Devils Roses 04 - Witch

one.”
    “At least he has honor and integrity. At least he is willing to fight for what is right, even if it means creating something that can kill him.”
    Ophelia looked to where Lorri walked across the rocks with Aimee behind her. She still looked a mess.
    “Why hello love. Long time no see. I suppose not as long as it has been since you’ve seen me.”
    Lorri squinted.
    Oliver cracked a boyish grin, “You think you were that stealthy? You brought the Siren with you. Jonathan has a taste for them. He smelled her from ten miles.”
    Lorri shrugged, “Maybe we brought her for him to smell.” Her eyebrows arched.
    Hanna took a step toward Oliver, “You want me to show him inside Lorri?”
    Lorri shook her head, “No I don’t want you breaking him until I get some answers.”
    Oliver looked at Aimee, “So you’re the dealer?”
    Aimee looked confused, “I guess. What does that make you, the player?”
    He chuckled again. His smiles and carefree attitude only made the attraction to him worse for Ophelia.
    “Oliver there must be a reason for this, now.” Lorri looked annoyed.
    Seeing he was getting nowhere his face lost its joy. His blue eyes hardened like steel. He pursed his lips and flexed his jaw. After a moment he spoke, “He’s murdered my son.”
    Lorri looked back at Dorian whose jaw dropped, “Phillip?”
    Oliver nodded.
    Lorri crossed her arms. Dorian looked at Hanna and Ophelia, “Leave us. You too Aimee.”
    Ophelia watched a single tear fall from the face of the man. Where it landed on the ground a small white flower instantly grew.
    ‘Help me Ophelia. I need you. Help me get my vengeance Ophelia’ His eyes met hers for a second. She turned and walked back to the house in silence with Aimee and Hanna.
    Aimee glanced at Ophelia and Hanna and walked ahead of them.
    “She hates me.” Hanna whispered.
    “She doesn’t hate you. She just loves Sam like family I think. They all seem really close. Have they been together long?”
    Hanna shook her head, “A couple years, not long. Long enough that they formed a bond. You and I won’t ever be welcome members like they are.”
    “Where is your father?”
    Hanna blushed, “Aimee killed him.”
    Ophelia felt her face scrunch into a ball of disgust, as Hanna opened up to her and spun a story Ophelia wasn’t certain she would ever believe, not fully. She was grateful that her parent's weren't the only fictional characters in the story of their lives.

Chapter Twenty-Four
    Sam

    He sat staring out the window. The sun was shining and the birds were singing but he felt closed off from it. It was as if he had taken drugs that inhibited how he felt. Everything felt thick and sluggish. His mind moved as if it too were impaired.
    “Sam I need your help.”
    He looked at Lorri and shrugged. He didn’t feel like helping. He made himself get up. He imagined the years when Hanna was a little girl and how hard her mother must have faked loving her and enjoying being with her. It must have been exhausting to pretend.
    “I need you to hang out with this guy for the night. You can’t come with us, obviously, but you can hang out with him. If he tries to get away from you, flash him to this picture okay?”
    He looked at the water fountain, he had seen it before. He knew the area well. He nodded, “I guess.”
    “He’s chained in Hanna’s room for the night. He’s in the chains we have left over from Marcus. The enchanted ones. He can probably get out of them but not without you seeing what he’s doing. If he flashes, follow his trail and text me.”
    Sam shrugged, “Why?”
    “He’s a bad man. I need to double check his story.”
    Sam left the room and walked the great hallway until he reached Hanna’s room. She stood in the corner twirling her red hair around her finger and smiling at the man chained to the corner.
    “How uncomfortable do I make you on a scale of one to ten.”
    The man looked at him and sighed, “It was a nine but since he got here it’s an eleven, maybe fifteen.”
    She turned to see Sam and dropped her hair and her smile, “Lorri wanted me to pester him. He hates me.”
    Sam shrugged, “It’s cool.”
    She frowned, “It doesn’t bother you?”
    He shook his head, “I feel nothing for you, or anyone.”
    Her face twisted, “See you later Oliver.” She walked out trying to maintain her composure. He’d seen that walk before. He wasn’t usually the recipient of it.
    He glanced at the guy in the chains and