Chapter 7 – oh dear, Alice.
I - or should I say we – stood in front of a completely unfamiliar, yet luxurious, red car with Alice hanging out the window impatiently calling to us to get in already. We climbed into the back of the car obediently and I settled in for a good few hours of just sitting blissfully next to Edward, while Alice immediately hit the accelerator with too much force, but I could cope easily.
She turned apologetically to face us – still going at full throttle – and said, "Sorry, this was the best I could find at such short notice, the police had already reclaimed the Porsche,"
she sighed.
Edward chuckled, "Its OK Alice, they cant all be 911 turbos."
Alice sighed again. "I'll buy you one for your birthday," Edward promised.
"Thanks," Alice beamed at him, she turned her attention back to the road – presumably – and Edward hugged me tightly.
I looked up at him, smiling and he looked back down at me. I was resting against his side, his arm loosely around my neck and my head resting on his shoulder, but suddenly that wasn't nearly enough. I twisted round and stoked his cheek re-memorizing the new texture and temperature... I grinned to my self as I realised there was no more need for extra blankets on me at night, no more shivering and more importantly no more causing Edward to suffer.
Edward caught my smile, "What are you thinking?"
"Oh, just that now I wont have to be cocooned in a blanket all the time now, and that you wont have to be so careful any more," I replied contentedly.
I gazed in wonder at the whiteness of my skin, there was no difference now between me and Edward, I had been a vampire for almost a week now and so many things hadn't occurred to me.
"We match," I said simply.
Edward caught my hand and held it to his face, "we do," he agreed leaning his face into my hand.
He turned his head and kissed my palm, I pulled his face to mine and we kissed again, but this kiss was more tender than passionate, I wondered what Alice would think if we got that intimate in the back.
"I love you," I said.
"I love you more."
I snorted, that wasn't likely, he hadn't known what it was like when he left.
"Oh? You think I don't love you?" he challenged jokingly.
"Of course you love me just not as much as I love you," I stated matter of factly.
He sighed, "That's not actually possible you know."
"I'm a vampire, the possibilities are endless."
"Hmm," he became slightly subdued, "I never meant for to become a a vampire, I'm so sorry."
"Don't apologise, you had nothing to do with it and it's not so bad here with you," I smiled and snuggled deeper into his chest, thinking how not so bad had just broken the world record for understatements.
He sighed and kissed my forehead. I looked up into his deep black eyes and I was suddenly falling... well, I had the sensation that my body had just decided to leave my stomach behind. But I also felt light as a feather, as if I was floating. Some time elapsed – it was so hard to concentrate on anything other than his eyes, including time especially, at that point but then I noticed that they were black, not a hint of gold anywhere, my eyes travelled to the deep purple shadows underneath. I frowned, he hadn't been taking care of himself properly.
My finger – with out waiting for my brain to catch up, which was an annoying habit that my body had that I would really have to sort out – reached up to trace the shadow, "you seem to be a little hungry."
"Yeah," his expression was slightly guilty... sheepish?
I was confused by his expression, it was like he was shamefully confessing something. I looked quizzically at him, hoping he would explain his mysterious tone.
He sighed, "when I left you... I wasn't much use to anyone, I was so depressed. I basically just curled into a ball somewhere, I never paid any attention to my location, only hunting when I absolutely had to, all I could think about was you, I could see your face. Every minute it was like I was dying, I knew my heart wasn't beating any more but this... this was much worse. At least you made an effort, I was just a useless, extremely bad tempered blob."
I thought about telling him of the first week after he left,of the months later that I had suffered... then decided against it, then decided against telling him anything depressing like that, "at least we can go back home now," of course I was home already, "totally un-blobified," I grinned at him.
Edward grinned back, then his smile faltered, "well, not straight back... Alice has some plans for you."
I groaned as I realised what those plans would entail... shopping. Alice grinned at me over the back of the drivers' seat.
At the first town we got to, Alice drove straight to the shopping centre in the middle of the city. It was a big, scary looking place which had two floors and a multitude of brightly coloured and imposing signs outside saying what shops were there. My eyes scanned over the dizzying array of logos and shop names and I started to panic a little.
Edward felt my tension and started rubbing soothing circles along my arms. Alice pulled into a spot near the entrance of the shopping centre, I was surprised that the shops were open this late.
We walked half way through the main corridor and quickly bought Edward a new shirt, which he immediately put on leaving his cloak in a bin. Then we went a bit further along into a really expensive looking shop. I was reluctant to enter but Edward held me tightly and strode forward through the door. Alice shot him a warning glance and he stopped. I turned to look at him but he just gave me a hug.
"Alice commands that I stay here... oh, and she's planning on using your abilities to her advantage," he explained.
I gave him a short kiss and went reluctantly but obediently into the maze of clothes to find Alice while Edward leaned against the wall frowning out of either frustration or impatience.
"Bella! Can you do it? Can you really shield other people as well as you from vampire powers?" Alice demanded excitedly, her eyebrows pulling up in the middle, how could I deny this face anything?
"Er.. I, I guess so, but it'll take a lot of concentration."
"Good, I need you to try now Bella please."
"Okay," I closed my eyes and pushed my skin outwards again, it was was almost easy, I had already done this once, but I still needed to get the hang of it.
Alice looked into the future, probably seeing if Edward would be surprised. She seemed satisfied with what she saw anyway and went around grabbing and comparing outfits. She finally settled on which ones she wanted and went to pay for them. Once they were paid for, she marched me to the dressing rooms, covered the mirror, handed my an outfit and then commanded me to put it on.
"Don't worry about holding the shield over me, I'll concentrate on something else," she called through the curtain.
"Okay," I called back.
I relaxed and really looked at what Alice had brought me for the first time. It was a blue dress made out of really floaty material, and it was cut lower than I would usually go for in a top or dress but then I looked and there was a slightly lighter blue vest hung up behind it.
I put the dress on and was slightly annoyed that Alice had covered the mirror, I was about to lift the material off it, but then froze as I realized this would be the first time I had seen myself as a vampire. I was suddenly nervous.
"Are you ready in there?" Alice was impatient.
"Er.. yeah?" I said not quite sure if I was telling the truth or not.
"I'm, coming in, can you do the shield thingy again please?"
"Sure," I closed my eyes and pushed my skin outwards, yet again. It was like a muscle, it did whatever I wanted it to willingly. It was just like holding your arms and legs out in an awkward position then never getting tired. And as I got more used to it, I found I could focus more on my surroundings, like the fact that Alice was now brushing and styling my hair, at least she looked like she was having fun. I decided that, rather than dwelling on the negative I would experiment with my new shield – it seemed the most appropriate word for it.
Before I knew it, Alice was done and admiring her handiwork. She circled me twice, getting a good look from every possible angle before approving me for the public... and Edward.
"Just stay there all right? I'm concentrating on something else now so you don't need your shield, don't panic we'll be back in no time and don't peek."
I just nodded not able to say anything else. I looked down and would have blushed at the fact that I was wearing blue high heels, but most of all, that my dress stopped about an inch above my knee. I was internally horrified, but then the curtain was thrown back and Alice and Edward stood there admiring me. I didn't need to blush to show I was embarrassed, but neither one seemed to notice.
Edwards eyes ran appreciatively down my body, lingering on my legs and then back up to my face, he was smiling. Alice was smug. Edward sighed and assumed a relaxed position, putting his hands in his pockets but I noticed the movement was slightly jerky.
Alice ran forward, Edward following a more reasonable pace, "and now..." she said.
She was at the mirror, I instinctively reached for Edward's hand grasping it firmly when I had found it. He gave me an encouraging squeeze and I started to relax a little.
"Tadaa!" Alice exclaimed as she uncovered the mirror with an extremely unnecessary, theatrical flourish.
I froze, all I could see were two vivid red eyes staring back at me, it was really sinister. I couldn't look away from the eyes – they weren't my eyes, I refused to accept that. As vampire I no longer needed to blink, I had no way of breaking eye contact, so I had no choice but to stare for an eternity before Edward sensed my growing distress.
"Bella? What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.
"The eyes..." I whispered, still staring, captivated, I couldn't summon enough will power to keep my voice going so I let it trail of and took another breath before adding weakly, "how long?"
"Erm, well, animal blood dilutes the colour quicker, so, only a few months."
Months?! What? I couldn't go around like this for months! I took a deep breath to calm myself, and it worked to some extent. Only Edward seemed to notice my panic as I tightened my grip on his hand momentarily, other than that, my body did not betray my emotions like it used to.
Edward stepped in front of me, and I was grateful that he broke of my stare – I just couldn't do it alone – he put his hands on either side of my face staring intently into my eyes, which didn't seem to bother him like it did me. I could see concern written all over his face, and he stood there for half a minute cradling my face tenderly.
"It'll be okay Bella," he promised, then pulled me into a tight hug, I felt like crying – maybe he saw that when he was holding my face.
After a few moments he let go of me and stepped back, "You look incredibly beautiful... exquisite," he breathed stroking my face.
That was all it took to get my confidence back up, I couldn't doubt the black fire blazing in his eyes. I took a deep breath and nodded. He let go of me and stepped to the side, giving me full view of the mirror.
I deliberately looked downwards so as not to see the eyes – again I refused to recognise them as my eyes. I saw those silly, high heeled shoes Alice had given me, I followed the lines of my now long white legs up to the hem of my dress. My legs were well shaped, not as shapely as Rosalie's and definitely not as thin and tiny as Alice's, the dress was deep blue, almost the same colour as the blouse Edward had once complimented on me. I followed the soft blue fabric as it flowed gracefully around down my body. My eyes kept travelling up, over my slightly more generous chest, and to my face. My eyes didn't shock me as much this time, now that I was prepared and I found I could properly look at my face for the first time. It was as pale and as perfect as all the other Cullens, it was both pleasing and disturbing, was that even me in the mirror? I studied my face for a minute and began to see similarities, the familiar flaws that were just a little less pronounced than before. I relaxed and a small smile crept onto my face.
I felt the apprehension leave Edward and Alice at once to be replaced by relief and satisfaction. Edward's arm snaked around my waist and we stood contentedly in front of the mirror for a second or two longer before heading back to the car with my new, sure to be designer wardrobe.