Abraxas clanster Jonathan stumbles upon a skeleton key he believes was part of someone's Halloween costume. What it really winds up being is a demon's not-so-subtle way of getting Jonathan to do his dirty work for him. Jonathan's wishes start to give his Clan more headache and hassle than the 'fun' he hoped they would, as fellow trick-or-treaters and party-goers start becoming the things they're dressed up as---with horrifying results...and much MUCH worse...

REVIEW

"Haywire Halloween by Cinsearae Santiago was a complete surprise. I normally like to start a series from the beginning, but this seemed too fun of a story to pass up...Much of the story contains light-hearted banter and cute one-liners, like the beginning question of “Dude, where’s my skull?” and the understandable, and personally shared, fear of clowns. What surprised me the most, though, was the absolute grittiness of the horror: not just blood and guts " there are caved-in heads and seeping entrails. If you have a squeamish stomach I would stay away from this story. Otherwise, dig in because it is a delicious mix of comedy and gore that makes you lick your lips and ask for more."

Reviewed by: Bitten By Books
www.bittenbybooks.com

EXCERPT

Everything was eerily silent at first, and it was only nine-thirty. Way too weird.

A shriek pierced the silence. Then another. And another. Next, we heard the screech of car tires and the metallic boom of its collision with something. The sound of shattering glass made my skin crawl. Nervous, we looked at each other again.

“What the--?” Kurt looked towards the direction of the sounds.

My heart raced. “Jonathan, you’re done, I hope. Maybe we should get back home.”

He pointed in the direction Kurt had looked at, giving me a wide-eyed expression. He had a way of speaking to me without saying a word, and I knew exactly what he wanted to do. Check it out.

“Curiosity killed the cat, man!” Kurt put his hands on his hips.

Jonathan pointed to the sounds of the commotion again, looking at Kim this time. Kim caved in and sighed.

“Well, aside from his curiosity, what if some folks are in trouble? We could help.”

I slapped a hand to my forehead. “You’re right. Okay, let’s go.”

Kurt was mumbling something under his breath, but I only caught part of it.

“---Don’t feel like investigating this dumb, spooky shit. We ain’t Scooby Doo, or Nancy Drew…”

More screams. We picked up the pace. Now back on Germantown’s main street, we saw several things amiss.

Horribly amiss.

The first thing we spotted was a guy face-down on the sidewalk, a smashed pumpkin beside his head.

“Oh…my…God! If he got walloped by that…” Kurt said as we rushed to the guy. We stared at him for a moment, not quite sure if what we were seeing was for real at first, then all of us took a step back---except Jonathan.

“Um, I’m confused.” Jonathan scratched his head. “How come it looks like there’s raw hamburger coming out of the pumpkin?”

“Jonathan, please, just back away from him,” I pleaded, my voice shaking.

The pumpkin wasn’t next to the guy’s head.

The pumpkin was his head.

And what looked like hamburger, was his brains.

As soon as that fact registered in Jonathan’s skull, he shrieked and stumbled backwards, falling on his butt. He scooted away from the body. Kurt dry-heaved and covered his mouth.

“How--how--?!” Jonathan stammered.

“I don’t know, but this shit’s serious. Someone’s screwing around with some really dark magic.”