Chapter One
Airen
I'll catch you up on our pretend-to-be-human lives.
Skylar and I live in a very small village in one of the 13 colonies—Connecticut, in case any of you humans care—population; 22 humans and 3 vampires.
We aren't some of the richest people, but we aren't exactly middle class either. We own a little self-run clothing store between the two of us. It's not bad business, for that matter.
Skylar is courting a nice young human boy named Nathaniel who knows about the three of us. Whenever he decides to propose, Skylar'll change him so they can be together for eternity. It's very sweet and romantic.
I am no longer courting anyone. I'd been with the other vampire, but we'd had a few…mishaps and I broke it off. We'd been together almost 20 years. His name is Filip Smith. You'll find out more about him soon enough.
I woke up to the sun shining in my face from the only window in my room. I rubbed my eyes and got out of my medium sized bed. I walked over to the window and pulled the curtains closed.
I sighed and walked over to my closet. I turned my eyes from a scarlet red to a sparkling grey—a strange thing that both Skylar and I can do, Filip's turn a warm chocolate brown—and picked out a baby blue dress with long sleeves, it being fall and all, white ran down the middle with little blue flowers and their stems curling toward the middle of the white. I slipped on my shoes and tied up my long black hair. I pulled on a white cloth bonnet over my hair.
I gave myself one last check in the vanity and sighed. I looked like such a human. I chuckled lightly at my own small joke. I guess that was the point, wasn't it?
I shook my head and walked out of my room. I walked to the room next to it and rapped on the door. "Skylar, time to get up," I said loudly and heard a groan from the other side of the door. "Get up, shop's opening in ten with or without you." Another groan. I laughed and shook my head. That's my sister for you. I left the door and walked down the hall toward the stairs.
I walked downstairs and looked around the store. I straightened out a few dresses on their dress trees then stood back to admire my work. Good. I nodded and went over to the counter and made sure I had all my papers for custom orders. I did. I went in the back and made sure all the fabric and design papers were ready. They were. I'd always kept the shop in the order I knew would work for both Skylar and I.
I heard footstep coming down the stairs and went back to the main area and smiled at my twin. She grimaced at me. "Remind me why we wake up at the crack of dawn every morning," she said.
I rolled my eyes and smirked. "Because we have a shop to run," I told her, putting my hands on my hips. "Do you want to be poor?"
She sighed and shook her head. "No, but we didn't even wake up this early before we were turned and lived with the rest of the tribe."
"Well, we don't have time to worry about that right now. We need to open up to the rest of the town." Skylar nodded and I smiled slightly. At least we'd come to an understanding for now.
I opened the curtains on the window of the store and unlocked the door. Much better. We wouldn't get customers for a little while though.
Skylar sighed behind me, eating an apple. "Could we possibly ask Filip to go to 'lunch' with us?" she asked. When she said "lunch", she meant hunting.
"If Filip's coming, I'll just wait until sunset," I answered stiffly grabbing an apple of my own.
She shook her head. "Okay, I get that he cheated on you several times, but will you just get over it, sister? It's getting a little old after 10 years."
I felt my temper spark and resisted the urge to slap her. "If you say that, then you obviously don't get it." My voice was sharp and ice cold as I spoke.
"Jeez, someone's got a temper today," Skylar taunted, only wanting to push my buttons as usual.
I shook my head and stood a little straighter. I wasn't going to let her get to me. Not then, not now, not ever. She was my sister. I knew how to push her buttons too. Just one threat to Nathaniel and she'd lose her temper, but I wouldn't sink to her level. "Fine, Skylar, you win," I said maturely, straightened my dress out. I walked behind the counter and looked at the notes I'd written to myself. "Mrs. Rose is coming in with Samantha today for Samantha's ball gown fitting," I told her.
"Were we invited to that one?" she asked.
I looked at a few other papers I had sitting around and found the invitations. "Just me this time." I groaned slightly.
You see, we'd always been invited to balls together. Then Skylar started courting Nathaniel, and it was just me who got invited. Most were for boys my supposed age, 17, or older looking for wives.
"Where is it at?" Skylar asked.
"Um…." I looked down at the paper. "Bridgeport."
"Do you plan on going?"
"Of course not. If I wanted to be engaged to someone, I'd have found a nice man in town." I looked out the window next to the door. "Nathaniel's coming."
Skylar instantly straightened out her dress and fixed her bonnet. "How do I look?" she asked.
"Same as always when he comes around: Beautiful and nervous," I told her. Both of us always look inhumanly beautiful, though, of course. Not like she needed to know that.
"Great." She took a deep breath as the door opened. A blonde haired, blue eyed man with tan skin entered. "Hello, Nathan."
Nathaniel smiled at her. "Hello, Sky," he said. He looked in my direction. "Good morning, Airen."
"Good morning, Nathan," I replied, boredly. He was always nice to me. Since our parents were dead, he'd had to ask my permission to court Skylar and had to ask my permission every time he wanted to take Skylar out.
"May I take Skylar out for breakfast?" he asked politely.
"Of course," I told him. "But she must be back in at least an hour. We have a fitting."
That earned me a glare from Skylar. "As you wish, Airen," he said. He offered Skylar his arm. "Shall we?" he asked her with a smile.
"We shall," she said and looped her arm through his.
I watched as they left and went to stand behind the counter. I leaned against it and rested my head in my hand with a soft sigh.