by Tara Brown
I walked into my room, wondering what Roland had thought Aleksander could possibly help me with. I had some thoughts on the matter, but they were private and not something I wished to discuss with Roland.
After I changed, I left my room with my head filled with millions of questions. When I got downstairs I found Roland leaning over a gadget he had taken apart on the table in the entryway.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh nothing.” Roland laughed. “Just fixing the toaster oven. How was your visit with the ever-handsome Aleksander?”
“Interesting. Anyway, who is he?”
Roland met my gaze, raising an eyebrow. “Oh, you didn’t cover that while you were up there?”
“Okay, look”—I put my hands on my hips—“I thought it was Lydia, wanting to see me again. I didn’t know it was some huge blond guy. You could’ve let me in on that.”
“I did try to get you to come downstairs.” He laughed. “You wouldn’t leave the room. What could I do?”
“I don’t know but letting him upstairs was pretty mean. What is he?”
“Something old and cursed.” He clicked a piece together. “I need to tell you, it’s tradition in your family to have a birthday ball when a girl turns sixteen—”
“I’m turning nineteen,” I cut him off.
“I’m aware. You never had your sixteenth so I have been planning a nineteenth for you. A ball actually, as is tradition. It’s even more important now because this is your last birthday.”
“What?” My stomach fell. “Am I dying? I was just thinking I feel pretty good. That elixir isn’t making me sick anymore. Oh my God—”
“I should have said last birthday as a regular human. You have some interesting changes coming your way and being part of normal society is over for you. After this birthday you’ll be part of the underworld your father belonged to.” He grunted and clicked another piece together on the toaster. “It’s not important right now. The point is, I have dresses being brought to the mansion. I want you to choose which you’ll wear. It’s a masquerade.”
“What?” I honestly wondered if I’d entered a magical hole in the ground, following after some crazy white rabbit. Everything in the last hour had been a prank. “A masquerade? That’s crazy. We don’t have to follow all the traditions my dad had. Who would we invite, Roland? I have no friends I want to be around and no family left. My new cell phone has over a thousand texts from friends from school, but I don’t know what to say to anyone. Rebecca’s death is the only thing buying me time with them. Everyone thinks I’m lost in a depression. This is insanity.”
“Leave the details to me. First things first, Lydia would like you to pay her a visit.”
“You’re being weird. Why are you being all funny and not telling me stuff and fixing toasters and planning balls?”
“Not right now, Hanna.” He sighed. “Lydia, dress, and then we answer questions.” He gazed back down at the toaster.
“Fine.” I frowned and walked to the front door. “Will you at least tell me how to get there?”
“She’ll be here any moment,” he called after me.
As if on cue, the blonde girl who murdered my father was at the door. She was different somehow, less frightening.
Hate filled me seeing her. “What are you doing here?” I seethed.
The girl looked at me empathetically. “I have to bring you to Lydia.”
“No.” I glanced back at Roland who waved me off.
“Aimee is much faster than a car. Now go.”
“Not a chance.” I crossed my arms. “I want answers before I agree to anything.”
“Death dealer.” Marcus Dragomir walked across the front lawn with a curious expression on his face.
“Dragomir!” The girl’s eyes narrowed. “You have no right to be here.”
“Oh, Aimee.” He laughed. “I have every right to be here. How’s Lorri? Last time I saw her, she was under some pretty heavy fire.”
The girl’s hand shot out, gripping Marcus by the throat. He smiled wickedly, clearly not afraid of her deadly touch. She squeezed again but he didn’t flinch.
She pulled back her hand, staring at it as if mystified. “How?”
Marcus laughed harder. “You can’t expect me to bring my soul with me everywhere I go, Aimee. Tsk, tsk, tsk! Foolish girl. Now if you will excuse me.” He eyed me with his devilish grin. “Shall we?” He offered me his arm.
Being defiant, I gave Roland and the girl called Aimee a glare and walked away from them both, taking Marcus’ arm.
“Hanna, go with Aimee. I need to speak with Mr. Dragomir myself.” Roland stepped forward.
“I won’t be going anywhere with her. If you want me to see Lydia, I’ll get Marcus to drive me there. I’m sure he knows the way.”
Roland was clearly angry, but he kept his mouth shut.
I huffed off, dragging Marcus with me instead of the reverse.
Marcus gave a smug grin but I sneered at him as well. “Just because I chose to go with you, doesn’t mean you won’t be doing some serious explaining. I want answers, and I’m done with the shit explanations you all give in tiny doses.”
“Yes, dear.” Marcus chuckled, walking me to the large black car in the driveway with a man in a bowler hat sitting in the driver’s seat.
“Is he for real?”
“What?” Marcus frowned. “Do you mean is he alive?”
“No, I mean is he seriously wearing a bowler hat? Why? Is he dead?”
“No, not that I’m aware of.” He paused and thought. “You know, I don’t actually believe he can be killed.”
“Whatever.” I glanced back at the house, wondering if I had made the wrong choice. “You know, all the bad guys’ drivers wear bowler hats in James Bond movies. It’s like a signature.”
Marcus’ dark-blue eyes sparkled. “You think I’m the villain?”
“Yes.” I fought my body. “I know you are. You’re smug and cocky. That’s a villainous trait and you’re too good looking. Oh, and you have an accent and a driver with a bowler hat.”
He tilted his head, examining me. “Well, James Bond is sexy, he’s smug, oh—and cocky. I dare say he has an accent, Scottish even in a few of the movies, and he’s quite good looking. I’m comfortable enough in my sexuality to admit when a man’s attractive, and he is. So maybe I’m the good guy.”
“I don’t think so.”
He put a hand up to his mouth to whisper, “Maybe the driver with the bowler hat is trying to be badass.”
I laughed and regarded the Tudor once more. Aimee was gone but Roland stood at the front door watching me. His old eyes showed concern. I hated the way he avoided every question. Sighing, I let Marcus pull me into the vehicle and close the door.
The driver started the huge black car and drove away. I tried not to look at Roland, aware I was ignoring my father’s dying wish, but I wanted answers.
I turned to Marcus, trying not to breathe him in. “What are you?”
“Nephilim.”
“What?” I frowned. “Is that a word?”
“Yes.” He laughed. “My father was an angel who came to Earth and got my mother pregnant.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.” His dark eyes twinkled like crystals as he grinned. I suspected he was toying with me. “Some time ago.”
“Did he stay with your mom? Like was he your dad?”
“No.” The sparkle in his eyes faded and a hostile sneer crossed his face. “He did not. I was raised by my grandparents.”
I didn’t ask about his mother, knowing I wouldn’t want anyone to ask where my mother was.
“What am I?”
“Nothing.” He shrugged. “For now, a girl. Maybe a woman. Are you a woman?” The way he asked it made me wrinkle my nose.
“None of your business. Focus.” I blushed. “I know I’m a girl, but I want to know what kind of monster I am. If you’re half an angel, am I half the devil?”
“God no.” He laug
hed. “The devil is actually a very funny woman named Lorri, and no—I dare say she has never reproduced anyone or anything. You, my dear, are something special indeed. You are the worst kind of monster: man-made. Although you’re a special blend of things.” He leaned in, talking too close to my face and making me dizzy the way the Aleksander guy did. “Lydia’s, Henry, if you please.”
The bowler hat nodded.
They were both up to no good, I could sense it.
Marcus’ eyes narrowed. “What?”
“How do you make me feel like this? I met a guy named Aleksander, and he did this to me too. He made me feel funny.”
“Side effect of what I am.” He lifted his hands, touching my face with his cool fingertips. “Can’t be helped. So you met Aleksander, did you?” He leaned in, smelling my neck. “Yes, yes—Aleks. Did he come to see you this very morning?” His dark-blue eyes fought to hide something.
“Roland thinks he can help me with something but no one will tell me what.”
“Hmph, fat chance of that. He is like you in one respect—he too is man-made.” His voice was laden with pretentious mockery.
I hated the way he’d said “man-made” like we were nothing but garbage, so I turned toward the window. My sudden dislike for him made me impervious to his influence. The dizziness had vanished.
We turned onto a dead-end street lined with huge old trees.
Henry stopped the car in the middle of the road.
“We’re here.” Marcus peered out the window, speaking softly, “This car is permitted no farther.” He climbed out and strolled around to my side.
He opened the door, offering me his hand.
I climbed out, refusing it. He didn’t step back as I left the car. He stood his ground, forcing me to step directly in front of him. He gazed down on me. “I cannot come with you, but if you need help, just run back out here. I am unable to protect you in there but out here I would die for you, if I could.” He winked.
“Need help?” I glared at him. “She’s like a hundred years old, Marcus, not a titan.”
His dark eyes narrowed. “It’s not her I’m worried about.”
“Why?” I gulped. “What do they want with me?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “They may try to keep you against your will. If you want, I will take you to my place right now.”
I peeped out around him at the massive white mansion at the end of the road. “No. I need some answers.”
He took my hand in his and softly kissed the back of it. “I will not leave this spot until you return.”
“Stop being nice to me and then mean to me. You can’t have it both ways.”
“As you wish.” He stepped aside, creating a pathway for me to walk to the mansion.
A warm wind surrounded me as I walked uneasily up to the old house.
A girl stood at the front porch. She had dark hair and mocha skin. She wore an old-fashioned dress and an apron and waved at me excitedly.
Nervous, I turned back to Marcus who smiled at me. I didn’t know which way to walk, but I wanted answers and Lydia was the only person who could help.
The closer I got to the house, the less certain I was about the decision I was making. “You must be the Miss Hanna we been hearing about.” She was super Southern.
“Hi. Are you, are you a-a—” I raised an eyebrow, seeing the front door through the girl. “Oh my God.”
“Oh, just say ghost and get it out. Lord suffering, I don’t have all day to be standing here waiting on you. Come in before the flies gets ya.”
I didn’t know what any of it meant. What flies?
When I turned back, Marcus was still next to the car waiting for me to return. I contemplated running back to him. He was the devil I knew.
The door was wide open.
I crept in slowly, my eyes scanning around at the huge entryway with old-fashioned iron benches and coat rack.
“Well now, dear, come on in and get settled. We have much to discuss.” Lydia stormed into the room, grabbing my hand and dragging me farther into the house as the door closed unassisted.
In the sitting room, Lydia spent a brief second glancing out the front window. She must have noticed who stood on the street outside her house.
After a moment she came and sat, smiling as she put her hands on mine. “Well now, my dear, you had some nerve coming here with Marcus. Did Roland not tell you we don’t associate with the Dark Ones?”
“What?” I frowned. “Dark what?”
Lydia rolled her eyes. “Oh, I suppose we have a lot of explaining to do. Roland seems to have left it all to me. Thoughtful of him.”
“Please tell me that’s why I’m here.”
Lydia smiled. “Well, first we need to get working on that elixir your father left for you, and second, we need to get you into training. You must start working on controlling yourself when you change.”
The hair on my arms rose. “Change?”
“Well, of course. We have people who can work with you. People who will help you in a safe environment.”
“No.” I shook my head. “No. I won’t change. Not if I can stop myself.”
Lydia laughed. “My dear, the potion we gave you was only meant to be a short-term solution for your father. He stayed on it for a long time and it killed him. He was very old and strong, and it killed him. I swore to him and Roland, with everything I am, that I would help you.”
“I would rather die than become that monster.” The statement was harsh for me to say, but true.
“Who is the man on the street?” A girl walked into the sitting room and sat down. She was athletic looking and plain, but in a cute sort of way with dark hair and eyes.
“Ari, this is Hanna, and that is Marcus Dragomir.”
“Is he a Dark One? Should I go get rid of him?”
“Get rid of him? Are you guys like the mafia or something?” I smirked at the young girl who was no more than a day older than me, if that.
“Oh my God, sorry. Is he with you?” She winced.
“No, I mean he gave me a ride. He won’t come in.”
“Of course not.” Lydia’s eyes burned. “He can’t come in.”
Ari’s expression fell. “Hanna, you run with a rough crowd.”
A hugely tall and thick boy walked in. I couldn’t gage him either. He was young, and yet like Aimee, his eyes spoke volumes.
“Hanna, this is Lucas,” Lydia introduced us.
He nodded, sitting on the couch next to Ari. The way he sat, almost wrapping around Ari but not touching her, made me uncomfortable, like he was protecting her. A niggle of shame crept through me, realizing they must know the monster I was.
“Don’t be ashamed, Hanna. Everyone here has something they don’t like about themselves.”
My face flushed. My embarrassment increased. “I just came for answers.”
“Answers take time.” Lydia smiled sweetly. “First we work on curing the monster and controlling the changes. Then we answer questions. We need to remove the danger.”
“Okay look, I need to know what’s happening to me. Curing it is unlikely. My father tried to cure it for decades.” Hopeless anger raged through me. The lack of knowledge certainly pissed me off, but the reaction felt unnaturally forced from me. Just as it started, it got incredibly worse, fast. “Roland wants to throw some end-of-being-human ball and that guy can’t come in your yard, and this guy looks like he might eat me if I move suddenly, and you look like you’re ten. Are you guys dating? Sort of gross. You must be like what—thirty? Dude. And Lydia, you want me to come here, but you don’t want to tell me anything. And then you send Aimee, who oddly enough killed my dad, to come get me. So we could maybe hang out and shit. This is bizarre. Sorry for swearing, but it is.” I rose from the chair, watching as the big guy moved as if readying himself in case I decided to do something dangerous. “Oh my God. Calm down.” I rolled my eyes and walked from the room.
“Hanna, dear, wait a moment. Please.”
I ignored Lydia’s voice and walked to the front door, pulling it open to find Aleks standing on the deck, leaning against the railing.
“Wow.” I laughed, shaking my head. “You live here too? What is this, some kind of home for monsters?”
“No.” He grabbed my arm, pulling me close. His white-blue eyes mesmerized me. “You need to stay away from him.” He pointed to Marcus. “That is trouble.”
“Don't tell me what to do. You don't even know what’s wrong with me. He is the only one who is actively trying to help me. I think I need to stay away from all of you. You’re some kind of toxic weird cult. I heard about this side of town and the cult. I just didn’t know my dad was a card-carrying member. But it makes sense now.” I yanked my arms away from Aleks and marched down the stairs.
“Wait, please, Hanna.”
Marcus stood on the street, appearing ready to break into a run. I walked to him, listening to Lydia calling me back to the house, but I ignored them all.
Marcus’ face was full of relief as I got back to where he was.
“She meets you on neutral ground from now on,” he said softly, stepping between me and the house.
“Hanna, you do whatever you want to do, okay? If you want to come here, we will help you. We want to help you,” Aleks pleaded.
“Leave me alone.” I climbed into the car.
Marcus laughed. “Well, mate, I’d say she’s decided. So guess we’ll call you, if we need you.”
Aleks took a step toward Marcus but Lydia shouted something, making him stop.
Marcus got into the car and closed the door. “Home, Henry, if you please.”
Henry started the car and drove.
I watched out the back window as the mansion and the people in front of it got smaller and smaller. Something in my gut told me I was making the wrong choice. With everything that had gone on, I couldn’t convince myself the old woman meant no harm.
Chapter 9
You live in a castle, in Oregon
When the house came into view, my breath pulled from my lungs in a gasp. It was huge. It made my father’s mansion resemble a guesthouse.
“You live in a castle?” I asked, feeling odd saying that sentence. “A castle in Oregon?”