42. Invitation

Monday, October 26th
Waning Gibbous Moon (Twenty-Seven Nights to Full Moon)

Randall took me home in the morning, after much prodding to get me awake. I had to go class, though, so I let him drag me out of the warm, inviting bed and drive me back to the dorm. I wore another one of his t-shirts and a pair of swim trunks as I fished around in the bushes to find the clothes I’d thrown down from my window the night before.

Triumphantly, I held up the clothes for Randall to see and crawled back in the truck to change. I hid myself below the windows of his truck to pull on the clothes while Randall kept watch to make sure no one would walk by and see. I caught him taking small glances downward every few seconds to check on my progress as well as look at me half-naked body, but I wasn’t embarrassed anymore. After I was dressed, with my key card in hand, I kissed Randall goodbye, thanked him for the night, and went inside.

I couldn’t concentrate in class, and my thoughts continued to drift to Lilith. She had been several steps ahead of me ever since before I’d met her, and I had to get the upper hand. I knew what she was planning, I just didn’t know where or when. She would eventually challenge Quinn to some sort of fight, and as the Pack leader, he would have to accept. If he didn’t, it would be automatic forfeit. But if he did, Lilith would decimate him. She was more powerful than anyone I had ever met, and she had the element of surprise. She was playing the role of a hustler. They all just thought she was weak, and she would play that role up until she killed Quinn. After that, no one in the Pack would have the strength to challenge her and win. I couldn’t even win a fight against Lilith. Even if I did have the power to do kill her, I would die too.

Could I die for the sake of the Pack? Yes, they were like family, but did they really care about me? Would my sacrifice mean anything to them? It didn’t really matter whether it meant anything to them or not, though. I was doing it to help Randall. I was doing it because it was my fault Lilith was so powerful in the first place.

* * * * *

Randall called me after I got out of class. “What are your plans for Halloween?” He asked.

“You know well enough that I don’t have plans,” I laughed. My life mainly consisted of school, Randall, and the Pack.

“I just found out that one of my dad’s friends is throwing a Halloween party and dad is pretty much making me go. Do you want to come with me?”

“Is this a pack function or a human thing?” I asked.

“Quite a few pack members will be there, of course, but humans will be there as well, so it will be a nice mix,” He said.

“This is a dress-up thing, isn’t it?”

There was a pause, “Is that a bad thing?”

I sighed, now I had to decide what to wear.

* * * * *

“How about this one?” River asked, holding up an outfit consisting of only shreds of material, trying to keep a straight face.

“You want me to look like a slut,” I complained.

“It’s not my fault all the girl costumes are slutty. That’s all Halloween is nowadays, an excuse for girls to dress up like sluts and not be looked down on for one night. You should embrace that.”

“Or I could look in the male costumes section.”

“Now you’re just being a prude,” She giggled, picking out a few more costumes and shoving them in my arms. “Go try these on.”

I sighed and went into the dressing room, filtering through River’s choices. She’d been feeling a lot better since Lilith was no longer draining her blood, but when I’d asked her to help me go costume shopping, I thought her taste would be a little better.

“I’m not wearing the policewoman costume!” I yelled through the door.

“What about the firewoman costume? It’s hot!” She giggled from the hallway.

I laughed at her incredibly bad pun and kept looking through her choices. There was a bunny costume, a cat costume, a nurse costume, a superwoman costume, and a vampire costume.

I opted to try on the last costume, since it actually had a little bit of material to it. The others were mainly bras, underwear, and a few garnishments. The vampire costume consisted of a long, black wig and an outfit consisting of a dress with a black bodice, laced up in deep red and a frilly, lacy skirt barely long enough to keep me decent. There was a separate black collar to go around my neck with a long, thin chiffon cape that went down to my knees.

I pulled on the outfit and poked my head out the door. River was standing there, waiting. “Let me see it,” She said, opening the door further. She stood there, gaping at me in the costume. “That looks really good on you, Selene. Were your boobs always that big?”

I looked down, embarrassed. I’d made them a little bit larger so they would fill out the bodice better, but I didn’t think she would notice. I pushed them up with my hands and then let them fall. “I don’t think so,” I said nonchalantly.

“Well, I think we already have our costume. I don’t even want to see the rest. Let’s grab you some accessories and we’re done!” She grinned at me and went off through the store to look for things to add to my costume while I went back inside the fitting room at put my clothes back on.

When I was dressed, River was already back with a set of vampire fangs, some spider web pantyhose and some knee-high black boots. “I think that’s all you’ll need. Can you think of anything else?”

I laughed at River’s shopping prowess. There was a reason I’d brought her along after all. I tried on the boots to make sure they’d fit and after that, we went to check out. I wondered what Randall would think of my costume.

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A/N: Yeah, it's short, and there really isn't much to it. This is the transition chapter to get us to Halloween. I'm running out of material here! I almost want to just skip like two months and get back into what Lilith's planning to do, but I need to fill in these time gaps. We've got Halloween, and Thanksgiving before final exams and then Christmas Break. I think I might have Selene's parents come in for Thanksgiving and have dinner with Randall's family. That would be very interesting. Selene's mom, "So Quinn, have you found a cure for my baby yet?" Quinn, *glare.* Oh yes, I'm definitely going to have to write up a Thanksgiving scene. There's going to be a lot of character development coming up, but it won't be boring!