by Tara Brown
“You were friends. You put her in charge in England,” Marcus interrupts me.
I spin, giving him a look.
Landry cocks an eyebrow at me. I nod at him. “We weren’t friends. You didn't like me at all.”
“I can’t guess why.” He smiles bitterly.
Lorri scoffs. “The way you’re leading us masterfully through this stale-ass castle has me wondering.”
I put a hand up, pausing and turning the other way. I break into a run as a scream of magic fills the air. “He’s escaping.” I feel the burst of magic fill the air and then the trace of him is gone. I hurry down the stairs to the opposite side of the castle where the master’s room is. Inside, a witch lies dead on the floor, still twitching and sparkling from the amount of magic she used to make the traveler’s door.
I turn as Henry grabs my hand and looks at Lorri.
I know he’s thinking the same thing I am because when I lean forward to retch until my stomach empties.
I shudder and wipe my mouth. Marcus grins wide. “That never gets old.”
Ramón comes running from the cabin. His face is drawn up. “She says der’s a man here. He be hunting Emily. You gotta run home, cher.”
I grab Dorian’s hand but he stares at me blankly. “I don't know the way.”
Henry touches all of us. I grab Ramón’s hand at the last second. We wink and I heave again.
Marcus chuckles. “Nope, still enjoying it.”
“Screw you, Marcus.” I heave again.
Ramón is dizzy and shaking his head. “What was dat?”
Lorri and Dorian ignore us, walking up my driveway. She is sniffing the air around us. Landry is searching in the woods. Marcus scans around as Henry walks behind Lorri.
Ramón gives me a look. “Da Roses? Ya got some weird friends now, cher.”
I nod, not wanting to talk about it. I might start throwing up again. Henry looks back at me. I see the worry in his eyes, but I also hear the thought he sends me.
I think as loud as I can. Maria, there is a bad vampire here. He’s got the magic of a witch in him right now. He’s coming for you and Em. HIDE!
She responds with the same loving motherly voice in my head. Already hiding, my dear. He’s in the backyard. We’re at the hiding house.
“Backyard.” I break into a run, praying I get him first. When I round the corner of the large yard I catch a glimpse of his dark hair in the moonlight. I sprint, but Dorian is so much faster. Whit’s daddy turns to face me, smiling. I see Angie in his arms and cringe. Dorian doesn't care for her. He walks toward them, prepared to kill everyone, I can tell. I run, waving my hands. “Don't hurt her. Please. I’ll give you anything.”
Angie’s blue eyes are wide with tears and fright. She shakes her head. “Run, Lorelei.”
I do run, but not away. I run toward her as Dorian gets too close. Whit’s daddy bites down on her neck. I hear the crunching sound of her bones breaking from his bite. I glimpse back at Marcus who starts to run when he sees my eyes. He knows what I need him to do. Dorian tackles Whit’s daddy to the ground, making me scream. “NO!” I jump into the wrestling match, pulling Angie free and pushing her limp body toward Marcus’ waiting fangs.
When I’m free of her I grab Whit’s daddy with air and slam him into a tree. He shoots a weak flame at me. I catch it and throw it back, but I use my magic to enhance it. He screams in pain as I look to the storming sky above us. I open my arms, calling down the rain and the wind to make it stronger and hide the magic I am filling the sky with. In case normal people are here. Then I call them, all of them. I walk to him, driving my hands into the sides of his head and kissing him just like I did Whit. The ancients fill me with power and wisdom as I look up into the rain and scream, “THE SOULS YOU STOLE MAY CLAIM YOU NOW!”
I stumble backward as the sky becomes blood red with the souls of over a hundred dead witches. They pick him apart just as they once did to Whit. The rain makes it all worse. Marcus and Dorian stand with Angie, but neither will meet my gaze. I start to sob instantly, black water running down my cheeks. “NO! NO! NO! I NEVER GOT A CHANCE TO SAY GOODBYE!”
Landry wraps his arms around me, holding me tightly to him. “I’m so sorry.”
“NO! I CAN’T WAIT ANOTHER FIFTY YEARS! NO!”
Marcus leaves her, dead in the grass and bushes. I know he wants to comfort me but I run to her. I grip her slippery wet skin with my fingers, clutching to her and holding her as tightly as I can. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” I drape myself over her, pinning her to me and wishing with all the magic I have that she’ll be okay and come back to me. But she doesn’t. She doesn’t come back. The magic won’t let me. The ancients won’t touch her and me. They whisper things I don't want to hear. Things like she’ll be dark and evil. Ramón wraps around me. I can hear him whispering too but I can’t listen.
I grasp her, refusing to let go.
I let her down. I let her die.
Chapter 19
The funeral is the worst day of my life. She’s so lovely but too still, lying there in her coffin.
She’s so pretty and calm and I can’t take it.
I need her to tell me a dirty story or make me laugh.
I realize I just need her.
I didn't have the heart to tell her I was taking a job in Europe. I didn't say goodbye because I couldn't. I knew I would come back and see her married and happy.
It was chicken of me to avoid seeing her when I was leaving and now the last image I will ever have is of her screaming my name as he broke her neck and back.
Dorian, Lorri, and Landry don't come to the funeral. They don’t know her, regardless of the fact that once upon a time she worked for the Roses Academy for fifty years.
But Marcus is here. He is seated in the back row with Henry, acting awfully uncomfortable. His eyes never leave me, haunting my every step from where he sits.
Angie’s mom and dad sob, not understanding what she could've been doing to fall from the second story of my house. She was always wild and crazy so it’s not far-fetched, it’s just hard to understand. Not that it matters now. She’s dead and I have to wait fifty years to go back and make her alive again. Fifty years until Ari comes into her power to push me back for a fourth time.
Ramón walks to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “Are you okay?”
“No.”
“You know it wasn't your fault. Dat was a bad man, cher. He woulda killed you or Em or everyone. You saved us all.”
“Not Angie.”
“Sometimes accidents happen and sometimes bad people, dey do bad things. You can’t save everybody, cher.”
I turn and nod. “Yes, I can.”
Em and Maria come and join in on our embrace. We are all heartbroken. Ramón kisses my cheek quickly so no one sees and whispers, “I catch you later, huh? Don't beat yourself up.” He turns and walks from the church, nodding at Marcus as he leaves.
Em and Maria stay with me. In my family, Maria is the only one who knows what happened. She had thought fast when she sensed the vampire trying to break into the barrier and whisked Em and my daddy off to the hiding house, claiming someone had damaged it. Angie had shown up, just as Whit’s dad did. He couldn't get into the barrier but he could skirt the yard.
It’s like a cosmic joke from the fates to change so many things and still end up with one turn of events I cannot bear.
Daddy, Em, and Maria walk from the church with me with Marcus’ stare hovering over us like our very own ever-watchful guardian.
Daddy shakes his head. “I can’t believe your flight hadn’t even taken off before it happened.”
“Plane troubles. I came back to see y’all one more time because the flights were delayed a whole day.”
“What bad luck to be the one to find her in the yard.”
I nod.
The story doesn't even make much sense, but I notice regular people accept death for what it is. It is only us oddities in the world who see death for what it really is
, negotiable.
I cannot stay in Louisiana. I have to go and leave my family behind so they will be safe from things like Whit and his family. I will always have a life filled with the possibility of retribution from some unnatural creature or demon.
The hole that has become my heart burns with the pain and loss of Angie. It stings from the pain of seeing my momma’s life up close and real.
A week later, I kiss my family goodbye and leave with Marcus and Henry in the car again, for a second time. It’s easier and harder at the same time. I used more of my blood to make a better barrier, letting the ancients use my body completely to do the spells.
All I can do is hope they stay safe.
Marcus gives me a look, almost like he’s worried. “You’re going to the Roses Academy training now?”
I nod.
“You don't think taking the training over and over is going to make you crazy?”
It makes me smile. Only he knows how it feels to live the same godforsaken crap over and over. “I do but I know Lorri can’t just make me a Rose. She has to train me.”
He leans forward. “What is that look in your eyes?”
“What look?”
“Like your heart is destroyed, not broken but ruined forever. I have seen it before, when a human loses all sense of the word ‘love.’”
“It’s Whit, I think.” A bitter grin crosses my lips. “You know, he never took the opportunity to run, not once. He never suggested I flee from his insane family or took the chance to tell me the whole truth. All three times I have repeated this bullshit, he has never once chosen me.”
“And you care because?”
I know he can’t understand it. “’Cause I am a foolish girl with a head full of pudding. I loved him once upon a time. I really did. I never realized until recently that Whit always saw me as a lesser being. Like witches were just meant to be food for the vampires of the world—” My voice trails off as I gaze out the window, muttering, “I don't know how I never saw it right from the beginning.”
He sounds amused. “You were the perfect target. Ladies raised in the South have always been the best fodder for us. You are actually taught to tolerate heinous amounts of disrespect and bear it with a grin. You are the strongest women, and yet completely gullible.” He nods. “No, Whit saw you coming from a mile.”
His words don't make me feel better, at all. Partly because he’s right.
Henry stops the car on the side of the road where Dorian stands, clearly annoyed. Marcus doesn't get out of the car. He just smiles and says, “This is where I leave you.” There is something else in his voice, pain perhaps.
I lean in and kiss directly next to his mouth, whispering, “You don't fool me, Marcus. You are the best man I have ever known.” I pull back and mutter, “See ya round, Grampy.”
Henry’s lips pull back into a smile and I get out of the car.
Dorian rolls his eyes. “I can’t believe you agreed to train. You are far superior to every Rose Lorri currently has.”
I touch his arm and when we land I lose my breakfast everywhere on the cement. I cough and gag and shudder. “Why isn’t this shit getting easier?”
“It will.” I can hear the laugh in his voice.
We walk through the alley and inside the tall building. He leans against the wall and presses the button for the floor with the dorms and common room. “You excited?”
“We both know I don't need to be here—like you said, I’m superior already. I’m only doing this so it can’t ever be said I wasn't trained.” I scowl.
“Who would dare question such a powerful witch?”
I step inside the elevator. “Landry. He hates it that I’m always on top.”
Dorian leans into me, smelling my neck. “I would never complain about you being on top.”
“I know. You don't even complain when I smell like vomit all the time.”
He chuckles and kisses my neck.
“Stop.” I shove him, nearly running from him when we get to the common room. Everyone smiles at me for the first time ever. I’m not a freak, just a witch with a whole lotta fae going on inside her. But I don't have vampire to add to the mix, making everyone uncomfortable.
Dorian slings an arm around my shoulders and smiles. “Ahhhh to be the new kid on the block again.”
I give him a smug look. “You’re older than Methuselah’s goat. Don't try to pretend like you know how it feels to be here.”
“I’ll not have you besmirch Methuselah, the mighty Methuselah, nor his goat. Both noble creatures.”
“The fact you recall the man proves my point.”
He snorts. “Haven’t you heard that older men make better lovers?”
“No.”
He kisses my hand and walks away muttering, “It’s true.” He takes one more step and vanishes.
Daniel comes around the corner as Dorian disappears. He gives me a smile. “You must be Lorelei!”
“Yes, sir.”
He holds a hand out and introduces me to the common room before leading me on my third tour of the Roses Academy headquarters.
A week later I am fully ingrained again and exhausted from all the magic they’re making me do. I’m exhausted and in need of a little reprieve. My heart is still a battered mess and I can’t shake the hateful feelings inside me about Angie’s death.
I find Lorri in Daniel’s office and knock on the door. She gives me a questioning look. “What?”
“Can I get a ride to Lydia’s for the weekend?”
Daniel seems like he might say no but Lorri walks to me, touches me and I’m dry heaving on the grass in front of the old house at the end of the street.
She’s gone again instantly, leaving me there to gather myself.
Annabelle comes out the front door, without opening it, and gives me a look.
I offer my hand for her to read. A second later she’s smiling. “Good to see ya again, Miss Lorelei.” She hugs me, walking to the door.
“I’m so excited you’re able to remember me, Miss Annabelle.”
She scoffs. “Lordy, child, what a life you lead. Now ya come on inside.” She leads me to the closed door and walks me into it. I smack my face, stumbling back. She laughs, shaking her head. “I always forget that y’all can’t walk through.”
“Y’all ghosts have it easy in some respect.” I rub my head and open the door, following her down the dark hallway. In the kitchen Lydia scowls when she sees me. “What in the—”
Annabelle sighs. “Ya done met her. It was another life but ya know her.”
Lydia takes my hand and sighs. “Oh dear. Henry’s granddaughter. I was wondering when we would meet you. There’s another one of you, isn’t there?”
I scowl. “You knew all along I was Henry’s kin?”
She shrugs. “I know now so I must have known then too. Whenever it is you’re talking about.”
“Figures.” I nod. “There is another one of us, my sister. But she didn't claim her magic, so she’s still normal.”
“Well, that's a relief.” She pulls out a chair for me as Annabelle makes a sweet tea, just the way I like it. I slump into the chair, defeated and tired.
“What brings you by?”
I lay my head on her table and let everything fall from my lips, “I’m sad. The kind that seeps in like a dense fog and takes over everything. I can’t get over it. My best friend died, no matter how hard I tried to right all the wrongs. I keep reliving the same fifty years, three times now, and I can’t make it perfect. Either people die or become monsters they don't wanna be or get forced to become Roses when all they want is a normal life. I can’t seem to shake the belief that I failed her and I failed everyone. I gotta go back in another fifty years and repeat this whole life again so I can try to save Angie. And in some ways I’m tired. I’m just real tired and not in the mood to relive this same crap all over again.”
She puts a hand on my back and rubs like a mother would. “You need to stop trying to save everyone, Lorelei. I
don't know the story you have, but I see one thing about you: your spirit is weak and tired because you are putting everyone else first. You need to stop and let God’s plan work. He has a plan, him and Mother Earth and the fates. They all have a plan. You have to let go and let God do his work sometimes.”
“I brought all the bad into their lives. Me. I brought Martin, Marcus, Lorri, Whit, and even Momma is partly my doing.”
Annabelle places the glass of tea next to me and sighs, “Child, ya can’t control other people. Ya can’t control their choices. Ya gotta choose for you. Be happy so they can look down on ya and know ya living for them too.”
I close my eyes and rain black water all over her table as tears flood my eyes.
“Now you come and let Annabelle take you for a bath.”
I lift my sobbing head from the table and let her lead me upstairs, carrying my sweet tea and heavy heart.
Chapter 20
Romania is as creepy as I imagined, worse actually. Not only is there a ton of spooky vampire legends and castles, there is also a communist government and poverty like I have never seen. My months of Roses Academy training can’t prepare me for the horrors here. Not even if you combine all three times I’ve been trained.
The Securitate are scarier than any monster I have ever seen. No vampire or werewolf or demon could beat the secret police over here. I hand over a wad of cash, discreetly, to the old nun and walk away.
“Stop giving money to them. It won’t help. If they get caught they'll be killed for stealing.” Dorian rolls his eyes at me.
“No. I won’t. I have to try. I don't know what else to do. Look at those kids—they’re so hungry and skinny. I ain’t never seen kids that small.”
We stalk down the dark alley to the building we both smell out. He gives me the nod. He vanishes and I walk up to the door, knocking.
A man, with a greasy smile to match his greasy hair, opens the door and smiles at me. He says something in Romanian that I don't understand. I nod once.
He scowls. I pull the ad from the newspaper and show him. His lips lift higher. He looks like the Joker. He grabs my arm and pulls me inside, slamming the door.