Chapter 22

“Don’t start dragging her into your antics,” Bart groans.

“Oh, don’t be such a sourpuss Bart,” chuckles Rebecca. “Baby Vamp’s got to learn every bit of it, doesn’t she? And this is by far one of the best parts of our new nature…”

“Still,” says Cata, looking a bit worried. “She’s barely learned how to feed herself, she’s a bit too young for this…”

“I’m not some clueless virgin, Cata,” I reassure her. “…But seriously? Arousal makes blood taste better?”

“So much better,” Cecily purrs.

“That guy’s blood was good, wasn’t it?” Rebecca smiles. “It’s a chemical reaction that makes the humans’ blood even better, and even attracts us vampires to them. It’s like a conditioned response, like some creatures are naturally attracted by some smells or pheromones of their partners or prey, we are attracted by the healthy, excited humans. You’ll find we’re less attracted to intoxicated or ill ones, because their blood is less filling for us.”Daily Latest update www.noveljar.com Damn, that seems true. Thinking back, the guys from the bar were definitely excited by me, but the cheap alcohol they were intoxicated on helped minimise my thirst. I can’t help but lick my lips. Scott was a disgusting character, but his blood was the most delicious I’ve had since I transformed, and by far…

“You should have seen, back in the day,” chuckles Cecily. “There used to be some mean parties going on, with lots of sex and blood…”

“Your orgies almost got us in a lot of trouble is what you forget to mention,” hisses Bart, sitting next to me on the couch. “Or did you already forget Richard had to intervene before we got exposed?”Daily Latest update www.noveljar.com Now, I’m curious what that’s about… Although from the grimaces Cecily and Rebecca make, I’ll take a guess that it is not the first time the duo of vampire ladies got in trouble. Perhaps that explains why they were so hands-off with me too. I probably wouldn’t have been able to get away if it had been Bart or Swithin watching me yesterday.

“Pleasantries aside, Darling, those pictures are quite amazing,” says Lancelot, staring at the screen of my laptop. “The lad took some good pictures but more than that, you do have some real talent!”

I can’t help but feel a little proud hearing his praise. It’s the first time in a while that I’ve worked, and been sincerely praised for what I did. For a while, everyone in the living room reviews the pictures with me, arguing about the best ones to keep for my book as a model. Scott the Bastard actually had time to take hundreds of shots before I bit him, so there are plenty to choose from, and everyone gets quite interested.

“You shouldn’t have let him take some in your panties,” groans Bart. “The man’s a pig.”

“Let’s just delete them,” nods Rebecca, suddenly taking the laptop from me.

Before I can argue, she quickly deletes the most “naked” pictures of me, and even argues about a couple more that Lancelot or Bart are speaking against. I have to admit, I’m a bit amused to see my hundreds of years-older siblings trying to protect the naive twenty-five years old I am. Or perhaps it’s their more conservative views speaking, but none of those pictures of me in underwear are nearly as racy as blood orgies…Daily Latest update www.noveljar.com In the end, I’m left with a pretty impressive stack of about a hundred pictures that everyone agreed on, and Cecily sets herself next to me in the living room to start editing them. I have to admit, although I’ve seen that process a couple of times, I know literally nothing about photo editing, but it quickly proves to be more interesting than I thought. Rebecca has work to do so she leaves us to it, while Bart, uninterested, just starts playing on his phone at one end of the sofa, and Cata goes back to the kitchen, only coming back regularly to pour us some tea. To my surprise, Lancelot is surprisingly knowledgeable in photography and modelling as well.

“I did some work as a model, a while ago,” he explains. “Turns out there is a lot of money to be made even when you’re a bit of an aged wine…”

Cecily rolls her eyes.

“Please spare us another story, Lance. If your ego inflates any more than this, it’s going to explode…”

I have fun listening to them bicker, but I’m more focused on the actual work at hand. Are those photos really going to be enough? I’m barely learning to accommodate and learn from my new body. I clearly remember taking those pictures just tonight, but the killer with her gorgeous red hair, lean body and burning stare in there still feels like a bit of a stranger to me. I tried to copy what I thought a model should act like, who I thought Hera would act like…

“You don’t like them?”

I suddenly realise Cecily’s caught on to my strange expression. I shake my head.

“No, they’re fine.”

“Fine?” She scoffs. “I’m jealous of you right now, and that’s despite loving absolutely everything about myself. I’m never going to grow those inches nor have that body type, Hera. You should feel blessed with what you have. I don’t know how underappreciated you’ve been until now, but it’s about damn time you start to realise your talent. You can afford to be your own product. Most humans out there spend hundreds trying to be prettier, taller, thinner, or whatever is the decade’s trend. You are a beautiful piece of woman, Baby Vamp, so own it. You nailed that photoshoot and even got a bastard bleeding.

Don’t you dare think this is only half good as it is.”

Her words hit me like a truck. I can’t remember the last time I’ve genuinely appreciated something about myself. …Why was I feeling like this body wasn’t mine? Sure, the vampire glow-up helped, but it is still my body. It’s not so different from the one I had just a week ago. It’s the same height, the same features, and the same person inside.

Hera isn’t… somebody else. She’s me, a new me born from the ashes June left behind. Like… Yeah, like a butterfly out of its chrysalis. There’s no shame in being different. Some people go on diets, some people wear makeup or change their hair color. Some get fake tan, some bleach their teeth… I’m not so different. I’m just the next best version of myself.Daily Latest update www.noveljar.com “Thanks, Cecily.”

“You’re so welcome. Now, as touching as this was, can we go back to business? I’m only in picture five and we need a good number of these to upload to your instagram and prepare your book…”

I nod, and we get back to it. Although Cecily does most of the actual editing work, giving me lots of tips along the way, so does Lance. She also gives me a dozen references of videos and books I should check out to learn more. Lancelot is even more surprising. While Cecily has to tell him a few times to re-center the story back to me, he is incredibly knowledgeable about the fashion industry. He quotes some of the biggest names in the industry like they are just beginners, and from what I gather, he’s been invited to at least a dozen of the most famous runways. Before I know it, we spend a good portion of the night talking about photoshoots, agencies, the history of the modelling industry, and everything I should know before trying to pass for a model. I’m enjoying this more than I thought, and before sunrise, I even get into some practice with Lance acting as my coach, telling me how to pose, ways to please the camera and all the basics of modelling. I don’t think I’ve learned this much from the few gigs I got back when I was an actress. The more we speak, actually, the more I realise I could have done a lot more modelling even when I was just an actress. I mean, isn’t it common to find some actress on the cover of a magazine, or acting as a model for some brand? Yet, I never got to do any work outside of the agency. More proof that Charles was micromanaging everything I did…

“Alright,” Cecily smiles after a little while. “I think we got something to work with right there. I’m just going to take some of these, post it on your instagram with a few hashtags, and get it running.”

“Will that be enough?” I frown.Daily Latest update www.noveljar.com “Of course not!” She sighs. “This is just laying down the base, Hera. Moveover, it’s not like we’re really trying to sign you with an agency, we just need to make it look like you could have. So, we need to build you a mini-career as a model, and make sure you can act the part from there on.”

“We’re going to need to have you shoot some fake photoshoots you would have done with that agency Swithin will be building,” Lance nods.

“The agency is ready.”

We turn around, and Swithin just walked in, his tablet in his hands, showing us some website page of what looks like a really believable agency. He shows it to me, and sure enough, under their “signed model” tab, I see my brand new profile picture, along with a few other unknown faces.

“My contacts already have it all ready,” he says. “The other models don’t exist but we somehow created a minimum of background on each of them, just in case he has the idea to look for them. The paperwork is shallow, but we covered enough of our tracks so it will look believable to anyone from the general public.”

“You made Benedict the Agency director?” I frown, showing the staff pictures.

“We need someone to be able to act the part if he ever gets too curious,” Swithin shrugs. “Officially, the agency is under his name too, although I used a fake name for him.”

Indeed. Benedict is listed as Agency Director Benedict Ricci, twenty plus years in the industry, with a small paragraph of achievements, most of those probably fake. I see he also listed Vivian, one of the Heartgraves I’ve yet to meet, as the Agency Public Relations Manager… Aside from those two, all the other people listed there are unknown, but I suspect some of them might be real.

“Officially, I will be Hera’s uncle who is helping her sue her previous agency for unpaid contracts and a long list of other management issues,” he explains. “Charles Williams already scheduled his visit for later today, at eleven in the morning.”

“Already?” I exclaim.

I didn’t think I’d see that bastard so soon!

“We’re the one pressing him,” Swithin shrugs. “Plus, we need to trap that bastard before he can put a finger on your assets, remember? We have a whole lot to do if we want to expose him and get your revenge, Baby Vamp, hence why we’re getting started and we have to act fast for absolutely everything. Cecily, how is her profile coming along? I need more of her pictures.”

“I’m on it, you workaholic,” she groans. “I can send you a few more this morning.”

“Send them to Anna. She will go and get two framed for my office. I need to make Williams curious about Hera, so this will help. Hera, go get changed.”

“Changed for what?”

“A daylight outing. It might not be pleasant, but your ex-fiancé is landing in a bit over three hours and we need to be ready before that.”

I feel a rush of adrenaline all of a sudden. I didn’t realize we spent most of the night on those pictures, and chatting about my new hypothetical modeling career. I run back to my bedroom, and under Cecily’s advice, I pick a white turtleneck, a beige coat and leather pants with boots, a cap and glasses to hide my face. While getting ready, I can’t help but feel the nervousness rise. Charles is coming to England.

The man who pushed me to my death, ruined my life and made it miserable for months is coming here.

…What the fuck am I going to do? The rage surges again. I’d be able to kill him, I think. The mere thought of everything I have endured until now is driving me crazy. I stuff the cap on my head and the large glasses on my face, and run downstairs. I find not only Swithin but also Bart waiting for me. The first one added an elegant hat and a long coat, while Bart’s face is hidden under an oversized hoodie, and he also put some sunglasses on.

“You’re coming?” I ask, surprised.

“Baby Vamp still needs some proper supervision,” he shrugs. “And since babysitting is my only option for going out…”

I chuckle, but I’m sure he’s more than happy to come. Meanwhile, Cecily sighs in the living room.

“I’m going to keep working on those, but no offense Hera, if I see more of your pictures after sunrise, I might murder you when you come back. I need my beauty sleep. Swithin, don’t you dare email me after sunrise.”

“As long as you get what we need from you before then,” coldly retorts Swithin. “Lancelot?”

“I’m on it! Just making a few calls, sending a few emails, we should have a couple of gigs for our Baby Vamp lining up by morning…”

“You’re really getting me work?” I ask, a bit excited.

“I’m trying to, darling!”

“We’ll see when we come back,” says Swithin. “Hera, let’s go.”

I nod, and follow him outside. Soon enough, I’m back in the silver car, with Bart in the back seat, and we get in the busy London traffic. I guess we’re reaching the normal morning time for humans, so the traffic is quite heavy. We make a quick stop so Swithin actually shows me his office in south London. I didn’t think it would be a real thing, but it is. He has a proper office, with even his own gold nameplate with his actual name on it. To think you can find members of the Heartgraves family so easily feels strange to me… We only make a quick stop, though. Just enough so I’d be familiar with the place, as his niece should. Then, we’re back into the car and on the way to the airport.

I get gradually more nervous as we get closer. I’ve got so many different feelings surging like various waves. Anger, Worry, Fear, Angst, and more Anger. I don’t know what to expect. I don’t know how to react, what to say. Swithin keeps telling me I’m not supposed to make contact, only watch Charles from afar and help him identify whoever he possibly came with. I can’t say how much distance will be needed between him and I…

When Swithin finally parks, it feels all too soon. We step outside, in the sunrise, and I can’t help but grimace, turning my back to the sun. It’s too fucking bright… Thank goodness for the sunglasses.

Without a word, we quickly walk inside, towards the International Arrivals Hall. Once inside, Swithin glances at the board.

“Shit, they landed early… You two, go.”

Bart grabs my arm, and gently pulls me towards the elevator. A couple of minutes later, we are standing on the concourse, with a great view of the people arriving from the different flights, but they would have to raise their heads to actually pay attention to us. Bart bought us a couple of coffee, although I really don’t need the caffeine. It just tastes fine to my new taste buds, and I’m glad to have something to hold on to while we wait…

I glance down, and Swithin is standing there, holding out his tablet with Charles’ name on it. Was he supposed to meet him at the airport?

“…Relax,” Bart mutters, giving me a little elbow bump. “You’re tense and standing too still.”

“You should be glad I’m not running down there to kill him myself…”

He chuckles, but doesn’t add anything. I pull the cup to my lips, forcing myself to sip. …Calm down, calm down. There’s at least a couple more minutes before the flight from New York City releases its passengers, they literally landed just minutes ago, plus the border control time… While I’m trying to distract myself by glancing around, my eyes stop on a tall, male figure. He’s standing in front of the doors.

“Fuck,” I mutter.

This time, there’s no mistake.

It’s Rick.

*Author Note: Thanks for reading!