Chapter 1

"Who are you?" Tinkerbell wondered, tapping me on the shoulder with her small, green wand.

"Robert Redford." I raised my voice with the music. "Do you live here?"

"You don't look like Robert Redford," she decided, taking in my ordinary trousers, loosened tie, and rolled up sleeves.

"That's because it's a Halloween party," I half-shouted. "I'm wearing my guy-next-door costume."

"Oh!" She nodded eagerly. "It's a good one!"

"Thanks," I said, leaning closer. "Who lives here?"

"I don't know," she replied. "You wanna dance?"

"Maybe later."

My nose itched beneath a cloud of bitter smoke. Cloves, pot, maybe something burning on the stove? The music made me wince. I didn't particularly care for crowds and I didn't know my neighbors. I'd never borrowed a cup of sugar or gotten their morning paper by mistake. They were strangers with a stereo, that's all I knew, and I had to work in the morning.

"You need an orgasm!" Frankenstein's monster shoved a plastic cup into my hand. Something pink with a pale froth sloshed around, spilling over my fingers.

"Do you live here?" I asked him.

"You like my bolts?" He pointed at his neck. "Super glue. They're never coming off."

"Good for you."

"Yeah. I like your costume, too," he said. "You almost had me fooled."

"How's that?" I narrowed my eyes.

"You're pretending to be straight, right?" He chuckled. "You want to get out of here? We could go someplace more private and..."

"No, that's okay," I said, handing him the cup. "Excuse me."

I had to admit that a gay Frankenstein did frighten me a little, but that's the price one pays for living in Manhattan, I suppose. Halloween. I hated the word. It brought back too many bad memories. Well, it only brought back one, to be honest, but so far as bad memories go...

"Hey!" a vampire interrupted my flashback before it even got started. There were a number of those around and she was by far the best, in my opinion.

"Hey there." I returned her smile. "Do you ... mmmph!"

She kissed me full on the mouth.

"Sorry. I had to do it," she said with an apologetic shrug. Her eyes rolled upward and I followed them.

"Mistletoe?" I asked, seeing a leafy twig dangling by a string.

"Hemlock!" She laughed lightly, showing off her fangs. "It's Halloween! I'm Shelly. Great costume."

"I'm Robert, um ... You like it?"

"Serial killer, right?" Shelly smoothed my tie. "They always look so normal."

"Right," I agreed, chuckling. "Do you live here?"

"Uh-uh." She shook her head. "I came with some friends."

"Okay."

"They dared me to introduce myself," she said. "See? That's Jen and Heather, the blonde girls, and Amy."

"Sure." I kept smiling because she did make a very attractive vampire. I rather admired the swell of her breasts as they threatened to break free of her leather corset.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Excuse me? Uh ... No." I narrowed my eyes. "Why?"

"Amy was curious about it." Shelly glanced at her three friends.

We both turned our heads, and she grinned at the looks on their faces as they realized we were talking about them. They looked like high school girls to me, probably because they'd dressed up like Disney princesses. Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty, I thought, but I couldn't be sure.

"Which one's Amy?"

"The black haired girl," Shelly replied. "She's pretty, huh?"

"Yeah," I agreed. "Not too scary, though."

"What about me?" She arched her eyebrows, inviting my open appreciation as she posed briefly. "Hey, um..."

I bent my head as she leaned close enough to whisper above the steady rumble of the music. I found my face in her raven hair, soft and smelling of something bitter-sweet, like over-ripe fruit.

"How big is your dick?" she asked.

I jerked my head back, staring into Shelly's exotic eyes. They were crystal clear and gray, almost white, with tiny black pupils floating in the center. They must have been contacts, obviously, and Shelly had gone all out with her costume, unlike me. She had a pert nose, high cheeks, and wore a lot of makeup, expertly applied, and the girl must have known how attractive she looked. I mean, she wasn't shy at all.

"Okay, you're getting scary now," I said, but she didn't seem to hear me.

"Heather wants to know," she explained, turning her eyes downward for a second. She might have been blushing, but I couldn't tell.

"She does?"

"Uh-huh." Shelly smiled and put her lips close to my ear, again. "She says you play with it every morning."

"What? No! I don't, uh ... I never..." I looked at her friends. Two of them meant nothing to me, but the one on the left, sipping a wine cooler, she seemed vaguely familiar.

"Never?" Shelly asked in a chiding tone, and then spoiled it with a giggle.

"The girl on the left?" I nodded towards Cinderella. "That's Heather?

"From the bus," she reminded me. "So ... How big is it?"

"Yeah." I glanced around the room before turning my head, breathing the words into Shelly's hair. "I don't know, maybe ... Seven?"

"Really?"

"I never measured it," I told her, and then straightened, looking anywhere else and wishing I hadn't given that drink back. My hands were lonely all of a sudden.

"Okay." Shelly nodded. "It's a dumb question anyway, right?"

"Well..." I cleared my throat, thinking this would be a good time to go back home. I didn't know what sort of game this might be and I wasn't very comfortable with it. Why had I answered her question in the first place?

"I don't blame you."

"Blame me for what?"

"For playing with your dick," she said, sweeping her loose hair back with a casual left hand.

She wore no wedding ring, nothing to suggest she might have a boyfriend, and I had to believe that's what she wanted to tell me. The gesture seemed calculated that way, much like her eyes and breasts, the tilt of her hips as I followed her fingers down the leather and across her briefly exposed tummy. Shelly wore a black skirt, an old one by the look of it, made of linen beneath a shadow of lace. Stockings and heels, open toes painted blood red like her fingernails, like her lips. A Goth goddess teasing mortal me.

"How old are you?" I asked, hoping she would be flattered, rather than amused.

"Old enough," she replied with a playful shrug. "Can I have your phone number?"

"What?"

"Your phone number."

"Why?" I asked, probably looking even more surprised than I sounded.

"Oh, I don't know," she confessed. "It's, um ... like a college thing. I just have to collect a bunch of phone numbers from guys."

"You're in a sorority or something?"

"Yeah. Like that," she agreed. "I'm not gonna call you or anything. I mean, you don't want strange girls calling you, right?"

"I guess not, um..." I tried not to show her the disappointment I felt.

I'd never been asked for my number by a pretty college coed before, not even when I'd been in college. Shelly looked gorgeous, too, even as she smiled through a mask of regret for treating me so unfairly. At least, I hoped she felt some regret, because it meant she might actually decide to call, if only to apologize. Did I really want sympathy?

"How about my office number?" I reached for my wallet. "I can give you my business card."

A moment later, after an awkward silence, that seemed like the single stupidest thing I'd ever done in my life. Giving Shelly a business card? And I wondered why my neighbors hadn't bothered to invite me to their Halloween party. Right! I blamed a girl named Marilee for that, just like I blamed her for everything else that was wrong with my life.

"Where are you going?"

I looked up from my keys, turning my head to the right as Shelly pulled the neighbor's door shut behind her.

"You snuck out. Don't you like Halloween?"

"I'm glad it only comes around once a year," I replied. "How about that?"

She laughed, slowly walking towards me like a little girl. Heel to toe, turning her hips as she dragged her fingernails along the wall.

"Are you stalking me?" I asked, smiling back at her.

"I'm a vampire, remember?" She shrugged. "It's what I do."

"You're a good one," I assured her, wondering what she looked like the rest of the time. Would I recognize her if we passed on the street?

I turned the key and snapped the deadbolt open, but that's all I did. Mostly, I enjoyed the way her eyes reflected the faux gas lamps lighting the hallway. They gave her steady gaze a warmth that that she otherwise lacked, and her complexion, as well. Shelly wasn't the first girl I'd ever found myself attracted to, and I'd known a few who were interested in me, but this was the first time since Marilee that I'd felt a desire to do something about it.

"Do you want to invite me in?" she asked, paused a scant few feet away and licking her lips.

"What about your friends?"

"I barely know them," she said, which I didn't really believe. "Please?"

"Alright." I cleared my throat and opened the door.

"You have to invite me, though."

"Okay." I smiled self-consciously. "Shelly, uh ... Would you like to come in?"

"Thank you." She returned my smile, slipping past me and turning as I followed.

I'd barely closed the door behind us when she pushed my shoulders against it, pressing her body to mine as we kissed. A split second of confusion gave way to something else entirely as I opened for Shelly's delicate tongue. My hands found her hips, my thumbs caressing bare skin above her skirt, and she felt cool and dry, and soft as silk.

We were close to the same height and she tilted her head with a deep throated purr, sealing her moist lips around mine. Shelly explored my mouth as I felt my trapped erection straining beneath the pressure. She'd pushed against me with her pelvis and my hands slid naturally around the girl to find her firm ass through the lace and linen. She seemed a perfect fit as I spread my fingers, squeezing and pulling her even closer.

The leather of her corset moved against my chest, stiff and softly creaking as her slender shoulders would twist and turn with our kiss. Shelly made love to my mouth with every part of her, it seemed, and held me trapped against the door. Her tongue slipped over and around my own, teasing and tickling me. When she retreated, I followed eagerly, chasing her tongue from my mouth into hers. I discovered her moist and surprisingly cool inside, and tasting much like she smelled. The rusty, bitter-sweet flavor couldn't distract me, however, not at all. If anything, it only enhanced the experience, like a pleasant surprise for my overwhelmed senses.

I drew a ragged breath through my nose, exhaling into her lungs as I played my tongue around her theatrical fangs. They surprised me as well, since I'd forgotten all about them, and they felt almost real. Sharp, too, as Shelly's tongue wriggled beneath mine, pushing upwards as if inviting me to prick myself on those twin needles. I felt no pain, but her mouth seemed to blossom with warmth and passion. We were sharing a kiss unlike anything I'd ever known before and neither of us were in a hurry to break it.

At moment later, when I began to work Shelly's skirt upward, pawing through the layers, she didn't stop me. She closed her lips around my tongue, nursing gently as I kept it stiffly extended. She moved her head as if sucking a cock, moaning and swallowing the saliva filling her mouth. I'd reached the hem of her skirt and her bare skin underneath. I ran my hands across her ass, smooth and perfectly formed to my blind exploration. I slipped my fingers between her round cheeks and found nothing but naked Shelly. She wore no panties, not even a thong, and my middle finger teased the buttery ring of her anus.

Still, she didn't stop me, not until I bent my knees, trying to extend my reach and bring my fingertips to her vulnerable sex. My cock ached and I had the urge to reach between us and free my erection. I could fuck her right there in the foyer, lift Shelly in my arms and turn, pinning her against the wall as I thrust inside her. That was my plan, the only desperate one I had, leaving no room for anything but lust. I didn't care that we'd just met, that I knew nothing about her and didn't even have a condom. I only knew I wanted her.

"Wait," she breathed, releasing my tongue and panting the words across my flushed face. "Where's your bedroom?"

"That way," I replied, picking her up the way I'd imagined, and for the same, but less immediate reason.

"You taste good," she sighed, kissing my face with her legs wrapped around my thighs. She clung to my neck and I cradled her ass, walking her through my apartment.

I put her on my bed, fumbling for the bedside lamp, but Shelly stopped me. Her fingers worked to open my trousers and loosen my belt by the midtown lights beyond my windows. I straddled her body on my hands and knees, everything else forgotten as I lowered my lips to hers. I couldn't kiss Shelly enough and even the realization that I did indeed taste my own blood couldn't stop me from entering her mouth with my tongue. She'd opened my pants and I felt her cool hand tugging at my erection, drawing me between her spread thighs.

The thought of safe sex flew through my mind, and pregnancy, as well. I might have suggested something, but I didn't know what, and in truth, I filled her mouth with my tongue in the hopes of stifling any rational protests on her part. I didn't have to worry, though. Shelly's skirt had been pulled upward, just as my trousers and boxers had been pulled down. We were clothed and clumsy as she teased us both, rubbing the tip of my cock across and around her vulva. I felt Shelly's soft pubic hair and the intimate flesh beneath. The tight mouth of her sex seemed too small at first, but she quickly surrendered as I began to push with my hips. As unlikely as it sounds, I'd been a virgin until that moment.

We made love frantically, both of us moving towards the sort of shared climax most people can only dream about. We were close and it took only a few minutes before I felt her legs tighten, knees bent and pressing into my ribs. She groaned and kissed my ear, my jaw, and finally my neck as I arched my back. I felt her sex moist and comfortably cool, although my own body had grown flushed and damp with sweat. As the walls of her sex closed around my cock, I held myself deep and gave myself to the raw pleasure of my first orgasm inside a woman. My semen seemed to explode out of my body and into hers with such a glorious release that I barely felt the needles piercing my neck.

I didn't understand what it meant. I thought Shelly was kissing me, that's all. Her legs closed around my hips, holding my cockhead as near to her womb as possible. Her arms were around my shoulders, trapping me in a vise-like grip that I didn't try to fight at all, not at first. My heart, already beating as quickly as it ever had in my life, refused to slow. I felt light headed and dizzy as she stole oxygen-rich blood from my carotid artery.

Something was wrong and I pushed against the mattress, pulling her head up with me as Shelly refused to let me go. I could feel it every time she swallowed, the pressure as she drew heavily upon the wound. My arms weakened and I collapsed onto her breasts. I might have tried to cry out for help, but perhaps I only imagined that. The lights were going out and it felt good to close my eyes. My last thought, barely coherent and hardly reasonable, was to wonder how my penis could remain erect inside her when every other part of me felt so tired.