Bella Notte (12 page)

“
You will not
talk to me in such a manner and you will do as you are told!”
His voice boomed in my ears to the point where I wanted to cover
them- and then he left.

I sat on the cold
concrete floor of the garage and brought my knees to my chest.
I
won't be forced to marry some jerk to keep my family happy.
The tears spilled over the brim of my eyes and cascaded down my
cheeks- the mirror seemed to cry with me as it released its broken
pieces to the floor. I cried with all the sorrow and anger I felt
deep within my soul. I cried until my eyes held no moisture.

Once the tears had
gone, I sat holding myself in shock in the darkening room.

When my mind became
clear again, I vowed I'd live my life- no one would live it for me. I
walked into the house, grabbed some food on the way to my room, and
refused to see anyone.

Monday quickly faded
into Tuesday. Ah, Halloween. My favorite holiday- nothing could ruin
this day. All memories faded of Sunday as I got ready in my costume.
Mike and I decided that we should wear different costumes during the
day than what we intended to wear that night at the dance.

I slipped the tan
stockings on and was amazed at the apparent color on my skin. I
sprayed an instant tanner on myself so that I looked sun-soaked. I
pulled the pale pink mini-skirt up over my rump and zipped it shut.
The soft white cashmere sweater felt nice against my skin, but it
felt very foreign. I took the large plastic curlers out of my hair
and it shook into large bouncy curls. The bubblegum pink lip gloss
caused my lips to stick together in what I thought was a silencing
trap. My eyes were no longer surrounded by my beloved black liner-
instead the lids were powdered a gentle pink, the lashes were curled
and mascaraed, and I had only the slightest brown eye liner on.
Absolutely
perfect
.
The thought danced around me as I slipped on my white Mary

Janes. Now
I
look like a normal girl. I hope Mike did his part.
I grabbed my pink clutch purse and went downstairs. I had asked
Grandpa last night if I could borrow the silver Beemer- which of
course we'd agreed to once I told him that I couldn't drive my lovely
beast looking like this- as it would disgrace my car. I took the keys
off the kitchen counter and went out the front door.

Mike was waiting for
me at school when I got there. He looked amazing. His beautiful
spikes had been gelled down and combed slightly to the right. He wore
no jewelry except for his family ring. His attire was perfect- tan
khakis, a white button-up with a green argyle sweater vest over it,
and he had loafers on. He smiled at me when I got out of the foreign
car.

“
You look
perfect.” I smiled back.

“
We
look perfect, my dear,” he said as he snubbed his nose slightly
in the air.

I giggled. “Quite
right, my darling Michael.” I slipped my arm though his and we
walked into the school.

The day was filled
with people. Mike and I didn't go unnoticed.

Every female and
male in the school suddenly felt the need to talk to us- as well as
flirt. It was interesting to see that we could easily be King and
Queen of this school if we took the time to fit in. We ate in the
cafeteria and were invited to sit with everyone. For the first time
in my school experience, I was popular. Even Kelly wanted to sit with
us.

It was amazing to
send people away with a flick of the wrist. The rest of the day
passed the same. In Art, we were carving pumpkins and I played my
part- claiming I couldn't possibly do it as I would get dirty. Miss
Ashley found the humor in it, especially after multiple people
volunteered to undertake the terribly messy experience for me. Mike
and I walked out of the school together and into the parking lot.

“
I think the
car is a nice touch.” He beamed at me.

“
I couldn't
deface my dark beauty by driving it like this.” I waved over my
outfit.

“
Well, even
like that you're the most beautiful girl I know.” His cheeks
flushed.

“
Perhaps you'd
prefer bubblegum pink to blood red.” I stuck my tongue out at
him.

He gave me a big
slobbery kiss on my cheek. “I prefer whatever you want. So,
I'll meet you at your house at six, okay?”

“
Yup. The
hearse will be there waiting to take us to the dance. See ya in a
bit, Michael Darling.” I smiled.

It was difficult not
to speed in that silver speed machine. Somehow I managed to stay in
the limit, but, by the time I got home, my foot cramped from the
restraint. The house was decked out in the usual Halloween garb. It
was nice to see the house so spooky. It was the exterior, however,
and the inside was normal and no one wore a costume but me. It was
about four o'clock when I walked in the house, so I had two hours
until Mike would appear and we had agreed that I'd be ready and
outside so he wouldn't have to come in. It still hurt to think that
my family had been so rude to him.

I decided to start
getting everything ready.
Tonight
is going to be awesome.
I got in the shower to wash off the fake tan and feminine pink
makeup. It felt nice to see my normal skin tone once again. The
orange glow swirled down the drain and I was once again my pale
glory.
The
one nice thing about being pale is that I won't need makeup to appear
deathly pale to be Dracula's bride.

I got out the shower
and blew dry my hair- making sure that no curl was left. I slinked
into my ethereal-like white gown. It was an exact replica of
Dracula's bride's gown in that old black and white movie. It seemed
all flowy, sheer, and delicate. In that, it was completely opposite
of what I am or what I'd even wear. I decided I'd go barefoot with
only a silver charm bracelet around my ankle. All my nails were once
again stained a crimson red. My makeup was very simple- a light gray
eyeshadow, venomous lips, black eye liner, and some slight shimmer to
add a little spirit-like hue to my skin. My fangs were custom fitted
and didn't require any gel or anything- it was difficult to get them
to snap into place though.

Once I got them in
and the entire look was complete- it was utterly perfect.
Frighteningly so.
Surely
this year Mike and I will be crowned the King and Queen of the dance.
Sure as heck won't happen for prom or anything.
I tried to perfect my walk so it appeared that I was gliding instead
of walking.

At fifteen minutes
to six o'clock, I went outside and waited for Mike and the hearse to
arrive. The hearse showed up first and the driver was spooktastically
wonderful. He was right out of a monster movie. I, of course, loved
it Mike appeared shortly after- he looked amazing. It was as though
Mike had become a werewolf.

“
Why, hello
there tall, dark, and furry.” I purred perfectly through my
fanged smile.

“
Hello, my
Goddess of the Night.” He smiled back and I could see the
multiple sets of fangs that did not impede his speech either.

“
Look, I got
this for your birthday. I don't know if it will clash with your wolfy
appearance too much- but here.” I handed him the velvety
jewelry box.

I watched as Mike
clicked the soft lid into place.
God
that looks odd in his werewolf hands.
He slid the tiny cloth covering the bracelet I so desperately hoped
he liked. And then he gasped.
Oh
no, he hates it
.

“
Emma ... it's
beautiful. Will you help me put it on?” he said in a rushed
tone as he examined all the details of it.

“
Are you sure
it won't cramp wolfman's style?” I giggled at him in relief, as
I clasped the bracelet on.

“
I know you're
joking and all, but just so you know- this means the world to me.”
He grabbed me into a hug.

We parted and I
check my dress which was surprisingly still perfect. We climbed into
the back of our waiting vehicle and headed toward the school.

The entire town
seemed a little darker and secretive. As we drove through town we
could see the small goblins and ghouls coming out for their treats. I
absolutely loved it. For some strange reason, it always seemed that
there were more kids that dressed up like the things that went bump
in the night than sugar coated, happily ever afters. It was something
I'd never understand.

When we reached the
gym, it had been transformed. Mike and I paid good money to have a
contractor flown in to turn the exterior of the gym into a haunted
house. The inside, of course, was left up to the senior committee-
which meant that Kelly and her pack had turned it into something
cute.
How
could someone even think of Halloween as cute?
It didn't matter tonight, tonight was our night.

I put my perfectly
deterring fanged smile on as my wolfy man and I got out of our hearse
into the circling crowd. We heard a lot of “wows” and
such as we approached the gym- it was lovely.

Once inside I was
shocked- it was spooktastic. Apparently, Kelly finally got the idea.
When I spotted Kelly I knew this was wrong. She was wearing a pale
pink princess gown and tiara. She turned her head and I noticed two
things that seemed out of place. The first was a gnarly hickey on her
neck that was surrounding what looked like classic vampire marks.
He
had fangs.
The second thing I noticed was that her eyes seemed dazed. Yeah,
people did drugs, but not Kelly- her crowd made fun of the stoners.
Where
are her groupies?

“
Mike, I think
there is something wrong with Kelly?” I tried to draw as little
attention as possible- which was pretty hard as everyone seemed to
notice us as soon as we walked in, everyone but Kelly that was.

“
Whatcha mean,
Em …?” His words fell short when I saw him see her.

We moved through the
crowd saying “hello” to people that never talked to us
before and “thanks” to those that said they'd vote for us
for king and queen.

Once we got close
enough to Kelly, I really knew something was wrong. She really was in
a daze. My concern hiked through the roof I'd seen enough monster
movies to know she was under someone's influence and it wasn't my
overactive imagination playing with the concept of Halloween.

I eyed Mike so he'd
know I was going to talk to her. “Hey, Kelly, nice job
decorating.” I chose something that I knew she would react to.

“
Oh, you
really think so? Of course you do. He said you'd like it.” Her
voice was faint and distant, and I had no idea why she'd care if I
liked the decorations.

“
Who said,
Kelly?” I prayed that whoever had control over her wanted me to
know who he was.

“
Oh, he'll be
back in a minute- he's getting us something to drink.” I really
wanted to hear her voice normal again.

Mike and I both
turned toward the refreshment table. That's when my eyes met with a
familiar set of green eyes.
Dominic.
What's he
doing
here?
Something in my brain was having a hard time catching up to what was
happening.

“
What's
Dominic doing here?” I said aloud.

“
You mean the
guy that tried to drug you?” His voice flared with anger as he
moved toward the direction I was looking.

“
Yes, that
guy. But don't go charging off on your white horse just yet. I want
to find out what he's done to Kelly.” My voice sounded small in
my ears.

“
Emma- I could
take him, and I promise he'll tell us what we want to know.”
The anger and heat coming off of him could've easily melted Dominic-
at least in my opinion.

“
What happened
to you? You are supposed to be the voice of reason, what's all this
punch now and ask later? When need to know what is wrong with Kelly.”
It felt like I was pleading for Mike to take his normal approach to
things.

“
That guy is a
skeeze. There isn't anything to think about- he needs to be put in
his place, especially if he thinks he can just screw with people.”
It was frightening to see Mike like this.