Hyde (8 page)

Hanna took a cup of tea and began sipping it.
She didn’t really like tea but she didn’t want to hurt Roland's
feelings.

Lydia smiled at her over her cup of tea.

Roland sat down shocking Hanna. He never sat or
participated in discussions.

"Have you told her yet?"

Lydia shook her head frowning, "I was waiting
for you."

"Told me what?"

Roland's face grew very serious, "Your father
was hunted for a time. If you read the random madness in some of
his journals you must have seen he suspected something or someone
was hunting him."

Hanna nodded, "I remember that."

Roland nodded, "Excellent. He was actually
hunted, there is a society of people who are different like you and
Lydia and your father. They are the governing law."

Lydia cleared her throat, "We are called the
Roses, the Devil's Roses. We ensure that society is kept safe from
people like us. Harming anything is forbidden."

Hanna gulped, "That girl. The one who killed my
father?"

Lydia nodded, "He was dying already. He was
suffering. He made Aimee promise to take him when it got so bad he
couldn’t stand it. His body would force a change and who knew what
he would do."

Hanna shook her head, "I'm lost. I don’t
understand any of this."

Roland interrupted, "Of course you don’t. Your
father had been fighting his changes. He hadn’t changed in over
seventy years. Marcus Dragomir helped him with an elixir to stop
the changes. The problem with it though was that his body was
slowly getting sick from it. The Roses made him agree never to
change again."

"So essentially they forced him to die slowly
and painfully?"

Lydia put a hand up, "Of course not. Many of us
offered him a way out."

"You offered him death?" Hanna felt disgust.
What were they offering her?

Lydia nodded, "In a way but also freedom. He had
made himself into what he was Hanna. You must see that he wasn’t
happy."

"Why didn’t he choose death then?"

"You're mother." Roland spoke delicately.

Hanna frowned, "He met my mother only
twenty-five years ago. You never offered him death before that? You
waited till he was in love and then offered it?"

Lydia smiled shaking her head, "He met your
mother seventy years ago. She was the one who made him agree to
stop the changes. He stopped them for her."

Hanna felt the room spin, who was her
mother.

"This is too much for her right now." Roland was
beside her instantly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

A knock at the front door interrupted their
conversation. Hanna looked at Lydia as Roland walked casually, as
if they'd only been discussing current events, "Excuse me a
moment."

Hanna felt betrayed by them, both of them. They
had forced her father into a choice that ultimately killed him.
Questions whirled around her brain confusing her further.

"Officer Paulson is here to speak with you
Hanna."

She looked up feeling everything moving too
quickly. Her skin started to sweat as she felt the itch start.

Roland saw the look in her eye and rushed across
the room, opening a small-jeweled box on the coffee table next to
Lydia. He pulled a bright blue vial from the box, tearing the top
off with his teeth and grabbing her face. She tried to fight but
his sudden burst of strength overwhelmed her. The bitter drink
sparkled as it made its way down her throat. She shivered, "What
have you done?"

He looked desperately saddened, "Saved Officer
Paulson."

The itch in her skin was gone, replaced by a
fire that burned her from the inside. She wanted to scream out but
she knew Andy would be scared. She dropped to her knees and curled
into a ball on the floor waiting for it to pass.

As if she were suddenly submerged into an ice
bath she cooled. Exhaustion started to fill her as her body fought
the change and tried to heal itself.

She looked back to see Lydia holding her hand
and chanting something.

Roland was on the floor in front of her, handing
her a cup of tea gently, "Sip some of this. It will help."

Her shaky hand reached out for the tea spilling
it. She managed to get a sip into her feeling the tepid tea helping
immediately.

"Will I die now?" She asked terrified.

Roland closed his eyes regretting everything,
"Not yet but this will kill you eventually. Your father never took
it till he was well over one hundred years old and had changed
hundreds of times. You've changed twice. Plus you're only a few
years off from the age you should be. We don’t know what it will do
to you."

She nodded, "Better dead than a monster I
suppose."

Roland tilted his head, "We will find the
cure."

Lydia sighed behind her, "My love, we won't stop
until we do. Now before the police officer gets suspicious, lets
try to get you onto the couch and Roland will see him in."

She felt Roland lift her to the couch. She sat
taking a deep breath and nodded, "Okay. I'm ready."

Roland walked from the room with Lydia on his
heels. Hanna watched as Andy walked into the sitting room alone. He
was dressed in jeans, a dark blue t-shirt and holding a black
fleece. His face looked tired, well it looked handsome there was no
way around, that but he looked as if he'd been up all night.

"Hanna how are you this morning?"

She nodded trying her best to ignore her insides
and the pain she was in, "I'm doing okay."

He sighed, "Well there is no easy way to say
what's happened. Your aunt has murdered your uncle. We arrived last
night with a warrant and she was on the floor beside him. He was
dead. She had hit him in the head with a frying pan."

Hanna felt a tear fall from her right eye as she
sat perfectly still taking it in.

Her aunt who had been like a mother. Her aunt
who had tucked her in and told her stories. Her aunt who shopped
with her and brushed her hair had murdered the people she loved
most in the world.

He sat on the couch next to her and took her
hands in his. The warmth of his hands wrapped around hers was the
only thing she felt.

"Hanna I'm so sorry."

She couldn’t sob, she just sat untouched by it
all. Her brain refused anything else past its walls.

Tears leaked down her face.

She looked at Andy, feeling her forehead wrinkle
with worry, "Where is she now?"

"Holding cell until she sees a judge."

She nodded, "I need to see her."

He frowned, "No Hanna. She's a murderer."

Hanna shook her head, "I need this."

He grabbed a tissue from the coffee table and
leaned in wiping her tears away. He kissed her cheek softly, "I'll
go with you."

She nodded.

He stood up offering her his hand. She took it
terrified of, not only the drug in her system but also her feelings
for the police officer. She ignored her shaky legs. She needed to
see her aunt.

Roland walked into the room, "What's
happening?"

"Andy is taking me to see my aunt."

His eyes narrowed, "That’s a terrible idea
Hanna."

She nodded, "I know." She walked out of the
house still holding Andy's hand, nearly dragging him.

She smiled when she saw the car, "A Prius?" Even
his car cheered her up slightly.

His cheeks blushed, "Hey it's very energy
efficient and cost effective." He opened the door for her and
smirked, "I'm manly enough to drive it and not be ashamed."

She laughed weakly, still feeling the cloud
moving around her mind.

The car didn’t purr, it hummed along as they
drove to the holding cells. He didn’t try to fill the air with
nonsense, she liked that.

He pulled into a huge parking lot next to a
massive building.

"What is this place?"

"It’s the police detachment, we have the holding
cells here."

She turned, looking him straight in the eyes.
She didn’t speak, she looked at how beautiful he was. She let it
distract her from all of the sadness that had over taken her life.
His blue eyes were filled with yellow specs, almost like they were
blue hazel. His thick lashes enhanced the color.

"You okay?"

She nodded blushing, "How old are you?"

He smiled making her heart beat faster,
"Twenty-two."

She smiled, "Don’t you want to know how old I
am?"

He chuckled, "No I already checked on your
file."

She blushed again, "What?"

He winked climbing out of the car, "Best part of
being a police officer, I can run pretty girls before I ask them
out."

She climbed out of the car and smiled, "That's
sneaky, it's like cheating."

He shrugged, walking around the car and taking
her hand and enveloping it with his, "Hey, better I know everything
up front."

She smiled wondering if her eyes revealed the
secrets she had, the ones that weren’t in her file?

The inside of the detachment seemed sterile,
void of life and the special secret ingredient that separated
people from computers. People worked maintaining the same even look
upon their faces. The only color and excitement was in the obvious
criminals. Andy walked her past it all so quickly she was barely
able to notice them.

He stopped at an elevator. Other vacant looking
people entered the elevator with them. They never spoke or joked.
It wasn’t how she imagined an office at all.

He pulled her off the elevator, taking her to a
guard's desk.

"Hey Tom."

The older man in an odd uniform smiled, "Morning
Paulson."

Andy pulled his badge out and signed some
papers.

The door made a buzz and Andy brought her to a
room with a small plain wooden table with four chairs surrounding
it.

Nerves suddenly filled her stomach.

She hadn’t been prepared to be afraid to see her
aunt, but fear crippled her, as Andy pulled out a chair for her and
she sat.

He sat beside her holding her hand.

She had assumed it would be done through
Plexiglas with phones, not sitting at a table with her in the same
room as Andy.

The door opened, a tall blond woman in uniform
led her aunt in. Her aunt looked terrible, her long brown hair was
disheveled and her face was puffy from crying.

She looked defeated as she waked into the room
until she saw Hanna. Her face then filled with disgust, "I thought
I was meeting my lawyer."

The tall blond looked at Andy "You okay?"

He nodded and she walked out of the room locking
it from the outside.

Hanna sat staring at her aunt. Her body wanted
to jump up and hug her and straighten her hair and tell her
everything would be okay. Her heart wanted to pick up a chair and
smash her over the head with it.

Instead she sat in the chair returning the
unfavorable look.

"What do you want?" Her aunt asked and sat
down.

Hanna held back her tears, "Why?"

"Huh?"

Why?"

"Why what? Why did I do it? You spoiled little
bitch, I gave you everything and then when you turned eighteen you
got it all. None of it was mine anymore. I earned it." She leaned
back in the chair smugly.

Hanna nodded, "It wasn’t anything but money with
you ever?"

Her aunt raised her eyebrows smirking.

"You never loved me in even the tiniest amount?
You never cared for me when you tucked me in and sang to me and
read me stories? How about when you bandaged my wounds? DID YOU
FUCKING LOVE ME THEN?" She raged across the table. She felt the
change starting inside of her skin again. She took a deep breath,
fighting to stop it.

Andy put a hand on her, "Hanna."

Hanna took a deep breath watching her aunt fight
any emotions. She sighed, "I would have given it all to you."

Her aunt broke then. She cried, sobbing into her
shackled hands.

"You killed them both for money and now you're
dead to me. You've put us both in the same boat with no family and
no friends." Hanna stood and walked to the door. Andy knocked at
the door. The tall blond opened it.

Hanna looked back at the sobbing mess that used
to be her aunt, the only mother she had had for nearly a
decade.

"I would have given it all to you." She walked
from the room.

Andy gripped her hand tightly, pulling her
through the doors and back to the elevator. Hanna felt exhaustion
coming to take her but she fought it. She needed to go home.

****

Hanna sat up on her bed realizing how late she'd
slept. She glanced around the massive room and lie back. She closed
her eyes to fall back to sleep again. Nothing in the world mattered
anymore. Rebecca was dead, her father was dead, her uncle was dead
and her aunt was dead for all intents and purposes. Hanna knew she
should have died with Rebecca, not live on as the monstrous freak
she was.

Her skin still ached from the drug they'd made
her take. Everything was tragic. She recalled only months prior
planning shopping trips, prom, her team finishing first in
volleyball state finals, breaking up with Jimmy Stratton. All
things that made her feel young and alive. The past weeks had
pretty much destroyed all of those things.

A knock at the door pulled her from her pity
party.

"Come in." She spoke softly knowing Roland would
hear it, she swore he was part hound.

"There is someone I'd like you to see."

"Like a therapist? Cause honestly I think the
sanity ship has sailed and my ticket wasn't valid."

"Hanna, please."

She thought about getting out of bed and sighed,
"Roland how did I become this?"

"I believe it was a freak accident my dear. Your
body naturally fought against death with the only tool it had,
rage."

"Who is downstairs?"

"A friend. Come down."

"No. Send them up."

Roland cleared his throat, "To your
bedchamber?"