"What was that?"
Lydia stormed in, "That was Ari at her best."
A tall handsome man walked into the kitchen, "Lydia where is she? I've had it."
Lydia and Ari both jumped up and ran at the huge man.
"Oh my god Aleks. Oh my god."
Aimee flashed into the kitchen and jumped at him. Ophelia felt lost. She knew a guy named Aleks had died. Old memories that still sat in her mind, but felt distant, had his death in them. Slowly memories of him at her window instead of Sam started to creep in her mind.
She watched them cry. Aimee gripped him and kissed his cheek repeatedly.
His face was flushed and confused.
"I'm tired of the head games Aimee. Just tell me what the hell is going on with you guys?"
She shook her head, "I love you. I love you."
A slow grin crept over his face, "So you want to be with me?"
"Aleks what do you remember?"
He frowned at Lydia, "From when?"
Lydia looked at Ari, her mouth agape, "Oh no."
Ari took a second and then she looked the same. Aimee dropped to her knees.
Lucas ran inside, his face was soaked. Tears poured from his eyes. The memories sank in slowly. The memories matched in her mind until she came to Lydia's two weeks ago. Nothing was the same. Sam was not in a single new memory.
She started to panic. She looked at a new face, who her brain instantly recognized as Ben. He looked confused. He looked at Aleks. Lydia, Ari, Aimee, and Lucas sobbed. Ophelia looked at them all. Her stomach twisted into a knot. Her heartstrings tugged as she looked at Ben. He smiled and took a step toward her. She took a step back. Her body knew him, as did her mind but her reality was different. It was as if two people's lives lived inside of her. She bolted to the kitchen sink and retched over it. A meal she didn’t recognize for a moment shot into the sink. She hadn’t recalled eating corn and peas.
"He's not dead. He's not." Aimee rocked back and forth.
Lydia held her heart, "They all are. Little Sarah. Dawn. Danny."
Ophelia threw up again.
She sank against the counter.
"I take it Ben and I missed out on the party?" Aleks stood like a massive statue in the middle of the kitchen with the sobbing people draping off of him. Ari let go of him and grabbed Ben. Her and Lucas held him tight against her.
Ophelia looked at them all, "What happened? How did it happen?"
Aleks looked confused, "You never even met him?"
She started to sob as well, "I loved him." Her heart broke. Sweet Sam.
Hanna came bursting through the door. Her eyes flashed on Ari, "You bring him back. You bring him back. You bring him back." She grabbed her by the throat and held her in the air. Hanna's skin shivered. Ophelia watched the redhead lose total control. She threw Ari through the wall of the house and out on the back lawn. She dove through at her. Lucas changed and lunged at Hanna. Hanna swiped with her hand and tossed the wolf across the grass.
She screamed a sickening sound.
Lydia ran out through the huge hole and stepped between them, "This solves nothing."
Ari shook, she cried so hard. Hanna dropped to her knees and screamed into the sky.
Ophelia gripped the cupboard to stop herself from passing out. The pain in her chest was unbearable.
Hanna looked at her and started to sob again.
Ophelia rushed her and wrapped her arms around her.
"He loved you. He loved you Hanna."
"I can't bear this." She glared at Ari, "How? How?"
Ari shook her head, sobbing, "I don’t know. I don’t know what changed."
Aimee staggered through the hole, "Blake. He helped them perfect the Hellfire bomb." She wrapped her arms around herself.
She looked frighteningly fragile.
Aleks put his arm around her, "What happened?"
Ari sat on her knees, "I pushed Blake. Instead of betraying Aimes to Shane and chasing her out of the house, he found other supernaturals online."
Aimee cringed, "His guild on the World of Warcraft. He helped me change. He came with me here. He convinced Dorian to help me."
Aleks shook his head, "So the way it was before, you all remember?"
Ophelia looked at him, "We got Giselle to use her compulsion to make sure we remembered."
He nodded, "Like Andy did."
"She's still in the hospital?" Aimee spoke looking confused.
Lydia nodded, "Blake never took them to the blood bar. They never recruited him from MIT."
Aimee looked at Lydia, "Alise is safe. She's at home with dad. They're safe. Shane." Her face flushed as she glanced up at Aleks. His handsome face turned red with hers.
"You and Shane are together Aimes." He broke into a grin, "Were we together in that other place?"
Ophelia watched as Aimee slowly shook her head.
He stopped, "My dad?"
She shook her head.
He frowned, "I died?" He sounded completely mystified.
Aimee swallowed hard, "You and Ben."
Ben looked at her, "Me?" He looked at Lucas who wiped his eyes.
Ari shook her head, "I can't seem to make it so we all are okay."
Aimee wiped her face and walked to Aleks. She wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled into his chest.
Ophelia couldn’t help but notice how amazingly attractive he was. She looked at Ben. He raised an eyebrow, "If I was dead, then you and I…?"
She shook her head.
He nodded slowly, "That’s explaining a few things."
Lorri burst through the hole in the kitchen wall and stormed over to Ari. She lifted her off the ground.
"I had him in my fucking hands. In my fucking hands Ari. For fucks sake. I said not to use it. I said no." She dropped her and paced the yard like a wild cat.
Ari slumped on the grass again.
Ophelia noticed the way Lucas walked to where Ari sat and put himself between Ari and Lorri.
Lorri turned and pointed, "They had Jon too. For fucking fuck." She raged around the yard.
Aleks stepped forward, "What? My dad? Who had him?"
Lorri looked savagely at him, "The wolves."
Ben frowned, "Us?"
Lucas looked back, "The guys back home were tracing him for us."
Aleks's eyes flamed, "How? How did they do it? Where was he?"
Ophelia spoke quietly, "Me."
Aleks started to laugh bitterly, "Oh I should have known. Of course. When Lorri and I got to your house that first night to get you his scent was everywhere. If we'd thought to call the pack they would have been able to trace him." His eyes hardened as he looked at Lorri, "If the Roses business hadn’t been more important, as usual, I could have had him."
Lorri pointed at him, "Don’t you start with me right now Aleks. I swear to god I will rip your fucking head off. In the other version of this fiasco the wolves were there because of Sam. He thought of the wolves. He brought them."
Ophelia remembered being in the cell and looked at Lorri, "He still has my sister."
Lorri covered her eyes with her hands, "Oh sweet Jesus save me from this moment." She looked at Ophelia with rage on her face, "I am not going to talk to you about saving a human right now. Sam was everything. He was the thing that made us win. It wasn’t you. Look in the scrying dish you haven’t stolen from Annabelle yet." She was gone as the lightning struck the ground where she stood.
Aimee sighed. Lydia rubbed her back, "I know honey. It's been so long since they died that the pain is old and it won’t let me hurt as much as I want to."
Dorian flashed into the yard, he grabbed Ari and pulled her in. She started to cry all over again.
"Dad."
He rubbed her back, "I know."
He looked up at Aleks and smiled, "Good to see you brother."
Aleks frowned at him, "You look weird."
Dorian pulled Ari back and looked at her, "Is this what it's like every time?"
She sobbed and nodded.
Lucas joined the hug, "I can't imagine living through this more than once." He kissed Ari's head.
Ophelia felt totally out of the loop. She glanced at Hanna who was silently crying.
"What can we do?"
Hanna shrugged, "Move on. Once they're gone, that’s it. There is no bringing them back." Her eyes hardened.
Ophelia went inside, she noticed she felt more at home in the house than she ever had. She had never stayed at the castle. She had always been there. Through thick and thin, she had spent her time learning. There was no vampire war in the yard or drama with Sam.
She felt Ben wrap his arms around her, it felt less strange to be around him.
She turned and looked up into his handsome face.
He brushed his lips against hers softly. His shaggy brown hair and emerald green eyes reminded her of Lucas. He was more handsome. He wrapped himself around her.
"I'll keep you safe O."
She felt her body relax into his. His touch wasn't just familiar, it was wanted.
She felt something cold and opened her eyes.
Annabelle floated to her, "I was just lookin in on your momma. Your sisters have been taken. He's gonna give the gift to your brother tonight."
Ophelia shook her head, "No it's a trap. He must know about the snow globe."
Ben looked down on her, "You psychic now?"
She smiled, "No." The smile felt wrong. "We went there in the other way things were. Oliver betrayed us and my dad was my brother."
He raised an eyebrow.
She laughed, "It's complicated."
Lydia came in through the hole and looked at Annabelle. Annabelle put her hands on her hips, "What in Sam hell is that?"
Lydia's face crumpled.
Ophelia started to feel sick again. She hugged her stomach, "I'm going to bed." She walked to the stairs. Ben scooped her up and carried her to her room.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Ophelia