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I started to come out of the vision. No. The memory. Not the false ones he fed me. The reality of the last twelve years of my life.
Everything had been a lie.
“I’m sorry,” the woman said. Her voice was soothing and lyrical. “I know a bit of what it means to be tortured. I’m sorry for what she went through. Is this the first time she’s had a true memory surface? It can be physically hard when that happens.”
“I think she’s started having them, but they seem to give her headaches.” Casey’s hands smoothed back my hair. “She’s been on demon blood for years. I think it made it easier to control her.”
“Depending on the blood, yes it would. But if she’s on demon blood, the memories shouldn’t resurface,” the woman explained.
“It’s satan blood,” Casey said quietly, almost guiltily.
The woman sighed. “That explains it. The satan blood will actually clear the suppression spells from her system. You were smart to give it to her. It will help her get off the blood without too much physical discomfort. Clearing the spells will be harder. You’re a vampire, but she’s not a companion. Unless whoever did this to her took her glow as well.”
“I’m an academic,” he replied.
“Ah.” Lilith. It was Lilith who walked into the room. Except she’d looked so much like Nimue. That had to be my memory surfacing. She only resembled her, and that was what had sparked that terrible remembrance.
I opened my eyes to discover they had not deceived me. The woman staring down at me was damn near Nim’s twin. “Nim? I thought he still had you.”
A brow rose over the woman’s eyes. “Nim? You are confused. My name is Lilith, young one.”
I shook my head, not bothering to push Casey away. I didn’t want to. I wanted to be in his arms, and I wasn’t going to fight it.
“She’s talking about the Lady of the Lake.” Casey’s eyes were wide with concern as he looked down at me. “Are you okay? I think we should go back to the Earth plane. We need to get you to Henri.”
I didn’t need a doctor. There wasn’t anything Henri could do for me, but the woman in front of me could answer a few questions. “I’m fine. Help me up.”
He simply stood, taking my weight and not showing it bothered him at all. “You should at least rest for a while.”
I shook my head. “Come on, Casey. She looks exactly like Nimue. Don’t you have a few questions? I know what happened to her now. When the thrall stone finally made its way out of her head, she tried to save me, but I was too far gone. She wouldn’t leave, and that was how Myrddin killed her. At least she would be dead if she was human.” It was all so hazy when moments before it had been crystal clear. “I’m not sure where she is now, but we need to find her head.”
The Coven House had blown up. Nimue could still be in the rubble. All these years…
“She’s fine. The queen got her out, and she’s regrowing her body,” Casey told me.
“I look like this woman?” Lilith stood, the hellhounds at her side. They looked oddly right standing there as though this was a woman who always had a canine entourage.
Casey set me down on the couch. “Are you sure you want to do this now?”
I wasn’t sure when else I would do it. “I’m fine. Aren’t you the least bit curious what happened to Nim?”
“I don’t have to be curious. She told us what happened. Myrddin cut her head off and stuffed it in a box and kept her in the closet for years,” Casey replied, staring down at me as though he wasn’t sure if he should pick me back up again. “I thought you knew. I’m a little pissed she didn’t mention everything that was happening to you.”
I shook my head. “She very well might not remember. Myrddin played with her head for years and years. He tried to make her forget so they could start again. I don’t know how much she would have held on to. For what it’s worth, I’m not sure I can trust my own memory at this point.”
Lilith sat down on the sofa across from us, the hounds settling beside their mistress. “From what I can feel coming off you, I suspect you remember very little truth. Some of the spells I sense are years and years old.”
“I don’t understand what you mean by feeling something coming off me.”
She was so stunning she looked a bit unreal. Long dark hair and perfect skin that nearly glowed. Those violet eyes I’d seen before in Nim seemed to pierce me. “I can sense magic and auras. I’m particularly good with souls. Yours is missing a piece. It was taken from you with great violence.”
My stomach felt sick, but I pushed past the queasiness. “Yes, I’ve recently begun to believe that as well.”
“Who did this to you?” Lilith asked.
“A man named Myrddin Emrys. He’s a big name on the Earth plane.” Casey sighed and settled down next to me.
“I’ve stayed away from the Earth plane for a long time. I’m afraid it holds too many bad memories. I’m sorry for your pain, but I don’t know this Nimue,” Lilith admitted.
