31 October 1991 Toronto, ON, Canada
Nick gently closed the front door, then reoccupied his prior position on the beige-colored couch. He held the lightweight plastic pumpkin bowl in his hands as he glanced around Natalie's apartment. She had done some decorating for the holiday, and he could see the various pumpkins and other colorful gourds that had been placed in collections upon the available flat surfaces. The dining table held physically the largest of the fruits, while the smallest ones were contained within a wooden bowl upon the black coffee table directly in front of him. Idly, his fingers traced along the various vertical ridges of the bowl in his hand, there to resemble an actual pumpkin, before dipping slightly into the crevices that were supposed to represent the carved eyes and grin of a jack-o'-lantern. He waited for what he knew would come next.
Nick heard a knock on the door.
The sound prompted him to rise again off of the couch. Upon opening the door, he was greeted by two children calling out the now traditional phrase he had heard many times already that night. Nick gave a quick tiny lift of one corner of his lips to the young princesses that were eagerly holding out to him their bags, already laden with other treats. He held the pumpkin bowl out to them, and the children quickly figured out they could take what they wanted. They each took one piece. Nick suppressed his disappointment. Natalie had said he could stop this activity when all the candy was gone. All the candy was not yet gone. Each princess warmly smiled at him as they dropped the newest acquisition into the bags, thanked him, and then turned in unison towards the stairs that would take them to a different level of the building complex. He watched through the teal-colored metal railings as they bounded to their next goal. Looking around, he didn't see anyone else in the corridor, so he slipped back into the apartment and closed the door.
He stared at the couch but didn't want to sit down again. He felt increasingly anxious and jittery. Within himself, the need to escape was gathering and solidifying, a powerful compulsion that was insisting he leave this mortal domicile and return to his bricked warehouse loft where he would be safe in its darkness and in his solitude. However, what kept him there in the red apartment, what kept him ignoring the vampire's basic protective drive, was his promise to Natalie. Nick smiled as he mused on the topic. Natalie was someone he had not expected to find during his stay in Toronto. She was different than other mortals he had met and eventually brought into his confidence; she knew what he was from the first moment and did not turn away from him in disgust or fear. Natalie was not like so many others in the past that, upon learning he was a vampire, wanted to become one as well, or use him to bring another across. She was one who had insisted on helping him regain his mortality, to travel with him on his quest. He relaxed slightly, knowing that, for now, he was not alone in his life.
However, ignoring one part of the vampire made it harder to ignore a different part: he was hungry. Nick remembered the can of powdered diet supplement Natalie had purchased from the supermarket and insisted he drink as a potential eventual substitute for the bovine blood he was currently subsisting on. There was a glass of the mixed solution in her refrigerator for him even now. He had tasted the thick brown solution when he had arrived that night at her apartment and had immediately regretted that action. The taste of it still lingered, similar to the noxious smell he had picked up when he had been handed the glass. He had promised to try the liquid - it was a part of the agreement with Natalie that he would do what she recommended to help him become mortal again. Nick furrowed his brow. Apparently, her plan had also included handing out sugar to children before taking him to a Halloween party later in the night. When he had objected, she had told him these were mortal activities he needed to do. She believed that doing these things was just as important as trying to reverse the vampirism. Nick wasn't so sure. He looked down at the plastic pumpkin bowl. Encouraging the young to accept candy from strangers didn't make him feel more like a mortal; it actually made him feel more like a dea-
Nick heard a knock on the door.
Nick sighed, pivoted around, and went back to open the door. This time the traditional phrase was uttered by a little clown and a much younger ballerina by his side. He thought these two seemed too young to be out on their own. Nick glanced down the corridor to his right, observing an older girl at the end. Judging by her posture and behavior, probably the teenage sister to these two, coerced into escort duty for the evening. Nick returned his attention to the two in front of him and held out the plastic bowl again. The boy took a piece first for his little sister, dropping it into her bag, then took a piece for himself. Nick reminded him to take one for his older sister; he didn't particularly care if she would appreciate getting some candy for shepherding her siblings, he just wanted to get rid of the candy faster. The boy nodded, took the extra piece, and with his sister in tow, went to the door of the next apartment.
As Nick retreated again into Natalie's place he heard screams. He frowned as the sounds faded. There was an older boy on the lower floor who had been frightening children periodically throughout the evening. Natalie had told him the trick was harmless fun, and even though the screams didn't last long, Nick didn't think that was a very nice action to perform upon unsuspecting young children.
Back inside, Nick decided to pour the last of the chocolate candy from the big bag into the nearly empty plastic pumpkin. Tossing away the original bag would feel like he was closer to being done. He was aware of the change underfoot as he walked across the wooden floor and then onto the carpet. As Nick passed the dining table, he spotted the cat, Sydney, on the floor a few feet from him. The gray and white feline had been avoiding him up to that moment but was now sitting down, watching him with a curious expression. Nick stopped and cocked his head to one side, thinking that perhaps the cat had finally decided to approach him, possibly wanting to be petted since Natalie was not around and he was. He began to slowly move to get closer to the animal. Immediately, with ears flattened back and hackles raised, Sydney bared sharp upper canine teeth and hissed at him. Nick halted, dropped his fangs, and hissed back at the cat. He watched as the animal darted away from him, heading to the safety of Natalie's bedroom. Nick sighed as he retracted his upper canine teeth. This whole evening was definitely not making him feel accepted or mortal.
Nick resumed heading towards the kitchen, walking past the bookcase and turning left before colliding with the painted white brick wall. On the counter next to the sink he found the candy bag, then upended its remaining contents into the plastic bowl and tossed the empty bag into the trash can. The bowl was now slightly over one-quarter full. Nick glanced at his watch. At the rate this activity was going, he might get rid of the last piece of candy just as Natalie was to return from the emergency shift she had been called in to do. Nick strolled out of the kitchen and sat back down near the door, this time occupying the black and metal chair instead of the couch. He stared down at the individual pieces of wrapped chocolate in the plastic container, crinkling his nose. He could smell the chocolate, an odd odor combination of wax, moldy dank earth, and vanilla, and wondered how anyone could voluntarily eat such a creation. But as he had witnessed many times, mortals did, and seemed to enjoy doing so. Natalie had assured him the products tasted delicious and had tried on more than one occasion to explain to him the allure, but without success. Nick continued to stare at the chocolate. As curious as he could be, he had no desire to taste, let alone touch, these things.
Nick heard a knock on the door.
He rose off the chair and opened the door.
"Trick or treat."
Nick grinned at the woman standing in the corridor. He handed her the plastic container. "You can have all these treats."
Natalie smiled at Nick's obvious relief that she had come back. She took the plastic pumpkin from him as she walked into her apartment. "Was it really that bad interacting with the neighborhood kids?"
Nick grunted as he closed the door once Natalie was past the entryway chairs.
Natalie turned back around to face Nick. "Well, at least you didn't leave the candy out in the hallway for them."
"I could have done that?"
She could see the grin on Nick's face, but Natalie knew he wouldn't have done that. He promised to give the treats to the kids, and she knew he would keep his word. "So," she drawled, "do you feel any different than you did before I left?"
Nick shrugged. He didn't want to tell her what he had been thinking. "No. How, exactly, was dispensing candy going to help make me mortal? I'm not sure what the point of this was."
"The point was to experience a human activity, Nick. To participate in a tradition people here do at some point in their life." She turned to drop the container on the dining table. "Well, what we do nowadays, anyway." Even though more than a year had passed since they met, she still had to remember that Nick was old - much older than he looked. His life had spanned multiple human lifetimes, and society changed over time. She sometimes forgot that what was normal now was not normal for him. Natalie twisted back to face Nick. "This was an opportunity for you to interact in this holiday, to be a part of it."
Nick shrugged as he closed the distance between them. "Didn't seem like much interaction. They said what they wanted, and I gave them the treat since that's what I had."
"Nick, didn't you ask them what they were dressed up as?" She watched as his brow slowly furrowed and his eyes narrowed in confusion.
"Why? I could observe that for myself."
Natalie let out a quick sigh; she had hoped Nick would have naturally gotten more involved in the activity. "That's one of the fun parts of trick or treating for the kids: explaining who they are."
"Who they're pretending to be," Nick corrected her as he looked away. "Like me pretending to be just a normal person handing out candy tonight to whoever knocked on your door."
"Nick, you are a person who was handing out candy tonight." Natalie glanced at the nearly empty candy bowl. "You didn't pretend to do that."
Nick glanced back at Natalie. He was still getting accustomed to her, still trying to understand her expressions and moods, but based on the subtle physical signs he could discern, something had agitated her. "I'm sorry for upsetting you, Nat."
Natalie shook her head. "It's not you, Nick. I was … just startled by the kid on my way into the building. He had jumped out in front of me, and I wasn't expecting it, and the plastic fangs…." She uttered a nervous laugh as she recalled the encounter. "It was just unexpected since he wasn't at his door. I guess the adrenaline is still going through my system." She didn't want to tell him that she had, for a moment, thought a real vampire had come for her. Nick always ignored or ended the conversation when she brought up the others. Natalie knew there had to be other vampires; Nick couldn't be the only one. She was a little concerned what would happen if one found her. "At least I didn't slap him."
Nick was angry, and also surprised he was having that intense of a reaction to what had happened to her and how protective he felt over her. "Maybe you should have." He paused. "Perhaps I should go talk to him, especially if he's no longer contained to his apartment …."
"What, flash your police badge? The kid would probably think it was just part of a costume. Besides," Natalie said, "it's late, and the time for trick-or-treating is nearly over. And I need to finish getting ready and then we are both going to the Halloween party."
Nick gave a lopsided grin. "Another mortal activity to experience?"
Natalie nodded her head, her hair bouncing slightly with the movement. "Yes, an activity to be a participant in." She smiled. "The technicians got the room already decorated, very nicely this year. And they used the plastic skeletons this time. Well," she said, turning, "don't try to slip away. I'll be ready soon."
"I'll be here when you're ready to go," Nick said as he watched her walk away. His Caddy was parked outside, and he would be driving them over to the Coroners Building. But before that, he had one quick activity to do. Quietly moving towards the door, he opened it, slipped into the corridor, then silently closed the door behind him. He had no intention of telling Natalie what he was about to do since it might not be what she had in mind about participating in the mortal trick-or-treating event, but he felt this was something that needed to be done. The tiny muscles that controlled the extension of his fangs were tingling in anticipation as he went down the stairs and found the correct lower-level apartment and sensed the kid inside.
Nick knocked on the door.