Witch (14 page)

Ophelia

The bedroom was dark with candles and a fire lit. The air
was always damp on the west coast. She didn’t like it. The east coast was damp
but at least it was warm. She couldn’t recall why she listened to Sam. Something
about him made her want to smell him and cuddle against him. She wanted to make
him happy.

In the firelight she caught a glimpse of Oliver. He smiled
at her from the reading chair next to the hearth.

"I was wondering when you were going to come and see
me."

She frowned, "I don't really like the way you creep
around in my head."

He laughed and closed the book in his lap. He tilted his
head, "I don’t really creep around. It's no different than talking. You
just have the ability to read minds. All the strongest witches do."

She raised an eyebrow and sat in the chair across from
him, "Why can't I hear everyone?"

"You haven’t hit your power yet. At eighteen you'll,
well blossom so to speak. Everything will come into you."

"How do you know so much about me?"

"I've been around for a long time."

"So you're really old?" She felt her lips twist
into a grin.

He laughed. His laugh made her happy.

"Tell me why you're here young lady."

She shrugged, "I just wanted to see you."

He leaned forward, his beautiful face softened for a
moment, "I wish that were true."

"It is."

"Did Tristan come for you?"

She gulped, "Who?"

"Your brother."

She felt her eyes dart to the flames licking at the large
stone fireplace, "No."

"Don’t lie to me Ophelia." He lifted a leg with
a shackle, "I only allow this to stop me from killing everyone in here
because I need you. Don’t make that not be the case."

Her eyes grew wide. She gulped, "He came to me."

"Did he tell you about my son?"

She nodded, "He said he was his friend."

Oliver nodded, "His best friend. The only friend your
brother has ever had. His life has been a lonely one."

"What did he do?"

"He fell in love with the Siren Jonathan keeps as a
slave."

"That’s disgusting."

Oliver nodded, "He's never understood how to love anything.
The darkness filled him early on in our lives here. He became what he is almost
as soon as we got here. He let the shadows and taint fill him up."

Ophelia crossed her arms, "What's your excuse for
being evil?"

His eyes grew dark, "I disagree with our rules. I
always saw what Lorri was doing as subjective. She is biased. Dorian has lain
with human women. Just because he never reproduced Lorri never killed
him."

"He has a child. Ari is his."

Oliver's eyes flashed, "You lie."

She shook her head, "He never knew."

"Well then you can see the hypocrisy for
yourself."

Ophelia shrugged, "I guess. What's it like where
Jonathan lives?"

Oliver nodded and put his hands behind his head. "So
do you want me to draw a map or will you remember the things I tell you?"
He looked smug.

She glanced at him, "What?"

He laughed. His navy dress shirt and dress pants made him
look proper and professional. The loafers were the icing on the businessman
apparel. The tattoo climbing from the collar of his neckline and out of the
rolled up sleeve made her wonder what else there was to him. His blue eyes
sparkled in the orange glow. She noticed he was wearing different clothes,
"You go home to change?"

He laughed, "No I just popped over to my apartment
and grabbed a shower."

"You're vain."

He grinned.

Her heart fluttered, "You're like Sam aren’t you?
You're making me attracted to you."

His lip turned up into a lopsided grin, "You're
attracted to me?"

She felt a blush wash over her, "No I mean you're
making me feel things."

He leaned forward brushing his fingers along her fingers,
"What are you feeling Ophelia?"

She shivered watching his long fingers trace lines along
hers.

"I-I-I don't know. You all make me so confused."

He pushed his fingers interlaced with her, "I can
make you feel things no one else could. I think you're meant for me."

She looked up from their hands to see his face inches from
hers. His warm breath fell upon her lips. She licked them and backed away
slowly, "You're messing with me." She remembered the feeling of Jake
touching her. She liked it. She liked being touched and held. She liked the
thoughts that had burst into her mind when he touched her.

She swallowed hard.

Oliver leaned in closer. His size made her feel like a
child, "Close your eyes. Blank your mind. Just listen to the fire. Let me
in."

The smell of him wafted into her nose making her heart
flutter. She looked at his face. She trusted him. She wasn’t entirely sure why
but she did. She closed her eyes. He kept his distance but maintained the
contact of their hands. She felt her breath grow ragged as the warm flicker of
the fire created flashes in her mind. She listened to the fire cracking the
logs. The warmth felt unbearable.

He massaged his thumb in the palm of her hand making a
flash shoot into her mind. His arms encompassed her. His body wrapped entirely
around her. She never struggled. She had no control over the vision. Her body
was his to control. The vision was his. His lips brushed along her throat,
making sweat start to form along her brow. His hands pulled at her clothes,
touching the soft skin beneath. She was amazed at the hardness of his body
against the softness of hers. His lips met hers but before she could feel the
kiss the flash stopped. She breathed through her mouth waiting for the moment
to come back. She felt like she was blindfolded. She bit her lower lip waiting
for him to continue but nothing else happened. She opened one eye to see a wide
grin spread across his lips, "I take it you liked my imagery?"

She stood up from the chair feeling exposed and
humiliated. She pulled her hand from his and ran from the room. His laugh
echoed in the walls of the massive room.

She ran into the sitting room to see Aimee and Ari with
their heads pressed against each other, "You two can fucking work him over
for the details. He's not as stupid as you think he is. He knows we want the
map." She turned and ran to her room.

She closed the door trying to ignore the shake of her
hands. She put a hand to her face feeling the flush and warmth. She sighed and
climbed onto her bed. She lay back fighting the image of him lying on the bed
with her. She realized as she heard his footsteps in her room the image had
been her bed and not his.

She opened her eyes to him walking across the room. He
knelt at her bed and scooped her into his arms. He slid her across the bed. His
fingers were everywhere at once. She pushed his hands from her face and
instantly they were sliding through her hair and pulling at her t-shirt. His
mouth slid along her neck creating a fire inside of her. She gasped at him but
before she could speak his lips were on hers. They parted hers. His tongue
licked at her lips. He sucked her bottom lip. She pushed his face back, but his
hands slid her shirt up exposing her light blue bra. He slid a thumb across her
nipple under the padding. She trembled with fear and excitement.

"You laughed at me." She spoke into the dark
blond hair of his bent head.

He looked up from her throat, "I was laughing with
you."

She raised an eyebrow, "I wasn’t laughing and you're
old and friends with my evil dad."

His English accent grew thicker, "I've changed
love."

She shook her head, "No you haven’t. You're trying to
seduce me. I'm a seventeen year old girl."

He laughed, "It's true." He looked up through
his lashes, "Is it working?"

She swallowed hard, "No." Her voice was a
squeak. He laughed. He flashed from on top of her to beside her. She nearly
tumbled forward but he pulled her to the other side of the bed.

"Okay we can talk then if you prefer."

She frowned, "How old are you?"

He pressed his swollen lips against her cheek, "Old.
I don’t have a number. There was no time when I was born. I was a star and then
I was a man."

"Did you watch over the earth?"

He nodded kissing her neckline and dragging his tongue
over her collarbone.

"You're bad at talking." She shoved him away.

He pulled her in tighter, "If I'd known you existed,
I would have watched you every day. I would be a star again in a heartbeat to
spend every moment watching you."

She started to giggle, "You're intense. We met like
days ago."

He shook his head, "I think I always knew I would
meet you, maybe not you as in Jonathan's daughter, but you as you are. If we
were peasants in towns across the world, I would have found my way to
you."

He kissed the end of her nose. She watched his face trying
to find a flaw to focus on but he was perfect.

"Sleep." He pulled her into him.

She laughed, "I can't sleep with you here. What if
you do something creepy to me in my sleep."

He looked offended, "You honestly believe me capable
of that? If I do creepy things to you, I want you to be awake for it."

"That’s creepy, just saying that is creepy."

"Well aren’t you glad you're awake then?"

"No I wish I was sleeping and this was all a
dream."

"You feel it when you're with me don’t you? You feel
that we are meant to be together?"

She laughed again, "This is so fucked. I need to find
my ruby slippers so I can click my heels and then go home and graduate and go
to college like a normal girl."

"Well if this were OZ I think I would be wizard to
your Dorothy. I would force you to stay with me forever and never go
home."

She smiled feeling sleep taking her, "No you would be
the tin man. You wouldn’t have known you had a heart all along." Her eyes
got heavy and she fell asleep, feeling his lips against her forehead and his
warm breath in her hair.

Sam

Roland looked older and more worn.

"You can fix it but you have to go to the dark
witches."

Sam nodded, "I know. I just don’t know where they
are."

Roland rubbed his forehead. He sat in the comfy worn chair
in the den that looked out of place compared to the niceties everywhere. He
brought his glass of scotch and ice up to his lips and sipped at it for a
moment. Sam watched him silently.

"Lydia was raised by dark witches. She grew up in the
south. They had been teaching her to be a dark witch when Annabelle and her
grandmother stole her and raised her in the light. A lot of the dark witches
live in the south. It's the reason Lydia came to the west coast. They were
trying to escape the hunters, the dark hunters."

Sam didn’t know the story of Lydia at all. She never
shared details.

"How do you know this?"

Roland smiled, "I come from a very dark and powerful
family. I grew up in England but a couple hundred years ago I came to the new
world. I met Lydia then."

Sam frowned, "What are you?"

"Fae. I'm a Were."

Sam raised an eyebrow, "Why can't we smell it on
you?"

"I don’t shift, ever. It's why I'm aging so rapidly.
I never let the magic touch me."

"You loved Hanna's mom didn’t you?"

Roland nodded, he looked broken. "A long time ago.
She loved me back."

"Fae are a hard one to avoid for us."

Roland laughed bitterly, "I made it pretty easy for
her." He cut of his laugh with a sigh, "I loved her so much. I swore
I would protect her forever. She met the doctor and that was it for me."

"Why didn’t you leave?"

Roland's dark eyes looked stricken, "I had already
made a bond with her. I would feel her. I would love her. I would serve
her."

Sam felt his face twist, "She let you?"

He nodded slowly, "She did."

"That's sick."

Roland sipped his drink, "Perhaps, but it was the way
things were done. The doctor and I suffered together. Both stricken with the
same illness, us and Marcus."

"Is that why she had the match broken to remove the
effects on you all?"

Roland's face crumpled painfully, "She almost killed
me that day. I was the only one blood bonded to her. The pain was unbearable.
She broke all the bonds. The doctor never knew but Marcus did. She acted so
well that she was in love with the doctor that Marcus believed that she had
broken the match and rematched with the doctor. She did it to spare him, he
truly was the only human. I was Fae and Marcus was vampire. Her pity for us was
not great. Her pity for the doctor and wanting a normal life drove her to the
decision."

"Then when she couldn't love her own child she took
her life?"

Roland's eyes flashed with anger, "Young man you will
never repeat that story. If Hanna knew…"

Sam shook his head. "She will never hear it from my
lips."

Roland looked broken, "When the young miss came into
our lives everything got better. But the act grew too stressful on her. In the
moment of her death I saw her for the weak thing she was. I let Marcus believe
that she did it to stop him and his lust for her. With no match she was almost
impossible to be around. The bracelet calmed it but never took it from her. The
day she did it was the worst day of my life." His old eyes filled with
tears.

Sam had no pity or remorse though he wished he did.

"The best day was when Miss Hanna came home to live
here. I see all the best things of her mother and father inside of her."
He looked up at Sam, "You must fix what you have done to her. It hurts
Sam. It hurts so much."

Sam nodded, "I will try Roland."

"You will keep my secret?"

Sam nodded.

"Take Ophelia to Alabama. There is a region called
Lillian. It is named for a black witch. Ophelia can find them. Be careful. No
matter what trust no one and if it gets dangerous flash the pair of you out of
there."

"Should I bring Hanna?"

Roland shook his head, "She will be sacrificed for
the things inside of her. Marcus used her blood for all sorts of unsavory
things for a reason. It contains things that can be used for very bad acts."

Sam stood up from the chair, "I'm sorry for your
losses Roland."

Roland smiled a sad grin, "I know you are incapable
of sorrow my son. You are incapable of all feelings. But thank you for the
sentiment."

Sam smiled, "I wish I could take it back. I wish I
was able."

"Can Ari change the fate?"

Sam shook his head, "Too risky. Ophelia is such a
major piece of all of the puzzles that if we don’t tread carefully with her the
world is at stake."

"Understood. Safe travels my son."

Sam put his hand out for the old man to take.

"Let me know when you’ve had enough."

Roland chuckled, "Oh not yet. I have an arraignment
with Miss Aimee."

Sam smiled, "Fair enough."

Sam flashed back to the mansion. He was sleepy and feeling
lost in the story. Sirens really were the worst of the magic world. He wished
he had never laid eyes on Hanna. He knew his heart would argue if it had a
voice.