A/N: La-la-la-la-la! (I'm trying to ignore your Death glares through my skull by singing in my awful, awful voice.)


Chapter 8

Fang POV

I love Halloween. I used to hate it, but this year, I saw the fun in it. Fine, I'll cut the crap. Max has something to do with it. She definitely made it my favorite holiday of the year. Wanna know what happened?

OK, OK! Stop yelling! I'll just summarize it in one word: Mario.

Yeah, you want more elaboration, right? Right. Knew that.

Well, the week before Halloween, Max told me the video game she absolutely loathed; and that is Mario. I mean, how can she hate that game? It's categorized as a classic! How can you hate that?

But she hates it. So, all week long, I planned my revenge. (I know it has been two weeks, but I'm not the kind of person who forgets grudges in just a snap.) I was shocked that my revenge actually worked. You should see my victory dance. Not that I have one.


Morning of Halloween.

I hated that morning. I hated it. Not only was the temperature freaking cold, my boss told me to take a day off. That was the only time I was so looking forward to working. And he totally ruined it.

Well, my English professor told me to write a book report about some book that I forgot its name and it was due that day. What kind of a teacher tortures college students like that? I didn't do it, of course. It just so happens that I have work! So I said, "Screw this."

BUT, my boss gave me the day off, and I was forced to write my book report. I didn't even care if I failed that report. I spent five hours writing that stupid report. FIVE. Who spends five hours typing their book report? That's right, me.

And there goes an extra five hours to plan the revenge down the drain. Everything on my schedule had to be redone. I was so frustrated that I just threw it away and decided to let Destiny take its place. (That sounds really cliché.)

Afternoon of Halloween.

Aah. I can still hear the effervescent squealing of little children, wearing their little stupid costumes while ringing on every door shouting, "TRICK OR TREAT!".

You know what I think? If the kids know they are going to get candy, why ask "Trick or Treat?" to the adults? Wouldn't that be simple? Just yelling "Treat!" on every door and those dumb adults will succumb to the little kids' cuteness by giving them candy. On second thought, yelling "Treat!" wouldn't be much fun. It would be just really boring and annoying.

On the hilarious side, there were some adults who were just plain stingy. One gave pencils to little kids. Who gives away pencils as treats? One was really generous that I got the idea that she's gonna commit a suicide. She gave away five dollars to every kid who rang on her door. You know how many children went there? Seventeen. Do the math.

Night of Halloween. (That's kinda ominous.)

Since I'm an adult (I just realize that I called those adults "dumb" and I'm an adult.), I felt that trick-or-treating is really childish. But for Iggy, everything is fun. To him, all experience is good. Know where I'm going with this?

Iggy hosted a party that night. A costume party. I was invited - refusing to go to a party held by Iggy is kind of treacherous - so I just bought some cheap black wings and pretended to be an incubus. I don't even know what that is.

At the party, Iggy was wearing. . . Oh, man. It was so embarrassing. But he didn't look even a little bit embarrassed! He was laughing! That guy is really weird. How did he become my best friend?

He was not a happy camper at first, though. He cursed, glared, and shouted at me until his face was really red like a tomato. I'm totally with him. How can you be happy when your costume is a kissing booth?

That's right. His costume was a kissing booth. Not the whole kissing booth. Gee, you can't wear a kissing booth, you know.

But, as the night wore on, he got used to the kissing booth costume and some girls even gave him a dollar so they can get a kiss from him. (I am not going to say I was jealous, because I wasn't.)

So what's it got to do with Max? I told Ig to invite Max. He asked why and I told him because I said so. He just shrugged and he did. Then I told him to make it his party to a costume party. He was all for it.

Around nine-ish, Max came wearing the most provocative costume I have ever seen. Seriously! I would have told her I wasn't gay and made out with her right there! But since I was going to have my revenge on her, I reined my self-control in and told myself to get a grip. (That girl is going to be the death of me. . .)

Her costume was the exact opposite of mine. She was a succubus. (Now I know what it is. . .) She had a pair of white wings behind her and she was also wearing the exact same outfit when I first saw her. Tell me that wasn't provocative.

She came up to Iggy being sarcastic as always. "Nice costume, Iggy."

Iggy grinned. "Thanks, Max. Got a dollar?"

She snorted. "Oh, please. I'd rather die than kiss you, Ig. I'm grinning, Iggy." But she was grinning at him.

Iggy's grin grew wider. "I know. I can just hear the sarcasm in your voice. Ready for the party?"

"Sure. And please tell me there isn't going to be any alcohol. I can't afford to be drunk when I go to work tomorrow."

"No promises. Fang, be a gentleman. Show Max around, will ya?"

I rolled my eyes. I just turned around and I heard Max's footsteps behind me. "Fang, be a gentleman. Can you show me to the powder room?"

I turned around and looked down at her. "Max, I have no idea where the 'powder room' is. All I know is that there's a bathroom behind the door right beside you."

Her brown eyes were laughing. "A 'powder room' is a bathroom. It's just a fancy name for a bathroom for ladies."

"As if I care."

She stuck out her tongue and went to the bathroom. She came back and looked at me, up and down and up again. "Just out of curiosity, who are you supposed to be?"

"Lucifer."

She narrowed. "Isn't he supposed to be wearing a cape? And he's holding a red pointy trident? And isn't he supposed to be red all over? And some horns on his head?"

I rolled my eyes and smirked. "Yeah."

"You lied to me. Wait. Wait. Don't tell me who you are. I'm going to guess," She closed her eyes and thought hard. She opened her eyes and pointed at me. "You're a gay emo with wings!"

I so wanted to wring her neck. "No, not even close."

She went to my side and lifted the chains on my jeans. "What's up with this? Is this, like, your weapon or something?" She gasped. "Now I know who you are!"

"Who?"

"A gay emo prostitute with wings!"

I was itching to choke her and shake her some sense on her. So I just sighed and said, "Yes. Yes, I am."

"I knew it!" Her voice lowered and tickled my ear. "You know Fang, you don't have to hide it."

I scrunched my face and looked at her in confusion. "Hide what?"

"Your adoration for whips, corsets, and fishnet tights."

I could feel my self-control slipping away. NO! "Shut up, Max."

"So I'm right? I was just inferring! I have got to see your apartment."

"No."

Ten minutes later, I managed to show Max without so much touching her. I was mentally patting myself in the head when I saw the signal.

"Max, you like to play video games, don't you?"

She looked at me suspiciously. You should be. "Yeah. . . Why?"

"No reason. Iggy is waving for us in the game room."

"Where - Oh! I see him. Never mind." She walked past me and went inside the game room. I did mention that Iggy was rich, didn't I? And blind? How he knew we were there is a mystery to me.

"What game are we playing?" I heard Max asked Iggy.

Iggy just grinned evilly. "Super Mario Kart."

I locked the door behind me and leaned against it. Max abruptly turned around and ran to the door, where I was. But she stopped when she saw me blocking the door, so she frantically looked around for a way out.

I made a tsk-ed sound. Max was glaring at Iggy and me. "You are going to pay for this." Her voice was threatening, cold, and ominous.

I arched a brow. "Oh? How?"

She clenched her jaw. "Your life."

I dared myself to dare her. "I'd like to see you try." I saw that she was thinking about it, but she was hesitating.

She dropped to her knees in defeat. I knew I won, but it wasn't enough. "Just please, please, let me out of here. I do not want to play that boring game."

Iggy gasped. "Boring? Boring? Mario is not boring! You should be hung for this!"

I cleared my throat. "You mean 'hanged'."

Iggy shook his pale head. "What?" When he thought about it, he snapped. "I'm trying to make a point here! Your grammar criticism is getting on my nerves!"

I opened my mouth to argue that I wasn't - wasn't - a grammar critic when Max screamed.

"You two are a bunch of nincompoops! Let me out of here!"

Iggy and I screamed back. "NO!"

Max moaned. "Why are you doing this to me? What did I ever do to you?"

You humiliated me in front of the whole bar. "Nothing. It's Halloween. We just want to have fun."

Iggy almost ruined it. "But you hate Hal-"

"Shut up, Iggy!" I turned back to Max. "You up for a challenge?"

She sighed in defeat. "Fine. But you two are going to be dead."

Iggy just grinned.


She almost meant her word. We almost died in defeat. It was the worst and best night of my life. Worst because a girl defeated me in a game. Best because I got to hear Max's real laugh. Her laugh was like music in my ears. I could still hear it.

Iggy and I were almost bursting in curiousity, so we asked Max why she hates Mario.

Her only answer was, "You would feel the same when you play with someone and you always win."

Iggy said he wouldn't. He would even build a sculpture of himself that exactly shows his triumph and success in Super Mario Kart. He's so shallow.

All three of us just laughed. I even took back my revenge. I didn't feel successful that night because I was still having fun.


Max slaps a rolled newspaper on the back of my head.

"OW!"

"You were mumbling. Are you talking to yourself? Oh my God! He has the sixth sense!"

I smirk. "Shut up. What was that for?"

She shrugs. "I don't know. I just felt like doing it."

I rub my head. "Well, stop. Your impulsive nature is going to kill me someday."

Max laughs. The newspaper lands on my head again. "OW!"

She drops the newspaper. "Sorry! I can't help it! Your head is tempting me to smack it!"

I just glare at her. "What do you want?"

She holds out her hand. "Five bucks."

"Don't have," She holds up my wallet from her back pocket that my eyes widen. "How did you get that?"

Max just waves my wallet inches away from my face. "You are so easy to pick-pocket."

"Give me that."

She sticks out her tongue and runs outside. I stand up and chase her outside.

"MAX!"


A/N: I know that when I updated yesterday (This is the re-typed chapter, BTW), this chapter wasn't finished. Well, it was already eleven when I finished typing this and my eyes were threatening to close. I only realized that the chapter wasn't finish just this morning. I am so forgetful. Anyway, RnR?