Monster Fever

A cool wind blew over the parking lot high atop the sharply sloped hill; curling around the repeating pattern buildings that made up the suites of off campus student housing and bearing with it the crisp scent that promised a fine October evening. The buildings were sharp and clean looking and for the most part, uniform and static. But here and there, hung in windows, were school banners and posters put up by the occupants inside. Many of the normal ones had been replaced for the holiday; here and there orange and black ribbons fell down windows, ghostly faces leered out, fake cobwebs were strewn across, and plastic jack o’lanterns grinned out into the autumn sunset. The branches of the trees planted around the carefully laid out apartment complex waved and rustled with the air; many still bearing leaves in vibrant oranges, yellows, reds, and browns, though many dried and desiccated leaves also scratched as they tumbled over the asphalt.

The door to one of the suites opened and a man walked out onto the hilltop. He was tall and lean, wearing a long black duster style coat and black pants, black leather boots on his feet, black leather gloves on his hands and holding a black broad brimmed hat in his right hand. A black leather vest was buttoned halfway up his chest beneath the duster, a gray shirt under it with a high neck that had been folded down over itself. His glossy brown hair fell to just past his ears, a bit shaggily though it was clean and combed. His features were noble and strong, eyes of a rich deep sea blue behind a pair of thin framed glasses. He walked toward a nearby car; a silver sedan that looked well looked after but was hardly the newest vehicle even in the row, let alone the lot. It was old enough that he took out his key and opened the driver’s door with it, unlocking the others from the inside, not having a remote fob for his keys. Greg smiled as he leaned against the side of his car, “Your chariot awaits your leisure, ladies,” he said. They really should get going soon if they wanted to get to the party before dark. The place wasn’t too far out of town but they had to take the rural roads and he didn’t want to find his way on the winding, signless routes in the dark.

“We’re ready! Almost, anyway,” came an answering call. A few seconds later, a trio of young women emerged, the last shutting the door behind her. “The High Queen’s stalling so we have to wait on her and she can have a big entrance,” the tallest of the girls went on. She was on the tall side of average and her body was well sculpted and shaped by endless hours of exercise; athletic and toned but her modest curves were still feminine and fetching. Her hair was a tawny mass that fell to her shoulders, currently gathered up into a pair of pigtails on either side of her head and her eyes were a a vibrant green. Her long, luscious, supple legs seemed to go on for miles before disappearing under the lacy hem of her white skirt. Her waist was slender and her bust pleasing, neither large nor small but a very happy middle ground. She was pretty and healthy; her face cheerful and exuberant. Ally wore a short white dress with puffy sleeves that ended in a tight cuff, a thin red belt cinched about her waist to give the garment form, the skirt ending about three inches above her knees. The low neckline of the dress, combined with a simple brown corset tightened over it, offered up her assets in a deliciously tempting fashion. A pair of worn red Chuck Taylor’s gave the outfit a bit of whimsy. She carried a wicket basket in one hand, a red cloth covering the contents of it. A red cloak was tied about her neck, the hood down at the moment, the garment falling about knee length on the fitness and nutrition major. “Nice outfit, Greg! Never saw you as the Western type but it looks good!”

He grinned, even flushing a bit as the three girls approached to wait with him. “Thanks, you look great, all of you do. Though my costume-“

The shortest of the three girls cut him off, a smirk on her pretty lips, a shiny black lip gloss covering them, “Wait until you see all of it.” Sarah was barely five feet tall and petite, with a slender and willowy figure. Her shape was largely masked by the black dress she wore but it had enough shape to tease at her small but sensuously shaped curves. Her face was beautiful and fragile looking with cupid shaped lips and keen dark brown eyes that seemed endless behind a pair of round lensed glasses. Her hair was a sandy blond that was currently in a thick braid falling to her shoulder blades, much of it hidden by the pointed and bent witch hat on her head. She wore a loose black dress with it that went to her knees, a pair of orange and black stockings clinging to her legs to vanish under the dress’s hemline. Black heels lifted her up a bit more than normal, still making her the shortest girl, pushing her ass up into the air and adding more sway to her step. She’d brought their broom along as a prop, dragging the bristles on the ground behind her.

Greg blinked but before he could ask the question, the middle girl shook her head, “Sarah, don’t talk it up like that. It’s nothing special.” She was blushing, her cheeks rosy. Her hair was black as night and had been carefully styled into a pixie-like bob, her forelocks held in place with a seashell decorated hair pin. Her eyes were a rich and earthy brown, her lips full and plush, and her face sweetly cute. She was currently wearing Greg’s old raincoat, having asked to borrow it a few days ago, the thick coat covering her from neck to toe.

Ally shook her head, “No way, you got to show him. You look awesome, girl. I’ve never seen you so sexy! Flaunt it, Sheena!” She was delighted at her long term friend’s costume choice. The nerdy girl was shy and had a terrible body image that Ally just couldn’t understand. She’d kill for a rack like Sheena’s! She stepped behind her and reached around her friend, starting to unbutton the coat, “Come on, show him or I’ll do it for you,” she sing songed.

“Ally!” Sheena was blushing brighter than ever, swatting at her best friend’s hands.

“Guys, if she doesn’t want to, then it’s no big deal,” Greg held up his hands and smiled, “I know Sheena’ll look good, she always does.” He shrugged, “Besides, I’ll see it at the party, right?”

Sarah caught Sheena’s eyes as she spoke, “Right. So will everyone else.”

Sheena pushed Ally’s hands away firmly, “Ally, no, I can show him myself.” She looked up at Greg and then down. “It’s probably too much, but…” she unbuttoned the rest of the coat and then pulled it open. Sheena was stacked, top and bottom, with large, high, pert breasts , deliciously rounded hips, and a sweet, plush ass. Her stomach was flat despite her ample curves, when Ally was your best friend you did work out a lot, and bust was generous enough that it actually cast a shadow onto it. Greg could see all of this as beneath the raincoat Sheena wore a bikini top with a pair of large clamshells cupping her gorgeous mountains like a bra and nothing else on her upper body. She had a glittery wrap about her hips that swept around her legs in a cerulean blue, with a darker blue fin-like hem at ankle length, along with a pair of blue two inch heels.

Greg’s mouth fell open and he went pale, then flushed, then went pale again. He tried to speak but was unable to. He’d never seen Sheena…so much of Sheena! He knew she had a great figure, he’s seen her in t-shirts and tank tops plenty of times but like this the effect was wholly different. Sarah and Ally grinned, exchanging satisfied looks. Sheena slowly lifted her eyes, not hearing Greg saying anything and blinked at his gobsmacked expression. She smiled slowly, a twinkle in her eyes.

God, she should push him back onto the hood of his car and kiss him right now, she thought. Put his hands on her tits and let him feel them all he wanted, letting her hands travel all over, feel his dick getting hard against her stomach before he pushed her back and then bent her over the car’s hood, pulling her skirt up and- “Uh, what,” Sheena asked, suddenly aware that someone had said something.

“I said,” Sarah repeated, “that I think you can call your costume a success. You’re going to be boiling people’s eyeballs.”

“Y-yeah,” Greg agreed, finally re-learning how to speak. He was still flushed as he looked at her, “Wow. I mean, you just about boiled my…pretty much everything. Sheena, you look incredible.”

“Thanks,” she answered. “I’m still worried that it’s a little too, uh, you know.”

“Smoking hot,” Ally supplied.

Sheena shook her head, “Skimpy. I mean, it’d be okay on you or Sarah or Regina, you’re all so thin and-“

“Are we going to stand around all night or are we going to party?” The sound of the door shutting behind the group caused them all to turn as the new speaker strutted towards them, her hips swinging with each long stride. “Honestly, we should have been gone already.” She was tall, only three inches shorter than Greg, with a figure both ample and slender; her tits seeming to defy gravity as they jutted out from her body in proud majesty, her waist narrow and wasp-like, her ass taut and toned, and her legs shapely perfection. Her face was breath-taking with fine, delicate features plush lips that always seemed to smirk or scowl but never genuinely smile. Her eyes were blue and sharp; her hair cut to fall at her jawline and currently dyed a fiery red, styled to be slightly wavy. Regina was wearing a black catsuit with a high-tech looking bracer on both forearm, a belt of golden discs around her waist, and a pair of heeled black boots on her feet. The catsuit was so tight it looked like she’d been upholstered, leaving almost nothing to the imagination and everything at once; a magnificent tease. “What are you all just standing here for?” As they turned she caught sight of Sheena’s costume and her eyes narrowed, then she smirked. “Oh. That’s very bold, Sheena, but great mermaid costume.”

“Thanks, Regina,” the dark haired girl replied. “You look good too. Black Widow, right?”

“A geek like you is sure to know,” she nodded with a smirk. “Well, let’s get going, shall we? We don’t want to catch cold before the party.” Regina looked at Greg with an expression of condescending patience, “You could have warmed up the car at least.”

He frowned a bit, “It doesn’t take that long to warm up. Letting it idle just uses up gas and isn’t good for it.”

“With a car as old as yours, I guess,” she shrugged. Regina shook her head, “Honestly, though, the 20 cents in gas isn’t worth us risking catching a cold. Even if some of us are more insulated than others.” She walked to the front passenger door and opened it. “Come on already, let’s go.” Greg grimaced and went to the driver’s side door. The other three girls exchanged a look a mutual frustration before Sheena rebuttoned the coat and they piled into the back seat. The car backed out and then Greg shifted into gear, starting them off towards their party. Regina looked back at the girls in the back seat, “Hey, did you know that what sailors thought were mermaids were actually sea cows?”

“My, they’ll do, won’t they?” The car was still traveling but it and the area around it rippled moved slightly, rippling from a steady roiling motion centered just below the vehicle. The group’s travel continued, being seen as if from a camera above and behind the car, following it. “This will be a Halloween to remember!”

The speaker smiled as she stood up straight, having been leaning forward over a large cauldron that was at a soft, steady boil, the image of the car and those within floating on its surface. She was tall and unnaturally busty; her breasts massive and proudly defying gravity as they deliciously deformed the fabric of the simple black dress she was wearing, the garment clinging to a figure that was very slender otherwise. Her hair fell down to her ass and was a rich royal purple, her cunning eyes were the color of red wine and her lips were lavender. She gestured over the water’s surface with one hand, her nails long and well-manicured though her fingertips were stained slightly from the chemicals and substances she handled. The view changed to the inside of the car, moving over the faces of the 20 year old college students within and then over their bodies. “They’re so pretty.”

The cauldron was in the middle of a very large room, with a hearth beneath it and the hood of a chimney descending from the ceiling above to trap and channel smoke up and away. The walls were lined with shelves that held books, all hardback, some bound in leather, some newer and some looking very old. There were also jars and seasoning shakers on many of them and a table in one corner had a large array of chemistry and alchemical equipment neatly arranged. There were a few other tables as well and old, handmade wooden chairs. The rafters were low enough to be reached by hand and there were more objects sitting on or hanging from them for easy access. The witch smiled down at the cauldron and then began to move around, snatching jars and vials off the shelves, setting them on a high counter that was on one side of the hearth. She took an old fashioned pesticide sprayer down from the rafters, humming, and set it beside an earthen ware bowl into which she started to add ingredients together.

Greg frowned as the car rose up another abrupt hill on the windy country road they were on. “That’s sudden,” he murmured. It was almost dark but there was still some sunlight in the sky but from the fields and woods around the road a thick, heavy fog was rolling in. Within a minute of him spotting it the ghostly white mist flowed around the car, shrouding the landscape around them.

Regina had been texting a few other guys she knew who’d be at the party and looked up from her phone. “Where the hell did this come from?” She looked out, barely able to see six feet from the car. “Slow down, you’re going to get us killed!”

Her boyfriend grimaced, “Regina, I’ve driven on roads like this before and in fog. We’ll be fine.” He did slow slightly, “I can see the edge of the road, so we’l l stay on it.”

“I forgot you’re a nerd AND a hick,” she retorted, rolling her eyes. “Staying on the road won’t help us if we get lost out in the sticks.”

Ally growled softly in her throat and then leaned forward, the fitness major sitting behind Regina, “Calm down. Everything doesn’t have to be a scene, you know that right? Fog happens. We have the directions.” She waggled her own phone at the scowling Regina, “We just have to follow the lights on the road from here.”

Sarah was sitting between Sheena and Ally. She leaned over to Sheena and whispered in her ear, “Was it Black Widow or Bitch Widow?” Sheena just grinned and giggled.

Back in her cottage, the witch leaned over the cauldron, which had thick vapor rolling down the sides, though the scene of the car driving in the fog could be seen clearly. She setting the sprayer she’d used to create the fog aside and picking up a small candle in a carved wooden holder. She muttered something and it lit suddenly, burning with a slightly greenish fire. She held it over the cauldron, in front of the car as it drove carefully on. “This way,” she cooed, “Follow the light.”

“We should be there by now,” Sheena said softly. The dark haired girl’s face was worried as she looked out at the thick fog that still billowed around them. “We’ve been driving almost 40 minutes since this fog showed up. Shouldn’t we be there?” The heater had been on the whole time and it was warm enough that the buxom girl had taken off Greg’s borrowed coat, the garment stuffed between her body and Sarah’s.

“Yeah,” Greg said slowly, “I think you’re right. We should have been there ten, fifteen minutes ago.”

“What?” Regina glared at him, “Why didn’t you say something?”

“I wasn’t sure I was right since we’re traveling slower than normal,” he said, an edge of frustration in his voice, “And I didn’t want to worry you guys with it until I’d found a place we could turn around at.” It didn’t make sense. He’d been following the lights as they came up, just like the directions said. He’d had to take a few turns to do so, and they’d gone up and down at least one big hill, but that was just the way the country was out here. “Can one of you check our position on your phones?”

Sarah shook her head, “No signal. It went out when the fog came up.”

Ally frowned at her phone, “Yeah, I’ve got no bars either.”

Sheena sighed, “Same here.”

Regina growled, “Fuck. That’s perfect! We’re lost in God knows where, with no way to get back to civilization. Great driving.” She glared back at the girls in the back seat, as if the girls there somehow shared in the blame, and then turned back, arms tight across her chest. “You’re so useless sometimes.”

Greg’s hands tightened on the steering wheel and his face was bleak. “We’re not entirely lost. We know the road we’re on has those lights. We’ll turn around and follow them back until we see where we got mixed up. Don’t be scared, this kind of thing happens. We’ll get there; it might just take a while.”

“That’ll be great,” Regina said in a chipper, lilting tone, “We can get to the party just in time to go home!” Not with him though; geek boy needed to learn a lesson about being useful. “I was wrong; you’re so dependable.”

“Mom, Dad,” Ally interjected before Greg could respond, “The kids’re scared that you’re fighting. Can we just, you know, focus on finding a turn around?”

Before she could answer there was a slight thump and a rough rumbling, rolling, scrabbling sound came from under the car. Regina shrieked, “What the fuck?”

Greg slowed down, “The road changed. We’re on gravel and dirt now.” Where the hell were they? As angry as he was at Regina, he was angrier at himself. How could he get them so out of the way? He really was useless.

Back in the cottage, the witch set the candle firmly on the wide lip of the cauldron. She had lined the lip with tin foil that stuck up about an inch or so over the rim. She had two smaller bowls on her little counter, shaking something into one, “Cat nose hairs,” she murmured. Then she set that down and picked up a different shaker and a vial. “Powdered satyr horn and a coward’s tears,” she poured the liquid into the bowl, shaking a lot of the powdered material into it. She leaned over and took a breath, blowing slowly on the surface of the cauldron and then holding up the first of the little bowls and sprinkling it once the image of the confused and worried faces of the college kids.

“Hey, look!” Ally pointed out the window as the fog seemed to ripple, “A breeze!” The seemingly endless mist rolled back from them as if someone had turned on a fan and blown it away. They were on a dirt road as Greg had said, with trees on either side of them. They were running along a ridge, not at the top, but high up enough that they could see the valley below and the wall of the next ridge over beyond it, even in the darkness. The sky overhead was clear and stars gleamed, as did a full and heavy moon.

“It’s pretty,” Sheena said with a smile. “I know we’re out of the way, but the view’s something at least, right?”

Greg glanced to the side, nodding, “Yeah. Wow…look at all of that spreading out.”

“Who the fuck cares? It’s not where we’re supposed to be. We’re still lost,” Regina snapped.

“The road widens out up ahead,” Greg said. “Looks like there’s a clearing.” He slowed further and the car pulled out of the wooded lane and onto a small turn around. Spreading out from it was a great clear area on the ridge’s side, covered with short grasses and herbs. The clear space was bordered by woodlands, but there were clear trails here and there in the scrub before them, leading into the darkened forest beyond. He pulled the car to a stop. “…Cool.” Wow, this place was gorgeous! If it wasn’t night, it’d be a perfect picnic spot, and they could check out those trails...awesome! He should turn around and head back down but he felt a sudden deep curiosity about the place. “I think I’m going to get out and take a look. It’ll feel good to stretch my legs anyway.”