Hyde (22 page)

Gasps filled the room.

Aleks felt ill, he looked at her shaking his
head, "No."

Hanna touched his face softly, "Drink it. Trust
me."

He shook his head, "I don’t need to."

"You have to if she's a Siren Aleks. Don’t be
foolish."

Hanna nodded, "It will take away the
effects."

Aleks took the vial and opened it. He drank the
liquid feeling it burn its way down his throat. As it burned he
noticed Hanna grew less appealing to him. His heart didn’t ache
when he looked into her eyes. Her lips were the last things he
thought about as the fog lifted from his brain.

"Hanna." He spoke as if seeing her for the first
time.

Tears poured from her face, "I didn’t know. I
found out today." Her lips trembled. He felt angry but he knew she
was a victim of it all as much as he was. She should have had a
charm bracelet from birth.

Hanna looked at Lucas, "You knew? How can you
stand it? How is it not getting to you?"

He shrugged, "My wolf has a mate. There isn’t
anything as strong as that."

Ari looked at Lucas and smirked, "Nice. Brownie
points for later."

He chuckled, "I've smelled one before. In Italy.
She was like dessert, a rich chocolaty dessert I wanted to bite
into. You smell the same."

Ari frowned.

Hanna nodded, "I have a few people I need to
give the cure to." She looked at Lydia, "I need her to make me a
charm. She has to live."

Aimee stroked the old woman's face, "She will.
It's Lydia. Nothing can kill her."

Suddenly and with a small amount of flame Lorri
reappeared in the room, "Well they're all in Boston. They have a
witch too. The building is completely fortified. We need our own
human army."

She sat down next to Lydia and Aimee.

"Her heartbeat is getting stronger, she will
live."

Aimee smiled.

Aleks noticed her smile instantly, it made his
own heartbeat quicken. As Hanna's fog left his brain Aimee had
invaded. He sighed.

Aimee's smile stopped after a moment. She looked
at Aleks horrified, "It's Blake."

He stopped for a moment, thinking, "Yes, you're
probably right. New chemist who is smarter than anyone. He took
Giselle to a vamp bar. It's him."

Aimee looked sickened, "He took my sister there.
Oh my god what if he's using her to test the different experiments
he's doing. I bet you he is. It's probably more than just the blood
drugging. I've been trying to find them but I haven’t been able
to."

Ari looked confused, "That nerd who worships
your sister, that guy who didn’t believe any of what was happening
to you was real? He's the chemist?"

Aimee nodded, "He obviously believes now."

Lucas shook his head, "You're guessing, we need
answers. We need to know how to get into the building."

Hanna sighed, "I can get in. I'm human and once
I change nothing hurts me. Its like I don’t notice it till after.
This is all my fault, I should be the one to fix it."

Aimee nodded, "She's right."

Lorri shook her head, "We aren’t going to send
you in there to get killed." She glared at Aimee.

Ari pointed to Lydia, "She's going to be fine.
We need to move before they kill the kids."

"Or worse, leave. If Daniel and the chemist get
away I will be pissed."

Lucas looked around, "Where is Annabelle?"

Aleks pointed to the ceiling, "Upstairs. She's
upset."

Aimee frowned, "Annabelle?" She called out.

Howling filled the room along with a cold
wind.

Aleks spoke soothingly, "Annabelle it wasn’t
your fault. Lydia needs you."

The young maid appeared, sobbing at Lydia side,
"I be sorry. I never made the guards for humans. The smoke took my
magic from me."

Lorri looked at her with the most caring
expression Aleks had ever seen her wear, "Annabelle her heartbeat
is getting stronger. That means she will live. She just needs
someone to protect her and care for her until she wakes up. Can you
stay calm enough?"

Annabelle nodded sniffling, "I can do it. I can
change the guards."

"I can help her too."

Aleks looked to see Danny standing in the
hallway. His tear stained cheeks looked flush.

Lorri nodded, "Thanks kid."

"Its all my fault. I had the dream but I didn’t
think it would come so soon. Usually they happen a few days
before."

Aleks shook his head, "There is no way this is
anyone's fault. Each of us is a victim of the circumstances. What
we need is to stand together and get back those kids before Daniel
kills them."

He looked back at Hanna, "You ready?"

She nodded, "Yeah." Defeat and the recognition
that she would die, filled her eyes. It didn’t kill him to see it
but it hurt him on some level.

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Cure

Hanna

She tried to stay close to Aleks as they walked,
the smell of him was over whelming. She could feel his indifference
to her. She wished she too was apathetic but her feelings and
attraction for him were as potent as they had ever been. She
noticed everything about him. She needed it to calm herself. She
didn’t want to prematurely become the monster. She needed to save
Sam. She felt an anger and fear that frightened her, not knowing
where he was.

Aimee had winked them to a parking lot several
blocks from the building in Boston. Hanna had never been to Boston
before. She never considered the history or heritage of the place,
only the pain she would soon be in and the death that would follow
her shift and saving Sam.

They walked to the large building. It was
several stories high, looking more like an apartment building than
anything.

She looked up at it thinking about the things
she hadn’t gotten to do yet. She hadn’t stopped by Rebecca's
parents house. She hadn’t been to her grave yet. She never got to
have a Christmas with Roland and she never got to watch her aunt
tried for her crimes.

She looked at Aimee, "Punch me in the face,
hard."

Aimee looked at her and nodded, "I don’t hate
you. I just don’t have all the facts okay?"

Hanna nodded, "Yeah whatever. Ari told me you
were a LARP dork. We could never be friends."

Aimee frowned and punched her in the face. Hanna
saw stars the moment her head snapped back.

Rage filled her instantly.

The shift started. She tried not to scream. She
tried not to make too much of a spectacle of herself.

Her skin rippled, straining as if it would tear.
She felt her hands grip her face, as her clothes ripped from her
body.

Her legs dropped to the concrete, her vision
went hazy and her mind went numb.

She heard herself chuckle as the pain
subsided.

She looked at Lorri who was smiling and pointing
to the building.

Hanna could see everything the beast saw but not
the thoughts the beast had. Somehow Lorri seemed able to control
the beast though. She turned and ran at the building as hard as she
could.

She saw the huge hands rip the front door from
the building and throw it. A man came out but her hands reached for
him. She pulled him apart. The laugh was there again. The beast was
laughing at the ripping and tearing.

Watching the blood shed of the second person
Hanna slipped into the black just leaving the beast to do its
work.

****

She woke to screaming. She recognized voices but
couldn’t understand the words they said. Blood pounded in her
ears.

She leaned forward, throwing up all over the
concrete. She felt the cold pavement against her hands. She tried
to push herself up but everything ached. She opened her eyes to the
pool of blood she lay in.

"I WILL KILL THE NEXT PERSON WHO MOVES!"

She looked up to see Marcus and Henry. Henry
held his arms out, they trembled as if they held something. She
looked to see Aleks, Aimee and Ari pinned to the ground but nothing
touched them. Lorri was gone.

She looked up at Marcus whose hands trembled. He
carried something in his fingers.

He knelt on the ground beside her smiling, "My
love, you must drink this. It will save you. I found it. He
finished it."

She looked down at her arms, pieces of flesh
were ripped from them. She gasped. Her stomach bled, as did her
face. She put her hands to her face touching the parts that hurt.
Her cheek had a hole in it. Her tongue moved to feel the hole. She
cried out seeing the desperation in his eyes.

"I'm dying Marcus."

He shook his head, a small tear formed in his
eye, "You will live if you drink this. It's the cure."

She looked at her body, "I don’t w-w-want t-to
live this way." Her words were broken as blood gurgled in her
throat.

He shook his head, "My blood will heal you after
you drink the cure."

She took the vial looking at everything around
her. She looked at Henry and drank the vial.

It seared its way through her. Her mouth
struggled with something that was building in her throat. She
choked on it until suddenly it ripped its way from her in a cry.
She screamed as the liquid felt as if it cut its way through her
body.

The pain grew beyond agony, she had no reference
points for it or ways to express it. Her mind had gone blank as her
body convulsed on the ground.

Chapter Thirty-Five: Look out its,
HANNA

Aleksander

He had been stunned watching her grow into the
beast. The looks on the faces around them were one part disgust
mixed with two parts of something else, hope.

Lorri spoke to the beast in a tongue he didn’t
understand.

The beast seemed to know what she wanted.
Suddenly like the giant lumbering monster it was, it ran at the
building. It ripped open the door. The guards placed around the
building weakened it but only for a second as it passed through
them.

It grabbed a man tearing him to pieces. It
destroyed the front of the building. People began pouring from the
doors attacking with weapons and magic. The beast screamed in pain
but continued to rip everything it saw. It crushed beings with its
massive foot and squeezed others until blood burst from them.

Aleks watched in horror as the thing attacked an
army worth of creatures and monsters. Anyone else would have had to
work incredibly hard to kill a third of what she did in no time.
The few that trickled from the building, and past the thing, were
destroyed instantly by Lorri or Aimee or Ari. He and Lucas stood
back watching. Lucas remained in wolf from. The blood bath was the
most horrifying thing he had ever seen.

Aleks looked at Lucas, "Ready to find them?"

Lucas stood and sauntered to the side of the
building. Aleks whisked himself inside the door, opening it for
Lucas. They climbed the stairs slowly together. Voices filled the
rooms as orders and commands were shouted.

Aleks cloaked himself instantly and Lucas stayed
low to the ground. The halls were filled with papers and people.
Lucas hid behind a door as Aleks walked along hurriedly, trying to
find where they were being held.

He walked down the stairs to the lower levels of
the building. It smelled dank and wet. The building was old, making
the basement musty.

"I can't seem to hear anyone's thoughts.
Everything is blank." A girl spoke softly.

"It’s the one with the smug look on her face." A
guy answered.

Aleks walked back up the stairs a bit and
whistled low, he knew he was in the right place.

He waited until Lucas came creeping down the
stairs. Fresh blood coated his muzzle.

They walked together back to the basement.

Aleks remained cloaked as he snuck behind the
girl as Lucas prepared to attack the man.

As Aleks reached around the girl, she tried to
spin, "What the fu..." Her neck was broken.

"Where did…?" The guy spun but Lucas launched
himself, knocking the man to the ground and ripped his throat
out.

Aleks kicked the door open to the small
room.

"Aleks!" Little arms rushed toward him crying
out and jumping to him. "You came for us." He hugged the kids.

Anne sneered, "About time." He shook his head
wanting to swat her.

Dawn looked like she was ready to cry. She knelt
to the ground to hug Lucas but pulled away, "Ewww you have skin in
your teeth. Oh my god I'm going to get sick. That’s nasty."

Sam smiled, "Hey guys."

Aleks looked at them, "How did they get
you?"

Sam shook his head, "It was brutal. They had a
smoke bomb that disabled every one of us. I watched them knock you
out and shoot you several times. They have something like Anne,
every time I tried to use my powers they worked against me." He
looked around, "It was weird. Must be Nephilim too. The humans shot
us with something and we woke up here."

"Did they hurt you?"

Sam shook his head, "No, not really." He smiled,
"Everyone likes me Aleks, you know that."

Aleks rolled his eyes.

A loud crash happened above them. Lucas wined
and started toward the door.

"What is going on up there?"

Aleks sighed, "We need to get going before she
destroys the entire building."

"What did you bring?"

"Hanna."

Chapter Thirty-Six: In Theory, actually
doesn’t mean anything

Hanna

She woke to the muted light of the castle. She
sighed feeling safe at long last. Terrified of what she would find
she lifted her fingers to her face. Her cheek felt normal again.
She lifted her arms seeing nothing but her normal skin.

"Oh thank god." She whispered.

"Pretty sure the name is Marcus."

She looked up seeing him sitting in a chair
across the room, "What?"

He smiled standing in the dim light and walking
to her, "The person you need to thank is not god, it's me."

He sat on the bed beside her. She smiled,
"Thanks."