Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Halloween Surprise Party




“Are you sure Jazz said there was a party here?” Fluff looked through the tall iron gates at a house that should have fallen down in the 1800s. Spires rose high, partially blocking the moon.

“Yeah.” Puff stood beside him. “This is the address she gave me.”

“What do you expect for a Samhain party?” Horace grumbled, stabbing a button. The gates creaked and groaned as they slowly opened wide.

“Lights.”

“Music.”

“Candy,” they said in unison.

The trio walked up the drive toward the front door. They paused when a candle drifted past an upstairs window.

“Geez, she’s trying to scare us with a haunted house,” Puff said, now disgusted. “Come on, like anything could scare us. Whoa!” He ducked with a dark form swooped past his head, brushing his ears. “What the Hades was that?”

“Bats. I hate bats.” Horace raised a clawed fist in the air. “Outta here, you vermin! We were invited here.”

“So were we,” one bat responded in a squeaky snark. “We’re part of the atmosphere.” He flew off with his buddies. They all flew into a single digit formation.

“Your grandmother was eaten by Dracul!” Puff shouted, as they continued up the drive.

An owl hooted from a spindly tree and another owl flew nearby.

An eerie howl sounded from the house along with creaking doors opening and closing and a piercing woman’s scream cut through the air.

“Whoa.” Fluff skidded to a stop. “That was really loud.” He slid backwards a few paces. “How come there’s no cars here? Or party voices? And why didn’t Jazz take us with her and Nick?”

“Stasi and Blair wouldn’t let me go with them either,” Horace groused. He ambled up the wooden steps that groaned under his weight.

“They couldn’t have found a better place for a party,” Puff commented, looking at the porch, the splintered wood silvered with cobwebs,

Horace tried the lion-faced door knocker, but no sound was made. “Freaky.” He looked around and finally spied the doorbell button. He stabbed it then winced as another scream erupted throughout the interior. The door slowly slid open with a fingernails on chalkboard screech. “How lame is this.” He walked in with the bunny slippers behind him.

“Where’s the party?” Puff shouted. “And lights?”

“If there be light, let it be shown,” Fluff spelled. “Give us light!”

A lone candle beamed in the distance, floating mid air.

“Oookay.” The three started to turn toward the door that now slammed shut and sounds of locks snicking shut echoed in the air.

“There’s no party here. They sent us to a haunted house.” Horace bypassed the staircase and headed for the candle.

“No hauntings here.” A skeleton stood in a doorway. He grinned maniacally then suddenly disappeared.

“Ho ho, so not creepy,” Fluff sneered, his ears swiveling like a periscope. “We’ve been frightened by the best. There’s nothing you can do that will scare us.”

“Yeah, bring out your worst!” Puff challenged.

“There better be some hot babes at the end of this,” Horace demanded, leading the way down the long hallway where the suspended candle still beckoned with a soft orange glow. “Or at least really good food.”

Wooooo! A blast of icy air assaulted the trio from an open doorway. When they stopped to look they saw two women in shrouds floating in the room. Each only boasted half a face.

“Oh wow, I am so scared. I want my mommy,” Horace scoffed.

“Yikes!” Puff jumped in the air. “Something just touched me.” He looked around but there was nothing near him.

Fluff huddled closer to his brother. “I don’t think this is a good place for us. Let’s go home and raid the neighbors for candy.”

They froze when heavy footsteps sounded upstairs.

“That’s it. They’re up there.” Horace gestured for the bunny slippers to follow him just as the hovering candle winked out.

“Oh ick!” The first step slowed them down as something ooey and gooey attacked them. It grew more difficult as they climbed upward.

As they slogged up the last step a tall figure appeared.

“Welcome my pretties.” Jazz, wearing a black dress and peaked hat held out an old fashioned broom.

“Clichéd much, Jazz?” Puff laughed. “You really thought all that stuff would scare us?”

“Come with me,” she invited, turning gracefully, her voluminous dress sweeping around her body.

“I see our honored guests have arrived.” Nick, handsome in evening clothes and red silk-lined cape popped into sight. His fangs shoe white in the darkness.

“Gee, if only we’d known it was a costume party.” Horace laughed, holding his arms over his rounded tummy.

“Hey!” Fluff snarled and snapped his own fangy teeth at a rat that ran across him.

They followed the witch and vampire down the hall, pausing every so often to view portraits turn from normal people to horrific faces, sneer at blood running down the walls, and hands shoot out to grab them.

“The haunted house in Hollywood was better than this,” Puff told Jazz.

“Ah, but this one has something very special for you,” she intoned in a deep voice.

“Something you may not appreciate,” Nick used his best Bela Lugosi voice.

The room they reached was huge, yellow from candlelight and a fire burning in the massive fireplace. Stasi and Blair were dressed in their own witchy garb, while Trev wore dark purple wizard robes and Jake wore his Border collie fur.

A large table laden with food beckoned the hungry slippers and gargoyle, but they quickly discovered they couldn’t get to it.

“What the hell is going on?” Horace demanded.

“Yeah!”

“There is something that needs to be done first.” Jazz snapped her fingers. A large bubbling cauldron appeared nearby. Steam roiled upwards along with the rich smell of herbs.

Horace sniffed appreciatively. “Stew?”

Fluff and Puff backed up when they saw Jazz’s smile. Except there was no where to go when they found themselves surrounded by witches, vampires, wizards, and Weres, oh my!

“Something you three have needed for some time now,” Blair said, caressing the coarse bristles of her broom.

“And once it’s done you can eat all your tummies will hold,” Stasi promised.

“What’s done?” Fluff asked suspiciously.

“It’s a trap!” Puff shouted, but it was too late.  “Get us out. Get us out! Get us out!” He pointed his ears in the air, but his magick fizzled out like a dead 4th of July sparkler.

The three cowered and howled with displeasure as the witches each picked one of them up and carried them to the large cauldron.

“Exactly,” Jazz said, dropping Puff into the hot water.

WAH!” But it was too late.

Fluff, Puff, and Horace were now terrified as they’d never been fearful before.

After all, what can be more horrifying than a Halloween bath for smelly dirty slippers and gargoyle?




Wednesday, October 23, 2013

It's The Great Pumpkin, Fluff and Puff!


"We have to find just the right pumpkin," Fluff insisted to his partner in bunny slipper crime.

The slippers had silently moved through the house, heading for the front door that opened as if by magick. They immediately slid down the walkway to the sidewalk. Since it was heading toward midnight, the only ones out were those who preferred darkness for their deeds. Fear wasn't in the slippers' vocabulary, so they moved along without any worries.

"I know we can find it at the pumpkin patch by the boardwalk," Puff replied, heading left." But it's this way!" Fluff shifted right.

Since the slippers didn't have feet they had to do their own version of Rock, Paper, Scissors and Puff won.

Magick gave them the stealth and speed to head down the street and over to the avenue that boasted shops appealing to tourists and the entrance to the ever-famous boardwalk with its midway and rides. Fluff and Puff managed to avoid the Weres' sharp eyes, since the slippers weren't all that popular there. Fall in the cotton candy vat JUST ONCE and sheesh! No one there has a sense of humor. Their destination was at the end of the street where an empty field still boasted a large selection of pumpkins to be fashioned into jack-o-lanterns and the contents turned into tasty pies.

The slippers easily passed by the barriers and wandered the small field.

"Here's one," Fluff announced heading toward one end.

Puff shook his head. "We need a special one in just the right shape for our purposes. We need a haunted pumpkin," he reminded his best bud. "You look over there and I'll look over here." One by one, the slippers carefully inspected each pumpkin, searching for just the right one.

Until…

"I found it!" Fluff's squeak of excitement carried in the air. Puff scooted to the spot where just Fluff faced a pumpkin that wasn't too big or too small or too round or too oval. It was just the right shape. Just the right color and a faint glow emanated from the squash fruit." Yes!" The slippers performed their own version of a high-five and each took one side, racing around the pumpkin, setting up their own magickal net to get the pumpkin back to the house. Once the net was in place, they uttered the spell needed and left the pumpkin patch with their prize sliding along behind them.

Just as when they left the house, the front door silently opened for them and allowed them to enter. They wasted no time going back to the kitchen and spelling the pumpkin onto the table. After they scooted up the chairs to the table, they stared at their find with broad grins on their faces, their razor-sharp teeth gleaming in the darkness.

"This will be the best jack-o-lantern yet," Fluff pronounced.

"And a big surprise for Jazz," Puff agreed.

For the next hour, the kitchen's interior lit up with orange, purple and green lights as the slippers performed their own special magick. Once they finished, they made their way up to the bedroom and returned to their cozy space on Jazz's bed. They may be slippers, but no way they were sleeping on the floor!

The slippers were sound asleep when Jazz headed downstairs in search of her first cup of coffee for the day, but they REALLY woke up when they heard Krebs' greeting her.

"Is this pumpkin your doing?" Krebs could be heard asking and there was more horror in his voice than admiration.

"No," her sleepy voice replied. "And talk about incredible work. The carved face looks just like Hugh Jackman. It's so lifelike that…Wait a minute…is that…Fluff! Puff! What have you done?!"

And a merry Hallows Eve to you all.


If you want to check out how Fluff and Puff met Jazz, read about them in the fun anthology, Magical Mayhem!

http://www.amazon.com/Magical-Mayhem-ebook/dp/B009IWM996/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382563079&sr=8-1&keywords=magical+mayhem