Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Twilight.

The story is set after Breaking Dawn. If you haven't read the books, do so before reading this story.

Shopping

The next day started with a vampire named Heidi coming back from one of her hunting trips. Alec wanted to see how good my self-control was and told me not to bite anyone until he allowed me to. I stood in the room with the other vampires waiting for Heidi to bring the humans in, being so tense that I barely registered the faces surrounding me.

The minute the humans were ushered into the room, and the doors were closed behind them, I tensed even more. Screaming started, and the scent of blood began to waft through the air. I stopped breathing. Venom pooled in my mouth and I had trouble concentrating. I looked around and saw Alec drinking from some middle aged female, watching me. I knew that my eyes were practically begging right now, but Alec still didn't say a word. Some frightened human male stumbled right in front of me and exposed his neck while falling on all fours.

That did it. Before I knew what I was doing, I had already attacked him and bitten into his neck. It didn't take long for me to drain him.

After I was done I looked up and met Alec's gaze with a sheepish expression on my face. "I'm sorry."

Alec just grinned. "Don't worry. You held yourself back for some time. My self-control wasn't much better when I was your age."

"How long did it take you to completely control your bloodlust?" I asked curiously.

"About twenty years, give or take a few," he answered and shrugged.

"Twenty years?" I screached, my eyes bugging out.

"It can't take me that long to control myself. That simply won't do. I don't want to stay here for twenty years. If I would even survive that long. You would probably kill me way before that. I noticed how you promised not to molest or torture me, but you never said anything about killing. I don't even want to know, with how many new and interesting kinds of deaths someone like you can come up with in twenty years!" I knew that I was rambling, but I didn't seem able to stop myself.

Alec burst out laughing. "You have some serious trust issues, you know that? I can assure you that I don't spend my free time contemplating how to kill you."

I prodded Alec's chest with my finger. "Yet! Believe me, at some point you will start to. Huh, you still haven't promised not to kill me."

Alec snickered. "Alright, I also promise not to kill you. Satisfied?"

I nodded. "So, what's up next?"

"I want to see how you deal with humans, when there is no blood involved. Since you need some clothes anyway, I will take you shopping."

I wrinkled my nose in distaste. "Ugh, I thought you promised not to torture me. Can't we simply order some stuff from the internet?"

Alec shook his head in mock sympathy. "Sorry, like I said, I want to see you around humans."

I huffed indignantly. "We could achieve that some other way. You just want to torture me without seeming to do so. You are such a sadistic little bully!"

Alec firmly turned me around and gave me a soft push towards the door. "For that last comment I will take you one hour longer shopping than originally planned."

I looked back at him to conter, but I was distracted when I saw the incredulous faces of the other vampires in the room. It reminded me that bickering with someone like Alec might not be the smartest thing to do. Oh well, after all he had promised not to kill me. I stopped in my tracks and turned around. "I will get you back for this, just so that you know."

Alec merely snorted and took my hand. "Come on. There are at least ten shops I want to visit today."

I groaned, but followed him. My hand in his felt actually kind of nice.

The first shop Alec took me to was some really fancy boutique for the rich. I rolled my eyes, when the saleswoman knew Alec by name. "I am beginning to believe that you have some kind of shopping addiction."

"I lied about the ten shops. You can get all the clothes you need right in this boutique. I always shop here. It saves time."

"Well, same goes for all the big clothing stores and it wouldn't be so pricey. I am not really comfortable with you spending so much money on me." I tried to pull Alec out of the store, but he refused to move.

"Money isn't a problem. I have more than I could ever spend, and it gets more each day." With these words Alec pushed me right in front of the salesperson. "I need a complete new wardrobe for my friend here."

It was funny to see how the saleswoman tried to focus on me. My talent made situations like these kind of difficult. "Hmm", she said after a while. "I think, you need to wear some bright colors."

I couldn't suppress a grin, but it died when she continued. "I think, you would look adorable in some of our new outfits in cherry red and apple green."

I gripped Alec's arm, close to panic. "Alec, I don't want to look adorable in cherry red and apple green," I said quietly through clenched teeth, so that the horrible woman in front of me couldn't hear me.

Alec cleared his throat. "I don't think that those outfits would be appropriate for Anna here. Our families prefer subdued colors."

The saleswoman quickly nodded. "Of course. I will assemble some outfits for you to try on. Do you need anything else?"

"Some undergarments for her, please," Alec replied smoothly.

The saleswoman gave me again a onceover. "I really don't think that you need to wear a bra yet, my dear. I will simply get you some nice little panties." After this she flitted away, while I stared after her, openmouthed. I looked over to Alec, who was shaking with silent laughter. "Can I please kill her now?"

The clothes she showed us were all variations of coats and skirts. I gritted my teeth. "Alec, unless I am going to work in some kind of business ceo job I am not yet aware of, I am not going to wear this stuff."

"This is how the Volturi dress," Alec answered simply.

"I am not one of the Volturi, and I want to wear clothes I am comfortable in. I cannot fight in clothes like that," I said exasperated.

Alec raised an eyebrow. "Fight? No one among the Volturi would dare to attack you, not even my sister. Everyone knows that you are mine."

I frowned. "I didn't mean fighting as in life or death, I meant horsing around. And I am not yours."

Alec simply smiled. "Sure you are. And I want you to wear these clothes."

I argued some more, but in the end I had no choice but to accept that I had to wear whatever Alec wanted me to.

After we were finally finished with shopping, I was thoroughly pissed. At least I had managed not to kill anyone. My new clothes, complete with different pairs of four inch heel shoes, were sent to the castle while we walked home.

"Where are we going to put all this stuff, anyway?"

Alec shot me an amused look. "They will be put in my wardrobe. You are going to share my room with me while you are being here."

I nodded, not in the mood for any more fights. I didn't have any personal stuff and since I didn't need to sleep, I really didn't care, if I officially shared Alec's room or not.

I was relieved when we finally reached the castle. "Can I go now or do you want to torture me in some other way?"

"You can go, but don't leave the castle."

I fled without another look in Alec's direction. While I wandered through the castle, I noticed the sound of a computer game behind one of the doors. I knocked and opened the door after I heard a short grunt, which I took as an invitation to enter.

The tallest and probably strongest vampire I had ever seen was playing some first person shooter computer game which I didn't recognize. That didn't mean much, though, since I hadn't played anything in three years. Living a nomad's life and playing computer games isn't really compatible.

"Hi, I am Anna. Want to play against me?"

The huge vampire simply tossed me a game controller. "I'm Felix."

I lost the first few rounds, because I lacked practice, but then I started to get the hang of it. Felix and I began to warm up to each other, too. After a while it was hard to say, which one of us was swearing more at the other player and the game in general. Finally I won for the first time.

"Ha!" I jumped on top of the sofa, on which we were sitting, and pointed at Felix. "I totally owned you! From now on you will need me to play with a handicap to come even close to winning."

"One lucky win, and she thinks she is all that!"

I hit Felix playfully against the arm. "Forget it, loser boy, I am the new champion here. You are history. Bow down before me and beg me to share my superior fighting skills with you."

Felix guffawed. "Superior fighting skills, hmm?" Without warning he lunged at me. I may not be the tallest or strongest vampire in existence, but I do have extremely good reflexes, even for a vampire. Therefore I managed to dodge Felix' attack and to jump on the table in front of him to taunt him some more. "Like I said: superior fighting skills."

The next thing I knew, Felix flipped the table I was standing on. A huge fight broke out, but in the end it was Felix who managed to pin me down. He had both of my hands in one of his, and he used his body to press mine down to the ground. With his free hand he tickled me mercilessly. I squirmed under him, squealing and laughing, till he finally stopped.

"Now do you acknowledge me as the best fighter here, or do I have to tickle you some more?"

I was still thinking about how to get out of this one, when a silky voice interrupted us.

"May I ask what you two are doing?"

I turned my head to the open door and saw Alec leaning in the doorframe, his face eerily devoid of all emotion. I looked around the room which looked as if a hurricane had hit it. "Urn, I humiliated Felix at his own computer game, and he didn't take it too well?"

Alec abandoned his position at the door in a fluid motion and took a few steps towards us. It looked graceful in the way a predator is graceful while stalking his prey. I had never seen him move like this before. It was scary, even more so in combination with his calm, expressionless face.

"So, to calm Felix down, you decided to make out with him?"

I shared a horrified look with Felix. He jumped off of me as if my skin had burned him. It hadn't occurred to us that him lying on top of me, while holding my hands in his, could easily be misinterpreted.

Felix held his hands up. "Alec, this isn't what it looks like."

He looked frightened. Normally, I would have found it funny that someone as tall and muscular as Felix was scared of someone as small and slender as Alec, but the situation was too serious for laughing.

I hastily stood up and walked over to Alec, putting one of my hands against his chest. "Alec, we weren't making out, we were horsing around. I told you that I like to do that."

His body seemed to relax a little under my hand. I gnawed on my bottom lip and looked up into his ruby eyes. "But even if we had been making out, why would that be a problem? We aren't together or anything like that."

He tensed again. "Because you are mine and I. Do. Not. Share. What. Is. Mine." He put emphasis behind each of his last words.

I stared at him openmouthed. "Are you serious? So I can't kiss a guy or anything like that the whole time while I'm here?"

"It's a small price for surviving, don't you think?" Alec asked coldly in return.

My head was spinning. "So I am yours till I can control my bloodlust, and until then I can't have any kind of relationship," I recapitulated. "What about you?" Why did I ask him that? Alec was hardly someone who had loving relationships with others. He was too busy killing everyone he met. And even if he did have relationships, what did I care?

Alec looked at me with mock wide eyes. "What about me? Do you want me to be yours? We could do that, but then I would have to insist on the consummation part of such an arrangement."

I threw my hands in the air as a sign of giving up. "Ugh, never mind." I left Felix' room and headed for the roof for another round of stargazing.

This time without company.