Sweet Serendipity
Chapter Sixteen - Perfect
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait… so vampires… they actually keep humans prisoner? To drink their blood?!" Alice practically yelled as Charlotte immediately stopped admiring her own dress to explain to Alice and calm her down.
"No… no. Most are human mates, that want to please the vampires, they want to be there and offer up their blood. Others just do it for the high." she answered as Alice shot her another questioning look. She was still trying to process the idea that she wasn't the only one out there, the only human with a vampire in their life. How could it even be possible?
"The high?" she asked.
"I don't know Alice-"
"No, tell me Charlotte..." she demanded as the vampire sighed before turning to her with a straight expression, trying to word it in a way that Alice would understand. A way that would make her see the truth, but not scare her out of her mind.
"Being fed from creates a high. The autonomic nervous system creates an ecstasy haze that releases the neurohoromoes oxytocin, prolactin, and endorphins." she answered simply as Alice just stared at her in a surprised stupor. With a smile and a wink, she turned to Alice and grinned. "I was a nurse before they turned me." she chuckled as Alice shook her head. She'd been good at biology and exercise science in school, but even the explanation given to her by Charlotte seemed ridiculous, no matter how intelligent she made it sound.
"Wait… you're telling me that humans actually volunteer to have their blood drank by supernatural vampires… so they can have an orgasm? Are you fucking kidding me?!" Alice practically yelled as Charlotte just shrugged.
"You asked baby doll… I just answered." she offered as Alice shook her head, her body pacing back and forth as Charlotte sighed.
"It could be worse Alice… you could be withering in pain." she offered as the human simply shook her head. "It'll be different for you though, stop freaking out darlin'. You've got nothing to worry about." she winked as she picked up the garment bag before thrusting it into her hands. "Besides, we've got a ball to get ready for." she added as Alice sighed. "Come on, it'll be fun doll. Live a little." she chuckled before pushing the girl towards the bathroom for a shower.
When the door locked behind her, she sighed and shook her head, slowly stripping the clothes from her body as she instinctively took a look at the full length mirror. Shaking her head, she took a deep breath and took in the sight before her. Her body was thin, and toned, thanks to her years as a cheerleader. Her hair had grown out to the middle of her back, in a medium brown colour and naturally layered. Her eyes eventually found her face and scrutinized it carefully. Her perfectly sculpted eye brows were delicately arched over hazel brown eyes… one of her favourite features. And the dusting of freckles across her nose still gave her face a childlike quality as it aged to her year. Her pale, neutral coloured lips were pursed in examination as she sighed, the tired bags under her eyes still ever present because of her reoccurring nightmares.
Stepping into the steaming hot water, Alice winced as the stream hit her delicate skin and scorched every inch it hit. But Alice welcomed the pain, it reminded her she was still awake. This wasn't just a nightmare… but then again, it still scared her. Her nightmares were coming true. How many times had she had this one in particular? Walking in on his arm? Being stared at by his people like she was some kind of meat?
Lathering on scented body wash, she washed her skin through and through before running a razor over her smooth skin, and washing her hair with strawberry scented shampoo. Alice loved strawberries, Charlotte would bring some to her everyday, and surprisingly, even just eating them brought her joy, if only a little. Alice felt like she'd been in the shower for hours, she was secretly hoping she could just drown in the warm water and miss the night all together. Eventually, she worked up enough nerve to turn the water off. Stepping out once she'd rinsed off, Alice wrapped herself in a white fluffy towel before stepping into a silk dressing down Charlotte had dropped into the bathroom while Alice was washing.
Stepping out of the bathroom, Alice tried to muster up a smile despite the questionable details of the evening as Charlotte grinned and pulled her over to the vanity after she walked out of the bathroom, one of the cases from earlier opened up to reveal a plethora of hair products and makeup utensils. It was like every cheerleader's dream come true.
"I'm gonna doll you up real nice." Charlotte grinned while pulling out a brush and a hair blower as she ran the brush through Alice's hair, drying it as she went. Alice grinned as her eyes fluttered closed slightly at the sensation of someone doing her hair. They say having your hair done is one of the most pleasurable experiences, and Alice loved it. It took her back to her early teens when her mom used to brush her hair for her on a late night after having a shower following a long run. It brought a smile to her face just even thinking about it.
While Charlotte dried and lazily curled Alice's hair, they chatted back and forth about stupid little things. Channing Tatum, Brad Pitt, which nail polishes were best, who looked better at the last Oscars. Which music they loved the most, who would have the best looking celebrity children. It was genuine girl talk and it almost made Alice forget about everything bothering her at that point. It brought her back down to earth for a while, where she wasn't being held hostage in a house, with a beautiful mysterious man that wanted to drink her blood, and she was just any other teenage girl, getting ready to go out on the town at night. Only in reality, she was hostage in his house, and this wasn't just any night out... this was important.
When Charlotte was finally done with her hair, it'd been done into beach curls and pulled back into a messy bun at the side of her head towards the back, the long bangs on her face curled off to the side and pinned leading up to the bun. Charlotte sprayed her hair with holding spray with little sparkles in it, before placing a diamond band around her head. Her hair looked as if a professional had spent hours obsessing over every little detail and strand of hair, and by the time she was finished… it looked like a million dollars.
From there, Charlotte pulled out all the makeup supplies from the case and set them on the counter in front of her. It was more makeup then Alice had ever seen, and that was a lot coming from a cheerleader. She touched up any mishaps in her brows, before evening out her skin and making the dark circles under her eyes disappear completely. After about ten minutes, Alice's skin looked almost as flawless as Char's, and that was before Charlotte could add any of the actual makeup. Spinning her chair away from the mirror, Charlotte got to work on finishing her up. The brush drifted back and forth across her skin and lips, and her eye lashes were crimped and lathered in dark mascara.
By the time Alice finally got the chance to see herself in the mirror, she couldn't even believe it was the same person looking back at her. Her lashes had been extended an unbelievable amount, and her eyes had been outlined in liner that seemed to bring out the brown in her eyes. The lightest of shimmering silvers had been applied to the inside of her eyes, and then followed the liner over to the middle of her eye lid, slowly loosing it's intensity. It wasn't enough to cover the eyelid, but it was the perfect touch of sparkle to a natural look. Her cheeks were left bare, except for a light dusting of bronzer under her cheek bones and a lighter toner on the top to accentuate the contours of her pretty face. Her lips were tickled with a peach, shimmering gloss, but the best part of her masterpiece was the diamond like jewels that sprinkled along the side of her left eye. Swirling and sweeping across her skin like fairy dust as Charlotte ginned at her handy work.
Obviously… Charlotte favoured the diamond and sparkles look.
"Jesus Christ Charlotte… you're a miracle worker!" she called out in excitement as Charlotte laughed and brushed the comment off. Turning to another smaller case as she opened it up to reveal jewels of all kinds. Running her hands over the diamonds, she pulled out a delicate silver and diamond bracelet, and a long set of earrings. They alone were like nothing she'd ever seen. They resembled mini diamond chandeliers, and hung down ridiculously long.
"You haven't seen anything yet." she winked, shoving Alice back into the backroom, a garment bag in hand as the door closed behind her. With an unexplainable giddy excitement, Alice hung the bag on the back of the door before turning to look at herself in the mirror once more. She wanted to cry at the transformation she'd made in the last couple of hours, it was ridiculous, and unbelievable… and if she hadn't pinched herself to make sure she was awake… she wouldn't have believed it possible. But looking at herself now… Alice had never felt so undeniably beautiful, never in her wildest dreams.
Walking over to the garment bag, she took a deep breath and pulled the zipper down, choking on her own breath as she saw the dress tucked up within. Alice staggered back momentarily as she tried to swallow the cliché of her reaction. The beauty of the dress alone took Alice's breath away as she fingered the soft fabric, a grin evident on her face as Charlotte knocked on the door to check her progress.
"Char- I- You…"
"Just put on the damn dress!" she called out as Alice giggled, yes… giggled… and took another long hard look at the dress.
Pulling it up her body, she fastened the zipper along the side and grinned at the final product. The dress was strapless with a sweetheart neckline, the bodice was skin tight, hugging her breasts and torso as the dark, navy blue material was encrusted with sparkling diamonds over her chest, before falling away and fading out like a waterfall. Her small breasts and waistline had never looked so good as the dress hugged her body until it got to her waist, before the material spread and fell out around her loosely in a high to low fashion in the skirt. The fabric was light and airy, falling around her in layers as she practically squealed at the look of her. Her lightly tanned, freshly shaved and moisturized legs went on for miles it looked like as she stepped out of the bathroom to grin at a speechless Charlotte.
"Oh my God Alice you look so beautiful!" she all but screamed finally as Alice laughed and giddily clapped her hands. She felt fourteen again as she twirled and watched herself in the mirror, still not believing that the girl looking back at her was in-fact, the same Alice Brandon.
Walking up behind her, Alice saw that Charlotte had already applied her own makeup and looked sinfully gorgeous in her own smoky eyed beauty. Her own dress was a darling shade of red, and around her neck hung a beautiful necklace with a diamond pendant. Alice's eyes remained trained on the piece of jewellery as Charlotte laughed at her infatuation and ran a hand over the piece. "It's the coven crest." she smiled. "Major has a thing for diamonds… it kinda runs in the family." she added with a laugh as Alice nodded and turned back to the mirror with a smile still gracing her lips.
"Here… I got you a little something I thought you might like." she grinned, handing Alice a small box as she gave Charlotte a questioning look who just grinned and winked at her in response. Looking back down to her hands, Alice took the lid off the box and this time, out right squealed at the contents.
"Oh my god Charlotte they're beautiful!" she yelled out, taking the death trap, diamond encrusted, white-silver heels from the wrapping and box. They were beautiful. Even the stiletto heels, and the underside had diamonds on them. They were the most gorgeous pair of shoes she'd ever seen… and that was a lot coming from Alice considering one of her greatest passions in her teenage life was shoes.
"I thought you'd like them." she grinned, watching as Alice slipped on the shoes and sighed in content as she twirled round and round in front of the mirror. She looked like a vision. Even Charlotte, who was goddess like in her own body, couldn't help but admit Alice could put even vampires to shame if she were to stand next to them looking like this.
A knock on the door drew the girl's attention away from the mirror as it opened to reveal tuxedo clad Major and Peter. Charlotte ran into Peter's arms who couldn't help but plant his lips on her as the two smiled and stared at one another as if they were the last two people on earth. Momentarily distracted by the love and adoration in their eyes, Alice couldn't help but be slightly jealous… she'd never admit it out loud… but she'd give anything to be looked at just like that by somebody. "You look absolutely breathtakin' darlin'." the Major grinned almost smugly as Alice's cheeks flamed at his comment despite her want to hide her emotions even around him. She was almost ashamed that she had even let herself feel like that in his presence. But nevertheless, she was still only human. "But something's missing." he stated as Alice shot him a confused look, suddenly realizing that Char and Peter had evacuated the room, and now only Alice and the Major stood, very closely, she might add, to one another.
"What?" she asked, almost crestfallen that he'd somehow managed to nitpick a flaw in her dress when she'd felt so beautiful minutes before.
"Something… is missing." he smiled all-knowingly as he produced a velvet box from behind his back and held it out to Alice.
"Something beautiful for the lady." he stated as Alice opened the box in his hands with trembling fingers only to be shocked into surprise as her hands covered her mouth and she stepped back.
"No, no, no… I… I can't take that." she stated at the contents of the box as the Major only smirked and took another step forwards towards her. Trapping her in-between himself and the mirror behind her as within an instant, before she could blink, he had her spun to face the mirror, her back to his chest as her breath caught in her throat. Looking up to see him in the mirror, Alice tried to control her raging pulse as his hands placed the diamond necklace around her neck and fastened it from behind. His cool fingers lingering on her neck as shivers erupted over her skin. Alice gasped at the beauty of the one necklace alone.
It was a choker of sorts, swirled diamonds surrounded her neck and fell across the bare expanse of skin above her breasts as directly in the middle of the swirling silver and diamonds, sat the same pendant she'd seen on Charlotte earlier. It was beautiful, sinfully so, and Alice couldn't help but wonder if the necklace would take away from her own beauty. But she figured she didn't have much of a choice in the matter of whether or not she could get away with not wearing it.
"There… now, you're perfect."
thanks for all the reviews my lovelies!
links of the dresses and such are on my profile if you'd like to take a look!
lowe101 - ya... me too. but I think she's just confused. stuck in a traumatic experience... and she's only like 17 so that's understandable too... not to mention she's trying to deal with her own demons as well... I think she's just trying to get through it one day at a time and make the most out of it any way she can. and I know right?! damn char... good one ;p lol hahaha
ElizabethandDarcy - haha... I think the next COUPLE of chapters should be interesting!
Anabeth601 - hahahahaha. I know right... I thought it was pretty badass ;p lol. and I DO THAT WITH THE CAPLOCK ALL THE TIME. IT'S OKAY I UNDERSTAND WHERE YOU ARE COMING FROM!. hehehe. hope you enjoyed the chapter! let me know what you think!
LilaDanes - ha... ummmmm... I don't think so. but I like your enthusiasm
hellangel15 - hahaha awww thanks! lol and I try and write like four chapters ahead of my updates, so when I wanna update, the chapters are just there and only need to be looked over last minute. I love that you reviewed on all the chapters you liked... your my favorite right now... no doubt! hahaha. and as for the Cullen clan and the ball... well you'll just have to read, review... and find out ;)
Aprhodite - okay okay okaaay!
hope you like it! reviews = updates!