Maddy dragged Nicole deeper into the party swerving left and right suddenly to avoid drunk teenagers and dancing bodies. Nicole followed her wordlessly, trying to shake of her uneasy feeling. No, I will have a good time tonight. It's been a month. Surely He can wait one more day before He starts to torment me again. I need to get drunk tonight. Nicole thought as she let Maddy drag her to wherever she was taking her.

Maddy lead Nicole to what she assumed was the living room, since there were many couches and beanbags. The neon lights made everyone look ghastly and cast everyone's faces into shadows, but they glinted off a fair hared boy. Somehow, Nicole's eyes could always find him, even in a room full of masked people. 

Nicole and Maddy made their way to Ryder and Erik, who were sitting in a circle on beanbags and armchairs, occupying one corner of the room. Nicole didn't know any of them. She wasn't exactly a social butterfly, but Maddy seemed to know them for she dragged Nicole over and introduced her.

"Guys this is Nicole, Nicole that's Shawn," she said, pointing to a boy who was dressed as a zombie and had plenty of tattoos covering his arms. A girl with pink hair dressed as his zombie wife was perched on his lap who was introduced as Lisa. To Erik's right was someone named Lucas, who was the owner of this house. Well, his parents were, but they were gone for Halloween and he decided to make use of the house and have a party, and to Ryder's left was a farmer named Kevin. He was the only one who seemed a little under dressed. The others had plenty of make up and fake blood on them. The blood made Nicole queasy but she smiled at the group, instantly forgetting their names, and moved to sit beside Erik.

"Where did you disappear to?" Erik whispered into her ear, as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. 

"Nowhere, I lost sight of you guys for a few seconds and Maddy and to backtrack and come get me".

"You sure you're okay?" Erik asked. He turned his head to get a better look at Nicole. He got the feeling that she was lying. He knew that Nicole had a secret that she hasn't shared with him yet, and he was willing to wait until she felt comfortable enough to tell him but he sometimes wished that Nicole would tell him already. He didn't like it when Nicole suddenly looked lost and dazed and jumped when he touched her, as if she couldn't bear to feel his skin on hers. The last part hurt, but he knew that she did this unintentionally. Something had happened with her that had scarred her mind forever, and he had a weird hunch that it was somehow related to her mother.

"Yes, I'm fine," Nicole said. She turned her head and kissed him slowly but passionately on the lips, thus successfully distracting him from questioning her further.

She heard hoots from the other people surrounding her, but she didn't stop, and neither did Erik. He loved these moments when Nicole kissed him so boldly and passionately, taking him by surprise.

"Whoa girl, slow down. You aren't even drunk yet. I wonder what will happen when both of you get some alcohol into your systems". Hearing Maddy's words, Nicole pulled away and glared at her friend, who was holding two red cups in her hands. She offered one to Nicole with a smug expression on her face, who accepted it, still glaring. She was rather enjoying the feel of Erik's lips on hers. She was so busy kissing him that she hadn't noticed when Maddy left them and went into the kitchen to bring them drinks.

"What is this?" Nicole asked. She peered into the cup and watched the red liquid fizzle. It didn't look like any type of alcohol that she knew.

"It's vampire blood," Lucas said. 

Nicole scrunched up her nose at that. Lucas laughed on seeing her expression.

"It's basically punch mixed with vodka. I'm aware of how weird that sounds, but trust me, it's really good, and really strong," Lucas told Nicole. 

"Yeah, but where did you get the drinks? I thought we were out of Vampire Blood," Lisa said, turning to Maddy.

"I went into the kitchen and I was hunting for the drinks when some masked guy came up and started flirting with me and offered me the cups full of punch".

"And you accepted them?" Ryder asked, looking at her incredulously. Ryder and Nicole had both tensed up at Maddy's sentence, for different reasons. Nicole's mind immediately wandered to that masked person who was staring at her when she entered. Then again, more than half the people were wearing masks here. Ryder tensed up because he didn't like other guys flirting with his girlfriend. He knew Maddy was attractive, but he still felt jealous when he saw guys hitting on her. It drove him crazy.

"Yeah, so?" Maddy took a sip and sat down on his lap, who was still looking at her worriedly.

"Maddy? What if he mixed something in the drinks? You didn't even see his face. You don't know who the person was," Nicole said, trying to bring some sense into her friend. Maddy could be absolutely reckless sometimes. This nature of hers has gotten her into plenty of trouble. She had to hand it to Ryder. He was always so patient so and loving with her. It took a great deal of effort.

Maddy rolled her eyes. "Calm down Nicole, I'm sure no one mixed anything in the drinks," Maddy said, taking a few more gulps.

"She has a point you know," Ryder said calmly. He was about to snatch the cup from her hand when Maddy finished the rest of it swiftly and slammed it down on the small table kept in the middle of the circle. "Stop being so uptight you two. Ryder, come dance with me," Maddy said, getting up. She grabbed Ryder's collar and dragged him to the dance floor.

"Well don't those two make a cute couple," Kevin remarked, amusedly. Nicole stared after her friend, a little worried.

"Calm down," Erik whispered to her, "Ryder's with her, she'll be okay".

"I know, but I wish she would be a little more careful. If she doesn't start using her common sense soon, she might end up in big trouble. I don't want to see her get hurt".

"I know, but I don't think we have to worry about her getting hurt right now. Want to dance?" Erik asked, looking at her hopefully.

Nicole didn't remember the last time she had danced with someone. "Sure, why not?" She got up and Erik took her hand and was about to lead her to the dance floor when Ryder came towards them, walking hurriedly. Maddy was not with him.

"Ryder? What happened? Where's Maddy?" Nicole asked, trying to hide the panic in her voice.

"I don't know what happened. We were dancing when Maddy suddenly said that she wasn't feeling well and she said that she felt queasy and she rushed upstairs to the bathroom and locked the door. Nicole? Will you please go and check on her? She won't let me in".

"Of course". Nicole immediately pushed through the crowd of dancing, writhing, sweaty bodies and climbed up the stairs that were decorated with spiders and cobwebs. The neon lights flashed in front of her eyes like warning signs. The pulse pounding beat of the music meshed together with the pounding of her heart and the sounds of her leather high heeled boots as she climbed up the stairs quickly. Blood rushed to her ears and she felt light headed and dizzy. She knew she wouldn't be able to handle it if she lost Maddy as well. This would be the perfect way for Him to take revenge on her. 

After searching for some time, she finally found the bathroom. She banged on the door. "Maddy? Maddy are you in there? Please open the door." She could hear her retching inside. The lock turned and the door opened, revealing Maddy with a feverish look on her face, and saliva foaming from her mouth.