Halloween Dragon Read online

  Part of him knew she had a point. There was nothing he could do about Ted and Dorothy selling the farm, and there was nothing he could about who they’d sold it to.

  He wished he could share her optimism and her ability to focus on what they could still do, but whenever he thought about making this the best weekend of Halloween Fest ever, he kept thinking that it’d be the last ever and that it was all pointless.

  “I’ll be fine tonight. I just—I need some time to deal with this.”

  She put a hand on his arm. “I know. I get it. We’ll have fun tonight in the graveyard. We’ll scare everyone who comes through.”

  He managed a smile at that. “Even the jaded guys who pretend they’re not impressed.”

  “And the guys who dragged their girlfriend in with them and keep trying to scare her.”

  He knew exactly how much those guys annoyed Stacy. “I’ll leave those idiots entirely up to you! Thanks. For coming after me and, you know….” He trailed off, shrugging.

  “It’s gonna be a weird weekend,” she admitted. “But I’m glad they told us now.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  He just hoped that by tonight his bitter resentment had faded. He knew himself well enough to know it was exactly the kind of thing he’d keep stewing over. He’d never been good at shrugging off a set-back or counting to ten and taking a step back. He was much better at walking off in a huff to sulk somewhere.

  Well, at least tonight he’d have the best distraction he could ask for, and maybe he’d channel some of his anger and resentment into being a scary zombie.

  2

  Parker

  Parker Blackburn would never say it, but the dinners he had with his two friends every other Thursday were what kept him going during particularly hectic weeks. As a dragon shifter, he was far too proud to admit that he couldn’t do everything by himself and that sometimes he needed help or advice or just people to vent to who’d understand.

  Thomas and Mitchell were the only two people in Lewiston who could understand, since they were also dragon shifters and, more importantly, Keepers of the Peace for their own districts in the city.

  Living in a city where all kinds of shifters could live their lives amongst humans was wonderful. Parker would never trade it for one of those small, shifter-only towns; not even the ones that were remote enough that even a dragon could spread his wings and fly without worrying about being seen by someone who shouldn’t.

  But having a lot different types of shifters live in the same area came with its own set of challenges, especially since there were so many new shifters coming to Lewiston every year. A seagull shifter had different needs than a wolf shifter, but both their needs were important, and it wasn’t like the seagull shifters always agreed amongst themselves.

  As Keeper of the Peace, Parker was in charge of making sure things ran smoothly for shifters in his district, and some weeks that was more difficult than others. Fortunately, he didn’t have to do it all by himself. Each district also had a shifter council, which in his case consisted of six shifters who’d been elected to deal with a lot of the day-to-day business. His job as Keeper was to handle things the council couldn’t or wasn’t able to deal with by themselves.

  Which in reality meant he still dealt with most of the day-to-day business anyway, but at least there were six people who helped him with that.

  Right now, his main issue was with shifters visiting the community center and only using it for shifting. Parker understood that for plenty of shifters, himself included, it was impossible to shift and go running around the city or even the fields and woods surrounding it.

  But now he was dealing with complaints from shifters who just wanted to have some peace and quiet for their book club, and complaints from shifters who couldn’t get into the community center anymore because it was too crowded. Parker knew it was only a matter of time before the humans in the area realized something was going on.

  “Why don’t you just talk to them about it?” Thomas suggested. “I’m sure everyone will understand once you explain.”

  He should’ve known Thomas would suggest talking to everyone involved, since the younger man thought that good contact with the shifters living in his district was the most important part of his job as Keeper. He actually visited every new shifter who moved into his district, which Parker thought was ridiculous. If a shifter needed help, they knew where to find him.

  Of course, Thomas’ welcoming attitude did have one big upside.

  “I’m surprised you haven’t called a meeting over it,” Joel added.

  Joel was Thomas’ boyfriend and fated mate. They’d met at a big welcoming event Thomas had organized for new shifters in his district, so they could all get to know each other, their council, and their Keeper better. The event had been a success, and not just because Thomas had met Joel there, who’d been an employee at the coffee shop who had done the catering.

  While Joel was a human, he’d grown up amongst shifters, and wasn’t afraid or shy about sharing his opinion about shifter matters. Parker liked that about him. He didn’t always agree with Joel, but hearing a different opinion never hurt.

  “It’s in the community center, right? Then it’s the manager’s job to field the complaints,” Mitchell told him. “And if he needs your help, he’ll ask and you can deal with it together.”

  Parker sighed. Of course Mitchell’s advice boiled down to delegating, stepping in when asked, and working together. Which meant Parker was supposed to wait until everything had gone wrong and then come in to fix things. No, thank you. His way, where he made sure to stay on top of things and handled as much as possible himself, was more efficient because it meant fewer things went wrong and needed fixing in the first place.

  They all had different ways of running their districts, but Parker and Mitchell’s style were the most opposite from one another. It had taken them some time to figure out how to work with each other instead of constantly arguing. Their way of handling Keeper of the Peace matters wasn’t the only thing where they were opposites. Parker preferred to wear suits and dress more formally, since he had a reputation to maintain. How were shifters supposed to take him seriously if he didn’t take himself seriously? Mitchell, meanwhile, felt that looking approachable and feeling comfortable was important, so he usually wore faded jeans, t-shirts and casual sweaters.

  Parker had regular appointments with his barber to make sure his hair stayed neat and short, just how he liked it. Mitchell could go months without a haircut, letting his black, wavy hair grow longer until suddenly he’d turn up at one of their get-togethers with a short cut, and Parker always laughed at Mitchell looking surprised as he ran his own hand through it. Right now, his hair was getting longer again.

  No, Parker definitely didn’t share Mitchell’s more easy-going approach, but as Mitchell often liked to remind them, if the three of them always had the same ideas and approaches to everything, it would be pretty damn boring.

  “The manager is busy enough as it is,” Parker replied. “Besides, the shifters came to me with their complaints, so I’ll deal with them. I’ll just make a schedule for people who want to shift there. People can sign up and I’ll assign them slots. If they’re too noisy or conspicuous, they’ll lose their slots.” That way, he could make sure there weren’t too many shifters there at the same time and that everyone who needed to could have a turn.

  “That sounds like it could work,” Mitchell agreed. “But why don’t you ask one of your council members to make the schedule?”

  Parker shook his head. “They’ve got enough work to do. Besides, then I’d have to fix their version of the schedule. It’s easier if I just make it myself.”

  Mitchell and Thomas shared a look. They didn’t need to say it, but Parker knew what they thought. They’d both told him that he did too much himself and that he should let his council and community center manager do more. What was the point of having people around if you didn’t delegate?

  Maybe it was
because Parker had been Keeper of the Peace the longest of the three of them, but in his experience, it was simply faster to do the important things himself. Shifters were members of the council for three years, after which they’d have to be re-elected, and instructing them took a lot of time that Parker could spend better elsewhere.

  “Besides, if I make the schedule, people will actually stick to it,” he added.

  Thomas nodded at that, and talked about a couple of petty complaints shifters in his district had raised and how much effort Thomas had to put into something that could’ve been resolved by the two shifters sitting down and talking to each other for five minutes. “I think some people just like to make their lives as difficult as possible,” he grumbled.

  “Some of them definitely like to make our lives as difficult as possible,” Parker replied.

  Mitchell raised his glass of wine at that. “True, but we also wouldn’t have a job without them.”

  “Optimist.” Parker clinked his own glass against Mitchell’s.

  “And without my job, I wouldn’t have met you.” Thomas gave Joel a fond look, reaching out to take his hand.

  Parker exchanged a glance with Mitchell while Thomas and Joel looked at each other like they’d completely forgotten Parker and Mitchell were there, which was probably true.

  Mitchell gave him a shrug and started eating, and Parker decided to dig in as well.

  He’d known things would change now that Thomas had found his fated mate. He and Mitchell should be happy Thomas had asked to bring Joel along every now and then, rather than cancel on them in order to spend as much time as possible with his true mate. Parker had always heard about how intense that bond could be, but seeing a close friend actually go through it was something else. He liked seeing Thomas and Joel so happy, but he couldn’t imagine what it was like to randomly meet someone and have that person suddenly be the most important thing in your life.

  Dating wasn’t easy if you were Keeper of the Peace. The work kept him busy, but it was also awkward to date other shifters. His position meant that if he were dating a wolf shifter, everyone would assume he was favoring wolf shifters, and that if he were dating a seal shifter, he would favor the seals.

  Joel being human had solved all that for Thomas. No one could accuse him of playing favorites.

  Parker figured he’d look into dating once he passed on the title of Keeper of the Peace to someone else. He was perfectly happy on his own. He could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

  Which mostly just happened to be work.

  “So, dinner at mine in two weeks?” Parker sat back in his chair after he’d finished his slice of apple pie and scoop of vanilla ice cream. He’d long given up trying to beat Mitchell when it came to cooking or baking. Recipes looked so easy to follow, but somehow Mitchell could make the same thing Parker did, and Mitchell’s would taste far better.

  Mitchell nodded, Thomas was still eating, and Joel grabbed his phone. “That reminds me, how about we go to Halloween Fest this weekend?”

  Parker frowned, and he was glad to see Thomas and Mitchell look confused as well. “What’s Halloween Fest?”

  Now it was Joel’s turn to look surprised. “You’ve never heard of it? It’s been running for years. It’s a—well, it’s in the name, isn’t it? It’s on an old farmhouse outside the city, and for three or four weekends in October there’s Halloween-related festivities each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In the early evening there’s face-painting and ghost stories for kids, and some of the people from the local amateur drama society dress up as scary monsters, and in the evening there’s a bonfire with more ghost stories, and a haunted house with live actors. Well, more of a haunted barn, really. There’s stalls with food and drinks, and plenty of Halloween candy, of course.”

  “Sounds like a human thing.” Parker knew all about Halloween, and there were plenty of shifters who went trick-or-treating with their kids, but he’d never participated in any kind of Halloween celebration before, and he wasn’t planning on starting now.

  “Well, the Lewiston Amateur Drama Society is human-run, yeah. I just thought it might be a fun evening out.”

  “It does sound fun,” Thomas agreed, to no one’s surprise.

  “And people spend an entire evening there?” Mitchell asked.

  “Some of them do, some of them just go through the haunted barn and leave. You can stay as long as you like. There’s no entrance fee, except you have to buy tickets for the haunted maze in the barn, and obviously you have to pay for the food and the drinks. It really is a lot of fun, and if you guys don’t want to come along, I’ll just go with Thomas.”

  Parker shook his head. “I can’t just go out an entire evening. What if there’s an emergency? My schedule is pretty busy too.”

  “You’re here now, aren’t you?” Mitchell gestured at the dinner table. “If you can make time to have dinner with friends, you can make time for this. It’s not like we have to stay at the Fest all night, right?”

  “Right!” Joel looked relieved Mitchell seemed to be on his side, making it three against one. “We just walk around, and if you don’t like it, you can go home.”

  He still didn’t really understand what a haunted maze was, apart from it being a maze where humans tried to scare other humans. “I guess if I don’t have to stay long, I can come with you.”

  “You wouldn’t be this busy if you’d let your council do more by themselves, you know.” Mitchell got up to clear away the dirty plates.

  “You haven’t met my council!” He wasn’t surprised Mitchell had brought that up.

  “Yes, we have, several times. They seem perfectly nice.”

  Parker raised his glass of wine to that. “Ah, they are nice, I’ll give you that. But I’d rather have competent.”

  “Everyone’s agreed on going tomorrow, then?” Joel asked. “This weekend is the last one.”

  Parker nodded. “Tomorrow’s fine. Like you said, if I don’t like it, I can leave whenever I want.”

  And if that happened to be after five minutes, well, Parker had always been quick at making up his mind.

  “I’m just warning you now,” Parker told Mitchell as he parked alongside the dirt road behind a row of other cars, “I will leave if and when I want to, and you can drive home with Thomas and Joel.”

  “Relax. It’s not like we’ll be here for hours.” Mitchell got out of the car, and Parker followed him. “Let’s have a look around, it’ll be fun. Besides, if anyone can use a night away from shifter matters, it’s you.”

  Parker snorted. “You should be more careful.” Mitchell had a point that it was nice to have an evening ahead of him that had nothing to do with shifters, but it did mean they’d have to watch their every word.

  They walked up the road towards the farmhouse, and whoever had done the decorating had gone all out. There were strings of lights between the trees and in the branches themselves to light the way, and carved pumpkins alongside the road with more lights in them. He heard music drifting over, and people talking and laughing. Parker didn’t smell any shifters, but there were so many different scents from the food and the field around the farmhouse that it was hard to be certain.

  “I know. I’m not wrong, though, am I? You’ve been looking pretty tense lately.”

  “I’ve just been busy. And don’t tell me to try yoga or meditation, I already told you it’s not my thing.” If Mitchell wanted to bend himself into a pretzel shape, that was his business. Parker had better things to do.

  Mitchell smiled. “Yes, you have. Repeatedly. But c’mon, don’t tell me you aren’t enjoying the fresh air.”

  “It is a nice evening for being out. Dry, not too chilly.”

  The farmhouse itself wasn’t decorated as much, and the curtains were drawn with the lights were out. That made sense. Whoever lived here was probably outside and enjoying the Fest.

  They reached two trees that had a banner with HALLOWEEN FEST strung up between them, and Parker messaged Thomas to le
t him know he and Mitchell were already there.

  Mitchell inspected some of the jack-o-lanterns, and Parker glanced at the field behind the farmhouse. There were two barns, and the smaller one was where the music, laughter, and the food smells were drifting over from. In between the two barns was a bonfire, with people sitting around while one person in a cape gestured dramatically with their arms. The bigger barn had two tall, burly men standing at the main entrance, and with his shifter-enhanced night vision, Parker could see there was a banner over that entrance proclaiming it the Maze of Terror.

  He had to admit he was curious about the maze. From what Joel had explained, there would be different rooms and hallways where actors would try to scare anyone who went in, and Parker didn’t really understand why anyone would enjoy being scared, or scaring others. Joel had said it was something that had to be experienced in order to understand, and Parker was willing to try.

  Thomas and Joel arrived a few minutes later. Joel was grinning as he led them further onto the terrain. “Let’s just do the Maze of Terror first so Parker can go home and get back to work!”

  “Great idea,” Parker replied, even as Mitchell shook his head.

  “We’re here for a fun evening out, Parker. You should at least give it a shot.”

  “Joel said the Maze of Terror was the best part of the entire Fest,” Parker argued. “I am giving it a shot.”

  “Let’s just pay and go in.” Thomas walked over the entrance to the bigger barn.

  Once they’d paid the men at the entrance, who both had wounds on their faces covered in fake blood, they went inside. There was a line, and Parker could see that the Maze of Terror had been built inside the barn. The outside of the Maze looked to be made from plywood, and Parker could see lighting rigs in the roof of the barn. They were also playing music in here, but it was ominous, classical music interspersed with screams rather than the friendly acoustic guitars from outside.