Devils Roses 05 - Death

was always part of the life I wanted. He was popular and his life was normal and easy.
    I look at Aleks again and smirk. The fire his crooked lips create in my belly is a feeling Shane has never been able to create. Once Aleks arrived the competition for my heart only ever had one real outcome.
    He kisses my cheek. "In twenty years when they are starting to age and their lives are stale, they will be the ones saying it isn’t fair. Trust me. I've been here before."
    I look at him and watch his eyes in the orange glow from the streetlights. "It doesn’t feel like enough right now. I want us to be normal."
    He lifts my hand in his and kisses the back of it. "It has to be enough. We can't ever be those things. You're different and I'm dead, for the second time."
    I laugh. It still hurts, but he makes everything hurt less.
    I step away from him and pull hard on his hand, to get him walking to the front door with me.
    "You still need to meet him."
    "Can't we just get the cat? I like the name Shakespeare."
    I laugh and drag him in the front door, "Dad, I'm home."

Chapter Two

    Ophelia

    His fingers trace their way up and down my arm. I want to be somewhere alone with him, ripping his clothes off. Instead we are on babysitting duty.
    She looks feral.
    It's weird. She is the most beautiful girl in the world and yet she is completely taken by her hunger. She could be seducing every guy in the world and living it large. Instead her dark eyes dart around the small room like a nervous crackhead.
    She moans and curls into a ball.
    I look at him but he shakes his head.
    I look up and whisper, "Why is it so bad for her? Are all succubus this brutal?"
    He shakes his head. "No. She has the blood lust from being a vampire. She remembers what it was like to eat blood. She's been biting the people she's been sucking dry. So she is still getting blood from them and their essence. Being a succubus is intense enough on its own."
    I raise an eyebrow, "Do you share the feelings and talents with her the way Dorian and Aimee are the same sort of thing?"
    He nods, but doesn’t remove his eyes from her. He is so beautiful, even in the dark. I can't help but think about the shower we had yesterday. The way the water would bead on his skin or the way he looked with just the towel wrapped around his waist. I'd never showered with anyone before.
    He looks at me. "I can sense you’re thinking something not good right now."
    I blush. I think of my mom. Not my real mom but my mom, mom. I push the thoughts of him away. I wonder where Abbey and my parents are.
    His fingers start to knead my arm, instead of trace lines up and down. He sinks his fingers deeper into my flesh and massages.
    Giselle is finally asleep. She looks peaceful.
    Oliver takes my hand and suddenly we are in his room at Marcus's house.
    He pushes me back lightly. My legs hit the bed and I fall back on it. He climbs onto the bed and on top of me. His weight presses me into the mattress. I moan as his lips trace along my throat.
    "Oliver, we have a situation."
    We both lift our heads and glare at Marcus standing in the light of the open door. He's watching us, with his dark eyes glowing in the dim light. My stomach twists when I see his eyes. Sometimes when I look at him I can hear his thoughts. Thoughts of draining every drop of blood from my body, but in a naughty way. He makes me blush and cringe at the same time.
    Oliver looks back at me and kisses my nose. He stands and offers me his hand. I sigh and let him drag me, unwillingly, off the bed.
    I follow them down the hall of the huge creepy old castle. It's weird there is a castle in Portland that no one ever puts on the tourist stops. The hall is wide and filled with old pictures. Old paintings. I'm pretty sure I've seen a few that look like Marcus and Dorian and Aleks but in costumes.
    I can't help but wonder if in two hundred years I'll be walking through my own castle with Oliver and the walls will be lined with paintings of me in jean jackets and skinny jeans.
    "Look, she called a meeting. That’s all that matters."
    Oliver glances back at me and winks. I melt.
    Lost in the paintings and the smile, I almost don’t hear the muffled noise off to the right when we pass one of the corridors. Marcus's back straightens as we pass it. The moan fills the hall again.
    I turn right and start running. I know that sound.
    "Ophelia leave it." Marcus barks after me.
    I run faster. "It's Hanna."
    I hear a struggle followed by a