I woke up to find a distinct lack of cold vampire in my bed. Wearily, I rolled myself over, realising that Caius must've left while I was still asleep. In fairness, I really didn't blame him; it was already almost midday. Although blondie may have left, Afton was settled back in one of the grey beanbags by my TV, flicking boredly through some book he must've found in the library. I tried to roll over and pretend I was asleep in the faint hope that I wouldn't have to start a friendly conversation this early.
"Don't bother, I know you're awake," Afton droned without even bothering to look up at me.
I groaned and buried my head in a pillow. "How?"
"Your heartbeat has increased slightly. Barely, but it's noticeable enough for me to know you're no longer asleep," he explained.
I rolled myself messily out of bed so that I landed on the floor in front of him, slumped against the side of the mattress. My eyelids were still heavy and even the thought of trying to stand up made me want to crawl back into bed.
I eyed the book he was reading curiously. "What are you reading, dork?"
"If anyone's a dork, it's you," he sniggered, "it's a book on anthropology."
I stared at him blankly for a moment before he explained. "Humans."
"Oh," I nodded, "should've just said so."
Lazily, I stood up from the floor and stumbled dramatically over to my vanity. It was only when I looked in the mirror that I realised the dishevelled state my hair was in. Not only was it knotted and standing up in all directions, but I clearly hadn't paid enough attention to my roots as my natural brunette hair had already grown through by about an inch. I groaned, banging my forehead against the tabletop.
"What?" Afton asked.
"Look at this," I spun around and wildly gestured to my hair.
"Just brush it," he shrugged and continued his book.
"Yeah, because brushing it is going to fix my hair colour," I narrowed my eyes while my tone was teeming with sarcasm.
He sighed exasperatedly. "What do you want from me? Bleach it then."
Heidi instantly appeared at my bedroom door with an excited grin on her face. Here we go. "Are we bleaching your hair then? Ooh, herrlich."
I stared at her blankly. "Ye' what?"
"It is German for gorgeous," she explained, "Anyway, I think there is some hair bleach somewhere around here. Vampires actually can't colour their hair because it's too tough, but I think there might be some in the medical wing if I remember correctly."
"Why would there be hair bleach in the medical wing?" I raised an eyebrow.
"It's where we keep all cosmetic items. Be right back," she called before dashing away in a blur. The fact that she was able to run that fast in stilettos was kind of disturbing to be honest.
While she was gone, I took the opportunity to quickly change into a pair of denim shorts and the same trashy t-shirt I'd worn the night before just in case anything got messy. Once I was dressed, I brushed my teeth and made sure to flick a few drops of toothpaste at Afton while he wasn't looking.
"Do you mind?!" he rubbed at the white toothpaste marks I left.
"Not even sorry. But, Afton?" I turned my head to face him.
"Yeah?"
"Please tell me Heidi actually knows anything about bleaching hair," I drew my eyebrows together.
"Oh yeah, apparently she took a hairdressing course before, and she's done some of the human staff's hair before," he nodded.
"Phew, I thought for a second it was going to turn out a mess."
Heidi's voice chimed in again as she placed a box containing a hair bleaching kit and a bottle of silver toner on my desk. "Give me some credit, I do happen to know what I'm doing. Theo said to dye it in the kitchen so the fumes stay away from your quarters."
"Who's Theo?"
"Oh, Doctor Theodore is the resident medical expert around here. Also, he says he still needs to do a medical examination of you at some point. It's not urgent at all, but go down whenever you have time."
"Wait why do I need to go for an examination? I'm great, never been better," I asked as Heidi took my hand and began leading me down to the kitchen.
"It's mandatory for every human around here, you included. Besides, if something was to come up and you became injured, it would help if your records were correct," she responded.
"Where are my mates by the way?"
She led us down another corridor. "They're currently discussing something with the Ukrainians before the coven leaves. They should be done by this evening, so they can see your hair!" she emphasised the last word excitedly.
A man suddenly materialised in front of us out of nowhere, making me yelp out in shock. He had slightly longer blonde hair, just a little shorter than Caius', which was shaved on one side, and he his eyes were already fading to black after glancing at me.
"Heidi, vy ne proty yakshcho ya yimo tsyu lyudnynu zaraz?"
I may not have known a single word of…it sounded Ukrainian, but I knew it couldn't possibly be good due to the fact that Heidi's grip on my arm became a little tighter. He looked like he was about to pounce at me as he licked his lips before she interrupted.
"Tse maybutnya koroleva Volturi, Eliana," she gestured to me while my eyes were wide with fright.
"My apologies, my apologies," he clapped his hands and smiled humbly as his irises began returning to their crimson hue, "how very rude of me. My name is Andrey, I am with the Ukrainian coven. I have heard so much about you and your incredible mating bond with the leaders, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," he extended his hand which I shook while still trembling a little.
"It's nice to meet you," I smiled sheepishly and stared at the ground.
"Again, I do apologise. If I would have known who you were, I would never dare to-"
"Its fine, its fine, honestly, it was just an honest mistake," I assured, "no harm done."
He smiled with a toothy grin. "I must get back to my coven. It was a pleasure to meet you, Eliana, and I hope to see you again soon. And Heidi, do take care," he called in his thick Ukrainian accent before disappearing in a blur of movement.
"Thanks for saving me there, I really didn't want to be found dead with this hair," I joked while we continued our walk to the kitchen.
"That would've been tragic," she teased, dragging me through the metal double-doors into the kitchen.
The room was empty so it gave us plenty of space to work with. She pulled out a stool from underneath the island in the middle of the kitchen and gestured for me to sit down.
Overall, it didn't take long at all for her to do my hair. Theo was right to recommend we do it in the kitchen as the fumes were horrible, sticking to my skin and clothes. While I sat there for half an hour or so to let the colour process, Heidi explained to me her ability of physical attraction. At first, I thought she was joking, but it turned out that she was the Volturi's 'fisher' due to the fact that she could easily lure in their human meals, basically just by looking hot.
Once it was finished, she quickly picked me up horizontally like Corin often did and dashed us back up to my bathroom so that I was leant over the edge of the bathtub.
"Um, what are you doing?" I asked.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm washing the bleach out of your hair," she responded, easily jumping up to grab the shower head to turn on the hot water.
"Should I maybe wash it myself?"
"I'm the hairdresser here, Eli. Besides, it will be a lot faster if I get it done for you, and then we can tone it quickly."
She was right though, it was a lot faster for her to rinse my hair than I would've been. After about half an hour of toning, washing, and drying my now almost white blonde hair, I stepped out of the bathroom and into my bedroom dramatically, now wearing a light pink cropped t-shirt and a pair of blue denim mom jeans.
Chelsea was stood beside Afton, jumping up and down while clapping her hands. "Heidi, you did amazing wow!" she marvelled my hair, "don't you think, Afton?"
Afton looked up from his book of anthropology and tried to hide his look of surprise and replace it with a bored expression. "Looks way better than before," he shrugged.
"Doesn't it just? Oh my god, you look like a supermodel," Chelsea continued.
Heidi smiled smugly from behind me, quickly running her hand through my hair. "Now that my work here is done, I must discuss the next tour with the receptionist."
"Hate that bitch," I muttered quietly. That receptionist took every opportunity to make passive-aggressive remarks about my relationships or look me up and down like a piece of filth, despite the fact that, not to toot my own horn but, I was usually dressed way better than her.
"We all do, but we will be replacing her after the next 'fish' in two or so days time," she responded and dashed out of the door faster than I could comprehend.
"Replacing her, huh?" I couldn't help but grin.
"Considering how much of a bitch-"
Afton's sentence was cut off by Chelsea slapping him on the leg painfully. "Watch your language, boy."
"Fine, considering how horrible she was to you, one of the Masters will probably finish her off. I think it might be Aro this time, as Caius got the last receptionist. I am surprised you're actually okay with our diet considering how close you are with the Cullens."
"Put it by this way. Wild animal populations are already dwindling, and many poor species are nearing extinction. Meanwhile, humans are not only over-populated, but also can be absolutely vile creatures at times, and this is me speaking as a human myself," I explained.
"So, when you are eventually transformed, you're not going to be a vegetarian?" Chelsea asked, cringing at the thought.
"I am currently a vegan because I want to protect the animals that have just as much right to this planet as humans do. I would prefer to consume a few humans than cause a wild animal's extinction simply due to the fact that I didn't want to be seen as a murderer."
"Hah, we have the same viewpoint then," Chelsea high-fived me, "I love animals so much, I've always dreamed of having a pet."
"I have a pet cat, actually," I laughed.
"Seriously? Aw, that's adorable, what is it like?"
"His name is Fernando, and he likes to meow and interrupt people's conversations a lot. The kings hate him because I baby him so much, and he often sleeps on my bed with me when I'm at home," I told her, "I'll have to leave him behind soon when I move here permanently."
"Aren't you leaving for the UK in roughly a week?" she asked.
"Yeah, Afton's being dragged along with me, I've got to pack up the last of my things and gather up documents like my birth certificate and stuff like that. It'll be the last time I see my parents…" I trailed off. I'd been planning on moving out soon in anyway, but the fact that I would never be allowed to see them again did upset me a little.
"I'm sorry, El," Chelsea sympathised.
"I'm not actually crazily upset about it, I'll just miss them a lot. I kinda saw it coming, though. Either way, I was planning to move out of the country over to Forks permanently to be nearer the Cullens, so the move away from home was inevitable," I shrugged, "but instead I get to live in sunny Italy with the loves of my life, so no problem-o."
"You'll love it here. And you can live with us forever and ever," Chelsea clapped excitedly.
"Don't scare her off already," Afton teased her.
"Eh, I already see you as my annoying siblings so I'll get used to it."
Chelsea instantly pulled me into a tight hug and leant backwards so we both fell onto my bed, her lying on top of me in a fit of giggles. "You are like the best sister I could ever ask for, I'm so excited for you to move in with us-"
"WHAT IS HAPPENING IN HERE?"
Caius stormed in and yanked Chelsea off of me, flinging her into Afton's lap as she let out a startled yelp. I sat up on the edge of my bed and leapt in before Caius had any other ideas.
"Calm down, we were just hugging-"
"Chelsea?! On your bed?!" he yelled.
"We're best friends, Chelsea is like a sister to me. Don't worry about it," I wrapped my arms around his torso, feeling how tense all of his muscles were.
"Out. Now." He hissed at Chelsea and Afton, prompting them both to disappear, "Who do you think you-"
"Brother, Eliana has said they are simply friends, even if that conduct was…unnecessary," Aro stepped over from the doorway.
"Conduct? We were hugging, that's what friends do," I defended.
Marcus walked forward beside Aro. "It is true, they have a very admirably close friendship with each other."
"Thank you," I huffed, gesturing to Marcus.
"Are you truly saying you would repeat this behaviour with any of your Cullen friends?" Caius was still angry.
"Uh, yeah. Alice hugs me at every given opportunity, and Bella fell asleep sprawled on top of me the morning you three came to collect me a week or two ago. I literally had to pry myself out from underneath her so I wouldn't wake her up."
"That human Cullen has crossed too many lines-"
"No she hasn't, because we're best friends. This kind of stuff happens all the time. We even share clothes and walk around arm-in-arm, for goodness sake. When we were little, we used to carry each other around on our backs like the absolutely weird children we were. Caius, please trust that I won't act inappropriately and I have a handle on my behaviour," I briefly hugged him.
"Young people these days," he tutted to himself.
"I'm sorry we don't sit politely in frilly gowns and have tea and crumpets all day long. It might seem weird to you, but I view Bella, and Alice, and Chelsea, as sisters to me, so it's not an issue."
"It is not weird at all, tesoro," Marcus moved to sit down beside me, entwining his fingers around mine, "you are lucky that you have people who care about you that much."
"Your friendship with Bella Swan when you were children was adorable, especially all the games you would play together when you were much younger," Aro smiled, sitting down on the other side of me and pulling me over by my hips onto his lap.
"Wait how did- oh yeah," I reminded myself of his ability.
"If only you could see, brothers. They would chase each other around their garden and pretend to be fairies," he teased.
I blushed. "Give me a break, I was only six."
"I would have loved to meet you when you were that small. Such a sweet, polite, shy little girl, yet your imagination was brilliant. I do believe you went through a phase of being obsessed with Dora the Explorer."
I hid my face in Aro's shoulder which earned a chuckle from him. "What would have happened if you would've met me when I was still tiny?"
"Good question," Marcus turned himself slightly to face me better and began to explain, "The bonds would appear as before, and it would probably have been a little painful for you due to the fact that there are three of us. We would feel an overwhelming need to protect you, to raise you ourselves. It would more than likely be similar to our relationship now, minus the romance. Then, once you would become the age you are currently, the bond would gradually become more romantic."
"That's a really weird thought, you three raising little me," I scrunched up my nose.
"Do you not have any faith in our parenting capabilities?" Caius asked.
"Do you have any?" I countered.
Aro chuckled. "If we were parenting you, of course we would, cara mia. Marcus could teach you to read and write, Caius could scold you for bad behaviour, and I could make sure you didn't become a spoilt brat of a child."
"I would be scared for any child if they had you as parents," I laughed.
"Did you ever…want a family?" he asked.
"I've never been very family-orientated, so kids were never a priority for me. Of course, if I was to have a child, I would raise it and love it with all the love I could give, but I wouldn't have a child intentionally," I shrugged, "children don't like me."
"Children are overrated," Caius agreed, sitting to the other side of Aro.
Aro froze and spun me around so that I was straddling his lap. He ran his fingers through my hair gently. "Your hair looks different."
"Took you long enough to notice. Now I look identical to Caius," I grinned.
"I cannot say I am pleased with the bleach smell left lingering in your hair, though," Caius frowned.
"Neither," Marcus added.
"Not as delectable as your natural scent, il mio amore," Aro concurred, "I do not understand why you would put in the effort to colour your hair when you look beautiful either way. Besides, once you are transformed, your natural hair colour will come back through in anyway."
"What is your natural hair colour, bellissima," Marcus asked.
"Brunette, almost identical in colour to yours," I responded to him.
Aro tightened his arms around my waist. "I actually came here to invite you to my quarters this evening, if you would do me the honour, cara mia."
"As if I would turn down an invitation like that," I giggled, pressing a kiss to his lips.
"Do not make me have to listen to you two all night long," Caius mumbled into his palm.
"For that, brother, I will ensure Eliana screams my name for hours," Aro retorted, which made me completely freeze up on his lap, "if we do anything tonight," he added, easing my nerves ever so slightly.
"I think our brother is trying to say have fun, but quiet fun," Marcus spoke as we stood up and Aro lead me out of the room by my hand.
"I can't promise anything," I giggled.
Author's note: I wasn't entirely sure what happens to coloured hair after someone is transformed into a vampire, but I assumed that, since bleach strips layers of hair and the venom repairs everything, her hair turning back to natural colour would make sense. This chapter haha, her friendship with Chelsea is so much fun.
Translations (Any errors are due to Google Translate, not me, but feel free to correct me in anyway):
Heidi, vy ne proty yakshcho ya yimo tsyu lyudnynu zaraz? - Heidi, do you mind if I eat this human now?
Tse maybutnya koroleva Volturi, Eliana - This is the future queen of the Volturi, Eliana
Anyways, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback, I'm so happy to hear so many of you are enjoying reading my story, stay safe, and ily lots!