The next few hours were a mixture of confusion and fear. I had no idea what had happened so there was little I could do explain when the cops had asked.

I had been taken back to the hospital to get checked over.

“Tessa,” my grandmother gasped when she entered the hospital room, looking disheveled and worried.

I was happy to see her but I felt guilty for putting her through this. How could I have done all of this with little recollection of what happened?

“Granny,” I murmured when she engulfed in a hug and held onto me so desperately ti was difficult to breathe.

I held her tightly. It scared me, how close I had come to dying.

Damien was in the room too. He was brooding in the corner, unusually quiet. Unlike his usual annoying self. He had his back to me and was staring out of the window.

This Damien I didn’t know how to handle. He was different. I had no idea what had caused the change.

I had so many questions, only he could answer but I dared not voice any of them until l was sure no one could over hear me. I couldn’t take the risk that someone would question my mental health if they found me talking to thin air.

“What happened Tessa?” Her eyes were filled with confusion and concern.

“I don’t remember,” I put my hand to my head to feel the bandage.

I had hit my head on the steering wheel, it had needed stitches. Four to be exact.

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” she hugged me again. “I don’t know what I would have done…”

I hugged her, never wanting to let go of her. I didn’t like how close I had come to causing her more pain.

Damien’s eyes locked with mine, I held his gaze, like I could somehow see into his thoughts.

Someone had once mentioned that eyes were a mirror to a soul. I wanted to see his soul, but his features were tightly closed off. There was nothing. He had no soul.

I managed to get a little sleep before the doctor came by later to discharge me.

Once I got home I showered and got back into my bed. I felt safe but memories of the accident made it difficult to close my eyes and fall asleep.

Damien stood with his arms crossed as he watched me across the room. He stared resentfully at me with a deep furrowed frown.

It was finally safe to talk to him, to ask him all the question I wanted to and somehow piece together what had happened.

“What happened?” I whispered.

He didn’t even blink as our eyes held.

“Damien.” His behavior was so strange and I didn’t have the faintest idea how to deal with him. I had always believed that his silence would be a blessing but it made me feel nervous.

I could deal with the annoying asshole but this deeply brooding demon was an unknown.

“What do you remember?” His words were soft.

I let out a shaky breath, unsure if I the strength to wade through the trauma.

“It’s all a bit of a haze. I was in the water.” I swallowed hard trying to keep the panic at bay. I could still feel the cold if the water as I tried to get free. “I remember floating.”

He nodded slowly. “Then what?”

There had been a light. Had it maybe been the headlights from the car? But there had been only one not two.

“I saw a light.” I frowned, trying to make sense of what I had seen. “And…then…I was on the sand coughing up water.”

His lips flattened in a line. “Is that all you remember?”

I nodded. The dynamic between us had changed and I had no idea why.

“What happened?” I sat up. I needed answers and he was the only person who could give them to me.

“You survived…again.”

“But how?”

“None of that matters.” He rolled his shoulders slightly. There was tension in his shoulders.

For the first time I saw a chink in his armor. What was the big deal? Why couldn’t he tell me what happened? What was he hiding?

“Nothing has changed,” he said, his tone flat without his usual sarcasm or cruelty. “You don’t belong here and it’s my responsibility to take you back.”

I didn’t believe him, not for a second. Something had changed.

“Why can’t you tell me what happened?” I asked the question hoping he would have a change of heart.

“You survived. That’s all that matters.” He glared at me.

I slipped from the bed and confronted him, moving to stand in front of him. Not allowing him to intimidate me with his eyes that glowed. He could play every trick, none of it was going to deter me.

“There was no one else but you and I, Damien.”

He held my gaze without wavering.

“How did I get out of the car?” I was pretty sure I had blacked out in the car. “Did I somehow get myself out and swim to safety?”

It was the only plausible explanation but it made very little sense as I hadn’t remembered getting myself free or swimming.

I could remember floating and the light. None of my memories made much sense.

“How did I get out?”

I refused to back down but he gave nothing away.

“If I didn’t get out of the car myself, who got me free?”

He was silent.

“Who pulled me to safety?”

Still nothing.

If he wouldn’t tell me I would have to figure a way to find out for myself.

I remember the doctor warned my grandmother to keep a close eye on me in case I remembered more details from the accident.

I hadn’t remembered anything else but I was hopeful it wouldn’t be the case this time. At this point all I could do was hope that given time I would be able to remember more.

But what if I couldn’t remember on my own? It wasn’t something I wanted to face just yet. I needed to know what happened, especially since Damien had been acting strange since it happened.

To be this close to Damien was never a good idea. He had this way of being able to draw me in, I suspected it was on of his demon powers. Drawing the fly to the spider. I was the prey, he was the predator.

“Why won’t you just tell me what happened?” I continued to push, hoping he would just give in and reveal the truth. “I don’t get it.”

My shoulders slumped. “Why can’t you just do this one thing for me? Is it asking too much?”

My eyes pleaded with his but his features remained rigid.

“I hate you,” I said, remembering how I had said the same thing to him before the the accident. Before things got blurry.

His eyes flickered to my lips before his eyes held mine again. “I hate you too.”

Our lines had been redrawn.

I turned and went back to bed, pulling the covers up to my chin as I lay on my side. My back to Damien.

He was the most frustrating person or thing I had ever met. Nothing about him was easy. Not a single moment.

I wanted to be able to close my eyes and sleep but the fear of the dark was intensified by the darkness I could remember from being under the water. Floating. Drowning.

I hated to show any weakness to Damien but the night creeped closer, making it more difficult to fight the same panic I had felt when I had believed there had been only one way out. Death.

Giving in, I reached out and switched the light on.

Damien had moved to the other side of my bed where he watched me.

“Don’t be a creeper.” I lashed out, hating how weak I felt.

Normally he would come back with some snarky comment but he didn’t. This time he stood watching me with an expression that puzzled me. He looked torn. It was the only way to describe his expression and stance.

“I can’t take the silence Damien.”

I needed him to talk. To say anything. I never believed I would ever need his voice to drone on instead of the silence that I had believed would give me the peace I had been after for years but here I was asking him to torment me.

“Say something. Anything.”

For a moment I didn’t believe he was going to say anything and then he broke the silence.

“You’re a terrible swimmer.”

I smiled.