Fandom: Fright Night 2011

Warnings: For blood and graphic violence

Word Count: 1,300~

Notes: Wrote this while kittens are lounging on my lap. You would expect more happiness.

Aren't Always a Good Thing

Peter growled as he twisted the wood, the puzzle staying unmoving as he yanked and pulled, he needed to solve it. Couldn't go back inside until he solved it. Not when his mum thought it was too hard for him. He slapped briefly at his bare legs, even getting darker it was still a hot summer, as flies bit at his legs.

"Hey kiddo, don't you know it's not safe to be out after dark?"

Peter looked up in surprise, chocolate eyes wide and wet looking, as he saw the stranger. It wasn't really dark yet, not dark enough for his mother to call him in, just dark enough that he couldn't see the sun anymore.

"It's not dark," Peter pouted as the big man laughed at him, dropping the little puzzle box in his lap. "It isn't! I can still see."

"Sun set kid." The man squatted; even with Peter on the stoop he was still taller than the boy. "Monsters come out after the sunsets and eat little boys."

"Mum says monsters aren't real." Peter snorted, mum knew everything.

The man laughed again, he had a really happy laugh that made Peter smile, as he leaned forward to ruffle Peter's hair. His eyes looked weird but he was still grinning and being nice.

Peter grinned back.

"What's that you're working on guy?" The man knocked his fingers against the wooden box.

"It's a puzzle." Peter's smile morphed back into a pout as he held up the puzzle. "Da gave it to me for my birthday."

"Well happy birthday guy." The stranger smirked, he looked like a giant puppy, all smug about something Peter didn't understand. "Birthdays are always so special, presents are fun to give and receive."

"Ta," Peter grinned happily, a hand petting his hair.

"Sure thing kid." Sharp teeth smiled back, it made the man look like a shark instead of the puppy. "Now I gotta talk with your parents, can I go in?"

"Oh yeah," The grin fell away, as Peter wrinkled his nose in disgust. "They're being all lovey in there."

"Poor kid." The hand ruffled soft hair again, making the boy duck away, before he stood. "Later."

Immediately going back to his puzzle box, Peter ignored the front door opening and closing behind him, head bent down, as he fiddled with the polished wood. Showing his parents that he was old enough to solve puzzles by himself was more important than strangers.

Even strangers with weird teeth and Irish accents. He didn't think his parents knew anyone with Irish accents, but his dad knew a lot of weird people. They just normally came when it was really bright outside.

The hair one the back of his neck stood, a high whining noise hurting his ears briefly, while invisible bugs crawled over his skin. Peter glanced over his shoulder at his door, biting at his bottom lip, before shrugging off the uneasiness and going back to his puzzle.

It was probably just his parents being cuddly.

Time passed, seconds, minutes, before the muffled bang sounded. Peter wrinkled his nose, looking up and down the street for the car that must have made the sound. One of the neighbors had a car that constantly backfired.

The next explosive noises were dull, and ignored, as the wood under his small hands started moving how he wanted. Nothing interesting ever happened in the suburbs.

More precious moments passed quickly, the wood sliding freely under his thin fingers, and then the box was open. The hidden coin shined brilliantly in the dying light, making Peter jump up in excitement, banging through the front door.

"Mum, mum! I did it!"

Peter ran into the main room, grinning from ear to ear as he held up the open puzzle box. His big doe eyes already searching for his mother, still grinning wildly, as he raced into the room.

"See! I told you-"

He stopped, lips parted in shock, the box falling limply from his small hands. Soft brown eyes widened as the box collided with the ground, splashing the pooled liquid against his sweaty legs, and staining the wood.

There were bullet holes littering the walls, guns that sounded like car engines, and bright cherry red drops sprayed across the gray wallpaper. The couch was shoved up against a wall, stuffing spilling out from ripped apart cushions, a lamp sticking out of the sparking telly.

His Da was collapsed against the far wall beside the couch, head resting lifelessly on his shoulder, arms ripped away with the gun. His neck was a gaping ruin of skin, only a few strands of the flesh and muscle keeping the head attached to his neck. The normally smiling blue eyes were gone, ripped away to leave only pits of red gore that stared into Peter's shocked brown orbs.

Humming filled his ears, soft over the sound of blood rushing through his veins, making Peter's eyes focus away from his Da's dead body. He was almost grateful to look away from the still dripping blood.

His eyes met the stranger's first. The solid black eyes weren't right, lines of unearthly blue trailing up the muscled neck, and hundreds of needle thin teeth gleaming with blood.

The monster grinned at him over his mum's shoulder, puppy eyes huge and full of dark promises over hundreds of sharp teeth, swaying in place like they were dancing. Her limp hair cascaded down her back, as the head lolled in place, dark red lines camouflaged in the dark strands.

"Mum?"

She was spun around, held tightly against the man's chest, letting Peter see the torn neck and the destroyed dress. Sightless brown eyes, the same shade as his own, staring through him. The ripped fabric fluttered as she moved, showing the soft white skin and bloody fingerprints trailing across bared flesh. Then he pushed her forwards, letting her spill to the floor.

Peter didn't move, frozen in place, as she fell in front of him. Her hair fell against his bare feet and treasure box, hands limp where they fell.

Whimpering filled the room, Peter's throat working, as he tried to swallow around the sudden nausea speeding up his throat. His mouth hung open, pouty lips quivering as the shock and fear swept through his body.

He started shaking, biting into his lip to keep from puking or screaming, unable to look at what was left of his parents or the evil stepping closer.

"Hey." Bloody claws pressed against Peter's chin, gently pushing his face up to meet the dead eyes. "I still need to give you a present right?"

Peter's blown eyes met dead black, blood splashing inside his mouth as he bit through his lip, frozen and numb as the warmly wet claws brushed down his neck.

"Don't want people saying I'm mean." The man, monster, was purring as he licked blood of his other clawed hand. "So kiddo?"

Peter kept shaking, flinching as the arms wrapped around his shoulder, pulling him against the blood soaked chest. The throaty whimpers grew louder as blood soaked into Peter's hair, the arms spinning him like they had his mum.

"Little boy," The monster purred in Peter's ear, as pulled the boy's head backwards, letting the dazed eyes look up. "You smell as tasty as your mother."

One of the claws ran along his lip, catching the falling blood drops, rubbing at the caught lip before pulling away. Peter watched numbly as the creature delicately sucked his blood of the claw. The man laughed lowly, leaning down and kissing Peter's forehead, leaving a bloody mark behind.

"Peter right?"

Tears started sliding out of the corner of Peter's eyes, as the creature picked him up, laying limp in fear against the hard shoulder. The hand, less sharp now, pressed his head into the cold neck as the creature started walking out.

Blood squished in the carpet under his heavy steps.

Peter whimpered, eyes fixed just over the monster's shoulder on what was left of his mum, claws rubbing little circles into his neck.

"Come on guy. I'll teach you some important life lessons. Like never let strangers in."