Devils Roses 05 - Death

her head. Her face is devastatingly beautiful under the dim streetlights.
    "Did you come after?"
    She nods, "I was hunting and I smelled him. When I got here he fled and the man was too far."
    Ari looks closer, "He's still alive."
    "Duh." Giselle pulls her thick black hair back and crosses her arms over her cute lime green pea coat. "Dude. Of course he's still alive. I just ate. I figured Aimes could have this one."
    Ari looks pissed, "You let him live and suffer till we got here?"
    Giselle takes a step towards her "Don’t be such a whore. I was being, like, thoughtful and shit. God."
    I laugh and shake my head. I walk to the dying man and crouch down. I grip his arm where his expensive watch sits and let my power loose. Giselle would have gotten nothing from him but I eat differently. I don’t need there to be a lot of life force or emotion the way she does. I just need the soul to leave the body. I shiver and gasp as his soul slips from him.
    I pull off his watch and take his wallet. "Tragedy of the city." I whisper. I feel sick. Shane and I haven’t gotten along since he was turned. His blood lust is too much for me. His friendship with Marcus is way too much for me. The dead man below me is his way of bending the Roses rules. The man broke one of the Ten Commandments no doubt, making him fair game for Marcus and Shane. I hate what Marcus has taught him. As long as they don’t kill an innocent, we can't touch them.
    "So, we gonna tell Lorri?" Ari flashes me a sarcastic look.
    I glance at Giselle, who is twirling her hair. It makes me miss my sister for a moment, "No." I sigh, "Him and Marcus will have a reason for his death."
    Giselle nods, "They always do. They always find the bad humans. I never get that lucky. I thought I had one the other day. He was dragging some little kid down an alley but then I grabbed him and he had a priest robe on and the white collar thingy." She motions where her throat is. "So I knew he wasn’t bad. The damn probably was though."
    "You know priests aren’t all good right?" I ask, almost speechless. Ari's eye shift funny at the comment.
    Giselle shrugs, "I know. He just was kinda hot and so I knew he was a good one. Anyway, I don’t get how Shane always finds the bad ones."
    Ari rolls her eyes, "Dude, they probably compelled them to do the bad shit and then ate them."
    A flash of understanding whips across Giselle's face, "Oh my god, do you think? Wow that’s pretty smart actually."
    Ari stares at her blankly, "Don't even think about it."
    Giselle smirks, "Hey, I don’t need to compel them. I've learned how to do it so I don’t have to take it all. I haven't killed anyone in like six months. It's not the same but at least my record is clean. Lorri is such a nag about the humans dying."
    Ari's head turns, "You smell that?"
    I've already got the scent. "Hands in." We flash just as hellhounds round the corner of the alleyway.
    I stalk across Lydia's grass and open the front door, "This is so messed up."
    I glance back at Ari who scowls and pouts.
    I ask, "What can we do about him?"
    She shakes her head, "I really thought that when he turned into one of us, he would be a Rose."
    My insides ache, "Yeah well, you're not responsible for the fact he and Marcus have a bromance of doom. No one saw that coming."
    I smile the minute I enter the kitchen. Sam is sitting at the counter. He and Giselle and Ari and Ben are my saving grace in the world we live in.
    Sam grins, "Hey."
    I sit next to him and nudge him, "What have you been up to?"
    He blushes and shakes his head, "Not much. You know."
    Ari grins, "Spying on Hanna?"
    His eyes dart at her, "What? No."
    We all laugh. Giselle sits across from him and grabs his hands. She closes her eyes and moans, "God, I love you."
    He pulls back and frowns, "Stop doing that." She flashes him a gorgeous smile, "Sammy, it's just a little sip of the Siren."
    He wrinkles his nose, "It feels violating and wrong."
    We laugh at him.
    Giselle rolls her eyes, "Boys can't be violated."
    He looks aghast. So does Ari.
    The air swirls warm and the icy blue eyes are the first thing I see. My stomach twinges whenever I see Aleks.
    He smiles sweetly, but the haunted look in his eyes is still there. It never leaves.
    With his father trapped in a dungeon under Marcus's massive castle, Aleksander gets no joy. He used to live on the emotions and healing from the families of his father's victims. Now he has nothing to sustain him.
    Giselle beams at him, "Hey