As the stranger broke away, I froze with horror. He was smiling, pale blue eyes glinting with satisfaction. He had no idea what he'd just done.
No one else at the setting up for the annual Halloween Masque did either. They were laughing at me; finally, someone had stolen a kiss from the 'frigid' Cordelia Stoker. Oh if they only knew.
I wasn't frigid. I was deadly.
I waited for what came next: that awful, cold and clammy feeling of Death creeping by me. It always followed after I kissed someone. Always.
Johnny Locdon had been first when I was nine. One kiss from me on the playground and he'd dropped dead half an hour later the same day.
Unknown heart condition they said. Tragic and unforeseeable. But even at nine, I knew better. I just didn't have the words to explain it.
That ignorance was how the next one came; Adam Rhodes.
The crush of my seventh grade summer. We kissed at a pool party. That was the second time in my life I felt it; the cold rush of Death's fingers slipping past me and touching someone I loved.
That time, I didn't just feel the cold. I saw his soul slip away. A silver wisp out of his mouth.
Yet I still didn't make the connection. Not until her.
Jacquline Fray. My best friend from ninth grade until the present. Bold, beautiful and more fiery than her hair. Not my first love, but the realest one I'd ever had.
She'd died in my arms. Right after our first kiss.
It took her loss to make me realize it. Since then I'd been careful but now, it didn't matter. This damnable stranger. I looked up, about to tell him off for his lack of boundaries and consent, but the words died in my throat when I saw him.
This was the same man I'd been seeing in my dreams for a year. He was even more gorgeous in person. He was tall and lean, but clearly muscular with a tousled mop of brown hair, a strong jawline and blue eyes pale as ice.
"Y-you, you," I stammered, at a loss for words as I waited, terrified for the cold I knew was coming.
"Me," he said with a jaunty smile. "Alaric is the name and Miss Cordelia, it's an honor." He swept into a low bow and grabbed my hand. His skin was warm. Not the usual chill that I'd come to expect from those unlucky enough to receive my kiss.
The shock of the contact made me move my hand away. This was odd. The cold always came right after the kiss. Always.
"Alaric King," he clarified and smiled at me. A crooked grin that was charming. "I just transferred here."
I already knew that. North Hollow never had many new people. As a result, they always stuck out. And guys like Alaric King stood out even more. He could have been a starter on the lacrosse team, been prom king or made the National Honors Society.
But whatever he was or could've been didn't matter now. He'd be dead by tomorrow.
***
Walking into school that morning, I waited for the wailing and whispers to follow saying Alaric King was dead.
They didn't come. Instead, all I heard was jibber-jabber about the Halloween Masquerade tonight at Blakeford Historical Manner. I frowned at that, surely my math wasn't off. As I turned the corner to my locker, there was my answer: Alaric King.
Handsome as ever, smiling and alive.
"Morning Miss Cordelia," he said with that same crooked grin.
He grabbed my hand like he had the day before and kissed the top. And again, no cold touch of death.
"Surprised to see me?" he asked as he let go with a chuckle. Alaric leaned in and the smell of woodsmoke and cloves filled my nose. "I don't die so easily, Miss Stoker."
His words sent a chill down my spine that had nothing to do with death.
"Save a dance for me," he said with a wink as he turned on his heel. "I'll be wearing a black rose."
All through that day, Alaric King's words rang in my mind and I found myself impatient for the party that evening. I hadn't been sure before, but now I knew for sure. He was the man from my dreams.
When I arrived at the Manor that night, I was garbed in an old dress I found in my grandma's attic. Dated for most nights, but for Halloween, it was perfect.
I fiddled with the details on the skirt as I walked up the stairs. Alaric was inside. Finally, after all this time, I'd found him.
Inside the manor, the party was in full swing. Low-lit sconces filled the ballroom with festive light and reflected off the various costumed people as they milled around to the music. It didn't take long to find Alaric. He stood out, even in the ballroom of costumes and sure enough, a black rose was tucked into his suit.
"Miss Cordelia," he said as I approached him. "Gold becomes you. Just need a final touch."
With a flourish, Alaric pulled out a mask from behind his cape. An intricate gold one that matched my dress perfectly.
I accepted it, breathless. Another relic from my dreams. This was it.
I held the mask up to my face and felt Alaric's long fingers touch my hair as he tied it. "Perfect," he said and my face warmed. The fast-paced beat turned into a slow waltz and Alaric held out a hand. "Honor me with a dance?"
"On one condition," I returned as I gave him my hand. "We chat afterwards."
His eyebrow rose up his forehead sharply. "You think it's wise to go off with a guy you just met?"
"No, but there's something about you. I know I can trust you." My face warmed and it only grew worse as Alaric pulled me closer and we swayed to the music. "I know it sounds crazy doesn't it?"
"On the contrary Miss Cordelia, I think that makes a great deal of sense."
I leaned into Alaric. The familiar smell from my dreams filled my nose and left me light-headed, as though I was drunk. In a way, I was. After so long, after so many lifetimes, I'd found him.
And in a few short minutes, he'd know that I knew him. That I remembered all our centuries together.
The song extended and I pulled away and smiled slyly. "Remember our deal?"
"A promise is a promise." He didn't let go of my hand and led me across the ballroom, up the grand staircase and over the landing until we came to the parlor upstairs. With each step we took, my heart beat louder and louder. So many centuries, so many lifetimes and the moment was finally here.
"Sit," he invited the lights flickered on.
I didn't follow the advice but instead, took my mask off. I wanted him to see me clearly when the moment came.
"Don't care for the gift?"
"No, the gift is perfect," I said as I approached him. With shaking hands, I pulled off his mask. "I just can't believe it's you."
Alaric chuckled. "It's me, the new guy. Like what you see?"
"You're more than that," I whispered, My fingertips brushed his face and I couldn't stop my grin as Alaric's breath caught when we touched. "I wasn't sure at first, but you looked so much like him. And then, the kiss...I mean you're here!"
His cupid's bow lips frowned. "Cordelia, what are you getting at?"
"Don't pretend, Alaric," I pleaded. "It's me. And it's you, I've been waiting for you." My voice caught and I felt tears warm my eyes as I touched his face. "I was so lonely."
Understanding dawned on his face. "You remember?" he asked, his hands folded over mine. "You remember your past life?"
"Lives!" I corrected, breathless. "My past lives. You were there, always. It's taken so long but now I know. It took twelve lives, but it all makes sense now. I had to go through it to find you. To realize it was you, it was always you. It's all worth it."
"Cordelia," Alaric gasped. "After all this time, are you really-?"
Now it was my turn to catch him off guard with a kiss. Alaric stiffened at that, as I knew he would. In all our lifetimes together, I'd never been the one to initiate a kiss. It was high time that changed.
A low moan escaped him and he pulled me even closer. I let my hands leave his face, roam down to his chest. Right over his beating heart.
My hand clawed over the spot for one second before I plunged the blessed dagger into his chest.
Hot, salty blood coated my lips and Alaric stumbled back. His blue eyes were wide with shock and pain. I twisted the knife and was rewarded with a grimace. A dull light emitted from the stab wound, part of the magic that would sever his life.
"W-why? Cordelia we...we found each other. I loved-ah!"."
I twisted the knife again and was rewarded with a scream. "You don't know anything about love," I growled, lifetimes of pain behind my words. Alaric's idea of love had driven me through centuries of misery.
Of life after life with no memories of my curse. Death after death of the people I loved, right after our first kiss. And then, as the memories came back, so did he. To claim my heart or kill me if I refused to give it.
But this life, my twelfth life was different. Now I had a way to thwart him. A way to break the cycle. Break the curse and break his connection to this realm for good.
"Burn in Hell!" I hissed as I pulled the knife back. The light reached a pitch and Alaric's corpse fell to the ground. I dropped the smoking weapon and watched it turn to ash on the carpet. Soon, his body followed.
Only when that happened did I let myself breathe and I dropped the mask where my tormentor had died. Let it be forgotten here, the last reminders of Alaric King's centuries long game.
I walked back down to the party.