It lures people in, and then it consumes them.

Even now, people are camping outside the empty shop at the end of my block. It is the exact place where the cursed shop appears out of thin air every Halloween. The same one which disappears into fog every year as if it was never there to disturb the quietude with its looming presence.

When I was a child, I was always drawn to it. I am not sure what fascinated me more, the dark aura that surrounded the place or the delicately carved sign that said "POTIONS, INC."

However, I always heeded my mother's warning never to approach that eerie place.

People even stopped talking about it. They believed their silence could erase the place from existence, but it can't. That creepy, deserted shop is the one constant in our lives. The only focus of my life.

With quick steps, I hurry towards it because I've decided that, this year, I will be the one to unravel the mystery of the place. Even if the whole city is filled with cowards, I will be the one brave enough to face the darkness that looms from the store.

I can hear the store breathing in, and I was swept up in its inhale. It's alive.

I no longer walk. I'm carried on a dark wave of need.

I need to enter the shop.

Though my heart is thumping in my throat and my hands are shaking, my hypnotized approach is steady. Everything I ever did, everything I ever was, has steered me to this exact moment, this very place.

When my hand reaches for the doorknob, a spark ignites, burning the shape of the doorknob in my hand. The pain is excruciating.

Not only is there the searing heat, but something deeper, primal, spreads through my veins. It invigorates me and reveals what had long been hidden in the furthest depths of my heart. Bloodlust.

As I open the door, the scent of my burned flesh permeates the air. However, it doesn't matter. All that matters is the sacred duty that is revealed to me. My mission.

"Command me, dark priestess," I say as I note the presence of the one whom I came to serve in the dingy store.

"The Dark Protector. Finally. I've been waiting for you for so long. My spells are getting weaker every year. The power of light will find me soon enough. Are you prepared to spill blood in my name?" she asked.

Though I know not her name or whose blood I am to spill, I know one thing for certain, she is a dark priestess.

I was born to serve them, to die for them. Darkness was my calling, and I was ready to answer it.

"Yes, dark priestesses. My life is yours. My blood is yours. Blood of light will be spilled in your name," I said.