k_a_webb | The Donor House: Alice: The Third Halloween (Reply)

Written for LJ user natalief’s prompt: Halloween at the Donor House

On the third Halloween Alice prepared for a number of different things. The first two had been full of surprises and she didn’t like surprises when it came to mixing vampires and humans. There would be trick-or-treaters. Some knocked on the door simply so they could say they’d done it, but others wanted to learn. It was unexpected the first time, when a fifteen-year-old girl had knocked on their door and asked if she could come in, maybe ask a few questions about becoming a donor. No one under the age of eighteen could apply to be a donor, but, as they’d found out, that didn’t mean they weren’t thinking about the future. New vampires were also a possibility. That happened throughout the year, but Alice was always more careful on Halloween, because there would often be more humans than normal about and it was something to worry about both within the donor house and in town.

Garion, as always, was on patrol. Some of the vampires would also be out and Alice always made certain that at least one vampire was either with Garion or close to him, because he was human. It was possible, due to their tentative friendship, Sam might also be helping them out, but she wasn’t sure about that. Every donor they had was on duty, the regulars all made sure they’d fed before Halloween, and everyone did their best to make certain that Halloween went as well as it could.

The night after Halloween was always party night and Alice was ready for that as well, but Halloween was first. She walked through the donor house just before sunset, because she was always the first one up, checking things off the check list in her mind. Preparing for as much as she could helped, but she knew that she couldn’t possibly prepare for everything. Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair. Every year they hired more short-term donors a month before Halloween, gave them a chance to get used to the house, and hoped that they had enough donors. So far they’d never had a problem and yet Alice still worried.

“Stop it, Ally,” a voice said from one of the doors, making her jump.

“It’s not that easy, Dom,” she replied, looking at him.

“We’ve got through two Halloweens and I’m pretty certain we’ll get through this one too.” Dominic smiled at Alice. “We all knew that things might go wrong, because it’s not as though anyone’s done this before, and no matter what happens I believe we’ll be able to get through it.”

“I want is to be able to get through any problems we have too, but vampires aren’t predictable. We’re all different to the average vampire, some would say maladjusted, and it’s the one who did adjust that I worry about.” Alice sighed again. “Sometimes I wish we’d never set up the house.”

Dominic shook his head. “We both know you don’t mean that.”

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.