Dark Sonata Page 18

“How do you know my name?” Victoria demanded, feeling her sanity leaving.

  The woman’s eyes focused on Victoria's green hand making her scowl again. “Why are your arms green Victoria? And why are you acting like you’ve lost your mind? What’s going on with you?” the woman’s forehead wrinkled the more she stared. “Your face is turning green.”

  Victoria was bewildered. “Who are you?”

  The woman’s eyes went round with concern. “I’m Perri. You’re Victoria, remember?” she said slowly, like she was talking to an inept child or that of someone with no mental capabilities.

  Victoria closed her eyes again, rubbing them hard. What was happening to her? Tears of frustration streamed down her cheeks. “Everything looks different! You look like you have been dead for hundreds of years!” She opened her eyes and tunnel vision set in. She could barely make out her surroundings, like she were gazing through a distorted glass window.

  A wave to nausea washed over her.

  Perri was saying something frantic but all she could hear was the sound of rushing water. Strange. Victoria slowly looked up and narrowed her gaze, zoning in on Perri’s neck. That sound of rushing water was louder now. She felt her own breathing escalate as a low growl emitted from out of her throat.

  Perri’s black eyes widened as she backed up.

  That hum was getting more intense and the longer she heard it she realized something. It was not water she was hearing but the rushing of blood in Perri’s veins. Yes.

  There was only one thing she wanted, desired with every fiber of her being.

  It was Perri’s life.

  Actually, everyone she saw she wanted dead.

  * * * * *

  He was fading fast; his handkerchief was soaked in blood.

  Ezra gripped his violin hard in his right hand and followed Michael towards the commotion. Female screams were heard along with male shouting heightening his nerves. Victoria.

  What he saw when he turned the corner he wasn’t prepared for. It took him a second to realize that the woman with the long black hair and green skin was Victoria. She still possessed the same features but just different coloring. “Michael!” he said warningly as they approached the chaos. “Explain!”

  Victoria was in the process of choking out Perri, holding her long razor nail to Perri’s neck daring anyone to come closer. Ezra's heart was hammering as he stared at her intense emerald eyes—eyes that were no longer innocent blue ones. This couldn’t be Victoria, but he knew it was.

  Michael stepped forward and raised his hand in Victoria’s direction. “Stop!”

  Her eyes were that of a jungle animal as she jerked her gaze to Michael’s. “Stop?” she hissed in a deep husky tone.

  “You have no idea what you’re doing. Take a few deep breaths and remember who you are,” he commanded. “You are Victoria Leslie. Do you remember her?”

  Victoria tilted her head as if processing this.

  Ezra carefully stood by Michael and whispered harshly through his teeth. “What in the hell happened to her!”

  “Now’s not the time.”

  Ezra smirked, displaying no humor. “Oh, I think now is the perfect time.”

  “She is transforming because of Krzan’s influence,” Michael continued as his eyes were locked on Victoria, “just like his evil almost made you turn. But for Victoria this is very dangerous because her inner Lior is not mature yet. Using this much power can kill her. It’s unstable power. ”

  Impossible.

  Ezra shook his head trying to control his breathing. “Why the fuck is she transforming into a demonic creature?” He took a harsh breath. “The only way Krzan would affect her is if she had demon blood which I know she does not.”

  She can’t have demon blood, it doesn’t make sense.

  Michael glanced at him and didn’t say anything.

  Ezra frowned, waiting for him to expound but Victoria’s sultry laugh brought him back to the problem at hand. She was eyeing him like a cat would a mouse; those feline jade eyes were … hypnotizing. God’s teeth. His eyes roamed over her and he could feel his blood heating—boiling! She was straddled over Perri looking like a goddess gone bad. So very bad. The kind of bad that had him losing his train of thought and fantasizing like an idiot. Her long silky black hair paired with her metallic green skin and lush curves had his head spinning.

  She grinned at him.

  Devil take it.

  What he wouldn’t give to be Perri right now.

  Ezra realized she had said something to Michael, but he didn’t catch it, too caught up in his fantasy.

  “I am warning you. Let her go Victoria, you have no idea what you’re doing. You will kill yourself if you kill Perri. If you spray her blood, you’ll regret it. Demon blood will make you transform fully, and I can’t have that,” he said, his tone deadly serious.

  She laughed and pressed her nail into the side her Perri’s neck making her whimper. A trickle of blood seeped out of her skin and Victoria’s eyes brightened, as if the green of her gaze were glowing.

  “Big mistake,” Michael murmured.

  Ezra's heart was pounding. He knew that look. Bloodlust. Michael knew what was happening here and the fact that he didn’t pissed him off. He had felt Victoria, he knew she had no demon blood coursing through her veins so why in the hell did she look like it now?

  Victoria looked up at Michael, puzzled. “How is it that you do not look like a corpse?” she asked, eyes still glowing.

  Michael inched forward. “Because I have no demon blood, I am a Master Liorian.”

  She looked confused.

  “Come with me and I will explain everything in full detail, you can trust me,” he said carefully.

  Ezra glanced at Michael not trusting him. The glint in his eye betrayed his words, like a cunning fox. The man was hiding something, like he was placing cheese on a mouse trap. “Not if I have anything to do with it.”

  Michael shot him a look. “She has only minutes before she transforms, I need to get her out of here fast.”

  “You will not take her out of here unless you tell me what she is,” he snapped at Michael. “And I believe we have a deal, if you remember.” Ezra would not let him take Victoria out of here without fulfilling their bargain. He would not let Michael play him like a fool.

  Michael’s blue eyes narrowed on him. “Don’t overstep Ezra. I would hate for you to fall.”

  Wrong thing to say.

  Ezra glanced back to Victoria and something twisted inside him, but he pushed it aside. She means nothing to him. He pulled out his violin and brought it to his chin, ignoring everyone’s gasps. “There are ways to see someone’s soul. If you won’t tell me I will see for myself.”

  “You’ll kill her Ezra!”

  Her green eyes widened as if she sensed the danger she was now in. She got off Perri and was in a crouched position, ready to react.

  Ezra bit his lip. He needed to know the truth about her, the mystery. She means nothing to you … play the damn song.

  Michael’s voice was right beside him. “If you play her a song she will react in defense, resulting in her using too much power that her body cannot, and will not, handle. She is already using too much energy Ezra by just transforming.”

  “Then tell me what the fuck she is,” he barely said.

  “I cannot.”

  “Why?!” his anger knew no bounds, he was practically shaking with it.

  Michael didn’t say anything for a second. “It would be the death of you Ezra and I can’t have that.” Without waiting for Ezra’s reply Michael’s eyes started to glow and light started to emit from his hands. “The future has drastically changed. Circumstances will never be the same now, she was never supposed to transform tonight.”

  To Ezra’s horror a large black void opened behind Victoria and before he knew what was happening it was too late. He felt the wind sail by him as the air was being sucked into the dark window.

  Michael, skin glowing with light, held his arms ou
t strong. “I wish it didn’t come to this, but I can’t have your love affair mess with destiny,” he glanced at Ezra. “If you had have kept her at arm’s length Ezra I would not have intervened.”

  Ezra felt something that was completely foreign to him, something that was buried deep within. Absolute fear, utter loss and helplessness. A sharp blade to his emotions, the same fatal effect that happened to him so long ago. He felt his skin perspire as his brain tried to think rationally. “I don’t know what you are talking about! I feel nothing for her, I am a Demon! I can’t feel anything for anybody,” he took a breath. “This was not our plan. You can’t mean to toss her through time!” Ezra yelled glancing back at Victoria who was being pulled backwards, screaming in an effort not to be sucked backwards. This was insane … what was Michael thinking?! Wasn’t he supposed to be the good guy?!

  He went to lunge for her, but Michael was one step ahead of him. Michael flung his arm and Victoria flew backwards into the black void.

  Into nothingness …

  Ezra stared, unbelieving of what just happened. The window was gone, and it was all over. A vibration in time. He fell to his knees seeing nothing around him, only feeling the pain of what just transpired.

  Time jumping is never done because it results in memory loss. Without the mind one is as good as dead. Ezra rubbed a hand down his face at this new reality. She could have been cast a year to hundreds of years into the future, no telling where she would land.

  God, have mercy on his soul for now there is no way he can last without her. He is now as good as dead.

  What will happen to her when her mind can’t remember?

  Chapter eleven

  July 2018

  Castle of Kent.

  Top Mental intuition of England

  Kristensen Specialist Neurology Centre

  “Letta's Syndrome is a mental disorder that makes it hard to tell the difference between what is real and what is not.” Doctor Kristensen’s condemning voice reverberated through Tori’s mind. “I’m afraid that this illness has returned with alarming force Ms. Grayson. Even with our technology, it appears we were not able to stop it. You could do harm to others and not realize it.”

  She closed her eyes, wanting that shrill voice to go away. The doctor was a horrid woman. Yes, she had no memory of her passed life, that didn’t mean she was dangerous. She didn’t care that Letta’s syndrome has become an epidemic lately. That anyone with Letta’s syndrome had to be immediately locked up in case of spreading the illness.

  Tori was a Jane Doe.

  A nobody.

  Apparently, she woke up one morning and could not remember anything of her past life, it was horrifying. She was murmuring Tori in her sleep and so the doctors assumed it might be her name. They also thought she came from English descent from the Grayson family—so naturally her name is now Tori Grayson. Even though they can’t prove this with any facts.

  Horray!

  I didn’t feel any better.

  The nutcase has Letta’s syndrome, who cares who she is, just give her a name.

  The syndrome's name derived from a mentally ill girl, Letta Collins, who suffered severe visions of mind-blowing things—memory loss. The young girl murdered her family during the night.

  Tragic.

  Tori smiled cruelly, admitting that something was wrong with her. It just wasn’t that. She heard voices and felt things that heightened her paranoia. God, how could she describe five years of insanity? It was more of a fear of the unknown. Tori peered into the bathroom mirror. The brown of her eyes seemed dull and her black hair was in disarray. The deep circles and her pale complexion were barely an indication of what she was suffering on the inside.

  They might take her again. Tori had pleaded with the doctor not to do so if she took her medication religiously this time. She’d stop altering her looks! Yes, she would even take out her colored contacts! She could try and stop this constant paranoia that the world was after her, seeing everyone as a suspect of some master conspiracy. It was easy to be suspicious when her whole life had vanished from her memory. It was almost impossible not to believe that she was brainwashed for medical testing. She was an experiment that went wrong.

  Tears trickled down her cheeks hating herself for telling the doctor what she had done. But, she needed tell somebody! There was no way she could tell her celebrity boyfriend, Samson Lee Willis. No, he was her only grip on normality. He would dump her in a heartbeat if he knew what dark secrets she was harboring inside. If he knew the doctors thought she had Letta’s syndrome, he would freak out.

  “Ms. Grayson, tell me about this book you wrote? If you can, that is,” her voice held mockery, making Tori cringe in embarrassment.

  Why did she have to tell?!

  Tori remembered what she had said. It was like she almost sentenced herself to asylum once again. “I wrote a story about my amnesia, in a fantasy world I suppose. It was like they were my forgotten memories … I connected with them as if they really happened to me. It was weird. I was even the main character in my story and I didn’t realize it. Sometimes I feel like I’m not even human …”

  The doctor had stared at her, as if Tori were mad. “I see. And when did you write this story?”

  Tori winced, wishing she had lied to the doctor. Why didn’t she lie?! “After my medication ran out. These images came rushing into my mind’s eye and I wrote them down as if I were in a trance. I do not remember writing the story until I was finished.”

  The doctor then described how she was suffering again from extreme delusions from her trauma. The Letta’s was said to be the cause of her memory loss five years ago, for in extreme cases this can occur. Of course, Tori didn’t believe that, knowing deep down something else had transpired. After her amnesia, her troubled mind had tried to create an alternate past to connect to, confusing reality, the doctor had added unemotionally.

  That couldn’t be it … could it?

  Was she crazy?

  Tori closed her eyes but then glanced back into the mirror. She didn't know who gazed back. She just wished she could remember something from her real past. Realization suddenly occurred to her. God, she was sick, wasn’t she?

  A hard knock came on the bathroom door making her gasp. “Tori! You OK? You’ve been in there for an hour. I was wondering how the doctor’s appointment went. Did they fix your migraines?” he continued. “I can’t wait to leave this place; it gives me the damned creeps. All these crazy people running about seems highly unsafe. And you know I have to be in London tomorrow morning.” He waited for her reply. The sound of Samson’s soft breathing on the door let her know he wouldn’t leave without an answer. “And don’t forget your promise Tori,” he said seductively.

  “Y-yes, I will be out in a second,” her voice cracked, betraying her calm resolve. She promised that they would finally be intimate if he took her here, which she had been holding off on. She feared physical contact and didn’t know why. She pulled out her iPhone to check the time. She’d been in the bathroom for an hour.

  “Tori?”

  “Hold on! I just washing my face,” she snapped then regretted it. “I’m sorry, I will be out in a second OK?” she pleaded meekly, trying to hold her teetering feelings together.

  He took a moment then grunted. “OK baby, I will be waiting out here. Just so you know our flight is in two hours.”

  A gush of tears instantly streamed down her face as small sobs erupted from her throat. Overwhelming pain washed over, reminding her that she would never have a normal life again. It was silly. Samson thought they were here for her constant migraines, not because she was ordered to this place as a follow up to see if the medication was working. God above, why did she have to open her big mouth about her story? “They’re coming for me,” she whispered as tears streamed down her face, numbing her. The last words the doctor had said to her rattled her to the core, heightening her paranoia.

  Kristensen gave her that knowing look, her icy gaze piercing straight through to To
ri’s soul. “Well, that concludes our discussion for now. Good day Ms. Grayson,” she said strangely, then smiled.

  That smile is what sent alarms off in Tori’s mind.

  The doctor grinned at her like she was a small child, not an adult. Someone who was insane and needed treatment. Someone who wouldn’t let her leave this castle.

  Smashing those horrific thoughts, she dried her face quickly and opened the door. She plastered a smile on her face and walked into the living room to see Samson gazing out the window with a whiskey in hand.

  Samson Lee Willis. Yes, she supposed he was terribly attractive, worshipped by women everywhere. His sun-bleached hair was perfectly brushed back like he only used the forces of the wind to style with. Tori eyed him as he posed with his vapor cigarette, slowly blowing blue vapors between his lips and arching one distinguished brow. He always looked so immaculate, so relaxed all the time. Today he wore his soft beige overcoat matched perfectly with his sandy colored slacks and white button-up.

  Tori took a deep breath and shook her head. Maybe she was letting her mind run away with her again, paranoia getting the best of her. Everything was fine, and she was thankful for Samson’s support. She would tell him of her illness after she let him kiss her, for the first time. He had been so good about waiting until she was ready. Tori took a deep breath and approached him.

  “Samson,” she whispered in a breathy voice.

  I can do this.

  He turned at the sound of her sultry voice and instantly his coffee-coloured eyes lit from within. Samson smiled and tilted his head, eyeing her heatedly. “Say it again,” he asked and licked his lips.

  She blushed, then issued a husky “Samson”.

  “I have waited too long to hear you say my name like that. You have the lips of an angel,” he said as he came up to her and wrapped an arm around her small waist, flattening her body to his. The hem of her black lace dress rose as his arm pulled tighter. “You are so beautiful, like my fragile flower. Sometimes … I think you not real.” He laughed at that, staring deeply into her eyes.