I took a deep breathe and calmed myself. I killed an afternoon by switching channels with the gigantic TV on the wall. It was already twilight, and I drew the curtains open, feeling much more comfortable in the dim light. My skin was more sensitive to the sunlight, but I put a lot of sun screen on it so nobody would feel suspicious. It was torturing in daytime.
I unfolded my crimson dress. I decided to take Ivy’s advice, because she seemed much more professional in fashion than I was. My favorite color was blue, actually, but anyway. There were decorations starting from the edges, and crept up to the waist. The gown was long and it dangled to the ground. I put it on, and the satin felt smooth on my skin.
I avoided looking at the dress in the mirror and focused on my face. I let down the hair, which was in a ponytail as usual, and kind of braded some of them on the back, with the rest laid loosely on my shoulders. I didn’t put on much make-up; the main reason was I was still not sure what they do. However, I did know about lipsticks, and I chose a deep red one to match the dress. I took off my lenses. I just found out there were varies of colors of contact lenses in a bedside cabinet. There were red ones, and I could tell them that I wore them to match the dress. Then I watched myself in the mirror.
The design of my face was not actually my idea. It was Zach’s, and I saw it just before graduation. This piece of paper was lying around and I got a glimpse of it, and my face was drawn as the vampire one. He wrote a note beside the picture, saying better to create a dress that went well with this.
That was why I created this dress, after all. He might be interested to see it, if he still hanged out around.
I had a memorized picture in my notebook. I drew it when I was bored in the hotel room. I sprayed some perfume on myself, which was a nice smell of aloe, and put on a pair of high-heeled shoes. These were not mine, they were Ivy’s. She lent them to me when she knew I was planning to wear sneakers since the dress would be long enough to cover it.
I took a few steps, and made sure I wouldn’t accidentally trip in them. Then I put the stuff back, and sat on the bed. I was day-dreaming about what it would be if Zach was still alive, when a knock on the door caught me in surprise. I opened the door, and Ivy was waiting for me.
She looked pretty, I must admit. The dress she wore was another piece of work of Zach’s, and the tight silk dress fitted her perfectly. Ivy was a little bit surprised when she saw me; I thought it might be that she expected me to put on more make-up. Then she smiled and greeted me warmly: “Wow, you look great. Shall we go then? I don’t want to be late!”
I nodded, but hesitating for a minute. Then I went back and grabbed a silver cross from the inside pocket of my luggage.
I used to wear it on my school bag before. It helped me keep control of myself when I first came to the town and kept me calm. I thought for a minute, and attached it to the waist part of my dress. I could press my palm on to it and let the burning pain help myself if needed.
I looked up and told Ivy that this was for luck. She smiled back and led the way to the party.
The party was on the second floor where the writers all lived. Ivy said that this was because most of the writers did a poor job on doing things in time. The great hall was at the end of the second floor corridor. It was decorated even more expensively than the rooms. There was a buffet going on at the party, and as I walked in, I was momentarily blinded by the light given from the huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
The party was big but casual. There were no reporters at this time, but only a number of waiters and members of the magazine, mostly who worked for it like Ivy. The designers and writers hadn’t come yet. Ivy introduced me one by one, and I shook hands with everybody.
After the introduction, Ivy went off to do some of her work. Designers were starting to get here as well as the writers. I kept a safe distance from them and put my hand on the cross. I assured myself that I could do this, and then I went up to them and starting talking. They looked bizarre at first, with all kinds of colored hair, and strange decorations on their body and face. However, they were nice enough.
I didn’t put a lot of notice to their names. I nicknamed them in silence, like Tony the red hair, and so on. They liked me, actually. One of the designers even offered to make more changes to my feature, which was “totally perfect but may be more shockingly so” according to them. I figured that this may be considered praise to them. I thanked them, and hid myself in the bathroom for a while. After I came back, I avoided serious conversations with any of them.
I walked around the room, with a laid plate on my hand, feeling ridiculous. Buffets at a party should be fun, but if you were not interested in eating this kind of food, it was torturing. I couldn’t ignore all the food which would look suspicious. So I had to carry a tray around all the time, pretending that I was eating.
I wondered around for a while, but I hadn’t found anyone that was suspicious enough. I signed: I should have known that. Just then, I sensed a crowd forming at a corner. I went in there to discover what was happening. There was a particularly handsome young man being surrounded in the middle.
He had a strong perfume on, but I tensed immediately at his scent. He sure was a vampire. I reached into the inside of my dress, and grabbed a small piece of leaf from the plant Kerwin gave me. I rubbed hastily at the leaf, and its smell quickly covered the aloe perfume I used.
I dragged one of the girls a bit further away and asked: “Who is that?” The girl shook me off, and answered impatiently when she realized I had a very firm grasp: “Brooke Carton.” I let her go, and she immediately joined the crowd once again.
The man turned around to look at me; at least I thought I saw him do this. He had long brown curly hair, which must be very uncomfortable now since it was hot. However, he seemed comfortable enough. He had black eyes, which I doubted was naturally so. He either was hungry or used contact lenses.
I was a little panicked. I was not sure if he was a friend or enemy, and nervous to see if the leaf do work as Kerwin said. Brooke blinked in surprise when he first saw me, and then sniffed suspiciously. His brows curled up in confusion, but then his face relaxed into a gracious smile. He held up his cup, which was filled with a kind of wine that was red, and he nodded at me.
I put down my tray, left it on a table nearby, and rushed across the hall. I found Ivy near one of the writers, she seemed delighted and nervous. I waited for a few minutes, and then asked her: “Who is that man, Brooke Carton?”
“Brooke Carton? Oh, no wonder you are so attracted to him. Even women over forty-five have no control near him. He is one of the newest members of the editors, and he was rather talented and handsome. He is very good at handling the atmosphere around him, nobody knows why.”
Ivy kept babbling about for a few minutes, and then turned her interest on a new dish laid out beside her. I exclaimed that I had had too much in one day, so she advised me to take a rest. I wondered around for a few times to make sure no one was taking much notice before I marched off to the lobby.
I got up in the elevator, rushed to reach my hotel room, and lay upon it, feeling safer than usual. A voice interrupted. I opened my eyes, and Brooke was smiling brightly at me. His lips parted, revealing his white fangs. His nails grew longer, and a cruel smile took the place of the gracious one.
“Hi, Adele. Never thought I will meet you here.” Brooke bowed a little, “my name is Beno. I am one of the Assamites. I am here to kill you.”
Tip: The Assamites are killers in vampires. They do others’ biddings for payments of blood. They enjoy drinking other vampires’ blood, believing it would help them go to heaven.
