Death Read online

Page 4

 

  ‘You're in danger. If you must take her then you should go now. Go and don’t come back here. Dark things can come to this castle, Ophelia. Dark things that can corrupt your magic. Lydia's is the best place for you. ’ His soft words whisper through my mind.

  I frown. ‘Oliver told me Marcus's house was guarded. ’

  He shakes his head. 'It can't keep them all out. ' His words whisper into my mind and I shiver from the tickle of them.

  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 c
hallenge. 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 white 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.