HALLOWEENIE

@palomavega​

     “Can I ask you something?” Emily was leaning against the door frame of the room Paloma sat in. She was the only other woman around, and Emily wasn’t really comfortable talking to a man about the topic of relationships, love, sex. But it had to be a reaper who should be able to relate to her problems the best – so she couldn’t really ask any of her other female friends. “Or are you busy right now?”

-

“Wolf, actually.” Marshall offered as he pulled on a pair of sweats. Murdered. She actually just said murdered, kind of like what he’d just done, kind of like how she’d just caught him after he’d accidentally killed someone. He promised Ophelia this wouldn’t happen again and this, he hadn’t shifted for any reason other than the full moon. But still, he’d blacked out and come to having completely lost himself in the process. Marshall knew he needed to figure out a way to gain control of the wolf, if he kept on this path, that fury was going to come for his head. There was no question in his mind about it. “But I met a reaper about a month ago, her name was Calypso.” She’d seemed nice, understanding. Old. Not like Paloma, she was obviously just as new to all of this as him. Marshall folded his arms across his bare chest, “I’m sorry if I- I don’t know, scared you or anything. I was bitten a few months ago, I’ve gotten better at managing my triggers-” Marshall said, maybe too quickly. “But the full moon I-” he shrugged, “I still can’t manage it.”

“Wolf?” So those existed, too? She wished she could fully comprehend what was going on in Corinth Bay. Why was everything so different now that she was here? She could remember when all she was aware of were witches and reapers. Hell, she could remember when it was just witches. The only one she knew of had been herself and she had tried her best to hide it from all of the people she had befriended over the years. It certainly made her life easier though. Now all she wanted to do was hide away with her dog to escape from knowing anything else. “Oh. I met her, too. She’s really pretty.” And nice. Paloma couldn’t get past the panic that overwhelmed her at first. Nevertheless, she wanted to see if she could find Calypso again. “No. It’s okay. I’m used to death now. Unfortunately. I was just...” She paused for a second as she moved closer to him. “Um, I was just worried about you when I saw. Is that bad? It’s probably bad? It makes me seem like Stretch from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 that tried to woo Leatherface. Damn, that was a weird movie.” She looked up at him again, eyes wide. “Not that I’m saying you’re a killer. I was just really worried about you.”

     “I don’t really think I’m going to die either. But if it’s an excuse to eat ice cream until my whole body hurts, I’ll take it.” Delia knew how easily she could die, she had done it once, even if she came back as a vampire. But she was in no way planning to do it again – she did however enjoy the idea of simply living life to the fullest. “Sagittarius.” Delia let her eyes fly over the page before she pointed at the right column. “Ah, here. It says you should make a purchase of something you have been thinking about. Well… that’s boring. Guess they did not date a Sagitarrius.”

-

With a single touch Marshall felt himself spirited away, carried through space and instantly transplanted into his apartment. The stark change was jarring and after a moment he realized that he was still stood there naked. Grabbing a throw pillow and holding it in front of his waist he felt his cheeks tinge, but there was a more important question like - how did she just do that? Marshall’s first thought was that she was a witch, but he didn’t smell any magic coming off of her, in fact, he didn’t really smell much of anything. Her clothes, perfume, but there wasn’t the familiar scent of blood. The pump of a heart. “You’re dead.” Marshall whispered before realizing how rude that must have sounded, his tone was sad as he came to understand that Paloma had been a spirit this whole time. “You’re a reaper, aren’t you? That’s why you were there because I-” Because I killed that person.

It only took a moment for her to bring them back to where they had once been in his apartment. It was a familiar place for her, almost the same as the house she lived in with the rest of the people like her. Marshall just made her feel comfortable. Not like the people that she had once run with. No, this was different from that. He was just unapologetically him and she could just be herself. No matter how awkward they were around each other to this day. For example, the fact that she hadn’t even realized he was still naked until he pulled a pillow in front of himself. That caused her to cover her eyes for a moment and then peek between her fingers when he said those very discomforting two words. “Yes. I am. I died a few months ago. Actually, I was murdered. Left to die.” She closed the gap between her fingers again to give him some privacy. “I have no idea what you are though. I only know about witches and reapers. You’re not a witch, are you?”

-

“This isn’t what it looks like.” Marshall tried to explain but it was a weak attempt at an explanation when he was literally covered in blood. The smell of iron stung his nose, his sense, it was all he could pick up on. That and the heavy sound of his own quickening heartbeat. He looked down at the mauled individual on the ground, completely unrecognizable and somehow couldn’t believe that Paloma wasn’t recoiling in fear or terror. Shouldn’t she be calling for help, or the police or something? “It was the full moon, I just- I lost control.” Marshall thought about the fury and the promise he’d made to her. “You can’t tell anyone about this, please.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” She could feel him starting to recoil, starting to pull away from her. The last thing Paloma wanted was for that to happen. For some reason, Marshall was important to her now. He cared about people and, if he was someone else, she was sure that he wouldn’t be apologetic about this situation. That mattered. Of course, it couldn’t be taken back what he did, but he was regretful. “I won’t. I promise.” She looked around them for a moment. “We should get out of here, alright? Then we can talk about why I was really here.” She let her hand fall down to grab his. Maybe finding each other was the best thing to happen for both of them. They were both scared and she wanted to help him so she wouldn’t be. And because she didn’t want to see him like this.

    “I figured if I have to die, I might as well pick the way myself. And drowning in ice cream certainly doesn’t sound so bad.” Delia had sort of died before, when she became a vampire, and she certainly didn’t want to go through that again. Joking about death felt easier now that she was back to being human, but it still made her nervous. As if she was testing her fate. “What’s your sign? I can look up what this has in store for you.”

-

Marshall was supposed to meet up with Medusa at the full moon but his experience with Kit had made him a bit bold. He thought that if he could talk himself down from a shift outside of the full moon then surely he must have gotten some control, right? At the full moon Marshall blacked out, and when he came to again there was the increasingly familiar taste of iron in his mouth. Blood. His stomach lurched when he realized what he’d done, and worse, when he recognized the voice that was calling out to him. Naked and afraid, blue eyes landed on the woman who looked at him with an expression on her face that twisted in his gut like a knife. “Paloma-” his eyes darted around, frantic. “what are you doing here?”

The look on Marshall’s face made her stomach churn. What the hell was going on? Paloma moved closer, her hand resting on his shoulder as she knelt down next to him. “Um...well, you’re the naked one. And covered in blood. I think I should be the one asking you that question.” She tried to play it off as if she was joking, but she really wasn’t sure how she would explain the fact that she was a reaper that brought souls to where they would be judged. And what was Marshall? All she knew about were witches and reapers. Now there seemed to be more that she had no idea about. “I was just...walking by. I saw you and I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Did that even sound believable to her?

++

Alvaro’s expression softened as he watched her gentle eyes water up and stream down her cheeks. It had been so long since he’d seen her, since he’d seen her smile or laugh; seeing her now although distressing that she had become a reaper. He still felt that pang in his chest of relief that she hadn’t remained dead – and that she managed to find him. “Hey, hey,” his voice was soft as he stepped forward, and crouched down to meet her height as she fell to her knees. A hand going to her shoulder and another to her back as he pulled her in close for a soft embrace. “It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize.” Of course he missed her, he had been hurt and confused. But, seeing her once again despite the situation was all the apology he needed. “It’s okay, we can figure this out.” reiterating, “I can help you figure this out.”

@corinthbaystarters​

     “Do you believe in horoscopes?” Delia was used to talking to strangers. In the years she had been searching for her sister, and the years as a vampire, she hadn’t really made many friends. Instead she had been constantly moving, always trying to get information out of strangers, and it was why she had grown careless about what others might think when she spoke to them. “I’m just asking because this one says I will die an awful death within the next 24 hours, and if that’s the case, I will overdose on ice cream first.”