London, Present Day
Aria groaned, acknowledging the dull ache in her body. She had difficulty recalling where she was till she felt the solid arm draped across her body. She turned her head to take in the ebony-black hair of the man she had spent the last night with. It was a first for her. Actually, there were a lot of first for her.
David opened his eyes and frowned. Aria noticed that his eyes were purple instead of the bright blue that she noticed the day before. She had heard that vampires changed the colour of their eyes. Suddenly everything came crashing down on her- the phone call, Harry, the cut, the bite and then the passion. All of the storybooks lied, almost all of them. David was standing at the edge of the bed, trying to figure out the woman sitting up half-naked, wrapped in bed sheets.
"Who are you?" he asked her in confusion.
Aria's jaws dropped. Do vampires lose their memories with sunlight? She wondered.
Of course not. But who are you? she heard David again, but he did not speak. He was looking at her with a frown that etched itself on his forehead.
"I am Aria, remember? We were together last night. Remember, the human you slept with who isn't a blonde with light green eyes. Did you say so yourself, remember? I am not your type but you went through with it nonetheless?" Aria reminded him bitterly.
David opened his mouth and closed it like a fish out of water. "You are scaring me, David. You are David, right?" Aria questioned in her mind, somehow knowing that he could read her thoughts. David shook his head and bowed down. "You're not David? Don't tell me that you are his twin brother and you switched places sometime during the night. Did you?"
At that, the man who resembled David suddenly looked up. "No, I am David. I have brothers, but no twins. It's just that I made a mess and I am sorry about it." he offered.
"What do you mean?" Aria questioned him, at which David reached out for her to hold his hand. As she gingerly reached out he pulled her up from the bed and led her toward the bathroom. In the mirror, Aria saw that her strawberry blonde hair which till yesterday was in a short bob, now reached below her waist and her blue eyes were lighter than any that she had seen. It took her a few moments to realize that she was looking at her.
She turned around to face David who was wearing his boxers while she stood naked before him. "How?" she asked.
"I am still startled how you could easily accept the part that I drink blood so easily. Apart from vampirism, I have some other powers, supernatural ones. I think I subconsciously changed you." he explained.
"You prefer long hair and pale eyes?" Aria exclaimed.
David shook his head. "I will undo it right away."
"I actually don't mind as long as you don't," Aria emphasized and turned towards the mirror. David concentrated and Aria saw her eyes turn deep blue for only a moment before turning back to pale blue.
David took a step back till he rolled into a ball and let go of a shriek of pain. Aria tried to step toward him but he warned her off. "Step outside and close the door." Aria hesitated when he screamed "Now" as he walked over to the shower and closed the curtains. Aria wrapped the bedsheet in front of her, noting the blood stains on it as she rushed down to the kitchen to get a drink of water. Whatever was happening to her was too much for her to take in.
David continued to scream for some more time before coming back down. His eyes continued to glow purple. "Are you ok?" Aria asked.
"I changed the colour of your eyes and you ask me if I am ok?" David replied in amazement.
"I am not the one shrieking in pain," she explained. "So what happened?"
"I don't know. I tried to undo whatever happened last night and my body tried to shut down and ultimately gave out a blast of energy that melted the entire bathtub." David explained.
"I thought it was a copper bathtub" Aria noted. She remembered noting the rich copper colour along with the dull shine that it gave and the thought had come to her mind that who in this day and age uses a copper bathtub? That was however last night when she was still a brunette and decided to get down and dirty with a complete stranger who drank blood.
David took a long hard look at her and sighed. He noticed that it was the same face he kissed last night, the same lips. She even bore the mark from his bites last night. He thought he had healed all of them but apparently, he hadn't. One particular mark above her collar bone called out to him right now. He moved closer to her, aware that he was only wearing a bathrobe and she wore a bed sheet. He pulled her close and allowed his canines to sink into her supple neck. He took a small sip, relishing in the taste of the richest blood that he ever knew. He looked into the eyes of the woman and only saw concern. He suddenly remembered the question she had asked him. "Yes, it was made of copper." David confirmed at which Aria finally lost consciousness and fell into his arms.
When Aria opened her eyes she was in a different room. In fact, the architecture seemed completely different. David was sitting on a chair beside her bed with closed eyes. "David" she called out in barely a whisper and realized that her voice was hoarse.
David offered her a glass from the nightstand and it was the sweetest water she ever tasted. "What happened? Where am I?" she asked in confusion.
"We are in Essex, at another of my homes. You fainted earlier and I tried to change you back again. My powers became unstable and I burnt down the entire house. I barely managed to take you out of the house before it collapsed." he explained.
"That still doesn't explain why I am here and not in some hospital?" Aria questioned.
"There is nothing wrong with you physically. I mean it was a surprise that the fire left you untouched. You were still unconscious however and I gave you some of my blood to heal." he informed.
"Your blood, your vampire blood?" Aria pointed out hysterically.
"Don't worry Aria. You were never in any danger of dying and it has already been seventy-two hours since the incident. You are out of danger now." he assured her.
"Seventy-two hours, I have been missing for seventy-two hours?" Aria couldn't get it.
"You had a high fever and your body was healing from the effect of the magic it refused to take. I let you sleep it out. You are fine now but I am reluctant to try magic on you again. In the meantime, till I find a way to return you back to normal, you have to promise me to stay with me at all times. I don't want to risk anyone finding out what happened. I wasn't joking when I said that there are people who will make you disappear for knowing about the supernatural." David warned.
"But what about my friend Rayne?" she asked.
"What does she know?" David asked.
Aria looked away. "Aria, you can tell me. We are in this together." he said.
"Rayne knows that I am with my parents," she confessed.
"Then call your parents and tell them that you are not with Rayne and don't want her to know where you are. Lie if you have to. The stakes are much larger than having to apologize to a friend later." David informed, at which Aria nodded.