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Jack was already in a bad mood when they geared up. He’d asked the mission be postponed, but his request had been denied. Apparently promising your fourteen year old that you will go to the Halloween festival she helped plan wasn’t a good enough reason to delay a mission. Finding out that the locals were preparing for a special ceremony that night and that SG-1 was welcomed to observe did little to improve his dower outlook. The fact that said ceremony would take place in this planet’s equivalent of a cemetery made the whole thing even less appealing in Jack’s mind.
“You haven’t really experienced ‘creepy’ until you’ve camped in a cemetery on Halloween…” Jack muttered as they trailed behind their hosts.
“Don’t be obtuse, Jack.” Daniel huffed. “The fact that they are allowing us to witness one of their most sacred rituals…we should be honored.”
“Honored? We should be honored to be invited to sit all night in the rain in a cemetery and listen to our new ‘friends’ chant in a language only you have any hope of understanding.”
“Yes, yes we should.”
“Well, I’m not, so make of that what you will.”
Not knowing when to leave well enough alone, Daniel kept pushing. “What is it with you today anyways? I didn’t think you like Halloween anyways.”
“I don’t.” Jack sighed. “But I promised Catie that I’d be there for the festival thingy at that new school Carter found for her. Seeing as this all nighter in the cemetery wasn’t on the schedule of events it looks like we…I won’t make it.”
“I’m sure she’ll understand, sir.” Sam sighed.
Halloween had always been Catie’s favorite day of the year. Even as a toddler she’d been drawn to the creepy decorations that Sara flat out refused to allow in the house. After their separation Jack made a point of turning her loose at the store and letting her buy whatever decorations she wanted, even turning their front porch into an abbreviated haunted house.
“I know.” Jack paused as the procession in front slowed. “It’s just that after last year's debacle I wanted to make this Halloween special.”
Sam nodded. Having fought on Jack and Catie’s behalf over the last year to get Catie out of her old, toxic school and into an advanced college prep course, she had had a ringside seat to the mess that was Sara O’Neill. Thankfully that nightmare had come to an end and Catie no longer had to deal with her mother.
The four members of SG-1 stood silently as the priests of P4X-295 prepared the dias at the center of the graveyard. Soon the area was filled with the smoke of tallow candles and the pungent aroma of some kind of incense.
“What’s happening Daniel?” Jack asked as the half dozen young men removed their shirts and sat in a circle around the burning pot of incense.
“From what I’ve gathered this is like a coming of age ceremony for the boys…to become men they must first summon and feed the ancestors.” He had his notebook out scribbling as fast as he could as the rest of the local men began taking their seats forming concentric circles around the first.
“Summon you say?” The more Jack learned about this so-called ritual the more uneasy he felt.
“Well, it is a seance.” he shrugged. “They called it cumaioribus comu which is very close to the latin cum maioribus commune meaning comune with the ancestors.”
Jack shifted, it sounded an awful lot like the hokum his cousin had roped him into in grade school. Nothing had actually happened, at least that’s what he tried to tell himself, but he was never able to pass by the old Erickson mill after that night.
“So, it 's more of a Día de Los Muertos kinda deal?” Jack was focused on the continuing preparations and missed Dainiel’s surprise at his cultural reference. “But I don’t see any ofrenda, so what are they going to feed these ancestors?”
As if on cue one of the priests approached, pulling Daniel from their group gesturing for him to remove his gear and shirt and join one of the circles on the dias. Waiving away Jack’s concerns, he eagerly did as was asked and took his place. Keeping Sam and Teal’c close, Jack maneuvered until they were as close to the dias as was allowed, right at Daniel’s back. No matter the reason, he hated when they were separated.
The largest of the planet's two moons was nearing its zenith when the chanting started. It was the mixed up Latin that Daniel had described when they first entered the village, adding to the eerie atmosphere. In no time at all the chanting dwindled to a soft murmur as each man stared at the burning embers at the center of the dias seeming to be in a trance.
Clouds covered the full moon as a gust of wind whipped through the stone edifices around them snuffing out the few torches leaving the dias and surrounding area in total darkness. A faint humming matched the rise and fall of the whispered chant, growing louder with each repetition until it drowned out all other sound. With a blinding flash of light came silence.
When the spots had cleared from his vision, Jack found that others had joined the ceremony, only they weren’t quite what he had expected. Taking in the waxy, pale skin, sunken eyes, lip hair and fang -like teeth, he didn’t want to believe what he was seeing, but hearing Sam’s gasp of surprise as she too recognized the creatures that were now pairing up with each of the seated men.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…space vampires?!” Jack groaned, forcing his way to Daniel. to “Hey! You! Get your hands off him!”
The creature looked up, a pleased grin replacing their surprise as it dropped Daniel and disappeared, only to reappear at Jack’s back.
“So large, so strong.” It rasped in Jack’s ear. “So much better to feed.”
“Oh, no you don’t!” Jack spun to face the creature.
“Just…one…bite!”
“I don’t think so!” He rammed the but of his gun into the creature's stomach, pushing it back a few feet. “Teal’c, grab Daniel, Carter get his back…we’re out of here!”
The piercing wail that followed them through the cemetery reminded Jack of the tales his grandfather had told of the banshee, another creature he did not want to think about in the dark on a strange world. He made the mistake of pausing on the edge of the cemetery and looking back. The grotesque wraith was coming swiftly after them, showing no signs of stopping.
Moans and wails urged them faster as did the echo of Just one bite.
Reaching the clearing, Jack stood ready to give cover fire as Sam dialed the gate and sent their code, but it seemed that the spectral wouldn’t - or couldn’t - step into the moon lite clearing, something he was not about to question. Teal’c had stepped through the gate as soon as the code had been confirmed, leaving Sam waiting at the top of the stairs. Taking the steps 2 at a time, Jack grabbed Sam’s arm, pulling her into the wormhole with him.
Jack did his best to cushion Sam’s fall as they came tumbling out of the gate, calling for the iris to be closed as soon as they came to a stop on the ramp.
“Well, sir,” Sam let her head fall heavily against Jack’s stomach as airmen came to relieve them of their gear. “I think we may have made it home in time.”
“That we did, Carter, that we did.” Jack pushed stiffly to his feet and held out a hand to help her up. “I’m sure Hammond will be okay postponing the debrief until tomorrow, so once we’re cleared we can head over to the school.”
***
As expected, General Hammond was more than happy to postpone the debrief until Daniel was back on his feet, apparently the incense used to induce the trance was going to leave him with one hell of a hangover.
Sam and Jack took off as soon as they were cleared only to meet up again at the community center where Catie’s festival was being held.
“Sam! You came!” Catie broke away from her classmates and made a beeline for Sam, completely ignoring her father.
“Of course I came.” Sam hugged the girl. “What are you supposed to be?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Catie rolled her eyes.
Sam took a step back and made a show of scrutinizing her costume. When she’d caught Jack pilfering the storage closet of extra BDU’s before their mission, he’d sheepishly admitted he’d forgotten he’d promised to help Catie with her Halloween costume and was scrounging last minute. What he hadn’t mentioned was her extra name tag he’d swiped, nor the short cropped blond wig he’d gone to five different stores to find.
“I don’t know Catie, I think you could be Murry’s twin.” She teased.
“Sam!” The girl groaned. “I’m you! Dad got me a wig and name tag.”
Even though it had been obvious with the blond wig and the CARTER name tag that had suddenly gone missing from her spare BDU shirt, it still surprised Sam. Sure, her niece and nephew looked up to her, sort of, and then there was Cassie, but she’d never had anyone want to dress up as her for Halloween.
“I think you pull that look off better than me, Catie!” Sam hugged the girl again.
“No one could look better than you, Carter.” Jack handed her a cup of cider.
Sam tried to hide the blush creeping up her cheeks by taking a drink.
“Why is everything pumpkin flavored?” She grimaced as she took another drink.
“Tis the season!” Jack smiled as he grabbed her hand. “Come on, we’d better stick together if we don’t want to lose her in this madhouse.”
She let herself be pulled through the crowd, enjoying the warmth of Jack’s hand. Nights like this, just the three of them enjoying time together - no ranks, no Air Force - were starting to become more frequent. It started with her agreeing to help get Catie back on track with her school work and had evolved quickly to hiking and fishing, and trips to the ice cream shop, and now she was having dinner with Jack and Catie at least twice a week. She really should have put a stop to it, tried harder to say no, but she loved Catie and the time they spent together, and even though she shouldn’t couldn’t deny that she loved Jack too. Hopefully someday they will have more than just the stolen moments.