Devils Roses 05 - Death

balance." Her words are a whisper. "We need Henry." She is gone.
    We stand in the garden of the burning mansion and look at each other.
    "I don’t get it."
    Sam crosses his arms, his face is still burning with anger. "The balance is everything. The prophecy's about the end of days are about the tipping of the balance, in the favor of the darkness."
    Lucas whines and rubs against me. I sigh, "Just switch back. This isn’t Lassie. I don’t know what you're trying to say."
    "I do." I look up to see Henry standing beside Lorri.
    Henry looks paler than normal. I've always seen him as a proper English butler in a bowler hat. But now his ageless face looks dazed and sickened. He licks his lips in spurts, "He is right. Fae holds the balance. It was our job. It is why Lydia was right. If I murder Marcus before I would have taken in the darkness. As of now my soul is pure. I am part of the balance. Lillith's magic was given to each of her babies when she gave birth to them. The magic was never hers. It was always ours. She called it into her to fill the void of the pain and the suffering. The reason our king wouldn’t go to her wasn't that she wasn’t pure in virginity, but because she wasn't pure of heart. She was the darkness in the balance. Too much light is the same as too much darkness. But we believed her to be on our side in it all." His accent is so weird I can't even place it. His English is terrible.
    I feel lost and not just because I've never heard Henry actually form real sentences before. It would take the end of the world to make him say whole paragraphs.
    Giselle chews her lip, "So, uhm. I don’t get it. Are Jonathan and Lorri working together or not?"
    Henry shakes his head. His eyes are lost. He's been tricked too. "We always believed she wanted to stop Jonathan. Not ruin the world with him. Always believed she was sorry for what she took."
    I interrupt, "Is it possible Jonathan doesn’t understand what she is going to do?"
    He nods, "Yes."
    Lorri interrupts him, "No."
    Henry ignores her and continues, "He is seventh angel of god. He was good, until he let the darkness take him."
    Lorri sighs, "We don’t know whole story. We know he loved her or lusted after her power anyway. We know he coveted her magic and powers. The problem is the prophecies come from them. She is the oldest thing alive and the strongest."
    "Not while Tristan has the magic." Sam says.
    Aleks sighs, "Which ends tomorrow."
    Giselle looks sick, "What does it look like if the evil tips the balance?"
    Lorri shakes her head, "We don’t know exactly. All we have is Revelations as a best estimate."
    I burst into laughter. I'm having flashbacks of the dreams I had before, when my mom was dead. It feels alarming and impossible, I can’t imagine it being true. Everyone gives me the same horrified look.
    I laugh and shake my head, "Sorry. I just can't believe this is all true. This is the biggest disappointment I have ever suffered. And that is saying a lot." I pace, "HOW DOES THE SYSTEM FAIL SO BADLY? HOW DO YOU PEOPLE GET TRICKED SO EASILY? JESUS." I squat down and sit on my heels and rock. I hold my face in my hands and think.
    "When Aimee is done having her breakdown, she can kill them both right?" Sam asks. Ben nudges me with his dried blood coated muzzle. I wrap my arms around his huge neck. Aleks's hands are on my shoulders, massaging.
    "No. She can't kill Lillith." Lorri says. "It has to be Tristan or maybe Henry, if we are lucky."
    I look up at Henry with hope. He shakes his head, "No. If she gets magic I cannot kill her. I barely believe this true. She is mother of Fae."
    Lorri makes a face and shakes her head, "We kill them all today. We kill all of them now. We start with Jonathan."
    I stand up and put my hand in. Ben touches me with a paw. Giselle puts her hand in on his paw. She doesn’t look well. I wonder if I have the same look on my face.
    Lorri's red eyes are freaking me out. We flash as one to the same dark hallway.
    "Where are we?"
    "Ireland." Henry whispers. The wolves scout ahead. I wink and keep up with them. We round the corner and see the same place with the same light.
    "At least Hanna has the whole place stunk up." Aleks whispers, "They won't be able to smell us."
    We stand outside the massive room that looks more like an underground hall.
    Lorri gives the go signal. I almost get sick. I grab Giselle and Ben and wink in. Jonathan is bleeding from the lip and panting heavy. Hanna is laughing her menacing beast