A Tale of Two Parties

"I can get you a ride home," she continued, then went very soft, "but, you know, do you really want to be alone... tonight... I'd rather not be... but. One time only... For real. Deal?"

His eyebrow rose, then he nodded.

"Bonnie? BONNIE?"

Peter heard, looked left.

"JAKE," he shouted, put his arm in the air, "OVER HERE."

Bonnie stirred, looked up.

Peter had never seen the little asshole look so beaten up, he had a swollen, black left eye, he was covered in soot and his left arm had a nasty slice that oozed blood across the bicep and he limped. He too had lost his mask. He saw Peter and hurried. Bonnie pushed herself up and they embraced.

"Get the fuck out of here," Peter said firmly, they looked at him.

"Thank you," Bonnie said, her soot black face streaked from tears, "glad I didn't boost your wallet."

"Woulda lost a hand," Peter said, Joyce snorted.

"Woulda," Joyce said, "shoulda seen what he did to a guy when he was a sophomore..."

Jake turned Bonnie and they melted along with the vanishing crowd as the first fire engine arrived. Peter and Joyce watched the firemen jump out then stop. They looked among each other then shrugged and pulled out first aid kits and started working on injured people, the church beyond helping. A couple used portable extinguishers and doused small fires caused by stray embers.

"Biggest Halloween bonfire ever," Peter said as he put his arm around Joyce's shoulders and she grabbed his ass with a tight grip.

"Been wanting to do that since I first saw it," Joyce laughed, he reached down and grabbed hers, upped the ante as he slid his hand between her buttocks and pushed the dress tight. She sidled her legs slightly apart.

"Me too."

They and the firemen watched the roof of the building collapse. With the surviving Mongrels and the majority of the less salubrious guests having fled, he saw 'their' bartender with a knot of his compatriots about thirty feet away. Good.

Near them he saw a near naked man and woman, both in combat boots and fig leaf bikini bottoms. The woman was topless and had a stuffed snake with an apple in its mouth coiled around her neck. Beyond those bits they were covered in nothing more than a thick, thorough coating of soot.