A Vampire Named Rose

Chapter Sixteen

The battle between Gabriel and I has turned into a grudge match. He may pull all sorts of "privileges" with him being my sire, but it will only get him so far.

Svetlana had the first idea. "Rose, we are going to redo your look. It's too obvious. What I say is we dye your hair from your natural light brown to black. We need to experiment with different hairstyles and let's pick something different for makeup.

You said it yourself, you toned down what you wore for makeup when you joined the Navy. Let's start back up with the habit of full makeup instead of just using one of your bright lipstick.

In public; unless it is dark, bad weather or you are indoors; sunglasses stay on at all times. Let's go so we do not torment Pavel too much."

"Yes, rescue me from the shopping fiend."

"Do not worry my dear Pavel, I will save you. Go have fun while I deal Svetlana. Escape while you still can."

Pavel bolted out of the suite. Svetlana gave me a dirty look.

"Just for that, you will be my personal doll, Rose."

We left not long after that and the salon we went into is vampires only.

"I do recommend black and we will add waves. It is something current and is not too hard to create on your own.

Rose, the color will disappear in six months. You will need to have to find come back in for another application. Since you are very young, coloring your hair will not result in any damage even though it no longer grows.

I do recommend not cutting it because you can have the most style options with a longer length. Your hairstyle is not too dated to cause any problems with the humans. I know you may comfortable with a certain style, but you will not be able to use it forever. How often do you wash your hair?"

"I wash it every day because of the hairspray that I use to get it out."

The next woman I went to is Maria where I had a makeup lesson in how to stay current without it looking tacky. I was introduced to eyeliner which I have never used before.

Everything basically became an extension of Svetlana's closet with what she picked out from dresses, skirts, even sunglasses. Svetlana is a little more fashion-forward, a little more flamboyant in her clothing choice. Mine is still Los Angeles glam girl. We borrow each other's clothes all of the time. I am grateful for her help, but I could tease my friend.

"Svetlana, you just wanted a bigger closet without Pavel saying anything to you."

The look on her face was priceless. "I am just teasing you Svetlana. I thank you for kicking my six into the changing room to try on things that I would not try on and these are only the vampire designers that we shopped from. Now let me give you Rose Hall's school of finding great outfits that do not come from a designer that is in a fashion magazine tomorrow. We need to go check in with Pavel."

"Yes, knowing Pavel he has gone to some rare bookstore or a library."

We made it back to the hotel suite when Pavel saw all of the boxes and bags.

"What did the two of you do? Did you buy out Milan?"

"No, we are only halfway through our shopping dearest brother of mine. So what did you do today?"

"I found a library, one that is not open to humans. That is rare. The last time when I came across one was when Svetlana and I lived in St. Petersburg. You two need to come with me tomorrow because they have a huge collection of books.

I have been studying the American Revolutionary War in general. It will help track Gabriel's final years as a human. His sire may have stalked him for years too.

I do have some information on him. It is not anything from the Revolutionary War. He arrived in London in 1800. In London, he attended Oxford University to study law. He graduated at the top of his class.

There is a brief mention of a vampire named Thomas. Thomas was a classmate of his and he became a politician. It was to keep the activities of the vampire community under the rug a.k.a. cover up their flamboyant attacks on humans. That is what I have so far."

"Pavel, we will need to go to London. There will be more information on him there. We may even come across someone who knows him. It is a risk; but if someone will talk, they may be a wealth of information. I suspect that he may have had a political career."

Svetlana just grinned. "Well, we finally have fired our shot. We will unravel his life in Britain, it will lead us elsewhere. Making his world fall in around him will be just as bad as giving his soul back.

There is something you do need to know about soulless vampires. Females are just as guilty. I believe you can call your sire a whore because most likely he has slept his with a good portion of London's upper-class women. He may have forced himself on many of them because he is a soulless monster.

Right now he will be avoiding the attention of female vampires because he will want to prove that he will be faithful. Claimed mates do not have relations with other vampires. I do know that.

You did say briefly that your sire took a shot at Pavel and I because we are so young. Young we may be, stupid we are not. We had plenty of help in Rome. The soulless vampires do not know the full details of how the Vatican helps us. We may be uncharted territory as far as we know with you, we just need opinions outside of the Vatican.

Right now where you can not shut Gabriel out from your mind, use this against him. He likes to talk. Let him talk because the more we know, the more we can use this against him."

"I agree. I have have been using it against him since I know my father's interrogation methods. I think he underestimates me because I am just a woman. He has provided some of the best information when he has harassed me. My sleep will be the sacrifice, but I know how to deal with sleep deprivation. I think he will start to get more aggressive in his pursuit. Now we wait for him to move his chest piece."