I woke up in the back seat of Martin’s car, unable to move and unable to speak. I could grunt and move my eyes if I focused intensely, but that was the extent of it. I was sandwiched in the middle seat, and while I couldn’t move my head, it was apparent that Martin and Grace were beside me most likely in the same position as me.

I watched as we took a few side roads into the woods and then continued along dirt paths. We drove for a good twenty minutes so that we were outside town enough to be afforded privacy, but close enough that a drive-in wasn’t a big event. I didn’t see any nearby residences though, so if I did regain the ability to scream… it would probably be for naught.

I spent the ride contemplating my situation. Some dude bit me in the neck and now I couldn’t move. I had narrowed things down to one of three scenarios.

#1. This dude had actually drugged us, not bitten us and I was in legit danger, maybe about to be sold into some human trafficking operation. This scared me, but oddly enough wasn’t the most believable option.

#2. This dude was some alpha zombie and we had just become zombies. And this was what being a zombie was like. I mean… the dude bit us. I didn’t feel a particular hankering for brains, but maybe that came later? Still, there was one more slightly believable answer.

 

#3. This dude was a motherfucking vampire. I mean… he bit us in the neck. He was extremely pale. He seemed totally unphased by a severe car accident which makes sense if he’s basically immortal. I could have sworn he maybe sucked some blood from Grace. The evidence lined up a lot better than for the other two.

 

Did that make us vampires? A part of his thrall? Could he have a thrall? Which continuity of vampire was he? The Twilight kind that sparkle? He didn’t look like the disfigured Nos Foratu kind… Did he sleep in a coffin? Was he affected by crosses? I looked over at Martin to see a cross hung around his neck for the Van Helsing costume, so I assumed probably not. What about holy water? Or garlic? I had some garlic fries with my free wings that night… was that enough to repel him? It didn’t appear so if he sucked my blood just fine. Did he suck my blood or just bite?

 

Eventually, we arrived. He had what looked like a small McMansion. Nothing super gothic or anything. It actually felt a bit homey. Maybe he was the twilight kind.

 

“Walk yourselves in and take a seat on the couch,” Mr. Vampire Man ordered us. I found my body moving of its own volition, which really spooked me out. Martin and Grace were moving as well.

 

I was first and my body opened the door with ease, so I guess it wasn’t locked. There was a staircase off to either side of us that both led to the same balcony, but we walked straight through to a foyer. There were two couches facing each other with a lavish, red carpet underneath. Our bodies settled on a couch that had a view of a large mirror. In the mirror, I could see a pristine kitchen and a balcony to the outdoors. It really was a nice place.

 

Mr. Vampire Man walked into our unmovable view twirling a glass of golden brownish liquid that he occasionally sipped at. I got a better look at his face and there was a tinge of blood around the corners of his mouth. I corroborated that there was also a bit of blood that had trickled down each of our respective necks.

 

“So… kids.” Mr. Vampire Man started. Okay, I’d managed to stay relatively calm, but the weight of the situation was really starting to hit me. “Welcome to my thrall. I haven’t had a thrall in a while, so we’re just gonna have to bare through this together. Call it a real learning experience. The name’s Greg, but you can call me master, or what is it that you keep calling each other? Daddy? Is that right? Oh… if Freud could see what the world has become… I never met the man. Just because I’m old doesn’t mean that I know every big historical figure of my time.” He rambled on. “So uh… Halloween huh. Why’d you pick each of your costumes?”

 

None of us answered, although I’m not sure we could if we wanted to. Master—I mean… Fuck! I couldn’t seem to think of him as anything else. Daddy? I shivered. Nope. That was WAY worse. Master pointed to Grace, who answered like her life depended on it, basically vomiting out the answer.

 

“It made me feel sexy but not too cold.”

 

“Practical… I like that,” Master remarked. “You?” he asked, pointing to Martin.

 

“It makes me feel badass and makes up for my crippling insecurity about my masculinity.”

 

Master chuckled. Then he pointed to me. I was shocked at how truthful Martin and Grace had been, but once it was my turn I realized they’d had no choice. Much like how our bodies had been moving without us, our mouths seemed to be too.

 

“It was an easy costume and leaning into the femininity makes me feel good.” WHAT THE FUCK DID I SAY!? It wasn’t true… was it? I… I… I suppose it was or rather had to be. It was a bit of a shock to hear from my own mouth though and I could see in my reflection that I was red as a tomato.

 

Master shook his head almost knowingly. “You’re not alone kids. You should have seen me at your age. I’ll help you out though. Think of it like favors we do for each other. I scratch your back, and you scratch mine.”

 

I think I just sat there almost as pale as Master.

 

“Oh, lighten up you lot. Little miss me, stand up please.” Grace immediately stood up. Master walked around her like an appraiser looks at a precious antique. I followed his eyeline and could tell what he was seeing.

 

Grace had always been pretty middle road attractiveness. She had dark brown hair that in certain lighting passed for black. She was pretty short and sort of stocky which was a look that I’m sure some guys like Martin found attractive. Her face was pretty, probably the prettiest thing about her. Overall she was… nice.

 

Once Master had circled around a few times I started noticing some changes though. Like I looked away and looked back and she was just slightly different, but like she’d always been that way.

 

I blinked and she felt taller, a good bit taller. She probably rivaled me in height. My eyes moved to another location and things changed again. The slight brown in her hair shot to a deep shimmering black. I looked at her eyes and they seemed narrower and equally black where they had been brown. Her figure thinned out too. Her nose had elongated just slightly and her lips pulled in just a bit. Her skin became a very even desaturated pink. I blinked a couple times and really reassessed her. She looked like a Sorority girl dressed up like a vampire. Everything about her was still her, but a version of her that went out partying on Thursday nights yet still held a 4.0 GPA.

 

Grace’s expression throughout all of this was blank. It wasn’t until I stopped noticing changes that she seemed to notice herself in the mirror and react to her new appearance.

 

“You can sit down now.” She did as Master told her, but she was still quite spooked. Master nodded at Martin who then stood where Grace had been, and the cycle continued itself.

 

Martin had pretty unremarkable brown hair and looked like a somewhat built but still scrawny nerdy dude. His best feature was probably his eyes which were a very pale blue-green that caught your attention. Master started circling him and the changes began happening.

 

The outfit had looked a little dwarfing on Martin, but I blinked and suddenly he filled it out to the max while still being comfortable. He looked slim-cut but muscled. Another blink and his hair took on some blond highlights. His five o’clock shadow grew more noticeable, and he looked as though he too rose a few small inches in height. His eyes retained their color, but the rest of his face suddenly looked more daunting and dashing. He wasn’t a pretty boy, but he wasn’t a full renegade.

 

Master nodded and he sat down. Fuck. Fucking goddamn shit! That meant I was up.

 

“Just relax and lean into it. Have some fun,” Master told me as I stood up. I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked pretty damn scrawny. Where Martin had some muscle, I just had skin and bone. I didn’t eat much, didn’t exercise,  and mostly just played video games. I’d put some dye in my hair and eyebrows to get the red hair for my Peter Pan costume, but normally my hair was the same unremarkable brown as Martin’s. I was taller than him, although that was before he got a boost, and probably resembled that lanky character from that one anime that was pretty popular.

 

Then Master circled me and I felt like I was being circled by a shark.

 

I blinked and suddenly, the garish red dye I’d put in my hair was a natural auburn-ginger. Another blink and I had freckles. This dude was taking my costume too fucking literally. I started thinking about Grace’s and Martin’s changes. Each had gotten far more attractive, and I guess it seemed to be a bit in line with why they’d picked their costumes. Did that mean I was gonna end up like a little kid forever like the real Peter Pan? I was panicking.

 

Another blink and my usually dull hazel eyes were a brilliant green. Then… the big shifts started happening.

 

I looked to the right and immediately felt disoriented. Looking back at the mirror, it was clear that I’d lost height… a lot it. I was just a smidge over six feet, and now was probably who knows!? Maybe 5’5”? I wanted to scream or move or do something, but I was still frozen.

 

Then I started noticing several rapid but small changes that seemed to be implying towards something else. My arms thinned out and my body re-proportioned. My hips had flared out and I was starting to look very boyish. Fuck fuck fuck!

 

Then things went absolutely sideways. A blink and I had hips. Like… curvy hips. A blink and my nose shrank and buttoned up. A blink and my waist pulled in sharply. A blink and my shoulders softened. A blink and my face rounded out. A blink and all sorts of fat redistributed. A blink and I felt a weight pulling on my back that made me want to lean forward. A blink. A blink. A blink.

 

A blink and standing where I was in the mirror was the sexiest redhead girl I’ve ever seen in my life.