by Tara Brown
“I don’t feel anything. I don’t feel regret.”
“Do you love anyone, Sam? When you think of your mother possibly being held captive by Jonathan as his fun-time girl, like you fear she is, do you feel anger?”
“I feel nothing.” The emptiness hit hard but there was no reaction.
“Then you’re as useful as a tit on a bull. You feel no anger? You feel no love? What will drive you to help us in the fight for your mother’s freedom?”
“I don’t really feel like fighting.”
She laughed bitterly. “All this on Day One. Great news, Sam. Now the best part is that this spell grows. The nothingness you feel today will intensify. In a month, you will feel even less. Soon, you will not even feel pain.”
“This is bad.”
She laughed harder. “No shit. Now go find Ophelia and get her scrying for a solution to this little problem before you hang yourself and can’t die, so you just dangle there like the idiot you are.”
I should have felt frightened. I knew that.
Chapter 14
The fallen
Ophelia
“You want to go for a walk?” I asked the redhead.
“Sure.” She got up from the armchair and followed me from the room.
“My name is Ophelia.” I regretted the weird fight we’d all had.
“Hanna.”
“Nice to meet you.”
We walked from the castle in an awkwardness neither of us tried to fix. We strolled along the bushes in the back garden, not speaking, until I couldn’t stand it anymore. “I’m sorry. I never would have done it if I’d known what he was asking.”
“I deserve everything I’m getting. I let my powers get the best of me. I swore I would never let that happen, but I did. I know it wasn’t your fault. I’m sorry for attacking you.” Hanna sounded sheepish.
“I just wish it could be last month all over and all of this was gone. I want my friends and my parents and my sister. I want normal.” I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly.
Hanna burst into laughter. “Oh God, you have no idea. You know Aimee was a nerdy science geek who was going to university and had finally landed the boy of her dreams, before she became a death dealer? Ari had a nice little café with her uncle in the desert before her abilities kicked in. I had a best friend named Rebecca. My aunt and uncle murdered her and triggered my dormant freak genes from my dad’s science experiments on himself. We all just used to be people. Normal people.”
“That sucks. This whole thing sucks.” I didn’t know what else to say.
“I know about your family. Dorian told me your sister was taken. I’m sorry.” Hanna sounded sincere.
“Yeah. So who is that Dorian guy?”
“Fallen angel. They’re all angels or demons or some kind of bullshit.” Hanna paused in the grass. “Sorry. I’m still a bit crazy. I can’t believe Sam and I are done. I can’t believe I screwed that up.”
I didn’t say anything. I just gave Hanna the quiet moment she needed.
“He won’t ever be my boyfriend again.” She sat on one of the rocks that outlined the garden beside us.
I put my hand on Hanna’s back and rubbed it like I had done to my sister millions of times. She dated a lot of boys who always ended up being dirtbags.
I was about to speak when I saw movement in the forest behind us. It looked like a man walking amongst the massive trees. “Is there someone else here?”
“I don’t know.”
“I think I see someone spying on us. It might be one of the vampires. I’ll go look,” I whispered as I headed to the edge of the backyard.
When I got closer I called out, “Who are you? Come out, I saw you.”
A man stepped from behind a tree.
“Who are you?”
“Oliver.” He spoke with an English accent and wasn’t dressed like he belonged in the woods. He wore jeans, loafers, and a light-blue dress shirt with short sleeves that hugged his biceps. He had short dark-blond hair and a tattoo on the right side of his neck just poking out of the collar of the dress shirt.
“Why are you lurking in the woods, all creepy?”
“I almost came to the house, but I saw you and thought you were your mother, just with different colored hair.”
“You know my mother?” I mentally had to hold back from saying Helen.
“Everyone knows who your mother is. That’s why I’m here. To help you.” He grinned when he spoke.
I held my finger up, pointing at his face. “Who are you?”
“A friend of your mother’s.” He never even flinched. “You must not know about me.”
“I don’t know anything about you. No one has ever mentioned an Oliver.” It took moments for me to realize he could be my father, for all I knew. None of the others seemed to age beyond thirtyish and he looked twenty-five. I held my finger strongly at him. “Don’t come any closer.”
“You might not know me, but I know all there is to know about you. Born July 7, 1994 at 7:07. Your brother was born a minute after you, making you the older twin. You’re part of a prophecy to end the world or heal it, depending on how you choose. I know I'm drawn to you. From the instant it was discovered you were alive, I have felt you at every turn and could have come to your location, but I waited, letting Lorri and the others find you and keep you safe.”
“That's creepy. You are not welcome here. This is the vampire queen’s property.”
He laughed. “You are much cuter than I thought. I had feared you would inherit your father’s looks. He’s not the handsomest of men.”
“You know my father as well? How?”
“I fell with him.”
I gulped, realizing he would then be as strong as Lorri. I held my finger pointed at him. “You’re an angel?”
He gave a short nod.
“Why are you here?”
“For you.”
I took a step back and shouted over my shoulder, “Hanna, come meet my friend.”
He flinched seeing Hanna. “Is that a siren?”
“Don’t like sirens?”
“Oh, I like them just fine.” His laugh grew nervous. “In fact, I have a rather hard time not liking them. Tell her to stay over there.”
But it was too late, the crunching of Hanna’s footsteps on the gravel announced her. “Who is he?” she asked.
“He’s like Lorri, only he must be one of the bad ones. Lorri never mentioned him. His name’s Oliver,” I spoke to her but maintained my glare at him.
“Oliver? Yeah, Dorian mentioned him to me. He’s Jonathan’s pet. He let the darkness take him the way your father did.”
Oliver scoffed. “Of course Dorian would know you.” He said it slyly. “He’s always liked sirens. I recall he had one a while ago. Never got over her. She was lovely.”
Hanna sneered, “Why are you here?” She pulled her phone out and sent a message.
Dorian appeared behind us. “Oliver, Brother. What on earth would possess you to come here? Turning yourself in?” The smell of them both was intense, but I held my finger pointed at Oliver.
He smiled. “Brother. It’s good to see you again.”
“I could have gone a little longer before I saw you again. You’re a traitor to your own kind.”
Oliver’s eyes flashed. “I cannot say you misjudge me, Brother, but I can say I was wrong. Wrong in my betrayal and wrong in the side I chose. The dark is a tempting seductress.”
“You’re boring me. Out with why you’re here.”
He shrugged. “I came to help. Jonathan’s taken it too far. He’s gone mad.”
Dorian laughed. “He’s always been mad and you’ve always been a wanker, so stop wasting my time. Go back and tell Jonathan your pathetic little attempt failed. We won’t be tricked by you two.”
Deciding I was done with the whole thing, I waved and stepped back. “Well, weird meeting you, Oliver. Please tell my father I said hello and thanks for raping my mother for a thousand years so I could be born to th
is wonder and excitement.” I turned to Dorian. “And whatever.”
Oliver spoke softly, taunting me, “I can get you guys inside.” I spun, meeting his gaze. His words floated into my mind the way Lydia’s did. Your sister Abbey is still alive, for now. We need to hurry. She said to say “ditto” to you.
My entire body covered in chills. I couldn’t breathe. He knew her name and about ditto? She had to be alive. I was so excited I couldn’t even register the excitement. But knowing she had actually been taken, made it scarier.
Hanna conceded, “We do need help getting in there.”
Dorian crossed his arms. “It’s a trap. We follow him in and Jonathan gets you.” His eyes darted to mine.
“But we could get my sister.”
Oliver cocked his head. “Brother, Jonathan has the upper hand. Why would he need her to come to him? Ophelia is nothing to him.”
“Perhaps,” Dorian replied. “But I’m not playing at this, Oliver. I’ve sent a message to Lorri who will no doubt be here any minute, with Aimee.”
Oliver grinned. “Ah yes, the dealer you made. Quite the intelligent move. You’ve made something bigger than us all there. Can she take us out?”
Dorian nodded. “She can.”
Oliver chuckled. “You actually made something that can kill you? You’ve always been the reckless one.”
“At least he has honor and integrity! At least he is willing to fight for what is right, even if it means creating something that can kill him!” Lorri shouted across the yard as she stormed over to us with Aimee behind her.
“Well hello, love. Long time no see. I suppose not as long as it has been since you’ve seen me.”
Lorri glared.
Oliver cracked a boyish grin. “You didn’t think you were being stealthy, did you? I mean, honestly, you brought a siren with you. Jonathan smelled her from ten miles.”
Lorri shrugged. “Maybe we brought her for him to smell.”
“You like sirens, do you?” Hanna grinned, taking a step toward Oliver. “Can I show him inside, Lorri? Show him how sirens work around here?”
“No.” Lorri shook her head. “I don’t want you breaking him until I get some answers. And for someone like him, we’ll get Aimee to break him.”
Oliver eyed Aimee. “You must be the dealer?”
Aimee seemed baffled. “I guess I am.”
“Oliver, enough. There must be a reason for this now.” Lorri was visibly annoyed.
Oliver’s cold blue eyes hardened as he spoke, “He’s murdered my son.”
“No.” Lorri looked back at Dorian whose jaw dropped. “Phillip?”
Oliver nodded.
“Why?” Lorri crossed her arms.
Dorian glanced at Hanna and me. “Leave us. You too, Aimee.”
A single tear fell from Oliver’s eye. Where it landed on the ground a small white flower instantly grew.
His voice whispered in my mind again. Help me. I need you. Help me get my vengeance. His eyes met mine, reaching out to me.
Conflicted and wanting to know more about my sister, I didn’t move until Lorri barked at me, “Now!”
I turned and headed back to the house in silence with Aimee and Hanna until Aimee glanced at Hanna and then walked ahead of us.
“She hates me,” Hanna whispered.
“She doesn’t hate you. She loves Sam like family. Those Roses all seem really close. Have they all been together long?”
“A couple of years. Not long enough for the bond they have formed. You and I won’t ever be welcome members, like they are. We’re not originals.”
“Where’s your father?”
Hanna blushed. “Aimee killed him.”
“Yikes.” My face scrunched into a ball of disgust as Hanna opened up to me and spun a story I might never believe, not fully. I was grateful that my parents weren't the only fictional characters in the story of their lives.
Chapter 15
An angel and a story
Sam
I sat staring out the window, confused about what I saw.
The sun was shining and the birds were singing, but it might as well have been raining.
I was completely closed off from it. Everything felt thick and sluggish. My mind moved as if it too was impaired.
“Sam, I need your help.” Lorri was in the hallway.
“I don’t feel like helping.”
“Get your ass up,” she snapped.
I forced myself to get up.
“I need you to hang out with someone for the night. If he tries to get away from you, flash him to this picture, okay?”
I sighed and stared at the photo of the water fountain. I’d seen it before. I knew the area well. “I guess.”
“He’s chained in Hanna’s room for the night, in the chains we have left over from Marcus—the enchanted ones. Sam! Are you listening? He can probably get out of them but not without you seeing what he’s doing. If he flashes, follow his trail and text me.”
“Why?”
“He’s a bad man. I need to double check his story.”
“Fine.” I got up and left the room, walking through the great hallway until I reached Hanna’s room. Nothing motivated me.
When I got to the room, I was confused again by what I saw.
Hanna was in the corner of the room, twirling her red hair around her long finger and smiling at the man chained up next to her.
“How uncomfortable do I make you, on a scale of one to ten?” She grinned.
The man glanced at me and sighed. “It was a nine, but since he got here, it’s an eleven, maybe fifteen.”
Hanna turned around, dropping her hair and her smile when our eyes met. “Lorri wanted me to pester him. He hates me.”
I shrugged. “It’s cool.”
“Really?” She frowned. “It doesn’t bother you?”
“I feel nothing for you, or anyone.”
Her face twisted in pain. “See you later, Oliver.” She sauntered out, trying to maintain her composure. I’d seen that walk before. I wasn’t usually the recipient of it. Not that it mattered.
“I’m Oliver. You the entertainment?”
“I guess.”
“What’s your name?”
“Sam.”
“How did you get roped into this?” Oliver seemed cool for a guy in chains.
“I have this weird gift with my flashes. I can track another person’s flash. Like you leave a scent for me to follow.”
Oliver laughed. “You really are the perfect man to watch me then.”
“I guess so.”
Oliver’s eyes darted toward the door. “What’s with you and the siren? She explodes when you enter the room but she has no effect on you at all?”
“Nope. Used to. Used to be my match.”
“You killed the match?” Oliver scowled. “Oh, son. That was a mistake. No one can live through the darkness that comes to eat your soul when there is no love in it.”
“Hope it doesn’t come before I’m done watching you. Then you’d get away.”
The man’s face looked proud and sad simultaneously. “My son would have loved you. Same dry sense of humor.”
I noticed the way he said son and would have. “Is he dead?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“You really have no emotions anymore, do you?”
“No. How did he die? Was he Nephilim?”
Oliver ran his hands over his face and sighed. “Yes. He was murdered.”
I gave the appropriate response, “I’m sorry.”
Oliver turned his bright-blue eyes up to me. “Are you?”
“No, but it’s the right thing to say.”
“I dare say it is. It was Jonathan.” He swallowed hard and then grinned, but his eyes showed no happiness. “I have known him longer than mankind has existed. I followed him into the darkness, staying his friend even when he did terrible things to everyone. And he repaid me by murdering my son. My son took a bite of the forbidden fruit.”
“The fruit the snake held captive to torture and force unwanted sex upon.”
“That makes sense. Sleeping with another man’s sex slave will anger him.”
“’Tis too true, lad, too true.”
“How old was he?”
Oliver raised a brow. “You really are a chatty thing for an unfeeling monster, and why do you smell so good? Are you a siren too?”
“Yeah. Half siren,” I muttered.
Oliver’s eyes grew wide. “You are not Anthony’s son?”
“I am.”
His stare hardened again. “I was so sorry to hear about your father. He was a truly great man. What Lorri did to him was a crime. I know you feel nothing, but you don’t even have an ounce of loyalty to your own father?”
“Of course not.” I frowned. “He was with the Dark Ones. Lorri doesn’t discriminate on that.”
“Anthony, a Dark One?” Oliver’s mouth curled into a grin, an evil one. “Sam, my boy, have I got a story for you.”
“You know you can’t make me angry. What’s the point of trying to provoke me?”
“I’m not.” Oliver shook his head. “But when you hear this, you’ll find the witch who cast that spell and have it reversed.”
“It can't be reversed. Can it?”
“Just as your father was never an evil one, your spell can be reversed. Though I doubt you’ll hear the truth of either thing from the people you call friends. They don’t dabble in dark magic.”
“You’re a traitor and a liar—why should I believe you?”
Oliver put a hand to his chest. “I loved your father like a brother. I would have died for him. I wish I had died for him. He never had an evil bone in his body. He was guilty of the one thing I have never felt—love.”
Chapter 16
Long lotht brother
Ophelia
The alley was dark, and yet somehow the eyes of the wolf next to me glistened like there was light shining on them.