Scarlet Prison

Chapter 22

I woke up in a dark alley, confused about how I got there, and I couldn't help but think that it was a classic moment for me. Of course I would wake up in a sketchy place with no recollection of getting there. My strongest, most recent memory was of a blinding shimmer in a room that was not an alley. Not super helpful.

Speaking of shimmers, the walls of the alley seemed to be engaging in a hypnotic, vibrating dance. When they stilled, my eyes were better adjusted to the dark, and I could make out the contours of individual bricks.

I remained laying on my side, thinking that an alley was as good a place to rest as any. It was better than that claustrophobic hospital room. Oh yes, the hospital room. I remembered being there. And I remembered eating chocolate. Nes had let me eat an entire bar at once that time. Nes! She had been there! But I couldn't recall much else for the moment.

"Zermia!" whispered a masculine voice.

That was bad, wasn't it? That someone was using my human name.

The bricks in front of me shimmered and settled into the silhouette of a person.

"Zermia, are you alright?" The silhouette touched my shoulder.

"Ekai?" I asked. I recognized his voice now that he was closer. And he felt safe, like a human.

Another shimmer.

"She seems drugged," Ekai was saying to a smaller silhouette behind him. Probably one of the kids he lived with.

"Ekai, what are you doing here?" I murmured. "It's not safe." I didn't want him to leave, but I would die if he got caught. "I love you, Ekai." I reached out to him.

He laughed. He liked to laugh in bad situations. It helped diffuse the tension. "Definitely drugged. She's not the touchy feely type. I don't think I've ever seen her express her love for anyone." He began to collect me in his arms, and I delighted in the fact that he would be taking me home with him.

"We can't take her home with us. They're coming for her." A female voice came from the smaller silhouette. Mera. She was peeking out the entrance to the alleyway.

"Shit!" Ekai muttered. He shifted me back onto the ground, but didn't immediately leave.

"We have to go," Mera whispered.

"Take me with you," I begged Ekai, as another shimmer overtook the alley.

He swept me into his arms and stood. "How did she get here?" he asked, but the voice sounded different. And he didn't feel like a human anymore. I instinctively felt afraid of him, like I would with a vampire. But it was a good fear. Familiar. A fear that I could trust.

"We don't know, Mr. Jäger. We just got an anonymous report that your girlfriend was passed out in an alley," a woman said.

Mr. Jäger...That was Dominik! I commended myself for my deductive skills.

"What's this," Dominik asked, bending to pick something up.

"It looks like trash," the woman said, as she reached out to take it. "Oh." The woman fell silent.

"What is it?" Dominik demanded.

"Chocolate wrappers."

"How many?"

"Five."

Dominik didn't respond.

"Dominik, can I have more chocolate?" I asked, balling the shirt on his chest into my fist.

"Nova, do you remember eating chocolate?" he asked.

"Oh yes. It saved my life."

"How did it save your life?"