Queen of the Damned
Mina clumsily dropped the tape and cursed under her breath, watching it fall to the ground from her level of the ladder. She bitterly scowled as she took out her cell from her back pocket and answered the call.
Her ringtone was the sound of an ear-piercing scream in honor of Halloween. She changed her tone to cheerful after seeing who it was. "Fangs 'R' Us, how may I help you?"
"Happy day 1095!"
Mina laughed and blushed at Vlad's very loud and very thoughtful hello. She held in her laughter as she tried to talk. "Happy Halloween to you too."
She switched positions so she was sitting at the top of the latter. Mina saw William entering her view carrying a large bowl of candy. She motioned him over and pointed to the tape. "Hand me the tape, Will?"
"You're with William?" He asked and she hummed in confirmation. "That's random."
"I'm decorating the Crypt." She explained and finished taping up the row of streamers. "Caz put me in charge of decorating as his way of saying sorry."
"Wait, sorry for what?" Vlad asked and Mina mentally cursed at her mistake.
"Uh...He accidently dumped a jug of Blood-wine on me the other day." She came up with a quick lie, still not wanting Vlad to know about Dracula's blood. He laughed and she followed suit while coming down from her ladder to inspect Davide and Amare's work. "Guys, can you put the corpse here? We can put all the bowls and stuff on top and around him."
"Whoa, sounds pretty cool already." Vlad admired and she blushed. "Never knew you were a Halloween decorator..."
Mina laughed and spoke with a smile in her voice. "Well, I am, and I'm shocked Matthew hasn't hired me yet!" For Mina it felt good to laugh with Vlad again. Hearing his voice happy was one of the greatest things she loved and missed about their early years together. For the past couple days he seemed rather...enthusiastic and more optimistic than he had been for months. Something that both interesting and amused Mina to no end. "You are coming tonight aren't you?"
"Yeah, Meredith's going with Joss so I thought I'd stay clear of Matt's." Mina nodded but realized he couldn't see it. "Anyway, what are you dressing up as?"
Mina grinned, catching two bags of spider webs that some other Crypt workers tossed at her. She couldn't resist chuckling wickedly at the thought of her costume. She felt that this night would be a good one. "It's a secret."
Throughout the day, the Crypt had remained closed until every last detail was ready. Mina then got ready while the club filled with humans and vampires alike. She wasn't visited by anyone until she was nearly finished.
Her door creaked open and she turned to see Casimir entering and slowly sit on her bed to watch her. "Your positively glowing, Elizabeta." She smiled at him with her pale fingers smoothing out her silky skirt. "Pray, what is the cause?" Spinning around to watch her hands carefully smooth out her hair in her floor length mirror, she shrugged to avoid his question. "Hm...Vladimir is coming tonight, I assume?"
"Yes, but I don't think that's why I'm-as you say-glowing."
"Then what is, my dear?" He asked and she bounced over to sit beside him on the bed.
"I don't know why but I feel...alive! I have all this energy and stamina! All day today I've found myself smiling and laughing at nothing. I want to dance and sing and scream and cry and run around like a crazy maniac!"
As she spoke she gestured wildly with her hands causing her costume to react in a way that made Casimir lean away from her. Her bright blue and dark green eyes were wide with excitement.
