Witch (The Devil's Roses 4)

Chapter Ten

Sam

“They’re gone.”

Lorri gave him a look, “What?”

Sam nodded, “They’re gone. They were in the living room and then they weren’t.”

Her face knotted, “Where did they go?”

"They were dancing and then they were gone. I don’t know how else to describe this. They vanished."

Lorri snarled, "Don’t get smart Sam. Find her."

Sam glared, "Lorri I was watching her."

Lorri pointed to the house and growled, “And yet she is gone."

Sam looked around, "Whatever. Where are the wolves?"

Lorri looked ready to rip his head off, "After Aleks's dad. I told them to track him. When they get him we'll do a trade. Daniel for Jon."

Sam pointed at the house, "Why'd Jon come here? Seems too weird to be random."

"He has a thing for witches. Sam we can have this fucking conversation later. Find the witch and get rid of the dark one. How long has he been a traitor I wonder?" She glanced at Luke, "Your people never knew the Sheriff was bad?"

Luke shook his huge wolf head. She clicked her tongue and looked around.

Sam shrugged and looked at Lucas who looked at them both and whined. He turned and ran around the back of the house.

Sam sighed and walked back to the front door where the shifter-Sheriff lay dead in the garden. He grabbed the leg of the dead man and flashed to the Grand Canyon. He looked around at the amazingly beautiful surroundings. He felt the weight of the dead man in his hands as he sighed and thought about Hanna. He opened his hands and flashed back to Maine before the sound of the body hitting the canyon filled his ears.

The sheriff hadn’t expected to find their kind of Roses in the garden. Lorri had snapped his thick wolf neck in one blow. The wolves would be upset when they realized Lorri had killed one of theirs. They would be even more upset when they realized he was a dark one. One usually meant there was more.

“Sam, Lucas found them. They’re this way.” He looked at the savagely angry face of Lorri.

“What is she?"

Lorri looked at him through her eyelashes, “Ever hear the stories of Annabelle as a girl?”

He shook his head. Lydia was tight lipped about the ghostly maid.

“She is worse.”

“She’s a witch, how much worse can they get?”

Lorri nodded, “She is so much more than that. Annabelle is just a witch. Ophelia is half angel and half witch. Her mother is The Witch. She’s been held in captivity since we lost Jonathan to them.”

Sam felt sick, “Over a thousand years?”

Lorri nodded, “Yup.”

“How?”

Lorri pointed down the road, “We need to go. If they get her, we lose the war. She’s that important.”

“Hey I thought I was the piece of the puzzle that won you the war.”

She rolled her eyes and flashed away.

He followed the scent of Lucas until his flashes led him to a large building. It was a brick building that reminded him of the high school he had watched Hanna attend as a teenager.

He frowned hearing music coming from the building. Cars lined the parking lot. He looked at Lorri who looked incredibly pissed suddenly, “She’s going to be my own personal fucking nightmare. Fucking Jonathan. Fucking fuck.” She muttered and flashed inside of the school.

"You have a real potty mouth for an angel. Were you like this when before you fell?"

If looks could kill, hers would have blown him into tiny bits.

Teenagers lined the halls, gossiping and laughing. Everyone wore a prom dress or tuxedo.

He looked at one girl who shook her head, “I seriously thought prom was next week. I don’t even remember changing into my dress.”

The girl across from her wore a blank stare, “I know.”

Sam started to worry. He had seen Annabelle go poltergeist once, he never wanted to see that again. Her magic was terrible.

The song Yellow by Coldplay blasted from the gymnasium. It echoed through the school.

He turned the corner in to the gym to see couples slow dancing to the haunting song. The girl stood in the middle of it all with her eyes closed, gripping the teenage boy from her living room. They danced as if no one else was in the room.

Lorri walked up to them. Sam flashed next to them quickly before Lorri just tore an arm off and dragged her outside.

Lorri grabbed her arm roughly, “Ophelia I’m an old friend of your dad's. It's lovely to meet you, now send all these kids back to bed. You don’t want me to do it for you. I’m not really as gentle as I appear.”

Sam wanted to laugh at that, since she looked severely sharper than she acted, but decided against it.

The girl looked up from the chest of the massive boy, horror filled her face.

“H-how did we….?” She trailed off as she looked around at the party she was at.

The teenage boy pulled her back in to him. He completely ignored Lorri.

Lorri looked at Sam and nodded.

Sam touched her and the boy and felt the cool air as he suddenly stood outside of the huge mansion on the old oak lined street. A warm feeling filled his chest as he saw it.

Suddenly Annabelle was at the door on the front porch.

“What the hell?” The teenage boy started to freak out.

Sam smiled, “I did try warning you, let's not forget that part.”

The girl looked worried, “Who are you?”

“I’m a friend. My name is Sam. That is Annabelle on the porch and we are at the home of a friend named Lydia. She’s like you. She can help you.”

She looked around, “What- where are we? Why is it so cold here?”

“It’s Portland.”

The teenage boy looked confused, “No way I’ve been to Portland dude. No way.”

“Oregon.”

Both of them turned their heads to him as their jaws dropped, “What?” They spoke in unison.

Sam walked toward the huge house, “Come on. We have some serious explaining to do.”

“Where are my parents? Where is my sister? Why am I in a prom dress?”

Sam felt his heart drop, her sister had been lured through the window. He knew she was most likely dead. No human was ever left alive. He winced, “Come in the house.”

Ophelia started to cry, “I’m not going anywhere until someone explains this to me. Why am I wearing my prom dress? This isn’t even the dress I bought. I bought a red one. Why is he in a tux? We were in my living room and then we were dancing. What is happening to us?”

The guy pointed at him, “Yeah we were in swim gear. What the fuck is this?” He seemed to finally be surfacing.

Sam sighed and looked around. He was waiting for Lorri to arrive and take it over. He knew she would have Lydia at the prom cleaning up. He dreaded any of the kids who resisted.

“You found her.” He turned to see Dorian grinning from the porch.

Sam laughed, “Nick of time dude, come and help before one of us ends up with some injuries.”

Dorian laughed and sauntered from the house, “You really are Jonathan’s daughter. You are your mother in every way. Except the scent maybe.” His wicked lips curled up into his evil grin.

Sam rolled his eyes, “Shit Dorian she doesn’t know any of that.”

He shrugged, “She will.”

Ophelia shook her head, “Is that the FedEx guy? Why are you here? This is madness, my father’s name is Vic and my mother is Helen. My sister is Abbey and she’s missing. I’ll do whatever you want but please just let her go.”

Jake shook his head and stepped in front of her, “I will do what ever you want, leave her out of this.”

Dorian scowled, “Really? You would do whatever I want to spare her?”

The guy looked ready to lose it but he clenched his jaw and nodded, “Let her go and her sister too.” He wrapped his arms around his back to pull Ophelia to him.

Dorian pointed at the kid and raised his eyebrows, “Who is this kid?”

Sam sighed, “This is Ophelia and her boyfriend. He came with us because she used glamour on the entire town. Dorian I need to go to Greece I don’t have time for this shit. Take them inside and make her stop crying.”

Dorian smiled at the guy, “I may still take you up on your offer, later.”

Sam grimaced, “Okay well maybe I’ll take you guys inside because I don’t even want to know where we are going with this conversation.” He grabbed Ophelia by the hand and pulled her and her boyfriend up the stairs and through the doorway.

“She be bad juju Mister Sam. I don’ts want her in my house.”

He felt Annabelle’s resistance to her in the air.

He looked to see the maid blocking the hallway with her body.

Sam shook his head, “She’s okay Annabelle.”

Annabelle crossed her arms, “She be stronger than me. That never be okay.”

He laughed, “I know. Annabelle this is Ophelia and her boyfriend, what’s your name dude?”

The kid stood completely stunned by the talking ghost.

Sam snapped a finger in front of his eyes making him look up, “Huh what?”

“Name?”

“Jake. Is she- ah- uhm- a -ghost?”

Sam nodded, “She is a witch like your girlfriend here.”

Jake nodded, “I can see the door handle behind her.” And with that he was gone. The big strong brave young man was unconscious.

Chapter Eleven

Ophelia

The furniture was old. It suited the house perfectly. She felt safer than she had all evening. She sat on the couch silently. Jake lay on the huge sofa across from her. He was still completely out of it.

“We have to send him back.”

She looked up to see the ghostly maid standing/floating in the doorway.

She felt her heart quicken, “Why?”

“He’ll die around here real fast.” She floated across the room and sniffed, “Surprised you never killed him yet.”