by Tara Brown
Marcus growled into the phone, "You meet me tonight. I will save your little friend and you will forget you ever met Hanna."
He bit his lip, "Deal. At the Bridge."
The phone beeped from signal loss.
He would never stick with the deal he made, but Marcus didn’t need to know that.
He walked back into the room seeing Aimee texting.
"Who are you texting?" He knew instantly seeing the glare coming off Aimee.
Chapter Twenty-Six: I'd like to shake your hand
Hanna
The winds had picked up bringing winter to the west coast. She shivered walking through the garden.
She looked back at the house seeing Marcus on the phone. He looked angry. She wondered what was wrong. He saw her watching and waved. She waved back concerned. He was covering up by waving at her. He never waved.
She turned around and pulled out her phone feeling the vibrations.
'RUN!!!!!!'
'MARCUS IS USING YOUR BLOOD TO MAKE A MONSTER FOR THE DARK ONES. RUN NOW.'
Hanna looked at it frowning, 'Who is this?'
'Aimee.'
It was weird Aimee not only had her number but texted her.
She texted back, 'My father made up that formula not Marcus. Marcus has only been working on it for my father.'
'NO. Your father only wrote the first part. Marcus changed it mid way and turned it into something else. This will never save you. It's to change something using your blood. To make a weapon.'
Hanna looked back up at the window and knew what the phone call had been. Something to do with his business with her. He had waved to make sure she didn’t suspect anything. She recalled the steamy nights, sex in the shower, random acts in hallways when Henry wasn’t around. She felt dirty.
Her skin started to tingle.
She felt the change building inside of her. She started to walk taking deep breaths. She wanted to run out into the woods and change into the beast and never feel anything again, but she needed to know. She paced in the cold back yard.
She walked up to the window he stood at, writing something down.
She dialed his phone number.
"Hi. What are you doing?"
She watched his face as he spoke, "I can see you Hanna, come inside I want to show you something." His voice was sexy.
She wanted to throw up.
"Have you been giving samples of my blood to the Dark Ones to make a weapon?"
His face dropped as he stammered, "Hanna, love come inside the house."
She took a step back, seeing his face grow angry, "I have my answer Marcus."
The cell phone crushed in her fingers as her skin stretched. It felt like it was ripping apart. She felt herself stay with the beast. For the first time she felt the beast take over but she was there, along for the ride.
Marcus jumped through the window, landing on the ground in front of her as she changed.
"Hanna don’t do this. Let me explain. Stay calm Hanna."
He put a hand up.
She screamed as the transformation occurred. She saw him through the hazy eyes of the beast. She heard the ragged breathing as the beast panicked.
Marcus's face darkened, as his forehead grew distorted and his fangs dropped from his teeth. He screamed at her, "HANNA DON’T DO THIS!"
The beast turned and ran into the woods.
The beast knew him, the beast felt her feelings for him mixed with her anger. It ran away laughing menacingly to itself, as she struggled to gain control.
It laughed, tearing through the woods ignoring her pleas or thoughts.
She woke next to a dumpster. She looked around feeling the paranoia set in. She didn’t know where she was.
She could smell garbage and something else, rank and filthy. She glanced down, seeing a hand next to her leg. She reached for it but stopped seeing it wasn’t attached to anything. She screamed a muffled cry.
She wanted someone to find her. She wanted Sam. She wanted him to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay.
She got to her feet by gripping the side of the disgusting dark green dumpster. Her fingers touching things she ignored. She looked down at her ripped pants and torn shirt. Her feet were bare again. Her right toe was bleeding heavily. It didn’t sting until she acknowledged the blood was hers. She looked down seeing a shard of broken glass sticking out of it. She pulled it out, gagging at the blood pouring from the large gash.
She felt her bra for her cell phone. It wasn’t there. She recalled it crumbling in her fingers in the courtyard as she changed.
She looked down again at the hand. It was a man's hand. It had a ring on it, a platinum band. It was his left hand. She trembled imagining what kind of horrors she had inflicted on the poor stranger.
She didn’t deserve to live. She didn’t deserve to be saved.
She walked, limping and hobbling down the greasy alley until she came to a park at the end of the street. She knew where she was, she knew how to get home.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Nærøyfjord
Aleksander
Shane gripped his throat, both of them raging.
Aimee sobbed, "I'm sorry. I didn’t know." She trembled.
Aleks let go of Shane and put his hands in the air.
He struggled to find his calm, "She will die now Aimee." He looked down at the ground.
"Aleks that’s not Aimee's fault. Marcus is evil. Dude, you made a deal with the devil. What did you think was going to happen?"
Aleks nodded leaving them. He felt the warm air as he walked into Giselle's room. He picked her up from the bed. She was barely awake.
She weighed nothing in his arms. He remembered how ill Aimee had been when she had felt like a bag of bones in his arms, as Giselle did.
"Where are we going?" She asked weakly.
"Shhhh. Just rest against me."
She laid her head against his chest, letting him carry her away.
He stood outside the castle. He knew Marcus would never help him but he had to try.
He rang the ancient buzzer and waited.
Henry didn’t answer the door, instead it was Marcus. He looked rough.
"You have some nerve."
"I never told her. I never said a word. Aimee's been working on the paper. She figured it out and told Hanna before I could stop her."
"You think I CARE HOW SHE FOUND OUT?" He screamed.
Aleks shook his head, "I will help you get her back again. I know you love her. I just don’t know why you would do that to her."
"Because I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t figure it out." He ran a hand through his dark hair. "The only way to save her was to trick those fuckers into believing I would give them what they wanted if they helped me. Jesus Christ." He bit his wrist letting the blood pour from it and grabbed Giselle's face. He shoved the wrist in her mouth.
She started to choke, but he held it there not looking at Aleks. Aleks tensed, feeling her struggle against the blood filling her mouth.
He felt her swallow.
Marcus bent to her throat, sinking his teeth into her tiny fragile neck.
Aleks cringed, feeling her body stiffen against the pain.
Marcus drank until Giselle went limp in Aleks's arms.
"Get off my property." He turned covered in blood and walked back into the house, slamming the door.
Aleks was gone before Marcus could realize he'd helped him for nothing. He would kill Giselle out of spite.
Instantly he was home. The frozen ground beneath his shoes crunched softly as he walked. He carried her up the hill to the graveyard he'd buried his family in. It was older than any graveyard he'd ever seen. It overlooked the Nærøyfjord.
He dug the hole with his bare hands.
He lay her in the shallow grave, her soft skin still held a tiny amount of color. He knew the blood would keep her heart beating, even if it were weak. Vampire blood was like blowfish poison, the heart seemed to be stopped. The person appeared dead but in reality they were alive.
Three days would go by slowly, waiting to be able to see her smile again. He thought about the random crazy things he found amusing and annoying about her. Like how she never stopped talking and how she abbreviated everything she said. Tmi, ftw, omg, ttyl, omfg, cya, lol, rofl, T.A.B.B.Y and many others he had to Google.
He watched the mound of dirt lie still, knowing it would be interesting when she woke. He wondered why he felt such guilt over her death, why he couldn’t just let her be? He realized he was getting peace and joy from saving her. Saving Giselle had replaced helping the families his father had hurt. He looked at the mound of dirt gratefully.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Out Damn Spot!!
Hanna
The Tudor never looked so good. She hobbled along the gravel driveway, remembering climbing out of the trunk and hobbling the same path only months before.
"My dear girl, come inside immediately." Roland rushed out onto the gravel and scooped her up.
He smelled clean like Old English.
"Roland." She sobbed.
"We will talk about this but right now you need a shower. You stink and you're filthy."
She nodded. She owed him a huge apology, "I'm sorry I lied to you about going to Lydia's."
"It's nothing Hanna."
"I really will go there."
"You should stay here and get better first."
He placed her inside the bathroom off the garage. She had never even seen inside but knew what it was immediately. It was her father decontamination chamber. He had built a bathroom in case the beast had ever gotten out.
"Towels are below the sink. Throw out your clothes and everything else."
She nodded, turning on the shower as Roland closed the door.
The shower had a seat in it thankfully. She sat letting her feet rest. Everything felt out of control.
She wanted Marcus. She wanted him to touch her and make her feel good. She wanted to feel pretty, regardless of the grotesque monster she turned into. She shivered seeing his face in her mind, his face screaming at her as her beast ran off into the woods. Why had he not chased after her?
Tears slipped down her face as she realized he had only ever been after her blood. She wondered what he was getting out of it all? What had he received as payment for her blood?
She watched the dirty water drain from the shower, as the filth was washed off of her. No amount of water would take the blood from her hands. She understood Lady Macbeth suddenly.
She sat in the shower, letting the water sooth her. She really could go for one of Annabelle's baths. She longed for the smells of the oils and soap mixed with the haunting songs Annabelle would sing. She barely knew her and yet felt instantly as if she loved the ghost.
She thought about Lydia's house realizing she didn’t completely agree with their actions, but she understood their beliefs and justifications. She would never want something such as herself out in the world.
The hand with the platinum wedding band filled her mind. No matter how long she stayed in the shower, she would never rinse that off. She had taken a human life.
****
She climbed into her bed after the shower, donning her favorite fleece pajamas and wrapped herself in her blankets.
Roland came in with a small kit.
"We need to bandage that toe. I have actually got a few things left over from your father's injuries. This is his old kit."
"I'm sorry I've been avoiding you."
He sat and looked at the toe, "No my dear. This has been a hard few months for you. I cannot imagine what it's been like."
"Something is wrong with me Roland. Beyond the other stuff. I have never been one of those sort of girls, you know the ones who, uhm well mess around."
He snickered, "Hanna we don’t need to have this conversation."
She gulped nervously, "I know but I feel weird."
He nodded, "It happened to your dad a lot. He felt off or odd." He patted her leg and stood from her bed, "It's all better."
She smiled, "Thanks."
He nodded and walked from the room, "Sleep tight."
She lay back wondering how it had all changed in such a short amount of time.
"I'm sorry."
She looked up to see Marcus in her doorway.
"I'm too tired Marcus. I can't do this right now."
He walked toward her slowly.
She could see the worry on his face.
"I came to explain."
She closed her eyes, not wanting to hear him out and rolled over away from him.
She felt his weight on the bed near her feet.
"I have fed off women, I know you said you didn’t want to talk about this but I have to explain. From the moment I met you I have not been with anyone. I have bitten them and that’s it. I never give my blood to anyone. What you and I did where you had some of my blood and I had some of yours. I have not done that in hundreds of years. Until today. I made a vampire today."
He sounded stressed. She wanted to ignore the pain in his voice.
"I turned that girl Aleks wanted to save. I did it for you. I want to be a man worthy of you and she was an innocent who was dying because of men I created. I love you and I only ever gave your blood to the idiots in Boston because they have a new young chemist who is smart. He's smarter than I am and he's only in his twenties. I can't even imagine him in twenty years? I wanted him to make the cure for you so I traded him your blood. I was at a dead-end and so was your father before he died. The new chemist is changing the formula, he's making progress. I will have your cure before the end of the week I believe. If it means the Dark Ones get some weapon from your blood, so be it. I would let them amass an army if it meant I could cure you."
She turned over to reach for him but he was gone already. She could smell him in the air still. Tears filled her eyes but exhaustion took her before she could cry.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: So like, can I fly
Aleksander
The dirt shook as if an earthquake were occurring. He watched as her small hand broke through the dirt.
He jumped down into the hole and began pushing dirt off of her.
He grabbed her hand, pulling her from the mound of dirt.
She gasped, "What, what is happening?" She kept her eyes closed as he pulled his jacket off her face. He brushed her off and made sure no dirt was in her face. In the moonlight it was hard to see.
"Giselle you can open your eyes now."
She opened her dark brown eyes, fluttering her long lashes, "Where are we? My stomach hurts. Is that a river? You smell good."
He laughed, "We will find you someone to eat but in the mean time I brought you this." Her ADHD seemed worse.
He bent over to the cooler he had grabbed on the first day she had slept. He pulled a bag of blood out. He had stolen a few bags from a blood bank.
She looked at it hungrily and grossed out simultaneously, "Is that blood?"
"Yep, you need to drink it."
She scrunched up her nose but put her hand out. She looked at her hand and gasped pulling it back in, "What's wrong with me?"
"Drink this and we will talk."
She took the bag, she tore at the top of it and sucked from the hole she made. She guzzled the whole thing in one breath. Her red stained lips smiled, "That was good. Weird huh?"
He shook his head, "Not so weird. Come sit by me." He sat down on a huge rock, overlooking the frosted hillside and river.
"Shouldn’t I be cold?" She asked walking to where he sat.
He laughed, "Yeah but you wont get cold or hot any more. After you drink blood your body will be at its warmest and then it will cool off incredibly slowly until you eat again."
"Am I vampire?"
He nodded, "I did this to you so if you want to hate me forever I understand."
She smiled, "I feel amazing. You stopped all the pain." She grabbed h
is face roughly and kissed him.
He laughed, feeling her lips crushing his and the taste of the blood on them.
"Wait, you will have to listen to me for a minute."
She giggled, "Okay."
He sighed, "You can't go out in the sunlight, ever. You'll burn up. No more sunshine, no matter what."
She nodded.
"You have to eat blood. If you eat human food you will have to use the bathroom. If you eat only blood, you will never have to use the bathroom."
She smiled showing her bright white fangs, "I have new teeth."
He tried not to notice how sexy she looked with them.
"You will be very fast and strong, you will kill people if you aren’t careful. Your strength is going to take some getting used to."
"Will I be desperate to eat every person I see?"
He laughed, "Were you addicted to food, shoveling it into your face as a human?"
She shook her head.
"Then I wouldn’t expect it. You will need to be careful of your compulsion. Marcus doesn’t make vampires anymore because his vampires are the strongest in the world. If a regular vampire makes you then you'll be weaker than him and anyone who is older. Because Marcus made you, you will be stronger than any vampire. Only Marcus's other vampires will be as strong as you."
She grinned a fanged grin, "Sweet."
He nodded, "I guess yeah. So ready to go home now?"
She leaned in kissing him very softly, "Thank you."
He felt his face blush, "Don’t thank me. I have cursed you."
She grinned, "At least we have each other. Can I fly?"
"No."
"Can I swim really fast?"
"Not sure, I've never watched Marcus swim laps."
"Can I run super fast?"
"You'll be faster than a regular human. You're stronger now."
"So I don’t sparkle?"
"What? Uhm, I don’t think so."
She looked down, "Man. What can I do?"
