She glanced at the people milling about and nodded. Andy pulled her to the open space near where the quartet played and took her in his arms.
"Are you having a good birthday?"
She nodded as she looked across the room, wondering where Sam had gone.
"Weird your friend came with my friend." She spoke after a moment, realizing she was being rude.
He nodded, "It is weird."
"How long have you known him?"
"A couple years, we joined the police at the same time."
She looked into his eyes, she felt the same attraction for him but something was in the way suddenly.
As the song ended she felt another tap on her shoulder, "May I cut in?"
She recognized the dark blue eyes immediately, "No."
Marcus stared her down, "Please."
She felt Andy tense, "She said no."
Hanna flinched watching Marcus react to being spoken to by Andy. She turned back to Andy and smiled reassuringly, "It's okay. I was joking."
"Are you sure?"
She nodded and let Marcus take her into his arms.
She felt as if they were floating above the ground, she wouldn’t be surprised if they were.
"Hanna I need to explain."
She looked away from him, "No."
He kissed her cheek softly, "Hanna please come home with me. I need to explain everything. What you think was happening was not. I would never do that…"
She turned sharply cutting him off, "I don’t want to know."
His eyes pleaded with her, which she was certain was new for him, "Hanna."
She shook her head, "No." She hated him. She hated that he'd hurt her. She'd been in his castle for days and he'd tried nothing. Instead he brought his own entertainment. She felt disgusted.
"Hanna you are mine."
She felt another tap on her shoulder. She felt Marcus tighten himself around her, as she looked to see Aleks smiling down on her, "May I cut in?"
She pushed Marcus back, "Of course."
Chapter Twenty-Three: That puts a Sam in the works
Aleksander
His hands took hers and in a swift and fluid motion he pulled Hanna into his arms and away from Marcus.
"Aleks." Marcus growled.
Aleks smirked, "Maybe she will save you the next dance." He danced them away from Marcus.
He looked down at Hanna, "You okay?"
She smiled, "Yeah just tired of the nonsense."
He laughed, "I know the feeling."
She looked around, "Who is everyone?"
"Us, what's left of the Roses. Daniel has done a number on us. This is about half of what we had for numbers."
"How does Roland know them?"
"I don’t know, he and Lydia have a thing I think."
She made a face, "Ewwww, really. Wow. They're old."
He laughed, "Hey I'm old."
"You look good still."
He kissed her cheek, "Happy Birthday Hanna."
"Thanks, so who is Sam?"
"He's Nephilim."
She rolled her eyes, "I wish everyone would stop saying that like it meant something to me."
He laughed, "Half angel and half human. He's more powerful than the others."
"He has the strangest effect on me. I feel like I've known him my whole life."
They finished their dance and he stood off to the side as she danced with everyone. The night seemed magical. He felt horrid knowing he would be delivering her into the arms of evil at the end of the night. He had ensured she had drunk several glasses of champagne. Every time he saw her he used his charms to remind her of her promise. He felt anxious thinking about it. He watched her dance with Sam again. He could see the spark between them. He knew he would need to quell it for at least a few days. He would need her to enjoy being with Marcus.
"You better not be double crossing me,"
He turned to see Marcus sipping a scotch beside him.
"If I didn’t need your help I would tell you to shove it."
Marcus smirked, "We used to be best friends Aleks, what happened?"
He felt a burn in his stomach, "You, you always happen. You ruin everything."
The smirk never left his face but Aleks could see the haunted look in his dark eyes.
****
Hanna came to him at the end of the evening, "I've said goodnight to Roland. I'm ready. Aleks I want you to know I'm not happy about this."
"Why? I thought you and Marcus had a thing."
She sighed leaning into him, "We did, maybe we still do. Something feels different. Anyway I told Roland I was going to be spending more time at Lydia's. I'm giving you a couple days to get this sorted with Giselle and Marcus."
He hated asking it of her, "You're taking one for the team?"
She laughed bitterly, "Yeah. Lets go before I change my mind."
He was about to ruin her night. He knew Marcus believed he loved her and would behave himself. He still hadn’t won her over.
He took her hand softly in his and walked her out to the garden. She pulled herself into him.
He looked down at her, feeling the pull coming off her. His mouth ignored his brain. He bent his face and pressed his lips into her. He lifted her slightly, feeling the full weight of her against him.
Instantly they were outside the castle. He placed her back on the ground. She looked drunk off the kiss. He felt drunk off it.
"Why does that happen when we kiss?" She asked trying to gain her composure.
He laughed, "I don’t know. Something about you makes me crazy."
She laughed, "I'm attracted to you but I don’t know you and I don’t really feel like I want to be with you. I didn’t want you to kiss me but I just couldn’t stop myself."
He nodded, "Exactly how I feel."
She smiled and walked up to the castle door where Henry stood smiling at her.
His skin crawled as he saw Henry.
"I will have Aimee text you as soon as possible with the answers you're looking for."
Hanna looked back and stopped, "I don’t want to be here."
His charms had worn off her completely somehow. He ran up to her side, "You do." He felt sick as he looked her in the eyes and compelled her completely, "You want to help Giselle." He gulped, "You love Marcus."
She nodded weakly, "Okay."
He walked her directly to Henry who smiled with his lips, but threatened Aleks with his eyes. As Henry took her arm, Aleks stepped back gingerly.
"I'll see you soon Hanna."
She nodded, "I love Marcus."
He was gone before Henry could get his greasy hands on him. He was back at Lydia's standing beside Giselle's bed. He was happy she was asleep.
"Hey."
He turned to see Aimee, he noticed his heart still didn’t hurt seeing her. He smiled and pulled the paper from his jeans pocket, "Here Hanna needs you to find out what this all means."
Aimee took it and nodded, "Wow this is advanced. Where is she?"
He looked down, he was ashamed of himself, "I traded her."
Aimee took a step back, she looked horrified, "What?"
He nodded, "Marcus would save Giselle if Hanna would come back to him."
"Did she want to go back?"
He licked his lips shaking his head, "No."
Aimee closed her eyes, "You made her go back to him? Did you know Sam is madly in love with her?"
"I didn’t know, I suspected. She mentioned something about him but I thought it was the Nephilim thing."
Aimee sighed, "No madly in love. He's known her forever. Loved her forever."
He looked back at Giselle and nodded "This is all my fault. She wouldn’t be dying if it weren’t for me. I had to do something. We will get Hanna back after the deal."
"What if he hurts Hanna?"
Aleks shook his head, "He believes he loves her. I could tell. He wont hurt her. I've known him a long time." He couldn’t help feel a sickening guilt inside of himself.
Aimee cringed, "Dracula has never been known for loving his women nicely. You've sent her back to him knowing he believes he loves her. He always loves everyone to death. How do you think he ended up the way he did?"
Aleks felt his anger rising, "Aimee I was there, I know what he did. He was my friend back then. I made a choice, it was the right choice. It was the only choice. I gave Giselle my friend Mike's blood the other day, she didn’t even wake up. The blood of a regular vampire isn’t healing her. She will never survive the change without Marcus's blood."
Aimee looked hostile, "You better pray Hanna lives through this, and not just survives but comes out of it unharmed in anyway."
"Don’t threaten me Aimee. I'm doing my best."
She snorted, "Your best has always been a little lacking."
He seethed, "Fuck you Aimee."
Chapter Twenty-Four: Beauty and the Beast
Hanna
The warm air took her happiness with it. She looked up instantly seeing the castle entryway and Henry.
"I don’t want to be here." She remembered Aleks telling her she loved Marcus. He had made her mind fuzzy. The feelings were gone and in their place her dislike for Marcus returned.
"My love you came back." She saw Marcus walking toward her.
She shivered at the sight of him with his open arms. She imagined what the girl looked like who had been in his arms before. She felt her skin start to crawl and twitch.
She looked at Henry standing beside the door, guarding it. She knew she couldn't make a run for it without serious injuries. He wore a bowler hat, he was trouble. He'd throw it at her and cut her in half just like on James Bond.
She looked at Marcus then walked around him. She could smell him as she passed by him, she could feel her body react to his smell. She ignored it and walked away.
"Hanna, love it. Please lets talk."