Gingerbread Man

said, "Thank you for that, Val. I know you're right." Then she took Vince's hand, clutching it tightly, and led him toward the refreshment table.
    He gave her hand an automatic squeeze and she sent him a grateful look.
    The neon-green punch had blocks of ice the size and shape of human hands floating in it. Vince dipped her out a glass, handed it to her. Jerry helped himself. "So, is there anyone in particular we should be watching, Vince?"
    Vince shrugged, looking around. "Where's Reggie?"
    "Oh, he'll make his big entrance soon. He likes to wait for all the kids to arrive, give them some time to enjoy the party for a while first. Or at least that's the way Aunt Jen told me it always used to work." Holly glanced at her watch. "Any time now, if he's true to history."
    Vince nodded, looking around at the costume-clad adults, trying to get a solid grip on who was who in case he needed to know later. Doc Graycloud was in character. He wore a huge coyote's head like a hood, its yellow teeth bared in a perpetual smile, black marble eyes shining, gray-brown fur hanging down and forming a cape that ended in a long, thick tail. Vince stared for a long moment, trying to decide if it was a manufactured pelt, or a real one, and then decided he didn't really want to know. Holly's uncle Marty was easy to spot. He came as a lumberjack, flannel shirt and suspenders, a rubber axe in one hand. He'd darkened his cheeks and chin to depict whiskers, and wore a knit cap on his head. Vince recognized others in the crowd as well, over the next half hour. The teenaged waitresses from the cafe. The kid who manned the gas pumps in town.
    "Vince, Holly—how's it going?"
    They both turned to see Chief Mallory standing close to them, a plastic tumbler of punch in his hand. He was eyeing Jerry curiously. "Who's this?"
    "My partner, Jerry Donovan. Jerry, this is Dilmun's chief of police, Jim Mallory."
    Jerry nodded hello, shook Jim's hand.
    "Where's your costume, Chief?" Vince asked.
    The man shrugged. "I came as a police chief." He glanced at Holly. "How you holding up, hon?"
    "I'm okay, but who's with Mom?"
    "Your aunt Jen is there. Bill, too. He relieved Ray of guard duty. Ray went home, got a few hours sleep, and now he's here, outside, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. I thought it would be best we both attend this shindig, see if anything comes up. No sense taking chances in case this maniac really is in town, with all the kids here, I mean."
    Holly nodded, but Vince felt the shiver that went through her.
    "What happened to the Feds you were expecting?" the chief asked Vince.
    "They think I’m full of hot air. I need solid evidence to get them down here."
    "Hell, I hope to God we never get any."
    He stopped speaking as the lights flashed on and off twice, and then remained off. Thunder rumbled like a drum roll, and a tiny explosion blasted off at the top of the old curving staircase. Smoke rolled, and when it cleared, Reginald D'Voe stood there, his Dracula costume perfectly backlit, one side of the cape drawn over the lower half of his face. He lowered it slowly as he came down the stairs. If not for his noticeable limp, it would have been perfect.
    He spoke in a thick Transylvanian accent to the rapt audience. "Children of the night. Velcome to my humble abode! Now, if you have the courage to follow me, I vill lead you on a journey among the living and the dead, where surprises and perhaps a few treasures can be found!" He added his maniacal laughter, and then led them all to the front door, out it, and down the steps.
    "Where's he taking them?" Vince asked, a prickle of unease dancing up the back of his neck as he stepped out into the night's chill.
    "It's a parade around the yard," Amanda said, startling him by speaking from nearby. "There's junk jewelry and candy hidden in various spots, along with some theatrical scares. Watch." She pointed.
    Vince watched, as did the parents who were all crowded onto and around the front steps. At every tombstone, some creature would spring up, or a pre-recorded growl or shriek would sound. Every kid screeched in horror and delight at each and every stop along the way. The parade took them outside the house and all the way around the mock cemetery that filled the front lawn.
    Vince relaxed a little as he watched. Even when they got to the farthest reaches, where it was darker and more difficult to see the children, he didn't get nervous. That wrought-iron fence surrounded the whole lawn.