Chapter 52

Rhea POV

Roxy and I have decided to go after the witch, with or without the help of the hunters. We go into my bedroom and change clothes. The plan is to go to Damien's first. We want to go through the cottage and look over the contracts to see if we can find anything about the location of the women.

"Roxy, I was thinking that you two should let H and check the cottage and the grounds at Damien's first," Morgan says as she enters my bedroom.

"We could let them go and make sure it is safe for us," I suggest to her.

"I am going with them; you can stay behind if you want," Roxy snaps at me.

"Okay, I get it. We can all go. Shit, at least we will all be there if anything goes down," I say to her.

Roxy slips a shirt over her head and slides into some tennis shoes. I change into something more comfortable, and I am ready to go to the cottage. Charlie, H, Morgan, Roxy, and I leave my apartment. We head down the hall to the elevator and wait for it. I notice Charlie looking at me strangely then looking away from me. Hmmm, what is all of that about, I wonder?

Finally, the elevator arrives. H, Morgan, and Roxy get on, and Morgan closes the elevator fast, leaving me to wait with Charlie. This makes me nervous. Charlie grabs me by the arm and pulls me to him. "There is something I have been wanting to do since I got you back from Damien," Charlie says. He leans down and kisses me. I pull back from him.

"Why did you do that?" I ask him.

"Maybe someday you will remember me, but for now, I can be patient," Charlie says.

What in the hell is he talking about? I do not know him, nor have we ever met that I can remember.

Charlie pushes the button for the elevator, and we wait in silence for it to come. He grabs me again and kisses me again. I slap him. "Why do you keep doing that?" I ask him—Charlie smiles. "The slap was worth it; I have missed you tremendously," Charlie says, leaning down to kiss me again.

"Okay, weirdo, please stop doing that," I say to him firmly. The next time I am going to punch this mother fucker.

We get on the elevator. "We were a couple once, a long time ago. We were very much in love with one another, and then something happened to my sister and her husband. I left to find her, and you tried to help me. You went to work for Randall, and the rest is history," Charlie says.

"I do not remember any of that," I say.

"Of course not; Damien was grooming you from the get-go. He removed me from your mind first, then moved on to other things. He worked on you for months before he made the offer," Charlie says.

I reach over and hit the stop button on the elevator. "So tell me something about me that no one else knows," I say to him.

"Really, seeing how your brain is fried, you think anything I remember will be you now. I love you and will continue to love you. I can wait until you remember me," Charlie says to me.

"Is this a ploy to get in my pants, sir," I say to him.

"Stop that. Stop being a bitch. Not every man on earth is after what you got cooking between your legs. I wanted to marry you, hell I still do when you come back to me," Charlie says.

I pull the stop button to release it to so we will start moving again. I stand there beside Charlie. As the elevator reaches the parking garage, Charlie hits the stop button once again, suspending us between floors.

He grabs my hand and pulls me to him. He touches my face and looks into my eyes. He leans down and kisses me so softly and sweetly. "I love you, and you have to remember me, Rhea," Charlie says. I smile at him. "I am sorry, but I feel nothing," I say to him.

I pull the stop button and stand in front of the elevator, waiting for it to open. The door finally opens after the longest minute in my life. I step out and look back at Charlie. "I wish I did remember if what you are saying is true, but I do not. I am sorry," I say to him.

"It is okay, you will, Rhea. It will all come back," Charlie says.

He walks past me to the van. I follow him slowly. Charlie gets into the front seat of the van, and I get into the back. I can tell he is upset, and I do not blame him. Did he really think a kiss would bring back my memory? Hell, that heavy-duty spiritual tea did not bring all my memories back.

Roxy reaches over and touches my hand, and Charlie is watching her touch my hand in an eerily kind of way. "You okay, Rhea? You look upset?" Roxy says. "Yeah, I have some memories I need to dig out," I say to her.

"Some memories are better left in the past, Rhea. Think about that. It may be better not to remember everything that happened," Roxy says.

"Yeah, but what about our life before all of this. I want to remember those moments. I cannot remember anything prior to working for Randall and the club. I remember Tyler. Hey! Where is Tyler?" I ask, remembering something about him all of a sudden.

"He is with Jacob; they are checking out a lead on the dungeon," Charlie answers me.

"What is it?" Roxy asks me. She is puzzled, I can tell. "It is just that I do not remember anything before Randall, but I remember every moment with Tyler. Is that odd?" I ask her.

"Tyler is memorable, to say the least. Maybe he stood out in your life for some reason or another," Roxy says.

"Yeah, maybe you are right," I say to her.

Still, it seems odd that I can not remember anything other than Tyler. I sit in the back of the van, thinking about everything and trying to remember Charlie. I want to remember him if we were that close. If he loved me so much, then why did he send me to work for Randall? Who would do that to someone they love? Nothing makes sense in this equation.

We pull into Damien's estate. The pass lock is locked, so we cannot drive the van through the gate. Morgan stops the van and turns it off. "I know the code if you want it so we can drive up to the house," I say.

"That would be very helpful, Rhea," Morgan says to me.

"The code is DR7145R, which should open the gate," I say.

Morgon leans out of the window of the van and puts in the security code. The gate hesitates and then opens for us. Morgan drives the van all the way to the front door of Damien's massive estate. The front door is wide open. Hmmm, that is off, but per the usual of this adventure. Nothing could surprise me anymore with Damien or anyone involved in any of this.

Morgan and H get out of the van and go into the house. Roxy and I start walking toward the cottage. Charlie follows us. "Let's go into my office first and look at some files," I say to both of them.

"Shouldn't we check the witch cottage first. You know, just in case she is lurking around here and wanting to kill us," Charlie says. He is adamant we check the witch cottage first.

"Okay, if that is what you want to do, I am going with you," I say to Charlie. "Me, too," Roxy says.

We walk up the stone-paved walkway to the witch cottage. I do not see her peering out the window or looking at us in any way. Maybe she left and got the hell out of town when Damien and Soul were taken.

As we get closer to the front door of the cottage, it opens. No one is at the door, and it just opens on its own. Roxy walks through the door first.

The three of us walk into the opened door. I hear creaking and rocking in the distance. I look around the creepy cottage for the witch. The rocking and creaking noises get louder as we enter.

"I have been waiting for you, Rhea. What took you so long to come to see me finally?" the old hag asks me.

I walk toward the voice and the creaking noises. The old hag lights a candle beside her and blows out her match. "You are slow, girl. If I were you, I would have come here before I killed those vampires. There is so much for you and me to discuss," the old hag says to me.

I sit down in front of the old hag. She reaches out to touch me. It freaks me out, but I wait to see what she has to say. As I lean forward, she looks at Charlie.

"So, Charlie, do you want me to make her remember everything? Is that why you brought her to me?" the old hag asks Charlie.

"Please," Charlie answers.

"Very well, Charlie. Rhea, look at me and remember," the old hag says to me.

My brain begins to burn, and flashes of memories begin to turn in my mind. I look at Charlie. "I remember," I say softly.