Phantom Love

Chapter 7

      "Emerson, do you know anything of the marks on her?" Forrest asks. 

      He nods, "They are runes. It looks like a ritual of sorts." 

      The stone floor surrounding me is covered in intricately carved runes that are linked together by small channels. I look to my wrists and see deep gashes in them, blood flowing out freely. I watch as the blood flows from my arms and into the runes, slowly filling them up. 

      I snap back to reality and can't help but shiver.  Forrest is looking at me intensely while Emerson looks curious. 

      "You do remember something then?" Forrest asks, suspicion lacing his words. 

      I swallow thickly, "When we were at the club that guy, the one that pelted magic at you guys, walked through me. I saw flashes of something that I assumed were his memories. I think they may be mine from before I was a ghost thing." 

      "What did you see?" Emerson asks. 

      "I was laying on a stone floor. There were runes carved into the stone and circled around me. My wrists were slashed and I was bleeding out and into the runes." I shiver, "I think I was filling them up or something." 

      "Did they look like the ones on your skin?" Leandre asks. 

      I nod, "Exactly like them." 

      Emerson leans forward, "Did you see the one on your hip carved anywhere?" He asks. 

      I close my eyes and think back. I look around the room again and don't see it. There's a vague sense of great pain coursing through me, though. When I look down at my own body though, I'm shocked at what I see. I open my eyes and look up to the rest of the guys. A part of me is afraid of whatever that was and I don't care if they see. 

      "No. That one was already on my hip." I say quietly.

      Forrest's eyebrow raises, "How do you know?" 

     "It's on my skin already even before the first of the runes are all the way filled up." I swallow, knowing I need to tell them this, communication is key to any healthy relationship after all, "I was in bad shape guys." 

      "What do you mean by that?" Emerson asks gently. 

      "There were shackles around my ankles that connected to the stone wall and- and I was naked." I shiver at the memory, "There were injuries everywhere. Large bruises, scars, and open wounds." 

       I feel, as well as hear, a faint growling and realize that Drazik had pulled me into him. I have a feeling it was more for him than me but I welcomed it none the less. I look over to the rest of the guys and see they all were affected by my words in some way or another. Forrest and Emerson's faces are completely devoid of emotion which means they're fighting to keep a strong one at bay. Kieran and Leandre on the other hand don't care how many emotions they show and they are fuming. Fists clenched and jaws hard, they look ready to tear into someone. 

      I turn and bury my face in Drazik's chest to bury whatever feelings those memories brought up. I take a few deep breath's of his petrichor scent and then look back up at everyone else who are definitely still mad but have calmed down a bit. 

      "Do you know what that mark on your hip is?" Emerson asks, "Does anyone?" 

      Everyone shakes their head no and he takes a deep breath. 

      "It's the mark of the high priestess." He states simply and without flourish. 

      I have no idea what the fuck he's talking about but everyone goes stock still and turns to look at me, varying degrees of shock and wonder in their eyes. Drazik even let's go of me, allowing me to sit upright on my own beside him again.