Dahlia (Blood Crave Series) (18 page)

“Are you okay?”

The voice gave Dahlia a start as she looked up in surprise at a face she wasn’t expecting.

Ava.

She stood next to the table dressed in her usual dark attire, sunglasses and heels. Her dark hair fell around her face in a tousled look, although still stylish. Perfectly manicured nails held a tray filled with food. Dahlia cleared her throat as she dropped her arms around herself and gave an uncomfortable grimace. “I’m fine.”

Ava tilted her head to the side then placed her tray on the table, sitting opposite to Dahlia. Dahlia glanced up as she stared into Ava’s face, still unable to see her eyes, which remained hidden behind her lenses.

“Why do you wear those?” Dahlia asked out of the blue, gesturing toward the sunglasses. She remembered the night before when it seemed as if Greyson evoked some sort of power, his eyes lighting up like jewels.

“These?” Ava flicked her shades with her index finger then ran her hand through her long black hair as if looking bored. She didn’t say anything for a moment then smirked as she looked directly at Dahlia.

“Why do you ask questions you already know the answers to, D?”

Ava slowly took off her sunglasses to reveal eyes so striking they rooted Dahlia in her chair. Her eyes were amber, a color that she had only seen once in her entire life and more recently in her dreams.

“Wolf,” Dahlia struggled to speak, her mind working a mile a minute. “Your eyes are just like the wolf. Don’t tell me the lapsus are shapeshifters too?”

Ava placed her glasses back on, breaking that spell as she laughed. “Shapeshifters? Now, wouldn’t that be something. No, we don’t have the luxury to shape shift.”

“Then the wolf—”

“My Familiar,” Ava continued as she interrupted Dahlia, staring at her intently. “We are one and the same.”

Dahlia wondered why Greyson hadn’t mentioned anything about Familiars. Then she wondered why Ava hadn’t revealed her true self before. “Why are you here, Ava?”

Amber eyes covered up by shades refused to look away from Dahlia, almost penetrating into her soul. She took a shaky breath as she waited for Ava’s answer. “Why, to protect you. Just like how you protected me all those years ago.”

Dahlia shook her head in confusion. “I don’t understand. It was the wolf that I saved.”

Ava gave her head a nod. “Yes, that’s true. As I said before, we are one and the same. The lapsus and their Familiar remain intricately linked. If one dies, the other dies. You saved me therefore I owe my life to you.”

“But,” Dahlia paused, thinking of Greyson.

“Greyson.”
Ava said his name so distastefully that Dahlia recoiled. She stared over at Ava intently as she continued. “I bet he told you not to trust me.”

Dahlia looked up, flustered by Ava’s words that she couldn’t lie. “Um, yes.”

Ava made a face in annoyance. “That’s so typical of him. He just wants to keep you all to himself and look good in the eyes of Merrick. He doesn’t care about you at all. He thinks that if he gets you to trust him, once Merrick’s free, he’ll bless him with more power. You need to trust me, D. Merrick doesn’t want to harm you and he is not evil as Greyson describes. He just wants to protect us, the
angelus lapsus
, as we rightfully should be and rid the world of the two remaining lamia. Although you share the blood of our enemy, remember that you’re his
daughter
.”

Dahlia’s heart started to race, not knowing whom to believe. She looked over at Ava who seemed so real, earnest in wanting to help her and be her friend. There was some sort of invisible connection between them and she didn’t know why. Then she thought back to Greyson, who both scared her to death, but still longed for him to put his arms around her.

“There are others trying to kill me.” Dahlia spoke quietly under her breath, but she knew Ava heard by the change in her expression.

“I know.” She looked around then moved her head closer to Dahlia so no one would overhear. Sunglasses off again, Ava blinked chilling eyes directly at Dahlia as she continued. “They are rogue lapsus wanting to prevent what we’re working toward. I’m sorry, I don’t know who’s behind this, but I’m on it. Sometimes it’s difficult distinguishing between humans and lapsus. We technically look the same and we lapsus are good at hiding when we don’t want to be found. There is the whole mind reading ability that helps. A human thought flows freely into our minds if we let it because there’s no filter.

“Why don’t you give it a try listening in?” Ava remarked with a wicked grin on her face.

Dahlia became interested at the notion then shook her head regretfully. “No, that’s okay. It’s like an invasion of privacy. I couldn’t do that.”

Ava’s smile left her face as she gave nodded in understanding. “I get that but sometimes it’s really hilarious. The thoughts that some people have are crazy!”

She then sobered up. “But tapping into the mind of the lapsus is completely different. One can nudge another with their mind and they can strike up a conversation. They are also able to block thoughts from each other if they wish. We’ve learned over time to control that. I see you have too?”

Dahlia sheepishly grinned. “Greyson taught me.” She failed to mention it was strictly due to him not wanting Ava to read her mind.

“What about the lamia?” Dahlia asked, curious about the other part of her.

“Those demons?” Ava bit her lip as she frowned at the word. Dahlia could hear the distaste in her tone and felt a little insulted, considering she was part “demon,” but remained quiet as Ava continued. “We can’t read their minds or communicate with them at all…or so I’ve been told. They aren’t telepathic, like we are, but they can read the mind’s of humans as well. Both lamia and lapsus can also manipulate human thoughts. It comes quite handy at times.”

Dahlia pondered on her response then, “Have you ever met any lamia?”

Ava shook her head. “No. Even if I did, I’d never dare converse with them, considering our past. It’s not like there are many left either. I’d probably have to kill them if we were to meet.”

Dahlia, stunned by her blunt words, eyed her apprehensively. She did not want to be on Ava’s bad side. Observing her now, Dahlia could see the same dangerous air similar to Greyson and Maddox, maybe more so. She opened her mouth to change the subject but failed to speak as a redhead crashed into their table, dropping her tray in the process.

“Damn it!” The girl cut herself against a piece of broken glass from a bottle and the palm of her hand sliced open. Dahlia sat transfixed at the sight of blood, her body suddenly warm as her upper teeth ached on both sides.

She was dying to taste the blood. That was the thought at the forefront of her mind. She instinctively reached for the girl’s hand but Ava’s hand grabbed a hold of her wrist, stopping her.

“Don’t.”

Ava’s loud and firm voice caused the girl to look strangely at her then over at Dahlia. She then shook her head as she walked away holding tissue paper to her cut as she muttered under her breathe, not realizing how close she had been to danger.

“Weirdos.”

Dahlia’s heart rate slowly started to decrease as her breathing became normal. Then she looked over at Ava. “What’s happening to me?” She had never felt the urge as strong as this.

“It’s your need for blood. You’re hungry.” Ava quickly flicked her eyes down at her uneaten tray of food. “And I see that you haven’t eaten. Food and blood go hand in hand with you, and your brain can’t decipher what you want. You’re hungry but you haven’t eaten, then blood was presented to you and you reacted to it.” Ava looked strangely up at her. “You haven’t experienced this before?”

Dahlia firmly gave her head a shake. “Not like that. I tend to eat a lot so I’ve controlled it over the years…” Her voice faltered as she thought back to the past. “I guess I felt this way when I was younger—back in the forest. Your wolf’s blood called to me.”

“Well, that’s your vampire instincts. The anniversary of the lapsus’ creation, the day we first fell, is approaching. That’s when our powers are the strongest, so perhaps yours is manifesting in the need for blood. Also as lapsus, whenever we use too much power, we deplete our energy reserves so we constantly need to fuel ourselves with food. It’s why I eat so much,” she ended with a grin. Ava then stood up abruptly. “It’s time for me to go.”

“Wait!” Dahlia raised a hand for Ava to stop. She had so many questions running through her head and she didn’t want her to leave just yet. “What do I do about the other lapsus who are after me?”

Ava paused as she looked down at her. “There’s only so much you can do, D. Try to stay safe—involve yourself in large groups so you’re not on your own. They don’t want to draw any attention to humans so that’d be my best bet. You know how humans can get when presented with the unknown. A little spooked, if you know what I mean. And I doubt any of those lapsus would want to be hooked up and treated as science experiments anytime soon.”

Dahlia nodded at Ava’s words. They were right along the lines of Greyson’s persistence on her being careful. “Alright.”

Ava turned to leave again then stopped in her tracks as she twirled back around and lowered her head down toward Dahlia’s face so they faced each other directly. She couldn’t look away from Ava’s enchanting eyes.

“You’ll be okay, you know. Everything will work out exactly as planned,” Ava whispered, slowly smiling as she stroked Dahlia’s cheek with the tip of her fingers. “Exactly.”

Although the words themselves were encouraging, it still didn’t stop the slight quiver of fear that overtook her body. Because even though Dahlia really wanted to trust Ava, the girl scared the shit out of her.

And she didn’t know what to do about it.

Chapter 16

“Hey.”

Dahlia turned around from her locker to see Meg and Taylor, Sam’s friends. She glanced from Meg’s huge grin to Taylor, who stood a little behind her with a solemn look on his face. Dahlia recalled the way he ignored her during the soccer game days before and frowned slightly. She felt he didn’t like her for some reason.

Although right about now, that was the least of her problems.

Meg noticed the look on Dahlia’s face then glanced back at Taylor as she slapped him lightly on the stomach with the back of her hand.

“Knock it off with the depressing look, Taylor.” Meg looked back at Dahlia and smiled apologetically, her eyes crinkling up at the corners. “Ignore him. He’s harmless, I promise. He just doesn’t know how to act around new people.”

Dahlia glanced at Taylor once more before focusing her gaze back at Meg. She noticed for the first time that she had freckles scattered across her nose and cheekbones. She was dressed down from the kimono dress she wore that first day of school, donning a pair of dark jeans and a yellow top that went well with her tanned coloring.

Dahlia attempted a smile. “No worries. What’s up?”

It was nice to focus on something other than the craziness she heard from both Greyson and Ava. These two were a nice distraction for a change.

“I feel like we haven’t really had the chance to hang out with you. Being Sam’s new sister and all, I figured we should all be good friends.” Meg bent closer to Dahlia as she whispered in her ear, brown eyes twinkling as she wiggled her brows up and down. “And you being a girl is a major plus for me being surrounded by all these guys.”

Dahlia thought back to Ava, remembering what she had said earlier about keeping in groups to stay safe. On the plus side, it would also be the perfect opportunity to get to know everybody a bit more. She smiled inwardly.

“Um, sure. That’d be great.”

“Perfect!” Meg’s smile widened, the corners of her eyes crinkling. She glanced at Taylor then back at Dahlia. “We’ll start today. The guys are going to my place to hang out. You know—watch a movie, eat junk food. It’ll be fun.”

Dahlia thought it over before she answered. She did want normalcy.

“Absolutely,” she replied with a nod of her head.

That was how she found herself riding along with Meg in her black BMW only moments later. The guys drove in Sam’s car since Meg had begged for girl time on the ride over to her house. Dahlia shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she glanced over at her new companion. Meg seemed like a sweet girl and she wanted to get to know her more. “So…how do you know Sam?”

“Huh?” Meg’s looked over at Dahlia with wide eyes as she flicked her bangs out of her eyes.

“I asked how you knew Sam.”

“Oh, Sam?” Meg shrugged slightly. “We’ve known each other for a few years, since the ninth grade.”

“What about the others?”

“Taylor, Deacon and Lee,” Meg beamed widely, her face changing instantly. “I’ve known those three forever. We’ve been friends since we were babies. Our families are super close—they’re practically like my brothers.”

“That’s nice to have friends that close to you.” Dahlia thought of the people in her own life and felt that was what she missed from her own life, although technically she had Sam and his parents. Her mind shifted as she thought back to her conversation with Ava.

“Do you know an Ava?”

“Ava?” Meg looked confused then shook her head. “Never heard of her.” She glanced over at Dahlia. “Why do you ask?”

Dahlia shrugged. “Oh, nothing. She’s just a girl I met at school. I just thought…you would know her.” The way Ava acted one would think that everyone would know her. It was as if no one knew of her, except for Dahlia herself. She wondered why she kept her presence so secret.