Witch (The Devil's Roses 4)

Giselle's dark eyes flashed, "I never said I was going to feed. I said bite." She moaned in pain and clutched her right side. Hanna stroked her face and looked impatiently at the door.

Her face dropped.

Ophelia looked to see a stunning man walk through the door. Her jaw dropped. He was refined and sexy. She tore her gaze from him and glanced at Hanna who was completely flushed.

Hanna stammered, "Mar-Marcus. Thanks f-for coming."

His face looked pained.

Ophelia could feel the tension in the air. Hanna's bracelet was glowing like it was a raging flame, or lava.

Giselle smirked at Marcus through the pain, "Hey I need you to save me again."

"What? Hanna I need to speak to you." He ignored Giselle.

Ophelia melted at his accent. He was sexy and had an accent. She envied Hanna for a moment. The hottest guys loved her.

Hanna looked like she was battling her emotions, "Ari."

"Ahhh I see. So what was this alternate world like? Were we married? Living in Romania in the summers and here in the winters?" His smile was bitter and pained.

Hanna shook her head, "You were dead."

He looked confused, "And yet I saved my last breath to save your friend? Aren't I kind."

Hanna's face was frozen, "The kindest. Will you help her?"

Marcus shook his head, "No."

Hanna took a step forward, "I would be, grateful."

He laughed, "Oh Hanna." He grabbed her hand, "You'll be grateful anyway I'm afraid."

Ophelia took a step toward him, "Let her go."

He smiled at Ophelia, "If Hanna needed protection I assure you, she wouldn’t be my girl."

Hanna pushed away from him, "I'm not your girl. We had this conversation." Her eyes filled with regret, "I know where his heart is. I know how to free him."

His face filled with rage, "Then take it."

He stepped forward and put her hand on his chest, "You take it because I don’t want it without you."

Hanna clenched her jaw.

Ophelia was lost.

Giselle was clutching her side again. Her face was pinched in pain.

"Please."

Marcus moved like a snake striking her arm, "See you soon." He pulled her in and kissed her face. His hand moved liked viper again and struck the bracelet on her wrist. He flashed a grin, "I like you better naked, you know that."

Ophelia watched the bracelet fall to the ground and smash against the hard floor. The shells were white. She had never seen them white.

She felt a strange sensation instantly. She hated Hanna. It was stronger than hate. She despised and detested her. She was gross and sleazy. Ophelia shook her head, "What is that?"

Hanna scowled, "That is the call of a Siren." Her eyes pleaded, "Please don’t hate me."

"I won’t. I know it isn’t real."

The doctor came in and flashed a charming smile at Hanna, "My love."

Ophelia watched as Hanna pulled him into her embrace. She let his hands roam her body. He kissed her. Hanna let him.

Ophelia threw up a tiny bit as the older and clearly married doctor ran his hands over Hanna's jeans and breasts. Hanna made out with him for several minutes.

Hanna pulled back, "Go and sleep Doctor. Find a replacement doctor to take care of my friend."

He nodded.

Ophelia noticed the feeling of disgust had subsided a fraction.

The doctor left gripping his clipboard.

Hanna sighed, "Fucking Marcus." She looked back at Giselle, "I gotta go before this shit gets real. Lydia has a spare bracelet I think."

Giselle breathed into her cramp, "Yeah. Tell his highness to kiss my ass."

Hanna gripped her hand, "I will make him fix you."

Ophelia knew Hanna and Marcus had dated and he had been a piece of shit to her but she also knew Hanna loved him. She had seen the relief fill her face when he'd walked in alive and mean.

Hanna walked out as Aimee and Blake walked in. Blake reached for her, "Hi." He pulled his glasses off and pressed her against the wall.

Aimee grabbed his arm and scowled, "Dude. You don’t want any of that. Keep it in your pants."

He turned and shoved Aimee, "Leave her alone."

Aimee laughed, "So Marcus destroyed the bracelet huh?"

Hanna sighed, "Take me to Lydia's?"

Aimee shoved Blake at Ophelia and flashed Hanna away before Blake could react.

He stood looking dazed, "What-what was that?"

Ophelia felt stunned, "Hanna I guess." She looked over at the massive erection making a tent in his jeans.

He stood dazed and lost.

Giselle saw it and started to laugh and shake her head, "Nooooo."

He put his glasses on again and smiled, "She is amazing."

Ophelia covered her eyes with her hand, "Okay I'm going to go and find you some help."

Aimee was in the room again in. She looked at Blake and shivered, "Blake."

He looked at her. She looked at the bulge in his pants. He put a hand over it, "Oh my god." He ran from the room.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Aimee

She woke from the bed beside Giselle to see Shane standing in the hall. He was in uniform and exhausted looking. She knew he had worked a night shift.

"Hey Aimes."

She felt a lump in her throat grow, "Hey."

He looked at her, "You okay?"

She shook her head, "Ari. She messed with the fates again."

"What does that mean?"

She felt sick. She remembered when they broke up only weeks earlier. He was crushed.

She looked at Giselle sleeping on the bed, "I can't do this anymore Shane."

He sighed, "Not this shit again Aimes. Come on. We've come so far this year. I told you I'm fine with it."

She felt her gaze harden, "I know but I'm not." It was a lie. She knew it was a lie. She wanted him more than anything in the world, except Aleks.

His gaze hardened, "I've been here every step of the way. Dealing with your fucked up friends and the bullshit your life is involved in and this is it? This is the extent of the emotion you have for me in the end?"

She nodded. She had broken up with him already. She'd done the big talks. He just didn’t remember them. She couldn’t change the way her heart was closed off to him.

"Fuck you Aimee. You know what I'm sick of this shit. You're a nightmare. A walking disaster. You're worse than Alise. At least she knows what she wants in life."

She nodded again. Her heart stayed closed off. She'd gotten good at it. She watched him scream at her but in her mind all she saw was the Nærøyfjord. The cold wind and the tears that fell on Aleks's grave.

Shane shouted his worst at her. His blue eyes filled with tears.

She felt nothing. She couldn’t. She knew the secret. He was too good for her. He always had been.

"I love you. How is that never enough Aimes?"

She blinked at him and spoke flatly, "Shane it's not you that’s not enough. It's me. I will never be normal. We will never get married. We will never have children. I will never age or die. You will do everything alone. You will have my heart and nothing else. One day you will see that I'm not worth the sacrifice of everything else."

He blinked, "You are when you're everything Aimes."

She shook her head, "But I'm not Shane. I'm everything right now. In ten years when you look like my uncle or older brother it'll be weird. In twenty years when you look like my dad it'll be creepy. When you're watching kids play sports or running to their dads with a bleeding knee, I won’t be enough. Trust me. I saw it the other way."

Shane shook his head and walked out of the hospital room. She felt nothing. Her regrets and priorities had already been put in order when Aleks died. She had clung to Shane in an attempt to be the girl she was. She never factored in the girl she had become. Shane could never share the ways in which she had changed. He could never understand the one thing she lived for, the kill.

She looked at Giselle and smiled. She needed Marcus to fix her. She flashed to the Nærøyfjord. The dark night was stunning. The hillside was the same. She turned to the graves on the hill and felt the emotions catching up with her.

She walked across the huge rocks to the spot where they had dug the hole.

She dropped to her knees.

She felt the warm wind behind her.

She smiled.

She didn’t turn around. She didn’t need to.

"I love you Aleks. I always did. I just never knew how much."

His arms were around her and the smell filled the air around her. The smell that had become home.

"How do you know about this place?"

She pointed, "We dug the hole there." She heaved.

His grip tightened, "I died. How?"

"Marcus."

He laughed, "Well can't say I never earned that. Did I return the heart to Henry at least?"

She nodded.

He sighed, "Good."

She turned, "But the world is different now. Henry is a prisoner again."

Aleks smiled, "But it means I know how to free him."

She felt his warm breath on her face. She closed her eyes, "I prayed for this moment. I prayed you would come back to me."

"I prayed you would finally see me Aimee. From the minute I saw you sitting on the side of the road crying, I prayed you would see me."

He hugged her tightly and flashed them to a dark room.

He lit a candle beside the bed.

She looked around, "Where are we?"

His piercing light blue eyes and crooked smile made her heart soar, "My place."

She grinned at him, "You have a place?"

He nodded, "I have had it for years. Marcus and Dorian and I used to stay here. It was like the bachelor pad."

She looked back at the bed, "So you had some fun here?"

He laughed and shook his head, "Uh no. No you know me better than that. Dorian on the other hand, and Marcus. Wow."