"I have someone I need you to meet." She looked up at Roland standing in the doorway.
She smiled, "Who?"
"A woman who can help you, well try to fit into the world in which you were born."
She felt confused but nodded, "When do I meet her?"
"She's down stairs now."
Hanna frowned, "Roland that's called ambush."
He laughed, "No my dear that's called concern. I wont be around forever and Mr. Dragomir can't very well be the only friend you have."
Hanna rolled her eyes, "Whatever, you’ve probably been alive for centuries. Fine I will come down now." She climbed off her bed and walked after him down the hallway and grand staircase. He led her to the front sitting room and smiled at the older woman sitting on the huge couch, "My dearest Ms. Crane may I introduce my Ward Miss Maria Hanna Jekyll."
The older woman had white hair tucked up in a bun and a wrinkled kind face. Hanna liked her immediately.
"Hello my dear girl. Thank you Roland." She stood, taking one of Hanna's hands softly in her own. She smiled delightfully.
"Tea ladies?"
"Please, thank you Roland." Ms. Crane spoke softly.
"I feel like I'm on a BBC movie set." Hanna blurted out watching them in action.
"Well Roland and I do go back quite a ways. Now dear my name is Lydia firstly and secondly I want to say how dreadfully sorry I am about your father."
Hanna frowned, "You knew him?"
She nodded, letting go of Hanna hand and sitting back on the couch.
Hanna sat across from her bewildered, "Are you different like my father was?"
Lydia nodded, "I am. I have my own gifts, nothing quite like your father. I understand you however have become more like him in the last few months?"
Hanna sighed, "Yes. I didn’t even know he was, well, different until I read the journals."
Lydia's expression changed, "You read them?"
She nodded.
"I am very sorry you had to read that my dear. He was quite mad for a time." Lydia smiled compassionately, "I want you to know I am here for you if you need anything."
"Thanks, but how did you know my father?"
"Lets just say we ran in the same circles."
Roland carried in the tea tray, "You mean your circle ran after him."
"Oh Roland."
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.
