Monstrous Prom (OC x Damien)

5: Pro(m)tection

After my last class, I stopped by my locker to dump my materials and retrieve the sheet music that Liam supposedly 'faxed' to me.

I headed to the auditorium, where I saw Liam pacing around on the stage, looking exasperated. Polly Geist was there too, texting away on her phone. She noticed that I had entered, and she greeted me with a seemingly genuine smile.

"Hey! Serena, right? Thanks for helping Liam out with this." Well at least someone seems happy.

"Serena! Where have you been? It's already six-oh-one! We should've started a minute ago!"

"Uh, Liam, it's only been a minute. Chill!" Polly seems nice.

"When you've been living a whole 4XX years of life, you'll see, Polls, you'll see. Whatever. Let's proceed."

As I sang the first note of the sheet music, I could've sworn that Polly's eyes started watering. Liam, on the other hand, maintained a look of indifference, as he descended from the stairs and onto the stage as I sang.

Just as I finished the last note, Liam took a bow and started his lines. I went to join Polly who was full-on sobbing. She threw her arms around me and gave me a hug when she saw me.

"That. Was. Beautiful! Why haven't I heard you sing before? You really should do it more often! If I had a voice like yours, I'd definitely show it off! What else can you sing?"

She got out a pack of tissue from her handbag and started cleaning up her clear tears and clear snot.

"Uh.. I don't usually sing a lot."

Turning my attention back to the stage, it seems that Liam was really into his performance as he starting biting into a non-existent, invisible human as though he was either trying to suck blood or leave love bites. As funny as it looked, it was kind of disgusting.

After what that seemed like an eternity, he took three final bows before delivering a last, deep one.

"I'm finally done." Liam pulled out a towel from his bag and wiped off his non-existent sweat. "Acting as a vampire is such hard work."

I turned towards Polly to nudge her awake as she was quietly snoring away. She swatted my hand away in her slumber, though, so I decided to just leave her be.

"You know, I don't think there'll be enough time for your skit during Theatre Arts. It's kind of long", I said, glancing at the clock which showed that it was already nine p.m., three hours have passed since the start of his skit.

"Minor details don't matter. Now, from the top-"

"Wait! After I'm done singing, can I leave?"

"Sure, whatever." Liam gave a non-committal wave as he climbed back up the stairs, snapping his fingers to signal the start.

Just as I was about to sing the first note, the doors to the auditorium slammed open with a loud crash.

"GUESS WHO JUST SLICED OFF HADRIAN MULANI'S TINY MALE BALLS!"

Damien held up something bloody in his hands that I couldn't bare to look at any longer. His eyes were full of fire, and soon, the, uh, parts in his hands spontaneously combusted into flames as he held it.

"So, what are you guys up to?"

Throughout this chaos, Polly somehow managed to stay asleep.

"Before you so politely interrupted, we were rehearsing for my skit next week." To say that Liam was pissed would be an understatement. But since he and Damien go way back, I guess their friendship grants Damien a thousand pardons.

"Lame", commented Damien as he settled himself down on one of the seats near the back.

"From the top!" Liam snapped his fingers again.

Without any disruptions this time, I sang the melody. From time to time, I'd glance towards Damien's direction, only to see his face void of expression. Huh. Maybe I was a shitty singer after all.

As I finished my last note, I grabbed my bag and walked briskly towards the exit, not wanting to stay any longer in this hellhole.

As Spooky High was surrounded by vegetation and forest, I had to take a creepy, dark forest path in order to reach the nearest town to get home. It was fall, and all the ripe, crunchy autumn leaves would have fallen on the ground, giving my steps some music (cronch) as I walked.

After about ten minutes, instead of hearing one cronch per step, I heard two.

I stopped walking.

I turned around. It was pitch black, except for the illumination from the full moon. I could vaguely behold a silhouette of a figure, but I couldn't quite make out its owner. Just as I was about to ignore it and continue my journey, I saw a glint of red stepping out.

"Damien?"

I couldn't see it, but I'm sure he smiled.

"Well hello there, my little siren. I'm just making sure that there's no one else who would jump you in the midst of the dark where you'd be completely helpless."

"Great. I feel totally safe." Wow, where did this new-found confidence come from? It was probably the pre-death talking.

All he did was smile at me, not a smirk, but a smile. He stepped forward, into the moonlight. Now, I could see him more clearly. Highlighted by the incandescence of the moon, all of his features that seemed sharp in the day were beautiful at night. His eyes glistened gold that only the rich could hold. His smile, for a demon like him, reminded me of the clouds on a bright, blue summer day. It was bright and warm. Damien was the kind of handsome that could just make you hurt or maybe even cry inside, because he was just that gorgeous.

"No worries. I'll protect you." Well I don't need your stupid protection.

I turned back around and we continued walking in silence, with him stalking silently behind me.

"You have a nice voice, by the way."

But I'd gladly let him protect me.