Hyde (11 page)

"Well Miss Smarty Pants I suppose it is a bit
antiqued in comparison to Lydia's but it's very new to me."

She frowned at him, "Gross, how old are
you?"

He laughed, "Old enough to know a nice style of
house. You young people seem to think those boxes with yards that
resembles a puzzle piece in size and shape are homey."

She laughed at him, "You're a snob."

He looked offended, "I am no such thing. I have
educated tastes and a refined palette."

Henry drove up to the huge brick castle. She
marveled at the different colored bricks in gold, beige, yellow,
tan, olive, grey and white. The colors gave the castle a luxurious
feel, which wasn’t hard. It was a castle. Henry parked under what
appeared to be a covered drive-through, like in a hotel for guests
to drop off luggage. The arched and peaked windows looked frosted.
The roof pitched and peaked in several different places, adding to
the castle look. A huge veranda wrapped around the home with pale
green metal posts and pitched tent like canopy roofs. The yard was
filled with old trees and gardens that appeared to be preparing
themselves for winter. The driveway was even artistic with mosaics
done in brick and cobblestone. She couldn’t help but look every
which way all at once, stunned by the sheer magnificence and
magnitude.

"Do you house Orphans or just live here
alone?"

"You really are a pain in the ass."

She looked at him and smiled, "What? You don’t
like being made to realize you live ostentatiously, giving to no
one?"

He smiled, "Well you're an orphan and if you
want you can live here with me." He tried to look stern, "I do have
rules about sleeping arrangements."

She rolled her eyes, "You're a dork."

He looked affronted, "I'm a what?"

She laughed.

He walked to the house but stopped to turn back
to the older man in the bowler hat, "Henry we have no further need
for the car. Park it for the night I should think, if you
please."

She frowned at him, "I'm not sleeping here with
you."

He laughed, "I never said we would sleep." He
opened the door for her grinning. She never would have entered the
house had she not had the burning desire to see inside. She'd loved
watching International House Hunters on HGTV with Rebecca and knew
she would be betraying that memory if she didn’t at least have a
glance.

The inside proved to be more incredible than the
outside. She was floored seeing the tapestries and old world charm
in the every corner, somehow matched perfectly with modern and
stylish décor. The rooms were huge, she felt silly being the only
person in them as she walked through. She felt his eyes on her as
she looked around at each fragile carving or exquisite painting. He
had a whole room dedicated to etchings.

""How long have you been collecting art?" She
whispered, somehow knowing he would hear her from across the
room.

"Too long to recall. Shall we?" He asked,
pointing to a room through a huge hallway.

She nodded following behind him, noticing
everything. She drank in the vivid colors of the abstract art and
the smooth seamless finish of the marble carvings.

The floors gleamed, making her wonder if a maid
would follow him around wiping up after he walked through a room.
Nothing seemed out of place or lived in.

"Your house is so sterile. If feels like a
museum." She spoke not thinking about how harsh it sounded.

He laughed, "Would you rather I had children
running about with a little wife tucked away some where here?"

She laughed not responding.

He walked to a huge dark grey metal door with
machines on either side of it. He looked into one machine as if it
read his eyes and put his hand up against the other. She could see
the scan reading his handprint. She raised her eyebrow at it, "Is
this the bat cave?"

He stood up as the huge door slid into the wall
with a loud groan, "It is. I will have to erase your memory before
we leave."

She smiled not certain if he was telling the
truth or joking. His humor still seemed to be too old for her to
catch up to. She hoped he was joking and left it at that.
The lab was too stunning for her to recall anything else. The white
room was huge with microscopes and glass walls with metal behind
them. The huge metal door slid back into its place but she ignored
it seeing only the most spectacular thing she'd ever seen.

"God, I wish I cared about science. This is
incredible."

She looked back at him but he ignored her and
walked to the huge metal counter in front of them with the glass
slabs and three microscopes.

"I will need that piece of paper your father
gave you." He spoke softly.

She spun watching his face, "What piece of
paper?"

His jaw clenched, "The one you carry in your
cleavage at all times." He looked up from the chart he held. His
dark blue eyes hardened, "Lets agree not to lie to one
another."

She nodded, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to nod
but his look terrified her. Okay and maybe aroused her. Something
about being afraid of him made her think about the car ride make
out session they'd had.

He smiled bringing her back to reality, "Right
well then, the paper." He put a hand out.

She put a hand into her bra and pulled the paper
out. It felt almost like cloth having spent so much time in there.
She grimaced handing it to him. He brought it to his nose and
smiled, "Smells like you."

"Oh, god, don’t do that."

He laughed seeing the desperate discomfort on
her face.

He laid the crumpled paper out and pondered over
it.

She stood watching him, wondering what help she
could possibly be.

She looked around for a chair but saw nothing
beyond the three stools at a huge counter behind him. She walked
around him and the large counter. She tried to pick up the stool
but it seemed to weigh a ton. She dragged it, making a nasty squeal
fill the open space.

He turned back giving her a disgusted look, "Do
you need some help?"

She nodded letting the stool sit back on its
four feet.

He sighed picking it up and placing it, as if it
weighed nothing, next to where he stood.

She felt her face burning and looked at the drag
marks on the concrete floor.

He muttered under his breath, "Looking less
sterile and museum like every second you're here."

She sat on the stool noticing how comfortable it
was.

"It's not my fault, this thing weighs a
ton."

"One hundred and eighty five pounds.
Considerably less than one ton."

"Whatever." She looked down at the paper and
wondered what it all meant.

"My favorite answer by far. You teenage girls
and your whatever mentality will be the declination of your
species. Imagine the results you will have on your children who
will no doubt adopt your whatever and careless attitude."

She frowned, "I can go home anytime you want to
say the magic words to Hank."

He laughed, "Magic words?"

She raised her eyebrow at him and mimicked his
accent, "If you please." She followed it up with a subtle bow.

"What?"

"You didn’t think I was smart enough to notice
you say that every single time you get him to take you anywhere? I
know I'm not a genius like my father but I didn’t just fall off the
turnip truck."

She beamed.

"You've waited your whole life to say that
sentence haven’t you?"

She nodded as she stood up from the stool and
dragged it with all her might across the floor to its original
resting place. The marks on the floor made her laugh. She walked to
the door expectantly.

He never moved. She turned back, "Scan me out of
here. I'm going home."

"Home? Home where? Back to your aunts and uncles
where they tried to kill you? Back to your dads where Roland will
no doubt send you to Lydia's where by the way they will kill
you."

He never lifted his face from the wrinkled
paper.

She slid down the door sitting on the floor and
put her hands over her face.

Nothing was making any sense.

Chapter Eleven: Sweet momma hot

Aleksander

"Want to dance?" The girl's eyes looked
dilated.

He shook his head, "Thank you but no."

"You're hot, you want to fuck instead?"

He snorted nearly spilling his drink everywhere,
"What? No. Go away."

He looked back at Mike the bartender who was
doubling over laughing.

"Asshole." He muttered.

Mike shrugged, "What did you think would happen?
You have your thingy making all the ladies want you and every girl
in here is either drunk or high."

Aleks smirked, "I forgot about that. This is why
I never come here. It's disgusting in here."

Mike frowned, "Dude not cool. I don’t come to
your house and make nasty comments. How's the drink?"

Aleks laughed, "It's great what is it?"

"Vodka mixed with tangerine, ice and oxygen
shots."

"That's weird."

"I know but the humans can drink more if they
have more oxygen which equals more money for me."

Aleks nodded, "Genius. Evil genius but whose
taking notes?"

The bar wasn't his usual sort of hang out but he
had been asked by Mike to stop in and have a chat about Roses
Business.

Mike's bar, Master Mike's was neutral territory.
No business was allowed officially but sometimes if the Dark Ones
were getting out of control or breaking the more harsh laws the
Roses would unofficially step in, for a drink.

Mike leaned over the counter, "Let me refill
you."

Aleks handed his drink to him leaning across the
counter.

Mike nodded to the right, "The guy in the blue
shirt, obvious vamp, he's the one. Brought girls every week. I
never stepped in or cared cause they always walked out looking
happy. Last few weeks he's been bringing the same girl. She's hot.
Like sweet momma hot. I actually thought for a sec she was a vamp
or a siren maybe because she was so hot. Anyway, she's starting to
look rough. I tried to step in but they are claiming her. They're
blood drugging her for sure."

Aleks felt his jaw tighten, "Where is she?"

"Back corner leaning against the wall. Hot.
Maybe Asian."

Aleks took his drink and slipped Mike ten
dollars, "Thanks."

Mike nodded.

Aleks walked away looking around the bar. Women
noticed him, human women and everyone else. His presence made them
aware of their sexuality. He couldn’t help it. It had been part of
his curse, a part of it Dorian hadn’t felt necessary to have
removed. He would attract the women so his father would get
interested in them and murder them. They had been destined to be a
team. He cringed thinking about the latest of his father's crimes.
The girl had been young and sweet. He took a large drink shaking
off the memory. The Roses liked that he could distract with his
looks.

He hated that the price Dorian had wanted was
the draw of his father's murders. Aleks had been the only one of
his kind and loved being able to avoid the Roses roster. He only
ever obsessed over his father's killings. Dorian saw the
possibility of Aleks hunting all the Dark Ones, not just his
father. He took the draw in a bargain to save Aimee. Aleks never
regretted it, he just wish the price had been something else. He
hated feeling nothing. Even more so he hated not knowing where his
father was, or at least had been.

Turning his head to the back of the room he
nearly dropped his drink to the floor.

Leaning against the wall was the most beautiful
girl he'd ever seen in his life, Giselle.

Chapter Twelve: Stuck by a buck

Hanna

She woke not realizing she had fallen asleep.
Her head rested on something. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened
them again as they focused. She was no longer within the inner
sanctum of his lab. The room was dark and eerie. She looked at the
dark blue walls and the huge fabric curtains draping at the window.
The light framed the curtains, where it seeped in the cracks around
them.

"Morning sleepyhead."

She jumped, startled at Marcus smiling at her.
She frowned, "What are you doing in here?"

She looked down to ensure she had clothes on
still.

He smirked, "This is my bed."

"Then what am I doing in here?"

He smiled and leaned down to kiss her forehead,
"You fell asleep on the floor. I thought I was doing you a service
by putting you in a bed. The floor would have been
uncomfortable."

She wanted to pull away. The smell of him was
drawing her in again. She couldn’t force herself to hate him as she
had tried before. He was being sweet, he smelled like sex and she
was already in a bed.

His eyes were full of passion, she knew the
look. It was the same as the car.

"Hanna you have me turned upside down."

She laughed, "If you weren’t such a dick I'd say
I feel the same way." She climbed off the bed, only to be pulled
back on, "You can go when I say you can go."

His mouth met hers crushing it. His tongue
forced its way into her mouth.

His hand slid up her shirt.

She panicked. His fingers bit into her skin as
his kiss grew needy.

She shoved him back feeling a ripple under her
skin, "No."

She twitched feeling the shift coming. She ran
off the bed and from the room. The hall started to get fuzzy. Her
eyes couldn’t focus. Sweat started to burst from her pours. She
could hear her screams echoing from the rooms she passed. She ran
into a room seeing a window and dove through it. She needed to be
outside. The glass shattered cutting her skin. She screamed but the
pain of the glass cuts were nothing in comparison to the war going
on inside of her. She landed with a thud on the grass below. She
was recovered and on her feet running into the forest within
seconds.