Just a Bite - Part 3

"Yeah, okay. Give me a second." said Charlie. She looked back to Dahlia and said "Make yourself at home, I'll be back in a couple of minutes."

Charlie made her way to the door and opened it as little as possible before quickly darting out of the room. Steve was already on his way to the kitchen, so she headed that way too. Steve was a hulk of a man and their kitchen was quite small so he usually needed some help getting things into some of the lower cabinets.

"Steve, my buddy, my brother, my pal, couldn't you have waited like 10 more seconds before knocking?" said Charlie

Steve let out a hearty chuckle and replied "And what? Have interrupted you in the act of whatever you were doing in there?".

"Good point. Let's just get this over with." said Charlie.

After a couple minutes of putting things away in silence Charlie asked, "Do you know when Maddy and Lil are getting back?"

"Probably pretty soon. Why?" replied Steve.

"Need to call a bit of a family meeting. Got something kind of important I need y'all's help with." said Charlie.

"Okay, I'll let them know when they get back."

"Thanks."

Charlie walked in on Dahlia looking at something on her dresser. Fuck. Charlie realising a bit too late that she should have put those away too. Dahlia looked over to her with a smirk and said, "I didn't to mean pry, but they are just sitting out in the open."

"Yeah, it's fine. Those are the ones folks are fine with anyone seeing." said Charlie.

"Not quite what I expected when you said you were into photography." said Dahlia, somehow managing to smirk even more.

She walked over to stand next to Dahlia and while looking over the photos said, "Well, how would you have reacted if had I told you last night?"

"Honestly? I might have asked for you to give it a go on me." she replied.

"Oh really now? Photos and everything?"

"Hmm, maybe?"

"Well, we could give it a go later if you want." said Charlie, looking over to gauge Dahlia's reaction.

With a smile she said, "I may take you up on that."

Charlie stood smiling for a moment before saying, "Uhh, so when the other two get home I want to give everyone a rundown on the situation if that's cool with you?"

Dahlia seemed to think for a moment before asking, "Do you trust them?"

"More than you can imagine." said Charlie.

"Okay then." said Dahlia, sounding a little uncertain.

Charlie laid her hand on Dahlia's then said, "Are you okay with me explaining the details of why I was in your apartment if it comes up? And just so you know, Lil's already worked it out. She won't say anything but it's up to you."

"It's fine."

"Okay, great." said Charlie, giving Dahlia's hand a little squeeze and then giving her a warm smile asked, "Do you want to get a bit more practice in before the other two get back?"

"Sure." said Dahlia, returning the smile.

Dahlia looked back down at the photos and then, after a couple of quiet seconds, asked, "Is that a real succubus?"

"They prefer concubus. Don't get them started on the whole incubus/succubus top/bottom thing, they'll talk your ear off." replied Charlie.

Steve, Lilith, and Maddy all sat in chairs around the lounge as Charlie and Dahlia entered.

"Thanks for coming everyone." said Charlie.

"Of course." said Maddy, looking down at the floor, the hood of her red hoody up.

"So. This is Dahlia." said Charlie, gesturing to Dahlia, who waved to the group. Charlie continued, "And she's a vampire."

No one in the group appeared to react to this revelation as Charlie pointed towards Lilith and said, "That's Lilith, who you met earlier, and as I said, she's a witch."

Charlie moved her arm to point at Steve and continued, "This is Steve."

He waved and said, "Sorry for interrupting you two earlier."

Charlie, looking mortified, tried to move the conversation forward by saying, "And he's a berserker." Dahlia looked confused, so she continued with, "These days I guess you might call him a werebear."

Dahlia looked at Steve, someone who the average person would already describe as a bear of a man, and just nodded. Charlie took it as a cue to continue and said, "And this is Maddy. She's a medusa."

Maddy looked up slightly, and without making eye contact gave a smile.

Dahlia seemed to freeze up a bit so Charlie added, "She won't literally turn you to stone. Yet another popular myth. You won't be able to make eye contact with her unless she wants you to. And if you do, you'll kind of just freeze in place until she breaks eye contact."

Charlie turned back to Maddy and said, "And on that note, Dahlia and I both need your help. As I said, Dahlia's a vampire, a fact neither of us were aware of until she bit me last night."

The other three looked confused until Dahlia piped up with, "I was adopted."

"Right, and luckily for her, the first person she bit was a werewolf." said Charlie, "To avoid further incidents we need to make sure she can control her powers. That's where you three come in."

"What can we do to help?" asked Lilith.

"Well," said Charlie, "I need help with a couple of things. I'll need you, Lil, to help out when she's learning to fly higher. I want you up there with her just in case." Looking over to Maddy she continued, "Maddy, I'll need your help while she's learning to hypnotise people. We'll need someone in the room who she can't influence."

Maddy nodded as Charlie looked over to Steve. He sat up and looked at her with anticipation. "And of course, Steve." said Charlie, trying not to be blinded by his look of pure optimism, "You'll be making sure we get nutritious meals and have plenty of water."

Steve beamed.

"Right, any questions?" asked Charlie. Everyone shook their heads. "Well then, thank you all. If Dahlia's up to it we'll go back to my room and get back to practising flying."

Back in Charlie's room Dahlia was floating unsteadily in the middle of the room while Charlie stood ready to catch her. She slowly lowered back down to the ground with a smile of pure joy and, with a giddy voice, said, "I can fly!"

"You can!" said Charlie, "Want to try something a bit harder though?"

"What did you have in mind?" asked Dahlia.

"Want to try lifting me as well?" asked Charlie.

Smirk returning, Dahlia asked, "Princess carry or fireman's carry?"

Charlie approached her with a playful smile and said, "Just hold my hands, silly."

She offered her hands, which Dahlia took in her own, and a few moments later Charlie felt the weight lift from her feet. She looked down and saw her feet slowly rising off the floor along with Dahlia's.

After hovering in the air for about 10 second they descended. Charlie, no longer feeling weightless, looked back up to Dahlia, who was still smirking, and said, "Good job! Pretty good for our first day. Well... At least I think so?"

"It wasn't much more effort than when I do it alone." said Dahlia.

"Oh, then I can expect you to sweep me off my feet more often then?" asked Charlie, with a smirk of her own.

"I don't need to fly to do that." replied Dahlia as she swept Charlie up into a princess carry.

"Oh my," said Charlie in exaggerated tones, "I appear to be feeling faint! Would you please take me to bed?"

Dahlia obliged and delicately laid her on the bed. Charlie looked up at her and said, "I'd feel awfully lonely all by myself. Would you care to join me?"

"Oh, but of course, M'lady." said Dahlia in an equally exaggerated voice as she climbed on top of Charlie.

Charlie wrapped her arms around Dahlia, drawing her closer. Staring deeply into Dahlia's eyes she said, "Oh my, I'm feeling quite hot. Would you mind helping me undress?"

"If you wish, M'lady." replied Dahlia, sitting up to unbutton Charlie's shirt. Just as she had undone the third button there was a knock at the door and through it they heard Steve excitedly say, "I brought tea and sandwiches!"

Charlie, covering her face with her hands, yelled, "OH MY FUCKING GOD STEVE!"