Hyde (The Devil's Roses #3) 7

Aleks could see the shift in Aimee from the sweet girl to the psychotic killer, "He does what?"

"Yeah, he asked if he could watch them bite me. It felt weird letting him watch us do it. He seemed like Blake the nerd though, like he was going to pull out a clipboard and take notes."

Aleks looked at Aimee, "I think he might be working for the Dark Ones in Boston."

"Doing what though?"

"Not a clue."

"My sister?"

He nodded, "She's probably being used to experiment the effects of blood and drugs on humans."

Giselle put a hand up, "Whoa wait, Aimee are you part of all this too? You let them bite you?"

She seethed, "NO, but I'd like to." She sighed and sat at the bedside taking Giselle's hand in hers, "I gave up my life, as it was, to live. I didn’t have enough time to wait for a liver. I am what Alise and Blake said. I'm a monster like the vampires now."

Aleks shook his head, "No you're not. Giselle don’t listen to her, she doesn’t hurt anyone and she doesn’t kill anyone who doesn’t deserve it. She works for a group of people determined to keep people safe and prevent things like what's happened to you from happening."

"Who did this to her?"

Aleks sighed, "Guy named Tony. He's always at Master Mikes in Seattle."

She looked at Giselle and smiled, "I love you and I wont let you die. I'm sorry I never told you the truth before but I didn’t know how. Not without sounding nuts."

Giselle nodded, "It's okay Aimes. It's not your fault. None of this would have happened if Mr. Mac hadn’t tried to kill me."

Aimee bent and kissed her cheek. She was gone before she even stood up from Giselle.

"What was that? Where did she go?"

Aleks sat at the chair waiting for the doctors to come in and take Giselle up to a floor and sighed, "It's a long story Giselle."

She laughed, "Dude where am I going?"

"Well it all started the summer Aimee and Alise's mom died…."

Chapter Sixteen: Home/Castle Wrecker

Hanna

The dark halls of the creepy castle had started to close in around her. She paced, wondering when and if she was ever going to be able to leave.

He had given her another shot but it had made her tired for days. She could feel it killing her as the beast inside of her fought to get free.

She looked down at the plate of watermelon and pushed it away. The huge table was filled with food, all of it made just for her.

She thought about the taste of Marcus's blood, the excitement that had built in the bottom of her stomach after getting past the thought of drinking it. She had been more aware of him for days afterward, smelling him out like a hunted animal. He seemed to keep his distance from her. No doubt disgusted by finding her and a partially slaughtered animal in the woods. She knew she was hideous but she had hoped that his fangs and hunger for blood would help him see her past her inner beast. He had said she was his favorite monster, maybe it had all been a ploy to get her to give him the paper.

She wondered about the paper. She knew nothing about what was on it. She needed someone nerdy and smart to read the paper for her. Someone she could trust, someone besides Marcus. He seemed to have his own agenda.

She couldn’t help but like him regardless of the fact she knew he was selfish and self-centered. She wanted nothing like she wanted for him to take his flirting and kisses further than they were going at the moment. She wasn't the most sexual person the planet, of that she was certain. She had waited until the end of high school to lose her virginity and never gave it much of an afterthought. Somehow he had her wanting things she wasn’t even sure how to do. It was as if some kind of fire was being stirred inside of her.

She walked along the lonely halls wondering where he had gone.

She walked until she reached the lab. The huge metal door was open halfway. She had never seen it that way before. Fear crept across her as she peered into the crack of the open door. Seeing no one inside of the extremely well lit room she stepped in. Florescent lights covered the ceiling of the empty room. She glanced around wondering where he was. She hoped he wouldn’t come back to find her inside and alone. She walked to the table where he had left her note. He had improved upon it at the very least. It was covered in scribbles and a bunch of further nonsense.

She picked it up feeling the guilt and betrayal inside of her, warning her to put it back. She folded the paper and tucked it into her bra again. It was the only thing of her fathers she ever carried with her. It was her salvation in his eyes and he had sacrificed everything to keep her safe.

She turned running from the room. She couldn’t hear anything beyond her own footsteps. She took her shoes off and padded in her sock feet. Marcus, or rather Henry, had brought her bags of new clothes. They weren’t sexy clothes either, they were her type of clothes. The bags were full of jeans, t-shirts, hoodies, flip-flops and sneakers. She had half expected him to bring her dresses to go with the castle motif but he had not. Even her pajamas had turned out to be her favorites, fleece. Marcus had let her sleep in her own room.

She carried her runners softly creeping through the castle halls. The muted light made the anxiety she was feeling overwhelm the guilt.

Suddenly in the muted light and eerie halls she heard a noise. She stopped dead in her tracks holding her breath and willing her heartbeat to give pause.

The old wide halls echoed the sound as if it came from every room all at once.

It was a woman's giggle.

She felt a rage build inside of her.

A woman was in her castle.

Her castle? She shook her head. Suddenly she realized she considered Marcus hers. Even the beast inside of her seemed to concede he belonged to them.

She felt her feet start walking toward the noise before she had formulated a plan. Her fingers gripped the sneakers in her hands. She felt the canvas tear between two of her fingers but she ignored it, she had a mission. She needed to find the noise, or rather find its source.

"Marcus stop, really it's not funny." The woman's voice filled the hall again but this time she could tell it was coming from Marcus's room.

"Monique please for the love of god just let me do it." Marcus sounded light, he never sounded that way with her.

Hanna froze in her steps again. Her heart was racing.

"Fine but I want something in return." The woman giggled again.

Hanna didn’t wait to hear the rest of the conversation. She quelled the need of the beast to escape and eat the girl in the other room, she ran. She ran hard and fast until she was free of the castle.

She looked at the car and jumped into the front seat.

She started the car throwing it in reverse and squealed the tires, burning out of the circular driveway.

She watched as a shirtless Marcus appeared at the entryway of the castle screaming her name.

She threw her middle finger into the air screaming obscenities she knew he would hear and raced down the road.

She knew he could chase the car and probably would. She didn’t make a single stop sign or light. She nearly got hit several times as she headed out onto the freeway and back toward home.

Rage wasn’t the right word, blind hatred was and it rode every inhale and exhale she seethed.

Chapter Seventeen: Don't mess with Texas or Aimee's BFF

Aleksander

He paced outside of the room as he tried to listen. He wished his hearing were better as he tried desperately to make out the hushed words spoken beyond the closed door.

"She said she wished she had just died. Everything would be different if she had just drank the lemonade alone."

Aleks turned smirking at Lucas, "Thanks."

Lucas shrugged, "So is that the hottest girl on the planet or am I crazy?"

Aleks nodded "She is, there is no doubt. I've lived hundreds of years and that is the most beautiful girl ever created."

"She yours?"

Aleks frowned, "How is Ari, speaking of girls you're interested in?"

Lucas chuckled, "Not for me man, I was just asking is all. Ari is Ari, you know. She's still different from all the pushes affecting her life but I like her that way. She's moody, I like moody."

Aleks shook his head, "That’s weird. Where's Ben?"

Lucas laughed, "Speaking of weird…he's around. He was in Boston a few days ago. Something is up there."

"Tell me about it. This shit storm here has Boston written all over it."

"Who is she?"

"Aimee's best friend from back home."

Lucas made a face, "Yikes, someone messed with Aimee's bff, wow. Death wish much? Where is Aimee?"

"Doling out the punishment no doubt. Where's Ari?"

"Hopefully not with Aimee, she'll be scarred for life, if she is."

Aleks frowned, "Why?"

Lucas raised his eyebrows, "Have you ever seen Aimee in action, pissed off? She can take the soul nicely or she can rip it from your flesh." He shivered, "Not pretty. I will say though my wolf likes to clean up her messes."

Aleks laughed, "That’s disgusting."

"So did you see the invitation we got? Roland has invited the whole mansion to a ball. Hanna's nineteenth birthday."

Aleks laughed, "What?"

"Yeah dude. Roland invited everyone. I think he even invited Annabelle."

"A ball?"

"Yeah."

Aleks scratched his head, "Like gowns and tux's, but with werewolves and vampires and angels and demons?"

Lucas frowned, "Yeah. Seriously how is this that hard for you to grasp?"

"I don’t know its just weird."

Lucas laughed, "Do we get a gift?"

"Not sure. What do you get for the multimillionaire daughter of Mister Hyde?"

"Clothes. I heard she shreds more than me and Ben do."

Lydia opened the door, "Could you eavesdrop a little quieter?"

Aleks felt his face flush, "Oh uh, we were just chatting. Sorry. How is she?"