Hey everyone!
I am back with a brand new story, 4th in series! I hope you are all as excited as I am about it and I look forward to writing for all of you once again!
Quick note: this story follows in series from hey there sister I'll be your mister, a spot of tea in London town and a year in the life of a fledgling- while I try and make my work easy to read and pick-up-able, you are going to need to probably hit the other stories first as by now I have a lot of OC's!
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Chapter 1
"Mychael!" Beth called out, opening the door of the fashion building, the purple haired vampire not far behind her.
The coloured man was seated below the skyline, teaching a group of young design students a complicated dress stitch; when he saw the vampires, he dismissed them, ushering them out the door before greeting the girls with a kiss on each cheek.
"Ladies to what do I owe the pleasure?"
Lorenza smiled, "We have to come to an important party later tonight and we were wondering if we could borrow some dresses from one of the lines. What you guys stock here now?"
Mychael threw back his head and laughed, gesturing to the various rooms that connected to the main hall. "Dior, Armani, Marc Jacobs...The list is endless. And of course the best labels of all...the Guardian collection, the Knight's quest and the Knight's guardian collection. You get the picture."
Beth smiled; Mychael's easy going nature suited her very much. "What would you recommend for us?"
Mychael tapped his pencil against his cheek and flashed them a knowing smile "I think I have just the things, wait here and I'll be back...I'm sorry I can't provide you with a snack while you wait but with Elaina not here, there are no deliveries."
Mychael, Nathaniel, and Sophie had found out about Elaina's vampirism six months before. They had been hanging a panel in the sky light and it had fell, landing on Elaina before she could react. It had shattered to a million pieces cutting her badly, fatally for any human.
She had healed instantly and her secret had been revealed. Thankfully the trio had taken it well and were even helpful at covering a lot of the day work to take the pressure off Elaina to be up in the hot daytime sun.
"Its okay" Lorenza called after him, "We're pretty full as it is."
Mychael returned with the dresses and began to sit them onto mannequins. "That's good so," he replied. "We've been missing Elaina since she's been gone, any word from her?"
Beth shook her head sadly, "Very little, the situation calls for deep cover so mostly it's silent. We've all been missing her like crazy."
A situation had blown up in Africa several months ago and the guardian force had required more pairs of fangs to deal with it, thus they had pulled guardians from any major area without any imminent problems to go to work with them. LA, well run and without problems had lost its guardian.
"It's crazy," Lorenza flopped down, "I mean they said a month and it's been three. I only didn't end up going because I was acting elder at the time, what with Kai being away on yet another excursion of his."
Mychael settled down in his chair, "It's amazing what you guys have to go through to protect your secret; I only wish I could help out more."
Beth reached and squeezed his hand, "You are helping, and you're keeping Elaina's business up and running. I just know she really appreciates that."
"And you're helping us out with some seriously amazing dresses...who made these?" Lorenza fingered the beautiful blue and green chiffon dress, the same colour as Beth's eyes.
"Elaina," Mychael replied sadly, "It was a collection she had created before she went away. It was suppose to go to show at London fashion week last season but now it's just lying here, going to waste... I can't bear it-these dresses deserve a night out."
"It seems like such a waste." Lorenza agreed, "When is the next fashion week? Could they be shown then?"
"Well the collection is finished and the next fashion week is in Canada, in Toronto...its a week away now, I'll be showing there myself, a collection from a knights quest so I could take them, I think this collection would be adored there but without a really good photo shoot and some serious PR, it would go unacknowledged," Mychael explained.
"Unacknowledged?" Lorenza asked puzzled. "You guys have won some sort of award for creativity or innovation at every fashion week you have been at; you guys stock other designers and they stock you, your in the process of designing an expansion onto this building; how on earth could the work be unacknowledged?"
"Elaina doesn't have one PR person she goes to." Mychael grumbled, "She uses an agency and matches the best PR person to the brief of the collection each time. Hence, with Elaina gone so long, no PR has been done for the work and it is still a young enough business that people could forget"
"What will happen to the clothes if they don't go to show?" Beth asked, fingering the cerulean dress; it was so soft and light.
"Most likely you guys will wear them or we'll sell them off as unique pieces for a fraction of what they are worth." Mychael sighed.
"That hardly seems fair." Lorenza answered, holding the black and gold evening dress up in the mirror. "These dresses, this collection deserve to shine."
Mychael caught their worried faces and rushed to reassure them, "Don't worry! Once Elaina comes back things will be okay again, we'll start a new collection, she'll do her pick a PR person and things will be back on track...this time isn't determinately to the business; its just sad for this collection."
"Did Elaina have plans for PR decided or anything?" Beth asked, her glance filtering to the balcony and Elaina's offices.
Mychael nodded, "There up on her work board...the original designs, inspirations and plans are there, but she never got as far as booking PR for it... I can fetch them if you like."
Beth nodded and Mychael climbed the stairs to Elaina's offices, hurrying back with information. Beth took it and began to leaf through it before casting Lorenza a look.
"What are you thinking Beth?" Lorenza asked noting the look.
"The plan is pretty detailed," Beth began "And I doubt the PR of a major corporate event is any different or less stressful..."
"You want to take the collection to fashion week." Lorenza realised.
Beth nodded "I do...it'll be easy, I've been to fashion weeks and shoots with Elaina before, I know a lot of the contacts, everyone by now knows the brand, you said so yourself...I can handle the PR and if we get Sophie and Nathaniel to handle the models and shoots, we will be able to bring this collection out and show it off."
Mychael looked thoughtful "I am sure Sophie and Nathaniel will be able to help you...my models are already organised and my shoot is done...and Elaina's three assistants would be available to you too for any last minute help with adjustments and finishing."
Lorenza held up her hands, disbelief written on her face, "Now wait just a moment you two, before we get carried away, do you honestly think Elaina would like us messing with her collection? You know how fussy she is about these things, everything done a certain way, inspired by this and promoted like that, I'm not sure she'd be pleased with your plan. And Beth, fashion week in Toronto is a good way away...do you really think Mick is going to let you flounce all the way off to Toronto alone?"
Beth grinned waving away Lorenza's concerns, "Elaina will understand; we're doing it for her and the collection. Mychael has told us the collection needs a night out; we're just giving it a week long trip instead."
Lorenza was doubtful still, "Beth, I don't know..."
Beth gripped Lorenza's hand, "Lorenza, if we don't do this, the collection will be wasted...I am sure that would upset Elaina more...I mean look at the pieces; could you put this kind of work in and then have no one ever see it or love it?"
Lorenza gave in to her friend with a rueful smile "okay, I'm convinced; I'll help you out as best I can."
Beth smiled a squeezed Lorenza's hand before letting it go "That's great, between all of us, the collection will shine, and I know it."
Lorenza suddenly frowned, "But Beth? What about Mick? I mean you and I know you'd do great without him around for a week and all but I'm not so sure about him...you guys tend to be joined at the hip...would he really let you go off to Toronto for the week?"
Beth shook her head, her smile becoming mischievous, "I won't leave Mick behind, and I shouldn't like to be away from him that long if it can be helped- I'll simply convince him to come with us."
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So that is our first chapter. I am hoping that you will like it. As always, I would love to hear from all of you out there via reviews- they do make the fanfic world go round. Thank you for reading.