he turned back around.

As he used his powers to turn off the lights, he heard, “I love you, Daddy.”

From the darkness his voice called back, “I love you, too, Sim.