Title: A Halloween to remember!
Author: princesslara99
Background: AU. Dimitri is a royal moroi and Rose is his girlfriend. They are currently seniors at St. Vladimir's and it is Dimitri's first Halloween with Rose. Everything seems perfect in the beginning – a typical high school Halloween party, but suddenly the air changes. A danger impending springs up out of nowhere! Come read and find out how Rose and gang deal the situation. This one shot runs parallel to my story – In the Highschool, but could be a standalone work too. Quick thank you to my sister for brushing up the last of the details.
The sun was low on the horizon, casting its lively yellow light and illuminating the gothic structure of St. Vladimir's academy, making it seem otherworldly to any oblivious passerby. It was a wonder how the place had evaded human interactions for so long!
It was the beginning of a normal day for the morois and the dhampirs (the good vampires and their fierce protectors) who resided the place.
And this fine day found Princess Vasilisa Dragomir, the last of the Dragomir line, in her best friend's room.
"Hey Rose, the Halloween party's next week!" She bounced on her bed, excitement flooding through her petite form in waves.
Rose tried to raise her eyebrows at her over – excited friend, "So?" She liked Halloween alright, but it was nothing compared to the elation Lissa felt at its mere mention. It was her favorite time of the year – except for Thanksgiving that is.
"Oh don't go 'so' on me!" Lissa huffed. Rose rolled her eyes and went back to the damned homework she was trying to complete in the mean time. All that calculus stuff was frying her brain away. Who needs to use that stuff in daily life anyway? Certainly not her!
"It is going to be so much fun this time!" Lissa continued to gush, oblivious to her friend's growing irritation on the mathematics notebook placed in front of her.
"Oh really? What's going to be so different?"
"Come on! This will be your first Halloween with Dimitri!"
At the mention of his name, Rose paused. She couldn't believe her heart skipped a beat just on the mention of his name. His goddamned beautiful name! Dimitri – her boyfriend, the first person she was in love with. Lissa was right, this year it would be different. Better. Best.
"So? Have you decided what you'll go as?" Lissa interrupted her thoughts the next second and Rose finally shut her notebook giving up the pretense of doing the work.
But before she could speak, Lissa cut her off, "Oh! I know what you should go as!"
"What?"
"A lingerie model!"
"As if!" Rose scoffed and a wide grin graced her lips as she thought of their principal, Kirova's reaction if she turned up as a La Perla model to the school's Halloween party!
"No really! You'll knock his socks off!" Lissa giggled. Rose rolled her eyes at her. She knew better than to reply to that statement.
"What are you going as?" She asked instead, diverting the attention back to Lissa.
"That's a surprise! But I'll give you a hint; Christian and I are going as a famous couple!"
"Let me guess …uhm… Cinderella and Prince Charming?"
The scowl in Lissa's face suggested that Rose had guessed very correctly. "Oh Liss!" Rose laughed. "Christian as Prince Charming, this could be fun!"
"Rose!" Lissa's voice carried throughout the hallway as she banged the door of her best friend's dormitory. "Are you done yet?!"
"Your highness!" Christian's voice followed Lissa's, as he kicked the door. "Your peasants are waiting. Grace us with your presence!"
"Shut up, Christian." Dimitri rolled his eyes at the sarcasm of his best friend. "Take your time, Roza. I'll be here." he called out, adoration lacing his accented voice.
"You spoil her, Mitya!" Christian snorted, fixing his coat/ cape jacket. It was St. Vladimir's Halloween night and the three friends were standing at the corridors of the female dhampir dorms, waiting for Rose to make an appearance, so that they could join the party raging downstairs.
"So what?" Dimitri quipped, straightening his hat. "She deserves to be spoiled."
"Whatev…." Christian's witty remark was cut off, as the handle of the door clicked and Rose appeared.
"You look beautiful, milaya." Dimitri breathed as he saw her. Perfection. The only word that registered his mind, his Roza was the epitome of perfection! And he was giddy on the thought that he'll be celebrating his first Halloween with her! He kissed the top of her nose in affection.
"He's right Rose," Lissa smiled, showing all her pearly whites. She and Christian were dressed as Cinderella and Prince Charming, as mentioned earlier.
Lissa looked elegant in her blue and white gown. It was the typical Cinderella gown you find on eBay, but the quality was far better. She had paired it up with diamond chandelier earrings and a silver choker necklace. The overall effect was amazing!
While Lissa rocked her 'princess look', Christian looked ridiculous in his Prince Charming outfit. "Oh my god Christian!" Rose laughed as she took in his attire, light blue smock shirt that was buttoned up to his collar. He had donned a pair of crème colored square tail jacket which was embroidered with gold threads, "Words escape me at this moment!"
"At least I look better than you!" he scoffed, clearly uncomfortable in wearing anything but black as he adjusted the sleeve of his smock shirt. "And I didn't take three hours to do my make up but still look awful."
"Don't listen to him." Dimitri clicked his tongue. "You look breathtaking. Just like a goddess." She was wearing a white long satin dress, the top tied up on her shoulders leaving her arms bare. A gold colored sash was wrapped right around her waist and she had braided her hair on the top of her head with few tendrils escaping. She looked just what she had aimed for – a Greek goddess.
"You look handsome as well, cowboy!" Rose said straightening the lapel of his duster, giving him a shy smile. Nevertheless to say, he looked devilishly handsome! Dimitri smiled down at her and bent to capture her lips in a sweet kiss.
"Are you guys done admiring each other?" Christian whined. "Can we go to the party now?"
The three of them rolled their eyes at him but complied. In no time, they found themselves at the entrance of the gymnasium – the venue of the Halloween party.
"Let's go!" Lissa squealed.
The school authorities and the students in –charge had clearly put up a lot of effort to give the hallway a scary dungeon look. The lights were dim with occasional flashes of reds and greens. Halloween themed music was blaring out of the speakers. There were fake cobwebs and slime and everything to give the place a spooky look.
They moved further inside, it was the same but the walls had posters everywhere – funny Halloween quotations and jokes. And though it would have been difficult for normal eyes, but to their enhanced senses, it was no biggie to see everything clearly.
Rose read one of them out loud, "Those who believe in telekinetics raise my hand."
"Where do they come up with stuff like that?" Lissa laughed.
"Hey!" Dimitri grinned. "Check this one out. 'Ghosts, like ladies, never speak till spoken to.'"
Rose and Christian bellowed out full belly laughter, joined by Dimitri and Lissa.
"Oh I'm enjoying this tonight! It's been so long!" Rose said excitement clear in her voice.
"You're right. I love this!" Lissa agreed.
"Hey! There's more!" Christian pulled them with him to the next poster.
'Where there is no imagination there is no horror.'
'If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much of a day.'
'We live in a Newtonian world of Einsteinian physics ruled by Frankenstein logic.'
There was some more laughing session as they studied the posters, after which the quartet moved to the table to get some punch.
"Eeww! This looks like blood!" Rose scrunched up her nose, eyeing the punch warily.
"It's supposed to look like one, deity." Christian smirked.
"It's watermelon punch. And yours isn't spiked. Drink up." Dimitri instructed. He was enjoying the evening too. Though Halloween was still not his favourite sport, but he was happy spending time with Rose and his friends.
"Let's go mingle." Rose suggested as they made their way through the crowd. In one of the storage rooms, they'd set up a large barrel of water to give the impression of a fake pool, a large tangle of fake cobwebs complete with very realistic looking spiders.
The teachers chaperoning were dressed as various characters as well. Rose could see Mr. Nagy dressed as batman and Ms. Meissner as Priscilla Presley. Alberta was dressed in her formal black and whites, clearing choosing to stay out of the hoopla for kids. Rose was shocked to see Kirova dressed as Marilyn Monroe! Talk about surprises!
"Hey look at Jesse!" Lissa said pointing in his general direction. He was swarmed by a group of girls who were hanging around him like a bad smell. He had dressed as James Dean and much to Rose's dismay; he pulled the look off quite well. He had a beautiful face no doubt; too bad he was an asshole!
Rose's eyes again wandered back to Dimitri. He had put little to no effort in his appearance. The duster he regularly wore was still resting on his shoulders. He had adorned a worn out cowboy hat and had completed his look off with combat boots and cowboy belt. He was handsome without effort in all his six – foot – seven – inches glory! She couldn't believe her luck that this beautiful man was with her!
"You're staring," he said quietly with an amused look in his face.
"So? It's not every day I see such a pretty cowboy," Rose teased taking a sip of her drink. "So let me feed on my dirty thoughts, comrade."
Dimitri scrunched his nose up, "I don't think I was going for 'pretty'. It was more along the adjectives like – hot, heart throbbing sex on legs. And for the dirty thoughts, you're free to share them with me – you never know when they turn into reality." He smirked.
"Oh comrade! We'll get to that later tonight. I might have a surprise for you..." Rose giggled as the smirk was wiped off his face, hunger replacing them in an instant.
"Later." She mouthed before smiling smugly at the ability to render him speechless.
"Let's go dance!" She said pulling Dimitri with her to the dance floor. The Knife – 'Silent Shout,' was blaring out as they danced with Dimitri's arms wrapped around her waist.
"Are you enjoying Comrade?" Rose asked.
"More than I thought, I would." Dimitri replied smiling brightly at her.
"How did you celebrate Halloween in Russia?" she questioned moving with the rhythm. Oh! She loved the feel of the hard length of his body pressed against her!
"We didn't." He replied somewhat amused.
"What?!" Dimitri almost laughed at her dumbfounded expression.
"Back there in Russia, Halloween isn't a big deal." He explained.
"But how can't it be? It's Halloween for god's sake!"
Dimitri shrugged. It was just the way it was!
"Well I'm glad you're celebrating your first Halloween with me then!" Rose smiled intimately at her boyfriend. He grinned down at her catching her lips in an unexpected kiss. It lasted mere seconds but left Rose breathless.
"Best. Halloween. Ever!"
"Are you people enjoying the evening!"
A petite moroi boy from their year called out from the microphone that had been placed in the makeshift stage earlier. His name was Peter and by the looks of it, he was the in - charge to tonight's show!
A boisterous reply by the shouts and squeals of the students let him know that they were indeed enjoying the night.
"I can't hear you!" The crowd yelled more loudly, causing some of the teachers to stuff their ears.
"Now that's some response!" The boy, Peter joked. He was dressed as Dracula. "Now...we all know, as per the traditions, that we are supposed to tell each other scary ghost stories..." he whispered the last part, trying to sound spooked but the way the crowd laughed – it clearly lost its effect. It was funny though!
Some of the people raised their hands, willing to share ghost stories, calling out to Peter. Rose, Lissa, Dimitri and Christian were seated at the back, not paying much attention to the chaos. How could they? When they were wrapped around their respective partners, making out like there was no tomorrow!
All of a sudden, Rose felt a wave of nausea wash over her. Her stomach rolled, causing her to pull away from Dimitri's lips.
"Are you okay, milaya?" Dimitri asked, concern etching his features as he caressed her cheeks.
"Yeah...I...I don't know...I felt queasy..." Rose said, scrunching her nose up.
"Do you need to get out? Take a breather?" he asked her.
"No...I feel fine now." Rose lied. How embarrassing it was to have your date find out you were sick?!
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely."
"Kelly! Lovely." Peter's voice addressed a girl from the crowd. "Come up on the stage girl! Give her a big hand, people." he announced emanating a cheer from the crowd.
The girl, presumably Kelly, started with her story, "Rachel, from Northallerton, Yorkshire, England was an extremely old woman who had no family still living." The girl started.
"Her only companion and friend was a little brown dog, Fluffs, who went everywhere with her, with one exception. Fluffs loved the open fireplace in winter, and after the old woman went to bed he would sometimes go and lie in the hearth in front of the warm coals. Usually though, the dog slept at the very edge of the bed on a throw rug." She took a deep breath, looking around to see that everyone was paying attention at her. Even Rose and Dimitri were intrigued as they quit their kissing to listen to her.
"Rachel wouldn't allow the dog on the bed with her, but if she became frightened or had a nightmare, she would put her hand down to the little brown dog and he would lick it reassuringly.
"One dark night Rachel was reading her newspaper just before going to sleep. She shivered and pulled the bedclothes up around her as she read that a mental patient had wandered off from the nearby Broadmoor asylum. No one knew if the patient was dangerous or not; he was a suspect in the murders of several women who had lived alone.
"Rachel turned out the lights and tried to sleep, but she was frightened, and kept thinking of the news report; she tossed and turned fitfully.
"Finally, she reached down to where the little brown dog slept. Sure enough, a warm, wet tongue began to lick her hand. The woman felt reassured and safe, and left her hand dangling off the bed as she turned and settled in comfortably. She opened her eyes for a moment and looked through the open door into the living room.
"There in front of the fireplace, sat Fluffs, gazing at the coals and wagging his tail.
Down beside the bed, something was still licking her hand."
"wooohoooo..." the crowd cheered with scary voices but applauded as the girl left the stage.
"That was spooky, wasn't it?" Peter was back on the stage. "I see our Prince Charming sweating it. Are you okay, Christian?" He asked.
Christian looked completely disinterested as he flipped him a bird. Students hooted and applauded at his reaction. One more story followed Kelly's and was met with a high criticism.
"Boooo! That was a bad one, Kevin!" Peter said out loud in the microphone as the moroi boy staggered down the stairs after delivering his version of ghost and ghoul story.
"Enough of the children's Halloween stories now... Let's do something else...Let's discuss something...more adult!" Peter's timbre had changed considerably and the hiss that continued his speech was audible. The crowd broke on titters as they cheered him, every one thinking of it as one of his attempts to sound scarier. Everyone but Rose.
Her stomach rolled some more, making her hands fly towards her mouth as she tried to suppress the bile rising in her throat.
"Roza!" Dimitri shifted her so she could lean against him. "Did you eat something bad?"
"Not that I remember..." Rose said trying to take deep breaths.
Are you alright? Lissa's concerned voice in her mind indicated that she had her attention now.
"I'm fine Liss," Rose replied. "Queasy...but fine."
A loud scream pierced through the gym halls, startling everyone. Guardians instantly grabbed their stake, looking around frantically to discern the source of the sound.
"Scared, aren't we?" Peter's cold chuckle attracted the attention of the crowd back to him. "What's a good Halloween if you can't scare your friends, right?" Some of the students broke into a nervous chuckle as they realized this was a prank.
People hadn't even completely calmed down when the lights of the gym suddenly went out. Screams and gasps filled the air at the sudden invasion of light.
Rose could feel Lissa's anxiety flow through the bond and tried the best to calm her down. "It's okay Liss. I'm right here. It's just a prank. Calm down." The catch was that as much as Rose wanted to believe it, she wasn't sure of her own words right now. An eerie feeling gripped her. Something was wrong. So very wrong!
"Darkness. A funny thing isn't it?" Peter's voice had an added chill to it. "When everything around us just disappears... darkness makes us aware, create anticipation, like right now? Aren't you guys out of your mind right now guessing what's going to happen next?" he added in a rush whisper.
"This is getting out of hand, Peter." Alberta's voice was stern even though no one could see her, they knew she was serious. "Enough of the prank now, cut it out!"
"Cut it out, Guardian Petrov?" Peter's smirk was clear in his voice. Dimitri tightened his hands around Rose's waist. He didn't want to admit, but he was spooked. Big time.
"Well, I imagined the evening turning out a bit differently...You all want to know what I had planned?." No one spoke. It was calm, but not the peaceful one. It was more like the calm before a storm. Adrenaline was running through everyone's veins. Anticipation coiled at the bottom of their stomach. Nothing but the collective gasp of fastened breaths could be heard. They waited for something. Anything to happen, anytime now!
"This!" Peter hissed and suddenly there was a spot light on the stage. People squinted their eyes at the sudden assault of light. It was like everything and everyone was frozen in their place. The only thing that had changed was where Peter stood alone in the stage when the lights had died down earlier, now with him, stood a terrified Kelly.
"Cut it out, Guardian Petrov?" He taunted. And Rose couldn't believe she missed that – his appearance. His skin was pale – paler than any other moroi standing there. And now that she had seen it – the red in his eyes were hard to miss. He was no longer their classmate and friend for he had joined the living dead. Peter was unmistakably a Strigoi.
"No...I can't cut it...But I can do something better. I can bite." And before the guardians in the room could react, his fangs were deep in Kelly's jugular, draining her blood.
Chaos broke out all of a sudden as screams of horror filled the room and the crowd of panicked students started to run, trying to find the nearest exit. The guardians sprang into action, two of them jumped up in the stage to rescue the poor girl when Peter ripped her away from himself roughly, tossing her on the floor, like a rag doll.
"Everybody! Clear the room!" Alberta shouted at the top of her lungs, "Russell, Donovan! Escort the Princess out. Stay with her."
"Not so fast Petrov!" Peter growled. "You think we would let you ruin our plans, wash all our efforts? Huh? Princess is the prize! Princess Vasilisa Sabina Rhea Dragomir, the last of the Dragomir line killed in the crossfire of the strigoi attack at St. Vladimir's academy! How does that sound huh?"
Rose felt Lissa freeze as soon as the words were out of his mouth. A thousand thoughts run through her mind and yet she felt frozen, not being able to put a finger on any.
"Roza, Lissa. Come on, let's move!" Dimitri hissed coming to step in front of them, Christian doing the same. Rose wanted to yell at them to move out of the way and stay behind her, but Lissa stopped her.
"Rose?" A whimper escapes her lips. She didn't want to die. No. She didn't. But she also didn't want anyone else to die because of her. Talk about dilemma!
"Don't panic!" Rose hissed. "We're going to get you out of here safely. Stay calm and do as you're told. Do you hear me?"
Lissa nodded her head frantically, tears pooling in her eyes.
"The doors locked!" one of the guardians yelled. "We can't move out!"
Peter's cackle broke through the anarchy, as he yelled on the top of his lungs, "Strigoi brothers and sisters! Attack!"
Rose hadn't even digested his words properly, when out of nowhere, four strigoi's jumped out from the dark corners of the room, moving in their lightening fast speed towards her. Or more specifically - towards Lissa.
Two of them were tackled into the ground by Alberta and three other guardians while two were still fighting Peter. Rose jumped in front of Dimitri, pushing him back as a strigoi approached him, throwing a punch in his direction.
"Stay back!" Rose growled, as she kicked the strigoi in the gut, hardly making him flinch.
"Rose!" Lissa yelled. Dimitri and Christian caught her just in time she was about to make a run. They covered her protectively along with the guardians Alberta had assigned to Lissa. "Stay back Princess!" one of the guardians growled as he took his position in front of her.
"Dhampir!" The strigoi snarled. Rose lunged switching on offensive, throwing a couple of kicks in his lower middle portion to take him down. It was clear that the strigoi was a moroi in his previous life for he had no real technique to own the fight and was relying totally on his unnatural strength and reflexes. He went down but only after a second was back up throwing his full body weight at Rose, making her trip. But luckily, she caught the pillar nearby to steady herself before launching again at him.
"Rose!" Alberta yelled, pulling out her spare stake and throwing it at her. Rose caught it with practiced efficiency. Three of the five moroi were dead, along with Peter. Three down. Two more to go.
The motivation pushed Rose as she turned around, landing a deadly roundhouse kick on the strigois jaw, making him stumble over on the ground.
"You bitch!" he snarled, baring his fangs at her. Rose leaped upon him, scratching his cheek with her silver. He growled inhumanly in pain and tried to jerk her off his torso, but Rose pinned him back down with her body weight, trying to get that stake through his heart. The bastard wasn't making things easy. He twisted his body, trying to get her weight off him. "Get off me you stupid bitch!" he yelled. "Or else I swear…."
Rose didn't hear the ending of his sentence as in a fraction of second; her stake was buried clean in his chest through his heart. He was dead.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a flash of light as Christian lit up the last strigoi's head, while Guardian Russell drove a stake through his heart.
"Check all the corners; make sure that these were the last of it." Alberta barked cradling her injured hand. The students and the teachers were ushered out quickly after the quick check of the perimeter.
"The dangers averted!" She announced after a few minutes, visible sagging in relief.
"How's she?" Christian inquired, settling himself down on the small chair beside the bed on which his Lissa was lying. She had passed out as soon as he had incinerated the last strigoi.
"She's absolutely fine. Just passed out from exertion." the kind nurse replied. "She'll be up any second now."
Rose burst through the door at the same instant, her searching eyes land on Lissa lying on the infirmary bed, unconscious. Dimitri was just steps behind her.
"Oh Liss!" Rose sighed.
"She's fine." Christian said repeating the nurse's words. Rose shook her head at him before flopping down on the chair in the corner of the room.
"How had Peter played it out?" Christian asked after a long stretch of silence.
Dimitri cleared his throat, "He didn't." At Christian's raised eyebrows, he continued, "The strigoi penetrated the ward line with the help of a human, a body was found near the ward line." he explained. "On their move further, they encountered Peter who was getting ready for tonight's show. It was their plan to get an inside man, they turned him."
"And the rest was just as it was…."
"You should go and rest. I'll stay with her." Christian announced before ushering both of them outside.
Dimitri had his arms around Rose as soon as they stepped outside in the chill of the night. He looked down at her for a few moments before placing his lips firmly over hers, capturing her lips in a desperate kiss.
"Comrade…."Rose sighed snuggling closer to him.
"I was scared today." he admitted.
"I was too." Rose confessed.
"I love you Roza!"
"I love you too!" Rose sighed. "Still the best Halloween ever?"
"Yep. It was definitely a Halloween to remember!"
A/N: The story and the quotations used in the story are the result of Google search.