Aleks nodded, "Sure. I probably know less about sports than I do about chemistry and biology but it's got to be more entertaining."

Shane laughed. They had tried to make a friendship, which had been hard in the beginning but as Aleks grew less fond of Aimee it had become possible.

Knowing it was entirely his fault she had changed in so many ways didn’t make it less annoying.

The only time he saw the old Aimee return was in the arms of her boyfriend.

As painful as it had been in the beginning he knew it was the right choice.

"Oh my god. Oh my god. You guys look at this." Aimee called to them.

They both walked back into the room looking at the sheets of paper she had scribbled on, covering the small table. She looked like Old Aimee, her hair was messily in a bun and she wore lose fitting dark clothes. He would have laughed at it but her face was panicked.

"Aimes what's wrong?"

"They're using her blood to make a weapon. If you look here first, it was like they were trying to reverse something but then here it changes. Then it looks like they're taking their findings and using it to make something."

"What is it?"

She shook her head, "I don’t know. It doesn’t say what they're using it on. If they gave it to one of us it might make us like her. Make a beast but maybe a vampire beast or demon beast."

Aleks felt ill, "Oh come on. Seriously. I sent her back to him and he's using her blood?"

Aimee nodded looking at him, her eyes full of emotions.

Shane frowned, "So they're taking blood from her, lying and telling her they're trying to fix her but really they just want to make something with it? Then what?"

Aimee shrugged, "Not sure. The piece of paper wasn’t specific."

Aleks felt his hands clench into fists.

He pulled his phone out and dialed, trying desperately not to crush it in his hand.

"Aleksander, why my favorite Viking. What could you possibly want beyond my blood?"

He inhaled slowly to calm himself, "I want your end of the bargain. Now."

"Tsk Tsk Tsk Aleksander. Demanding anything from me will never get you anywhere, you of all people should know that."

"I will tell her what you're doing. I will tell her what her blood is being used for by the Dark Ones."

"You will leave Hanna alone."

"Did you like how she smelled when she got back? I can give you the details if you like. How her sweet lips tasted. How she moaned for me." He squeezed his eyes shut. He hated speaking of her that way, especially in front of Aimee.

Marcus growled into the phone, "You meet me tonight. I will save your little friend and you will forget you ever met Hanna."

He bit his lip, "Deal. At the Bridge."

The phone beeped from signal loss.

He would never stick with the deal he made, but Marcus didn’t need to know that.

He walked back into the room seeing Aimee texting.

"Who are you texting?" He knew instantly seeing the glare coming off Aimee.

Chapter Twenty-Six: I'd like to shake your hand

Hanna

The winds had picked up bringing winter to the west coast. She shivered walking through the garden.

She looked back at the house seeing Marcus on the phone. He looked angry. She wondered what was wrong. He saw her watching and waved. She waved back concerned. He was covering up by waving at her. He never waved.

She turned around and pulled out her phone feeling the vibrations.

'RUN!!!!!!'

'MARCUS IS USING YOUR BLOOD TO MAKE A MONSTER FOR THE DARK ONES. RUN NOW.'

Hanna looked at it frowning, 'Who is this?'

'Aimee.'

It was weird Aimee not only had her number but texted her.

She texted back, 'My father made up that formula not Marcus. Marcus has only been working on it for my father.'

'NO. Your father only wrote the first part. Marcus changed it mid way and turned it into something else. This will never save you. It's to change something using your blood. To make a weapon.'

Hanna looked back up at the window and knew what the phone call had been. Something to do with his business with her. He had waved to make sure she didn’t suspect anything. She recalled the steamy nights, sex in the shower, random acts in hallways when Henry wasn’t around. She felt dirty.

Her skin started to tingle.

She felt the change building inside of her. She started to walk taking deep breaths. She wanted to run out into the woods and change into the beast and never feel anything again, but she needed to know. She paced in the cold back yard.

She walked up to the window he stood at, writing something down.

She dialed his phone number.

"Hi. What are you doing?"

She watched his face as he spoke, "I can see you Hanna, come inside I want to show you something." His voice was sexy.

She wanted to throw up.

"Have you been giving samples of my blood to the Dark Ones to make a weapon?"

His face dropped as he stammered, "Hanna, love come inside the house."

She took a step back, seeing his face grow angry, "I have my answer Marcus."

The cell phone crushed in her fingers as her skin stretched. It felt like it was ripping apart. She felt herself stay with the beast. For the first time she felt the beast take over but she was there, along for the ride.

Marcus jumped through the window, landing on the ground in front of her as she changed.

"Hanna don’t do this. Let me explain. Stay calm Hanna."

He put a hand up.

She screamed as the transformation occurred. She saw him through the hazy eyes of the beast. She heard the ragged breathing as the beast panicked.

Marcus's face darkened, as his forehead grew distorted and his fangs dropped from his teeth. He screamed at her, "HANNA DON’T DO THIS!"

The beast turned and ran into the woods.

The beast knew him, the beast felt her feelings for him mixed with her anger. It ran away laughing menacingly to itself, as she struggled to gain control.

It laughed, tearing through the woods ignoring her pleas or thoughts.

She woke next to a dumpster. She looked around feeling the paranoia set in. She didn’t know where she was.

She could smell garbage and something else, rank and filthy. She glanced down, seeing a hand next to her leg. She reached for it but stopped seeing it wasn’t attached to anything. She screamed a muffled cry.

She wanted someone to find her. She wanted Sam. She wanted him to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay.

She got to her feet by gripping the side of the disgusting dark green dumpster. Her fingers touching things she ignored. She looked down at her ripped pants and torn shirt. Her feet were bare again. Her right toe was bleeding heavily. It didn’t sting until she acknowledged the blood was hers. She looked down seeing a shard of broken glass sticking out of it. She pulled it out, gagging at the blood pouring from the large gash.

She felt her bra for her cell phone. It wasn’t there. She recalled it crumbling in her fingers in the courtyard as she changed.

She looked down again at the hand. It was a man's hand. It had a ring on it, a platinum band. It was his left hand. She trembled imagining what kind of horrors she had inflicted on the poor stranger.

She didn’t deserve to live. She didn’t deserve to be saved.

She walked, limping and hobbling down the greasy alley until she came to a park at the end of the street. She knew where she was, she knew how to get home.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Nærøyfjord

Aleksander

Shane gripped his throat, both of them raging.

Aimee sobbed, "I'm sorry. I didn’t know." She trembled.

Aleks let go of Shane and put his hands in the air.

He struggled to find his calm, "She will die now Aimee." He looked down at the ground.

"Aleks that’s not Aimee's fault. Marcus is evil. Dude, you made a deal with the devil. What did you think was going to happen?"

Aleks nodded leaving them. He felt the warm air as he walked into Giselle's room. He picked her up from the bed. She was barely awake.

She weighed nothing in his arms. He remembered how ill Aimee had been when she had felt like a bag of bones in his arms, as Giselle did.

"Where are we going?" She asked weakly.

"Shhhh. Just rest against me."

She laid her head against his chest, letting him carry her away.

He stood outside the castle. He knew Marcus would never help him but he had to try.

He rang the ancient buzzer and waited.

Henry didn’t answer the door, instead it was Marcus. He looked rough.

"You have some nerve."

"I never told her. I never said a word. Aimee's been working on the paper. She figured it out and told Hanna before I could stop her."

"You think I CARE HOW SHE FOUND OUT?" He screamed.

Aleks shook his head, "I will help you get her back again. I know you love her. I just don’t know why you would do that to her."

"Because I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t figure it out." He ran a hand through his dark hair. "The only way to save her was to trick those fuckers into believing I would give them what they wanted if they helped me. Jesus Christ." He bit his wrist letting the blood pour from it and grabbed Giselle's face. He shoved the wrist in her mouth.

She started to choke, but he held it there not looking at Aleks. Aleks tensed, feeling her struggle against the blood filling her mouth.

He felt her swallow.

Marcus bent to her throat, sinking his teeth into her tiny fragile neck.

Aleks cringed, feeling her body stiffen against the pain.

Marcus drank until Giselle went limp in Aleks's arms.

"Get off my property." He turned covered in blood and walked back into the house, slamming the door.

Aleks was gone before Marcus could realize he'd helped him for nothing. He would kill Giselle out of spite.

Instantly he was home. The frozen ground beneath his shoes crunched softly as he walked. He carried her up the hill to the graveyard he'd buried his family in. It was older than any graveyard he'd ever seen. It overlooked the Nærøyfjord.