By the time Mark, Emily, Penny, Mimi and Rodolfo arrived at the Halloween Bash, the park was filled with New Yorkers in full costume, all of which were either crowded around a bonfire or wandering around the booths that housed games and food.

"Wow," Penny looked around in amazement. "Even if Uncle Roger shows up, it'll be hard to find him in all of this.

"I don't think we'd have to find him," Emily pointed out, talking more to Mimi then anyone else. "If he's here, I'm sure he'll find us." Mimi smiled at her friend's attempt to raise her spirits and readjusted her hold on Rodolfo.

"Come on, let's see if we can find the others," Mark suggested. "I'm sure they're here somewhere."

The small family proceeded to explore the Halloween Bash, coming across familiar faces as they went, including Robbie, Rupert and Jerry playing a water gun game, trying to triple their chances of winning by all three playing at once, and an off-duty Officer Kurtz, enjoying caramel apples with his wife and son. After about five minutes of searching, they finally came across Collins, who had clearly met up with Paul earlier, as the two were in the middle of a friendly conversation. It was Paul who noticed them first.

"Hello, everyone," he greeted with a wave. "Enjoying the celebrations?"

"We really just got here," Mark explained. "We've actually been keeping out eyes out for Roger."

"I see. So he still hasn't come home since finding out about the cure?"

"I told him all about the issue with Roger and Kain," Collins explained. "I thought that it was best to tell him the real reason Roger hasn't been going to Life Support recently."

"No, we haven't seen him," Emily answered Paul's question, giving Mimi a sympathetic one-armed hug. "So, if you see him, Paul…."

"I'll let him know you've been looking for him," Paul promised.

"Anyway, have you seen Maureen and Joanne around?" Mark asked, hoping to switch the topic to a less somber one.

"Yeah, they went off into the Haunted House over there," Collins explained, pointing. Pausing, he glanced over at Mimi, who was watching the skies, hoping for a glimpse of Roger. "Mimi, why don't you go check out the Haunted House? Angel used to say the two of you loved going in haunted houses at carnivals."

"We'll all go," Penny added. "Come on, Aunt Mimi. Would Uncle Roger like it if you refused to at least try to have fun tonight? And who knows? He knows you enjoy things like that, too. So if he comes, he'd be looking for you in there."

"All right." Mimi relented. "Collins, could you watch Rodolfo for a bit? He probably wouldn't like it in there."

"No problem," Collins carefully took Rodolfo as Mimi passed him over. "Just promise you'll try to have fun in there." Once Rodolfo had been deposited into Collins' care, the group made their way to the Haunted House.

Inside, they were greeted with a long corridor lit by strobe lights. Positioned along the corridor were small niches containing corpses in various death poses. A few of the corpses were revealed to be real people when they lunged forward in attempts to scare the Bohemians. After the strobe-lit hall was the infamous 'Spider Web Room', where giant motion-censored spiders would drop down as people walked by, with dummies wrapped up in spider webs attached to the walls. Next was the 'torture chamber', followed by a large room where bloody body bags were suspended from the ceiling.

"I have to say," Mark commented after a while. "I was expecting more of the 'Jumpers'. You know, those people who are supposed to jump out and scare you."

"Yeah. You're right,." Emily agreed. "So far, this is pretty much a…Penny, please don't let go of my hand. I don't want to loose you in here. Penny?" Mark, Emily and Mimi stopped and looked back to see Penny was nowhere in sight.

"Penny?" Mark called out. "Where'd she go?" For the next few minutes, the three of them doubled back to look for the missing preteen. In the middle of searching, Mimi's voice called out in alarm.

"Mark, Emily! Over here, hurry!" The two immediately abandoned the search and made their way over to Mimi. The dancer looked back at them, pale-faced and worried, holding out the hat that had been a part of Penny's hobo costume. With a shaking hand, Emily took the hat from Mimi before dropping to her knees, her cane landing on the floor with a soft clatter. Mark, on the other hand, was completely frozen in shock from Mimi's discovery. After a brief moment, Mark's alarm wore away enough to kneel down and rub Emily's arm in comfort.

"Emily, I'm sure she's around here somewhere," he reasoned.

"Then why won't she answer us?" Emily debated. "What if Kain followed us in here and…"

"Don't even think it!" Mimi demanded. "Isn't it bad enough he got Roger and now he won't even come back home?" Mark and Emily looked away for a second, both sorry for making Mimi think about that.

"I'm sure she's safe in here somewhere," Mimi went on. "We just have to keep looking, that's all." Emily sighed and looked up. But as she did so, her eyes grew wide in surprise.

"Mimi, behind you!" Mimi spun around in time to see the wall behind her stretching out, forming the shape of multiple hands. Before anyone could react, the hands latched on to Mimi's arms and legs, pulling her back into the wall, where she sank into it as if it wasn't even there. Instantly, Mark and Emily lunged forward to try and save her. But the pull of the wall was too strong, and within moments, she was pulled from their grasp.

"That's it. I'm officially freaked out now," Emily announced, her voice shaking from newfound fear while keeping her hands pressed to the wall, as if hoping for a way to reach in to reclaim her friend.

"Yeah," Mark nodded. "That makes the two of us." Moments later, a deep rumbling was heard, and once again, the hands returned, this time from the floor. The hands grabbed hold of Mark and Emily's legs, pulling them into the floor, which suddenly was as soft as quicksand. The two struggled to break free, but to no avail.

"Emily!" Mark cried in desperation, reaching out for her hand. But as they grasped each other's hand, the pull of the floor increased, making it impossible to retain their grip on one another. As they disappeared beneath the floor, the hands were wrenched apart by the increasing distance between them.

Roger found a temporary perch on one of the park's trees, taking a moment to scan over the crowds of people wandering around the Halloween Bash. Kain. Kain was here. He was sure of it. He could always sense Kain's presence. It was one of the abilities he'd gained when he became a vampire. The question was where was he? Wherever he was, Roger needed to find him fast. Time was already running out.

Keeping his anxiety in check, Roger abandoned his current position to search from another tree. But in mid-flight, he saw it. Normal humans would not have noticed the dark aura surrounding the Haunted House that had been set up for the Halloween Bash. But for a vampire, it stood out clearly. If Kain didn't have anything to do with that, he'd burn his fender.

Roger immediately changed course and landed near the Haunted House. As he did so, he noticed two people walking in. A sinking feeling seized him as he recognized one of the people as Benny. The two of them had been at odds with each other for quite a while, but while they still weren't as close as they'd been in the past, they'd started to make peace with each other after Mark and Emily's wedding.

And if he was entering the Haunted House that Kain had taken control of in some way, Benny was definitely in serious danger. Acting fast, Roger began to follow Benny and Allison into the Haunted House, ready to come to their aid if it was needed. But he kept a safe distance from them for a while, just in case they might not run in to any problems after all.

For a time, everything was normal, and the place was simply a normal haunted house. But then, Roger heard Allison's voice.

"Hey, what's this?" she spoke, bending down and picking something up. Roger chanced a look around one of the body bags hanging from the ceiling. The moment he saw what Allison and Benny were looking at, he nearly gasped. It was the hat that went with Penny's hobo costume, along with Emily's cane! But didn't that mean….?

At that moment, all thoughts were put on hold when the walls suddenly came alive and grabbed hold of Allison and Benny. Despite their struggling and cries of alarm and fear, they couldn't break free. With moments to spare, Roger abandoned his hiding place and jetted forward, slashing through the hands which immediately shrank back into the wall, dropping Allison and Benny in the process. Even after the hands disappeared, Roger still kept himself on edge, ready to act again if the hands came back. As Roger looked around, Benny slowly got to his feet, helping Allison up as well.

"Roger?" Benny breathed. "Da-n, Roger, where'd you disappear to? Mark and Robbie came to my office saying you…" Benny instantly stopped when Roger turned to face him, allowing Benny to see his vampiric eyes and fangs. Instintivly, Benny stumbled backwards and accidentally tripped over his own feet, landing hard on his rear, and Allison covered her mouth with her hands, muffling her sudden scream.

"What happened?" Benny asked in shock once he regained the ability to speak, feeling slightly braver once he realized Roger hadn't started to attack them. Roger paused for a moment, eyeing the walls warily.

"Better head a little further in," he suggested finally. "Those hands might come back." With that, Roger led a still stunned Benny into another section of the Haunted House, with Allison following unwittingly, out of nothing but unwillingness to be left alone. They ended up choosing a corner inside a room made up to look like an eerie lit den. It was there that Roger explained everything that had happened since his fateful run-in with Kain.

"So now Kain's up to something," Roger concluded. "I don't know what, but this Haunted House is a big part of whatever he's planning."

"Okay, then how do we find out?" Benny asked. Before Roger could reply, Allison beat him to the punch.

"What if we figure out where those hands were trying to take us?" she recommended. "We'd see where everyone else was taken, too. And I'm sure there's an answer there." Roger and Benny turned to her in surprise. This had been the first time she'd spoken since the near-abduction.

"Actually, that is a good idea," Benny announced. "Roger, since you're…"

"A vampire?"

"Yes, that. Anyway, you should probably be able to find where the other people who got caught by those hands are. You are able to see the dark aura you said is around this place."

"I can try," Roger sighed, getting to his feet to concentrate on finding the victims of the Haunted House. After a few tense moments, Roger turned further into the Haunted House.

"It's a little further in," he stated. "I can smell a large number of people up there." Without another word, Roger started to lead the way.

"Roger?" Allison suddenly stopped him, an awkward expression on her face. "I… Back there, you saved my life, didn't you?"

"Yeah, so what?" Roger answered hesitantly.

"I… I just want to…. thank you. That's all." It took a moment for Roger to work past his surprise. Allison Grey, the woman whose father had caused them so much grief in the past. She actually thanked him for something.

"No problem," Roger replied finally, sending her a small smile. Nothing else was said as Roger, Benny, and Allison continued on their way. Finally, Roger stopped inside a jail scene, in front of a locked door.

"They're in here!" Roger announced, pulling on the door handle. At first, it didn't budge, but once he put all of his vampiric strength into his effort, the door creaked open. Very slowly and cautiously, the trio entered the room which immediately was filled with light. They found themselves in a gigantic stone room, where a great number of people in various costumes were bound to the wall, all of them unconscious. Each person had a translucent orb suspended above their heads. Covering the floor was some sort of magic circle that was often used in strange rituals.

"What's all of this for?" Benny wondered out loud as the three friends looked around. After examining the room for a moment, Allison made a sudden discovery.

"Look at the orbs!" she cried. "There are images inside them."

"What do you mean?" Roger and Benny came over to see what she was talking about.

"Well, look!" Allison pointed to one orb above the head of a guy dressed like a mummy. Inside the orb was the image of the same man, surrounded by a large amount of money. Another orb showed the person it hovered above as well. But in that orb, the person was surrounded by beautiful women who were hanging over him. After a moment, Roger let out a sudden gasp of realization, turning to the magic circle. Within an instant, he was crouching above the center of the circle, examining the symbol that had been drawn there.

"Wunjo," Roger announced.

"What's that?" Benny asked.

"Wunjo. It's a rune symbol, meaning joy, comfort, or pleasure. When I became a vampire, a lot of information was entered into my brain. Stuff like this was included in that information." Roger paused for a moment, looking around at the orbs hovering over the people's heads. "The orbs. They're showing us what the individual people want the most. They're the most desired dreams they have."

"The things that would give them the most joy, comfort, or pleasure!" Allison continued, filling in the pieces to the puzzle.

"Exactly!" Roger confirmed.

"But what's the point?" Benny frowned. For a bit longer, Roger continued to examine the magic circle. But he suddenly froze.

"No," Roger whispered. "Don't tell me…"

"What?!" Benny and Allison cried in unison. When Roger looked back, his face was pale in foreboding.

"This magic circle," Roger explained. "It's designed to use the joys, comforts, or pleasures of everyone bound to the walls to drain them of their life energy. Some abilities are automatically gained when you become a vampire, like sharpened senses or advanced strength. But others, you develop though other means. That's what all this is for. If Kain drains the life energy of these people, he can absorb it to make himself stronger, by gaining one of the more advanced vampire abilities. The life energy; it'll make it possible for Kain to go out in broad daylight!"