“Why are they moving like that?” I scanned the room, noticing more people dancing and moving in that odd way. A girl standing on a tabletop, dressed as a fairy, looked particularly horrible the way her arms moved—like she was trying desperately to get them to stop but couldn’t.
“They’re in trances,” Daniel said. “If an Akh stares into your eyes long enough, it can keep you in a hypnotic state for quite some time, even without the continued eye-to-eye connection. These people are being controlled by someone else.”
“And they do this on purpose?”
“It’s quite the high,” he said in a way that made me wonder if he’d tried it before in his former life. “They feel stoned. But their brains are starting to fight it. Hence the jerking movements.”
I tore my sight off the gruesome dancers and looked back at Pete. He’d narrowed his sights on a girl in a curly blonde wig, dressed as a sexy vampire. Velvet cape and all. Her back was to me, and I couldn’t see her face, but I watched as she tapped the shoulder of one of the dancing devil girls. “Kristy, I want to go,” I heard her say. The other girl didn’t respond. “Kristy, please? Answer me.” Something about her voice made me cringe. It was laced with so much fear. Her friends had probably dragged her here, and she hadn’t known what she was getting herself into.
Pete must have heard the fear also. He licked his lips as he stared at her. I knew what he was thinking: easy prey. And I doubted it was just her psychic energy he wanted to feed off of.
I leaned in close to Daniel and pecked a kiss against his throat, making it look like we were merely on the dance floor to make out. “Pete’s on the prowl,” I whispered into Daniel’s ear.
“Then he’ll be easily baited.” Daniel kissed me. “What do you think?”
Our plan had been to find away to lure Pete to a secluded area of the haunted house—in order to kill him without attracting any attention.
Daniel caressed his finger along my face. He pecked a few kisses behind my ear and then whispered, “There,” turning my head slightly toward an arched doorway, guarded by two more freaky scarecrows. A sign, painted in garish letters the color of blood, read, library of horrors: enter at your own risk. A yellow X of caution tape blocked it off from the rest of the party.
“See if you can get him to follow you in there,” Daniel said. “I’ll be waiting.”
“You think he’ll go for it?”
“He’s a horny, hungry, teenage boy. Believe me, he’ll go for you. Undead or not.” Daniel gave me one last kiss, and then we broke apart. “Just don’t let him get close enough to realize who you are before you’re alone. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt.”
I watched him quietly maneuver through the party and then slip into the library. I turned my attention back to Pete just in time to see him make a move for the vampire-costumed girl. He put his hand on her shoulder, making her jump. He leaned in close to her face.
“Don’t look into his eyes,” I whispered.
But she must have, because only a matter of seconds later, she was holding his hand as he pulled her through the crowd of dancers. She didn’t seem to notice his talonlike fingernails—a classic sign of an Akh.
I started to go after them, but before I made it more than two quick steps, someone else stepped out in front of me, blocking my path. He wore a long brown trench coat over what looked a Lone Ranger costume: blue shirt, leather pants, cowboy hat, and a black eye mask that was supposed to obscure his identity. But I’d recognize his bright green eyes—and belt buckle—anywhere.
“Talbot, what the hell are you doing here?”
“I want to help you.” By the smell of his breath and the whiskey bottle in his hand, I could tell he’d been drinking.
“I told you I didn’t need it. Daniel and I are taking care of things.” I tried to step around him, but he countered my movements.