An Intergalactic Halloween

Other dock workers in their group nodded in agreement. "I heard that too. They've been killing and feeding off of any poor bastards dumb enough to enter yvon space. And now that they're part of the Federation, it's like they are ringing the god damned dinner bell!" one of them continued.

Nick turned to look back at the female. She was still sitting in the same chair with her chin resting in his hands as she watched the other guests passing by, oblivious to her existence. The more Nick looked at her, the more he was captivated by her delicate beauty. Even the exotic features of her own species were intriguing; her violet skin, her pointy ears, the flowing silver hair that ran down to her shoulders.

How could anyone call this woman a monster? She was absolutely beautiful and she didn't look like she could hurt a fly. After all, she was sitting there watching the rest of these people like a sad puppy dog. That surely didn't warrant caution.

Without thinking about it, Nick put down the remainder of his beverage glass at the nearby table and began to walk his way to the other side of the room, his eyes fixed on the yvon in the nurse outfit.

"Uh, Nicky boy, where are you going?" Mickey asked with a nervous laugh.

Nick looked over his shoulder at Mickey and his coworkers. "I'm going to introduce myself," he casually replied.

"I wouldn't recommend that Nick. I don't know about you, but I would personally prefer to keep my blood, flesh and limb intact, but that's just me."

Nick rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine," he replied.

He heard banter behind him from his coworkers about how crazy and suicidal he was being, but he disregarded it. He walked across the room, wading his way through the jubilant party-goers littering the dance floor. He continuously repeated utterances of "sorry" and "excuse me" every time he accidentally bumped into a dancer. After navigating the sprawling chaos, he arrived at the other side of the dance floor where the yvon was sitting straight ahead of him.

Nick spun around and looked back to the other side of the dance floor. Mickey had somehow conjured a pair of candy corn and had stuck them into his teeth to imitate a vampire, baring his candy fangs at Nick suggestively. Nick grimaced, shaking his head at the sight.

He slowly walked up to her, trying as hard as ever not to make his limp evident. He nervously stood over the violet female, even more enthralled by her beauty up close than far away. Her purple skin looked silky and smooth and she appeared to have a slim figure beneath that nurse outfit, despite her being slightly taller than the average human woman.

The yvon didn't seem to notice his arrival as he stood over her left shoulder. Nick gulped as he struggled to ignite conversation with her.

"Ex-, excuse me," he croaked awkwardly.

The yvon broke her fixation on the shifting dance crowd and looked up at him with distinctive red eyes. Her eyes traveled over the Dracula costumed figure standing over her with curiosity. Her eyes briefly stopped upon the plastic vampire fangs in his mouth before she shook her head, realizing that he had asked her a question.

"Yes, may I help you?" she asked him softly.

Nick bit his lip timidly. He was further intrigued and infatuated by the smooth gentleness of her voice; like a siren tempting and enticing the ancient Greek hero Odysseus.

"May I take a seat?" he asked her, indicating the empty seat beside her.

She looked back and forth between him and the empty seat before quickly nodding. "Yes, of course," she replied.

Nick nodded, thanking her before settling himself down beside her. He noticed that she had shirked away slightly at someone being in close proximity to her for the first time that night. It was almost as if she had longed for someone to finally acknowledge her existence but now that someone actually was, she didn't know how to react to it.

Nick twiddled his thumbs and the yvon next to him smoothed out her nurse uniform uncomfortably. She was looking straight ahead, cocking her head with curiosity at the sight of an alien dressed up in a "Star Wars" stormtrooper costume. Nick met her gaze and smiled.

"My great, great grandfather's favorite movie," Nick said to her suddenly.

The yvon turned to look at him with confusion. "I beg your pardon?" she softly replied.

He pointed to the stormtrooper. "Star Wars; it's an older Earth film that was made nearly one hundred and fifty years ago. That there is one of the villains, an imperial stormtrooper," he explained.

The yvon looked at the stormtrooper and then the human again. She cleared her throat before speaking.

"So...humans envisioned the galaxy beyond their planet even before joining the Federation; like in this... 'Star Wars' for example?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "I suppose a lot of the post-industrial humans suspected that there was something else out here in space; but still, I don't they ever would have seen something like this actually happening," he replied, looking around the room at the humans and aliens mingling.

She said nothing but silently nodded in agreement. He then surprised her by politely holding out his hand to her.

"Forgive me; I've gotten way ahead of myself. My name is Nick Meyers, I work here on the station," he said, smiling.

She looked down at his hand hesitantly, before reaching out and accepting the handshake, recognizing this as a gesture of friendly greeting amongst humans.

"Hmm, her hand isn't icy cold. Good sign I suppose," he mused to himself.

They pulled from their handshake and sized each other up. "Valhala," she told him.

"What?" he asked, looking at her eyes with the white irises and the blood red pupils.

"My name; my name is Valhala. Valhala Raahana."

Nick grinned at this. "Vala-, Hal-, Rana," he struggled to piece together her foreign yvon name.

She let out a serene giggle at his feeble efforts. Her laugh was colored by soft angelic sweetness that would melt the heart of any man. Nick marveled at the simple melody of the sound.

By god; that was the cutest laugh he'd ever heard.

"Val-hala-ra-hana," she sounded it out to make it clearer to him.

He nodded in understanding. "How about Val? Does that work for you?" he grinned.

She shrugged, rolling her eyes jokingly. "Most of my own people call me that anyway so I suppose you may as well."

They sat in silence for a few moments, although the initial air of awkwardness had dissipated now that they had introduced themselves to each other. Nick couldn't help but notice as he sat there watching the dance floor, that the violet woman beside him would continuously glance over at him, as if she were studying him.

Nick turned to look at her just as she averted her gaze so as not to look like she was watching him too closely. Nick could only smile at her curiosity.

"You're wondering about this, um, getup, aren't you?" he asked, indicating the Dracula costume.

She blushed slightly, a maroon glow materializing on her purple cheeks as she realized that she had been caught inspecting him. She nodded at him.

"It's not a costume I have seen before," she replied.

Nick nodded. "I don't know how much you know about humans, but I'll just say that our history is filled with cultural creativity through books, poetry, movies and more. This is one such example of that," he explained, pointing to his costume, "It's a fictional horror monster named Count Dracula. He first appeared in a novel more than two hundred years ago and he had been a character in many movies since then."

She looked him over again, her eyes falling on the plastic fangs in his mouth, causing her to look down at the floor sheepishly.

"What kind of monster was this Count Dracula?" she asked softly.

Nick froze up, wondering if he should even answer her question.

Mickey's words about the yvon being cannibals or vampires echoed within his head in that very instant.

"He...he killed people," Nick replied to her simply, purposely neglecting to divulge to her the manner by which Dracula killed his victims. "But anyway, it's not a big deal. It's just a silly legend conjured up by us humans."

If Mickey and the others were actually telling the truth about the yvon, then it's probably better that he didn't pour salt on the wound, he consoled to himself.

She slowly nodded, staring away from him as if distant in thought. Nick's foot unconsciously tapped on the floor as he thought of something to say.

"So, erm, I like your costume, by the way," he said, changing the subject.

Val looked down at her white nurse outfit and back up at him. "Thank you," she replied, smiling at the human's compliment.

He cleared his throat before continuing on. "I'm sorry to be pushy, but my curiosity is getting the better of me. I recognize most of the people on this station to one degree or another, but you are not one of those people. What brought you to Alpha Draconis for Halloween?" he asked her.

Nick had turned his chair around so that it was facing her. He was pleased to notice that she seemed far more relaxed around him now that their talk had progressed into friendly banter.

"The Yvon high council has appointed ambassadors and sent them out to various sectors of the Federation to become acquainted with the other races. I was assigned here to Alpha Draconis; I only just arrived two days ago," she explained.

"And, naturally, you wanted to participate in Halloween as an act of good faith," he replied.

She nodded. "Exactly."

"What do you think of our station here?" he asked.

She beamed, looking around the room. "It's fascinating," she replied. "I had studied many of these races since being appointed an ambassador, but it's amazing to see all of them peacefully living and interacting with each other."

"I think the first humans that joined the Federation felt the same way as well. Every race probably does, for that matter," he said.

Nick looked at her face, giving her a reassuring smile which she returned while still acting slightly sheepish as evidenced by her twiddling strands of her silver hair with her fingers.

"So...how have the people here treated you?"

Her smile faded as she rubbed her arms slightly, looking away from his face once again. "They've been very accommodating. They are kind enough to me I suppose; more than I was expecting when I first arrived here."

Nick studied her face intently. She was biting her lip and still not making eye contact with him. He knew that she wasn't being completely honest. He remembered seeing how the other party guests had looked at her and purposely avoided her. It seemed to him that they were treating her like an unwelcome guest, or putting her through a sort of racial hazing. He hoped to change that now.

He turned back toward the direction of the dance floor, coincidentally, the DJ had turned down pace of the music. The thumping beats had stopped and a slower-paced, melodic song had begun while the argon DJ prompted the guests to "take their partners out onto the dance floor." Nick felt a twinge of appreciation at the fact that the "slow dance" concept had been rejuvenated in recent decades.

Nick turned back toward Val, offering out his hand to her with a kind smile.

"Would you like to dance, Ms. Raahana?" he offered her.

He then bit his tongue when the words left his mouth. He really hoped that she was a Ms., otherwise a yvon male somewhere out there would be pretty upset with him right about now.

Her silver head made a cycle between looking at him, his hand and the dance floor. She looked hesitant and her mouth was opening and closing as if she couldn't make up her mind.

"I...no...I couldn't," she stuttered nervously.

"It's ok, Val, I'm not much of a dancer either. I won't judge you at all; this is just for fun," he reassured her, still offering out his hand.

Somehow his words put a damper on her insecurities. The sincerity in his voice and the kind smile he gave her just put her at ease. Finally after a few moments of deliberating with herself, she reached out her violet hand and he folded it into his own hand gently.

Nick led her by the hand toward the dance floor. Several of the nearby guests and their partners took notice of the new addition to the dance floor in the form of the nurse uniform-clad yvon and her human dance partner. Some of them, particularly the women, looked at her incredulously.

Nick spun around to face her once they were both situated in the dance floor. By now the DJ had put on one of the classics: "Summer Wind" by Frank Sinatra. The couples littering the dance floor began a slow, relaxed movement in tandem with the jazz melodies of one of the most celebrated romance songs in human history.

Val clearly looked nervous as to how to go about this. She looked to her right and saw two humans swaying back and forth with each other; the man holding the woman gently by the waist while his lover had her arms wrapped about his neck.

Nick noticed her nervousness and took the initiative by leading the dance. He gently wrapped his arms about her slender back. He pulled her in toward him slowly, giving her enough personal space so as not to make her uncomfortable yet close enough for the sake of the mutual dance. He took great care not to have his hands linger too low toward the yvon's posterior. That would be a costly mistake that would earn him a slap in the face or worse from this alien female.

Val followed the example of the human woman that she'd been watching. Her hands slowly traveled up Nick's body before coming to rest on his shoulders, grasping them. She looked up into his face questioningly now that they were in position.

"I'll lead; just move with me and do what feels natural," he said with a smile.

She nodded as Nick began to move, guiding her gently along with him. He glided his feet from place to place across the small space that they had on the dance floor; his body and Val's moved in synchronization with the movement of his swaying feet. Soon enough, as the relaxing melodies of the jazz music and Sinatra's smooth voice kicked in and she began to pick up on Nick's movements, Val began to get a hang of how to properly move along with him.

Despite that neither of them had previously been avid dancers, both Nick and Val began to genuinely fall into a smooth rhythm toward the apex of the ballad. He did better at keeping his damaged leg concealed as he danced with her. All the while, their hands continued to hold each other and their faces were fixed on the other's. Val had a contented smile on her face as she admired human male in such close proximity to her.

She bit her bottom lip as she looked at his face. Despite the guise of baby-powder that he wore, she saw right through that, looking instead at the kind, emerald eyes sparkling at her. She looked too at the friendly smile he was giving her; not a smile that concealed lies or deceit, but one that was gentle and kind-hearted. She felt so secure and comfortable in his presence; like she could do anything and he would never judge her for it. She realized in that moment that she was immensely attracted to this human.

Val still felt a twinge of uncertainty at the back of her mind, however. How much did he know about Yvon? Was he paying attention to her and being so nice because he really wanted to? Maybe he was just the only one at this station that didn't know her for what she was. But...maybe he didn't have to find out. Maybe they could just ignore those details and keep having a good time.

She was quickly falling under his spell. As they danced, she continued to look at the serene smile he gave to her. She felt a shudder run through the human as her hands had moved from his shoulders to hook themselves around the back of his neck, her delicate fingers sliding through the locks of his brown hair.

Her eyes suddenly locked on something else. As they unconsciously danced to the next slow song that the DJ had begun playing, her eyes were fixed on a vein pulsing in Nick's neck. Unbeknownst to the yvon female, Nick had become considerably aroused when Val had pulled him closer and ran her fingers through his hair. As a result, the blood begun to flow through the human's body with intensity equal to the lyrics of the love song that they danced to.

Val found herself unnaturally transfixed at the pulsing vein in Nick's neck and the thumping beat of his heart-rate that her pointy purple ears could pick up. She quickly shook her head, doing her best to focus on her dancing rather than the carnal impulse she found herself consumed with. It was too late though; seeing that throbbing, pulsing lifeline of this male had sparked something primal within her.

No, no, don't think about that. By the seventh council, Valhala, you're already nourished today! It's a taboo, you fool; the council could execute you for forcing yourself on another member of the Federation! It's not right! She shouted at herself in her mind even as she continued to silently dance along with him.

Nick was unaware of the inner conflict that Val was waging with herself, however, he could tell that something had to be wrong because she wasn't smiling anymore, nor looking at him.

Another part of her mind retaliated against the previous thoughts that she had had. Oh gods, she couldn't help herself! She didn't just want to taste his blood, she wanted to do everything with him. She wanted to just rub her hands all over his body. She wanted to feel his muscled arms. She wanted to press her lips against his. She wanted to... She halted slightly as her fantasy just got much naughtier. She wanted to...

She envisioned herself and the human falling into bed with each other. She pictured the two of them lustfully stripping each other's clothes off and passionately kissing. She pictured sinking her fangs into his neck and slurping at the tantalizing life-force from within his veins. Finally, she pictured the human spreading her legs and entering her with his hard manhood and the two of them thrusting against each other while she nipped at his neck.

Nick was utterly confused. She had appeared genuinely happy at the beginning of the dance, but now was staring at him strangely, biting her lip and breathing heavily as if she badly wanted something.

Wait...was that...lust in her eyes? Did those pupils get two shades redder? Something was either very right or very wrong here.

As soon as the song came to an end, Val abruptly broke off from their embrace and her head jolted from place to place about the room as if she was scrambling for an exit.

"I'm sorry Nick, dancing was very enjoyable, bu-, but, I have to go...take care of something," she jittered, her hands shaking.

With that, she broke out from the dance crowd and scrambled for the exit door. She pushed and shoved her way through the costumed party guests to desperately get there.

Nick stood in the middle of the dance floor dejectedly with his mouth agape with confusion at what had happened. He remained transfixed on the form of the purple nurse fleeing away from him. He finally broke out of his apathy after several moments and scrambled after her as fast as he could, cutting his path through the dancers as she had.

"Val! Where are you going? Are you ok?!" he called after her.

She heard him yelling after her but did her best not to acknowledge it. By now, she hid her mouth behind her hands as her fangs had already materialized.

She had to get back to her apartment. She still had some blood packs left there. She couldn't bite him, she couldn't bite him, she couldn't bite him. Gods how she wanted to, but she just...didn't know if she could control herself. It had been so long since she'd drunk from a live person. She didn't know if she had the self-restraint to...

Val shoved her way through the entrance doors where guests were still being ushered in. Nick followed swiftly after her, making use of both of his legs; this however was a poor decision because he was putting more pressure on his left leg than he should be.