Slowly, the moon vanished from the sky, and the sun pushed her feeble rays through the mist of the cold autumn morning. The wind was blowing candy wrappers along the empty streets. Halloween was over.
Ray licked over his lips, tasting the last traces of blood left on them. It had been a wild party, the drugs in the bodies of his … volunteers (he hesitated to call them victims) … had given him an exciting high. He was sure that this wasn’t particularly healthy for him, but it was one night a year when he could be himself. He didn’t want to miss out on that.
The sun, growing in strength, touched his skin. He suppressed the urge to jump back into the shadows, there was no need for that anymore, but old habits died hard. The strong sunscreen that was available nowadays allowed him to have a normal life, or at least as normal as it could be, for a supernatural being like him. 
For several decades now, Ray survived on a mix of donated blood and vitamin supplements, spending his nights as a doorman at a popular club. Everyone there knew him, and they also knew not to mess with him. Despite his wiry stature, Ray was able to throw out even the most worked up party goers. More than one had ended up with a broken hand, after inappropriately touching someone else.
It was an acceptable life, even though Ray sometimes whished back the days of power, back when he had been able to just follow his urges and live as the powerful monster he had been turned into …
”What’s up, Ray? Still outside? An unbelievably tall and skinny woman had walked up behind Ray and stopped next to him. Her copper red hair almost touched her knees, and it shimmered like silk every time she moved.
”Just enjoying the last moments before I have to pose as a human, Ciara. Just as you’re probably doing right now.”
The banshee moved closer and wrapped her arm around Ray’s shoulders. Once again, he was intimidated by her sheer height, even though he knew he could snap her like a twig if he wanted to. Banshees weren’t particularly strong - if you didn’t give them a chance to scream.
”Humans are fun”, Ciara said, her voice soft as a summer breeze. ”They are so scared of the supernatural, but once a year, they dress up and act like they’re us. It’s fascinating how the traditions have changed since the old days.”
*”I don’t know what it was like back then”’, Ray reminded her. ”I’m only 106 years old.” Ciara grinned.
”I missed this kind of conversation. Humans rarely remind me that their age is only just over a century.”
”We should hang out more”, the vampire proposed carefully. He knew that she would say …
”No.” Ciara removed her arm from his shoulders and took a step sideways. ”You know our kind is not supposed to spend time together. It’s not safe. The humans notice us faster if we’re in groups.”
”That’s what everyone says”, Rays protested, ”but how do we know that it would really be like this? Why can’t we try?”
”Your age is showing.” Ciara sighed. ”You don’t remember the days when we were relentlessly hunted and killed. You don’t remember the days when we were almost as many as the humans, but we still didn’t manage to defend ourselves against them.”
”Why not?” Ray had heard the tales, sometimes, from older vampires, but it was the first time ever that Ciara had brought it up. ”We are stronger than them, aren’t we?”
”What do vampires need?” Ciara asked. ”To eat? To reproduce?”
”Humans, but we could have those in cages. Like they do with animals.” Ciara’s smile was sad.
”You think nobody thought of that before? Turns out humans don’t reproduce or survive well that way. Their blood became toxic for the vampires, their flesh disgusting to many other beings. It was pointless, the dynamics of supernatural beings and humans relied on humans being free to live their life.”
”Sounds like a shitty reason”, Ray said.
”Maybe. But I’ve seen many attempts to get rid of humans over the last millennia. They were all unsuccessful, and usually highly damaging for our kind.”
”So we just accept that our numbers decline and we need to hide? It gets worse every year!”
”Does it? How do you know how many vampires there are? You’re not supposed to socialize with them.”
”I’d recognize a vampire if I saw one”, he said, and was hit with eardrum piercing laughter.
”No, you don’t. Not even on Halloween. There were two other vampires at the party last night, and you even attempted to seduce one of them!”
Ray’s ears turned red.
”How do you know? You weren’t there!”
”Oh, but I was.” And suddenly, as if someone had made a cut in a movie tape and removed a full scene, Ciara changed her appearance completely. Were a few moments ago had been a tall, beautiful, and slightly intimidating woman, there now was an approximately 20-year-old, somewhat overweight guy with short, brown hair.
”What on earth …”
”We all have our tricks to blend in.” The guy’s voice was still Ciara’s, but it slowly dropped deeper as he spoke. ”I was there, last night. I watched you. And I wasn’t the only one. You need to be more careful, or the elders might decide to take you out.”
”The what?” Ray had never before heard of the elders. Nor had he known that Ciara was able to shapeshift. But she … he … Ciara refused to reply to his questions and instead started walking away.
For several minutes, Ray stood there, thoughts racing through his mind. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Halloween was over.
And it was time to return to being normal.
Want to read last year’s Halloween special? Click here.
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@rubencress