Under a blood red sky

Dean stood at the edge of the maze, mag light in one hand and a bag full of everything but the kitchen sink on his shoulder. He had two hidden guns, a concealed knife, a jacket pocket full of extra salt rounds, a lighter, accelerant, a vial of holy water...and the Zippo lighter the man in the tent had given him. He wasn't going to think too hard about that one.

He'd been hearing accounts of people seeing Freddy Kruger chasing people around the fair grounds. He'd heard more than one person say that Freddy'd gone after one guy, just one guy. And that description sounded a lot like the demon that went after Jo.

Dean figured there was a good chance the answers about this fair were inside this maze. And he wasn't really looking forward to going in.

"Y'know, Cas," Dean whispered. "Now would be a good time for you to stop sucking so hard." He sighed, and started into the maze. "Yippee kay-ay, motherfuckers."

Everything was out of control and Ana felt helpless to stop it. On top of that she felt like she was the only one trying to do anything about all of the chaos. What was worse was having to creep around and go against the people she had worked with, lived with for months. These people had been like family to her since she came to America, and now she didn't even recognize them for as much as they were encouraging the victims onto the rides, winning the demonic prizes, all of it. Ana just did what she could to redirect people and intervene as safely as possible.

She was wandering the midway having just managed to bump into a player at one of the games making him lose when she caught sight of someone she'd seen before. He'd been here at least twice that she knew of. Neither time had she been able to get near him, but this time she was planning on changing that.

She pushed her way through a sudden knot of teenagers that seemed to have come from nowhere, her jaw set and her lips tightened together stubbornly. Once she was through she practically had to jog to catch up with the guy. Damn he was tall and could move like the wind itself apparently! When she finally did reach him, she grabbed a hold of his arm and dug her feet in to stop them.

"Don't you think twice is enough or do you want to get a full taste of everything the fair has to offer? I wouldn't recommend it. For sanity's sake."

Saerian followed Freddy, and Freddy followed Saerian. It was almost a game, and a happy one, at that.

The demon knew, without question, that this was not *really* Freddy. It was a man named Kyle, who also worked at the Renaissance Faire in the summer as a knight. He knew how to joust, he had two kids and a beautiful, exotic-looking wife. But during the fall season, Kyle joined the troupe that worked the corn maze as a legendary, razor-fingered killer.

The truly interesting part, the demon mused, was that Kyle's thoughts were becoming Freddy's thoughts the longer this cat-and-mouse game went on. The man was, for all intents and purposes, becoming Freddy. He believed. He believed. And that made it so, because Kyle would run loose through York tormenting people, killing...

Oh, this was all too good. The demon wondered who else was in the maze. He hoped someone was Hannibal Lecter. Dear God, he hoped.

From below where he sat, hidden, Saerian heard the sound of metal scraping metal. Kyle was running those metal fingers down the wall of the building, and they'd hit the dumpster. Saerian had forgotten the watch in his pocket but could hear it ticking, now. He knew Kyle could, too. He was counting on that. When he turned the watch over, after leaving the curiosities tent, he'd read an inscription on the back of it: THE WHITE ROOM AT MIDNIGHT.

What Kyle didn't seem to really care about, and the one thing that made this less fun for Saerian, was that this was not a dream. This was the real, waking world. Saerian knew a thing or two about torture through dreams. It was why he was participating in this little chase at all.

He waited for Kyle to find him, to recite a bad line from "Nightmare on Elm Street," and smiled up at him. "Freddy," Saerian said, getting to his feet, "we're going on a trip."

The demon clapped his hand onto Kyle's sweatered arm, opened the pocket watch, and waited until the second hand hit 12.

Like they'd never been anywhere else, Saerian and Kyle simply appeared in the White Room. The Conduit sat there, in the center, motionless.

This was when Freddy decided to lose it.

Maybe it was the teleportation. Or the large predatory cat sitting right in front of him. Saerian would never know for sure.

"Where are we?" he growled, raising his glove. "I'll cut you in two." The threat was calmer, not that growl. Trying to keep the upper hand.

All at once, the big cat shifted, changed, and grew. As any Wolfram and Hart employee would tell anyone who needed to know, the Conduit didn't choose its shape.

Its beholder did.

A perfect clone of Phaedra stood there, now, where the cat had been. Smiling. "Interesting choice, but not surprising. This," she said, circling Kyle, "is interesting."

Kyle swiped at her stomach, cutting it open. It healed almost immediately. Freddy did not look pleased.

"Glad you got our message. You see, we hate you, you hate us," the Conduit said. Saerian nodded. "But if we help you, truly help you, you'll have the upper hand. Without us, you won't." The Conduit smiled, then. Phaedra's smile. She reached out a hand and levitated Kyle, willing him to be quiet. He was quiet.

Her eyes focused on Saerian. "We would like to supplement your power. That makes your bringing this one with you somewhat perfect."

All at once, The Conduit flexed its hand, then made a fist. A glowing blue light spread from Kyle's chest, outward, engulfing his entire body. Once that was done, The Conduit turned her eyes to Saerian.

"All of his power. It's yours."

Saerian arched an eyebrow. "His?"

"You said it yourself. He believes he's Freddy. Freddy's power. Over nightmares."

The demon laughed. "Not to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but are you fucking insane? Freddy is a fictional fucking character. I've got an A-class wizard riding my ass, a handful of hunters and a vampire I personally designed to be indestructible. I cannot help anything in nightmares."

The blue light was transferring now, from Kyle's chest to Saerian's, in a thin line of power. Saerian could feel it vibrate down to Jack's skeleton.

"You think we aren't being generous enough? I should kill you where you stand."

But just the same, the light changed from blue to red. "What's that?" Saerian asked, a slight hint of nervousness in his voice.

"It's a present," the Conduit answered.

Once the lights had dissipated, Kyle lay lifeless on the floor. The Conduit removed the glove from his hand and handed it to Saerian.

"What kind of present?"

She put the glove on his hand, and backed away, smiling. "You'll have to see. Enjoy ruling their dreams. And I wouldn't worry too much about the wizard. Or the hunters. Or her." The Conduit looked down at its body, then back up to his face. "What is it she says?"

"I now leave you to God," Saerian said, without hesitation.

The Conduit smiled and disappeared.

Jo was not happy. She still hadn't quite gotten used to Molly's center of balance, or to the way clothes fit on Molly's curvier body, or to the fact that she couldn't look anyone in the eye without getting a splitting headache and way too much information. So far she'd only accidentally soulgazed Dean, so she'd learned her lesson. She hoped.

For the moment, she was venturing back to the fair. There were some disturbing stories about the corn maze. From what she could tell, there was actually something to hunt in there. Not just the nebulous 'Hellmouth energies', but actual monsters. Joy.

All the same, she was happy to get back to hunting. Even if it wasn't in her own body. At least it was something to focus on until November 1st came and, hopefully, things got righted again.

Could things get any worse for Molly? Well, most probably and has been, but this was getting right up there in the top five moments Molly would really like to not have lived through. And honestly? She wasn't sure what was more irritating: being in Jo's body and Jo being in hers or spending yet another moment in a moving car with Bill. It did accomplish one thing. His ability to annoy her managed to make her forget he was a vampire for a little while.

"You don't have to come in," Molly offered in sarcastic sing song. "I know how intimidated you are by magic in general and wizards in specific so thanks for the ride and bye now!" She started towards Harry's front door, pointedly leaving the Twinkie in the car, and not looking back while having the internal mantra in her head of please don't be following me please don't be following me.

Nothing about this situation was okay. The body swap might have taken care of the random flying, but Jo would gladly take that problem back if she could just have her body back. And she'd already lost count of the number of times she'd bumped her head ducking under things and not ducking quite enough. Damn but Molly was tall.

By the time Jo had made it back to the Phoenix, her cell phone was completely fried and she'd most likely set at least one trash can on fire. She hadn't stuck around to check because the damn magic was bubbling out of her every time she got upset.

Which was pretty much a constant right now. She felt wrong and all she really wanted to do was go back to the room, take a shower, and go to sleep with the hopes that she'd wake up and this would all just be a nightmare.

She slipped the key card into the room door and let herself in, hoping that Dean was already here. She really needed to not be alone with this mess right now.

When night fell on the Monday before Halloween, the Corn Maze was open for business.

There was a line extending back from the entrance of the maze to the fair parking lot--a decent distance, to be sure. Costumed actors walked through the line, trying to get cheap scares out of the waiting fright-seekers. The noises of revving chainsaws could be heard from within the maze, as well as a well-placed scream, here and there. Jack-o-lanterns sat in strategic positions, glowing from within.

Then all at once, it changed.

Saerian felt it as he entered the maze. He didn't see it--no one would. But he could feel it. The shift.

An actor dressed as Freddy Kruger jumped in front of him, and then, all at once... he wasn't an actor anymore. Saerian smiled. "Freddy," he said, his voice sing-song. He beckoned with one finger, and Freddy grinned in return, holding up his famously sharp hands.

There had been another 'suicide.' This time, it had occurred just after the officer had attended the carnival that was in town, and again had been after weeks of erratic behavior.

Something was very wrong, and Murphy was getting extremely agitated that she couldn't quite put her finger on it. There was a strange substance at each crime scene that she'd identified as sulfur. There had to be something about that, but so far she'd tried contacting the paranet and hadn't gotten many hits back that were all too helpful.

So while she was waiting on a break on the supernatural front, she was currently retracing the victim's steps. Standard detective stuff.

Which was how she found herself walking through the midway, ignoring the carnival barkers and trying to ignore the tempting smell of cotton candy as she looked around for any attractions that the victim might have visited.

Faith sat on her bed, unsettled and irritated. Boredom never sat well with her and tonight she was bored. “Guess it’s just the bottom of a bottle again.”

She heaved herself up and grabbed her jacket, hauling it on as she left her room. The liquor store wasn’t far but Faith dragged her heels as she made her way there. She didn’t actually feel like getting off her face tonight but she didn’t know what else to do. Patrolling wasn’t even a viable option; this close to Halloween it was way too easy to kill a demon only to find it was some kid out trick or treating. It had been much easier back in Sunnydale where the real dangers stayed off the streets at this time of year. As it was, within a few minutes, she’d already seen countless ‘vampires’. There were demons too, and some things that she couldn’t even find names for. She shook her head and carried on down the street, till a tattered flyer tacked to a fence caught her eye.

She swiped it off and did her best to smooth it out, grinning as she saw what it was about. The fair! Of course. She’d forgotten all about that. There was bound to be some fun to be had there.

Pushing the flyer into her pocket, she changed direction and began walking in the direction of the fair. She heard it long before she saw it and smiled at the sudden sense of childish excitement. Once she was standing at the entrance, the bright lights and noise and smells cheered her up. Now she just had to find someone to enjoy it with.

Saerian wandered the fair grounds on the fair's fourth night of operation. He had no interest in rides, only in the people here, and what they were up to.

It was no secret that this place was under the effects of the Hellmouth, and the Gates. He'd seen some of the side effects already. It was great, some of it; he wished he'd thought of some of these things. Everyone who'd attended, who'd played a game or gone on a ride, all of them walked away changed. Even if they didn't know it.

Tonight he stood near the ring toss. This was a game he hadn't figured out yet. The idea itself was simple--drop the ring into the bowl, win a fish. But something about it hummed with energy. Something about it was wrong.

He needed to see how.

This fair stuff was bullshit.

That's all they'd talked about, once she'd risen. The fair, how fucking stupid it was that it was here, especially now. Going to check it out had been a no-brainer. There wasn't a choice. They were sure, too, that pretty much everyone else they knew in this place was doing the same damn thing.

Once they were there, both wizard and vampire were on high alert. Phaedra was doing her best not to look... well, like vampire. This meant her investigation was limited to reading minds, not to, for example, flying up to the top of the Ferris wheel and perching there to see what she could see.

Something strange was definitely going on.

After two hours, Phaedra read more thoughts involving love then she ever had before--and they were all coming from fair goers who were walking off the Tunnel of Love ride. She wasn't sure where Harry'd gotten to, so yet again, she broke his rule. We need to find out what the deal is with the Tunnel of Love, she told him, silently. Something's not right.

So this was York. Quaint. It smelled clean with a crisp edge of Autumn in the air. The people she'd seen so far looked perhaps a tad nervous, but not paranoid or overly scared. But something about the place put her fur backwards. Made her want to back herself into a corner and growl. The rumors hadn't exaggerated then.

Since she would be staying on once the fair left Ana was the shill tonight, the wanderer through the fair grounds keeping an eye out for trouble and playing the occasional game where she'd win to make it look easy and draw in more marks. She moved through the early crowd with her eyes scanning around but instead of looking interested, carefree and having a good time she looked suspicious.

It wasn't entirely inconspicuous but that was hard to pull off in a small town where everyone probably knew everyone else so she didn't worry about it. What she was looking for were people as edgy as she was, possibly standing out. She'd like some information on this place before she set up stakes with her trailer.

The man with the pipe had his tent set up sort of off of the main drag, away from the noise and the rides. It was at the edge of the fair, near trees, and it was hung with white Christmas lights.

The tent had a sign that read CURIOSITIES, and nothing more. There was an arrow pointing to the tent flap, and an ornate tassel with which to pull back the flap and see inside.

Inside, the man with the pipe waited, seated in an armchair that appeared rather out of place, reading a book. There were tables inside the tent, and glass cases. Items were on the tables, sitting on displays and inside the cases, lit from beneath. A generator hummed next to the tent.

The man with the pipe waited.

It wasn't that Molly wanted to wander towards the side of town that held the gates and the site of the old yet missing mental hospital. She just kept hearing weird sounds. Once she got closer she saw more and more people headed in that direction and she had started to get worried. The more sane part of her mind said she should go get Harry, or Murphy, or Carr. Someone. Even Bill...if she knew how to find him. But there she was, continuing to follow the growing crowd towards the source of those sounds she heard.

What she found when it was obvious that she had reached her destination made her eyes widen a little and her lips part. She should go get Harry. Right now. This was...weird! Lights were everywhere. The noises were practically riotous. And the smells! Dear god the smells! All she could do was stand there and stare.

A fair. A carnival had come to York.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me."

It occurred to Dean some time in the last week or so that two things were a little bit off.

One, he hadn't really gotten to talk to Jo very much. She'd been working, and he'd been researching and hunting, and given the amount of time both of those things took up for both of them, he had no idea what was going on with her.

Two, he hadn't taken Jo on a date. He wasn't sure what they were, necessarily. But it did involve them sleeping in the same bed and kissing. Even as much of a womanizer as he'd been in the past, there'd usually been a date involved. Something.

On his way back to the Phoenix, Dean saw a flier for the State Fair. He'd never been physically able to turn down an Oktoberfest. Beer Gardens. Mmmm. And big fuck off pretzels the size of your whole head. He was happy to see the information, until he remembered where they were and how badly this was gonna go.

When he got back, he had a flier for the fair in his hand. And when he opened the door and saw Jo there, he smiled and held it up.

"So," he said, "how do you feel about going on a date?"

The man with the pipe unloaded his truck, watching as, all around him, larger trucks were unloaded. He didn't like the truck; it was a ghastly, ugly thing. But it was functional.



Workers bustled in the empty clearing, putting up some sort of G-force ride he didn't quite understand near the Ferris Wheel. Bag upon bag of stuffed animal prizes were hauled out. A roller coaster was being assembled near the snack stand. It was all coming together.



The man with the pipe whistled happily as he worked. This year would be a good year, he knew. This year would be spectacular.

A sign was hammered into the ground for the haunted corn maze. The man with the pipe had seen it, and the make-up the acting troupe had was quite fantastic.

Yes, this year would be an excellent fair. He loved Halloween, and loved that this year, the fair would coincide with the holiday. It didn't usually. But a decision had come down from on high to move it, the way those decisions always came.

The man with the pipe set his tent aside. All he had was a tent. Back home, it was a curiosity shop, all the way on the other side of the state. Here, he'd need only a tent, and some tables. And hanging lights. He mustn't forget the generator.



It all looked so haphazard right now. But soon it would all come together. Soon it would all be set up, all the lights would light... and the faire would begin.