THE UNDYING | TWILIGHT

3. An Offer You Can't Refuse

Aro sighed and put his feet up on the desk. "Something is missing," he thought aloud, and his eyes focused on a disturbingly bare wall. "A painting. Yes, that's just what I need to make this room complete. How can I accept guests in such an incomplete room?"

A soft knock on the door prompted him to lower his feet and sit up straight. "Come in."

Heidi entered the room as expected, but when he saw the unfamiliar girl in her company, he was most surprised, though he didn't show it on his face. "Where is Adrianna?" he asked upon standing.

"Adrianna has ... left us, I'm afraid."

"I see." Aro clapped his hands together and pressed them to his lips. "That is most unfortunate." The frown remained on his face for only a moment before he covered it with a brilliant smile directed specifically at the new young lady in his presence.

"My name is Aro." Slowly, he extended his hand out to her, his palm fully displayed, enticing her to make contact. "And who might you be, my dear?"

Dahlia's tentative fingers froze upon touching his pale skin, sending unpleasant shivers down her spine. But when she tried to pull away, Aro's icy grip ensnared her.

A great surge of insufferable thoughts engulfed Aro's mind all at once, and none of them were his own. He could see every memory, hear every thought, and feel every emotion that Dahlia had ever possessed, even ones she had long forgotten. Pain, there was so much pain, and fear — he felt so exposed, so vulnerable — and he saw men all around him, laughing and screaming, beating and raping. The thoughts and memories just kept coming and coming, and her screams were ringing in his ears like a siren, driving him mad. He couldn't take it anymore!

With a jerk, he retracted his hand, and his mind finally quieted. Such powerful memories, he mused, and even his own thoughts were now too much for his sensitive mind. He would need an entire day of silence to completely recover from that onslaught.

"You," he finally managed to say, "have lived a very troubled life."

His message caught Dahlia slightly off guard. "Well, who hasn't?"

Unsatisfied with her response, Aro searched her eyes and found not even a shred of the pain and suffering he had heard in her thoughts. Has she blocked out all those memories? he wondered. Or is she just pretending? It was hard to tell, even for him.

"Yes," he relented, "but to be all alone in a foreign country must be especially difficult for you, Dahlia."

At that, Dahlia's eyes widened. "How do you know my name?"

I know a lot more than that, my dear. But he refused to answer her question, deeming it unimportant given the current circumstances, so he seated himself at his desk and steered the conversation to a more appropriate topic.

"I have a proposition for you! Given Adrianna's unexpected departure, a new position on my staff has opened up. Now, that position can be yours, if you so choose."

"You're ... offering me a job?"

Aro leaned forward. "Oh, much more than that. I am offering you an escape from all your troubles, Dahlia. You'll no longer have to worry about money or food. We can provide everything for you: a fresh meal, a warm bed to sleep in, and all the money you can spend. You can have anything you want, and I mean anything. All you have to do is say, yes."

"All I have to do is say, yes?" And I can have anything I want. No more hunger. No more pain. No more fear. But I've heard this all before, so many times, and I know by now that when something sounds too good to be true, it always is.

"I ..."

From the great hall came a woman's scream, high and shrill. One of the Volturi's unfortunate visitors had somehow managed to survive the slaughter. Once the hall was empty and waiting to be cleaned, she emerged from her hiding spot beneath a heavy layer of corpses. Heidi and Aro heard her first, and they were not pleased with the mistake of their waste disposal crew.

One job, Aro angrily thought. They have one job, and they can't do it right?

Dahlia stood with a fright. "I – I should go," she stammered, and then she bolted right out the door.

"Shall I retrieve her?" Heidi asked, waiting obediently for her master's command.

"That won't be necessary," Aro replied calmly. She is desperate and alone, the perfect candidate. "She will be back."

✧ ✧ ✧

It's always too good to be true! Dahlia thought as she raced down the hallway as fast as her skinny legs would let her.

It was a scream she had heard, a woman's scream, and that was all she needed to know. By now, she understood that it was best not to ask questions when hearing suspicious thing. In fact, it was best not to get involved at all, and that was what she was going to do.

Suddenly, a screaming, blood-soaked woman came flying out from around the corner. Without thinking, Dahlia pushed her away and kept running. 

"Help me, please!" the woman cried as she struggled to get back on her feet. "Help me!"

I'm sorry! I'm sorry! 

Ignoring the woman's pleas, Dahlia jumped into the elevator and frantically pushed every button, hoping one would take her away from this horrible place. As the doors closed, she saw the woman limping toward her, begging her to stop.

"Please, don't leave me! Please! I don't wanna die!"

Hurry, Dahlia thought as she anxiously waited for the doors to close. Please, hurry!

A bloody hand banged against the doors just as they closed.

"No!" The woman pounded on the doors with her fists again and again. "No! No! No!"

Slowly, her cries quieted as she sank to the floor in defeat; then she started to sob. "I don't wanna die ... I don't wanna die ..."

"Don't be afraid," she heard someone say in a child's voice: soft and nonthreatening. When she looked up, she saw a little girl, no older than ten to her eyes, with a tiny, round face and large, doll-like red eyes. So innocent. So pure.

"Fear is only in your mind," the girl said. And as those words left her lips, a spark set off in those deceptive eyes of hers, and she smirked with all the sadism of a wicked angel of death.

"Pain."