Dahlia

by Tabitha Barret

  “I’ve never heard of Anthony’s. I’m new in town.” He backed up until he reached the sidewalk and looked around. I wasn’t sure if he was looking for an escape route or waiting for his gang of friends, who were supposed to help kidnap me.

  “Well, it’s just down the street. I order from there all the time.” I walked past him and headed towards Anthony’s, curious to see what he would do.

  I looked over my shoulder to see him staring down at his stomach. I had no idea what was wrong with him, but hunger was definitely a priority.

  After another second of debating, he finally nodded to himself and followed me.

  Walking in silence, I nodded to Anthony’s once we were close enough.

  I reached out to open the door, but he ducked around me to open it for me. “I’ll get that.”

  Well, at least my murderer was polite.

  “Grab a seat. I’ll go order. What do you want to drink?” I motioned towards the white and red booths as I headed for the counter.

  His eyes narrowed and he swallowed harshly. A breath escaped from his lips as he stared at me. “Umm....”

  Weirdo.

  “Caffeine free it is. I’ll grab some sodas.” I tried to hide my reaction to his strange expression, but I was sure he saw how high my eyebrows had traveled up my face.

  I quickly placed my order with George, the owner, and waved to Jess, the delivery guy who looked really good in a tight pair of jeans. I was convinced Gray had a crush on him, but she wasn’t one to talk about her love interests.

  Joining my stalker, I reached out my hand to him. “I’m Dahlia.” I figured he should know the name of the woman he planned to tie up in his basement for a few days before he saw it on the nightly news.

  He quickly pulled his hand away to hide it under the table. “Aiden.”

  So much for reading his future and seeing how he planned to kill me.

  “Where are you from?” I tried not to sound like a detective’s daughter attempting to interrogate him in case I needed to give the police his description. Short brown hair, deep blue eyes, slim build, 6 feet tall. Between 21-24 years old. No tattoos or visible piercings. Not from town. Doesn’t like shaking hands.

  He shrugged. “I move around a lot. That last real home I had was six months ago in Phoenix. I was staying with a friend, but he got a girlfriend and I had to move out.”

  Vague, but no red flags so far. “I’m sorry to hear that. I own the tattoo studio and I’ve lived in Silver Springs my whole life. I’ve always wanted to travel, but I hate airplanes.”

  His eyes brightened. “Do you actually hate airplanes or do you hate to fly?”

  “Both, actually.” I fidgeted with the saltshaker. I didn’t like talking about myself because I always screwed up and said something that freaked people out. How was I supposed to tell someone that I hate being in confined spaces where I was forced to touch someone who was afraid to fly or had some other kind of anxiety while traveling? How could I accurately express that my own fears were amplified by the fears of the person sitting next to me, or worse, by the entire cabin if the plane hit an air pocket and dropped suddenly? Feeling my hands sweat just thinking about it, I looked to the counter to see if our food was ready.

  Aiden sat back. “It’s okay. There are plenty of things I’m afraid of, so I get it. I had a weird fear of bugs growing up. They don’t bother me now, but I used to really hate anything with tiny legs.”

  My lip curled into a half smile. “What about butterflies?”

  He shook his head and pursed his lips. “Nope. I call them camo bugs. They pretend to be cute and innocent with their bright colors luring you in, but they are still creepy bugs. They don’t fool me.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh since I had tattooed more freaking butterflies on women than I could count.

  He frowned. “This is a serious matter. They shouldn’t let kids touch those things. I think they’re more insidious than most believe.”

  Laughing, I waved my hands at him. “I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing because I have at least 100 different butterfly designs back at the studio. I had one lady agonize over three different designs before she finally gave up and got all three butterflies in different places on her body. I’m just picturing you trying to talk her out of getting the tattoos.”

  His serious face broke into a full-blown smile that made my stomach flip. Wow, he was hot when he wasn’t grimacing.

  “Oh, I would have talked her into getting a python or an alligator. At least you know where you stand with them. I’m convinced that butterflies plot our deaths at night.” He chuckled and ran his hand through his short hair, causing it to stand up.

  George came around the corner with our plates while Jess followed him with our fountain drinks and some mozzarella sticks. “On the house for one of my best clients.” George motioned to the mozzarella sticks.

  “Thank you, George. I appreciate it. Can I get an Italian sub to go for tomorrow’s lunch?” I wet my lips when I smelled the gooey cheese wafting towards my nose.

  “Of course, Dahlia. Jess, Italian sub, no onions. Go.” George tasked Jess with making my sandwich and turned back to wink at me.

  Not waiting for the pizza to cool down, I bit into it and bounced it around my mouth to avoid burning my tongue. “Mmm. Tastes like burning. My favorite.”

  Aiden didn’t look up to watch me burn my mouth like a fool. Instead, he was contemplating his pizza slide as if he were trying to solve a complex puzzle.

  “Did you want toppings? I should have asked. I’m not a fan of toppings. I’m a pizza purist.” I felt bad that I had assumed he wanted plain pizza despite the fact that I was paying for his meal.

  He slowly shook his head. “No. I like plain. I’m just waiting for it to cool down.”

  I didn’t believe him for some reason. Maybe he didn’t want to hurt my feelings by complaining.

  Sipping the cold soda to relieve the inferno inside my mouth, I took another glance at him. For a guy who was hungry enough to give me stomach pains, he didn’t seem eager to eat.

  When he realized I was watching him, he flashed me a smile and lifted the paper plate to put the pizza to his lips. He bit into the pizza and rolled the piece around in his mouth. For some reason, I expected him to spit it out, but he didn’t. Again, I wasn’t sure if he was trying to be polite.

  He finally nodded his approval and took another bite. “Not bad. Reminds me of the pizza place we used to go to when I was a kid.” Pulling the drink closer to him, he took a sip of soda and nodded again. “Okay. Yeah.”

  Maybe he was a foodie who needed to taste test everything before giving his approval or he was a health food nut. Either way, he acted as if he hadn’t tasted pizza in forever.

  Ignoring him, I crammed as much pizza into my mouth as possible, without choking on it, and chewed with my mouth open. We weren’t on a date and he was in no position to judge me tonight.

  After a few more bites, he doubled over again. “Excuse me. I’ll be right back.”

  He headed towards the back of the restaurant towards the bathroom. Maybe I was mistaking hunger for irritable bowel syndrome. Wouldn’t be the first time.

  Chapter 4 Aiden

  Leaving Dahlia at the table, I pretended to head into the bathroom, but ducked into the storage closet where the guy with the disturbingly tight pants had gone to grab more plates for the owner. My hunger was overwhelming my mind to the point where I couldn’t pay attention to anything Dahlia was saying.

  For the first time since being bitten, I was able to hang out with a woman without thinking of her as a steak dinner. Yeah, I had wanted to drink her blood before she had turned around and called me out, but that was before I saw her beautiful gray eyes. They were the most intriguing color I had ever seen. They had snapped me out of my starvation haze and made me realize that my subconscious had thought about drinking every last drop of her blood. Thankfully, my conscience had taken over and reminded me that I wasn’t a killer.

&nb
sp; Regardless, I needed blood and fast. Slowly opening the door, I pounced on the guy with his back to me. I pulled his head to the side and extended my fangs, which were already elongating from thirst. I forced myself to make a small nick in his skin so I didn’t take too much.

  The second his tangy blood touched my tongue, my senses went into overdrive. I could hear his heart beating, making the savage in me want to take over. Instead, I focused on a different sound. Someone was humming.

  I slowed my desperate mouth and took just enough to control my hunger until I could find another person to top me off.

  The humming echoed inside my ear until I forgot about the blood flowing across my tongue. I pulled away and ran my tongue over the small holes in the man’s neck. I found it strange how no one in this town ever screamed or tried to kill me, but it was a nice change. Whenever I finished feeding, they seemed surprised that their neck was bleeding. This guy was no exception.

  “Hey, this isn’t the bathroom.” The man shooed me away as if I had stepped into the wrong room.

  “Sorry, buddy. You should make the signs bigger on the door.” I pointed towards the door and slipped out before he could say anything else.

  Licking my lips, I took in the last drop of blood and wiped the corner of my mouth. I stepped into the hallway and focused on the humming. I smiled when I realized it was the tattoo artist. I didn’t recognize the tune, but it somehow put me at ease. Then again, it could have been the delicious blood I ingested that had taken the edge off the tension in my body.

  I headed back to the table, acting as if I hadn’t just bitten someone and drank his blood.

  Looking down, I was surprised to see that she was already on her second slice of pizza. This woman knew how to eat, which I envied. I missed real food.

  Staring down at my pizza, I drummed my fingers on my leg. How was I able to eat food? Based on everything I knew about vampires, which was next to nothing, I shouldn’t have been able to eat. I felt stupid for not trying food sooner, but I was convinced I would hate it or throw it up. Maybe all the books and movies I’d watched had it wrong when it came to vampire knowledge. I would have to test my new theory, when I wasn’t under the scrutiny of the woman with the fascinating gray eyes who believed I was crazy and rude.

  I decided to keep up appearances and finish my pizza even though the busboy had quenched some of my thirst. I didn’t want to seem ungrateful after I had hunted down my host and imagined draining the life out of her. I’d never had a victim offer to buy me dinner, though the irony wasn’t lost on me. She had managed to keep herself off the menu by being nice to me and inadvertently offered me an alternate meal.

  Chewing on my food, which felt strange after months of a liquid dinner, I felt self-conscious for the first time in a while. I wasn’t sure what to say to Dahlia, but I wanted to hear her speak again.

  “Aside from the flowers on your arm, what other kinds of tattoos do you have?” It was an easy question, given her profession. It would fill the silence for a while and take the spotlight off me.

  She gulped back her soda and wiped her mouth with the edge of her hand. “Well, the first tattoo I got was on a dare after prom. I was stood up when my prom date decided to ditch me and hang out with his buddies to get drunk, which I saw coming. Back then, I believed that the future wasn’t set in stone. Since then, I’ve learned a hard lesson. Regardless, I stood there on my front porch in my sapphire off the shoulder gown, picturing a slow dance with my boyfriend. Once I realized I’d been stood up, my best friend at the time dragged me along with her to get the tattoo she’d been waiting three years for. I was bored and looked at the tattoo designs until I found my spirit animal. I jumped into the chair next to her and thus started my obsession.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from smiling as I listened to her story. The more this woman talked, the more I wanted to listen. My hunger subsided and I felt calmer than I had in months. Remembering to breathe in order to appear normal, I leaned forward. “What is your spirit animal, Dahlia?”

  A shy smile spread across her face, making her look younger and more vulnerable. “A black swan.”

  Confused, I sat back. I had expected her to say a tiger or a panther or even Busta Rhymes, anything with claws or a take no shit attitude. A bird was the last thing I expected.

  “Why?” I realized too late that my question sounded snide and I felt guilty for making fun of her.

  Undeterred by my disapproval, her face lit up. “They’re rare and people didn’t believe they actually existed centuries ago. There are all kinds of stories and fables about their origin, which makes them unique. Personally, I like their alternate version of what makes something beautiful. Just like being the black sheep of the family, the swans are out of step in the world but they don’t give a shit about it. They are strong, graceful and considered a power animal.”

  I smiled at her explanation when I understood why she had chosen it. She was short and curvy, but her fearlessness in confronting a stranger made her powerful and a bit intimidating. She had stared down a hungry vampire without blinking. This woman was worth getting to know.

  Wiping my hands on my jeans, I sat up straight and smiled. If I didn’t want this woman calling the cops on me the second we left, I needed to make a better impression.

  “I think I have a new-found respect for black swans.” I looked down at my pizza. “This really was nice of you, Dahlia. Not many people would step outside their comfort zone to help someone in need. I really didn’t mean to scare you, but I was hungry enough to accept the help of a stranger. It’s hard to admit when you need help. If I can ever return the favor, just ask.”

  I wasn’t sure if it was too late to salvage her opinion of me, but I wanted to try. In the past few minutes sitting with Dahlia, I felt more like my old self than I had in a long time. I wasn’t ready to let go of the old Aiden just yet.

  She bit into a mozzarella stick and rubbed her hands together to get the crumbs off. “How are you at mopping floors?”

  Confused by her random question, I choked on a piece of pizza traveling down my throat. “Excuse me?”

  “Since you’re new in town, I thought that you might need a job. I’m looking for someone to help clean the studio. I run an upscale tattoo studio, not some back alley shop, so I need the floors and equipment to be spotless. I have plush waiting chairs and a couch that need to be whisked, as well as pictures, and tables that need to be dusted. Oh, and I will warn you about the bathrooms. They can be a challenge. It’s not glamorous but it’s work.” She looked away as if she were embarrassed to offer a stranger a job.

  I considered her offer for a second since I hadn’t had a job in months. If I had some cash, I could save up and rent a place instead of sleeping in abandoned houses and stores. Then again, I had intentionally distanced myself from people to avoid temptation. It was better to figure things out alone instead of accidentally hurting or killing someone.

  “That’s a really nice offer, but I don’t exactly have a resume or any references.” It was a lame excuse, but I couldn’t exactly tell her that I was afraid I would eat her customers.

  She shrugged. “As long as you know the difference between dirty and clean, you’re hired. I had to fire the last two people. One was too busy flirting with my tattoo artist and the other liked to get high at lunch with his friends. If you can avoid doing those things and you can clean, you’d be doing me a favor. I can even pay you under the table until you get back on your feet.”

  If cleaning bathrooms meant I was able to spend more time with Dahlia, I’d be stupid to say no. Despite my eagerness to see her again, I was still nervous. Would I be able to control my hunger around humans for extended periods of time?

  Looking into the soft gray eyes that put a smile on my face despite everything I had been through, I nodded. “I accept. Thank you!”

  She swallowed down another mozzarella stick and wiped her hand on her jeans. “Good. It’s settled. You start tomorrow at 9:30 AM. We open at 10:00 AM
to the public. You’ll have a lot of cleaning to do this week. I’ve been doing what I can to keep up with the dust, but I’ve had a lot of appointments and too many late nights.”

  I imagined this high-spirited, high-energy woman stretching herself thin by running the studio, acting like Cinderella. I could be her vampire with shining bucket, at least for a little while, if only to repay her kindness and ease my guilt.

  “I’m not afraid of a little dirt.” I winked at her and bowed my head.

  “Awesome. I’m looking forward to working with you.” She gave me a genuine smile that warmed my cold heart. Oddly, I was looking forward to working with her too.

  Hearing the busboy wrapping up her “to go” sandwich, I slid out of the booth. “See you at 9:30 AM.” I quickly nodded to her and put my hands in my pockets so she wouldn’t try to shake my cold hands. I left before the busboy saw me, in case he finally decided to out me or kill me.

  She waved goodbye as I slipped out the door and made my escape. While I couldn’t wait to see her again tomorrow and the day after, I was afraid to get close to her. Friends were a liability and I couldn’t risk sharing my secret with anyone. Though I still wasn’t 100% sure what would kill me, I knew I wasn’t immune to dying for good.

  Tomorrow would be a test to see if I could regain any of the humanity I thought was lost to me forever.

  Chapter 5 Dahlia

  Was I fucking stupid? Not only had I put myself in danger last night, but I had given my would-be attacker a job. In the light of day, my impulsive decision sounded worse than it had when I went to bed feeling like a good person.

  My father really was going to kill me. Thankfully, he had insisted on me upgrading my security system because I tended to work late or open early for good customers. He didn’t want me working alone in the studio.

  Putting the key in the backdoor, I groaned when I remembered that the security guy was supposed to be here at 9:00 AM. Oops.

  I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket to find three missed calls from the guy this morning. Shit. I’d turned off my ringer after dinner last night and never turned it back on.