Phoenix Drake loaded canvases into her empty car in the middle of the night. Her loose black hair glistened in the night as she struggled to fit the canvas's into the car. Her white skin was a beautiful contrast to her black hair. A hand touched her shoulder and she turned around, blue eyes full of annoyance. "Louis, I have to be somewhere." The owner of the local art gallery stood behind her, holding a pen and clipboard.
"I just wanted to thank you for hosting tonight's event. Your work is marvelous, have you ever thought to sell it?" The little man stood, cigarette in his mouth, glancing hopefully at her most recent painting, a beautiful, black crow with a red backdrop. She watched the little, bald man smoke his cigarette and didn't say anything. He raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for an answer. "Your art is the most beautiful I've seen in awhile and you'd be crazy not to cash in on that."
She turned her back on him, her hair was the color of a crow's feathers. "You know, you remind me of that reporter from Daredevil. Louis, we've been over this before. I paint for the love of it. If I put value on these paintings they become nothing more then a profit." She watched him smoke and frowned. She hated breathing in secondhand smoke.
"While you're painting for the love of it, you and your boyfriend are struggling to put food on your table. You can paint for the love of it and still make a decent living. Sell a few." Phoenix hated the sound of his raspy voice. He puffed on his cigarette and blew the smoke near her, causing her to bat at the smoke. She finished loading the canvases into the car and turned back to look at him.
"Are you trying to kill me with that thing? I've got to get home. We've had this conversation a million times and I'm sure we'll have it the next time I see you." She walked over to the driver's side of her car and looked at him one last time before getting in. Her beautiful face held no expression as she waved to him. He stood in the dark, watching her drive off. When she disappeared he flicked the cigarette to the ground and went back inside.
Phoenix got to the run down apartment complex she shared with her long time boyfriend, Toby, in record time. She was alone in the foyer when she heard yelling. Metallic's Unforgiven seemed to be floating down from her apartment. She wondered if the screaming was also coming from her apartment. She rushed up the stairs, taking as many at a time as she possibly could. She tripped when she reached the top, right before her apartment door. She pulled herself up quickly, running into the room with no fear for her own life.
She smelled blood the moment she entered the room. The smell hit her before her sight adjusted to the scenes before her. She heard Toby screaming for her to leave, begging her in a tone she never thought he was capable of using. She felt his agony before she saw what was causing his pain. She knew the sight would stay with her for the rest of her life.
Toby laid in the middle of the floor, blood pooling around him. His face was a mask of pain, but he still attempted to reach out to Phoenix. Both of his legs were broken and he was being beaten with a baseball bat. Five men, wearing black and white skeleton mask stood above him. They all looked to see who he was pleading with. The five men walked closer to Phoenix, but she couldn't tare her eyes from Toby. Her eyes filled with tears but she could have sworn she saw a crow sitting on the windowsill, crying out to her.
They approached her, each with something empty in their eyes. She was afraid to look but also afraid to avert her eyes. One of them hit her with the bat across her face. She fell to the floor, knowing she would die the same night as the man she loved. She saw him reach his hand out to her in vain. She saw the love for her shinning in his eyes, as she felt the boot of her attacker, kicking into her stomach. She spit blood onto the floor.
One of the five men removed his mask. He was surprising handsome, with long blonde hair and dark, empty eyes. He looked like the men from the covers of romantic novels, other then his teeth. His teeth were perfectly straight, coated with a thick layer of blood. His teeth had been filed down to match a vampire's. He went to the floor, putting his hand around her neck. She tried to protest but the others, who still wore masks, rushed in to hold her arms down. She fought as much as she could but failed.
She looked over and saw Toby, he was looking her at with such sadness in his eyes. He couldn't move and the life was fading from his eyes. His mouth had been cut to match the black dahlia's. He opened his mouth in an attempt to talk to her. She knew it must have caused him great pain. He closed his eyes, "I love you forever," he said. She knew he was going to die and she probably was too. One of the masked men walked over to Toby and hit him in the face with a baseball bat.
A tear rolled down her eye as she realized Toby was dead and there was nothing she could do to bring him back. She fought, but the situation was already out of her control. She broke one of her hands free and scratched the vampire who was now so close to her face. Three bloody lines appeared on his face where she had scratched it. Blood flowed from the fresh wound, seeming to only piss him off.
"You stupid bitch!" he yelled at her as she tried to gain leverage. She felt the bat hit her ribs. Tears of anger and sadness filled her eyes. Someone grabbed her arms. Her vision was blurred and all she could see were swirls of motion before her. She knew her ribs were broken, but it didn't matter, they'd already taken everything in her life that held value.
She saw the vampire close to her face, her pushed her head down. She tried to scream but he was crushing her throat. The only sound from her was a muffled coughing sound. "You know, I've always been fascinated by the Black Dahlia," she said, pulling out a knife. She couldn't even protest as he sliced both corners of her mouth. Pain filled every inch of her as they beat her with bats and threw things at her.
She looked over to the shattered mess on the floor that had once been Toby. His open mouth wound mirroring her own. With a cut like that it appeared he was smiling at her. Tears flowed down her face as she looked at him, soaked in a pool of blood, the same as she was. Her vision started to fade and the only sounds she could her were Metallic's "Unforgiven" and the sound of a crow crying. Both sounds seemed magnified as she passed away.