Page 19 of Hunted By Fear

Wait, what!?

“Um, yeah, we were friends. Don’t you remember?” The guy to my right says, and I take a good look at him for the first time.

He has long silver hair that's braided back out of his face. His eyes are the color of honey, and the horns coming from his head make the other guys look tiny.

Horns…

That’s not normal.

Even with the way my head is pounding, I know there’s something that just isn’t adding up, but I can’t put my finger on it. All I know for sure is I want to go home, to my own bed, with my husband.

“Do you know Rome?”

Any warmth in their expressions disappears at the mention of his name. The silver-haired guy's eyes harden, and when I look to my left, I see the same is true for the guy still offering me a glass of water.

“I’m Bast, and that’s Talian and…” he trails off, finally lowering the glass of water back to the table beside the bed I’m currently occupying. “Yeah, we’ve known Rome a long time.”

His admission settles something in me, though I can’t quite understand why he looks like someone just kicked his puppy.

“Is he here? Where is here? Have we met before? Sorry, I’m really terrible with names and faces.” The words come out in a rush as I attempt to figure out what's going on, but all talking does is make my head hurt worse.

“He’s not here, but we needed to get you somewhere safe…”

Even with my eyes pressed closed, fighting back tears, I don’t miss the fact that Talian still didn’t say where we are.

I sit back, pressing my back against the headboard and pulling my knees up to rest my head on, attempting to hide from the low light.

“Can I get you anything?” The guy on my left, Bast, asks, but I can’t bring myself to answer as the pain continues to increase.

Would it be in poor taste if I asked him to knock me out?

“Aeri?” Talian’s voice is full of concern, and I chance peeking at him.

I glance up and…

I think I do know him.

I remember…

Shit, what was it?

It’s as if the memory is right there, but I can’t grasp it. Just out of reach.

“Talian?”

I don’t know what I want to say, but all I manage is his name before I groan and have to hide away again.

“I fucking hate this,” Bast curses from beside me, and I grunt my agreement because this sucks.

“No, she looked at me differently for a second there. Aeri, do you remember me?” I can hear the hope in Talian's voice.

I don’t want to upset him, but I also don’t want to lie to him.

“Yes, and no. You're familiar, but it’s like my memories aren’t there one hundred percent. I can’t…”

“Fuck.” Bast growls, and I hear him move out of his seat, his footsteps getting farther away before they come closer again. “He might not be able to get to her physically, but we need to find a way to break his hold on her mind.”

They're talking about me; it’s beyond obvious, yet all I can do is listen, unable to make myself speak because I know it will only make this pain worse. Not to mention, it doesn’t seem as if they know much themselves. Listening seems to be my best bet at trying to put the pieces of this fucked-up puzzle together.