Devils Roses 05 - Death

couldn’t stop myself anymore. I pulled and sucked until they died every time and I never gave it another thought. Your father is, well, charismatic. He had me believing that we were better than them. Dorian too. We had fun, a lot of fun. But then Dorian and I met a young man named Marcus. He was also a charismatic young man, sarcastic and funny though. Not snobbish like your father."
    He pulls me to a huge tree. It's the most incredible thing I have ever seen. He covers my eyes with his hands and I feel the air move. When he takes them from my eyes we are high above the ground. My heart beats widely. I grip the rough bark of the tree. I can see for hundreds of miles. The mist is settled in amongst the mountains and hills.
    "Wow."
    "I know." He points to the village. "Marcus was smarter than the other humans we had been around. He caught on to what we all were very quickly. He wanted the immortality and the power. He helped Jonathan convince Ethan, Henry's brother, that the dark magic was the only way to punish the man responsible for his daughter's death. Once Ethan turned dark he made many mistakes. One was teaching Marcus and Jonathan how to enslave his own brother. Marcus wanted the magic of the Fae, he wanted the immortality. Jonathan offered him his blood and swore he would make him the highest of the vampires. Marcus didn’t want to be below Jonathan. Instead he went after Henry. Dorian was tired of the evil ways of Jonathan and went back with Lorri. Marcus used the guilt Dorian had over his dark deeds, to convince him going after Henry's magic was the only way to kill Jonathan. That was how we met Aleks. Well after he died, we met him. Marcus told Aleks that taking Henry's heart was the only way to get the power to kill Jon, Aleks's father. Henry, thinking he was much older and considerably smarter than them, caught them in the act and cursed Marcus. He didn’t realize what he had given him, was the very thing he wanted. Realizing a mortal had tricked him, Henry was livid. He found his brother and murdered him, taking his magic."
    I shake my head. "That’s sick. Marcus is a bigger shit than I imagined."
    Oliver smirks. "He is incredibly smart and wicked. His brain is ridiculous. He is a doctor, a chemist, a botanist, a pharmacist, a lawyer, my god I can't even imagine them all. I know he's written novels under assumed names. It's frightening really. Anyway, we all had more respect for Marcus then. Jonathan wanted him dead. Somehow he convinced Dorian and Aleks that Henry's loyalty was of great importance. Henry was on a rampage and ready to kill them all and Jonathan wanted them dead. So they used the things they had learned from Ethan and stole Henry's heart. His heart is inside of Marcus, as we all know. Henry doesn’t know it, thanks to Ari."
    "We should free him."
    "No. He is volatile. He is dangerous. It's best if we let Marcus keep him under wraps. The children of your mother, the ones born of the Fae, they're not stable."
    I sigh. "I don’t feel stable either."
    He kisses my head. "You aren’t."
    "Why did you hide in the village?"
    "Your father knew I helped them. I helped Marcus and Aleks and Dorian. I too had turned to Lorri. The saying 'Hell hath no fury' actually came into existence because of Lorri and your dad. She loved him, a long time ago. When we fell he went for Lillith, seeing opportunity and power."
    "He left her for my mom, even though my mom didn’t want him?"
    He nods. "Yup. Lorri loved him for a long time. She kept making excuses for him and expecting him to come back to her. He was her weakness. When he didn’t she started the hunt for him. Unfortunately, by the time she had gotten around to him he had built a very large army for himself. Most of the archangels that have fallen and all the nephilim but a few, agree with him. This is our playground. Here we have freewill and the ability to choose. We are immortal. The gates of heaven will never open for us anyway. We have fallen."
    "We will kill him together." I squeeze his hand.
    He squeezes back. "I want you to do a spell for me though. Just in case. This is going to be our meeting place. You can make a port here. This tree is magical. It's spelled by the village shaman."
    I frown. "Why?"
    His eyes sparkle. "In case you need to run."
    I look out over the view and nod. "What do I do?"
    "Close your eyes and hold the tree tightly. Call the tree and mother earth and the power and light of the spirits. Mark the tree as yours.