"Crimson Chapter 15" by Alyssa B. Green

Chapter 15

Monday was Halloween.

It was also the night of the school dance.

            Rose tried to forget this small factor; after all, it was just Halloween. Why would she get all excited about some stupid school dance?

            It was hard to ignore, however, the giggling packs of girls that followed them through out the day. Or more specifically, Cal. They would duck behind corners, whispering to each other words of encouragement to help ask him the most important question of they’re short time at high school so far - Would he accompany one of them to the dance?

Of course, Cal didn’t seem to notice one bit, which annoyed Rose even more.

            Not only did they have more followers than usual (Rose had mysteriously tripped as a crowd of giggly girls passed perilously close), but the oh so familiar flashes of brown and blonde hair were appearing like wild fire. Sam had even been so bold as to follow Rose into the girl’s bathroom, leaving Cal outside, a bundle of nerves. The reason behind was purely human though, and Sam had disappeared into one of the stalls.

            Eventually the girls grew more persistent, and by lunch Cal had been asked eight different times to take a girl or her friend to the dance, all of which he turned down extremely politely.  What Rose was amazed at was that the girls were still smiling as they waved goodbye to him in the hall.

“Always a gentlemen.” She said sarcastically, shaking her head.  He turned towards her, surprised, but someone tugged on his shirt sleeve.  Courtney appeared before them, fluttering her pretty pink nails in front of Cal, lips stretching into a cute little smile. Rose wondered how long she had spent meticulously applying her lip gloss; just a shade darker than her nails.

            “Hi Cal.” She said, completely ignoring Rose. “I was wondering if you were going to the Halloween dance tonight.” She popped, straight to the point. Rose rolled her eyes, trying to restrain herself from grabbing Courtney and tossing her into the nearest wall.

“Um,” Cal said, glancing to Rose quickly. “No, I don’t believe I am.”

            Courtney’s smile grew wider and Rose thought about how her blood might taste. Probably like bubble gum sugar, the exact shade of Courtney’s low tank top. Disgusting.

“Well I myself think the dance is barely worth going to, but a few select people and I are having an after party at my daddy’s club. So, if you wanna come by, I’m sure they’ll let you in first thing.” She handed him a gold card, the name of the club spread across it delicately in gold italics. Cal took it dumbly and stuck it in his pocket.  Courtney fluttered her eyelashes at him dramatically and shot Rose a despairing look, then with a little wave was gone.

            Cal stood there stupidly. He turned to Rose.

“Why would she want me to go to her club?” He asked in pure dismay. Rose just rolled her eyes and stomped off to the cafeteria.

            Sam threw the remnants of her lunch at the garbage can, watching as it bounced off the side dully.

            Why, suddenly, was there a huge swamp of doubt mired in her mind? She was doing her job, wasn’t she, following Rose and gathering more information on her? Then how come she still hadn’t reported what she had seen in the alleyway?  Her fingers tapped on the cold cement pillar behind her.  Something…..wasn’t right. Whenever she thought of telling Mael or Gran about Rose’s wings, something stopped her. She couldn’t understand the feeling, and the more she pushed against it the stronger it grew.  The stronger it grew, the more it drove her to follow them constantly. If Rose was out of her sight the doubt would grow stronger and stronger, pestering her until Sam could barely sit still. As long as she was around the young fledgling it gave her the feeling of some direction, something she could grab onto without asking, the closure she didn’t know wasn’t there.

It was so pathetic.

*

            Rose shouldered her backpack, thinking happily about her lack of usual homework. Mr. Chow had been replaced by a sub for the day- a much nicer sub. Walking down the hallway she met up with Cal as he left his last class. They jogged down the stairs amidst the jostle of students, heading for the door.

“Rose!”

 Rose’s head snapped up; startled, because the voice that had called her name wasn’t Cal. He looked around too, his eyebrows drawn together in a slight frown. A boy with short brown hair and pretty blue eyes was jogging towards them. He stopped a few feet from her and doubled over panting. She jumped as he popped back up to face her suddenly.  His face was drawn into a determined expression, and Rose saw him eye Cal warily for a moment.

“Hi Rose.” He said, smiling. Rose was surprised by how masculine his smile was given his general cute appearance. His light hair bobbed slightly as he introduced himself.

“Brian Dunnings,” He announced, shaking her hand suddenly. Taking a step closer he gazed into her eyes intimately, clasping her hand in both of his small clean ones.

“I was wondering if you would allow me to take you to the Halloween dance tonight.” Rose stood staring at him dumbly, suddenly absorbed in how pretty his blue eyes were. She could feel a blush begin to creep into her cheeks and realized that he was still holding her hands, and her fingers were growing warm in his grasp.

            Arms enclosed her suddenly, and Rose looked up to nearly bonk her head against Cal’s jaw.

“We have plans tonight.” He said, his words laced with a hint of anger. Brian ignored Cal’s comment and watched Rose, waiting for an answer.

“We do? I mean, um… yes, we do.” She smiled at Brian nervously. He waited a moment, and then smiled back at her.

“Oh, I see. I’m very sorry. Another time, perhaps.” He finished gracefully, and released her hand. He turned and walked down the hall.

            “What was that for?” Rose asked angrily, spinning out of Cal’s grasp. He shrugged.

“What? He was a prick.” Cal crossed his arms.

“He was not! He was nice!”

“What, were you actually considering going with him?”  Cal asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

 “No!” Rose yelped.

“Then what took you so long to answer?”

            Rose stared at him. He was avoiding her eyes, his voice extremely unhappy.

“Are you pouting?” She asked in disbelief.

“I don’t pout!” He strode off without her. Rose stared after him for a moment, then sighed and jogged after him.

*

            Rose glanced out her window and watched as a pebble bounced off the glass. She turned back to her homework.

Plink. Plink.

Another pebble was flung at the glass and Rose frowned. The pebble stopped its flight and fell to the ground.

            Grumbling she pulled open her window and looked down, her hair blowing in the cold October breeze.

“What do you want Cal?”

“He looked up at her, the grin on his face halted halfway.

“Its Halloween,” He exclaimed as if it was the most obvious answer to her question.

            “So?”

Cal laughed. “So? Lets go!”

“Fine. One sec.”

            Running down stairs Rose hurriedly wrote a note to her parents explaining she had gone out with some of her ‘friends’ for the night. Not exactly responsible, but better than just leaving.

            Back in her room she strapped her sword on, then paused.

“What are we doing?” She called down.

“Trick or treating!”

            Rose swooshed down from her window five minutes later, black wings spread and nearly disappearing into the night sky. Managing to land somewhat more gracefully than usual, she ruffled her feathers and tucked her wings behind her back. Cal grinned.

“Nice costume.” He commented, his startlingly white incisors catching her eye in the darkness that surrounded them.

“Likewise.”

            Heading down her street, Rose kept to the shadows, keeping her wings pressed tightly against her back.  Cal walked backwards leisurely, watching her with his arms crossed behind his head. Two small children ran past them and Rose swept herself out of their way. The pair ran off, laughing and swinging their bags of candy, oblivious to them.  

“Hey.”

Rose looked back at Cal.

“Lighten up a bit.” He tilted his head, still watching her. “It’s Halloween, after all. It’s the only night we can really…. be.”

Rose uncrossed her arms, and she let herself smile a little.

“I guess your right huh?”

Cal shrugged and turned around, walking ahead of her.

            “Do you know what the best part of Halloween is?” He asked quietly.

“No.”

“Scaring little kids!” Laughing he took off into the darkness.

“Hey!” Rose protested, chasing after him. Unfurling her wings she felt the weight lighten beneath her feet and she glided. Gaining height, Rose biffed his head into the pavement.

“Hah!” She watched him roll on the ground then spring back up. Pulling out his dagger he threw it wide; purposely missing her. As Rose snatched it down from the air Cal grabbed onto her right wing and dragged her to the pavement. She pulled him down with her. They tumbled to the ground haphazardly, and Rose peered up to see Cal’s face above her, his hands on her shoulders, pinning her to the ground. The laughter died in Rose’s throat.

            The distance between her and Cal was swiftly closing, and for a moment his bangs brushed over her forehead, and her breathing quickened, heart beating rapidly against her chest.

            Shrill screams pierced the silent night, and they both jumped, looking up to see a large group of grade schoolers run around the corner and up to the nearest house.

            Cal leapt up off of her and Rose sat up. Heat was rushing into her cheeks, but Cal’s back was turned and he didn’t see. She spied the dagger about a foot away and grabbed it, standing up. Handing it to Cal she paused, and gasped.

“Oh my god, what is that?”

A white mist was drifting slowly out of the cemetery across from them. It had no distinct shape, and all Rose could tell was that it could move.

“What do you think it is?” Cal asked softly, watching the mist with her. She turned and looked at him.

“No way. It couldn’t be a ….”

Cal shrugged.

“They come out on Halloween.”

“But what are they?”

“Dunno. Never really been close to one myself, I’ve just watched them. They don’t come near us though, and stay even farther away from humans.”

“Ghosts?’

“Probably.”

            They watched the apparition float out of sight.

“They don’t see anything do they? Or hear…?” She asked. Cal shook his head.

            Rose’s wings retracted into her slowly. Putting her hands in her jean pockets she watched as another blob of mist appeared, feeling only feathers on her back ruffle in the slight wind now.

Sam stood in the shadows around the block form Rose and Cal. She couldn’t actually see them, but she could sense the two ever so slightly, as long as she stayed within a certain distance of them.

            Why she wasn’t home right now she had no idea. Her family was celebrating one of the most important holidays to her clan. Right now it was probably still quiet though, things didn’t really get exciting until about eleven anyway. She could just imagine Mael putting her pumpkin cookies in the oven right about now, not that Sam ever actually saw the act in progress. Mael guarded her cookie recipe like gold; no one was allowed to set foot in the kitchen while they were being made.

            The night’s breeze died around her. Sam listened, but couldn’t hear any noise around her. This neighborhood wasn’t very busy on Halloween; mostly older couples lived along these streets. She pushed up her sleeve and checked her watch. Nine twenty eight. Glancing up, Sam frowned. It wasn’t just quiet…There had been no breeze, no sound, nothing at all had disturbed the complete silence in the past few minutes.

            The hairs on the back of her neck raised, standing on end. Sucking her breath in with a hiss she spun on her heel, but no one was there. Sam frowned, and swore softly to herself.

Not a very pretty word for such a pretty face.

Sam spun around again, her teeth chattering, eyes searching around her wildly. A shadow shifted in the bush beside her and Sam her hand hovered over her dagger. A black cat tiptoed out of the shadows, and the tension in her shoulders loosened.

            White hands picked the cat up suddenly, cradling it against a pale face. His eyes seemed to dance red and straight colourless hair swung in across his face. Sam froze. A tongue peeked out of his mouth like a snake, and he licked his lips slowly, staring at her in a playful manner. The cat mewed softly and he nuzzled it against his cheek.

“Such a pretty little minou,” He whispered. Suddenly the cat shrieked, and Sam heard him laugh as a crack broke the silence loudly. Lifting his blood slickened fingers up to his mouth, the vampire licked them, and threw the dead cat aside roughly.

Sam ran.

Rose looked up as she saw Sam streak towards them, her eyes wide.

“RUN!” She screamed.

“Wha-?”
            Cal grabbed her hand and pulled, nearly toppling her. His other arm wrapped around Sam’s waist and pulled her along with them as the world flew by.

“What is it?” Rose yelled.

“Vampires!”

“But-“

“Just run!”