by Tara Brown
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 she was pregnant. She was newly pregnant then. Dorian didn’t know but Henry could tell. They broke up before she ever told him she was pregnant. He said Dorian really liked my mom. Not love, but he really liked her a lot."
I grab her hand and look for something in the black eyes.
"You okay?" Giselle asks sweetly.
Ari nods, "It made me feel better."
Lorri snaps her finger. We all look.
"Let's do this." She holds her hand in the air with three fingers. Two. One.
I grab Giselle, Hanna and Ari and wink. We are standing on top of the roof of the castle. I see the guards roaming, "Them." I point to the men on the wall of the castle.
I wink us again. We start the fight fast. Fists fly at me. A gunshot hits me in the gut. I wince and rip the souls fast. Blood sprays and splatters. Giselle is wooing and leading a group of them like the pied piper. I shake my head. As she walks them to me I flash my hands past and rip their souls out. Ari is doing the same by pinning the men to the stonewalls. Only Hanna is just ripping heads off and tossing bodies down below. Shots are fired at us. I pull an arrow out of my thigh. My black blood spills into my red boot. I see the archer. I wink behind him and rip his soul.
Screams are everywhere. The shifter Fae are biting and gnashing. Lorri is biting throats out. Several of the shifters are hurt. I can't see if it's Ben and Lucas. Things like Shane are everywhere. He and Marcus fight like it's UFC.
Aleks is with Sam. They're doing the ever annoying winky-flashy-fighting-thing that pisses everyone off.
The Asian Roses are obvious. Beautiful Vampires and Nephilim. One girl makes a light with her hands and blinds a group of people, until one of the witches shoots lightning at her from a window. I feel the ground rumble beneath my feet. I wink into the window and rip the witch's soul, just as spikes shoot up from the ground. Lighting is striking everywhere. There is dust and chaos and blood in every direction. The last bit of daylight is gone and as if strengthened by it, the vampires and wolves start going savage. I see less and less. I snap my fingers making snaps of light.
There is a flash of something. I duck against the wall and wait. Someone is in the hallway with me. I wink out to the roof again and then instantly back in. I grab and spin the person. Aleks plants a huge kiss on my lips, "Ass." I shove him. He flashes us again as light fills the dark hallway.
"What was that?" I whisper from the corner where we hide.
"The witches. We need to stop them. They'll help Lillith and Tristan." He grabs my face, "If one of us dies, god let it be me, we swear to not hurt ourselves. No sinking depressions and soul eating pain. Instead, we live with joy and happiness. Promise me it's what you'll do."
I nod. I won't promise that. He'll hear the lie in my voice.
"If I die I need you to know that I am there. The warm breeze will always be me. Holding you and loving you."
He presses his lips into mine and I have a sinking feeling that he knows he's going to die. He flashes us back to the dark hallway.
"Fucking Nephilim. They keep winking."
I freeze. I know the voice.
"Phillip." I mouth. Aleks nods. He flashes and comes back holding Phillip's in a headlock. Phillip is struggling. I look out the window and wink us to where Ari is holding some men against a wall.
"Push him!" I shout.
She pushes Phillip and knocks him out.
Aleks drops him and winces. His arms are covered in dark spots.
"What's that?"
He shakes his head, "It's his thing. He can push darkness into you. To poison you."
Ari grabs his arm, "I watched him do it to someone at the witch's village. It'll kill you."
I roll my eyes, "That speech better not have been real, you son of a bitch."
He laughs and shakes his head, "Nothing can kill me Aimes. Nothing but you."
I see a man about to decapitate Shane. I wink and suck the man as Shane spins. He stabs his hand into the man's chest as the man dies.
"I had him." He grins. His face is covered in blood, red and black.
"Whatever."
I wink to the group. Hanna is carrying the dead body of a man with her. I look harder. It's a guy they met at Rose's training.
"Oh my god." I hear someone shout.
Ben runs over and whines and nuzzles against Hanna. She lowers the dead man.
Giselle looks shocked. I know the look. She slept with the dead guy. It's so obvious. She digs her hands into Ben's coat and rubs his fur. He rubs against her. I don’t really know the guy but I recognize him. Sam flashes to us, "Shit, is that Don?"
Hanna nods and makes weird monster noises.
I look at the castle grounds. The dirt has become mud with the blood of the dead littered everywhere.
"This is disgusting. I need to take a picture for Blake. He's gonna shit. It's like a real raid."
Everyone looks at me in horror.
"What? We just killed a lot of people. This battle is done. This was pathetic."
"Like a diversion?" Aleks says. He has actually been to battle.
Lorri winks to where we are, "They're in the back. Now. Hands in." She looks panicked. We all
touch her and Sam. She winks and Sam follows. We arrive at the real party. The other Roses are not there. I see Tristan. He's sitting on a stone bench with his head hanging down. I wink to him and grab him, but when my skin touches his I shoot off the roof. I see the ground and wink back to where everyone is. I look around but the tall gorgeous blonde, I am assuming is Lillith, and the other witches never noticed my little indiscretion. They don’t seem to be paying attention to Tristan. I wink so fast, they miss it.
Lorri scowls at me, "Yeah, they never thought about the fact we all wink and flash about like faeries."
I sneer, "It was worth a try."
Sam points, "She is the one making the guard."
Henry isn’t there. But Lillith is.
Lorri whispers and points across the massive stone balcony, "I go for Lillith. Aimes, you get the one who is making the guard. Sam, you get Tristan. Aleks come with me for Lillith. Everyone else stay here just in case. Go."
We wink. I grab the guard witch, as Sam grabs Tristan. I wink to the lab and dodge a hellfire blast from her fingers as I wink back out.
I feel sick suddenly leaving her there. My voice cracks when I am with the group again, "I think I just screwed up. Hanna, tell your dad and Roland to get the kids and go to your house. Now." My voice is panicked.
Hanna texts Roland. "Done. He says they already did that. They aren’t there. He hates Marcus's house. Why?"
I sigh, "Oh my god. I just left a witch who can do hellfire in the lab."
Marcus turns his face and snarls, "My lab? My house?"
I open my mouth but shut it as a giggle escapes.
His face pinches. He puts a hand up to the bridge of his nose and does the yoga breathing again. "Aimee, have I wronged you in some way that you feel the need to ruin all my shit? Is this penance for my misdeeds? Did God himself ask you to do it?"
I grimace, "I'm sorry."
I look around and realize Lorri, Aleks and Sam are all still gone, "Where are they?"
I speak too soon. Aleks shows up. His side is burning.
"Hellfire?" I shout.
He shakes his head, "No. Regular fire. Lorri is fighting her. She's too strong for me. Lorri sent me back to help here in case it's an ambush or more glamour. She wanted me to make sure Tristan still had the power."
"Do we have Tristan?" I panic when I see Aleks's face paling. Sam flashes back with the limp Tristan in his arms.
Sam shakes his head, "It doesn’t matter now. He's drained. She has it."
Aleks looks at him, "Lorri is with her fighting right now in some place Lorri called the Garden of Eden."
I feel my eyes light up, "I know that place." I look back, "Marcus can you wash Phillip's mind so he remembers shit again? Then we go to the Garden and kill Lillith?"
He nods, "Really? A favor? After what you just did? A favor? Aimee, I am not happy with you right now."
Giselle grabs his face and plants a huge kiss on his lips, "Please." She whispers.
He nods like a robot. Giselle looks back and winks at me.
"I know. I owe you a new castle."
He grabs Phillip and looks at me harshly, "You replacing the priceless art as well?"
He speaks softly to Phillip who sputters and sits up. He looks at us all and then past us. He's up like a shot, "Trist." He winks across the patio to where Tristan is being held by Sam. His eyes well. Phillip grabs him and kisses him but his face is sallow and soft.
"He's dead inside. She took it all." He cries. He rocks back and forth with Tristan lying limp in his arms. "Baby, I'm so sorry. I don’t know what happened. Baby."
It's gut wrenching to watch.
"Trist. My love. My only love."
Sam steps forward, "We can help. Aimes can suck you both and send you off."
I glance at Sam and shake my head, "You want me to kill them?"
He nods, "Yes. Now get over here."
I take a step back, "I don’t want to."
Phillip looks at me and cries out, "Please Aimee. He will never wake up. We are both clean in the conscience. Everything we have done they made us do. We can be together in heaven. Aimee this is him, for eternity, if you don't do it. This is it. Please, send us on our way. Please." He is begging me with trembling lips and silent tears. I shake my head but walk towards them.
I put my hands on them at the same time.
"I'm sorry." I whisper into the cold wind that is blowing my words around.
He shakes his head, "Not as sorry as I am."
I pull slowly. I savor the taste of them both. Phillip squeezes my hand with the last of his strength and soul and then he too is gone.
I don’t cry. I turn and look at everyone, "Let's go find her."
I want her dead. I want her to suffer and cry and scream in pain like we have. Everyone is dead. We are but a handful of what we once were.
Lorri appears looking like herself. She does a head count and then her eyes meet mine. I'm glad they're normal colored again, until she winks at me with finger to her lips.
I'm about to send Sam after her, when she winks back holding Blake's hand.
He looks around, "Holy shit is this a castle? Where are we?" He looks queasy from the wink.
My stomach flutters when I see him in her arms.
"Time for me to show you what I make." She says softly. She grabs his mouth and plants the biggest kiss ever. He pulls back sputtering, "Lorri. What the heck?"
She smiles softly, "Bite the inside of your mouth till it bleeds."
"Blake, don't do it." I step towards them but he does it. He looks into her eyes and she kisses him again. His red blood and her black mix and seeps out the creases. Gasps, curious looks, trembling hands brought to trembling lips, all ignored. They kiss like it's the last time they will ever touch another human being.
He pulls back, gasping for air. He looks at me confusedly. I shake my head in tiny movements, "Blake." I whisper. I can't imagine the horror crossing my face, but his confusion fades into fear when he sees me.
"Lorri." I say stepping forward. "Why did you do that?"
Her face is tragic and beautiful in the faded light of dusk on the hillside. She looks classic and dreadful.
She shoves him hard off the balcony where we are. He screams. I wink but she winks and catches me in the air, taking us to the balcony where we were.
She holds me. I try winking but she takes us back. I don’t hear his screams. Giselle is crying and Shane is holding her. His face is confused. We all are.
"It only takes a second." She whispers, holding my head to her shoulders like a mother would a child.
"What did you make him?"
"A savior."
I pull back. Lucas and Ben whine. They shake their heads like they hear something we do not.
She grabs my face and looks into my eyes, "Do the same thing he did. Bite your cheek."
I do it. I don’t know why but I trust her. She kisses me hard and passionately. She pulls back and grabs my head roughly. Everything goes black just as I catch a glimpse of something in the darkness. A bright light like I have never seen before.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I wake and push myself up from the ground. Everything hurts like it did when Dorian changed me but it's sudden and brutal.
I glance over at Ari. She is on the ground too. She looks confused and in pain like I do.
I look up at Lorri standing above me.
"What did you do?"
She shakes her head, "I don't know."
Blake is standing beside her. He almost glows in the dark. "What have you done to him."
His head snaps toward me with a grin like I've never seen. He's ecstatic. "Aimes, I'm an angel."
I focus my eyes better and look. His shirt is gone. Stretched out from his back, is a pair of huge black wings. They blend into the night. I glance at Shane and see the same thing. His chiseled and muscular chest is bare, but behind him is a pair of massive wings.
"You make angels?"
She presses her lips tog
ether, "Not just any kind."
It dawns on me when I look at Aleks. He is dressed and normal looking, except his face which is angry.
"You have condemned our souls?" Sam says slowly looking behind him at the wings on his back.
Giselle is shaking and attempting to stand. I wink and I'm on the mountaintop in Norway. I wink back, "I can still wink."