Chapter 39

Alizya begrudgingly agreed to help with the spell to find my Memories from the night I lost them all. She did not like my plan for Orin but she couldn't find a reason that I should continue without memories. Secretly, l could tell that she was giving herself time to think about how to stop me from going to find Orin, while they set up for the spell.

"You understand that we don't know how pleasant these memories are, right?" my aunt asked me as she set me in the center of a symbol on the floor that was circled in salt.

The raven settled then looked her in the eyes and nodded.

"If I could give you nothing but pleasant memories, I would do that for all of us,"Alizya commented under her breath as she settled herself on the floor outside of the circle.

My aunt kissed the top of her head then the head of my cousin. "We would do the same, mama."

"I hope you find the answers you need, Raven," my cousin added as her mom settled on the floor.

"Raven, you will need to stay as still as you can. Close your eyes and let our chant guide you through the mental blockage and tether you to us When it is time for you to return. We will hold on to the spell for as long as we can," Alizya instructed.

I took a deep breath in my mental space, already sitting down as they were. “I’m ready,” I sent them as I obeyed Alizya and let my eyes fall closed.

As their chant began, it was smells that filled my brain instead of sound. I was only vaguely aware that they were blowing herbs at my raven form but I could smell them as they filled the air around me and swirled with the music of their chant.

I felt myself or maybe my spirit floating and joining the swirl of smell and sound. It was comforting and I relaxed into the feeling of being weightless. I could see only black until my eyes were forced open and I was in a cyclone of colors spinning around me. I focused on not panicking and the colors relaxed until they began to form the environment around me and with a jerk at the back of my neck I was standing in Nyctophilia in the VIP area Warren had. Warren was even there sitting on a couch across from Orin. I had only that moment to wonder what Orin was doing in London before the memory snapped into action.

In a flash of a movement Orin had Warren by the throat and they were staring each other in the eyes.

“Raven is coming with me tonight. You will get another drink and not finish it for at least ten minutes. After you finish you will go home and go to bed, you’ve had a long day,” Orin commanded.

I opened my mouth to tell him that I wasn’t going with him but he was standing over me before I made a sound.

“You are going to obey my every word and come with me without a fight. In fact, you will be happy about coming with me. No questions and no protests.”

I closed my mouth only to open it again and find my voice completely gone and a smile creeping onto my face as I stared into his eyes. He was compelling both me and Warren.
He held out a hand to me and my body responded despite my brain screaming against it. Warren went to the bar and Orin smiled at me.

“I’m so glad we’re on the same page, my sweet. You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to have you on my side.”

My brain fought and screamed but my body went with Orin down the stairs and into his car that the bouncers had summoned from the parking lot. We were driven to a posh flat and Orin took me inside where I was ordered to wait for him in the bedroom.

I couldn’t disobey and I couldn’t protest no matter how hard I tried.

He came back with two champagne glasses of blood and his shirt unbuttoned to expose the dark hair on his chest. I knew what was going to happen but I couldn’t stop it.

“Drink up, darling.”

I was forced to down the blood while he took off his shirt and tossed it over the dresser. Then he took the empty glass from me and set it on the same dresser next to his glass and his shirt. He took my hand and put it against his chest but this time I was able to pull away.

“I want to leave,” was all I was able to produce.

He laughed. “Oh, honey, you don’t want to leave until we’ve enjoyed each other fully. You’re going to enjoy every touch and every thrust until I’m done with you. Then you will decide to stay with me because you don’t like the way Warren treats you.”

I started to pronounce the word no, but he put his finger to my lips. “No talking until we’re finished. Just enjoy it.”

He unzipped my dress and let it fall to the floor. From then on, tears that couldn’t leave my eyes blurred my vision and despite my body’s pleasure, all I knew was shame and defeat.

He fell asleep after he finished and since I couldn’t leave I laid there next to him wishing I was dead. I was just accepting my fate when a fuzzy figure came into the room and kidnapped me. Orin didn’t hear me thrashing and I couldn’t escape the grip of this stranger who held me against his chest as he carried me out the window. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t see the stranger either. I looked at him several times but all I could see was a skin-toned blur. Why would that detail be blocked from my memory?

Somewhere between the bedroom and the end of the block, he stopped to pin me to the ground where he fed me his blood and the need for my body to get back to Orin disappeared just in time for me to pass out and the memory to end.