Death (Cursed) Read online

  I nod and turn back to her. She collapses in my arms. I lift her arm over my shoulders and together we walk past him.

  He grins at Hanna. I know he can't help himself. None of them can.

  "Don’t tell anyone okay." She mutters.

  I look at her and nod. I don't understand why she would keep the secret that Marcus has been holding her hostage and torturing her.

  I take her to the front door and put her in the car parked out front.

  "Where to?"

  She licks her lips and seems to be struggling with sitting down. "Roland's."

  I close the door and get in the driver seat.

  I'm going to kill Marcus.

  She starts to fall asleep as soon as I start the car. I should be driving the stupid car Oliver gave me. I blush when I think about him. I shake my head and drive to Roland's. The stolen car from Marcus's feels more my speed. I don’t like the fact Oliver got me a car. It feels weird that he's so rich and old.

  The huge Tudor mansion is the coolest house I've ever seen. It's beautiful.

  Roland is standing in the doorway when I arrive. He looks stoic, as far as I can tell he always looks like that.

  He opens the car door. "Miss Hanna, are you alright?"

  She nods and winces as he pulls her from the car. He holds her tight.

  He looks at me and I shake my head. "Rough night."

  He looks at the flimsy t-shirt unconvincingly, but turns and carries her to the house.

  I call after them. "Hanna, Lorri called a meeting. Want me to wait for you?"

  She looks over his arm and smiles. "No, I'll just clean up and head over right away. Where?"

  I grimace. "The woods behind Marcus's."

  She rolls her eyes. "K. Should have just showered there."

  She must have Stockholm syndrome. I don’t want to think about what he did to her. I already have a pretty good idea. I'm going to kill him. I turn the car around and head back to his place.

  When I drive up Marcus and Oliver are standing outside the house arguing still.

  I don’t get out of the car. Marcus shoots me a death stare. I smile. It's not genuine, because I'm pretty much ready to pee my pants when he looks at me, but I can't back down.

  Oliver looks at me and mouths 'go away'.

  I shake my head and get out of his car.

  Marcus snarls at me. "You foolish little girl. Who do you think you are?"

  I shrug. "The first witch's daughter, you know, magical royalty. Why?"

  He laughs. He always laughs the same broken and bitter laugh. He is broken.

  He storms inside. Oliver walks to me and takes my hands. "That was dumb."

  I watch his eyes and wait for him to smile. He doesn’t. He still looks pissed.

  "I had to help her."

  He closes his eyes and sighs. "No, Hanna was being held because the cure Marcus made for her isn’t working. She is starting to black out. She woke in a puddle of blood and half eaten mountain lion yesterday. Marcus brought her here and she changed again and tore a hole in the wall of her room. He chained her for her own safety."

  I feel sick. "Oh my god, I left her with Roland."

  He nods. "I know. She's coming back. She can't live with Roland anymore. Not safe. She needs someone like Marcus who can keep her safe, well keep everyone else safe from her."

  I love Hanna. "We need to help her."

  He sighs again. 'I'm pretty sure you have enough on your plate."

  He takes my hand and walks into the house just as Marcus comes storming into the front room. "GOD DAMMIT OPHELIA, FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!"

  I cringe and feel the sparks starting in my fingers.

  He is pacing and looking like he's going to pull his hair out.

  "Oliver, she destroyed the obsidian door and burned a fucking four hundred year old painting and half a fucking wall." His dark eyes settle on me and I feel naked.

  Oliver looks at me. His mood hasn’t improved. He looks at Marcus and sighs impatiently. "I know where I can get another door."

  Marcus points. "I have the goddamned doors in the basement. I keep several on hand, Olly. That’s not the point. The point is that she is a meddling little witch and I don’t want her in my house anymore."

  He charges at me but before he can get to me Oliver is in front of me. Suddenly a sharp wind rips through the room and Oliver and Marcus are both flung to the ceiling.

  My hands are outstretched but I swear I never unleashed the magic. I look to see Henry standing in the entrance to the room. He looks annoyed.

  Oliver flashes and is standing in front of me again. Henry looks at him fiercely and he grabs my hand. He nods at Henry and suddenly we are standing in the grove behind the house. His hand is almost ripping the skin off of me. The forest is silent and I don’t know what to think of anything.

  "Did he call you Olly?"

  If looks could kill I would have exploded seconds before I even asked the question, which apparently never improved his mood.

  Chapter Three

  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 whit
e 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 no
d 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.