A Stunning Halloween

“Happy Halloween, bro” I said laughingly as I passed him the drink he had requested. He took it with a smile, and turned back to continue conversing with the girl on his lap. I smirked at him, he was always the lady’s man, but this girl may have changed his ways. He talked about her in a way I’d never heard him talk about the others. Whenever she was mentioned he went on about her in a quiet voice, almost like he was afraid he’d jinx it if he spoke too loud. 1

I left them to their private conversation, making my way through the mob of partiers to the back door. I could still hear the pulsing bass of the thunderous music of the party as I stepped out on the porch. 2

My breath came in shallow puffs of smoky mist in the icy air. I looked up into the night sky; it looked like it might snow. There were only a few clear spots, where the almost full moon shined brightly through the cloud cover. 3

I felt empty looking up there. I also felt alone, despite the loud party goers inside. I sighed, and a large hazy cloud puffed out to frame my face. The wind picked up and I closed my eyes against the cool breeze, leaning back against the railing of the porch.
I thought about the people inside, how dense they were, how spoiled. Most of them didn’t have the capacities to consider the bigger picture, to contemplate the mysteries of life and death. It was almost blasphemous on this night; the night when the veil between life and death was supposed to be the thinnest that they celebrate it with alcohol and weed and anything else they could use to keep from thinking. 4

I privately wished the same wish I had probably made a million times in my life: that something would change. I felt like I was meant for something more than a mundane life…I just didn’t know what yet. I shook off the thought like I always did; nobody else seemed concerned with my potential anyway.5

I wasn’t really surprised nobody from the party had missed me yet. It wasn’t unusual for me to disappear in the midst of a crowd of people. Even so, I was supposed to be the hostess. Even though it was a job thrust upon me against my will; it would really be rude of me to stay out here in the peaceful night for much longer.
I jumped, startled as I opened my eyes. Leaning on the railing across from me was someone I hadn’t met before. He looked about the same age as me, 21, but he wore the age with much more elegance. 6

“Oh, jeez. You startled me!” I gasped.7

“Do I know you?” I asked, trying to see better in the wavering moonlight.8

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you…and actually, no, you do not know me as of yet.” he said. He seemed to be laughing at some private joke under his breath and I hoped secretly that I wasn’t the butt of it. He was very handsome, with dark hair that was styled in that expensive way to look unstyled. It swayed across his forehead and the gentle breeze blew it slightly into his emerald eyes. I had the crazy thought to reach out and brush the hair aside so I could look deeper into them.9

“I am Damien.” He seemed to be whispering, but I could hear him clearly and it snapped me out of my embarrassing fantasy. 10

“Well, Damien…nice costume.” He was wearing early 1800s fashion: a black vest over a black button-up dress shirt, and black trousers. 11

“Who are you supposed to be?” I asked. He looked kind of like a high class movie mobster.12

He didn’t answer. He just smiled widely at me, exposing two dainty fangs to glisten in the moonlight. 13

“Oh, a vampire.” I laughed. “We match.”14

I was a vampire for Halloween every year. It didn’t take much for me since I already had the unnatural pallor. I had in press on fangs and was wearing velvet, renaissance-style dress; black with silver accents and bell sleeves. It was long enough to graze the ground as I stood there. I also had on a heavy coat, and skate shoes. They didn’t exactly match the outfit, but they were keeping me relatively warm in the frosty night. 15

“Aren’t you cold?” I wondered out loud.16

“I don’t get cold, the dead don’t feel.” He answered. His voice was nice; smooth and calming, and he had an unusual accent that I wasn’t able to place. 17

I laughed at the presumed vampire joke. He didn’t.
He just stood there, staring at me. It was then that I noticed that though my breath was still coming in frosty wisps, he didn’t seem to be breathing at all. 18

I didn’t feel myself move, but I must have gone for the door because he was suddenly holding my arm with one strong, cold hand. 19

“Don’t be scared,” he said in that soothing voice. “You asked for this. You were calling me. Now you have a choice in your destiny, but it’s a choice you must make quickly. You only have until midnight to decide which path to take, and if I’m correct (and I am), its already 11:30.”20

“Wh…what?” I stuttered, “I’m confused. You’re not really…”21

“A vampire? Well, I guess that’s relative really…depends on your definition, but yes. Yes, I am.” He was so damn handsome in the iridescent moonlight and he fit so well into the night…but he couldn’t really be a vampire. Vampires didn’t exist.22

“Yes, vampires do exist. No, we don’t go around publicizing it.”23

“Did…Did you just….read my mind?” I said hesitatingly, not sure I wanted to know the answer.24

He laughed, it was a deep manly laugh; so rich and beautiful I felt like I should be able to see it. 25

“No. I did not.” He seemed to be finding me a bit too funny. “I apologize. It isn’t very gentlemanly of me to be laughing at a time like this is it?” 26

“I need to make short work of this explanation, so if you will, I’d like to just get it all out and then you can ask questions. No interrupting, okay?”27

I nodded solemnly, overwhelmed by the possibility. 28

“Okay here’s the deal…All the ‘three-days dead, you suck my blood, I suck your blood’ type myths you have heard? Yeah, well…they really are just myths. A new vampire can only be made on All Hallow’s Eve, when the ritual is started at exactly midnight and only if they give permission. Long story short, our race is dying out and the last few of us strong enough to make new vampires have been sent on a mission to find someone worthy. Actually, we’ve been ordered to….”
He redirected himself before going on.29

“Well, that part doesn’t really matter. What matters is this. You have an opportunity a lot of humans think they want, one that next to none will ever have a chance at. You have the opportunity to become one of us, a vampire…but as I said before, you are on a deadline. And that deadline is actually about fifteen minutes away, now. So…any questions?” 30

He gave me the full weight of those shining green eyes, and he smiled apologetically. I was stunned, and not just by his loveliness.