Halo E'en
They met on a cloud. One had an extremely large sword.
“Going yourself?” one said.
“Well, it’s the usual crowd tonight, plus our intelligence says Silky might show up. That should be fun.”
“Ah, I see. You don’t think the usual deployments enough, then.”
“No, and even if it were, we’ve been hunting him for a long time. He deserves some personal attention.”
“Fair enough. Good hunting!”
The usual crowds of costumed animals, Disney characters, princesses, and superheroes were scattering out through the suburbs, trailed by weary parents holding excess buckets of candy and in some cases, small trick-or-treaters too tired themselves to continue. Laughter and squeals of delight echoed up and down the streets and lamp-lit doorways.
“Fools,” said a cool voice in the shadows of a wizened tree. “Little do they know how they’ve been drawn into our snare.”
He was startled by a sudden noise of steel from behind him. Turning, he saw a tall figure in white robes, a golden halo humming casually over his head. “Trick or treat?” asked Michael the Archangel, Commander of the Heavenly Hosts, Etc.
“What?” gasped Silky, vampire, formerly of Eastern Europe, servant of dark forces too terrible to name. “But this… you…”
“Oh, this?” said Michael, gesturing at the costumed kids who passed by, unseeing. “That’s something called fun. You wouldn’t understand it. A concept He came up with ages ago. Goes along with laughter, joy, songs, all that. Gabriel knows more about the singing. That’s his job, you see.”
“But…” Silky said. “All of this!” He waved to some decorated spiders. “How can you stand it?”
“Oh, that?” Michael said dismissively. “It works great for us actually. See, you people figure this is a good time for you to come out and show the humans a scare or too. The problem is that they don’t know what real Fear is. They think ghosts and ghouls are the worst they have to worry about on nights like tonight.”
“Exactly!” Silky said. “So we show them otherwise!” He flashed his fangs in the dark.
“Well, no,” Michael said. “And honestly, you’re not even the worst. You don’t even know, do you? Next time you talk to Asmo down there, ask him about, what’s the one, I forget its name, the thing that’s half squid. Anyway, we’re off track. But then again, that’s the whole reason I’m here, so that ghosts and ghosts are all the humans have to worry about. There’s a score of angels from the Battle Brigades guarding every block and corner on every town from here all over the globe for the rest, but I wanted to take this area myself. On account of you, y’see. Oh, I forgot to say. Trick.”
Silky lurched forward. The Archangel drew his mighty sword and ran the vampire through, disintegrating him into a puff of dust before Silky even had time to scream. He sheathed the ancient blade and tapped his halo. “Comms, this is Michael. One Silky the vampire encountered and dispatched; note it in the logs, will you? I’m going to hang around here a bit more in case any long-legged beasties show up.”
“Long-legged what?” Communications replied back.
“Never mind. A human saying, I think. Anyway, chiming off now.” He turned back to watch the neighborhood. A lot of Spider-Mans were out this year, he observed. Spider-Men? Michael made a note to check with someone on his return to Heaven about the correct plural.