Death (The Devil's Roses #5) 7

My magic is fizzling in.

"Sister."

I smile brightly, "Ladies!"

The faces that match mine flit about the space.

"How is Trist?"

They look confused, "How? How do you know us?"

I smile, "trust me. It's a long damned story. How's Trist?"

They shake their heads and look down, "Not good. Father is a cruel man."

I forgot how sucky things were for him. How Oliver and Phillip were the only things that ever made him happy. Even our mother living in the tower was nothing to him.

"Well a plan is in effect to help him. To end father."

"Will you free us soon?"

I shake my head, "I don’t know. I hope so. I'm glad you guys are here. I missed you. Tell Trist the Roses have a plan."

"We love you sister." The ghostly voices still creep me out a bit, but it it's awesome to have them with me again. They vanish.

I lie back on the bed and wait for everything to catch up. My cell phone starts going nuts in my pocket. I pull it out and glance at it.

A message from the twin's stares back at me. I sigh and shove it back into my pocket.

I don’t know how to live in both worlds and I am dreading seeing my dad. The first time was easy. I thought he was my brother. This time I won't be fooled. I'll have to act like I don’t know him. A knock interrupts my dread and self-pity.

"Come in."

Ari walks in. She smiles with only her lips. Her eyes are filled with dread.

"Hey."

She rushes at me, wrapping herself around me. "Oh my god, I'm so glad you're back. It's been brutal."

I hug her, we never were crazy close. I'm stunned and bothered. She must be starting to lose it a bit with all the changes that keep happening.

"Has it been bad?" I ask.

She shakes her head, "No. It's refreshing having Aimee just focus on work and not Shane and Aleks and Aleks and Shane and so on. It's been awesome having Aleks and Sam back at the same time and all the kids. It's been kind of nice not having Hanna around to make such a mess but at the same time Sam is bummed and I'm pretty sure stalking her like a crazed man. It's just been stressful. Ben doesn’t remember shit either. Thankfully the time resets back to where we were, in around the same week. So it's not like I had to relive the entire two years. I just was worried. I'm glad you're here."

I frown, "Me too?"

She laughs and pulls me back, "It's just weird okay. Everything is different this time."

"Why doesn’t Aleks remember anything?"

"Aleks was dead when we got Giselle to make the memories stay. We reversed it and forgot to make his memories stick."

"Yikes."

She nods, "Yeah."

"Ari, O, you in here?" The door is swung open even more and Lucas comes in. He grins, "How's our favorite witch?"

I leap into his arms. I inhale the woodsy smell of him and snuggle in, "I missed you guys. I mean I didn’t know I did, but I did."

He grins and glances at Ari, "Hey baby."

She blushes. I roll my eyes and point, "Take it out of my room."

He grabs her hand and kisses the back of it.

"So we storming the alley tonight?"

I frown, "Where is Ben?"

Ari laughs, "He doesn’t remember you. He was dead with Aleks when we did the memory thing."

Lucas flinches at her laughing and the weird harshness, "She's starting to lose it. She laughs at weird stuff now." He's kidding but his eyes don’t look like they got the joke.

Ari rolls her eyes and walks toward the door, "I'm just glad we're out of Alaska. I hate cold. I wanna go back to New Mexico and see my uncle and bask in the glorious sunshine." She walks out of the room, dragging Lucas with her, "Ben is downstairs. If you want to go meet him. He knows who you are."

My stomach feels funny. Ari is emotional and lost. I sit back on the bed when Lucas comes running back in, "I need to talk to you." He whispers.

I frown, "Is she okay?"

He swallows hard and shakes his head, "No. She's pregnant. She isn’t saying anything to anyone."

My eyes widen, "What? Congrats."

He shakes his head, "It's not good. Her kind doesn't do well with kids. They don’t even usually have babies, most can't. I'm scared. If something happens to her I need you there. I need her to live." His eyes look glassy.

I nod and press my lips together, "Okay. I'll do what I can to help her."

He grabs my arms hard, "No matter what. You save her."

I nod. I don’t even know how I would come close to it, but I nod.

He looks lost, "Thanks, O." He bends and kisses my cheeks and leaves the room. I stare at the floor and ponder it all.

Chapter Thirteen

Aimee

"Do you think you'll ever be in love with me again?" His lips look soft. I remember the feel of them.

I shake my head and look down at the concrete. I can sense the others. I know they line the rooftops of the alley I'm in. Just like last time.

He steps toward me, "Are we strangers now? We were friends once Aimes." My nickname hurts now.

I hate that I've lured him here in an attempt to get Jonathan to snatch O.

I don’t want to talk to him. I shake my head, "We'll always be friends."

He reaches forward and grabs my hand, "We live separate lives. We don’t hang out anymore. You made me this way and then left me."

My eyes burn. I feel the sparks. He drops my hand and grins, "Easy tiger."

I frown, "I never left you. You chose Marcus's way. There have been blood bag vampires for as long as there have been blood bags. Not the slutty downtown kind either. I mean the plastic ones."

He wrinkles his nose, "I don’t like it. It's the rest of my life, the world's life. I'm immortal. I don’t want to eat plastic food. Imagine an eternity of that?"

I cock my head, "Imagine an eternity together." I whisper it and hate they can all hear me.

He chuckles and melts the ice around my heart. His grin is killing me. "Aimee, I'm not giving up on you. I know you'll come back around." He comes closer and grabs my face. He presses his lips against mine. I gag and push back wiping my face, "I can taste the last person you killed."

He looks at me through his lashes, "Ditto." My stomach twists, just like it used to.

Marcus strolls up the alley behind him. "Aimee, how lovely to see you. We see so little of each other."

I feel my lips curl into a sneer, "I see enough of you."

He chuckles and crosses his arms across his broad chest, "So feisty. I liked you better when we first met. Of course it was the time before. Or was it the time before that? That Ari is a pain in my ass."

I shake my head, "She saved you."

Shane looks back at him, "I'll be there in a minute."

Marcus cocks an eyebrow and scoffs, "She isn’t giving you a minute Shane. She's doing something else in this alley. Look around you. The Roses are lining the rooftops. Something is up."

I narrow my gaze, "Go home Marcus."

He's in my face, his movements are fast. He slips a hand up into my hair and grips the back of my head. "I don’t take orders from girls."

I grin at him, "That's not how I heard it."

He laughs and grips the back of my head harder. I wince. "Tell Lorri the deal is off." His hot breath on my face smells exactly how it should, naughty.

"Tell me yourself." I grin at the sound of the boots in the alley.

He releases me and steps back haughtily, "The deal is off." He points to the roof where Henry stands, looking menacingly at us. "Let's not test our fates shall we? I feel fairly confident that I would win this battle."

Lorri growls at him, "The deal stands."

Marcus looks at her for a moment, "No."

"Stop being a child." She snaps.

"I WILL HAVE HER!" He screams and then he's gone.

Shane doesn’t even flinch. I grab his hand again and squeeze, "You don’t have to stay with him. You can come with us."

He shakes his head, "I'm royalty. I can't even walk past the guards. I tried."

I slide my hand along his face, "Don’t do anything I will have to come for you over. Shane it all seems like shits and giggles but we are over busting in blood brothels in Egypt tonight. We are taking the baddies down there because the African Roses are busy. We are on every other continent. I will know if you are part of it. I don’t want to have to kill you."

He bends and presses his lips against mine, "Stop making it so finite and difficult. We both know you love me as much as I love you."

I look down. "I don’t feel that way anymore Shane. I was a girl and you were a boy and things were simple."

He grips my hand roughly, "I heard that no matter what, you never chose me anyway."

I pull back but he's gripping my arm.

"Don’t make it so hard Aimes." He whispers and releases me. He's gone before I can reason with him.

"Well that was a bust." Lorri says quietly. "Fucking Marcus." She looks up at the rooftops, "Sam, go to her. Make sure he doesn’t find her. Do what you have to."

Sam beams and then he too is gone.

I see the icy blue eyes watching me for a second. Something about him still makes me question everything. How could I ever choose him over Shane?

I flash to the rooftops where Ari is standing next to O. "He never came then?"

She shakes her head, "Something else must be different."

Ari looks sick, "No. It's got to work." She looks like she might lose it. Lucas growls and rubs against her. His green eyes are full of worry. I scratch his head. He snarls at me. I put my hands in the air defensively, "What? God. You’re all fluffy and soft. I can't help it."