Page 2 of Goblin Candy

“Never miss it! Or the shirt. Hey, it’s different every year and we haven’t missed one yet. Tray makes sure of it.” She cranes her head over her shoulder and gives her spouse a thumbs up as he triumphantly lifts a pair of shirts into the air. “Awesome, baby!”

I exchange an amused look with Lottie and snicker, still grinning like a lunatic as I turn and study the crowd. I pause, my head tipping as I consider a man with elaborate face paint. He did a great job, but he certainly isn’t a zombie. With the small horns studding his brow, he looks more like an imp than anything close to a zombie.

The lean man who has suddenly become the undivided subject of my interest leans against a metal pole as he observes the activity around him with a fascinated smile. He can’t seem to decide where to look, and his eyes bounce from place to place with the sort of high-strung energy that almost makes me jealous. But when those intensely luminous yellow-green eyes land on me, I nearly choke as I forget to breathe. Thankfully, I finally remember to draw in a breath and narrowly avoid passing out, but not before the corners of his mouth curl.

His eyes roam over my costume, his eyebrows rising at the ripped and “bloodstained” net stockings covering my bare thighs. The ragged, draped ends of the skirt lay in just the right way to cover my ass and my front of the black leotard I wear while revealing a whole lot of leg. I know my tits look great despite the fake blood and ripped latex skin terminating just over their mounds. It’s part of a series of slashes that run together like claws of some massive beast that have ripped me from neck to sternum. Heat curls in my belly, and I wonder how long it’s going to take before his eyes resume their journey northward so my cleavage can tempt him to make his way on over.

“Come on. We’re starting.”

Lottie nudges me and I tear my eyes from the tasty green imp to note that everyone is converging and getting ready to step out onto the main drag. Time to rock and roll! I glance back toward him, hoping to wave him over to join us, only to find that his spot by the pole is vacant and he’s nowhere to be seen.

“Well,fuck.” I sigh regretfully as Lottie gives me a questioning look. I simply shake my head with sheepish smile and lock my arm with hers. “Come on, let’s go do the dead woman’s twerk.”

She choked back laugh, her eyes tearing slightly with mirth. “You and I both know I don’t have enough ass to do anything of the sort. Come on,” she chortles, dragging me along with her, “let’s just go out there and show everyone how a zombie walk is done!”

Casting one last, regretful look back to the pole, I stumble into the crowd of faux decaying flesh and take up my own howling moan as resident onlookers smile and pause to watch us. Euphoric at the approval, I kick up the performance. Fuck, I live for this shit!

CHAPTER2

GRIMSAL

At first, I am alarmed by what appears to be a mass contagion outbreak, scanning the crowd of the infected as I creep closer. The moment the sharp scent of paint and glue hits my nose, I grin with delight as realization dawns.

A performance!How grand!

Slinking among the humans, I arrange to bump into a young male with his friends, each of them looking as delightfully gruesome as the next. Was that a knife through the other one’s head? Effective, but I think a battle ax would have been far more impressive.

Turning a friendly smile on the male beside me, I make a point to adopt a look of admiration as I study him and his companions.

“Fantastic costumes! What’s the occasion?”

The males collectively give me a confused look, but I brush it off. I’m accustomed to being on the receiving end of such looks. Instead, I wait with a patient smile as the one I addresses huffs with laughter.

“It’s the Zombie Walk, man! We do this shit every year right before Halloween. We’ve been trying to get them to hold it at least on the day before Halloween for years, but hey, got to take what you can get. At least they moved it to the week of.” He looks me over, furrowing his brow. “What exactly are you supposed to be, anyway?”

I glance down at myself. I look quite like myself. Perhaps a little different to those who haven’t seen me in a few years, but that is to be expected when a male goblin reaches his sexual prime.

Oh, I’ve been an adult for centuries and have enjoyed numerous sensual exploits, but I have now finally come of breeding age and am just waiting for my instincts to knock me on my ass when that perfect female meant to be my mate passes by. Physically, the changes are otherwise few if you don’t count the fact that my skin has darkened to a bolder green, and my eyes which were once emerald now glow with a yellow light that has taken them over. Then there are the horns. All small details, really.

“I’m just what you see—a humble goblin.”

He grins. “You are, huh? That’s crazy. What brings you to the Zombie Walk?”

I shrug, my eyes skimming the crowd. I don’t really know how to answer that question. Was it boredom, or something else that I can’t quite put my finger on? My gaze returns to him, and I lean against the thick metal pole of the street sign behind me. I return his smile and notice that his fades as he gets a good look at my sharp teeth. I sense that he has finally realized that I truly am exactly as I say I am, and it scares him. “I suppose that I’m just living for the moment.”

One of his companions clears his throat and shifts back. “Hey, I’m going to get closer to the front. This thing should be starting up at any moment. You coming, Doug?”

The male in front of me—Doug I’m assuming—swallows and nods his head. “Yeah, sounds good, Perry. Let’s head up.” He gives me an uneasy smile. “Nice meeting you… uh…”

“Grimsal,” I murmur with a tip of my head, but I doubt he heard it the way Doug and his friends are pushing their way through the crowd.

Ah, what a pity.

In the past, I might have pursued them to enjoy a bit of fun at their expense, frightening them. Some of my kind have eaten human prey in our distant past, but that fell out of fashion centuries ago. Still, that never did cure us of our love of inspiring fear in them. I am perhaps more tender hearted than most since I actually enjoy humans. I just enjoy teasing them a little. All the same, I’m at a loss.

WhatamI doing here? The Zombie Walk is a curious thing, but it should not have held my attention for so long. There are no sweet confections, which is my true purpose for coming to this place. Not just the sweets but also food and drink, and the most delicious of experiences. I want to feast on it all. It’s like a compulsion. I am a little concerned that it may be related to an instinctive need to mate-hunt and breed, but I must shut down that line of thinking. In that direction of thought lies disappointment. How many males thought it was the harmonic cord of the cosmos plucking for them, foretelling their alignment with their mate, only for it to have been a bit of indigestion?

No, I will not walk down that path of madness. I will know that the fates are speaking only the moment she crosses my path. Until that blessed event happens, it will simply be a matter of curiosity that makes me linger. I certainly have a plentiful supply of that. Curious as cats, we goblins are.

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