Death (The Devil's Roses #5)

I run down the stairs and put my hands on my hips. They are burning me through my shirt and pants. Holding them out in the fading light, I can't see anything different. My stomach drops again. I buckle and drop to the grass. It hurts more than I can take. Sweat crosses my brow.

A screaming girl interrupts my plans of running through the woods to my house, where I can die in the privacy of my own bathroom. I struggle to my feet and stumble down the back lawn, to the woods.

"Oh my god. Mr. Mac. Please Mr. Mac. Wake up." Giselle is pushing on the lifeless body of my favorite teacher, who is lying on his back in a bush.

"Giselle, what happened?"

She shakes, her hands tremble. Blood coats them. "He tried to kiss me and I said no and then he shoved me down on the grass." She sobs. I can see her torn shirt and skirt.

"He kept saying he needed to teach me a lesson." She gasps and sobs.

I drop to my knees and struggle with the stabbing pain and fire in my belly. I reach for his pulse. Warm wetness coats my fingertips. "What happened? He has no pulse."

I wipe my hands on his back.

She shakes. "I don’t know? I don’t know? He shoved my face in the dirt. Then everything got really hot and I reached back grabbed him. I just felt so strong and crazy. Aimes, I put my face up to his and sucked him out I think." She put her hands over her eyes. "I don’t know why. I just did."

I have no response. I nod and wrap my arms around her. "It's self defense. You didn’t mean to kill him." I feel sick. Mr. Mac tried to hurt her, my favorite teacher, tried to hurt her.

"No, I sucked him out."

I pet her head. "It's okay. You're just not feeling well. You didn’t mean it."

She lifts her face and in the muted light, I can see the dark red blood coating her face where her hands have touched it, after touching his bloody dead body.

"There's blood on your face and hands."

She wipes at it like she has gone mad.

"It's okay. I got it. Let me get it."

I wipe and she cries, "I did this. I meant to. I wanted it. I wanted to kiss him and suck. Aimes, shit is wrong."

I grimace. "Okay ewww. No. Stop. We need to call the police." My hands tremble.

She collapses into me. My guts stab me again. My fingers buzz and hum with the current running through them, but I hug her. Desperate to hang on.

She shivers into me. "I don’t know why. I don’t know Aimee. I don’t know. They'll think I did it on purpose."

I hold her tight and shout, "HELP! HELP US PLEASE!"

Shane comes running down the darkening lawn. "Aimee?" He shouts. I can hear panic in his vice. Tears are streaming down my cheeks. I never noticed them before. "Here," I cry.

He is on me, touching me, holding me. He kisses the top of my head. "Someone call nine one one," he yells back at the house.

I close my eyes and grip tightly to the sobbing mess Giselle is. Something about holding her feels right. Like my soul knows it's right.

Chapter Eight

Her hair is raven silk, I never noticed before how shiny it really is. I reach a hand forward and stroke it slightly.

Her silver eyes narrow. "What are you doing loser?"

My palms are burning. I shiver and tingle and imagine what it will feel like to just brush my fingers against her skin.

"Ugh, god Aimee you are so weird sometimes." She climbs off the couch and walks into the kitchen. It makes me snap out of the daydream I'm having. I frown. Something is wrong with me. I get up and leave the house. I look around the small town as I walk. Something is missing.

I look into the windows as dusk hits and people start to turn on their lights. The insides of their homes look cozy. Something about it makes me sad. I don’t know why.

My stomachache is killing me.

I hear a horn and turn to see Shane driving up. "You okay?" He leans out the window.

I nod. "Yeah. Just weirded out. Not feeling well yet either. Did the police say anything?"

He shakes his head. "Not a lot. They gave me a flyer to become a cop though. Ha. They did say they found an ass ton of drugs in his house. I guess he gave Giselle some lemonade. She never drank it though. It had the drugs in it. She could have died. It was poorly made. He had some weird shit it in, date rape drugs. She is lucky that he fell and landed on those sticks. They said he died instantly."

I cross my arms and shiver. "Friggen weird. Blake sent me a text a couple hours ago. He's crushed. Mr. Mac was his mentor."

He nods. "Get in the truck. We can go for a drive." I don’t think. I run across the street and hop in. I put my hands up to the heater. The spring is cold on the coast.

I glance at him as he turns onto the old beach road. "I haven’t been here in years."

"I like it here." He drives past the old trail that leads to the secret beach. Only our small town knows about. He drives up to the viewpoint and I force my stomachache away.

"So, I wonder who will replace him as the Chem teacher?"

I almost smirk. Nerves rattle inside of me. "Blake said he's been asked to do it."

"Wow. Really?"

I glance at him and try not to stare at his lips. Or lick mine.

He parks the truck at the cliffs and turns it off.

"Wanna walk?" His voice is low. It steals my breath. I nod weakly. He climbs out and walks to my door. He stands too close to me when he opens it. When I slide from the seat my chest presses against his. He lowers his face on mine. His soft lips brush mine, making heat trails cross my lips. It's the slightest brush, I barely feel the contact.

He grabs my arms and presses his face into mine. His tongue slides against mine, his hands grip my arms, and his body presses mine against the frame of the truck. My hands slide up into his hair, pulling him down on me harder. I want more. The air is sweet and heavy. I feel high. His grip tightens on my arms, but I can't stop myself. He's filling me up. He slaps me in the arms and pushes, but my back is against the truck. I'm stronger than he is. His muscles feel strong and hard in my hands but I can hold him to me. He pushes and hits but the air is too sweet.

Cold air rushes in between us. I open my eyes gasping. I want the air back. I want the taste of him to fill me up more. I lick my lips, I can taste him still.

"Aimee." I look to the right. A strange looking girl with black eyes and long dark hair is standing next to a dark blond guy.

"Who are you? Where's Shane?"

I see a dark haired man kneeling over Shane's body on the grass by the cliffs.

Panic fills me. "WHAT DID YOU DO?" I run at the man.

He looks back at me and snarls two huge fangs, "Christ Aleks, get her out of here."

I leap at the dark haired man with the fangs, but the blond is there too fast. The air swirls with warmth and I am on the beach, the secret beach. The dark blond shakes me. "Get it under control."

My jaw trembles. My hands shake. The blond grips my arms. "You okay?"

I shake my head. "No. No. No. What happened? Where is Shane?"

I close my mouth and notice the way he smells. "Is that you? You smell like that?" I lean in. He chuckles. I smile at him. I'm not sure what else has happened, but I like him. He sounds and smells and looks like a dream. His strong face has a square jaw and perfect lips. When he smiles at me, my heart melts. One side of his lips is a little fatter than the other. It makes his smile crooked. I can't fight my eyes or thoughts. I imagine sucking his lip, right on the fat part. I moan a little when I breathe and lick my lips. "I'm, uhm, Aimee."

He looks scared. He lets me go and steps back. "Aleks. Aleksander." His words have a hint of an accent. Eastern European. It's sexy. I squeeze my thighs together. "What are you?" I reach for him. He is suddenly across the beach from me.

"You need to get a handle on what you are."

I clench my hands. "Why do I feel so good?"

"Your friend. You sucked his soul. You feed off souls."

I laugh. "What?"

He flashes closer to me. I jump back. "What are you?"

His face is hard, I like it. His white blue eyes trip me out, but his lips are killing me. He shrugs and grins bitterly. "Angel of misfortune."

He points to the large logs up the beach from us. "Want to sit on the drift wood and make a fire?"

I shiver and nod. "Where is Shane?"

He walks up the beach past me. "With Marcus and Ophelia. If anyone can help him it's them."

I furrow my brow. "What's wrong with him?"

He looks back at me. "You. You sucked him dry almost."

My fingers spark. "Something is wrong with my hands," I whisper.

"It's a long story Aimee. Needless to say the girl with the black eyes messed up, bad."

"Who is she? What did she do? Who are you? How did we get here? How did you do that thing you did?" I spin in a circle and look around the beach.

He steps close to me and smiles softly. "Stop being a pain in the ass and help me light the fire."

My smile fades, slowly. "What?" I lean forward and smell the air near him. "You smell so amazing." He grimaces and walks away from me. My stomach clenches. I buckle gripping it. "Oh, god it's back." I feel like the air has been sucked out of my lungs. I heave but it's all stuck in my stomach. He offers me his hand. I shake my head. "No. I don’t know you. Stranger danger." The words sound familiar. I've heard them before. My stomach is burning savagely.

He drops to his knees and lifts my face up to his. He presses his lips against mine. I'm taken aback but the air comes. My fingers slip into his thick hair. My hands are on fire when they make contact with his skin. I climb up onto his lap and wrap my legs around him. My tongue caresses his, my lips can’t get enough. His hands cup my ass, pulling me into him. I can feel something hard against my groin. I don’t even care. I could eat the face off of him, the way I'm kissing him. My hands are digging in, gripping and pulsing. My legs squeeze, my mouth caresses and sucks and my hand roam. I'm moaning and sucking and he's into it. He's pressing me into his erection, grinding me into him.