Devils Roses 05 - Death

deodorant and sea air. I close my eyes and smile. I know the warmth surrounding me is Shane. He's carrying me to safety.
    When I open my eyes I don’t see him. I don’t see anyone. I'm in a room with a fancy bed and enough space to make an apartment on the other side of the room, where the fireplace is.
    I blink and look around the empty dark place. The smell in the air is ripe with the taint vampire's leave behind. I'm still at Marcus's. The memory of the stabbing pains in my shoulders flood my mind. I reach my hands around. The cloth of my shirt is ripped to pieces but the flesh of my shoulder is intact. It's as if it never happened. I climb off the bed and pad down the hallway. It's wide with paintings and art.
When I get to the large front sitting room, I hear voices coming from the far side of the massive room.
    Shane is standing next to the tall blond Aleksander. They're laughing.
    "Hey."
    They both turn their heads.
    Shane's eyes sparkle in away they never used to. Like Aleksander's. Like the magic of the immortals has put a spell on them. He grins, "Aimes, what's going on?"
    He sounds normal but I can see he's not. I can see he's different.
    "What happened? What was that thing that attacked me?" Flashes of fur and teeth and my own screams fill the back of my eyes.
    Aleksander looks grim, which is almost impossible as he is so beautiful, "My dad. He attacked you. He has a thing for witches, must have mistaken you."
    I frown, "For a witch?"
    He nods, "You smell like Lydia's house.
    "Why would your father attack me?"
    Out of the corner of my eye I see the dark haired girl with the black soulless eyes, Ari. She smiles and waves like a zombie Barbie. I lift my hand weakly and force a smile upon my lips.
    "So, Jon is in the cell?" She asks.
    Aleksander beams and nods, crossing his thick arms. "Thanks to her."
    Shane beams along with them, like he knows what they're talking about. I know Jon was the man who killed my mother in the previous way things were, but I have no actual idea how I did anything. "I just winked."
    Ari grins, "To Henry. No one hates Jon like Henry does."
    "What will happen to him?" I ask.
    Boots click hard against the ground as Lorri enters the room, "We're going to wait it out with him. When Ophelia turns eighteen Henry will be allowed to kill him and give the powers of her sisters to her. We can't have Jonathan knowing where she is now and we can't risk the blue sisters finding her now. It's all too soon."
    My brain instantly dashes back to the timeline. I piece it together and cross my arms, "Well what do we do for two years?"
    A spicy grin crosses the redhead's face, "Train and fix all the things that we screwed up on along the way. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to send Daniel on a new task for work. You know, so the army of shitheads that he ends up building against us, is considerably smaller." She glances back at me, "No matter what, do not let Marcus kill Hanna."
    I open my mouth to speak, but she's gone. I close my lips and look around. Everyone is looking at me like I'm in charge. My stomach sinks. I don’t have a clue what to do.
    Ari smiles and puts a hand out, "We need to make certain your body remembers the training and killing. Are you ready?"
    I glance at Shane. He laughs and shrugs, like I'm being offered my first drink at a party and he thinks I should take it. I grimace and take her hand. She flashes a picture of a place on her cell phone and I wink my eye.

Chapter Eleven

    Egypt 2012

    "What do you think?"
    I scan the desert and nod, "I think if we can get him to come to us we'll have a better chance of saving some of the women." I pace back and forth in the sand. I look back at Ari and scowl, "I hate sand. These boots are new."
    She laughs and lifts her DC sneakers, "Try these on for sand walking. I've got more in my shoe than is in the whole damned desert."
    My phone beeps. I sigh and pull it out, 'get here now' it says with a picture of a dark alley.
    "Giselle."
    Ari looks at me and nods, "Great. Not again."
    I look back at the house belonging to the piece of shit vampires, who are running a drug blood service, and growl. I put my hand out. Ari takes it and we're in the alley. My boots click against the cold cement. I still smile at how strong they make me feel. How I feel just like superwoman in them. We round the corner of the alley. Giselle is standing over the body of a man.
    His leather shoe is twitching. I put my hands over my face and look at her. She shakes