Ricky gently laid a necklace across my chest, closing the clasp in the back. He drew in a breath along my shoulder to inhale the smell of my perfume. "How can Hell smell so Heavenly?" He mused.

"Save it, lover boy." I teased him.

He's getting a little tough love from me as of right now because he hasn't earned back my good graces completely. I'll give him this though, he really pulled through with getting me a dress. It was red, like I had asked for, and nice and flowy. Every once and a while I do wear tight dresses. For the most part I prefer looser ones because they help me from feeling any gender dysphoria.

He'll always tell me I'm beautiful no matter what but I know he has to. That's what good husbands do. My body gets to me at times. I can't fix everything with makeup, unfortunately. He's always told me if I want any surgeries or anything, he'd give them to me in a heartbeat. I'm comfortable overall but there are nights where it gets hard being gender fluid. Ricky may see me as beautiful, but when I walk into that room full of FBI agents, they're just going to see a freak.

I picked up my blending brush from the crystal glass I kept makeup brushes in. There was one spot on my eye makeup that could use a little more blending out. Of course me leaning over the counter to do so gave Ricky a perfect shot of my ass. He stared, gawked even. It's been awhile since he's gotten to see me bent over, so I don't blame him.

"You're so fucking gorgeous." He said. I sighed, dropping my brush back in the glass. Ricky looked up at me in the mirror, "What's wrong?"

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I know all of the people in that room know about me and they know about you. But they don't necessarily know about us. How are they going to react? I don't want you getting in any trouble for this or anything."

"Babe, don't worry so much. I've already cleared it with my boss. That's the only person you have to worry about. The rest of them can go fuck themselves if they don't like it." He replied.

I smiled softly, "And that's why I love you. How long do we have to stay?"

"Just long enough to eat dinner, dance for a few songs, and say we were there. We can leave around ten-ish." His hands found their way to my hips, "Why? Did you have other plans?"

"No, but it is October 30th. It'd be a shame to let the Eve of Halloween go to waste." I smirked.

"Does that mean what I think it does? Will I finally get to fall asleep next to you again?" Ricky asked. He was more than just hungry for my body. He missed me and I can't blame him. I miss him too but he's not the only thing on my plate right now.

"Maybe just for one night. I'll see how Mike is doing after the dance." I replied.

"That's fair enough. I'm just grateful I get you for the evening." He took a step back and offered me his hand, "M'lady."

I giggled at his cheesiness. Ricky has always been good at making me smile. Taking his hand, he began to lead me through the living quarters. The gala was in a separate building but still on the same grounds. So I didn't have to walk that far in heels, Ricky arranged us a ride to take us across the lot. He's back to being his very thoughtful and attentive self. For awhile, I was scared I'd never get that back.

| | |

Dancing with Ricky again brought me back to memories of our wedding. That wasn't anything too big. We had our reception in this very ballroom, in fact. I couldn't stop smiling that night. Tonight, it seemed that was true once again. When we have no other distractions or interference, we get the chance to just be in love. Yeah, there were a few rude glares or mean comments, but we didn't care. We were just so happy to get to be us again.

As a slow song came on, Ricky pulled me much closer. He kissed my jawline and whispered into my ear, "I'm thinking it's about time we get out of here. As beautiful as you are in this dress, I miss seeing you dance with no clothes on."

I smiled wider than I have in a long time, "Don't get ahead of yourself, Babe. If Mike is okay, then we can get messy. Usually he can't be this long without me though."

"You're right." He sighed, "I want to see where Ryan's at with everything anyways."

After what happened yesterday, Ryan ended up with a total of four breathing bodies. The other three were like London. They didn't seem like vicious criminals at all. They've all been cooperating well. What Ryan hasn't told them is he doesn't expect them to live through his experiments. He's taking it slowly because he has no idea what he's dealing with. I'm grateful for it because it means he can have a few chances to get it right before trying to treat Kuza.

Just as Ricky started to lead me off the dance floor, the power cut out. The room went nearly pitch black for a moment. Soon the backup power kicked in and the emergency lights came on. Being in Tennessee, there were thunder storms constantly. We had the power knocked out at least once a month. Something about it just didn't sit well with me though. Do you ever get that sinking feeling in your stomach that you know something in wrong? That's exactly what happened to me.

I quickly pulled off my heels, dropping them on the floor. I'll come back for them later. They weren't that important to me now. Ricky followed right behind me as I rushed out of the building. It was storming outside. I mean it was fucking pouring but I didn't have time to worry about that. I didn't give a shit about my bare feet running over asphalt either.

"Goddamn it!" I cursed as I was met with a locked door.

Ricky caught up with me, pulling his key card from his pocket quickly. "I got it." He said, swiping it through.

The door unlocked and I threw it open. I knew something was wrong. I could just feel it in my bones. Even with the emergency lights on, it was hard to see where the Hell we were going. Once you hear the screams of tortured inmates, you know you're at the hold. Ricky swiped his card through for me again, since I seemed to have forgotten mine. He had to have done it five times by the time we got to the door that led to the lab.

"Damn it!" I snit, "I forgot Ryan locks the inner door from the inside of the lab."

"But there's another way in. C'mon." Ricky responded as he turned back around.

He headed up the stairs to the second level of the hold. His hands felt around the brick wall until he found a sweet spot. Ricky pushed in the brick, revealing a secret entrance. What would I do without Ryan's obsessive need for backup plans? We hurried through the passageway that led directly to the lab. The closer we got, the most I could hear Ryan yelling frantically at people.

When we got in that lab, the scene I saw was worse than I could've imagined. Each of the five patients, including Kuza's, bodies were seizing. They weren't screaming, which somehow made it worse. Ryan was trying his best to help Kuza because that's who was most important. Reese was here, for whatever reason, and she was following his orders to help the others.

"Goddamn it! Don't just stand there!" He hissed at us.

I didn't snap out of it but Ricky thankfully did, "How can we help? What do you need?"

"I need the fucking power back on! Get a team up here to rush him down to the medical wing, now!" He yelled.

Ricky pulled out his phone and typed faster than I thought was possible. "They're on their way now. Devin, get the door open."

That I can manage to do. I stumbled over towards the panel, finding the right button. Fuck. It wasn't opening because it wasn't hooked up to the emergency power. Only lights, locks, and medical equipment was. I had to open it manually, which was a fucking bitch to do. I was determined to get it open for Mike's sake though. That response team got here as fast as they fucking could.

"Take him straight to surgery. He's having an aneurysm." Ryan said, "They all are but he's the most important."

I grabbed one of them by the back of their hair, "He dies, you die." Then I let go to let her get back to work.

They got Kuza out of there fast. Ryan continued to rush around to try to save the others. They had another team come up to take the other four but they only have so many ORs and doctors. I don't care about the others though. They don't mean shit to me. Kuza, though, he means everything to me. Once all the nurses and patients were gone, I sunk down to the steal steps.

The tears were welling in my eyes. I sniffled them away, glancing over to Ryan, "What happened?"

He sighed slowly and sat down on the end of one of the beds. "Reese and I were just talking. Then the power went out and all the sudden they all began to foam at the mouth and seize. They all had identical brain aneurysms. I'm guessing whatever was in their chests caused it."

Ricky sat down next to me. He rubbed his hand on my back, trying his best to comfort me. "This thing that's been hurting them, the one that possessed me, you've told me it's a different evil from Satanism. If Halloween is Satan's holiday, it would give the others strength."

"So it attacked them the night before to prevent them from being powerful enough to overthrow it." I replied.

"That would be my guess. At least they'll receive strength when they'll need it most." Ryan said.

"What's going to happen to them? Or what could happen at least?" I asked.

"Not a lot of people survive aneurysms. Kuza has a very strong mind and I believe he'll pull through. If it's a bad enough bleed he could be paralyzed but I doubt it'll be that bad. At the least, he's going to have some problems with his memory for awhile. Just be prepared that he could be in a coma for awhile and when he does wake up, he might not remember who you are."

That made me burst out into tears. I couldn't bare the thought of losing him. Even if he lives, if he can't remember me, I don't know what the fuck I'd do. Ricky pulled me into his chest, letting me cry on his shoulder. Why did it have to be Kuza? Of all the fucking people in the world, this demon thing had to pick him? He doesn't deserve this. He never deserved any of this.