Prettiest Vampire

Chapter VI: Lilian Alone

A/N: Once again, this chapter starts much like the previous two. Don't be fooled! This is the last time, I promise - Lori

Chapter VI: Lilian Alone

It was dark. Lilian walked through a gray mist, dressed only in her nightgown. Dark figures moved nearby, shrouded by the mist, always beyond her ability to discern. It wasn’t safe out here.

She had been here before, hadn’t she? She couldn’t remember. She listened but could only hear her own footsteps, her cold, bare feet slapping against the cobbled stones of the street. And something else – bells?

Not bells. A voice, a girl’s voice. She could hear her laughter, it seemed to come from all directions. She tried to listen to the voice, to find it. Over there, perhaps? Lilian moved forward, carefully feeling her way through the fog.

“Over here!” she heard the girl laugh, very close by. She must be near, but the fog was impenetrable. Lilian turned to the voice, and the mist began to lift.

Lilian saw the girl, so beautiful, standing in a window. She approached closely, the fog still obscuring her view. Just inches apart, she watched through the window as the girl’s lips parted…

“This way, Lilian,” she heard the girl say. “This is the way for you.”

Lilian looked at the girl, so familiar. She looked at the window separating them, looked to find the latch. Wait, not a window, a mirror…

Lilian’s reflection smiled and laughed, a laugh like tinkling bells. Then her eyes burst into flames…

“Ghaaa!” said Lilian, choking off a scream as he sat up in bed. Lilian looked about frantically.

The sun was up, high in the sky and streaming through the window. A bird chirped somewhere outside. There was no one with him. Everything was normal. So normal, that Lilian had to laugh at himself.

“What a night. What a nightmare,” he said to himself. Then he laughed as he remembered, “I dreamed I was a girl.”

Lilian swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat there, waiting for his brain to catch up with the rest of him. The bedclothes seemed to be wrapped about him and he struggled to get unwound. He smacked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and made a nasty face. What a terrible taste in his mouth this morning. He wanted to get downstairs, and have Maria bring him some juice.

Then suddenly it all came back to him, everything that had happened the night before, and Lilian realized just how much trouble he was in. Somehow, he was going to have to explain to Mr. Dilworth how he had lost another client!

And what was he going to do about his suit? His good suit, soaked from the rain, caked in mud. He only had one good shoe left, and he wasn’t just sure what had happened to his jacket. Maybe it was in the car. But his pants, he just dropped them in a heap last night. Lilian looked to find his pants –

Which weren’t there. They weren’t on the floor, anywhere. He looked around for his other clothes, the ones he had worn to the hairdresser’s. He was sure they had been left on the chair, but they were gone as well.

“I’ve been robbed,” Lilian said aloud. Then he thought about it and realized, “Wait, that makes no sense. Why would anyone break in and steal my dirty laundry? Oh wait, it must have been Maria! I’ll bet she came in to make sure my suit got cleaned before it was ruined.”

With that mystery solved, Lilian got up to get dressed. He went to get some clean clothes from his suitcase, which was –

“Gone? Would Maria take my suitcase?” he thought. But that didn’t seem entirely likely. “Why would she take my suitcase?” Lilian looked around, hoping for inspiration when his eyes settled on the dresser. “Maybe she unpacked for me.” Lilian looked in the dresser drawers to see if his clothes were there.

But they weren’t. Lilian stared at the contents of the drawer. There wasn’t much, but everything there was seemed to be – women’s clothing. Some panties, a white bra, a package of pantyhose.

“The last guest must have left these,” Lilian supposed, looking at the feminine articles of under-clothing. After all, he hadn’t actually looked in this drawer before. These may have been there all along. But then where were his things?

Lilian practically ran to the closet, even though it was just a few steps. Opening the door he found only one single item of clothing. Hanging in the center of the closet from a wire hanger was a dress. A short-sleeved mini-dress with a full skirt, in a stretchy blue fabric. Very cute, but very disturbing. That had not been there last night.

Was he in the wrong room? He didn’t think so, but how could he be sure? He couldn’t go downstairs and ask Maria, not in his pyjamas! Lilian looked down, and for the first time this morning realized what he was wearing –

“This is not my pyjamas!” he said aloud. “This was in my dream, but how? Where would I even get this?” he wondered. Lilian stared in confusion at the beautiful white chiffon nightgown he wore with its delicate, pink lace trim on the puff sleeves and along the neckline. A pink sash gathered the fabric at his waist, tied in a bow.

Lilian ran to the bathroom to see himself in the mirror.

“This is some kind of sick joke,” he thought.

Lilian looked into the mirror. His hair was long, straight, and thick, his lips were painted a delicate shade of pink. But his eyes, there was something wrong about his eyes. Yes, they were painted with eye shadow and liner, and his eyelashes darkened with mascara, but there was something more. Lilian stared deep into his own eyes, and saw flames. Suddenly the world spun around him...

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A/N: And with that, Lilian's long night is over. Stay tuned - a very short day is next  "^_^" 

BONUS! Lilian is going to start experiencing memory lapses, making for a very short day! Here's a preview of the next chapter:

Chapter VII: Lilian

“Watch out!” screamed Maria. Lilian lost his balance as the bar stool spun underneath him, toppling him over backwards. A hand steadied him, supporting him by his shoulders and setting him upright on the stool.

“You must be careful, young lady,” said Roddy as he made sure Lilian was balanced on his own.

“Yes, thank you,” said Lilian in confusion. “I was just… wasn’t I… I thought I was up in my…”