"Roland I'm sorry, it couldn’t be helped. I needed to redeem myself. Marcus got the cure from them too. I'm free of the beast, I think anyway."

There was silence.

"Roland?"

"I'm here. What did he tell you the cure did?"

She looked confused at Marcus whose face darkened slightly.

She sighed, "Nothing. Why?"

"Your father had a cure once too but it would have turned him into something unnatural. He chose to stay with the devil he knew."

"I will get the information and get back to you. I will be home tonight."

"Excellent. I will prepare us a feast. Dinner will be at six."

She hung up the phone and looked at Marcus, "What happened to your rule." She mimicked his English accent, "Lets agree to not lie to one another shall we?"

He chuckled, "How else could I get you to listen. You were dying. My blood would heal you but the changes would come more frequently, as your body was weakened. I watched your father go through it."

"What has it done to me?"

He bit his lip, "Well it's made you strong, stronger than the beast. Your anger, when provoked, could be quite bad but honestly it will be controlled by you one hundred percent. In theory."

She closed her eyes, "You made me into a small beast. I won't change shape but I'll still potentially kill people?"

"In theory you should be able to control all of it."

She sighed, "In theory, in theory means eff all Marcus. Who could you possibly have tested this on if I'm the only one of me?"

"I know you're concerned about what you might do but let's focus on what you won't do. No more shifting into the beast, no more black outs, no more injuries randomly."

She frowned, "No more injuries?"

He shook his head, "You're strong now. Like me."

"Will I age and die like a normal person?"

"No. When you were sleeping I gave you the same thing I gave your father a long time ago."

She didn’t know how to feel about that.

"You might have lived longer than a normal human because of your mother."

"What was she like?"

"You. She was kind and funny and beautiful. She laughed all the time. She adored your father."

"How much did you love her?"

"I feel you tensing up, I know it's weird that seventy years ago I was in love with her but in truth I took the potion and then I didn’t love her. I saw her as I saw any regular human. She wasn't anything special to me then."

"Did you love my father?"

"Like my brother. When he and I met we were both so alone in the world. He was terrible with other people. The whole experiment was to give him normal social graces. To make him more than the man he was."

Hanna laughed, "Well he definitely got his wish."

Marcus laughed with her, "Oh he got more than he bargained for."

"Were they happy when they found out about me?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

She turned to face him. He kissed her nose.

"Were they?"

His eyes twitched, she knew he was hiding the truth from her. After staring into her eyes he spoke, "No."

Hanna nodded. She watched his eyes and smiled even though it hurt, "You were thinking about using your mind thing on me weren’t you?"

He laughed.

She smiled, "I saw your pupil flex almost."

"I never want you to feel pain."

His lips brushed hers.

"How bad of shape was I in yesterday?"

He pulled back, "I just want to kiss and maybe touch a little. Can we ask questions later?"

She stayed frozen watching him.

He sighed annoyed, "The worst shape I could have imagined. Most of the skin on your body was gone. I didn’t think you would live. Your legs were broken and your hair had been ripped out." He pushed a hand up into her thick strawberry locks, "I didn’t think you would live."

She knitted her brows seeing the pain on his face, "I lived Marcus. I lived because of you." She leaned in letting his lips encompass hers. His arms wrapped around her pulling her into him. He didn’t seem to want to let her go.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Daddy Dorian

Aleksander

"How is she?"

He looked up to see Giselle standing in the doorway. He couldn’t help but notice how she looked all of a sudden. Her limbs had filled out again, her color was peaches and cream and her hair looked like live silk.

"She's good." He didn’t realize he spoke to her lips. Her luscious pink lips.

She smiled seeing his face, "What's up with you?"

He shrugged, "What do you mean?"

"Dude." She tilted her head mocking him.

He smiled, "Anyway, she's fine. She's waking for short periods now."

"It's Christmas in like four days. What does everyone here do for Christmas?"

He laughed, "Oh we usually blow it up. It's over the top and ridiculous. This year Annabelle would have done things to this house none of us would have recovered from. In the wake of the last few days, I don’t know what we'll do."

She walked to Lydia's bed and sat beside her, "She's the most amazing lady. Annabelle told me she's like over two hundred years old. How is that possible?"

"She uses a type of magic, good magic that replenishes her. It wont make her live forever but it will give her a lot of extra time."

Giselle looked at the older woman with care and compassion, "She has been so kind to me. My own mom has never been that loving to me."

Aleks felt his jaw tighten thinking about how cruel Giselle's parents were. Aimee had told him all about it when Giselle had been in the hospital. He smiled thinking about what Dorian had done to her mom's boyfriend.

"How is your mom?"

Giselle shrugged, "She's okay. Since Mom's boyfriend left she's been kind of bummed. I think she thought she was in love even though they barely knew each other."

He nodded, "Where did he go?"

She smirked, "I don’t know but I wish I did."

Aleks laughed, he laughed because he knew where her mom's boyfriend had gone. Dorian enjoyed pedophiles more than the average criminal he usually ate or fed to Lorri. He cringed imagining what those last few hours had been like for the horrid man and felt a warm fuzzy feeling.

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

He looked up startled by the question, "What, of course. Even blind men can tell you're pretty. Pretty isn’t the word. Ravishing, stunning, startlingly beautiful."

She blushed laughing, "So do you think about me?"

He felt his face blushing as hers had, "Yes of course. I think people who have met you accidentally on a bus, for only a moment think about you for the rest of their lives."

She looked sad, "So you don’t think about me in the way that you thought about Aimee?"

He felt a tightening in his chest, how did he think of Giselle? He liked her, he more than liked her. He wanted her safe and would kill anyone who touched her. He wanted her happy but did he want to make her happy? Since taking the cure from Hanna he noticed her more. It was if his heart had made room for Giselle.

He frowned, "The week has been so chaotic, I don’t know what I think about anything."

She nodded sweetly, "Of course. I totally understand. Well I better be going. The sun makes me tired now." She got up from the bed and walked from the room. She stopped and looked back at him, "See ya."

He nodded feeling off about it all. He hadn’t meant to say any of it. He hadn’t been prepared for her to say anything to him.

She looked at Lydia who smirked in her pretend sleep.

"Lydia, you sneaky old woman."

She smiled outright, "You are a fool Aleksander. A great huge fool. That sweet girl is head over heels for you. Not because of your odd pheromone disorder either. You know you have zero impact on her with that? When has that happened? She likes you for you."

He frowned, "I noticed it before. I thought it was because she wasn’t clever enough to recognize what was happening."

Lydia frowned at him, "That’s a cruel thing to say."

He blushed, "Its not what I meant, I meant I just thought…"

She cut him off, "You thought she wasn’t smart enough to sense you. You don’t deserve her."

He nodded, "Lydia I'm sorry. I never meant that. I do think she is smart, in a different way than I am."

Lydia raised an eyebrow at him, "She's smart enough to recognize love at least. Tell Annabelle I would like some tea or soup. Something warm."

He stood up from the chair, "Of course."

He felt like an ass. He had always considered Giselle as a trophy a man would hold, not an equal partner in life. It was why he'd made Marcus not only heal her but also turn her. She could defend her own beauty for a change. He walked to the kitchen feeling lost.

"Lydia would like something warm, tea or soup."

Annabelle nodded, she hadn’t returned to her old self. She was quiet as if embarrassed or angry and not wanting to talk about it. It was odd seeing her so silent.

He looked over to see Dorian sitting in the kitchen, "What are you doing here?" He asked smiling.

Dorian looked at him and frowned, "You look like hell. I'm here seeing Ari. I'm trying to make a friendship."

Aleks grimaced, "How's that going? I know she isn’t fond of you."

Dorian laughed bitterly, "Yes well I deserve that I'm afraid. I haven’t been a good father, or any kind of father."

"Is she even here?"

He smiled wickedly, "No but I did notice Giselle is here. I have longed to enjoy an afternoon with her. The moment I met her I knew she would be a delicious little snack I would savor. I see she isn’t as breakable as before."