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"Rae!" Knock Knock knock. “Rae!” He had been knocking on her door for the last 10 minutes. Raven had hoped that Beast Boy would give up eventually, maybe thinking she had teleported away, she had considered it. But experience had shown that she could not evade his sharp ears and even sharper nose and he would find her eventually. Also, why should she run, this was her room, if she wanted to be alone in it that was her business. This is what Raven thought that her room was for. Was it so much to ask for a little peace and privacy?
Raven had spent the last hour making progress on recreating an old spell. Something lost to the ages. She was floating in her room her references orbiting around her letting her jump from one tomb to another trying to piece together this lost puzzle. In short, this had to be more important than whatever Beast Boy had wanted.
"Come on Rae! Open the door! I got a surprise for you!" Came through from the other side of the door.
The last surprise that Beast Boy brought Raven was an odd amalgamation of green leaves, tofu, and barbeque sauce that he insisted was a salad and was quite proud of, at least until she refused to share it with him.
Raven did not want to open the door but the one characteristic that entirely belonged to Beast Boy other than being green was persistence. He would leave if she just yelled at him to go away. But after that salad incident, she knew that the overwhelming sense of his guilt and disappointment would cling to her for days.
He always meant well. Beast Boy for reasons that escaped her always seemed to go out of his way to include her. Every event, movie night, game, or activity he would be at her door.
Raven willed the books she had open to close and return to their shelves. The mystery would have to wait since Beast Boy could not. She let herself descend to the floor landing gently on her feet and made her way to the door.
When the door opened at eye level she saw a teddy bear. The bear was just a simple brown bear however it had fangs, red eyes, and a black and red opera cape.
"I want to hug your neck!" Beast Boy said in an over-the-top cartoonish accent the one that is usually assigned to kid's cartoon vampires. He was hidden in the hallway holding the bear up Infront of her face.
After a pause "Beast Boy what do you want?" she asked flatly.
"Rae, did you forget there was going to be a Halloween party here?" He said stepping Infront of the doorway now holding the Bear under his arm. "Come join the fun, or at least come help us hang up stuff?"
"No," Raven said moving to close the door.
"Oh come on Rae!" Beast Boy said grabbing the door before it could close. "this will be fun."
"Then go have fun! I am fine here!" She said trying to force the door closed.
"I thought that you liked Halloween?" He asked with a grunt trying to keep the door open.
It was an assumption that everyone made. It was true that she gravitated toward the dark. Her aesthetics, her choices in stories and music. She would rather read Poe or Mary Shelly than more contemporary authors. But what most people thought of as Halloween had no real appeal to her.
She might have enjoyed Halloween If it was the type of holiday that she read about
that it was a celebration of the macabre. or maybe an attempt to connect to the unknown.
The reality was an excuse to put on cheap plastic costumes, and children to get free treats. For adults, their Halloween celebrations like with so many holidays were an excuse to act foolishly and overindulge in alcohol. Raven felt no need to celebrate that.
The Halloween that most people celebrated was for the benefit of candy manufacturers and an excuse for poorly written movies there were more violence and gore than true suspense.
She let the door go and let Beast Boy tumble inside almost landing face down on the floor, dropping Dracubear.
"Your party, let me guess, the TV will be showing a marathon of slasher fics, and Cyborg is making a punch that is blood red and is going to be served in a cauldron?” She took a few steps from the door and crossed her arms.
“Yep!”
“A ton of people, loud music, ridiculous costumes, and a running bet on who is either going to pass out or throw up from too much sugar?"
"It's going to be epic!" he agreed.
"In all the time you have known me, do I enjoy any of those things?"
Raven could almost hear the gears turn in Beast boys head and a rusted clank as the realization hit him with an "Oh"
"Oh. Indeed."
"So you are just going to stay here all night?" He asked.
"It would not be the first time, "She turned back to her bookshelves and started scanning the titles wondering if she could continue her research or dive into a novel. "or the last."
Then she felt it. The guilt that she had been trying so hard to avoid. That boy didn’t just have emotions he broadcasted them. "Don’t" She said quietly.
"Don't what?"
"Feel guilty."
"I was-"
"Empath." She stated turning back to him. "Just stop it's not like you are locking me in here. This is where I want to be."
"It just sucks that you have to be alone," he said picking up the bear.
“I do not have to be alone Beast Boy, I chose to be alone.” She watched him hold the bear looking at it. As if he had to break the news to the stuffed animal that she wouldn't be attending the party. “If I tell you that I will think about coming for a little while would that make you happy?"
Beast Boy didn’t say a word but just turned Dracubear to her and made him nod with a goofy smile on his face.
"Fine, I will make an appearance. " She said feeling better that Beast Boy's guilt had evaporated. "Now please leave."
Beast Boy turned the bear to face him and resumed the cartoon Transylvanian accent. "Come, my friend, the night is young and we must prepare" Before tucking the bear into his arm the walked out of the room.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Raven's evening had been going to plan. She had just completed a simple meditation. As for the party, she had planned on walking in, saying hello to a few people, grabbing some peanut butter cups, and fading into the shadows.
Halloween was doing it's best to fit the mood, as soon as night fell so did the temperature creating a light fog across the bay and around the tower, a waning moon played hide and seek with the clouds.
The party was well underway in the Towers ops room. Cyborg had darkened the other hallways to make sure that the tower had the right vibe. Just as Raven had predicted, the music was loud, every screen was showing a horror movie, bowls of treats were scattered on every surface, and the costumes were over the top. Except for Mas and Menos who thought they had the clever idea of dressing as each other. In all the excitement of the evening, no one noticed the cloaked figure slipping away.
He was two floors up and Beast Boy could still hear the beat of the music. He checked himself over one more time making sure his costume was in order, before closing his eyes and getting himself into character, after all this was an important audience.
His back straightened when he opened his eyes and started walking slowly and calmly down the dark corridor. There was no need to rush, after all, he was centuries old, and with that comes patience. Nervousness evaporated and left anticipation, like so many before she would fall under his power.
He came to the door and knocked quietly then stood as still as a gravestone waiting for Raven to open the door.
The door slid open. "Good evening." He said putting his hand to his chest and bowing slightly.
Beast Boys' hair was slicked back and his face was expressionless. He wore an old-fashioned black tuxedo, with a white shirt and waistcoat. His black shoes were polished and he wore white gloves. The black opera cape around his shoulders was a better look on him than the bear.
"I know that you have little interest in the celebration downstairs. Perhaps, we can share the evening another way?" His speech was formal, he spoke slowly and smoothly.
He presented her with a book holding it in both hands carefully. "A gift," he said showing her the cover. It was a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula. "We could read it together? " He said locking eyes with her.
It took Raven a few moments to process what stood before her. His last words straddled the line between an offer and a command.
“You know, Dracula in the novel looks nothing like this.” She said referring to him and accepting the book.
He gave her the faintest smile. “Would you rather an old man with a long white mustache, hooked nose, and a pointed beard with a streak of white in it, hairy palms?”
“You have read the book?” She asked her eyes raised in surprise.
“Many years ago.” He said slowly maintaining character. “However I do have pointed ears, and I can assure you my teeth are quite sharp.”
“Beast Boy stop,” she said putting up her free hand to ward him off.
“Too much?” He asked finally sounding like himself again.
“A little,” Raven said but was not sure what it was too much of. Beast Boy was a better actor than she had realized. His performance was compelling, to say the least.
“I know it might not fit, but I went with classic Lugosi.” He said stepping back into the hall. “I can see why you like your cloak.” opening his cape that childish smile on his face. “I might keep this, I think this is a good look for me.”
“You didn't have to do this, go to the party, please.”
“Rae there is gonna be other parties, maybe we could try something different? A Halloween that is more your speed? ” Beast Boy then produced a bag of peanut butter cups he had somehow hidden in his cape. “I have come prepared.”
Raven turned to face her room and with a wave of her hand a dozen candles lit. The light danced on the walls. Raven with book in hand went to the head of her bed and sat down.
“Well?” she asked looking at Beast Boy still standing in the doorway.
“I need to be invited in,” he said.
“You’re pushing this vampire thing.”
“It has nothing to do with being a vampire, I just know better than to come into your room without your express okie dokie.”
“Get in here, before I change my mind.”
Raven’s guest walked in carefully closing the door behind him. With a bit of a flourish wrapped his cape around himself before sitting on the foot of the bed.
Raven cracked open the book. "3 May. Bistritz. Left Munich at 8.35 pm, on 1 May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; " She began reading by the candlelight.
Halloween slowly surrendered to November 1st. The sun was just starting to rise when Beast Boy stuck his head out the door to make sure the coast was clear before stepping out into the vacant hall.
He walked out with his jacket and cape draped over his arm. The collar of his shirt was open. Beast Boy turned back to Raven standing in the doorway. She was barefoot and her cloak had found itself cast over a chair sometime between the fifth and eighth chapters.
“So was this closer to the kind of Halloween you would enjoy?” Beast Boy asked stretching his neck.
Raven nodded. “You do have a nice reading voice,” she whispered.
“So same time next year?” Beast Boy asked as he started to turn down the hall.
“Wait!”
Beast Boy looked back at her. She could feel the excitement running through him, and he could hear her heart jump in tempo. After a moment of reading each other.
“You are going to forget where we are in the book if we wait that long, we could continue.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
“I am up for it.” He looked back up and down the hallway again before asking “Do I need to wear the cape again?”
“Your presence is sufficient.”
Beast Boy smiled and bowed slightly like had done when first came to the door before heading back to his room.
Raven closed her door quietly and stepped back into her room. She passed her burrow and the mirror attached. The collar of her uniform had been pulled down. Her fingers drifted to the mark on her neck a few inches below her left ear. She adjusted the collar covering it, prying eyes did not need to know. She could have healed it, a single chant, a mere moment of concentration and it would be gone, but what fun would that be?
In the bathroom, Beast Boy has stripped down to his pants and turned the shower on. In the mirror, he examined to dark bruise just above his collarbone. He closed his eyes and pressed his fingers into it, reminding himself how it was made. A knowing smile formed on his lips. When his eyes opened he had slipped back into character “Until tonight” echoed in the small bathroom.