Incipient A Dark Paranormal Romance - Bianca Scardoni Page 0,109
Trace, there was still something entirely spooky about it.
“Save it for the party,” I said as I grabbed his jacket and then lugged him out the front door.
38. LOVE IS WICKED
We arrived at Carly and Caleb’s house less than ten minutes later, though we had spotted the beaming strobe lights flashing from the property even before we entered the cul-de-sac.
“Do you think they got enough pumpkins?” mused Trace as we walked up to the sprawling mansion adored with hundreds of jack-o-lanterns that covered every square inch of the front yard. Every one of them carved to perfection and lit up from the inside with flickering candles. I’d never seen anything like it in my entire life.
“It wouldn’t be Caleb if it wasn’t over the top,” I said as I admired the red and orange spotlights crisscross over the front of the house and then followed Trace up the walkway.
Once inside, the decorations only seemed to get more elaborate. Spiderwebs and creepy cloth hung from every corner of the house as smoke machines puffed dewy fog into the rooms. There were people dancing everywhere, dressed to the nines in costumes and makeup that rivaled the pros, as music blared out from the four-foot speakers.
Trace snagged my hand as to not lose me in the shuffle and then lead us deeper into the house until we reached the kitchen. A massive cauldron sat on the island filled with red punch and plastic eyeballs floating around the surface. The kitchen lights had been changed to a rich purple as skeletons and bats hung from the ceiling. Not a single detail had been overlooked, and all I could think about was how much this must’ve cost.
“Hey! You guys made it,” shouted Caleb as he spotted us from across the room from where he had been chatting with Ben and another guy I didn’t recognize.
The two of them immediately rushed over to us with drinks in hand. Caleb, dressed as the Mad Hatter, fist-bumped Trace as Ben the Werewolf lifted me up into a bearhug. The two of them cheered and howled and then switched places and did the same exact thing. Clearly, they had sampled the punch. A few times.
“Blackburn, what’ll it be? You want some punch? Get the girl some punch!” he yelled back at no one in particular.
Laughing, I held my hand out to calm him down. “I’m good, Cale. I think I’ll skip the punch this time,” I said, remembering myself crawling on all fours in his bathroom after blowing chunks in the toilet at his last party.
“Come on, Blackburn. One drink! You have to have at least one drink with us,” he said as he turned for the cauldron and filled up two plastic cups with the voodoo juice and then handed one to me and one to Trace.
“Thanks,” I said, promising myself that I was only going to sip it. “Where are the girls?”
“I think Carly’s dancing with Morgan,” he said, swaying a little as he ticked his chin toward the fridge. I was sure he’d meant to gesture toward the living room.
I took a tiny sip from my cup and then handed it off to Trace. “I’m going to go say hi,” I informed and then lifted up on my toes to kiss him before heading off into the massive living room.
I normally didn’t have any trouble spotting either of them, especially Morgan with her fiery red hair, but the entire room was illuminated red and everyone was wearing a costume, making it almost impossible to recognize anyone.
I wandered around for about a minute or so, elbowing my way through the gyrating bodies and hordes of people making out before I heard Carly’s distinctive squeal over the music.
“You came!” she said as she skipped over to me while Morgan followed behind, taking her sweet time. “Did you see the pumpkins outside? That was totally my idea,” she beamed, bouncing on her toes proudly. She was dressed as a bunny, but not the furry onesie type you’d see a kid dressed in. It was more of the Playboy variety.
“You guys really went all out. Everything looks incredible.”
“Is Trace here too? Did you guys come together?”
“Yeah, he’s in the kitchen with your brother and Ben,” I answered and then smiled at Morgan as she finally reached us. She was dressed as Little Red Riding hood and was totally pulling off the red cape.
“I’m going to go say hi,” informed Morgan and then scampered off toward the kitchen.