The Vampire Queen's Resurrection

CHAPTER FOUR: A ‘NORMAL’ GIRL

What did a normal girl do? Aaliyah wondered with her hands on her waist as she contemplated her options. She didn’t have an ID card or a passport, so any public adventure was out of question.

After the McDo dinner last night, she’d been politely shown to a guest room which happened to be on the same floor where Emir lived. But that was an understatement. The building was so huge that one floor consisted of several bedrooms and bathrooms.

Lennox Hills hadn’t disappointed her. The architecture was of the renaissance revival, adorned with sculptural decorations, deep corniches, and copious limestones façade. The interior was contemporary though which included heated swimming pools, duplex cinemas, and an integrated gym.

But without an identity card, that left her with nothing. Emir had left early that morning, and she hadn’t been able to ask him for anything else. He’d certainly left a note behind on the kitchen counter which read Don’t go out!

It was clear that he resented her very presence in his house. She would have to make herself scarce once she’d settled down. If only she could know the reason of his angry bitterness towards her, or the person she’d been in the past. Being the queen of vampires meant that she must have caused a great deal of harm to others. But what she couldn’t get was that he was the king of vampires too.

So, why was he behaving like she was the bad person, who’d done something terrible to him?

If only she had at least a phone or a laptop with internet, she could have done some research on vampires. So far, her only intrinsic knowledge of vampires she had was vague memories of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in their epic movie Interview With The Vampire. Which wasn’t much.

It was futile looking for her family – they would have been long dead by now. Loneliness cloaked over her, and she had a feeling that she was welcoming an old friend. It was a weird feeling and she shivered despite the warmth of summer.

She sighed as she stared outside the window. This was so complicated. She didn’t want to be ungrateful, but she wished to have remained dead. At least buried, she hadn’t been aware of anyone loathing her to such an extreme.

Outside, the breath-taking view left her unaffected as she envisaged the option of just walking away on her own. Wouldn’t she be better off alone? Images of resentful topaz eyes haunting her stopped her rebellious thoughts right away. Somehow, she knew deep down that Emir was deeply wounded by her and she wanted to make this right. For him.

Moreover, she was unfortunately in need of his help. She’d searched some drawers in her room but hadn’t any official papers that would give her an identity. Besides, even if she found her ancient identity card, it wouldn’t be useful to her. A dead person could hardly walk about, and he’d asked her to be called Skylar which would be suspicious if she went around with papers with a different name.

“Alright, Aaliyah. I’m sure that you have been in worse situations that this. So, what do we do?” she asked herself, blinking through the hot tears which had somehow scalded her eyes.

At that precise moment, the phone rang. She debated with herself whether to pick it up or not, when she jumped on the receiver in a last-minute impulse. “Hello?” she greeted tentatively.

“Sky!” a familiar voice sounded gleefully over the phone. “How are you holding up?”

She didn’t even bother answering him. How dared that arrogant presumptuous vampire treat her like she was n encumbrance? She would have cut the call short, but it was only sheer desperation which stopped her.

“Can I have some decent clothes to wear?” she asked through gritted teeth as she fought against another burst of maudlin self-pity.

There was a moment of silence before Emir replied in a grave voice. “You can pick anything from your ancient bedroom,” he said carefully. “In fact, I thought you would already have rummaged through your things by now.”

He would, wouldn’t he? Because Mr. Knows-it-all presumed to already know her based on her past life. Well, he was in for a huge surprise if he thought she was going to justify herself again.

“I didn’t,” she simply said. “Which one is her bedroom?” she asked politely, then bit her lips as she realized her mistake. She’d addressed her past self as a third person! Was it because she didn’t know that other version of herself well or because she didn’t consider the old Aaliyah to be like her? Emir didn’t seem to pick up the nuance, so she didn’t rectify her query.

“The one to the right of mine,” he replied automatically, before there was another awkward silence. “Skylar, please feel free to explore the house in my absence. I am sorry I had an important meeting with my agent which I was postponing because of you know. V-problems.”

If that was his attempt at levity, she was not impressed. “Thank you for allowing me to wander in the apartment,” she answered dutifully. “There’s one big problem though. I don’t have an ID with the name Skylar. That would be tricky if I want to do something…” she let the remainder of the sentence drift through the air, certain that he would pick up the meaning by himself.

“Yah I’ll take care of that,” his response was quick and brisk. “I know a guy who knows a guy who can forge passports and identity cards. We vampires need to change our identities often over the centuries.”

“I thought we weren’t supposed to discuss the v-word so openly?” she couldn’t help rebuking. How did rules only exist for her and not for him?

“Right. You’re right. That was a test.”

“Would it hurt to give me a compliment?” she asked wearily.

Another silence followed and Aaliyah would have disconnected the call when he sighed resignedly. “You’re right. I made a mistake. You’re starting to learn the basics. That’s good.”

“Thank you,” she quipped pointedly before pressing the red button on the phone with good measure. She didn’t need any man in her life, she would manage just fine after adapting to the currently insane situation.

How many women could pride herself over the fact that she’d retained her sanity after awakening from the dead and living in the same house with her ex? An ex who seemed to hate her from the bottom of his heart. Fine, the message was well received.

With squared shoulders, she crept to the bedroom he’d indicated and halted to gasp in elation. A ridiculously spacious sized room with peach-colored walls decorated with golden leaves with ivory marbles on top in stark contrast greeted her. There were four Doric columns at each corner. The floor was well-polished hardwood, most probably of red oak, and was painted with intricate gold patterns.

There were two large windows on the eastern wall allowing maximum sunlight to filter in. It was like her vampire self had defied the laws of blood predators not capable to remain in daylight.

That room was exquisite and perfectly up to her taste, which was not so strange considering that it was her old self which must have decorated it.

The walk-in closet was absolutely breath-taking, with a panoply of designer gowns and excessive accessories. She had trouble picking up a dress though. The designs were so elaborate and grandiose that didn’t seem to fit her. She frowned. Something was wrong here. When she could relate to the old Aaliyah, there were a some of her taste which she found too extravagant.

Weren’t they supposed to like the same thing?

Sifting through the clothes, she finally picked a pair of jeans and a simple white tank top. That would do. It looked old, and she brought it closer to sniff a natural scent of lime and peach. It smelled familiar. She found sexy lingerie in the top drawer and didn’t even bother looking for ‘normal’ ones.

The bathroom was two feet away, and she could not resist the temptation. Besides, she had the full approval of the owner, right? She hadn’t wanted to trespass unknown territories this morning. It felt weird walking around the house without permission.

Last night hadn’t been easy for her as she had slept in her Mary Denette’s gown. The morning hadn’t been too fruitful either as she’d found herself on her own. But removing that old crap from her body felt like shredding a character.

She wasn’t certain whether it was an old piece of crap or a memento for her old self, therefore she folded the cloth carefully in the wash basin. There must have been a reason why Aaliyah Stoneheart had worn that old dress when buried if she’d died only three years ago.

Then she took out a pair of scissors and chopped off a large chunk of her hair which looked like a nest on top of her head. It turned out she knew how to give herself a haircut.

When she dipped her naked body in the Jacuzzi, the warm water floated around her in a moment of pure bliss. It felt so good to feel that soothing effect on her, and she leant her head against the tub to close her eyes.

It was pure bliss. Pure utter bliss. She didn’t know about the times before, but this must be the first time that a bath had been so perfect.

Time flew by as she dozed off inside the tub, and when she woke up, she had the uncanny impression that someone had been watching her. It spooked as the water was transparent, and she wrapped herself in a large towel quickly to tiptoe inside the room.

Scared, she looked around for a presence but found none. It must have been her imagination working overtime again. She shrugged off the premonition and wandered further inside the room still maintaining a certain level of caution.

It was then that the full-length mirror caught her attention. And her reflection. Which made her stop right in her tracks as she examined herself critically in the mirror, her nose lifted in self-analysis.

Her black raven hair had been cut shoulder-length already drying up in a straight sleek veil to surround her face. A face which was small and angular heart-shaped framed with huge golden yellow topaz eyes. Her skin was creamy white and flawless, and that was surprising given she had lived for centuries. Must be the power that vampirism had injected in her.

With morbid curiosity, she c****d her head to the left to examine herself further, eyes squinting when she detected a small scar near her lips. It was so faint that it was barely perceptible. But that movement brought her close to her own reflection, and her eyes fluttered upwards to meet the ones in the mirror.

Suddenly, a depiction of the same face with a faint hue of red flared in front of her which made her flinch away from the mirror.

“You look exactly like her when we first met,” a voice drawled behind her, making her jump out of her skin.