For the damned | ✓

25

DELILAH HAD ONLY AGREED to the big party she was attending first because Theresa had asked her to and she honestly hadn't felt like she had been a great friend to her the past few weeks. Still, she was glad for it, the taste of euphoria in the air and loud music blasting across the frontyard from the fraternity house. Theresa had said it would be a good way to start the party, only for them to finish at midnight with a group of close friends, and she had to admit she had loved the dressing up part as well.

James had gone as a mad scientist, despite his complaints actually seeming to have enjoyed doing so. He had gone full out, with gloves, a lab coat, his actual glasses and a few erlenmeyers filled with a fluorescent green liquid strapped to his belt. Delilah would have questioned what it was, but she had seen Theresa pour it in, so it was most likely alcohol. Her roommate was dressed as a bloodied nurse, Roshan wearing wings in his outfit as a navy guardian angel from hell.

Delilah was wearing a shimmery dress the same color as the opal necklace she always wore, the color changing every time it caught the light and her large bell sleeves of a sheer material, causing it to look a bit spookily overall. For the occasion she had even colored her hair silver with some temporary hair dye, but with how dark her hair was all it had resulted in was a pearly glow on top of her locks, which she supposed sufficed as well. She hadn't initially planned on going as a ghost, but it was fun to mingle and any outfit matching with her jewelry was a good one.

She only had to set one foot in the fraternity house for her to get a complete heart attack though, everyone shouting all at once as a couple of guy lifted her up, cheering with confetti blowing around them. A laugh escaped her lips when they set her down in the middle of the room, Jonathan's grin wide as he opened his arms for a hug. When she gave him one he squeezed her tightly against him, stepping back after.

"You thought you could get away without me organizing a birthday bash for you?" he smirked.

"Is that what this is?" she said.

"It is," he said, waving a hand around," I organized this all with Theresa when she told me your birthday was during Halloween. Had to repay you somehow, right?"

"You know you don't have to, John," she told him.

"I know," he said, softer this time," but still, what you did for me -" He stopped talking, breathing out as he shook his head. "Fuck man, if I continue talking I might cry again, so I'm going to go over to drinking instead." He raised his glass to the sky, voice booming across the room. "Who's ready for a party?"

With that the music was full blast again, her friends joining them in a battle of beer pong. When Theresa told her they had hired a fortune teller for her, who was on the second floor, all her attention for the game gone though, Delilah already off before any of them could stop her, Theresa and Roshan following right behind. She always adored the paranormal and having her fate told, even though she also believed herself to be the master of hers. It was also such a nice thing for them to do for her that she was beaming from that thought alone, two steps on the second floor as soon as she saw the fortune teller.

The stand really had been dressed up, amidst the spooky Halloween decorations, the flashing lights in shades of orange and the pumpkins scattered across the floor. It alone was purple, a makeshift of a tent having been made and a row of people waiting in front of it. Against her wishes Roshan and Theresa let her cut in line, shouting that she was the birthday girl as they pushed her in the tent, the girl who had just come out seeming like she was going to cry from the fortunes she had been told.

Smoke was filling the inside of the tent and Delilah wondered where they had found a machine to give that effect, a table standing in the middle with a chair on each side. She sat down, smiling at the person opposite her, the hood drawn close and the cloak covering their face, the only thing visible their wrinkled hands as the person slowly placed some cards on the table.

"I see a very grave future ahead of you," the voice of an old woman said," a weary one, filled with death -"

"Nico?" she interrupted," what are you doing here?"

"Who are you talking about, child?" the same woman's voice said, sounding confused," I know of no Nico."

Delilah leaned forward, pushing back the hood, a smile already on her face as she made eye contact with her favorite oracle. Niccolo however was scowling up at her, his fiery red hair seeming even more like fire amidst all the smoke and his eyes disappointed. The snake tattoos appeared back on his hands with a wave of his hand, twirling around his fingers and hissing like they were alive, the wrinkles vanishing along with their appearance.

"How did you recognize me?" Niccolo frowned," I did my best to put a disguise on."

"Of course I would recognize you, silly," she said, leaning back in her chair," why are you in a fortune teller stand?"

"That friend of yours who organized this has no feeling of personal safety, I swear," Niccolo said with a shake of his head," he placed an ad in the paper in order to be inconspicuous, but that's only asking for trouble. I mean, look, that post attracted me."

"And I am very glad for it," she beamed at him," I didn't know you read the paper, Nico."

"I don't," he said, pointing at his eyes," but I see everything nonetheless."

"So you endured this job you hate to come to my birthday," she said warmly," thank you. You could have just asked though, you'd have been welcome without the fortune teller thing."

His normally unfazed expression wavered as he turned his gaze downwards, to where the snake on his hands were hissing. Red dusted his cheeks, but all he seemed was lonely, like heartbreak cut open his veins and his blood had spilled all across the floor in a crime scene no one knew about.

"You don't get it," he said," you will hate me after tonight. I didn't want to see the look in your eyes change, I told myself that, and yet somehow I'm here, telling each mortal when they will die because misfortune is the only thing I am good in."

"I would never hate you," she said, reaching out to place her hand on top of his," what's wrong, Nico? Did something happen?"

"It didn't," he said quietly," but it will, I know it will. I warned you, Delilah, do not fall in love with him." He swallowed, voice spiked with thorns when he spoke, all his words gleaming crimson. "I told you it would be the end of you."

"That's alright," she said gently, squeezing his hand," I believe in life after death, Nico. The end of me or not, at least it will be the beginning of something new."

He looked at her like she was hellfire in a drought, like she was death on barren land, like she was everything he expected her to be, but somehow, it still hurt to look at her. It was a curious kind of expression.

"I guess it's no wonder I was attracted to you," he whispered," even now, I seem to only find love in hearts which have no place for me."

"Nico -" she began, but he interrupted her, raising her hand to his lips.

When he kissed the back of her hand, it felt like flames blazed through her veins, but in a pleasant way, like a breath of summer on a rainy day.

"My last prediction," he said," I will love you, Delilah, and you will break my heart, but it'll be alright. You're allowed to have it in your hands. In a way that too is a kind of love."

"Niccolo," she breathed, but along with the smoke, he was gone then.