Meeting and surprising Dahlia

The sounds of birds chirping brought me back from the land of dreams. I yawned and got up, noticing how blurry everything felt.

"Hmm?"

The soft noise I made made me recall my situation. Despite my blurry vision, I glanced down, observing my current body.

"I am Sarah... It wasn't a dream..."

I grabbed my glasses and rushed in front of the mirror, a goofy grin plastered on my face as the same feeling of blissfulness from last night returned. It felt so wonderful to be in her skin, to have her soul with me, to be her completely. Our love for each other now merged into one was like a **** I would most likely never ever get tired of.

The birds squawking made me regain my senses.

"S-sorry, mommy will be there in a minute!" I exclaimed.

I opened the wardrobe to get dressed. Sarah had so many beautiful clothes I desired to see her in, it was so hard to choose. In the end, I grabbed a pair of sexy lace underwear, loving seeing Sarah's body in them.

"She's so stunning..." I started before grinning. "No, I am stunning."

Next I picked a long dress similar to the one Sarah wore yesterday, alongside a pair of platform wedge heels and an elegant hat. I was getting aroused seeing my beautiful body. I tried to sink into Sarah's personality, my grin becoming more teasing as I stared in the mirror.

"You really love being me, hmm, Ed~?" I said, imitating the way she'd act. "Becoming your beautiful and smart girlfriend, it's amazing, isn't it~?"

It was a small way she could be with me as is, even if it was by me playing her role to tease myself.

I couldn't keep admiring myself all day, though. After applying some light makeup, making my face even more beautiful than it already was, I went to the living room to finally uncover the birds and let them free, as I would most mornings.

I smiled warmly at them. "Good morning, my babies~ Sorry for the wait, your mommy was... busy with her boyfriend~"

They immediately flew to perch on my shoulder, gently nibbling my ear and my hair. I scratched their neck, they visibly greatly enjoyed it.

"You're so adorable, it's really a shame you dislike Ed so much for some reason." I said, still playing Sarah's role. "But he has a way to enjoy your company now~"

I made breakfast, something light and simple, and cut a few slices of a banana for the birds. They eagerly ate with me, making me giggle. They were so cute.

Finally, once I was done with breakfast, I put them back in their cage, grabbed my phone, and went to the cafe I was supposed to meet Dahlia at. She was early, already waiting at a table while reading a book, and seemed surprised to see Sarah show up.

Observing Dahlia from Sarah's eyes made me feel Sarah's emotions towards her. She was fascinated, she wanted to know more about her, about her past, about her experiences as a skinwalker living multiple lives. She also found her very attractive, a sentiment I could agree with.

I smiled while approaching her. "Good morning, Dahlia. How are you?"

She smiled back. "Good morning. I'm alright, and you?"

I wanted to prank Dahlia and decided to keep playing Sarah's role a bit longer. "I'm quite good. Still excited after all these revelations of the last few days."

Dahlia chuckled. "Understandable. You took it a lot better than I would have imagined."

A waiter approached us. I ordered a hot chocolate while Dahlia chose a cappuccino. The waiter's eyes lingered on us for a brief moment, checking us out. It was so strange, but I was enjoying the attention a lot.

Unfortunately for you, though, she's already taken~ I thought, doing my best not to smirk and break my role too soon.

Once he left, I resumed my conversation with Dahlia. "I do consider myself a very open-minded person, but it still took a bit of time for me to get used to it."

Dahlia looked down, her eyes becoming more sad. "Ed is so lucky to have you..."

"Oh, I am aware." I smiled. "You know, ever since we met, I wanted to learn more about you."

She smiled weakly. "I... don't really like to talk about my past as a human, but I could tell you about some of the things I've been doing these last fifteen years, if you'd like. Not here, though."

"Obviously." I replied, chuckling.

After getting our drinks, Dahlia spoke again. "Where's Ed, by the way? I thought he was supposed to stay with you last night?"

"Oh, he's pretty close. Very close." I giggled while caressing my cheek with my dainty fingers, finally breaking the facade.

Her eyes widened. "E-Ed? You're... wearing her?"

I blushed slightly, letting my original personality take over again. "She offered her skin to me last night. Temporarily, of course."

"I didn't expect her to go this far." Dahlia replied, still surprised.

I smiled. "Me neither, I was stunned when it happened." My blush intensified as I rubbed my smooth thighs against each other and looked at my hands with their blue nail polish. "It feels so wonderful. It's like I'm permanently on dopamine, I have this constant feeling of blissfulness and peacefulness..."

Dahlia looked away, her expression turning to one of sorrow.

"What's wrong?" I asked, noticing her mood shift.

She sighed. "Nothing..."

"Come on, you can tell me if something is bothering you."

"Seeing you like this, it just... brought back some memories I've desperately been trying to forget." She finally said, her voice full of regret. "I... also wore someone I loved, when I became what I am... I felt exactly the same way you're probably feeling right now. But she wasn't aware of my nature... I fled after realising what I did."

I placed a hand on hers. "I'm sorry to hear. It must have been really painful..."

She didn't say anything for a moment, but then smiled weakly at me. "At least, you didn't have to suffer the same fate. How... How did it go with your sister?"

"It went well. She was weirded out, obviously, but she accepted me. I was a fool for not trusting her."

"I'm relieved to hear that. I hope you'll be able to live happily with her and Sarah."

"Thank you. Would you like to come over for a bit? We could talk more. I was serious when I said that I'd like to know more about you." I chuckled as I finished my drink. "Both Sarah and I are intrigued, to be honest."

Dahlia smiled slightly. "If you don't mind my company despite what I did to you, sure."

I scratched my cheek. "Well, I still dislike the fact that I'll have to give up my own life someday, but... I can't deny that these last few days have been very exciting. And I got back with Sarah thanks to that." I glanced at my body, my blush returning. "And well... I would never have been able to experience something like this..."

It made her relax a bit. "I see."

"You've been very supportive despite the way I acted before, you worried for me and tried to help me adapt, and I'm grateful for that. Thank you, Dahlia."

"I was only trying to fix a mistake I made... I acted too impulsively when I turned you, without thinking about the consequences. I'm sorry."

I smiled at her, offering her a handshake. "Don't apologise. Let's start things over, alright?"

She smiled back and took my hand. "Alright."

After paying for our drinks, we went back to Sarah's flat. We crossed paths with Rachel on our way there, leaving for work. We greeted each other, Rachel wondering who Dahlia was, and me introducing her as a friend of Ed and I, something that Dahlia seemed slightly surprised by.

"Here we are, my humble abode." I announced while opening the door. "Be careful with the birds, they tend to be wary of other people. They only really like Sarah."

"The birds?"

I guided her to the living room, and leaned in front of the cage. "A couple of conures. They're Sarah's babies."

Dahlia smiled, looking at them. "They're really cute."

I opened the cage and Janis, the female one, went to perch on my finger. "Janis, want to greet our guest?"

I approached her towards Dahlia, expecting the bird to react as she usually did with me when I was my normal self. She seemed a bit hesitant, but didn't bite Dahlia when she started to caress her.

"Wow... That's rare." I commented, surprised.

Dahlia giggled, her face softening. "She likes me, it seems."

Her smile was so warm, making her even more beautiful. I could feel Sarah's interest being piqued again from seeing Dahlia act like this. She was very gentle with Janis. She simply looked like a pure young woman, there wasn't any kind of hint that could betray her non-human nature.

"You like animals?" I asked.

She nodded. "Like most people, yeah. I prefer to take care of plants, though. I don't know if you noticed when you were at my place, Ed, but I have quite a lot of flowers and plants of all kind."

I wasn't really in the right state of mind back then to pay attention to things like that, but I took her word for it.

"That's interesting. What got you into liking plants?"

Her sadness came back. "It was... the woman I loved... She was passionate about flowers, she taught me a lot of things and shared her passion with me."

I went closer and hugged her. "You don't have to talk about it more if it brings back painful memories. I'm sorry for asking."

She smiled slightly. "Thanks. But... talking about myself, my real self, after fifteen years of pretending to be other people... It's liberating in a way."

"You can be yourself with us now." I said, smiling back.

"Thank you. I really missed this."

"I can imagine, you must have felt quite lonely."

She let out a rueful chuckle. "You have no idea..."

I brought back Janis inside the cage and Dahlia and I sat on the couch.

"You've been a skinwalker for fifteen years, then?" I asked Dahlia.

Dahlia nodded. "Yeah, I'm still quite young for a skinwalker. We can live for hundreds of years."

"Hundreds?"

I didn't even think that my lifespan would change. Living that long would mean outliving Claire and Sarah... My mood soured a bit as I realised that.

"Hey, there's still a lot of time." Dahlia said, caressing my arm gently. "If you really want to keep Sarah and Claire by your side, you could always... turn them, whenever you get the possibility."

I looked back at her. "Turn them? Making them skinwalkers?"

"Why not?"

I wasn't sure what to feel about this. Sarah would probably end up fine with that in the future, she was already curious about being a skinwalker ever since she first spoke with Dahlia, even if she wasn't in a hurry to become one. But Claire, I had no idea what she'd think of this. A life spent borrowing the identities of other people... How would she feel?

"Ed, relax. You have a lot of time to think about it and take a decision. It'll take a dozen years before you're even able to turn someone, anyway."

"A dozen years?"

"It took me eleven years as a skinwalker before I felt like I was able to turn a human."

"I see... Anyway, I'm sure you must have interesting stories to share about your time as a skinwalker? It's something Sarah has been very intrigued by."

Dahlia giggled softly. "I do have a few noteworthy stories indeed. I've explored a lot of countries during my time as a skinwalker, I've been on every continent."

"Oh, since you told me you spoke French before, are you from France?" I wondered, pushed by Sarah's own curiosity.

Dahlia shook her head. "Nah, I just studied the language for a while. I've been to France and Belgium fairly often, though."

I smiled. "Sarah went to France twice, once to study during her master, and another time for a conference, and she has very good memories of it, especially of the food."

"The food is great, yeah." She said. "You should visit someday if you can. Travelling is a breeze for us skinwalkers, you know?"

I could imagine that. With abilities like these, it would be easy to borrow the skin of a flight attendant or a travelling tourist and then find someone else to blend in with the locals. Even language wasn't a barrier, as I experienced when speaking fluent French as Katherine and Sarah.

"Maybe I'll give it a shot someday, but I'm not in a hurry." I replied. "I want to try to keep a normal life for the time being."

"Alright. I should probably leave, I have a few things to work on for college. If you ever need help in finding a skin, don't hesitate to ask me. It'd be fun to have you as a classmate or another of my professors."

I chuckled. "Someday, why not."

Before leaving, she hugged me. "Thank you, Ed. For not hating me despite what I've done."

I hugged her back. "You're welcome."

Having her so close, I could smell the floral scent of her perfume. It was an enticing smell.

"See you later, Dahlia. Have a good day." I said as I broke free from the hug.

"You too. See you."

Once Dahlia left the flat, I went to Sarah's bedroom, where my belongings were. It was time to restore her and probably talk about everything that happened. Today had been an excellent day for me, and I wondered how she'd feel about this whole experience.

I undressed, admiring my naked body one more time, and pulled on my neck, removing Sarah's face. My skinwalker side felt a pang of disappointment from already leaving such a divine skin, but she was my girlfriend, I couldn't just steal her life. I wanted to be with her, too, not just be her.

I grit my teeth as my genitals returned, suppressing a moan when I removed her skin, and then quickly got dressed before dressing Sarah's skin. I didn't do any tweak to her memories, and just stabbed her with the spines, restoring her. Now, all I needed was to wait for her to wake up.