DISCLAIMER: We don't own Twilight unfortunately. We do however own the ideas and the characters of our imagination.
These were the days I dreaded. The light streamed through the window and played with the shadows. The door creaked open and I pulled the blanket up over my head, trying and failing to hide.
"Come on, come out, please?" a quiet voice called from the doorway. It didn't take long to realize my sister Melissa was the one calling to me.
"The sun is out, we can't go anywhere. I'm not planning on doing anything today, so I can stay right where I am thank you." I quickly whispered back.
"No, you can't stay in bed. Why are you in there any way? We don't sleep yet every morning I find you laying there, under the covers."
"I know, it just reminds me of before…you know…before they were killed and we were changed."
"I thought it was something like that, I could feel your sadness and another mix of emotions, from outside. I know there is no school for a while but…" Mel continued talking but I wasn't really listening. I had already seen how the conversation ended. Yes, that's right, seen. I guess I had better explain.
My name is Claire and I am a vampire. So are my three sisters, Monique, Melissa and Bianca. Ten years ago, a vampire called Tom killed our parents. He toyed around with Monique, deciding whether to change her or not. Apparently he couldn't decide definitely, so he bit her, took enough blood not to kill her and left it to fate. Melissa, Bianca and I were changed immediately. He told the three of us that we would amount to something, the likes of the world had never seen before. Tom was a dark and evil man. After a year of living with him, we left. We didn't want to be like him.
Monique luckily managed to survive and was changed also. When we left him, we tracked her down. She was ecstatic to see us and had found a mate, Nick. He is a nice guy, but can get snippy with his remarks. Sometimes he can be a total jerk, but he is more often than not easy to forgive.
Monique is the oldest by two years, followed by Melissa, Bianca and I. We are triplets, with Melissa being the oldest by ten minutes and Bianca the youngest by twenty minutes.
Monique became our mother figure once we found her again. She has always been the motherly type but it shone out after we lost our parents. She is fiercely protective of us, although, we can protect ourselves more than efficiently. Her love for us, and everyone she knows for that matter, shines out of her constantly. Mon is an incredible drawer and her attention for detail is impeccable.
Melissa is naturally a quiet person; slightly shy at times. But if she knows you, she bursts out of her nearly invisible shell. When she is around our family she is extremely loud. Another thing about her is you have to watch out. Mel is a sneaky and mischievous girl who loves nothing more than playing a prank on you. Apart from that though, she is one of the most kind and considerate people I know. Other than her pranks, her love is drawing. Show something to Mel once and at any time, any day, any week or month or year, she can redraw it for you, right down to the finest detail. Bianca and I once were so amazed at Mon and Mel's ability to draw, that we put a piece of paper in front of them with their eyes closed and described what we were holding to them. Both drawings were an exact mirror image of the items.
Bianca is the typical youngest child. She always fights to have, hold and keep the attention of everyone around her, as she got so much of it as a child. She follows in the footsteps of all her older siblings by being an accepting person. She is full of laughter and always has a smile on her face. We don't need Mel to tell us when something is wrong with Bianca; it is always written on her face. That is, there is little or no smile.
I should possibly explain what I mean by "We don't need Mel to tell us…" Apart from normal vampire abilities such as speed, strength, super hearing etcetera, we each have our own gifts. Not all vampires have these, and we are special to have them. Well, Mel, Bianca and I are even more special, but more on that later.
Nick, being the outsider so to speak, of our close knit family has a gift which, like his personality, can be good or bad. He has the ability to read minds. He can read everybody's mind, as far as we know. The only person whose mind he has ever not been able to read was Bianca's, but I will explain that when we come to her gift. When we first met him, he could only read thoughts by touching you or being within ten metres of you. Now he can read minds within a twenty mile radius.
Mon has a gift which compliments Nick's almost perfectly. She can project her thoughts into others minds. At first she also could only do so by touching you, but by practicing, she has developed it so that she can send them to anyone within a twenty mile radius as well. Another thing that came by in the practicing was that not only can she project her own thoughts, but other people's thoughts as well. We have fun with her gift, strictly within the family though. We do not use our gifts on humans unless necessary. Well, those that can harm them or cause them distress at least.
Mel, apart from being the fastest runner out of us, is an empath. She can feel anyone's emotions, project emotions onto others and control them. When she found her power, we had to be extremely careful with her. Any overload of emotion could overwhelm her and put her into what seemed like a catatonic state. She has since learned to control herself more and it also helps that we have Bianca.
Now to Bianca's gift. Bianca is not only our strongest fighter, but she also has the ability of a mental shield. She can block any mental attack, or anything to do with mental capabilities. We have figured that this is why Nick couldn't read her mind at first. Eventually, as time passed, Bianca learnt how to control her ability. She is now able to drop her shield, so that Nick can read her thoughts. Also, she has perfected it to the point where she can shield others as well, or just shield them and not her. She can shield many people at once and comes in handy with Mel's gift. If there is an overwhelming amount of emotion for Mel, Bianca can either dull it down or completely block them from her, so all she can feel are her own emotions.
Finally, we come to my gift. I have the ability to see the future through the form of visions, hence me knowing how the conversation with Mel was going to end. I, like the others, had trouble with my ability at first and it was very limited. Originally, I could only see family members and sometimes people I knew well. I have since honed my gift to the point where I can see anyone's future, and can do so at will. The only problem with my gift is that it is often subjective. In some cases, it doesn't show the definite future, rather the decided future at that moment. The future however, is most often subject to change.
For those of you who don't know much about vampires, here are some facts. We do not sleep. At all. We do need to drink blood, however I will clarify. Unlike most other vampires, who drink human blood, we do not. We drink animal blood. We know of a few other clans which do so, and it makes us seem less monstrous, though only slightly. We don't have to breathe. Again, at all. We do so rather as a reflex then a necessity. We are very fast runners. I couldn't really describe to you how fast we actually are, as Mon will never let Bianca, Mel or I test it; but we are extremely quick. We have super good hearing, which helps as we talk quite quickly. We are exceedingly strong and our bodies feel as though they are made of rock to most humans. We are all devastatingly beautiful, with flawless skin and complexions.
One of the worst parts about being a vampire though, is that our skin sparkles in the sun, meaning that on sunny days, we cannot go out far. Our house is secluded in a forest area, so that we can roam around our property. We can't leave unless we cover ourselves head to toe in clothing, material, or anything that will cover all of our skin basically. It can get suspicious if we are walking around in the searing heat wearing coats, hats, scarves, pants and sunglasses etcetera, so we just choose not to do that. Did I mention that our skin is ice cold? Well, possible colder then ice as we can hold it in our hands and it won't melt. We can hold snowflakes too. Mel and Mon have drawn many pictures of them for us in detail while Bianca, Nick or I hold one. I have them painted on the walls in a strip close to the roof around my bedroom. It reminds me of how unique we are. Each snowflake is unique, no snowflake is the same, just like we vampires.
"…and any way, I thought you wanted to go shopping? Bianca found out that it's cloudy and raining in Italy. We were thinking of taking a weeklong trip over there, maybe visit the Volturi and update them on our progress. Nick, Mon, Bianca and I are already packed. You of all people should know that Europe has most of the best shopping capitals in the world," she finished with a roll of her eyes.
As I said, I had already seen how this conversation ended, but the sound of shopping still excited me. I could feel myself growing happier, more and more energized and thrilled to be able to go to Europe. It had been two months since I had been there to shop and the clothing in our area was less then exceptional.
"Ok, ok, slow down the emotions. Are you really that excited? I can feel it emanating off you in great amounts," Mel laughed, as she walked out of the room.
I jumped out of bed and sped past her to the bathroom. I checked my long blonde hair in the mirror and wound it in a bun on top of my head. I ran full speed back to my room and opened the door to my wardrobe. When we built the house, I begged my sisters to let me design our wardrobes. As a result, each of them has three full sized rooms inside. One room is for clothes, one is for shoes and one is for jewellery, accessories and suitcases.
I quickly skimmed through my clothes to find something nice to wear. I decided on a little deep purple dress with a diamante neckline, leggings and a black cardigan. I ran into the room with all my shoes in it. One hundred pairs later, I found the perfect pair of black heels which had diamante studs along the straps matching perfectly with the neckline of the dress. I darted into the final room and found some diamond jewellery and a belt for the dress. I grabbed the largest three of my many suitcases, walked quickly to the first room and started going through my clothes.
"Need some help?" I didn't need to turn around to know that it was Bianca.
"Ok. Take that suitcase there and fill it with shoes that will match most of these. Also, put…" I trailed off, looking into the future for any other shoes I may need. I was overtaken by a vision.
"Oh my, that outfit is so cute on you Bianca." I complimented.
I walked back into my dressing room and looked in the mirror. I liked what I saw so I took it off and placed it on the first pile. I tried on something else, but didn't like the look so I placed it on the second. As it was the last outfit I had to try on, I went through everything I was going to purchase.
"I just saw you in the cutest outfit, Bianca. Oh, and I need you to put in the purple heels we bought in Italy last time, and the red ones that we bought in America. I have found outfits in France that go really well with them." I giggled as I told her.
"I can't wait to see this outfit I'm going to buy," she said as she walked through to start on my shoes.
Half an hour later we had all three of my suitcases packed and into my car; my beautiful blue 911 Turbo Cabriolet Porsche with red interior. Bianca had her two suitcases and one of Mel's suitcases packed into the boot of her sleek black 911 Turbo Porsche. Mel's other suitcase was lying in the back of Bianca's car. Nick had dutifully packed Mon's two suitcases and his one suitcase into the boot of his red Ferrari. As it was sunny, we had all changed into more suitable clothes for leaving the house. I packed the outfit I had been wearing into a carryon bag. After Mon had made the final arrangements, Bianca and I raced to our cars to see who could make it to the airport first. I won of course, me being the faster driver. Even though Bianca had beaten me to the cars, she had to wait for Mel, so I already had a head start. Yet forty-five minutes later, the two other cars pulled up.
"I beat you! I beat you! I won again," I chanted, dancing over to the cars and circling around them. Bianca got out of her car slowly and glared at me, but I just smiled back.
As I came round to the side of the car Mon was in, she jumped out quickly and tapped me sharply on the back of the head.
"Ouch, what was that for?" I asked, knowing quite well what I was guilty of.
"There is no need to brag. Besides, Bianca and Mel stopped to help us change the tire. Nick couldn't quite figure out how to use the jack, could you sweetie?" Mon smiled sweetly at him and he grunted in response. He was having one of his 'jerk moments'.
"It makes no difference Mon. I still would have beaten her even if she had a head start. You know I'm the fastest driver," I whispered quickly, too quickly and quietly for anyone but Mon to hear.
"Yes, I know, but try to be kind. Let her think she may have won," she whispered diplomatically.
"Sorry," I whispered back hurriedly. Mon gave Bianca a sympathetic look before heading towards the airport doors with Nick. I had another vision.
"I beat you to the car," Bianca sneered. I poked my tongue out, knowing I was playing her.
Nick laughed and Mon turned, looked around us. After seeing no one in the car park, she sprinted over to hit Bianca across the back of the head.
"NICK! NICK! Listen to this conversation, watch it through my mind and tell Mon to project it into her own mind," I shouted in my thoughts.
"We're listening," was Mon's reply.
I turned to Bianca and waited for what I had seen to come true. I knew it would. The vision hadn't been faded or wavering; it had been crystal clear. That meant it was a definite thing, unless she suddenly changed her mind at the very last second.
"I beat you to the car," Bianca sneered quietly, thinking only I was listening. I poked out my tongue and danced over towards Mon and Nick. Nick laughed at us, knowing Bianca had no idea what was going on and that she was about to get into trouble. Mon looked around the car park, and after seeing no one standing around or within sight, darted over and hit Bianca sharply over the back of the head.
"What…how did you…you couldn't have…Claire! You told them to listen didn't you? You saw it happening," Bianca exclaimed in surprise.
"Of course I did! You really didn't think that I would let an opportunity to get you in trouble slip, especially after you got me in trouble, did you?" I laughed.
I darted around her as she lunged for me and she fell to the floor. She got up laughing.
"Ok, truce, truce, please."
I considered it for a few seconds. I would need her on side to me make a convincing argument for going shopping while in Europe.
"Ok, truce then. Now, can we get the suitcases out of the car and get on the plane? I want to get to Europe. Today people!"
I ran to the boot of my car, and lifted out the two suitcases in there. I closed the boot and moved to the side of the car. Grabbing out my final suitcase, I placed it so it was lying on top of the other two, which I began to drag towards the airport doors.
"Come on, hurry up!" I shot back over my shoulder.
Fifty minutes later we were boarded and on the plane.
"Yes, we are finally in Italy!" I cheered as we walked out of the airport in Rome.
"Ok, first off, some ground rules," Mon said. "Rule one: no more than ten shops in one day. Go over the limit and your cards are confiscated for two days." She looked at me when she said this. But I could live with that; ten shops is a lot of buying.
"Rule two: if you are leaving Italy, give us some warning. I may want to go with you," she laughed. "Rule three: have fun. We do have to visit the Volturi once, but otherwise, see the sights, shop or do anything... within reason. I hired us each a car, the same ones as we have at home, to the exact detail," she concluded.
We walked over to our cars a drove them to our hotel. After checking in, dropping our luggage off in the room and getting changed, I decided it was time to shop.
"Ok. Bianca, Mel and I will see you later. We are going shopping. Have fun," I yelled to Mon as I dragged Bianca and Mel out of the hotel. We got into my car, and drove to my favourite shopping plaza. It was then that I saw it.
"Oh my, that is the cutest..."