The Roses Academy- the Entire Collection

by Tara Brown

  Finally, he spoke, “My dad is immortal too. When I was young he raped and murdered a woman. I found him drunk with her dead beside him. I cleaned up the mess for him and hid the body. I thought it wasn’t his fault. I thought he had been so drunk that it had been an accident. I didn’t know.”

  “Oh God.” Images of my own mother started to flicker in my mind.

  A small tear left his eye, making its slow trek across his face. “Many times that year, people came in search of the woman. She was the medicine man’s daughter. He was devastated that she had run away like that. Apparently, they had fought over whom she would marry. He used his magic, eventually, to try to find her. I don’t know exactly how it works, but somehow the magic told him what had really happened. He showed up at my house when I was twelve. He was angry. He cursed my dad, in hopes that my dad would murder our family. He cursed me with a type of immortality where I would forever feel responsible for my dad’s actions. The curse would set in upon my father committing a murder, dragging me to the scene of the crime.” His voice wavered but he cleared his throat.

  “He cursed me so I would be forced to clean up after my dad every time. I would be forced to help the victims left behind and from their suffering I would get my sustenance. I would heal them over time, from the shadows. I have not seen my dad for over six hundred years. I always show up too late to stop him.” He finished speaking as if unable, but I knew that was it. He was done talking, even though an incomplete feeling hung in the air.

  “Your dad murdered my mom.” It was a statement.

  “I am so sorry, Aimee.”

  “You came here to clean up the mess.” Again a statement.

  He nodded remorsefully.

  “What went wrong? How did we end up here?”

  He smiled. “You. I fell the moment I saw you. I spent too much time in your presence. I loved you. I couldn’t focus on what I was doing. You sat on the side of the road, telling me everything and you were so perfect. You missed your mom the way I missed my family.”

  I flinched at the thought of it. I wanted to comfort him, but I was not completely finished with the emotions I had brewing within me. I wanted answers more than anything at that moment. “What does it mean now that your curse is gone?”

  He grimaced. “My dad’s victims will suffer incredibly. No one will help them.” I could tell he was sickened by it. “I won’t ever feel joy or peace again. I am now just a lost soul. I will forever be stuck in the in-between.”

  “You still have all of your abilities?”

  “Yes.” He looked at me incredulously.

  I knew he wondered how I could be so technical about it, but I had shut off my emotions for a moment to process what was going on. I was unable to feel sorry for him while I was busy feeling sorry for myself.

  “Do you feel nothing being here with me now?”

  “I do.” He smiled at me through his eyelashes, making my nerves quiver and my breath suck in. “You seem to be the exception to the rule. I love you and can feel love for you.”

  “Your dad raped and killed my mom. You can’t love me and I can’t love you.”

  He seemed dejected. “Aimee, I couldn’t tell you the truth. You understand what I’m saying, don’t you?”

  “No. If you had been honest with me from the start when you realized I could see you, none of this would have happened.”

  “You were already sick and my dad had already killed your mom.”

  I became queasy. “I wish we had never met.”

  “I know you do. I won’t bother you. If that’s your wish.” He leaned in and kissed me and like a puff of smoke was gone.

  I didn’t know what to do. I hadn’t wanted him to go, had I?

  I didn’t want to be alone again but I was.

  I was sad about my mom. I curled into a ball and fell asleep again until I heard the bushes rustle behind me, waking me up.

  Aleks whispered, “I am so sorry.” He sat beside me, pulling me into him. He slipped his huge black sweater off and pulled it over my head. I didn’t realize I was cold until the warmth of the sweater seeped into my skin.

  “I’m sorry too.” I shivered, closing my eyes. I had gotten to the place of insanity. I wasn’t certain any of it was real anymore. It was a side effect of the drug or I was dead, or it was the long-assumed brain tumor. “Where will we go?” I asked, knowing I couldn’t go back to my place. I couldn’t stay one more day at the beach without murdering an entire village out of boredom.

  He frowned. “You can’t go anywhere until you change.”

  I laughed bitterly. “I’m not changing, Aleks. It isn’t happening. I’m still me, just a bit different. I’m the same as I was at Blake’s a week ago. Too bad Blake’s didn’t work out. I could use a shower.”

  He nodded, laughing. “Your body had to be healed by Dorian’s blood before it could start to transform. You were on your deathbed. Now that you’re all healed inside, the change should start to take place.” The way he said Dorian made me curious.

  “Why do you hate him, beyond the obvious winning personality traits I experienced?”

  “I don’t hate him. I just don’t like angels. Everything they touch somehow turns to shit. Anyway, I want to get you somewhere warm for the night.”

  “Yeah. I smell.”

  He laughed. It was still weak but he seemed to be a little perkier.

  Most likely I was thinking of the same thing as he was, a hotel room. “Uhh, we should probably stay out here. We can make a fire again.”

  “Why?” Aleks looked at me doubtfully. “What’s wrong?”

  “Well.” I bit my lower lip, ashamed of myself. “I saw Shane the other day. He came here and was angry with me. Blake had told him everything that’s happened so far.”

  “Blake knows everything? Everything, including me?” He didn’t sound impressed.

  I knew my eyes had answered for me when disappointment filled his face.

  He raised his eyebrows. “I told you those things in confidence.”

  “No. I didn’t know what to do or where to go. I just needed someone on my team.”

  “Me!” He gripped my shoulders harshly. “I’m always on your team. I just know what kind of danger I bring with me everywhere I go.”

  “Shane was furious about what happened between us. He was cruel and I deserved every second of it. I dated you both at the same time. I’m disgusting.”

  Aleks chewed the side of his lower lip. “You shouldn’t be around him anyway. First, I don’t like it, and second, you could hurt him.”

  All I heard was “him.” I could hurt him.

  I frowned. “I can’t hurt you?”

  He laughed. “No. I am doomed to walk the Earth alone. Nothing can hurt me. Do you honestly think I’ve never attempted dying?”

  “Oh.” I had never thought about it.

  Aleks rolled his eyes. “It’s not like in the movies, Aimee. I don’t have a mansion somewhere with all kinds of international money and friends in all the right places. I am alone almost all the time, except for the odd demon or other mythical being. Did you hurt Shane?”

  “Yeah.” I flinched at the ever-increasing disappointment in his eyes. “It was an accident. I grabbed him to try to make him listen and my hands pulled from him like they were sucking on him. He was still, like a zombie, and I was filling up. I let go and he left. He seemed dizzy and weird afterward.”

  He grinned at me. “You got lucky. Your abilities haven’t set in yet. Until you learn to control that, you might want to refrain from touching anyone.” He stared at me through his lashes. “Except me, of course.”

  “Yeah, right.” I smiled, knowing I probably wouldn’t be able to touch him, not while Shane was alive. That gave us anywhere from sixty to eighty years to work out what we were to each other. It made me smile disgustedly. It was the life sentence I deserved.

  We walked back up the beach to where I had built my fire initially, and I watched as he made the new fire. He was much faster at i
t than I was, and within a short amount of time, we were sitting by a blazing fire.

  I needed to see my family before Blake decided to continue his witch hunt and tell my sister. I didn’t want him filling their heads with all sorts of truth without a chance to explain. I hadn’t chosen the path I was on because I had a death wish. The fact that I wasn’t graduating was bothering me beyond belief. I could get my diploma immediately with only a few phone calls. My final grades would still be passes with me missing the last couple of months of school. I could show up for finals and just write the stupid things.

  I missed school.

  And my guild on WoW.

  And just chilling, eating a bowl of cereal with my dad, watching the Discovery Channel.

  I wanted normal. I wanted Giselle’s millions of texts about hot doctors. I wanted to hear where she was going to get a tattoo. She had endless things to say about tattoos. First, it would have to be nice enough to hide her scars. Second, she would want to still have it when she was old, like thirty-five and shit. And third, it would have to enhance her sexiness, not make her look trashy. Exotic, not stripper. I smiled, recalling the conversation.

  “You’re not in love with me, are you? Not even slightly?” He looked me in the eye, demanding an answer.

  “No.” I was amazed at how easily he had read my face. I forgot he had spent months studying everything I did. “When I was around you before, I was mesmerized by whatever you are. It has an effect on me. I can’t be the first girl to have had it?”

  “No.” He blushed and glanced down, making that face I found irresistible. He was sexy in the firelight. I had to give him that.

  “And now I feel it, but I seem to be able to resist it.”

  “Then I will wait and earn your love.” He stood in front of me. “I will wait as long as you need to figure things out. I’ve waited over six hundred years for you. Every day I died being forced to live without love.”

  In the darkness his blue eyes stood out even more. They sparkled.

  He knelt in front of me in the sand and brushed my hair from my face on either side. His warm hands sent chills up my spine. His eyes changed, becoming cold and hard. They burned with hatred, frightening me. His face twisted as he spoke to the side of my head, “What are you doing here?”

  He spoke behind me. I was off my driftwood, pulled roughly to the far side of the fire, and placed behind him before I could register what was happening. I couldn’t see anything, only feel his tense body holding me still.

  “Son, I just wanted to see you. I’ve missed you all these years. I know you’ve missed me,” a man laughed.

  I peered through the rigid arms holding me in place to see a naked man. He was in his forties, if I had to guess. He was as large as Aleks was and resembled him. His eyes were the same white blue.

  “You’ve missed me, Father, by running from me every time you killed another innocent. I have spent six centuries cleaning up your messes.” Aleks’ voice was a deep growl. I had no idea what he was capable of until that moment.

  The naked man stood tall, proud of his physique. I managed to avoid letting my eyes fall below his face, but it was a struggle.

  “Son.” He held his arms out as if in peace. “I just thought maybe you’d want to bury the hatchet. Besides, I haven’t met your young lady yet. You’re being rude, Aleksander.”

  His dad had maintained his Norwegian accent, more than likely because he spent most of his time alone.

  Aleks’ grip tightened on me as his muscles flexed in his back and arms. “She is none of your concern. This is between you and me.” His dad started to get upset. His body shook in a way I’d only ever seen in a person having a seizure.

  His eyes were fixed on me as he licked his lips. His stare was beyond menacing. Instantly, we were moving. I closed my eyes and we stopped.

  I was standing outside Shane’s house. Aleks faced me, looking down at me. “I need to do this. I’m so sorry, but I’ve waited for over six hundred years to be able to stop him.”

  “Kill him for me too.”

  “I will.” He was gone and I was alone again. I turned to Shane’s huge house and knew I wasn’t welcome. I wanted to go home, but I was terrified Blake had talked to my dad already.

  My poor dad.

  I wished I had just been honest with him from the beginning. I walked around the side of Shane’s house and sat on the deck. His windows were closed and he was inside watching TV. I could hear the TV just faintly from the kitchen window that was wide open. I imagined I was in there watching it with him, snuggled into him and warm.

  Instead, I sat on the hard deck and waited for Aleks to come back, which was unlikely. His dad would either kill him or run away. I was completely alone again, but this time something was different.

  The change was coming.

  I’d spent over a week waiting for it and now that I was at Shane’s house, it was here.

  My skin began to burn and my vision blurred. I hugged myself tightly as the stomachache started again, but this time it was intense. I moaned, I couldn’t help myself. I got up, afraid Shane would hear, and staggered toward the stalker woods. My legs crumpled along the way, taking me down on the grass. I heard a scream and should have been scared, but I hurt too much to worry about that girl. I crawled along the grass as the sweat poured off me. I heard the scream again. It was starting to annoy me that the girl wouldn’t shut up.

  “Aimee! Aimee—is that you? Aimee, oh my God.” Shane’s voice filled the background, but I tried to crawl away from him. I needed to keep him safe. The darkness came to take me. Shane’s worried face and his mouth moving were the last things I saw. I couldn’t hear anything over the girl screaming.

  Chapter 27

  When is anything ever enough?

  I heard noises. It sounded like someone talking. There were a few of them. I didn’t know where I was, but I worried Shane was with me and I would hurt him. My body felt as if someone had taken a tiny blade and cut every inch of me and then dripped lemon juice on the cuts. Even the bottoms of my feet stung.

  I figured the townsfolk had heard I was a monster and had come with pitchforks to claim me. I could hear them arguing, but I didn’t know what they were saying. My sister, Blake, Shane, and someone I didn’t know argued.

  “She’s changing just like she said she would.” Shane’s tone sounded as if he was defending me.

  “No, she’s sick. We need to get her to a mental institute. The drugs have done something very bad to her. I think she has drug-induced schizophrenia,” Blake spoke coldly. I couldn’t believe he hated me that much to want to commit me.

  I heard a growl. “Blake, you try to take her and I will kill you.” Shane was defending me. Bliss and guilt rotated inside me.

  “Boys, seriously. I think we need to think about the fact that it’s Aimee. Boring, lame Aimee. She would never do this on purpose. She hates life or any sort of exciting things and would never worry my dad like this. This is not the norm for her, she is sick. She needs a hospital, not the nutter one either, Blake—I can’t believe you said that.” My sister tried to help. I tried not to be offended.

  “Shane, I think Alise is right. She needs a doctor. She’s sick.” The mystery woman spoke, trying to reason.

  “No, she stays here. If we take her to a hospital, they’re going to think it’s what he thinks it is. There is no way I will do that to her.” Shane was defiant.

  “She didn’t choose you, man. You’re defending some other dude’s girl.” Blake’s words cut like a knife.

  “I chose her.” Shane’s words cut deeper. I wanted to scream I was so frustrated. “You’re her best friend. You should have chosen her too. I want you both the hell out of my house.” Shane wasn’t negotiating.

  “Shane, she’s my sister. I’ll go get my dad and he’ll come take her.” My sister tried to threaten him.

  “Yeah, you really think involving your dad is the way to help her? If you really want to hurt your dad like that, Alise, go ahead. You
’re more selfish than I thought. Neither of you is thinking about what’s best for Aimee. What if she does change into something? What if she did drink demon blood? The doctors will lock her away, poking and prodding her.” Shane was my only salvation at that point.

  The pain was too brutal again. I moaned in agony.

  I opened my eyes and cringed at the light. Shane was next to me. His mom gazed down from behind him as he came and knelt beside me. I was on a couch in his sunroom, the make-out room. It was where it all started and it was where it was all ending.

  “Aimee, can you hear me?” Shane spoke.

  My eyes flickered open and shut. “Yeah,” I croaked.

  “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

  I tried to make my lips form a smile. “No, I am the one who is sorry. I love you, Shane, and I want you to have this. I meant it, every word.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the crumpled damp letter. “I chose you—I always chose you.”

  He took it from me and bent down to kiss my forehead.

  “I have never loved anyone but you. I never betrayed you, I swear.” I realized then and there that when faced with losing either guy in my life, it was Shane that was killing me. I could live without Aleks, but there was no way I could live without Shane.

  The pain grew in intensity again, making me scream.

  Shane held me tightly until I pushed him away. “My skin sucks the life out of you. You can’t touch me. I’m becoming something evil.” My voice was almost gone.

  “I’ll take my chances.” He wrapped me in a blanket and held me. He wiped my face with something cold. It was refreshing.

  “She’s burning up, Shane. Maybe a hospital?” his mom suggested.

  “No.” His responses had not faltered.

  I blacked out again, lost in a space and time that didn’t matter. I floated in a dark sea of emptiness.

  I woke to someone laughing. I knew the voice. “Aimee, Aimee, Aimee, whatever will we do with you?” It was an evil voice. It mocked my pain. “You foolish girl. You should have stayed with me. It’s taken me a week to find you. Days you’ve suffered needlessly.”