by Tara Brown
Aimee shrugged, "My gun shot wound is gone too. Lets find the room with the computers. This place is a lot bigger than I thought."
Ari walked to the surveillance monitors and pointed to one, "There."
Aimee looked and nodded, "That’s her."
The room was empty to the untrained eye but anyone who knew Lorri would know to look for her trademark red hue. She could make herself invisible but whenever she did she let off a slight red mist. It was creepy but the room looked as it were being viewed at sunset. The slightest red glow misted past the camera several times.
Lucas pulled the plugs from the walls and chewed the cords when they were no longer attached to the power source. Each screen went blank.
They slipped from the room toward the front of the building. An open entryway revealed two other possible halls.
"I went down that one, she must be this way." Aleks walked along putting his guard up. Aimee knew she was the only one who could see him when he cloaked himself.
Aimee could feel her heart beat in her throat, she wasn’t used to feeling nervous but she hadn’t ever come up against so many of her kind.
The first door Aleks opened was dark inside with a slight red hue in the air. They slipped into the room, all but Aleks who waited in the hall cloaked.
"Lorri?" Aimee whispered.
Lorri showed herself, her right arm and the right side of her face were burned severely.
Ari gasped, "How?"
Lorri tried to maintain her breath, "No fucking clue. They shot hellfire at me. We've lost the Roses Institute. All the new trainees have been taught their way."
Aimee felt sick, "He's amassing an army?"
Lorri nodded, "Get us out of here. They're gone. He left, he has a girl who does what you do."
Aimee put her arm out watching her shaking hand. She reached for Lucas with her other hand. She would have laughed at the sight of a panther and wolf sticking their paws into the circle if it had been under any other circumstances.
Instantly they were standing in the kitchen at Lydia's.
"Lorri you need to get upstairs now. Hellfire blocks your magic."
Aimee watched as Lydia grabbed Lorri's good arm and helped her out of the kitchen.
Aimee looked at Ari and smiled as she winked herself home.
She stood outside her fathers' house watching him get himself tea. The light inside of the house shone onto the street filling her with a pain her heart couldn’t bear. She wanted to run from it all but she knew what she needed to do.
She knew it was her fault so she forced herself to stay and watch through the window as she dialed the number.
She could faintly hear the phone ringing through the windows. He walked slowly toward the window and picked up the phone from its cradle.
"Hello."
"Hello Mr. James?" She spoke with a soft English Accent.
"Yes this is he."
"Good evening Mr. James. My name is Erika Pierson, I'm the specialist helping your daughter with her recovery."
"Oh hello Dr. Pierson, how is she doing?"
"Well sir that's the reason for my call. She asked us not to worry you but six months ago her liver failed. We had her on the donor list. It was why she was unable to come home. She got a transplant a month ago but went into failure immediately. I'm so sorry sir but she passed this afternoon."
Tears poured down her face as she watched his legs buckle. He dropped to his knees sobbing.
"When will….her……..she…..come….home…..?" His sobbing made him inaudible.
Aimee wanted to look away but she forced herself to look on as he suffered needlessly at her expense, "We will ship her ashes home sir. Her body after fighting the liver disease for so long, well it would be inappropriate. Her wish was cremation."
He nodded trembling rocking back and forth, "Thank you for calling." He dropped the phone collapsing on the floor in front of the window.
Aimee dropped to her knees tears pouring down her face.
She couldn’t smile even though she knew she'd saved him. They would be hunting them all, they would want them dead, they would find any means necessary to destroy each of the Roses. Aimee winked herself to Shane's backyard and waited.
It took her father half an hour to make the call.
Shane watched TV inside holding a soda. He was sitting on the couch in his uniform with the shirt opened slightly.
She watched as he picked up his cell phone. His face lost all of its color as shook his head. He threw his soda against the wall screaming into the phone. Tears formed in his eyes as he calmed himself slightly and spoke more controlled.
Again she forced herself to watch the heartbreak. Nothing would remain inside of her, everything was dead, just as it should be.
Chapter Thirty-One - Mate
Ari
The hot bath revived her. Annabelle sat on the edge of the tub singing softly. It was haunting a song Ari had never heard before. She felt lost in it picturing Lorri, the strongest being she knew, huddled in the corner of a room bleeding and burned. If Lorri could be injured so could any of them. It all became so real in a flash. She looked at Annabelle and smiled, "I need my uncle moved and brainwashed, how do I do that?"
Annabelle nodded, "Miss Lorri can have that taken care of for ya."
When Ari got out of the tub she went and found Lorri resting in the spare room on the third floor.
"Hey kid." Lorri smiled at her.
Ari smiled, "Sorry to bug you but before they get him I need my uncle safe, somewhere else."
Lorri nodded weakly, "Yeah already took care of that. He's safe."
"Where?"
Lorri shook her head wincing, "Can't say, didn’t ask. Just put my best people on it. Trust me he's safe but if we know then we can be tortured and made to tell. Got me?"
Ari smiled, "Uh yeah, thanks. So uhm you need anything? Those burns look pretty bad."
Lorri laughed bitterly, "It’s the second most pain I've ever been in, didn’t even know hellfire was known by anyone anymore."
"Second most?"
"When I fell, that hurt more than this."
Ari frowned, "You're more human than I imagined you would be."
Lorri looked at her, "Thank you Ari."
Ari shook her head and walked from the room as Dorian came strolling in, "Lorri are you alright?"
He brushed past Ari ignoring her existence.
Lorri laughed, "Yeah, did you get it?"
"I got it, why the hell didn’t you tell me you were in trouble?"
"I needed those things safe more than I needed help."
He sighed, "This is a real shit storm." He looked back at Ari and smiled, "I see you made it out alright."
She nodded feeling hurt by his genuine lack of care about her, "Yeah."
"Well that’s good then." He turned back to Lorri.
Ari walked down the stairs feeling uncertain about it all.
She walked to Lucas's room and knocked lightly on the door.
He opened it in a pair of light blue jeans and no shirt. His sun kissed skin made her temperature immediately shoot up.
His green eyes looked lost, "Hi."
She smiled weakly, "Hi."
"Wanna come in?"
She nodded and walked into the room. The smell of him surrounded her, it was a perfect blend of his own musk mixed with the woods. She sighed wanting to curl up inside his arms but he never offered them. He acted awkward and cleared a spot for her to sit in a chair across the room from his bed.
She sat feeling a million miles away from him.
He sat pulling a dark blue long sleeve t-shirt on. He looked at her expectantly obviously feeling misplaced and uncomfortable in the silence.
She felt the same.
He raised his eyebrows at her, "Soooooo uhm that was quite the weird experience hey?"
She laughed, "yeah."
He bit his lip and looked around the room.
She stood up making him stand up as well. She looked at h
is hands, she loved it when he took hers in them, wrapping them around hers. She shook her head getting out of the fog he always managed to put her in, "Okay well I'll see you around I guess." She ran from the room quickly closing the door.
"Ari wait." She heard him cry out but she ignored it. She had pushed her environment too much and she would have to pay the price. She ran out into the foggy day feeling her shoes squish against the wet grass. She wished for a moment she could transport the house and all of them to the desert, she'd missed them but not the constant wet feeling. She ran down to the dock and sat remembering the first time she'd met him.
"You're Ari?"
She looked up seeing Ben smiling at her. She nodded, "Hi Ben."
He sat beside her, "I feel like we've met before."
She nodded again, "Yeah I get that a lot. I have that effect on people."
"So your hands are pretty crazy hey?"
She laughed, "Yeah, crazy is the word for them."
"What have you changed so far with them?"
She looked into his eyes seeing the spark of something and turned her face away. She didn’t want him to fall in love with her like he had both times before. She dropped her gaze to her runners, "Your brother. I love him so much, everyone gets to forget but not me. I remember every detail like it’s a dream I had once. Well more like a nightmare."
"I remember you that way too." She looked up in the mist to see Lucas walking down the grass.
"Lucas, what timing you have brother." Ben stood from the bench and walked up the lawn, "See ya around Ari."
She tried to ignore the annoyance in his voice.
Lucas pointed to the lake, "I had a dream you weren't you but I saved you. You were swimming or something and I thought you were drowning." He sat across from her on the damp wooden dock.
She looked down at him, "That was real."
He nodded, "I figured. The dreams I have about you aren’t like any other dreams I've ever had."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry because it cost me everything. I just wanted to help people. I never saw what would happen, I couldn’t see the whole picture just the pain."
He put a hand up stopping her rant, "Ari, I know in my heart you are my mate. My wolf side isn’t fooled by your magic, I know you in the core of my being. I know I love you."
Her breath stopped, her stomach dropped and her heart raced, "What?"
He nodded, "I know you, through it all my wolf remembers everything. When I shifted and I was with you in the hallway I remembered things there was no way I should remember."
A smile crossed her lips, "You love me still?"
He reached one of his huge hands to her. She took his hand letting him pull her down onto his lap. His lips brushed hers softly as if remembering he needed to be slow with her. She pressed her face up against his letting the kiss take over. His hands roamed her back pulling her into him.
He stood up lifting her off the ground cupping her ass and wrapping her legs around him as he walked up to the house.
Ari pulled back looking at him and smiled, "I love you Lucas."
"You don’t really have any choice in the matter. My wolf loves you which is pretty much the end of the discussion."
She laughed seeing how serious he was.
Chapter Thirty-Two- I Love You Like The Last Donut On The Plate
Aimee
She shoved another donut down her throat.
"That's really disgusting love."
She sneered at Dorian.
Aleks put a hand on her arm, "Aimee what's wrong? Why are you eating like that? You never eat."
She sighed, "My dad thinks I'm dead."
Aleks rubbed her arm, "Sweetie it's okay. It's for the best. He's safe if they don’t know who he is."
Dorian rolled his eyes, "You know for a nerdy little space camp girl you've gotten very dramatic in your afterlife."
She growled at him, "Not right now Dorian."
He raised his eyebrows and took a jelly donut from her plate.
She looked at his hand like she should either bite it or slap it.
"I'm saving you from heartburn later."
She started to laugh like she'd lost her mind.
"Would you like to go for a walk?" Aleks looked concerned.
She shook her head, "I'm going to eat my donuts and then I'm going to play WOW cause I'm still a giant nerd at heart and then I'm going to kill some dark ones. I'll feel better tomorrow."
Lydia stormed into the kitchen, "Aimee is there a reason a police officer is roaming my bloody driveway looking lost?"
Aimee looked at Dorian who started to laugh, "Oh sweet lord Aimee you really have the worst luck."
She looked at Aleks who looked hurt and vanished with a whoosh of warm air.
She stood from the table realizing of course Shane wouldn’t have believed her dead. She'd hoped. She walked outside of the entryway to see him walking back and forth like a caged tiger.
His eyes looked hollow and dark, not the Shane she was used to seeing.
"Shane." She looked around confused, "How did you know to come here?"
'I dreamt of this place. I just knew you would be here." His voice cracked.
"I'm sorry Shane."
"I knew you weren’t dead. Your dad called, sobbing. I was upset for a second when I thought that your body had been found but when he told me that the medical center called I knew it was fake." He looked angry.
She walked toward him feeling the donuts coming back.
"He's so broken Aimee. I've been writing him for the last year pretending to be you and telling him how you were getting better. Now he's all alone. Why?" He spit his words at her.
"I'm being hunted. They'll kill him to get to me."
"Oh bullshit Aimee. You can't leave for a year and half and not be my girlfriend anymore and not be with me and still make me feel like this."
She looked him deeply in the eyes, "Shane think about it from a police officer's perspective. They can't get to me here but they can get to my family and use them for bait."
He threw his arms in the air, "God dammed Aims, why the fuck did you ever have to go? God dammed."
She flinched, "I made a mistake. He can't pay for the rest of his life for what I did."
His gaze seared through her, "He's paying Aimee, I'm paying, we all are paying. You think he will ever get over this? He's had no closure. You think I will ever love anyone as much as you obviously love him." He pointed to the house, "You had to fall in love with him. You did that and everything else has been a disaster."
"I would have died. Is that what you would have preferred? It's never been about him. Would you have liked the happy ending being me in liver failure in front of my father a year ago?"
"Of course not but this isn’t a solution either. I'm miserable because I love you. Your dad is miserable because he thinks you're dead and you're here living the life with Aleks."
She felt her hands spark, "LIVING THE LIFE, FUCK YOU SHANE."
He stepped toward her grabbing her face and kissing her as hard as he could. Her lips pressed against her teeth hurting her. She didn’t fight him, he hands were on fire wanting to suck his soul from him. His hands gripped her nearly ripping her skin.
He pulled back screaming, "I WANY MY CHANCE. I WANT TO BE APART OF WHAT YOU ARE."
She stepped away from him sobbing trying to whisper, "I want you. I do. I just don’t want them to come for you, to use you to get to me."
He shook his head as a tear rolled down his cheek, "I won't leave. I wont be apart of that lie unless I am apart of your life." He pointed in the direction of Port Mackenzie.
She nodded, "Okay. Okay." She sniffed wiping her face. She stepped into his embrace and whispered and spoke hastily, "They watch me at all times. I need to end it with you right here and now and you need to leave. I will come to your room tonight at your moms. We will find a way but we have to be smarter than yelling in a driveway for all my enemies to see."
He whispered looking around them
, "Your dad is getting to a bad place too Aimes. He's scaring the shit out of me. I think he would do better knowing the truth."
She swallowed hard, "I cant."
"Try."
She pushed him back shouting, "Go home Shane. I'm with Aleks, I chose him a long time ago. I cant be with a human it's too dangerous. Just go home." She turned away from him and shook her head. She stormed into the house and closed the door. She watched him get into his truck unharmed.
"I'll go ride with him."
She turned to see Aleks, he was trying desperately to hide his pain. She nodded, "Thank you."
He smiled, "I owe you that at the very least Aimee." He was gone filling the air with the warm wind. A smile found it's way to her lips as she thought about him sitting in Shane's truck cloaked, the two of them on a three-hour road trip. She was glad Shane wouldn’t be aware of Aleks. She realized then the depth of Aleks' love, he would do that for her knowing it would never get him anywhere or bring him anything.
She wished for a small moment she could love Aleks the way he needed and deserved to be loved, her life would be considerably easier with Aleks than it ever would with Shane even though she knew it could never be. Her heart had chosen its path, she just had to make it happen. Her stomach twinge thinking about the night that would come. She hadn’t been with anyone since the last time she'd been with Shane. Anticipation filled her as she walked to the bath, "Annabelle I need that rose oil bubble bath."
Chapter Thirty-Three- Nephilim
Ari and Aimee
The dark night smelled sweet as the streets steamed from the last rain still fresh on the ground. Ari looked at Aimee and nodded as they entered the minivan they had been told to take as the exact number of kids had not yet been confirmed. The minivan was a precaution if there were too many and Aimee couldn’t wink everyone.
They knew nothing about the children beyond they were special and the dark ones wanted them, dead or alive.
That was of importance to Lorri, she wanted whatever Daniel wanted and she would have it first. Currently the kids were staying at a government facility. No doubt the government was miss using them as they were special in some way.