Death (3 page)

Aimee

My dad loved him. Loved isn’t even the right word. Adored. I look at
myself in the mirror and feel a small measure of happiness, knowing he can rest
easy that I'm in a relationship he can trust. As far as he is concerned, I'm in
school and doing great and with a great guy.

My skin shivers as warm wind fills the room. I smile before I see
anything. I smile because he is the answer to my heart's call. I smile because
I can see his uneven lips and his amazingly white blue eyes when I close my
own. I smile because when he touches me I still forget my name.

"Aimee, we need to go." His voice has a hint of
panic. That’s about as panicked as he gets. I ignore it and walk to him.

"My dad loved you." I kiss his cheek softly, teasingly.

His warmth seeps into me when I touch him. My fingers bite
into his broad chest. I lift on my tiptoes again and try to get a real kiss in.
Instead we are sucked up into his wind and then standing on a grassy field. I
look up at him. The moon's brightness lightly touches objects surrounding us,
showing us half of what is there.

He looks around. "There." He walks away from me.

I look to where he is walking and sigh.

Dorian waves his usual nod. "Hello brother, Aimee. Long
time no see."

I want to sneer, but Aleks hates it when I start the pissing
contest with Dorian. I smile sweetly and lace my voice with the disgust I have
for him, sometimes. "Dorian. Fancy meeting you here, in the dark woods
where you have no doubt lured some young girls." I mutter the last part.

"I can make it fancy if you like." His dark eyes
burn.

"Ewww." I smile, mostly because I can't stop myself.
"My life is fancy enough."

He rolls his eyes. "Half an hour, Aimee. That’s all I
would need to change your world. You think that lug is skilled in being 'fancy'
you are mistaken. His paltry few hundred years are nothing compared to my
thousands." He takes my hand and kisses it.

I rip it away. "Don’t make me kill you." I love the
fact I now know I can kill him. He made me to kill things just like him.

He steps into my face. "Try it little girl. Again, I have
moves you can't even imagine."

I look up into his dark eyes daringly. "I bet I can
imagine them. I bet they revolve entirely around you. You strike me as a
selfish and self centered dark angel."

He runs a finger along my jaw line and pleasure shoots through
my body. "I do love a challenge. You don’t belong with him. You need
someone who won't put up with your naughty disrespect."

I gasp at the pleasure and step back, ashamed. My face is red.
He's won. He always wins. My fingers spark. He laughs at them. He turns and
walks into the forest.

I hate him. In that moment I am able. Mostly it's made up of
dark lust.

Aleks is looking back at me like I'm holding him up. I grunt
and stalk into the forest after Dorian. My high heels sink into the soft moss
and dirt.

"You need different boots for this sort of stuff,
Aimee."

I look up at his white blue eyes and snarl. "I didn’t
know we were going bushwhacking. I was trying to get a kiss and you flashed us
here."

He looks disinterested, no preoccupied. He's looking around
like Lucas does. "We have stuff to do. Days of stuff to do. You kids need
to grasp the severity of the situation."

Dorian looks at me smugly. "Yeah. You kids are really not
taking this seriously enough."

Kids. Did they seriously just call me a kid?

I stick my tongue out at Dorian and blow by Aleks, well as
fast as my boots will allow. "Where are we?"

Dorian's dark eyes glisten in the moonlight. "Behind
Marcus's house."

I despise Marcus too. I wish they would all just go away.
After we save the world of course.

I can't stand being around Dorian and I despise Marcus and I
have to maintain constant effort to not hate Hanna. I sigh.

Hanna is because I can't deal with anything that makes me
think about Sam. The night feels colder suddenly, as his smile floats in my
mind. His face brings the memory of the children. I clear my throat and look
around. I see strawberry blonde hair bouncing like a wavy cape. My anger growls
in my stomach. I rein it in and smile at her. She looks exhausted.

"Hey." Hanna pulls her hair back into a ponytail.
She looks around. "Why are we here?"

I shrug. The feeling of contempt prickles inside of me. I
shake it off and smile at her. Everything is forced. I do it for him. It's what
he would have wanted me to do. Sam loved her and I have to try harder at not
hating her.

Dorian stands beside her, grinning.

She rolls her eyes. "Not now okay. I'm tired."

Her bracelet is fiery red. It would dull the brightest light.

Aleks is pacing. He isn’t touching me or trying to talk to me.
I start to get nervous. He glances at me. He gives me a fake smile. His lips
are perfectly even. Something is wrong.

Ari walks out of the forest looking wild with the huge wolves
on either side of her. It always makes me smile seeing her like that.

"You need a bow and arrow for that look."

She laughs. "Why are we here?" She looks exhausted
and tortured. The same look she has had since the kids and Sam.

Aleks looks at Dorian. They do the thing where they speak
without speaking. I hate that.

Ari gives Hanna her best pleasant smile. "Hey Hanna.
How's it going?"

Hanna shakes her head. "You don’t have to Ari. I get
it."

"Get what? We just never see you anymore. You're always
at Roland's."

Hanna looks around impatiently. "Yeah. Lydia's is a hard
gig for me. Roland's isn’t so easy either though."

I sigh. "I hear that."

Dorian holds a hand up. "Let’s not do the maudlin Sam
thing again please. We're here to see Marcus. He refuses to meet with us on our
land, obviously. He'll be here any minute."

Hanna looks like she's been stabbed. She walks to an old log
and sits. I feel sick when I imagine what she's going through. I glance at
Aleks and know her pain.

"Marcus is here now." A deep voice rings through the
forest. He walks over with the same asshole air he always has about him. Snooty
and shitty to everyone.

I see something behind him. Oliver is dragging Ophelia through
the forest to us. Yikes. He looks angry. Hot and angry. I can't help but smirk.
The fallen have a strange effect on us. I glance at Dorian and hate how
attracted to him I am. He grins at me. He knows what I'm thinking. He runs his
tongue across his lips. I watch the whole thing frowning.

Tristan and Phillip walk up behind Ari. I can't help but smile
at how cute they are. Holding hands, and oblivious to the world ending, they
come strolling over as if this were a romp in the forest. Tristan looks at
Oliver and scowls. Oliver unhands Ophelia. Something is up with them.

I glance back at the group to catch Marcus looking at Hanna
and smiling softly. She is the only thing in the world that makes him human. I
feel sad for her. It takes away some of the hate. Most of it.

"Alright Marcus, get to it. I have a huge fuck up to deal
with in Japan and don’t have time for this right now. The other Roses aren’t
having a much better week than you lot." Lorri stalks out of the bushes in
her bog boots. Her feet aren't sinking in like mine. She looks savage, as
usual, but this time she suits the forest motif.

"Okay look, we have an issue. Oliver, Aleks, and I have
been pouring over the old ways and we think we have a way to make it so Ophelia
dearest, who likes to burn my hallways and irreplaceable art, can take the
magic without killing Tristan. However the mother has to die at her hands
first. It's backwards and we don’t know if she is going to be strong enough to
do it."

Ophelia's face flushes. She lowers her gaze and looks at Hanna
under her lashes. Hanna licks and chews her lip nervously.

What is going on?

Lorri paces. "Okay, so if we get the blue sisters to give
O their magic and then she and Oliver kill their mother but she delivers the
final blow and gets the magic then it should be a snap for Trist to give O his
magic."

I think everyone is lost. The confused nodding is everywhere.
I have no idea what she has just said.

Lorri looks around at us as if it's going to be simple.

"Are we done? Did you call this meeting for this pathetic
problem?"

Marcus looks annoyed. He blinks at her and when he speaks his
accent thickens considerably, "Lorri, the blue sisters can't give the
magic until the mother is dead. The situation isn’t going to work the way we
want it to. The laws of magic are the laws of magic."

I look around, wondering if I'm the only nerd thinking this is
just like Highlander. I glance at Ben and know I'm not. We watched the movies
together several times. I nudge his thick furry body and grin, "There can
be only one," I whisper. He makes his wolf chuckle and nods his huge face.

Lorri shoots a glare at us.

I press my lips together and fight my grin. Ben drops his
head, ashamed.

"Well fuck. Is the witch going to fight us on this? Is
she going to fight for her life?"

I look around. "Henry can help." My eyes dart at
Marcus and Aleks. They both look uneasy.

Marcus shakes his head. "Shut it Aimee. I mean, no, let's
leave poor dear Henry out of this."

My face burns. "But we all know where the heart is. If
you sacrifice yourself and let Aleks tell him he will owe us a favor."

Hanna's eyes shoot open and I can't help but feel disgust. She
loves him.

The betrayal of Sam hurts me.

Marcus seers, "Let's not. Just forget about Henry. His
favors are never what you expect."

Lorri looks at me and shakes her head subtly. "He's
right. He'll find a way to help us without actually helping. He's Fae, tricky
creatures. He'll never betray O's mom. They're his family."

Dorian looks at me like I'm stupid. "Try to remember we
took over their world Aims." His patronizing tone annoys me.

Hanna looks like she is breathing again.

Ari glances at the wolves and smiles. "What about Aleks's
dad? What if we give him to Henry? Would he help us then? The wolves can track
him."

Lorri looks at Ari and scowls. "Jon is not caught so
easily."

Ophelia speaks up. "He'll come for me. I know he will.
He's inside my head still."

Oliver looks like he's about to say something but gets cut off
by Lorri. "This could work. We can't free Henry, we just can't. But if he
could free the witch's spirits, wouldn’t they move on and leave their magic
behind? Then O can take the magic and her and Trist can go together and kill
their mother. Then me and Aimee have a date with destiny. Henry wouldn’t have
to know what was going on. Speaking of which, O you stay away from Marcus's
house. Henry can read your mind."

I gulp and Ophelia nods, looking angry.

Lorri's eyes are on fire when she looks at me and snap her
fingers. "Make it happen." She speaks and is gone. No doubt to Japan.
She has Roses on every continent. Asia is a very intense section. It's where
she spends the majority of her time.

I glance at Ophelia who looks nervous and annoyed. I harden my
face like normal and nod at her. She swallows hard and nods back. She walks to
Hanna and starts to speak in a hushed tone. Hanna and her walk away. Something
is up with them.

I turn and smirk at Ari. "So wanna go see some wolves
about a madman?"

I want nothing like I want the revenge I deserve for my
mother's death. Aleks's father is number one on my list of people to suck dry.

Warmth surrounds me. He is trying to calm me. I don’t turn
around.

Ari's eyes sparkle. She puts a hand in as the wolves put paws
in. Ari holds her cell phone up for me to see the picture of where we are going
and instantly we are there. The lodge in front of us is grand and more than I
ever imagined for a bunch of were's. Wolves and humans walk amongst each other
in between huge log homes.

Heads turn, teeth are bared at first, but when they see Ben
and Luke they're running and crying out. Wolves nuzzle and humans embrace. Ari
and Aleks and I stand and watch.

Luke and Ben shift and stand naked amongst their people. I
avert my eyes.

"Yeah, they have zero issue with nudity." I can hear
Aleks laughing. I glance at him and he gives me his crooked grin. I raise an
eyebrow.

"Kids," I mutter, still annoyed with him.

He rolls his eyes. "Wanna go meet the alpha?" He
asks and takes my hand. I take Ari's and try to ignore the sparkle that happens
whenever we touch palm to palm. I keep my eyes down and let Aleks lead me.

The noise of the crowd is incredible. I wonder if any of them
remember Ben's death? I squeeze Ari's hand. She hasn’t been the same since
Aleks and Ben came back at the cost of all the children and Sam. None of us
have. I know Aleks notices it. It breaks my heart that he knows we all wish Sam
hadn’t died. Not that anyone wishes he and Ben had. It's just a confusing pile
of shit, as always. Nothing is simple for us. Not even walking through a wolf
village.

A loud voice booms across the lawn. "You bring this here
Lucas? This angel of death?"

My face flushes. I glance up at a huge man standing in front
of me. He and Aleks are the same size, massive. Aleks stands in front of me.

The man is older, forties maybe. He has salt and pepper
cresting his brow and sideburns. He looks pissed. No one is ever happy to see
me.

Lucas and Ben come running over pulling on sweat pants.
"She's with us. Look at her hand."

The man's eyes dart to the ring on my finger. I finger it
nervously. It's my thing.

His bright blue-green eyes watch me.

"You're a Rose?" He says it as if it should be
impossible.