Beautiful Creatures Series

Chapter 3: 1

Aspen Colorado, four years later…

Aurora walked up and down the street. She had been in Aspen for two days. She had been forced to leave Las Vegas. She had gotten into some serious trouble with some very bad guys, and if she hadn’t left, she would have been the next body on the coroner’s table. So, she hitchhiked as far as the truck driver who picked her up was willing to take her. Of course, the ride was not free; she had been forced to trade a ride for a ride. It didn’t faze her anymore. Over the last four years, Aurora had turned tricks on the nightly just to survive. She was well past the point of giving a crap anymore.

If her life had taught her anything, it was that men were pigs, women were bitches, and she could count on no one in this world but herself. She’d become emotionally cut off from the world. She had no friends, and personally, she preferred it that way. She knew her lifestyle was extremely dangerous, but she had very little to live for. She would likely die young, probably at the hands of some john. To be honest, she didn’t even care anymore. If she died, she died.

On more than one occasion, some john had gotten violent with her or refused to pay, but that did not go over well with Aurora. She did her best to find the demon inside her, but sometimes when she got really mad, she couldn’t help it. The demon came out, and the man that had dared to slap her around would be laying at her feet in the motel room torn to shreds and laying in his own blood. One time she had literally ripped a man’s throat out with her teeth. Blood had covered her and dripped from her chin. She never meant to kill them, but sometimes when the monster came out, she couldn’t control it.

When she calmed down and became normal again, she would rush to the washroom or behind a dumpster and puke. She didn’t know why she did it. She was evil. She would wash up and take off. In the last four years, she had killed six people: two drug dealers and four johns. No one ever saw her do it, and for some reason, the police had never caught up with her. But she knew it was only a matter of time before someone caught up with her, and she ended up either in prison or a shallow grave. So,

Aurora took off. She would start fresh somewhere new. Unfortunately, she was pretty sure she was in store for the same shit different location.

Aurora did pretty well for herself on the street, though. She had grown up pretty tough over the years. She had to. She found she did pretty well with attracting customers, as well. She was young, small and very pretty. Her hair was long and naturally wavy. It was a very pale blond, almost white in the right light. Her skin was soft and the colour of ivory. Her features were soft, almost angelic. Though she only stood a diminutive 5’4”, she was curvy with a tiny waist, slender legs and perky breasts. She always showered after a job. She always made the john pay for the room, and when he left, she would shower underwater so hot it surprised her that her skin never blistered. Since she showered a couple of times a night, Aurora was one of the cleaner prostitutes on the street. She always smelled like hotel shower gel.

Over the years, she had used some of her money to buy some clothes. Skimpy little outfits that attracted men. She had an old leather bag where she would keep the two changes of clothes she owned, many packets of gum and stolen mini bottles of mouthwash she took from hotels for those times when she was paid for her oral skills. She found the mouthwash, and the mint gum helped to get the nasty taste out of her mouth. She also kept many packs of condoms. Most johns never had any, and while men paid more for bareback, Aurora never allowed it. They either wrapped it up, or she walked away.

Of course, Aurora knew she couldn’t do this forever, beauty faded fast on the street, and once it did, she would be used up and competing with girls half her age, but for now, she was the one the men wanted, which pissed off the other women. One had even tried to cut her in a fight in an alley. The woman had pulled a switchblade and cut Aurora’s arm. Both that woman and Aurora had watched in astonishment as the shallow cut healed right before their eyes. She hadn’t known she could do that, and it had scared both of them.

Aurora was hoping for a little action. This new start was going to work. Aspen wasn’t as big as Las Vegas, but it was a hot tourist town, so there was a lot of traffic coming in and out of this town, which gave her a large client pool. Plus, there were not as many prostitutes as in Las Vegas, so fewer competitions. All in all, Aspen was a classier place.

For the last two days, Aurora had been hanging outside a string of hotels and shops. Sometimes the proprietors or staff would come out and tell her to leave, but she would just move farther down the street. She liked standing outside a pub across from a construction site. A lot of the crew would stop in for lunch at the pub. They would chat her up, and a few would pay her for a quickie in the alley. The bartender had come out and complained about her soliciting his customers, but Aurora would slip him a kickback to look the other way, and for a few extra bucks, he even pretended he didn’t know she was underage and allowed her to satisfy her customers in the men’s room.

That particular day was very hot. The sky was clear, and the sun was beating down on the mountain town. She was leaning against the side of the building, watching the construction across the street. Some big company was tearing up the old park and revamping it to make it a bigger tourist attraction. They were digging everything up, the dirt and plants and paving over the whole area.

Aurora wasn’t sure what time it was, but judging from the position of the sun, she would guess it was near noon. The workers would be stopping for lunch any minute now. She watched as the equipment al stopped and was shut down. Slowly the workers started to cross the street heading for the pub and for their lunch.

Aurora stood up, and she put on a bright smile. As the men walked by, heading into the pub, she would flirt, asking anyone if they wanted a nooner before going back to work. Some would stop to talk to her, but most walked on. Then he crossed the street. She didn’t know this man’s name, but she had noticed him. He was hard not to notice. The man stood head and shoulders above the other men. He was broad and muscled. He was not what she would say was attractive in any way; that is not what caught

her attention. He was older than her, and he was intimidating. The man had a permanent scowl on his face. He seemed very unpleasant.

He had walked past her for the last couple of days. He always looked right at her but never stopped to actually say a word to her. She might have never given the man a second thought were not for one thing. One unbelievable coincidence she just could not stop thinking about. His eyes. His bright, unusual amber eyes. She had only seen eyes like that when she looked at herself in the mirror. Before this man, she had been certain that she was the only person in the world with these eyes. She had believed that it was a sign of the devil inside her, but now, seeing his eyes, she didn’t know what to think.

He never spoke to her, but he never hid the fact that he would fixate on her until he was in the building. Aurora felt conflicted about this man. He was the type of man you crossed the street to avoid. The kind that would probably cut you into pieces in his basement, but she wanted to know why he had her eyes. Only she could never get up the nerve to talk to him. And while she would proposition the other men, she never said two words to him. They just stared and then moved on.

That day the man lingered. She crossed the street slower than the other men, and once the others were inside, he walked right up to her. He ran his beefy fingers through his short copper hair, trying to make himself a little tidier. Aurora’s back straightened, and she squared her shoulder as she was forced to tilt her head upward to look at the monstrous man standing over her. She stared up at him, her pulse fluttering with nervousness.

“Hello,” he spoke. His voice was deep and gravelly, not appealing in any way. He even sounded like an angry grizzly bear with a cold.

“Hello,” she managed, her voice trembling with uncertainty. He looked like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how. She assumed he was trying to proposition her but wasn’t sure how. This must

have been his first time paying for it, although looking the way he did, she would have assumed paying for it was the only way he could get a woman to touch him.

“Um…” He started but then stopped.

“$50,” she said, saving him the embarrassment of asking.

“What?” He asked, giving her a confused look.

“You want to ride the attraction. It’s going to cost you $50,” she explained.

“Oh no,” He shook his head. “I don’t want… not that I wouldn’t want…” He tripped over his own tongue, and Aurora tried not to laugh. “It’s just… well, I thought….” He stopped and tried to collect his thoughts. “A burger?”

Aurora lifted one blond brown in confusion. “Excuse me?”

“Do you want a burger?” He finally managed to get a full sentence out.

“Um, if you want to get your jollies, it’s going to cost you more than a burger.”

“I don’t….” He sighed, “I just want to buy you lunch.”

“Just lunch?”

“Yes.”

“And what do I have to do to get this lunch?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

“Nothing.”

“So, you want to buy me lunch for absolutely no reason at all. I don’t have to do anything?”

“Well, it would be nice if you talked to me while we ate.”

“That’s all you want is a conversation?”

“That’s all I want.”

Aurora was, to say the least, surprised. She was thrown off her game, and she didn’t know what to do. However, she was very hungry, and how often was she going to get a free meal. “A burger?” She clarified one last time.

“Yes.”

Aurora bit her bottom lip as she looked up at him, considering her answer. “And fries?” She asked, hopefully.

He laughed, which made her step back a bit. She wasn’t entirely sure he was laughing; it very well could have been some kind of growl. “Yes, and fries, and if you like, I hear they got great milkshakes too,” Aurora smiled; his comment helped her realize his weird snarling cackle was actually him expressing amusement. “Come on, Girl, let’s get you fed,” he said as he held the pub door open. She knew she didn’t belong there, but she supposed the bartender wasn’t going to stop her, so she went inside.