Devils Roses 05 - Death

Dorian more than anything in the world. Loved Aleks. Felt sorry for the bloke that's here. Shane. He was always losing wasn’t he?"
    I look down at the carpet we are crossing and shake my head, "I can't imagine any of it."
    "Well you best start. Lorri is spicy when it comes to failure." His tone still sounds like he couldn't care less.
    The hallway is huge and wide and full of amazing paintings and fancy doors. He leads me down to a door that doesn’t look like the others. It slides into the wall and I'm in awe. It’s a lab. My face drops.
    He looks proud, "I knew you would like it."
    I walk in doing circles as I try to take it all in. "It's beautiful. Is that a hybridization oven? You have everything in here."
    "That’s nothing check this out." He walks over to an electrophoresis system like I have never seen before when a voice interrupts us.
    "Aimes?"
    I look back and grin. "Shane. You're okay."
    He looks different. His face was always handsome but now it's perfect. Everything is perfect. He's irresistible. My face drops. I look at Marcus, "What did you do?"
    He grins at Shane, "Ahh, good to see you're back, son. How was the feed?"
    Shane looks down shyly, "Good. Bit of a struggle but I got it."
    I growl at Marcus, "What did you do?"
    He tilts his head. "Turn that judgmental face of yours around missy. You did that, not I. I saved him. There was only one way to do it."
    I look back at him. My heart breaks. "I'm so sorry Shane. I've killed you." I wink back to Lydia's. I run up the stairs and throw open the door, "We need to reset the clock again."
    Ari looks at me and laughs, "Not a chance. Why?"
    I cover my face, "Shane. I've cursed him. He's cursed like me now."
    She pries my hands away from my face and hugs me, "He isn’t cursed. He's saved. The old you always wanted him to be unbreakable. Now he is."
    I look at her in disbelief, "I never could have wanted this. He just ate someone for lunch."
    "You never said you wanted it, but I know you would have chosen him if he wasn’t mortal. You loved Aleks, there was no doubt. But the more you were away from him, the less you loved him. Your love weakened with distance and time. Now look at you two. He doesn’t even know you and you barely register him and Giselle is stalking him like a bear."
    I sigh, "This can't be the way it's meant to turn out.
    She lifts my chin, "Aimes, we don’t get to choose the way it is and the way it isn’t. We get to try to fix our mistakes. You have to know that my powers are not the answer. You must know that by now. After everything."
    I rock back and forth, "He's dead. He looks like one of them. One of us. He's so perfect now. I loved the little scar on his cheek and the way he always had messy hair. Now he's perfect. Everything is perfect. It's not him."
    "Hey." She pulls me into her, "It's him the way it's you or me. We are still who we were."
    I pull back and wipe my flooded eyes, "No. I'm not the same. I know I'm not. I can't even breathe without smelling people and wanting their souls. I can't walk down the road without noticing a distinct us and them feel to every human I see. I'm not human and I know it. In my heart of hearts I know I'm a monster." I back away and wink.
    I drop to my knees in the sand and cry. I like to cry alone or with my mom, watching Austen.
    The tears flow down my cheeks. Guilt and pain are everywhere. How could I have done this to him? How could I have let them turn him? I sucked his soul. I left him for dead and they changed him. It might have been to save him but it killed the sweet innocent awesome guy he was. I did this.
    In my pain and suffering I don’t hear the sounds behind me. I don’t hear the warning sounds of uneasy feet on unstable rocks and sand. I miss the fact that a hand is reaching for my mouth. I miss it all until the excruciating pain is upon me. I wink but the pain follows.
    My face is shoved into the grass on Lydia's lawn. I can see the house in my peripheral. Sharp stabbing pain and warmth cover my throat and shoulders.
    "AIMEE!" I hear the screams. "WINK TO MARCUS'S!"
    In the pain I try to reach back at the thing holding me down but my shoulders are limp. Broken.
    I wink, feeling the warm liquid running down my throat.
    In a flash of color and screams I see the bowler hat and Marcus. His face distorts slightly, in rage.
    Shouts and chaos are everywhere. Blue eyes and a sweet face fill my vision that seems to come and go. Warmth surrounds me. I smell laundry soap and