Bane: The Roses Academy 2
Date: 2012-04-10 04:00:00+00:00
Description: Where there is power, there is fear. Especially when you don’t know you’re different. Seventeen-year-old Ari has never been one to wish for a life less ordinary. So when less ordinary lands her in a dark alley, alone and altered, she doesn’t know how to cope or where to go. Her hands are still warm from the life she took—the life she loved. Her heart is broken from the cold place she has landed, away from the warmth of her family. Her mind is filled with memories of events that didn’t happen. At least not to her. As impossible as it sounds, she realizes she is the reason her life has changed a

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Bane

A novel

Book Two of the Devils Roses

By

Tara Brown

Copyright 2012 Tara Brown
http://TaraBrown22.blogspot.com/

Smashwords Edition

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold
or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person,
please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did
not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to

Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work
of this author.

Other books by Tara Brown

Cursed-Book I the Devils Roses

Hyde-Book III the Devils Roses

/body>

Chapter One-This Brings New Meaning to Deserted…

ARI

“Grab plates Ari Jesus. What's with you today? You okay?”

She turned around sliding her middle finger up her face with a sickly sweet smile, noticing how hot her fingers felt against her face.

Cookie smirked at her subtle way of giving him the finger, "Nice kid."

She frowned at him and looked down at her fingers, they had been sweaty hot for days.

She grabbed the plates for table eight and walked out of the kitchen. She had noticed even the hottest plates that had been under the broiler didn’t burn her skin, nothing seemed to faze her hands. They didn't look different just felt crazy.

She handed the food over to the smelly men sneering in disgust at the their fat sweaty bodies. They were maybe forty but they looked about eighty. She couldn’t watch them eat. It disgusted her seeing someone so unhealthy and sick only adding to their problems with a huge steak and eggs.

She felt the distractions slowing her down. She rolled her shoulders and neck and closed her eyes for a split second. She ignored everything around her finding her place, the place where she blocked her brain and let herself get into her flow.

She wasn’t always the nicest waitress but she was the best as far as efficiency went. She always had the largest section, the most patrons and it never mattered how many there were, every order was correct, everyone got hot food, no one had a half empty cup.

She grabbed a fork from the basket carrying it across the room as she poured a cup of coffee for a lady. She watched as a small boy dropped his fork. Finishing pouring the coffee she passed the fork to the little boy.

If anyone had ever watched her close enough they would have seen a pattern in everything she did.

“Morning Ari.”

She turned and smiled, “Morning mayor.” She poured him a cup of coffee, “The usual?”

He nodded.

Only new patrons needed a menu in Ari’s section and even then she could always guess what it was they wanted, even before they saw the menu.

Her days went like that, all of high school had been her working after school and all summer in her uncle Vince’s café, roadside diner, depending on whom you asked.

Her dark brown hair was always in a ponytail, shiny with the grease that lingered in the air. Her dark black pupils matched the color of her eyes, so much so the eye doctor had trouble telling the two apart. Her lashes were long enough to catch flies, she hated them. She’d pulled them all out once when she had been a little girl only to discover they were pretty necessary, especially in the dusty desert. Her uncle had laughed at her for a second in his usual way but then bought her the perfect pair of ladybug sunglasses to help with the dust.

Her face was plain, plain as everyone else's in the small town. No one she knew was eye catching or noticeable but in the sweaty desert no one notices attractiveness. The work is hard and long just as the days were. Intensely hot days and harshly cold nights, just like Ari, just how she liked it.

“You going to go to school this year Ari?” The mayor asked as she delivered his eggs over easy with extra buttered white toast, three sausages and three marmalade packets.

She frowned, “No, no need for a fancy city education Mr. Mayor, I have all I need here.” She held her hands out smiling.

He laughed taking his first bite, “You know even just some community college might help you pick what you want to do for a living.”

She shrugged, “I’ve got a living. I don’t want to waste money just to go when I don’t know what I want to be yet.”

He nodded, "That is wise. You've always been smarter than most kids your age."

She laughed, "Most kids don’t have an uncle riding their butt twenty-four-seven."

She walked away before anything else could be said. Her uncle had tried it too, he tried desperately to get her to attend something, anything but she liked it in the small town where nothing happened because nothing changed. She was scared of leaving home and being alone in the world. Her family might not have been traditional but they were everything to her.

She had only just graduated in June and it was only October, she didn’t know why everyone was in such a hurry for her to leave. She wondered quietly in her mind if they wanted her gone for some reason? Had she been burdensome to her uncle? She rolled her eyes blocking it out, she focused on her job, it was all she needed.

After the breakfast and lunch rush she changed into shorts and a t-shirt. She tied on her sneakers and smiled at Brent whom she enjoyed calling Cookie, “Okay Cookie tell Vince I went early.”

Cookie shook his bandana covered sweat soaked head. His mat of curly sandy colored hair was always covered by something, bandana, Stetson, ball cap, anything. Underneath his hair was shaggy and unkempt but in an attractive way. His face was weathered for thirty-eight. He was in amazing shape from twelve years in the navy but he had been wounded, his left lung wasn’t what it used to be after a piece of a hummer crushed it.

“You have a death wish kid.”

She smirked at him, “Whatever old man, you’re just jealous you can't keep up.”

He laughed bitterly, “Well in my younger years I woulda wiped the concrete with yur ass kid.”

She winked at him and was out the door like a shot.

The temperature had to have hit its average of eighty-eight degrees, early October was still quite warm, while the sun was out anyway.

Her runners hit the pavement with a frightening silence, she ran with a technique most had never seen. She landed toe first. Her legs pumped hard from the start, she'd trained herself to never need a warm up. She loved the adrenaline too much to worry about warm ups.

The desert blew by her as she raced along the deserted highway. The wind had picked up but the air was dry making the wind a friend on a hot run. She pulled the elastic from around her hair and let her long dark hair spill down her back. She got a waft of the scent of the diner as her locks surfed along the waves of air.

Smiling and taking it all in she noticed suddenly her fingers burned still, she wondered if she had put them in something that could have caused a chemical reaction, nothing sprang to mind though. She smelled her fingers as she sprinted, they smelled as they always did, zesty orange hand cleaner. She wondered if a citrus allergy was starting, her uncle Vince had a ton of allergies that up until that moment she'd never even considered she had.

She squeezed her fingers together feeling them burn each other, as the heat was so intense. She felt it starting to spread. She looked up to see the highway marker where she turned around. She always ran to the same sign, it was a picture of wild horses running about through the desert which said, “Nothing for forty miles, nothing”

She smiled every time she saw it. She knew there really was nothing but dirt for forty miles.

She flexed her fingers again wondering about the aching heat coming from them, it was as if a fire burned under her skin needing somewhere to go.

She looked up at the afternoon sun feeling the intensity from it more than she ever had. She wondered if she was coming down with some kind of flu. She had never had a flu bug before but knew once Cookie had gotten sick and passed out in the kitchen. She remembered how sweaty and pale he had been.

She turned around at the sign feeling all the heat from her hands shoot into her head, the desert spun around her, she bent to throw up on the steaming asphalt but the asphalt seemed to be coming toward her.

Her lids were stuck to her eyes, she could hear her uncle and Doc fighting but she couldn’t move her lips. Everything felt dusty. She felt with her searing fingertips to see if she was still in the desert, it was hot enough around her to make her think she might be. She felt sheets, extremely cool sheets on her fingertips.

“She is probably just under the weather or dehydrated Vince. Honestly it’s over eighty degrees out there.”

“Yeah I know that Doc but she runs everyday at two, she is an elite athlete. She has done iron man competitions in warmer weather than this and been fine. She doesn’t get dehydrated and she's never been sick a day in her life.”

“Look bring her in for some tests on Monday Vince but I’m telling you its probably that time of the month or something very uneventful. Her pulse is strong, her temperature is perfect, her skin is very elastic and plump, she's stirred twice and just seems weak. I don’t think it merits the hour drive to the hospital unless you really want to.”

“I’ll bring her in on Monday Doc. She’ll kill me if I drag her all the way there and she has her monthly situation.”

Doc chuckled his deep throaty laugh, “I’d imagine, she isn’t fond of being girlie.”

Her uncle sighed, “That she isn’t.”

She heard footsteps, “What took her mother again?” She knew the Doc’s voice, she’d know it across a stadium with hundreds of people shouting at the same time but his voice changed drastically as if the death were some great secret.

“Uh, well it was a car accident in Portland, uh Maine. Why?” Her uncles' voice was broken and strange as well.

“Well its good to have a starting off point when doing tests of any sort. Medical history is pretty important. Monday morning, I’ll get Dolores to schedule you in, say ten?”

“Yup thanks for stopping in.”

She heard footsteps and scuffles. She thought about her mother. She cracked her eyelids feeling as if the whole desert were inside them.

“Rise and shine there sleeping beauty. How you feeling?”

She looked at her uncle, “Think I have the flu.” Her voice cracked.

He smiled, he looked like her mother when he smiled. Same dark brown almost black hair, dark blue eyes she had always secretly, deep deep deep down wished she’d been born with and white skin. She wondered why he had chosen to move to the desert with his albino like skin. His moody looking face changed in every way possible when he smiled and suddenly he looked handsome, his thick brow lightened in the same arch as her mothers and his thick cheeks raised up into cheekbones almost.

Her mother had been incredibly beautiful. Her uncle never had shown her many pictures but the ones he had all made her mother look like the sort of girl who took your cares away by being in the same room as you. She looked like a carefree spirit who smiled because the air smelled sweet or the sea looked magical in the rain.

She could never imagine what kind of wonders would have come from having her mother in her life but she knew if she had been able she would have turned into an entirely different creature.

“So what you're saying is you're probably fine, just sick?”

Her eyes darted at him interrupting her thoughts. She nodded weakly.

His faced looked relieved but somehow angry at the same time, “Well then I’d say enough is enough with the friggen running in the goddamned heat. No more. You go in the morning or the evening, no more midday. It's too damned hot Ari. You coulda cooked out there on that cement. Your mother made me promise on her deathbed that I would raise you like my own and take care of you and love you and I’ll be damned if I’ll be made a liar.” He ran a hand through his sweaty dark hair, “Ugh.”

She laughed feeling worse from the effort it took, “Drama queen.”

He smiled again, “Want some water?”

She nodded.

He poured the water bringing it to her lips, as his hand drew closer her hands burnt like someone were sticking them to the grill. She screamed out in pain taking his hand spilling the cool water down her body. Suddenly as the water washed over her, her feet cooled, her legs and waist felt refreshed. As her fingers gripped his hands the burning worsened but everywhere else seemed to cool like it was being iced, she sighed in relief as the last bit of pressure flew from her finger tips clearing her head as if someone just flicked a switch. Her mind was clear, her body was strong, she was healed one hundred percent.

The air around her was still, it smelled like grapes and honey. She could see her uncles' face, he smiled at her but behind him, rather through him she could see the light switch on the wall.

A picture filled the sparkly air around her. Her uncle was much younger, he was beside her pregnant mother. She gripped his hands begging him to care for Ari. He nodded. Her face was full of terror as she explained the dangers. He nodded telling his sister she would be fine. Tears poured down his face. Machines went crazy and doctors filled the room. He was shoved outside to wait on the bench. Ari cried watching him as he sat frightened until a nurse brought him a bundle in a pink blanket. He held the bundle to his chest rocking her.

Suddenly as if it had rewound her uncle stood again at her mothers' bedside. Her mother begged him but Ari could see a difference in his face. He seemed shut off as he listened. The machines went nuts and he was shoved into the hallway again. This time when the bundle was placed in his arms he watched its little face with anger and fear. When the nurse came to speak to him again he ignored her and handed her the baby. He started to cry and walked away.

Ari looked up at her uncle standing before her, smiling at her. His mouth moved, “I loved you always.” His words were a whisper blowing through the air around her face. She fought the urge to pass out, forcing her eyes to focus on his vanishing face.

He faded completely, her hand no longer held onto his, his gold pinkie ring lingered in the frozen air in front of her face. She reached a fingertip out barely making contact with the small gold band before it dropped to the floor with a sound that resonated around her, echoing everywhere. As the ring hit other noises rushed in.

She shivered looking down at the ring, her eyes fuzzed as if straining to see the floor but she realized it wasn’t the floor anymore. She stood on the street, her clothes weren't her jogging clothes. The dark of the room was the dark of a street she didn’t recognize. Something like she had seen on TV before, it was closed in all around her with balconies and buildings.

It was an alley.

A dark, wet alley in a closed in space she had never seen before. She looked down at the glint coming off the gold ring on the ground in the muted orange light from a street lamp. She bent down reaching with her long thin fingers grasping the warm gold, still warm from his fingers, he had existed, the ring proved it. She clutched it as if it were her only link to sanity. She looked around as she stood up but suddenly a blinding light filled her mind, like it was in the back of her eyes.

She saw an orphanage, she saw her uncle but he was in a suit, he never smiled, she saw a girl with buzzed dark brown hair fighting in combat boots and military pants.

She saw a razor cutting the girls skin. She looked down at her own arm as a scar grew where the razor cut the nearly bald girl.

She screamed out into the dark cold alley as the pain of eighteen years caught up with her. She knew where she was, what street she was on. She knew whose apartment was three stories up and why she was in the street. She was going to steal something, something that belonged to her.

She was an orphan for real, a runaway orphan. Her uncle was in the very back of her mind with a feeling she couldn’t understand, she hated him, his stupid prissy wife and their three horrid spoiled brat kids. She wasn’t even fond of his dog. When did he get a dog she wondered? Everything in her life was at war, conflict was everywhere. The sunlight of New Mexico, the warmth of the wind, the laughter of Cookie, it was gone, no longer memories but rather dreams. In its place the cold of the northwest, Portland Oregon not Maine, her uncle had lied about where he had been from.

“Figures, he lies about everything else.” She wanted to slap herself, she felt like the weird little guy on Lord of the Rings, one side of her hated her uncle and one side loved him as the parent he apparently had never been.

She looked down at the tattoos running her arms onto her hands, she hated and loved them simultaneously.

She screamed in pain again as her nose, lip and eyebrow stung, gingerly she touched her fingers to her face where she discovered a ring in the middle of her nose, which she remembered getting in a filthy shop that frightened her old side but thrilled her new side. She lifted her hands running them over her fuzzy head, she had a buzz cut. Her hair that she always loved cause it looked just like her mothers was gone. Her heart broke as the new part of her saw her mothers face for the first time, Portland Ari had never seen the joyful face before. As the old memories caught up with the new she became a ball of emotions. Tears trickled there way down her cold cheeks.

She ran her hands down her jean jacket shivering, the cold soothed one part of her while the other part felt as a flower wilting in the damp darkness. She struggled to find new memories inside her new self where she had enjoyed the beach or visuals of anything cheery but everything was darkness. Dreary dark images of an orphanage where she learned to survive, tears formed in her eyes remembering the horrors small children could suffer, dark images of running away in the black of night while a priest slipped down the hall, she could have killed him but she knew his destination would distract him long enough for her to getaway. She felt sickened disgust for herself.

Her brain was full of dark alleys where money was made, dark places where souls were lost and sold, traded as a commodity. The young and innocent chose a full belly or vein depending on age and preference rather than remain innocent. She lived like a savage on the streets for six years. She remembered every one of them. She felt as the old her and new her melded into one person and everything changed. The world looked different.

“You're certain you wont come home with me child?” She spun seeing an old woman smiling at her, "You look cold honey. It can be just a night if you like. I can't leave you out here to freeze."

The old ladies voice apparently bothered her but the hunger in her guts and cold on her desert skin won over, she nodded at the old woman and walked toward her holding herself in a way no one had ever seen before because no one had ever met her before, not the new her.

She knew the old lady somehow, she had tried to talk to her months before but the new Ari had ignored her. She figured she was a social worker of some kind.

“My name is Lydia Crane.” She spoke softly turning her head to face Ari smiling in a curious way, “And you are, Ari. What's your last name Ari?”

Ari looked at her puzzled, what kind of game was this? “My name is just Ari.” She knew that wasn’t the right response but the new Ari seemed incredibly defensive about privacy.

She nodded her head slowly, “Just Ari, no last name.”

Ari sneered, “No family so no family name.” The tone of her voice had been so biting she nearly winced thinking about how she had spoken to the older woman who had done nothing but offer her kindness. She felt the jaded edges of herself sadly realizing just how sharp and cruel she had become.

“You can fight it, you know that right?”

Ari looked at her confusedly without speaking, her mind was screaming so many nasty things she thought it best to not let them escape through her mouth.

“The other Ari, she doesn’t have to be there if you don’t want her to. The old Ari is the better one anyway.”

She raised an eyebrow, “How do you know me?”

“I’ve watched you for a long time, I’ve seen you both ways and the sunny girl is the better way to live.” She pointed, “We are here.”

Ari looked around confused at how quickly they had suddenly appeared across town. The road turned onto a street that looked as if time hadn’t been around much to improve upon things. The other Ari had never been out this way before, she had heard an evil witch and a weird cult lived out this way. Even the pushers didn’t venture out this far to the East.

Ari felt a shiver as they stepped on Old Oak Way, the street the old lady was pointing to. She looked around wondering about the breeze she had felt but it was gone as quickly as it had come up.

“It’s the guards Ari.” Lydia spoke quietly, “They keep the bad out and the good in.”

Ari looked back wondering what the bad was if the old lady was letting her in, especially in her current state.

At the end of the old road stood a huge mansion, it was decrepit and ancient. It was a three story white gothic house with pitched roofs and a huge front porch. The house was frightening and inviting somehow. She imagined it felt as the witch's house would have in Hansel and Gretel. Huge willow trees and oaks lined the yard and long driveway.

Everything seemed to be as it would have been when the house was made no doubt hundreds of years earlier.

“This is my home.” She sounded proud.

Ari looked at the house closely feeling her special mixture of feelings inside herself. Her old self felt exhausted but her new self seemed accustomed to being tired and cold. Her skin seemed thicker.

“Come on Ari, you need to meet your new house mates.” She turned her head smiling.

Chapter Two- Hot, For a Psychopath

She could hear nothing but the creek of the old storm door as they entered the dark house. The front room was huge, with an old black iron bench and a real umbrella stand. Everything looked to be as old as the house.

“Kitchen is this way dear.”

Looking around taking it in she hadn’t noticed she stood in the front entry alone. She closed the door peeking behind her as she locked it, she always watched her six.

Intimidated by the long dark hall and the lack of housemates she started to wonder if the old bat was a ghost who lured her to the old haunted house.

Light filtered from the end of the massive hall. She watched nervously as the light flickered from people passing through it. At least if they could flicker a light and make a shadow the people weren’t ghosts, she hoped.

“Well I knew when I saw her last year but she wasn’t there yet. It’s hit now.” Lydia spoke defiantly.

“You had to bring her here?” A new voice joined the conversation, a female.

“I brought you here didn’t I? She's as alone in the world as we are, why not?”

Ari peaked around the doorway feeling new Ari getting angry at the lack of action.

“Well don’t stand in the hall dear, it’s rude.”

She took a breath and a step and walked into the light. The blond girl in the kitchen sucked her breath in seeing Ari for the first time. Flashes of what she looked like rolled through her mind as did the defensive voice of the other her.

She looked at the tiny kitchen feeling the walls closing in around her. She didn’t like small spaces, well the other girl inside her didn’t.

“Yes its cozy for such a huge mansion but in my day we didn’t need a large kitchen. Servants were accustomed to small quarters. They were lucky I never put the kitchen in the basement like everyone else.”

Ari frowned, “You built the house?”

Lydia nodded, “Yes and no. I never did the work but my husband at the time let me have some say in the planning.”

Ari raised her eyebrows, “How old is this place?” She had guessed at least two hundred years but obviously that couldn’t be.

“Oh old enough let me tell you, Ari this is Aimee James. She’s, well, different, like you.” She smiled brightly, “Until you get to know each other I wouldn’t go holding hands. Who knows what’ll happen.” She laughed to herself confusing Ari and pissing off the other girl.

Ari noticed how beautiful Aimee was, she was tall and thin with black pants and huge leather boots. Something about her, the pain in her eyes perhaps, frightened Ari. Her long blond hair sat in silky waves around her face and shoulders enhancing her gray blue eyes.

"Eat dear." Lydia put food at the table.

She nearly jumped at the chance to eat food. Ari sipped the soup from the bowl leaving the spoon on the table, she felt them watching her as she ate greedily. She couldn’t stop herself from shoveling the food down her throat. Living on the streets she had learned to eat when the food was available but growing up in a diner she knew she was eating like a savage.

"Ari dear do you understand what happened?"

She looked up from the bowl still sipping the hot liquid, she shook her head putting the bowl down and wiping her hands on her mouth and then her pants.

Aimee grimaced, "You eat like an animal."
Ari was off the chair before she could stop herself, diving at the girl. Aimee laughed and vanished from the spot she had been standing. Ari slammed into the counter and cupboards before she could stop the momentum.

Lydia shook her head, "Girls, this isn’t a fight you want to have."

Ari looked around confused, "How, h-how did she do that?" She looked around the kitchen stunned. She pushed her new feisty self back down and only let old Ari speak.

"Oh I have a few talents," Aimee walked back into the kitchen clicking her heels on the old wood floor, "One of which you don’t want to know about." Her grey blue eyes sparkled with mystery.

"Anyway girls, neither of you should use what you have on each other, until we know exactly what Ari does with those magical hands of hers."

Ari looked down at her hands fighting the tears that threatened her eyes, "My uncle…" She whispered into the small kitchen, "He just left, like mist." The gold ring on her finger glistened in the kitchen light making the lump in her throat larger.

She felt her new self fighting to rage about the kitchen and run from the house but she quashed her thoughts before she could act. As odd as the old lady was, she seemed to have some clue as to what was going on.

Her legs gave out slumping her onto the floor with her back against the cupboards. She looked at her dirty hands, she didn't know them anymore, her skin was filthy but that was the least of her worries, "I'm not me anymore."

Aimee sat beside her on the floor of the kitchen, "I know how it feels."

Ari looked at her confused, "You do?"

She nodded, "Yeah." Her gray eyes misted almost, "My hands made someone disappear once too."

Ari watched as Aimee relived horrors inside herself. She wondered what had happened to Aimee to make her look so hollow.

Lydia sat on the old metal kitchen chair in front of them, "Ari you will need to control not only your new self but also the hunger."

Ari frowned, "The hunger?" She looked at her hands recalling the feeling when she had touched her uncle, it had been a hunger.

"We need you to be able to control it before we can let you out of the house again, we don’t know exactly what you do just yet."

Ari felt her rage building suddenly, she didn’t like to be trapped.

Aimee put a hand on her shoulder, "Not like a prison Ari, like a shelter. You're safe here."

Ari nodded, she needed to run. Her body needed to release the energy she had built up inside herself, "Can I run?"

Lydia laughed, "Where would you go?"

"I ran in the desert, eight miles a day."

Lydia laughed again, "Oh for sport, well you could run the back trail. It's protected as well, the trail is about five miles. It's a loop around the lake out back."

Ari looked at Aimee's' hand still on her shoulder, "You aren’t hurting me by touching me?"

Aimee shook her head, "I learned how to control it, took me a while but I've got it now." Aimee looked closer at Ari's face, "Besides something about those black eyes tells me I might not be able to hurt you."

Ari watched as Aimee frowned looking back at Lydia. The older woman smiled like a grandma about to pass you a muffin and tell you everything would work out.

Ari wanted to smile, she wanted to think about going back to her normal life but it was all so confusing. How would she ever get back to the desert? How would she find her uncle if her new mind had memories of him that didn’t make any sense?

Lydia put a hand out for Ari, "You need a shower and some sleep love, it's probably been the longest day of your life."

"Depends on which me you ask, new me has lived through some things I can't make myself think about." New her laughed like a crazy woman inside her head scaring her.

Ari took her hand without thinking but as the skin made contact she pulled it back quickly.

Lydia laughed, "You can't hurt me Ari."

Ari took her hand again and stood up. Lydia's' skin was warm and fleshy. She enjoyed the feeling of touching another person.

The upstairs of the house was grandeur to the extreme, the bathroom was fit for a princess. Her bedroom was massive with a huge four-post bed and giant windows.

She stood in her towel looking out at the night, her shower had taken considerably less time than she was accustomed to what with not having two feet of thick hair anymore. She crumpled onto the floor hugging her knees into herself and sobbed rubbing her hands over her baldhead. In the mirror it had been the least offensive thing about her appearance. Piercings and tattoos were livable but the unbelievable amount of scars was what scared her. Each one came with a flash of a memory before the other her shut down her mind.

More than the clean feeling she never realized she had or the unmarked skin Ari wanted her hair back, which seemed shallow but it was truly the only feature she had of her mother.
"I can make it come back Ari."

She jumped looking back at the dark doorway leading into her dark bedroom.

"What?" She sputtered ashamed Lydia was seeing her cry like a baby.

"Your hair, I can bring it back."

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

Ari pulled the towel around her and stood on her wobbly legs as if she were a newborn dear, "How?"

"You're not the only one with talents." Lydia walked toward her, "Sit on the chair and close your eyes."

Ari looked at the chair next to the window. She walked to it shivering from fear and the cool night air on her bare skin.

She sat down and closed her eyes. She was terrified inside, her new self trusted no one. Ari tried to reason with herself about nice old ladies but her new self had memories of nice old nuns that shocked her. She had to fight the memories to maintain her eyes being closed.

She heard Lydia take several steps, she felt the warmth of the old woman's hands brush against her head. The warmth became relaxing and tingly. Her whole body grew warm and comfortable as the feeling spread over her, through her.

Even with her eyes closed she could see the glow of whatever was happening through her eyelids. She wanted so badly to open her eyes but she fought the urge terrified she would be blinded.

"Why did you shave your head Ari?"

Tears rolled out of her eyes, "Juvie, they shaved my head. It would also seem that a shaved head is a safety feature on the streets. Men don’t find a bald girl attractive." The memories of the disgusting man who ran his hands through her hair several times, pulling it slightly gave her chills. A slight smile crept upon her lips as she remembered beating him unconscious. Her memories scared her but worse they made her feel happy. She could feel the rage building inside her again, she knew she would need a run before she interacted with anyone else.

The heat stopped, "You're safe now Ari, no one can hurt you. Sleep tonight and we will start on solving your little problem tomorrow."

Ari gulped as Lydia walked from the room as eerily as she had entered, "Thank you Lydia."

"Your hair will start to come back in tomorrow, every morning when you wake it will grow more and more. A few weeks and it should look like hers again love."

Ari sat in the chair confused and exhausted, how did Lydia know what her mother looked like?

Chapter Three- Little Bald Boy Blue?

She woke feeling rested in a way she had never before, she had slept without dreaming as far as she could tell. The room in the daylight was more beautiful than she could have imagined. The walls were a pale blue, the furniture was dark walnut and the bedding and curtains were white eyelet lace. The dark hardwood floor glistened in the morning light.

A woman's voice broke the silence, "Good morning mister."

Ari looked around but no one was in the room.

"I have laid out a change of clothes for you for this morning. It's in the washroom."

Ari closed her eyes squeezing tight and then opened her eyes again to the beautiful room, still empty.

"Who are you?" She asked into the air.

"Why I be Annabelle, Mrs. Crane's head staff. Your washroom has fresh water for you to clean and ready yourself, do you need assistance? I can send up Frederick."

"I can't see you." Ari felt a cool breeze fill the room,

"Why I be right here mister."

Ari squinted seeing a young girl in a white dress, she was definitely a ghost. She was completely see through.

Ari screamed clutching her bedding to her naked body.

The girl screamed matching Ari in volume and length of her scream. Ari finished still watching the girl and screamed again. The girl again copied her.

The bedroom door opened as Aimee came flying into the room, "Annabelle stop screaming."

Annabelle stuttered, "Well-well-well he be screaming at me for no god reason and I be just tryin to help tis all."

Aimee laughed, "Ari this is Annabelle. She died during, well a witch hunt a while ago. She was Lydia's maid at the time. She still works here instead of moving on despite all of Lydia's attempts at helping her on."

Ari tried to get her breath under control as she nodded frowning, "Nice to meet you." She didn’t know what else to say, the house was growing more and more unbelievable.

"Annabelle this is Ari, she is a girl firstly, she is also our new family member."

Ari cocked her head at the word family, Aimee seemed to notice nothing in the word family but Ari hadn’t heard it except as a prayer on the lips of orphans.

"I be sorry Miss Ari, your head was all that was poking out and it seemed to be a boys head what with no hair being there. You gots all that stuff in ya face I couldn’t see ya as a girl." She curtsied, "I will change the clothes to a dress."

Ari put a hand out of the covers trying not to be completely offended, "No thanks, dude clothes are probably better at this point."

She gave a frightened look at Aimee who nodded and smiled, "Yeah she tried the whole ancient frilly dress crap on me too."

Annabelle vanished, not with a poof but just gone in an instant.

"Did you sleep well?"

Ari nodded, "Creepy well, it was weird I never dreamt. I always dream."

Aimee smiled, "No dreams at Lydia's is a good thing. She probably helped you out with that."

"What is she?"

Aimee shrugged, "A witch. What are you?"

Ari shook her head, "I don’t know." She tilted her head, "What are you?"

Aimee pressed her lips together, "Death."

Ari frowned, "Huh?"

"Death Ari, I am death. Grim reaper, death deity, black angel of doom, death."

"How?"

Aimee raised an eyebrow, "Never trust a demon Ari, no matter what." She walked out of the room leaving Ari confused.

"Lydia I know you don’t want to hear it but she's trouble, I know who she is."

Ari stopped on the stairs panicked by the voice she heard, it was a mans' voice talking about her. She had gone through it before, foster homes and attempts at jobs, she'd heard it many different ways. She sighed quietly knowing it was the end. At least she'd gotten a good meal and a night of sleep out of it. She turned to go back up the stairs to put on as many clothes as she could find. She would need the warmth with it being October.

"No Ronald you don’t know who she is, you know what she is. Who she is hasn’t even been decided yet by her. She needs time and space from the Roses until she decides it."

Lydia's' words rolled around in her stunned head for a second, she had defended her. She sat on the stairs listening.

"Ari just come down here and meet Mr. Halter before he leaves." She sat frozen but a smile crept along her face. Of course Lydia would have known she was there. She stood and walked down the stairs fighting the urge to attack the man before she even met him.

Lydia sat in an oversized old burgundy chair. Across the room from her sat a man with steel grey hair and a weathered tanned face. He reminded her of a very old version of Cookie making her miss home for a second.

"Ronald this is Ari, Ari this is Mr. Halter, he's involved in our lives from time to time."

Ari frowned at the man who stood and looked at her hand. She smiled and offered it to him. He made no move. She laughed and sat on the chaise lounge next to Lydia's' chair.

"You're very young." He commented at her distastefully.

She knew what she looked like, she looked like a mess. Her arms had tattoos and her face had piercings. She had scars on her arms and one on her cheek. Her dark hair was still incredibly short even though just as Lydia had promised her hair had grown at least an inch over night making her look more like a hedgehog than a girl. She had a tattoo running up her neck, it really was the one she hated the most. A bull ring through her nose and bars through her lip and eyebrow seemed like the frosting on the freak cake. She wore the jeans Annabelle had put out for her and a t-shirt. She was slight from not having eaten often enough and wiry from fighting for everything she had, which was nearly nothing. She could have been the definition of angst if one was able to capture the word in a photo.

"I'm eighteen." She hated him, he was the same as all the rest of them. He was a suit, she hated suits. Suits made decisions for people based on numbers and budgets not what was best for people. They made their decisions and then went home to their comfy beds at night not worrying about where they sent other people to live.

Aimee came into the room in skinny jeans and over the knee brown leather boots with large buckles. She wore a sweater and her blond hair in a ponytail. She was so pretty. Everything about her screamed feminine and delicate except her eyes, which warned you not to trust everything else you saw about her.

She sat next to Ari, "Ron." She spoke softly.

He smiled at her, it was a genuine smile not the wolf staring at the bunny smile she was used to from a suit, "Aimee."

Lydia clasped her hands together, "Well Ronald now that we are all here why don’t you explain to Ari exactly what sort of a situation she is looking at."

His grey eyes hardened as he looked at her, "Ari, I know this has probably all been very confusing for you but I do actually know what you are. I knew someone like you once."

He looked lost in his thought for a moment.
Ari felt her body tense but Lydia smiled at her softly telling her she was safe, or at the very least trying.

His words stung as he spoke, the story hurt him to tell, "My sister had a best friend when she was a girl, they went to college together. They roomed together. One night her friend got sick, very high fever and complained her hands were burning. All I can do is really guess as when asked later her friend couldn’t really recall the details. I assumed though that she must have touched my sister in her fevered state. My sister was suddenly gone from the room and every person in my family's memories changed. No one in my family recalls my sister the way she was except me."

Ari felt her brow lower, "My uncle."

He nodded, "You sent him back, back to the fork in the road that changed his life and forced him to choose the other road."

She frowned, "What?"

Lydia put a hand out and rested it on Ari's leg, "Sweetie instead of adopting you he was forced to abandon you to the orphanage."

The words cut her soul, she wanted to block it out. She rolled her shoulders searching for her zone, "What happened to your sister?"

He stared her down, "She died. Instead of befriending the girl who was like you she chose to be a loner. She had a horrid existence and killed herself. Our lives all changed and had I not been born, well special I would remember it the way they did. My sister never met her friend, she never went to college, she died at eighteen. My parents' lives shifted but they couldn’t recall the shift they just knew the new way their life was as if it was normal. You are the daughter of a fallen angel or demon. Did you know your real father?"

Ari let his words roll off her back, it wasn’t her story, it wasn’t her fault. Her uncle chose what he chose, she didn’t force him into anything. Daughter of a demon, the whole thing was nuts. She knew what was going on, they were trying to make her feel crazy so they could lock her up once and for all.

She stood and ran from the room. She ran out the front door and ran. Her legs pushed in her combat boots, she couldn’t run far, her lungs were weak in her body. She saw the street where she'd come from but when she tried to cross it she bounced back as if she ran into a window. She lay on the cold hard concrete for a moment, "Not a prison my ass."

She seethed. She stood limping, ignoring the pain everywhere and walked to the street. She put a hand out, there in the middle of the air hung a wall. It was see through, it was invisible rather but it still stopped her hand like a cold barrier she couldn’t comprehend.

She paced in front of it savagely like a tiger in a cage.

She didn’t know how to get out, she felt the world spinning inside her as the tension built. The more anxious she grew the more she felt her hands start with the burning again. She thought about it all. She turned and ran into the woods. The brush whipped past her as she stormed along trying to find a break in the invisible wall. She walked until she couldn’t see the house anymore and decided to go back. Her anger increased as she thought about the fact Lydia had her trapped.

She turned and ran back to the house. She burst through the door and ran back into the room to find the man gone. She stormed about looking for Lydia. Her combat boots made an angry sound on the wooden floors.

"LYDIA." She called.

"Out here sweetie."

She cringed at the sweetness in the old woman's voice. She burst through the kitchen and out the back door.

She was ready for the fight of a lifetime but the back yard stopped her. New Ari was shoved to the back as desert Ari looked at the nature and let it take her in.

The yard was acres of orchard and land. The trees were apple and cherry trees and maples. The leaves were changing making the entire yard like clouds of bright fall colors. The lake around the back of the property was huge with a large dock and some small boats tied at the dock. She could see the path that made its way through the trees and bushes along the grass to the lakefront. It was the most amazing thing she had ever seen. The desert had always made her happy but the stunning beauty of the trees took away all of her breath and thoughts. She forgot for a few seconds what she had been so angry about.

She looked at the calm grey water, her palms burned, she wanted to cool them off.

She kicked off her boots and ran, her socked feet squished against the damp grass as she sprinted landing toe first. She leapt onto the dock pushing with her burning thighs along the planks and diving as hard as she could into the water. It was exhilarating feeling the cool wind but the cold water was shocking. Her skin burned with the heat of her palms until she hit the water. The brutally frigid water sucked her down into it, she screamed into the cold water until she had no air left. She pulled herself up to the surface inhaling sharply. She shouted and hollered at nothing trying desperately to work off the build up of energy in her skin making her feeling like she could go in every direction at once. She was beyond antsy. She swam laps across the lake in her jeans and t-shirt. She felt a sock float off of her right foot.

She lie on her back feeling the hypothermia starting to set in. She looked up at the sky filled with grey and white clouds and wished for a split second she had the ability to just let the air out and allow herself to sink into the dark waters. She could be like the lady in the lake. Her lips trembled from the cold and she knew any second she would turn and swim to shore, she couldn’t kill herself. The old Ari had never had a thought like that in her life but the new Ari dreamt about it like it were the ribbon one broke at the end of a long journey. She had visions of the many times she'd tried. Pills, cutting herself, fights she couldn’t win and each time she stopped before the real injuries would be inflicted. She always managed to heal from the many things she put her body through.

She thought about the many friends she'd had who had been able to do it. She'd envied them, their deaths had been so amazingly dramatic.

Suddenly something grabbed her arm pulling her. Water splashed at her face and mouth preventing her from breathing. The waves of the force were so high she couldn’t see past the white froth of the water stirring.

She felt the grasp of something on her wrist, against everything that told her to let it take her down and drown her she fought. She pulled as hard as she could but the hands kept coming back. She pulled her arm from the grasp but as she moved it grabbed her ankles. She cried out kicking and screaming for her life.

"Stop fighting me." She heard a deep voice, one she didn’t recognize. She nearly froze feeling the hands on her, it was a mans' voice. She pulled her arms from his and kicked for her life. The warmth of the hands pulled her in, she fought with everything she had but the strength of the arm was too much. Hands swept her up pulling her into a warm crushing chest. She stopped fighting knowing it was futile but also that if she sat quiet she would get a better idea of when would be the right moment to strike out against him and exactly whom she was fighting against.

"Jesus Lydia wasn’t kidding, you're crazy."

The water calmed as she stopped fighting to see the blurry images clear. She was being carried by a huge man, well boy, well maybe man. She couldn’t guess his age, maybe her age or a little order but ageless at the same time.

His voice was strong like his body. His arms had to be the size of her thighs. His face was rugged, handsome in a way she couldn't describe. Not beautiful but attractive in the way cookie had been. He looked like an outdoorsy backpacking sort of guy who looked capable. His huge hands gripped her tightly. She didn’t know what she could do against him, she knew it was better to wait for the right opportunity. It would present itself, it always did. She scared herself thinking like such a survivalist. She felt sorry for herself imagining the horrors she didn’t let herself see.

His eyes were like green moss, pale almost. His skin was tanned but reddish from the cold water. He dripped water from his shaggy brown hair. He placed her down on the bench before she realized they were out of the water. The air was as cold as the lake had been.

He scrunched up his face at her examining her disgustedly, "You wanna die do it somewhere else, Lydia has enough ghosts around here as it is." He turned and stormed from the dock up the grass. She sat shivering on the bench confused. He had saved her, a guy had saved her. He didn’t want anything, in fact he seemed angry with her.

She looked up at the huge mansion trembling, teeth chattering and watched as Annabelle waved at her from one of the windows.

She didn’t know what to make of it all, she didn’t know where to go. She wanted to go inside and warm up but she didn’t know who the guy was.

"Lucas."

She turned frozen and shivering out of control to see Lydia walking toward her in her gardening gloves holding an empty flowerpot.

"His name is Lucas, he's different like you." She explained reading her thoughts again.

"How do you do that? How do you know what I'm thinking?" She stood walking clutching herself.

Lydia smiled, "I'm psychic, sort of thought that was obvious. Anyway dear you need to go up to the house, I'm sure Annabelle has a hot bath poured for you."

"M-m-y hands are burning again."

"Yes well there isn’t anyone you can send back here dear, I would imagine most of us are safe from your abilities. I'll see what I can do for you."

Ari nodded, she was frozen. She walked up the grass to the back door to the house.

Annabelle opened the door smiling with her ghostly white teeth compared to her mocha skin, "Why Miss Ari you looks about as froze as a girl could gets. Why you gotta swim on a cold day like this one. I knows by the look of the lake its cold. I gots your bath poured upstairs. Lucky Mr. Lucas saved you."

Ari walked into the open door and the floating towel Annabelle was holding up with her ghostly hands nattering on about the bath and Lucas.

Chapter Four- Feeding Time at the Freak Zoo

Her reflection frightened her. She looked at the two inches of hair sticking up like a hedgehog and frowned. She bent over looking at the silver bullring in her nose.

"That be the nastiest thing I ever did see Miss Ari. Just nasty."

She looked in the direction of the voice suddenly aware Annabelle didn’t have a reflection. She scowled and turned to face her, "Yeah I know. I didn’t want it. The other me wanted it."

"Well I be downstairs fixing you some cocoa now that’s ya clean." She was gone before Ari could tell her where else she could go.

She turned back to her reflection and scowled. She opened her towel and looked at her right nipple and pulled on the ring through it. Pleasure shot through her body. She gasped and looked at her flushing face. Memories of a man sucking the ring made her close the towel quickly.

She leaned in looking at the ring and barbells in her face. The bullring in her nose bothered her the most. She tried to pry the ring apart not realizing how hard she was pulling until the thin red line of blood started to trickle down her face. It caught the steady stream of tears that leaked from her face.

She gave up defeated and walked down the stairs holding the Kleenex to her nose cussing under her breath.

"I can hear that missy."

She sighed at Lydia's comment and walked in the other direction of the voice. She went to the large room with the chairs and sat holding the tissues to her face.

"What happened there?"

She felt her skin crawl as Lucas came and knelt in front of her. He seemed to not realize he was in her personal space or that it was bothering her.

He put a hand up making her wince. He stopped and frowned, "I wont hurt you."

She pulled the tissue away, "I can't get it out. I tried everything."

He laughed, "You have to pull the whole thing apart, it’s a pressure system."

He stood up and left her there. She sat still not sure why he had said it and left her there to ponder his odd words. Pressure system?

He walked back into the sitting room with pliers in his hand. She backed up the oversized sofa as he sat in front of her. He smiled at her but she was terrified of him, he was massive and unassuming they were the worst in her experience. He was double her size and armed which made her go into a full panic attack. She was frozen as he sat across from her. She felt the burning in her hands before she could control herself she reached for him. The heat filled her body making her scream as it shot out of her hands and into his arms.

She could see a large tattoo of a black wolf on his arm, it was the last thing she saw before everything went fuzzy and the light dimmed.

She felt warmth around her, like she was back in the desert again and lying out in the sun. The heat covered her softly. She moaned moving into the heat but unlike the sun the heat moved back covering her better.

She froze, she had memories that went along with the feeling of waking up next to someone she didn’t want near her.

"Ari, don’t panic, it's okay sweetie."

She opened her eyes to see Lydia's face.

She felt her lip tremble, "I did it again, I sent Lucas back." She started to cry sobbing, ignoring the warm body surrounding her.

Lydia took her hand, "No love you can't. Lucas can't go anywhere. Honey it's okay." She rubbed Ari's arms with her warm hands.

Ari turned around to see the source of the warmth was Lucas, he sat behind her holding her. She tensed again feeling everyone too close. She sat up feeling the antsy feeling again, she wanted to burst out of her skin running in every direction at once.

"I didn’t hurt you?"

He laughed, "It hurts but it doesn’t work on me. You made me pass out. We sort of fell on the ground together."

Lydia smiled proudly at Lucas, "Well actually he wrapped himself around you before you fell on the ground so you wouldn’t get hurt."

Ari felt her skin blushing and crawling at the same time. She looked at the faces in the room feeling too much attention on her. She wiped her eyes ashamed of the stranger watching her cry.

She looked down using every amount of self-control she had to stop herself from losing her mind and attacking everyone.

"Ari, this is Lucas Rainer, he is, well he lives here too. And behind me is Andy Cromwell, she stays sometimes. Well we all live here when we are in town. This is Brandon Green and this is Aleksander, they don’t exactly live here but they come by from time to time."

She looked up at the faces surrounding her. The rebellious teenager wanted to shout insults at them all but she nodded saying nothing. She looked at Aimee who walked into the large sitting room seeing everyone. Her eyes stopped on the huge Viking looking guy Ari assumed was Aleksander. She watched as Aimee made an odd face, blushed and walked away from the room.

Ari looked back at Aleksander whose eyes slanted as he looked off into space.

"Why don’t we all give Ari a few moments to catch her breath?" The dark haired middle-aged woman behind Lydia spoke softly standing from the chair, "It was nice meeting you sweetie." She walked from the room. Lucas slipped out from behind her moving her gently. He looked back at Ari and winked as he stood and followed the woman out of the room. Ari frowned at him making him smile.

They all left leaving her alone with Lydia who sat smiling expectantly.

Ari frowned, "What?"

"Are you alright?"

She nodded, "Yeah I think so, I mean I'm tired."

"Lucas thought you were trying to kill yourself, in the lake. He is quite sensitive about the subject." Her eyes grew very serious, "We all are, for every person who's different like us there are two who have ended it all in misery."

Ari sat still.

"He scared me with the pliers."

Lydia laughed, "He used them to remove the piercing from your lip, nose and eyebrow."

Ari raised her hands to her face to feel the metal gone, she sighed relieved.

"I've explained to him that your past is such that being a stranger and coming at you with any kind of tool or weapon or sneaking up on you is probably a bad idea even if the intentions are the best."

Ari felt her face crumple, "Its not my past Lydia, its someone else's. I had a great childhood. I was a weird kid yes, but my uncle raised me with love. He did. I felt loved every day, he was a friend and a father and a mother. The memories and the pain that the other me had, those are not mine. I don’t want them anymore." She sobbed holding her thin damaged arms out, "I don’t want her scars inside and out, I don’t want her tattoos, I don’t want her piercings, I don’t want her weaknesses."

She held herself tightly rocking back and forth on the sofa.

Lydia sat beside her and wrapped her arms around her, "I know love, I know you don't."

"I like boys, I don’t want my stomach to knot up and make me hate every man I meet because the other me did things she shouldn’t have and people hurt her. I've never been raped, I've never been molested, I've never done things for money that I'm ashamed of beyond selling greasy food to already fat people."

Lydia laughed, "Oh Ari I know that honey. Until we can separate you two and get rid of the other you we need to be careful with you though. The other you has had a hard life."

Ari laughed, "Its ridiculous. I want to run and eat and enjoy life like I did before, like a normal person. Not some freak that shoves food down her throat out of fear of running out of food."

Lydia stroked her head, "My love whatever happens no one is going to hurt you in this house. The guards don’t let bad people in. Your safe here until we can fix your split personality situation."

Ari snuggled in and enjoyed the moment no matter how fleeting where she could pretend Lydia was her mother. She enjoyed the safe feeling of being held and rocked by a motherly figure that understood what she fought with.

"And just for the record Lucas is single, you know in case you were curious or wanting to live like a normal girl."

Ari laughed, "Yeah just what I need, a strange boy to make me feel less awkward about living in a house full of strangers. I think I'll pass."

Lydia laughed, "Okay, I was just letting you know, just for the record. He isn’t that strange. Well in comparison you're much stranger."

Ari rolled her eyes letting the older woman patronize her.

Aimee walked into the room smiling, "I brought you something."

Ari frowned, "What?"

Aimee laughed bitterly, "It's a science experiment sort of. I want to see what happens when you use your talents on someone who can go back."

"No, are you insane. I ruined my life sending my uncle back."

Aimee nodded, "Yup you did. But the person I brought you has a ruined life already. I just want to see."

Ari looked at Lydia who shrugged, "Can't hurt, if her life is already horrid then how can it get worse?" She smiled softly, "Ari it will take away the craving."

Aimee walked back to the hall dragging a young girl dressed in tattered clothes with train tracks running up her arms. Her needle marks looked infected and her glassy eyes scared Ari. She'd seen that face before, she was pretty sure it was her own face at one point or another.

She shuddered horrified. Her hands started to sweat looking at the young girl, she wanted to touch her.

Aimee smiled, "I know the feeling. Just do it."

Ari nodded letting go of the control she had started to gain and stood from Lydia's' warm embrace. She walked to the girl letting the tingle overwhelm her. She saw the fear register in the last second in the girls' glassy blue eyes. She looked at Ari in horror as she put her hands on the girls' rail thin arms. The vibration hit instantly, sweet ecstasy hit her rolling her eyes into the back of her head.

"Stay conscious Ari, stay with it. Don't let the black take you."

Lydia's voice floated above her somewhere in the black space. She blinked her eyes back to the right spot. Ari and the girl shook as it they were riding a train. Suddenly a picture hit Ari, the girl was back in a small town. She packed her bags to run away from her step dad's greasy hands. She walked cringing remembering how he'd crept into her room. She cried as she paid with the very last of her money to board the bus. She looked out the back window as she rode out of town.

Suddenly she was walking down the road again with her bag in hand. She stood at the bus stop about to board but instead of getting on this time she walked with her heavy bags to her grandmothers' house. She saw the older woman open the door and hug the girl. She pulled her into the house shaking her head as the girl told her what had been happening. The older woman took her bags and put them in a flowery bedroom. Suddenly the girl was holding a baby and smiling at a man. Ari felt a tear slip from her eyes as she saw the gold wedding band on the girls' finger. The house was small but it was full of love. Ari watched as a silver necklace with an L pendant on it hung in the frozen air. Ari reached her hands out touching the silver necklace for just a second as it dropped to the floor. She bent down and picked it up. The metal was still warm from the girls skin. She clutched it feeling relief but awe in the life she had just saved.

"Angel of mercy, did you see that?" Annabelle whispered softly.

Ari looked at the crowd that had stood in the hall watching her, everyone had the same stunned expression.

She swallowed hard, "She went to a better place, I swear. I didn’t kill her. I don’t think I killed her."

Aimee smiled brightly, "Ari we saw the whole thing. It played like a movie in the air. It's almost like you open a portal. You saved her."

Ari felt the tears sliding down her cheeks, it wasn’t the old her crying it was the new her.

"I can save them all." She felt a new hope in her heart. She would sneak back into the orphanage.

"You don’t know that you can save them all Ari, some yes but others it could get worse."

She turned to Lydia's concerned face, "I have to try. I can't leave them there in the orphanages getting used and abused. They're children."

Lydia nodded, "I know sweetie. One day at a time though."

"Ari you're very lucky to have such an amazing talent in this life."

She looked up at the devastatingly handsome face of the huge dark blond man she assumed was Aleksander.

"I don't feel lucky."

He smiled making her feel funny inside, "You are, trust me."

He turned and walked away leaving her with a red face. He made her blush just by being near her. She couldn’t help be attracted to him, it seemed as if she had to be.

She glanced at Lucas who was leaning against the wall watching her. His presence made her uncomfortable. She turned and walked to the front door.

The cool air hit like a ton of bricks. She felt amazing from releasing the energy in her hands. It made her feel strong and healthy.

She walked along the edges of the guards putting her hand up against the barrier. She wondered how long she would be forced to remain in behind its unyielding walls.

Suddenly as she passed by the street again she smelled something, it was like incense but not like a burning smell. It was yummy, she wanted to smell it more. It was subtle as if passing by her riding on the wind.

"Ari." A voice whispered.

She looked around the street but she was alone except for the crisp fall leaves passing by her brushing against the cold cement. They scratched their way across the guards as if protesting being forced to leave.

"Ari, come to me Ari."

She looked around, "Hello, whose there?"

The cool wind turned warm for a second. She knew she wasn’t alone but she couldn’t see anyone. The scent became more potent scaring her as the wind picked up. She looked around seeing the trees on the sides of the road not moving but the wind was so strong it nearly blew her over.

"ARI." The voice screamed for her.

A hand grabbed her left shoulder pulling her away from the guards. She jumped away turning to see Lucas looking around the street, "Come on Ari." He grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the street.

She let him pull her away from the wind. She ignored the fact she liked the feel of her hand enclosed in his.

She fought the urge to kick him in the shin and run away. Old Ari liked being near him and she wasn’t about to let paranoid Ari ruin a perfectly good moment with a hot guy.

The wind died down the closer they got to the house.

"You can't hover at the guards Ari, you're taunting them."

She stopped walking but was pulled forward by his strong grip. She jerked her hand from his, "Who are they?"

Lucas smiled melting her heart a little, "They don’t like us."

"That doesn’t answer my question."

"It's something you need Lydia to explain or Ron. Anyway it's a Roses problem and until you're a Rose it doesn’t concern you." He put his hand out again to take hers. She frowned at him and walked the other way. She stormed through the trees to the backside of the house, which took a really long time. The house was huge.

She walked down to the dock and sat on the cold wooden bench.

Confusion wasn’t quite the word but it was all her feeble mind would come up with. She was in a constant battle with herself, she liked Lucas, she liked the house, she liked having people who let her live with them considering it seemed her uncle didn’t even know her any more. At the same time she wanted to go home, to her uncles desert diner, she wanted to be back in her old town running in the desert loving the feel of the dry air, she wanted things to go back to be normal. She wasn't certain about anything about herself.

She knew she needed to find her uncle, she needed to see him again, she needed him to want to be her family again. She fingered the silver necklace she had put on with her uncles ring on it and plotted her escape.

Chapter Five- Is This Chemistry or Science?

Ari walked down the stairs wondering if Lucas was back from his trip. She'd discovered in her month at Lydia's they all traveled a lot. Aimee was the means to nearly every trip. She learned more about the Roses everyday. Still no one answered her questions out right. It frustrated her the way that things always seemed so cryptic and mysterious and no one was ever upfront. Between the snooping, eavesdropping and being told outright she had learned a fair amount.

Lydia was a couple hundred years old, she was a witch who did good magic. Annabelle was her maid but also a witch even if she was deceased.

Andy was a Vampire, she was six hundred years old and rarely spoke which would have been cool with Ari but she seemed to watch her like she was prey, which was creepy. Andy was a lesbian who hated relationships and was hardly ever at Lydia's.

Brandon was a shifter, this was something exotic and not normal to the rest of the people at Lydia's. At Lydia's being called exotic meant you were a super freak. Ari had thought he was good looking and ridiculously nice but one day he stopped talking to her and barely came to Lydia's anymore. Annabelle had told her it was Lucas's doing, Ari was like the last donut on the plate and Lucas had apparently spit on her.

Aleksander was a regular dude who had been made what he was by something similar to Lydia. He was cursed and completely hot. His kind, but not interested in anything, disposition had Ari intrigued. She knew something had happened between Aimee and Aleks but no one ever talked about it. Not even Annabelle, which was annoying.

Lucas was an unknown to Ari, he had managed to make her fall in love with him without ever sharing any details of himself. It was like loving a complete stranger in secret. She assumed he was a vampire like Andy but she knew he could very well be like Aleksander. He never spoke much and she wasn’t certain how he felt about her, which made New Ari peaceful inside and annoyed Old Ari mercilessly.

Ari smelled breakfast smiling. She knew Lucas was home by the smell of meat cooking wafting through the air. Annabelle only ever cooked sausage and bacon when Lucas or Brandon was there. Aleks never really ate much and Aimee was the same. Ari thought about Aimee and smiled. She had truly become the sister Ari never had. She shopped for her and helped her learn to do her makeup. The few times Ari had been allowed to leave the mansion had been pretty upsetting and if it hadn’t been for Aimee she would have probably been sent to prison.
Ari blushed thinking about the way people had looked at her, or rather her scars and tats. No one saw her all they saw was the damage done to her by a lifetime she'd never actually lived.

The kitchen was empty, the smell of food lingered in the air but who ever had cooked it was gone. She sighed wondering where everyone was.

"Annabelle?"

"Yes Miss Ari?"

Ari turned to see the light of the dark skinned girl.

"Who was here?"

"That be Mr. Brandon, he was here and I cooked him a breakfast."

"Where is he now?"

She shrugged her ghostly thin shoulders, "No clue miss. Not much of a talker that Mr. Brandon. You want I should make you something to eat?"

Ari shook her head and walked out of the room, "Thanks anyway Annabelle."

"Ari is that you, honey come in here." Lydia's voice filled the dark lonely hallway.

Ari walked into the sewing room around the far side of the huge house.

Lydia smiled up at her over her sewing glasses. She appeared to making something by hand regardless of the fact an old sewing machine sat no more than three feet from her.

"Ari I need you to do something for me."

Ari felt her spirits lift, "What, oh uhm sure whatever it is. I'm bored out of my mind."

"We've been doing some tests on your cells and I need you to go to the gym in the back run on the treadmill as fast as you can for as long as you can."

Ari sighed, "Okay."

Lydia's grin grew slightly, "I need to cut you somewhere during the workout to see what your skins response is when your body is exerting itself."

Ari laughed, old Ari cringed at the thought of a cut but it soothed New Ari. The idea of a slash along her skin while sweating and running was tantalizing like a chocolate sundae would be to most other girls.

She ran upstairs and changed into running gear and ran to the gym to where Lydia stood beside the Ron man whom Ari wasn’t fond of.

Ari climbed onto the treadmill as Ron approached her with a small blade in his hand. She felt her hackles rise as his shaking hand drew near her arm.

"It's okay Ari. We will cut you twice for this exercise. I'm sorry honey."

Ari shook her head never taking her eyes off Ron. His older face revealed his discomfort in being near her. Ari couldn’t help but wonder what he was exactly.

A gleam of light whispered through the air as the blade came better into sight. Ron's cold clammy hand bit down on her thin arm and she watched in horror. The other Ari trembled in delight and as the blade slid along her flesh she moaned inside as the pain and stream of fresh red blood. Ron watched the thick crimson blood flow from her arm. He licked his lips slowly as Ari watched his breath increase.

"Ron step back please." Lydia spoke softly breaking the plan New Ari had formulated involving grabbing the blade stabbing it into Ron's neck and watching in joy as his blood was spilled onto the dark grey carpet where hers was starting to drip.

"Start the treadmill Ari, fast as you can in a sprint for as long as you can." Lydia sounded so clinical.

Ari started the treadmill as Ron crossed room getting as much distance from her wound.

Her legs started to push as her feet began to pound the moving platform. She pushed herself to run as hard as she could. She forgot about the wound, she left the blood behind and didn’t even consider the hate she felt for Ron. All she saw in the world was the desert road where she ran as hard as she could. She was lost in thought when she heard Lydia start to shout at her.

"ARI LISTEN PLEASE!"

She looked at the frown on Lydia's face, "Turn the machine off Ari."

She nodded and pressed the emergency stop button.

She was gasping for air, which she hadn’t noticed.

Lydia walked to her taking her arm, "She's healed remarkably considering. Cut her again Ron."

She looked at Ari and smiled softly. Ari frowned, "I'm outta shape Lydia." She tried to take a deep breath but struggled.

"You were running at ten miles an hour for ten minutes. Anyone would have been out of breath."

Ari winked holding her other arm to Ron, "I'm not anyone Lydia."

Lydia laughed.

Ron shook with anticipation and delight as he slid the blade down Ari's other arm again filling the air with the scent of her blood.

"Run again Ari."

Ari again started the treadmill running as fast as she could. She held back for a moment trying to get her stride noticing how her body almost ached from the previous run.

She pushed her legs again increasing the speed.

She saw a movement of color around her as something black shot around the room in her peripheral. She pressed the stop button again panting and gasping for air. Her heart pounded in her ears.

Lydia's voice spoke softly in the background of her pounding ears, "Lucas it's okay. We were just testing her healing capabilities. Remember it's part of the process. Lucas please calm down."

Ari looked to see Lucas holding Ron against the wall. Both men shook as if fighting themselves instead of each other. Lydia stood behind them speaking soothingly.

Ari wheezed nearly tripping off the treadmill, "Lucas it's okay. I'm okay." She held out her arms, which were nearly completely healed.

He turned to see her bright red face covered in sweat smiling at him. He sighed letting go of Ron and walking to Ari, ignoring everyone else in the room. He wrapped himself around her, "You're okay?" He whispered in her ear. She nodded overwhelmed by the sudden show of affection.

Lydia smiled at her while poor Ron looked confusedly at the embrace.

Lucas didn’t wait for her to speak to him or respond, he took her hand in his and walked her from the gym. She looked back at Lydia and shrugged, "The other cuts healed as much as the first one Lydia."

Lydia laughed, "Thanks sweetie."

Lucas dragged her through the house to the second floor where his bedroom was. He pulled her through the dark blue bedroom, which she had never seen before, into his bathroom. He sat her on his large marble counter top and knelt below. She felt awkward being around him alone.

"I'm sorry Ari. I didn’t mean to act like that." He spoke softly from the large bathroom cabinet below where she sat.

He pulled out a medical bag and stood up towering over her.

He looked into her eyes, "I feel something I've never felt before, I feel protective of you. I can't seem to get a grip on myself where you're concerned."

His green eyes sparkled as he took her small hand in his and began cleaning her cuts. He washed the blood off revealing nearly fully healed wounds. She watched him tenderly wiping each part of her arms and clearing away the blood

The tension and heat in the room was overwhelming. Ari stammered, "Y-y-you're bathroom is really big and nice."

He laughed, "I chose the room because of the huge shower. It's a two person shower."

She blushed making him blush.

His eyes grew wide realizing what he'd said, "Oh uhm I didn’t mean. Like I'm big so a two-person shower is awesome for me. Uhm by myself."

She raised an eyebrow at him.

He face palmed himself, "Oh my god, I mean. Uhm anyway."

She laughed. New Ari wanted to toy with him and be sarcastic but Old Ari loved how awkward he was with her.

She smiled softly, "Thanks for cleaning up the blood."

He blushed and nodded. Ari slid off the counter pressing herself against him. New Ari panicked making Ari walk from the bathroom quickly. She didn’t look back.

Chapter Six- Port Mackenzie Part Deux

"It's been three months Lydia, she's ready to snap. I honestly can't imagine being here with you guys for three months with no break. Everyone else leaves for a week or a day or a month but Ari has been here day in and day out for three months."

"I know Aimee but we don’t know enough, Ron's been doing tests on her samples. Every time she sends someone back she gets the life they had left. It's like a bank account, they go back but they deposit the years they would have lived if she hadn’t sent them back. She's virtually stopped aging. He's testing her DNA to see if she's strong enough to join the Roses, we cant just put a regular human out there. She heals fast but we don’t know if her talents can send back any immortals or if she can do anything else that would help her defend herself."

Ari sat on the stairs listening. She knew Lydia knew she was there but she didn’t care. She had started to sink into a depression. Lucas had been gone a lot since the bathroom incident.

"Just let me take her, what's the worst thing that happens? I can wink up back here within seconds. She can't get away from me. I'm going home, honestly nothing happens in Port Mackenzie."

Lydia laughed, "Yeah right, you became what you are just by freak accident."

"I became this in the city."

Lydia snorted, "Technicalities." She sighed, "Fine if you want to go with Aimee you can."

Ari felt her cheeks blush knowing she'd been busted eavesdropping but she was grateful to be leaving the mansion.

"Well guess you'll be needing a bag packed won't ya Miss Ari?"

She turned and smiled at Annabelle, "Guess so." She paused for a moment, "Uh Annabelle where is Port Mackenzie?"

Annabelle shrugged, "How should I know? Why I came here from Georgia with Miss Lydia. I don'ts know where nothing is here."

Ari searched her database or new Ari knowledge but unfortunately she didn’t know where the town was either.

Aimee rounded the corner beaming, "So I want to be going now."

Ari smiled back, "Thanks Aimee."

Aimee grinned, "Hey no worries. Lydia kept me here for five months when she found me. I couldn’t get these bad boys under control." She held her hands up, "Be downstairs in five k?"

Ari nodded and turned and ran up the stairs. She tried to hide her excitement but she couldn’t. Trapped in the rainy winter in a mansion on a lake was about as depressing as a girl could get. New Ari argued that point but she ignored her, as usual. She had learned to control the feelings and emotions of new Ari, the scars still proved the pain was real but she chose not to acknowledge it.

"Now Miss Ari remember a lady doesn’t cuss in front of people and she doesn’t wear her pants so tight that people can see her god given birthmarks on her behind." Annabelle ranted as she packed the bag.

Ari smiled at her, "Annabelle, I don’t think either me or the other Ari has ever been a lady."

Annabelle raised an eyebrow at her making Ari laugh, "Okay okay I wont wear my jeans crazy tight. No skinny jeans out of the house I promise."

The trip to Port Mackenzie was not quite what Ari had thought it would be. She held hands with Aimee for half a second and then they were in another town.

The 'ride' made her stomach queasy, which in turn made Aimee laugh.

Ari looked around at the small town, they were standing on a dock in between a couple old looking boats. The rain drizzled on them making Ari frown.

"Yeah it rains a lot here. Lets go to my dads place. I haven’t seen him in a long time." Aimee spoke softly.

Ari tried not to mind the rain knowing it was at least away from the mansion.

Aimee winked them to a patch of forest behind a huge fence.

Aimee jumped the fence with ease leaving Ari behind it staring at it.

"Jump."

Ari looked at her through a crack, "Dude I can't jump that, it's like six feet."

Aimee laughed, "Don’t think just do it. Leave your bag there."

Confused she dropped the backpack and put her hands on the fence. She struggled pulling herself up. Her arms shook but she made it to the top. She sat at the top looking down and shook her head, "No."

"I will pull you down."

She winced and jumped feeling the sting in her feet from landing wrong.

She gave a dirty look at Aimee and walked toward the house.

"Hey slow down. I don’t know where he is." Aimee slid along the shed in the back yard walking softly. Ari copied her confused.

Aimee crept along to the back door and opened it with a key from under a fake rock. Ari didn’t know what was going on but she was scared, it felt illegal. New Ari tried to make fun of her but she shut her down. Ari had entertained thoughts of joining the military or police department before, well before her life turned upside down.

Aimee slipped inside the house and looked around the cluttered basement. She stalked slowly up the stairs looking like a spy. They reached the top of the stairs but Aimee never moved she just watched carefully. The living room and kitchen were empty. She snuck along the hallway stepping purposefully in certain spots. Ari copied her the entire way. Aimee walked into a room, a bedroom. It was half boxed up. Ari saw Aimee flinch looking at the boxes.

"Is this your room?" She whispered.

Aimee nodded looking sick.

"Is your dad moving?"

Aimee shook her head still not speaking.

Ari looked around the room, awards and trophies lined a shelf above the bed. Science and literature books were everywhere. She started to see Aimee in a new light, a nerdy one. Aimee dropped to her knees and reached her hand under her bed.

"You were a nerd?"

Aimee smiled brightly at her grinning through some obvious pain, "Huge nerd, like World of Warcraft."

Ari raised her eyebrows stunned, "Wow, never saw LARP as a possibility for you."

Aimee scowled up at her, "I never did any LARP, dick." She continued to fish around under the bed.

Ari watched as Aimee pulled a manila envelope out from under the bed. She clutched it to her heart.

"Why didn’t we just blink in here for that? Why all the sneaking around?"

Aimee pressed her lips together, "I can't just wink in here and scare the shit out of my dad. He's normal." She walked from the room clutching the envelope to her chest. She walked down the hall looking crushed. Ari felt so sad for Aimee even though she didn’t understand what was happening at all.

She walked to a door. She turned the knob slowly to reveal a large bedroom. It was messy. There was a man sleeping on the bed. He held a book, an album it looked like. Ari watched from the doorway as Aimee's face crumpled. She wondered why Aimee wanted her to see this? It sickened her to see Aimee, strong and confident Aimee, in such pain.

"I'm sorry daddy." She whispered. She looked back at Ari, "I need to go home."

Ari frowned at the change in Aimee's face but dreaded going back to the mansion after such a short amount of time, "Can we just get a little air first? I feel sick."

She backed from the room and touched Ari just as Ari spoke softly, "Who is the cop Annabelle told me you used to date? Is he from here?"

Suddenly they were outside another house. It was much larger with a circle driveway. She could smell the sea in the air. Ari looked at the big blue truck in the driveway and frowned.

Aimee scowled, "You can't talk while I wink, I go where I think."

"Aimee?"

Aimee's face dropped as she turned smiling weakly.

Ari looked at the super hot cop standing in the driveway behind the truck. Ari smiled weakly knowing she had just made Aimee wink them directly to the hot cop Annabelle had mentioned.

He looked upset and confused, as would any person when two girls appear out of thin air.

"Aimee what are you doing here? How did you do that?"

She shrugged, "This is Ari, Ari this is Shane."

Ari waved feeling weird. New Ari hated the police but old Ari had always gotten along well with the police, they had always been good customers and great tippers. She remembered with fondness one young new police officer in particular she had gone on a date with. She didn’t really date but she had done dinner with him once. He had been the reason she had considered it as a profession.

"Hi," He waved slightly and walked toward Aimee, he kept a safe distance and never tried to touch her, "Aimee what's going on?"

She shook her head, "I'm so sorry Shane, I just needed to see my dad and then we sort of accidentally ended up here."

He put a hand up to touch her but Aimee stopped him by backing away.

Ari watched the awkward moment, "Uhh I'm gonna walk down to the beach for a minute." She didn’t know what else to do. The whole thing was uncomfortable.

"No, don’t leave my sight." She turned to Shane, "I'm sorry Shane. I wont come back here again."

"STOP THIS AIMEE." He shouted grabbing her by the arm as she grabbed Ari.

They winked.

Ari looked at the yard sighing, the mansion. She had left her bag of clothes outside of Aimee's old yard.

"Holy Shit Aims what the fuck was that?"

Ari looked at Shane and Aimee standing beside her.

Ari looked over at the front door as Aleksander walked out of the house, Ari was pretty sure she heard a growl.

She decided not to bring up the fact her bag had been left behind and started to walk inside.

Annabelle appeared, "Miss Aimee, would your guest like a beverage?"

Ari laughed and brushed past Aleksander. She caught a wiff of him as she past him. He smelled as good as he looked.

Chapter Seven- A Girls Gotta Do What a Girls Gotta Do

AIMEE

She looked at Shane shaking as he watched Annabelle float in the air. She knew it was too much for him to handle.

She looked up at Aleks and wanted to wink herself away and leave them there to bicker.

Her heart sunk as she watched the pained expression cross Aleks' face, "I'll let you two have a minute."

She could see he was seething as he had every right to be, she had no right to bring Shane there, it was Aleks's house too.

Aimee nodded and took a step toward Shane, "I'm sorry."

He shook his head, "I knew it was you. When I saw you in the alley that night, I knew it was you. What have you become Aimee? Are you dead?"

It broke her heart to watch him suffer needlessly, "Not dead just something evil."

He shook his head, "That man you killed, I ran his prints, it was just like you said. He was a pedophile. How did you know?"

Aimee shook her head again, "I can't tell you Shane. I can just say that you're safer not in my world."

He stepped closed gingerly taking her shaking hands, "I'm not scared of you anymore."

She smiled grimly, "You should be. What I did to that man, I could do it to you."

He laughed leaning in to kiss her, "But you wont, I trust you."

His lips brushed hers, it had been so long she nearly forgot how to kiss. His tongue slipped into her lips stroking hers. He wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her into him.

She forgot who she was, she forgot where she was. It was like twelfth grade again, he made her dizzy.

"I love you Aimee James." He whispered kissing her neck softly.

She felt the heat coming and pushed herself away from him, "I can't lose my control Shane, I have to keep calm. I will kill you."

He smiled, "I would die for you."

"Live for me instead." She winked herself away.

She couldn’t believe she left him in the driveway of the mansion not only full of monsters but also three hours away from home. She sat in her thinking tree and cried.

"Don't cry my love." Annabelle was there stroking her head suddenly.

Aimee let the ghost hold her, the best she could anyway. She didn’t know what to do about Shane, she didn’t know how to fix things with him. She wondered about Ari's abilities.

She looked up at Annabelle, "Is Ari in the house?"

She nodded and Aimee winked herself into the kitchen.

She smiled at Ari, "I need your help."

Ari frowned at her over her glass of water, "Super sorry about that whole five minutes there. Am I guessing right that you and Aleks had something while you and the cop were dating?"

"Yes but that's not what I want to talk about. I need you to try to send me back to the cross roads."

Ari frowned putting the glass down, "Huh? It doesn’t work on you."

Aimee laughed, "You’ve never tried."

Ari looked at Lydia who walked into the kitchen scowling, "Why is there a police officer in my driveway pacing?"

Aimee covered her eyes, "I've screwed up so bad. I need to try to fix this."

"She wants me to send her back to the crossroads."

Lydia looked horrified, "You want to be sent back?"

Aimee gulped, "Yup. If it'll work I do."

Lydia shook her head, "So far on everyone we've tried it hasn’t worked. She can't send Fae or anyone whose soul is gone like Aleks or vampires like Andy. We don’t know anything Aimee, yours could be gone enough Aimee."

Aimee nodded, "I'm willing to try."

"I wouldn’t, it stings Aims." Lucas spoke softly walking past them to the fridge and grabbing a huge container of yogurt. He took the lid off and ate from it, even though it was family sized.

Ari looked hurt, "You want to go back?"

Aimee smiled, "Ari, that guy in the driveway is my soul mate. I nearly lost him once. I don’t think I'm strong enough to do it again."

Ari nodded and sighed, "Okay."

Aimee winked from the room to Shane pacing in the driveway, "I might have a solution. There isn’t any guarantee, but we can try."

He nodded rushing toward her, "I love you Aims, anything. I'll try anything."

She took his hand and winked them into the kitchen.

"That’s nasty Aimee, warn me next time." He swayed on his feet looking sick.

Aimee blushed, "Sorry. I'm so used to it. I forget how weird it felt before."

She looked at the room of people huddled in the small kitchen, "Everyone this is Shane. Shane this is everyone."

He nodded looking confused.

Lucas laughed, "Is he a human?"

"Yes he is." Aleks muttered entering the kitchen and leaning against the wall.

"He's a human and a cop?" Lucas laughed.

Aimee's eye burned.

Lucas put his hands up, yogurt, spoon and all, "Okay jeeze Aimee, just thought I'd point out the elephant in the room."

Aimee felt her cheeks burning, "Shane you remember Aleks?"

Shane's chest puffed slightly, "I don’t believe we were ever actually introduced Aims." He put a hand out. Aleks looked down at his hand and smiled bitterly. He was gone within a second creating his warm wind. Shane pulled his hand back shrugging, "That's annoying the way everyone keeps doing that."

"Tell me about it, unfortunately not all of us can do it. Anyway did Aimee tell you her terrible plan? She thinks I can send her back to before she became what she is, it will be a fresh start if I can." Ari spoke softly.

Shane smiled, "Seriously?"

Aimee nodded, "Yeah, maybe. It might not work and then we'll be back to square one."

Shane laughed, "You can send people back in time?"

Ari nodded looking miserable.

Shane raised an eyebrow, "What happens if you go back, do I just stay here but me in the past is happy and in love with you?"

Ari looked to him and back to Aimee shaking her head, "Uh no, you'll disappear and reappear wherever that path would have taken her and interfered with your life." She looked scared, "It isn’t an exact science and I can't choose when you'll go back to."

Shane frowned, "Wait so you could send her back to any moment and make her change her mind on anything?"

Ari nodded meekly.

Aimee frowned, "Shane I wont change my mind about you."

"What about Giselle?"

Aimee paused, "I don’t understand?"

"What if you never went to the party, you wouldn’t have gotten sick and then instead Giselle would have died from drinking the whole drink and he never would have been caught."

She looked down, "Oh yeah." She sighed, "Yeah you're right. I could have stayed home, stayed believing I was in love with Blake, he and my sister would never have hooked up and I wouldn’t have died in the hallway and seen Aleks." She shook her head feeling tears starting to form, "That wont work at all."

She winked herself and Shane from the house back to Port Mackenzie, they were standing outside his house.

He shook for a second, "Aims, come on that is nasty."

She couldn’t smile, she couldn’t be joyful.

"Aimee we need to talk about this. You can't just show up after not speaking to me for a year and half. Are you seeing Aleks still? I want to know what's going on." His eyes turned serious, "Now."

She shook her head, "No I'm not seeing anyone. I haven’t since you and I, well for a while." She looked up at him seeing his face change, "Are you mad?"

He laughed bitterly, "Mad? What? Why ever would I be mad? Oh you mean because my girlfriend was secretly dating some kinda dead dude and then she sorta died and we never really broke up she just vanished leaving me, her family and everything. Oh but I guess you never really vanished, I mean we did see each other that one day where you were murdering that man in the alley. I mean that counts right?"

She swallowed hard looking at him, "I'm so sorry."

He shook his head, "Save it Aims, maybe it wasn’t all your fault but you’ve handled this badly. You can't just cut me out and then show up and expect we aren’t going to talk about it."

"I know."

"You have to let me in. You have to tell me what it all is. There cant be an us if it's only me here ripping my heart out and handing it to you to crush over and over."

A tear dripped from her eye, "I know." It ran down her still cheek falling to the ground below. The sound resonated across the open space.

He stepped towards her but she stepped back. Her back hit the garage door. He grabbed her hands and pulled her into him, "No matter what happens I will find a way to be with you Aimee, even if it means death but you need to be honest with me."

She felt anger raging inside her. She pushed him slightly knocking him back a few steps, "No Shane."

"What is it you do exactly? I saw you in that alley Aims, the man was dead but it was like he just fell asleep, no marks, no wounds. Just dead."

She slumped against the garage door, "I'm death. I'm an idiot actually. I wanted to live." She looked up into his eyes feeling hers glistening and her lip trembling, "I wanted to be with you Shane, that’s all."

He nodded, "I know Aims that's what I want too."

She rubbed her forehead, "I'm a reaper, a grim reaper. I touch you and my fingers pull your soul out and free it from your body. They don’t have any choice, they just do it."

He took a step closer, "Can you control it?"

She shook her head, "Not completely. It's only been a year and a half."

"Why are you so strong?" He took another step closer.

She could feel him in the air around her. She savored the smell closing her eyes breathing it in. After a few seconds of imagining the life they could have had she spoke flatly, "Demon blood."

"What?"

She sighed letting him walk the whole way back to her and wrap his warm arms around her.

"Demon blood, I drank it. It killed me but at the same time made me, well this. I told you this all last year, none of you believed me remember."

"I remember. Have you killed innocent people or only criminals like the guy in the alley? Do you eat food? Do you sleep? So if you're dead are you like a vampire?"

She laughed realizing how annoying it truly was and how badly she must have driven Aleksander crazy when she quizzed him about every detail constantly.

She opened her eyes and smiled at him, "Yeah. But I don’t drink blood like them, I eat off of the tiny spark that happens when a soul is set free. It's like a tiny whisper of energy that happens as they die and their soul is freed."

He cringed, "Kinda sick and yet somehow I still want to rip your clothes off."

She laughed but he bent his warm face into her neck sending chills roller coasting up and down her spine.

He stepped back looking at her, "We can find a way."
She nodded letting him pull her in kissing her, she let the dream be real for a moment. She winked them into his bedroom.

Shane shivered slightly for a second trying to ignore the flash of travel. He kissed softly along the side of her mouth. He kissed her cheek pressing his soft lips against her face, almost sucking slightly with every touch of his lips. He kissed her lower lip only making her tremble. His hands slid up and down her back caressing her but also massaging deeply. She closed her eyes feeling her breath increase. Her mouth watered thinking about his tongue sliding into her mouth again.

He bent slightly and began kissing down her throat and collarbone. He kissed her shoulder pulling her shirt to one side. His hands came around the back of her tracing the lines of her torso and waist. His warmth against her stomach made her ache. He lifted her shirt off. She remained motionless terrified to touch him. A tear found its way from her right eye and slid down her cheek.

He bent kissing the tear away, "We'll never be apart again Aimee."

She nodded letting herself go. She put her hands on his strong chest undoing the buttons of his uniform. She smirked thinking about how hot it was seeing him in it.

He smiled back at her, "Like the uniform?"

She nodded touching the fabric, tracing the pockets in the shirt and nametag. She finished undoing the buttons to find a white cotton t-shirt underneath. He pulled his work shirt off letting it fall to the floor. His arms looked bigger with the thin white cotton stretched across them. His chest flexed under her scrutiny. She ran her hands across his body as if daring herself to touch him even though she could take it all away with one slip. His life lost for the need filling the pit of her stomach.

She smirked as her fingers found their way to the button of his pants. She looked up into his face watching his response as her fingers undid his pants.

He watched her as if daring her to do it. The moment the pants were undone he grabbed her cupping her ass with his strong hands pulling her up into him. She wrapped her legs around him as he carried her to the bed. She could smell him in the sheets as he laid her down gently. His lips finding their way to hers. His tongue caressing hers as his lips gently sucked. She bit her teeth into his lower lip pulling it slightly. His hands fumbled with her pants undoing the black tight skinny jeans. He cursed slightly at the difficulty he had getting them off. She laughed knowingly.

She lay on his bed in nothing but her white panties watching him stand to remove his police pants and cotton t-shirt. She smiled at the site of him. He looked like an underwear model with muscles in places most guys didn’t have. His golden skin rippled in the muted light of his room. He lay down beside her pulling her into him, she loved the feel of their chests crushing into each other as his hands and arms encompassed her. The warmth of his body pulled her into him making her forget everything about the last year and a half. It seemed as if it were only yesterday she had lost her virginity to him. His touch was more needy this time, he wasn’t rougher just more desperate to touch her. He kissed along her neck caressing her breasts, pinching her nipples. His hot touch sent shock waves through her body. His mouth made its way to her breasts. She shivered in anticipation as he finally closed his mouth over her nipple. She cried out in pleasure. His magical touch brought every nerve ending back to life as he paid homage to every inch of her. She forgot everything in her life and swore if she lived only moments longer she would die complete. He pulled her panties off kissing his way along her thighs.

Suspense nearly killing her as she watched him remove the last of his clothing, his white boxer briefs. His arousal was magnificent. He moved over top of her sliding between her legs kissing her intensely. His mouth devoured hers as he found his way inside of her. Pleasure filled her driving her to move against him.

His hands lifted her into him as she pushed back writhing in ecstasy. They moved together rocking against one and other until each of them was overcome with ecstasy.

Aimee had never been loved until that moment of that she was certain.

Chapter Eight- The Kiss

Ari

He bent and picked up firewood carrying it in the house. His muscles were unbelievable for a guy his age. She watched him like a stalker, she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. As he passed by the window he looked up and smiled directly at her winking. She stepped back blushing, she'd thought she had been covered by the thick black curtain that hung in the window.

Ari bit her lip and tried to push him out of her head. She stood in the shadows counting the minutes before she could run from the study until she heard a creak outside of the study door. Her first instinct was to hide, she could wrap herself in the curtain and not breath but she knew if it was Lucas outside her door she would be discovered. He seemed to be able to find anything. She couldn’t imagine him able to get into the house so quickly. She held her breath hearing her own heartbeat pounding in anticipation. She had watched him over the months. His senses were uncanny and when she asked Lydia what he was she always said everyone had to speak about themselves when they felt ready. Lucas had not told her anything about himself except that he was Fae, which seemed fine with New Ari but annoyed the life out of Old Ari.

The dark study was eerie which normally she would enjoy, she like dark places where she could hide. As the study door opened she realized she didn’t want to hide.

Lucas stepped through the study door. He watched her from the entrance of the door that he left ajar. He was learning about her, paying attention to the things that would set her off, closing the door would have been too much for her. He smirked taking another step, this one slow and purposeful. He held his hands at his sides, she noticed how large they really were. New Ari was planning her escape from the room but her old self shut it down. Ari took control and remained beside the window and the large curtain draping against her side.

Her face flushed as she watched him cross the room slowly in silence. He never reached for her again knowing it would be a trigger to New Ari who hated men and tight spaces. She felt his warmth close in on her personal space. He loomed over her taking up the entire room as she could see it. He bent slowly lowering his face to hers, she never closed her eyes. She watched as his handsome face was lowered to hers. She had never kissed a boy before, she had never been touched romantically before. His soft warm lips brushed against hers sending an electric shiver through her body. His lips settled for a moment as if letting her get used to the feel of him against her then they deliberately moved sucking hers in, licking and pulling. She mimicked his movements letting him sweep her up into the moment. She never knew a moment could be so delicious and soft. New Ari even conceded she had never felt a passion so soft and sweet as this one. His hands crept along her sides, holding her hands. He smiled as he kissed her putting her hands on his chest. Her face reddened burning against his. She let her hands touch his chest, she let herself feel him. He was real and he was kind. She felt a tear slip from her eye. He pulled back looking at her, "Was it too fast Ari? Did I scare you?"

She shook her head feeling silly, "No. It was perfect." She ducked her head confused. She wanted to run, both of her wanted to run, not from him but from the embarrassment until he did something neither of them expected.

He bent kissing her cheek and wiping away her tear, "Sweet Ari."

She kissed him, she pulled at him nearly toppling them both. He steadied himself lifting her off the ground. She felt her back against the wall, she felt his hands cupping her ass and she wanted to freeze but she couldn’t make herself. Her body was responding to him, sliding against his and writhing in the passion she could feel herself getting lost in. Still holding her in the air with one hand his other hand gripped her hair pulling her into the kiss. The slightest bit of pain shocked her back into reality and like any abuse victim she froze. His hands still tried to work their magic pulling her head to him. He didn’t realize for the first few seconds Ari had frozen, she had stopped moving and was letting him roam her mouth and face. She felt the anger welling inside, it scared her. She shook with building rage working out a plan in her mind. He placed her on the ground carefully and stepped back seeing the look on her face.

"Where did you just go?"

The anger was gone as his words hit her, "It wasn’t me, it’s the other me. Someone liked to pull her hair. He liked to hurt her." She winced twitching feeling lost inside herself.

"Ari I would never hurt you. Never. I, well I would kill…"

"No." She cut him off, "I know you wouldn’t hurt me but I can't do this. I'm broken Lucas. Even if the scars aren’t mine my mind remembers their pain." She trembled with fear and desperate sadness but maintained her composure long enough to leave the room.

He tried to reach for her but he stopped himself knowing her reaction would be horrid. She wanted to turn around, she wanted to fix it but New Ari was sobbing inside of her, screaming about the pain she wouldn’t let her see. New Ari kept her secrets locked behind a door that only when it opened for the briefest of seconds did Ari get a glance of how horrible it truly was for her new self.

She walked to her room and closed the door sighing, safety. She liked she had her own room and it felt like a sanctuary finally. She walked to look at herself in the huge mirror. She had started to look like her old self, her thick dark brown hair was long with the slightest curl to it. It was shiny and healthy looking again. Her dark brown eyes and long eyelashes shone with the glistening tears. Her nose, lip and eyebrow barely showed any signs of scarring from the piercings Lucas had removed for her. She lifted a long thin finger to her lips remembering the feeling of his touching them. The softness and the sensuality had been a first for both of her. She cringed remembering the flash she'd seen during the kiss.

"Why Miss Ari you looks a wreck, you wants I should pour you a bath?"

She glanced up at Annabelle and smiled, "Yes please." She knew she wasn’t dirty but she couldn’t help feel it.

She looked back at herself seeing the tattoos she hated poking out of her clothes in random places.

"Well I be's concerned for ya Miss Ari. You looks some awful upset. What be troubling you?"

She stood still watching her own mouth move in the reflection, "My soul is split into two people Annabelle and I can't seem to keep the bad one of me out of my mind."

"Well I know Momma Elsie could help ya's wit dat. She be a magic lady who helps Lydia sometimes. I seen her do some amazing things. Ask Lydia to takes ya there. Now I pour ya bath." She vanished.

Ari walked from the room quickly looking for Lydia. She was scared to run into Lucas but she needed to know about Momma Elsie. Lydia was in her reading room looking over a huge book.

"Whose Momma Elsie?"

Lydia sighed looking at her, "Annabelle is going to get it. No one you need to be concerning yourself with. Ari we need to learn abut your other side before we just dispel her. We don’t know a lot about you and your gifts. I know you're having a hard time with it kiddo and I know you want a normal life but you need to remember if we dispel one of you it could be old you who gets removed. Then what? You'll be in a dark place kiddo."

Ari nodded and walked back upstairs for her bath. A very large part of her didn’t want to wash off Lucas's touch and kisses but she couldn’t help associate them with the bad man in New Ari's memories.

Chapter Nine- The Cop and The Killer

Aimee

He stared at her, "You're so beautiful Aimee. I think I almost forgot how beautiful."

She looked at him with an evil grin and flashed them into his bathroom.

He shivered with motion sickness, "Aimee Jesus that is awful."

She squeezed his hand stepping into his shower, "How's my dad?"

"He's broken. He's so sad he can't eat, he sleeps all the time. He barely leaves his house."

She looked at him feeling her face tightening, "What can I do?"

"Aimee you need to see him."

She shook her head, "I can't let him see me like this."

"I can't tell a difference in you, you look the same. If I can't see it and believe me I am looking for it, he won't either." He gripped her hand, "Lets drive over though k?"

She laughed, "Okay." Her stomach was in her throat. She didn’t know what she was about to do but she knew she couldn’t leave her father the way he was. She needed to fix things with him and she knew she was probably safe enough to see him without hurting him.

They showered quickly and changed into clothes. The thought of her father had killed her ideas of how the shower was going to go.

Aimee laughed as they walked up to his big truck, "You know I miss riding in this truck."

She climbed in and closed the door remembering how sick she had been when she rode in the truck the last time.

Her nerves didn’t improve as they drove but Shane nattering on made her smile, "Yeah so anyway I got lucky with my job. I can come home a lot and if I need to help my mom I can be here pretty fast. So my dad is marrying that girl hey."

Aimee raised an eyebrow at him.

He nodded as he drove, "Yeah, I got an invitation. I'm not even kidding. You wanna be my date?"

She smirked, "You're going to the wedding?"

"I have to Aimee, my sister is going too. Dad has spent a lot of time trying to make up for it all. I don’t like Hilary but she makes him happy and he has been trying."

"Hilary, it just sounds like mean girl home wrecker."

"Still a nerd at heart."

She laughed, "Yup. Speaking of which how's my sister and Blake doing?"

His face went hard. He parked in her driveway turning his bright blue eyes on her, "Aims Blake is evil. I'm pretty sure he beats your sister. She had bruises all over her arms last time I saw her and she seemed really skinny and weird, like shy and unsure of herself. Anyway they live in Boston now. They just moved. He's going to MIT."

Aimee rolled her eyes, "Shane I know you hate him and I have to admit I'm not a fan anymore. Not since that night but lets be honest it's Blake. He's a giant nerd not beating my sister. Alise is probably on drugs and he's probably trying to help her." She sighed, "Maybe Boston will be good for her. MIT huh. Wow talk about a dream come true for him."

She looked at the house and cringed as she opened the door. She hopped out feeling over dressed in her skinny jeans and high-heeled boots and cashmere sweater. Her dad would be suspicious of her clothes.

Shane bounded the stairs to the front door like he was family, she smiled knowing he was. She was more than grateful for the attention and care he had given her father over the past year and a half.

He opened the door without knocking making her feel like the outsider at her own home.

Her father sat in the living room watching TV on a huge big screen TV. She looked at it curiously. He was watching the nature channel, at least that hadn’t changed.

"Look who is feeling like her old self and able to finally leave the medical center?"

Her father turned to see her. Tears poured from his eyes as he leapt off the couch, "Aimee. Oh my sweet Aimee. You're okay? What are you wearing?" He held her hands making her nervous. She looked at Shane who smiled and nodded at her. She kept her hands in check. She looked at her fathers face sickened by how thin he'd gotten but also how old.

"Daddy." She whispered gripping his weathered skin.

He pulled her in gripping her tightly sobbing.

She felt the tears streaming down her face as she nestled into his thin frame smelling his old worn sweater.

His muscles trembled with the sobbing as he gripped her too tight but her new body didn’t flinch under the strain and pressure.

She glanced at Shane and mouthed, "Thank you."

He nodded fighting the tears sitting in his eyes.

Her hands tingled for a half a second but her love for the two men in the room saved her, it was stronger than anything that lived inside of her.

After her father gained his composure they sat at the bar while he made omelets. Aimee dreaded eating in front of him, she hadn’t gotten the hang of swallowing after going for such an insane amount of time not eating.

"So anyway when Blake got into MIT he asked Alise to go with him. We are all so proud of him. After everything that’s happened around here everyone is still trying to put the pieces back together." His voice cracked slightly as he whisked the eggs.

Aimee smiled, "How's Giselle?"

Her dad smiled, "She is doing amazingly. She is in Seattle now going to journalism school. She wants to be a fashion journalist." He shrugged.

"I'm glad she's feeling better. That liver transplant was a miracle."

"Yeah but its taken her as long as its taken you to recover. She was just lucky to be able to do it here, at home."

Aimee looked at Shane and smiled, "Thank god for small and large miracles. I will have to look her up next time I'm in Seattle."

"Yes we will. Aimee and I are back together. Not that we were broken up but the distance and the isolation, well you know."

Her dad looked too excited to speak as he nodded. He just beamed and plated the omelets.

Shane cleared his throat looking nervous, "So Mr. Mackenzie was tried for murder, rape, assault causing, stalking and a few misdemeanors that were added because of him being a teacher and an adult and Jaime only being seventeen. Anyway it's going to be life with no chance of parole, ever."

Aimee nodded, "Good. He deserves every second of his punishment. Some of us will never recover from the things he has taken away." Her eyes misted slightly.

Her father reached for her hand, "I'm so glad you're home Aims. It's too bad you just missed your sister. She would have been excited to see you."

"Yeah, me too dad."

"I thought I was going crazy, your letters were the only thing that kept me sane. I couldn’t bear the lack of correspondence between us."

She looked up abruptly to see Shane wink at her. She paused for a breath, "Oh yeah, well I'm glad. I wasn’t very strong and it took a lot out of me to write those letters."

"I still read them all, every night."

She felt sick thinking she had truly gone a year and half without even contacting him once to tell him she was okay. Her heart swelled thinking about how much she loved Shane. He wrote her father under the guise that they came from her to keep the man alive.

Chapter Ten- Angst and Bushwhacking Can Never be Friends

Ari

She looked out the window at the gray weather feeling like the old her was slipping away further and further as if lost in the fog that seemed to constantly hover around the house. She didn’t know what to do with herself but she was scared of staying in the same place. She needed some heat and some sweat and to run the energy off. Her legs twitched with the need to move and the new Ari twitched with the need to feel some pain. The piercings and tattoos and cuts in her skin had come from a need. Ari didn’t completely get it but she understood what it was like to feel chaos taking her somewhere and the burn in her legs and lungs was the only thing that stopped her from getting lost in it.

She slipped on some runners she had picked out on a shopping trip with Aimee and some shorts. In the cold rainy weather she knew she should pick track pants or jogging pants but she wanted to feel the cold against her skin. She slipped on a running bra and a t-shirt. She walked down the stairs quietly and out the front door.

The cold air hit her like a wall. Instantly her skin was burning from the cold. It was extreme like the desert just the wrong kind of extreme. She walked to the edge of the house and then pushed herself off into the woods. She ran along the path Lydia had told her about that circled the lake for several miles. Her muscles burned and ached from the lack of running but new Ari loved the pain. She seemed to be contented by the agony she was putting them through. Ari left the trail even though she knew she shouldn’t and ran into the woods. The ground became uneven and her weakened leg muscles struggled with the logs she hopped over and the branches she ducked under. Dead brown leaves smacked her face weakly as they were barely attached to the branches.

Her vision blurred, her lungs screamed from lack of air and her head pounded but she pushed herself further. She was determined to feel it, the explosion of endorphins she used to get. Her sprint had turned to a jog and she was just about to let go. She knew if she stopped she would fall. New Ari tingled in delight imagining the pain of falling in the forest, the sticks stabbing her and branches cutting her skin. Ari shoved her back behind the curtain she had started to build in her mind to separate them. She never let her legs quit.

Off to her left she heard a branch brake. Her heart stopped for a second as she looked around her. The forest had swallowed her. She no longer saw the lake, she no longer could see the extremely high rooftop of the mansion. She couldn’t see anything or hear anyone. Another branch broke and she stopped. Her head spun. She looked up at the gray sky letting her legs crumple beneath her.

She heaved struggling for breath. Tears formed in her eyes as the endorphins seemed to be lost to her. She couldn’t feel a runners high but instead a massive frustration and let down. She panted heaving and shaking looking around her as another branch broke. Her eyes darted around the forest shaking and trembling but her vision wouldn’t focus. The control she had gained over her body was gone, she no longer was an elite athlete, she no longer was the girl in the diner. She wasn’t old Ari or New Ari, she was somewhere in between, lost.

She watched as a dark shape moved just beyond her sight. She blinked still huffing and puffing but the dark shape was still there. It got larger as it neared her. At first she tried backing up but her leg muscles were cramping in sweet blissful agony forcing her to look around herself for a weapon. She grabbed a sharp stick beside her and held it up still trying to clear her eyes and recognize the shape.

Instead of recognizing it she screamed as it drew closer. The shape was a beast, a wolf but huge. She thought about the timber wolves she had learned about in school and wondered if they could grow as large as the one she was seeing. It was covered in dark fur with a huge wolf face but instead of looking fierce and growling at her it seemed to be panting and tilting its head in curiosity. Its long tongue hung from the side of its face like a dogs would. She held the shaking branch up threateningly at it but it crept closer wagging its huge bushy tail. She noticed the green eyes first. They were like emeralds compared to the dark shaggy fur. The huge wolf walked crushing the branches making loud snapping sounds fill the forest, it seemed to be comfortable with her.

"Hey buddy are you someone's pet?" She asked out loud as if it would make the situation better. The wolf tilted its head to the other side walking directly to her. It pressed its chest directly on the shaking branch she held. She felt the pressure of it pressing itself against the branch. It didn’t seem to want to eat her. She dropped the branch reaching out with her trembling hand. She hesitated for a moment before letting her fingers brush against its dark chest fur. Its hot breath filled the air around her making more mist against the cool breeze.

In the quiet drizzling forest she sat freezing in her shorts and t-shirt petting the fur of a huge timber wolf. She looked around for the owner knowing it was definitely a tamed pet.

The green eyes bore down on her as if reading her. She reached with her second hand rubbing its muzzle. It bent down licking her. She let it rub its face against hers. She laughed.

"Want to help me get home?" She asked petting it, "Huh do ya boy?" She scratched behind its ears and kissed the side of its face. She looked around as the wolf stood over her. She grabbed at the tree beside her but her weakened legs couldn’t push herself up. The wolf put its head in front of her again but more forcefully.

"You want me to grab you?" She felt weird talking to the giant animal but she felt weirder not talking to it the way it just seemed to invade her personal space. She liked animals, she'd always wanted a dog but her uncle had been against it. She volunteered all throughout high school at the local animal shelter just so she could be with animals. They always made her feel calm. She grabbed onto its neck and let the giant animal pull her to her wobbly legs. It pushed itself against her to hold her steady. It was large enough she was pretty sure she could ride it but she settled for it leading her. She was still dizzy and tripped a lot but the wolf caught her with its huge body, always keeping her standing and moving. She shivered against the cold air but the heat coming off the wolf made her feel a bit better.

New Ari was contented inside, almost purring from the pain and suffering she had endured. She realized she would have given up on the running miles back that she had let the want for pain in New Ari drive her to hurt herself beyond what she would normally do.

Ari limped alongside the wolf feeling desperately lost and hopeless until she finally saw the peaks of the house in the distance. She rubbed the wolfs face and ears, "Good boy. That’s a good boy."

It rubbed against her bare legs with its muzzle, nuzzling her. She could feel the force of the strength inside of the wolf. It barely moved and nearly set her flying across the forest. She sighed when she saw the path. Suddenly the wolf was gone. Her foot touched the path and it was running as fast as it could away from her toward the house. She stumbled with nothing to help her.

"Stupid weak body."

"Ari." She looked up to see a man she didn’t know. He was jogging toward her, "Ari I'm Ben, Lydia sent me looking for you. She said you were in trouble missy and that you'd better let me help you or else. She said you went for a run."

He was gorgeous, her insides warmed at just seeing him running toward her in a t-shirt and jeans. She melted a little bit. She stopped walking altogether letting him come to her. Lydia had sent him, she must have heard her thoughts and panic.

Ben was tall, very tall and strong looking. He reminded her of Lucas immediately. His face was more handsome and his smile was electrifying. His emerald green eyes looked familiar but she knew she didn’t know him.

He stood in front of her looking her over, "So you're Ari?" He looked at her tattoos running down her arms and up her neck and smirked, "You look like a lotta trouble Ari."

She would have smiled but she couldn’t. Her legs hurt so much that one more step was too much. She tried it but fell. He caught her before she could take the step. He smelled familiar, he smelled like the wolf that had helped her, same earthy scent. She laughed imagining him as a wolf.

He picked her up and carried her close to his chest, "You're freezing Ari."

She whispered, "I like it when you say my name," and passed out.

Chapter Eleven- The Runaway

Ari

She could hear talking, "She met young master Ben, I'd say she has a hard time pickin which one she likes better huh. I's always liked Master Lucas better myself yup."

"Hush Annabelle. She's waking up now. Fetch her some hot cocoa."

"Yes Miss Lydia."

Ari opened her eyes seeing the firelight in her bedroom room flickering off Lydia's worried face.

Lydia bent over speaking in a low irate tone, "You ever scare the hell out of me like that again Missy and I will lock you away in a tower until your hair grows long enough its your only means of escape. You hear me?"

She nodded at the feisty older woman's livid face, "Sorry Lydia." She whispered. She felt like her old self again.

"I think you might be right about seeing Elsie though. The not so good Ari is actually trying to kill you both."

Ari shook her head, "No she wants to save the orphans. She doesn’t want me, uh us dead."

She watched Lydia's face tighten, "We leave in an hour. When you're warmed up."

"Who is Ben?"

Her eyes gleamed with humor, "Lucas's brother, older brother. He's been in New York and Boston working."

"Thanks for sending him. Was that his pet wolf?"

Lydia chuckled, "I never sent him, he found you himself and yes, I guess it is his wolf."

Ari smiled remembering the animal helping her, "He's lucky, wish I had a wolf."

Lydia burst out laughing, "I think you’ve got a couple Ari the question is what ever will you do with them." She laughed walking out of the room.

Ari frowned, "Old woman is losing her mind."

Ari walked down the stairs limping slightly. Her muscles seemed to be mending quickly. She felt herself brighten seeing Lydia standing waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs with Ben.

He watched her as if waiting to be certain she made it down the stairs.

"Hey can I see your wolf Ben?" She asked softly as she left the last stair.

He smiled looking confused, "Uh sure."

"Lydia and I are going to see some voodoo lady but when we get back? I used to work at a shelter, I love animals. I was so amazed how tame he was when he was helping me out of the woods."

Lydia laughed, "Honey the wolf…"

Ben interrupted her, "Yeah it's no problem. I would be more than happy to let you pet him."

"BENJAMIN."

Ari frowned at Lydia shouting at him making him flinch.

"Ari we need to get going." Lydia frowned again at the two of them talking. Ari felt like she was missing a huge piece of the puzzle.

Ben smiled at Ari, "Well when you get back just let me know."

"Okay great. I can't wait to see him. If I hadn’t been so tired and injured it would have been fun going through the woods with him."

He nodded blushing, "Maybe we'll just stay in the yard though hey?"

She laughed, "I'm so sorry. Sometimes uh I don’t choose the best options for myself. I didn’t mean to make you carry me all the way back. I used to run marathons and do iron man competitions. I've grown soft I guess."

"Well let's go." Lydia grabbed her arm and dragged her from the house. She looked back at Ben smiling still.

"What about Lucas?" Lydia asked her as they got into Lydia's old car.

Ari frowned, "What do you mean?"

"You and Lucas have something Ari don’t try to deny it."

Ari shrugged, "I don’t know. I can't be with him until I fix what's wrong with me." She felt a little sick about how she'd flirted with his brother.

"Well you might want to keep your pants on until then."

Ari shot a look at Lydia, "What?"

"I saw you flirting with Ben. He's a handsome young man and he's a good person, I'd hate for him to get the wrong idea."

She blushed, "Lydia it isn’t like that. He saved me, I was being polite. I like wolves he has one. I feel like I can trust him."

"Well it wasn’t too long ago Lucas saved you and that earned him a tongue lashing."

Ari thought about it and nodded, something about Lucas scared her but in a way that made her feel like she couldn’t trust herself with him. She sensed Ben was a player just from being around him, like a jock in high school. She knew she would never love someone like that, she was safe from him and that mean safe with him.

"Well Lucas was mean to me when he saved me, Ben was sweet. Lucas makes me crazy. He's so brooding and full of angst. Ben is cheerful and kind. He seems easy to be around. God what's with me and all the saving? I'm lame."

Lydia put a hand on hers, "No dear you're getting used to your powers. It's very common. The first year is the hardest. We don’t even know if you're immortal or if you have other gifts. I think I know what you are between the intensity of your power but also the fact you heal quickly but the final tests will be complete shortly. That run should have you in bed still and you're barely limping."

Ari smirked, "Muscle memory."

Lydia rolled her eyes.

"Why are the tests taking so long Lydia?"

She shrugged, "Well its not like there is any one like you to compare to. You're different, different takes a while. I'm glad your with us though, when you leave for Roses I will miss you."

Ari smiled, she loved how Lydia made her feel something new Ari had never felt, acceptance. She loved the older woman like a mother.

"Well here we are." Lydia pulled into the driveway of a modern apartment building.

She glanced up at it thinking ski resort condominium maybe but house where creepy old witch lived, maybe not.

"Just because she practices voodoo and hoodoo doesn’t mean she has to live in a swamp Ari."

Ari laughed, "Hey if I don’t say it out loud you're not allowed to criticize."

They walked up to the fancy front door where a video screen was with buttons. Lydia pushed the buttons and spoke softly to the screen. Ari could barely make out the face of a woman.

The large wooden door made a soft noise and Lydia opened it.

Ari followed behind Lydia to the elevator. She was nervous, what if the lady couldn’t help her and she was stuck as a duel personality?

The doors to the condos were spaced slightly larger than a hotel. She had stayed at one once with her uncle in Phoenix when he took her there to do prom dress shopping. Lydia walked up to a door and knocked.

The door opened to a woman with black hair cut very short and styled very modern and funky. She raised an eyebrow at Ari and then smiled revealing the whitest teeth and brightest smile. She was stunning, her bright blue eyes contrasted with her black hair and sun kissed skin amazingly. She was tall and fit with classy rings and necklaces.

"Elsie this is Ari." Lydia pointed to the door. Ari walked into the apartment seeing the desert everywhere. She had a very adobe New Mexico theme throughout her home. The walls looked like a desert sunset with a soft burnt orange, the couches were a cactus green and the kitchen was a sandy yellow. Cacti were the only plants in the house and pictures of desert scenes.

Ari walked through like she was home, many of her friends had houses decorated this way.
"Your home is beautiful." Ari spoke softly mesmerized, she could feel the heat of the gas fireplace pumping out heat making the apartment hot like the desert.

"Thank you Ari, I just love the desert. I usually don’t come back to Washington for the winters, I love Arizona and New Mexico this time of year."

"Thanks for coming back." Lydia hugged the other woman. They were a contrast and a half. Lydia looked like an old woman who practiced magic where as Elsie looked like she'd married a millionaire and enjoyed a jet setting life style.

"How could I resist. I've never seen one of her before."

Lydia laughed, "It's fairly interesting watching her in action." Ari felt funny listening to them. She started to doubt their intentions. She reminded herself how much she trusted Lydia.

Elsie walked toward Ari and smiled softly, "I brought someone I think you can help, he needs to have some redirection I think that you're exactly the solution to the problem."

Ari looked at Lydia who smiled and nodded.

"Will you try for me? It will give me a better understanding."

"Okay."

Elsie smiled brightly and walked from the room. She brought a man into the room in a wheelchair. He looked old and wrinkled but something about him made Ari think he wasn’t nearly as old as he looked. She felt her hands heating up as she let the guards down and let her instincts take over. She rubbed her fingers together making sparks between her fingertips.

He was asleep in the chair but Ari didn’t mind. She just wanted to let her hands have him, she wanted to push the heat from herself. She held on to the control she'd been working on. She never let the heat leave her fingers. She felt her legs stepping toward him, her body wanted to touch him. She reached with her fingers feeling his warm skin brush against hers. Like a lover she caressed him softly trying not to push it too fast. She wanted control. Her body struggled with her, it wanted to push as fast as it could but she held it back. Slowly her energy licked at his thin arm. She shivered with delight as she pushed into him. She saw the picture form for her as they shook like always.

He was walking down a street looking at his watch but there was a homeless man beside him. He dropped some money in the mans tin and smiled at him. He looked at his watch again. He was late for something. He started to run worried. It was a bus, he ran after a bus but it was too late. He dropped the briefcase he carried and instead went into a building where he saw a woman sitting at a bar. He ordered a drink. He and the woman exchanged glances and then they were having sex in a room. Ari watched as they finished and she left him there alone. He got sicker and sicker and soon he was in the wheelchair. Ari felt the push burst through her and he was back on his way to the bus stop. He didn’t stop and give the homeless man money, he ran from the start instead of walking thinking he had plenty of time. He caught the bus.

Suddenly he was in a very nice suit, he was talking on the phone. A sexy woman came into his office. She tried to kiss him as she ripped open her soft silk blouse but he pushed her back. Her high heel slipped on the floor as she flew back. She lost her footing and smashed her head on the desk. A red pool spread on the black tiles making a puddle under her perfectly still face. He knelt over her sobbing when they came and took him in handcuffs. He vanished from the wheelchair reappearing in a cell and Ari collapsed onto the floor sobbing. His life hadn’t improved. He was in jail for something that wasn’t his fault, it was Ari's.

Chapter Twelve- Yo Momma

Ari

She looked at the horrified faces both staring at her as they realized the mans life never improved. New Ari panicked, she stood from the floor and ran. Her muscles felt better running. Ari felt herself falling backwards into the black behind the curtain letting New Ari take over, she looked for a fire escape and ran down the flights of stairs fast. She was a sprinter, escape was her strength. She might not be able to do the distance but no one ever caught her.

She could hear them calling her name but she was out of the front door and running down the road and behind a business long before they even got out of the building.

She ran hard until her lungs felt like they would explode. She ducked in between two dumpsters and waited. She barely noticed the smell, she hardly saw the mold and rot around her and she didn’t even pay an ounce of attention to the other people in the alley.

Alleys were her jam. She would never have an issue in an alley, she was used to the turning of tricks, the wads of cash, the snorting of drugs and the beating of hookers and junkies. Nothing fazed her anymore, except Lucas. He seemed to bother her in ways she couldn’t explain, his brother was a hottie though. She might not like men but she could like him enough for an hour. She smirked. Old Ari was gone, New Ari took control with swagger and attitude.

She waited ten minutes to ensure the coast was clear. She hated that bitch Elsie. That had been a bad idea from the start. She should be with the orphans helping them. She shouldn’t be helping some dude who got HIV from a chick in a bar, he was an adult, he made his bed. She cringed thinking about that woman's head hitting the desk and the blood splatter.

"What we got here?" She looked up to a scummy looking man with a cheesy mustache and greasy black hair. He smelled like the dumpster beside her.

He reached down grabbing her and pulled up her sleeves. He looked for marks, "Holy shit you a virgin?"

She spat at him smiling, "Fuck you."

He pushed her to the dirty ground falling with her ripping at her shirt, "You wannna fuck, yeah we can do that I think."

She let him grope her, she let him kiss her neck. She knew to wait, she knew to let him do enough to get him to a place he wasn’t paying attention. Then she would strike. She didn’t have to wait though, regardless of just having done her pusher thing she was ready again. Her hands tingled heating up. He undid her pants groping her breast and caught the smile on her face, "You like that do ya?"

She nodded, "Yup." She reached out and grabbed both sides of his face.

He stopped as they shook. She saw it instantly. The air in between the two dumpsters froze and the sounds of the alley were lost in the small moments playing out in the air in front of her.

He was a kid, he got beat a lot by his old man. That’s what he called him, old man. One day his old man was beating his mom and he stepped in. He stabbed his own father. His mother cried, she called him names, she called nine one one. She tried to save his dad all the while shouting at him to leave her house and never come back. Suddenly he was on the streets, he was doing drugs, he was turning tricks and then he started to mule for a big dealer down town. Then the air cleared again and he was back in the house, he heard his dad beating his mom and instead of going into the kitchen he left. He ran away. He moved to another city where it was sunny. He got a job as a garbage man and married a lady with red hair and a chubby face. They kissed a lot. He was lying on a couch holding his son reading him a story when he vanished from the alley.

She sighed doing her pants back up. He was better, his life was better. She panted standing up feeling an ache in her back. She brushed the dirt off herself. She looked around the alley feeling nervous for the first time ever. She slipped along the building nearest to her trying to hurry to the street.

She hated her new life, she hated the new her. She used to be strong and cut off. She hated that she felt sorry for a man who held her down trying to hurt her because she got to see his back story, like she gave a shit.

She made it back to her old neighborhood within a few hours exhausted and feeling lost. She'd grown soft living with Lydia who had Annabelle doing everything for them all. Her heart hurt when she thought about the house and everyone in it but she knew it was for the best if she got her life back and saving the kids she'd left behind.

"Ari, wtf dude where have you been? Why do you have hair, you can't even see the tat on the back of your head anymore."

She looked behind to see her bestie Mila and smirked, "Hey, yeah I've been busy growing it out." Ari realized the other Ari never knew about the tat and smiled harder.

"Where you been?" Mila looked pissed, she was tall with long dark hair she always kept in a ponytail. Her face would have been pretty if she didn’t have such bad skin from living on the streets. Her dark blue eyes suddenly reminded Ari of her mother. She'd never seen her before the other Ari came.

"Jail."

Mila grimaced, "Oh shit you're eighteen now."

Ari nodded, "Almost nineteen."

"Wow ghey, anyway I'm heading to meet up with some peeps at Wind wanna come?"

Ari shrugged, "Sure." She didn’t have anywhere else to go.

"Guess you got no money huh?"

She laughed, "Hells no, dude I'm lucky I still have clothes on."

"Ouu lotta lesbians this time."

Mila was so crass Ari thought realizing she never had used the word crass before.

She shook her head, "Nope just a mix up with clothes, these aren’t mine obviously but whatevs, I took em anyway."

Mila laughed, "OMG Ari I was going to say something, those are scary norm. Too low key, especially for Wind. Oh well I got some in my bag. We'll have you fixed in no time."

Ari wanted to smile but she was sad, she didn’t want to go clubbing. She wanted to go home, she had a home and it had felt awesome being there. She wondered if Lucas could track her?

Ari remembered Lydia making her push the man and where he ended up and shook her head, there would be no going back, the streets might be safer than Lydia's. She didn’t know how mad Lydia would be for her running or for letting an innocent man go to jail.

Wind was packed, but Ari followed Mila to the bathroom to change into proper attire.

Ari tugged at her black tank top realizing how much she had filled out living at Lydia's.

"Damn Ari, you got boobs? Did you pay for those?"

She glared at Mila's friend Selena next to her in the crowded bathroom mirror, "Hells no, I was in prison and the food was better than what we usually eat okay."

Selena held her hands up raising her eyebrows, "Whatevs. Someone got touchy and boobies while she was away, you got a girlfriend in the pen you missing?"

Ari felt her rage filling her, she wanted to turn choking Selena against the wall but she couldn’t do it. She smiled bitterly and finished applying makeup to her eyes, "Ya, your mom."

"Oh snap Selena she got you there."

"Yeah well she musta forgot I got no mom."

Mila winked at Ari who was laughing, "Yeah well none of us got moms Selena so play the orphan card somewhere else."

Selena gave her a shitty face and stormed from the bathroom.

"Ha that was mean Ari."

Ari shrugged feeling bad but not wanting to look weak. She looked at herself and sighed, "God this hair is making me all girlie looking and shit."

"Yeah its sexy girl."

Ari examined herself, her dark healthy hair was shiny and lustrous. It was just the way her moms looked in other Ari's memories. Her dark eyes looked sexy with the shiny hair with the black eye makeup she was used to. Her lips looked plump and soft, she blushed remembering the feeling of Lucas kissing them. Her skin crawled blocking out the memories it brought back.

"You look really pretty Ari, I might try to get into prison just to get looking so healthy. What did you do anyway?"

Ari stopped and looked at herself, "B and E." She turned and smiled at her friend, "Don’t try to get into jail Mila, try to go straight. I am from now on. It was scary in there."

Mila raised an eyebrow at her, "Straight, how the hell will we eat going straight?"

"We could get jobs."

"With what address?"

"Shelter or just make one up."

"Ari I tried this before, you need a bank account, and for a bank account you need an address. People don’t pay in cash dude, its direct deposit."

Ari sighed, "God being homeless was easier in the nineties. Joe told me they used to just hang around and people brought them shit. Everyone was so scared of AIDS they didn’t want them in shelters so they helped them on the streets."

They walked out of the bathroom into the nightclub. The DJ was a favorite who had done the under ground raves when they had been too young to sneak into clubs. He mixed incredibly smoothly making every songs ending seamless. No one in the crowd ever had pause to stop dancing.

Ari felt self-conscious like everyone could see the fraud she was. She hadn’t gone to jail, she'd been in a sweet old ladies house eating pumpkin muffins and letting Aimee braid her hair and help her finish high school. She missed them all but knew she couldn’t go back, not after running off after making that man go to jail for a crime he hadn’t committed. She had no idea he would have gone there but she knew the whole scene would have played out in front of Elsie and Lydia, they would have seen it all through the window in the air she had made. Elsie would tell Lydia that Ari was too dangerous. Ron would come back and lock her up or worse put her to sleep like a violent dog.

She pushed it to the back of her mind and slid out on the dance floor with her friends, her real friends. The ones who she ran with, hid with, cried with and even some she had nearly died with. She cringed thinking about the rainy night they'd been caught. She looked at Mila thinking about how she'd acted so tough until the men who'd found them left, then she'd cried for days. Ari couldn’t make herself cry, she had no tears left. She hadn't cried since her uncle left her in the orphanage for the last time until she got to Lydia's, then she made up for lost years crying every day almost.

"Here."

She looked at the tab Selena was holding. She raised her eyebrows and looked at Mila who stuck her tongue out revealing the small white tab on her tongue. Ari took it, "Thanks."

Selena shrugged, "Its ok."

"I'm sorry I played the mom card, I know its off limits. That wasn’t cool."

Selena smiled looking sad, "One day Ari we'll have a real life and we'll have houses and we'll have husbands and none of the shit that’s happened here will matter any more."

Ari hugged her. Selena seemed shocked by it but hugged her back.

"Look girl no offense but I'm here to find me a dude and this is cock blocking my shit."

Ari laughed, "You are nasty."

She let go of Selena and let the music take her. She let it all go. The past and the future didn’t matter as the E hit her.

She let it all go.

She felt like her old self again as her hips started to move to the music. She felt someone grind up against her, dancing behind her. It was hard to get pissed about someone touching her as she had let the ecstasy remove her inhibitions.

She looked up behind her to see a cute guy. He looked about twenty-five. She smiled until his hands started to roam freely. She pulled away shaking her head.

"Come on, just one dance."

She studied him for a split second and knew from the wicked look on his face he was a baddy, "One dance no groping."

He nodded sliding up against her again.

She stayed as alert as the drugs would let her, which wasn't a lot. Eventually his hands were on her again. She tried to push him off but his hands were everywhere all at once. His grip was stronger than hers.

She closed her eyes wishing she hadn’t taken the drugs. The room wasn’t spinning yet but she was fairly certain she wouldn't be able to hold him off and if she ran and he followed her she wouldn’t stand a chance at getting away. Her stomach started to feel sick as she pushed on his chest, "Please I don’t like this." She hadn’t ever begged for her life before. She had always been stronger than that but she was weak now.

"You like it."

Ari felt her hands heating up. She knew that if she pushed him back in time everyone would see the window she made. It wasn’t big but it was big enough that everyone around her would notice.

"Let her go."

She looked up to see Lucas. He growled menacingly at the man, "Now.'

"Fuck off buddy, she's mine for the night dude. Find your own slut."

Ari winced hearing him call her that, she deserved the title but she never would have wanted Lucas to see her in that light.

Lucas looked to be holding back a severe reaction, "She is MINE." He spoke firmly grabbing the man by the hand.

Ari felt her stomach twist and turn as Lucas removed the mans hand from her waist. She ran behind Lucas to see Ben there smiling at her, "Hey Ari."

She nodded at him but his eyes shot to the man who had been holding her and his smile was replaced with the same crazed and angry look as his brother as stepped forward to ensure Lucas had everything under control.

Lucas spoke something to the man and then stepped back. The man looked frightened and turned and left the dance floor.

Lucas turned back to her but his face hadn’t softened, "Ari what the hell are you doing?"

His eyes burned down on her, he scared her and she let Old Ari come to the surface.

Her lip trembled slightly, "Nothing, I-I-I just uhm. Nothing." She could feel tears creeping up into her throat.

"You freak when I touch you and yet here you are dressed like this, with someone like him who calls you a slut?"

She didn’t have an answer. She turned to walk away but he grabbed her arm, "You're coming home Ari." His grip told her he wasn’t messing around and he would kill everyone in the bar before he let her go. His face was more dangerous than anything she'd ever seen.

She looked at Ben who put a hand on Lucas's arm, "Calm brother." Lucas's eyes flashed at Ben and back to Ari.

Lucas dragged his hand down her arm to her hand and took her entire hand in his. He pulled her off the dance floor, not dragging as much as guiding. She looked back as her friends as they watched her go. They looked scared for her, they wouldn’t try to help her.

"Ari that’s quite the outfit." Ben laughed trying to break the ice.

She nodded, "Yeah its my friends."

Her heart skipped when she saw Lydia sitting in the car at the curb.

Lydia leapt from the car running to her with her arms out.

Ari flinched away from what she expected, which wasn’t the hug she received. The old woman's embrace filled her.

"Ari I'm so sorry. I didn’t think what would happen if someone's life got worse, how you would respond. I'm so sorry Ari." Ari couldn’t fight her tears, she couldn’t fake her brave face because Lydia saw through it all.

She felt Lucas behind her, his telltale warmth covering her naked skin with his body.

Ben spoke softly from behind them all, "Lets get you home, Annabelle's been unbearable." Ari snorted laughing. She could imagine Annabelle in a state of concern would be intolerable.

Lydia kissed her softly on the forehead and walked around to the driver side. Lucas climbed in the back helping/pulling Ari.

Ben stayed outside her door until she was in and safe. He closed it giving her a soft smile. He rode passenger but spent the entire ride smiling at Ari and telling jokes. She was grateful for his efforts at keeping the conversation light.

Lucas sat at the far side of the car, he kept himself away from her looking out the window continuously. Ari felt miles between the foot that separated them. She knew he was hurt but the drugs in her system prevented her from being able to hold a thought longer than a second.

"Lydia I did in the alley again, right away after the man in the apartment. It was only minutes in between." The words felt hollow but she was trying to be herself again not the little street skank.

"Right away? You don’t need to recharge?"

She shook her head meeting Lydia's gaze in the rearview mirror.

"That’s interesting to know."

"Are you high Ari?"

She turned to Lucas who watched her suddenly. She met his harsh gaze for the briefest of seconds before lowering hers and nodded feeling sick at the admission.

"What would possess you to put yourself in such danger?"

She felt her walls crumble as she sputtered her excuses against New Ari's wishes, "She took over, I swear, I just fell into blackness and new Ari was there waiting for her chance to spring free. The man attacked us in the alley and she pushed into him and sent him back. She just knew how to survive." She felt the flood of tears but swallowed them back.

Lucas watched her, she could feel his cold stare upon her.

"Sweetie we need to find a way to get rid of New Ari. She is so damaged, she will be the death of you both."

She nodded, even new Ari nodded. She wanted the life old Ari had had, she wanted the diner and their uncle and cookie and high school completed and over with. She hated being a street rat, she hated being used and she hated the memories that came with every scar whether visible or not.

As Lydia parked the car Ari watched Annabelle appear on the front porch. She smiled seeing her and waved. Ari got out of the car exhausted in ways she hadn’t experienced in a long time.

Her legs buckled slightly trying to get out but Lucas was there catching her before she fell. His warmth against her brought her home completely.

"I love you Ari, even if you cant love yourself. Don't scare me like that ever again." He whispered it so quietly she nearly missed the words against her ears. Her fear of her feelings for him vanished. She loved him, more than anything in the world. She let him carry her inside, she never fought him on the stairs or when he brought her right to her warm bath Annabelle had prepared. She kissed him back when his lips brushed against her softly sending shivers across her skin.

He placed her on the ground and left her in the capable hands of the ghostly maid, "Night Ari."

She watched him leaving wishing secretly he could stay and help her with the bath.

"Miss Ari ya looks a mess. Now just lie back and let Annabelle cleans ya off. You been gone one day and ya looks like the urchin ya was when ya came."

Chapter Thirteen- Wanna Pet My Wolf?

Ari

Ari woke to Annabelle sitting in the chair in the corner watching her sleep.

She grimaced, "Creepy Annabelle."

"Why good morning Miss Ari. Or rather good afternoon."

"How long have I slept?"

"Nearly eighteen hours. You was a wreck when ya got here though so that might be why."

Ari squinted against the silhouette of light coming from the edges of the curtains. Her head was pounding. She knew she was probably dehydrated from the E she had taken the night before.

"Stupid Ari." She whispered sitting up completely. She climbed out of the bed stretching. Everything felt fine, she had no aching muscles and no after effects of all the running and jumping and escaping she had put her body through.

She remembered the previous days and grimaced. The run had been stupid, running away had been even more stupid, clubbing was down right insane and the drugs had been the absolute pinnacle of disaster and poor choices.

"Ari?"

She looked up to see Andy at her door, "Hey Andy."

"I just wanted to check and make sure you were okay." Her pale skin set her bright blue eyes off.
Ari smiled at the dark haired woman, "Yeah I think so. I feel like such a nightmare though. I'm so annoying with my split personalities and crazy life."

Andy laughed, Ari couldn’t recall her ever laughing before. It was a magical sound.

"Yes well if it makes you feel better when I was new at this I ate a village. Women, children, everyone. I was like a horror movie. I ate everyone and everything that moved. I am haunted by the images still."

Ari swallowed hard, "Andy that's terrible."

Andy nodded smiling, "Yes it is. But the point I'm trying to make is you didn’t chose what you are and you can't stop being it so you need to give yourself a little leeway for the moments where you don’t put your best foot forward."

Ari smiled, "Thank you."

Andy nodded, "Well I'm off to Boston. Take care sweetie."

"Thanks you too." As Andy walked away Ari thought about the fact she had been spending an enormous amount of time in Boston.

Her mind darted instantly to Lucas. She hadn’t been putting her best foot forward with him. The idea of losing him terrified her.

She walked from her room lost in thought and how she would repair the relationship that hadn’t really started yet with Lucas. She blushed thinking about what he had said, he loved her. No one had ever said that to her or the other Ari. She felt her heart flutter as the memories of his body against hers, the warmth of their kiss and the slipping of his tongue inside her mouth.

"Ari?"

She looked up to see Ben and smiled, "Hey." She didn’t feel awkward around him like she did his brother.

"Someone is lost in thought. How are you feeling this morning?"

She blushed, "Oh good. Actually great, my head hurts a little from the drugs I think, bit of a hang on maybe."

"That was a bad choice, I thought Lucas was going to kill something when he found out you'd run away. Especially after the way I'd found you in the woods."

"Why what did he do?"

Ben walked down the stairs beside her, "He ran following your scent the whole way around town till he found you. The bouncer wasn’t going to let us in, we didn’t have wallets with us but Lucas scared the shit out of him. Then he told that guy who you were dancing with he was going to tear his limbs from his body and make him watch as Lucas ate them if he didn’t get lost. Bit savage but it got the job done." He laughed.

Ari looked at him horrified, "How did he track my smell all over town? Why would he eat someone's legs? Is he insane?"

"He just flipped, he's usually the more calm and civilized of our family members. Anyway we have pretty good noses Ari. So speaking of which wanna see the wolf today?"

She smiled fighting the urge to ask more questions he didn’t seem to want to answer, "Yeah. Where's Lucas?"

"He was in Canada yesterday but when you ran away Lydia made Aimee go get him. He had to go back today. Roses crap."

Ari frowned, "Are you a Rose?"

Ben nodded, "I think Lydia wants to see you so how about meet me in the back in like an hour?"

She nodded and walked toward the kitchen starving and curious about the whole Roses organization. They had all spoken so infrequently about it in front of her.

"I made you some oats Miss Ari."

She groaned, "Oatmeal, Annabelle I hate oatmeal."

"Well I knows that but you's eating it today, bosses orders."

Ari sat to the steaming bowl of hot cereal and nodded, "Fine."

Chapter Fourteen- The Roses

Aimee

"I need you to do me a favor."

Aimee smirked, "As per the usual."

Lydia didn’t smile, "It's Ari, she needs to meet with the Roses. It's time."

Aimee frowned, "What if she's mortal?"

Lydia shook her head, "She isn’t. I got the blood tests back and the other day we tracked her route through the woods, seventeen miles she ran. She hasn’t run in the body she is in right now and she just pulled off seventeen miles like it was nothing. She's not a regular demon either she's a Nephilim Aimee."

Aimee nodded nervously, she hadn’t heard that word used in a long time to describe someone, "Okay. I'll take her to New York now."

"Thank you. I have to go speak to her, will you come?"

Aimee stood from her laptop where she was chatting with Shane who was on duty but sending her messages.

She looked at his profile picture remembering how it had felt to be in his arms the night before. She'd slept at his house, they had made love twice and she never accidentally murdered him, which had been a bonus. She blushed and looked at Lydia who was scowling.

"I really didn’t need to see that Aimee."

She laughed, "Well stop looking in my mind."

Lydia walked from the room, "You broadcast it like it was on CNN, I didn’t have to try. Shane is a looker though I will say. A man in uniform that sexy should be illegal."

Aimee sighed, "So illegal."

She followed Lydia to the kitchen where Ari was struggling with a bowl of Annabelle's gruel.

Ari grimaced shivering as she desperately tried to get it down.

"Wow you must have pissed Lydia off to be punished like that."

Ari nodded, "Yup."

Lydia sat at the table, "Now wait just a minute, that’s a healthy cereal young lady. You did drugs yesterday, this will help get it out of your system."

She put a hand on Ari's arm, "Look Ari we need to talk."
Aimee watched the young girls eyes grow worried, "Lydia I'm sorry about yesterday. I wont do it again I promise."

Lydia laughed, "No not that honey. We have figured some things out about you. Aimee is taking you to New York to get acquainted with everyone. You need to start your training."

Aimee smiled at Ari who sat frozen, "You're sending me away?"

Aimee laughed, "See I told you, Ari she said the same thing to me and I felt the same way. No she isn’t sending you away, she's sending you to learn about yourself. We fit into two categories in this world, good and bad."

Lydia nodded, "Exactly and for you to be on the side of good you will need some help with control."

"So you're really not mad about yesterday?"

Lydia frowned, "Ari I am furious about yesterday but you aren’t alone in the blame. Elsie and I are just as much to blame as you are. We all messed up yesterday. I want you to pack a bag for New York. You'll be there for a few months."

Ari choked on her disgusting cereal making Aimee gag slightly.

"Months?"

Aimee nodded, "I will come and visit as much as they’ll let me. We wont leave you there alone."

Lydia squeezed Ari's arm, "There really is nothing to be afraid of."

Ari didn’t look convinced and Aimee didn’t blame her, she shivered remembering her months at The Roses. She looked at her ring, pride and fear made the ring special to her.

Ari looked sick standing at the front door waiting for Aimee.

"You know Ari since we're winking there you don’t need to wait at the front door."

Ari smiled nervously, "Yeah force of habit."

Aimee flexed her fingers, "Ready?"

Ari shook her head looking around the room, "No."

Aimee smiled and touched Ari. She winked thinking about the lobby to the building in New York. It was a bank on the bottom eight floors and the roses the other twelve floors. The air moved around them flashing colors for only a second and her boots made contact with the ground again.

"I hate that." Ari shivered.

Aimee laughed, "Yeah no one likes it."

Ari looked stunned seeing the modern and fancy lobby. Aimee remembered her first time and smiled, "I get it. You saw where I grew up. We didn’t have fancy buildings like this one."

"Its like something off a TV show."

Aimee laughed, "Well lets go see everyone." She walked up the large glass doors and walked up to the receptionist.

Ari gasped looking at the woman sitting at the desk, Aimee kicked her and made a face.

"Morning Gladys how are you?"

The woman smiled back flashing her bright green eyes, "Aimee how are you?"

"Great, this is Ari. I think Lydia called about her."

"Yes of course, Ari nice to meet you."

Ari stammered, "H-h-hi, uhm nice to m-m-meet you."

Aimee felt her face flush, "Sorry Gladys, first tiger."

Gladys laughed, "I remember everyone's first day."

Aimee dragged Ari to the waiting area and slumped her into a chair, "Dude not cool." She whispered almost silently.

Ari frowned, "Sorry. Her eyes…"

Aimee put a hand to Ari's mouth and whispered softly directly into Ari's ear, "No. Hush. She can hear your heart beat, werecats have incredible hearing. I will explain later." Aimee pulled back and smiled, "So did you say goodbye to everyone?"

Ari frowned, "uhm no. Ben was going to let me play with his wolf but we had to leave and he wasn’t at his room and Lucas was gone."

She smiled at Ari almost laughing, "Don't let Ben con you into playing with his wolf."

Ari frowned, "What? Why?"

Aimee rolled her eyes, "Just focus on finding a way to text Lucas and see if you can't get him to talk to you."

"I don’t have a cell anymore. Street urchin Ari lost hers." She rolled her eyes.

Aimee grimaced, "Okay well they will give you your cell phone pretty much the first day so I will add you and give you my contacts. You can text him if you want to."

Ari smiled, "I haven’t touched a cell phone since I left the desert. It's been really weird. I wondered at first if my friends missed me but then I remembered none of them have met me. Not since I became this. None of them would talk to a girl like me."

Aimee hugged her, "Ari you are the girl you were all along. The scars and the tats are kinda like a reminder of the path you don’t want to take."

"Aimee."

Aimee smiled seeing a tall man walk from behind the second set of glass doors, "Mr. Jacobs, how are you?" She stood hugging him and kissing either side of his face.

"Daniel please." The older man smiled softly. His elderly face, gray hair and genteel English accent were not to be mistaken with nice old man. Aimee learned that the first day. He might have soft blue eyes and enjoy a cup of English Breakfast every morning like her father but inside he was a frightening bloodsucker.

Aimee blushed, "Of course, Daniel this is Ari. Ari this is Mr. Daniel Jacobs, he is in charge of recruits and training."

Ari stood inspecting him, "Nice to meet you." Aimee could tell she was fighting her other self taking over. It was the poor kids defense system.

"Ari we have heard so much about you. Your gifts are so very rare. Please come in." He held a hand up to a scanner on the wall and the glass doors opened.

Aimee walked behind Ari who kept looking back at her. Aimee smiled trying to reassure her.

"This facility was built a long time ago but we've continually modernized based on current designs and trends."

Aimee hated the long shpeel but she listened as Daniel walked them through a bunch of labs and offices.

"We have been in this office for eighteen years and before this we were actually in a building on this very land for two hundred years. When the settlers came to the New World we came along. We started in New England first and then moved our headquarters here when the city really started to boom. Has either Lydia or Aimee told you anything?"

Ari shook her head walking along looking dumbfounded.

He smiled at Aimee, "You left all the explaining to me?"

Aimee smiled, "We didn’t know what she was Daniel."

"Fair enough, Ari lets have seat in here before we get you settled into a room." He pointed to a lounge with blue fluffy couches and steel coffee tables. It was modern but comfortable.

"In the world there is light and dark, good and bad, gods and devils, it doesn’t matter how its spoken there is a fine line between the balance between what is right and wrong. Taking a human life, an innocents life is wrong. Many like us have done it." His eyes flashed toward Aimee who lowered her gaze knowing the innocents she had taken in the beginning.

She looked at Ari seeing the same look on her face and smiled.

Daniel laughed, "Everyone is guilty of it. Especially in the first phases of whatever changes occur. I myself have committed a few atrocities in my time. Here we offer the chance at not only learning to control whatever urges or hungers you face but also in a select group of people like Aimee, we offer the chance at redemption."

Ari lifted her face to Aimee surprise, "Redemption?"

Daniel smiled, "Yes love." He held up his platinum ring with the thin red line running through it, "We are the thin red line that keeps the balance in society. We are the protection between good and evil."

Ari smiled harder, "Like a superhero?"

He laughed, "Yes exactly. Obviously we can't have someone who is mortal running about trying to stop the chaos that sometimes occurs but your DNA has proved to be interesting."

"Like a superhero? Did I get bit by a radioactive spider?" She was still smiling but it was a sarcastic smile.

Aimee laughed, "Ari just keep an open mind." She knew what it was like to have it all explained.

"Well you probably noticed Gladys at the front desk, she is a weretiger. Her eyes always look like a cats eye. She can't help it. She wears contacts in front of regular people but in front of us she lets it be the way it is."

"I don't know what that is. I know Brandon is a shifter but he never stays around long enough to explain it to me and no one else will." Ari looked at Aimee.

"She, like Brandon, turns into a cat. Like a Bengal tiger. They are shifters. They can transform into certain animals. Panthers, wolves, bears, tigers, and oddly enough dogs." Aimee smiled.

Ari frowned, "I don’t understand. What happens to their body?"

Daniel sighed, "Ari it changes, they are still themselves they just shift."

Ari frowned, "Only those animals?"

Daniel nodded, "Yes well we believe the other species have died off, not strong enough. The predators have managed to live because they're strong. Then there are people like me." He smiled letting his fangs drop. His blue eyes turned black filling his entire eye so no whites remained.

Ari screamed jumping off her chair.

Aimee leapt after her catching her, "It's okay Ari."

Daniel frowned, "I'm still me Ari. I just have these." He put his fangs away and the black pulled back into his pupils.

Aimee held her trembling friend. She lifted Ari's face to meet hers, "It's okay. He wont hurt you."

Ari nodded watching Daniel, "So what could I possibly do to you? How could I superhero fight against someone like you who could drink my blood and kill me?" She seemed very panicked.

Ari took a deep breath and pulled away from Aimee sitting back down in the chair still on edge.

"Well for starts your blood would kill me, you're part demon Ari. You're actually very rare, a born demon. They rarely survive and the mother never survives unless she is the demon. You're very lucky."

Aimee watched Ari get lost in it all and the switch occurred, "Yeah well I don’t feel very lucky. One version of me never existed and the other me has lived on the streets my whole life except for the time I've spent in orphanages. I have no family. We obviously have a different idea of what lucky is." She started to shake with anger, "You people are freaks."

"You must be the other Ari that Lydia told me about."

Ari sniffed at him, "You and Lydia can go fuck yourselves. This three ring circus is a joke." She turned to Aimee and scowled, "You want me to stay here with the cat lady and fangs over there? You trying to punish me for something Aimee? I wanna go home."

Aimee met her stare intensifying her own, "Ari I want you to push her down into the darkness. Find your way back up. You're safe here. Do you trust me?"

She could see the switch as Ari's face flushed, "I'm sorry. I didn’t mean to swear at you." She looked at Daniel shocked.

He laughed, "You are very entertaining Ari. That must be some battle going on inside of you. You are a born demon, which means we will have to have you trained by a demon. You must snuff out the other you in there to ensure you're not a danger to people, or yourself."

Ari looked at Aimee, "What happens if I'm a danger?"

Aimee felt her face flinch, "We deal with it."

Ari looked at Daniel, "What do you do?"

He clasped his hands together, "Ari we don’t just let people like us run around killing or amassing armies. We remove them before they break the laws."

"What laws? Where do they go?"

Aimee felt a lump in her throat, "We send them to heaven Ari."

Ari looked frightened, "You'd kill me?"

Daniel straightened, "Ari its very unlikely that you would continue to be a threat once you got rid of the other you. She is out of control, like a caged animal she is not to be trusted. You however had a very normal life before this all happened. You're level headed and really the perfect candidate to become a Rose."

Ari looked distant, Aimee knew it was a hard concept to understand in the beginning. She too had had problems grasping that if she didn’t gain control they would end her life.

Daniel smiled, "Lets not dwell Ari, lets not cross that bridge until we have to. Right now let's focus on the now. The laws are firstly keep the secret. No humans can know we exist. Every time they find out about us huge problems arise. They need ignorance. Secondly Do what ye will but harm none. No human or being like us can be harmed in your efforts to live."

Ari winced, "That man. I sent him to jail for a crime he never committed."

Daniel nodded, "Right exactly but how could you know. You need to learn to discern what's right and wrong. Since we don’t have anyone like you we need a demon to teach you to figure this out."

Aimee stood, "I'm going to let you guys get this all going. I need to get back to work. I'm following a girl who is a huge threat. She hasn’t woken yet so we don’t know anything yet but if she does wake we could be in trouble. Can you let me see her cell you're going to give her so I can add her contacts she'll need for the next few months."

Daniel stood hugging Aimee quickly, "yes of course just ask Gladys, she'll be the one arranging all of that."

Aimee bent and hugged Ari, "Hang in there kid. It is going to get easier every day. Text me as soon as you get some alone time k?"

"Come see me when you can please." Ari's eyes were huge. Aimee kissed the top of her forehead, "Yup."

She walked from the room. She smelled it instantly as she left the room. She turned her head to see Dorian walking into an office next to her. He smiled and blew her a kiss. She felt her hackles come up, "What are you doing here?" She whispered knowing he could hear her perfectly.

"Training the new girl." He smiled stopping in the doorway.

Aimee frowned, "You?"

He shrugged, "Hey I'm a demon."

Aimee always felt sick around him, she had been beyond stunned to learn the evil demon who saved her life by killing her was a good guy. He had been so cruel and horrid to her when he was changing her. He was the one who had let her kill an innocent, which he later lied about claiming it was part of her training. A lesson in what not to do. Aimee couldn’t help but hate him. She felt her stomach drop thinking about Ari in his filthy hands for the next few months as he trained her.

She stepped toward him, "You lay a finger on her and I'll kill you even if it means my own death. I will find a way to drag you to hell with me."

"You've gotten sassy Aimee." His obsidian eyes flashed at her, "I like it." He grabbed her face pulling her to him, kissing her. As always when his mouth met hers she couldn’t fight it. The smell and taste of Dorian was something no woman could resist. His tongue explored her mouth right there in the hallway of the office.

He pulled back, "You really are a naughty girl Aimee." His dark hair and beautiful face always killed her.
"Your soul is as black as your eyes Dorian."

She turned and walked away from him trying to ignore her weak knees and the taste of his kiss upon her lips.

"I don’t have a soul sweetheart." He laughed. His laugh grated on her last nerve.

Worry built in her stomach as she walked up to Gladys's desk. She knew she would be back every few days even if it meant trouble for her. She needed to keep Ari safe from Dorian.

Chapter Fifteen- Grandmother What Big Eyes You Have

Ari

She watched out the window of the high-rise seeing the life scurry below her on the street. New York was exactly as she imagined it would be, dirty, smelly and nonstop action. It had taken her a month just to get used to the noise at night. The mansion had been so quiet.

She looked behind as the door to her room opened and smiled seeing Daniel walking in, "Just wanted to say great job today Ari, really. That was perfect the way you read that man and chose not to send him back. I saw the control you had over it all. How do you feel?"

She laughed, "Good I just wish I could get rid of her forever, the other me."

"You're getting closer everyday. It's time for your theory lesson and then boxing okay."

She nodded and looked back at the window as he left the room quietly. She knew she was doing better but she missed home. She sent Lucas a text nearly every hour but he still barely answered her. She didn’t know how to fix the gap that her behavior had caused. She wondered about his part in everything, was he like her? He answered none of her questions except that he was doing fine and he missed her too. She had started to doubt that.

Ben cheered her up and had developed quite the friendship with her. He sent her a birthday card and flowers, he sent her messages every day, he phoned every week and he met her once in the three months when he came with Aimee.

Ari liked him a lot but she wanted his brother. Lucas drove her insane. Ben had been an amazing friend.

She turned and left for theory class. There were other kids like her in the class, they all joked about how they were in an X-Men movie. They learned about witches, demons, vampires, shifters, zombies, monsters, mad scientists, trolls and elves. She had had a hard time taking it all in at first. A lot of history was explained through the classes. Everyone was amazed by the atrocities that had been committed against completely innocent monsters. Some monsters were extinct, murdered by humans. Giants no longer roamed the earth, no one had seen a mermaid in ages and fairies had been gone since before the First World War.

She breezed through class, floated in her mind through boxing and was back in her room looking at her phone again wondering what Lucas was doing. She iced her jaw thanks to daydreaming in boxing class.

She looked at the phone and decided it was time. Her heart hurt and she wasn’t feeling anything anymore. She needed closure, well that’s what Marcia had told her. Marcia was her bathroom mate. They all had their own rooms but everyone had a shared bathroom with one person. Their rooms were beautiful on the top floor of the building and set up like dorms.

Marcia had been in love with a human before she changed. She was a weretiger but never knew. When she turned the first time she ate her own cat. It was devastating for her. Marcia knew then there was no way she could be trusted to be around her boyfriend. She had messaged him for the first couple months in New York but had decided to free him and break up with him. She cried for weeks at first but seemed a lot happier in recent weeks. Ari knew she needed that too.

She started to tap the letters sending the message.

'Lucas I'll be sorry for the rest of my life for what happened between us. I can't fix it and I see that now. I'm sorry I hurt you. I hope one day you can be my friend and stop hating me. I wont text or phone you anymore. Ari.'

She read it again and felt the tears popping from her eyes. She pressed the send and took a breath. She regretted it instantly. She put the phone under her pillow and left for dinner. She needed distracting.

She sat in the dining room picking at her dinner. It was her favorite meal, spaghetti and meatballs with fresh asiago and garlic bread. She twirled her fork in the noodles.

"Earth to Ari."

She looked up to see Marcia smiling at her, "I can't believe you left without me. I was waiting for you to tell me you were done. Did you do it?"

Marcia was very pretty which Ari had learned was a natural trait of all shifters, they looked the way they did so they could naturally keep their population alive. Ari suspected Lucas and Ben were shifters because they were both so handsome.

Marcia flicked her red hair behind her face and started to eat her spaghetti. Her bright green eyes were mesmerizing.

"I did." Ari sighed.

Marcia frowned, "Ari I'm really sorry things didn’t work out with you guys. I know how much you like him. Maybe when you go home things will work out."

Ari shrugged, "Maybe but I think he hates me still so whatever."

"How's the nose there sunshine?"

Ari looked up at Henry smirking at her. He was by far the sexiest Asian guy she had ever seen. He was tall and built with naturally tanned skin and an incredibly handsome face. His dark eyes has the slightest hint of grey to them which she thought was cool. Marcia had been eyeing him up to no avail. Henry was a player and he had loved living in New York. Ari hadn’t gone out with them all terrified of being on the streets and the other Ari taking over out of habit. Marci had said the clubs were amazing but that she got tired of watching Henry make his moves on other girls.

"Ari?"

She looked at Henry and smiled, "What?"

He laughed, "I think I hit you pretty hard on the head, you're acting funny."

"Pu-lease, she heals faster than any of us and the only reason you even got a shot off before she sent you into a nice little nap was because she was distracted."

Ari looked at Marcia and blushed.

"Well if you wanna tuck me in Ari I'm more than happy to take a nap if you come along."

He leaned over the table and moved in close to her face taunting her. She felt her face flushing, "Uh Henry if I tuck you in it'll involve a coma."

He laughed and kissed her on the cheek as she swatted him in the head.

She could hear a growl, it was a familiar sound. She looked at Marcia who was no doubt bothered by the flirting Henry was doing but it wasn’t her growling. Her eyes were fixed staring on something behind Henry who was blocking Ari's view.

"Ari back away from Henry slowly." Marcia whispered, "I'm guessing that you’re his still in his mind Ari."

Ari backed up seeing a panic on Henry's face as he trembled, she imagined he was fighting the change, she had never seen him turn into a wolf before but she had heard it was incredibly scary.

She leaned back in her chair looking past his head at the angry face staring at her, Lucas. It made her stomach drop, she was afraid of his response even though she had no cause, Lucas had never done anything to frighten her, nothing beyond protect her even if it was from herself.

"Lucas?" She felt her face tighten, she didn’t want to cry in front of everyone, she hadn’t really cried much in months. Lydia and Lucas were the only ones who made her cry.

"Ari he's fixed on Henry, if Henry turns around they'll both shift and we will have injuries and a lot of mess to clean up. Henry don’t you dare turn. Ari just get him outta here."

Ari stood from her chair running to Lucas. His massive body trembled with anger and whatever else he was controlling. She worried more about the whatever else. She put a hand on his chest to try to talk to him but Henry turned at the wrong second. They both shifted with Ari right in the middle. She screamed seeing the fur and snarling faces suddenly. She wanted to run away but her legs were paralyzed in terror. Lucas had become a shaggy brown wolf with green eyes and Henry had become a black wolf with steel black eyes. Both their faces were gnashing and growling as they started to circle her but seeing only each other. Ari felt her hand heating up, she felt the room start to tremble. As they jumped for each other her mind cleared completely. She knew what she needed to do. She reached into the air as if they moved in slow motion and pressed a hand to each wolf. Her hands dug into their fur finding the skin beneath. She pushed faster than she had before. It nearly shot from her freezing them instantly. Both huge wolves dropped from the air onto the hardwood floor.

Ari stepped back not exhausted, she felt rejuvenated. She looked down at her hands and back at the wolves on the floor. Realizing what she'd done she leapt to the brown shaggy wolf kneeling and cradling his muzzle on her lap. She loved him, she loved him so much. She couldn’t help but be a tiny bit excited about the fact he'd shown up after her text message ending everything.

"Ari what did you do?" She looked up at Daniel walking in.

"She saved us all probably, at least from some nasty injuries. Henry moved in on Ari, it was all teasing but Lucas came into the room at the wrong moment seeing another wolf hovering over his girlfriend. Then Henry kissed her on the cheek and Lucas freaked."

Daniel knelt touching the black wolf, "They're alive still though I'm pretty sure they wont be very excited about it in an hour when they wake up. Ari you did this to them?"

She looked up confused, "My hands knew, they just knew they-I could stop them. I pushed into them both at the same time."

A woman Ari didn’t know stood beside Daniel and spoke softly, "Daniel it shot from her hands, like a bolt."

Ari felt ashamed, "I didn’t mean to hurt them." Everyone in the hall who had been standing around them all and whispering to each other turned back to their tables and resumed eating. Only Marcia stayed beside Ari with a hand on her back.

The woman smiled, "You my dear are turning out to be a very worthwhile find."

Daniel pointed, "This is Lorri. She is in charge of the Roses, like Aimee and Aleksander and Dorian and Lucas here."

She was attractive but her power was what you noticed before her looks. Her long lean body was shockingly fit, she wore dark brown leather pants and burnt burgundy knee high boots. She wore a tight fit cream-colored sweater that showed every curve and muscle. Her arms were clearly toned. She wasn’t thick but she was strong. She had short auburn hair cut funky and styled in every direction. She really just looked like a cartoon character she was so perfectly made. She didn’t look old enough to be in charge of anything, she might be thirty-five if she was a day older. Dorian and Aleksander were crazy old but didn’t look a day over twenty-five so she could realistically be a thousand and still look that good.

Lorri knelt down to her offering her a hand, "Lets get these big boys in their rooms. Ari I assume Lucas can just stay with you until he is feeling a bit better?"

Ari nodded wondering how very angry he would be with her when he woke.

Some large men came and lifted the wolves. Ari followed behind Lucas watching as he was tucked into her bed.

"He looks like little Red Ridinghood's wolf."

Lorri laughed, "Yes exactly where the story came from."

Ari laughed, "He's going to kill me."

"No he'll be happy you stopped him, they can't control their emotions over some things. Mates are a touchy one with wolves. Their mates are for life Ari. Once a wolf falls in love they fall into it so hard they cant ever imagine another person, I've had wolf friends who've mated with humans and when they died the wolf lived out the remainder of their years alone."

"How long do wolves live?" Mates, the word mates hit a cord inside her.

"Centuries, they age so slowly after they hit puberty. Just like the rest of us. It’s a survival trait. A small demon child would be dangerous with all their gifts at such a young age and would be easy prey if everyone knew what they were when they were so tiny and helpless. The puberty awakening protects us. Our gifts come at a time when we're old enough to be wise about what we do." She looked at the huge wolf taking up the entire bed wrapped in covers, "Well wiser."

"How long will I live?"

"Well since you obviously take something from the people you send back, am I correct in thinking you enjoy the feeling of sending someone back?"

Ari blushed and nodded.

"Well then whatever you are taking will sustain you, maybe forever. We don’t know how far injuries can go with you but from what we've seen thus far you heal as fast as a full demon. Your father must have been incredibly strong."

"I might have to live forever?"

Lorri laughed, "Ari it isn’t punishment, the years go faster, the time gets more fun. Once you start having a purpose and you know who and what you are you'll enjoy life so much more. Ask Aimee. She wanted to die at first. Take care of your mate, he'll need it." She smiled and walked from the room.

Ari sat in the chair across the small room. She watched him sleep confused by everything. She yawned and climbed up onto the bed. She curled up beside him and wrapped her fingers in his shaggy fur.

Chapter Sixteen- My Dad is a Cop and My Mom is a Death Dealer…

Aimee

"Aims can you pass me my gun belt?"

She looked behind at the belt draped on the chair behind her and smiled, "That seems careless. Anyone could get your gun Shane."

"Yeah well its not like there are kids running around the house Aimee."

She flinched passing it to him, "Is that something you want?"

He shrugged, "Yeah I guess. I mean don’t you?" He spoke nonchalantly taking the belt.

Aimee bit her lip and shook her head slowly, "Not really my thing."

He frowned looking at her doubtfully, "Aims you always wanted kids."

"Yeah well I'm dead inside so I guess that decision was made for me."

He stepped to her taking her hands, "Aimee we could adopt or get a surrogate or foster kids."

"Shane I cant have kids in the house while I never age and my hands could accidentally send them to heaven while tucking them in."

He kissed her cheek, "It's not a big deal Aims. If you don’t want kids fine and if you do fine. I want you so whatever comes with that I'm just happy to be here. Finally."

He kissed her lips passionately making her forget for half a second that she was a soul-sucking demon. The smell of humans was tantalizing, the smell of Shane was unbearable sometimes. She buried her face in his neck smelling him.

"Super creepy babe." He laughed and pulled away.

She shook her head, "I'm such a freak."

"Speaking of which where did you go this morning?"

"I took Lucas to New York, Ari sent him some text about breaking up which Ben and I told him was going to happen if he didn’t get over his stubborn ass bullshit."

Shane looked at himself in the mirror but laughing at Aimee, "Wow potty mouth. So how much longer is she there?"

"As long as it takes but I saw Aleksander and he said Dorian told him that she is ripping it up there. She's doing great I guess and they think she'll make the Roses with me. She has something like what I do but they don’t die, so that would be a neat option. Let the not quite that bad people live. She hasn’t used it yet though so they aren’t a hundred percent on it. So where you working today?"

"East side. Don’t even think about it."

Her eyes flickered, "What?"

"Aims please you think I don’t notice the girl on my heels blinking around the blocks following me."

"It scares me, you could get hurt."

He sat on the bed adjusting his belt, "Look lets pretend you're sweet Aimee from our little home town and you are nerdy and going to university and I'm a cop and going to work and I have to protect and serve. It's embarrassing having my girlfriend trailing me for my safety."

"Do you wish it was that way?"

His face looked hurt for a split second, "Do you?"

She nodded, "I wish with everything inside of me that was our story."

He leaned in and kissed her forehead, "I am grateful to have you anyway I can get you."

She knew it wasn’t enough but she had to let it be.

Her cell phone buzzed.

"Hello."

"She did it. She's exactly what we're looking for."

"No way."

"Yup, be here in an hour."

"k."

She hung up and looked at Shane and smiled, "Ari did it. She used her power that they needed to let her be a Rose."

Shane smiled at her, "Who was that?"

"Daniel, god Dorian is going to be there."

"Well try not to fight with him and focus on why you're there. As much as you hate the fact he saved you Aims try to remember you asked to live." He bent down and kissed her again.

She sighed, "I know." He walked from the room as she recalled the horrifying weeks she'd spent dying of liver failure. She hated that her life had been ruined. She hated that she owed Dorian for saving her life when he was such a dick.

She looked around Shane's' apartment and smiled, she had been staying with him for months. She needed to be grateful for being alive to be with him, even if they could never move from the point they were at. She couldn’t qualify for a mortgage as her job was non-existent in the human world, she couldn’t have children, she couldn’t marry him without stopping him from having a life and moving on. She closed her eyes letting the doom in the relationship push back down where she needed it to be. She couldn’t end it yet, she needed him and she couldn’t stay with him forever. He would grow old and she would always stay as she was, frozen at eighteen years old. Eventually he would look like a pervert, she would look like his daughter, his granddaughter and then he would die leaving her alone in the world.

"I gotta go Aims, come give me a kiss."

She winked behind him and grabbed him around the waist before he got the words out.

"Lucky you can't get fat Aimee cause seriously you never walk anymore." He turned and kissed her making her happy again. She shoved her fears deep inside and let the moment be about kissing him.

Chapter Seventeen- This Isn't a Frat House

Ari

She felt warmth, heat emanating from something. It was like running on the desert highway again. She moved toward the heat letting it wash over her.

It caressed her neck and arm.

She felt the heat lick at her neck. She rubbed against it letting it consume her.

She realized it was Lucas as his lips began stroking hers, sucking them in and caressing them with his tongue. She nearly froze but afraid to offend him she gave herself permission to let him touch her. She opened her eyes smiling, letting her self be calm seeing his handsome face smiling back.

"My sweet Ari."

She leaned up kissing his nose, "You came."

He nodded, "Your text message broke my heart."

"You’ve broken mine for three months."

"I'm an asshole."

She nodded kissing him again. She felt herself giving over, she pushed New Ari away blocking her and letting Lucas pull her into him. His strong hands lifted her on top of him as he kissed her neck. She could feel how gentle he was being no doubt afraid to hurt her and force her to shut down.

His warm hands pulled at her shirt softly lifting it over her head. She sat up on him feeling shy about the scars and tattoos. Instead of judging her the way she did he worshipped at the altar. His fingers traced hot lines up the snake curling around a sword on her right side. She pulled her bra off letting herself be completely naked in front of him for the first time. She blushed as his hands skated along her ribs touching the places she'd never shown anyone. She'd grown accustomed to the marks but still somehow they scared her. His finger tips fit the burn marks along her left side where stars were tattooed to frame each burn mark as if it were something to be proud of.

His eyes still burned with desire as he touched her stomach where a broken heart surrounded her belly button and pieces of the heart lay crumbled on the line above her jeans.

"I see I missed some piercings." He smirked.

She laughed seeing the nipple piercing and belly button, "I didn’t know how to get rid of them and I was embarrassed to ask."

His lips grew into a wicked grin, "Maybe we can let them stay for a while?"

She nodded as he sat up pulling her face to his and pressing his bare chest against hers. She had been unaware of his being naked in her bed until he sat up. His sun kissed skin contrasted harshly against her stark white skin. She remembered how it had looked before in the desert. She had always tanned before.

He rolled her off of him and lay her beside him. His hands lifting her up into him as his face buried in her neck kissing her shoulders where the sun and moon tattoos sat. She felt his hands roaming the scars along her back, the ridges of skin that resembled lash marks but that she had no memories of felt different from the unmarred skin. He never seemed to mind nor pay much heed to the defects in her body as he made his way around.

She blushed as he pulled back the covers pulling her into them and began undoing her pants but she forced herself to lie back and find enjoyment in every sweet second.

"I love you Ari."

"I love you too."

His mouth made contact with her neck sending shivers up her spine. His hands slowly trailed her ribs building anxiety inside of her. Finally resting on her breast he cupped and massaged it. He bent his face to her nipples making her moan in pleasure as he played with the ring through it.

She felt her hands sliding down his torso as if they knew what they were doing. His body was hard but soft at the same time. His firm skin was several degrees warmer than her own. He climbed atop her looking her in the eyes ensuring she wasn’t panicking.

She nodded feeling her breath getting lost in her throat in excitement.

He bent kissing her lips sliding against her, sending chills every which way.

She felt him enter her as warmth filled her. The temperature difference was noticeable everywhere his skin met hers.

He moved slowly, methodically, ensuring she wasn’t afraid. She tilted her head back moaning in delight. He began moving faster making her moan louder. His lips met hers hushing her. She felt her arms legs wrap around his thick body holding him to her. Her nails dragged up his back quickening his pace again.

Ari felt the low pressure building in her stomach, as he rocked with her sending spasms throughout her.

Her body felt again, like it would go in every direction all at once but instead of fear she was filled with pleasure.

It was a new experience for her, both of her.

She listened to the sounds outside her room realizing she had a naked guy in her bed, which was strictly prohibited. She raised an eyebrow thinking about how the Lorri woman had been the one to put him in her bed, granted he had been a large wolf at the time.

"How are you so deep in thought?"

She glanced up at his smiling face, "Oh I was thinking about how much trouble I could get in right now."

He smiled making his green eyes sparkle, "Ari thinking about consequences, hmm am I being bold by saying I believe you’ve gotten the other Ari under control?"

She laughed, "I'm trying. The good part is she wants to go. She is so full of bad things, bad memories, bad thoughts she just wants to be free."

His gaze turned tender, "Ari you don’t remember the marks on your body being made do you?"

She shook her head, "She doesn’t let me see, thank god. I know what they are, Annabelle said the ones on my back look like lash marks the slaves had back in the day and the ones on my stomach are cigarette burns we figured. There are a few I'm guessing are cuts and scrapes but honestly I'm guessing."

He laid on the pillow beside her, watching her intently, "Do you think she did any of them herself?"

She nodded fighting to keep the bitter anger inside herself as the other Ari fought to defend herself but also remove them both from the vulnerability Lucas represented.

"I would kill anyone I knew put a mark on you."

The words were a whisper in the air between them but like a rain cloud they hovered, she knew he was not the kind guy to make empty promises. He meant everything he said.

A knock at the door startled her from her small amount of fear of him, "Ari is Lucas awake yet?" It was Daniel.

She bit her lip and answered clearing her throat, "Uhh yeah."

"Okay can you two come out please, we need to meet with you."

She looked at Lucas and smiled, "Yeah be right there."

He smiled, "Shower?"

"Yeah. Can I go first?"

He shook his head, "We can go together. You cant be out of my sight for a while Ari."

Uncertain about how that felt and New Ari raging inside her she stepped off the bed suddenly shy about being naked in a room with him. She walked to the bathroom quickly and turned on the shower trying desperately to not acknowledge him.

It was hard when his warm naked body pressed against her and his lips traced the tattoos and marks on her back. She stepped into the shower feeling every inch of her face and body glowing with the fire he seemed to create.

The shower stall wasn't massive and Lucas was making the shower difficult to have. He kissed her neck and held her against him.

"I think we should go home Ari." He whispered into her neck.

She shook her head speaking breathlessly, "I can't do this. You're taking up all the water and I'm never going to get clean at this rate."

"It's a tiny shower, the shower in my room has tons of room. Pretty sure we could do the things I'm thinking about right now if we were back home."

"Lucas I'm going to get in trouble."

"You're mine Ari and no one can tell me that I can't be with you."

She liked that, she liked being his. His huge body wrapped around hers, it pulled her in and made her safe. Nothing could hurt her as long as he was there.

She stayed turned away from him embarrassed by her naked body in the light of the bright bathroom trying desperately to get even an ounce of water on herself.

He kissed her once more on the neck and sighed, "Okay since we aren’t going to do what I want to do I'll get out and dry off. You're still dry Ari jeeze hurry up."

She looked at the smile on his face and frowned, "You had all the water."

Once he was gone from the shower she let the hot water pour down on her. The heat of the water made her think of the heat from his body and how it had felt covering her the way the water did. Her body had responded to him like it knew the way no doubt thanks to the other Ari's life style. She knew how to move and what to touch. Instead of hurting the way her friends had said it would it had felt amazing.

"Babe we gotta go, Daniel just sent Aimee here to knock."

She turned the shower off to find him standing outside of the shower with a huge bath sheet for her. He wrapped her in it holding her.

"What changed?" She asked looking at him in the mirror.

He shook his head, "Everything. I waited so long I didn’t know what to say, I'd acted like such a dick and I knew I needed to say sorry but I was still so mad. It was stupid. You sent the last text saying you were done and I knew, I knew it was now or never."

He pulled her back looking into her eyes, "You scared me, when you said you were done and we could be friends I panicked. I went to Aimee and told her and she smacked me around a little and Ben was like if you don't go I will."

Ari laughed knowingly.

"No matter what I cant let go of you Ari." His green eyes were intense.

"You don’t have to Lucas, this is all I ever wanted. I just didn’t know how to get here."

He kissed the tip of her nose and walked into her room and changed back into his clothes. She dressed fast hoping they wouldn’t be too obvious. She looked at his thick brown hair laying damp around his head and knew they were so obvious.

She stepped up to the door and took a deep breath, she had always been a private person, she hated she'd just lost her virginity in a dorm room and was emerging with the guy and everyone would know.

"Stop stressing, it's not a big deal. We aren’t the first people to have sex Ari."

She turned harshly and hushed him, "Shhhhh."

He laughed at her panicked face and reached and opened the door pushing her out into the hallway. She felt her runners skidding along the floor as he shoved her out.

The hallway was empty which she hadn’t expected.

He grabbed her hand in his and tugged her along down the hall.

The sitting room was dimly lit with the glow of a flickering propane fireplace and dim lights. Feeling awkward holding Lucas's hand she noticed the burning starting in her hands. He looked at her and smiled, "Easy trigger."

She blushed a deeper crimson, "Sorry." She pulled her sweaty hand from his.

She smiled seeing Aimee, "Hey Aims."

Aimee looked between her and Lucas and nodded, "How's it going?"

Ari nodded almost squeaking, "Good."

Daniel looked at Ari and frowned, "have a seat dear."

She walked to the huge comfy couch and sat feeling the room filling with every ones thoughts abut her and Lucas and their wet hair or the fact they'd been in the room alone in the dark for hours.

"Are you alright Ari?"

She looked up at Lorri and smiled, "What? Yes."

Lucas laughed, "Sorry about earlier. My wolf wouldn’t back down. I was trying to hold him back." He smirked at Ari, "He just really gets protective over her, she's my mate."

Ari gulped looking horrified thinking to herself, 'had he said mate? Did that mean friend?'

"Right well yes of course, it's not a problem Lucas. We know what wolves are like when it comes to their mates. It actually provided the perfect test for Ari's abilities."

Aimee sighed, "So bummed I missed it. I heard you almost shot it right from your hands, that’s pretty sweet."

Ari nodded still feeling lost in the mate conversation that seemed to be happening above her head somewhere, "Yeah it was crazy. I didn’t get tired after, not right away."

"Nice."

Lorri clasped her hands together, "We want to run another trial. Lucas could you help out?"

He looked at Ari and nodded, "Yes of course."

Ari frowned, "Trial? You want me to do it again?"

Lorri nodded, "Yes but under more duress and with more shifters and demons."

Ari panicked, "I could push one back. This is a very bad idea."

Lorri shook her head, "No we'll only pick the ones you cant. Aimee will be there just in case to remove you if it gets out of control."

She shook her head, "No this is a bad idea."

Daniel leaned forward, "We've done this thousands of times Ari, we have to train and your training for the Roses is just starting now."

Ari looked at Aimee noticing her face clouding over.
Dorian stepped into the doorway, "Ari I will be there too honey. You'll be fine."

Ari gulped. She didn’t mind Dorian the way Aimee did but there was something about him she wasn’t completely comfortable with.

"Lets do this before she makes it bigger than it is in her mind."

Lorri looked back at Daniel as she walked from the room, "How quickly does she heal?"

"Thus far we've seen miraculous, so as quickly as Dorian I believe."

Dorian smiled at her, "That's my girl."

She shivered at his black eyes, they looked soulless.

Lucas took her hand again squeezing it and pulling her down the corridor.

They walked to the elevator and got in. Ari looked around confused until the doors opened revealing a forest. She looked at Aimee who smiled, "It’s the trial room. There is a section with like buildings and forest and stuff. It's so you can fight realistically."

Ari gulped, "Like the Matrix?" She reached out touching the tree in front of her, it felt completely real.

Everyone laughed, "No babe its like a movie set, it's really there. The trees and rocks are lifelike but not living."

She put her hands on her hips glaring at Lucas, "What? I don’t watch a lot of movies okay. I was training for iron man competitions and worrying about graduating from high school. Jeesh."

"Okay well Aimee why don’t you girls go over to the north and we will set the attack." Daniel pointed.

Aimee took Ari by the arm and pulled her along, "Come on. Stop touching everything."

"This is pretty cool."

"Yeah it's wicked cool but it's also a set not the real thing. It breaks and then Daniel gets mad."

Ari frowned walking through the forest almost lost by the density of the trees around her and the light coming from the skylights high above. Rocks, sticks, bark, trees, leaves and even a couple birds perched on branches surrounded them. It was a real forest only like twenty stories above the ground. The forest cleared coming to a couple small trailers. They had windows and a blue sky painted above them.

She marveled, "It is like The Matrix or Star trek, you know the Holodeck on Generations."

Aimee laughed, "Oh my god I thought I was the only nerd who watched that show. Remember the episode where Worf and Alexander and Troi were trapped in the Western?"

Ari giggled, "That was awesome, Wil Wheaton was hot."

"Ohhhh yeah. He was smoking in his uni."

Ari looked at Aimee, "Why cant life be simple like before?"

Aimee shrugged, "Its life Ari, things get tossed in the air sometimes and no matter how they land you have to be ready to fight for what you have."

Ari nodded, "I know I just wish…"

Aimee hugged her, "Me too." She pulled her back, "Ready?"

Ari shook her head, "What's going to happen?"

Aimee shrugged, "Not sure. Just be ready. Ears open, eyes open, smells in the air."

"Ouu like that one?"

Aimee's eyes narrowed, "Oh Dorian for god sake just come out. We can smell your dead flesh from all the way over here."

He stepped out of the house beside her, "Hurtful." He put an arm on Ari, "Just try to relax Ari."

Aimee frowned, "Why are you so nice to her and a total dick to me?"

He shrugged taking a step toward her obviously making Aimee nervous, "Something about you bugs me Aimee."

Aimee stood her ground unflinching, "Ari I smell wolf."

Ari smelled her arms making sure it wasn’t her.

Dorian laughed, "Not on you honey, it's in the air. Can you smell it?"

Ari put her nose to the air and closed her eyes, she could smell Henry she was certain. She crouched snapping her fingers making sparks. She hadn’t noticed them getting hot but they were burning.

Aimee held her arm out, "Touch my hand and control it even though it's turned on."

Ari went to shake her head but she knew it was going to happen whether she fought it or not. She put her hand on Aimee. The push started to spark but Ari held it. She vibrated slightly controlling it. Instantly feeling in control and excited she pulled away smiling.

"Nice."

The large black wolf was silent but she saw the movement off to the side. She ran at him dodging as he leapt at her. She grabbed the branch that hung low nearest her and swung to the side. She watched as his muzzle came at her arm with huge teeth bared. She put her hand out to touch him but another wolf had her arm in seconds pulling her from the tree ripping her skin.

She let herself drop as her other hand came free. She put it to the side of the brown wolfs face. His green eyes sparkled as they met her own dark eyes. The black wolf was on her pinning her as the brown wolf fell away to the ground fighting the sleep she tried to force on him. She pulled the bleeding arm out from under the brown wolf almost waving it in front of the black wolfs face. His jaw snapped at the blood but her hand came up too quickly freezing him. His eyelids closed on the dark eyes. She panted trying desperately to slide her body out from under the hundreds of pounds of fur and sleeping wolf.

She listened to the forest looking for Aimee and Dorian but she found herself completely alone. A subtle sound filled the fake forest but her heartbeat overpowered the hidden noise. She shoved the wolves off her and was on her feet trying to control her heartbeat within seconds looking around for the source of the noise.

From the corner of her eye she saw a flash of something, it looked as if it were a woman. The brown wolf moved still distracting her from the streak moving in the forest about to try to take a shot at her. She saw the flash and jumped out of the way quickly rolling along the ground hitting a log.

The flash was Lorri, she moved with incredible speed. Ari leapt again trying to avoid her grasping claws. Completely unsure of what Lorri was but knowing she needed to escape she tried to stay a step ahead. Lorri was too fast catching Ari mid air and slamming her to the ground. Ari felt all her wind leave her upon impact and blackness try to take her. She caught a glimpse of Lorri's face smelling the ripped skin of her arms before she was gone.

Chapter Eighteen- Lucifer, Obviously a Chick Name

Aimee

She watched the battle taking place trying not to notice Dorian observing her continuously. Ari handled the wolves both well even if it was odd Lucas seemed to be building a resistance to Ari's special blend of ass kicking. Her arm was bleeding which was fortunate as Aimee saw Lorri making her way to Ari. Nothing distracted Lorri like blood. Ari tried to out maneuver her but Lorri was too fast as Aimee expected her to be. Even winking herself sometimes wasn’t fast enough to escape Lorri. She truly was one of a kind. As Lorri pinned Ari, Aimee watched Lorri's jaw open as her eyes fixated on the blood, running as fast as she could she dove touching Ari before Lorri could get a lick and winked them both out.

The cool air hit like a ton of bricks as they both stood on the roof of the building. Aimee held Ari up holding her in her arms.

"It's okay Ari you're safe now."

Ari shook as her knees buckled, "They bit me. I think they broke my arm."

Aimee touched her and nodded, "Yup they did."

Ari started to cry, "What was that all for? Lorri tried to eat me and the wolves, my own boyfriend tried to eat me. What kind of sick place is this? I wanna go home. I want Lydia. I'm done."

Aimee tried not to laugh remembering her own breaking point. She'd thrown her hissy fit only steps from their current location.

She wrapped herself tightly around Ari and guided her back into the building. She winked them into the med lab. Ari swooned and passed out. Aimee knew everyone hated traveling with her but at least if she was going to pass out it was where the doctors could help her heal.

Daniel walked into the lab smiling regardless of the fact Ari was in a pile on the floor, "That was amazing, for a first time my god. She was perfect."

Lucas ran into the lab looking no worse for wear, "Is she alright? Did Lorri get a bite off?"

Aimee shook her head, "Lorri would be throwing up right now if she drank her blood. Where's Henry?"

Lucas smiled, "Past out, he's still wolfie too."

Daniel frowned, "Why aren’t you?"

Lucas picked Ari up off the floor and put her on the cot, "Not sure but her touch didn’t knock me out this time. She pushed, I felt it but I was able to fight it."

"Like your body evolved and knew how to fight it?"

Lucas shrugged, "You're the genus here Dan not me. Why is she unconscious?"

Aimee smirked, "She had a full fledged freak out on the roof top, it was awesome. Very I want my mommy. Reminded me of me when I was new here."

Lucas kissed Ari's unconscious cheek, "I think we've all felt that way one time or another. Things feel so hopeless and overwhelming for us sometimes."

"Speak for yourself hound." Lorri growled coming around the corner shooting daggers at Aimee.

Aimee smirked, "Someone bitchy from the near miss?"

She snarled, "I had it under control." She looked at Daniel, "I'll be back later."

He nodded trying not to laugh.

She stormed from the room.

"She's going to eat someone."

Aimee nodded sighing, "Yeah."

"She really is the devil."

"She really is."

Lucas looked back at them, "Like the actual devil?"

Aimee nodded, "Yeah, the actual devil."

"Lucifer?"

Daniel nodded pressing his lips together, "Lucifer."

Lucas looked at Aimee, "You nearly let Lucifer eat my girlfriend?"
Aimee smiled, "I had it under control the entire time and honestly Lorri does really well at keeping the beast in check."

"So the Devils Roses, Lorri's in charge of the Devils Roses cause she's the devil. Satan?"

Daniel sighed, "I don’t really know how else to explain this do you?"

Aimee shook her head, "No."

"How? Why? What?" He stood up from hovering over Ari like only a wolf boy would.

Aimee laughed, "Luke buddy mellow out. She is Lucifer, there is no if and or but. However the story you have in your mind of Lucifer is not the story of how it happened."

He stopped and looked at Daniel who shrugged, "She's right. Everyone believes the trash in that stupid book but Lucifer never was the problem. She was the solution."

"She, Lucifer is a girl?"

"Think about the name, Lucifer. Not a manly name. The morons who wrote the bible made her a man in the story because woman couldn’t possibly hold that important of a role in humanity as the right hand of god."

"Are you shitting me?"

"No honestly she isn’t taking a piss, Lucifer is a girl. Well a woman. SHE is Lorri. She changed her name after having to explain the whole damned thing over and over and trying to reason with the brain washed masses that she truly was trying to help. Dammit she is still helping. She started the roses which back then was God's idea. He gave mankind freewill. It was the envy of every angel that man, a simple being walked the earth with the freedom to chose as he saw fit. The archangels saw man as a mistake, they thought mankind was foolish and the choice of freewill the biggest mistake god ever made. They wanted to abolish man, make him kill himself off. They created disease and plague and pestilence to show god how weak his beings were. Then they whispered temptations planting seeds of doubt in the weak minds of man to prove how pathetic and feeble his creations were. Murder, rape, suicide, lust, greed, sloth all inventions of the ever jealous archangels."

Aimee watched Lucas as he absorbed. He seemed to believe, it was easy for Fae to doubt the bible, it never felt true to her either. Science had always been more plausible for her.

Daniel continued, "The final blow was dealt when they raped human women impregnating them with Nephilim. Half angel and half mortal. The children were stronger, faster, growing until they finished puberty and then aging so slowly no human see a difference in their appearance within a lifetime. The problem with mating with human women and creating Nephilim was that they too were born with freewill. God was furious as the creatures began to slaughter humans, rape more women creating more Nephilim. He saw no choice but to fight back. He called upon his favorite and asked the ultimate sacrifice of her. He asked her to fall. To live amongst the humans and Nephilim and fight back. She would protect the humans at all cost from the unnatural creations of the archangels. The angels didn’t know that their creations would eventually make an attempt at ruining the world god had spent so much love and care creating. Lucifer fell with some of her hand chosen angels like Dorian to live amongst the people and protect them from the supernatural elements that walk the earth. She never kills anything that lives by the rule God created for them, Do What Ye Will But Harm None and Keep The Secret."

Lucas looked devastated, "Wow. I had no idea. I'm the offspring of Nephilim?"

Daniel shook his head, "No you are Fae, something very different. Aimee is a changeling, a fallen angel turned her, making her what she is. We are an unnatural abomination to the world god made but at the end of the day we were born innocent, if we live innocent then we are left alone."

"How was she labeled the Devil?"

Daniel laughed, "She made the name up for herself, in ancient Hebrew the name meant the accuser. She was the judge and jury for the non-humans of earth and the protection against the Nephilim. Needless to say she was quite pissed when the name became something evil and she was found wicked while the archangels were written into history as the saviors. Even Jesus, when god cast down his only son and made him a man he was in fact meant to be a teacher of people. He was supposed to show them of their natural abilities. You see god has no sway over people, he made them free in every way. Instead of people seeing Jesus as the Son of God and a man who they themselves could emulate they allowed the seeds of doubt planted many years prior to corrupt them. They killed him."

"That is crazy. It’s a crazy story. I can't even believe that the archangels got away with so much."

"Lorri cant either. She still fights with them, particularly Michael. He wanted to be the one god chose to save the humans but it was found he too had lain with a human woman impregnating her against her will. Every time there is a surplus of people like us and the balance is tipped the wrong way bad things happen, bad things like the dark ages."

Aimee smiled, "We are the fine line between balance and chaos."

"Ari will make a fine Rose."

Aimee watched Lucas digesting it all, "She'll be awake any minute."

"How's my girl?"

Aimee snarled watching Dorian walk in like he owned the place, as usual.

He smiled sickly sweet at Ari.

"She's fine Dorian. She'll be awake any second no doubt. Where are you off to now?"

He shrugged still watching Aimee, "Not sure. I think Lorri wants me to help Aleksander some more."

Aimee flinched at his name. Her heart still felt confused sometimes, picking Shane was the true choice but she had loved Aleks even if it wasn’t enough.

"His father again?"

Aimee felt a shiver remembering the huge naked man in the woods who had murdered her mother.

Dorian nodded, "Would you care to join me Aimee dear? He's struck again. We're just heading to small place in Louisiana, I believe Aleksander called it Violet which is funny because I was once with a woman from Louisiana named Violet about a hundred years ago."

Aimee felt her lip twitch, "No. If you catch him kill him Dorian don’t waste a second trying to find a redeemable quality."

Dorian laughed, "I've never given pause Aimee, never." He shook Daniels hand and walked from the room.

Ari stirred on the bed but Aimee was still lost in the fact that Dorian was on the good side, the man had called humans Sheep. She knew he enjoyed sucking the souls from young girls. She shivered remembering the girl in the woods he'd let her murder in the beginning before she'd learned any control. The girl in the woods was still her only innocent but it bothered her.

She looked at Daniel, "I'm going home."

He looked up from his work at the computer and smiled, "Thanks for coming. She'll be there next week."

Aimee nodded and winked home, she needed Shane.

Chapter Nineteen- Payback is a Bitch Named Forgiveness

Ari

The house seemed empty as she crossed over the threshold into the main entryway. Lucas had been sent somewhere, Ben had been sent with him, Aimee was sleeping at Shane's every night and checking in when she had to and Lydia had been working on something Ari knew nothing about.

"Why Miss Ari you's don’t need to be standing in the hallway like a stranger? Come in. It's getting hot out there anyway. Leaving the door open only makes it worse."

Ari smiled at the maid, "Good to see you Annabelle. Is anyone here?"

"Just us chickens Miss Ari."

Ari nodded, "Great." She had never been an advocate of alone time or sitting around and thinking. She looked around at everything and got an idea, "Annabelle tell Lydia I had some things to do. I'll be back around dinner."

Annabelle waved, "Be safe."

Ari nodded and walked back out of the house. She looked around wondering about the guards. Daniel had made a girl named Izzy drop her at home as she had texts from everyone telling her they wouldn’t be around. She shrugged not thinking much about it and started to walk. She could feel the power in her legs again, like before. She passed through the guards knowing that no matter what came at her she could defend herself.

A thought rang though out her head and she nodded walking to a bus stop. She knew she had a few things on her list of shit to do that had to be completed before the other Ari would be able to remain silent in peace.

The bus ride made Ari nervous, she'd never been a bus girl, their town in the desert had been so small. There actually hadn’t been any buses at all there.

Her heart tugged thinking about her uncle and she knew he was on her list of things she needed to do.

Other Ari guided her to a part of town she was barely allowed to see the memories from. She got off the bus and walked down a quiet street noticing a sick and dirty feeling growing in her stomach. She knew it wasn’t hers but she couldn’t help but feel more nervous as she drew closer to her destination. She rounded a street corner and as her eyes made contact with the wrought iron fence and gate dread filled her.

"It's okay Ari, it's okay." She whispered to herself.

Her palms were blasting heat from them as her nerves were heightened from the stress of it all. She watched from behind a tree as the children played.

A small boy played alone digging in the dirt lifelessly with a stick. She knew he would be a favorite. She could spot them by the lack of will to live. The hair on her body stood on end as she watched throughout the crowd able to pick out the kids who would need her. The ones whose lives were forever tainted and ruined by the life they'd lived in the orphanage where no one protected them. Society didn’t think about the fact that orphans were left under the control of a select group of people and what happened when one of those people betrayed the trust that was placed in them.

She could see a few habits out of the corner of her eye. She remained out of sight in case on of them accidentally recognized her. She knew she looked different than when other Ari had been there but she couldn’t take any chances.

The children were called in for supper and Ari watched as the lifeless ones were dragged in being yelled at and spanked. She remembered that. The memory was hazy and hurt her brain to see it but New Ari accidentally let it slip through the cracks. She was standing outside looking at the gates, maybe ten years old. She saw the other side of the gate as freedom. She thought about life beyond the gate. She had a family out there somewhere looking for her. She like all the others knew it was a mistake, she wasn’t supposed to be growing up in an orphanage.

The nun grabbed her dragging her in, hitting her legs with a switch. It stung but her eyes wouldn’t produce tears. She wasn’t allowed to eat dinner because of the dawdling. She was forced to go to HIS office. She panicked knowing what would happen. Her stomach hurt. She looked at the nun prepared to beg for her life but the wicked smile on the nuns face told her the truth, she knew. She knew what happened in the office. She knew about the back room. Ari's mind shut off as she leaned forward and threw up on the tree she was hiding behind. She trembled panting. She had no idea it had been that bad. Other Ari hadn’t really ever let her seen behind the curtain.

With even more resolve she knew what she had to do and even though her body screamed at her to leave she couldn’t. She had to move forward and finish it.

She walked around the block to the back of the property as the sun started to go down, she had barely noticed the heat of the day in her panicked state. She looked at the gate and pulled herself up and over in no time. She smiled thinking about how strong she had become. She crept along the back of the building to the laundry room. It was always open a crack because of the humidity. The laundry ladies always left around dinnertime. She looked up at the metal door seeing the small crack and smiled. She had snuck out so often and there she was sneaking back in. She climbed the four stairs quietly and peaked through the crack of the open door. She didn’t see any movements in the large laundry room and opened the door quickly. She knew that if she could get to him everything would change.

She dashed into a storage closet to ensure no one was around before she ventured out into the hallways. Dinnertime was always a private time for HIM. He usually had a child to punish. Her palms sweat thinking about hurting him.

She stayed in the closet for two breaths and then stepped out looking all around her. She walked to the clean clothes cupboard for the nuns and pulled out a habit and pulled it on over her clothes. She caught a glimpse of herself and smiled, hopefully no one would notice how young she was or that she had the blade of a sword coming up the side of her throat.

Ari walked around to the service stairs she'd hidden in many times and walked up them as quickly as she could. She could hear the children talking and laughing as they ate their dinners.

Nuns shouted over top telling them to stop and eat. She felt a deep hatred for those women. Maybe they had never wanted children and maybe they had always wanted to serve god but they'd done a piss poor job of it.

Ari got to the second floor and felt her heart pounding in her chest. She took a deep breath trying to calm it down. She slipped along the dark wooden corridor listening. Nothing moved around her and she couldn’t hear any breathing. She walked to his wing.

"You’ve been a very bad boy Anthony. Again you’ve dawdled and defied the nuns. God needs me to cleanse you."

Ari winced as she approached the voice. It was HIS. Her skin shivered as she drew closer, she was terrified of him whether she wanted to admit it or not. He'd taken something she wanted back, her dignity and trust in humankind.

"Now you sit here for a minute and think about your punishment and I'll be right back. I need to prepare the room."

Her breath turned ragged as she heard his footsteps leaving the room, he was going to the back room. Her stomach lurched forward again but she managed to swallow it and slip into the room.

The boy from the playground with the stick sat in the chair trembling. Silent tears rolled down his face. She put a hand to his shoulder.

Just as she would have he turned sharply terrified of what touched him.

She smiled and put a finger to her lips.

He looked at her frightened, he didn’t trust nuns. She knew she didn’t look like a normal nun with all her tats and hoped that would help him to remain calm.

She slipped past him and saw it. There before her was the door. Her hands trembled as she reached for the door but it opened instead.

"What are you doing here? Who are you?"

He looked older, his face was more chubby than before but still as ugly and disgusting. His thick lips disgusted her as he spoke.

She frowned, "You don’t remember me?" The voice leaving her throat scared even her.

He looked at her and his eyes lit up, "Ari? You defiant little bitch, you came back." He grabbed her arm and dragged her into the room closing the door. She nearly gagged at the smell in the room. Her own blood and sweat had contributed to the smell in the room.

She stood watching him start to corner her the way he used to before.

She felt it, the other Ari was terrified but she wasn’t. The things he did were done to someone else not her. She stood up straighter meeting his filthy gaze.

"You’ve grown up Ari. You look like the big girl I always told you you would be, disgusting street trash."

He licked his fat lips and her hand flew out punching him in the head. His sweaty skin jiggled as it made contact. The room was tiny with a small bed and no windows. The light was always muted, like the cell it was.

He staggered back smiling, "Ari you always did like to play rough."

He reached to the shelf beside him and pulled a funny looking gun off. He pointed it at her smiling wickedly.

She tried to leap out of the way but the twin cords attached sending a shock through her body. She felt the most intense pain she'd ever felt fill her taking control of her muscles. Tears slipped from her eyes against her will. The pain ended as abruptly as it had started and she fell to the ground.

He took a step toward her, "Ari Ari Ari, did you think I wouldn’t be prepared in case anyone ever came back for a visit? Lets have some fun before I call the police shall we?"

He was on her tearing at her habit moving faster than a man his size should be able to before she could gain control of herself. The shock of the taser gun had taken the heat from her hands. She started to panic snapping her fingers trying to get the spark again.

Instead the door burst open as it was ripped from its hinges.

"ARI!"

She looked up at Lucas storming the room. She thought maybe she was dreaming but he had Father Michaels against the wall and off the ground before she was able to speak a single sound.

His fat face turned a deep shade of red as Lucas choked the life from him.

"You. Never. Touch. Her." Lucas growled nearly unleashing his wolf.

Ari shouted, "No. I have to send him back. I have to push him so they can be free."

Lucas pushed against his throat once more and lowered him so his feet touched the ground, "Ari I have about a second of patience before I fucking kill him." His words were growled.

She knew he was fighting his faze which would mean he wouldn’t be able to stop himself and the priest would be ripped to pieces.

"I-I-I'm sorry. I will stop. Please let me g-g-g-go." He begged for his life. She closed her eyes for a split second enjoying the sound in the air. It soothed other Ari so deeply.

She stood on her shaking legs and stumbled toward him. Seeing his eyes dart back and forth from her to Lucas brought back her hatred. Her fingers burned thinking about what he might have done to her.

"Now." She spoke softly.

Lucas let him go and Ari put her hands out to catch him. She felt the smile cross her lips as her hands made contact with his and she pushed. It was her most violent push. He was shoved back against the wall violently.

The air opened and suddenly he was a boy maybe fourteen, he was torturing animals in cages and hurting his little sister. His mom worked all the time and he had no father so his time with his sister was unlimited. One day he followed a girl home from school, he looked hungry as he watched her. He forgot his rope and ran back to get it. When he got back she was with a group of friends. He was angry but he knew he'd been saved from being discovered.

Suddenly he was back at that moment and instead of going for the rope he ran at her knocking her to the ground. He hit her over and over until she stopped fighting. His urges were out of control. He pulled at her shirt and lifted her skirt.

Just as he was doing his horrible deed the group of kids came. The boys ran at him and pulled him off her. They beat him and beat him. The police came and took him away. Suddenly he was in a room with a lot of light, he was old and fat and drooling from his mouth watching TV and a nurse was giving him pills.

He faded from the room leaving his rosary with its black beads floating in the air. She reached her fingertips out to touch it but like all the other tokens it dropped crashing to the floor. She looked at Lucas who faded walking toward her. She knew she would see him at Lydia's again.

Ari fell back as it all lifted from her like a veil that had covered her preventing the light in. The cloud of doom the priest been responsible for. The memories changed inside her again. She watched as the room surrounding her filled with shelves and books. The bed vanished and the smell was replaced with an older smell linked in her brain with dust.

The New Ari felt the piercings leave, the tattoos wiped clean, every scar smoothed over. In his place a kind man with sparkly grandpa eyes and a kind face filled her memories. He had a firm but fair hand with the kids. The only hand he laid on her involved hugs or pats on the back. He truly was a man of god. He had the nuns replaced who hated the children. He defended the children. Smiles replaced the tears and love replaced the pain. She looked down at herself standing in the book room holding a book. She no longer wore the habit but a pair of jeans and t-shirt. She wore a blue wristwatch and her nails were clean. Everything about her skin was clean. Her heart was full. Ari didn’t know how heavy the other Ari had been until she had been replaced by the new Ari who was full of kindness. She didn’t block out her memories the way the other had. She was an open book making Ari uncomfortable but at the same time she was almost exactly the same as old Ari. She ran, she finished high school and was in university. She worked part time in a restaurant. Her life wasn’t pain.

Ari didn’t know how to sort through it all so she pushed it down taking the control back. She stepped from the book room seeing the older man standing with his back to her. He stepped out and smiled, his kind face filling with respect and love.

"Ari you came for a visit. I didn’t realize you were here. What a happy coincidence. I was actually just telling Anthony about how much he reminded me of you. All that dawdling and day dreaming." He laughed shaking his head.

Ari smiled down at the little boy, the same little boy but he was different just as she was. He was clean again.

"You daydreamed a lot too?" Anthony asked softly.

She smiled and nodded, "Yeah but it helps me run so that’s a good thing that comes from daydreaming." She crouched down to his eyes level, "Sometimes amazing things come from daydreams."

He smiled and hugged her, a perfect stranger. Her heart melted thinking about the shell of a child he had been.

She squeezed him back. She had healed herself and saved the kids all in one stroke of luck.

"So you wanted to borrow a book?" Father James asked patted her back softly.

She stood and nodded, "I guess so yeah." She looked at the book and smirked.

"Well The Book of Angels is a good book. I have to get downstairs for a meeting. Stop by again kiddo."

She hugged the man her heart recognized affectionately.

She walked from the office, "See ya later, bye Anthony."

"Bye Ari."

The bus ride home felt amazing compared to the one only hours before in her mind. She walked with a skip in her step as she made her way to the street where she lived. Something nagged at her but she pushed everything else down enjoying the freedom of being herself again. She sighed feeling the guards as she stepped through them.

The house seemed like a happy sight as if she hadn’t been there in ages. She walked up the steps and opened the front door.

She could hear everyone in the kitchen, she'd wondered where Lucas had gone after he saved her. She couldn’t wait to thank him.

She walked into the kitchen more full than she'd ever seen it.

"Ari!"

The faces all seemed excited to see her. She smiled feeling weird about the strangely excited greeting. She had thought they were all gone on business but was excited to see them.

"Hey guys."

She saw Lucas and smiled. He smiled back but continued to eat at the table.

Aimee nodded at her barely taking her eyes off her cell phone, "How's it going?"

She raised an eyebrow, "Good?" Aimee acted coldly toward her.

Lydia walked to her passing her a plate of food, "Here sweetie before the boys eat it all." Ari looked down at the plate of Annabelle's famous French toast and bacon.

"Thanks Lydia."

Lydia frowned at her, "You seem kind of weird today dear."

Ari looked at everyone watching her and smiled, "It was a good day." She was surprised none of them noticed her scars and tattoos missing. She glanced at Lucas but he continued to eat almost purposely ignoring her.

She watched him trying to catch his eye but he kept his eyes to his food. When Aleksander got up from the table he smiled at her, "Here Ari sit here."

She smiled and sat down next to Lucas. She moved her chair closer to his. She wrapped her arm around his and snuggled against his arm.

When he turned his face to hers she pressed her lips against his.

He seemed rigid.

"Thanks for coming and saving me today. I will never forget what you did. I love you." She kissed him again.

His lips never budged.

"What the hell?"

She turned seeing everyone stopped eating staring at her. Ben had walked into the kitchen and was bright red and looked pissed.

She smiled, "Hey Ben."

Lucas pushed her away, "Dude she kissed me, everyone here just saw it."

Her stomach fell as her heart stopped. Ben grabbed her arm pulling her off the chair, "Dude what did I say about staying away from her. She chose me."

Ari struggled to get away from Bens grasp.

"What are you doing?" She asked trying to pull her arm free.

His hand dug into her skin, pulling her into his burning stare, "You said that was over. You promised it was me not him." His face was hurting and some part of her wanted him to be happy and smile at her again.

She looked at Lydia who looked confused just as everyone in the kitchen did.

"I don’t understand, Lucas you and I…we, we, you said you loved me. We had sex like a week ago."

Bens grip tightened pulling her to his face shaking her, "What? You told me not before marriage."

She laughed, "Is this a joke?"

Lucas looked at her disgustedly, "You seriously still trying to make drama here Ari. I thought you moved out to escape the drama and now here you are making shit up. I never touched her Ben. I don’t know what she's on but I didn’t do anything to her."

Ari felt rage build inside of her throat as she screamed, "I DON’T KNOW WHAT KIND OF SICK JOKE THIS IS LUCAS. FUCK YOU." She tore her arm from Ben and ran to the stairs. She ran up to her room but when she opened the door the room was bare. All the stuff was gone. She sank against the door sobbing.
She lost her grip on the new Ari as memories started to flood her mind. Happy childhood at the orphanage, meeting Lydia at a youth group volunteer meeting when she was sixteen and moving to Lydia's when she turned eighteen and going to New York for training were all brand new memories. She looked down at her finger where her ring sat. She hadn’t gotten hers yet but there it was. Her new memories also included some very passionate kissing, not with Lucas but Ben. She'd gone with him to New York, they shared a bathroom. He took her out for dinner for her nineteenth birthday. She was nineteen. She saved everyone and ruined the life she had rebuilt. She didn’t love Ben but the new Ari did.

Lucas had never saved her, she'd never been in danger. Father James was a kind sweet man who truly was a servant of god. Father Michael was in a mental institute for violent criminals. He'd never touched her.

"Ari?" Lydia's voice spoke softly from the other side of the door.

She didn’t answer, she was so humiliated. None of them would remember her before, the pain she'd gone through. Nothing would be the way it was. They all saw her as a happy athletic girl who had her head on straight.

"Ari I know you're there, I can hear your thoughts sweetie. I know what happened. You pushed someone who had a major role in your life. Honey you cant do that."

She sighed and moved out of the way letting Lydia open the door. The loving older woman sunk down on the floor with her, "What happened?"

Ari looked at the floor lost, "There was a me, before from when I pushed the first time, she, well I, no, she lived in that orphanage but the priest was a horrid man. He hurt them or us. The other me ran away and lived on the streets. She had a bad life. When I pushed my uncle I went to her life first. You found me in an alley, you saw what I was. You saw me underneath her. She was covered in tattoos and pain and piercings. I fell in love with Lucas, he tried to help me and we fell in love. Today I went to the orphanage and I wanted to push the priest back but the other me was terrified of him and I panicked and lost control. He was hurting me and Lucas must have sensed I was in trouble, he showed up and he stopped him. I pushed the priest and Father James came and everything was better but I forgot that everything would change again." Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Oh honey, you have to stop pushing people who are a part of your life. You start them off on a new life and everything changes. No one remembers the changes except you."

"Lucas looked at me like I was something he despised. I love him so much. I gave him my virginity and my heart."

Lydia held her as she sobbed on the floor.

Chapter Twenty- Triangles, Triangles Everywhere

Aimee

She watched Lucas pace the yard as Ben sat in a chair playing with his iTouch. He looked angry in a way she'd never seen before. Aleksander came to her and put an arm around her, "I can't imagine if our lives all took different turns because one girl influenced everything we did."

Aimee turned snuggling into him letting him kiss her forehead.

"She didn't have a clue she was dating Ben and Lucas had been in love with her before?"

Aimee shook her head, "No. She thinks her and Lucas are in love and her life is like a different dimension. She changes the fabric of time when she pushes people. Usually she only does it to strangers though. I guess this is the second time it's happened. Lydia is pretty worried. She's sleeping in her room missing classes and work. Lorri wanted her to go with me tonight but she is sending Izzy instead."

Aleksander hugged her, "Well be safe. I'm heading with Dorian to that place Violet in Louisiana. Some girl has been attacked and they're certain it was my dad. She's alive still so I want to try to talk to her."

Aimee turned to him, "I love you."

He smiled and kissed her lips softly, "I love you too."

He was gone making a small wind stir in the kitchen.

Aimee walked to Ben, "You okay?"

He shook his head not taking his eyes off his game.

"Wanna talk?"

He shook his head again.

"If you do I'm here okay?"

He nodded. She sighed and walked out the back door to Lucas who was kicking leaves and cussing.

"Luke you have to calm down. Your brother is going to phase and you're going to kill each other."

"Just get lost Aimee."

She laughed, "Being mean to me isn’t going to improve things. Think about this from Ari's perspective, she had a boyfriend and her life was one way. Then she saves orphans and screws her own life up."

He sighed dropping to the bench behind him, "Yeah I know she's the conquering hero but Ben thinks I've betrayed him and she doesn’t want to see anyone. This sucks."

Aimee sat beside him, "You feel like you betrayed him because you love her?"

His head dropped, "Pretty much."

"Did she say anything to you lately to make you think she loved you back?"

He shook his head, "She told me the opposite, she said she was saying yes to Ben about moving in together and getting engaged."

Aimee frowned, "I'm sorry."

"Me too. It's like the never-ending fucking head game of doom. And to make matters worse Ben hates me, he thinks this is my fault that in some other dimension Ari chose me. Like I can control that." He bent forward and put his hands in his thick brown shaggy hair.

"She just needs to catch up. Things will get easier. They’ll go back to normal."

He turned looking at her, his green eyes aflame, "I have a chance this time though. She already loves me. I'm not giving up."

Aimee laughed, "That’s a dangerous game dude. You never heard of Bro's before Ho's before? You could lose your brother over a girl." She recalled her own predicament with her sister and Blake. Things had never healed properly, her sister was living in Boston with Blake and she never spoke to her.

He nodded, "Yeah I know Aims but I love her so much it hurts and if there is a part of her that loves me, even if it's an old dormant part I cant just let the fire die. I hurt every day I'm here with them, watching them, seeing him happy holding the girl I know is mine."

"Then you gotta do what's best for you Luke."

"I like Lucas better."

Aimee shook her head, "I don’t."

He laughed, "You're a pain in the ass Aimee."

She wrapped a single arm around him, "You love me and you know it."

She got up and left him there and winked herself home. She snuck along her back yard to the street. Dusk in a small town was a lovely sight. She remembered every step she took around to her street. Her boots clicked on the concrete sidewalk.

She tried to sneak home and peak at her dad and sometimes Shane if she was in the mood for really fooling herself into believing she could ever let a human love her after the monster she had become.

She looked from behind a truck across the street from her house at her dad in the front window.

"Aimee? Are you real? Are you back?"

She flinched and looked at Shane standing beside the truck, "Hey."

He looked hurt just seeing her, "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to see him." She felt her heart break wondering why love couldn’t just be easy.

"So you're not back then, just spying?"

She nodded weakly.

His tone changed to angry, "He isn’t doing so hot. Not that you give a shit."

She turned to face him head on, she nearly melted seeing him in his jeans hugging his strong legs and his t-shirt stretched tightly across his chest. His face was more handsome than she recalled. She got how Ari felt completely. Her heart still told her she'd made the wrong choice getting back together with Aleks instead of going to see Shane and try to make things work. She knew she could hurt him and he was safer away from her but she thought about what Luke had said.

"I give a shit, about you both." Her words were weak.

"Then stay and see him Aimee. Stop hurting him. He loves you and he needs to see you. The docs are looking at it being cancer maybe."

His words were like a punch in the gut. She frowned, "No."

He nodded, "Yeah. Not that you would know. It's been over a fucking year Aimee."

She nodded looking across the road at the house with the large window in the front room where he sat watching TV. "Does Alise know?" She wondered how her sister could move to Boston knowing their father was sick.

"Yeah of course. She's insane and dating that psycho."

Aimee frowned, "He isn't a psycho."

She sighed knowing she would never win. Blake had betrayed her when he tried to commit her and broke her and Shane up and even though she was past it Shane never would be.

"Were you just leaving?" She asked looking at him and the big blue truck. It was newer than his other one. She hadn’t expected it to be his.

He shook his head, "Just arriving." He put a hand out for her, "Come with me."

She put her hand out letting him envelope it with his. The warmth that came off him was unbearable. She felt the connection of their skin immediately. It never felt like that when Aleks touched her.

Shane squeezed her hand pulling her into him, "I know you're different now, I saw you in that alley. I saw what you did to him, I get it. But I can't help myself. I love you more than I did before. I want us to try."

She looked up into his blue eyes and got lost for a second. His body against hers felt so right. She nodded, "I love you too." She couldn’t believe the words came out. She thought about Aleks for a second but knew her words were the truth.

He didn’t wait for her to back peddle. He lowered his face pressing his soft lips against hers. It was the kiss to end all kisses, his lips devouring hers, his hands pulling her off the ground up into his chest. He pressed her against the truck sliding his hand up the back of her t-shirt. His hands against her bare skin exploded heat throughout her body. Her hands started to heat. She put them into the air desperate to get them away from him, "Stop."

He stopped pulling away from her his eyes burning and his breath ragged.

She put her hands out, "These will kill you if I don’t keep control. I can't lose it for a second."

He nodded, "Lets go see you dad. Then we're going to my place. This isn’t over."

She bit her lip.

Chapter Twenty-one- Effing Sound of Music

Ari

"Miss Ari you's needs to be getting up outta that bed. I gots your favorite here now, pancakes with chocolate chips and banana slices and vanilla yogurt. Now sit up ya here. Eats something for Annabelle."

She kept her eyes shut pretending the maid wasn’t there. Her stomach betrayed her grumbling away as soon as the smell of the pancakes hit her. She opened her eyes and looked at Annabelle standing beside her with Lucas holding a plate of food.

She shot up wondering how bad she looked after staying in bed for days like a sloth.

"Lucas?"

"Morning, well evening actually but yeah. Hi." He seemed nervous.

She smiled and then frowned, "What are you doing here?"

Annabelle winked at Ari and was gone instantly.

Lucas put the tray down on the bed in front of her and smiled, "Well I was thinking maybe we could start over since neither of us seems to know one and other any more."

She nodded taking her first bite, "Okay." She felt the hurt look crossing her face scared of trusting him again.

He looked distressed, "Look you and Ben and you and me obviously all kinda have a triangle. In your memory we were together and in my memory you chose him. I just want you to maybe, uhm well, just rethink your choice."

She laughed, "You suck at this. Look my memory is full of shit."

He closed himself off, "Oh. You want to be with Ben still?"

She shook her head, "No I mean the other, other me is a church girl goody two shoes. Not my thing. I'm a jock. I like sports. I like nature and hiking and animals not orphans and street kids. I don’t like talking about my feelings. I don’t know how I feel about church and god." She sighed, "I don’t feel that way about Ben. There is something there, it's not me though. I'm the one in control. The memories are just that memories but my body and my feelings aren’t confused."

He looked confused, "You suck at this too."

She nodded looking at his dark brow shaggy hair and green eyes and melted.

He smiled, "You love me?"

She smiled back biting her lip, "Well if you're still you then yeah maybe but if you're the asshat who was super mean to me downstairs then no."

He laughed, "Asshat, nice language. Not so churchy as I remember you."

"That’s what I'm saying, this new me has dreams like The effing Sound of Music. I mentally scold myself when I curse. She's insane, too grateful to the church. I like that I'm regular. I don’t like extremes of anything. I mean why did you like me?"

His eyes lowered as a grin crept across his lips, "Well I didn’t at first. I thought you were this annoying church girl who was too preachy and too moral, which sounds worse than I mean it to. But then sometimes I would see this other side of you, like when you ran. You were different. Closed off and quiet."

"I just wish I grew up in my life. I wish it was just me in here."

"Yeah you're kinda schizo. It's weird."

She took a bite and made a face at him.

He laughed stealing a bite of her pancake.

She watched him, there was something behind his eyes. Something he wasn’t saying.

"What's wrong?"

He shrugged, "Nothing? What?"

"You look sad kinda."

He shook his head, "Ben. You know he'll be super pissed and shit if you break up with him."

"You think I should date him falsely, pretending to be into him when I'm not? If he touches me I will probably vomit. It would be like my brother touching me." She shivered at the thought.

"No of course not. I just don’t want my brother hurt." His green eyes were dazzling. She moved the tray of food and crawled to where he sat.

She put a hand on his shoulder, "We need to take this one day at a time. Three days ago when I got here I was your girlfriend, we were together. My whole world is upside down now. Me and Aimee hardly seem to be friends, everything is a mess."

He frowned, "You and Aimee were friends?"

"Best, I was there when she got back together with Shane. I was the one who talked her into it."

"Wow you're from like another planet, her and Shane? You mean that cop she dated in high school?"

Ari sighed, "Oh my god, she's not with Shane?"

He shook his head, "No dude, she's with Aleks. Has been for like six months."

Ari picked up her cell phone from her bedside table and rifled through it, "Jesus I don’t even have her in my phone. Didn’t she take me to Roses?"

He laughed, "Yeah she mystery travels us all over, part of her job. I think she's always kinda disliked you though. She's very into science not religion."

Ari sighed again exasperated, "God I wish everyone would stop seeing me like that. I'm not her."

"Ari you are her to us, that’s all we've known."

"Yeah well it's not what I am."

He leaned over looking at her lips. She felt the air suck from the room as she felt his gaze heating her mouth like lasers. He leaned in but his lips just grazed her mouth as a knock at the door interrupted. She flushed as he pulled back. His face changed, hardening as he climbed off her bed.

He walked to the door and opened it.

Ben dove through the door knocking Lucas to the ground. Both phased instantly. Suddenly Ari was in her room screaming as the two huge wolves snarled and wrestled.

"STOP THIS, STOP. HELP SOMEONE!"

She leapt off the bed to run from the room but the dark wolf she knew was Ben smashed his back end into hers as the brown wolf pushed him with his hind legs. She stumbled smashing her face into the wall. She saw stars as her legs tried to steady themselves. Her hands heated instantly. She turned looking at the wolves and fell forward. They ignored her as she fell fighting the black that threatened to take her. Her hands pumped out instantly upon grazing their fur. Both wolves fell to the ground. She crawled to Lucas, scared he had been hurt by his angry brother. He curled himself around her as the black took them both.

She looked around her hearing voices in the distance. They were angry and arguing.

"She's wearing herself out. She just needs some rest."

"No Lydia she's meddling in our lives and it has to stop. The way she remembers the world from her yesterday, I sort of remember it too. It's almost like I can see the changes she's made. I feel like I'm losing my mind."

Ari winced imagining what it must be like for them all to have their lives changed against their will.

"Well we need to ask her everything that’s been changed and try to fix the things we can."

Ari closed her eyes trying to ignore the fact she desperately wished she hadn’t gone to the orphanage. It was impossible to wish away the happiness of the children even if it meant she screwed up everything else.

Her churchy brain full of the sweet Sound of Music styled comments just pissed her off more. She pulled herself up from her comfortable bed hoping Annabelle wasn’t watching her and crept to the window of the dark room. She pulled back the drapes and lifted the window. She crawled along the roofline looking out at the gray day. The depressing sight of the mist in the air and the low sitting clouds made her smile knowingly as she formed a plan. Her heart would break but at least her damage on the lives of those around her would be minimal.

She jumped down from the lowest point and ran along the property. She expected between the ghost, the psychic and two wolves she would never make a clean get away not to even mention the possibility of demons and angels. She moved silently feeling the training she didn’t realize the new her had kicking in and helping her. She was faster and quieter but also her eyes naturally darted about the forest out of self-preservation not defense. There were no walls in the new Ari, there was no pain and suffering. Her open mind showed years of advanced training in combat and many other things Ari couldn’t comprehend. It was like landing in the body of a spy. She smiling thinking about Jason Bourne as she ran to the road passing through the guards. She ran as fast as she could as the awareness of what exactly it was that lived beyond the guards was suddenly in the back of her mind.

Her legs pumped hard as her lungs expanded allowing the air to energize her. The runners high was instantly boosting her. She was stunned by the feeling of the maintained runners high.

She pushed the thought of Lucas out of her mind desperate to convince herself that everyone would be better off.

She ran to the bus stop and caught the bus to downtown. The ride was filled with feelings she couldn’t explain. She felt apprehension of leaving Lydia's even if it was really the only home she had but she was relieved to be away from the chaos of choosing Lucas and hurting Ben. Her chest hurt thinking about Lucas. She couldn’t bear the thought of being without him after they'd just worked everything out but at the same time she couldn't imagine tearing him and his brother apart.

She recognized the area and hopped off the bus at the next stop. The neighborhood was fancy. She looked at the huge houses, some even had gates and driveways so long you couldn’t see the house from the street.

She walked up the road looking for the house she remembered deep inside of herself from her previous memories from the angry Ari. The house was huge, it looked like a hotel. It was as big as the orphanage. She walked up the driveway to the front door. Her stomach did circles making her nauseous. She took a deep breath and walked up to the huge wooden door and knocked.

A woman wearing a black and white maid uniform came to the door. She had dark hair and looked about forty-five. She smiled at Ari expectantly, "Can I help you?"

Ari smiled back, "I'm looking for Vince."

The woman looked at her suspiciously and nodded, "Come in. Stay here and I will get him. Who should I say is here?"

Ari frowned, "My name is Ari." The question sounded ridiculous. The woman nodded and left the room.

Ari stood in the front entryway of the massive mansion and waited for her uncle.

The maid returned and pointed down the hall, "He'll meet with you in his study."

Ari smirked imagining her uncle with a study. She followed the woman down a wide and elegant looking hallway to a large arched entrance. The study was more like a living room but it had a large wooden desk in one corner.

Her uncle stood seeing her walk in. He looked much older than he had in the desert. His new life must have been very hard on him.

"Mr. Pastern this is Miss Ari. Can I get you something to eat or drink?"

Vince shook his head just as Ari did and the maid vanished.

Her uncle's eye revealed his awareness of her existence. Pain and curiosity filled his eyes, "Ari what a wonderful surprise." His voice cracked slightly.

She wanted to cry and run to him like she had as a child whenever she had hurt herself or was scared. He didn’t look the same as he had, his cold stare prevented her feet from budging.

His smile faded, "You look just like her."

Her heart broke, "You're lying. I know I don’t look like her. I know only my hair is like hers."

He looked confused, "How do you know what she looked like?"

She swallowed hard, "You'll never believe this but there was once a world where my mother begged you from her death bed to keep me and raise me as your own. She told you to move far far away and leave the city for my safety. She begged you to love me as your own. In that world you did as she asked. You raised me and loved me like a daughter."

His face cringed in defiance as anger filled his voice, "You couldn’t possibly know any of that. I don’t owe you anything."

She shrugged, "I don’t want anything from you except an answer. Who was my father?"

His lower lip trembled, he wasn’t the man who raised her. He was weak now. He ran a hand through his fluffy hair, "He was some man your mom met at the bar she was working at. He had a British accent. He was tall and fit. You have his eyes, black as night. I only met him once."

Ari gulped suddenly realizing she knew exactly who he spoke of, "Dorian?"

He nodded, "Yeah that was his name. Anyway he was gone long before your mom even knew she was pregnant. Her pregnancy was bad, she spent the entire thing in the hospital." His face hardened, "I tried to convince her to abort the, well the baby but she wouldn’t."

Ari felt her face revealing the pain in the story her uncle never spoke before. He had loved her then and would never have hurt her that way.

"Why was she in danger? Why did she tell you to run with me?"

She paced around the room, "She started to go crazy, she was delirious and kept saying that something evil wanted the baby. Like some doomsday end of world bullshit. You were poisoning her."

Ari flinched back feeling her hands heating up. She wanted to send him back but her world was such a mess she didn’t dare try that again. As much as she wanted to be in the desert with him hugging her again instead of telling her she murdered her own mother.

She took a deep breath, "What did you see? I know you saw something." Her uncle had run with her to the desert and never looked back, he'd lied about where they were from. She knew he had done it out of fear.

He looked at her wildly, "You, you were different. I saw you. She gave birth to you and the doctors had to work on her. They gave you to me. I saw it then. You never cried, you looked at me and you knew me. I saw the world in your eyes. I saw what was about to happen. I saw her die and then the doctor came out of the room and told me she'd died. I saw a man in a trench coat walking down the hallway looking for her. It was so fast. Suddenly the doctor came out of the room and said exactly what I'd seen in your eyes. I knew then she was right. Something evil was looking for you. I hid you at the orphanage hoping god would protect you."

She watched his panicked face as she walked toward him and pulled the pinkie ring off her middle finger. She placed it on the desk. She nodded and walked from the room.

"Where, how did you get that? I thought I lost it."

She spoke not facing him, "You did."

"Where are you going?"

She turned around to see the fear in his face, "You abandoned me as a baby afraid of my world." She shook her head, "It hasn’t gotten less dangerous."

She walked back the way the maid had brought her and walked from the huge house. She wished things could be the way they were but she knew so much more about herself and she knew the truth. No matter how bad things got she was grateful for the truth. The truth hadn’t killed her it had made her stronger. She knew she was a fighter for the first time. She was a Rose. Her finger felt bare without her uncles ring but the Roses ring meant more now that her other lives were gone forever.

She got back on the bus feeling a fire inside. Dorian was her father. She had a father. He didn’t know, he couldn’t know. He was always so kind to her there was no way he could have left her alone in the world knowing she was his. How could he have if her mother disappeared? She wondered if he looked for her mother? She smiled thinking about him as her dad. She looked out the window at the seedy area the bus had arrived in at the exchange. She got off the bus and walked to angry Ari's old hood. She looked around at the buildings, she hadn’t seen them since the change inside of her occurred. She saw them differently, the religious Ari saw them filled with hope and possibility. She couldn’t help but let the infectious happiness and positive attitude of the newest Ari fill her.

She took a deep breath knowing she was stronger than anyone else in the building, no mere human was strong enough to hurt her. She walked to the floor where she knew Mila and Selena shared an apartment. She'd shared with them too once a long time ago. The dark halls smelled of varying types of food and a stink that only comes from a building where decomposition was a regular occurrence. People, food, rodents, everything had rotted within the walls at one point or another.

Seven zero seven was their apartment. The door didn’t have the scratches that it should, the scratches she recalled making. Her memories were false, none of it had happened. Selena and Mila would never remember her. They would hate her instantly. They would never let her in. They would try to hurt her. Instinct would tell them the clean stranger at their door was probably a young cop.

She knocked and took a deep breath.

She heard footsteps behind the door and muffled voices.

The knob turned, "You gots to have the wrong apartment bitch. We don’t deal and even if we did we wouldn’t deal to some dumb college bitch like you." Selena answered the door skinnier than Ari remembered her being. Her dark arm was covered in track marks.

Ari reached a hand out faster than Selena could comprehend and grabbed her by the throat so she couldn’t make a move. The push came out slowly preventing Selena from screaming. Ari stepped into the apartment taking Selena with her. Suddenly the picture filled the dark hallway of the entrance to the apartment. Ari closed the dirty door ignoring the screaming Christian inside her mind.

Selena was eleven, she was walking home from the store for her mom. A man came up to her and showed her a picture of his lost dog. He looked so sad. She agreed to help him look. Suddenly she was in a trunk, she threw up she was so scared. He pulled her from the trunk and dragged her to a trailer out in the woods. She ran away from the trailer when she was thirteen. She knew the way home, she walked home scared and starving but they were gone. They'd left her behind.

Suddenly she was back on the sidewalk and the man asked her to help him look for the dog. She screamed as loud as she could and ran just like her mommy had told her to do. A man came out of the store and grabbed the man. The police came and asked her questions. Her mommy held her and kept her safe and they took the bad man away. Selena walked down the aisle smiling at her mommy and squeezing her dads' hand. He gave her to the handsome man in the military outfit. Selena smiled at the man and faded.

Ari sobbed silently as Selena vanished leaving behind a white pebble. It floated in the air for a second and crashed to the floor rolling away from Ari. Ari knew it was the magic pebble Selena had told her about once. Every night when she was held captive she made a wish and rubbed it, praying for either her life to end or the opportunity to get away.

"Selena what the hell, who was at the door?" Mila stormed out of her room in nothing but underwear and a tank top. She frowned angrily at Ari, "Who the hell are you? Get the fuck out of my house."

Ari's hand went up to Mila's throat the same as she'd done to Selena to prevent her from screaming.

Mila tried to struggle for a second but went still as the air sparkled. The air around her filled with a picture. Her mom passed out on the couch with pills around her. Her father screaming at her mom and Mila hiding under the table watching. She closed her eyes and prayed, she might have been twelve. A knock at the door broke the noise. A woman came in. She yelled at Mila's dad and looked under the table at a frightened young Mila. She offered her hand but Mila looked at her mom on the couch and shook her head. She couldn’t go with her aunt and leave her mom. Her aunt left. Mila was starving, she needed food. Her stomach hurt, she took the pills from her mom and ate them. She needed the pills. She left school and ran away when the pills ran out.

Suddenly she was back under the table. When her aunt put her hand out Mila took it. She hugged her and pulled her away from the house. She went to a small but clean apartment. There was food and hugs. Mila faded into the picture where she was standing over a dying man in nurses uniform. She stroked his hair and spoke soft words to him as he left. A silver ruby earring hung in the air. It had been the only thing Mila had from her old life. It had been her mothers. Ari reached for it as it tumbled to the ground and rolled near the white stone.

Ari collapsed onto the floor in a pile of tears. She remembered their pain for only the second she allowed herself. She knew she could roam the streets for years sending everyone back if she allowed herself to feel the pain everyone felt.

Chapter Twenty-Two Which is Worse Pride or Prejudice?

Aimee

She looked at Shane and smiled, "You've been writing him for a year and half pretending to be me?"

He nodded as he walked up to his truck, "He was so sad Aims. He was getting to a dark place. Alise left with dick and he was so alone. I couldn’t take it."

She pressed her lips together, "Thank you. Thank you for everything."

He shook his head, "I didn’t do it for you. He's the only family I really have."

Aimee frowned, "Your dad and mom?"

"My mom killed herself Aimee and my dad remarried that girl. My sister took a job in Sweden and left me here. My dad has a new baby boy so I guess that does count as family for me."

She gasped, "Oh Shane I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

He looked hurt, "How could you? Where have you been?"

She looked down, "I'm so sorry."

"Get in the truck Aimee."

"I cant."

He opened the door and looked at her like he would rip her head off. She nodded and climbed in. She looked up at the window at her father waving and smiled. She waved back. She had told him she needed to talk to Shane but would be back.

Shane got in the truck and started it not looking at her or speaking. He drove in awkward silence.

"I'm seeing Aleks." She said it not thinking.

He flexed his jaw processing it, "I don’t care. No wait I do. Do you love him?" He looked at her.

She shook her head, "Not the same way I love you. I just put you in a pile of things I can't have. My dad, you, Alise, Giselle. Things I can hurt are in that pile."

He slammed on the brakes, "AIMEE WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? YOU THINK WE DON’T HURT EVERYDAY WAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU? NO ONE HAS BEEN SAVED PAIN BY YOU IGNORING OUR EXISTANCE!"

She cringed feeling the tears slipping from her eyes. Like a floodgate the tears poured from her face.

He sighed pulling her into him. He smelled like ocean air and deodorant and the wind. She took a deep breath and let it be everything she wanted. She pulled away from him and smiled.

"I need to end this with Aleksander." She winked herself out of the truck.

She looked up at Lydia's house dreading the conversation she was about to have.

She walked up to the house seeing Aleks coming out the front door, "Hey." He smiled. He was so handsome, everything about him was as if he had been made just for her. His dark blond hair and white blue eyes made her knees weak but his voice was like listening to her favorite song. She knew he had the same effect on every woman he met but she liked to pretend it was just for her that he existed.

She smiled weakly, "Hey."

He sighed, "What?"

She bit her lip trying to keep a small amount of distance from him, "Look, uhm in Ari's world before, when she knew us before, I was with Shane. Lucas told me Ari was the one who accidentally got Shane and I back together."

He nodded, "I know."

She watched his face start to break and hated herself, "It feels like the right way things should be. If I was with him before and I never killed him and I'm able to let him in my life again without hurting him it's what I want."

His devastatingly handsome face remained stoic as he was with everything excluding her, "If that’s your wish then I wont try to change your mind. I never knew I'd played second fiddle all along. I thought you chose me. How foolish of me." He was gone leaving her surrounded by the warm wind. She took a deep breath feeling relief mixed with the sickness.

She winked herself home to her dads and knocked on the door.

He opened smiling still shocking her with how much he'd aged.

"Hey sweetie, come on in." He held the door open for her.

She walked inside and hugged him as hard as she could. She ignored the heat in her hands craving his life force. She ignored the pain she'd brought him trying to protect him and she just held tightly to him.

"Daddy. I made a mistake."

He laughed, "With Shane again is it?"

She laughed, "Always."

He pulled her back, "Well lets have a little Austen then shall we and you can tell me all about it over some tea."

She laughed, "Sounds great."

"I did get a new TV. Blake bought it for me for Christmas last year."

She smiled, "That's Blake. Do they come and visit?"

He shook his head, "It’s a long way and a lot of money."

She nodded, "Pride and Prejudice?"

"Yes I do like that Darcy fellow."

"I missed you dad."

"Me too kiddo."

Chapter Twenty-Three- Death By Jazz Hands

Ari

She wanted to walk back to Lydia's, she wanted to curl up in her bed and go to sleep and let the whole day just be gone forever. The hunger in her hands was long gone with having pushed two people in one day but the itch in her legs was still there. She knew what she needed to do.

She got a taxi to the airport and booked her flight. She kept looking behind and around for Lucas, she knew he could sniff her out no matter where she went. She checked her cell phone but the only messages were from Ben. He begged and pleaded for a chance to see her and try to fix things. The new churchy Ari cried inside. She was desperate to fix things with Ben. She tortured Ari with images of the loving and gentle caresses, the soft romantic words spoken and the way Ben looked at her. She saw the love in his eyes and felt the sorrow in her heart even when it wasn’t hers.

There was no consoling the other Ari when she realized Ari was completely in control of herself and could push her behind the curtain she'd made in her mind. Ari deleted the messages and looked in her phone for Dorian's number.

She sent him a quick text, 'we need to chat'

She waited for him to answer. She sat staring at the phone like a stalker. He never answered her but they called her flight.

She sent another quick message, 'you're my dad' She waited to be the last person boarding the plane staring at her two delivered texts. He never responded.

She closed the phone feeling the blinding tears filing her eyes and dropped the phone in the trash as she boarded the plane.

She wanted so badly to see Aimee. She thought about her as she sat in her seat and buckled her belt. She hadn’t been on a plane ever before in her life. She felt nervous about flying as she watched sitting around her.

She let her mind wander as she tilted her seat back and closed her eyes.

The take off was frightening but once they were in the air she felt like pieces of herself were coming back as she got closer to home.

She didn’t know what she would find but she knew whatever it was there had to be something about Jal that hadn’t changed. She missed her hometown even if it wasn’t hers anymore.

She stepped off the plane at the Albuquerque International Airport and walked confused of where she was supposed to go. She needed a connecting flight to Hobbs. She walked out into an open area following the other people around her looking around as they all walked in different directions.

"You lost?"

She looked at a man in a dark blue uniform. He was a little older than her with a very nice smile. He had an Australian accent. She liked accents.

She nodded, "I am.

His dark brown eyes sparkled, "Well just my luck. I never stumble upon the pretty girls who are lost."

She laughed.

"Where are you going?"

"Hobbs."

"You need a connecting flight?"

She nodded.

"This way." He started to walk pointing her in the right direction.

"Thanks."

"No prob. So you from Hobbs?"

She shook her head no actually I'm from a small place just south. Jal."

He smiled brightly, "Yes I've been actually once many years ago."

"Was there a diner on the outskirts?"

He laughed, "Yes Cookies. Yes, it’s a bit of a dive but the burgers are the best I've ever eaten. If I recall there was a sweaty man in the back who yelled at some lady. He seemed a bit feisty. You going there?"

She smiled brightly, "I am." Cookie was like a long lost relative for her. He was everything her uncle had been to her, before. She couldn’t wait to see him.

The man stopped, "This is your gate. You board in five minutes."

She smiled, "Thanks so much."

He bowed slightly, "It was my pleasure. Have a safe flight."

He turned and left her standing at the small gate with only a few chairs. She sat in one and waited for them to call boarding.

She tried not to think about the fact Lucas would never find her. They didn’t know where in New Mexico she had been from. She never had spoken about home with any of them in the new Ari's world. There would be no getting back to Portland, she didn’t have any money left. She had used the small amount of money she had to pay for the trip to Jal and had saved a small amount to get her through the first month of rent and food. She knew Cookie would give her a job, she hoped anyway.

The flight on the small charter plane was beyond frightening but it was fast and it seemed over before it had started. She got off the plane to the dry warm air like a sweet musk the desert air filled her nostrils and senses. She loved the feeling of the air and heat. She could feel the soaked awful feeling of the coastline leaving her as the warmth reached into her to dry her out.

She caught the transit from the airport, it was a coach line bus direct to Jal. She got off the bus at the stop breathing it all in. The town looked just as she recalled, nothing was different as far as she could see. She walked along the street smiling at people who looked at her like she was nuts. She saw Missy West who she had gone to high school with and waved. Missy looked at her like she had three heads and waved back awkwardly. Ari stopped herself and kept her eyes on the ground remembering no one knew her.

She walked to the outskirts of town and smiled looking up seeing the sign. It used to say Vince's but now it said Cookies. She nearly ran to the diner. It looked exactly the same, long like it were a doublewide trailer out in the middle of the dusty desert with wide wooden stairs in the middle of it. The sign was red and glowed in the night. She was exhausted from spending the night traveling but it had been worth it. She felt the exhaustion shake off as she ran up to the stairs and through the doorway.

The world stopped for her, everything froze as the smell of the diner filled her. She closed her eyes for the smallest of seconds letting it all wash over her. The million memories of a happy childhood filled with normalcy and love and kindness.

"Its not fancy sweetie, you just seat yourself."

She opened her eyes and smiled at Lorna, the waitress who had always worked there. She had long suspected her uncle and Lorna were more than friends.

"Hi, uhm okay thanks." She wanted to hug the older woman and dance around the diner. Fans were blowing the smells around the room.

She recognized every patron.

She sat at the bar where she'd spent her entire life sipping a shake after school listening to them all bicker and razz each other.

A man she didn’t recognize walked up and smirked at her in a way that crushed her fantasy life of being home, "Hey there beautiful what can I get you?"

She raised an eyebrow wondering if anyone else could see him. He looked about twenty-five with short blonde hair and very tanned skin.

She grimaced at him, "Wow what did you get fired from Jersey Shore?"

He laughed, "Spicy, I like spicy. You don’t look like you're from here either."

She nodded, "I'm from around here."

He shook his head, "Nope I'd say North West by the sound of that accent, maybe even Canadian."

She smiled, "You think you're pretty good don’t you?"

He nodded, "Chocolate shake and a chicken burger with cheese no fries?"

She laughed, "Okay have we met?"

He smiled too charmingly, "Yeah I feel the same way but I don’t think so. I'm from the East coast so unless you’ve been there."

She froze realizing exactly who he was. She'd met him once in New York at the Roses, when she'd been angry Ari. He was a shifter, a werecat of some sort. He left as she arrived. They'd met twice.

"Mitchell?" She asked softly.

He froze taking a step back still smiling, "We have met. Where?"

She froze, "Uhhh New York."

His face dropped, "New York, as in New York New York?"

She nodded, "I still want my shake dude."

He smirked, "What's your poison?"

She raised her hands and waved her fingers at him.

"Jazz hands?"

She burst out laughing, "Basically."

"Name?"

"Ari."

He smiled, "Holy shit, I've heard about you." His face lowered as did his voice, "Oh my god wait a minute have we met before in one of the other worlds you've made?"

She nodded.

"What you doing here?"

She looked around, "I was raised here, before."

"No shit?"

She shook her head liking him so much more, at least liking the fact she wasn’t completely alone.

"You know Cookie?"

"Yeah he worked for my uncle for a few years before." Her smile faded as she remembered, "Well before."

He put one of his huge tanned hands on hers, "It's going to be okay Ari. I'm going to assume you're on the lamb?"

"Yeah. I left. I keep messing it up for everyone. As long as I'm near them their lives keep getting turned upside down."

He frowned and pulled his hand back, "Oh I heard it like you couldn’t send us back. Just mess us up short term."

She laughed at the concerned expression on his face, "No I can't but I can alter their world by influencing humans involved with them. I won't send anyone here back don’t worry. I'm trying not to notice people."

"How's that working for you?"

She shook her head, "Not good. The girl in the corner is like thirteen and pregnant, the man at the table behind me is a drunk and maybe a drug addict and I know for a fact the guy in the red jacket is abusive to his wife. I could change it all."

"Heavy responsibility. On one hand you leave it knowing their lives will be ruined or you send them back and change every footprint they’ve made?"

"That’s it in a nutshell."

"Lemme get you the burger, food always makes me feel better."

She laughed, "That’s cause you're a shifter."

Lorna walked behind the counter interrupting their discussion, "Mitch lets keep the flirting to a minimum."

He smirked at Ari, "Oh she's an old friend Lorna. You're still my favorite girl."

Lorna looked at the ring on Ari's hand and smiled, "Oh yeah you went to the same college."

Ari blushed, "Oh uhm yeah. Same institutional training." She rolled her eyes casually.

Lorna smiled, "Well I pity a pretty girl like you being stuck listening to prince charming here day in and day out." She winked at Mitch who smiled handsomely. He was truly smoking hot, like all shifters. He was tall and built with short blond hair and a tan like he was a surfer. Ari imagined him to be quite the ladies man. His smile was electrifying with perfect teeth and juicy lips. He bit his lip watching Ari.

She shook her head smiling again under the heat of his gaze, "I can smell him on you ya know."

She looked up at him feeling frightened, "Who?"

"Lucas and a little Ben I think. That’s some kinky shit Ari."

She rolled her eyes, "Not as kinky as you think."

He reached forward and rubbed his thumb down her hand, "If you need any help getting rid of that smell you let me know."

She shivered and laughed nervously, "You are trouble. What I need is a job not another shifter boyfriend."

He shrugged, "Cookie is looking for a waitress. Lorna is leaving for the summer."

She spun around and brazenly asked Lorna who was waiting on the table behind her, "You're leaving for the summer? Where ya going?"

Lorna blushed, "Oh uhm my sisters' place in Arizona. She needs me to house sit for her. Why?"

Ari smiled brightly, "I need a job." Her voice came out squeaky realizing she had been too familiar with Lorna.

She spun back around and looked at Mitch, "Might want to dial it back a little."

She nodded, "Where's my food slacker?"

"Keep your shirt on, well unless you really want to take it off."

She shook her head again cussing under her breath knowing full well he could hear everything she said.

Chapter Twenty-Four- Like Father Like Daughter

Aimee

She arrived back at the house to check in with Lydia and felt it immediately. Something was up.

She walked in slowly still feeling the guards but wondering if someone had gotten through them and what she felt was Annabelle panicking. The ghost could haunt the house when she wanted to.

Aimee never made any noise as she walked into the kitchen to see Lydia sitting at the table with red eyes.

"Hey what's going on?"

Lydia shook her head sniffling, "Ari, she left today and I can't see her in the city and Lucas lost her at the airport."

Aimee could really have cared less, which earned her a glare from Lydia. She sat next to the older woman and hugged her tightly.

Lydia had grown very attached to Ari in the time she'd been at the house. Aimee had never really given her much of a chance, she couldn’t bear to listen to the constant religious dribble coming from her lips.

"Where are Luke and Ben?"

Lydia sobbed harder, "They attacked each other and blamed each other for her leaving. They left too. Everyone left."

"She sent me a text."

Aimee smelled him before he even got he words out.

She turned glaring at Dorian.

Lydia gasped, "You're her father?"

Aimee nodded, "That makes so much sense, those black soulless eyes."

Dorian dropped his eyes to the floor ashamed of himself, "I never knew. I dated her mother, uhm well obviously nineteen maybe twenty years ago. She looks nothing like the woman. Her mother died because of me. I have never actually had one get with child before. I've always been careful about that."

Aimee frowned unable to see him as the vulnerable saint he was trying to put off.

Lydia stood and walked to him, "It's an accident Dorian. It's been two decades. Nothing can be done about it now."

He sighed, "She messaged me to tell me I was her father. I ignored her. I was stunned. I didn’t know what to say."

Aimee felt sick, "She reached out to you after discovering she actually has a family member alive and you ignored her. Well at least you're consistent. I'd hate for you to try to convince us of your love for her when really we all know exactly the sort of man you are."

He snarled at her, "I brought you into this world Aimee."

She snarled back, "Try to take me out Dorian."

He was gone as quickly as he had appeared.

Lydia glared at her.

Aimee shrugged, "What can I do he's evil."

Lydia shook her head, "I can see inside of him, every secret. He isn’t evil. He's selfish."

Aimee hugged Lydia, "We'll find her. I'm sure Luke is sniffing every plane as we speak like some kind of bomb dog looking for the one she was on."

Lydia laughed at the image, "Yes well he does love her an awful lot. It's Ben I feel truly sad for. She sees him as a brother and nothing more."

Aimee thought about Aleks and the look on his face earlier and smiled, "She can't make herself love someone when she has given her heart away to someone else. Ben will find the girl he's supposed to be with."

Lydia scowled, "You didn’t?"

Aimee nodded, "I did."

"I'm sorry about your father Aimee."

Aimee bit her lip, "Me too. He's dying, it's my fault. I waited too long to be with him. He's been alone for so long. I'm going to move back and spend some time with him if it's all the same to you guys. I'll check in and I'll have my phone."

Lydia squeezed her hand, "of course my dear."

Aimee went to her room to gather her things. It bugged her Ari had left but she thought about the things that had gone on over the last few days and wondered if it wasn’t better for her to be gone.

Chapter Twenty-Five- Fresh Start in an Old Haunt

Ari

The sun set in the desert between two huge hills lighting the sand and dunes on fire. Ari felt at home. Her heart would always belong to Lucas, there was no getting over him. Even the simple flirting that had occurred between her and Mitch over the past few weeks of working together couldn't distract herself from the fact she was in love. She would always be in love.

Mitch was funny and he understood what it was like to be different. He was a harmless sort of fun she enjoyed having around, especially since every heartbeat hurt. The pain of being away from Lucas unbearable.

"It'll get easier."

She looked back as Mitch climbed onto the roof of the restaurant with a mug of hot cocoa, her favorite. She took the mug remembering Annabelle's and smiled missing them all more than she could let herself feel.

"Is that why you're here?"

He nodded, "Yeah I was in love with a girl. She was on the wrong side of the demon tracks. Anyway she tried to recruit me. I tried to recruit her. I tried to get Daniel and Ron to help me convince her. We captured her. She refused."

Ari flinched knowing what that had meant. Daniel had told her flat out all who didn’t join or control their urges were put down.

"I'm sorry."

He nodded sitting beside her, "It's cool. Well its not but what can I do. She didn’t think twice about murdering people. She was old, really old. Sometimes the older they are the more they forget you know?"

"My real dad is really old. He came here with Lorri."

Mitch turned his head sharply, "Dorian is your dad?"

She shrugged, "I guess so. He never answered me when I asked him about it."

"Yikes dude, he's not a nice guy."

She nodded, "I know. Aimee, my friend hates him so much. He changed her and made her murder a young girl in the woods on her first day. He said it was a lesson to show her what not to do. She told me he called people sheep."

Mitch put a hand on hers, "Stay away from him. He used to be around my girlfriend and her friends all the time. I saw him kill someone once."

Ari felt sickened at the thought of him randomly killing for fun with his evil friends. She sipped her hot cocoa and sighed.

"Do you still miss her?"

"Every minute. That’s why I'm here. Daniel thought maybe I should just hang here and enjoy being around normal people for a bit. I think he wants to make sure I never went rogue or to the dark side."

She smiled to lighten the mood, "Well they do have cookies."

He laughed, "I do like cookies."

She lay back on the roof of the restaurant and waited for it to get dark enough. There was nothing like a desert sky.

Mitch lay back with her, his hand still held hers. The tiniest part of her wanted it to mean something beyond the strength and gratitude it really was. She knew he liked not being alone as much as she did.

"Cookie sure seems to like you." He spoke softly.

She almost giggled, "He was a dear friend to me. It broke my heart to lose him before. I came back for him. For all of them. I was alone after I left Lydia's and in my heart I always saw this as home."

"Did you get an apartment?"

"Yeah, it’s a dump but I'll get it squared away."

"I'm glad you're here Ari, even if it's hard to be reminded of my life before."

She turned and snuggled into him, "Me too." They watched the sky darken and the stars start to appear one by one.

She drifted off to sleep enjoying every second of the dry heat and the fresh air.

She woke with a start in her bed. She couldn’t recall leaving the roof. She swore she had slept on the roof. She looked around the small apartment seeing nothing but herself and frowned.
"Mitch?" She spoke softly worrying about the fact he not only knew where her apartment was that he'd brought her home. She was still wearing her waitress clothes, which was a relief.

He never answered her. She layback wondering where he'd gone. She liked that he'd been a gentleman at the very least.

She reached over to the small wooden jewelry box on her dingy old nightstand. It was one of the few things she'd brought in her small backpack from Portland. She opened it and looked at them all. The shiny white stone, the earring, the necklace, the ring, a piece of paper that said 'LOVE' on it, all different little trinkets or pieces of jewelry. For every person she'd sent back one thing had remained. She couldn’t understand why but something always stayed behind. She kept everything. She reached down and touched the rosary remembering the hatred she felt for that one. She wanted to keep it separate from the other pieces but knew that it would only have power if she gave it to it.

Everything in the box made her feel like a serial killer keeping mementos.

She closed the box and slipped it under the bed. She didn’t want anyone to see it, she didn’t want anyone to see how many there were. It made her uncomfortable that Mitch had been in the apartment when she'd been sleeping.

Her fingers tingled remembering how amazing it felt to push on someone. She knew she would have to do it soon.

She looked at her bedside table expecting to see a cell phone. She wished for a second she hadn’t thrown it away. She knew she had to but it was annoying not being able to text Aimee and have her take her to an alley and push on a drug addict. Her lip trembled as she thought about Aimee. She missed her dearly.

She got ready for work leaving the apartment locking the door. She felt uncomfortable in the apartment suddenly. Mitch had encroached on her private space making her feel a slight bit territorial.
The restaurant was booming with every table full. Cookie had been amazed with how quickly she'd learned everything and fit in.

She watched him for a second seeing something she had never noticed before, stress. He wasn’t the jovial cook he'd always been. He seemed worried and constantly stressed about everything. If her uncle had owned the place and taken all of the responsibility on and just left Cookie to do the cooking he would have been happy with that. The fact he had to cook and run it seemed to be wearing on him.

She leaned through the window, "If you need any help with anything just ask okay. I used to do the ordering and inventory for my uncles restaurant back in Portland."

He nodded, "I would love it if you took that over. I'll go over it with you later when we slow down."

She smiled and rolled her eyes, "If we slow down."

She felt the door open blowing in some of the hot air. She turned to see Mitch coming in. He seemed down about something. She wondered if he felt guilty for taking her to her apartment without waking her, she still wondered how he'd done it.

"Hey Mitch." She spoke softly pouring a coffee for the mayor.

His eyes darted meeting hers for a second, "Hey Ari." He moved past her quickly.

She frowned pondering his change in temperature toward her.

When the shift was ending and the last of the patrons were paying and leaving Cookie got her to come to the back and go over the inventory and ordering. He was stunned at how fast she'd figured it out.

"You're a real lifesaver Ari."

She whacked him in the arm, "You should have asked someone sooner. You look tense and stressed all the time."

He frowned at her familiarity with him, "Yeah I guess I've been a bit stressed."

She walked out with the ordering sheets and went and sat down at a table to rest her tired feet.

Mitch avoided eye contact with her. She kept her gaze on his face until finally he looked up at her frustrated, "What?"

She smiled, "What?"

"Why are you staring at me?"

"Why are you avoiding me?"

He shifted uneasily, "I'm busy is all. I'm tired from someone passing out on the roof too. I tried to wake you up but you wouldn’t. I carried you all the way home. You could have been more grateful."

She frowned, "I wouldn’t wake up?"

He shrugged, "Nope. You were beat."

She smiled, "Well thanks for carrying me home."

He blushed, "Don’t mention it."

She squinted at the way he still avoided eye contact with her.

She stood up with the papers, "K well I'm outta here. See you tomorrow?"

He nodded and smirked, "Yeah."

She walked out feeling the bursting heat hitting her as she walked through the door to outside. She loved the feeling. The warm wind played with her long hair making the smell of the greasy diner fill the air around her. She smiled at it remembering the runs she used to take and how the smell of her uncles diner always filled the air when she released her hair.

"Do you have the time?" She looked up at a man in dressy clothes.

She looked at the watch on his right arm and turned to run but everything went black as she screamed, "LUCAS."

Her head pounded in the dark as she woke. Her sweaty body felt like it was overheating again. She looked around the room but the light was so faint she could barely make out where she was. It looked to be a warehouse of sorts perhaps. She didn’t know how long she'd been there. Her dry lips felt cracked and her mouth parched. Smacked her lips together feeling the pasty thickness in her mouth.

"Hello." She called out softly.

She looked around the room but no one was there. It was a cell with no windows. There was a small shower and a toilet. There was also a door.

She felt a hot tear slip down her cheek as her hands began to burn again like they had in the beginning of her change. She knew she'd been there a long time. They'd starved her. The burning meant she would attack anything she saw.

Noises off to the side of the room made her lift her body up. Her hands tingled like an acid ate them.

"Help me. Please someone help me." She called out. No one answered her.

The noise interrupted her silence again.

"PLEASE HELP ME. WHOEVER YOU ARE PLEASE HELP ME!"

Her voice cracked from the dry throat. She needed a drink. The hunger in her hands was burning her up.

The door was opened filling one corner of the room with light. The light made her shut her eyes suddenly.

"Please I just need some water. I wont tell anyone who you are. I don’t even know who you are. Please just some water."

The light was gone as quickly as it had come making her able to open her eyes again. In the dark she could see a figure. Her hands sensed the person before her eyes did. She was like a shark in water smelling out blood. Her hands wanted the person on the opposite side of the room.

"Stay on your own side, please trust me. Don’t come any closer or I'll hurt you. Not because I want to please just stay there." She begged feeling the hot tears burning their way down her cheeks.

The feet shuffled closer. The person made a muffled sniffle.

"Please, please don’t come any closer." Ari backed up the bed pressing herself against the wall.

She could make out the shape, it was a girl. She was maybe Ari's age. Her long hair was around her shaking shoulders. She cried.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Ari asked softly.

The girl took another step as if fighting herself. It seemed as if she didn’t want to walk toward Ari but she couldn’t stop herself. Ari pulled the blanket on the cot up over her own head.
"Please, please please please please." She chanted, "Please please please please."

The noise of the shuffling footsteps got louder.

Ari lifted back the blankets to the startled face of the girl directly in front of her. Tears stained her cheeks. Her glistening eyes caught the light. Her hands were behind her back and duct tape was across her mouth. She wore a t-shirt and shorts. As she shuffled closer Ari recognized her gasping, "Missy. Missy please stay away from me."

Missy sobbed harder as Ari spoke her name. In the dark her white t-shirt was nearly glowing in the dark. Ari's hands were burning she sat them underneath and rocked back and forth, "Lucas will find me." The girl was almost on top of her now. Her t-shirt was right in Ari's face. She climbed onto the cot sitting right in Ari's face.

Ari closed her eyes, which didn’t help, she could feel the heat emanating from the girls body.

"Lucas will find me, Lucas will find me, Lucas will find me."

Ari felt herself losing the control she fought to maintain.

"WHY? WHY? LEAVE ME ALONE. MISSY PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE." She shouted into the face of the sobbing girl.

Ari knew the girl was under some kind of spell, some kind of mind control. She remembered Aimee saying Dorian could do mind control.

"DORIAN YOURE MY DAD, PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME DO THIS." She shouted again praying he would listen to her.

She felt the dark taking her again. She slipped along the wall passing out into the darkness again as the heat overtook her.

She woke again feeling the pounding in her head. She opened her eyes jumping back as Missy leaned over her. The girl had passed out as well. She lay on top of Ari. Not thinking she put her hands to the girls arms to move her out of the way and instantly as her hands made contact with the sleeping girls arms her hands took control and pushed. Ari felt it pouring from her like it had with her uncle. The energy shot from her.

The air filled sparkling the way it always did. Suddenly the picture was there hanging in the air. Missy was prom queen and her boyfriend wanted her to go to the car with him to celebrate their victory. She made it out to the car but decided against celebrating. She got angry with her boyfriend David. Ari recognized him. Missy broke up with him for being so disrespectful and asking her to lose her virginity in a car. She stormed off. She decided to take the acceptance to Yale, which she was about to turn down because he was her soul mate and he was only going to community college.

Suddenly she was back at the car. She got in and the car started moving suddenly making Ari sick. She got out of the car and David broke up with her anyway. She was so heart broken she decided to wait on the college acceptances she'd gotten. She found out she was pregnant. She went to Albuquerque and went to Planned Parenthood. She got an abortion. She got depressed. She faded from Ari as a fat girl on a couch eating a tub of peanut butter and watching TV in a trailer. Her Grad ring hung in the air catching the light on the silver band. Ari put a trembling hand out into the air knocking the ring to the ground. She felt relief and pain simultaneously. She curled into a ball and cried into her pillow.

She whispered into the air softly, "Lucas will find me. Lucas will find me. Lucas will find me. Please Lucas come find me."

She wished someone could touch her arm and send her back to the cross roads where she boarded the plane home. She wished she'd just gone back to Lydia's.

She woke hot and sweaty again. She didn’t cry any more. She didn’t have any tears left and they never fed her. She didn’t get water any more. The only sustenance she got was people. She didn’t know how long she'd been there. She didn’t know who held her there. None of the people sent in ever spoke. She never saw light unless they sent someone in to be pushed. It was always an innocent.

Her hair was ragged, her skin was clammy and her body felt weak. Every time she ate she would get a sense of being full but it wasn’t the same. They had sent eight people to be pushed. She'd tried to fight in the beginning but it didn’t make any sense any more. The only thing she accomplished by protesting was scaring the humans beyond belief. Lorna had been her last. She swallowed her pain and anger and just walked up to the crying woman and pushed her in complete control.

She couldn’t get their faces out of her mind. Each of them went from completely happy lives to pain and suffering. One girl committed suicide. One man killed his wife in a fit of rage. One woman ran away leaving her children and husband alone. One man got cancer. Lorna became a prostitute and died in an alley of some kind of sickness.

Every one of them haunted her memories and filled her dreams with pain and anger. She didn’t know how to make it stop. She tried waiting at the door for them to open it but they waited till she was asleep and snuck someone in.

The last day in confinement Ari slept on her cot. She had felt craziness overtaking her. She looked around the room smelling someone else there. She looked over in the corner to see a man. He was as the others had been. His arms tied behind his back and duct tape over his mouth. She knew it had been a long time since Lorna had been there. Her hands were burning savagely.

The man watched her, he fought every step he took toward her. She climbed off the bed refusing to witness him struggle in fear and agony.

As she drew closer she shrieked and stepped back. The man before her was as close to her as her uncle. His face fought in recognition of who she was. She collapsed on the ground and sobbed, "No please anyone but him. Please don’t make me do this."

She turned toward the door and screamed, "DON’T MAKE ME DO THIS. HE WILL DIE. DON’T MAKE ME DO THIS." She didn’t need to push him she knew exactly where he would go. She knew he nearly died in the army.

He took another step toward her. She felt herself going crazy as her hands lifted. Tears poured from her face as her hands made contact with his bare arms. The push was as gentle as she was able to give. He froze as the air sparkled and his picture filled the air around her.

He was young and in the army. He was on mission in a desert, she knew it was Afghanistan. He had told her the story. He passed the keys to his buddy as they walked up to the jeep and let him drive. He laughed and they joked. As they were driving his friend looked over and pointed out something. They didn’t notice the mine on the side of the road. The jeep blew up. His friend died instantly while he was blown out of the jeep.

Suddenly he was back at the jeep. His friend gave him the keys and instead of throwing them back he drove. When the jeep hit the mine Cookie was killed and his friend was blown from the vehicle. He was injured as cookie had been but at Cookies funeral the wounded man hugged three children and a beautiful woman. He cried and kissed the casket.

As Cookie faded he smiled and spoke softly, "Thank you Ari."

He faded leaving his dog tags floating in the air. She reached out and grabbed them. As her fingers made contact with them the floor began to change around her. She looked around the room as the door opened suddenly and people began running in screaming at her. She couldn’t hear them. She saw Mitch smiling at her from behind the group of men she didn’t recognize. He gave her thumbs up. She was back at the diner, standing in front of it. She wore her jogging shorts and her legs looked tanned again.

Mitch had doomed her to being captured but he saved her knowing that Cookie would bring her to the beginning. Everything in her life changed with Cookies death.

Her hands burned again. It was the first day, angry Ari was gone, churchy Ari was gone, Ben and Lucas were distant memories like dreams in her brain. None of it was real. She was outside the diner on the very day she sent her uncle back.

The red sign said Vince's. She sighed knowing everything was right again, well except everything in Portland but at least she hadn’t been able to mess with their lives.

She started to feel faint. She felt like she was going to pass out. Her hands were burning her. She knew it wasn’t the flu. She walked away from the diner knowing she had to get away from her uncle.

She walked down the street to the pharmacy and stood at the side of the building, "You okay Ari."

She looked up to see David, Missy's boyfriend.

She smiled, "Yeah wanna give me a hand? I lost my contact over here." She pointed further down the alley. She knew he was a dirt bag and she had no remorse for what she was about to do.

He nodded smiling looking slimy, "I can do that."

They walked into the alley making Ari smile.

Chapter Twenty-Six- Chronic Case of Déjà Vu

Aimee

She looked out at the wet day feeling exhausted from something but couldn’t put her finger on what it was. She felt as if she'd run a marathon. Déjà vu seemed to be at every turn. It was as if her powers had grown and she was able to glimpse things in the future. She sighed hoping that wasn’t the case, she liked the mystery of it all.

Aleksander walked into her room tapping lightly at the door. He smiled sending a shiver across her body.

"Morning Aimee."

She smiled still unable to see him without feeling giddy, "Hey Aleks."

He frowned and licked his lips. Aimee watched him doing it forgetting she had vowed to stop messing with him. She knew what she felt for him was part magic and part passion. Love wasn’t apart of the equation.

"So I've been having the weird feeling lately, it’s a bit like Déjà vu but it's not. It's like my day was going a certain direction yesterday but today it's gone and going a different way."

Aimee smiled, "Yeah I'm having that too."

She sat up making room for him to sit on her massive bed. She liked having him on her bed.

He looked up at her through his lashes and smirked, "Perhaps we should take this discussion downstairs."

She smiled at him, "You afraid of me Aleks?"

He leaned in to her filling the air around her, "Absolutely."

She felt herself get dizzy with the pheromones, "Cheater."

He laughed, it was like her favorite song. His dark blond hair was cut shorter than normal. She reached out running her hands through it.

His movement was a fluid motion, he reached down sweeping her up into his arms laying her back on the bed kissing her.

Chills filled her as his tongue found it's way into her mouth. Everything about Aleks was sex, the sheer size of him was enough to make most women moan. His soft lips roamed her neck setting her skin on fire.

He pulled back making cold air fill the void around them.

She opened her eyes and frowned.

He smiled his sexy crooked grin, "I can't do this."

"What?"

He nodded, "I know what it is. It’s a soul-stealing demon. I have to go." He pulled off the bed.

"Are you kidding me right now? Aleks you’ve wanted this since we met. Shane isn’t in the picture. What are you doing?" She felt sexual frustration building inside her.

He laughed, "Oh I want to do this but it isn’t right. Your heart will never belong to me. I need to see Lydia and Lorri."

He turned and walked out of the room confusing her completely.

She sighed and pulled her laptop over and clicked on World of Warcraft.

She tried to play but the battleground she got into sucked. She typed some cuss words at her teammates and exited out of the game without finishing.

"ALEKS!" She stormed from her room nearly throwing the laptop.

She didn’t even wink herself downstairs, she wanted the full effect of her high-heeled boots on the wooden stairs. She clomped down into the den to find Aleks and Lucas sitting with Lydia huddled.

"Aleks." She demanded.

He smirked at her, "Aimee we need to go to New Mexico."

Her jaw dropped, "What?"

Lydia smiled, "Dear we have someone we need to acquire. We don’t know what we're dealing with completely but Aleks is right I feel like that movie with Bill Murray. It's like I cant get past this year or I've lived it several different ways."

Aimee flushed, "I need to talk to you Aleks." She tapped her foot.

Lucas grinned, "Look you guys can have make-up sex later. Aimes this is important."

Her face burned, "Stay out of this Luke."

Aleks laughed, "I can't do this right now. This is important."

"And I'm not?"

He shrugged, "Aimee you don’t love me."

Lucas stood up holding his hands in the air, "Okay this is awkward. I'll be in the kitchen when you're ready to go."

Lydia frowned, "You two again?" She stood and left as well.

Aimee folded her arms leaning on the doorframe.

He stood and walked to her. His gaze was filled with pain, she remembered the look from the many other times she chose Shane over him.

"Aimee I refuse to believe you've suddenly come to your senses and have seen that a life with a human is a terrible idea. I know you don’t love me."

She stammered, "I-I-I do, somewhere inside of me I know you're the right choice."

He laughed, "Convincing. Anyway lets do this and I promise we will talk. I just need to fix this."

He rubbed her arm like her father would have and walked out of the room to the kitchen.

She growled, "Fine."

She put her hands out for the three of them to touch her and winked them to the spot in the picture Aleks held up in front of her face.

They were in the outskirts of a large town. They stood beside a sigh saying 'Welcome to Hobbs, It All Happens Here' on a highway. Tumbleweed rolled across the highway they stood beside making Lydia giggle quietly.

The dry heat was the first thing Aimee noticed.
"Oh my god it's so warm here." Lucas frowned.

She laughed, "Wolf heat and desert heat not friends?"

He shook his head, "Nope lets get what we came for and get home."

"Where are we?" She asked.

Aleks smiled, "Hobbs."

"The soul stealer is here?"

He shook his head, "I don’t think so. We need to get moving. Lucas can you smell anyone?"

Lucas frowned, "I need something to smell Aleks. I need a reference point. I'm not a hound."

Aimee laughed.

"Jal." Lydia spoke softly.

Aimee looked confused, "What?"

"It's in Jal."

"How do you know that?"

She smiled, "I'm psychic."

Aleks laughed and started to walk.

"Where you going?"

He turned shrugging at Aimee, "To rent a car."

"I can wink us there. Why a car?"

"Aimee you have no idea where we're going firstly and secondly what if it’s a trap? We need somewhere to be discrete. Winking downtown isn’t discreet."

They walked until they saw an airport. Lydia went inside of the Enterprise and rented the car.

Aimee watched Aleks wondering if he had his cloak up. She smiled remembering the nights in her room.

He looked at her frowning, "Stop it."

She shrugged smirking, "What?"

He rolled his white blue eyes, "You know very well what."

She blushed.

Lucas groaned, "Why me?"

Aimee laughed.

Lydia came out with the keys to a suburban truck, which seemed an odd choice but it was difficult squeezing Aleks and Lucas into regular cars.

"We just go into town and take the highway exit to the right. It's a short drive apparently. Just under an hour."

Lucas climbed into the drivers seat and Lydia got shotgun. Aimee smirked as she climbed in next to Aleks.

He sighed, "You're killing me Aimee."

She watched him breath, look out the window, sigh, glare at her, all of which was done in a sexy manner.

He rolled his eyes at her.

She smiled.

Lydia turned around and grimaced, "Stop bugging him Aimee. His sighs are getting annoying."

Lucas looked at her in the rearview and smirked. She stuck her tongue out at him.

When they turned back around she leaned in and kissed Aleks on the cheek, "Give me a chance."

He turned examining her closely, "No."

She frowned, "Why?"

He kissed her lips softly brushing his against hers, "You love Shane that’s why."

She shook her head, "It doesn’t matter. He's going to age, he's going to want kids, he's going to want to buy a house and a car and I barely exist. I could get caught up in it all and kill him at any moment."

He whispered, "I won't play second fiddle Aimee. I'm too old for that."

She nodded feeling a slight bit of heartache.

Chapter Twenty-Seven- Home is Where The Heart Is, If You Can Find It

Ari

She felt relieved as her memories shifted to include Missy dumping David when he got caught making out with another girl. She remembered hearing Missy was gone to Yale, she'd left that fall. Ari knew everything had worked out. She'd gotten control of her hands and hunger before she attacked her uncle. She walked into the diner and smiled at Lorna taking two plates of food to the table at the window.

"Grab plates Ari Jesus." She looked at her uncle frowning at her through the window. She smiled at him and nodded.

She grabbed the plates, "So I'm thinking I might go to college after all."

Her uncle smiled at her, "Really? That’s fantastic news. Where?"

She shrugged knowing it didn’t matter what she told him only that she stayed as far away from him as she could. A safe distance was what she needed.

"Well admission for January starts now Ari."

She smirked, "I've applied already."

He clapped his hands together, "Hot damn, you got in?"

She nodded.

"Congrats kid." His face full of pride and happiness made everything she'd been through worth it all. He was safe, home and happy again.

Just as she felt her world turning out for the best and her plans actually working out for a change the door opened to the diner. Hot air shot in letting all the bought air out.

Ari glanced up seeing a face she suddenly recognized from the crowd of people who had rushed in at the last second when Mitch has freed her.

A tall thin man with dark hair and sunglasses entered with a few other men dressed similarly behind him. They wore dark clothes, too many clothes for the desert. People in the diner stared at them suspiciously. No one in a small town in New Mexico liked strangers, outsiders. Not since Area 51.

They did look like government workers to Ari but she knew better. Dark jeans and dress pants in the desert even if it was October meant one thing, immortals. They couldn’t feel the temperature the way humans could.

Lorna walked up smiling her country girl smile, "Hey all, table for five?"

The thin man removed his sunglasses and smiled softly, "Just here to speak to the young lady actually."

Ari heard it and walked over trying to smile and reassure Lorna to keep her as far removed as possible.

"Hi there you must be from the college I applied to."

The thin man smiled, "Yes exactly. We came for your interview for the scholarships."

She smiled brightly desperate to fight the urge to take all of them out at once. Her stomach screamed in fear.

She looked back at her uncle, "I have to interview."

He nodded, "Lorna you good?"

She nodded, "Sure sugar."

Ari walked out into the hot desert air with the men acting like she was clueless about what they wanted. She wondered if any one of them were able to recall what had happened.

"So that was quite the act there Miss Pastern. We were a little worried we would have to try something different with your relatives and friends."

Her insides twisted nervously. They remembered everything even though she had changed the past.

She walked with them to a bench out on the grass to the side of the diner.

"We would like you to come with us, no fighting. No one will get hurt if you cooperate."

She nodded, "Okay." She didn’t care what they did to her, nothing would hurt as much as everything she'd already done.

"I need to tell them I got in with late admissions and I got a full scholarship and have to leave immediately. Otherwise they will look for me."

He tilted his head reading her. His dark blue eyes examining her every movement. He nodded, "Okay. Meet us here tonight and they get left alone. Otherwise we kill them all." He let his fangs drop.

"It has to be the bus depot. My uncle will suspect something otherwise."

He nodded still smiling showing off his teeth.

She shivered seeing the stark white daggers inside his wicked smile.

She turned and walked back into the diner. She knew she had put everyone's life back to normal in Jal and one day she would visit Portland and fix the things that had been changed again. She knew no doubt the orphanage would be back to how it was when she got there as a baby. She had to go with them even it meant pretending to join the dark side. She smiled thinking about Mitch, she could save him too.

Her uncle smiled as she got inside, "So?"

She acted excited, "Yeah I got accepted with late admission and a full scholarship. I have to be there tomorrow though."

Her uncle frowned, "Late admission?"

She tried not to be too obvious, she was a terrible liar, "Yeah. The kids that drop out open up spots. They’ll let me in and help me for a week with catch up."

Lorna hugged her, "Congratulations honey. You'll be the first in my family to get a degree."

Ari laughed wanting to cry.

Her uncle still didn’t look convinced, "So you leave tonight?"

She nodded, "On the bus."

He frowned, "I think I should drive you Ari. I can help you get settled in."

She wanted to protest but she knew him too well, she rolled her eyes and sighed, "Vince dude be cooler than that."

He smirked at her, "Fine but I want daily phone calls, weekly video chats and report cards."

She nodded, "Deal." She hugged him, she still felt the hesitation in him. He would be trouble if she weren't careful.

She packed her bags leaving nothing behind that could link her to him. She wanted him as safe as possible. Her stomach ached pretending to be excited to go with them.

She went down to the diner to do the dinner shift. As she tied on her apron and rolled her shoulders back getting into her zone she noticed a face she would have recognized from a mile in a sand storm.

He stood up from his chair wiping his face on his paper napkin. He brushed a hand through his dark hair and smiled as the woman next to him spoke. He was wearing washed jeans with small rips and a green t-shirt. She could only imagine how it matched his green eyes, making them stand out against his dark hair. His smile made small creases around his mouth like dimples. He walked toward her, she knew he was going to the bathroom but she wanted to pretend for a moment he knew her still. She knew he didn’t. It was impossible.

The woman who he'd walked away from turned her head and smiled directly at Ari. Tears formed in her eyes as she saw Lydia. She wanted to run to them but she didn’t want her uncle to catch on. Lydia read all of her thoughts and winked at her.

Ari gave a subtle nod knowing Lydia saw everything.

Lucas walked past her frowning as he saw her face. He stopped and smiled looking nervous. She smiled back but he shook his head and walked to the back where the bathroom was. Her heart was skipping beats as she turned letting her gaze follow him. It hurt he didn’t know her but more that the path to righting things had been so hard. In a small way she was glad she hadn’t dragged anyone with her, yet. She knew Lydia knew who and what she was which would change everything again.

She picked up the coffee pot and walked slowly to the table Lydia sat at. As she got past the other patrons she noticed Aimee. Her heart fluttered.

Aimee ignored her staring out the window.

"So you all want a drink or some coffee?" Ari asked nervously.

Lydia looked up and smiled, "Aimee this is Ari. Ari you know Aimee. I'd love a coffee dear."

Aimee looked up at Ari and smiled, "Hi. How do you know me?"

Ari gulped, "It’s a really long story."

Lydia touched Ari's hand, "Honey we need to get you out of here before they come for you."

Ari nodded, "I know but they will kill my family and friends if I don’t go with them."

Aimee looked back and forth confused, "What is going on Lydia?"

"This is the soul stealer we came for, Ari is a Rose. Well she was a Rose until she erased her own past and changed all of ours. How many times now Ari?"

Ari felt her face heating up, "Uhm three times now I believe. I'm so sorry."

Lydia smiled, "No need honey. We're just glad we found you. The Déjà vu's been driving us all crazy."

Ari nodded, "I know that feeling."

She felt a warm body behind her as Aleksander walked up and sat next to Aimee. He looked at Ari, "I'll have some water please."

She nodded, "Aims Iced Tea?"

Aimee smirked, "This is creepy."

Ari walked back to her uncle and put in orders for them without them even ordering and got drinks for everyone, including Lucas who she still hadn’t officially met.

She watched him walk back to the table and brought their drinks over.

Aleks beamed, "So it's you?"

She smiled, "I'm so sorry if it's been hard on you all. It's entirely my fault. Your meals will be ready in a minute."

She placed the drinks down.

Lucas frowned and picked up his root beer.

She walked away from the table frightened and unsure about what to do. She wanted to go with them but if she ran her uncle and Lorna and her friends from school were as good as dead.

She served her other tables and when their food was up she brought it to them.

"So what's the plan?" Lydia asked her softly.

Ari shrugged, "Not sure. I know they want me for whatever reason. They captured me before. They made me do terrible things." Her voice broke mid sentence. She tried to keep it together. Lydia touched her soothing her.

"Ari we could work as a team, you're trained?"

She smiled, "Yeah been to Roses twice so far."

Aimee laughed, "Good god. This is bizarre. So we were friends then?"

Ari bit her lip and nodded, "Best."

Aimee smiled back.

Aleks laughed, "What about us?" He raised an eyebrow giving her a seductive look. She felt her skin flush as she shook her head, "Just friends. We were all friends."

Aimee gave him a dirty look and rolled her eyes at him. He laughed and nudged her.

"Well you were friends with everyone except Lucas."

Ari's eyes bugged out of her head.

Lucas looked up at her frowning, "We weren’t friends?"

Lydia laughed, "You were more than that Lucas."

Ari laughed nervously.

Aimee looked shocked, "Lydia awkward much?"

Lucas didn’t smile or laugh, his stare intensified instead "Is this how you've brought us exactly what we would have ordered?"

She nodded, "I know you all better than I know myself." She turned and walked away from the table again and served her other tables. She didn’t want her uncle to see her.

"That boy is sure checking you out and he's a looker." Lorna whispered to her at the dish sink.

Ari flushed, "Yeah he is hot."

Lorna nudged her, "You don’t want him I'll be happy to go back in time fifteen years and help you out."

Ari laughed, "Dirty cougar."

"Rawrrrr."

She cleared the tables avoiding their table until she had to go over.

"So how was everything?"

Aimee rubbed her belly, "Best veggie burger ever."

Lucas laughed, "It smelled like death in a bun. My steak sandwich was perfect."

She smiled at Aleksander, "Was it alright?"
He nodded, "It was very good."

Lydia grabbed her hand, "Enough small talk Ari, we need to make a plan. We need to stay and fight and save your family and friends."

"I agree. I can't leave them alone."

Aleks cleared his throat thinking out loud, "We should hide now before they see us, its bad enough if they have a shifter they will smell us out. So where are you meeting them?"

"Bus depot for the last bus out. It's in three hours."

Lucas frowned, "Well we have to assume they're watching you right now. There is no way they would have left you without surveillance. I wouldn’t have."

She wanted to take it the wrong way but she nodded looking out at the night growing dark beyond the windows, "Probably."

"Well keep your uncle busy and let us work on something. Did I read it correctly you can knock an immortal unconscious?"

Ari nodded, "Except Lucas. I've uh well done it too many time to uhm him. He's immune to it now."

Aimee laughed, "We are best friends."

Lucas scowled at Aimee but blushed when he spoke to Ari, "What were we doing?"

She blushed, "Uhm well you were taking piercings out of my face one time with pliers and once you fought with your brother Ben over me. Once another wolf kissed my cheek in front of you. It was all really just misunderstandings."

He raised an eyebrow, "Someone kissed you?"

She nodded watching his face twitch at the thought. She smiled, "Does it bother you even though we've never met?"

He licked his lips staring at hers.

Lydia smacked him, "Anyway we need this to work so you better get back to work and we will come up with something."

Ari walked away and when she looked back Aimee was gone already. She hoped their plan would work.

Chapter Twenty-Eight- Bane

Aimee

She took Lorri's hand in hers and winked them to the bathroom in the diner.

"So she is legit?"

Aimee nodded, "It's weird."

Lorri laughed, "I met one once, it was weird. They really are the Bane of our existence. They mess with everything. I'll sneak out back and follow you guys."

Aimee walked casually back to the table and sat down.

"Where is she going?"

Aimee smiled at Lydia, "To watch out back."

They waited for the diner to close and then slipped out into the night to hide around the property. Lucas and Aleks went to the bus terminal to wait and watch out for the others.

Aimee watched from a distance as Ari said her goodbyes and hugged everyone. Her uncle got into the truck to drive her over. He seemed like he was devastated about her leaving. Aimee felt sad for him thinking about her own father and how keeping her distance was no doubt the only thing that had kept him alive. Her constant worry for him was the main reason she hadn’t ever tried to patch things up with Shane.

Ari climbed into the truck hugging the blond older woman once more.

"Take care of yourself sweetie and we expect visits at Christmas."

Ari waved to the woman and her uncle pulled out of the parking lot.

Aimee ran to the suburban and jumped in starting it and following after Ari.

The plan had seemed to be pretty basic, use Ari as bait and kill everyone as her uncle left. The only part Aimee was uncertain about was whether or not Ari could handle herself. She'd seen the way Luke had watched her, like the wolf and Little Red. She smirked thinking about it.

"Don’t be mean. She's his mate. He can't help how he looks at her."

Aimee grinned at Lydia, "Its just funny. He's so sexy, if you tell him that I will deny it to the death, honestly he is though and he has never shown an ounce of interest in a girl. Then suddenly this little sporty looking waitress comes along he's drooling and growling like a madman.

Lydia laughed.

They pulled in behind her uncles' old beater truck and watched as he helped unload her bag from the back of the truck. He hugged her and handed her some cash. She tried to turn him down but he insisted.

"He loves her so much." Aimee whispered.

"Its mutual." Lydia whispered back, "She's been through more than any of us will ever understand. She's lived this year four times, each time as a different her. One of the girls was raped and beaten and lived on the streets as a drug addict. Lucas saved her. She is the only one who remembers all of it."

Aimee felt pain for the girl who seemed like a small town country bumpkin.

They watched as Ari hugged her uncle and kissed him and dragged her suitcase over to the bus stop. He ran his hands through his hair and paced as if ready to tell her not to go. Aimee glanced at Lydia who nodded at her idea.

Aimee got out of the truck and walked up to the bus stop.

"Ari?"

Ari looked at her confused, "Hey."

"You catching the bus?"

Ari nodded looking at her uncle and smiling, "Yeah."

"Me too. Awesome at least we wont be alone. You must be Ari's uncle, I'm Aimee. I graduated two years before her."

He smiled brightly at Aimee, "Nice to meet you. What school do you go to?"

"She goes to Brown too Uncle."

Aimee nodded playing along, "I do yup, third year. It's an amazing school. You catching the flight from Albuquerque?"

Ari nodded, "Yeah they're paying, I got full scholarship."

Aimee whistled, "Good for you. You must be so proud of her."

Ari's uncle nodded and turned to hug her once more, "I am. Stay safe okay kid? Stay together."

Ari smiled at her uncle, "We will Vince, jeeze, easy on the PDA. It's only two months till Christmas."

He laughed, "You're a brat. See ya at Christmas."

The bus pulled up. Ari let them load her suitcase and looked at Aleksander in the corner. He nodded. Ari hugged her uncle once more and Aimee pulled her on the bus, "OMG Ari there is a dance in the fall it's so fun. Bye." She waved at Lydia as if it were her mom or grandma. Lydia waved smiling from ear to ear.

They went to the back of the bus and sat down. The bus driver scowled at them, "Tickets?"

Aimee smiled at him, "We don’t need tickets remember, we gave them to you already."

He looked dazed, "Oh yeah." He turned and walked back.

Aimee and Ari sat and watched Vince get back into his truck waving at the bus once more before driving away. When the truck was gone from sight Aimee winked them back to the bus stop.

"Wait here for them okay." She winked herself gone instantly.

She watched from across the street as Ari stood alone at the bus stop under a lonely yellow light.

"She looks like bait."

Lydia nodded, "That’s good, she is."

They didn’t wait long before a tall thin man in dark jeans and a sweater walked up to her. He was alone, which made Aimee nervous. They never traveled alone.

He spoke softly to Ari, she smiled sweetly.

Aimee looked at Lydia who shrugged.

Aimee crept along the building she had parked beside to listen. She lifted her face into the wind. She could smell Lucas but no one else.

"Are you ready to go?" His voice was familiar.

Ari spoke softly, "Yeah."

He took his first step and with a flash was behind Ari holding one of his fingers to her throat. Aimee winced knowing his finger would be as deadly as a knife.

"Don't move Aimee or I will kill her. Tell Lydia to get out here where we can see her too."

Aimee knew she didn’t need to tell Lydia anything.

"Andy told me about your little friend here. She figured eventually you would remember some how."

Aimee frowned walking forward holding her hands out, "Andy was untouched by it all?"

He smirked, "The first time Ari erased her memory but it came back in odd flashes. Andy came to me and had me glamour her against Ari's special gifts. That’s far enough Aimee. I know exactly what those hands of yours do. You killed my brother last year."

Aimee smiled, "Right, that’s why your voice is familiar. You sound exactly like him." Aimee snapped her fingers at him making sparks in the air.

He poked a small slit in Ari's neck sniffing her blood.

Ari winced.

"Oh demon blood. Dorian if I'm not mistaken. You're a real full blooded Nephilim."

Aimee looked back at Lydia who was walking forward along side her. Ari didn’t look fazed by the information, she must have known who her father was.

"She'll make an excellent acquisition. I understand her talents are incredibly unique, one or two born every five or six hundred years what with full blooded angels not mating as they used to."

As Ari's blood began to waft through the air a large brown wolf leapt down from the roof above the bus stop knocking the thin man and Ari.

Ari turned as the thin man turned on Lucas to grab him. Ari froze them both as a light shot from her hands hitting the thin man.

A huge black panther dashed across the parking lot grabbing Ari as she knocked the thin man out. The cat ripped at her arm. Aimee winked herself across the lot letting the hunger in her hands have the cat. He changed back into a man as he died.

Aimee looked out at the parking lot as Aleks threw a man across it and Lydia held a man frozen gripping his head. She crippled him with one of her migraine of doom moves. Aimee cringed knowing the pain he was in. She winked to the man killing him instantly.

She winked behind one of the men picking himself up off the ground, he spun punching her in the face. She tried blocking but he was stronger than she expected. He was on top of her choking her with his knee holding her hands down with his. The world spun as the air left her. His grip froze as he fell to his side passing out. Ari stood over her smiling. Aimee laughed and put her hand to the man on the ground. She took his life from him feeling badly for the fact he was unconscious but not bad enough to let him live. She knew he would not have offered her that fate.

The large brown wolf walked up nuzzling against Ari licking her wounds on her hands and neck. Ari laughed putting her hands around him.

"Demon blood will make you sick Lucas stop it."

Aimee laughed, "Not when he's a wolfie. He isn’t like us, shifters are something completely different. They are like mother natures warriors. He could eat a demon and not even get a little heartburn."

Aimee looked around wondering where Lorri had gotten.

Lydia spoke looking haunted, "She will be here in a moment."

A black car drove up making a horrid squeal, smoke billowed from its hood and bullet holes riddled its doors. The car came to a screeching stop and the driver door nearly ripped off its hinges as Lorri climbed out looking particularly badass. She dragged a bleeding and weak looking Andy Cromwell.

Lorri threw Andy, rolling the woman along the pavement to Lydia's feet.

She coughed and turned her battered face up to Lydia as tears of blood rolled down her face, "Lydia please spare me. I didn’t mean it. I was trying to help you all. Save you."

Aimee looked horrified as Lydia's face crumpled, "You're my oldest and dearest friend Andy how could you?"

Andy spat viciously, "She erased my memory once. I had spent a full year of my life trying to find the mole in our organization. I met someone in my journey into the dark ones, I fell in love Lydia. She erased it all. All my time and all my effort. I started to remember, my heartbreak was real. My depression was because she stole a year of my life, all our lives. I told the dark ones about her. It seemed like a smart idea. What better way to destroy them than give them something that will destroy them all without them being aware of it just as we weren’t."

Lorri leaned down and ripped Andy's head off suddenly. She picked up one of Andy's arms and dragged her walking away from the small group of them, "Enough of that bullshit." She muttered like a psychopath.

Ari threw up, Lucas turned his face away and Aimee shivered at the sight of the violence.

Lydia shrunk to her knees sobbing for her loss.

Chapter Twenty-Nine- Angels and Demons

Ari

The words were truth, she didn’t want them to be but she truly was the best weapon the good had against the bad. She had systematically destroyed all of their lives without even trying. Her chest felt empty.

Lydia looked at her, Ari knew the older woman was reading her but she didn’t even try to consol Ari. She knew Lydia agreed with her thoughts. She watched Lucas walk away, she knew he was going to shift and put clothes on.

She walked to Aimee putting a hand to her arm, "I need you to do something for me."

Her grey eyes sparkled with the tears that floated in her eyes, "What?"

"I need you to take me somewhere."

"Now?"

Ari looked around, "Quickly. Think of New York City, the Roses."

Aimee frowned and took her hand thinking of Daniel and the institution.

The sick feeling she already had from Lorri ripping Andy's head off increase as they stood in the entryway of the Roses. She turned to Aimee, "Thanks, don’t bring Lucas here. Just let me be here alone for a while please."

Aimee looked at her confused, "I don’t understand. Andy is dead."

Ari felt tears pouring from her eyes, "I know but she was right. I'm a natural disaster. Who knows who I'll touch next, who I'll send back and mess with everyone's life."

Aimee nodded, "I'll tell him. See you soon?"

Ari shrugged, "If you want to. If not I get it."

Aimee was gone in an instant leaving Ari standing alone in the hallway. She walked up and pressed the doorbell to the institution for after hours.

Daniel answered the door looking exhausted, "Ari, uhm how, well what's going on?"

Ari nearly walked inside to embrace but then it dawned on her she had never been to Roses since she'd been sent back. Daniel shouldn’t know her. She stepped back but Daniel took a step forward, "You okay?"

She gulped and reached out for him tears streaming down her face even harder. Her hands brushed his before he could get away. She pushed watching his body drop to the floor. She turned and ran to the elevator. She looked up at the camera and decided the stairs were a safer bet. She had walked into the trap that had been set to put her down. She knew she was a danger to everyone but she wanted to live. She wanted a life. She turned and ran through the emergency stairwell and sprinted the eight floors.

She heard the doors open at the top of the hall, she knew there would be more waiting at the bottom if she didn’t beat the elevator. She ran past the main floor remembering about the underground parking. She burst through the door on the second parking level. She ran toward the light. Her legs started to fill with the sweet adrenaline. Her instincts from being angry Ari filled her like muscle memory, she weaved through cars and trucks, jumping levels and running as fast as she could.

She leapt through the gate at the end jumping it like a hurdle. She sprinted out into the dark night in New York City feeling the cold October Rain hitting her in her shorts and t-shirt. She pumped her legs hard. Again all she wished for was Lucas. She knew he would come for her. She needed to reach him before they used him as bait to bring her in.

Her brain worked still like Angry Ari, she sensed the conspiracies and traitors in her midst.

She ran until she reached the area where the shifter bar she'd heard about many times was supposed to be. She looked around desperate and soaked. The entrance was a red door, she remembered that much.

Unfortunately the number of red doors on the street was unbelievable.

She walked trying to smell and see if she could get a scent of the shifters, they did smell differently than regular humans.

She walked up and down the street twice and gave up turning down an alleyway. She looked at a man watching her. She felt her fingers heat instantly as he followed her into the alley. She kept her head down assuming he was one of Daniels rogue Roses. She couldn’t believe he was the Mole in the organization. Lorri was going to rip his head off if Ari could ever get word to her.

"Look girl you don't want to do this."

He spoke softly looking behind himself.

She turned to see his face better, he wasn’t a shifter that was certain. He wasn’t nearly attractive enough to be one. He could be a demon but she wracked her brains to think of an unattractive demon or vampire. This man was skinny to the point of starvation and homely.

"Please don’t go down this alley. Just go. Turn around before anyone else sees you."

She frowned looking back at him, "Leave me alone."

He shrugged shaking his head and turned around. He left her alone in the wet alley. She looked around her at the fire escapes.

She turned back to him and shouted, "Do you have a cell phone?"

He turned back around laughing, "Yeah I live on the streets and have no food but I totally have a cell phone."

She smiled and rolled her eyes following him out of the alley back onto the street.

"The shelter up the road, sometimes the workers will let you use theirs if it's an emergency."

"Why are you helping me?"

"You look like my sister. I would want someone to help her."

She nodded and followed him in his rumpled clothes down the wet street. He didn’t stop for her, he didn’t speak to her again he just walked until they reached a building with a red and blue cross on the outside.

He opened the door but never held it for her. She walked behind him leery of everything he did. The room he walked into seemed like a gymnasium filled with homeless people and bad smells. She also caught a whiff of chicken noodle soup. She smiled seeing the shelter. Angry Ari had memories that had been similar. She walked in behind him.

He pointed to bins, "There are clothes over there. I'd cover up if I were you."

She smiled at him seeing his face up close for the first time. He didn’t seem much older than her but the dirt and filth over his gaunt face aged him incredibly.

She turned to the bin of clothes.

"You're new?"

Ari looked toward the voice, "Yeah."

"You living on the streets?"

Ari shrugged at the woman and started rifling through the bin of clothes, "I am now."

"No job?"

She shook her head, "No family, no money, no clothes, no home." She heard the edge in her voice but she knew if she didn’t act defensively they would never believe she needed help. She looked healthy and fit and tanned in expensive running shorts and shoes.

She grabbed a huge hoodie and a raincoat. They smelled funny but she knew they would help mask her scent for the trackers Daniel no doubt had searching for her.

"Do you have anyone you can call?"

Ari turned smiling, "No phone."

The woman held up her cell, "You can try them on mine if you know the number."
"Why are you helping me?"

"You look good, you look healthy and young and pretty. You wont last a day on these streets kid."

She nodded taking the cell, "Thanks."

She sent a text instantly to Aimee, 'its Ari, Daniel is the mole. He knew me when I got there. I'm alone on the streets in NY. I can meet you at the place you told me you threw up after you drank rum for the first time. I will wait for you. Trust no one except Luke and Aleks. Do not text me back here, shelter woman's phone.'

She deleted the message as it sent. She then sent a second message, 'tell Lorri, pretty sure she doesn’t know'

She deleted the text messages and phoned Lydia's house. The phone rang several times before Ben picked up, "Yeah."

"Ben?"

"Yeah."

"My name is Ari, I'm a friend of Lydia's is she there?"

"Nope."

"Don’t tell anyone except your brother I called." She hung up the phone and deleted the call before she passed it back to the woman, "Thanks."

The woman smiled, "Did you find anyone?"

Ari shook her head, "No but I think I have a friend I can go talk to."

She took a step closer to Ari, "Dress bulky, try to look chubby. Head down, hair hidden. Speak to no one and don’t smile."

Ari nodded trying not to smile, "Okay, thanks."

She looked around noticing the homeless men noticing her in her shorts. She slipped some jogging pants over top of them and the hoodie over her t-shirt. She pulled the raincoat over the hoodie and pulled the hood of the sweatshirt up. She tucked all her hair back and looked at the lady who nodded, "Take this get some food somewhere else. When you leave here run for at least three blocks. Most of them can't run that far." She slipped Ari twenty dollars.

Ari took the money, "Thank you so much."

The lady smiled, her wrinkled old face suddenly cleared showing beauty beneath the aging. Ari blinked but it was gone. The woman's smile warmed her heart.

"I just wont be able to bear it if they get you. It happened once before. Horrible. Anyway try to find somewhere to stay and remember even though you might not know your dad there are laws that he has to protect you. He is responsible for you." She turned away from Ari and walked into the crowd. Ari frowned at her shaking her head. The shelter lady had spent too much time with runaways, that was clear. If she knew who Ari's father was she would take it back. Ari looked around the room shuddering at the faces of the people watching her. The shelter lady started to greet people and make noise. The wolves in the room turned their attention from Ari for a split second and she took her chance to get away.

She walked very quickly. As she made it through the door her legs burst into a run. She didn’t look behind her as she sprinted she just drove her body forward.

She heard calling out behind her but she ignored it and sprinted for four blocks instead of three just to be certain.

When she was far enough away she stopped running slumped over to make her body seem bigger than it was and walked with a slight limp.

She wasn’t starving but she was scared enough that she wouldn’t be eating anything she stopped at a convenience store. The owner looked at her like she was the most disgusting thing she'd ever seen. She watched every move she made. She grabbed a snickers and a bottle of water. She pulled out the twenty dollars, the girl at the till looked her over several times before giving her the change.

Ari ate the bar quickly as she walked toward the Empire State building. She smiled remembering the story of Aimee and her first week at Roses training. She drank for the first time since she'd turned. The alcohol didn’t really hit her until all at once it did and threw up all over the front steps of the empire state building.

Ari finished her water and placed the bottle in a garbage bin with her candy wrapper. She looked around ensuring she wasn’t being followed.

The dark wet night reminded her of Gotham City. She didn’t feel like Batman though, she felt like one of the girls he would save, helpless and weak and she would fall in love with him and let him sweep her away into the night with one of his gadgets. Her version was more like a large green-eyed wolf would show up and kill everything leaving a bloody trail and together they would walk away. Next to him she felt like she should probably be wearing an earthy brown mini dress with wings and a bow and arrow.

As she arrived at the entrance she slipped inside the entryway and became invisible to world. Just another hunched over bum inside a door well.

"I'm telling you she's here. I can smell her." She looked up to Lucas's voice but didn’t see anyone.

"Where does the trail end?"

"Over here where you barfed just like you said it would."

Ari looked up and smiled at Aimee standing in the street in a short black raincoat, black jeans and black knee high boots. Lucas stood beside her looking double her size. He looked at Ari and smirked.

Ari smiled at him, "No one followed you?"

Aimee started to giggle, "Wow that's really good. I wouldn’t have known."

Ari laughed, "I smell absolutely disgusting. I don’t know how you found me."

Lucas shrugged, "It seems I can find you better than I can find anyone. Your smell can't be masked against my nose."

She felt her face flush, "Did you tell Lorri?"

Aimee nodded, "She was pissed. I don’t think she even believes it all. She is so angry right now. She has a bit of a temper on a good day."

Ari nodded, "Yeah I've been through Roses training twice. She actually tried to eat me once."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah but you saved me Aimee. You winked me to the rooftop garden to cry and have a hissy fit. You said it was where you went for yours."

Aimee laughed again, "This is freaking me out."

Ari felt the reality hit her, "I have ruined your life three times Aimee."

Aimee frowned, "How?"

"I keep changing the influence I have in it. So you meet me and start dating Shane. Then I change and so does your boyfriend and suddenly you're dating Aleks. Then I change again and you're single."

"Did you do it on purpose?"

Ari trembled slightly, "No I, you're my best friend, I would never."

Aimee smiled and stepped forward, "Then stop worrying about it. Look at it this way I've gotten to test the water with both guys. Which one was I happier with?"

Ari shrugged laughing, "Both. Honestly you seemed in love with both. I think you need to ask yourself which life do you want. With Shane you were always worried about him being human and wanting human things. Even when you were living together you were worried. With Aleks."

An English accent interrupted, "Aw well isn’t this touching. Old friends catching up."

Ari growled, "Hey Dad."

He raised his hands defensively, "Hey kid I didn’t know either."

Aimee took a step toward him, "Dorian what do you want?"

He flashed one of his truly evil smiles, "To help of course."

Lucas walked stepping in between Ari and Dorian.

Aimee tilted her head, "I have a very hard time believing you want to help us. I have long suspected your relationship with Daniel. Seemed a bit chummy to me."

Dorian took a menacing step toward her, "Not now Aimee." His words rolled from his throat.

She laughed, "Touchy. Just out of curiosity if Ari touches you can she knock you out?"

He grinned at Ari, "I'm her dad why would she want to hurt me?"

Ari grinned back, "You're the best dad ever, that’s why."

He laughed, "Look Ari, I naturally like you. I can't fight it. I've never made one of you before." He pointed to the sky, "The one rule he made for us if we made one of you, we were responsible for it."

Ari laughed, "You have to help me?"

He nodded.

"Don’t you have freewill?"

"Not with this."

Aimee looked back at Ari knowing Lucas had his eyes on Dorian, "Ari don’t believe him. He lies."

Ari nodded, "I know." She took a step toward her father pushing past Lucas. "But I know he's telling the truth now."

Aimee frowned, "How."

Ari pointed to the sky, "He told me."

Aimee frowned, "Snap out of it, he's got you under his spell."

Ari laughed, "No honestly I think God sent someone to help me. She told me exactly what Dorian just said."

Lucas grabbed her arm spinning her around, "It's also just as possible Dorian told the lady to say that."

Ari thought for a second and shook her head, "She was an angel. A good one."

Dorian folded his arms, "We can stand here and bicker or we can go back to Lydia's where the guards will keep all who wish us harm out."

Ari frowned, "How did Andy trick the guards?"

Dorian laughed, "She thought she was doing it for the good of the group. She believed you to be a danger, the Bane of our existence."

Ari nodded feeling sick, even the guards agreed with Andy.

Aimee put a hand out. They all touched her instantly appearing in the front entryway of Lydia's dripping water all over the front hall.

Ari sighed smelling the house again. It seemed like ages since she had been home. She knew it then and there this would always be her home, if Lydia would let her stay.

Lydia burst into the room, "Ari, oh you made it." She hugged Ari and started pulling the stinky shelter clothes off."

"Annabelle this is Ari, she's apart of the family. She'll take the empty room across from Lucas and she'll need a hot bath right away."

Annabelle smiled her ghostly mocha smile flashing her perfect white teeth, "Yes, now Miss Ari you needs to come with Annabelle. I can't smell ya but I can see the look on young Mister Lucas's face." She nattered on as Ari looked at them all staring at her as if she'd sprouted another head.

Ari turned and walked up the stairs after Annabelle.

The hot bath reminded her of the first one she'd ever taken in Lydia's house. She felt mixed about being there, a glimmer of hope covered by a mass of confusion and fear.

Chapter Thirty- Hellfire Hath No Fury…

Aimee

The chair wrapped around her tired body as she sat in it. Lucas came around he corner growling, "That's my chair Aimee."

Aimee stuck her tongue out, "I got here first hound lay on the floor like a good dog."

He flipped the back of the huge comfortable fluffy chair sending her tumbling out onto the floor. He put the chair back and flopped into it eating the sandwich he'd apparently been eating the entire time.

Aimee glared at him feeling the spark in her fingers.

He stopped mid bite and flashed his wolf canines at her, "Lay on the floor like a good dead girl."

She leapt at him but strength and size won out. Unless she was willing to use her hands she couldn’t defeat him. He laughed at her still holding his sandwich while holding her back.

She pulled herself from his grip and sat on the couch across from him. It wasn’t nearly as comfy as the chair.

"Spoiled little bratty pup."

He bit his sandwich and grinned at her.

She laughed at his face, "I hate you."

"No you don’t. You love me."

Dorian walked into the room and leaned against the wall crossing his arms, "I'm heading to the institute. I just got the weirdest text from Lorri."

"See ya." Aimee waved.

He smirked, "Aimee is there a reason you're still pissed at me? You asked me to help you, I did." His stare roamed her body, "I think you should be more grateful."

She growled, "You made me murder an innocent in the woods and lied to me. You were mean to me constantly, I'll give you grateful." She got up off the couch.

He laughed, "Aimee if I didn’t show you exactly what you were capable of how many people would you have hurt? Good people not like that girl. You saved lives ending hers." He vanished before she could say anything else.

She thought about what he'd said and slumped back on the couch.

"That was awkward, even in my comfy chair."

She laughed at Lucas, "He's such a head game and you're an ass."

"My ass is very relaxed, thanks for asking. This chair is doing wonders for it."

She looked at him, "Why is everything always such a mess for us?"

He shrugged, "cause you're dead and I'm not human. Nothing in a human world where the rules are made for humans is ever going to be easy. Jesus look at me and Ari. I know her somehow even though I don’t. Every time I'm in wolf form I think about biting her neck, like nibbling it. Anyway." His face began to glow with embarrassment. Aimee laughed and then stopped thinking about it all for a moment.

"Lydia is going to ask her leave. Will you go with her?"

He shrugged, "I don’t know if I know her well enough to live with her but it's like my wolf side does. I think I have to follow her. It's weird. Not as weird as your love life but no one's is that weird."

She sneered at him and picked up her cell realizing the sound had been off. Lorri had been blowing it up, seventeen messages. The last one was a cry for help to all roses.

Aimee was off the couch running, "LORRI NEEDS US! EVERYONE NOW KITCHEN!"

Lucas shoved his sandwich down his throat leaping at Aimee as Ari ran down the stairs pulling clothes on. Aimee watched as Lucas smirked at the amount of flesh Ari had exposed.

Aimee winked as Brandon, Ari, Lucas, Ben and Aleks all put a hand on her. She'd never winked so many people before. She felt the strain of it as she visualized exactly what the txt had said.

Suddenly it was dark, they were in a small warehouse with rooms. Aimee looked at Ari whose face crumpled.

"I've been here before. They held me here making me push everyone I loved."

Aimee felt her stomach sink.

They stood in the corner of back room. The floors were concrete and the ceiling was open with vents and other things. It seemed very desolate and industrial.

Aleks put his hand on her shoulder whispering, "I'll slip down this hall. I'll have my cloak up. You guys stay together."

Aimee felt nervous about him separating but she knew nothing could kill him, not even her. She nodded and walked the other way.

Brandon, Ben and Lucas phased into two wolves and a panther. They crept low to the ground looking around the corners.

Aimee walked behind them ready to wink and attack. Ari stayed beside Aimee watching their backs. Her training was obvious but the way she worked with them as they cleared the hallways and doorways was remarkable. She fit into the team perfectly as if she'd trained with them.

"Lorri said she's hiding in a room with computers. This place is crazy quiet." Aimee whispered.

They walked till they reached an unlocked door. Aimee opened the door to a dark room as Brandon slinked into the darkness. He was back within seconds. Aimee knew that meant nothing was in the room. They cleared the rooms that way until they reached a door toward the end of one of the halls.

Ari looked up at Aimee and shook her head, "This door hurts my stomach. It's the cell. Be careful."

Aimee nodded, "I'll go in. I can wink out."

She turned the knob and poked her head into the doorway. There was nothing inside but a shower, toilet and a cot. No one was held prisoner. Aimee closed the door again and pointed forward.

They slipped down the hall to the very last door before the corner and what she assumed was the entryway into the building. Aimee nodded at everyone slipping the door open. She felt the pain in her side instantly. She closed the door again looking down at the huge hole in her side, as dark black liquid seeped from the wound and through her black t-shirt.

"What the fuck was that?" Aleks appeared out of nowhere.

Aimee felt queasy, "Not sure. I think it’s a bullet." She winced as he reached his fingers inside and fished a slug out of her side. The black goo oozed from her faster as he pulled it out.

Ari winced, "Are you okay?"

Aimee nodded, "It'll heal in like three minutes. It just stings, a lot."

Aleks looked at the door, "They know we're here apparently. They must have Lorri."

"She's gonna be pissed."

"Yeah. Ready?"

Aimee looked at him and smiled, "Yup."

As Aleks tore open the door the wolves and panther dashed into the room keeping low. Aimee vanished instantly reappearing in behind a huge man with a big knife. She touched him before he realized she was there.

Ari dove in touching one of the huge men attacking Lucas. He vanished changing the people in the room suddenly. Ari laughed realizing suddenly there were more.
Aimee looked around the huge room as the fight turned against them. For every person Ari pushed the dynamics of the dark ones changed.

Looking angry and pissed off Aimee watched as she picked up a knife off the ground and stabbing it into the stomach of a man grabbing at her. Aleks ripped a creature to pieces. Lucas and Ben worked in tandem moving as if they were in the wild, hunting together. Brandon dragged two men down at once using his claws to cut them open, biting their heads and crushing their skulls.

Aimee cringed turning away. Lorri wasn’t in the room, it was the surveillance room. There were TV monitors everywhere and cords. The concrete walls and floor became stained in the blood that sprayed everywhere.

Ari pushed a man taking several of the bodies out of the room and erasing varying cuts on the wolves and Aleks.

Aimee burst into laughter, partly from the shock of it all but mostly from the freak show Ari had turned out to be.

"You are a menace. No wonder Andy was trying to get rid of you."

Ari laughed weakly, "How crazy was that? I touched one and like eight appeared out of nowhere. I thought they were like us. I thought they would just disappear."

Aleks laughed, "Most of them were human, Daniel has modified them. He's lost his mind completely. Don't worry about it Ari you've healed us completely though. Guess you have your advantages and disadvantages."

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 his 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.

The drive was short as Aimee had ordered the van dropped to a location close to their destination.

The large warehouse looking building had very few windows and almost no doors. They surveyed the area for nine hours straight, watching cars go in and out nearly all black and shiny new cars with flags or plates they knew to be important people.

As dusk began to settle in the sky Aimee knew their window to complete their mission would be very narrow. They approached the building winking the entire way. Ari smiled at Aimee as she flashed a hand past the scanner. The door lock blinked green but she tried hard not to feel smug, people had grown a lot cleverer and some of her kind had been captured before. God only knew or rather didn’t want to know what the humans had done to them. They slowly stalked in looking around seeing the crates and forklifts firstly and then the rest of the huge cement room with the feel of an industrial shipping area. It appeared to be a huge government warehouse filled with crates and of course the special children they knew would be kept invisible.

A black metal door stood behind one of the forklifts looking ominous. Aimee knew instantly it was a certain rock, obsidian. A door made of granite like rock seemed silly but she remembered something about immortals being blocked by certain metals and stones. She panicked a little as she imagined the other side of the door hoping her powers would work on it.

Ari whispered, "Can you get us past it?"

Aimee bit her lip, "No I don’t think so. It's obsidian, devils rock. Flash your hand."

Ari flashed her hand, it was a neat trick she'd learned from her dad/Dorian. He told her the doors would just open like ladies bras did for him, it was a touching moment. She threw up a little thinking about it and the comment he'd made after wondering if Aimee would ever be into him. She cringed and opened the door.

"I'm powerless inside of here."

Ari nodded, "I think we both might be, that door makes me feel funny."

Aimee glared looking around, "If they were smart they built the whole damned warehouse with it."

Ari smiled, "It’s the government, they're not smart."

Inside the hallway Aimee tried to wink ahead but couldn’t.

Ari sighed, "Nice they're cheap with everything except powerful children and private jets."

They walked along the hallway until they reached a small room with the door open. Aimee looked inside to find a pink bed and a dresser covered in books. A blue jump rope sat on the floor beneath her feet. She closed the door looking around the room for it’s occupant. She smelled something, perfume perhaps. She breathed it in calmly looking the source of the smell. The room was disastrous.

"This looks like my sisters room. This will never fly with Annabelle.” She muttered looking at the clothes covering the floor at the base of the closet.

“Who are you?” a small female voice squeaked at her.

Nearly jumping out of their skin they turned toward the voice seeing nothing.

Aimee spoke softly again, “Your salvation. Who are you?”

Ari saw a slight movement in the air she assumed was the little being.

“Sarah, Sarah Martin. Why are you my salvation?” The girl sounded so calm for having strangers in her room this made Ari sad. The little girl had never truly been taken care of. She had a clinical approach to everything from a lack of tenderness.

"May I read you? Hold your hand out and I will touch it and see what your intentions are?" Her little voce squeaked.

Aimee nodded putting her hand out slowly.

Moments past as Aimee stood perfectly still until at last she felt tiny fingers gripping her own.

“I'm a fire witch.” The small voice spoke softly.

The little girl appeared suddenly.

"Thank god. I was wondering if you would ever come. We have to hurry. If we get to Danny first he will tell all the others before they get here.”

She was a cute little blond with curly long hair in pigtails. She looked about ten at the most with very pale skin from lack of sunshine. She had soft brown eyes and a few teeth missing.

She opened the door and peeked a head out into the hall. She walked to a door three doors down on the right hand side. She opened the door and spoke softly, “Danny they're here now. Tell the others we have to go now.” Aimee looked at Ari who looked as confused as she was.

They walked behind the fiery little thing as she pointed to Danny, a chubby boy with dark brown hair and dark skin and blue eyes who looked about twelve at the most. Danny sat playing a video game, “They’ll be here in a minute. Dawn doesn’t want to come though. Hi I’m Danny.” His eyes never left his game.

Aimee smiled, “Hi Danny. I’m Aimee. This is my best friend Ari. We need you guys to be ready to go in about a minute will they be here soon? Is there someone here who is blocking our powers?”

Ben spoke softly waiting for the others, “They’ll be here right now and that would be Anne.”

He pointed as a beautiful girl with big black colored eyes and silky brown hair came strolling in. She was so beautiful and old. Not at all what Amy had imagined when Lydia called them children but when considering the source it seemed to fit. Even she was a child compared to Lydia.

“Hi Anne I’m Aimee is there any way to turn that off?”

Anne looked oddly at her and spoke almost rude in her tone, “No. I don’t control where it happens it just does. If I could control it I wouldn’t be here with the A team.”

Ari raised her eyebrows at the girl wanting to slap her silly but instead took a deep breath. Six kids strolled into the room making the total eight.

“So eight of you. Right well let's get out of here then. Everyone has to touch at the exact moment I wink, do you understand?”

They all nodded except one girl Aimee took to be Dawn. She looked defiant and rude just standing there.

“Do you have a problem?” Ari asked pointedly.

Everyone else sighed as the girl answered, “Yes I have a problem. I don’t want to leave. We are asking for trouble. Here they feed us and give us clothes and somewhere warm to live. I am tired of running and I want to stay.”

Aimee nodded, "That ones yours dude."

Ari laughed and nodded feeling sad about what she was about to say but she needed everyone on board, “Our options are to end you or take you so your choice will result in one of those two selections.”

The eyes of the kids around them, mostly teenagers, all looked like they might come out of their heads.

“You’re a death dealer, Sam saw you coming. He saw you taking us to some old house. You can’t kill us. God won’t let you.” She crossed her arms defiantly.

Aimee grinned at her, “why would you think I serve god, he didn’t make me?”

The girl took the hands of the girl beside her with a lump to swallow in her throat.

A noise made them all jump, Aimee smelled them as they made their way down the hall.

“Now!” She screamed as the kids all took hands and ran. At the end of the hall Ari had a door open leading into another part of the warehouse. She watched as another black door closed.

"WE'RE FREE AIMS, NOW!"

Aimee put her hands out and she winked them away as fast as she could. Not fast enough, she caught a glimpse of Daniel's face as she faded away. He looked panicked as he reached for her too late.

She opened her eyes to the minivan parked miles away. She stopped momentarily feeling her heart pounding in her chest after seeing his face. Daniel had seemed upset. She smiled thinking about it.

“Well now we know that works lets leave the minivan and try to get to Lydia's."

She had expected to be long gone by the time the sun went down. All the bickering and bull had prolonged their stay in the creepy warehouse.

Ari looked nervously at the huge boy standing in front of her as they all took Aimee's hand, "So are you Sam?”

He nodded looking straight ahead. He looked incredibly sad as he spoke softly, “We need to get there as fast as your able to. We have a small problem your not aware of.”

He looked around at the kids all reaching in to touch Aimee, “This group of kids is full of the most dangerous weapons on the planet and you’ve just taken us out of the only place we were guaranteed not to do bad things to the world. There will be people after us from here on out.” He raised an eyebrow looking extremely unhappy with his circumstances.

Aimee nodded, “We didn’t decide to come get you on a whim contrary to your belief. We have given this a lot of thought and the woods near our house are the safest on this continent. You will be safe there, we just have to get you there. We're not exactly without skills young man. We will do our best for you and them.”

He frowned, “I think we will probably need some hellfire to get us there. And don’t call me boy, lad or young man. I would bet you I’m older than you are.”

Ari laughed for the first time in days, “Yea well I wish that you were. Then perhaps I wouldn’t feel so alone right now. And don’t ask for hellfire sonny unless you know what your talking about, it is a very bad thing to mess with.”

He snorted at her, “Fine whatever just don’t say I never warned you.”

Ari shook her head in disbelief. They were the least grateful group she had ever met. They had no idea the kind of things she had saved them from.

“Anne just out of curiosity why was your block only working on us? How come the other people in the little science experiment camp could use their gifts of foresight or vanishing or whatever but ours was blocked?”

Anne shrugged, “I didn’t know you. That makes you a threat to me. No one has ever explained how this all works to me, they just get excited that it does. I have the ability to put up a shield around myself and others near me against the threats.”

“So does that mean that they won’t be able to track you to Lydia's house or sense you being there?"

“I don’t know. I’ve never had it explained to me.” Anne continued to look out the window as Aimee winked.

“Aimee are we almost there I’m hungry and I need to pee?” A small voice came from below her.

Sam sighed, “If we stop now they will find us and make us do the bad things again, okay? Everyone just follow Aimee and Ari. Aimee is going to take us all now and get as far away from here as possible.”

Ari looked at him for a second before feeling the words hit her, he was a good-looking teenager. His brown hair was soft looking framing his handsome face. He had dark brown eyes that looked black in the night. Ari took a deep breath to cool herself off.

She scolded herself remembering Lucas and his sweet face.

Ari thought again to the comment Anne made about her being a threat, “So what the heck are you guys?”

Sam shook his head, “Not right now.”

Aimee winked them all smiling at the groans of nausea.

Ari raised her eyebrows in annoyance, “We just saved you and that’s your answer, not right now? Fair enough you’ve been nothing but ungrateful since we met you so why not continue in that direction. We're here anyway, see the huge house. That’s your new home away from home."

Lydia and Annabelle waved at them from the front door as the huge crowd walked into the driveway.

Lydia smiled, "Everyone inside and Annabelle will give you the tour." She turned to Aimee and Ari, "Have a fun trip girls?"

Ari rolled her eyes watching Sam walk into the house, "Weird would be the better word."

Aimee shrugged, "We got there just before Daniel. He looked pissed cause we got the kids first."

Lydia shook her head, “Not kids Aimee. Those are something else. They’re half angels, like from the tales of a long time ago. Those kids are the product of very old and powerful angels. They're like Ari and possibly the problem we have been seeing coming for a long time. We need for them to agree to live here, maybe forever.”

Ari frowned, “So we are essentially doing the same thing as the government, making them stay in a place against their will.”

Lydia shook her head, “No they must choose this. We cannot bend their will for them. They have to see the power they carry is too much to take for granted.”

Ari sighed, "That’s a horrid lesson to learn, trust me."

“Why did the dark ones want them dead?”

Lydia's eyes shone in the moonlight coming in the window, “Someone has seen them as tipping the scales in our favor. Someone has seen them choose our side."

"Well its not like we couldn’t use the help."

Lydia sighed looking up at the old house, "It's about balance Ari. Not one side winning but both sides finding equal ground."

Aimee smiled, "Well I'm going home for the night, I need some sleep."

Ari laughed, "Don’t forget to call about the van. Say it broke down. It's my visa Aims."

Aimee walked away waving, "I will. Good luck tonight." She winked and was gone.

Ari looked up at the house, "Where will they all sleep?"

Lydia giggled, "Oh this old house always finds places to make a room or two when needed."

Ari laughed walking into the house to help the new additions get acquainted.

Lucas smiled at her from across the kitchen, "There's my girl."

She smirked back, "Hey you."

He walked over kissing her lips softly, he was always gentle with her.

She looked up at Sam watching her from the other room. She sighed closing her eyes and wondering what kind of troubles the new group of kids would bring. She thought about her own trouble and cringed. Nephilim were a dangerous group of people.

Lydia laughed behind her, "I love you Ari but you're thinking the exact thing I am."

Ari laughed, "Hurtful, you make me sound like a Luna-Chic. I've managed to gain control," she looked at the group of youths in front of her, "These guys will too."

Sam looked her in the eyes, holding her gaze.

Chapter Thirty-Four- Hyde and Seek

Epilogue

Aimee

She took a deep breath winking into the room. Her hands trembled but she knew it was the only way things could be. She owed him that at least. She walked into the living room and smiled, "Hi daddy."

The older man began crying, he looked afraid but he got up from his chair and walked toward her with his arms stretched out.

She remained very still as his fingers made contact with her arm. His grip tightened and he pulled her to him squeezing her. Had she been mortal the hug would have hurt her.

"How?"

"I faked my death."

He sobbed, "You're not a ghost?"

She shook her head silently as tears streamed her cheeks, "I am dead but not in the same way you would consider someone dead."

He pulled her back, "Do you think you're a vampire? I know that’s all the craze right now with girls your age."

She laughed, "No daddy. I'm a grim reaper, a death dealer."

"How? This isn’t possible."

She felt shame flooding her face, "I sold my soul to the devil to stay alive when nothing else could keep me here."

"Aimee are you on drugs?"

"No daddy I swear. I'm a reaper. I promise."

He touched her arm squeezing it, "I've lost my mind. It's finally happened."

Tears leaked from her eyes, "No daddy I'm here. I'm real. I swear."

He shook his head and walked away from her.

She walked up to him grabbing his arm, "Daddy watch this." She winked herself across the room and then back to him.

He reached out and touched her again, "Aimee."

She smiled and squeezed his hand, "Yes. I can't explain everything right now. Shane said he would come and answer your questions. I just couldn’t bear for you to think I'm dead one more minute."

"You're real?"

She nodded excitedly, "I'm real."

He nodded, "Okay. Okay. I can live with that. I'm not certain I want any details but I can live with that."

She laughed again, "I'm so sorry I hurt you and made you think I was dead."

"Are you in danger?"

She nodded, "That and I wont age, I wont get sick, I wont ever have children or be on the PTA. I will always be this."

He hugged her again soothingly, "You're perfect the way you are Aimee and if this is all we ever get than I will be grateful. I lost you once and I cant do it again."

She pulled back looking sternly at him, "Dad you can never talk about me like I'm alive, you cant let on you know. There are things after me, they want me dead or at the very least to join their side. We call them the dark ones."

He frowned, "So you're good still then?"

She nodded, "I am. I don’t hurt people unless I have to, I govern the laws for people like me."

"You have a place to live and food and friends?"

"And you and Shane."

"Then what else could you ask for? Will you stay for a while?"

She smiled, "I'll come back tomorrow night, maybe some Austen?"

He laughed, "Done but I want that…"

She nodded, "I know I know Pride and Prejudice. You know dad there is one you’ve never seen before, it’s a bit more gothic."

His eyes lit up, "Well I feel more open minded as of late so why not." She squeezed his hands.

"I have to go. Shane will be here any minute to talk with you and answer questions."

"I love you Aimee."

"I love you too daddy." She winked from the room.

Her broken heart felt as if it were mending, even if it was just a little. She looked at her watch winking herself to her Roses assignment. She liked being exactly on time.

She walked along the long gravel driveway enjoying the feel of the night air on her. She looked up at the gothic Tudor home at the end of the driveway. She felt her cell phone buzz and pulled it out.

She smiled at the text from Shane.

'He's so happy Aimes. You did the right thing. C U tomorrow night'

She put her phone away and put on her game face.

She knocked on the huge wooden door with the forest scene carved in it and waited as the golden handle turned.

"Good Evening Miss Aimee. He is ready for you."

She nodded and walked in. She hated it when they were nice to her.

The house was massive and creepy as if Bram Stoker were to film there any moment. She walked listing to the click of her high-heeled boots on the wooden floors.

The man stopped her at a large bedroom door. Aimee could hear voices inside.

"Wait here." The man spoke softly, Aimee heard his voice break and tried not to feel sick for what she was about to do.

The door opened suddenly with a young woman around her age looking confused.

Aimee walked in, "Do you want her here for it?"

The old man on the bed nodded, "A promise is a promise."

Aimee smiled and nodded, "It is."

He looked at the young woman, "I have loved you for hundreds of years, long before I ever knew you."

He closed his eyes. Aimee took his weathered hand in hers and caressed it for a moment as the warm seductive feelings filled her.

She felt his life leave his body and turned away from him. She looked at the girl and spoke softly, "Now you see what happens, remember the ancient creed, ‘Do what ye will but harm none’ and we will never have to meet again young Hyde.”

She winked from the room feeling badly for the girl but grateful she'd been able to help the good Doctor out.

Ari

She slipped up the stairs noticing how her tall black military boots were nearly impossible to remain undetected in.

She could see a light or two on under the crack between the door and the floor, the nuns would be reading the bible before bed. She rolled her eyes imagining such worship by such people. The long dark hallway would have scared the life out of her but she didn’t let it, not anymore. She walked on her toes until she reached the last set of stairs that led to HIS room. She slipped up the stairs in the dark excited with anticipation.

The sickly smell of filth and sin filled the cool air, it hung around everything like a black cloud polluting everyone and everything. She could see the faint flicker of candlelight coming under the door. She could also hear the faintest of sounds. She wondered if he was alone in his room. She gagged slightly frightened of what she might see that would scar her forever. She took a deep breath and kicked the door open. Her legs had grown fiercely strong making the kick echo through the halls as the door was ripped right off its hinges.

He pulled back lifting covers to attempt at hiding his fat flesh. The head nun who had beaten Angry Ari many a time was atop him also gripping at the covers.

"GET OUT!" He blasted her trying to intimidate her.

Ari laughed, "You're a disgusting piece of shit. Both of you."
The nun leapt at her completely naked.

Ari's hand came up fast as lightening gripping her throat.

Ari smiled and put a finger to her lips, "Shhhh. I'm not ready for you yet." The women went still in Ari's hand.

"You little bitch I don’t know who you think you are." He spoke through his teeth jumping off the bed grabbing at her. She let go of the Nun and grabbed both sides of his face pushing into him as violently as she could.

He shot back tripping over the bed and slamming into the wall screaming holding his face.

The air filled with the sweet smell as it sparkled and came to life. His picture was different this time.

He was a young man, he was peeking in a window of a house. A lady was changing inside. He walked slowly around the corner almost tiptoeing. He slid the sliding glass door open and crept into the house.

A noise frightened him and he chickened out running back out the back door.

The picture rewound and he was back at the patio door slipping inside. He ignored the sound hurrying to the back of the house.
The woman screamed as the front door opened and her husband came running in, he grabbed a knife from the counter and ran to the back of the house.

Police and Paramedics filled the house as the man sat on the stairs sobbing looking at the blood all over his hands. Ari watched as two stretchers were carried from the house. The chubby young mans hand fell out of the white sheets.

Ari smiled brightly watching it all play out as the priest faded away to nothing leaving a ring floating in the air. Ari let the ring fall ignoring it.

She turned back to the nun who still stood stunned from the mini push she'd received.

"So now it's your turn."

The nun's eyes grew wide with fear as she started to come back around. Ari touched her face pushing firmly, let it rip from her.

Ari didn’t even stay to see where she went. She walked from the room quickly as the air began to change throughout the building. Ari ran as quickly as she could and burst through the front door. She was out onto the street before the new priest was even in his bed.

She walked out to the figure standing under the streetlamp smirking at her, "Told you I could do it quietly."

Lucas laughed, "I heard you rip that door off the hinges from out here."

She smiled, 'We still have two stops."

He put his arm around her, "Fine but then we go home." He kissed he side of her head and they walked down the road enjoying the quiet of the neighborhood.

The End

XXXX

Table of Contents

Chapter One-This Brings New Meaning to Deserted…

Chapter Two- Hot, For a Psychopath

Chapter Three- Little Bald Boy Blue?

Chapter Four- Feeding Time at the Freak Zoo

Chapter Five- Is This Chemistry or Science?

Chapter Six- Port Mackenzie Part Deux

Chapter Seven- A Girls Gotta Do What a Girls Gotta Do

Chapter Eight- The Kiss

Chapter Nine- The Cop and The Killer

Chapter Ten- Angst and Bushwhacking Can Never be Friends

Chapter Eleven- The Runaway

Chapter Twelve- Yo Momma

Chapter Thirteen- Wanna Pet My Wolf?

Chapter Fourteen- The Roses

Chapter Fifteen- Grandmother What Big Eyes You Have

Chapter Sixteen- My Dad is a Cop and My Mom is a Death Dealer…

Chapter Seventeen- This Isn't a Frat House

Chapter Eighteen- Lucifer, Obviously a Chick Name

Chapter Nineteen- Payback is a Bitch Named Forgiveness

Chapter Twenty- Triangles, Triangles Everywhere

Chapter Twenty-one- Effing Sound of Music

Chapter Twenty-Three- Death By Jazz Hands

Chapter Twenty-Four- Like Father Like Daughter

Chapter Twenty-Five- Fresh Start in an Old Haunt

Chapter Twenty-Six- Chronic Case of Déjà Vu

Chapter Twenty-Seven- Home is Where The Heart Is, If You Can Find It

Chapter Twenty-Eight- Bane

Chapter Twenty-Nine- Angels and Demons

Chapter Thirty- Hellfire Hath No Fury…

Chapter Thirty-One - Mate

Chapter Thirty-Two- I Love You Like The Last Donut On The Plate

Chapter Thirty-Three- Nephilim

Chapter Thirty-Four- Hyde and Seek

Table of Contents

- Chapter One-This Brings New Meaning to Deserted…

- Chapter Two- Hot, For a Psychopath
- Chapter Three- Little Bald Boy Blue?
- Chapter Four- Feeding Time at the Freak Zoo
- Chapter Five- Is This Chemistry or Science?
- Chapter Six- Port Mackenzie Part Deux

- Chapter Seven- A Girls Gotta Do What a Girls Gotta Do

- Chapter Eight- The Kiss

- Chapter Nine- The Cop and The Killer

- Chapter Ten- Angst and Bushwhacking Can Never be Friends

- Chapter Eleven- The Runaway
- Chapter Twelve- Yo Momma
- Chapter Thirteen- Wanna Pet My Wolf?
- Chapter Fourteen- The Roses

- Chapter Fifteen- Grandmother What Big Eyes You Have

- Chapter Sixteen- My Dad is a Cop and My Mom is a Death Dealer…

- Chapter Seventeen- This Isn't a Frat House

- Chapter Eighteen- Lucifer, Obviously a Chick Name

- Chapter Nineteen- Payback is a Bitch Named Forgiveness

- Chapter Twenty- Triangles, Triangles Everywhere

- Chapter Twenty-one- Effing Sound of Music

- Chapter Twenty-Three- Death By Jazz Hands

- Chapter Twenty-Four- Like Father Like Daughter

- Chapter Twenty-Five- Fresh Start in an Old Haunt

- Chapter Twenty-Six- Chronic Case of Déjà Vu

- Chapter Twenty-Seven- Home is Where The Heart Is, If You Can Find It

- Chapter Twenty-Eight- Bane
- Chapter Twenty-Nine- Angels and Demons
- Chapter Thirty- Hellfire Hath No Fury…
- Chapter Thirty-One - Mate

- Chapter Thirty-Two- I Love You Like The Last Donut On The Plate

- Chapter Thirty-Three- Nephilim

- Chapter Thirty-Four- Hyde and Seek