The Devil In Disguise

CHAPTER 15: Halloween Queen

A month later, I stood in Grace's incredibly large room, almost professionally applying liquid eyeliner to my eyelids. Xander's party was tonight and, let's just say, Corina, Grace and I were going full out.

I bought a dead bride costume which was white with a sheer, sweeping train of satin behind it. The front was short but became gradually longer at the back, so it was party-ish yet halloweeny.

Grace applied makeup to one of my cheeks so it looked like a chunk had been taken out of it leaving bloody flesh and bone, and she even made it look like my bare bone could be seen. It was brilliant.

She was going as a possessed school girl, looking sexier than most people in films, her blonde curls tinged with blood at the ends. Her wide blue eyes were accented with scarlet eyeshadow and fake lashes, with complimentary blood-coloured lipstick defining her lips. She looked like a queen.

Corina, on the other hand, was the opposite; she wasn't a cat, like most girls, but a zombie. Yes, you heard me right. A zombie. However, she managed to pull it off in a way that you'd imagine no one could pull it off. She wore the dirtiest, most ugly clothes and drenched them in blood, her complexion tinged green-yellow and cheeks hollowed out with makeup. Her eyes were especially haunting, with a single white, cloudy contact lens in one, and then a completely black contact lense in the other, obscuring even the whites of her eyeball.

Whisking my hair up into a beautifully messy bun (which both girls helped me with), I applied purple lipstick which graduated into pink at the centre of my lips, matching my hair, then chucked a load of fake blood on my dress in a vaguely artful way, and under my eyes to make it look like they were bleeding.

After we were done, and very proud of the end product, we took a ton of pictures (that I made sure they wouldn't post anywhere) and finally made it to the party — half an hour late. Walking in like models, we grabbed all the attention there was to grab, and for a moment, I felt carefree. And so, very happy.

Then people started taking pictures.

With each other, with us, of us, of the decorated house, everything. I'd already told Grace and Corina not to post anything with me online because I had a phobia and they agreed. But I couldn't tell everyone else — I didn't know who would and who wouldn't listen!

Ten minutes in, my stomach was filled with anxiety. I prayed that no one would post anything and cursed myself for even agreeing to take pictures with them. Grabbing a bottle of Corina's cider, I took a swig and calmed myself down.

Have fun. At least for Xander, I told myself.

"What are you even supposed to be?" a silky voice asked suddenly in mock disgust. The butterfly zoomed into my stomach and I didn't even have to turn around to know who it was.

Laughing softly, I turned and looked at Xander.

"Are you blind? I'm a dead bride," I told him, looking at him as if he was stupid. His gorgeous eyes twinkled in what looked like surprise and my heart skipped a beat but I kept all my internal feelings hidden.

"That's unrealistic. No one would want to marry you," he said easily, with a challenging smirk. I burst out laughing, and accepted the challenge.

"Oh really? What are you supposed to be then? Some kind of ugly blobfish? 'Cause you don't need a costume for that."

A snort escaped from Xander's mouth but he stifled it quickly, his laugh appearing in his eyes anyway, lighting up their glittering emerald facets and making my breath catch in my throat. If anything, he was absolutely the opposite of an ugly blobfish, with his rich black and white suit accented with dried blood, but I wasn't about to tell him that.