Witch (The Devil's Roses 4)

Lydia sighed and rubbed her temples, “Ophelia you are driving me insane. Let me finish a sentence for the love of god. Annabelle what are you talking about?”

Annabelle pointed to the front hall, “There be a thousand of them night walking blood suckas out on the street Miss Lydia. They gots us surrounded. They come for Giselle.”

Lydia covered her hands over her eyes, "Where is Lorri?"

Ophelia shook her head, “It’s me isn’t it? They’re here because of me. The wolf brought them here for me. Everything is trying to kill me. I’m dreaming I’m sure of it.” She felt panic build inside of her.

Giselle stormed in to the kitchen, “Not everything is about you princess. That is what I was trying to tell you about Lydia. Those things have been following me all week.”

Suddenly the spiky redhead flashed in to the kitchen with a dark haired man.

“Lydia we have a problem.”

Lydia pointed to the hole in the wall Ophelia had made, “I have enough problems Lorri. These are Roses problems. I want them gone from my street.”

Lorri sneered, “It’s her, they came for her.”

Arguing erupted in the kitchen, “She is the heir.”

"This isn’t my problem Dorian. Jesus. Deal with your own problems and let me deal with Ophelia."

"She is the queen Lydia. This is everyone's problem."

Lydia looked like she cracked. She started to laugh uncontrollably. She sank onto the debris-covered floor, laughing in sobs.

Ophelia looked back at her fingertips and shook her head. She walked from the kitchen, “It’s too much. It’s all too much. I need this dream to be over.”

Chapter Fourteen

Sam

His phone vibrated as he tore the head from the vampire body. His strength, when he let the fire take him, was unmatched.

He felt the black blood spray, covering his forearms.

He glanced back at Aimee and grinned savagely. She was surrounded by ten of them, just how she liked it. Her hands moved faster than the human eye could catch. She had learned how to rip the souls from them in one swipe. She didn’t need to channel the energy. Dorian said she was the best death dealer he had ever seen. Watching the black blood spray from their bodies before they even got within an arms reach of her, proved that to be true.

Sam shivered watching the blood shed. Aimee could shut herself down emotionally.

Lucas dove at one of the undead surrounding Aimee and ripped its head off with one huge bite. The crunch from his massive jaw would have made Sam sick, if he hadn’t been in such a foul mood.

He wiped the blood from his hands onto his jeans and pulled the phone from his pocket.

“Gotta Go. Lydia’s.” He cried.

Aimee was gone before he got the sentence out. Lucas leapt through the crowd of monsters. Sam flashed them as his hand made contact with the fur.

The muggy cool air of Portland hit instantly. They had been in Madrid where Aimee had heard of a blood bar. Normally they didn’t do much in Europe but sometimes Lorri needed them. The European Roses had incredibly strong ties to Daniel. Lorri had been forced to kill many of her own. The vampire den they had just slaughtered had been one of Daniel’s splinter groups.

Sam felt his feet squish into the wet lawn, as he rounded the corner of the house with Lucas. His stomach felt heavy seeing the hoard surrounding the yard.

He looked at Lucas, “Vampires?”

Lucas nodded his wolf head and gave a low whine.

“Pretty sure we’ll be needing some backup on this one buddy.”

Lucas whined again.

He couldn’t understand how so many had gathered or why they stood outside Lydia’s house.

Sam noticed a female tilting her head and smelling the air in his direction. He looked down at the blood covering his clothes and gave her a goofy grin.

She started to whisper to the man at her left side. The man gave him a deadly cold stare.

Sam felt the hair on his arms begin to lift. Under their scrutiny, he felt himself growing angry again.

Lucas nudged him and looked at the front of the house where Giselle walked down the front steps alone. She looked uneasy, glancing back at the people inside of the house.

Sam raised an eyebrow at her. She looked terrified and cleared her throat.

“Uhm thanks for coming. Apparently we have a small problem. Uhm I’m not sure how this happened but I'm your new leader.”

Sam looked down at Lucas and frowned, “Oh shit. This is going to be bad.”

Giselle glared in his direction. He smiled at her and shook his head, "You got this."

She looked back at the massive group, “Uhm is there anyone who has any questions?”

They group began to laugh and heckle her.

Sam watched the undead roaming the guards. They looked ready to cross the line any second and kill everyone. His skin felt alive as he paced the yard with Lucas. He was ready for a fight. Vampires were the easiest things they killed in a week.

He looked down at the wolf, “This is not good. They will never follow her.”

The wolf snorted. Dorian appeared behind them, “She needs our support not our criticism.”

Sam looked back at Dorian, “How could you tell Aleks that it was a good idea to have Marcus turn her? Everyone knows his vampires are the royalty of the vampires.”

Dorian frowned, “I never told him that. Besides we've all assumed that there was at least a handful of his blood left.”

Sam laughed spitefully, “Well that was a great gamble. You just made Giselle the Vampire Queen. Jesus.”

Dorian growled at Sam. He stepped past him and addressed the crowd, “The new Queen has our support. Mine and Lorri’s.”

A large man at the edge of the guard laughed, “Black Angel of Death, was it you who took our father?”

Dorian shook his head, “It doesn’t matter who killed him. Your blood tells you who the rightful heir is. Her name is Queen Giselle.”

Giselle blushed, “Oh uhm just call me Giselle.”

A cry shot from the crowd, “We will not kneel before her. She is barely a week old.”

Giselle looked insulted, “Hey I’m twenty-one asshat.”

The crowd laughed, “Black Angel of death you can’t expect this to rule us for the next thousand years?”

“Let us kill her and make our next ruler someone powerful.”

“You angels overstep your bounds.”

Aimee and Lorri walked from the front steps, stilling the crowd.

“SHE IS A MURDERER. YOU HOUSE MURDERERS HERE. THIS IS A HOUSE OF HYPOCRISY!”

“GIVE US THE DEMON!”

Sam watched Aimee's eyes grow cold.

The crowd erupted.

Lorri put a hand in the air, “She works for me and is allowed the protection of my laws. The laws of the maker. Marcus lived by these laws and Queen Giselle will abide by them and enforce them as well.”

“You have no rights Lucifer. You fell. You have no right to rein over us.”

“Only our true ruler will rule over us.”

Lorri rolled her eyes, “Fucking idiots.” She looked back at Giselle, “Be ready to kick some ass.”

Giselle gulped, “I don’t actually know how to fight Lorri.”

Lorri looked at Sam and nodded. Sam walked to Giselle, “A rage will fill you. Let it take you. The power is inside of you. Ignore everything but what the rage tells you to do.”

Giselle frowned, “Dude look at me. I’ve never even had a sister to fight with. Nothing. I slapped a guy once. Like, I got nothing.”

"Remember all the training you had? You did great then."

"No I sucked. I was just fast. Remember when I ran away?"

Sam wanted to slap her, "Giselle, you can do this. There is anger and magic inside of you. Let it rise.”

"Like, my fangs."

Sam winced, "No."

Aimee stepped forward, "Okay you know when you're like tired from the stale air in the mall and then you drink espresso and suddenly you feel like you can shop some more?"

Giselle nodded, "Oh my god Aimee have you been shopping without me? Are those boots new?"

Aimee clenched her jaw momentarily, "No sweetie. The blood is like the espresso. You just need to ask it to come to you and it will. Close your eyes for a second and focus."

She looked confused, absolutely gorgeous but confused nonetheless. Sam had zero faith in her abilities. He looked at Lucas and knew the wolf felt the same.

"You got this Giselle." Aimee stepped to the side and watched the crowd. Sam knew her presence made everyone uneasy.

Aimee looked fierce, her grey eyes were molten steel and already set on which vampire she would kill first. Her black tank top was stained in blood but was hard to see as she almost always wore black. She wore blood red leather pants and huge dark brown knee high boots. Black stains and dried bits clung to her everywhere.

Looking at her, Sam had a hard time imagining her as Giselle remembered her. Sweet and nerdy. She seemed ruthless and violent.

Lorri put a hand in the air again, stilling the frothing crowd of savages.

“Bring a challenger. We will have a fight to the death for the right of royalty.”

The crowd erupted. Part excitement and part argument over who was eldest.

A man was shoved forward.

Sam watched as Dorian’s jaw clenched seeing the man. He was tall and strong looking, but not muscular. He looked like a Euro trash vampire. They all did. Sam had no love for Vamps, other than Giselle. She looked like she was about to cry processing the statement Lorri had made, “The death?”

Dorian took his turn at convincing her, “You have the strongest blood here Giselle. You have all of Marcus’s strength inside of you. Call to it. Ask it to assist you. That vampire cannot beat you no matter what. Marcus would have laughed at him. ”

Giselle turned back to the front door and threw up in the bushes.

The crowd laughed at her.

Sam felt anger inside of himself. He was ready. He was dangerous when he was ready. He felt his fingers flex on their own. He began to think about Hanna. Her lips and eyes. His fingers running through her soft strawberry locks. The swell in her chest. The way she moaned when he licked along her throat. He had never waited for anything the way he had waited for her. He felt his energy seeping from him.