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The moon was full. The sky was dark. And the night was October 31st.
And, for William Murdoch, it was the perfect night for an experiment. Although, he supposed, most nights were the perfect night for an experiment. Especially if there was the chance of lightning. Lightning was always good for experiments. Not that he only did experiments involving lightning. He wasn’t one of those mad scientists who forced himself to only do one kind of experiment over and over again. No. William had much more self respect than that. He pursued whatever experiment he wanted to at the time. Switching the brains of people and apes. Making insects live for three times their average life spans. Sending someone to space. And, at the moment, William Murdoch was studying radiation. And the mutations it could cause the human body. Tonight was the absolute perfect night for experiments.
Or, he supposed, a party.
It wasn’t his idea, of course. It wasn’t as though William would willingly choose to have a party. Or even go to one, willingly. But it was important to spend time with like minded individuals. The amount of proper mad scientists these days was dwindling, really, so it was important. Not that the party would only be mad scientists, of course. Really, it was less of a party of villains, and more a gathering of friends who all happened to be villains. The two weren’t really related at all. They all just happened to be evil, and they all happened to be friends. Not that those who saw the party would know the difference. They would probably think that they were plotting to each children’s brains, or something, which was nonsense. Barely any of them ate brains, let alone the brains of children. Still, that did make the castle useful.
But, in all seriousness, William hadn’t ever expected to have friends, when he had been a child. He had been far more focused on his experiments, even then, than he had been on friendship. Which was good, he supposed, because there hadn’t been many people willing to be his friend, at that time. And by not many, William really meant no one. He had been a bit off putting, at the time. Now, of course, he was very off putting. Much better. But, still. He had not had any friends at all. No friends except for Freddie, of course. But Freddie wasn’t a friend, so much as his first creation. An automaton, with a boy’s name and a girl’s attitude. She was a success, of course. Why would William’s experiment not have been a success? And now she was off, on her own, only stopping by occasionally to get repairs from William.
It was still a surprise to him, even now, that he had friends. Enough friends to go to a party full of them. So, even though William wished to spend every day of his life working on his experiments and creations, he instead made time for a party. For the party. It was annual, at this point. Every year, on Halloween, they met. It was, apparently, when the veil was thinnest. William was never much for the supernatural, even if he was friends with a ghost. And a werewolf. And a mummy. He still didn’t really believe in the supernatural, so much as accept that it was a part of nature. Just as the fact that William could creature monsters and automatons was a part of nature. And, so it seemed, that William having friends was a part of nature. Friends who were just as odd as he was. Friends who were just as evil as he was. Friends who, every year, met up on Halloween to have a party.
And this year, Julia had wanted to host it.
It made sense, he supposed. They did live in a castle. That was what happened when you married a vampiress, William supposed. Suddenly, you had the largest and most available place to host a party. The castle was good for Murdoch too, of course. Made experiments far easier when you were secluded up on a hill. And it made running from angry mobs easier too. It wasn’t as though all vampires lived in castles, or anything. But Julia was a countess. And she had class. And so, the castle. Still, the castle made it obvious that William and Julia host the party. And so, they decorated. They had ordered catering, which was rather difficult when you had to feed a mummy and a swamp man and a vampire, but still. They prepared, and prepared, and prepared. And then, it was Halloween night.
And then, the party began.
People showed up almost immediately. As soon as the sun had set on Halloween night, they arrived. George, a mummy, had staggered in beside Henry, the wolfman, who had crawled more than anything. Emily and Lillian had come in together, a vampire and a zombie pair who came by the castle far more than just Halloween. Violet, a fellow mad scientist, and her newest project, a newly arisen corpse named Arthur. He seemed nice. There was Watts, a swamp creature who dragged leaves and mud everywhere he walked. The Brackenreids, a lovely family of werewolves, which were not to be confused with wolfmen of course. Very different. Apparently. There was Jackson the ghost, and Rebecca the gorgon, and-
Really, there were more people than Murdoch could ever list. And he liked listing things. It seemed the whole supernatural and villainous, or rather, misunderstood, population of Torontsylvania, had come. It certainly was a lot of people, but at least Julia would be glad with the outcome. It wasn’t as though Murdoch disliked these people, anyway. And, in particular, one of Murdoch’s most anticipated guests had just arrived. James Pendrick. A fellow scientist, one who's ideologies were very similar to Murdoch’s own. He jumped from idea to idea, much like Murdoch did. Though, James’ ideas were always far more dreamlike than William’s were. While William was simply interested in changing humans, at the moment, James was far more interested in making humans live forever. His ideas did seem to be working, however, just with a few side effects. Well, one side effect, anyway. A rather splitting side effect.
But, still, Murdoch was glad to see everyone. Even if he knew that he would be cleaning mud and bandages and wolf hair out of the castle for months. The sheer mess of the party was worth it, just to see everyone. For most of the night, Murdoch simply stayed in a corner, drinking punch, the kind for humans, not the kind for vampires, and talking to James. That wasn’t to say that he wasn’t enjoying the party, or anything. This was just how Murdoch enjoyed parties. He wasn’t exactly one to mingle. Although, he did go onto the dance floor with Julia a few times. He had finally gotten good at not stepping on her feet.
And the party was good, admittedly.
He looked on from his little corner, listening to James ramble on about the lifespan of fruit flies and their eggs. He looked on from his little corner, and watched as everyone got to be themselves, without the angry mobs and the being chased away from their homes just for existing outside the norms. He looked on from his little corner, and watched people from all sorts of walks of life just talking and dancing and living together. Ghosts and zombies and vampires and wolves and all sorts of creatures. Humans and non humans, creature and non creature. They were all there. They were all happy. And they were all friends.
Yes, William Murdoch thought. A very good Halloween party indeed.