Halloween. Trick or Treat? Halloween. Trick or Treat? By Postcard postcard@manutd.com Rating: - R. Challenge. Romance. Humour. Disclaimer: - The characters in this story (Ben, Dief, Henri, Meg, Ovitz, Turnbull and Ray Vecchio) are not mine and anything else Due South isn't mine either. I do not mean to infringe on copyrights held by any copyright holders for Due South. The story and Pilly the Python however are mine(copyright 26 October 1999 by Postcard on all original story content.) Please do not reproduce for anything other than personal reading without the written consent of author. This story is not written for profit and the author does not give permission for this story to be reproduced for profit. Author's note: - This story is set during season 2, however the new consulate that is in season 3 is the consulate I have used in this story, because I think it has more of a Halloween feel to it. I hope you enjoy this story and any constructive comments are welcome. Meg Thatcher stood watching her subordinates transform the Canadian Consulate into a horror movie site for the evenings Halloween Ball. "Now remember, only put safety candles in the pumpkins. I don't want the whole consulate burning down to the ground, because you put the wrong candles in the pumpkins and somebody knocked them over. And Fraser make sure that hellraiser, you call a wolf, doesn't get anywhere near the food for the ball. I don't want another disaster like earlier today. Do I make myself clear constable?" "Yes Sir. In Dief's defence it was my fault really Sir. As a last straw in getting Dief to kick his junk food addiction I was trying out some psychology on him. I was hoping that letting Dief help Turnbull hand out the sweets to the trick or treating children, would strengthen his will power to resist. Unfortunately, as you know Sir, it didn't work." "That's an understatement Fraser. As I recall while Turnbull was being his usual unobservant self, Dief raided the sweet container and…" As Turnbull entered the room once more Meg trailed off and stared in disbelief at a place on his head where his Stetson should be located. "Turnbull, how many times today have I told you to get rid of that ridiculous witch's hat? If it isn't R.C.M.P. issue then I don't want to see you wearing it, understood?" "Yes Sir. It's just that it's Halloween and I was just trying to get into the festive spirit for the Halloween Ball this evening. Sir, won't you reconsider wearing one? I got us all one to wear, here's yours Inspector." Meg heard Ovitz snicker as Turnbull handed her a black plastic witch's hat, with green curly hair attached to it. "I will wear nothing of the sort. And if I see them again I will confiscate them." Turning around she marched off towards the foyer. When Ovitz thought that Meg was out of earshot, he just had to have a crack at her. "Well, I hope you guys bring some garlic and salt to the ball tonight. You'll need it to keep the bloodsucking queen at bay." However she was not quite out of earshot. * No garlic or salt circle is going to keep me away from Fraser tonight. It'll take a lot more than that. He's not going to know what hit him tonight, not with what I've got planned for him. * Walking out of the consulate, a sadistic smile crept up the corners of her mouth. * * * * * Glancing up at the evening sky, Meg stepped onto the path, which led towards the large wooden front double doors of the consulate. Looking around she had to admit that her subordinates had surpassed themselves with the decorations. The front garden of the consulate had been transformed into a graveyard. And they had even managed to hire a smoke machine, which was now at this moment puffing out white smoke, creating a mist effect that swirled around the plastic grave stones. Walking up the steps to the double doors, Meg shuddered at the sight of the two pumpkins on either side of the steps. It wasn't that the sight of the pumpkins scared her in any way, although Fraser had done a remarkable job at carving them into eerie faces. She had shuddered at the recollection of at first delegating Turnbull to carve the pumpkins. She should have known better than to allow Turnbull to be unsupervised with a carving knife. He had promptly sliced his finger and had the audacity to drip his blood all over her nice white office rug. The 'speak of the devil', 'Turnbull', opened the double doors for her dressed in a grey zombie outfit. * How appropriate! He acts like a zombie everyday at the consulate. * "Nice choice of costume Turnbull." "Thank you Sir." Then taking a closer look at her costume, he jumped back in alarm. "Relax Turnbull. It'll not hurt you, it's harmless." She assured him authoritatively. However Turnbull didn't look so sure that the creature that Meg had with her, as part of her costume was harmless. She had gone to a lot of trouble with her costume, it had to be perfect for tonight. She was wearing a red ankle length dress, a matching red shawl and stilettos. Her jewellery was comprised of a heart shaped ruby necklace and ruby drop earrings. A single silver bat slide held one side of her shoulder length dark hair in place, allowing the other side to cascade freely beside her face. Her makeup consisted of rouge lipstick and red glitter nail varnish sparkled on her long nails. She had even dabbed red glitter body paint over the exposed area of her chest. But what had concerned Turnbull was that to polish the 'Lady Vampire' costume off, draped around her neck was a real life snake. Stepping under the giant spider that was hanging down from the ceiling, above the double doors, she entered the consulate. Heads turned in awe to look at her as she made her way past the Jack O Lantern and bubbling cauldron, in search of her prey. Weaving around monsters and numerous witches, Meg hunted for Fraser. Emerging from behind the 'Grimreaper' a figure clad in a devil costume intercepted her. "My! Meg, you look devishly beautiful tonight," leered Henri. "I don't know about the snake though. Erm, I didn't know that you liked snakes." "Yes, well Henri there's a lot that you don't know about Me." She replied acidly. * You and the snake should get on, after all you are the same species. Although that's probably insulting the snake. * "Well, hopefully Meg we can rectify that, and get to know one another better this evening?" Meg felt her skin crawl at the thought of what he was insinuating. * Will this damned man ever get the message that I'm not interested in him? * "Good evening ma 'am. Henri," greeted Fraser, rescuing her from having to reply to Henri's innuendoes. Dressed in a black cape lined with red satin, Fraser definitely looked the part of a 'Male Vampire'. * Oh my! Look at him. How can someone so saintly look so wickedly enticing? * "Ah! Hello Fraser," Meg said, flashing him a warm smile. * Oh my gosh! She's smiling at me. Wow, she looks amazing tonight. Look at the way the body paint sparkles in between her bosom. Oh my! I wish I had a hairpin tonight. Stop that Ben. She's your Superior Officer and she made it quite clear that nothing further is going to happen between us. * "Might I say Sir, how strikingly lovely you look this evening. I think that your 'Lady Vampire' costume is exquisite." "Thank you Fraser. I love your costume by the way. I never imagined you as a vampire, but it suits you. I guess we were both thinking along the same lines with our costumes?" "Yes, it does appear so doesn't it? Great minds think alike as they say." "Yeah, but what part of her twisted mind came up with the snake? It's a nice touch," butted in Ray sarcastically. Leaning towards Ben he joked, "Maybe I should start calling her 'The Snake Lady' instead of 'The Dragon Lady'?" "At least my costumes more original than your skeleton costume," Meg fired back. During the sniping interchange between Meg and Ray, the snake started to slither onto Henri and he nervously backed away. "Erm, Meg, why don't you give the snake to Fraser to look after while we go and dance?" "What? And dismantle my costume? No, I'm afraid I can't do that Henri, it's out of the question. Where I go, the snake goes." "Oh look! There's the Consul General. Excuse me for a moment Meg." Henri hastened to get away from the snake. * So far so good. My plan appears to be working. That should have got rid of him for the evening. Now for the next stage in my master plan. * "Would you like to dance Sir?" "Yes. I'd love to dance Fraser. You don't mind the snake do you?" "Er, no Sir." He took her hand and led her past the punch bowl that was in the design of a blood fountain, and onto the wooden dance floor. "Is the snake yours Sir?" Ben asked her as they started to dance. "Good heavens no. It belongs to a friend of mine. To be honest the main reason I brought it with me tonight was because I knew Henri would be here, and I knew that he's scared stiff of snakes. You see I wanted it to act as a deterrent and luckily it seems to be working." "Oh! I see. Does the snake have a name?" "Yes. Its called Pilly. My friend called it 'Pilly the Python' because she thought it had a certain ring to it, with it being a Royal Python." A lone figure dressed as the Phantom of the Opera stood silently in the shadows of the ballroom, watching the two vampires dance. Dancing in Ben's arms Meg's eyes roamed the room. Catching the Phantoms eye Meg gave a sharp nod of her head and the phantom disappeared from the room. Within a few seconds of the phantom leaving the room the consulate was plunged into darkness. While gasps of surprise echoed through the ballroom, Meg deliberately let the snake slide of her shoulder, down onto the ballroom floor, letting the snake loose in the consulate. "Oh no!" She moaned. "It's all right Sir, I'm sure that I can fix the lights. I'll just go to the fuse box and see what the problem is." "No. What I mean is Pilly has escaped. Turnbull can sort the lights out. I want you to come and help me find Pilly. The last thing we need is a snake on the loose in the consulate." "Oh dear! Right Sir." "I think that I saw Pilly go in the direction of the stairs. Come on," Meg instructed grabbing Ben's hand and dragging him out of the ballroom. By the glow of the Jack O Lanterns Meg led Ben to the stairs. "Quick, I think Pilly is at the top of the stairs," Meg lied, ducking underneath the intertwined black and orange streamers hanging from the ceiling above the stairs, and pulling Ben after her. Reaching the top of the stairs Meg turned towards Ben. "Let's check in here first," she suggested. Following her into the Queen's Bedroom, Ben started to search around the room for the snake. He was just about to look under the bed when the bedroom door slammed shut and the sound of a key turned in the lock. He felt Meg grip his arm in the darkness. "Fraser, who the hell did that?" "I don't know Sir. It sounded like somebody had a key." Ben carefully walked towards the door in the dark, trying not to bump into anything. With Meg still holding onto his arm, Ben tried the door handle. "Yes, it appears to be locked. I wouldn't worry Sir, it's probably just somebody playing a Halloween trick on us." "Oh I'm not worried Fraser." "I'll see if I can find something that I can use to unlock it with ma 'am. " "Do you really want to?" "Erm, what do you mean?" In answer to his question Meg lightly kissed his neck. "If somebody is playing a trick on us then we at least deserve a treat. Don't you think?" "That seems logical ma 'am." * Oh my! She's actually saying she wants us to have further 'contact.' I wonder how much further 'contact' she means? Will I finally get to make love to her tonight? Oh, I hope so. * "Call me Meg. In fact you can call me anything tonight except Sir, ma 'am or Inspector." "Understood love." "Good, you're learning already." Meg said, moving her mouth back to his neck and starting to suck it in a vampire fashion. He responded by wrapping his cloak around her and scooping her into his arms he carried her towards the Queen's bed. Placing her gently down upon the four poster bed, he kissed her lightly on the lips. She hungrily inserted her tongue into his mouth and he returned the favour. Exploring hands ripped costumes off, scattering them onto the plush carpet. Ben caressed Meg's breasts with his hands, while she ran one of her legs along his in a maddeningly sensuous manner. Moving down her body, Ben felt her body rise as his inquisitive tongue entered her most private zone. She moaned out in ecstasy and grabbed hold of his hands that were holding her thighs, digging her nails into the palms of his hands. "Do it now Ben," she pleaded to him. Moving his lips back up to her mouth he was about to enter her when she said, "Wait. Get the condom out of the bedside drawer." Reaching into the drawer he retrieved the lucky and undoing it he enquired, "How did you know that there would be one in the drawer?" "Trick or a treat? Welcome to the vampires lair Ben." Was her only answer as she smiled playfully at him. Ben's sharp brain quickly deciphered what she meant and he smiled back at her. "I'd say it's most definitely a treat." Both vampires became one. Releasing their repressed desire for one another with such fervent intensity, as if they had been trapped for centuries in a coffin, waiting for one another since the beginning of time. On the other side of the door, a self-satisfied smile formed behind the mask of the phantom, as the trickster retreated down the stairs. Contentedly curled around the phantom was Pilly, happy to be in her owner's possession again. THE END