"This is the last time I'm going to ask nicely, Ella."

He stepped closer to her as he dragged the palm of his hand down his face in an exasperated motion.

"Where…is…my…son?"

She barely stayed on her feet as she shuffled backwards in the narrow entryway trying to keep some space between herself and her husband. She had successfully eluded him for nearly 3 years with the help of the elders but something had shifted. When the doorbell rang, she hastily swung the door open without checking the peephole, hoping to see Finn on the other side of it. She had not seen her son in nine days but she knew better than to reveal that to the fuming beast standing in front of her.

"I don't know, Dan. It's Halloween. He's a teenager. He's probably just out at a party." She tried not to show how unnerved she was as she motioned for him to leave. "If you'd like, I'll have him call you as soon as he gets in. Now please go."

He moved with unexpected speed as he swatted away her extended arm with his right hand and used the back of the hand that had just wiped the perspiration from his face to slap her across hers. There was no chance of her staying on her feet then. She fell to the ground in a rolling fashion to avoid causing too much harm to her wrists. She'd had plenty of years of experience with avoiding broken bones and covering unavoidable bruises. She didn't attempt to stand back up.

"You must think I'm stupid. I've had someone watching this house for 2 days now. You come and go but Finn is nowhere in sight. Where the fuck is my son?"

She could sense him leaning over her as she curled herself into a defensive ball. "I swear, I don't know where he is! I don't know! I don't know! Please! I don't…"

"If this has anything to do with your stupid witch shit… You better pray to whatever abomination you worship that I find him or I swear to God, woman, I will personally send you to hell to praise Beelzebub in person."

She waited until she heard the front door slam before she allowed herself to cry aloud.

/ / /

She wore a dark pink strapless short dress with crimson red accented swirls curling through it from the bust to the crimson soaked hem. Her face make up negated the need for a mask as bold strokes of metallic glitter outlined the top half of her face with silver filling in every inch of her skin in that area. Slick black lines curled out and away from her eyes. Little black dots around the edges completed the old fashioned masquerade look. She took the longest blink as she turned her head in the direction of the girl who had been staring at her. Her icy blue eyes locked onto the stranger's face. Normally she would look away but she felt no discomfort in the silent exchange between them. She straightened herself and began to push herself off the wall she had been holding up the entire party until she saw someone approach the smiling girl. She stopped herself but the momentum of her push had caused the drink in her hand to continue its motion. Before the liquid landed on the guy who had chosen just that moment to walk past her, it reversed midair and settled back into the cup. She took a deep breath and looked around her to see if anyone had noticed. Not a single person was watching her. Except the girl across the room who was no longer smiling.

"Don't touch me, please! I cannot stand the way you tease!"

"Ugh! Get…OFF me!" Santana pushed the boy off her as the Marilyn Manson cover continued to play on the speakers. She was sure she had just witnessed something she wasn't meant to see. This interruption was not appreciated. She started to make her way across the room to introduce herself but someone had her arm. More like something. The rubber material was cold on her skin and the bristly strands of hair made her arm itch as she yanked it out of the ape's grasp. He lifted his mask at that moment to reveal himself with a laugh. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Real fitting, Puck. If you wanna keep your banana safe, I'd suggest you keep it away from me."

Noah Puckerman shook his head, unfazed by her usual sourness. He gave her a once over, noting her in her normal clothes and asked "what are you supposed to be?"

Santana looked down at her black skinny jeans and matching low cut tank top. She tugged her black leather jacket forward as she straightened her shoulders and looked him square in the eye. She smiled her sweetest smile and struck a pose. "I'm 'Nice'. And if you don't leave me alone, I'll have to abandon character and kick your ass. Now do you really want to ruin my Halloween like that?" She walked away from him while he processed that. The blonde girl was no longer on the wall but there weren't many paths to take from that direction. She headed in the most obvious one and was rewarded promptly for her efforts.

"Antisocial butterfly?"

The girl was once again standing against a wall in the kitchen. Santana walked in her direction tracing the length of the kitchen island with the fingers of her right hand during her journey. The girl smiled again but neither confirmed nor denied the assumption.

"I mean, I'm just guessing, from the lack of wings and the fact that you have an attraction to walls instead of people." This time, the girl responded with a 180 degree spin move. She pointed at her back to a very small set of wings in the center of it. "I do have wings. They're just underdeveloped. Like Heimlich." When she turned back around, Santana was right in front of her, staring at her through squinted eyes.

"You know. From the movie A Bug's Life?"

Santana shook her head back and forth. "Sorry."

"Oh." That had slipped out. She obviously hadn't meant to show her disappointment and she most certainly didn't want to be viewed as childish. Santana picked up on that and skipped straight to introducing herself. She offered her right hand.

"I'm Santana." The other girl accepted the invitation for a handshake and gave her name in exchange.

"Brittany. It's nice to meet you, Santana."

"Really? I wouldn't be so sure of that just yet." She winked to show she was joking and Brittany laughed easily, still shocked by the lack of discomfort in her interactions with the stranger. She could feel a warm rippling inside of her. She glanced down and noticed Santana still had her hand. She looked up and saw that Santana was well aware of it too but she seemed to be amused by it. Before either of them could speak, another blonde ran into the kitchen with a short brunette in tow. Brittany's eyes showed alarm, causing Santana to release her hand and turn around. She could tell that this wasn't going to be good news and she growled at the two girls under her breath.

"Problem, Santana. Major." Her look was fierce but softened when she looked at Brittany as she walked quickly to them. She had a genuine smile as she spoke to her. "Hello. This is Rachel. I'm Quinn. You must be Brittany. I wish we had time to get better acquainted but I really I have to get going and so does Santana but we'll talk later, I promise!"

Without even taking a breath, she grabbed Santana's arm and yanked her toward the sliding doors to the patio. She slid the door open and the 3 girls stumbled out into the cold night air. Santana yanked herself free for the second time that evening. She looked back into the kitchen at Brittany who still stood there with wide eyes and an unasked question on her lips.

"Quinn! What the hell? We JUST met! You couldn't give me five minutes alone with-"

"Santana! There isn't time!" Rachel's scream was piercing. Quinn finally took a breath and walked back to where Santana stood.

It's Finn, Santana. His father is here and he's asking questions."