Dianthe Rising

by J. B. Miller

  “What girls?” my father asked a hint of annoyance in his tone. "I understand he’s a young man and sowing his wild oats, but you shouldn’t see those types of women. He’d better have more sense than to be introducing any unsavory characters to you.”

  “He’s had dates over a few times when I dropped around to visit him in the past and he introduced me. There was nothing wrong with the girls; it would just be awkward for me to live there. Understand, Dad?" I inserted gently. "I've been coming to London on my own for months now for work. We talked about this. It's easier for me to live here than commute."

  Grumbling under his voice, he let it go. "I don’t believe you’re ready to be on your own, baby girl. If it wasn’t for David and Sean keeping an eye on you, you would be home where you belong.”

  This is why I preferred to talk to mum when I called. Dad tended to start going into the reasons for me to move straight back home.

  “I get it, Daddy,” I placated him.

  “I’m with Mr. Davies every day and Sean calls every night. In fact, if I do not finish my call to you, he may drive across town to check on me. He’s working, and I wouldn’t want to get him in trouble. Is mum there?" I asked sweetly. "I wanted to say hi and tell her that I love her before I head to bed for the night.”

  “Hold on a second, baby, and I’ll get her.” He covered the phone with his hand but I could hear him roaring through the house.

  “Mags, phone call for you, it's Dia.” After his muffled response, dad was back on the line.

  “She’s coming, baby, listen, before she gets here I want to let you know I love you.”

  “I know, Dad,” I said smiling. The man was so gruff when he tried to be gentle.

  “If I don’t speak to you tomorrow, Happy Birthday and you behave yourself, you hear me? Do not assume I don’t know Annie Lovelace has something up her sleeve. She’s from such a good family too,” my father grumbled.

  “Daddy,” I moaned. “You have to believe I won’t do anything stupid. Annie and I might go out tomorrow night for a couple of hours but I promise to be safe.”

  “You’d better be, sweetheart. I love you and here’s your mother." I told him goodnight and he handed me over to my mum.

  The conversation with my mother went much smoother, if along similar lines. She reminded me to take care of myself and to have a good time tomorrow. After wishing me a happy birthday and reminding me to call my brother, she hung up.

  By this time, it was after nine o’clock so I decided to text Sean instead of calling him.

  Hey, it’s me. Checking in. All is well. Love you, Night.

  Why u txting? Is something wrong? Sean sent back.

  No tired. Going 2 bed. Zzzzzz.

  Before I could hit send the phone began to ring.

  With a sigh, I answered. “Hi, Sean, I was texting you to tell you I was going to bed.”

  “And you couldn’t call me and tell me that, why?” he demanded.

  “Because I was under the mistaken impression it would be easier to message you and head straight to bed, that’s why," I said resignedly. I don’t see why I tried it, as I knew it was a useless endeavor. He always insisted on voice contact when communicating.

  “You do get how easy it would be for someone to text and pretend to be you. I have to make sure it’s you and that you’re safe,” he complained.

  “Yeah, because that’s totally normal and not going overboard,” I grumped. I raised a finger he couldn't see and waved it in the air. “Stop, right there, Sean. I’m tired and I’m going to bed. I was calling to tell you I’m safe and home in one piece. And that I’m going out tomorrow night.”

  “Why and with whom?” he demanded.

  I tried to stop myself from gritting my teeth when I answered him, “With Annie and in case you didn’t remember, it's for my birthday, we are having a quiet girls' night out.”

  “Fine,” he grumbled. “I don’t care what time it is, but you text me to let me know you’re home and use your safe phrase,” he finished.

  “Really?” I asked. It amazed me the extent of his paranoia.

  “Yes,” unfortunately he was deadly serious.

  “Fine, I’ll text you tomorrow night when I get home so you can see that I’m safe and haven’t been carried off by fairies.”

  He thought it was hilarious, since as a child I pretended we had fairies in the garden. I went as far as leaving milk and honey out for them.

  “Make sure that you do,” he bossed back. “I love you, baby girl, and Happy Birthday.”

  Sighing, I told him, “You’re exactly like daddy, you do realize that?”

  “Yup,” he said with amusement and hung up.

  Hardly able to keep my eyes open anymore, I ate a quick sandwich, finishing it off with a diet coke, then answered the call of my new bed.

  Chapter Two

  After a girls' day out with Annie, I was tired but she was ready to pull out the big guns. Now we were preparing for our girls' night out, and I couldn’t work out where she found the energy.

  I looked around wearily at the destroyed remains of my recently tidy flat. The insides of my wardrobe were scattered across the bed, like the casualties of war. Random shoes and lingerie littered the floor, and all I could do was stare in amazed horror. I honestly had no idea if I should mourn or just go with the madness that was Annie. Luckily, she decided for me.

  “Oh, wow! You have to wear this with this,” she crowed as she held up a bustier I’d bought to go with a Halloween costume. Alongside it was my black, too tight to breathe jeans. The bustier was also black but the red trim and crystal beading shooting through it gave it a little color.

  “Umm…Annie, that bustier has a peasant blouse that goes underneath it. Without the blouse, it would barely contain my boobs. Much less, leave anything to the imagination."

  “Well yeah, that’s kind of the point, lollipop.” Annie rolled her eyes in exasperation at me but carried on with her logic. "It’s your birthday, and we’re going to go wild. My plan is to get you looking like the hotness you are—get you drunk—and get you laid. In that order.”

  “Okay, but I swear to God if my brother ever finds out about this, then you’re going down with me. You know every police officer in the city knows Sean. If word gets back to him that his baby sister was out trawling the streets we," I pointed from her then to me, “are so dead.”

  “Piece of pie, sweetie. He’ll never know. London is a huge place, and we are not going to cause trouble or chat up any of the boys in blue. Now do as Annie says and go put this on.” Annie pushed me toward the bathroom after throwing a red thong at me. “Don’t worry, I saw the horror on your face. I’ll tidy up in here while you’re getting dressed. You do know I’m a cleaning ninja?” She held her hands and leg up like the karate kid, as she started making bad karate movie sounds. “She can sneak in, clean and be out before you ever knew you’ve been hit by the amazing Annie San,” she mimicked a part from an old karate movie.

  “Umm…might want to stop talking in the third person, Annie, you are sounding more nuts than normal.”

  She raised her eyebrow and pert little nose in the air, and haughtily said, "We do not know of what you are speaking. Now be gone peasant and prepare thy self. Our work here is not done.” Annie gave a little royal wave to me as I made my way to the bathroom. I ignored her antics, deciding to get dressed and do my makeup, leaving her to it.

  Twenty minutes later, I came out self-consciously aware of the amount of cleavage on show, only to gape at the now spotless bedroom. Annie was sprawled on top of my bed with a magazine. She jumped up, grabbed me by the hands, and spun me around.

  “Oh. My. Freaking God. You are totally getting laid tonight.”

  “Annie,” I gasped. “I’m not getting laid. We’ve had this conversation how many times?”

  “Okay. Alright. Don’t get your thong in a twist,” she grumbled before adding with a grin, “but, girl, you are so getting hit on, like all night.”

  Laughing
, I said, “Yeah I can handle that. So this isn’t too slutty then?” I eyed myself uncertainly in the mirror. Annie and I stood side by side watching our reflection. We were complete opposites she and I. I had nearly four inches on her in our bare feet and she was fair to my darkness. My hair shone nearly black, except for the strange gold highlights that ran through it. Natural loose curls wove down to my waist and my golden eyes looked a more natural brown in the lighting. Most people thought my exotic looks were due to a great stylist and contacts but in reality it was some weird genetic anomaly. So the specialists had told my parents.

  “Slutty?” She recoiled in mock horror, “How is it slutty? Seriously, you really need to get out more. This,” she waved in my general direction, “is tame. I’ve set your boots out for you, so as soon as you’re ready we’ll jump on the tube. You are so gonna love the club where I’m taking you. It’s industrial and so hot right now. Even through the week the queue is huge.” Turning to me, she batted her lashes. "By the way, how do I look?"

  I took in her tiny awesomeness and whistled. A miniscule midnight blue corset dress hugged her form. Her hair fell in a cascade of ringlets where she had curled it earlier and she had reapplied makeup. Dang, she was ready for the red carpet. "Annie, no one will even notice me with you there," I laughed. "You are smoking hot."

  Ten minutes later, we were making our way down to Angel Tube Station.

  “So where are we going again? Kind of want to know what train to get on.”

  “Oh, yeah, I never told you the name. Sorry, blonde moment. Have you heard of the nightclub down by Tower Bridge? It’s called Cable. It’s massively cool right now.”

  I flipped my hair over my shoulder and looked at her out of the corner of my eye, “Yeah that sounds good. I heard about it from some of the undergrads at work. Isn’t it a bit wild though?”

  “Nahh,” she replied. “Not through the week anyway. Should be a blast though.”

  We heard the train coming and prepared to sardine ourselves onto the tube for the time it took us to get to our stop.

  Once we got to the river and headed toward Bermondsey Street where club Cable was located, Annie and I went over our day.

  “So what did Davey Davies say when you told him you were taking time off?”

  “I was extremely surprised,” I exclaimed. “He was so laid back about it. He told me that I had been working hard lately, that my research was coming along great and that I deserved a good night out. He went all “dad like” on me and said to be careful and watch out for strange men. Sometimes it’s not the easiest thing working for someone who has known you since you were in nappies.”

  “Hey, don’t knock it. He sounds like the coolest boss ever. How many do you think are out there that would be okay with you for blowing off work to go party?”

  I raised my eyebrow but I did not bother to remind her whose idea it was to ditch work in the first place.

  We rounded a corner and Annie became more hyper than normal. “Here we are,” she chirped happily.

  I looked up to see the arch of the doors and a white banner with a black circle saying Cable. The queue wrapped around the building. I wrapped my wool jacket tighter around me and shivered. “We are never going to get in here, Annie.”

  “Don’t sweat it, sweets, I’ve got us an in,” she threw back.

  We ignored all the nasty looks as we walked around the crowd to the front of the queue. There we met with a mountain of a man guarding the velvet ropes. His neck was as big as my waist. I so wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley. Oh, wait…we were in a dark alley. Oh well, I shrugged, at least he was hot.

  Did Annie take any notice of the glare the behemoth was levelling at every one? Nope, she sashayed right up to him and jumped into his startled arms.

  “Why, Daniel Lovelace, I’ve not seen you in ages. How are you, sweetie pie?”

  I gasped when she pinched the monster’s cheek and gave him a kiss that would make any grandmother proud. She then tugged him down the couple of feet to our level.

  “Daniel, you remember me telling you about my best mate in the whole world Dia? Guess what, it’s her birthday and I’m taking her out for the night of her life.”

  While he looked extremely uncomfortable, the giant killing machine carefully wrapped an arm around Annie’s back.

  “Hi,” the mountain rumbled as he reached out a hand and took mine. “It’s nice to finally meet you. Raggedy Annie here has been talking about you for years. She did tell you we are cousins right?” He arched an eyebrow at Annie.

  “Umm, no she didn’t, I thought," I faltered with the words. Annie thankfully cut me off before I could stutter more.

  “Damn it, Danny,” Annie cried. “I was so going to make her think we had a thing going. How funny would that be?”

  Looking embarrassed, he glanced at me shyly while he mumbled, “I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea.”

  “Why would she get the wrong idea?” Annie questioned. “She’s never even met you before, you know she might even…oh…ohh, I see.” Annie giggled, eyes widening as Daniel’s face went a craggy red. In a singsong voice, she purred, “You think she’s hot…you wanna kiss her…”

  “Oh my God," I groaned. "Annie, what are you, like twelve? I am so sorry about this, Daniel. I really thought I could take her out in public.”

  “Hey, no worries, Dia. You guys go on in. If I get a break later, do you want to have a drink with me?”

  “Yeah, I can do that,” I blushed. I couldn’t believe that we hadn't even made it into the club and I was already being chatted up by Annie’s cousin. The mountain pretending to be a bouncer.

  Inside, there was nowhere to sit downstairs. We decided to head straight onto the dance floor. The bass was thumping and Daft Punk was playing as we got our groove on.

  I think we had danced for almost an hour before sore feet and thirst made us head for some drinks. The crush was crazy and random hands copped a feel at least twenty times before we finally made it to the bar. I gave out death glares to everyone I thought was involved, but there were dozens of drunk boys in the club and too many to single any one out.

  The gods of the club scene were smiling down upon us as two stools opened up at the very end of the bar. We were on them faster than you could blink.

  Unfortunately, there was nowhere near enough bar staff for the people waiting to be served. Annie leaned over and shouted in my ear.

  “I’m going to go down closer to the center of this mass of humanity and see if I can get us some drinks. Whadda you want?!” she screamed.

  “Surprise me,” I shouted back and she gave me the thumbs up sign and left me to guard our seats.

  I sat there for a few moments catching my breath and people watching while waiting for Annie to come back. I was having a great time and astonishingly glad I came out tonight. Clubs are not normally my scene. A shiver ran down my spine as I felt the presence of someone beside me in Annie’s seat. I turned around ready to shout “that was fast” but my voice caught in my throat. A man was sitting there. Our eyes met and a sensation of wariness went through me. He was about six foot tall had sandy blonde hair and brown eyes. Most girls would think he was sexy in a boy-band-punk kind of way. His eyebrow was pierced and he had a lithe sensuality to him that screamed predator. He looked like he wanted to lick me up like an ice cream cone. Unlike several of the women nearby who were giving me nasty looks because of the attention, but I so wasn’t interested. He leaned over and it felt like he was whispering in my ear.

  “Hello, petal. My name’s Marcus. What brings you here? Mm mm…” he hummed. "You smell positively divine. I could just drink you up.”

  “What?” I gasped. “I think you need to back off, mate. I’m so not interested.”

  Eyes narrowed, the stranger leaned in closer to me and inhaled deeply, nostrils flaring. “So ripe, so ready. What games do you play, female? Males of all species will be scenting you soon. Your flavor, it is so unique. Yet with hints of…”


  Before he could finish his crazy talk, my mini blonde savior appeared.

  “Hey!” Annie called out as she pushed toward me. The crowd miraculously thinned to give her room to squeeze through. “I got our drinks.” Noticing the pallor of my face, Annie levelled her suddenly narrowed eyes on the man called Marcus. “Is this creep bothering you? I so know the big burly bouncer,” she said as she eyed up Mr. Weird.

  “No, he was just leaving, weren’t you?” There was no need to get the mountain to come to the rescue yet.

  Hissing through his teeth, Marcus glared at me before standing. “Until we meet again, petal, it has been absolutely enlightening to meet you. I do hope we will get to see each other again—very soon.” With that, he turned away and blended into the crowd around us.

  “OMG, he was hot but über weird,” Annie laughed before turning serious. "You really look pale, Dia. You okay?”

  With a nod, I shook off the horrible vibe he left and smiled at my best friend. “Yeah, just really thirsty, so what did you get me?”

  “It’s a Zombie. You’ll love it, trust me.”

  “Annie, last time I trusted you, my dad had to pick us up from Sean’s precinct.”

  “It’s a cocktail, you’ll be fine I promise.” Before I could comment, she threw in a huge distraction. “Look, there’s Danny boy. I bet he’s coming over to see you. I think he is in lurve. He so has the hots for you.”

  “Annie, please be kind to him. He’s your cousin,” I shouted.

  “Ummm…yeah, that would mean I should be bad to him not kind. But since it’s you asking, I’ll be on my best behavior. I love him really. I just like to give him a hard time.”

  Annie stood up and started waving both arms to get Daniel’s attention, as if she really needed the help. He was such a big man he could see over the crowds. He had such a sweet soft look on his face when he looked down at Annie that it was hard to be intimidated by him. Even so, I took several large swallows of the surprisingly sweet and smooth drink for added courage.