Death (The Devil's Roses #5)

We scout the far side of the garden, where we can see Sam and the others creep into a garage of sorts under the mansion. Men are flocking to the side of the house. In the distance we can see Hanna's strawberry blonde hair glistening in the sunlight. She is ripping off heads. I grimace and glance back at Giselle. She is wearing the same expression as I am.

"That's nasty. Why do the baddies always have to be in a house somewhere? Why can't it ever be a bridge shoot out, or a high speed chase?" Giselle asks.

I snicker.

Lorri looks at her incredulously, "Because we wink and flash and move faster than the human eye…"

Giselle nods, "Right. Still kinda boring sometimes. Sneak into the house. Kick down the doors. Kill the people. You know?"

I pat her on the back, "The faster we are done this, the faster we are done. Right Lorri. Roses will be done?"

Lorri looks at me and nods once, "In some ways."

Ben nudges Giselle, "You know you don't want it to end."

Giselle grins at him and laughs a throaty sound. "I am going to eat you up if you keep giving me that look."

His smile grows, "Promise?"

"Stop fucking around." Lorri stalks into the lilacs and rose bushes. She points to the roof of the house, "We wink there now." She grabs Giselle and goes.

Ben looks back at me, "I am going to get killed staring at her."

I raise an eyebrow, "Phase." He leaps in to the air and shifts into his wolf. He puts a paw on my hand and we wink to the rooftop. There is a full garden up here.

"Wow. I wanna be rich one day."

Lorri sighs and walks to the door. She holds up her hands. Three. Two. One. She opens the door. I wink ahead and scan the bedroom at the bottom of the long narrow stairs. A man is in there sleeping with a rifle next to him. I suck him hard and fast. His red blood sprays the wall behind him.

I turn to see Aleks snapping the neck of the man who was shaving at the sink in the next room. Ben creeps ahead of us. I'm ready to wink and grab him and take him back to the rooftop. I can't do his death again.

He leaps into a doorway and snarls. A muffled scream breaks out. He comes back with black blood spread across his muzzle. He nods his wolf head at me. I roll my eyes.

Lorri and Giselle are ahead of us. A woman jumps at Lorri. Light flashes from her hands. Lorri is shot back but winks back behind the girl. She rips her head right off. I gag a bit. Giselle covers her mouth.

The body slumps to the floor. Lorri tosses the head into the room and winks in after it. She comes out licking her fingers, "This floor is nothing but a barrack?" She whispers. "I don’t think they're here."

I shake my head, "I know. Remember the house where Ben and Aleks died. I'm scared it’s the same idea. Let me wink through and see what it all is."

Lorri nods, "Back in two."

"Two."

I wink down the stairs to the stair I can see. I peek my head out and glance down the hall. I wink to the far end of one hallway. I rapidly wink to each door. My winking eye starts to tire, but I see nothing. On the other side of the stairs there's a huge living room and a fancy office. I wink so fast the people sitting or talking don’t see me. I wink back to the stairs. A man is coming up them. He opens his mouth. I grab him and wink to Port Mackenzie. I snap his neck and leave him on dead on the ground at the secret beach. I wink back to France. I end up at the bottom of the stairs to the basement. I smell it there. Something familiar.

Angels.

I look past the creamy white wall to see Jonathan speaking to a group of men, "They're contained on the third floor. Detonate in two minutes." He turns to a lady and nods, "You need to stay here and make certain it goes off. Shield yourself and these guys. I'm going to get the other guys out."

He is gone. I wink to the woman and wink away. It's done in a flash. I'm at Marcus's house holding the savagely fighting witch by the throat. "MARCUS!" I scream.

The woman blasts me with lightning. It stings and burns. Marcus is there, tackling her to the ground. His fangs drop.

"NO!" I scream again. She grins at him. He stops himself but she flings him to the wall.

I wink her to his lab. I toss her and wink back out again.

He points at me down the hall, "Did you just put a bad witch in my lab?" His accent is thick. Cockney almost.

I take a deep breath. He snarls, "Aimee, I'm going to kill you." I wink to the third floor of the house in France and send a text to Sam at the same time as I shout, "LILACS! WINK TO THE LILACS!"

Lorri grabs Ben and Giselle. Aleks and I are flashed as I press send. The smell of the lilacs is everywhere. I sigh, when I see everyone else just behind us, until I hear a scream blast across the extensive grounds of the mansion.

"AIMEE, YOU MEDDLING LITTLE BITCH! WHERE ARE YOU? I KNOW YOU'RE HERE!" Jonathan storms across the garden. He screams and grabs a man next to him. He sinks his fangs into the man's neck and bites savagely.

He points in our direction, "You are dead." The house blows behind him. We all flinch and duck, as pieces of the mansion are scattered everywhere.

"I know it was you. You little bitch." He is snarling and snorting. He stomps closer. Lorri stalks out, almost sauntering. She is laughing.

He puts a hand out to her, "Just join me. Just join me and end this. Can't you see he doesn’t give a shit? He never did. HE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT YOU OR ME OR ANY OF THEM!" Red spit flies from his mouth with every word.

She just crosses her arms and watches him spazz like a drama queen.

"Lorri don't do this. Don't force my hand."

I walk out of the lilacs and grin at him, "How did you know it was me?"

His blood stained lip lifts, "I could smell you everywhere. You little bitch. Where did she go?"

I laugh, "Somewhere only I've been. No one else knows what it looks like inside and it's so protected you can't get out without some kind of CIA assistance. Even then I'm not convinced she'll get out."

He laughs, "I wish you had just joined me from the start."

I glance at my phone and see the picture Hanna sent me. I send my response. Hatred fills me as she comes walking out of the woods alone. I can hear the wrestling behind me. Giselle is no doubt holding them all back. I like to hope she doesn’t have to hold back Aleks.

Jonathan's face turns sharply. A grin crosses his lips, "Why hello." He sounds so charming. He looks it, even with all the blood splattered across him.

Hanna waves coyly, "Hi." She bites her lip. He flashes and they're both gone.

"SAM!" I shout. He grabs my hand and Lorri's and we're off. It's a horrid feeling. I gag as we bounce in the flashes. We stop and I swallow my stomach's contents. It's much worse when someone else is driving the boat.

I shiver and follow them down the dark hallway.

Lorri's nails glisten. I've only ever seen her fight with them a few times. They're hard as a diamond and sharp as a razor.

We follow the trail. The smell of Hanna. The tension is pouring off Sam. He looks back at me, scaring me with the look on his face. His eyes are completely black, like Ari's always are when she's crazy.

We are under something. It's dank and gross. The hallway is dark and made from stone or old brick that’s worn and smooth. It smells like the water at Aleks's house. Old and musty. A scream rings out in the air. We run, winking ahead.

A dim light flickers in the hall when we round a corner. Shadows move. I am nervous for Sam. I know Hanna is basically indestructible, but that means nothing in our world. Everything changes.

Lorri looks into the doorway and then back at us, "Tristan and another woman."

Sam smells the air, "Lillith." He whispers.

Lorri looks confused, "I've never seen her. I don't know. She was always with the Fae. They never liked me."

Hanna screams out again. Sam almost walks in, but I grab his arm and shake my head. Lorri winks us back to the lilacs. The group has waited for us.

"I think he's got her with Lillith and Tristan.

Sam's eyes light up. "Oh my god."

"What?"

Sam swallows, "Remember how I gave my blood to the bad witches and Oliver saved me and took it back. He said they could control me if they had it. He said I was never to give my blood away."

My stomach sinks, "Phillip took Tristan's blood."

"What if Lillith is bad? What if all along the hostage thing was fake? My mom loves him, Jonathan. She wasn’t a prisoner like we thought she was. What if Lillith isn’t either? What if she is using him to get the magic back?"

Lorri rubs her hands on her eyes and shakes her head, "Why? Why would she lie to the blue sisters and Henry and everyone else? Why would she pretend to be on the Fae's side if all along she was in it with Jonathan?"

Sam shakes his head, "What if the act wasn't an act? What if this was all part of the plan?"

Giselle crosses her arms, "Well, Adam did rape her in the garden and God's punishment was giving him another wife? Like dude. I would have smoked his ass with lightning, not given him another chick. Then he goes and tells him that shit ass story about the rib. Like bitch please. I am so not second to any man."

It's the smartest thing she has ever said.

I grab her head and kiss her. Lorri looks like she has been kicked between the legs. "Oh my god. Sweet Jesus. All along. She played Jonathan. She made the evil. She did it on purpose. She never was going to let us have the magic back and end her and Jonathan. All of it was an elaborate plan. He was probably forcing the pregnancies on her to get the magic out a little bit at a time. He has spent all this time trying to get the magic. They have a power struggle for the same outcome." It feels like the end of a Murder She Wrote episode.

My voice is equally as hollow, "Except Ari. That must have screwed with things."

"I feel so dumb. How did she trick Lydia's magic and Annabelle's and O's?" Aleks looks at Lorri, who is now stunned in silence.