Chapter 28: Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Transformation

Anaya’s P.O.V:

“Did you find anything?” I asked hesitantly the next morning as Lance stood in front of a large rack of suits in varying colors.

“We found the woman who’d held me up, but no sign of your father.” Lance told me. “We’re trying our best to find something, but it seems like the work of a professional. No DNA traces, no fingerprints, nothing. If it weren’t for the footprints on the floor, we’d have thought there wasn’t anyone there at all.”

“I see…”

Honestly, I was confused as fuck. Why was my father surfacing after ten whole years? If he was alive, why didn’t he come back? Is he associating with the mafia or something?

“Come to think about it, the only people I’ve seen to be that clean about something are hunters.” Lance muttered to himself, almost like an afterthought.

“Hunters?” I asked. Who were they?

“Yeah…they’re the ones who take down rouges, the ones who don’t follow the rules of our society.” Lace told me as he came to sit on his bed next to me. “They’re the law bringers, the Incubi version of police, if you may.”

“But my father wasn’t an Incubus…not that I know of.” I mused.

“They don’t have to be Incubus, just have some Incubus blood running through their veins.” Lance explained. “Sometimes, Incubi and humans can have children and those children and become special. They can see the life energies of people just as we can but they don’t need to feed the same way we do. They become Hunters, bringers of justice. They make sure no Incubus crosses their line and kills any human during feeding.”

I took a minute to absorb that. There was so much that I needed to know and Lance keeping information from me wasn’t helping. However, one information got stuck in my mind. “So Incubi and humans can have babies?”

The information made me both hopeful and nervous. What if Lance had had children in the past? Does he keep contact with them? Does he even know he has children?

“Anna, don’t go there.” Lance’s voice was harsh. “Damnit! I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Why?” I snapped. “You keeping things from me can be dangerous for both of us. And why didn’t you tell me that you could’ve probably have children before?”

“The less you know the less trouble you’ll get into,” Lance fired back. “And I do not have any children. Incubi are only fertile for a very short period every year and I’ve never fed on anyone during that time; so I’d have known if I had a child. Besides, immortals can only have kids after their two hundredth year.”

“Oh…”

“And also,” his voice wasn’t as harsh but just as firm. “Women who have Incubi children don’t survive childbirth. The baby sucks all the life out of the mother just before its birth.”

I froze; his words kept reverberating in my mind. Were the mothers even aware that the child inside could kill them? But the answer was just as simple. If Lance and I were to have children, then I’d rather die than let any harm come to our child. At least that way, he’ll have a piece of me with him.

“Are the children immortal?” I asked.

“Yes, but only the direct descendents. The ones who come after by mating with other mortals, they’re mortals with a little extended lifespan.” Lance explained. “Now, go get ready. I’ve called a make-up artist and hair stylist for you. And they just stepped out of the elevator.”

“How did you know that?” I asked suspiciously, just as the bell rang to our suit.

Lance smiled one of his rare smiles before tapping at his ear with one hand.

I grudgingly got up from the bed and headed straight towards the door. Two people, one woman in a short blue dress and platinum blonde hair and another man in black jeans and t-shirt with a jacket that had a splash of every color imaginable and bright pink hair, were waiting outside the door.

“Hiiii!” The girl waved excitedly. “I’m Annabelle and this is Tobias. And we’re here to make you the showstopper for the event!”

“Ummm…okay,” I said unsurely and moved out of the way to let the pain come inside.

“Nice!” Tobias whistled. “Now, we have five hours before the event starts, which is very less time in my opinion. Let’s get this show started, shall we?”

I led the group into my room where they instantly got down to business. The placed their bags, which I hadn’t noticed until now, down on the bed and began taking out various beauty products. Within five minutes, my room had been transformed into a mini beauty parlor.

“Have you taken a shower yet?” Annabelle asked me as she took out a complicated looking hair curler.

“Yeah, just an hour ago,” I told them while pointing to my still damp hair.

‘Hmm…let me take a look,” Tobias came over and took a strand of my hair rubbed it between his fingers. “Good. Your hair is of great quality, but the shampoo won’t do.”

“Yes, we need to make sure everything’s perfect.” Annabelle nodded in agreement. “That mean a shampoo with the best herbal products, a mani-pedi, waxing and a facial and well also have to trim those eyebrows and oh! I almost forgot the massage!”

The next four and a half hours passed by in a blur. Annabelle and Tobias were professional down to the core, which is why the waxing didn’t hurt as much, but other than that, I had to undergo every kind of procedure that I never thought I’d need in my entire life. But in the end, it all turned out perfectly fine. My skin was free of hair, my face felt smooth and nourished, there was no ache anywhere in my body, (who would have thought that a massage could work such wonders?), my hair was curled into ringlets around my face, and they had even dyed some of my hair blonde to add a few highlights. And then they’d done my makeup for almost half an hour, using various products that I’ve never even heard the name of.

“You look gorgeous!” Annabelle sighed dreamily as she looked me up and down with misty eyes.

Tobias wasn’t any better, either. If possible, he seemed ready to bawl his eyes out. “Yes! You’re our greatest masterpiece!”

“Umm…can I have a look?” I asked unsurely. The first thing that the duo had done after setting up their supplies was to cover up all mirrors in the room. This is why I still haven’t been able to have a look at what I might look like. I was pretty sure I looked beautiful with the amount of effort they’ve put into it, but I was still itching to know how I looked.

And just like the previous nine times I had asked, Tobias and Annabelle shook their heads firmly. “You’re almost done, sweetie. I’m sure you can resist the urge for another few minutes. It’s finally time to put on the dress!”

The dress! Shit! We never got the dress from Chloe, did we? What am I supposed to wear now? “Annabelle, I don’t think I have a dress? Wait, I do have an old one, it might be a little out of style but it’s pretty goo-“

“Nonsense!” Tobias cut me off. “You have the most gorgeous dress ever! Why would you wear something that’s out of style?”

“I do?” I asked confused. “Where?”

“Oh! Just a second!” Annabelle skipped over all the products lying on the floor, headed to my closet, and flung the doors open to reveal a dress bag that I hadn’t noticed this morning. “Here we are!” She brought the bag over to me, miraculously skipping back over everything with the large bag in her hands. “Go try it on in the bathroom. Your underwear is inside this bag.”

I got up from my seat, carefully avoiding nail contact with anything as I walked over to Annabelle to take the bag.

“Oh, don’t worry, the nail polish is dry. We used the quick drying product on you.” Annabelle told me while handing over the bag. I took a peak at my black nails that had a metallic gold line down the centre of them and decide not to test my luck. Carefully, I walked inside the bathroom and shut the door. “NO PEAKING!” Annabelle yelled from behind.

“Great!” I muttered under my breath as I saw that there was no chance I’d be able to get a sneak peak anyway. The bathroom mirror was covered with some black material that appeared to have been nailed shut on all four sides.

Sighing, I took off my bathrobe and my underwear and unzipped the bag to reveal the most gorgeous black dress I’ve ever laid eyes on. This was certainly not the dress I’d chosen at Chloe, but there was no way I was going to turn it down. It looked like a dress Cinderella would wear, only in black. It had a sweetheart neckline with off the shoulder lace sleeves and the body of the dress was tight fitted until the waist before it flared out into a skirt form the waist down. The gown had a top layer of lace and what looked like Swarovski crystals embedded in them that made the gown catch the overhead light and scatter them into tiny beams all over the walls.

I carefully placed the dress on the counter and put on the lacy black strapless bra, panties and stockings that came with the dress before finally putting on the dress. It was a perfect fit and it made me feel like a Princess. I could almost picture myself gliding down the stairs of a castle, while my Prince waited for me at the end of the stairs, mesmerized by my beauty. And who else would my Prince be other than Lancelot Eustis. Since he was already a Prince, it had me wondering if he had a Castle somewhere and what it looked like.

“Are you ready?” Tobias called out from the other side of the door, breaking my chain of thought.

I took a deep breath. “Yes.” I said and stepped out of the room.

Three collective gasps had me searching for the third person in the room and it was pretty easy to spot the person who was had just entered the room. “Mary!” I called out to Marissa who literally flew all the way over to hug me.

“Oh My God! I can’t believe it’s really you, Anna!” Mary gushed while I gave her a twirl. “Lance is so gonna faint once he sees you!”

“I don’t know about Lance, but a lot of people at the party will definitely go gaga over you.” I told her. Mary was wearing a silk floor length gown in aquamarine and it highlighted the green in her eyes. Her red hair was pulled up in a stylish updo and she was wearing a gorgeous diamond necklace to go with it.

“Honey, have you looked at the mirror yet? Because if you had, you wouldn’t be telling me this right now.” Mary told me skeptically.

“No, actually I haven’t.” I told her truthfully just as Annabelle sang from behind me, “It’s time for the big reveal!”

I turned to face her but instead, I was facing a woman I’d never seen before. The woman staring back at me was gorgeous with her hair in tight curls around her shoulders, porcelain white skin with smoky eyes and sinister red lips and a dress that made her look confident and sensual. It took me a while to realize that the woman staring back was actually my reflection in a full-body mirror. It was impossible to believe that it was really me.

“Wow...” I breathed. “I can’t believe it’s really me. Thanks guys.” I told Annabelle and Tobias as they came to stand behind me.

“Oh, we hardly did anything sweetie!” Annabelle said while fluffing up my curls. “It’s all you. You have an inner beauty that shines through, all we did was dust off the surface.”

“True. And we’re here to make sure no one spoils your night.” Tobias said as he put a pendant around my neck and secured the chain at the back. “It’s a special necklace. Make sure you don’t take it off. It’ll warn you of any approaching dangers.”

The pendant was a single tear shaped black diamond place on a thin gold chain. The diamond was quite large, almost twice the size of an almond, but there was something about it that felt unusual.

“How is this stone supposed to warn her of dangers?” Mary asked before I could.

“Well, because it’s imbued with magic, of course!” Annabelle told us as if it were the most obvious of things.

“Magic? As in, real magic?” I asked.

“Oh dear!” Tobias and Annabelle exchanged a concerned look. “Did His High-I mean, Lancelot not tell you about us?”

I was pretty sure Tobias was about to say His highness, so I took a chance with them. “We know that he’s an Incubus. But I didn’t know they can use magic.”

My statement seemed to relax them both. “Sweetie, we’re mages.” Annabelle said. “Sorcerers? Witches?” She asked when both Mary and I gave them blank looks. “Oh dear, you have so much to learn.”

“We’re like the witches in your drama shows, only a lot cooler and less evil.” Tobias explained. “That’s all we can tell you. But we’re only one of the many creatures that you’ll know about, so don’t sweat it. Lancelot will tell you when the time is right.”

“Wow. There are more creatures?” Mary shivered. “Like demons and ghosts and gargoyles?”

That made the duo burst out laughing. “Demons, I can guarantee. But ghosts and gargoyles? I’m pretty sure those are just stories people make up to scare little children.” Said Tobias.

“Says the one with the magic wands.” I muttered under my breath, but apparently, not low enough.

“Sweetie, we don’t own magic wands.” Annabelle told us. “The Earth has an endless supply of energy, and we can borrow some of that and put it to good use. Conversion of energy, you must have read about it in school?” When we both nodded, she continued on. “That’s how real magic works. Anyways, just know that we’re mages and that the pendant will change colors when you’re near any danger. It’ll change to a bright red when someone with harmful intentions is approaching you but if it’s a bit on the bluish side, then it’s simply jealousy or anger, nothing to worry about.”

“Alright, I’ll remember that.” I smiled at her.

A knock sounded at that instant, making us all turned towards the door. “Anna? Are you guys done?” Lance’s impatient voice followed.

“Wait!” Mary held me back before I could take one step. “Not like this! Let him wait a few more seconds before he sees you.”

With that, Mary, Annabelle and Tobias all walked out of the room, closing the door on their way out. I sat down on the bed with the skirt flared out and I arranged my hair one last time before calling out to Lance. “Come in.”