Hyde (23 page)

He bent kissing her lips tenderly, "Never scare
me like that again."

She nodded, "Okay."

He lay down on the bed beside her and held
her.

"Is everyone else alright?"

"Yes, Lydia is waking up now, a few hours a day
she actually speaks and tries to do magic."

"What about those kids?"

He laughed, "Those wicked little brats are
fine."

"Aimee and Aleks and Ari and Sam?"

He pulled her back, "Everyone is fine. Honestly.
You were the only one hurt. Well and Lorri a little bit but that
was nothing to do with the Dark Ones."

She frowned, "You and Lorri got into a
fight?"

He smirked, "One doesn’t fight with Lorri. One
attacks savagely when she is distracted and then retreats."

"I remember Henry there." She felt puzzled by
her jagged memories.

He laughed, "I told you it was better for Henry
to be smitten. I told him what was going on and he was very adamant
we went to help you out."

"He is stronger than any of you isn’t he?"

He nodded, "He is ancient. He is a magic we
cannot ever compete with."

"Why does he stay with you?"

Marcus beamed, "I captured his soul. It was a
foolish thing to do but I was bored and it was a challenge."

"What happens if he finds his soul?"

"He can kill me. He cannot kill me until the
moment he does find it."

She gasped, "You idiot, why would you ever do
that?"

He shrugged, "I was young and foolish."

"Give it back and beg his forgiveness."

"No, I cannot. He will never forgive me. He will
only kill me and be done with it. He will return home and it will
end."

She felt sad for Henry. He was a kind man who
didn’t deserve that as a fate. She wondered if she gave back the
soul if he would just leave and not bother with his revenge.

Her phone rang. She looked at Marcus who grabbed
it for her and looked at it, "Roland. Again."

She took the phone, "Again? Hello."

"My dear you're awake. Lydia told me what you
did. That was imprudent and reckless."

"Roland I'm sorry, it couldn’t be helped. I
needed to redeem myself. Marcus got the cure from them too. I'm
free of the beast, I think anyway."

There was silence.

"Roland?"

"I'm here. What did he tell you the cure
did?"

She looked confused at Marcus whose face
darkened slightly.

She sighed, "Nothing. Why?"

"Your father had a cure once too but it would
have turned him into something unnatural. He chose to stay with the
devil he knew."

"I will get the information and get back to you.
I will be home tonight."

"Excellent. I will prepare us a feast. Dinner
will be at six."

She hung up the phone and looked at Marcus,
"What happened to your rule." She mimicked his English accent,
"Lets agree to not lie to one another shall we?"

He chuckled, "How else could I get you to
listen. You were dying. My blood would heal you but the changes
would come more frequently, as your body was weakened. I watched
your father go through it."

"What has it done to me?"

He bit his lip, "Well it's made you strong,
stronger than the beast. Your anger, when provoked, could be quite
bad but honestly it will be controlled by you one hundred percent.
In theory."

She closed her eyes, "You made me into a small
beast. I won't change shape but I'll still potentially kill
people?"

"In theory you should be able to control all of
it."

She sighed, "In theory, in theory means eff all
Marcus. Who could you possibly have tested this on if I'm the only
one of me?"

"I know you're concerned about what you might do
but let's focus on what you won't do. No more shifting into the
beast, no more black outs, no more injuries randomly."

She frowned, "No more injuries?"

He shook his head, "You're strong now. Like
me."

"Will I age and die like a normal person?"

"No. When you were sleeping I gave you the same
thing I gave your father a long time ago."

She didn’t know how to feel about that.

"You might have lived longer than a normal human
because of your mother."

"What was she like?"

"You. She was kind and funny and beautiful. She
laughed all the time. She adored your father."

"How much did you love her?"

"I feel you tensing up, I know it's weird that
seventy years ago I was in love with her but in truth I took the
potion and then I didn’t love her. I saw her as I saw any regular
human. She wasn't anything special to me then."

"Did you love my father?"

"Like my brother. When he and I met we were both
so alone in the world. He was terrible with other people. The whole
experiment was to give him normal social graces. To make him more
than the man he was."

Hanna laughed, "Well he definitely got his
wish."

Marcus laughed with her, "Oh he got more than he
bargained for."

"Were they happy when they found out about
me?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

She turned to face him. He kissed her nose.

"Were they?"

His eyes twitched, she knew he was hiding the
truth from her. After staring into her eyes he spoke, "No."

Hanna nodded. She watched his eyes and smiled
even though it hurt, "You were thinking about using your mind thing
on me weren’t you?"

He laughed.

She smiled, "I saw your pupil flex almost."

"I never want you to feel pain."

His lips brushed hers.

"How bad of shape was I in yesterday?"

He pulled back, "I just want to kiss and maybe
touch a little. Can we ask questions later?"

She stayed frozen watching him.

He sighed annoyed, "The worst shape I could have
imagined. Most of the skin on your body was gone. I didn’t think
you would live. Your legs were broken and your hair had been ripped
out." He pushed a hand up into her thick strawberry locks, "I
didn’t think you would live."

She knitted her brows seeing the pain on his
face, "I lived Marcus. I lived because of you." She leaned in
letting his lips encompass hers. His arms wrapped around her
pulling her into him. He didn’t seem to want to let her go.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Daddy Dorian

Aleksander

"How is she?"

He looked up to see Giselle standing in the
doorway. He couldn’t help but notice how she looked all of a
sudden. Her limbs had filled out again, her color was peaches and
cream and her hair looked like live silk.

"She's good." He didn’t realize he spoke to her
lips. Her luscious pink lips.

She smiled seeing his face, "What's up with
you?"

He shrugged, "What do you mean?"

"Dude." She tilted her head mocking him.

He smiled, "Anyway, she's fine. She's waking for
short periods now."

"It's Christmas in like four days. What does
everyone here do for Christmas?"

He laughed, "Oh we usually blow it up. It's over
the top and ridiculous. This year Annabelle would have done things
to this house none of us would have recovered from. In the wake of
the last few days, I don’t know what we'll do."

She walked to Lydia's bed and sat beside her,
"She's the most amazing lady. Annabelle told me she's like over two
hundred years old. How is that possible?"

"She uses a type of magic, good magic that
replenishes her. It wont make her live forever but it will give her
a lot of extra time."

Giselle looked at the older woman with care and
compassion, "She has been so kind to me. My own mom has never been
that loving to me."

Aleks felt his jaw tighten thinking about how
cruel Giselle's parents were. Aimee had told him all about it when
Giselle had been in the hospital. He smiled thinking about what
Dorian had done to her mom's boyfriend.

"How is your mom?"

Giselle shrugged, "She's okay. Since Mom's
boyfriend left she's been kind of bummed. I think she thought she
was in love even though they barely knew each other."

He nodded, "Where did he go?"

She smirked, "I don’t know but I wish I
did."

Aleks laughed, he laughed because he knew where
her mom's boyfriend had gone. Dorian enjoyed pedophiles more than
the average criminal he usually ate or fed to Lorri. He cringed
imagining what those last few hours had been like for the horrid
man and felt a warm fuzzy feeling.

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

He looked up startled by the question, "What, of
course. Even blind men can tell you're pretty. Pretty isn’t the
word. Ravishing, stunning, startlingly beautiful."

She blushed laughing, "So do you think about
me?"

He felt his face blushing as hers had, "Yes of
course. I think people who have met you accidentally on a bus, for
only a moment think about you for the rest of their lives."

She looked sad, "So you don’t think about me in
the way that you thought about Aimee?"

He felt a tightening in his chest, how did he
think of Giselle? He liked her, he more than liked her. He wanted
her safe and would kill anyone who touched her. He wanted her happy
but did he want to make her happy? Since taking the cure from Hanna
he noticed her more. It was if his heart had made room for
Giselle.

He frowned, "The week has been so chaotic, I
don’t know what I think about anything."

She nodded sweetly, "Of course. I totally
understand. Well I better be going. The sun makes me tired now."
She got up from the bed and walked from the room. She stopped and
looked back at him, "See ya."

He nodded feeling off about it all. He hadn’t
meant to say any of it. He hadn’t been prepared for her to say
anything to him.

She looked at Lydia who smirked in her pretend
sleep.

"Lydia, you sneaky old woman."

She smiled outright, "You are a fool Aleksander.
A great huge fool. That sweet girl is head over heels for you. Not
because of your odd pheromone disorder either. You know you have
zero impact on her with that? When has that happened? She likes you
for you."

He frowned, "I noticed it before. I thought it
was because she wasn’t clever enough to recognize what was
happening."

Lydia frowned at him, "That’s a cruel thing to
say."

He blushed, "Its not what I meant, I meant I
just thought…"

She cut him off, "You thought she wasn’t smart
enough to sense you. You don’t deserve her."

He nodded, "Lydia I'm sorry. I never meant that.
I do think she is smart, in a different way than I am."

Lydia raised an eyebrow at him, "She's smart
enough to recognize love at least. Tell Annabelle I would like some
tea or soup. Something warm."

He stood up from the chair, "Of course."

He felt like an ass. He had always considered
Giselle as a trophy a man would hold, not an equal partner in life.
It was why he'd made Marcus not only heal her but also turn her.
She could defend her own beauty for a change. He walked to the
kitchen feeling lost.

"Lydia would like something warm, tea or
soup."

Annabelle nodded, she hadn’t returned to her old
self. She was quiet as if embarrassed or angry and not wanting to
talk about it. It was odd seeing her so silent.

He looked over to see Dorian sitting in the
kitchen, "What are you doing here?" He asked smiling.

Dorian looked at him and frowned, "You look like
hell. I'm here seeing Ari. I'm trying to make a friendship."

Aleks grimaced, "How's that going? I know she
isn’t fond of you."

Dorian laughed bitterly, "Yes well I deserve
that I'm afraid. I haven’t been a good father, or any kind of
father."

"Is she even here?"

He smiled wickedly, "No but I did notice Giselle
is here. I have longed to enjoy an afternoon with her. The moment I
met her I knew she would be a delicious little snack I would savor.
I see she isn’t as breakable as before."

Aleks was across the table before he could even
reason with himself, "You touch her. I will fucking end you."

He grabbed Dorian by the chest pushing him off
the chair and landing on him. His hands wrapped around his
throat.

The last thing he could recall before the
blackout was Ari standing over them both shaking her head.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: What Cure

Hanna

She looked at her red dress and smiled, she had
never felt so alive. She walked from the room and down the long
hallway to the staircase. She looked down at Roland and smiled.

"You look lovely my dear."

She laughed, "Thanks Roland. You look pretty
good your self."

She was careful on the stairs. She took his arm
and let him lead her to the huge dining room table where a huge
feast was set for them.

"This looks incredible. You made it all?"

He laughed, "Yes of course. Now have a seat." He
pulled the chair out for her.

She heard a knock at the door and looked puzzled
at Roland who grinned like the Cheshire cat.

He left the room quickly.

She could hear voices but not well enough to
pinpoint the owner.

She stood as Andy walked around the corner.

He looked handsome in dark brown cords and a
navy polo. He was considerably under dressed, compared to her and
Roland but his muscles made his clothing inconsequential.

"Andy, what a nice surprise." It was.

"Hanna you look stunning. I feel under
dressed."

"No you look great."

He wrapped his arms around her and held her
close. She savored the scent of him. It was a natural smell.

He pulled her back and kissed her cheek softly.
She felt dizzy. She forced herself to think of dinner but the smell
of the detective was too overwhelming.

She stepped back and walked from the table, "I
forgot something up stairs, I'll be right back."

She climbed the stairs quickly to get the vial.
She hated the idea that he too would see her as a normal girl, but
she owed him that. She hadn’t been able to get the charm bracelet
made.