Chapter 2 BPOV
We sat at a café, I know ironic because neither of us ate or drank but the Parisian cafes were charming and lovely to just sit at. Wait, what! Did I just say charming and lovely? It felt weird to surprise myself by being in a good mood. The truth was however that I was delighted to know that I didn't have to be a monster anymore. I had reasonably good control because I never wanted to harm the innocent people that surrounded me; I only fed on the lowliest of scum, the very dregs of society. In a weird way I hoped that if I killed a man who was stalking a girl to rape her, my feeding would be that little bit less repulsive. Nevertheless, whether they are bad or innocent, I still heard their terrified thoughts and despite being able to see the darkness in their very souls, the act and emotions took a serious toll. And Alice, she provided me with that littlest ray of hope, the opportunity to further suppress that bestial part of me.
"Think about it as being a vegetarian" Alice chimed "I suppose living off animal blood is like a human living off tofu? I wouldn't know though, I've never tried that crap." I couldn't help but laugh at the analogy but quickly stopped as a few of the men stopped to drool when they noticed us tucked in the corner.
I stopped and looked at her deep in the eyes "Alice, you have no idea what you have done for me. Perhaps you saw how difficult I found it to be what I am, well yea. I'm glad to have found a sister like you." I could feel that Alice's eyes would be filled with tears if she could still cry before she wrapped her arms around me. I idly thought how it was interesting that her ability to see the future and my ability to read people so easily had allowed us to act like we had know each other for months as opposed to hours. Two pieces of cake later (which were hidden in the person at the next table's purse), to keep up with human pretences, we decided to go back to my place to really talk about ourselves, so we could know each other inside out as we prepared to form our own little coven.
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"So Bella I was wondering about your eye colour. You drink human blood yet they aren't red, but they aren't topaz either, they're dark brown? " She asked.
"Well…" I began, " I know it seems weird but I think it has to do with my power. I'm not really sure what you call my power, but I sort of see through people. I mean not x-ray vision or anything. I mean, I can read their thoughts and know their feelings but it goes beyond that, it's like I can see the very essence of their being. As if every persons soul has a different colour, tone and tenor."
"Wow, that's cool. What's my colour?" she said while bouncing, nearly toppling off the couch.
"Alice. It's more like a metaphorical colour, inexpressible on the spectrum. But I know you're bubbly and loving yet fierce… good."
We spoke about ourselves to the point where both of us could have written a detailed biography about the other before we decided that it was time to start planning our next move.
"Well, first we're going shopping! Seriously, just because you're a vampire and thus beautiful doesn't mean you can ignore what you wear! If I didn't love you I would so disown you as my sister." Alice said as she sprinted to the other side of the room anticipating my punch.
"Damn psychic pixie! I'll get you later, but first, sorry to rain on your parade but I can't afford to shop like I know your planning on." I said, finishing smugly.
"HAH! We'll never have to worry about money Bella!" she said and continued as I showed signs of interrupting "Don't feel guilty, as a psychic the stock market becomes a personal ATM."
A grin began to slowly spread across my face as Alice's enthusiasm became infectious.
"Let's go!" I squealed. I was absolutely ecstatic, and couldn't help but reflect on the massive turn my life had taken in the last 24 hours alone. The burden of what I was still existed but at least now I felt like I was slowly becoming more human, the future suddenly seemed bright.
"Avenue Montaigne, here we come!" Alice hollered before grabbing my hand before dragging me off to her yellow Porsche parked down the street. "We'll get you a nice car after the clothes." She added after noticing my appreciative glance.
As we stepped out of the car into the chilly winter air, I realised this would be my first time truly interacting with humans since my change. Normally, I moved in a don't-get-noticed manner, head down, large coat, walking overlooked through large crowds through Monoprix to get bare necessities. This time all eyes were on us, the two inhumanly beautiful creatures, one dressed head-to-toe in stunning designer clothes and myself in a generic loose jumper and plain pants. Our first stop was Chanel, immediately a man came our way to assist us, I noticed he was attractive for a human, and he seemed nice if not a little cocky.
"Bonjour Mademoiselles." He spoke in French.
3 hours later, we were still in Chanel and the shop assistant, Martin, was grinning hugely as Alice spoke fashion with him, yes it's a whole different language. Well, I was more than willing to learn.
We allowed Martin to help us carry the shopping bags full of purses, coats, shoes, and other 'necessities' although I could have carried him and all the bags easily.
After au revoir-ing Martin we bombarded Christian Dior, Gucci, Pucci, Jimmy Choo and Escada until stores begun to close.
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"Are you ready to hunt, Bella?" Alice asked smiling, knowing how I was going to respond.
"REALLY! My first time hunting animals! Wow, let's go, immediately." I yelled pulling her through the door, "Where do we go?"
We had to run for about half an hour before we reached the outer limits of the city, where there were a few little animals spread about. They didn't smell anything like humans, carrying on with Alice's analogy they smelt like soggy chunks of tofu compared to a large juicy rack of ribs. But I couldn't care less, I knew I could never go back to hunting humans.
I love Paris and all, but the animal selection is freaking poor here. This is weird, talking to you through my mind. I wonder if I'll lose my voice if I never spoke again…
"You know what I'm going to speak aloud anyway. The quiet is boring and I mean how would you live if I lost my voice, I could never whine again" She spoke rapidly, trying to make up for the 2 seconds of silence.
I burst out laughing probably scaring all the animals in the vicinity. This was going to be interesting…
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One hour later we were back in my apartment and I was full. Although the taste was definitely incomparable to human blood, the thought of anything else now repulsed me and for the first time in a while, feeding had left me contented not suicidal.
Alice was a little grumpy at the selection in Paris but loved the shopping too much to complain, out loud at least.
"You know I can hear your complaints right. We can move." I offered though I knew no force on earth could have made her move just yet.
"NO! I mean, I'm fine." She yelled before immediately calming down, I giggled lightly. "I was wondering Bella, can you control what you hear? I mean, I don't mind or anything but to what extent do you hear people's thoughts"
"Well, Usually I know generally what everyone in the area is feeling and the general tone of their thoughts. But if I want to hear their actual thoughts I have to specifically attune myself to the person. But I can't totally shut it off, I always have a general idea of the direction of someone's thoughts. Would you like me to keep out of your head?" I explained.
"No, I don't really mind, you can just use your own discretion when you know I wouldn't want you in my head, I trust you completely." Alice said and I responded with a smile. "What are we doing just sitting here? We have hours till stores open again so its party time!"
"Come here Bella Barbie… don't bother hiding I know where you're headed." Alice said before trapping me in vice grips.
"How can something so little be sooo annoying?" I said, resigned.
Please review, I love reviews and I will be much more inclined to update soon if I get some reviews, especially ideas! If any of you have suggestions on the direction the story should take please tell me.
Also would you readers prefer if I spent more time on Alice and Bella's girly adventures or should I fast track to meeting the Cullens in California?
Thank you!