Apollyon closed her eyes as she took the last bite of the casserole Kate had made for her. Today was her birthday. Not a day demons tended to celebrate but Kate had been insistent on figuring out when Apollyon was born and what date that day would be on the current Gregorian calendar used by the humans surrounding the library.

That day, by pure chance, was the thirty-first of October. Halloween.

“This is delicious, you have become a fine cook.”

Kate leaned back in her chair. The two demons were alone in the library this evening and had decided to enjoy their dinner in the restaurant in the back. “I learned from the best.”

“You took another teacher?”

“Oh no, I just applied what you taught me to a recipe from Euryale’s book.”

“The result is truly great.” Apollyon paused, then sighed. “I understand why you wanted to celebrate this day with me.”

It had been just over a year since Kate had first entered the library, this was the first time she got the chance to find a special day for her friend and she took it.

“You celebrated my birthday with me, so I am celebrating yours with you. It’s only fair.”

“True. Do you have further plans for today?”

“I don’t know if it counts as a plan, but I expect something to happen that might amuse you.”

“What would that be?”

Kate grinned. “A surprise.”

The surprise didn’t take long to arrive. Further small talk between the two friends was interrupted by the bell at the reception desk.

“There we go. I’ll let you have a little fun trying to figure this out, but don’t worry, I’ll be there to jump in if anything happens.”

Apollyon raised an eyebrow. “That does sound interesting. Let’s see what awaits me.”

 

A group of young teenagers, fourteen years old maybe, was waiting at the reception desk. All of them were dressed up in spooky costumes.

“Trick or treat!”

Apollyon let her eyes wander across the strange group. Another of the boys spoke up while the demon took a moment to gather her thoughts.

“Told you guys the librarians don’t have any sweets.”

That was all Apollyon needed to hear to connect the dots. Kate had told her about a tradition on this day that saw children go from house to house to gather candy.

“On the contrary.” She sounded quite stern. “You are the first to dare enter this place in search of treats and you shall be rewarded for that bravery.” Apollyon reached under the desk, covertly conjuring a bowl of chocolate bars before putting it on the desk. “Take six for each of you.”

“Woah, really? You’re amazing!”

“There is a price to pay though.”

“Uh-oh.”

Apollyon smiled devilishly. “There are other groups out there seeking treats, are there not?”

“Uh, yes?”

“Tell them of what you found here. And make sure to return to this place to look at our other offerings. Those who read here will receive greater reward.”

“We can do that. Thank you again, awesome librarian lady!”

The kids packed up their spoils in decorated bags and giddily bounced back towards the exit. The two demons caught a last few words before the group left.

“Told you guys this place was awesome.”

“Dangit Jer, I hate it when you’re right…”

Kate had been standing back during this encounter and only now approached the reception desk. “Fun, isn’t it?”

“I see what you meant by surprise.”

“Why tell them to send others here though?”

Apollyon smiled warmly. “I enjoyed this and so did they. It is only fair to share that enjoyment.”

 

It took a while but eventually another group hesitantly opened the library doors.

“Oh hey, didn’t expect this place to be open this late. Totally thought Peter was getting a one up on us.”

“He isn’t such a bad guy.” The group mainly consisted of girls this time, all of them around the same age as the previous guys and dressed in coordinated vampire outfits.

Apollyon leaned forward onto the desk. “We are open at all hours. Not once since the day of our founding have these doors been locked.”

“That is great? Uhm… Trick or Treat?”

The disguised devil put the big bowl of chocolates back on the desk. “Treats for all of you. Peter’s group was given six for each of them and told to spread knowledge of our chocolates. You will be offered the same.”

All but one girl eagerly picked their treats, thanking the two librarians. Apollyon raised an eyebrow at the one who didn’t. “Do you not desire sweets?”

The girl frowned. “I can’t have chocolate but thank you anyway, you’re amazingly generous.”

“That will not do. You will not leave without the treats I have promised. Are you able to enjoy hard candy?”

“Yea, just don’t like liquorish if you have anything else.”

Apollyon reached under the desk again, pulling out a bag of mixed hard candies. “These are equivalent to the chocolates in your friends’ bags, not only those they received from us. This bag is yours now.”

“Are you sure? This is a lot.”

“Today is a day to spread joy, you deserve it as much as your friends do. I am very sure.”

“Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome.”

 

After the girls had left, more and more groups began to trickle in. All of them showed surprise that the library was not only open at this ever later hour but was also giving out generous amounts of sweets.

Most groups had the same fun time, but there was one that caught Kate’s attention. A mother was accompanying her seven-year-old and his two friends. She said something that needed special attention.

“Alright, now you know that the nice librarians are open all day, okay?”

The boy nodded.

“So, if you can’t get home or can’t call me for whatever reason, you go here, understood? The librarians won’t allow those boys to bully you. Call me when you are here and I will come pick you up, but you will be safe here.”

“Okay.”

Kate waved the mother aside as the kids approached Apollyon for their treats. “I couldn’t help but overhear what you said to your son.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t want to burden you with his problems at school. I just found refuge here when I was his age and had troubles with some boys too. If you don’t want him to come here, I can tell him to go to another spot.”

“Not at all. He will be safe here, I am just curious if there is something more we can do. We are working closely with the schools since the reading programs started with the new school year. If you could get us the names of his bullies, we might be able to discretely do something.”

“Discretely?”

Kate nodded. “I know how much it can backfire to openly engage them about their behaviour and have them find out who nudged the teachers about that. I won’t tolerate bullying and with your permission and, of course, working together with you, we might be able to put a stop to that.”

“That would be great, thank you. If it’s okay, I will come by again tomorrow morning to discuss this more closely. This is supposed to be a fun evening for the kids, I don’t want to taint that.”

“I understand and I will be here. My colleague will be here too, she has more experience in that matter.”

“Thank you again. Even just making this a place that he feels safe outside our house is a good step forward.”

“Then let’s make that happen.”

 

Eventually, no more groups came. It was nearly midnight when Nirrti returned to the library to take over from Kate and Apollyon, who had now retreated to the old devil’s home.

They had gotten comfortable on the couch, having their own bowl of sweets to snack on.

“What a strange custom that is. I do enjoy it though.”

“Told you Halloween is awesome. I do wonder…”

“What are you thinking about?”

Kate tilted her head slightly. “Since everyone is dressing up, how much of our real selves could we show without being questioned?”

“Hm. That would be interesting to know. We shall talk to Azazel and warn her about our experiments next year.”

“So, you just want to try?”

“Yes. What better way to push the limits of human curiosity?”

“Let’s do some experimenting then. Good thing you have a Nightmare to handle anything going wrong right at your side.”

Apollyon ran her hand through Kate’s hair. “My favourite Nightmare.”

“Aww, you’re so sweet.”

“As are you. It was a great gift to show me the joy of children on my birthday, thank you.”

“Wasn’t my doing, this was pure coincidence.”

“We never had anyone visiting the library for tricks or treats on this date, I doubt you were entirely uninvolved.”

Kate shrugged. “I might have dropped a few choice words about preparing treats near one of the boys from the first group, but I didn’t do anything else.”

“So, you did exert influence on today’s events.”

“Yea, I kind of did. Still, don’t credit me! I just made the best out of the situation given to me.”

Apollyon smiled. “Then I request you keep making the best of the situation on this specific date in the coming years.”