This Time Of Year
Written by: wizardtho
Story dedicated to: Bella MacLeod
Chapter 13:
Though I knew I was naked in front of an extremely sexy male, my sire kept my attention on other things as he walked us both into my shower. It helped that he kept his eyes on mine.
I sighed as soon as the water started rinsing the tainted blood from my hair. Demetri smiled slightly while running his fingers through my hair, then asked, “Talk to me about the colors. Help me understand what your mind sees. Maybe we can make sense of this.”
I scowled as he started shampooing my hair, trying to find words. When I couldn’t find a sane way of explaining, I just started talking. “It’s like the colors cling the air around the person when I see them… but I can think of a face and kind of find them? Or find their color? You, for instance. Aro told me to find you in the depths of my being, then to search my mind for you. You were easy to find, with you being like a brightly shining star. You’re a bright gold to me.”
Demetri smiled and nodded, so I continued, “To me, Aro was a pure sky blue… his color comforting. I didn’t really pay attention enough to catch what color Marcus or Caius were. Sorry.”
He shook his head, letting me know that I was doing exceptionally well. He cupped my cheek and asked me to continue, so I said, “Alice and Jasper are both beige with an undertone of scarlet. I can see both distinctly, but they layer with the beige over the scarlet. I don’t know how to explain it, but the color gives me a neutral feeling with a bit of negativity… though that may just be my personal feeling of not wanting to have anything to do with them.”
Demetri nodded as he started rinsing my hair, “You seem to associate a feeling with each color. That could be helpful. You said the man earlier had a mucky black color. Try to tell me about that.”
I shivered slightly as I thought back, then looked into my sire’s eyes while letting out a breath. “It was black, but felt like a murky, brownish-black… muddled and unclear. The colors were too mixed to truly distinguish. I felt… violated… scared and injured, wanting to hide from the world. Like something had been ripped from me.”
My sire closed the distance between us, hugging me to him as he kissed the top of my head, then lifted my face to his. “We will figure this out, Isabella. I do this for my gift… maybe it will help you, too. Try to start an internal log. A place in your mind, of only the colors you see, the feelings associated with them, and the faces that correlate. Keeping track this way may help you sort through things more easily, and at some point, recognize patterns.”
I nodded, understanding his thought process, and did as he said. I noted after a second, “It’s odd being able to perfectly recall someone’s face after only seeing it for 2.3 seconds. I’ve already got 30 faces in here, and it seems that beige is truly neutral. It’s the undertone color that changes. Some, like Alice and Jasper, have a negative undertone. Others have a lighter, more pleasant undertone.”
He chuckled, then offered, “I have many thousands of faces on my list, Sweetheart, each with their own unique wavelength.”
I nodded, then asked as a thought hit me, “What’s mine like? Does my shield disrupt it?”
He grinned widely while massaging conditioner into my hair, offering, “Until my venom started running through your veins, I honestly could not detect your wavelength. Once you were connected to me by venom, I saw this brilliant, chaotic wavelength that reminded me of an ocean during a storm. It’s breathtaking.”
I hummed, then deduced, “So if I had run, you really wouldn’t have been able to track me, other than by scent.”
He chuckled widely, “We both know you aren’t the running type, Isabella. Let’s leave it at that, shall we?” I couldn’t help but smirk up at him, then worldlessly tipped my head back to rinse my hair.
Our shower was filled with more talk about the colors and feelings I get from people, and Demetri took to calling them auras. The reality of it was nearly spot-on, plus I felt deep down that calling them that was right.
As Demetri and I returned to my bedroom after showering, he opened both the left and right top drawers for me. One held my bras, the other held my underwear. He kissed me on the top of the head, then said, “While I get dressed, pick a set. I’ll be right back to help you.”
He was out the door in a flash, so I looked into the drawers while biting my lip. There was a lavender lace strapless bra that caught my eye, so I looked to see if I could find the matching bottoms without touching anything. When I spied the lace hipsters that matched, I immediately got excited.
Biting my lip again, I closed all of my fingers while extending my pinky, then tried to see if I could loop the small piece between the bra cups around my finger without breaking it. I held my breath as my pinky neared the delicate strip of lace, a mantra going in my head, ‘You can do this. Slow and easy. If you feel any pressure, you will break it. Slow. Easy.’
I nearly cried out in joy when I held the bra triumphantly in the air, completely intact. I looked into the drawer with the bottoms and frowned, “One more to go. Come on, Bella.”
My unadorned pinky slowly neared the lace hipsters. I got nervous as my pinky came within millimeters of the lace, so I took a slow deep breath before letting it out. My pinky slipped into the elastic band of the folded hipsters, then with a very slow and gentle motion, I lifted my hand straight up.
“YES!” I cried, not hearing any tearing as I freed the lace from the drawer. “Demetri, I did it! Look!”
I turned from my dresser, only to see my sire leaning against my bedroom door frame with a huge grin on his face. He looked at the lace in my hand, then assured me, “You did amazingly well, Sweetheart. I had originally meant for you to tell me a color when I returned, and I would have gotten it out.”
He came to me, took both things from my pinkies, then offered as he started helping me dress, “To be handling lace, even with just your cute little pinkies, is almost unheard of for a newborn less than a full day old. Be proud of this accomplishment, Isabella.”
When it came to what I wanted to put over them, I hummed, then asked Demetri, “Are we leaving the suite?”
He smiled in reply, “Would you like to share your accomplishment with the brothers? I’m sure they would also be interested in your list and the conclusions we’ve made.”
I nodded with a grin, then went to my closet. There was a strapless, wide-leg jumper that looked like it shouldn’t be hard to get into, and it was nice enough to go out in, if Demetri wanted to do anything else around the castle. I stopped in front of it, my nerves battering my stomach.
Demetri came up behind me after a full 2 minutes of me not moving. He rested his chin on my shoulder, lifted one of my hands in his, then touched my fingers with his free hand with a very small amount of pressure. “Feel. Close your eyes and try to gain a reference for this amount of pressure. When you think you have it, try to touch my fingers with the same amount of pressure.”
I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on Demetri’s feather-light touch of my fingers. It took a good few minutes, but once I was pretty sure I had it, I opened my eyes and turned his hand over. My fingers went to touch his, but the first time, it was too much. I shook my head, whispered, “not right,” and tried again. My second try was better, but it still wasn’t quite right. On my third try, Demetri hugged me to him from behind with a grin, “That was perfect, Isabella. Do that again one more time, but this time, try to use your fingers like you’re picking the material up.”
He placed his hand out again, so this time my index and middle fingers went to the top of his index finger as my thumb went to the bottom. I carefully closed my fingers until I had the right amount of pressure, then stopped to look up at him. He grinned down at me, “Time to release your clothing from the hanger. I’m going to let you get a hold of it, then I’ll release the hanger clips. Take your time and let me know when you’re ready.”
After a couple of calming breaths, I very carefully grasped the jumper on each side, just below the hanger. I felt like it would slip through my fingers when he released the clips, but it didn’t. I let out a breath before asking, “Can you grab those white sandals with the braided straps please?”
I was already sitting at the edge of my bed, my jumper next to me, when Demetri came back into the room. He looked at me curiously, then said, “I half expected to see you dressing.”
I shook my head while letting out a heavy breath, “I wanted to -was actually going to attempt it- but this was expensive. I think I’ll wait to try with tees and sweats first. Just knowing I can touch the fabric without damaging it is enough for me right now.”
He nodded, then quickly helped me dress. As Demetri held my hand to let me step into my sandals, he noted, “You’ve begun swallowing more frequently…” he tipped my chin up once I was standing steady, then continued, “and your eyes are darkening. Let’s get you fed, then we’ll take our trip to see the brothers.”
Though I knew I was naked in front of an extremely sexy male, my sire kept my attention on other things as he walked us both into my shower. It helped that he kept his eyes on mine.
I sighed as soon as the water started rinsing the tainted blood from my hair. Demetri smiled slightly while running his fingers through my hair, then asked, “Talk to me about the colors. Help me understand what your mind sees. Maybe we can make sense of this.”
I scowled as he started shampooing my hair, trying to find words. When I couldn’t find a sane way of explaining, I just started talking. “It’s like the colors cling the air around the person when I see them… but I can think of a face and kind of find them? Or find their color? You, for instance. Aro told me to find you in the depths of my being, then to search my mind for you. You were easy to find, with you being like a brightly shining star. You’re a bright gold to me.”
Demetri smiled and nodded, so I continued, “To me, Aro was a pure sky blue… his color comforting. I didn’t really pay attention enough to catch what color Marcus or Caius were. Sorry.”
He shook his head, letting me know that I was doing exceptionally well. He cupped my cheek and asked me to continue, so I said, “Alice and Jasper are both beige with an undertone of scarlet. I can see both distinctly, but they layer with the beige over the scarlet. I don’t know how to explain it, but the color gives me a neutral feeling with a bit of negativity… though that may just be my personal feeling of not wanting to have anything to do with them.”
Demetri nodded as he started rinsing my hair, “You seem to associate a feeling with each color. That could be helpful. You said the man earlier had a mucky black color. Try to tell me about that.”
I shivered slightly as I thought back, then looked into my sire’s eyes while letting out a breath. “It was black, but felt like a murky, brownish-black… muddled and unclear. The colors were too mixed to truly distinguish. I felt… violated… scared and injured, wanting to hide from the world. Like something had been ripped from me.”
My sire closed the distance between us, hugging me to him as he kissed the top of my head, then lifted my face to his. “We will figure this out, Isabella. I do this for my gift… maybe it will help you, too. Try to start an internal log. A place in your mind, of only the colors you see, the feelings associated with them, and the faces that correlate. Keeping track this way may help you sort through things more easily, and at some point, recognize patterns.”
I nodded, understanding his thought process, and did as he said. I noted after a second, “It’s odd being able to perfectly recall someone’s face after only seeing it for 2.3 seconds. I’ve already got 30 faces in here, and it seems that beige is truly neutral. It’s the undertone color that changes. Some, like Alice and Jasper, have a negative undertone. Others have a lighter, more pleasant undertone.”
He chuckled, then offered, “I have many thousands of faces on my list, Sweetheart, each with their own unique wavelength.”
I nodded, then asked as a thought hit me, “What’s mine like? Does my shield disrupt it?”
He grinned widely while massaging conditioner into my hair, offering, “Until my venom started running through your veins, I honestly could not detect your wavelength. Once you were connected to me by venom, I saw this brilliant, chaotic wavelength that reminded me of an ocean during a storm. It’s breathtaking.”
I hummed, then deduced, “So if I had run, you really wouldn’t have been able to track me, other than by scent.”
He chuckled widely, “We both know you aren’t the running type, Isabella. Let’s leave it at that, shall we?” I couldn’t help but smirk up at him, then worldlessly tipped my head back to rinse my hair.
Our shower was filled with more talk about the colors and feelings I get from people, and Demetri took to calling them auras. The reality of it was nearly spot-on, plus I felt deep down that calling them that was right.
As Demetri and I returned to my bedroom after showering, he opened both the left and right top drawers for me. One held my bras, the other held my underwear. He kissed me on the top of the head, then said, “While I get dressed, pick a set. I’ll be right back to help you.”
He was out the door in a flash, so I looked into the drawers while biting my lip. There was a lavender lace strapless bra that caught my eye, so I looked to see if I could find the matching bottoms without touching anything. When I spied the lace hipsters that matched, I immediately got excited.
Biting my lip again, I closed all of my fingers while extending my pinky, then tried to see if I could loop the small piece between the bra cups around my finger without breaking it. I held my breath as my pinky neared the delicate strip of lace, a mantra going in my head, ‘You can do this. Slow and easy. If you feel any pressure, you will break it. Slow. Easy.’
I nearly cried out in joy when I held the bra triumphantly in the air, completely intact. I looked into the drawer with the bottoms and frowned, “One more to go. Come on, Bella.”
My unadorned pinky slowly neared the lace hipsters. I got nervous as my pinky came within millimeters of the lace, so I took a slow deep breath before letting it out. My pinky slipped into the elastic band of the folded hipsters, then with a very slow and gentle motion, I lifted my hand straight up.
“YES!” I cried, not hearing any tearing as I freed the lace from the drawer. “Demetri, I did it! Look!”
I turned from my dresser, only to see my sire leaning against my bedroom door frame with a huge grin on his face. He looked at the lace in my hand, then assured me, “You did amazingly well, Sweetheart. I had originally meant for you to tell me a color when I returned, and I would have gotten it out.”
He came to me, took both things from my pinkies, then offered as he started helping me dress, “To be handling lace, even with just your cute little pinkies, is almost unheard of for a newborn less than a full day old. Be proud of this accomplishment, Isabella.”
When it came to what I wanted to put over them, I hummed, then asked Demetri, “Are we leaving the suite?”
He smiled in reply, “Would you like to share your accomplishment with the brothers? I’m sure they would also be interested in your list and the conclusions we’ve made.”
I nodded with a grin, then went to my closet. There was a strapless, wide-leg jumper that looked like it shouldn’t be hard to get into, and it was nice enough to go out in, if Demetri wanted to do anything else around the castle. I stopped in front of it, my nerves battering my stomach.
Demetri came up behind me after a full 2 minutes of me not moving. He rested his chin on my shoulder, lifted one of my hands in his, then touched my fingers with his free hand with a very small amount of pressure. “Feel. Close your eyes and try to gain a reference for this amount of pressure. When you think you have it, try to touch my fingers with the same amount of pressure.”
I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on Demetri’s feather-light touch of my fingers. It took a good few minutes, but once I was pretty sure I had it, I opened my eyes and turned his hand over. My fingers went to touch his, but the first time, it was too much. I shook my head, whispered, “not right,” and tried again. My second try was better, but it still wasn’t quite right. On my third try, Demetri hugged me to him from behind with a grin, “That was perfect, Isabella. Do that again one more time, but this time, try to use your fingers like you’re picking the material up.”
He placed his hand out again, so this time my index and middle fingers went to the top of his index finger as my thumb went to the bottom. I carefully closed my fingers until I had the right amount of pressure, then stopped to look up at him. He grinned down at me, “Time to release your clothing from the hanger. I’m going to let you get a hold of it, then I’ll release the hanger clips. Take your time and let me know when you’re ready.”
After a couple of calming breaths, I very carefully grasped the jumper on each side, just below the hanger. I felt like it would slip through my fingers when he released the clips, but it didn’t. I let out a breath before asking, “Can you grab those white sandals with the braided straps please?”
I was already sitting at the edge of my bed, my jumper next to me, when Demetri came back into the room. He looked at me curiously, then said, “I half expected to see you dressing.”
I shook my head while letting out a heavy breath, “I wanted to -was actually going to attempt it- but this was expensive. I think I’ll wait to try with tees and sweats first. Just knowing I can touch the fabric without damaging it is enough for me right now.”
He nodded, then quickly helped me dress. As Demetri held my hand to let me step into my sandals, he noted, “You’ve begun swallowing more frequently…” he tipped my chin up once I was standing steady, then continued, “and your eyes are darkening. Let’s get you fed, then we’ll take our trip to see the brothers.”