Bath of Blood

"Hey, I brought you your check," Dylan said, placing his payment on Riley's desk. The desk was covered with so many papers Dylan hoped his check wouldn't get lost in the clutter. Normally Riley didn't accept checks from clients but she made an exception for Dylan. The truth was, she thought he was kind of cute.

"Thanks," Riley said. "So how'd it go?"

"She gave me a list of business associates of her brother's," Dylan said.

"Did she?" Riley said in surprise. "Let me see. I can make a copy, see what I can dig up on them, too."

Dylan handed Riley the list. Riley quickly scurried over to the copy machine, and slapped the paper onto the surface. Dylan loved that Riley just exuded energy all the time. It made him feel comfortable hiring her to be his P.I. It seemed she would always go the extra mile to get him what he needed.

The copy machine spat out three copies of Catherine's list. Riley grabbed them and handed the original back to Dylan.

"Why is it that a copy machine can make three printouts in less time than it takes a printer to make one?" Riley vented.

"I think you should consider getting a printer that wasn't made before the Bush administration," Dylan chuckled.

"Har har," Riley said. She was barefoot as she usually was around the office, though Dylan noticed her high heels were parked right by the door, since she wore those everywhere else she went. Riley always dressed nicely, which Dylan found surprising since she would be the first one to climb through an open sewer grate to rescue a trapped kitten if the situation called for it.

"So what did Jaclyn say when you got back?" Riley asked.

"She went with me, actually," Dylan said.

"Really?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, I think she was scared of me confronting this lady alone," Dylan said.

"Is she still going on about the vampire thing?" Riley asked.

Dylan shook his head.

"No, she hasn't mentioned it at all today," Dylan said. "Thank God too, I was worried she'd mention it to Catherine and make us look like a couple loons."

"Speaking of that," Riley said. She handed Dylan a newspaper clipping.

"Local Woman Found Dead," the headline read. The article described a young woman's body found in a drainage ditch several cites away. She was found naked with numerous cuts on her chest and neck and most of her blood drained and missing.

"Lukas," Dylan said out loud.

"I don't think so," Riley said. "Not his M.O. No sexual assault. In fact, the girl was a virgin."

"Well, maybe Lukas wised up and stopped leaving his DNA behind."

"Or it's a copycat," Riley said. "Just letting you know, not saying this is related."

Riley went to her filing cabinet and opened the bottom drawer. Her round bubble butt showed nicely through her black pencil skirt as she bent over.

"So, any plans for Halloween?" Riley asked.

"Well, Jaclyn's trying to talk me into going to a Halloween party tomorrow," Dylan said.

"Ooh, that sounds like fun," Riley said, tucking away a folder and shutting the drawer. "You gonna go?"

Dylan shrugged.

"I don't think so."

"Why not?" Riley asked.

"Ah, you know. It's not a fun time of year for me," Dylan said.

Riley looked at Dylan, and sighed sadly. Few things depressed her more than a young person who had grown up too fast.

"You shouldn't let this hang over you for the rest of your life, Dylan," Riley said, stepping towards him. "This revenge quest is going to ruin you if you let it."

Dylan sighed.

"I know, but-"

"No, Dylan, you need to start enjoying your life," Riley said. "Get out of the house, get a girlfriend, do something other than obsess over finding your mom's killer- THAT- will be more helpful to you in finding peace."

Dylan looked into Riley's bright blue eyes. She wrapped her arms around him, and pulled him close.

"Will you do that Dylan? Please?"

"Yeah," Dylan said.

"Good," Riley smiled. She planted a kiss on his cheek. "I'll look into those names you gave me but I WANT you to do something fun, okay?"

"I will, I will," Dylan said.

"Glad to hear it. Now get out of here. I got a badminton game in twenty and I need to get changed." She gave him a pat on the butt and hurried over to her closet.

"I'll see you around," Dylan said.

"You too, honey," Riley said, taking a polo shirt and a pair of shorts out of the closet. With that, Dylan walked out of Riley's office, and for the first time in a long time, he smiled.

* * * * *

2. The Lost Key

"All right, here I come!"

The bedroom door opened, and Jaclyn exited. She wore a sexy angel costume; Dylan noted, to his dismay, that "sexy" in this context meant "half-naked."

The costume consisted of a shimmering white bra, a shiny glitter-covered halo suspended above her head by a thin wire attached to a headband, a zigzag-trimmed white miniskirt, and white high heels.

"What do you think?" Jaclyn asked, twirling around in a circle. As she did, her skirt blew upwards, giving her brother a brief glimpse of her lacy white panties. Dylan crossed his arms.

"Don't you think it's a little too revealing?" Dylan asked contemptuously.

"Sure, Dad," Jaclyn said, rolling her eyes. "All the girls at this party are going to be wearing sexy costumes."

"Doesn't mean you have to," Dylan said.

"What am I supposed to do, be the only girl there dressed as a frumpy witch? Your sister is going to this party dressed as a sexy angel. Deal with it."

Dylan could see he wasn't winning this argument. He knew he didn't have any real authority over his sister, even if he was her legal guardian until her recent eighteenth birthday.

"So where's your costume?" Jaclyn asked. Dylan chuckled.

"I'm not wearing a costume."

"Oh come on, you HAVE to wear a costume, it's a Halloween party!" Jaclyn said. "Come on, let's look around, we can throw something together for you!"

Now it was Dylan's turn to roll his eyes. As if going to the party wasn't enough, now he was being talked into wearing a costume. Succumbing to defeat, Dylan retreated to his bedroom to search for Halloween attire.

His closet didn't look promising. Most of his clothes were just- clothes, nothing that could be made into something that could possibly incite screams of terror, unless you counted Dylan's horrendous fashion sense.

He found an old suit jacket with several holes in it. He thought for a bit about what he could potentially do with it, and couldn't think of anything that adequately amused him. He decided to check the hall closet, hoping the items his parents had put away there might spark some inspiration. It wasn't until he noticed the stacks of toilet paper on the top shelf when Dylan got an idea.

He retreated into the bathroom, grabbed a roll of toilet paper, and wrapped it around his body, covering his arms, legs, torso, and finally his face. He left just a small slit for him to see, and laughed when he saw his reflection in the mirror.

"All right Jaclyn, come check this out!"

Dylan opened the bathroom door, outstretched his arms, and staggered towards Jaclyn, doing his best Boris Karloff expression.

"Urrrrrggggghhhhhh!" Dylan growled. Jaclyn burst out laughing.

"That is HILARIOUS!" Jaclyn shouted. "I knew you could think of something good! Looks good on you too. How did you find one in your size?"

Dylan wrapped his arms around Jaclyn and squeezed her. Jaclyn giggled.

"I think it still needs work, though," Jaclyn said. "You know, some of Mom's old jewelry is up in the attic. I bet some of it would go great with your costume. Let's take a look."

Dylan followed Jaclyn down the hall. She grabbed a hanging cord, which lowered a ladder that led up into the attic. Jaclyn climbed up the ladder and beckoned Dylan to follow. As he did, Dylan found he could see straight up Jaclyn's skirt with a plain view of her skimpy thong. He shook his head, irritated at his once innocent sister's sexy attire, and continued up into the attic.

Jaclyn pulled a string which flicked on a hanging light bulb, illuminating the musty old attic. They found themselves surrounded by boxes. Most of them were Gabby's possessions, which their father had stored away here after her death.

"Let's see, one of these has her jewelery. I think it was a red box," Jaclyn said. Dylan treaded through the attic, looking for something that looked promising. He opened one box, only to find old photo albums inside.

"Look, Mom's wedding dress," Jaclyn said. She examined the shimmering white gown before sadly putting it back in the box. As she did, she felt something slide off and onto the attic floorboards. Curious, Jaclyn picked up the strange object.

It was a key. It looked like pure brass, with the image of a skull engraved on the handle, with deep crimson jewels embedded in the eye sockets. It had a thin but sturdy chain wound through the end, long enough for it to serve as a necklace.

"Dylan, look at this!" Jaclyn said. Dylan hobbled over towards Jaclyn and examined the old key.

"I remember that!" Dylan said. "Mom showed it to me a long time ago. It's supposed to be a skeleton key. You know, it can open any lock. She wore it on her wedding day, for her Something Old. It belonged to Great Aunt Clara."

Jaclyn held the key closely, running her fingers over the smooth finish.

"This would be perfect," Jaclyn said, and put the key around Dylan's neck. Dylan looked down at himself.

"Could work," Dylan said.

"Let's see if there's anything else up here," Jaclyn said. The siblings prowled the attic, opening various boxes. Finally, it was Dylan who discovered the red box they sought.

"Found it," Dylan said. Jaclyn hobbled towards him. In retrospect, wearing her high heels into the attic might not have been the best idea.

The box contained several bits of assorted jewelry, as well as an old fancy wooden jewelry box. Jaclyn removed the jewelry box and attempted to open it.

"It's locked," Jaclyn said. "See if there's a key anywhere in there."

"Got a key right here," Dylan laughed, holding up the skeleton key.

"Hmm, try it," Jaclyn said. Dylan inserted the skeleton key into the lock, and twisted it. To his surprise, the lock opened.

"Damn," Dylan said in amazement. "Maybe it really is a skeleton key."

Jaclyn opened the jewelry box, and found a collection of much fancier jewelry inside. Diamond earrings, a pearl necklace, and gold bracelets were inside. There was also a cross necklace as well as a fancy gold crucifix.

"I didn't know Mom had one of these," Jaclyn said, holding up the crucifix. "Looks nice."

"Yeah, Mom had to turn away from Catholicism. Dad was her second marriage after all."

Jaclyn sorted through the other jewelry in the box.

"Here, you can put one of those bracelets on each wrist, like this," Jaclyn said. She put the gold bracelets on Dylan's hands, and he held his arms up to admire his new bling.

"I got mad swag for a 3,000 year old dead guy, huh?" Dylan asked. Jaclyn laughed.

"All right, lets put this stuff away. It's almost time to go," Jaclyn said.

"Actually, I think we should take some of this downstairs. Don't you think it'd be a shame to leave heirlooms like these locked away?"

"You're right," Jaclyn agreed.

Dylan carried the jewelry box out of the attic and Jaclyn followed. He placed the box on the hallway buffet table, wondering if it looked good there as a decorative piece.

After raising the attic ladder, Jaclyn wiped the dust from her skirt and thighs. "Looks like we got kinda dirty up there. It fits your costume pretty good though."

Dylan had to agree. With his costume complete, he and Jaclyn got into his car and headed out to the party.

* * * * *

Dylan had to park in the street since the driveway in front of Scott Hanley's house was full. They could hear loud music booming from inside, and a few party-goers lounged on the front porch smoking a joint. As they stepped up onto the front porch, Dylan turned to Jaclyn.

"Should we just go in?" Dylan asked.

"Uh, yeah..." Jaclyn said condescendingly. It was obvious Dylan didn't go to many parties. Jaclyn opened the door and the siblings stepped inside.

The house was packed with college-aged students in Halloween costumes. Dylan could see Jaclyn wasn't kidding about girls wearing sexy costumes. It appeared every girl in the house was wearing a scantily-clad version of something.

He looked around the room to see a naughty nurse, a busty girl in a french maid costume with her breasts nearly ready to pop out of her corset, a Hooters waitress, and even a girl dressed as Eve, wearing nothing but a plastic snake around her body.

"Jaclyn! Lookin' hot babe!" a young man in black and white clown makeup said, walking up to Jaclyn.

"Hi Scott!" Jaclyn said, giving the scary clown a hug.

"You look good! So who's Imhotep here?" Scott asked.

"Oh this is my brother, Dylan. Dylan, this is Scott."

Scott and Dylan nodded at one another. Dylan only needed to see the lipstick smear on Scott's neck before he decided he disliked him. He made a mental note to keep his eye on Scott that evening, particularly if he went near Jaclyn.

"Well hey, let me get you guys some beers," Scott said. He walked over to a table, poured two beers into plastic cups, and handed one each to Dylan and Jaclyn. Dylan took a sip of his beer and whispered to Jaclyn.

"I'm keeping it light tonight. Somebody has to drive your drunk ass home."

Jaclyn giggled and gulped her beer down.

Dylan made his way through the crowd and checked out the party. Several girls were dancing in the living room in a sexually suggestive manner. A young couple seated on the couch was aggressively seeing which one of them could insert their tongue farther into the other's mouth. In the kitchen, a bushy-haired husky guy had several young ladies in a game of strip poker. By the looks of it, he'd been doing well, as two of the three girls were already stripped down to their panties.

Dylan took a seat at the kitchen counter while Jaclyn made her was out to the dance floor. He took a sip of his beer while watching his sister wiggle her butt for all of the guys who were ogling her.

"Hey Charmin! Nice costume!"

Dylan turned to see two young women dressed in sexy schoolgirl uniforms take a seat on either side of him at the counter.

"Thanks," Dylan said, sheepishly. He tried not to stare, but it was difficult not to notice both of the schoolgirls had the top few buttons on their blouses unbuttoned enough to reveal a very significant amount of cleavage. The girl on Dylan's left was a redhead, with fetching green eyes. The other was brunette with beautiful brown eyes.

"So how do you know Scott?" the redhead asked.

"My sister has a class with him; she brought me here," Dylan said.

"Who's your sister?" the brunette asked. Dylan turned toward Jaclyn.

"She's the angel grinding her ass against Scott's groin out there in the living room," Dylan said. The girls turned to see Jaclyn on the dance floor doing just that. They laughed.

Dylan made small talk with the scantily clad schoolgirls for several minutes, discovering that the redhead was named Rose and the brunette Violet, and they were sophomores at the same college Jaclyn had just enrolled. Dylan explained how he worked full time in an auto shop to support Jaclyn's education as he was her primary guardian.

"That's so nice of you!" Rose said, putting her hand on Dylan's. He smiled.

"Ladies!" the bushy haired husky guy said, approaching Rose and Violet. "Who's up for a game of strip poker?"

"Sure," Violet said. "Dylan, want to play?"

Dylan shook his head.

"No thanks. I need these wraps to hold my insides together," Dylan said. Violet laughed.

Dylan glanced at the card table to see the three young ladies in the previous game all looked to be quite naked. The three blushing beauties quickly picked through a pile of discarded clothes on the floor and covered themselves once again.

Jaclyn came into the kitchen, bobbing her head to the beat of the hip hop song blasting from the speaker system, as Scott poured her another drink.

"Jackie! Strip poker?" the husky guy asked. Dylan leaped to his feet,

"No, this one doesn't have enough clothing to make the ante as it is," Dylan said, stepping between Jaclyn and the husky guy.

"Sorry Brett, my big brother doesn't want to see the angel lose her wings!" Jaclyn laughed, letting out a hiccup as she did.

"Or her panties!" a party-goer shouted. The other guests laughed.

"Well, maybe later," Brett said. He turned to an attractive blonde in a Playboy bunny costume. "Janet? You game?"

Janet nodded, shyly. She sat her furry-tailed rump at the kitchen table across from Rose and Violet, and Brett began dealing out the cards.

"You know, you don't have to keep yourself from having any fun here," Jaclyn said.

Dylan shook his head.

"This party is a little different from what I was expecting."

"What were you expecting? Bobbing for apples and pin the tail on the black cat? This is a college party, you're 21. Act like it!"

Dylan looked down at his empty beer cup.

"Guess I'll have one more drink," Dylan said.

"Great. Let's do a shot together," Jaclyn said. She grabbed two plastic cups, and poured a shot's worth of Jim Beam into each one. "I know we're missing Mom a lot, especially at this time of year, so let's have a toast to her."

She handed one of the cups to Dylan.

"To Mom. May she rest in peace," Jaclyn said.

"And to Dad. May he get well soon," Dylan said. Jaclyn nodded in agreement They tapped their glasses together and downed their shots.

"Your halo is crooked," Dylan said. He adjusted Jaclyn's halo so it hovered over her head more evenly.

"How can you even see? Your bandages are covering your eyes," Jaclyn said. She pulled the toilet paper from Dylan's face to uncover his eyes. They both chuckled. Five years ago their mother would have been the one to handle such matters. They'd come a long way since then.

"Well, I'm going to go dance some more," Jaclyn said.

"Keep your clothes on," Dylan quipped. Jaclyn shot him a snarky stare and made her way onto the dance floor once again. He headed back to the kitchen, to see how the strip poker game was progressing.

Brett was on a winning streak. He'd only lost his shirt, but Rose, Violet and Janet were on the fast track to Nudesville. With a few lucky hands and some impressive bluffs, not only were the outer clothes coming off, but soon the bras were coming unclasped as well.

Janet was the first to bare all. Per the rules, Brett insisted Janet sit at the table in the nude for the remainder of the game as he worked to win Rose and Violet's undergarments off. Rose came next, to the delight of many of the viewers who were eager to get a peek at Rose's crimson pubic hair. The blushing Rose sat with her legs crossed and her arms across her chest while she waited for the game to conclude.

In the end, it was a lucky pair of sevens that got Violet's panties on the floor, and Brett's arms in the air for a victory cheer.

"Who's next?" Brett shouted. "Come on ladies, show me what you got!"

To Dylan's surprise quite a few of the female spectators volunteered to join the next game. Dylan shot a glance back at the living room, to make sure Jaclyn was not about to play. She was seated on the couch next to Scott, too close to Scott in his opinion. He had his hand on her leg and was gently rubbing her thigh. Before Dylan could respond, Violet grabbed him by his wrap and pulled him away.

"Come on Mummy boy, let's see what you're packing," Violet said.

She pulled Dylan into a bedroom and pushed him onto the bed. The bedroom was dark, and Dylan realized that the toilet paper across his face had worked its way back around his eyes. Pulling the toilet paper from his view, he saw exactly what he suspected was happening. A naked girl seductively climbing onto the bed with him.