Death (Cursed)

by Tara Brown

  "Giselle remembers the blood lust. She doesn’t remember anything else but she remembers that. She thinks she can save him."

  Giselle smiles weakly at me, "Maybe I can find out where Ari is too." She hugs herself.

  I wrap my arms around her and breathe her in. It's the first time being with her after all of it. Her body doesn’t melt into me the way it used to. She is tense where I am soft. I'm hugging with my heart and she is unable to understand why.

  "I will make them give it back Giselle. Give back all your memories."

  She shakes her head, "I don’t want them. I don’t want to fight it again."

  I nod, "The happy memories though. The memories of Lydia and O and Dorian."

  She swallows hard against my shoulder, "It sounds weird but my heart remembers them. I know them all inside of me."

  My eyes water, "No, it sounds like love."

  "We did all love each other. I can feel it."

  Aleks wraps his arms around us both and holds us to him.

  "You guys just humped didn’t you?"

  I snort, "What?"

  "He smells like sex. Like ew. Get off me caveman." She shoves us both.

  I sigh, "I missed you."

  She laughs and walks to the door to the cellar. "Did you straighten out the Alise thing?"

  I laugh harder, "Blake has her convinced it was a bad dream. I guess she came there to see him after drinking a ton with Michelle."

  She looks confused, "Do you ever miss it? The normal shit? I just want to get trashed and let some boy take advantage of me."

  I tilt my head, "I do miss it. I miss the regular stuff but this is so big. It's everything to me now. I guess seeing it both ways was all I needed."

  "Not me. I miss it. I miss getting trashed and having sex and not feeling like eating the person. I even miss just not coming. Just being used for a one-time thing. Sweaty sexy boy and me and the smell of booze. Jesus. Every guy now wants to be my husband." Her voice becomes mocking, "I smell so good and look so good and taste so good. Blah blah blah. Like shut up and do it. Jesus."

  Aleks looks like he might cry. She is oblivious to the fact we have not said a word and continues. "I just want someone who can't see my beauty. Who can't smell my shit. Well you know, not my shit but like the succubus thing. I just want a guy who wants to just do it a lot and maybe buy me purses and stuff."

  I distract her, "We should go to Cuba some time. You love Cuba."

  She points at me and opens the door, "I know right. I love Cuba. This place is depressing. I officially don’t like England. Boring. No wonder no one comes here for spring break. No girls gone wild in Hertfordshire."

  There is a blur and a snarl and she clotheslines Shane and jumps on top of him. She presses her face to his. He is frozen once she does it.

  "Giselle! I told you to chain him."

  She pulls away and grins, "It's more fun like this."

  Aleks sighs, "You're going to be the death of me. I swear it." He eyes me up, "You both will be." He grabs Shane and drags him back into the cell. Giselle sits on the ground and smirks, "He tastes funny. It's weird."

  "Can you kill him?"

  She shrugs, "No clue. I mean maybe. I never tried. I killed other vamps but they weren't Marcus's vamps. That could change things."

  She stands and walks into the cellar. I follow. He looks different. So different I feel like he too has died. Like he is missing from my life.

  He lifts his face slowly and grins, as his strength filters in slowly. "You got some kiss Giselle. Always did I guess."

  She laughs, "And you got some pain in the ass nerve. Now tell me where Ari is or next time I suck until you die."

  He laughs. It's so bitter and hard, I don’t know it. Or him. "Kill me. Do it. Free me. She cursed me. Kill me and let go." His laugh almost sounds like it could turn to a sob.

  "I'm sorry Shane. I'm sorry for what happened. I didn’t know." I say.

  His blue eyes are hard and cold, like his laugh. "You know now don’t you? You have it all back. Those memories of us, loving each other. You loved me. You chose me once. You remember that?"

  I nod slowly, "I do. But we were different people then."

  Giselle slaps him hard across the face, drawing dark blood from his mouth, "Answer the question."

  "France. The south of France."

  I instantly recall Phillip's request.

  "Is Phillip in on this?"

  He laughs and looks away.

  Aleks looks confused, "Why?"

  "No reason. I need to get out of here." I turn and leave. Being around him is harder than I imagined it would be.

  "We need to go to the docs and talk to Sam and Hanna and Lorri."

  Aleks follows me out, "Giselle you got this?"

  She nods, "I do. Hurry up though cause for reals it's boring. And Dank. I finally understand what dank is. This shit ass cellar is dank." She kisses Shane on the lips, knocking him out. I wince. She chains him to the wall and leaves the cellar. She is so strong. So much stronger than before.

  "Love you Giselle." I say softly

  She grins, "Me too Aimes. Hurry up. I wanna go to Cuba."

  Aleks puts a hand out, "Yeah. Me too." I touch him and we're at the front door of the Tudor.

  Aleks lifts a hand to knock but the door opens. Lorri grins at us, "About time."

  "Hey."

  She opens the door wide. We walk in and look around, "Where is everyone?"

  "Office. They got it. Blake and the doc got it. Hanna is super Hanna minus the freak show changes and the weird blackouts."

  "No way."

  She looks at me all excited, "Way."

  I frown, "You are such a bitch sometimes."

  She laughs, "It's all the time. Now, I left Abbey with Marcus so let's make this snappy."

  I click down the hall and smile.

  Hanna walks toward me. Sam is behind her. I can smell the Siren in her so strongly now. The shell bracelet she wears is bright red.

  "Where did you get that?"

  She looks at it and shakes her head, "The Ophelia girl who is really weird gave it to me. She made me like five and said they were for when she was gone. Bizarre chick."

  Sam snorts, "You have no idea."

  Lorri cuts past us and stomps into the doctors office, "I need you to hurry up." She says as she enters it.

  We all turn and walk in. She is the last of the fallen. Her and Jonathan.

  She lays out a map, "I think they're in the south of France." I say.

  She turns, "Shane?"

  I nod once. I don’t want to but I say it anyway, "Phillip came to me as I killed his father. He didn’t even seem to care about it all. He told me he was looking at condos in the south of France and he wanted me to bring Tristan there when the condo was ready, as a surprise for him. Just me and Trist."

  She wriggles her lips, "Odd. I will say it's odd. It's possible Marcus wiped him too."

  "Or Shane. Shane is almost as strong as Marcus."

  She scratches her face, "Okay, where is Tristan?"

  Sam gulps, "He's at Marcus's. He's been watching TV since it all went down. Not really eating or anything."

  "The wolves?"

  Sam's voice lowers, "Non stop tracking. They made me bring them to Alaska again, every hide out we've been to yet, and Italy twice. They phase and text and then change back. Ben is even texting with his wolf toes I think. Swear to god."

  I chuckle and glance at Hanna. I can't help but notice her sliding a hand into Sam's. She squeezes it.

  "We need to go to France. We need to see. I know where they'll be." She glances back at the doc who nods, "Most likely. Lillith will be able to get great strength there."

  "Lillith?"

  He nods, "He will use her if he can."

  "We bring the kids then?" Sam asks.

  Lorri shakes her head, "Just the one who makes herself disappear. The rest stay with Marcus."

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Hanna

  I glance at
him and wonder if he can sense it. I can't stop touching his fingers. Gripping them. My tears are sitting in the back of my throat. I couldn’t talk if I wanted to.

  The change brought them all back.

  My beast knew the truth. Nothing Ari did could change the way my beast remembered it all. I see it differently, almost extreme versions of everything.

  But I remember everything.

  I glance at him sideways and remember how I broke his heart.

  Every emotion is extreme. My beast is savage and hateful about her feelings. Now that she is fused with me and our minds are one, I can feel the basic survival skills she thinks with. She loves him. She always has. She saw things clearly. She saw Marcus as fun but she loves Sam.

  His lips move. I can't hear the words. I'm lost in the memories.

  He glances at me and I try to look like a spaced out head case. He frowns but continues talking to Lorri and Aimee. Ugh Aimee. She hates me so much and my memory of her killing my father isn’t a fan fav.

  My father.

  The journals.

  All of it.

  It's too much. The tears start to leak out. I don't move or twitch or budge. I look down and hope the minor spillage will be enough to ease up the pressure.

  It isn’t. A heave slips from my lips. I can't stop thinking about them all. The deaths of the children who are back and the world without Sam. My fingers tighten around his. There is no world without Sam.

  Now the world is new again and O is gone. Dorian is gone. I won't ever just be with them all again in one place. I can remember it all before O. Everything was perfect. I want to blame her but her death hurts.

  "Hanna?"

  I don’t look up at him. He lifts my face. My ugly cry snot covered face.

  He grabs a tissue from my dad's desk. Everyone is looking at me. He wipes my face.

  "She remembers everything. Look at that face." Lorri says harshly.

  I cover my face.

  Sam pulls me into him.

  "How?"

  "B-b-beast memories." I stutter.

  "Oh like how Luke could always sense who Ari was to him, even when she fudged with the time." Aimee says softly.

  I turn and run from the office. Anger and pain are everywhere. I betrayed him. I betrayed him so badly.

  I feel like my chest is going to explode. I run up the stairs to my room and slam the door. It's not my room. He hasn't died and left me the Tudor. The room looks like it did when he died but it has nothing of me in it. Just the bed and furnishings.

  I collapse on the bed.

  I hear footsteps in the room. I expect Sam.

  "Hanna." It's Lorri. I don’t know what to say. I hate being weak in front of her.

  She crawls onto the bed and lies beside me. She strokes my head. I wait for her to break my neck or bite me, the way Shane did. The way Marcus let him kill me and bring out the beast.

  "Hanna, I know how you feel right now. If I stop and think for even a second, I'll burst into a thousand different emotions and tear this house apart. The hold I have over myself is so tense, I don’t think I can hold it much longer."

  I'm scared. I'm really scared. She doesn't do nice. She is still stroking my head.

  "But mourning is selfish my child. We don’t have the leisure of being selfish. The dead are gone and the world is still messed." She slaps me on the ass and gets off the bed, "So, let's, do this."

  She is gone. I start to laugh. I wipe my face and shake my head.

  A man's voice interrupts my moment of insanity, "That was weird for me too. I flashed in and then out. Yikes." I smile when I hear his voice. I roll over and smile.

  "I'm so sorry Sam."

  He shakes his head, "Hanna, it never happened. This is the first time we've ever met. This is a clean slate."

  He walks toward me and crawls onto the bed. He snugs up close, so his angel breath is in my face. I love the smell of him. I close my eyes, but his lips don’t meet mine.

  I open an eye. He is looking at a text on his phone. I frown. He grabs my hand and flashes us back to the office. I stumble where we are standing suddenly, but he wraps an arm around my waist and catches me.

  "Luke found them. Not France. Florida."

  Lorri's face drops, "He wouldn’t." Her voice is a growl and I'm scared again.

  Sam nods, "I don’t know what that means, but they're in Florida."

  Lorri bites her lip nervously. I'm really scared. She never looks that way.

  Aimee frowns, "What is it Lorri?"

  "The dark witches. The dark witches there. Shit." She sighs.

  "I'm lost. The ones I gave my blood to?" Sam says slowly.

  Lorri turns and scowls, "Oliver saved you that day. Those women are dark and evil. That's his plan." Her words are a whisper and her eyes are haunted and distant. She snaps her redhead around and shakes her head, "He plans to turn Lillith dark. To let them fill her up. But why?"

  Dad's eyes dart to Roland who clears his throat, "We Fae have long believed Lillith has almost no powers. There is legend that she split the power amongst her children. Every time she gave birth another piece of the magic was given to the baby. She has many children now. Not much magic."

  "Is that true?" Aimee asks and pulls out her phone and sends a message. She sighs and vanishes.

  We all look around.

  No one has an answer or a clue.

  Aimee

  The sound of my boots on the hallowed halls lifts the eyes from the sofa. The little kids smile, Marcus growls and slithers away, Abbey gives me a nod but doesn’t take her eyes away from the video game she is playing. Tristan sits perfectly still watching.

  I grab his arm and wink us both. He is unshaven and smells funny.

  "Dude."

  He glances at me and looks around the hallway we are in, "Where are we?" His voice is missing the feisty passion and sarcasm it had before.

  "Hanna's. You okay? You look like shit."

  He nods, "I know. I just feel so empty without it. The magic was more than I knew it would be."

  I spin him and plant a huge kiss on his lips. He shoves, "What the heck Aimes. I didn’t switch teams. Gross. You got lip-gloss on my teeth. Gah." He coughs and wrinkles his face.

  I grin, "Okay. Now that you're awake, let's do this." I drag him into the office. Everyone gives him a slanted look. He doesn’t look right.

  "Didn’t realize I was missing a team meeting."

  Lorri rolls her eyes, "You're missing lots of things these days."

  "Is it possible Philip has switched to the bad guys?" I ask the question I don’t want to.

  He looks at me and then crumples to the floor in a sobbing heap. I look at Lorri. She mouths several swear words.

  Hanna drops to her knees and holds him to her.

  "It's okay Trist. It's okay."

  He shakes his head, "No it's not. Shane and Marcus wiped him. He's a nasty fucker now. Hateful bitch. He doesn’t love me anymore." His words are wet squeals. I feel sick for him.

  "He made me give him my blood. He took it and left. He hasn’t come back. He's gone to them. He's one of team Darth Vader and I am Princess Leia." He laughs at his own joke. I laugh too.

  "Honey, you need to help us end this. Your eighteenth birthday is in like two days. We are out of time and out of allies." Lorri pats the top of his head.

  He sighs and slumps.

  "Hanna, go shower and clean him and get him pretty. He looks like shit. The rest of us need to come up with some sort of a plan."

  Hanna lifts him off the ground and carries him princess style from the office.

  Blake crosses his arms and sighs, "What if he killed the O monster and took back his magic. It's just like Highlander right? He kills and takes the magic?"

  I laugh.

  Lorri nods, "We could do that. But the prophecy states that Lillith cannot be killed by a man."

  I point, "He's her son. He isn’t just a man. He's a witch."

  "What if the prophecy is made up or wrong? What if Jo
nathan wrote it? How do we know any of it is true? Lillith could be just as strong today as she was a thousand years ago."