Eternally Yours (17 page)

“It’s open, just come in,” I mumble sidetracked as I stare at this intricate dress in the mirror.

The heavy gilt door groans on its hinges as she opens it and peaks around it. Her eyes are huge and for once she is speechless.

“Wow,” she whispers. “I think that is the one for you.”

I smile bashfully.

“Here,” I say as I turn my back to her so she can start lacing me up.

After she laces the back up, the dress fits snugly and hugs my body in all the right places, showing off what few curves I have. It’s a little too tight for my chest and I’m not sure if I can breathe, but I just tell myself that I will get used to it. It’s not any worse than these stupid sundresses.

“Oww owww, Alexia!” she cat calls. “I didn’t know you had such nice assets. Can you give me some of that cleavage?” she jokes. She smacks my rump playfully.

“Ouch!” I hiss. “Be serious for once Kaia!” I turn my right side to her and hold my arm up. “I don’t know if you’re going to be able to lace the sides up, but at least try,” I demand, hopefully.

“Oh, I’m going to get it laced, no matter if I have to squeeze you two sizes smaller. You know, the humans used to wear girdles tighter than this all the time.”

I raise an eyebrow. “How do you know?”

She rolls her eyes at me. “I didn’t sleep through history class. The humans were my favorite discussion.”

Finally, both sides are laced up and I can stand back and see the finished product. I think the humans were on to something because it makes my body look great. It’s amazing how a dress can make you feel so pretty. It’s beautiful and I feel so excited to show it off to everyone. I feel confident and anxious. It catches the light in all the right places when I move. It flaunts my curves by having the darker sequins shade them and red beads accent my bust and derrière. I turn sideways and it makes me look skinny right where a girl should be. This is definitely the one for me.

“Gabriel is a lucky guy! Now we have to find you some shoes to match that bad baby,” she says. “Oh, and what do you think?” she holds her hands and does a little turn for dramatic effect.

In all my selfishness I didn’t even notice that she had on one of the pink fluffy dresses. She’s always dressed in some kind of fancy dress, so I didn’t pay much attention, and now I feel guilty. I hope I’m as good of a friend to her as she is to me.

“It’s awesome,” I say, smiling. And I mean it. You could put Kaia in a potato sack and she would look good. Especially if it was pink. This is one of those strapless numbers that has pink thread embroidered on it and cinches at the waist. From there it flows out in silky billows of material and gathers up under itself in three different tiers. “Absolutely beautiful.”

“We’re going to be the prettiest girls there!” she shrieks excitedly.

“Well, hopefully,” my grin widens.

“So now all we need is shoes and an idea,” she puts her finger to her lip and thinks. “Hmmm.”

“An idea?” I ask, unsure.

“Yeah, you know, like what you’re going to be.”

“Kaia, what are you talking about?”

“I don’t think we’re on the same page here. It’s a costume ball…you know that right?” she asks.

I freeze right where I’m at. “I most definitely did not know that.”

“Oh.” She acts like it’s no big deal, and fluffs her hair one time. “Well, now you do.” She looks at me and smiles. “So…what are you going to go as? I would think the only thing you could go as in that dress is a
demon
.” She scowls.

A
demon
? I chew on that thought for a second. If I went as a
demon
I could wear some fake fangs and do some sultry eye make-up and it would be perfect. Maybe Shadow would swoon over me if I was a
demon
for a night. I really want him to notice me; I’m practically desperate for it. But I wonder, would Gabriel be okay with me going as a
demon
? Decisions, decisions.

“Well what are you going as?” I ask her

“A fairy I think. I’m going to add some little pink wings. It’ll be so
cutesy
.”

“Where could I find some fake fangs? What about shoes?” I ask.

“Oh Lexi,” she laughs, “you’re going to need more than fangs to pull this off and make it the best. You’re going to need some tattoos, and some piercings, and maybe even red eyes. You know how much I love artwork so you just made my day!”

I stand here staring at her, not sure if she’s serious about all this or just joking because she thinks I’m being an idiot to go as a
demon
.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’m serious! And I have the perfect shoes for your ensemble. We better get started on all this, because we only have a few hours before it starts.” She pulls her dress up a little so she can walk and prances over to her room as I follow.

Inside her room she digs in her closet through the sea of heels and wedges until she finds a pink pair. “Ah, perfect!” she exclaims.

I don’t want to seem rude, but what is she thinking? Those aren’t going to match my outfit at all.

Without looking back at me she responds to my unanswered question just as I’m about to ask, “No, not for you, for me.”

She digs a little more, she has to get on her knees and reach the very back corner of the closet. “These…” she mutters in the closet, “are for you.” She sits back on her rump outside of the closet and hands me a pair of lacy black platform pumps that lace up the ankle. They’re not too tall, probably only about four inches and some of my wedges are about six, so I think I can handle this, even though the heel is a skinny little stick. I picture walking in them and my ankles wobbling and I giggle a little bit.

“What? You don’t like them?” she pouts.

“They’re perfect.”

“Alright, come here and let me draw some tattoos, do you have anything in mind?” she asks.

I close my eyes and picture Shadow’s tattoos. He has a lot of tribal and swirls and I really liked that. “Just a lot of swirls and curly cues. Maybe some wings.” That gives me an idea. I want to put things on me that remind him of what we shared. “I want a waterfall, and…” I trail off trying to decide how to put some blood in there from when he took mine. “…and a drop of blood.”

“Weird, Alexia, but okay, I’ll do it. Sit down.”

She finds a sharpie marker and I sit in front of her. She unlaces my dress and I cover myself. We sit there for thirty minutes and she draws on my shoulder blades, my arms, and my neck. She’s taking her time, and I know that means she’s doing an awesome job. Kaia can really draw.  After about an hour she is finally finished and I stand up and walk to her mirror.

“Kaia, you are such an amazing artist.” I try my best to convey my sincerity through my voice. “It’s…” I almost say beautiful, but I glance at her in the mirror right before I say it and she has her face all scrunched up. Then I remember. I remember how we aren’t supposed to like
demon
s or anything about them. Now that I look like one, with tattoos and the red dress, I know she is almost disgusted. “It’s really good, Kaia. Thanks.”

She nods and gives me a tight lipped smile. “Okay, now for the teeth and piercings,” she motions me to follow her back to her closet.

She digs in her drawers instead and comes back with some glue and jewels, and what looks like white nail polish but it’s in a small plastic square.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“It’s liquid porcelain. I use it to make fake pearls and nails sometimes. I’m going to mold it onto your teeth and when it dries you’ll have your…fangs.” Her lip curls up at the word fangs, like she despises even the word.

She works on me diligently for about thirty more minutes until I am all finished.

“There, all done! Luckily, I already made my wings because we have to leave in five minutes to meet Gabe and Wraith.”

I step into the shoes, lace them, stand up, and let her lace my dress up again. Then I walk to the mirror and see it all for the first time. Wow, I do look like a
demon
. I love it. This is awesome, and I have to try not to wish I was a
demon
so I could be with Shadow. I have to remind myself of how much I love to fly. There is a small diamond glued to the side of my nostril and it shines in the light. I really like it. Also, there are swirls and curly cues down each arm, a drop of blood on my neck, which is perfect, and a waterfall on the back of one shoulder matched by gothic looking wings on the other.

Kaia is putting on her shoes and wings right now. I stand here waiting and she comes over to me. “Turn around,” she orders.

I turn. She twists my hair and sprays something, then scrunches it and clips it. She twists me back around and puts red lip stick on me.

“We’re going all the way here,” she smiles, “and who knew blood red looks good on you, Lexi.”

I try not to blush but I think I fail.

She puts eye make-up, eye liner and mascara on me and we’re through. I’m ready to go to the ball and see Shadow, and I’m not ready to see Gabriel. What if he doesn’t like what I chose to go as?

“Time’s up, Lexi. Let’s go meet up with the guys!”

I take one last deep breathe and look in the mirror. I smile showing some fang. “Alright, let’s do this.”

We meet Gabriel and Wraith in the lobby of the Aerie. Wraith is dressed up as a Wraith, ironic I know. He’s wearing black leather pants and a tight black turtle neck with a cape and a weapons harness crisscrossing over his chest.

Gabriel stands next to him wearing a gray fur coat with a fur hat complete with wolf ears. He holds his arms out to me and I walk to him. When I get close enough, I notice two fang tips peeking out from his upper lip and his diamond pupils. He must be a shifter. It looks cute and it makes me smile.

“Wow, look at you,” he whistles. “You are the sexiest
demon
I have ever seen,” he says, sincerely.

“You’re the most handsome wolf I’ve ever seen too,” I reply honestly. “Can you shift into anything else?”

He scoffs. “I wouldn’t be a very good shifter if I couldn’t.” He reverses the gray fur coat and shows the other side. It’s orange and brown with a furry neckline made to resemble a lion.

“That’s awesome!” I giggle.

He shrugs, “I thought it was pretty cool too.”

“Kaia,” Gabriel nods politely.

She smiles back at him and embraces her man. “You boys look almost as good as we do, but let’s not be late!” She hustles us out the lobby doors and to the ball.

*~*~*~*~

”If…you…don’t…know…me..by..nooooooowww,” Gabriel coos in my ear, singing along to the slow dance, “you will never, ever, ever know me…”

My chest feels heavier and I have to work harder to pump oxygen into my lungs. He is obviously hinting to me that I know him as well as I am going to know him. What does this mean? Why is he telling me this? Does he know how hesitant I am about completing the bond? I’m sure he at least feels it, but he hasn’t pressured me to do it yet. His lips brush my cheek as light as a butterfly as we sway side to side in an intimate embrace.

They decorated so beautifully. The dreamy setting makes me want to fall in love. They probably do this on purpose; everything has an underlying incentive with the authorities.

Gabe clears his throat. “You look so…I don’t even know the word. ‘Beautiful’ is not an adequate word for describing you tonight.”

“Oh,” I scoff. “I doubt that very much, but thank you.” I smile.

There are at least two hundred people here tonight, and at least fifty couples are on the dance floor right now swaying to the love songs. I search for Shadow’s face in the sea of creatures every spare chance I get. I am trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, not wanting Gabe to wonder who I’m looking for. A few times he has looked where I was looking curiously.

“You’re a good dancer.” I tell him.

He holds me gently and matches his flow to mine perfectly. Looking at Wraith, I can tell Gabriel isn’t as robotic and he is a lot more graceful. I hear Kaia’s grunt once in a while and Wraith’s mutters of apology for stepping on her foot.

“I can’t imagine being as graceful as you, Alexia, but I’m trying like hell.” His lips stretch into a grin showing those shifter fangs and my heart flips. Shadow.

He notices my scrunched facial expression and frowns. I think fast for an excuse.

“I guess we just complement each other like two peas in a pod.” My voice sounds dull even to my own ears.

“Yeah, I guess we’re meant to be.” He kisses my forehead and I look away. I rest my head on his shoulder, avoiding him as much as I can when I’m in his arms. Why do I feel this way? Every time he tries to get closer I want to run away. Surely it’s frustrating him as much as it is me.

He pulls me a little closer and nuzzles my cheek. He’s falling for me too fast and unfortunately that knowledge settles like a rock in my stomach.

I scan the crowd again and something snags my attention. I do a double take to find what I thought might be black
spiky
hair and shirtless boy. Unfortunately, it must have been my imagination because I don’t see anyone with black
spiky
hair. Just as I give up and start to raise my cheek from Gabe’s shoulder, I see him. Yeah, and he sees me too. He turns sideways and squeezes through the crowd on the dance floor, all the while smirking at me. I was right, he isn’t wearing a shirt and his bronzed skin makes me want to lick my lips. He has on stark white pants, and seeing such a contrast from the black he’s always wearing to this is quite a shock. I wonder what he’s thinking and what made him decide to come as an
angel
. His abs ripple as he dodges people, and sways with his sexy man walk. When he finally gets to the center, there is enough space for me to notice silky, elegant, white wings on either side of his body, almost dragging the floor. They are beautiful, weepy, willowy, silky and shredded. I really like them. What I don’t really like however is the person latched onto his elbow as he leads her through the dance floor and then around to face him. I’m not sure but I think I saw him grimace and give me what was maybe an apologetic smirk before he turned toward her and she wrapped her sinful hands around his neck.