I rested a little, huddling up in my blanket. To pass the time, I took out a little notebook Amy gave me before I got on the plane. Looking through the pages, I got an idea how she persuaded others to write for me.
Some of them wrote to express the sympathy they had. The little policeman I once yelled at when I first recovered from the shock told me that he totally understood the state I was going through and hoped me recover soon with this trip. Others, like Helen, and a girl called Genie were not so nice. Helen just scribed her name in an angry way, and Genie left a rather rude note saying I was just a stupid little one not caring what my brother felt after he died, just heading off for my own happiness.
I quickly went through all of these, and stopped at the page where Kerwin’s signature was. He left me a two-page note, about everything I had to be careful with when meeting those people at the party. Some of the advices were pretty good, actually.
I took out a pen to put a star on those which might come into use. Better use black contact lenses. Look sheepish and harmless. Be sweet and welcoming to anyone who came to greet you. Give a nice impression on them.
Besides these, he also enclosed a piece of plant in the book. His neat writing told me that this plant was rare but had a strong scent. It could release a kind of liquid if being rubbed, kind of like mint. If I keep perfuming myself with it, even vampires could not tell my true identity.
I took a sniff then wrinkled my nose. The scent was pleasant, but much too strong for me. I was not sure if I wanted to use it. I had a few perfumes with me, which I borrowed from Amy’s mom. She was very nice, and apparently Amy told her a lot about me, so she wasn’t very surprised to see me or to hear my extraordinary name.
After I got off the plane and fetched my luggage, I was greeted by a human girl at the exit. She had dark hair dyed green. I could see the roots clearly. She had a round face, and a nice tan. There was a golden tattoo around her waist which was like a bird. Later I found out that it was to resemble the phoenix. Her nose was a bit small, and her mouth too large to be called pretty, but she was friendly and sweet enough no one took much notice on her looks.
“Hi, my name is Ivy. I guess you are D. I love your designs! I even bought some myself. Look!” She twirled around for me to see. She was wearing a more relaxing design of Zach’s. I did my homework by going through his old work book. This sleek purple blouse was one of his favorites. I still remembered him trying to stuff me into one of these, threatening to return to his normal diet.
I smiled and nodded, presenting myself a very sweet kind of girl who was fascinated by Ivy’s liking of the dress. “I’m so glad you like it. I just thought I would try to post it. You know, I just love designing dresses for my Barbie dolls when I am a little girl, and I really don’t want to throw that away-----“
I could tell Ivy was very impressed. She kept babbling about she never thought of me as such a friendly and humble girl. She even told me, a little embarrassed, that she used to picture me as a self-loving gay. I gave her my middle name Diana, as my first name. I decided not to tell her in case some one on her branch was not so trustable. Also, D seemed a better nickname for Diana.
She took me to a nice hotel and led me into the room. It was a single room. There was a great bed with beautiful sheets. The decorations were expensive and ancient-looking. There were huge mirrors and a phone was placed right at the head of the bed in case you have any needs. This was more than I had imagined.
I stood there in shock, with my mouth opened. Ivy giggled and said: “I know how you feel. When I first worked here, I was thrilled. The whole hotel belonged to the magazine company for such events like designers getting together. And you can meet celebrities easily in those corridors. You want to go for a hunt?”
“Thank you so much, but I prefer to stay and unpack for a while. I have to get ready for the party tonight, I don’t even know if they will like me or not. It will be so exhausting and nervous for me. I think I should prepare for it at the present.”
Ivy nodded, wearing a kind smile. Then she left me alone with a promise to come and help me whenever I want her. “The third door left to the elevator. That is my room.”
I thanked her, and sat in front of a mirror. I really had to unpack my stuff alone, because most of things were not normal for a teenage girl to carry around except the clothes. I had got a fire-lighter but no cigarettes, if I ran into a vampire this could help a little, unless his talent is to shoot fire balls everywhere.
I tucked a few knives, a bow and arrows and a suit of armor inside. This was not exactly necessary, since my body could have had more protection than they could and do more damage. However, that made me calm, like I was hunting as the actors and actresses do on TV shows.
I also brought a large amount of blood. Not animal blood, but human blood. I stole it from the hospital, afraid that I would cause trouble if not stored enough. My appetite had grown a lot, and I had to keep myself in the strongest state I could.
Finally, something normal for a party and a girl came out. I pulled a bag full of Zach’s make-ups. They were not entirely his, because he usually locked me into a chair and put them on me to test how they worked. Hair braces, they were simple and most of them were black. I brought some of the jewelries, too. I’d got a silver bracelet with little blue gems on them, a diamond necklace (perhaps the diamond is just a piece of glass) and nothing else.
I suddenly realized how plain I was going to look on the party. Not that I care about it, but I had a very important job to collect information from the others. What if they refuse to tell me just because I was so plain that I was not in their circle?
I signed: I should have done some shopping earlier. I heard that there were some beautiful glass jewelries in next to the fabric store, but I never stopped to look at them. There was nothing I could do about it now.
I stuffed my things to where they belonged and then took a shower. I looked for shampoo near the bath, but I found more than that. What kind of hotels provides hair dyes for crying out loud! My eyes were closed because of the water and I sprayed something on my hair, thinking it was shampoo, and then found out it was golden hair dyer. I quickly washed them out and used some black one instead, so there wouldn’t be a little blond here and there.
I thought silently: That was why Ivy’s got green hair for sure.
After a bit of observing the beauties in the room, a bit of panicking about the party and a bit of reviewing Zach’s notes on fabrics and styles, I called Ivy and asked her to help me with preparing myself. She was glad to take the job, and seemed eager to feed me any information she had.
While she talked, I sometimes added a few compliments. My main target was to get to know about this place in the shortest time possible, and plant my feature as a shy and harmless little girl.
When she gasped at how little my collection of jewelries and gowns was, I told her that I was not at all used to being in the spot light. “You know, being in a small town with a talented brother beside you never helps.” I said, sounding a little down. Ivy frowned: “I know exactly how you feel, I was the smallest in the family, and nobody even cares where I am most of the time. That’s why I chose this job! My boss and colleagues are amazing. You will never feel left out here.”
She expressed true sympathy towards me when I told her of Zach’s death, but changing the reason to “accidentally being hit by a car”. She started to care more about me getting ready to meet the group every second. I thought she liked me and trusted me at last.
I only brought two gowns with me. One a dark crimson strapless model, which was one of the new designs I sent them by myself, the other a fading blue velvet model Zach used to like the best. Ivy suggested I wear the crimson one, though she preferred the blue one herself. Then she laid out the make-ups and told me which does what, and left me with a large quantity of information about the editing group and the party.
It seemed that most of the writers for this magazine were invited, and most of them agreed to come. Famous designers were also here, who lived on the second floor, as I was informed. My room was arranged to be the easiest one to contact with the staffs, since I was the youngest: Zach gave them his age as 17 for fun. That was why I was not to live with the other designers, because they were afraid something bad would happen to a teenager.
There were five editors, besides Ivy. She was just promoted to be an editor. She used to be the secretary of a Mr. Grey before he retired, and then she got his job. This party was her first one as an editor, so no wonder she felt so excited. She didn’t tell me a lot about the others, though. I was a little disappointed, but this information was very important. I put them in my notebook.
I took out a bottle, filled it up with blood, and drank it in mouthfuls. So this is it. I thought desperately. The embrace of vampire life, and the start of digging up the truth.
What's this? ANOTHER update?
Yeah. It's just that she's sent me 17 chapters, and I'm rushing ot get them up. Hope you like!