Hyde, Book Three of the Devil's Roses

by Tara Brown

  “How long have you known? Not only that they did but would?”

  A snake like grin crossed his sensual lips, “Ah there it is, the right question.” He twirled a new piece of hair, “For some time.”

  “Can you read my thoughts?”

  He laughed, “As well as you can read mine.”

  She frowned, “How did you know then?”

  He looked at her sharply, “I pay attention.”

  She inhaled rapidly, frightened by the look in his eyes. She proceeded cautiously, “Did you tell my father it would happen?”

  “What do you think?”

  She shook her head, “I think no, you wanted me to be poisoned. But why?”

  “I think I’ve answered enough questions for one night."

  "How could you let me turn into this?"

  "I never let you turn into anything. I never poisoned you."

  "But you knew?"

  He grinned, "You assume I knew. How about you answer one for me?” He looked down at her keenly.

  “What?”

  “How did your mother die?” His question seemed sarcastic, as if he knew the answer and was asking to hurt her.

  She answered softly, beginning to see the full scope of the cruelty he was capable of, “She was in a car accident on a freeway. It was a ten car pile up.”

  He nodded, “Hmm, did you ever try looking it up online?”

  She scowled, starting to grow increasingly anxious, “No, I was seven years old.”

  “Did you see anything in the paper?”

  “I was seven.” Her words turned firm and adamant.

  He stood up from the couch, “Well I must be going, goodnight love.”

  She watched as he walked from the room. She loathed him in a lustful and perplexing way.

  She sat on the couch wondering where he had been going with the accident. Her aunt was her mother's best friend, surely she had looked into the accident. Surely she would have told her the truth. She thought about the poisoned cookies and sighed, maybe not.

  Chapter Seven: The Roses and The Thorns

  Hanna sat on the edge of her bed watching the sunrise. Her skin had started to itch, as if it needed something. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was.

  "I have someone I need you to meet." She looked up at Roland standing in the doorway.

  She smiled, "Who?"

  "A woman who can help you, well try to fit into the world in which you were born."

  She felt confused but nodded, "When do I meet her?"

  "She's down stairs now."

  Hanna frowned, "Roland that's called ambush."

  He laughed, "No my dear that's called concern. I wont be around forever and Mr. Dragomir can't very well be the only friend you have."

  Hanna rolled her eyes, "Whatever, you’ve probably been alive for centuries. Fine I will come down now." She climbed off her bed and walked after him down the hallway and grand staircase. He led her to the front sitting room and smiled at the older woman sitting on the huge couch, "My dearest Ms. Crane may I introduce my Ward Miss Maria Hanna Jekyll."

  The older woman had white hair tucked up in a bun and a wrinkled kind face. Hanna liked her immediately.

  "Hello my dear girl. Thank you Roland." She stood, taking one of Hanna's hands softly in her own. She smiled delightfully.

  "Tea ladies?"

  "Please, thank you Roland." Ms. Crane spoke softly.

  "I feel like I'm on a BBC movie set." Hanna blurted out watching them in action.

  "Well Roland and I do go back quite a ways. Now dear my name is Lydia firstly and secondly I want to say how dreadfully sorry I am about your father."

  Hanna frowned, "You knew him?"

  She nodded, letting go of Hanna hand and sitting back on the couch.

  Hanna sat across from her bewildered, "Are you different like my father was?"

  Lydia nodded, "I am. I have my own gifts, nothing quite like your father. I understand you however have become more like him in the last few months?"

  Hanna sighed, "Yes. I didn’t even know he was, well, different until I read the journals."

  Lydia's expression changed, "You read them?"

  She nodded.

  "I am very sorry you had to read that my dear. He was quite mad for a time." Lydia smiled compassionately, "I want you to know I am here for you if you need anything."

  "Thanks, but how did you know my father?"

  "Lets just say we ran in the same circles."

  Roland carried in the tea tray, "You mean your circle ran after him."

  "Oh Roland."

  Hanna took a cup of tea and began sipping it. She didn’t really like tea but she didn’t want to hurt Roland's feelings.

  Lydia smiled at her over her cup of tea.

  Roland sat down shocking Hanna. He never sat or participated in discussions.

  "Have you told her yet?"

  Lydia shook her head frowning, "I was waiting for you."

  "Told me what?"

  Roland's face grew very serious, "Your father was hunted for a time. If you read the random madness in some of his journals you must have seen he suspected something or someone was hunting him."

  Hanna nodded, "I remember that."

  Roland nodded, "Excellent. He was actually hunted, there is a society of people who are different like you and Lydia and your father. They are the governing law."

  Lydia cleared her throat, "We are called the Roses, the Devil's Roses. We ensure that society is kept safe from people like us. Harming anything is forbidden."

  Hanna gulped, "That girl. The one who killed my father?"

  Lydia nodded, "He was dying already. He was suffering. He made Aimee promise to take him when it got so bad he couldn’t stand it. His body would force a change and who knew what he would do."

  Hanna shook her head, "I'm lost. I don’t understand any of this."

  Roland interrupted, "Of course you don’t. Your father had been fighting his changes. He hadn’t changed in over seventy years. Marcus Dragomir helped him with an elixir to stop the changes. The problem with it though was that his body was slowly getting sick from it. The Roses made him agree never to change again."

  "So essentially they forced him to die slowly and painfully?"

  Lydia put a hand up, "Of course not. Many of us offered him a way out."

  "You offered him death?" Hanna felt disgust. What were they offering her?

  Lydia nodded, "In a way but also freedom. He had made himself into what he was Hanna. You must see that he wasn’t happy."

  "Why didn’t he choose death then?"

  "You're mother." Roland spoke delicately.

  Hanna frowned, "He met my mother only twenty-five years ago. You never offered him death before that? You waited till he was in love and then offered it?"

  Lydia smiled shaking her head, "He met your mother seventy years ago. She was the one who made him agree to stop the changes. He stopped them for her."

  Hanna felt the room spin, who was her mother.

  "This is too much for her right now." Roland was beside her instantly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

  A knock at the front door interrupted their conversation. Hanna looked at Lydia as Roland walked casually, as if they'd only been discussing current events, "Excuse me a moment."

  Hanna felt betrayed by them, both of them. They had forced her father into a choice that ultimately killed him. Questions whirled around her brain confusing her further.

  "Officer Paulson is here to speak with you Hanna."

  She looked up feeling everything moving too quickly. Her skin started to sweat as she felt the itch start.

  Roland saw the look in her eye and rushed across the room, opening a small-jeweled box on the coffee table next to Lydia. He pulled a bright blue vial from the box, tearing the top off with his teeth and grabbing her face. She tried to fight but his sudden burst of strength overwhelmed her. The bitter drink sparkled as it made its way down her throat. She shivered, "What have you done
?"

  He looked desperately saddened, "Saved Officer Paulson."

  The itch in her skin was gone, replaced by a fire that burned her from the inside. She wanted to scream out but she knew Andy would be scared. She dropped to her knees and curled into a ball on the floor waiting for it to pass.

  As if she were suddenly submerged into an ice bath she cooled. Exhaustion started to fill her as her body fought the change and tried to heal itself.

  She looked back to see Lydia holding her hand and chanting something.

  Roland was on the floor in front of her, handing her a cup of tea gently, "Sip some of this. It will help."

  Her shaky hand reached out for the tea spilling it. She managed to get a sip into her feeling the tepid tea helping immediately.

  "Will I die now?" She asked terrified.

  Roland closed his eyes regretting everything, "Not yet but this will kill you eventually. Your father never took it till he was well over one hundred years old and had changed hundreds of times. You've changed twice. Plus you're only a few years off from the age you should be. We don’t know what it will do to you."

  She nodded, "Better dead than a monster I suppose."

  Roland tilted his head, "We will find the cure."

  Lydia sighed behind her, "My love, we won't stop until we do. Now before the police officer gets suspicious, lets try to get you onto the couch and Roland will see him in."

  She felt Roland lift her to the couch. She sat taking a deep breath and nodded, "Okay. I'm ready."

  Roland walked from the room with Lydia on his heels. Hanna watched as Andy walked into the sitting room alone. He was dressed in jeans, a dark blue t-shirt and holding a black fleece. His face looked tired, well it looked handsome there was no way around, that but he looked as if he'd been up all night.

  "Hanna how are you this morning?"

  She nodded trying her best to ignore her insides and the pain she was in, "I'm doing okay."

  He sighed, "Well there is no easy way to say what's happened. Your aunt has murdered your uncle. We arrived last night with a warrant and she was on the floor beside him. He was dead. She had hit him in the head with a frying pan."

  Hanna felt a tear fall from her right eye as she sat perfectly still taking it in.

  Her aunt who had been like a mother. Her aunt who had tucked her in and told her stories. Her aunt who shopped with her and brushed her hair had murdered the people she loved most in the world.

  He sat on the couch next to her and took her hands in his. The warmth of his hands wrapped around hers was the only thing she felt.

  "Hanna I'm so sorry."

  She couldn’t sob, she just sat untouched by it all. Her brain refused anything else past its walls.

  Tears leaked down her face.

  She looked at Andy, feeling her forehead wrinkle with worry, "Where is she now?"

  "Holding cell until she sees a judge."

  She nodded, "I need to see her."

  He frowned, "No Hanna. She's a murderer."

  Hanna shook her head, "I need this."

  He grabbed a tissue from the coffee table and leaned in wiping her tears away. He kissed her cheek softly, "I'll go with you."

  She nodded.

  He stood up offering her his hand. She took it terrified of, not only the drug in her system but also her feelings for the police officer. She ignored her shaky legs. She needed to see her aunt.

  Roland walked into the room, "What's happening?"

  "Andy is taking me to see my aunt."

  His eyes narrowed, "That’s a terrible idea Hanna."

  She nodded, "I know." She walked out of the house still holding Andy's hand, nearly dragging him.

  She smiled when she saw the car, "A Prius?" Even his car cheered her up slightly.

  His cheeks blushed, "Hey it's very energy efficient and cost effective." He opened the door for her and smirked, "I'm manly enough to drive it and not be ashamed."

  She laughed weakly, still feeling the cloud moving around her mind.

  The car didn’t purr, it hummed along as they drove to the holding cells. He didn’t try to fill the air with nonsense, she liked that.

  He pulled into a huge parking lot next to a massive building.

  "What is this place?"

  "It’s the police detachment, we have the holding cells here."

  She turned, looking him straight in the eyes. She didn’t speak, she looked at how beautiful he was. She let it distract her from all of the sadness that had over taken her life. His blue eyes were filled with yellow specs, almost like they were blue hazel. His thick lashes enhanced the color.

  "You okay?"

  She nodded blushing, "How old are you?"

  He smiled making her heart beat faster, "Twenty-two."

  She smiled, "Don’t you want to know how old I am?"

  He chuckled, "No I already checked on your file."

  She blushed again, "What?"

  He winked climbing out of the car, "Best part of being a police officer, I can run pretty girls before I ask them out."

  She climbed out of the car and smiled, "That's sneaky, it's like cheating."

  He shrugged, walking around the car and taking her hand and enveloping it with his, "Hey, better I know everything up front."

  She smiled wondering if her eyes revealed the secrets she had, the ones that weren’t in her file?

  The inside of the detachment seemed sterile, void of life and the special secret ingredient that separated people from computers. People worked maintaining the same even look upon their faces. The only color and excitement was in the obvious criminals. Andy walked her past it all so quickly she was barely able to notice them.

  He stopped at an elevator. Other vacant looking people entered the elevator with them. They never spoke or joked. It wasn’t how she imagined an office at all.

  He pulled her off the elevator, taking her to a guard's desk.

  "Hey Tom."

  The older man in an odd uniform smiled, "Morning Paulson."

  Andy pulled his badge out and signed some papers.

  The door made a buzz and Andy brought her to a room with a small plain wooden table with four chairs surrounding it.

  Nerves suddenly filled her stomach.

  She hadn’t been prepared to be afraid to see her aunt, but fear crippled her, as Andy pulled out a chair for her and she sat.

  He sat beside her holding her hand.

  She had assumed it would be done through Plexiglas with phones, not sitting at a table with her in the same room as Andy.

  The door opened, a tall blond woman in uniform led her aunt in. Her aunt looked terrible, her long brown hair was disheveled and her face was puffy from crying.

  She looked defeated as she waked into the room until she saw Hanna. Her face then filled with disgust, "I thought I was meeting my lawyer."

  The tall blond looked at Andy "You okay?"

  He nodded and she walked out of the room locking it from the outside.

  Hanna sat staring at her aunt. Her body wanted to jump up and hug her and straighten her hair and tell her everything would be okay. Her heart wanted to pick up a chair and smash her over the head with it.

  Instead she sat in the chair returning the unfavorable look.

  "What do you want?" Her aunt asked and sat down.

  Hanna held back her tears, "Why?"

  "Huh?"

  Why?"

  "Why what? Why did I do it? You spoiled little bitch, I gave you everything and then when you turned eighteen you got it all. None of it was mine anymore. I earned it." She leaned back in the chair smugly.

  Hanna nodded, "It wasn’t anything but money with you ever?"

  Her aunt raised her eyebrows smirking.

  "You never loved me in even the tiniest amount? You never cared for me when you tucked me in and sang to me and read me stories? How about when you bandaged my wounds? DID YOU FUCKING LOVE ME THEN?" She raged across the table. She felt the change starting inside of her skin again. She to
ok a deep breath, fighting to stop it.

  Andy put a hand on her, "Hanna."

  Hanna took a deep breath watching her aunt fight any emotions. She sighed, "I would have given it all to you."

  Her aunt broke then. She cried, sobbing into her shackled hands.

  "You killed them both for money and now you're dead to me. You've put us both in the same boat with no family and no friends." Hanna stood and walked to the door. Andy knocked at the door. The tall blond opened it.

  Hanna looked back at the sobbing mess that used to be her aunt, the only mother she had had for nearly a decade.

  "I would have given it all to you." She walked from the room.

  Andy gripped her hand tightly, pulling her through the doors and back to the elevator. Hanna felt exhaustion coming to take her but she fought it. She needed to go home.

  ****

  Hanna sat up on her bed realizing how late she'd slept. She glanced around the massive room and lie back. She closed her eyes to fall back to sleep again. Nothing in the world mattered anymore. Rebecca was dead, her father was dead, her uncle was dead and her aunt was dead for all intents and purposes. Hanna knew she should have died with Rebecca, not live on as the monstrous freak she was.

  Her skin still ached from the drug they'd made her take. Everything was tragic. She recalled only months prior planning shopping trips, prom, her team finishing first in volleyball state finals, breaking up with Jimmy Stratton. All things that made her feel young and alive. The past weeks had pretty much destroyed all of those things.

  A knock at the door pulled her from her pity party.

  "Come in." She spoke softly knowing Roland would hear it, she swore he was part hound.

  "There is someone I'd like you to see."

  "Like a therapist? Cause honestly I think the sanity ship has sailed and my ticket wasn't valid."

  "Hanna, please."

  She thought about getting out of bed and sighed, "Roland how did I become this?"

  "I believe it was a freak accident my dear. Your body naturally fought against death with the only tool it had, rage."

  "Who is downstairs?"

  "A friend. Come down."

  "No. Send them up."

  Roland cleared his throat, "To your bedchamber?"

  She laughed, "Yeah my bedchamber. Roland you're so crazy."