The Red Guard: Vampire Hunters of Vatican City

Chapter Fifteen - Farewell and a Promise

Chloe stood in her room looking at herself in the mirror, making sure her habit was on perfectly. She could see no flaws in how she'd put herself together. She turned to the side and thought she looked like any other nun she saw walking around Vatican City. She jumped a little bit when Felicity tapped quickly on the door.

"Come on in," Chloe said with a sweep of her arm.

"You look good!" said Felicity with approval. "We just need to make a few adjustments. Let's be honest, a mother knows her child's face, nun's habitat or no nun's habit." Chloe nodded with her eyebrows raised. She supposed Felicity had that right. "I brought my makeup up kit. I figured we could make some adjustments to your face, just in case they happen to look your way."

"Why can't I just talk to them? That way they won't worry anymore," lamented Chloe.

"I know. I wondered about that, too, when I first changed. The thing is, there would still be questions. Families fight to get their loved ones back. Always... if they show this much interest, they won't go away easily. It causes too many problems and in the long run, Vatican City will do what it needs to do in order to protect its secrets. Your family may worry, but at least they'll be safe."

Chloe let that sink into her brain so that she could remember the words later when she burned to hug her mother and father. She felt her eyes sting with unwanted tears. She quickly sniffed and blinked her eyes before she turned to look at Felicity. She saw the makeup on the bed. "What are you planning to do?" she asked with keen interest.

"I think we can thicken your eyebrows and give you a mole or two," giggled Felicity. She actually giggled, which made Chloe roll her eyes good-naturedly.

"Okay, if you think that'll trick my mother, go for it," said Chloe. Felicity moved to pick up her eye-liner with an excitement that amused Chloe. "Felicity, what did you do before you joined the Red Guard?"

"I was taking aesthetics and makeup artistry in college. What you see right here is what I would have loved to do every day, making people beautiful. Except," she said with a curve of her lip, "in this case, I'm making you... well...less attractive. Sit down on the bed and be prepared for the unbelievable."

"It'll have to be pretty good to be 'unbelievable' at this point," observed Chloe as she sat down on the bed and turned her face up to Felicity.

Felicity smirked as she prepared to work her magic on Chloe's face. "I am going to make you look positively nunny." Felicity was almost giddy. Chloe felt the quick strokes on the pencil run across her brows. She sat as still as she could as Felicity's strokes moved slowly across her brow, seeming to go right through the middle.

"Really, a unibrow?" asked Chloe.

Felicity tittered, "Of course."

"My parents won't be the only ones staring at me. You're going to make me so homely that everyone will be staring at me. Why don't you try to make me less conspicuous?" Felicity thought about that for a moment. "Like, mole or unibrow, but not both."

Felicity agreed with a slight nod of her head, "You're right. I just wanted to see if I could actually make you ugly. But, yeah, everyone would be staring at you then. Okay. Would you rather have the mole or the hair?"

"I have to go with mole. Who would keep the hair if they had the choice?"

"You raise a valid point. Okay." Felicity dug out her makeup remover and applied some to a cotton pad. She carefully removed the offending makeup. "Still thicker brows, though, okay?" Chloe nodded. She felt Felicity apply a mole beside her nose. It took a few minutes. Felicity finally sat back a little bit and studied Chloe's face. "I think you look pretty average," she said with satisfaction.