Hunted by Darkness

Licht

Sarah

A lead ball throbbed at the back of her head, weighing it down, making it sink. There were no sounds around her. She couldn’t open her eyes, not yet, they felt glued together, but even through the lids, she could sense a bright light. Was it morning already?

She tried to move her fingers. Slowly, she opened and closed her hand, which felt still and painful. Her fingers grazed soft fabric, and she wondered if she was in the hospital again, but the scent of lavender would have been out of place. It was obviously not the street, and she was sure she wasn’t dead. Her heart was beating, and pain was throbbing throughout her body with every palpitation.

‘You can open your eyes,’ a voice said, sweet as honey, ‘when you’re ready.’

It had come somewhere to her left, a voice she didn’t recognize, soft and melodious. She wondered if she would have recognized it before she lost her memory, but she didn’t have the energy to ask herself too many questions. She tried to pry her eyes open, but nothing happened. The harder she tried, the more she felt herself drift back into incoherent images and sounds.

She didn’t remember any of her dreams when she became conscious again, but she had a feeling they were repeating themselves over and over again. Her body felt heavy and frozen, and she was still in pain, although more localized this time. Her left shoulder was a focal point, with a dull, constant ache running down her back and side. Then there were her hands. What did she think she was doing by punching those things with her bare hands?

There was her abdomen. Why did her abdomen hurt? She didn’t remember any of those things hitting her there. The pain was sharp and stabbing. And then she remembered.

‘Gabriel!’ she thought she yelled, but she barely heard her own voice. She managed to open her eyes, only a millimetre, bright light making her close them again.

‘What is that?’ the voice was back.

‘Gabriel… he was hurt,’ her throat was dry, and her voice scraped the back of her mouth like a scorer. She was able now to keep her eyes slightly open, but everything was a bright white blur.

‘Mr Flanagan was very badly injured, indeed.’

She felt the bed sink to her left and the warmth of another body close to her. As she looked up, she met eyes of a blue so light they were like crystal. The man towering above her was slender, with a delicate straight nose and thin lips, his blond hair neatly combed to the side. His proximity made her uncomfortable, a stranger sitting so close to her, and yet she couldn’t move away. She was sore, yes, but also unable to make the decision to simply shift over.

‘He is recovering in the next room. With a lovely nurse, I should add.’

He smiled, and it felt as if somebody had switched another light in the room.

‘He has asked after your health, of course, but he didn’t stay awake for long. I’m afraid it will be some time before he can get on his feet, although our healers are doing their best.’

‘Is this a hospital?’ she finally managed to speak, still staring up at his face.

‘Mmm? You could call it that, yes. We’re more effective than doctors, though,’ he gave her a knowing look, ‘but wounds inflicted by the Old Ones are hard to heal.’

He stood up frowning, walking away from her bed. He stood at the window, his back turned to her, silent for a few seconds.

‘I’ve done my best to heal your body, but you will have residual pain for some time. Less than…’ he turned, ‘well, you will see, eventually.’

The door opened and, for the first time since she opened her eyes, Sarah looked at something else than him. A woman walked into the room, a tray in her hands. She had expected a nurse, but her clothes didn’t resemble any uniform she had seen. She was familiar with them, having spent several months in the hospital only a few weeks past.

‘Ah! Lunch is here. Very well,’ the man adjusted the sleeves of his white suit, ‘I shall give you some privacy so you can get recover your strength and rest. I will come back before dark. Kaley,’ he nodded to the woman on his way out.

‘Sir,’ she stood still until he walked past her.

‘No, wait…’ Sarah called out as he got to the door.

The man didn’t turn back, and she watched, dismayed, as the door closed behind him. The pillows sank again under her weight, and she was left feeling bereft. The woman, Kaley he had called her, opened the folded legs of the tray with a sharp shake and set it in front of her. There were coffee and croissants, as well as porridge and fruit and toast.

‘I hope you are feeling better,’ the woman said.

‘I suppose, yes, thanks.’

The truth was she didn’t remember not feeling fine. She remembered the fight, the lack of breath, the cold, the rotten smell. She remembered Gabriel yelling ‘stop’ and turning to find one of the creatures running towards her with a sword-life limb ready to stab her. For a split second, he wasn’t moving but frozen in midair. Then the large mass of Gabriel got between them, somebody pressed play, and the Old One stabbed him, the spike going through his back and cutting her abdomen behind him. The thing pulled out the weapon if she had to call it that, and Gabriel stumbled, turning and falling against her, dragging her to the ground and pinning her under his body. She felt his warm breath, fast and uneven, on her neck for a few seconds and then, nothing, he wasn’t breathing. Or had she passed out already? She had no idea what happened after.

‘Where am I?’ she asked, staring at the woman.

‘This is the Licht Organization Complex.’

Sarah looked at her blankly. That didn’t mean anything to her.

‘Specifically, its Healer Division. And yes, before you ask, it’s like a hospital.’

‘What’s the… Licht Organization… Complex?’

The woman rearranged her pillows. Brown hair tumbled over her shoulders, dark eyes under long lashes seemed to scrutinize her.

‘He will explain when you’re better,’ she answered, glancing at the door.

Sarah followed her gaze.

‘Who is ‘he’?’

‘Mr Vogel, the man who just left. He is the… director, if you will, of the Healer’s Division, in between other things.’

‘What…’

‘I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but Mr Vogel would not appreciate it much if I answered them here and now. Our main concern right now is for you to recover. He will personally make sure of that,’ she started walking away, ‘which is not something everybody can say,’ and looking over her shoulder, she winked at her, a warm smile on her lips.

Sarah repressed a smile, it felt almost inappropriate to be laughing while Gabriel was still unconscious, and everything was so confusing. The events of the previous night carouseled in her head, starting with her mother’s frozen stare looking back at her from under the bed to the spike impaling Gabriel. She had tried to warn him, didn’t she? But he had put his arms around her, and the warmth and smell of his body seemed to make it all go away. For an instant, only a short moment, she felt as she must have felt before the accident. Normal. Like any nineteen-year-old when hugged by a good looking guy. And then there had been the feeling. The cold, the pressing feeling, the need to get out of there and the knowledge that there was no way out. She was surprised now to recognize the determination she had felt when she had broken the glass in Lucy’s house. There had been no thought, she just did.

Standing in the corridor of what had been her house but yet felt as foreign as a hotel, she had felt that same confidence and the energy that had gathered in and around her that first time in the park came to her without even trying. Maybe it had been triggered by the danger. It had swollen her muscles, improved her sight, all her senses, really. Their putrid scent had become a taste and felt sticky and hot on her tongue. The memory alone made her gag.

Their movements of slithery slowness covered much more distance than it seemed and its volume was loud into her ears, as if they were just next to her when they had still been far behind.

And the same energy had helped her fight them off. She felt as if she had been able to lift a car, maybe more. She felt, well, powerful.

And then Gabriel had stopped one with a single word. She doubted those things felt surprise so it must have stopped for another reason. Did Gabriel have a power of his own that he hadn’t mentioned? They hadn’t had that much time… or was it that she hadn’t dared ask more questions, scared of what she might learn? She wanted to recover her memory, and that didn’t feel scary, because if she did, her memories and past experiences would be part of herself and it would be fine.

But if somebody else told her about it, well, what if she didn’t like what she heard? Her mother (had that been her at all?) had tried to tell her about her previous life, but it had more to do with her childhood and her life at home, and that seemed to be safe territory. Still, Sarah felt it had nothing to do with her. But when Gabriel had started telling her about herself… it had felt different.

It hadn’t escaped her that his reasons for being at the group therapy weren’t quite as he said. He said he didn’t remember the accident, but she wasn’t sure that was true. And then coming to knock at her window and take her away from her home. He had been right, after all, but then he had been lying to her, hadn’t he?

Without thinking about it, she had finished everything in the tray. Looking around, she realized there wasn’t much of anything there. It was a private room with a hospital bed, a chest of drawers against the wall, under the only window, and a small picture of a plant hanging on the opposite wall. The only door was to her left. There was no TV, no magazines, not a book and she couldn’t see her clothes or her mobile phone anywhere. Pushing the tray towards her feet, she lied back down on the pillows, her eyes closing almost against her will. Sleep took over without asking permission.