The party had been going strong for hours, the music was pumping, a mix of classic anthems and party favourites, it had been halloween night after all and now in the earlier hours of November first Malic White was enjoying a peaceful bottled beer at the bar far from the mayhem being caused by his friends.

Rose in her devilishly tight army girl costume had meant she had been a firm favourite with the other lads in the club. In fact her phone book contacts had probably already doubled and there was still a few hours remaining before kick out. It wasn't really her fault if her genetics had forced her to develop naturally large breasts that were made to look even bigger on her unnaturally natural near perfect hourglass figure. To top it off the red hair and freckles were complemented by her rich chocolate coloured eyes. Malic loved her, but would never consider it, she was like a sister, they had always been neighbours and now they shared a house.

Rose wasn't the only wild child with him, Layla used her preferred Gothic theme to really embrace the halloween spirit with her fishnet tights, skull faced bikini with gory transfers for horrific wounds all over her body. She looked bloody, but bloody hot at the same time, her black hair and blue eyes really made her stand out, while no where near as well chested as Rose, or shapely she still drew alot of attention, which she milked for all she could.

Then there was Kate, stunningly blonde with green emerald eyes and a smile that stretched from ear to ear. She had taken several hours to decide what she was going to wear, and Malic had to give his opinion on each outfit before she disregarded his opinion and tried on something else. In the end Rose and Layla had told her to stick on her Vampire School Girl outfit, so she put her hair up in Britney tails, slipped into her outfit and was finishing off the make up in the back of the cab on the way to the club.

How did this rather unexceptional guy end up in a house with three fiesty party happy twenty something hotties? That started out as a bet with his mate Chris, who was dressed as a giant killer panda trying his luck grinding near a woman who clearly wasn't interested in being hit on by a panda. He was usually shy, but put him in a costume where no one can see him and he was a very different person. He had already drunk enough for him to feel invincible that however usually only took three bottles of light beer. He was flying high, but if he wasn't careful he would hit the floor with a bang.

Watching them all letting their hair down he sipped his beer and found himself laughing at Chris as he tried to grab the woman he was dancing beside only for her to throw him effortlessly over her shoulder to the floor. Clearly her she-hulk costume was more of a warning than fancy dress. Taking another sip of his beer he heard a faint voice to his left.

Turning to see who the voice belonged to he was taken a back by the porcelain coloured cheeks of the woman now sitting beside him. She signalled down the barman and ordered a Killer Orange, I watched as the barman poured two shots of pure orange concentrate into a tall tumbler, then hazardly measured out half the glass of vodka, a shot of strawberry sours and topped the glass up with lemonade and handed over the cocktail. Before she could pay Malic flagged him down.

"I'll take one of those and I'll pay for hers as well." The barman looked at the woman and she nodded, he then set about making another Killer Orange. When he hamded over the drink he asked for payment and Malic handed over the cash as the stranger shifted her stool closer to his. "Hi I'm Malic." He said once she was sat down again.

"My names Kandra, you come here often?" She asked taking a long drink from her tumbler. Malic looked toward his friends who were still raving like lunatics, Chris had joined them, and the girls were swapping and dragging in men to dance with every twenty or so seconds. "Friends of yours?" Malic heared her ask.

"Yeah sorry, housemates in fact. We come here most weekends for a drink or two. You?" He replied adding a question at the end to keep the conversation going.

"Me, not often. Halloween so enjoying my last night of freedom before a 30 day work shift with no days off." She smiled and took another drink. Malic looked her up and down, she was wearing a tight black armless sweater, torns jeans and a very distinctive necklace around her neck. Malic took a drink of the mixer and was pleasantly surprised that it actually tasted rather good. "My favourite drink." She said after watching him try it. "I call it the Killer Orange, I used to work here, it's my own deadly mix." She added.

After talking a while with several rude but expected interruptions from his friends, he managed to get the conversation around to the necklace. "It's a family heirloom, it is a tradition that one of the family wear it for thirty days during November. Rather weird, but that's my family all over." Said Kandra as she signalled for another two drinks.

"Do you fancy having these then taking a walk, get some air?" Her smile was soft and Malic liked the idea so he agreed. So they talked as they drunk about nothing of importance before Rose stumbled over.

"We are off." He said to her as she smiled at Kandra.

"Sure, we will be fine, although I think Chris will be on the floor soon. You two go and get to know each other better." She winked at Malic then stumbled back into the dance floor.

"Sorry about them." Finishing off his drink he grabbed his coat and waited for Kandra to finish her drink. Once she placed the glass back on the bar she took his hand and began walking out of the club.

They walked to the local park which had been decorated up in the spirit of halloween. As they walked hand in hand Malic couldn't help but ask again about the necklace. "It's very unique I've never seen anything like it." Kandra nodded with a smile. "It looks like it's dirty as though it's supposed to shine or glow." He looked at her and he noticed something in her eyes.

"There is a story about the necklace, it's rather silly but i'll tell you anyway." She said after a moment thinking. "It is said that at certain point of each year the Necklace has to consume a human heart every day for thirty days otherwise the world would burn in brimstone and flood to clean away the sin of the world." She looked at him to judge his reaction, but he just looked at her.

"And what month is this supposed to be during?" He asked playfully.

Kandra looked at him with a rather gloomy expression on her face. "November. The story goes that for thirty days after what was once called the Hallows Reaving, now know as Halloween, the necklace must consume thirty human hearts as sacrifice to stop the end of the world." Awaiting some kind of rejection of the story she was disappointed when he simply replied.

"That's the job you have for the next thirty days without a break, you're going to be a serial killer who feeds her victims hearts to a necklace to save the world." She tried to tell if he was joking or serious and realised she didn't know him well enough, yet something about him kept chipping away at her.

"Well now you know I have to kill you." She said after taking his hands in hers. There was no hint of concern in his eyes, and his laugh caused her to flinch. Without warning she grabbed his neck and snapped it. Allowing his weight to fall into her she eased him to the floor. Then she stood over him, he looked remarkably like someone she used to know, but it didn't matter she had to use his heart. Removing the knife she had concealed in the small of her back she knelt down ready to make the first cut.

Without warning Malic's eyes shot open and he saw the knife in her hand he quickly rolled away onto his knees to stare straight at her. "Are you crazy?" He shouted drawing the attention of two passersby for a second before they walked on. "You are seriously trying to kill me?"

With stunned belief she nodded, unable to speak. She had snapped his neck, she felt it shatter. This wasn't her first killing this way, she knew what she was doing. Yet here he was shouting at her, perfectly alive. There could only be one explanation. Catching her words she spoke. "I'm really sorry, I told you about the story of the necklace. You don't understand I have to feed it a human heart."

"I thought you were joking." He replied. "It's just a story isn't it, I mean really thirty hearts in thirty days... that's serial killer level stuff." Feeling his chest Malic could count the quickening beat of his own heart, glad for a moment that he still had it.

"I wish it was, but its more than that. I tried to kill you, but I couldn't." She lied a little, he should have died by her hands and she had her suspicions why he was still alive, he wouldn't believe her if she told him anyway. "Let's get out of here and talk." He looked at her with caution then nodded.

After walking from the park to a well lit bench near the bus station they sat down to talk. "I'm sorry." Started Kandra, Malic noticed the sincerity in her eyes and he put his arm around her nervously.

"Look I understand I think, you get this heirloom with this creepy story, you're unsure if it's true so you scare yourself into doing the unthinkable." Malic looked at her and she shook her head. "You don't need to kill anyone."

"This isn't the first time I have done this." She admitted looking into his eyes, she didn't want to tell him any of this, but yet she felt compelled to, drawn to him, a total stranger. Kandra could only guess it was to do with why she hadn't killed him. "Look I'll go and leave you to think, I will come back here at six this evening, if you're here I know I can trust you to help me, if your not then you will never see me again." She looked at him and he nodded and stood up.

"If I come back I'll help you anyway I can." He gave her a kiss on the cheek "If I don't come back it was nice to meet you Kandra and I'm sorry this isn't given the chance to become something, I think your a great woman, who needs help." He turned to leave and as he took a few steps he turned to face her.

"I'll be fine Malic, just go." Without looking back again he walked toward the club.

Once back at the club he was met by a police car parked out side and Rose and Kate were stood talking to one of the officers. Malic rushed over to them and Rose threw her arms around him. "It's Layla." She said through a flood of tears. Then Malic felt Kate grab them both in her own arms. Pulling free he looked around, he couldn't see Chris or Layla, he grabbed Kate's hands and asked what had happened.

"She was raped on the dance floor." She said her eyes red raw from crying. "The guy is still inside holding a few people hostage including Chris. The police are waiting for back up before going in."

Malic looked toward the club "Where is Layla?" He asked. His heart was in his mouth as he began to fear the worst.

"She's on the way to the hospital, he was brutal, I can't describe what we watched. Her tore her, forced her to..." she stopped for a moment to catch her breath. "He used the handle of his knife." She began to cry. "She bled and bled and bled, she's never let anyone near there, she didn't want to." Kate dropped her head into Malic's shoulder and sobbed. He looked at Rose a bit puzzled, she pointed to her ass and began to sob.

The officer took details from Malic but wasn't to concerned as he wasn't in the club at the time. Feeling the rage building he told the girls he would be back as quick as he could and he ran back toward the bus station.

Kandra was still sat on the bench as he ran over, she looked at him and smiled. "Are you serious about all this?" He asked panting, she nodded with certainty and Malic felt the anger swell within him. "I found someone you can use for it."

They walked quickly back to the club as running was no longer an option for Malic. As they did Malic explained what had happened and Kandra understood why he wanted her help. She was happy to help and she suddenly felt better with him  nearby after feeling empty when he walked away. As they got to the club they managed to slip passed the police who were struggling to contain the issue.

Inside it was quiet and they could hear the guy shouting orders at his hostages. They crept into the hall and worked their way toward the vile creature keeping to the shadows. Malic went to find Chris and get him out safely with the others, Kandra went straight for her victim.

Using the method she used on Malic to take him down her victim fell to the floor with easy. Once on the floor she cut open his chest and exposed the heart by snapping away the ribs. She then unclipped the necklace and pushed the red heart into the still beating heart. The necklace piece began to glow and as it did Malic saw the mans heart shrivel up like a dry prune. Kandra pulled he necklace clear and put it back around her neck. Malic saw one of the blue gems glow and he suddenly realised this woman was telling the truth, and he decided to help her.

They left the club and met back up with the others, Malic and his house mates decided they would head home, get sorted then go to the hospital in shifts, two at a time to stay with Layla. So for the rest of the day Malic remained with his friends while Kandra had things to work out herself, she needed to speak to the Librarian, so bidding them good night she left. With the first day of the Harvest already complete, she had time to find out who or what Malic was.