I was sucked into a pool of darkness within minutes. There were vague sounds and lights. Nothing I could grasp on to.

Apart from this one moment where I remembered warm hands touching my face. My eyelid was yanked open and a bright light was shone in. I vaguely identified it as a flashlight. But as my eyes fell shut again, any coherent thoughts I had managed to form vanished with it.

But this time, it wasn't just dark.

Memories started moving in an unknown order. Words and faces. Words and... familiar faces.

"Gerheart didn't shoot you." Sylvia hissed.

"The five bullets I caught are a good reason for me to deny your denial." I snapped at her, walking past the seething teen.

"Hey, Ryleigh." Sara smiled at me. I returned her smile with a stiff one. Nice kid, but I don't want to see her either after the next few hours.

I hadn't seen them after that. I hadn't even thought of then after that. Why? What happened?

"I never finished talking about our twins."

"Please don't."

"They can manipulate memories. Insert ideas and images in your mind. Th-"

"Can they erase this entire conversation too because I'm still not interested." I growled through gritted teeth. I want to leave. This is getting to me more than I thought.

Manipulate... memories? They-they were the ones who'd put Will's memories in my head. Had they also taken away their own?

"Where's Gerheart, you sick bitch?"

My eyes went to one of the teenagers. She was shaking. I could see it had taken effort to not spit it out in anger. "Am I supposed to know who that is?"

She pressed her lips together, eyes turning to the other teen standing her. "Well?"

Silence. The other girl was shorter, covered in pimples, chapped lips. She was staring at me, around me. Up and down, left to right. I did that too. She was looking for an aura.

"Sara!" The first one snapped. "Is she lying?"

Sara...

Sara shook her head. "We're just here to monitor the place. We'll leave as soon as the bar is at full capacity."

Sara... was Maya. That's Maya.

"I'm not a kid!" Sylvia snapped up at me. "I'm sixteen."

Sylvia... Sienna... They're both seventeen now. Kids.

"Where's Gerheart, you sick bitch?"

My eyes went to one of the teenagers. She was shaking. I could see it had taken effort to not spit it out in anger. "Am I supposed to know who that is?"

She pressed her lips together, eyes turning to the other teen standing her. "Well?"

Silence. The other girl was shorter, covered in pimples, chapped lips. She was staring at me, around me. Up and down, left to right. I did that too. She was looking for an aura.

"Sara!" The first one snapped. "Is she lying?"

My memories were repeating but...

Kids... They were the kids who worked with me.

"We're not kids." Sylvia sneered as usual.

Right. They're not kids. They're Hunters.

"A bribe?" Sylvia sneered up at me.

"No. A courtesy." I replied easily. "I stay out pretty late most times, as I'm sure you've noticed. I'm going to be having breakfast tomorrow with my friend who works there."

Sylvia's sneer deepened. "You're calling that demon a 'friend'."

"He's certainly nicer to me than you two." I snapped back. "Stop following me at night. You're a kid. You need sleep."

Two? Who else?

"Wouldn't you like to know if she loved you?" A black man called out to me from the corner. He had grey eyes. "If she wanted you?"

Henry?

"G-good morning." Sara smiled hesitantly up at me. The medium who'd talked about my mother the other day stood behind her.

My hand fell away from my ear as my mood instantly soured. "What is it?" I frowned, meeting his grey eyes.

"I thought we'd introduce ourselves." He smiled at me. His voice was weirdly soothing. "We've known you for a long time. You haven't. I'm Gray." I can see why.

Gray... Why didn't I remember him either?

"Sylvia and Sara over there are twins." The two teenagers. "They're both psychics-"

Right. He tagged along with them each time they followed me. He must have run away with them once the news of what had happened to their comrades had come out.

So that's what had happened. They'd followed me. They'd waited. They'd made me forget. And then they'd snuck themselves into my life. Again.

"They can do that." He cocked his head, the customer service smile appearing on his face. "But why would we let you forget about the fool we made of you?"

Harry.

I hadn't thought about him in a while. Not since I'd seen him splayed on the floor with his head facing a direction it shouldn't. I hadn't liked him since I'd met him. Self-righteous, pushy, the leader of a clearly depraved cult.

But he'd been right back then.

They'd made me forget about the fool that had been made of me with Will. Just so they could do the same once again.

I'd been made a fool of.

I'd been played.

And now I was in the hands of the Hunters.

With a throbbing head and a mouth drier than the desert.

My body still felt sluggish. Like I was underwater and being weighed down. I couldn't move. I could only feel the dull pain in my head and my neck where I'd been injected.

My brain felt the same way. I'd barely even realised I was awake. My thoughts were disjointed and the memories were fuzzy, faded. It felt like they weren't in order.

My headache rose a few notches in pain as I tried to raise my head. A loud groan escaped me before it flopped back down. In truly no better words than I can currently find, I felt like a sack of potatoes. About as immobile as one.

It took a few more minutes for my head to clear, and longer for my body to wake up. However, as I regained feeling in my body, I realised it wasn't the sedative holding me down anymore. I was tied to a chair. And apparently, I'd been tied to this chair for a while now. My butt felt sore.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Ryleigh."

Lou?

"She's... awake."

Mike? What was wrong with his voice.

"Yes. Barely." He went quiet for a few moments. "This is where you respond and confirm that."

They were alive. They were alive. They were...

I felt relief pass through me. Enough relief to give me strength to open my mouth and try to speak. But my tongue felt like it was swollen in my mouth. All that came out of me were groans.

"Debatable... on the awake front." Hilarious, Mike. Someone got a sense of humour after being missing for so long.

"Yeah. She sounds more like a zombie. Groan twice if you want brains." And Lou also still thought he was funny.

"If she wants... brains, you're... safe, demon."

"Hilarious, feathers. Shut up and try to heal up before you choke on the tongue they cut off yesterday." What?

Their banter was familiar. But what?

I grit my teeth, forcing my head to move up through the pain and face the direction of their voices.

"She's awake!"

"Dammit." Lou hissed, I could sense the worry in his voice. "They're back."

Lou? Worried?

I could sense some auras approaching me. But everything felt fuzzy. It was like trying to make out the shapes through thick, frosted glass. My head fell back down again, any strength I'd regained giving out as a bunch of footsteps started getting closer to me.

"She doesn't look awake."

"I saw her raise her head and groan."

"She's been making sounds for the past few hours."

"Is she a sleep talker, Gray?"

"Fuck you, Smith."

"She's stuck in memories." All different male voices. This one was female. "I made sure that she'd remember us when she woke up.

"I don't think she's awake." Another girl. Sara? She sounded a lot more confident than the one from my memories.

I felt fingers wrap in my hair. A grunt of pain escaped me as my head was yanked up by it. A pudgy finger pulled up my eyelid. The figures were blurry, but I didn't have anytime to focus as a harsh light was shone into my eyes.

I grimaced, flinching away from the bright beam. "She's awake." Whoever it was let go of my eyes. My head flopped back down once my hair was let go. Those hands felt grimy. I'd washed my hair for the date. Rude.

"Barely. How much did you give her, Gray?"

"Sara... handed me the needle."

"I-it was dark. I-I-I couldn't see the measurements."

"You had one job, Sara. Congrats on killing her."

"She's not dead." Lou spoke up, cutting through the twin's banter. "Considering what you've done to the two of us, she would be better off if she was." Wait, what?

"Demon's... right. She's hu-human. She won't... She won't make it."

"If she's human, why doesn't she have an aura?"

"She died. One of yours killed her."

"Yeah, right. Like I'll believe a demon."

"Hey, angels don't lie. Ask him."

"She was s-shot... five times. We don't... don't use guns."

"Shut up. You colluded with the demon to kill the others. Who's to say you didn't do it before?"

"I did... but only to... revive her."

Lou sighed. "You're not helping any of our cases. You know that, right?"

"Suck... my feces... demon."

A smile formed on my face, an involuntary chuckle leaving me. "W... Wrong."

"She's awake."

I grunted as my head was yanked up by the hair again. This time both my eyes were peeled open, more bright light, blurry faces. "She is awake." The man confirmed, pulling the torch away. Shape and colours started to come together in my blurry vision.

I chuckled to myself. "Mike... said the... the wrong thing..."

"She's still woozy."

Lou laughed beside me. "You're right. I almost missed it. Suck my shit, feathers? That's the best you can come up with?"

"Get your... tongue cut out. And we... we'll see which words you can pronounce while it... heals."

"Fair... enough." I laughed again. I could see the face of the man holding my hair now. More specifically, his eyes. "You have pretty eyes."

He frowned down at me. "She needs some time to sober up."

"Aye, you." I grinned up at the guy.

He gave me an exasperated look. "What?"

"Your hands stink. Get them out of my hair."

Lou burst out laughing. His cackling was the background noise for the glare I got from him. Mike joined in, his raspy laugh sounded painful. I chuckled with them too, giggling up the man who's face seemed to get darker and darker.

He let go off my hair suddenly, stepping back as my head bobbed up and down. He maintained eye contact as he stepped to the side, looking at Lou tied in his chair as he spoke.

"You think it's funny, demon?"

"Very." Lou was still laughing as the man walked over. "You going to punch me?"

There was no answer. Just action. I felt my mirth subside as his fist slammed into Lou's face. Blood and spittle flew as his head jerked around to my side. I saw his eyes shift, anger rising within him. His eyes turned full black, blood dripping down his deformed, thin lips as he sneered. He was shaking with rage in his chair. I could see it. I could feel it.

He met my eyes, and for a moment... I felt it. The rage. The unfeeling well of dark essence inside him.

I'd felt this once before. And only once. When Lou had protected me from the angels who tried to kill me. The terrifying fear. Choking as my lungs seized up, and falling to my knees. Death had been the only feeling in the room at that moment. And if he wasn't constrained beside me, with chains and the same symbols I'd taped around the place I was staying in- we'd all be dead. Any relation to him be damned.

"Never seen someone get punched, Ryleigh?" His smile was wide, filled with sharp teeth.

His voice jolted me out of my thoughts. I swallowed to myself, forcing a smile on my face. "Actually..." I replied after a few moments. "It's been a dream of mine to watch you get absolutely decked someday." Lou smiled, teeth coloured bright red. "I'm memorising the moment."

He licked his teeth, sitting back straight and seeming too big for chair he was in now. "Not Mike? I feel singled out."

"I can't even see Mike." I replied candidly. "My vision is shit at the moment." Most of it was just colourful blobs. I was squinting at Lou like I needed glasses.

"Trust me... you don't wa... want to see me."

A hand wrapped around my chin, tugging my face back around to the front. Another stranger. My eyesight had cleared up enough to see Gray, Sienna and Maya standing behind them. Actually, it's Henry, Sara, Sylvia. Wait, it's... who?

"She's fine. She's just faking." Sylvia? Sienna?

"No... I don't think so." Sara replied. "Her pupils are dilated, and I can't read her."

"I can see that too." Sylvia sounded annoyed. Someone wasn't the talented twin.

"You know... them?" Mike's question was directed at me.

"Yeah." My reply was dry. "They're good at manipulating and planting memories. They took away any I had of them, and followed me here apparently."

"Wrong." Sylvia smirked. "We led you here."

I went quiet. There's no way I heard that right.

"You heard me." Sylvia's smile got wider, smugger. "We led you here."

I'm going to throw up.

"That would explain the city layout."

I'm going to throw up.

"Shut up, demon."

"Explain... demon."

I'm going to throw up.

"Right, the angel is too young. Ryleigh listen up, you need to hear this too." He cleared his throat. It sounded far away. "Before humans figured out runes or symbols to keep beings like us containe-"

"Shut up, demon."

"-d they'd do it through city formation. Blessed tiles, marked sewers, city centers as chu-" I heard a pained grunt.

"Shut up!"

He spat. "Like I was saying-churches, holy ground. Everything was built with ble-" another punch. Spit. Continue. "Which is why you both felt uneasy here. Your bar b-" Punch. Spit. "Outside of town means you didn't feel it as much, but it was still th-" Punch... no spit? "There. Anyway, blessed town, hunter's refuges, normal families somewhere down the line, you can connect the dots. I'm tired of be-" Punch. "That. I'm tired of that."

Oh, yeah. I'm going to throw u- wait, I don't have anything to throw up. I haven't eaten in over half a day.

"She looks like she's going to be sick."

I wonder what gave it away.

"She won't." Another punch. "That's just overkill. Ryleigh's got a stomach of steel."

Unfortunately.

I had to force myself to calm down. To stop looking like a deer in the headlights. It didn't take more than a few moments to compose myself. I could have a breakdown over it later.

Blinking a few times, I met Sara's eyes. She liked me back in the city. "Can I have some water?"

"She is going to throw up." Sylvia snickered, arms gping across her chest.. "Go on. Puke on yourself. It would be amusing."

"I'm just thirsty, kid." I replied dryly. "Literally."

"I'm not a kid." Her brow furrowed.

"Sure, kid." I looked away from her. My headache was back. "Just get som-"

"I'M NOT A KID!"

I jerked away from that sudden yell. I was not prepared for that. My eardrums still hadn't woken up enough to take something that loud. "Jeez, calm down. You're only seventeen. You're still a kid."

"I'm not..." Her face contorted in pure anger. She moved, pushing aside the man in front of me. "... A KID!"

I did not see that punch coming.

It slammed into my face before I even knew it. Right under my eye with knuckles digging into my cheek. Stars flashed in front of my eyes and blood filled my mouth as my lips dashed against my teeth.

My head jerked to the side with a sharp crack. Vision shorting out for moment and returning extremely spotty with my entire face hurting. I could only taste iron, and pain... and my ears were ringing.

I shook my head. My vision was clear now, but damn if it didn't hurt. "What a... way to wake up." I did a Lou, and spit.

My blood splattered on the broken cement at my feet. The colour of it kept shifting with my vision.

I raised my head to meet Sylvia's furious face. I'd just been decked by a kid. And that was a good punch.

I rotated my jaw. My split lip stung with the motion. "Can I get the water n-"

This time I saw the hand pull back. I couldn't even react before it slammed right back into my face. My nose broke under this one. The pain was almost blinding. I cried out in pain as my head jerked back. It hit the back of the chair I was stuck in, forcing me to a stop as I felt the blood trickle down my lips. The third punch really impaired my eyesight. I think there were three more after that, but I lost count. It just kept blurring into random bursts of pain. I think I even passed out for a few minutes. But when I regained consciousness, Sylvia was crying. She was ugly crying. Screaming words at me I couldn't hear through the ringing in my ears as she was being held back by her sister and Gray.

My face hurt. A lot.

Shaking my head, I attempted to get rid of the ringing in my ears. However, all it did was make everything on my face scream in pain. I didn't even know I could feel this much pain on my face.

So this is what it's like being punched. I've been on the punching end once or twice, but I don't really have a lot of weight to put behind the actual throw.

I could also taste a lot of blood. How much does a lip bleed?

"You awake, Ryleigh?" Lou's voice was tinny. Somehow making its way through everything.

"Unfortunately." I mumbled, hissing as talking tugged at my lip. I looked up, meeting a sobbing, and now silent, Sylvia's streaming eyes. "Why don't you... get in one... more for the road?" I shrugged. It tugged my dress down considering how tight the rope around my waist was.

She bit her lip. I leaned my head back as far as I could before she even exploded again."YOU KILLED THEM! YOU KILLED THEM ALL! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" I missed being passed out.

"You got a death wish, Ryleigh?" Lou chuckled beside me as she continued yelling in my face, struggling against her sister and Gray. "She just beat the shit out of you."

"Yeah, well." My head lolled to the side, breaking eye contact with the psychotic teenager. "Atleast I don't look as bad as you."

He snickered, rolling his jaw. "You're getting there." He was back to normal now. Still bloody, but just looking like a human being who'd been tortured now.

I scoffed, jerking my head to gesture at the girls in front of me. "Please, like this kid could actually knock me o-"

Sylvia let out a loud scream of anger and frustration, cutting me off. I wasn't fast enough to react to it. The fist was just a blur in the corner of my eye.

Her fist slamming into my face this time felt harder than the ones she'd dealt me so far. Or it just managed to push me over edge of consciousness I'd been teetering on since she's stopped punching me.

There was a sharp burst of pain. My vision flashed, I tasted more blood... and then the kid actually knocked me out.

*************

AUTHOR'S NOTE

MAN, this chapter was a bitch to write.

But good news! Lou and Mike are alive (relatively)!

Bad news! They're all stuck in the same situation.

Also bad news- the Hunters are back. I mean, we knew that. But did we know they were right in the middle of their town?

NO
WE
DID
NOT

What a plot twist 👀

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Vote and comment!