Dahlia

by Tabitha Barret

  “Umm, I got the 411 on the orange glow and I’m processing the information I learned about myself. While I need some time to sort through all of this, know that I’m not upset by the orange glowy thing and what it means. In fact, if I’m being honest with myself, I’ve felt more alive since meeting the three of you than ever before. I understand that this is a weird situation and I don’t expect anyone to be 100% okay with what’s happening. All I ask is for some time to adjust to everything I’ve just learned.” I wasn’t sure if my rambling made any sense or if I had offended any of them, but I needed to be honest with them and myself.

  Daire stepped forward and touched my shoulder. “Take all the time you want, Dahlia. I’m not going anywhere. Please don’t think this request is self-serving, but I want to install your security system this afternoon. I don’t care about the cost or the money. I just need to know that you’re protected. Please allow me to do this for you.”

  Seeing the worry in his eyes, it dawned on me that he wasn’t trying to be an overprotective boyfriend. He was worried about something specific. If he was some kind of supernatural person, he might know something I didn’t.

  I nodded. “I appreciate it, Daire. Charlie made me understand the importance of personal security given what I can do.”

  He smiled and let out a breath. “Thank you, Dahlia. I have a partner who helps with the installation. He’ll be here within the hour. I promise we’ll stay out of the way and work quickly. I’d also like to set up a system at your house, if you’ll allow it.”

  Aiden aggressively stepped forward and nodded. “I would feel better if you had some kind of security in your house. I heard something banging around the attic last night. I checked it out, but didn’t see anything. I don’t want you freaking out while you’re home by yourself.” He looked like he would have fought whatever was in the attic and made it regret its life choices.

  Having his possessive eyes roam across my body set my skin on fire, just as it had this morning. I was happy to know that my fantasies of him weren’t due to heightened hormones, but because I was definitely falling for him.

  Forcing myself not to grab him and fuck him right there, I tried to get a grip on my lust. Being so close to all three of them was screwing with my sexual appetite.

  I wiped my forehead and calmed down enough to process Aiden’s request to keep my home safe too. “I have raccoons or squirrels up there, but it would be nice to know where they’re coming from. So, yes, knowing that someone was watching over me while I slept is a good thing.” Looking into Daire’s hopeful brown eyes, I realized too late that my discussion about home security had changed into an invitation to protect my body personally based on my seductive tone.

  He picked up on my flirting and gulped. “It would be my pleasure, Dahlia.” Hearing him say that brought back my sexy dream with Daire, causing me to blush.

  Clearing my throat, I tore my eyes away from Daire’s groin to look bashfully at Ian. I felt bad that I was flirting with Daire in front of him. He’d never even met Daire or Aiden before and here I was practically shoving my tongue down Daire’s throat.

  Ian stepped closer, pulled out his pocket square and wrapped it around his hand. Holding out his hand, he waited for me to put my hand in his.

  “Dahlia, I want to apologize for my behavior yesterday. It was wrong of me to pull you into my world so quickly.” The sincerity in his eyes made me feel bad for telling him off.

  “Let’s go to my office to talk about this.” Pulling Ian towards my office, I glanced at Aiden, who jumped and immediately grabbed a duster

  Daire nodded and pulled out his cell phone to call someone named Doug, who worked with him.

  Closing the door to my office, I turned around to face Ian, who was standing with his hands behind his back as if he was waiting for me to yell at him.

  “Before you say anything, Dahlia, know that I have been in knots since yesterday. I never meant you any harm. I felt the connection with you immediately and I tried to bring you into my world too quickly. I’m not used to being around people who don’t understand magic and the drama of the covens. It’s actually refreshing that you don’t understand any of it. Regardless, I didn’t take into consideration your reaction to finding out that I was a wizard and that your mother was likely a witch. Please forgive me if I caused you any harm.” He let out a breath as if he had been holding in the speech all morning.

  I walked over to him, put my hands on his face and pulled him into a kiss, not caring what kind of emotions or images I saw.

  Surprised, it took a second for him to relax into the kiss and put his arms around.

  I was immediately pulled into a vision of him pacing around his office, worried about me, worried about the missing members of his coven and his sadness over both.

  Pulling away from the kiss, I dropped my hands to end the vision. “I’m not mad at you. Charlie explained a lot of things, which I wasn’t excited to hear, but I’ve been slowly coming to terms with them. My father never believed in magic, or maybe he just didn’t want to deal with it. He never encouraged me to talk about my visions or sketches, so I tried to lock all that away inside my chest. Unfortunately, the visions kept coming. I had no one to talk about them after my mother passed. It was easier to ignore what I was than have my father hate me. Now I know that ignoring my abilities can get me into trouble in more ways than one.” I placed my hand over his heart and looked into his sad eyes.

  He rubbed my covered shoulder and sighed. “I’m very sorry about that. Just know that I am more than willing to help you learn how to control your abilities. Charlie explained that your mother didn’t want you associated with the coven, so I will honor that request, but the choice is yours whether you want the support system the witches have to offer psychics.”

  I was happy that he was giving me a choice. I wasn’t sure I wanted an entire coven knowing my business, but if they could use my visions to save and protect people as my mother and Charlie’s family had done over the years, I might consider it.

  “Thank you for the offer, Ian. I’ll consider it.” Standing so close to him after thinking he was mocking me, made all my emotions bubble to the surface. Without warning, I smacked his chest. “I was really upset when I thought you were making fun of me. I thought you were really sweet, responsible and fucking amazing at sex. I couldn’t stand the thought of you being an asshole and ditching me after such a perfect moment.”

  He chuckled and raised his eyebrow. “You think I’m fucking amazing at sex?”

  His sassy tone made me laugh. “Ahh, yes.”

  He blushed as he leaned against my desk. He muttered something and moved his hands around. “Come here. It’s safe to touch me again. I used the same spell from the restaurant.”

  Not needing to be asked twice, I dove into his arms and kissed him.

  He laughed at my eagerness and kissed me back. Feeling his hands all over my body, I let go of every bad thought I had about him. He really was one of the goods ones.

  He put his hand on my cheek. “I know that you are in love with the other conjurer and the vampire and I’m willing to work things out.”

  I put my hand up to stop him. “What? A conjurer? A vampire? What are you saying?” I understood his words, but I didn’t understand how they applied to Aiden and Daire.

  Gulping, his mouth fell open. “Damn. I thought you know. Daire is a conjurer like me, though we don’t really know each other. His security systems detect magic, so I assumed you knew what he was. Aiden works for you, so I thought you were aware that he was a vampire. I’m sorry. It seems that I’ve put my foot in my mouth again.”

  I closed my eyes and thought about Daire and how he hadn’t freaked out during my vision. Instead, he had helped me. Even during the sex dream, he had offered to help me learn how to control my abilities. Daire being a witch I could accept. However, Aiden being a vampire was pure insanity.

  “Huh. Aiden is a little strange, but I would have never guessed that he was a vampire
. Though it does explain everyone’s reaction to him. How am I the only one who didn’t know about this?” My visions had certainly failed me with Aiden.

  “I don’t know. Again, I’m sorry for exposing his secret. Not all vampires are bad people, but they need to drink blood in order to survive. He seems nice enough.” Ian was clearly nervous that I would try to stake Aiden, if that were actually a way to kill him.

  Just joking about staking Aiden made my chest hurt. I obviously cared about Aiden, regardless of what he was.

  “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt Aiden and I’m not upset with you. At least I know that you will always be brutally honest with me and upfront.” I patted his shoulder and took a breath.

  He gave me a small smile and nodded. “That I will.”

  I stroked his face and smiled, happy that we had cleared things up between us. “Maybe we can try to have dinner later. We have a lot to talk about.”

  He picked up my hand and kissed the backs of my knuckles, sending streaks of fire up my thighs and straight into my clit. Damn this man made me want to do bad things to him.

  I leaned forward to kiss him but something floated down in front of me. Seeing another paper on fire, I stepped back.

  He grabbed it and extinguished it. Frowning, he sighed. “I have to go. Another person is missing. Things are getting serious and people want answers.”

  I rubbed his arms. “I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  He glanced at me and slowly nodded his head. “I hate to ask this of you, but if it means saving the lives of these people, I must do the right thing. Would you be able to do a reading for me? Sometimes holding personal items can help a psychic focus their energy to see that person or feel their emotions. I could collect a few items and bring them over. I can to teach you how to mediate and how to channel your energy, as well as how to block out any negative energy. I won’t tell the coven what I’m doing, so that I can keep your involvement quiet.”

  Taking a deep breath, I held onto his hand. “As long as you’re there to help me do it the right way, I’m sure I can find them. If I can find random people I’ve never met before, I’m positive I can find someone I’m actually looking for.”

  He smiled and put his hand on my face. “You are so amazing and brave and strong. I love you, Dahlia. Thank you!” He kissed my forehead and tapped the end of my nose.

  “I think I love you too, Ian Foster.” Sniffing, I threw my arms around him. Not only was he officially back in my life, but he might have a way to help me figure out how to safely work with my visions.

  Waving, I watched him head out the door to go help his friends.

  I gripped the desk and took a deep breath. I needed to talk with Aiden and I wasn’t sure exactly what to say to him.

  Chapter 18 Dahlia

  Poking my head out of my office, I spotted Aiden, who was coming out of the supply closet.

  “You. Office. Now.” I needed to get all these secrets out in the open before I could figure out how loving three men would work.

  He was surprised by my abruptness, but agreed to follow me.

  I waited for him to enter before slamming the door shut.

  “What’s the matter, Dahlia?” He looked a little scared by my pissed off facial expression.

  I shoved my finger into his shoulder. “You were going to eat me the first night we met. I stupidly thought you needed a friend. Instead, you were planning to drink my blood and kill me. Don’t try to deny it. I felt your hunger pains that night and a few times since then.”

  He held up his hands and backed up against the desk. “Hey, now. Wait a minute. I never planned to kill you. If you remember, you’ve actually asked me not to kill you on two different occasions. I’m not a killer, Dahlia. Yes, I was hungry and you were out late by yourself, which you shouldn’t have been, but I never would have hurt you. I would have taken just enough to keep me from passing out and left you very much alive. But that was before you spoke to me. Once you confronted me, all my thoughts of feeding on you went away.”

  Scowling at him, I crossed my arms. “Tell me why I can trust you.”

  Still holding up his hands, he shrugged. “You’re nice to me. It’s been a long time since anyone has been nice to me. I’d been alone for six months without much human interaction. I was out of my mind with hunger that first night, yet your beautiful gray eyes snapped me out of my haze. You managed to do something that no one had done since I became a vampire. You cared about me. I couldn’t hurt you, not even if I wanted to. Dahlia, nothing in this world would ever make me hurt you.”

  Thinking back to that night, I tilted my head. “Why not just steal some food? The pizza seemed to help your hunger.”

  He bit his lip and looked away. “While the pizza tasted good after not eating real food since becoming a vampire, it did nothing for my hunger. When I went to the bathroom, I ducked into the supply closet and bit the delivery guy.”

  Shocked, I smacked his shoulder. “How could you? Jess is a nice guy. Wait. Is he a vampire now? If you ruined one of the best delivery guys in the area, I will kick the crap out of you. He can deliver a pizza in like fourteen minutes!”

  Aiden chuckled. “That’s not how vampires are made. Trust me; Jess is fine. He hardly noticed what I was doing and he didn’t remember anything afterwards. Apparently, there are wards or something that keep the humans from figuring out that vampires and witches live here. It’s actually been very helpful in keeping me fed.”

  I remembered Charlie mentioning the wards, so I believed him when he said Jess was okay. I guess I should be grateful for these wards or more people might have noticed my weirdness.

  “Okay, fine. You’re not a killer. How often do you need to feed? What happens if you don’t eat? How do you become a vampire?” My fear of possibly being in love with a vampire made a slew of questions bubble to the surface until my words turned into hysterical laughter.

  He stepped forward and put his hands on my shoulders. “Breathe, Dahlia. I know this is overwhelming. I went through the same thing when I woke up like this. I didn’t have anyone to explain the vampire rules to me. I had to learn everything the hard way. Yes, I need blood; otherwise, my hunger makes me crazy. Though it’s never happened, I feel like I would become violent without blood. I take just enough to get rid of the cravings and I try not to hurt the person I’m feeding on. I’m not exactly sure how to make vampires because I haven’t tried to do it. I don’t know who turned me because I woke up like this after a night of drinking with my friends. I think I was walking home and was jumped, but I’m not sure. All I know is that I woke up in a dumpster behind a Burger King with a wicked hangover. The sunlight stung like hell and nothing stopped my insatiable hunger until I was walking past a homeless guy who had a cut on his hand. The smell of his blood confirmed what I was.” He shrugged helplessly without looking me in the eyes.

  Closing my eyes, my anger drained away when I imagined how scared and confused he must have been. From what I’d learned about him, Aiden wasn’t a monster. He was capable of caring about people and had empathy for others. Monsters were incapable of caring about others.

  “I’m sorry for what you went through. I don’t know what I would have done if I had woken up alone like that.” Running my hand over his cheek, I looked into his blue eyes. If he were a monster, he wouldn’t have stayed with me last night. He would have just killed me. Instead, he had made me breakfast.

  He leaned his face into my hand and breathed in deeply. “I miss this. I miss the contact. I miss having someone I care about touch me.” Opening his eyes, I saw tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

  I missed it too. I was too busy pushing people away.

  I stopped when I realized that I could touch him without seeing visions or feeling his emotions.

  Ian had put a spell on himself, not on me. So why was I able to freely touch Aiden?

  Poking his face, I keep trying to see or feel something aside from my growing lust.

&nbs
p; Confused, Aiden looked questioningly at me.

  “I’m not sure why, but I can touch you without any issues. No headaches. No seeing your past. Nothing.” A smile slowly spread across my face. I was starting to like the idea of Aiden being a vampire.

  “Is that a good thing?” He had no idea what I was going on about, but I didn’t care. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a kiss.

  Without hesitating, he pulled me into his strong arms and deepened the kiss.

  I immediately pulled back to look into his eyes, startling him. “Did you care about me before this weird orange glow showed up?” I needed to know that this was real. I didn’t want to be involved with someone just because a stupid love spell told them to love me.

  He put his forehead against mine.

  “Dahlia, I knew there was something special about you at the pizza place. You were yourself around me, gobbling down mozzarella sticks, and not acting all prissy and girly. I knew you were hiding something from me, but I couldn’t blame you. It’s not as if I came out and told you I was a vampire. That night, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I slept in the alley down the street and counted the minutes until I could see you again. Last night, I should have left you. I’m still not able to control my hunger and I was afraid that I would attack you in my sleep. But, seeing you in pain, I couldn’t leave. Sleeping next to you, I didn’t think about feeding on you once. Though I couldn’t stop thinking about having sex with you. I haven’t thought about sex since becoming a vampire, yet all I wanted to do was make love to you until the sun came up. I’ve never met anyone like you, Dahlia.” His legs brushed up against mine, sending a wave of excitement through me.

  Running my hands through his short brown hair, I sighed. “I don’t let just anyone into my life or my home, Aiden. I should have feared you, but I didn’t. I somehow knew I was supposed to help you. I was supposed to let you get close. Even when everyone told me to be careful of you, I followed my heart because it knew you were worth helping.” Closing my eyes, I whispered, “Seeing you shirtless in my bed was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. Then I woke up to you making breakfast for me without a shirt. If you had made freshly squeezed orange juice, my self-control would have snapped and I would have fucked you so hard, I would have made your heart beat again.”