"She's here now. Well not here but she's down stairs."
"I will send her a text with instructions now then."
"Thank you."
Lorri laughed, "Don’t thank me yet Hanna."'
Hanna pressed end and grabbed a suitcase.
Roland appeared at the door. He looked at the suitcase, "You're leaving?"
She nodded, "For a while. I'm going to be trained."
"The Roses?"
She nodded.
He beamed, "This is the miracle your father always wanted for himself. He always wished to have the control you now have."
Hanna frowned, "Yeah but it's like I gained control of one monster and now another has suddenly appeared."
Roland laughed, "Yes well life can't always be easy. I want phone calls every other night."
She smiled, "Okay." She ran to him and hugged him. He tensed.
She pulled back, "Even you?"
He nodded making a sickened face, "Even me. Everyone can feel your special blend of emotions my dear."
She felt nauseous. She let go of him and stepped back, "I'm sorry Roland. I guess I should have noticed you were keeping your distance."
"The same thing happened with your mother. Well until she committed herself to your father."
She frowned, "What?"
He nodded, "A Siren's power is dulled the moment she falls in love, true love. The kiss and declaration mutes the power."
She laughed, "Sounds like a fairytale."
"It does but its true. She was never easy to be around until it happened. Even then she needed a charm bracelet for some of us."
"How did they fall in love?"
He smiled, "The old fashioned way, he attacked her. Tried to force himself on her. She beat him with a bat. He changed. Even his beast couldn’t resist her. She ran, he chased. She got hurt, he felt terrible. He brought her to Lydia. He begged for her help. He offered himself up if Lydia would help her. Obviously the Roses had wanted your father dead for some time. Lorri agreed they would fix her if he would allow himself to be killed."
Hanna sighed, "How tragic."
Roland's eyes sparkled, "Not so tragic. Once they saved her she convinced him to take the elixir until they could find a cure. He and Lorri agreed, obviously since he ending up living another seventy years."
"How did she die?"
His face hardened, "Have a great trip my dear. Since the Roses Institute is gone I have no idea where you'll be going but I imagine Aimee will tell you soon enough."
Marcus stepped into the room, "Tell her what?"
Roland turned and left the room, "Don't forget to call." He spoke softly leaving her alone with Marcus who looked less than pleased.
"Aimee. She should be up here any moment so if you'll excuse me I need to pack."
She turned away from him but he grabbed her arm, "Don’t you dare turn your back on me." He spun her to face him, "You can't be serious?"
She nodded defiantly, "Well I am. You'll just have to suck it up and accept that I want this."
He shook his head, "No you don’t. You're doing this because I spoke for you. I apologize, I shouldn’t have done that."
She shrugged, "Apology accepted." She walked into her massive closet and grabbed a few things. She stuffed them in the bag.
He walked to the suitcase and ripped it in half, "NO HANNA!"
Her clothes spilled out onto the floor. She giggled nervously.
"I'm leaving Marcus. You may accept that and say goodbye nicely or leave now."
She pointed to the door.
He grabbed her hand crushing it, "You're not leaving."
She ripped it away from him, "You're hurting me."
His voice broke, "They will kill you. This is a ploy."
She shook her head, "No they want me to join them and I want to go and see if it's where I belong."
He stepped closer to her, "You belong to me."
She trembled, "No I don’t."
His eyes bore down on her, "You belong to me."
She felt her will being taken from her. She pulled away feeling horrified, "How dare you. Leave now."
She stomped into her closet and grabbed another bag.
He grabbed it and ripped it to pieces.
She laughed at him, "You are ridiculous. You're a child. Ripping everything I own to pieces will not stop me."
His nostrils flared as his breathing became harsh and uncontrolled, "You will not go Hanna. They will not take you from me."
She felt hot tears roll down her cheeks, "They could never have taken me from you Marcus. You're pushing me away yourself." She turned and walked to the door.
It slammed in her face.
She felt the rage filling her, as the room became a cage. She grabbed the door ripping it off the hinges and throwing it in his direction.
Aimee stepped through and touched her arm and everything was gone instantly.
As her feet touched the ground in the dark alley she bent and threw up everywhere.
Aimee jumped back quickly as Hanna heaved and gagged.
"I-I-I'm sorry." She heaved again.
"No don’t be. I hated it in the beginning to. Are you alight?"
Hanna stood wiping her mouth off, "I will be."
Aimee looked truly remorseful, "I'm so sorry all of this happened Hanna. I know what its like to just wish everything could be normal."
Hanna nodded, "I don’t get how my personal life can be so fucked and then my romantic life has to be a train wreck too. Like one thing can't just be easy."
Aimee laughed, "Oh god my sentiments exactly. We need to go this way." She pointed down the dark cold alley. Hanna didn't know where they were.
She followed Aimee, scared Marcus might have been right. Aimee might have led her to her death.
Chapter Forty-Five: Monster Mash
Aleksander
He paced inside the building waiting. He knew things had started to deteriorate at Hanna's house when Marcus realized what was happening. Aleks hadn’t even known Hanna was being considered as a Rose. He was scared they were bringing her to her death but he felt better seeing Sam and Anne in the room as well. Surely they weren't doing a mass killing and there was no way Anne was a threat to anyone. Her gifts were simple and never harmed a soul. He actually felt she was the only one who could live a normal life.
He watched as a pale Hanna and angry looking Aimee walked through the doorway.
He looked at Aimee, "How'd it go?"
She looked annoyed, "Marcus was a dick." She looked back at Hanna with a huge smile, "She handled it well though. Needless to say Roland will be doing some renovating while she's gone."
Hanna looked around the large finely decorated room.
He smiled at her, "You okay Hanna?"
She nodded, "Yeah just feeling funny. I got so angry, I swear I saw red."
He looked at her bright red bracelet and smiled, "Yeah no kidding."
She saw where his eyes went and blushed, "Not that kind of red."
He laughed, "You know Sam and Anne obviously?"
She smiled at Anna and avoided Sam's gaze altogether, "Hey."
Anne twitched a smile, "Yo."
He pointed to the other kids he'd only just met, "This is Lisa, she's from Kansas and this is Don he's from DC. This is Hanna she's from Portland."
She smiled at them. Don instantly brightened up. He'd been gloomy but seeing Hanna smile lit him right up. Aleks winced watching her reaction.
Lisa seemed lost in it all.
Hanna groaned, "Well do we have rooms or what? Are we sleeping on cots in this apartment?"
Aleks looked at Aimee and shrugged, "No clue."
Aimee smiled, "I've been here once. I didn’t get a tour. Lorri should be here soon."
"Lorri is here now. This is Giselle, she'll be here with you all training. Thank you everyone for coming a couple days early. I know it was sudden but we had to move the date up." She spoke sharply as she strolled into the room wearing tight white pants, a teal jogging jacket and silver strappy flip-flops.
Aleks couldn’t help but notice how nice she always looked. Her fiery red hair and perfect skin were always flawless.
Giselle followed in behind her making Lorri look plain. She wore a dark purple sweater and light jeans. He wanted to peel every layer of her clothing off slowly to see more of her skin.
She glanced at him smiling, he tried not to grab her hand and pull her into him.
Lorri looked around the room, "Alright kids lets get some basic rules down, do what you want in your own rooms. The communal rooms are not for anything that makes anyone else uncomfortable. No bringing anyone here, ever. No friends and no family. No fighting in the house. No leaving. We've down sized a bit recently and need to be extra careful. Everyone is kind to others, unless we're in the ring. Then its no holds barred." She pulled a cigarette out and looked at everyone, "Your rooms are that way, down the hall. We have the top four floors of this building. No exploring without someone else with you, as in me or Aimee or Aleks or Dorian or Ari or Lucas or Ben. We will be your instructors here. No one else is permitted inside." She walked through the huge room to the massive balcony.
Aleks looked at Giselle who stood beside Hanna. They both looked panicked.
Aleks smiled, "So you guys want to see your rooms?"
Anne snarled, "Whatever, I just need some TV. I am so not watching GCB on my iphone again."
He laughed leading them down the hall. He'd never been down the hallway either. It was huge and wide like a museum.
The walls were a sand color with paintings and the rooms were full of beautiful furniture. The rooms were set up like they had been back at the Roses in New York. Each room was filled with a double bed, a desk, a table, night-light and a rug. The rooms were large and shared a massive bathroom with the room next to them.
Lisa took the first room on the right and Don took the room on the left. Giselle took the next room on the right and Anne took the one on the left. Hanna took the next room on the right.