Chapter 35: Scarlet Night!

*Aria's POV*

It was two days before Halloween. I loved this time of year. Some of the trees were still green and full while others had changed colors and even shed some leaves off. It was, surprisingly, warm out as the sun shined brightly here in Riverdale. I was doing a lot better. Vinnie got arrested, and would be released after Halloween since his bail will be fully paid off, as I accepted that. My concussion was gone, my nose cast brace thing would come off and stay off after today, my eye was still lightly bruised, and I could see again. I had to take a couple days off school and work because I couldn't see straight. I hated worrying everyone but I was back and good as new….Almost. Jughead and Dilton kept babying me and I had to get them to stop. Dilton was so upset, he kept blaming himself for not walking me home. Betty was worried when she saw me on the ground that night, Veronica found out from Betty and was worried as well. Heck, even Reggie was worried beyond all reason. Robbie, Collins, Ronin, Geoff, Tyrone, Tyler, and Jimmy were livid about that, especially Robbie since he had already beat him up before hand. Moose, Midge and Big Ethel were upset and Moose promised to help me next time he saw him….He's such a gentle giant. I told everyone that I was fine but they didn't believe me. It was the first time I ever had a broken nose though. Not fun. Anyhow I was outside the school, lying on the grass while Jughead and Archie were on the bench. Archie was reading the article while Jughead was eating.

"You feeling alright?" I heard Jughead ask me.

"Just thinking." I said as I had my eyes closed.

"Don't tell me your still thinking about Vinnie and what happened." Archie said to me.

"No. I figured out his grandmother is paying the bail. Also I already know why he jumped me. No, I'm just thinking about a Halloween costume." I said as I sighed and kept my eyes closed. I then heard the familiar sound of heels walking this way. Two of them actually.

"When we can be talking to Archie-kins." I heard Veronica's last words of her sentence.

"Wow, Betty and Veronica? This must be my lucky day." Archie exclaimed as I rolled my eyes under my closed lids. After Robbie had beat up Reggie, who deserved it, Betty and Veronica became a little less interested in him and fawned over Archie again. I swear. Anyways I had started to tune out the conversation when Veronica yelled something about being afraid of the tooth fairy. I opened my eyes and sat up just in time to see Jughead covering Veronica's mouth and whispering something to her. I laughed lightly. Jughead still believed in the tooth fairy, Easter bunny, and other stuff. He was like a giant child and I thought it was super adorable. Veronica swiped Jughead's hand away from her.

"Excuse me." I heard a gentle feminine voice speak. I looked over and saw a ginger wearing a purple top and skirt with purple shoes on. Something felt off about her but I shrugged it off. Maybe it was just my imagination. She then held up something. A newspaper.

"Your Archie Andrews aren't you?" She asked Archie as I slowly got up. I slipped and yelped before I felt hands grab me.

"You alright?" I heard a British voice ask.

"Yeah thanks." I stated to say before it slowly turned into a whisper. I was grabbed by a handsome guy, about 17 or so, with black hair with red bangs, hair that was slicked back except for his bangs that fell forward but parted both ways, fair skin, and odd brown eyes that looked almost red.

"Not a problem love." He said again with a British accent. My heart thumped. What? British accents are hot. He helped me stand up straight as I brushed off grass and dirt.

"You wouldn't happen to be Aria Andrews would you?" He asked me as I looked at him.

"Yes? How did you know?" I asked him. I don't recall meeting him. He then showed me the newspaper.

"I had been told that there were cousins with orange hair who write these articles and, since my friend Scarlet is talking to him, that makes you Aria." He told me in a logical way. Oh my. I think I'm blushing.

"Yeah. That's me." I said as I was becoming lost in his eyes. I noticed he was wearing black slacks, black shoes, and a white, medieval looking shirt, like Romeo's in Romeo and Juliet, that was tucked in a bit. He looked so handsome. I couldn't stop staring.

"I read the article and I think you did a magnificent job. The words felt like they flew from the page. I felt like I could really see the vampires you two described." He told me as I blushed.

"I don't wish to be a bother. My name's Nye, Nye Belmont. Scarlet and I just transferred here from Redlands." He told me as I finally snapped out of it.

"Pleasure to meet you." I said as I extended my hand. He took my hand in his but brought it to his lips and kissed it. I remember reading that some British people still follow the old ways and this is how the men would greet women. I blushed while he did this.

"Hey!" I heard Jughead yell out as I was hugged from behind and the hand that was being kissed was now pulled back and next to me.

"Why are you kissing my girlfriend's hand?" Jughead asked in a defensive manner.

"Jughead!" I scolded out his name.

"He's a transfer student." I told him.

"I beg your pardon. I meant no harm. I was simply raised by my families old British ways on how to greet a lady." Nye explained to Jughead.

"Oh….Well….I still don't like it." Jughead said in a disappointed voice before grumbling the last part out.

"If you do not mind, I'd like to talk more about this article with you." Nye said as I looked at him.

"I'm going to have to decline. I have plans tonight." I told him. I had a date tonight.

"Then perhaps tomorrow?" He asked me.

"Tomorrow sounds fine, but Archie is the one who wrote up most of the article so I'm not sure how I can be of help." I explained to him.

"Well, you wrote a few things in here that peaked my interest." He pointed out as I blushed. Why couldn't I stop staring at his eyes? I had this urge to continue saying yes to him. Why?

"She's right though, Archie is better to talk to." Jughead said in a defensive tone.

"That's fine too. I'm new around here so it would be nice to have a friend before school starts up again." He said to us as Jughead held me tighter.

"You're always welcome to talk to me." I told him with a smile. I leaned in to Jughead's hug to let him know it was fine.

"I'm glad to have met you Aria." He told me as he then walked off.

"Jughead that was rude." I told him.

"Not my fault. I don't like guys kissing you." He told me.

"Are you jealous?" I asked him in a teasing tone.

"Yes. Yes I am. I don't want to share you." He told me as I giggled.

"What are we doing for date night?" I asked him.

"Well I figured we'd grab some burgers from Pops and head over to my place for a Halloween themed movie marathon." He told me as I smiled at him.

"Sweet." I said with a smile. Archie then caught my attention.

"Aria, this is Scarlet. Scarlet, this is my cousin, Aria." Archie suddenly said as Scarlet came up to me.

"Nice to meet you Scarlet." I said to her with a smile.

"Likewise." She greeted me before she pulled my cousin away from us. What just happened? I then felt Jughead hold me tighter.

"Looks like you girls have competition." Jughead told them.

"So do you and Dilton." Veronica pointed out rudely.

"Veronica!" I scolded her.

"Now I see why you're having nightmares about redheads." Betty said with an attitude.

"Wait? What's this about redheads?" I asked suddenly.

"Veronica had a nightmare about vampires and a redhead." Betty suddenly said.

"Weird. I've been having vampire dreams for a couple nights now. That's how I got Archie to write the article." I confessed to them.

"How weird." Betty mumbled.

"It doesn't matter! It's just a dream! Can't we just move on!" Veronica yelled out in anger before she stormed off. I just shrugged.

"Hey Betty, wanna hang out for a bit?" I asked her.

"Not now. I have something I need to do." She suddenly said before she walked off. Now I was confused. I just shrugged.

"Can you come with me to a costume store? I need a costume." I asked Jughead and let him know I still needed a costume.

"Sure." He told me as I smiled at him. He didn't know it yet but I had been working on a Rudolph costume for him. He had the nose and the antlers so I was working on putting the suit together for him. I also had make up put aside to help. I know Dilton is going as a scientist, since I got the props together, so I decided no couple costumes because of the differences.

"Any ideas on what you wanna be?" Jughead asked me as we walked to the nearest costume shop.

"None." I told him as I sighed.

"Wanna be the Cupid to my Rudolph?" Jughead asked in a flirty way.

"I swear you're becoming bold ever since we started dating." I mumbled more to myself than to him.

"So? Is that a bad thing?" He asked me.

"Jughead, you know I won't do couple costumes because you and Dilton are dressing up differently." I said as I sighed. This was annoying.

"So which do you choose?" He suddenly asked me.

"Wh-what?!" I yelped out as I started turning red.

"Will you choose one of us?" He asked me. I was shocked and blushing.

"W-well yeah. Yeah, b-but I-I-I can't. Not now." I managed to stutter out. I couldn't choose from them. It's been almost a year, yes, but I still couldn't choose between two wonderful guys.

"Alright. I won't push it again." He said as I smiled lightly.

"Thank you." I said lightly as we walked into a costume store. We walked in and it was filled with so many costumes.

"Welcome! Everything is on sale so please help yourself." The sales woman said as I smiled at her. I started wondering around at the many different costumes.

*Maybe a witch?* I thought as I pulled out a witch costume. I then grimaced and shook my head no as I put the costume back. I pulled out a Cleopatra costume but immediately put it back. Jughead had wondered off somewhere as I kept looking.

"Need help?" I suddenly heard right next to my ear. I shrieked and jumped away from the sudden voice. I looked over and saw a laughing Jimmy.

"What did I say about that!" I shrieked at him.

"I couldn't resist." He laughed out as I put my hand over my heart and took a few deep breaths.

"What happened?!" Jughead yelled out as he saw the scene before him.

"I'm alright." I breathed out as Jimmy stopped laughing.

"Sorry, I thought I saw her but I wanted to scare her to be sure." Jimmy said as I sighed.

"This is going to be a Halloween tradition for you huh?" I asked as I had calmed down.

"Yeah, pretty much." He said as I rolled my eyes.

"Alright. You got me good and, yes, I do need help." I told him as he smiled brightly. Now the three of us were on the hunt.

"How about an angel?" Jimmy asked as he pulled out a tiny white….Dress? It looked more like a lingerie gown to me.

"Um, no." I said with my cheeks a bit pink. Jimmy just shrugged before putting it back. I then wondered into the back to the other costumes.

"How about this?" I suddenly heard as I spun around at the sudden voice.

"Nye?" I asked as I saw him holding up a gorgeous gown. It was a medieval type gown, white, with tints of lavender and gold to it. I also noticed the light amount of ruffles to it. I became captivated by the beauty of the dress as he came closer to me.

"I believe this would look lovely with your hair colour and your *Deep hissing breath* smooth creamy skin." He said as he appeared behind me and put the gown up in front of me, holding it against my body, to see it on me without trying it on.

"See? Quite lovely. You would make a fair maiden." He told me as I stood frozen. I couldn't move for some reason. It was like, I was hypnotized. What was wrong with me.

"This is what you should wear." He told me as I felt the urge to suddenly buy it. He then handed me a pair of shoes and some lavender and gold ribbons before pulling away. I could feel myself regain movement and felt less hypnotized.

"Tha-" I started to thank him while turning to look at him but he wasn't there.

*Where did he go? Did I…...Did I imagine it?* I thought before slowly turning around and headed to the front desk, unaware of the eyes that followed me. I had just finished paying for the medieval maiden costume when Jughead and Jimmy came up to me.

"Where'd ya go?" Jimmy asked me.

"I was back there. You didn't see me?" I pointed to where I was and then asked them that. They shook their heads no. Now I was wondering if Nye really was there or not. I shrugged and let Jimmy pay for his costume before going our separate ways.

"To Pop Tate's?" Jughead asked as I nodded in approval.

"Jughead. Can I ask you something?" I asked him before he nodded yes.

"Did you see Nye in the store?" I asked. Jughead looked at me with a look like he sucked on a lemon.

"Why ya thinking about him?" He suddenly asked me.

"I'm not. I thought I saw him in the store. Did you or did you not?" I asked him.

"No. Jimmy and I were together looking for a costume for him. I didn't see him." He told me as I shrugged.

"Guess it was just me." I said to him.

"So? Why are you imagining him?" Jughead asked me as I glared at him.

"Jughead Jones! Don't you even insinuate that I would ever cheat on you and Dilton for another guy. I'm not like Betty and Veronica. Yes, I will admit, I've seen cute guys and some gentlemen but my heart will be with you two no matter what." I told him as I felt offended.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you, I just, well." He started before trailing off.

"I know I'm yours and Dilton's 1st girlfriend, 1st girl to go on a date with, 1st kiss, You two are my 1st boyfriends, dates, and kisses as well. I understand the jealousy but you need to trust me. I trust the two of you." I told him as he sighed. "I trust you, it's the other guys I don't trust." He told me as I sighed before lightly smiling.

"I don't trust many of them either." I said to him as I put my hand on his arm.

"But believe me when I say that, no matter what happens, even when the time comes where I must choose one of you, I will always hold both of you in my hearts and feel love towards you. Even if it turns into a friendship love." I assured him as he smiled at me.

"You always know how to comfort me." He said as he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close to him in a sideways hugging manner.

"I'm your girlfriend. I'm supposed to know how to comfort, love, and give good advise." I said as he chuckled.

"True, but even before we dated, you always made me feel happy." He told me as I blushed.

"W-well I-I'm glad." I stuttered out.

"It's cute when you get embarrassed." He suddenly told me. I puffed out my cheeks and pouted at him.

"It's not cute." I muttered out. Jughead started laughing after that.

"It's even cuter when you pout." He said as I pouted some more. We soon made it into Pop Tate's and went to the register. We ordered our usual 50 burgers and two soda's, when we're together, and left once we got our food. By the time we reached home the sun was getting ready to set.

"Aunt Mary, Uncle Fred, I'm back!" I yelled out as Allegro rushed to the door and greeted us.

"Hey buddy." Jughead greeted him. Allegro barked and wagged his tail while Jughead and I pet him.

"Glad to see you home deary." Aunt Mary greeted me. I looked up to see her wearing one of her date night clothes.

"Date night with Uncle Fred?" I asked her.

"Yes and I want you to behave." Uncle Fred said as he soon showed up right next to her.

"I will." I said with a smile.

"We should be back in 3 hours or so." Aunt Mary told me before she kissed my cheek. Uncle Fred gave me a hug and I said my goodbye's and saw them off.

"Looks like we got the place to ourselves." I said with a smile.

"Yeah, guess we do." Jughead said to me.

"I'm going to put mu costume upstairs, why don't you pick out a movie for us to start with." I said to him.

"Sure." He replied as I headed up the stairs. I quickly put the costume away and rushed downstairs to be close to Jughead. I have been very clingy to the boys lately and I wasn't exactly sure why. Oh well. Anyhow, I hoped on the couch next to him as he got ready to start the movie.

"What ya put on?" I asked him as the movie started.

"Dracula, what else?" He said casually as I giggled and cuddled next to him. Dracula was a classic, we've both seen it over a hundred times. We ate the burgers and was about half way done with the movie as I cuddled closer to him.

"You sure do like to cuddle huh?" He asked me as I blushed.

"Sorry, I'll move." I said as I went to move. As I started to I felt a sudden tug. I yelped as I fell onto Jughead's lap.

"Don't. I like you close to me." He said as I blushed.

"Alright." I whispered as I just looked in his eyes. I then felt his lips touch mine and soon he was on top of me, on the couch, as we kissed. I then felt his tongue lightly trace my lips. I didn't hesitate to let him in. I my arms wrapped around his neck as he wrapped one arm around my waist and used his opposite hand to rub up and down my sides. I gave a small moan as I adjusted my legs to be outside of his so he could be closer to me. Our bodies were grinding against each other as his free hand stopped roaming my body and soon his fingers were tangled in my hair. We could feel the heat coming off of us as our tongues searched each other's mouths for the very 1st time.

"Mom! Pop! You home?" I suddenly heard Archie yell out. I pushed Jughead off me. He yelped as he hit the floor.

"Still out on date night!" I yelled out as I say up and fixed myself before pulling Jughead up on the couch.

"Sorry." I whispered as I blushed lightly.

*What am I thinking? I shouldn't have done that. Why did I go that far? It felt great though. I shouldn't have. It wasn't right.* I thought in a fluster. I peaked over and saw Jughead was blushing and looking flustered as well.

"I shouldn't have-" He started before I put my hand on his. We looked at each other and smiled. We then heard Archie scream. I bolted up and headed to the front door where the scream was.

"What's up?!" I shouted as I then saw Scarlet. I saw her but she didn't look like herself. She had pale skin, red eyes, claws and fangs. Scarlet was a vampire! Archie was on the ground, rendered helpless, as I felt my blood boil.

"Get away from him!" I shouted as I ran and tackled her into the door.

"Archie run!" I shouted before she used her vampire strength to slam me into the wall. I yelped out as I slid down. Allegro jumped at her but she did the same thing to him before she grabbed the rug and made Archie fall. She went over to him and then picked him up.

"Aw. I thought you liked me. You did earlier." She teased him.

"You weren't a vampire then." He said as Jughead tried to sneak up on her.

"Sure I was." She said before she spotted Jughead and slammed him into the stairs.

"Jughead!" I shouted. I had crawled next to Allegro when she did that.

"But how? I thought daylight destroyed vampires." Archie said to her. I was actually curious about that too. Archie had gotten loose and backed up away from her.

"I was fascinated by your article, but you did make a few mistakes." She said with her hands on her hips before she made her way over to him and grabbed the collar of his shirt again.

"Seen too many vampire movies I suspect." She said as she lightly patted his cheek. I had Allegro go to Jughead as I charged at her again.

"Leave him alone!" I yelled out before she grabbed me and flipped me onto the coffee table. It gave out and had me fall through it and onto the floor. I yelped out in pain when I made contact with the floor.

"You should've learned the first time." She said as I got up.

"Like I'm going to loose." I said as I charged at her again. She growled and grabbed me. Before I could react she held me in the air before, literally, tossing me into the kitchen.

"Aria!" Archie yelled out. I could barely hear them talking about her master as I got up.

*Think Aria!* I scolded before I thought of something. Garlic. I rushed to the cabinet and found garlic powder.

"Hope this works." I mumbled as I snuck out to see her talking to him.

"The chosen one, yes, but not you Archie. Don't you understand?" She said to him as I figured it out.

*Great. This vampire has the hots for my cousin.* I thought bitterly as I started to sneak up near her.

"You're special." She hissed out as she got ready to bite him.

"Hey!" I shouted as she turned and glared at me.

"Eat this!" I shouted as I threw the garlic powder on her.

"Ack!" She yelped out as she started scratching.

"Get the necklace!" Archie yelled as he broke free. I darted and grabbed the pendant as I saw Betty and Veronica pull Archie out the window. I ran to Jughead, who had gotten up, and pulled him out the door with me. I was going near them when Scarlet yelled something about a chosen one. I looked at the pendant and stopped. I saw it before. Jughead had ran past me. I didn't hear the voices shouting to me. I felt and energy pulsing through me.

"Get the sun stone!" I heard Scarlet scream.

*Flashback To Dream*

I was wearing a medieval dress as I ran down the water covered streets. I turned into an ally and found myself trapped. I turned and saw a gruesome looking vampire, over muscular, bald, and full of power stare me down as he drew closer.

"Give me the pendant." He said to me as he tried to charm and coax me like he did before.

"Never." I told him as I held the stone in front of me.

"Cross of silver,

Ray of light,

In the ender's hand will end the night!"

I shouted as the stone glowed and made the vampire vanish from sight.

*End Flashback*

*Maybe the chant will activate it.* I thought as I held the stone in front of me and to the two male vampires.

"Cross of silver,

Ray of light,

In the ender's hand will end the night!"

I shouted as the stone in the pendant glowed. Then a ray of sunlight illuminated from the stone and vanquished the two vampires. I smiled before I was tackled to the ground. The pendant flew from my hand.

"You're the ender! You're the chosen one! Your blood is mine!" She shouted as I began to fight her. I saw Allegro growling at her.

"Allegro! Get the necklace! Give it to Veronica!" I shouted. He obeyed my command and gave it to Veronica.

"Cross of silver, Ray of light, In the ender's hand will end the night!" She shouted as the sun stone started to glow. Scarlet noticed this and gasped.

"No!" She shouted before the light hit her and turned her into red mist. I coughed and wavered it away as I stood up.

"Aria! You okay?" Jughead asked as he rushed over to me.

"A bit sore but fine." I said as he engulfed me in a hug.

"We did it. One of us must be the chosen one." Veronica said as she pulled me into a hug when Jughead let me go.

"Huh? Chosen one?" I asked as she explained to me about the pendant, the sun stone, what Dr. Beaumont said and all that. I smiled because I felt like I helped out a lot.

"I still think you're the chosen one, so why don't you hang on to it and hide it somewhere safe. Like a shoe box in your closet. Goodness knows that might actually be the safest spot to hide it." I told her as I closed her hands around the necklace with my own hands and smiled at her.

"Good idea." She said as we both laughed lightly. We all went inside and talked about the mystery and what had just happened. After gathering the notes Betty went home, Veronica took a reluctant Jughead home, Aunt Mary and Uncle Fred came home, I explained the table to them, they didn't get mad surprisingly, and Archie and I went up to his room to type up the article.

"Veronica really did do it. Veronica figured out she was a vampire before anyone else, even before Aria who figures thing out before others. ~Archie. I have to give Veronica credit on that one. For someone who wanted to be done with the vampire talk and doesn't like weird mysteries so much, she really pulled through in the end. ~Aria. Her and Aria were able to use the sun stone to vanquish the vampires. ~Archie. I still think Veronica is the chosen one and I just got lucky. Either way there gone. Lets hope we don't see them again. ~Aria. I guess sometimes we can do a lot more than we give ourselves credit for. Just ask a girl named Veronica. ~Archie. …...In a little town called Riverdale! ~Archie and Aria."

We finished typing the mystery up as I stretched.

"So what were you and Jughead doing here alone?" Archie asked me as he raised an eyebrow.

"Aunt Mary and Uncle Fred said yes to him being here when they left. We watched Dracula before you and Draculaura entered." I said as I laughed lightly at my joke.

"Haha. Very funny." He said sarcastically.

"See ya tomorrow." I said to him as I walked down the steps and went to my room. I dressed in my lavender gown and went to bed, unaware of the red bat eyes that watched me fall asleep before flying off into the night.