Devil's Night

It was that time of year again: Devil's Night, the night when all beings of the supernatural are at their most powerful.

Devil's Night always occurred on October 30th, the night before Halloween. While Callie enjoyed celebrating Halloween, she did not enjoy Devil's Night because it meant that she would be walking on egg shells that night to please the second person at the hotel who had some degree of control over her: James Patrick March.

Callie was absolutely terrified of him; not as much as she was of the Countess, but Mr. March was definitely a close second. He was cold, sadistic, merciless, and not to mention the most infamous serial killer in American history. Luckily, Callie knew she won't be needed for a few hours, providing her with some time to relax; and mentally prepare herself for the horrors to come.

Sitting on one of the couches in the lobby, sketching a vase of flowers sitting on the mantle, Callie caught the familiar scent of lavender and looked towards the hotel doors. It was Holden, and he was leading a woman into the hotel. Setting down her sketch pad and pencil, Callie immediately realized the woman was Holden's mom, his real mom.

Holden, having noticed Callie, smiled and let go of his mom's hand as he ran up to Callie and gave her a hug; happy to see a familiar face. As Callie hugged Holden back, several thoughts went through her head: "How long has Holden been gone?" "Why is his mom here?" "How much does she know about Holden's condition?" "What will the Countess think when she finds out?" "What will the Countess DO when she finds out?!"

When he was done hugging his adopted big sister, Holden walked over to the lobby staircase. With a quick glance at his mom, he ran up the stairs and out of sight. Not wanting to lose her son again, Alex quickly ascended the staircase to follow Holden. Having a pretty good idea about where Holden was leading his mom, Callie sat back down on the couch and resumed her drawing. "Whatever happens happens" she thought with a small sigh.

…

At 11:50 pm, Callie found herself standing before Room 78. Wearing a maid uniform identical to Ms. Evers, who was standing right next to her with a serving cart, Callie looked up at the number 78 on the door. "Ready dear?" Ms. Evers asked from her left. Callie simply nodded as she smoothed out her uniform before taking out a master key to unlock the door. Callie held the door open as Ms. Evers pushed the cart through the doorway. "Let's get this over with" Callie gloomily thought to herself as she followed Ms. Evers into the room. As they approached the dining area, Callie heard two voices.

"Jeffrey, you're even more quiet than usual tonight."

"I'm just hungry."

Entering the dining portion of the room, Callie and Ms. Evers were met by Mr. March. "Ah, Ms. Evers, always a delight" Mr. March greeted as Ms. Evers gave a respected bow. "I will say this, he has charisma" Callie thought to herself.

James March then turned his gaze onto the young vampire and gave a small, haunting smile. "And Miss Callie, pleasure to see you again so soon." Callie gave a low bow in response. "Good evening Mr. March" she said quietly, and then walked over to the serving cart to pick up one of the eight bowls of salad. "Ladies first?" Ms. Evers asked while holding another salad bowl. "Please" Mr. March responded as he turned to sit down in his chair at the dining room table.

As Ms. Evers served Aileen Woorners her salad, Callie went over and placed the salad bowl she was holding in front of Jeffrey Dahmer. Jeffrey stared at the salad in disgust and then glared at Callie as she retreated back to the serving cart.

"I don't eat salad" he spoke as he harshly pushed the salad away. "Yeah Callie-Cat, you should know by now that Jeffy only eats dark meat" Aileen laughed as the other serial killers joined in. Not wanting the world's most infamous serial killers to see that they got to her, Callie turned her back to them as she grabbed two more salad bowls from the cart.

As she passed by the dining table, she glanced at John Lowe, who had been drugged and handcuffed to one of the dining room chairs prior to her arrival. "I'm sorry about all this, I really am" she whispered to him as she served John Wayne Gacy and the Zodiac their salad.

At that time, Richard Ramirez and Aileen got up from the table and began to dance to music coming from a record player. It was then that Mr. March decided to speak. "Ms. Evers, bring out the 'amused bosh' now would you." Jeffrey's eyes immediately brightened as Ms. Evers and John Gacy lead a dizzy, barely-clothed and confused-looking young man over to him while Mr. March, Aileen and Richard cheered.

"You see Jeffrey" Mr. March spoke as he approached the cannibal with a pat on the shoulder. "Don't I always take care of you. Don't I" he said as he affectionately ruffled the younger man's hair with a chuckle. Jeffery smiled up at his mentor in gratitude before fixing his hair and focusing all of his attention on the young man seated next to him.

Knowing what was going to happen next and knowing that she couldn't do anything to stop it, Callie quickly came up with a believable excuse to leave the room. Moving to stand next to Mr. March she spoke in her usual quiet voice, "Excuse me Mr. March." "Hmmm?" Mr. March replied absentmindedly as he continued to watch Jeffrey. "I'm afraid I am needed by the Countess this evening as well." Mr. March glanced up at Callie at the mention of his wife. "I see…very well, you may go." "Thank you Mr. March", Callie gave a quick bow and hurriedly walked past a still dancing Richard and Aileen and out of the room.

Closing the door to Room 78, Callie leaned against it and let out a sigh of relief, glad to finally be away from the group of murderous ghosts.