20: I'm in trouble

Apparently, the palace had a major 'no turning' rule. It was one unwritten and yet assumed, clearly, because when I asked the guard who gave me a hefty warning, where on Earth it was stated that werewolves could not turn- especially considering that there were no werewolves here except for myself- he could not give me a straight answer. But, by that time it was already nearing early afternoon, and I knew that I'd need to return to get ready again. I dreaded returning throughout the entire trip back to the palace. Thinking of Sebastian's face did nothing to ease me of this dread. It was so unfair that I still could not help but feel a little spark of something every time I thought of him, and I wondered if I had it in me to actually get through this to be the person I wanted to be, no, to be as strong as I needed to be.
When I returned to my room, I was startled to find Aaliyah and Felicity seated on my bed, sifting through my things. They immediately looked up when they heard me coming in and blushed wildly as if being caught in the act of doing something inappropriate. I saw this as perfect timing to test whether or not 'shy' Phoenix had truly perished in the woods.
"Explain what you are doing here please, you have five seconds before I kick you out."
*Nice start*, I thought to myself.
They looked taken aback by the bored look across my face as I wandered over to the closet to retrieve the dress.
"Um, well, we were just wondering whether or not you'd be interested in getting ready with us. Our stylist is quite amazing, the best in the vampire world actually."
I was about to answer with a typical, "That's okay, Sebastian has it all sorted," but waved the thought away, replacing it with something more... rebellious.
"Sure. But let's get out of this room quickly before Sebastian arrives. He wanted to help me with getting ready and if he finds out that I'm going with you two, well, he'll put an end to all the fun."
Aaliyah and Felicity looked at each other at the same time and then smiled deeply. "Are you the same Phoenix we met just the other day?"
I grabbed all of the things I needed, and as I did, shook my head. "No, I killed her, now let's go."
Felicity and Aaliyah led the way, both giggling and chatting away as they did. In all honesty they were quite harmless, and so I took it upon myself there and then to make another rebellious decision. I'd become friends with the two of them. That would really get on Sebastian's nerves, would it not?
After walking for what seemed to be ages, we finally arrived at our destination: A large room filled with people, clothing, chairs, mirrors, make-up, washing basins and dyes. My eyes roamed around in awe, taking in the full glory of such a place. I'd never truly appreciated the art of getting ready for something until this moment. The room buzzed with seriousness, with people who knew that this was a job. And, as I began to wander further into the room, I sensed no malice from the people inside, instead, I felt nothing but curiosity and a sense of awe.
"A-are you the hybrid?" A woman with beautiful, long, curly blue hair and the eyes to match it said from the other side of one of the clothing rails.
I hesitated for a moment before clearing my throat and saying, "Yes, I am."
She smiled and said, "Well then, ladies, gentlemen, I need you to make her look like a Goddess. Toss out that plain old lilac dress of yours, young lady, we are going to turn you into what you deserve to be: A Queen."
Queen? I had never been called a queen before, especially considering the context. It was refreshing, especially considering that they were vampires. And so, I turned towards Felicity and Aaliyah with a questioning look, wondering if they were on Team Lupus as well.
"You will find that vampires with ranks less than those of nobility are more prone to accepting someone like you than us snobbish fools. To them, you are an equal, an underdog and so you stand for hope."
"Hope?" I uttered, letting the word bounce around.
Aaliyah nodded and said, "Yes, hope. Hope that one day all vampires will be equal no matter their bloodline. And hope for peace between us and all the other supernatural creatures. You have no idea how many vampires are in love with creatures they can never be with. All because vampire nobles have this twisted idea that we are a superior race."
I scoffed and said, "But it seems not all of vampires are seen as superior. Perhaps what you mean is that the nobles themselves believe they are of 'God' status."
Felicity smirked at this and together with Aaliyah. "I'm liking this new Phoenix. Mind sharing the reason for this sudden change?"
My heartrate quickened at the thought of Sebastian and I was about to blurt out and excuse when the blue-haired woman called for me to go to one of the wash basins. She took my dress and the packet containing my mother's chain and crown from me as I sat down in front of the washing basins.
A young man, about my age stood behind me. His black and red hair was tied neatly into a manbun with a few tendrils hanging down in his face and his emerald eyes had this shimmering gleam to them. Vampires were always such beautiful creatures, contrasting to the hideousness of beastly werewolves.
He instructed me to tilt my head back and began gently running water through my hair before asking, "So, what do you think, blonde or black?"
I opened my eyes and looked up at him confused, "I don't quite understand. Blonde or black what?"
"Hair, silly. What colour would you like. I think you'd appreciate a new look. Rumors are you've lived quite a sheltered life."
I chuckled at this, thought for a moment and then said, "Red. Cherry red like my mother. I want to see if I could resemble her in any way. Perhaps then I'd be able to feel more comfortable in the skin I'm being forced to wear."
"Aren't we all just trying to get comfortable in the skin society makes us wear? It's a world full of expectations, standards and rules. If you can't live by them, well then you're as good as nobody."
The young man had a point, and I began to like hearing him talk. So, I asked him politely, "What's your name?"
He began running his fingers through my hair for a moment before saying, "My name's Nathan."
"Nathan. Simple and easy to remember. I like it. Were you turned or were you born a vampire?"
"Turned at sixteen. I couldn't really return home, so I came here after hearing about it from another vampire I'd met. Figured this life was better than the one I was living. At least here I have people who give a damn about me, even if the nobles don't. What about you, hybrid, you got any friends back home?"
My mind travelled back, diving deep into the thoughts of home- of my dad, of Alice... of Demetri. I thought I had everything back then, but in fact, I had nothing, absolutely nothing. And yet, there was still something hidden in that nothing. Traces of genuine love and belonging. Something I didn't quite get here.
"Friends? I had my fair share of them, yes. But when I came here, the idea of friendship kind of disappeared."
He smirked down at me and said, "Well, Phoenix Ackerman, from now on you can count me as one of your friends. You and I have no real competition, as far as I'm concerned, you're practically one of us. Will you accept my friendship?"
Friendship? It seemed as though in the span of a day; I'd made more allies than I ever thought possible. Perhaps this new version of Phoenix would not be so bad after all. Although, I knew I still had a long way to go before I became anything close to who I envisioned myself to be, this was a good, modest start.
“Yes, Nathan. I’d be happy to be a friend of yours.” Nathan smiled in response to this and then disappeared for a moment before returning with a few powders in containers. He then began returning to working, indulging me in more conversation as he worked, and I soon discovered that he and I were not so different. We were both quite shy, perhaps that was what drew us together and made it so easy to get along with one another in such a short span of time. We both grew up without our mothers. And we were both subjected to hiding a part of ourselves, him his sexuality and me my vampire half.
After quite some time of waiting for the dye to sink in, Nathan finally managed to complete the task of transforming my hair, not once allowing the surprise of revealing it to me to be spoiled by the mirrors around us. It was only after he had dried and straightened it that he finally allowed me to look in the mirror. Immediately my breath hitched as I gazed at my appearance. It was almost as though I were staring at the portrait of Queen Athena again, only now, the mirror was the canvas, and my mother was my reflection.
“Beautiful, if I do say so myself,” Nathan asked from beside me. And I was about to reply to him when the door to the large room burst open, revealing a fuming Sebastian. I gulped at the sight of him, knowing full well that ‘trouble’ did not even come close to what I was in.
“Phoenix Ackerman! Where the hell are you!” He yelled out before scanning the room of shocked and frozen vampires. And then his eyes met mine and at first, the anger within them intensified before it dissipated completely as his eyes roamed to my hair, then to my face.
“Beautiful…” He uttered almost under his breath. And I hated myself for it, but my heart fluttered at the word, especially considering it came from Sebastian’s mouth. The word, however, was not enough to make me forget what he had said earlier, and I soon found myself storming up to him. He stared at me, confused until my hands collided with his chest and I managed to push him out the door and slam it closed in front of his face. As I said before, ‘trouble’ could not even come close to what I was in.
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I know, I have not been updating this novel quite as regularly as I would have liked. The reason being is that I am trying to work on completing my other novel, The Alpha's Vixen by the end of this month so most of my focus is there. Nonetheless, I will be updating chapters here, but not as frequently, for the time being.
Stay safe, stay healthy! Sending all my love!