The Halloween Dance-off
Halloween was easily Maze's favorite time of the year in the mortal realm. Not only could she walk around without hiding her true form, many of the attractive humans dressed up as well. Lux was a thriving party, despite Halloween being on a Wednesday this year. Some party animals couldn't be stopped. Such as Lucifer, who was enjoying the company of a "werecat" and a "vampire". Her tribe squad was comfortable against the bar and well supplied in drinks. As she made her way over to the group, a commotion on the other end of the bar drew her attention.
"Look kid," Patrick started, visibly angry, "I don't know how you got in here, but not on my watch. Take your fake I.D. and go."
The pale young man he spoke to tried to argue his previous attendance, but Maze had heard enough.
"You heard him, kiddo." She commented as she bounced the kid into the street.
"You'll regret this! All of you!" He shouted. Maze gave a dismissing wave as she returned into the club.
At the bar, Maze made herself comfortable with a drink as she and the others turned to watch Nat's one night Halloween performance at the stroke of midnight. Her money-maker had even found a cute Japanese pop song about Halloween, just for the occasion. Maze had to admit that Nat's "Sally" costume made much more sense after A Nightmare Before Christmas was shown to her. At the end of the performance, the lights re-dimmed. Nat looked to Maze confused.
A strange, deep voice filled the room.
"A Boogie-Woogie Night indeed!
For Dancing is my noble steed!
A pox of three I bring with me!
To start, boogie-bugs will set them free!"
The air filled with lighting bugs. However, when they lit up, the bugs displayed a rainbow of neon colors rather than a soft yellow. Maze watched as many of the humans were lured into a dance. Even Ella and Linda were happily dancing along. It was Chloe's look of panicked confusion that told Maze the effects weren't completely willing. Nat made her way to Maze, fighting the urge to dance – and occasionally failing before regaining control.
"What the bloody hell?" Lucifer asked.
"Fuck if I know, but something is wrong." Nat retorted hotly, pulling herself out of another dance sequence.
"Lucifer! Help us!" Chloe shouted, as she danced with Ella and Linda.
With a run of his hand through his hair, he shouted back "Yes, yes, working on it, Detective."
"Well, at least Chloe and Nat aren't completely under whatever effect this is." Maze commented cheerfully. "In truth, it's kinda cool. Mass human control. Imagine what I could do with that..."
"The bugs." Natalie muttered before the trance over-took her and she danced her way to the crowded dance-floor.
"Whelp, spoke too soon."
"Maze, if we could focus please?" Lucifer asked calmly.
"Yeah, yeah, the bugs." Maze responded dryly. She made her way to the fire extinguisher on the wall. "Wanna see a cool trick?" She asked before pulling out the safety pin and aiming the nozzle toward the nearest crowd of neon Boogie-bugs. She squeezed the handle and laughed with maniacal glee. She was shocked to see the strange bugs unaffected once the chemical fog cleared.
"Very impressive, any other ideas?"
"It works on other bugs!" Maze yelled defensively.
The voice boomed again:
"My boogie-bugs just can't be stopped!
But if I were you, I'd start to hop!
I brought along some friends, my dude!
To really help me set the mood!"
The fog created by the fire extinguisher spread across the floor. Through the fog, and through marble floors, the decaying hands of zombies clawed their rotting bodies onto the dance floor. Lucifer scoffed that the high collared shirts and massive bell-bottom pants. The neon boogie-bugs shined off the sequins sewn into the out-dated clothing. The zombies paired up with various members of the dance-floor, turning the crowd into a 70s disco. Even the music system had been over taken!
While Lucifer watched in shocked horror, Maze could not contain her laughter. With a sharp glare, Lucifer made his way to the floor. His attempted display of physical force left the first zombie he walked up to unaffected. Lucifer did find that the longer he spent near the zombies the greater the draw to dance along became.
He made is way back to Maze. She was swaying back and forth with a large smile and a chuckle. "This is ridiculous!" He shouted. "This is my club! What kind of fool interferes with the Devil's party? On Halloween no less!"
Before Maze could grace him with another sarcastic answer, the floor rumbled as a zombie twice the size of the others entered the scene with a twirl leading into a hip thrust. A top of its decaying head was a wig of large, slicked back hair. After rising from a split, the large zombie spun to face Lucifer and Maze.
"Try as you might, you can't fight this song!
Now be a good boy and hum along!
The time of my appearance draws near!
The Lord of Liches, King Funk, is here!
Oh, and who is this little dancing dove?
Oh Yes! Become my queen, my love!"
King Funk stretched out a skeletal hand and from the crowd Natalie moon-walked close enough to grasp the hand with a dramatic flare. The faint click sounded from beside Lucifer. He looked away to see that Maze had removed her cell phone from her pocket, and was recording the scene. He could only assume from her deep chuckling that it was a plan for future blackmail. "Focus? Humans to save, Maze." He said, trying to be patient.
"Uh-huh. Few more seconds; this is gold. Do you know what Nat will do to keep this out of her roommate's hands?" Maze counter with a knowing smirk.
Lucifer swallowed and smoothed the front of his dress shirt out. "Fine, I'll handle this myself."
With a flip of his wrist, he unbuttoned and rolled up his sleeves one at a time. Confidence engulfed him like a familiar friend. The last time he had visited Earth was during the era of Disco. He even won a dancing contest. Fools never learn to avoid challenging the Devil to contests of the arts. 'This over zealous decoration will be no different.' He thought as he neared the dancing pair.
"If we're going to have a Disco showdown, then we're doing it right." Pulling a stereo remote from his pocket, he changed the song on a hunch. As he had suspected, he could still control the stereo as long as he stayed in the era of music. "You have challenged the Devil to a dancing contest in my own club. I accept and I choose Barry White."
King Funk swung Natalie out of a dip and spun her off to the side of the forming circle of viewers. The large zombie let out a crackling laugh,
"It doesn't matter who you pick.
My dancing always does the trick.
Don't you know? It's my club now, clown,
And I'll prove it to you in this showdown!"
The strange creature made its way to center of the circle, and began its opening bid. Lucifer had to admit that the zombie was good, but limited by its era. With a smirk, he entered the circle and pushed back King Funk using a fusion of disco with modern influences. After a couple songs, the zombie took a knee before Lucifer.
"Such grace and moves, I can't compare.
So I will go with all my fanfare.
I leave to you the title of King of the Disconomicon,
and the hand of my lovely queen, my man."
While the bugs and smaller zombies retreated into the fog-covered floor, Natalie danced her way to Lucifer. As her leg wrapped around his hips and her arms draped around his neck, Lucifer gave into the temptation to dip her. While he enjoyed this moment of closeness, Funk retreated into the floor with the other zombies. Once the room was cleared, the music returned to normal, the humans in the room dancing and none the wiser that something had happened.
Natalie blinked, as she looked around for the neon bugs, only to find herself in the middle of the dance-floor with the owner of the club. "Mr. Morningstar?" She whispered cautiously.
Her tone clued Lucifer in to her confusion. He righted them, and then responded to her, "Are you feeling alright, Miss. Varquez?"
"Where did the bugs go?"
"Ah. Gone now, everything seems normal. I think only a few of in attendance will have some memory of what happened."
"Thank you, I suppose."
Lucifer smiled, and they danced a little longer before returning to the bar side with the rest of their collection of associates. Maze was glued to her phone, trying to keep her maniacal chuckling to a minimum. This was grade A blackmail. For Nat, for Lucifer, Maze was going to be rich. "Well, richer." She muttered to herself. "The Disconomicon, huh? I need to find that." She save the recording, closed the phone, and started her search with a particular teen who had swore revenge.
A/n: Happy Halloween! Remember to be safe and sane, and have a spook-tacular time. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this Holiday special. If it is well received, I may expand to do other random holidays that I am fond of. If there is a holiday someone would like to see done, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message with the name of said holiday.
Stay tuned for the next normal chapter update – coming November.
Thanks and lots of love,
Mint Tea and Skulls