24. Trick or Treat

-   Alice, Cullen

Halloween was just around the corner and I was flitting around the house, checking everything off on my list with a faster-than human pace, but it wasn’t as simple as that. We still had so much to do, and to plan.

The crates of decorations I had ordered still hadn’t arrived and the delivery guy had phoned saying they wouldn’t be here until twelve – I looked at my watch, it was quarter to two. I pinched the bridge of my nose in annoyance. “I’m never putting my faith in humans again. These drivers will properly be asleep on the truck dash-board by now,” I hissed as I felt the clip-board bending and almost close to snapping in my grasp.

“Do you want to go hijack the truck?” Emmett bawled from the couch, punching the air.

We had become somewhat closer after I had played my trick on him; he strutted about in that Prince Charming costume for two whole days without taking it off after our dinner; he loved it.

“Actually I think that’s a good idea,” my eyes widened. “Take Edward and Rosalie with you.”

He looked at me furiously, “Aren’t you going to help? You’re the one that wants these decorations,” he growled. “And I doubt Edward is going to want to leave Bella today.”

“He can play husband another time.” I answered and put my hands on my hips. “And do you honestly think I don’t already have enough to do? Now go! I have to help Renesmee get ready for tonight.”

He scowled at me through narrowed eyes before calling for Rose and dashing outside and heading towards the cottage to grab Edward – even if he had to grab him by the collar of his shirt, that boy would help today.

“Alice,” Nessie’s angelic voice called from the stairs, “Are you coming to help me, or what?” she demanded. “I want to look perfect for Jacob.”

“Coming,” I chimed. Smoothing out my Dolce and Gabbana cotton dress, I trailed behind her shadow up the stairs and into Renesmee’s room. Esme had recently re-decorated it for her, since she had wanted something more grown up – her excuse was that now she was a teenager. A very fast growing teenager, regardless. The walls were washed a pale green, the large glass wall to my left letting the light soak into the pale wooden floor. Her bed covered with flowered blue sheets and silk pillows. She was perched on the edge, her hair a mass of brown tangles.

I sighed deeply. “You’re not giving me much to work with here,” I moaned, looking at the flat hair and figuring out how to style it. Nessie was dressing up to look like a member of the wolf-pack, even though Edward and I had agreed that it would be a ridiculous idea, but Renesmee had her own charms against Bella and we were persuaded otherwise. I would have had her as a miniature Buffy the Vampire Slayer – although she isn’t a child anymore so I would have no input to her costume choice.

“Sorry, I forgot to wash my hair last night after I came in from being with Jacob,” she apologized.

I patted her head softly. “Wait a moment,” I called over my shoulder as I ran to my massive bathroom – that adjoined mine and Jazz’s room – and gathered loads of hair products into a small toiletry bag then headed back to Nessie where I placed it her hands firmly and ushered her towards the bathroom. “Wash, rinse thoroughly, condition and lather it in properly. If you make a mess of it, I won’t be happy. Go, go, and hurry.”

“Is there an-” her protests were cut off when I shut the door and left her to her privacy.

While Nessie did as I instructed – hopefully – I walked slowly into my closest in our room and pushed away the clothes to reveal nine protective clothes bags in which held our costumes inside, everyone’s name sewn into the thin material so I knew which one they belonged to – although I could easily tell just by the smells of the different materials underneath the garment bags.

“Time to distribute costumes,” I hummed contently as I pulled everyone’s out besides mine and Jazz’s – which I left hidden – and danced to each room laying the costumes out one by one on their beds, being careful as the graceful material of a few was easily ripped under the powerful grasp of my fingers.

When I had just finished matching Carlisle’s costume together, I heard my brothers and sister parking the delivery truck outside. Seriously, they had to actually bring the truck rather than hitch-hiking a ride back with all of my decorations.

With my nerves already heightened and adrenaline live in my veins, I knocked on Renesmee’s bedroom and waited for an answer. “Come in, Alice,” she answered. I stepped inside and locked the door; she was wearing a pair of shorts and a tank-top, the white towel wrapped around her hair in a cocoon.

“Feeling any better?” I asked, fumbling around in my giant sack of cosmetics, searching for the spray tan. We had went shopping and got it matched so it wasn’t to light, or to dark on Nessie’s skin – I didn’t want my niece walking around looking as if she were sun-burnt.

“I actually needed that,” she giggled. “Although I miss the smell of pine-needles, they must have fallen into my hair while I was racing Jacob in the woods,” she laughed running her fingers through her damp hair.

I wrinkled my nose in disgust, “Aha, found it. Come on over here,” I beckoned Nessie over.

She looked uncertainly in the mirror. “Do you think it will look alright?”

“However much I would rather you dressed up as Tinkerbell or that silly Merryweather Fairy from Sleeping Beauty,” I said, spraying her from head to toe while she turned on her heels so the tan spread eventually. She snorted and rolled her eyes which said ‘I’m not a little kid anymore, Aunt Alice.’ “However, I do think you’ll look wonderful,” I added.

Her smile deepened and no more was said.

When we were finished, I demanded that she relax for a while, to make sure the spray tan didn’t smudge. “Don’t move,” I commanded her strictly. “If I see one inch of that tan moved when I come back in here to help, I will leave and get myself ready rather.”

“Alright,” she stated; settling in her blue blow-up seat in the corner with a magazine, her eyes rapidly scanning the pages.

With Renesmee settled for a while, I ran downstairs and inspected the boy’s depiction of Halloween Horror in the living room. Even in the matter of time I had been helping my niece, the room still looked as if it was almost finished. “Emmett, what are you doing? Those fake cobwebs go up here,” I chimed as I pointed to the joint of the wooden beams in the wall. My brother grumbled before hanging them up until they looked realistic – the cob webs were like thin pieces of strung cotton wool that was attached to the ceiling and dangled down like tentacles. The room was bathed in an eerie orange glow; the long mahogany table and chairs already set out. Bella and Carlisle threw the crisp white sheets over them so it gave an abandoned effect – kinda ironic really, since if people knew we were vampires they would be expecting dungeons and castles and maybe even moats.

“Alice,” Bella walked over, her eyes blazing. “Why did you get Emmett to come and drag my husband away?” Her voice an octave higher than usual.

I shrugged, “We needed some help. Relax Bella, you can have some precious time with Edward later, but right now we have loads to do.”

“Fine,” she stomped her foot and walked towards my brother. I loved her dearly, but sometimes Bella could be just so darn stubborn – like the time she nearly bit my head off because I threw away her old tracksuit bottoms and replaced them with lacy nightwear lingerie.

I stalked away to find Esme who was busy in the kitchen. The decorations in this room were far more outrageous. We had covered the walls and windows with large black drapes, covered the counters with manic-laughing pumpkins – their insides alight, the flames flickering behind their smiles – and close to the door there was a set of dark wooden shelves stocked full of rotten spices, poisons, skulls and bottles of unknown substances – all fake of course – and a statue of a cackling witch, her trusted flying broom and a bubbling cauldron full of a mysterious blue liquid. “Do you need any help?” I questioned Esme, jumping on top of the counter.

“No, thank you, dear, I’m quite content; with all of them decorating, I have time to cook. Those wolves are quite a hungry bunch,” she replied, with a motherly smile and patted me on the back.

With everyone busy but myself, I found myself back upstairs and knocked on Renesmee’s door again and entered. “Hey Ness, no-one needs my help so I thought I’d come and do your makeup now, instead of later.”

“Great, because I really need your help,” she cried, lunging from her armoire next to me. I held up two different bottles – one moisturiser and one concealer. “Honestly, I don’t know what the difference is,” she put her head in her hands doubtfully.

“In that case, I guess I do have something to do.”

We sat down on the floor of her room and did each other’s makeup, her skillful hands better at putting on eyeliner than my own, shockingly. With my makeup on, I had coated my niece’s lips in a shimmering layer of peach lip-gloss and covered her eyes in mascara; I brushed her cheeks with a pale pink blusher. She giggled at the feathery touch of the brush against her carved cheekbones.

“All done, do you like?” I held up the mirror so she could see her reflection.

She grabbed me into a tight hug, “Oh Alice, I love it. It’s perfect.”

“One last touch, shut your eyes,” I said. From my smaller make-up bag I pulled out a temporary tattoo I had had designed or copied for her. Despite hating the wolves somewhat, I had asked Jacob if I could borrow his arm so I could trace the La Push tattoo he has – I didn’t tell him why. I wet it against her skin and peeled the paper away, leaving the tattoo briefly marked onto the skin of her right arm. “Open up your eyes.”

She did as she was told, then gazed around unaware of it at first but then she saw the mosaic of thick black lines engraved into her arm. She looked as if she would have almost cried with joy. “Alice,” she whispered, stroking her arm where it was placed. “It completes the outfit. Thank you so much.”

“Off with your ‘thank you’s’ now and get dressed. It’s getting dark and we all need to get ready.”

Closing her door, I hurried off myself to get ready. I bumped into Jazz on the way to the room; he grasped me into his arms and pulled me away. A light chuckle escaped my lips as we glided inside of our room.

We were all gathered in the living room, Renesmee had rushed out early to meet with Jacob. I gazed at my family as they all wore their costumes, I giggled at the mere sight of us. Vampires dressed up. This must be a treat!

Edward and Bella were dressed as Cathy and Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights – they couldn’t have picked more boring characters in my own opinion – Edward wore a loose white shirt with a waist coat and blazer, black slacks (in the film Heathcliff looked like he owned quite a few pairs of man tights) and riding boots, his countenance as old in expression as Heathcliff’s. Bella wore an emerald green dress found commonly in the Georgian Era with her chocolate brown hair in soft coils down her back.

Rosalie was dressed as Alice, from Alice in Wonderland. Her long blonde locks in tight curls and flowing freely between her shoulder blades, a light blue dress with corset and a pair of white boots – minus the stockings.

Emmett on the other hand was the Mad Hatter – if you could see it, you would be bursting into tears of hilarity. He had the red wig, the old hat, and the charred brown costume worn in the 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland. I would be crying in laughter if it was possible.

And I thought I’d never see the day when Carlisle would dress up – but he had consented willingly. He was a mad scientist – with the lab coat, bright yellow rubber gloves and beakers of bubbling substances. Esme was his assistant, with blood-stained surgery robes – of course the blood was merely only ketchup – and the surgical mask.

Me and Jasper on the other hand, were dressed up to the best of our ability – myself having picked the costumes. Everyone already knew I would be dressing up as a famous actress or model, so coming downstairs as Audrey Hepburn didn’t surprise them that much – wearing my little black dress, Givenchy stiletto heels and a few bold pieces of jewellery. Jasper was Audrey’s late husband/lover Robert Wolders, and like any gentleman back in those days he was dressed in a black tux with a bow tie.

We heard Renesmee running through the fringe of  trees with Jacob before I smelt the disgusting smell of wolf. She raced towards the door and pushed it open, her brown eyes wide with bliss. “You have to see Jake’s costume,” she breathed deeply, holding her chest as she struggled to stop laughing.

“Wait up, Ness. I want to suck your blood,” he snickered, launching himself towards her, before battling Renesmee into the corner of the room.

“Oh no, someone save me,” she lamented sarcastically.

The pup’s costume even made me snort in silent laughter. He was in a black tux, with Dracula’s cape tied around his neck, his dark hair gelled backwards with plastic fangs in his mouth, painted red trickles of blood at the sides of his lips. “You look ridiculous,” I mocked. “Who are you trying to imitate, Ann Rice’s Louis?”

He barked a laugh, “I was trying to show you, what you should really look like.”

“How’s that working out for you,” Rose retorted sourly, her expression bitter in resentment. These two never get along very well.

“I have another joke for you Blondie: How do you make a blondes eyes sparkle? You shine a flashlight in her ear. Get it?”

Rose ground her teeth together and stalked into the kitchen with Emmett.

“So, are you’s ready to go or not? The pack is waiting down at the beach?”

For this one night – since I had persuaded Sam and invited the whole wolf pack to our place afterward for dinner – our family were allowed down to La Push, by the beach, for a campfire between ourselves.

We all nodded in agreement, Rose and Emmett reappearing from the kitchen, and then we all set off for the beach. Renesmee and Jacob last, since he didn’t want to phase and ruin his costume.

The moon hung in the air like a giant crystal ball and the stars were like shards of glitter glued in the sky. The pack were already sitting around the fire, we joined them a few seconds after we arrived. Most of them hadn’t even bothered to dress up – however, Sam and Emily had tried to dress up like a pair of star-crossed Western folk (as in a cowboy and a cowgirl) and Seth wore a skeleton mask and full-body costume (I actually like Seth, at least he tries!) and little Claire, Quill’s imprint, although still quite young wore a little bumble bee costume while her imprint was forced to wear her makeup.

“Ha! Did Claire have fun with your face today?” Jacob laughed as he walked towards us, Ness’s hand held firmly in his.

Quill held onto the struggling child as she cried for Renesmee’s company before he eventually let go and she hugged my niece around her neck – Nessie loved Claire like a younger sister. “I only wish she would understand I’m not much of a model.”

“Quil look pretty,” she cried, clapping her hands.

My family and I struggled for laughter. We had grew closer to the pack in the last few years, in which Jacob and Renesmee relationship grew – especially in the last few weeks – and now they kind of felt like an extended family, besides the fact we were natural born enemies.

As the night became darker; we all sat together, the flames bursting into different colours occasionally and talked like a real family, our chatter loud amongst the rustle of the trees. The pack came back to ours to for dinner; we served pumpkin pie, apples with slits in them which resembled a mouth with little teeth, cookies in various halloweeny shapes and Esme’s favourite to make, and the most popular amongst the wolf crowd – Dead Man Bones, which don’t be fooled, are sandwiches in the shape of a bone.

We had all sat around the table, Esme having placed three large candle holders on the table with spider webs clinging to them and lit the candles making the room look more paranormal and spine-chilling. The courses were served separately, and since we were in the company of the wolves we weren’t required to eat since the food vanished before my very eyes. The plates piled high with food soon being licked clean by Paul and Jared, their mouths full with more-than-their share of the food.

“Dam it, Shortie. I don’t know how you did this, but this room actually does look somewhat creepy. I get chills even just thinking about what lurks underneath this table,” Jacob spluttered, wiping his mouth.

I smiled, “It’s called having talent.”

“Have you changed the bedrooms into crypts as well?” Embry teased, raising an eyebrow.

Edward shuffled stiffly in his chair – what was he listening into now? My family was in silence, looking around the crowd, to them we could have looked somewhat mortified. “Alice wouldn’t go that far,” Carlisle responded to our silence, his face neutral. “We don’t sleep.”

“But we can use them for other things,” Emmett added and everyone burst out laughter. For once, he had the comment right where it was needed – however embarrassing it might be.

Overall, the decorations and our costumes were all highly appraised, I was happy to receive the compliments when it came to planning events. As a result, it was one heck of a night.

It was a trick or treat situation. And we got the treat.

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