Giver of Light
memories back would be a good thing, part of me thinking that remembering would only make this so much worse.
    “Where are we going?” Maybe getting some facts would help.
    “Home. Colorado, the United States. We've been there for a while, I'm hoping seeing it again will bring back some memories.”
    Huh, Colorado. It absolutely did not bring back some memories. In fact, I had absolutely no idea where, in the United States of America, Colorado was. How was that possible if I had lived there before?
    I sighed, he just kept rubbing the back of my hand, a soothing motion that did make my blood pressure lower and my heart rate steady. I decided I liked him holding my hand.
    “What's your name?” My voice was small, I didn't like admitting I couldn't remember him. I wanted to remember him, I wanted to make him smile.
    “Jonathan.”
    That twigged a memory, or something, I couldn't quite grasp. But it felt familiar, not quite as much as the thumb rubbing on the back of my hand, but still, it was something, wasn't it?
    “I remember your name, I think, I'm not sure, but I know I've heard it before.”
    He smiled, but I picked up a sense of tension in his body that hadn't been there before. I'm not quite sure how I managed to do that, it seemed like the signals he was giving off were minute, but somehow I could pick up the nuances as though this was just a natural part of who I am. Reading people. That made me wonder what I did for a living.
    “What do I do in Colorado?”
    He pulled himself together, although I'm sure to anyone else they wouldn't have even picked up that something was wrong.
    “You're my wife, you don't need to work, your place is by my side.”
    I had a sudden sense that was wrong, that there was more to me than someone's other half. I hid my reaction with a shift of my hand in his, now taking hold of his instead of letting him hold mine. I smiled up at his surprised face and said, “Good. I like that.” And prayed he bought it, because I knew now he was lying. I had no way of knowing what the truth was, but I knew this was not it. Jonathan was not my friend, let alone my husband and I knew this with such conviction it rocked my soul.
    The rest of the flight was much the same. The other vampires, who Jonathan introduced to me as his work colleagues and friends, sat watching the movie, while Jonathan tended to me. Getting me food and drinks and telling me about our supposed life together. I let my mind wander, still taking in what he was saying, but allowing myself the luxury of self analysis. Who was I? Why was Jonathan going to such extremes to make me believe I was part of his world? And where had we just come from?
    Because the further we were getting from where ever this plane had taken off from, the more I felt like a part of me was being left behind. I clung to that part as it felt more real than the vampire sitting by my side, but no matter how much I tried to identify it, I couldn't. It was lost to me and that sense of loss almost made me cry.
    Just before we were due to land, Jonathan came back from the galley with some tablets and a small cup of water.
    “Take these, sweetheart, they're your medicine.” Then seeing the slightly sceptical look on my face, he added, “Without them you tend to have seizures. We don't want that, do we?”
    I wanted to argue. I wanted to ask what they were. But, I knew when my back was against a wall. We were on board a plane, I was surrounded by vampires, I could not have fought back or escaped, this was not the time to rock the boat. So, I took them and I swallowed them. He was watching me too closely, to play with fire and pretend. My time would come, I told myself, because as sure as I knew that I was more than just some trophy wife, that there was more to me than meets the eye, I knew I would escape these vampires.
    I knew it and I grabbed hold of that thought, held it close and settled in my armchair waiting for whatever the drugs would do to me to happen,

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