Returning to consciousness took a slow pace, and getting my body to respond to my brain was harder. My lashes fluttered, and I was on the bed in a room that looked like a replica of the one I had woken up in during the weekend over five years ago: white curtains and walls, a massive bed, and expensive interiors. There was a cherry wood shelf close to the window on my right and a mahogany wardrobe to the left, and beside them was a door that I guess had to lead to the bathroom.
My eyes could barely keep up, and my eyes and head ached, making me shut them briefly. I wonder what could have caused me such pain. I had no meaningful last memory that would explain the pain or my location. The last thing I remember was leaving Diya’s wedding and taking Zion home.
Zion!
My heart skipped a beat, and I feared something bad had happened to him.
Where is Zion?
Was I involved in an accident?
I pulled myself up to sit down, not ignoring the ache in my head. And as the bedsheets fell off, they revealed the loose, long-sleeved gown I had changed into after I got home from the wedding.
Seeing my gown on told me I got home safely and wasn’t involved in an accident. So, my first horrible thought didn’t happen.
‘If you were involved in an accident, you wouldn’t have just a headache; you would have much more pain than that,’ the voices added.
Still, it didn’t explain why my eyes and head were aching when I didn’t drink.
My hand dropped from my head, and I caught sight of the purple-coloured bruise I sustained on it. It looked like someone had gripped it hard. My skin looked pierced through as if what gripped me had claws.
A flash of memory swept through my brain, and I remember Henry at my door acting strange. Then I remembered him in my kitchen as a terrifying furry creature with glowing yellow eyes later on. I remember how he surged towards me to harm me, and I remember fleeing from the kitchen, which was where he grabbed my hand, leaving this mark. I remember tripping and getting up, only to find Aaron in the room, fighting him off.
Aaron.
Aaron was just like Henry, only while Henry’s eyes glowed yellow, Aaron’s glowed red.
I remember him ripping Henry’s heart out and dropping it on his lifeless body. I remember not wanting to go along with Aaron, and I don’t know how he got me here, but it was against my wishes.
What did he do to me?
Where am I?
Where’s Zion?
I ran out of bed, ignoring the ache in my head, and as my feet touched the cold tile floor, the door opened. A young man about my age walked with piercing blue eyes and black hair that fell on his face to give him a boyish look. He had a pair of neatly ironed trousers on and a black long-sleeve shirt that was also neat and ironed. His short black hair was parted at the side and styled at the back. He looked handsome, but he seemed not to place much importance on his looks.
He had a small white cup in his hand and a friendly smile on his face, but I knew better than to trust anything in this place despite just waking up a few moments ago.
“What do you want?” I demanded, and he stood at the door while I stood at the bedside, giving us about a ten-foot gap. But something told me this gap wouldn’t prevent anything if the worst happened.
“I came to give you tea. It’s herbal and helps with your headache.”
My eyes narrowed at the cup in his hand. There was no way in hell I would take that.
As if reading my mind, he rolled his eyes and took a sip out of the cup. “It won’t do anything to me because I’m not the one with the massive headache needing relief. You are.”
“Who are you?” I asked, my voice laced with suspicion over the young man in the room with me, who looked as harmless as possible.
“My name is Ivan Hart,” he answered, and the name echoed in my head, but the door opened again before I could place it. This time, Aaron stepped in wearing a blue long-sleeve shirt and black trousers. His focus stayed on me, and it didn’t sway even as he walked closer.
My heart doubled up in its beat at his sight, remembering how terrifying he looked in my living room.
With both of them in the room, I realized they were brothers. Though their features were dissimilar, they had the same chiselled jaw, thick brows, and forehead. Aaron was older and looked to have a fair amount of years ahead of his brother, Ivan.
“Leave us,” he ordered, resting his hard gaze on me.
“But she hasn’t taken her tea,” Ivan tried to explain.
“I said leave us,” he commanded, and like an obedient little puppy, Ivan nodded and stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
I didn’t want to be left alone with him. All my being rebelled against that, especially after what I saw back at the house. I wanted to run away, disappear, or do something-anything that wouldn’t leave me in the same room as this man.
He stuffed his hands into the pocket of his black trousers and stepped forward. Despite standing a few feet away, my heart picked up its pace.
“Your heart is racing like your life is in danger,” he pointed out, and I didn’t know how he could have heard my heartbeat when he stood so far away. Then I realized he wasn’t human to begin with. A superhuman hearing ability wouldn’t be impossible for a creature like him.
“There is no telling that it isn’t.”
He scoffed and took a step forward, and my hand shot up defensively to stop him in his tracks. “What did you do to me? Where am I? And where the hell is Zion?”
“He’s with me. He’s safe.”
“Safe?” I repeated his last words, not believing he had just used that word. “Zion is anything but safe with you.”
“And how would you know that?”
“You killed Henry in cold blood!” I yelled at him, and my headache increased.
“If I didn’t, he would have killed you and Zion,” he countered. “You endangered the life of my son by letting that man into your house, and you do not get to talk to me about safety. I am protecting my son.”
His accusations were cruel and unfair. “I didn’t let him into my house. Just like you, he did what pleased him. He entered without permission or invitation. I have protected my son for the last five years, and you don’t get to point fingers at me as if I were a terrible parent when it was you who killed someone in his presence.”
“You might treat me like the enemy, but I was the one who stepped in and saved your life! That man would have killed you, my son, and over my dead body before that happened. If I had the chance to go back, I would do the same thing again,” he said without an ounce of remorse.
I couldn’t believe Henry was waiting for the right time to attack, and who knows what he would have done to me and Zion? I’ve known this person for over a year, who has been a friend, and we’ve shared a few laughs while he was on duty. It made no sense; Henry didn’t appear to be a violent person. He always spoke kindly to Zion and even mentioned his wife and kids. Knowing his lifeless body lay in my house made me a little sad.
“It still gives you no right to play god.”
“With the life of my son at stake, that gives me every right!” His eyes glowed red as he said those words, and once again, the terrifying memory of him rushed back into my head, and I trembled from the inside out.