She opened the door and found herself in a purple room. The plush carpet, and the subtle lighting, gave the room a regal feel. She went into the bathroom, almost expecting blood stains and murder weapons but it was all sparkling white marble. Aria applied a band-aid to her hand before climbing down the stairs still more confused when she noticed that all the food had been prepared.
"How did you make it so fast?" she asked in surprised.
"I used ramen noodles," David confessed. "How is your hand?" he asked in concern.
"All taped up." Aria informed him. He seemed to be embarrassed at that pronouncement. Perhaps he shouldn't have sprung that announcement as she held the knife. It didn't make sense. She could have used the knife on him. "There is something I need to tell you. I suffer from a condition called Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis because of which I have never felt pain or heat or cold in my life. Also I run the risk of a highly shortened lifespan. But tonight, something happened. I felt heat, pain and it's weird. I think it's you. You cure me. There are many things I will never experience in my life and there is one regret I don't want to die with. I want to feel you, or at least try. It can't be anyone else. Will you sleep with me?" Aria asked intrusively.
David avoided the question and looked down to concentrate on his food. He had taken for himself a very small portion and supplemented it with a glass of red wine. It was rude of him to not offer but Aria assumed that it's because she was only twenty years old and David didn't know that she could drink as there are places where you weren't allowed to drink till you are twenty one. But then again, Aria never told him her age. Had he already gone through her resume? She wondered.
"David, you can just say no. You told me you were a rapist. I am still having dinner with you. I just told you that I have a nerve condition which vanishes in your presence and that I want to sleep with you." Aria insisted, breaking the awkward silence. "If you truly are a rapist do you really have such a strong preference that it can't be me?" Aria asked, summoning all the courage inside her.
David's lips twitched at her question. He was trying hard not to smile. "Do you want the honest truth?"
Aria nodded.
"If I tell you the truth there is no turning back. The powers I work for will ensure you never tell anyone else. You know means you are my accomplice. That is the only way I can protect you."
Aria felt the shivers again. This time for a different reason but found herself nodding. David got up and went upstairs towards his room. He came down five minutes later holding a beige envelope. "That is an appointment letter. You now work for me." He said.
Aria raised her eyes. "I am a Art History major, not a Forensic Pathologist."
"And I own Bellini Antique House. It is a family business. My name is David Bellini." He provided helpfully.
Aria blinked and opened the envelope and read through it. She was hired as the personal assistant to the curator.
"You're the curator?" she asked.
"I am the owner. I hired you as an assistant to Raphe Serbin. He is a nice gentleman, a bit older than you who will be able to help you in your career growth. Not everyone at Bellini's knows what I really do but he does. He will keep you safe." He promised.
"Are we still talking about your sexual preferences?" Aria asked a bit confused.
"The preferences aren't mine. If it were they would probably be all strawberry blonde with light blue eyes, at least now that I have met you. I am not a rapist by choice. I do not choose my women. My country does. I do as I am asked to do. I do not associate the activity with pleasure because it is a duty I perform to the crown. I try my best that my victim not feel any pain but they do in some amount. One of the earliest women I lay with jumped out of a ten storey window after I had finished with her and it has not gotten any better. I do not know why I am telling you all this but I am attracted to you. I am forbidden to. I belong to my country. I will never act on my feelings. So, you are safe from me. But I want to help you whatever way I can." David confessed.
Aria was stunned into silence so far. "Why did you have to tell me all this? You could have said that you're not interested and later hired me through this Raphe. No one would know. I wouldn't know."
"I can cure you, Aria." David said, looking hopeful for the first time, a smile gracing his angelic face as his eyes spoke of pain. Aria's heart went out for this slave of a barbaric non-nation.
"There is no cure, David." Aria regretfully informed him.
David shook his head. "My country has a special medicine that cures all diseases. It is derived from alien DNA. It is kept a global secret. United Nation and the Vatican Church knows of it and no other. The cure can restore you. I want to be the first kiss that you feel, Aria. May I?"
"I can feel you without the cure. That's the point. And it's not a kiss I want. I want more," Aria insisted adamantly.
"It's not mine to give," David reminded.
"I am not asking you to marry me. I will try this alien concoction if you promise that you will explore all pleasures of sexuality with me. We could be friends with benefits. You are already paying me. I will be your mistress. When your duty calls you go to whatever woman you need to rape. But I want you." Aria bargained.
David let out a deep breath and hung his head. He turned back upstairs, deep in contemplation. Aria noticed that the spaghetti had turned cold. Nonetheless, she returned to it, filling her stomach in the hope that it would remove the weight in her heart. A few moments later David returned and held out a small gold vial.
"Drink" he commanded.
The intensity of his stare pinned her to her spot. Perhaps if it was cyanide she would have gulped down in one go. Aria uncorked the screw and poured the liquid down her throat. It smelled of rust and petrichor and tasted a bit salty.
"What now?" she asked defiantly.
David smiled a sad smile and trailed a finger up her arm and suddenly pinched her.
"Ow, that hurt!" she cried and David laughed.
"Now you tell me how you make sex pleasurable," he offered with a light in his eyes, an oddly purple light.
Aria looked into his eyes to search for any truth behind the statement and saw the lust that she felt. A part of her felt relieved that the attraction was not one-sided. But did she really wish to be involved with a self-confessed, rapist? She was questioning her sanity for even considering it. A part of her wondered whether it was really Harry who had hurt his head and not her. It made sense. Her obsession with conspiracy theories and art history both reached fruition in the man standing before her. Could she have dreamt him up just to satisfy her pitiful love life? Then again the man was hardly confessing his feelings for her. She needed to focus less on the sexual part of it and more on the contract part of it. It couldn't be deemed normal on any accord. "First you show me how you normally do it," Aria asked in barely a whisper, feeling the rush of adrenaline through her veins as she thought about his teeth and lips so close to her flesh.
"There is usually pain involved. I bite. It's the only pleasure I feel. If you don't resist, the pain only registers for a moment." he explained.
"What does your experience tell you?" Aria questioned, trying to make up her mind.
"My partners have never been willing, so I wouldn't know. However, my younger brother is quite popular among women. I have a lot of siblings but am closest to the brother right after me." David provided.
Aria looked at him and blinked. Why wouldn't women want to be with this perfect gentleman? Was this some sort of a façade that was removed the moment they stepped into the confines of a bedroom? Aria wanted to enter that said bedroom and experience him. But mostly she wanted to experience both the pain and the pleasure that he had to offer. The food in front of her had already turned cold. Her hunger had turned into something other.
"I am willing but I want it to hurt. I want to know how pain feels," Aria confessed putting the napkin to her lips, signalling the end of dinner and the start of something neither understood.
"I am sure there are more ways to feel pain than offering yourself to a hired rapist who seems to have lost all self-control in your presence," David confessed, getting up from his seat but still hesitating from crossing the distance.
"Bite me and fuck me," she ordered. She knew that her voice failed her but David listened to her just fine. Despite his protests, he did not have the strength in him to refuse the direct request. She found herself carried up to the first-floor bedroom that she never managed to enter. It was only a few minutes until she felt his breath against her neck followed by a sharp piercing pain and then fire through her veins.