Reaper

Halloween

My heart was in my throat as I raised the faded, worn, silver knocker- which was unsurprisingly in the shape of a skull- that was just above eye level for me. Out of Jasik's parents, I would prefer Meredith- his sweetly eerie mother- to answer the door over his father any day. Hands shaking a little, I knocked three times, then dropped my hand down to my side and took a step back. A moment later, I heard footsteps approaching the door.

Please don't be his father, I silently begged repeatedly.

The footsteps stopped and the door opened. To my relief, Meredith stood on the other side of the black door.

"Raven, correct?" she asked after a second in that soft and sweetly eerie voice of hers, her sharp teeth peeking out from behind her thin, pale lips.

"Yes, ma'am," I replied.

"I assume you're here for Jasik?"

"If he's allowed to leave the house tonight, yes,"

She welcomed me inside, then closed the door behind me.

"It's been some time since I've seen you last," she said as we walked up the stairs.

"Some things had come up since then,"

Like Jasik cutting the lives of a few jocks in half, I thought to myself.

"Well, I hope things clear up. I'm still expecting you for supper one of these nights."

"I'm hoping to find an opening on my calendar." I was half-lying, though.

She smiled at me and I returned the gesture as we reached the top of the polished wooden stairs.

"I hope you two have fun tonight. Jasik has never been to a party before, so he might be a little anxious, like he's been all week." she said as we reached Jasik's bedroom door.

"I think he'll be okay,"

She smiled again, then knocked gently with her bony, white knuckles.

Jasik opened the door a second later. "Yes?"

I tried so hard not to stare at his pale, lean, bare torso as I blushed.

Before Meredith could reply, Jasik looked at me. His eyes immediately widened, he quickly swung the door mostly shut, and he hid behind it.

"Raven is here to pick you up," Meredith said, ignoring what he just did.

"Yeah, I-I'm aware of that now," he said a little hastily.

"Would you like her to wait here, or dow-?"

"Downstairs," he replied before she could finish her question.

"Okay," She turned back to me. "Come on, dear,"

I followed her back downstairs following Jasik's door closing quickly after she started walking away.

"He's quite fond of you, you know." she said as we took a seat on the red Victorian chairs in the front room.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Don't try to play the innocence card with me. I know you see that little glimmer in him."

I blushed slightly and tried to conceal it by looking in the opposite direction, finding old photographs of the Blackmane family over the decades and likely even centuries. One photograph in particular caught my eye, though; a woman. It's funny...she almost looks like-

"My husband has taken a likeness to you." Meredith said suddenly and completely out of context.

I turned to face her again. "W-what?"

"He thinks you might be a fine addition to our family one day."

I thought for a second before I realized what she meant. "Oh, um...yeah; Jasik and I aren't, um...you know...together."

"Spare me the innocence, child." she started with a slightly- probably unintentionally- creepy chuckle. "A handsome young man like my son can't just be friends with a gorgeous young woman like yourself, Raven."

I blushed again and looked away.

"Besides...a mother knows when her son has had his first kiss."

Surely my face had to look crimson by now.

"Where did you get your costume?"

I silently thanked her for changing the subject as I turned back to face her again. "I made it myself a couple years ago."

"It's gorgeous,"

"Thank you."

"Is it a vampire dress?"

"Yes,"

"I didn't know you and Jasik decided to wear matching monster costumes."

I furrowed my brow. "Jasik is going as a vampire, too?"

"He didn't tell you?"

I shook my head, silently hating myself for not asking him beforehand.

"Oh," was all she said.

Great, I thought. Now everyone at the party is going to make fun of us for acting like those weird couples that match every outfit for no reasonable reason. Hell, they'll make fun of us for simply going to this party together.

"Raven?" a slightly nervous voice called.

I looked up to see Jasik- now fully clothed- standing at the top of the stairs looking straight at me.

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure," I stood up, politely excused myself from Meredith's presence, then headed upstairs to meet Jasik, where he led me back to his room and closed the door most of the way behind him. "What's up?"

"Does this look pleasing, or should I go with another costume?" he asked.

He wore a stereotypical Dracula costume, complete with a high-collared cape and sharp-toed black dress shoes. He even put some theatrical makeup on, making his cheekbones and golden eyes seem more prominent than usual, including wearing vampire fangs.

"You look spiffy in that costume, but the fangs..." I trailed off as I stared at the way the fangs complimented his soft lips.

"What about them?"

I stepped closer to him, feeling that familiar chill run down my spine, and I wrapped my arms around his neck as I slowly leaned in.

"Raven?" he nearly whispered as his voice shook slightly.

It took him a second to figure out what I was doing, and at that point, he followed suit, placing his hands on my hips.

Our lips connected and I felt my very blood turn to ice. The kiss didn't last long, though. Once we broke apart, I smiled at him, gazing into his beautifully strange eyes. I noticed his pupils had dilated like they did the first time we kissed.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"You just look really attractive tonight,"

"Is it the vampire thing?"

"No; it's just different."

He half-smiled.

"You ready to go?"

"Yeah,"

"Well, come on, Dracula. We've got a party to get to,"