Chapter 23

AYRA

"Ayra, come sit," Kimberly said with a strained smile I saw right through.

"Where's he? Something happened to him, didn't it?" I asked, trying to mentally prepare myself for whatever she was about to say.

If she looked like this, then it was bad.

"Did you relieve yourself in the bathroom?"

"Yes. What's wrong?"

"Nathaniel is badly injured, and his wound isn't healing up. They said he was attacked by demons."

"Okay. Where is he?"

"About that — you're not allowed to see him. Aiden and Alan are pissed at you."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "Logan didn't say."

"Well, I don't care, anyway. I'm going to see him. Where is he?"

"The hospital. I don't know his particular room number, though."

"It doesn't matter."

If Nathaniel's brothers thought they could stop me, then they were in for a treat. I didn't know which one I met in the kitchen, but if only he'd hurried to help Nathaniel when I told him to, maybe all of this wouldn't have happened.

***

"I told Kimberly not to tell you. His brothers are seriously pissed," Logan said, rising from the floor. He looked visibly tired.

"Are you going to stop me from seeing him?"

"No. I just think you should come back some other time. Possibly in a few hours? Aiden and Alan will be here soon."

"I don't care about them. Let me through. I'll deal with them when they get here."

Logan nodded stiffly before moving me to the side and opening the door, giving me entrance to the room.

I stood in the doorway, staring at Nathaniel's limp body. Suddenly, I was no longer staring at him on the bed. I was staring at myself strapped to the bed, silver cuffs around my ankle, burning into my skin.

A man approached me with a syringe in his hand, a grin on his lips. "I promise this won't hurt, Ayra. Just a little shot and all the pain will go away."

He tried to make it sound like the injection would do any good to me, but I knew better — the injection wasn't any good. That was why they had me strapped to the bed and had silver cuffs around my ankle. They didn't want me to thrash around on the bed.

I could only watch with tears in my eyes as the needle broke into my skin. I didn't realize the scream came from my lips until I felt Logan's hand on my shoulder.

"I understand it must be difficult for you to see him like this. You just have to be strong. He'll be fine," he said softly.

"What?" I asked, my thoughts disoriented. "I mean, thank you."

He nodded. "I'll leave you two. You need some alone time together."

"Thank you."

I heard the soft click of the door just as I took the seat beside Nathaniel's bed. I grabbed his hand in mine. They were much colder, so different from how they usually felt when he moved them on my body — warm and hard. His soft pink lips were a pale blue. I didn't have to touch them to know they were also cold.

The hard lines of his face had softened, and underneath his eyes, he had huge dark circles. His face scrunched up like he was in pain, and he began muttering unintelligible things.

"Nathaniel?" I tapped his shoulder. "Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

He opened his eyes, but they were the usual gold I was used to. Every corner of his eyes was pure black.

"Nathaniel?"

He shot off the bed, lunging at me. He wrapped his hand around my neck, lifting me off my feet. His hand around my neck cut off my circulation, and black spots began to dot my vision.

"Logan," I choked out, but it was barely above a whisper. "Nathaniel, let me go. You're hurting me."

I reached for his hand around my neck, trying to loosen the tight grip he had around it, but I failed. His eyes flickered from black to green, and like a switch was flipped inside his head, he dropped me to the floor.

"Ayra, did I —"

He doubled over, his eyes changing to black again. He bared his fangs at me.

*Fuck. I had to get out of here.*

This wasn't Nathaniel. Something had possessed him.

"Get out of here," Nathaniel said, his eyes changing briefly to green again. It looked like he was fighting a battle within himself. "Please."

"Nathaniel, are you okay?"

"Go!" He roared.

I ran out of the room, locking the door from outside. I slid down the door, bringing my hand up to my neck. It hurt to swallow from how tightly he'd squeezed. 

"Nathaniel," I called out when I heard something crash to the floor inside the room.

"Ayra," he responded. "I said to leave."

"What's wrong? What did they do to you?"

I got grunts in reply, followed by short pants. 

"Nathaniel?"

"Sedatives. Where are the sedatives?"

"What sedatives? Do you need me to get someone?"

"Yes. Ishmael. Get him."

"Okay. Hang in there, Nathaniel."

I ran out of the building, sighing with relief when I bumped into Ishmael at the door, but he wasn't alone. Sandra and Nathaniel's brothers were with him.

"Something is wrong with Nathaniel. He asked me to get you, Ishmael. He mentioned something about a sedative."

"Nathaniel is awake? Fuck! Where's Logan? He's supposed to guard the door in case something like this happens." His eyes widened. "The windows. Go man the windows. He could try jumping out through it."

"Got it," Aiden said before running out of the building again, his twin right behind him.

"Give me the bag, Sandra. Both of you need to stay outside the room. Even though things sound rowdy in there, do not come in," Ishmael warned, collecting a tiny bag from Sandra.

"Be careful in there," I said to Ishmael before he entered Nathaniel's room and locked the door behind him.

"This is all your fault," Sandra said. "Ever since you came here, unfortunate things have been happening. I can't believe Nathaniel bought your nonsense when you said you lost your memory."

I ignored her, leaning back against the wall, but she saw that as a sign to go ahead.

"Why won't you just leave? You've ruined his life enough. First, you poison him, and now look what has happened. That poison made him unable to defend himself."

I finally broke my silence, because I knew she'd just keep going if I said nothing. "Listen, Sandra, I'm stressed out right now. I don't know what poison you're talking about. To be honest, I don't care. I'm not emotionally strong to deal with your tantrum at this moment."

"My tantrum? That's rather rich, Ayra. You're nothing but a snake."

"Okay. I agree with you. Are you happy now?"

She huffed, but that effectively made her quiet. Ishmael came out of the room a minute later, not a single hair out of place.

"He didn't do anything to you?" I asked.

Ishmael shook his head in reply. "No. He wanted the sedative. Did he hurt you?"

"No. He just grabbed me around my neck. It'll heal up soon."

"We should get it looked at."

"I'm fine. Can I see him?"

"I think the fuck not," Aiden snarked behind me. 

I turned on my heels to address him. "Listen, Aiden. I—"

"No, you need to listen. You've done enough already. There's no need to pretend like you care."

I was baffled. I didn't understand what they were on about. "How did I betray him?"

"Why don't you start by explaining what you put in the glass of champagne you handed to him at the party?"

"That's what this is about? I had no idea a little alcohol would cause harm to him."

Alan cocked his head to the side, his dark, calculating eyes appraising me. "I don't know if you're genuinely clueless, or you're just a damn good actor."

"If you're just going to continue talking in circles, don't bother speaking. I've entertained you two enough."

I tried to get into the hospital room, but Aiden stood in my path, preventing me from going in.

"Get out of my way." I was beyond angry, but I tried to hold myself back. 

"I am not Nathaniel. I won't listen to you just because he's fucking you."

"I'm trying to be nice for Nathaniel's sake. Get out of the fucking way."

"You need to leave, Ayra. You don't belong here."

"If you think I poisoned the drink, why not ask Sandra? She gave it to me, after all."

All eyes turned on Sandra, whose face was a sickly pale white.

"What? No. I would never hurt Nathaniel. Everyone knows how much I love and care about him," she rushed out, twisting her hands together.

Aiden nodded. "I know. We didn't see that happen in the tape we reviewed. We know you didn't hand any drink to Ayra."

"What? How come that part is missing, but you saw the part where Nathaniel took the drink from me?" Something wasn't adding up. "You're responsible for this, aren't you?" I asked Sandra.

"I would never hurt Nate!" She shrieked. "We've been friends for a long time."

"The drink was meant for me, wasn't it? Nathaniel just happened to be the one who drank it. Fuck, I should have known. Your apology wasn't genuine. It was all planned out."

"Stop it, Ayra!" Aiden bellowed. "Stop trying to blame someone else. This was all you. Sandra had nothing to do with it. Just how cunning can you be?"

There was no holding back my anger now. "Leave. All of you need to leave."

Alan huffed. "You've got to be kidding me."

It all came from deep within me like a lock had snapped, and every single emotion I was feeling right at that moment — desperation, frustration, worry, and most especially rage — poured into the scream that left my lips.

"I. SAID. LEAVE!"