Devils Roses 05 - Death

Lorri a glare, "Thanks for the heads up."
    She shrugs, "Wouldn’t have helped. I have the Asian Roses and the African Roses coming now. The European ones are already here."
    "I feel like the Power Rangers." Ben mutters and phases mid air.
    I laugh, "You totally stole that from my lips."
    He sniffs at me and runs up ahead. He hides in the bushes. I look around and try not to let the beauty of it all overwhelm me. We are at a huge brick and stone castle with a wall all the way around it and turrets. The extensive grounds lead up into the hillside, which turns into a thick forest. It's stunning and everything is emerald green.
    "This castle is built on a forest the Fae believe is guarded with magic. They believe it's where the Fae originally came from. If Lillith is evil, she tricked the strongest of the Fae just to be here." Marcus says skeptically.
    We follow Ben into the woods and look around.
    Lorri starts the lecture, "The army is inside. Shifters, Fae, Witches, Vamps, Nephilim and god only knows what else. There will be no Ari, Aimee, Hanna and even the succubuses aren’t like Giselle. But everything else exists inside of there. This is the real deal." She points to a turret, "The other side of the castle is where everyone else on our team is hiding in the woods. I don't think Lillith is expecting us. They will likely think Jonathan has finished us off or tricked us once again. If we catch them off guard we should be able to take them down before the sunsets completely. We move in five minutes. Aimee, Aleks, Sam and I are going for the Shifters. Be right back. Don’t move."
    Confusion fills me, "We're going for the shifters?"
    She looks distant. "We are since Henry joined the ranks of the deserters."
    Hanna points to the castle, "What if Lillith is good and there is something else in there?"
    Lorri snaps, "We take our chances. No matter what we end the magic." She flashes a picture of where Lucas and Ben are from but I remember it all. We wink and flash and the whole council is there ready. We each grab our maximum and flash them back. At least fifty, maybe seventy-five shifters fill the woods around us. The chatter grows with all the new people. They shift quickly. I glance at Ari and grin, "Yay. The wolf council. Janine is here."
    She bursts into a laugh, "I'm pissed at you. Don't make me laugh." I grab her and pull her in.
    "I love you."
    She sighs, "I know. I still hate you. I get to hate you for like ten minutes."
    "I'll be dead in ten minutes."
    "Five minutes."
    "Dude, think about the world we live in. All those Nephilim kids are orphans. It's no life for a kid. Besides what would we do without you?"
    "Shut up."
    I laugh and pull away, "Okay. Five minutes. Then we wrestle."
    Shane pokes his head into the conversation, "In Jello?"
    Ari grins, "I don’t actually like Jello. I ate lots of it at the orphanage." She shivers. I do too. I can't help it when she talks about that place.
    The dusk lighting is perfect. Most of them see better in the dark. Ari, Hanna, Giselle and I don’t.
    "Is this the pow wow for girls who don’t fit in?" Hanna and Giselle walk up. I laugh, "Pretty much."
    "Stay close to each other okay."
    Giselle takes a deep breath, "I just want you guys to know if we die. I love you bitches. This shit is the best shit that ever happened to me."
    We stare at her and laugh. We do the big group hug. It feels fake. I still hate Hanna in a twisted way, but we hug anyway.
    "Henry healed me before he left." Ari whispers.
    We all look at her, "What if he hurt you?"
    She shakes her head, "He told me he was healing me because he could feel the pain inside of me and he felt badly. He said he knew what they did to me and it wasn't kind. He seemed disgusted. He said that the poison they put in me was slow. They wanted to get my power from me or learn to control me. If they couldn’t I would have died anyway. If not for Henry. He also said he met my mother. Even knew her a little."
    The look of remorse lifts from my eyes, "What?"
    She nods, "He was there. He was there when I was born. He went with Marcus. Marcus knew Dorian had reproduced, even though Dorian didn’t. Marcus had to see me, he knew I would be different. He was the reason my uncle left with me. He convinced him to take me and runaway. He saved my life. Henry was there with him."
    "He could have saved your mother?" Hanna says astonished.
    Ari shakes her head, "No. He said she was dead already when they got there. He had seen her before. When