Devils Roses 01 - Cursed

find her. I don’t know exactly how it works, but somehow the magic told him, what had really happened. He showed up at my house when I was twelve—he was angry. He cursed my dad, in hopes my dad would murder our entire family. He cursed me with a type of immortality, that I would forever feel responsible for my dad's actions. The curse would set in upon death.” His voice wavered but he cleared his throat.
    “ He cursed me so that I would be forced to clean up after my dad every time. I would be forced to help the victims left behind, and from their suffering, I would get my sustenance. I would heal them over time, from the shadows. I have not seen my dad for over six hundred years.” He stopped speaking, as if unable but I knew that was it. He was done speaking, even though an incomplete feeling hung in the air between us.
    I allowed the knowledge to fill my brain and the feeling of heartbreak and anger to overwhelm me.
    “ Your dad murdered my mom.” It was a statement.
    “ I am so sorry, Aimee.”
    “ You came here to clean up the mess.” Again a statement.
    He nodded remorsefully.
    “ What went wrong, how did we end up here?”
    He smiled. “You. I fell for you, the moment I saw you. I spent too much time with you, I loved you. I couldn’t focus on what I was doing. You sat on the side of the road telling me everything, you were so perfect. You missed your mom the way I missed my family. You were right, this is all my fault.”
    I flinched at the thought of it all. I wanted to comfort him, but I was not completely finished with the emotions I had brewing inside of me. I wanted answers more than anything at that moment though. “What does it mean now that your curse is gone?”
    He grimaced. “My dad’s victims will suffer incredibly, no one will help them.” He looked sickened by it all. “I won't ever feel joy or peace again. I am now just a lost soul. I will forever be stuck in the in-between.”
    “ You still have all of your abilities?”
    He looked at me incredulously.
    I knew he was wondering how I was being so technical in it all, but I had shut off my emotions for a moment to process what was going on. I was unable to feel sorry for him, while I wasn’t feeling sorry for myself.
    “ Do you feel nothing being here with me now?”
    He smiled looking at me through his eyelashes, making my nerves quiver and my breath suck in. “You seem to be the exception to the rule. I love you and can feel love for you.”
    He leaned in to kiss me, which I wanted, but I shook my head. “Your dad raped and killed my mom. I can’t do this right now. I need some more answers from you.”
    He looked dejectedly at me. “Aimee, I couldn’t tell you the truth. You understand what I’m saying don’t you?”
    I shook my head. “If you had been honest with me from the start, when you realized I could see you, none of this would have happened.”
    "You were already sick and my dad had already killed your mom."
    I felt sick. "I wish he hadn't. I wish we had never met."
    He nodded. “I know you do. I won't bother you. If that's your wish.” He leaned in and kissed me and like a puff of smoke was gone.
    I didn’t know what to do. I hadn’t wanted him to go, had I? He hadn’t waited around for me to answer him.
    I didn’t want to be alone again. I pulled my legs up and waited to die. I hadn’t eaten. I hadn’t drunk. I hoped, at some point, I would die and it would end.
    I was sad about my mom but I knew Aleks would be hurting more than I was.
    His own dad killed the mom of the woman he loved—was I a woman yet?
    I shrugged, assuming if you had to ask, you were still a girl.
    I curled into a ball and fell asleep again, until I heard the bushes rustle behind me, waking me up. I wondered if it was his dad coming for his turn with me. I didn’t turn around. I didn’t care.
    Aleks whispered, “I am so sorry.”
    He sat beside me, pulling me into him. He slipped his huge black fleece off and pulled it over my head. I didn’t realize I was cold, until the warmth from his jacket seeped into my skin.
    I shivered, closing my eyes. I had gotten to the place of insanity. I wasn’t certain any of it was real anymore. I was thinking either side effect of the drug, or I was dead, or it was the long-assumed brain tumor.
    “ Where are we going to go?” I asked, knowing that I couldn’t go back to my place. I couldn’t stay one more day at the beach without murdering an entire village out of boredom.
    He