Devils Roses 04 - Witch

"He never betrayed me?"
    Tristan flung his arms in the air, "Tada."
    Aimee looked at Phillip, "Can you flash?"
    He rolled his eyes, "Lead on, I can track. But I want to try on your boots when we get there."
    She grimaced, "What? No. Look how big your feet are."
    He giggled, "Look how tense she is."
    Aimee put a hand on Ophelia and they were standing in Lydia's kitchen instantly. Phillip and Tristan were there seconds later.
    "Oh my god this place is cute. Trist this is exactly like that barn reno we saw on HGTV."
    Ophelia looked at Lydia holding a cup of tea to her lips, "Ophelia is that your brother?"
    Ophelia nodded, "And Phillip. He is Oliver's son."
    Lydia nodded, "Welcome." Her smile looked forced.
    Annabelle rushed the kitchen, "No. No way. Both Lillith's only living kids in one house. No."
    Ophelia looked at her brother in the light of the kitchen. She jumped forward and hugged him tightly.
    "O!" She turned to see her sister, rushing in. "Oh my god O you got your brother back too." Abbey jumped at them both and hugged them.
    Ophelia couldn’t help but wonder the fate of Oliver as she pulled back and looked at Abbey. Tears poured from her face, "Abbs, you're okay."
    She nodded, "It was so awful. They fed from me. Oh and I called mom and dad and they asked me how camp was?"
    Ophelia looked at Lorri who walked into the kitchen, "We had to say something. By the way, Daniel is residing with the wolves for a little while. They are almost positive they have a track on Aleks's dad."
    Ophelia watched as her sister turned and smiled at Lorri.
    Ophelia looked back at her brother, "You want to catch me up on mom?"
    He smiled a bright white grin, "We have like five days to save her and fight to the death for her magic."
    Ophelia nodded, swallowing hard. Tristan burst into laughter.
    "You aren’t the fun group of bad asses we kind of thought you would be."
    Lorri snorted, "Yeah we like to keep the fun to the Christmas parties."
    Everyone in the kitchen laughed, except Tristan and Phillip.
    Phillip beamed at Ophelia, "Dad has found a way to make it work so one of you gets power and the other one gets to live."
    Ophelia smiled, "Really." She looked at her brother and they both shouted at the same time, "You can have it."
    She looked at Aimee who looked around the kitchen. Ophelia's stomach started to drop. Where was Aleks? Did he make it back?
    Aleks came walking in behind Ari. He glanced up at Aimee and flashed to her and then they were both gone.
    The warm wind filled the kitchen.
    Phillip pulled his phone from his pocket, "My dad is in the yard. I guess he can't come in the house?"
    Ophelia ran through the kitchen and burst through the porch door. He was smiling under a streetlight.
    She ran across the grass and leapt into his arms.
    "I told you."
    "I thought you were on his side." She looked up into his eyes. He was in pain.
    He cleared his throat, "No but I couldn’t even take a chance. Tristan was the only way that you would be able to get away. Everyone up there is loyal to him. I freed Trist and Phil, while he went to torture your mother with the news."
    She pulled back, "Will he know."
    Oliver nodded, "He probably will."
    She hugged him again, "I'm just glad you're okay."
    He kissed the top of her head, "Me too. Now we need to get ready. You and Trist have a very hard week ahead of you. I'm going to stay at Marcus's. Henry hates your father, more than anything on the planet."
    She frowned, "I'm coming."
    He shook his head, "You stay here. You stay safe." He kissed her lips once softly and stepped back. He was gone and she was alone on the street with the dark swirling around her feet. She stepped back into the guards and felt the night become creepy.
    "Come in the house, girl."
    She looked back at Annabelle floating in the doorway.
    "Annabelle, what happens if he gets the power?"
    "He gets the world baby girl. He gets the world."

    XXXX

The End

    Stay Tuned for the final novel in the series, Death . Coming in the Winter of 2012