▲ My Vampire Best Friends ▲

Chapter Three: Costume Party!

  Next to me was a table banquet, with spindly chairs. I leaned forward to the plates and picked up a gooey chocolate strawberry. As I chewed, the chocolate was so soft, the sweetness stayed in my mouth long after I had swallowed it. It felt thick like hot molten lava, moving around inside my belly. It made me feel like I was on fire. I giggled, feeling the food burn my tongue. It tasted so sweet. The taste stayed.

  Our life was monotony. We'd always wanted something different. Well... Something different was here. Maybe tomorrow, Silvia would feel people dancing in her dreams, with the strangers smiling like dark shadows. She would still feel the smell the rose oil and lavender. She would feel the morning after, when we would giggle about the party in low whispers. We would smile at each other, sharing secrets like the time we broke into the club's downstairs VIP section. I just knew it.

The lights. The shine.

  Telenovela Pirate was still smiling at us. "Come and dance with us."

  So we stepped onto the dance floor. Silvia was giggling hysterically, and she sunk into his arms.

  "Okay," I said. "Give me a minute."

  My heartbeat was flying. I didn't know why. Silvia grinned at Telenovela Pirate, then at me, and his black hair shone as he dragged her back onto the dance floor. Not that Silvia fought it. She was so drunk, she would've gone anywhere.

  "This is the VIP section?" I asked somebody standing next to the desserts section.

  She looked up, and that's when I noticed something strange... At the dessert section, all the cakes were full and creamy with frosting. Every carton of donuts was completely full, with a dozen in each. Every plate was filled to the brim with chocolate. It wasn't the beginning of the night, either. It was just past 3 pm. So unless they had really amazing dining staff... Nobody had been eating anything all night.

  "Yeah, this is the VIP section," the girl said back to me.

  She was the palest thing I had ever seen. Just like Snow White. Her lips were painted a deep glossy red, like blood. Her eyes shone blue like twin diamond crystals. Her dress was made of light, silky gossamer. She looked like a fifteen-year-old pageant princess.

  "Does nobody eat here?" I asked.

  The girl cocked her head at me. One lip twitched up, like I had just said something funny.

  "Oh no, stupid..." the girl said, "We eat."

  I kept looking at her for a long moment. The girl had to be fifteen at oldest. Her puffy cheeks blew out her little face. Her arms were tiny and puffy. She looked like a little girl among all the grownups.  

  "How old are you?" I asked after another moment.

  The girl just laughed, before melting away from me, disappearing onto the dance floor. I watched up ahead, where Silvia was dancing with Telenovela Pirate. He held her tight with his meaty palms. Silvia's grin was so wide, like a child at a birthday party. So big, it made me smile too. Silvia had waited her whole life to get noticed by men. Fair to say, it had never really happened. Not to say that she didn't deserve it. She was hot, with a low, sultry voice. Silvia's eyes were electric. But at school, she dressed like a kindergartener, with overalls and  ankle-length dresses that belonged on the Amish. Her parents were very traditional and had never allowed her to date anyways... So they totally would not want her here right now, dancing with a strange man. But they had nothing to worry about. Nothing bad would happen to her, as long as she was with me.

  Downstairs, there were no bartenders. Talk about weird shit. I looked around, noting that nobody had any drinks in sight. Weird. My heartbeat was pounding and my feet were dragging me down towards the Earth. Something was wrong. I kind of wanted to collapse.

  Ugh! I was probably just bored because Silvia was off dancing with someone. But I should be happier for her. I had wanted her to be dancing with someone all night long. I wanted my best friend to be happy... I just didn't want to be alone. See the difference?

  "Excuse me?" a strange woman said, stepping up to me. She had frosty white hair and a black dress which dragged behind her. It was a 'wedding at a funeral' dress. I had never seen anything so strange in my life.

  "Yes, hi," I said, "I'm kind of confused. I know this is the VIP section, but why is it so weird down here?"

  "We're having a costume party," the woman said, smiling. Her smile filled up her whole face and seemed to make the whole room light.

  "What is your costume?" I asked her.

   She smiled, revealing her sharp, pointy incisors. "I'm a vampire."

  I jumped back, screaming with delight. This woman was ripped straight out of a costume book. Black lace clung to all the right curves, and her hair was windswept to one side, exposing the pale white flesh of her neck, behind a beaded choker. Her teeth spoked out to make fangs, but they showed no signs of plastic or fakeness.

  "Oh wow!" I said. "Your teeth look so real. Can I touch?"

  The vampire woman swirled her tongue around her teeth, long and slow, smiling at me like I had said the right thing. People around us snapped up to look right at me, all at once. Like robots. One man close to me was panting, low and breathy, and I shied away. Why were they watching? We were just talking about her costume. It wasn't anything interesting.

  "Of course, darling," purred the strange woman.

  So I stepped closer. She opened her mouth wide and slow, exposing sharp teeth. They looked just like shark teeth. I pressed forward, squinting at it. I pressed my hand up and touched her fangs, lightly, with one finger. Her mouth grew slick with saliva. I yanked my hand back out.

  "Pretty nice," I murmured.

  I couldn't help but notice that everyone was staring at us. I wondered why. This was just a costume party, right? It wasn't like anybody was in danger.