Courting a Vampire

The next morning was spent out on the patio, a large umbrella protecting my Aunt's vampire skin from the morning light and me sitting face to the sun absorbing it. My aunt set a photo in front of me on top of my coffee and pointed to it. The photo was split into three sections, each holding a photo of three very beautiful vampire girls, all my age or close to.

The first had long black hair, very much like my mothers, except it was cut with razor bangs and she was pale with almond eyes. All vampires had the same sort of angular look about them, there were small differences, like the first vampires nose was smaller than the other three with the almond eyes, the middle had a longer narrow nose, and the third had a very petite pointed nose. The first had lips that were very narrow, the second had a fuller lower lip with a very narrow top lip and the third had the most balanced mouth with long slender lips that matched each other perfectly.

The first had long black hair, with razor bangs, the second had short blood red hair that was cut in a way that styled to be spiked all over, and the third had very beautiful ice white hair. All three had the typical vampy black eyes with the last two having wider eyes, the thirds eyes looking very severe and quite frightening to be honest.

"That is your competition. Their body types are the typical, lithe, willowy, harsh, jagged body type. The third, Desmond, she has a bit more body than a typical vampire. The first Yuki, is from Japan, so she's very quiet and proper, the second is Elizabeth, she's British, as if you couldn't tell from that hair. And Desmond is from North America as well."

"Does Elizabeth's hair grow that color?"

My Aunt scoffed, "No, but Desmond's does, as does Yuki's. Lilly?"

I looked up from the picture, "Yeah?"

"Is that your natural hair color?"

I tugged on a chestnut curl and frowned, "Yeah."

My aunt mused with a small smile on her face, "It gets quite red in the sunlight. Alright, enough with the competition. When you are introduced to the Prince, as well as the council you must be wearing something entirely revealing."

I choked on my coffee, spending a few minutes coughing before I could croak out, "What?"

My Aunt sighed and looked down as if asking for assistance, "The council and the Prince will have to see your body, it used to be that you four would be naked. But thanks to wonderful designers see through lingerie is in fashion."

"B..but why?"

"Well it is mostly to see if you have any defects on your body. Most Vampires are perfect, but there are a few vampires that keep relations a little too close to the family and they have some birth defects that being a vampire cannot cure. There will be other things to happen at this event but there's nothing to worry about now." My Aunt stood up and ushered me back into my room to quickly change into a light dress of black that she must have bought last night while I slept, and we were out.

There is something to be said for Paris when it comes to the local population accepting a black dress wearing, tall, pale, black satin umbrella holding woman, with a great deal of grace. Our first stop happened to be a shop that sold vintage, couture dresses and much to my horror and my Aunts fury we were quickly told that my size was not available. If it had not been for the pure look of murder in my aunts eyes I'm sure a snippy comment about a thrift store would have exited the woman's mouth.

I was suddenly starting to feel very Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman as my Aunt strode down the street, no longer gracefully dancing around the people, but plowing them over. She was a vampire on a mission and that mission brought us to a ridiculous jewelry store. She slammed the door open with force causing everyone in the store to freeze and stare at her.

A young woman quickly walked up to my Aunt greeting her warmly if not cautiously, "Isadora, we haven't seen you in ages. Are you alright dear, do you need a bit of the vintage?"

My Aunt closed her umbrella and nodded, "yes, this is my niece, she's to go with you for a moment, and I need to speak with Armand."

The lady bowed and motioned for me to follow her as she briskly walked past the counters into the back room. She got on the phone and quickly dialed the number and tapped the phones edge waiting.

"Armand? Yes, its Rebecca, Lady Isadora is here and she is demanding to speak with you...yes she seems very upset...yes I already offered and am going to do that as soon as I get off the phone...yes...thank you sir."

She hung up and looked at me warily, "Are you..."

She left the question unanswered but I smiled having already been on the receiving end of that particular question all my life, "Human, and yes that is my Aunt. Don't be worried though, she's upset because we had a very...80's movie moment at a local dress store."

The woman turned and silently walked to a vault, then proceeded to spin the combination and had to pull with most of her body to move the door. Once inside I saw a large collection of different precious stones, all loose but I didn't get to look for too long before Rebecca was opening a door that had looked like just another stack of shelves and began to descend a flight of stairs. I followed behind her and watched as she picked up a black goblet and pointed to different bottles until finally finding the one she wanted. With a pop I watched the dark red liquid pour into the goblet realizing what the "vintage" was.

She looked at me for a moment, "Do you get queasy at the sight of blood?"

I made a face, "No, my family are vampires, wouldn't be the first black goblet that I have seen."

Rebecca smiled and corked the bottle putting it back and grabbing the goblet she strode past me. She was halfway up the stairs when she stopped and began to laugh. I looked at her curiously before she turned, "I finally got it, the 80's movie moment. Pretty woman?'

I nodded and pointed at myself. The woman laughed, "No wonder Isadora is in such a foul mood. I bet the woman didn't even realize who she was speaking to."

"I don't think she cared really. She took one look at me and laughed and said there was nothing in my size. Jeeze, I'm not even that big a size eight is a respectable size."

Rebecca nodded and closed the vault behind her carefully grabbing a silver tray to set the goblet on before continuing back into the main lobby. The store had been cleared out and a man with grey hair peppered through his black hair was sitting in front of may Aunt smiling and laughing.

He turned and looked at Rebecca then to me and his smile disappeared as he turned to my Aunt, "I am sorry Isadora, Rebecca usually never takes this long, and I am unsure of who is with her..."

My Aunt raised her hand to stop him, "It is alright Armand, that young lady is my niece, and Rebecca was very punctual."

Rebecca smiled and held the tray to my aunt who grabbed the goblet and sipped it delicately, "Ah, that is wonderful. Now to business, I will not be embarrassed again by the fact I have a voluptuous niece, that being said, I think a bit of sparkle on my niece will illustrate how serious we are about shopping."

Armand stood quickly and with my aunts permission grabbed my hand lightly and led me to the jewelry counter. Rebecca stayed with my aunt speaking softly to her, and my aunt listening intently to the young woman. Armand released my hand and went around the counter looking through the glass.

"Lady Isadora, what were we thinking about for the young lady? Black diamonds perhaps?"

My aunt was at my side instantly, causing Armand to wince but I was so used to my father doing that, that it just made me feel a bit homesick, "No black diamonds, a common fancy among my kind. As you can see, my niece is rare, and we must emphasize that difference."

Armand nodded and looked at me closely before going into the back and returning with a stack of different black satin boxes. He opened the first box to a large yellow diamond in a bright yellow gold set. My aunt hissed, "No yellow!!!"

I chuckled as Armand quickly disposed of three of the boxes behind the counter and opened another. My aunt quickly dismissed one after another until Armand opened a small box with a beautiful blue stone set in a white gold setting, what was beautiful was the chain was so thin that it looked invisible. My aunt dismissed it but I stopped her.

"Wait, can I try it on, please." My aunts eyebrows rose and she looked at the stone again.

"It is blue Lilly."

"I know, and I know blue isn't exactly an appropriate color, but you said you wanted to play up my differences. Its such a pretty sapphire."

"Blue diamond." Armand corrected me, "It is a very rare blue diamond. In fact to find one this size and clarity is also very rare." He lifted it out and put it on me quickly lifting a mirror so I could see it.

I was in love, it was beautiful, and it looked like the deep, dark, blue blankets I had left home, "Its my favorite color." I sighed before taking it off already knowing my aunt would give it a resounding no.

"Alright then Lilly." She smiled at my surprised face and grabbed the necklace putting it back on me.

"We are celebrating your differences my darling." She turned to Armand, "I want every single blue diamond you have here, and ones that you can get here by tomorrow."

Armand nodded and he and Rebecca began to spread out and grab different things from the back, the vault, and through out the store. The presented different items and my aunt vetoed or approved different jewelry. I sat down on the couch and let my aunt do the work. Eventually we left with a lot of bags from the jewelry store.

"How much did you spend?"

My aunt winked at me as she handed me a few more bags and opened her umbrella, "Rebecca told me of some wonderful stores that would carry your size, off the beaten track. Care to explore?"

I smiled and nodded holding up the bags, "Without being a neon sign saying, rob me I have millions of dollars in jewelry in my bags."

My aunt smiled, "Oh, it wasn't millions, and you are right lets go to the car."

We dropped the jewelry off and then she grabbed my hand and we quickly made our way down a few side streets before stopping at a very crowded dress shop. My aunt pursed her lips but shrugged and walked in, the door tingling as we opened it. A very feminine man greeted us and my aunt got straight to work.

It felt weird having a man take my measurements then say something to my aunt in French, who in turn smiled at me triumphantly, "He says you have a very beautiful body."

The man went into the back and began to pile dress after dress after dress onto the counter. My aunt and he spoke to one another in French and quickly the yellow, pink, lavender, and other offensive colors disappeared, all but dark blue, that color remained. I had one dress after another shoved onto me, pinned then pulled off and eventually money exchanged hands and we were out of the store.

My aunt looked completely satisfied as we made our way back to the main streets, "Need to eat Lilly?"

I nodded and we stopped at a café where I ate a sandwich and my aunt struck up conversation with a woman next to her. Eventually we managed to get to all the stores on the list Rebecca has made for us and I was dizzy from the over abundance of outfits I had just explored. It was close to the end of the day and my aunt grabbed my hand and with a reassuring squeeze walked me into a very risqué lingerie store.

I tried not to panic as see through bras and crotch less underwear assaulted my sense of propriety. I again had a tape measure around my body and the lady relayed the measurements to a pair of very eager women who quickly asked my aunt many questions and began to pile one see through outfit after another, all in black.

I tried on one after another, my aunt sitting with me in the dressing room. Her face went from happy to frustrated after three different outfits. She flung the door open, "You look like shit in black!! How is that even possible?!?!"

She began to yell at the women at the counter and finally one of them stood up and said something back to her. My aunt froze and looked at me then at the woman and nodded consent. Suddenly white was being thrust to me and the rest of the day was spent matching one see through thing with another.

I made it to bed shortly after diner and slept solidly only to be woken up early by a perky aunt who took shopping way to seriously. The next day was almost identical to the previous and by the end of the lingerie store I was tired of shopping, of dresses, and of Paris.