"Please leave me."
"No."
With a quick motion, he slits her throat, the blood spilling as he bends down to lick it.
"Tasteless brat."
He wipes his lips with the motion of his thumb.
---
"What would you like to have, sir?"
Words Aurora had said hundreds of times in her job as a waitress.
Aurora trudges through the dim-lit streets of Norwich, exhaustion weighing on her every step. The cold air nips at her skin, and her stomach growls, protesting the long hours of work. The quiet of the night surrounds her, broken only by the distant hum of city life. It's a lonely kind of silence, one that mirrors the emptiness she feels.
"I wasn't hoping for a penny for Christmas bonus," she mutters to herself.
"A pound would work."
A voice from behind startles her. "Who are you?"
She freezes, turning to find a figure stepping out of the shadows. The dim light reflects off his face—a man with striking, pale features and piercing green eyes that gleam with an unsettling intensity. He smirks, as if already knowing the outcome of this encounter.
"Dio. They call me Dio Barone."
An unpleasant smirk rests on his face.
"And you?"
"Aurora."
"Beautiful name for a beautiful lady," he says, his voice thick with an Italian accent, stepping closer. Aurora instinctively takes a step back.
"Lady, I won't harm you. I have something that could benefit you,"
he says smoothly, raising his hands in mock surrender.
"Spit it out."
The smirk on his face deepens, and something cold flickers in his gaze. "A kidney would work."
Aurora's eyes widen in disbelief. "A kidney? What do you mean?"
"I'll pay ten grand for it."
The offer hangs in the air like a forbidden temptation. Her breath catches, and for a moment, her mind wavers. Ten grand could change everything—her debts, her struggles, her life. But selling her organ feels wrong.
"No. I can't do it," she whispers, her voice shaking. "Please, just leave me alone."
Aurora starts to leave, but that Italian accent strikes her ears again.
"Twenty grand?" His voice is like a snake's hiss.
Aurora freezes, her heart pounding. She turns to face him, her thoughts racing. Twenty grand. He just doubled the price. It's more than enough to change her life. But the cost… what would she be giving up? Should she trust him?
"I need time," she says softly, her mind a battlefield.
Dio's dark chuckle fills the space between them, the echo of his words sinking deep into her. "Take all the time you need, Aurora."
"You can be free from this life if you just embrace darkness. Why fight it?"
His words hung in the cold air, echoing in her mind and somewhere deep inside her, a part of her… wavered.