Death (18 page)

"What's going on?" I almost don’t trust either of
them. I smell Shane. I know I do. I almost worry about him and question them.
Something is up.

"I have him calm." She says.

"Giselle remembers the blood lust. She doesn’t remember
anything else but she remembers that. She thinks she can save him."

Giselle smiles weakly at me, "Maybe I can find out where
Ari is too." She hugs herself.

I wrap my arms around her and breathe her in. It's the first
time being with her after all of it. Her body doesn’t melt into me the way it
used to. She is tense where I am soft. I'm hugging with my heart and she is
unable to understand why.

"I will make them give it back Giselle. Give back all
your memories."

She shakes her head, "I don’t want them. I don’t want to
fight it again."

I nod, "The happy memories though. The memories of Lydia
and O and Dorian."

She swallows hard against my shoulder, "It sounds weird
but my heart remembers them. I know them all inside of me."

My eyes water, "No, it sounds like love."

"We did all love each other. I can feel it."

Aleks wraps his arms around us both and holds us to him.

"You guys just humped didn’t you?"

I snort, "What?"

"He smells like sex. Like ew. Get off me caveman."
She shoves us both.

I sigh, "I missed you."

She laughs and walks to the door to the cellar. "Did you
straighten out the Alise thing?"

I laugh harder, "Blake has her convinced it was a bad
dream. I guess she came there to see him after drinking a ton with
Michelle."

She looks confused, "Do you ever miss it? The normal
shit? I just want to get trashed and let some boy take advantage of me."

I tilt my head, "I do miss it. I miss the regular stuff
but this is so big. It's everything to me now. I guess seeing it both ways was
all I needed."

"Not me. I miss it. I miss getting trashed and having sex
and not feeling like eating the person. I even miss just not coming. Just being
used for a one-time thing. Sweaty sexy boy and me and the smell of booze.
Jesus. Every guy now wants to be my husband." Her voice becomes mocking,
"I smell so good and look so good and taste so good. Blah blah blah. Like
shut up and do it. Jesus."

Aleks looks like he might cry. She is oblivious to the fact we
have not said a word and continues. "I just want someone who can't see my
beauty. Who can't smell my shit. Well you know, not my shit but like the
succubus thing. I just want a guy who wants to just do it a lot and maybe buy
me purses and stuff."

I distract her, "We should go to Cuba some time. You love
Cuba."

She points at me and opens the door, "I know right. I
love Cuba. This place is depressing. I officially don’t like England. Boring.
No wonder no one comes here for spring break. No girls gone wild in
Hertfordshire."

There is a blur and a snarl and she clotheslines Shane and
jumps on top of him. She presses her face to his. He is frozen once she does
it.

"Giselle! I told you to chain him."

She pulls away and grins, "It's more fun like this."

Aleks sighs, "You're going to be the death of me. I swear
it." He eyes me up, "You both will be." He grabs Shane and drags
him back into the cell. Giselle sits on the ground and smirks, "He tastes
funny. It's weird."

"Can you kill him?"

She shrugs, "No clue. I mean maybe. I never tried. I
killed other vamps but they weren't Marcus's vamps. That could change
things."

She stands and walks into the cellar. I follow. He looks
different. So different I feel like he too has died. Like he is missing from my
life.

He lifts his face slowly and grins, as his strength filters in
slowly. "You got some kiss Giselle. Always did I guess."

She laughs, "And you got some pain in the ass nerve. Now
tell me where Ari is or next time I suck until you die."

He laughs. It's so bitter and hard, I don’t know it. Or him.
"Kill me. Do it. Free me. She cursed me. Kill me and let go." His
laugh almost sounds like it could turn to a sob.

"I'm sorry Shane. I'm sorry for what happened. I didn’t
know." I say.

His blue eyes are hard and cold, like his laugh. "You
know now don’t you? You have it all back. Those memories of us, loving each
other. You loved me. You chose me once. You remember that?"

I nod slowly, "I do. But we were different people
then."

Giselle slaps him hard across the face, drawing dark blood
from his mouth, "Answer the question."

"France. The south of France."

I instantly recall Phillip's request.

"Is Phillip in on this?"

He laughs and looks away.

Aleks looks confused, "Why?"

"No reason. I need to get out of here." I turn and
leave. Being around him is harder than I imagined it would be.

"We need to go to the docs and talk to Sam and Hanna and
Lorri."

Aleks follows me out, "Giselle you got this?"

She nods, "I do. Hurry up though cause for reals it's
boring. And Dank. I finally understand what dank is. This shit ass cellar is
dank." She kisses Shane on the lips, knocking him out. I wince. She chains
him to the wall and leaves the cellar. She is so strong. So much stronger than
before.

"Love you Giselle." I say softly

She grins, "Me too Aimes. Hurry up. I wanna go to
Cuba."

Aleks puts a hand out, "Yeah. Me too." I touch him
and we're at the front door of the Tudor.

Aleks lifts a hand to knock but the door opens. Lorri grins at
us, "About time."

"Hey."

She opens the door wide. We walk in and look around,
"Where is everyone?"

"Office. They got it. Blake and the doc got it. Hanna is
super Hanna minus the freak show changes and the weird blackouts."

"No way."

She looks at me all excited, "Way."

I frown, "You are such a bitch sometimes."

She laughs, "It's all the time. Now, I left Abbey with
Marcus so let's make this snappy."

I click down the hall and smile.

Hanna walks toward me. Sam is behind her. I can smell the
Siren in her so strongly now. The shell bracelet she wears is bright red.

"Where did you get that?"

She looks at it and shakes her head, "The Ophelia girl
who is really weird gave it to me. She made me like five and said they were for
when she was gone. Bizarre chick."

Sam snorts, "You have no idea."

Lorri cuts past us and stomps into the doctors office, "I
need you to hurry up." She says as she enters it.

We all turn and walk in. She is the last of the fallen. Her
and Jonathan.

She lays out a map, "I think they're in the south of
France." I say.

She turns, "Shane?"

I nod once. I don’t want to but I say it anyway, "Phillip
came to me as I killed his father. He didn’t even seem to care about it all. He
told me he was looking at condos in the south of France and he wanted me to
bring Tristan there when the condo was ready, as a surprise for him. Just me
and Trist."

She wriggles her lips, "Odd. I will say it's odd. It's
possible Marcus wiped him too."

"Or Shane. Shane is almost as strong as Marcus."

She scratches her face, "Okay, where is Tristan?"

Sam gulps, "He's at Marcus's. He's been watching TV since
it all went down. Not really eating or anything."

"The wolves?"

Sam's voice lowers, "Non stop tracking. They made me
bring them to Alaska again, every hide out we've been to yet, and Italy twice.
They phase and text and then change back. Ben is even texting with his wolf
toes I think. Swear to god."

I chuckle and glance at Hanna. I can't help but notice her sliding
a hand into Sam's. She squeezes it.

"We need to go to France. We need to see. I know where
they'll be." She glances back at the doc who nods, "Most likely.
Lillith will be able to get great strength there."

"Lillith?"

He nods, "He will use her if he can."

"We bring the kids then?" Sam asks.

Lorri shakes her head, "Just the one who makes herself
disappear. The rest stay with Marcus."

Hanna

I glance at him and wonder if he can sense it. I can't stop
touching his fingers. Gripping them. My tears are sitting in the back of my
throat. I couldn’t talk if I wanted to.

The change brought them all back.
My beast knew the truth. Nothing Ari did could change the way my beast
remembered it all. I see it differently, almost extreme versions of everything.

But I remember everything.

I glance at him sideways and remember how I broke his heart.

Every emotion is extreme. My beast is savage and hateful about
her feelings. Now that she is fused with me and our minds are one, I can feel
the basic survival skills she thinks with. She loves him. She always has. She
saw things clearly. She saw Marcus as fun but she loves Sam.

His lips move. I can't hear the words. I'm lost in the
memories.

He glances at me and I try to look like a spaced out head case.
He frowns but continues talking to Lorri and Aimee. Ugh Aimee. She hates me so
much and my memory of her killing my father isn’t a fan fav.

My father.

The journals.

All of it.

It's too much. The tears start to leak out. I don't move or
twitch or budge. I look down and hope the minor spillage will be enough to ease
up the pressure.

It isn’t. A heave slips from my lips. I can't stop thinking
about them all. The deaths of the children who are back and the world without
Sam. My fingers tighten around his. There is no world without Sam.

Now the world is new again and O is gone. Dorian is gone. I
won't ever just be with them all again in one place. I can remember it all
before O. Everything was perfect. I want to blame her but her death hurts.

"Hanna?"

I don’t look up at him. He lifts my face. My ugly cry snot
covered face.

He grabs a tissue from my dad's desk. Everyone is looking at
me. He wipes my face.

"She remembers everything. Look at that face." Lorri
says harshly.

I cover my face.

Sam pulls me into him.

"How?"

"B-b-beast memories." I stutter.

"Oh like how Luke could always sense who Ari was to him,
even when she fudged with the time." Aimee says softly.

I turn and run from the office. Anger and pain are everywhere.
I betrayed him. I betrayed him so badly.

I feel like my chest is going to explode. I run up the stairs
to my room and slam the door. It's not my room. He hasn't died and left me the
Tudor. The room looks like it did when he died but it has nothing of me in it.
Just the bed and furnishings.

I collapse on the bed.

I hear footsteps in the room. I expect Sam.

"Hanna." It's Lorri. I don’t know what to say. I
hate being weak in front of her.

She crawls onto the bed and lies beside me. She strokes my
head. I wait for her to break my neck or bite me, the way Shane did. The way
Marcus let him kill me and bring out the beast.

"Hanna, I know how you feel right now. If I stop and
think for even a second, I'll burst into a thousand different emotions and tear
this house apart. The hold I have over myself is so tense, I don’t think I can
hold it much longer."

I'm scared. I'm really scared. She doesn't do nice. She is
still stroking my head.

"But mourning is selfish my child. We don’t have the
leisure of being selfish. The dead are gone and the world is still messed."
She slaps me on the ass and gets off the bed, "So, let's, do this."

She is gone. I start to laugh. I wipe my face and shake my
head.

A man's voice interrupts my moment of insanity, "That was
weird for me too. I flashed in and then out. Yikes." I smile when I hear
his voice. I roll over and smile.

"I'm so sorry Sam."

He shakes his head, "Hanna, it never happened. This is
the first time we've ever met. This is a clean slate."

He walks toward me and crawls onto the bed. He snugs up close,
so his angel breath is in my face. I love the smell of him. I close my eyes,
but his lips don’t meet mine.

I open an eye. He is looking at a text on his phone. I frown.
He grabs my hand and flashes us back to the office. I stumble where we are
standing suddenly, but he wraps an arm around my waist and catches me.

"Luke found them. Not France. Florida."

Lorri's face drops, "He wouldn’t." Her voice is a
growl and I'm scared again.

Sam nods, "I don’t know what that means, but they're in
Florida."

Lorri bites her lip nervously. I'm really scared. She never
looks that way.

Aimee frowns, "What is it Lorri?"

"The dark witches. The dark witches there. Shit."
She sighs.

"I'm lost. The ones I gave my blood to?" Sam says
slowly.

Lorri turns and scowls, "Oliver saved you that day. Those
women are dark and evil. That's his plan." Her words are a whisper and her
eyes are haunted and distant. She snaps her redhead around and shakes her head,
"He plans to turn Lillith dark. To let them fill her up. But why?"

Dad's eyes dart to Roland who clears his throat, "We Fae
have long believed Lillith has almost no powers. There is legend that she split
the power amongst her children. Every time she gave birth another piece of the
magic was given to the baby. She has many children now. Not much magic."

"Is that true?" Aimee asks and pulls out her phone
and sends a message. She sighs and vanishes.

We all look around.

No one has an answer or a clue.

Aimee

The sound of my boots on the hallowed halls lifts the eyes
from the sofa. The little kids smile, Marcus growls and slithers away, Abbey
gives me a nod but doesn’t take her eyes away from the video game she is
playing. Tristan sits perfectly still watching.

I grab his arm and wink us both. He is unshaven and smells
funny.

"Dude."

He glances at me and looks around the hallway we are in,
"Where are we?" His voice is missing the feisty passion and sarcasm
it had before.

"Hanna's. You okay? You look like shit."

He nods, "I know. I just feel so empty without it. The
magic was more than I knew it would be."

I spin him and plant a huge kiss on his lips. He shoves,
"What the heck Aimes. I didn’t switch teams. Gross. You got lip-gloss on
my teeth. Gah." He coughs and wrinkles his face.

I grin, "Okay. Now that you're awake, let's do
this." I drag him into the office. Everyone gives him a slanted look. He
doesn’t look right.

"Didn’t realize I was missing a team meeting."

Lorri rolls her eyes, "You're missing lots of things
these days."

"Is it possible Philip has switched to the bad
guys?" I ask the question I don’t want to.

He looks at me and then crumples to the floor in a sobbing
heap. I look at Lorri. She mouths several swear words.

Hanna drops to her knees and holds him to her.

"It's okay Trist. It's okay."

He shakes his head, "No it's not. Shane and Marcus wiped him.
He's a nasty fucker now. Hateful bitch. He doesn’t love me anymore." His
words are wet squeals. I feel sick for him.

"He made me give him my blood. He took it and left. He
hasn’t come back. He's gone to them. He's one of team Darth Vader and I am Princess
Leia." He laughs at his own joke. I laugh too.

"Honey, you need to help us end this. Your eighteenth
birthday is in like two days. We are out of time and out of allies." Lorri
pats the top of his head.

He sighs and slumps.

"Hanna, go shower and clean him and get him pretty. He
looks like shit. The rest of us need to come up with some sort of a plan."

Hanna lifts him off the ground and carries him princess style
from the office.

Blake crosses his arms and sighs, "What if he killed the
O monster and took back his magic. It's just like Highlander right? He kills
and takes the magic?"

I laugh.

Lorri nods, "We could do that. But the prophecy states
that Lillith cannot be killed by a man."

I point, "He's her son. He isn’t just a man. He's a
witch."

"What if the prophecy is made up or wrong? What if
Jonathan wrote it? How do we know any of it is true? Lillith could be just as
strong today as she was a thousand years ago."

I cross my arms, "I say we try. We can't control O
monster and besides, she won't do anything to help us. We get her here and let
Trist cut her head off."

Lorri rolls her eyes, "He doesn’t cut her head off. It
isn’t actually Highlander. Jesus save me from this. No. He just needs to reason
with them. Make them believe it is the greater good." Blake snaps his
fingers, "Chaotic good. Of course, they are the chaotic good. If they
think it's for the best they'll do it. We tell them he is still in with the
baddies. He has an in. He has been invited to go meet up with the bad ones.
They give him the magic and we go as a group and kick ass."

Lorri nods, "All that but you stay here. You're
delicate."

Blake looks annoyed.

Dr. Jekyll looks at Roland, "We can help."

Roland looks grave but nods, "As you wish sir."

Lorri claps, "Excellent. Let's get Tristan back to being
Tristan and get the magic back."