Devils Roses 04 - Witch

mistake. The spell has a cost Sam. Every spell has a cost. Look at the guards that keep the darkness out. They cost Annabelle her life. So now you see how stupid you are.”
    “I don’t feel anything. I don’t feel regret.”
    “Do you love anyone Sam? When you think of your mother being held captive by Jonathan as his fun time girl do you feel anger?”
    He shook his head, “I feel nothing.”
    “Then you are as useful as a tit on a bull. You feel no anger? You feel no love? What will drive you to help us in the fight for your mother’s freedom?”
    He shrugged, “I don’t really feel like fighting.”
    She laughed bitterly, “All this on day one. Great news Sam. Now the best part, this spell grows. The nothingness you feel today will intensify. In a month you will feel even less. Soon you will not even feel pain.”
    He looked at Lorri, “This is bad.”
    She laughed harder, “No shit. Now go find Ophelia and get her scrying for a solution to this little problem before you hang yourself and can’t die so you just hang there like the idiot you are.”
    He should have felt worried. He knew that.

Chapter Twenty-Three
    Ophelia

    “You want to go for a walk?”
    The redhead nodded blankly.
    She got up from the armchair and followed Ophelia from the room.
    “My name is Ophelia.”
    “Hanna.”
    “Nice to meet you.”
    They walked from the castle in an awkwardness neither of them tried to fix. They walked along the bushes in the back garden.
    “I’m sorry. I never would have done it if I knew what he was asking.”
    Hanna shook her head, “I deserve everything I’m getting. I let my powers get the best of me. I swore I would never but I did.”
    Ophelia sighed, “I just wish it could be last week again and all of this was gone. I want my friends and my parents and my sister. I want normal.”
    Hanna burst into laughter, “Oh god you have no idea. You know Aimee was a nerdy science geek who was going to University and had finally landed the boy of her dreams before she became a death dealer. Ari had a nice little café with her uncle in the desert before her abilities kicked in. I had a best friend named Rebecca. My aunt and uncle murdered her and triggered my dormant freak genes from my dad’s science experiments on himself. We all just used to be people.”
    Ophelia felt sad. Tears formed in her eyes, “What are we doing? Why are we waiting?”
    Hanna smirked at her, “Dorian told me your brother is as strong as you are so we can’t use you to our advantage. Plus your dad lives in Alaska in this place we checked out the other day. It’s like a fortress. Impossible to get into. We don’t have the numbers we used to. They have the advantage. It would be a slaughter fest. The only advantages we have are me and Aimee and Ari. They don’t have anything like us.”
    “My sister is there.”
    She nodded, “Yeah my boyfriend Sam, his mom is there. He doesn’t think I know, but Dorian told me.”
    Ophelia cleared her throat, “That sucks. Who is this Dorian?”
    Hanna paused in the grass, “I meant my ex boyfriend. Sorry. It just hasn’t really hit me yet.”
    She didn’t say anything. She just gave Hanna the quiet moment she needed.
    “He won’t ever be my boyfriend again.” She sat on the rock outlining the garden beside them. She bent her face into her hands.
    Ophelia put her hands on Hanna’s back and rubbed it like she had done to her sister millions of times. She had dated a lot of boys who always ended up being dirtbags.
    Ophelia was about to speak when she saw movement in the forest behind them. She squinted to see a man walking amongst the massive trees.
    “I’ll be right back. I think I see someone spying on us.”
    She walked away leaving Hanna to sob on the rock. The girl was a mess.
    Ophelia pointed at the man, “Who are you?”
    He stopped walking and spoke with an English accent, “Oliver. The resemblance to your mother is remarkable.”
    He didn’t look like he belonged in the woods. He wore jeans and loafers and a light blue dress shirt with short sleeves that hugged his biceps. He had a tattoo just poking out of the collar of the dress shirt on the right side of his neck and short dark blond hair.
    She glared at him, “You know my mother?”
    He smirked making her knees wobble, “Everyone knows who your mother is Ophelia. That’s why I’m here. To help you.”
    She held her finger up, pointing at his face. He never even flinched, “You must not know much about