All Hellos by Michael Barnette
A Halloween Trick from Mojocastle Press LLC
Book One of the Gryphon Guardians
Part of the Immortal Heroes series
Available from Mojocastle Press LLC Iris is a woman of lush curves on her way to a Halloween Swinging Singles Weekend at a campground. She's expecting some action, but what she's not expecting are two gorgeous men, one blond, one dark haired.

The other thing she's not expecting is the monster...

Thump. Thump.

The wedge-shaped head came around, butter yellow eyes narrowing to peer through the trees. A soft growl rumbled in a massive chest.

Thump. Thump.

Scent on the wind. Familiar. Enticing.

A fanged mouth grinned, the smile hungry, needing, wanting.

Thump. Thump.

Heartbeat.

Human.

Close.

Drawing the scent deeper.

Muzzle quivering at another scent.

The scent of something even better than a lone human.

Magic on the wind. Sweet, enticing.

Innocent in the ways of power.

Fresh and untainted by the knowledge of what she was.

She. The best Prey of all.

The creature laughed, the sound a deep coughing growl.

Time to have some fun.

Time to hunt.


Why was it that a car tire always went flat at the most inconvenient time, in the worst possible place? Here she was, miles from the nearest gas station, her cell phone forgotten on the kitchen counter, and dressed to the nines for the All Hellos October Fling Singles Weekend at her friend's campground. Even worse, the trunk was loaded with crap for the weekend. Crap she'd have to get out in order to find something with which she could even nominally repair the tire.

Adding insult to the injury of the tire, she was pretty sure she'd taken the wrong road off the state highway. If that was true, she had a flat, and she was lost.

Okay, maybe not lost, just misplaced, she thought to herself.

Sighing in exasperation Iris kicked the tire in annoyance, almost falling on the train of the long black dress she was wearing, when the toe of her high heels caught it. She felt like an idiot, standing there in her vampiress getup beside an a battered late model car that was both missing it's hubcaps and sporting a flat. Shoes clattering loudly in the cricket drone silence she made her way to the trunk, wondering if her room mate had stolen her can of flat fixer again. Popping open the trunk she peered into the darkness feeling the thigh high slit in the dress creep even higher.

She'd never been fully comfortable with her body, despite the slinky dress she was wearing. If she'd been born in the nineteen-forties she could have been an actress, she had the look that would have won her fame and fortune. Thick curly blond hair, a perfect mouth and violet eyes that rivaled a certain actress very popular at the time. She would have been a star. At least her mother always said so, and as a child she'd wanted more than anything to be an actress.

Genetics and the movie industry had other ideas.

She had great tits, and lush hips that flared out from a classically narrow waist. Unfortunately only stick figure women that wore a size zero or at most a two could make it in Hollywood these days.

Like most little girls she wasn't ever going to realize her childhood dream.

Instead she was a waitress at a chain restaurant and had to listen to pick-up line after pick up line, none of them very inspired, some of them downright crude.

At least she was assured of finding companionship of some type for the weekend. I wonder if Karl's going to be there, he's always up for a good time. She giggled to herself at the double entendre as she rummaged around under her suit case trying to find what she needed. Unable to immediately feel the can of flat fixer she tried moving her suit case and still had no luck.

It'd be nice to meet someone new though. Someone a bit more adventurous than Karl. While the man was a good lay he was hardly inspired, and his idea of foreplay typically consisted of removing his glasses. Not very romantic. Neither was the fact he usually kept his socks on. Sighing she lifted a box of snacks and drinks out of the way, wondering where the milk crate of her car repair stuff had gone to this time. Bet Holly took it out and put it in her car, dammit. Holly was always taking her things. She supposed it was the price one paid for having a room mate, but it was really getting on her nerves. It wasn't just little things like the flat repair stuff or the odd piece of costume jewelry either. Last week Holly had taken her tickets to see a local production of Taming of the Shrew which she hadn't noticed until she'd arrived with her date and not had them. James had been a dear and gotten them tickets, but they hadn't been for seats as close to the stage.

The thing that most annoyed her about the stolen tickets was that Holly hadn't even used them.

Maybe you'll get really lucky and that cute blond guy will be here. Then she wondered if she really wanted to deal with-- what the hell had his name been? Sure he's a pretty boy, but jeeze, talking to him's like having a conversation with a fashion doll. She chuckled again, Body by god, brains by Mattel. But what a body. She shook her head and smiled feeling a flare of heat low and deep inside her. /i>Yeah he was a good time. But what the hell was his name? Cory? Corwin?

It irked her that she couldn't remember his name since he was awfully pretty and he really liked women with dangerous curves. She still had the t-shirt he'd bought her that said so. Unless Holly had taken that too when she wasn't looking.

Headlights painted the darkness and she turned her head in time to be half blinded as a car went speeding by, not even stopping to help a lady. Typical.

Then again, did she really want anyone to stop?

Probably not. With her luck they'd turn out to be come kind of perv.

Sighing she went back to her search.

Somewhere out in the trees she heard a sound and looked up. There was no sign of anything. Not that she was able to see in the gloom anyway. Frowning she decided it was probably a deer and went back to what she'd been doing.

Well it's got to be here somewhere.

Another noise, and she looked up, peering into the darkness. Something was out there. Something big from the way the branch she'd heard break made such a loud cracked beneath it.

Just a deer, she reassured herself as she resumed her search.

Another loud crack, a crash.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up, goose-bumps raising on her arms sending a creeping chill down her spine.

Deer, she told herself firmly. Just a deer. Flashlight first, then the stuff for the tire.

She was just leaning over the back of the car to check toward the front of the truck, trying to find her big flashlight when headlights played across her for a second time.

Great, I'm ass up in the trunk, scared half out of my mind and someone comes by. Bet they're laughing themselves silly right now.

The vehicle slowed and she pushed herself upright, the feathers on the décolletage of her dress tickling her as the turned to see who or what had driven up.

It was a very expensive SUV with tinted windows. The passenger side window slid down as the driver stopped it directly beside Iris.

Dark eyes regarded her from above a one thousand watt smile that made her heart melt, her brain turn to mush and something much lower down her body flutter in a jolt of pure lust.

The guy was glossy magazine ad gorgeous, with dark wavy hair, soulful chocolate eyes and a face starkly masculine. From the way his polo shirt clung to his body she could tell he kept himself in good shape, and she found herself wondering exactly what he'd look like out of the shirt.

"Need some help?" the man asked as he very blatantly studied her from head to the fluffy tips of her too high heeled shoes.

"I umm..." Well you won't get labeled an intellectual, she told herself as she struggled to put her mouth in gear. The man's smile was devastating, and the way he was looking her up and down told her he liked what he was seeing.

Eat your hearts out, stick figure girls, she thought as her mind tried to find the right gear to make her mouth go.

"Let me guess," another rich masculine voice said from beyond the dark haired god in the passenger's seat. "You're going to the All Hellos thing at the campground, right?"

The driver leaned forward and Iris could see the he was just as shockingly handsome as his passenger. A frosted moonlight sort of blond where the other man was dark as a night-robed forest. She found herself staring at eyes that were somewhere between lapis lazuli and turquoise in color. Stunning. Mesmerizing. Dampness flooded her panties and she struggled to catch her breath feeling like a total idiot.

She nodded, then wondered what she was doing talking to a pair of strange men on an otherwise deserted road in the middle of the night. Well, maybe middle of the night was a bit of an exaggeration. Last time she'd looked it was just nine, but they were the only traffic on the road at the moment.

"We don't bite," the dark haired man assured her. The door of the SUV opened and he stepped out, his head topping the roof of the SUV.

His companion chuckled and said, "Not unless we're invited to of course."

She blinked. Had that been a bit of sexual innuendo? It sure sounded like it. "Really I..."

The darkly attractive man stuck his hand out, "My name's Adrian, and that," he gestured with his head toward the driver, "is Gabriel."

Iris took the proffered hand and they shook like business associates, but the contact sent a delicious shiver through her. This man is just too handsome to be real. So's that friend of his. Come on Iris, wakey wakey, you have no chance with either of them. She looked at the other man in the SUV, And I bet they are gay. The gorgeous ones always are, she reminded herself, somewhat cynically. She blinked, snapping out of her reverie when she realized Adrian was trying to regain possession of his hand which she'd neglected to let go. "I'm Iris, and yes I was on my way to the singles weekend. You know about it?"

"We should, that's where we're going," Adrian told her as he headed for the front of the car and the very apparent flat tire. He turned, "Gabe, do you have any of that spray they use to fix tires?"

"Let me get this beast off the road and I'll look," the blond driver replied.

Adrian smiled at Iris, "So tell me, what is an attractive woman like yourself doing going to the Singles Meet? I'd think you'd have all sorts of beaus flocking around you."

She stared at him. Had he actually just used the word ‘beau' or was she losing her hearing? Maybe the lust heating her body was interfering with her higher brain functions.

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