by Tara Brown
“No.” Aleksander shook his head. “Ophelia doesn’t remember us. She was wiped by Marcus the day they realized Ari changed the time. Dorian went and wiped Tristan and Phillip. Everyone must play out their parts the same as last time. We can’t risk Jonathan being privy to the way things worked out. Dorian and Marcus had a lot of cleanup to do apparently.”
Ari's cheeks were bright red.
Sam reached across the table and grasped her hand. “Thanks for not leaving me behind.”
“Any time.” She smiled.
“My sister, my dad, my mom, Sam, and the kids are all fine because of you.” I reached my hand into the embrace.
Aleksander's eyes widened. “Ari, I never meant to hurt your feelings. Sorry. I know you saved me.”
She shook her head. “I just hate that somehow there is always a glitch. Something gets taken or screwed up because of the reset.”
Giselle stood and walked toward Aleksander. “Okay, so what's the deal with Ophelia? What are we doing?”
His eyes crept over to me.
I frowned. “What?”
“It's you, Sam, and I going for her,” he said.
I smiled at Sam. “You're the bait I guess, huh?”
Aleksander laughed even though he was bait too. They smelled too good to women. Sam was especially bad. In this world, he hadn’t fallen in love with Hanna yet. Not in the way that toned down his siren side. He had moments where he was unbearable to be around.
High-heeled boots interrupted the momentary silence.
Lorri stormed in with Dorian right behind her. He flashed a grin at me, making heat stir low in my belly. I kept my eyes down.
“We leave in an hour for Ophelia. Today’s the day. The sisters came to Annabelle earlier.” She glanced at Sam and cocked a dark eyebrow. “I told you to stay away from Hanna. She’s made it without turning into her father. Thank God in Heaven. Dorian brainwashed her aunt and uncle, and I convinced Marcus to give the cure to her dad. We all know it’s temporary, but it’s better this way.” Her lips curled into a twisted grin on the word “convinced.” I shuddered imagining it. I'd seen her fight. It was dreadfully frightening.
She spoke to Aleksander, “You leave in an hour. You know where.”
He nodded and she was gone.
“You ladies look nice today.” Dorian sauntered over to the table, grinning like a fool. A fool he was not though.
Giselle swooned. “You do too.”
He flashed her a smile and then turned to Aleksander. “Brother, we need to have a little chat about a few things.”
Aleksander followed him out of the kitchen.
I whispered to Ari, “I didn’t think Aleks was joining us.”
She shrugged. “He has to. They're holding his dad's death for ransom. He helps and they kill the Viking werewolf for him, which ends Aleks’ misery.”
I looked back. “Dorian and Lorri are kind of evil like that.”
“Yup.”
Just as it got quiet, the kids came running into the kitchen. My heart lifted. I smiled at Danny. “Did you get Mist of Pandaria yet?”
He beamed, “Yup. Made a monk last night.”
“Me too.”
Giselle rolled her eyes. “Nerds.”
Chapter 13
Pool party part deux
Ophelia
I did a turn around the room once more before pausing at the mirror. Something felt different, but I couldn’t explain it. I sighed and left the room. Mom and Dad smiled at me when I walked into the kitchen.
“Hey, honey.” Mom handed me toast.
“Your dad and I are going to the movie tonight. Are you going with Abbey to the pool party tomorrow?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Pool party with the mean kids? I don’t think so.”
Dad laughed. “You are so like me. I hated the mean kids too.”
I grinned at him and bit into my toast, almost gagging. “Is this natural peanut butter again?”
“Yes.” Mom scowled. “Now eat. I'm not buying that peanut icing.”
“Great.” I glanced at Dad who shook his head and made a disgusted face.
“Morning!” Abbey bounded into the room, pulling her hair into a ponytail. “You coming with me tomorrow?”
“Hell no.”
“Dude.” She rolled her eyes. “Jake asked me to ask you to come.”
I narrowed my gaze. “No, he didn’t.”
“Yes,” she argued. “For real. I swear. He did.”
“Jake? Jake MacKay?”
“The one and only.”
Mom shrugged. “Pool party at Lance's house might not kill you, O. Hang with some seniors before grad.”
I almost snarled at her. “No. Jake’s hot but I know they only got Abbs to invite me so they can torture me when I get there.”
“What?” Abbey acted offended. “I would never let anyone hurt you, O.”
“I know. But they would. I'm cool hanging with the twins.”
Deep down I wanted to go. I wanted to hang with Jake. I wanted him to want me, but that wasn’t going to happen.
Abbey batted her eyelashes at me. “You riding with me to school?”
“No. I'm walking. You go ahead.”
“O, you’re such a stick in the mud.”
“Whatever.” I didn’t like any of her friends or the fact she was so popular. The popular kids were cruel.
I finished getting ready and stepped out the door. It felt like I was forgetting something major. I checked my bag three times, but I had everything. I shook it off and left the house.
Lost in thoughts and wishes, I walked without really paying much attention until I noticed a smell. It was something I knew, something I'd smelled before. It was delicious and seductive. I closed my eyes and inhaled. Flashes filled my mind. I didn’t know what they were of but I recognized the scent. I opened my eyes and smiled at the sight.
The sexiest guy I'd ever seen stood on the sidewalk grinning at me. He looked to be around my age and his dark eyes pulled me in. I melted staring at him.
“Hey, O.”
My jaw dropped. He knew my name?
“I need you to come with me.”
“Okay,” I agreed, helplessly.
“You have to come hold my hand.” He held his hand out for me.
I strolled toward him. He was intoxicating.
“Where are we going?” I placed my hand in his and instantly I was somewhere else. I leaned forward and threw up everywhere.
“What was that?” I gagged and staggered back. “Who are you?”
“That was an asshole move. You could have just waited for us.” A beautiful girl with long blonde hair grabbed my hand. “It's okay, O. You're not in any danger. I swear on my life. You're safe.”
“Who are you?” I shuddered and threw up again on the grass.
“It wasn’t an asshole move.” The gorgeous guy shook his head. “Hey, I got her before the magic at school and all that humiliation happened.”
“This isn’t real.” I shook my head and closed my eyes.
A man with an English accent spoke from behind me, “She'll remember it all in a minute anyway.”
I opened my eyes and screamed as his dark eyes filled my vision. Pain and bursts of light filled my head.
“Marcus, Aimee, Dorian, Aleks, and Sam.” I staggered back, gagging and gripping my head. “Sam?” I jumped into his arms. “SAM!” I clung to him. I barely knew what was happening as it all hit me. The change with Ari and then Marcus taking my memories. My heart was swollen and aching as tears streamed down my cheeks.
“You're alive,” I whispered.
Sam stroked my back. “It's okay, O. I'm here.”
I closed my eyes, terrified of opening them and seeing it was a dream.
“I did what I promised, take me home,” Marcus grumbled, not even saying hello.
He and Dorian vanished and only Dorian reappeared. He grinned as his eyes met mine. “Ophelia, love. Do you remember why you’re here?”
I
blinked and looked back at them all. “My birthday? My real birthday? It’s not for a month.”
Aleks laughed.
Dorian raised an eyebrow. “Good to see you're bouncing back so fast. I truly hope Trist and Phillip are the same. It'll be annoying if they're not.”
Aimee smiled at me. “How was it the last two years?”
“Fine. You know why we did it, right? Are they all alive?”
“Yeah. It changed everything,” she explained. “Sam, my mom, my dad, Alise, Blake, and all the kids, they’re fine. Thank you. Ari told me everything.”
Her words hit me, taking a second to absorb. “You don’t remember anything?”
“No.” She shook her head.
“Thank God.” Dorian chuckled as he spoke, “It's better if Miss Thing over there doesn’t remember. Her past was a shitstorm of bad things. Retraining her was fine. We’ve had two years. But you still remember everything, right?”
I glanced at Aleks and then Aimee. They weren’t together. Their body chemistry was comfortable and friendly, but not in a romantic way. There was no tension between them, or anyone else.
“Shane?” I was scared to ask.
“Oh uh.” Aimee glanced down.
“That was the one hitch we hit.” Dorian rolled his eyes again. “He’s on Team Marcus.”
“Hanna?” I whispered.
It was Sam’s turn to wince. “She’s still normal.”
“Normal?” How was that possible?
“Her siren thing hasn’t hit yet and her monster never took over. She’s normal. No death and no drama.”
I felt sad for Sam. I knew he loved her. “You all right?”
“No. I miss her.” His eyes were filled with much more than missing her.
I knew the price of everything Ari and I had done, but I couldn’t be sorry. We had saved Aimee, her sister, the kids, and Sam. It was worth it.
“Oliver?” The name lit up in my head.
“Right.” Dorian's eyes burned. “He’s still with your dad. Everything’s where it was. Oliver's been wiped. Henry and Marcus took care of him and I did Phillip and Tristan. None of them will remember you. We need it this way. He has to see Jonathan for what he is on his own. He needs to find his own way here.”
“Okay. Well, I guess we should go inside.” The smell caught my nose. Lydia's. The years of me not being here had caught up. I felt weepy. I longed for things I shouldn’t even know about. “How does Ari handle this?” I muttered as we all walked into the huge house.
“I don’t know.” Aimee sighed. “I can’t imagine.”
“Where is she?”
“With Lucas and Ben. We've been watching Jonathan's. Taking turns. It’s Ari and the wolves this week,” Sam explained as we all sat in the large front room.
Loud clicking heels came in from the hallway to the stairs. Lorri stormed in. She gave me a once-over. “Where's Abbey?”
“What?” I frowned. “Why?”
Lorri raised an eyebrow. “Where's Dorian?”
“What?” I was lost. “He just left.”
Her face turned grim. “I bet he did.” She growled and then she was gone.
I glanced at Aleks and Aimee confusedly. “What was that?”
“Not a clue.” Aleks shook his head. “It’s the look she gets when she’s about to eat someone.”
“She doesn’t like eat them, eat them, does she? That’s freakin’ sick.” I hadn’t ever seen Lorri fight.
“Yeah, no.” He nodded blankly. “She eats them. Chews pieces of meat off the bones.”
“Oh.” I shivered in horror. “Damn.”
“Yeah.” Aimee wrinkled her nose. “Wanna get ready? I think we leave in a bit. We need to catch Shane. We're using him as bait so Jonathan will snatch you from the alley like he did last time.”
“You remember that?”
“No.” She shook her blonde head. “I don’t remember anything but there’s a timeline I have memorized.”
“You wanna?” I sparked a finger. “I can give you back your memories.”
Her gray eyes flashed a response but she didn’t give in to the desire. She shook her head. “It's better this way.”
I didn’t believe her, that it was better. She was upset and confused. I could feel the difference between me before and now. I was a little lost and confused. Déjà vu and odd flashes of memory still hit me. It had to be so much worse for her. “So what's going on with Shane?”
“He’s different now. I’ll go change.” She left the kitchen.
“What’s up with that?” I glanced at Aleks who shrugged.
“She almost ate him and he was dying, so Marcus turned him to save him. He figured it would kill Aimee and we'd never stop Jonathan if she didn’t function. It seemed like a good choice, but she’s been pretty upset about it and never really sees him.”
“For two years?” She definitely didn’t get over shit.
Aleks cleared his throat and glanced down the hallway. “He lives like Marcus does. Very comfortable with the whole drinking human blood thing. He purposely finds bad humans and drains them. It’s pretty gross. At any rate, tonight Aimee’s asking him to meet her in the alley. Where Jonathan snatched you last time.”
“Except Giselle isn’t the lord of the vampires and Hanna isn’t here, and Aimee isn’t quite as badass or as angry as she was last time.” That worried me.
“You got me and Sam this time.”
“Yes, we do.” I smiled like a goof. Both of them had an intense impact on me.
The stomping of boots accompanied by my sister's screams filled the kitchen.
Lorri dragged Abbey through the kitchen. “Where was he?” she snarled.
Abbey was bawling and fighting.
I jumped at her but Lorri swatted me like I was nothing, bouncing me off a chair.
“Lorri, let her go. She didn’t do anything.”
Lorri growled savagely. “She broke my heart.”
I didn’t understand.
“Lorri, maybe not the best way to do this,” Aleks spoke soothingly with his hands out.
Abbey was clearly terrified as Lorri dragged her through to the backyard.
“Please, Lorri. Please let her go. Aimee, AIMEE!” I screamed, running after them.
Aimee appeared in a tank top and jeans, no boots or socks. “What?” She was holding her toothbrush. Her eyes darted to Lorri. “Lorri, what are you doing? Who’s that girl?”
Lorri turned her savage-looking face sharply. “Stay out of this, Aimee. Where's Dorian? I thought of him and winked here, but he isn’t here.”
Abbey screamed, reaching for me. “O, oh my God, O. I was looking for you. Where did you go? Who are these people?”
“It's okay, Abbey. You're safe. No one’s going to hurt you.” It wasn’t true though. Lorri was already hurting her.
Dorian walked out of the woods looking smug and shitty. “Lorri, what are you doing, darling?”
Giselle strutted out of the forest as well. Dorian and Giselle? Gross.
“Fix her.” She shoved my trembling and sobbing sister toward him. He scowled. “Lorri. Be reasonable. She’s human and only eighteen.”
“I don’t give a flying rat’s ass. You broke her. You made her forget me. You made her stop loving me. You fix her.” Lorri's voice flexed and strained emotionally. I'd never heard those sounds come from her. Not even when Sam and the kids died.
Dorian's jaw set. He appeared to be thinking about it. He looked her in the eyes, like he was speaking to her but he wasn’t. He closed his eyes and took a step toward my sister.
“Dorian, please leave her out of this,” I pleaded, not sure what to do. I didn’t want to use my magic but Lorri was pushing me.
He ignored me and took my sister’s weeping face in his hands. He tilted her face. “Look at me and you'll feel better. I promise.”
Abbey sobbed and gazed up at him. He whispered something. Abbey stopped, pausing and thinking. Her face cracked into a grin, contradicting the tears still wet
in her eyes. “Dorian, you cheeky bastard.”
Her head shot around and she jumped up at Lorri. They reached out and grabbed at each other. Abbey planted the biggest kiss I’d ever seen on Lorri's bright-red lips. They made out shamelessly in front of us. Just like everyone else in the house.
Except one of them was an old-ass angel and the other was my sister.
I scanned the other faces, hoping to see I wasn’t alone in the surprise of a few things. I didn’t even know my sister was a lesbian.
“What?” I muttered.
“Yeah.” Dorian sighed. “This is a thing.” He walked up to Abbey, patting her on the back. “Welcome back, Abbey.” And then continued up to the house.
She and Lorri ignored the rest of us.
Disturbed and confused, I made my way back to the house with Aleks and Aimee who still held her toothbrush. “Well, that’s weird for me. I'm not going to lie,” I mumbled.
Aimee scowled. “You didn’t know she was a lesbian?”
“No.” I shook my head. “That’s not the weird part. I mean, I didn’t know she was a lesbian, but I'm freaking out that she and Lorri have hooked up. Freaking out. She’s too young for her.”
Dorian laughed from the kitchen. “Said the girl who’s lusting after the oldest of the old.”
I stuck my tongue out but he had a point. Oliver was extremely old.
“So, Lorri’s a lesbian?” Aimee asked, obviously confused. “The devil is gay?”
“No.” Dorian shook his head. “She has always been flexible. She doesn’t love easily. She loved Jonathan, which obviously didn’t work out so hot, and now your sister. She has dated a bit but not loved. I tried to convince her it was a terrible, horrid idea.” He pointed to the window, at them grinning at each other and talking, still out on the back grass. “As you can tell, that went well.”
“Weirdest day ever.” I walked past everyone and climbed the stairs to my old room. I got a whiff of him and stopped just to smell before tapping at his door gently. When I opened it, he wasn’t in his room. He must have just left; the room still smelled yummy. I closed the door and went to my room. It looked the same as when I first moved in last time. It was plain and boring.
My magic was fizzling in.