Devils Roses 05 - Death

"I wish you had just joined me from the start."
    I glance at my phone and see the picture Hanna sent me. I send my response. Hatred fills me as she comes walking out of the woods alone. I can hear the wrestling behind me. Giselle is no doubt holding them all back. I like to hope she doesn’t have to hold back Aleks.
    Jonathan's face turns sharply. A grin crosses his lips, "Why hello." He sounds so charming. He looks it, even with all the blood splattered across him.
    Hanna waves coyly, "Hi." She bites her lip. He flashes and they're both gone.
    "SAM!" I shout. He grabs my hand and Lorri's and we're off. It's a horrid feeling. I gag as we bounce in the flashes. We stop and I swallow my stomach's contents. It's much worse when someone else is driving the boat.
    I shiver and follow them down the dark hallway.
    Lorri's nails glisten. I've only ever seen her fight with them a few times. They're hard as a diamond and sharp as a razor.
    We follow the trail. The smell of Hanna. The tension is pouring off Sam. He looks back at me, scaring me with the look on his face. His eyes are completely black, like Ari's always are when she's crazy.
    We are under something. It's dank and gross. The hallway is dark and made from stone or old brick that’s worn and smooth. It smells like the water at Aleks's house. Old and musty. A scream rings out in the air. We run, winking ahead.
    A dim light flickers in the hall when we round a corner. Shadows move. I am nervous for Sam. I know Hanna is basically indestructible, but that means nothing in our world. Everything changes.
    Lorri looks into the doorway and then back at us, "Tristan and another woman."
    Sam smells the air, "Lillith." He whispers.
    Lorri looks confused, "I've never seen her. I don't know. She was always with the Fae. They never liked me."
    Hanna screams out again. Sam almost walks in, but I grab his arm and shake my head. Lorri winks us back to the lilacs. The group has waited for us.
    "I think he's got her with Lillith and Tristan.
    Sam's eyes light up. "Oh my god."
    "What?"
    Sam swallows, "Remember how I gave my blood to the bad witches and Oliver saved me and took it back. He said they could control me if they had it. He said I was never to give my blood away."
    My stomach sinks, "Phillip took Tristan's blood."
    "What if Lillith is bad? What if all along the hostage thing was fake? My mom loves him, Jonathan. She wasn’t a prisoner like we thought she was. What if Lillith isn’t either? What if she is using him to get the magic back?"
    Lorri rubs her hands on her eyes and shakes her head, "Why? Why would she lie to the blue sisters and Henry and everyone else? Why would she pretend to be on the Fae's side if all along she was in it with Jonathan?"
    Sam shakes his head, "What if the act wasn't an act? What if this was all part of the plan?"
    Giselle crosses her arms, "Well, Adam did rape her in the garden and God's punishment was giving him another wife? Like dude. I would have smoked his ass with lightning, not given him another chick. Then he goes and tells him that shit ass story about the rib. Like bitch please. I am so not second to any man."
    It's the smartest thing she has ever said.
    I grab her head and kiss her. Lorri looks like she has been kicked between the legs. "Oh my god. Sweet Jesus. All along. She played Jonathan. She made the evil. She did it on purpose. She never was going to let us have the magic back and end her and Jonathan. All of it was an elaborate plan. He was probably forcing the pregnancies on her to get the magic out a little bit at a time. He has spent all this time trying to get the magic. They have a power struggle for the same outcome." It feels like the end of a Murder She Wrote episode.
    My voice is equally as hollow, "Except Ari. That must have screwed with things."
    "I feel so dumb. How did she trick Lydia's magic and Annabelle's and O's?" Aleks looks at Lorri, who is now stunned in silence.
    I watch as something changes on her face. Slowly, her eyes become bloodshot. Red veins fill them, until they take over and all of the color is consumed. I didn’t even think she had red blood. She looks at me, "They mean to sacrifice him and take back the power. His birthday is almost upon us. Jonathan weaseled the power out of Lillith, one baby at a time and we fucking put it all into Tristan for him. Now it's just a race for whoever can get it first?"
    I shake my head, still mesmerized by her eyes, "Why? What does the magic do?"
    "Tips the