Keep your eyes out for the last part, to be posted by Halloween!

TEN YEARS EARLIER

Serena pressed her back against the wall, smiling wanly at the zombie football player and half-dressed policewoman as they obliviously stumbled by. She had felt out of place when Darien was standing right next to her, but since he had been swept up into a crowd of eager classmates playing drinking games, Serena felt like a downright outsider. She didn't know why she had been so eager to come to this party. Darien hadn't even wanted to go, but he felt some obligation since the host had been kind enough to save Darien's final exam paper from a rejected and vengeful teacher's assistant.

"You really don't have to come, Serena," Darien had said while they were on a date at the arcade. "I wish I didn't have to go. But Sam did me a huge favor, and it'd be rude to turn down his invitation."

"No way!" Serena had protested. "Sam invited me too, and I've never been to a college Halloween party before!"

Darien rolled his eyes, taking a sip from his milkshake and leaning back against the red patent booth.

"Shouldn't it tell you something when I, the college student, don't want to go?"

"It'll be fun!" Serena had cajoled him, throwing a French fry. With a raised eyebrow, Darien snatched the fry out of midair and popped it into his mouth. "I'll even let you pick my costume!"

Serena had said that in the hope that Darien, like any normal young man, would pick something cute, rocking and totally sexy for her to wear to her first ever college Halloween party. Instead, when they got to the costume store, Darien saw the wall of pictures containing leggy, bosomy girls in various provocative dresses and his face turned to stone. Muttering to himself, he had vanished into an aisle, only to return ten minutes later with a floor length, completely appropriate angel costume.

"Darieeeeeen," Serena whined, brandishing the cute – albeit revealing- fairy costume that she had selected. "I want to be a-"

"No," he said firmly, cutting her off and thrusting the angel costume into her arms. "It's this, or nothing. I am not taking you to a party dressed like a…like…that."

Serena gave in eventually. The chance to go to a real college party (and brag about it to her friends later on) was too good to pass on, even if it meant she was wearing an ankle length white dress and sparkly wings.

The halo was kind of cute, she admitted to herself, reaching up to brush it with her fingers. Inside of a dopey pipe-cleaner suspended over her head, the halo was a pretty twist of gold wire that was strung with small crystal beads and sat right on top of her hair. The wings weren't so bad, either, she thought, twisting around to catch a glimpse. She had to be careful, though; the whole reason she was standing against a wall was because her wings kept catching on things.

She frowned and scanned the crowd, standing on her tip toes to see if she could spot Darien somewhere among the other party-goers. Her flat sandals, while fitting in nicely with her costume, did not give her much of a height advantage. Serena squinted into the swarm of unfamiliar faces, squashing down the anxiety she felt at losing Darien at the party. She would stay there, she decided, and Darien would eventually find her exactly where he left her. Serena wiped her forehead with the back of her hand; it was awfully hot inside of Sam's apartment.

She stumbled as someone brushed against her in effort to move through the mass of people in the apartment. She looked up to excuse herself, and only saw a man's back clad in a dark red coat vanishing into the crowd. Grumbling, Serena straightened her halo and slipped the strap of her dress back up to her shoulder. No one talked about this part of college parties. No one ever said that they were crowded and loud and full of drunk people who rudely knocked one over in the hall and didn't even turn around to apologize. No one said that boyfriends were easily lost at these parties and that without one's boyfriend, there was nobody to talk to. Also, no one ever mentioned how darned hot these functions were.

And it was hot. It was so hot that Serena felt like the damp, sour air of the party were pressed against her face, smothering her. She found herself falling back against the wall as she was hit with a sudden dizzy spell. The mass of people blurred into a flesh-colored blob and the voices merged into a single cacophony. She shut her eyes tight against her sudden vertigo and willed the world to right itself.

It was time to get some fresh air, she decided as the apartment slowly put itself back to rights, even if that meant leaving her spot against the wall for a little bit. A cool breeze almost immediately wound its way around her shoulders and she nearly groaned out load at how good the cold air felt against her skin. She began to move down the hallway that appeared to be the source of the fresh air, with one hand on the wall and the other at her forehead, blindly following the breeze to what hopefully was an open window.

The outside air would clear her head, she told herself as the sounds of the party grew softer and the space around her became darker. And then once everything decided to stop spinning, she would find Darien and ask him to take her home. Was it a fast-acting flu? Definitely not food poisoning; Serena knew as well as anyone that her stomach could rival a garbage disposal.

The air around her was suddenly crisp and cool. She looked up, uncovering her eyes, and saw that she had emerged from the hallway onto a balcony overlooking the city. Serena gazed at the skyline in awe; no matter how many times she saw it lit up at night, she always found the sight absolutely breath-taking. Sam was definitely loaded, she thought, if he could afford such a huge apartment with such a gorgeous view.

"It's lovely, isn't it?" The voice came apparently out of nowhere, and Serena shrieked, whirling around to see a man standing to the side of the balcony door, quietly watching her through the eye-holes of a sinister-looking mask.

"I'm so sorry," he said, stepping forward in concern. "I didn't mean to frighten you."

"Oh, it's okay," she said in between gulps of air, one hand still clutched at her heart, her eyes fixed on the curling horns of his devil mask. "You just startled me…I didn't even see you there!"

"I was just admiring your city," he said stepping forward to rest his forearms on the balcony railing. In the faint light, Serena saw that he was wearing a dark red coat, the same one that had nearly knocked her over inside.

"Are you from out of town?" she asked to be polite, stepping back toward the door. This was the jerk that mowed her down earlier, but something else about him – about the air around him – made the hair rise on the nape of her neck. He looked over his shoulder, throwing her a wan smile. A few pieces of pale hair fell over his mask as he responded.

"I'm visiting."

Silence filled the balcony, only broken by the muffled sounds of traffic below. Serena didn't know what to do; she hovered between excusing herself to go back inside, and staying outside where the air was cold and the world didn't spin in circles. It was a tough choice between the heebie-jeebies of the balcony and the suffocating press of the party.

"So, you came as an angel," the stranger said finally, straightening and looking at Serena. She suppressed a shudder; there was something about the way that his eyes glinted through his mask that was extremely unsettling.

"Well, it wasn't my first choice," she said lightly. "But my boyfriend made me wear this…" she saw how his mouth tightened, but she kept rambling as an inexplicable uneasiness took root in the pit of her stomach. "I'm sure you're classmates with him, he's here at the party too. His name is Darien, he's studying pre-med…" Serena trailed off as the temperature of the air around her seemed to fall by several degrees. The stranger's mouth finally quirked into a chilly smile.

"Darien. Of course." He replied, turning his back to Serena to face the skyline. Serena, hugging herself against the cold, decided it was time to split. Even winding up sprawled in the middle of the floor because of vertigo seemed a nice alternative to experiencing the Twilight Zone on that balcony.

"Well, it was nice talking to you," she said, reaching for the door handle – when had it closed?- as she spoke. "I'll see you inside the party…it's pretty crazy in there, and I hope it cooled off a bit…I almost got heat sick, I think…" Serena faltered as she jiggled the door handle, gently and then harder, desperate to get back inside the apartment. The door, however, seemed to have other plans, and remained firmly closed despite her efforts.

"Is there a problem?" the stranger asked silkily.

"It's stuck!" Serena exclaimed, almost on the verge of tears. Why she was suddenly so upset, she didn't quite know. She turned around and yelped as she realized he was standing only a few centimeters behind her.

"I wouldn't call that a problem," he said, the devil mask smirking down at her. Serena stepped back, pressing herself against the glass. The devil-man closed the distance between them, trailing his fingertips down Serena's right arm. Serena gasped in pain and alarm, as his fingers left trails of icy needle-pricks along her skin.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, her words accompanied by puffs of white frozen air. "My boyfriend is inside, and if you don't back off right now, he'll-"

"Serena," he sighed, lightly touching the halo on her head. She gasped as the halo became a circlet of ice, burning her scalp with cold. "I will never cease to be amazed by your unending faith in people. Have you not considered the possibility that he is inside with his friends, too occupied to worry about you?"

"How…", her lips were clumsy with cold and fear, "How do you know my name?"

"Your hair is so lovely like this," he said softly, gently touching the wisps of gold at Serena's ears, then the gold net that held the rest of her hair at the base of her neck. "Although I think I would most like to see it loose. It reminds me of sunlight. I've never seen sunlight before, only pictures."

Pale skin, Serena thought, staring at his hand as he traced the bones of her shoulder. Pale skin, pale hair…she looked up just as the moonlight cut across his mask, lighting up what lay under the eyeholes. Pale eyes.

"Diamond," she half whispered, half whimpered, pressing herself against the glass, desperately wishing that it would shatter and that she could run like hell, away from ghosts that seemed to forget that they shouldn't be lurking around and terrifying girls at parties.

"You remember me?" he asked in wonderment. "I thought you would have long ago dismissed me as an unfortunate nightmare."

"Why are you here?" Serena asked in a tearful whisper, ducking her head when he bent to bring his face closer to hers. If only she were in an unfortunate nightmare. "I thought you were…I thought that Wiseman…"

"Did you know, Serena," he murmured into her ear, causing her to shiver when his lips moved against her earlobe, "that on Halloween, the curtain that separates your world and mine becomes disturbed, and that we may pass through it?"

So cold, Serena thought clumsily. Her fingers and toes were numb, and her teeth chattered uncontrollably. The devil prince had both of his hands on her arms now, twin brands of icy cold, and she couldn't find the strength to lift a hand to stop him.

"I so wanted to forget you, Serena," he said, moving his thumbs in circles over his skin. "The others were able to forget this world and the people in it. I envy them for it. But I could not let you go. I remember you cried over me, Serena. Does that mean you love me?"

"N-n-no!" she managed to choke out. He only laughed.

"It doesn't matter. You dressed for me, tonight, Serena. You dressed as wandering angel on Earth, so that the demon prince could find you."

"I didn't," she whispered. She watched as he reached up with one hand and pulled away the devil mask, revealing that all too familiar face. He looked gaunter than she remembered, the hollows beneath his cheekbones more pronounced, the skin of his face stretched thin over his bones. His eyes looked larger, and hungry. She felt as though she were being devoured by his stare.

"Do you know how warm you are, Serena?" he asked, taking another step closer, effectively closing any space between them. Serena tried not to breathe, desperate to keep from touching him, although they were quite literally chest to chest. "There is no warmth in the world of the dead, Serena," he said, his breath moving over Serena's lips.

"What do you want?" she asked again through chattering teeth. The cold seemed to emanate directly from his body, the red suit and the white dress a pathetic barrier between the icy cold of his body and her own skin.

"Just a kiss, Serena," he said, bowing his head in a way that was horrifically familiar to her. "Give the demon prince a single kiss, my wandering angel, and I will return to my world and allow you to stay in yours."

Before she could protest, before she could even shake her head, his mouth descended over hers and Serena straightened with a jolt as freezing air poured into her mouth, lighting up her throat with terrible pain. But on the heels of the pain came numbness…blessed numbness. It was almost relaxing, she thought as his arms came around her, cold pillars of marble dressed in burgundy velvet. Her eyelids drooped as she slumped against the prince of hell, giving up to the icy mist that first clouded the edges of her vision, and then swarmed gleefully across everything; the balcony, the skyline, the white prince who held her in death just as he held her in life.

"You…you weren't invited." Serena thought she spoke the words, but she was pretty sure that her lips were frozen against his. Giddy and delirious with cold, it was the last coherent thought she had before sinking into a chilling darkness, with only a cold mouth moving against hers and icy fingers that moved indiscriminately over her body.