Darkness of Heart

Aiden Winters poked his head into Sanura's room and looked around. An uneasy feeling settled into the pit of his stomach when he realized she was not within. Frowning, he took another step inside.

"Okay, Rose... what did you do with her this time...?" He gave a sigh and left her room. Making his way to the main hall, he waved a hand over a small cauldron looking pot and chanced a glimpse into the waters. Aiden shook his head at the vision he saw before turning to leave. "If I don't get her back here before Master Alexander finds her missing, it's all going to hit the fan."

There was a glimmer of dark light as Aiden faded from the room and reappeared near a bed half hidden in the dark room. He heard a quiet, but pained moan and shook his head again. Carefully, he stepped closer to the bed and released her wrists from the handcuffs. The woman with the long, deep rose colored hair gave another moan, but her crimson eyes remained closed.

"I don't know who you pissed off, Rose, but I certainly hope you learned your lesson..." Truth be told, Aiden was actually worried about her for once. He knew her style and knew that she never was one to lose control, regardless of whom she chose for an evening. To see her like this told him something had definitely gone terribly wrong that evening. He pursed his lips together in a tight line before stopping slight enough to scoop her into his arms. "Let's get you back to the palace where you can rest and heal."

His eyes widened when he looked down to see her body undergo a startling change. Her deep red hair became a wave of black, red, and gold. Her body seemed almost lighter, and without needing to look, he knew her eyes had turned from crimson to ruby red. Her breathing came back to her in short gasps and he heard her whimpers as her body began to tremble with the pain he could only guess she was feeling. He saw her tears squeezing between tightly closed eyelids, her face twisted in a mask of torment.

"Sweet Ra, almighty..." Aiden blinked down at her, his voice a whisper. "Sanura?"

"Aiden," she cried out in a choked whisper. She felt him change his grip on her, cradling her close enough for her to rest against him as comfortably as possible.

"Hush, Sanu... You'll be okay. I'll take care of you," Aiden promised softly as he disappeared from the room. He was not sure how, but he was going to see to it that she made it through this as best as he could. "I don't know what happened, but rest assured I will find who did this to you... And he will suffer... and if Rose is ever face to face with me in a time when anything done to her does not affect you... I will deal with her as well..."

*******

"You said he hasn't been downstairs since he came home last night?"

Adair and Dorian slowly climbed the staircase of the Hart mansion and made their way to Adam's room. Adair had been concerned when he saw his twin leave late in the evening. He waited up for Adam, but his concern grew even worse when he saw him reenter the mansion, his clothes dusty and disheveled. His hair was all over his head; a far cry from the gelled look he had when he left. Adair waited until after his brother hut his door before collecting Dorian from his office.

"Maybe it is too soon to know for sure, but I just have this odd feeling, and after what happened the last time he was left alone in this mental state..."

Dorian nodded in understanding when his mind trailed back to the memory of Adam's falied suicide attempt. They knocked on Adam's door and waited a brief moment before opening it and slipping inside. There was a groan from the bed as they approached nad Adam rolled to look up at them.

"Is something wrong?" he mumbled only half coherently.

Dorian at on the edge of the bed. "Just checking on you. Everything okay?" He reached out and touched a small cut along the side of Adam's face.

Adam frowned and struggled to sit up. "Yeah, why wouldn't it be?"

"You seem to be a bit banged up. You sure you are okay?"

"Just fine. Tired. Happens when a couple of people wake you up."

"So... where did you go tonight?" Adair asked his brother quietly.

"Go?..." Adam blinked up at him in confusion. "What are you talking about, I haven't been anywhere..."

Adair and Dorian looked over at each other. Adair frowned as Dorian stood and the two made their way to the door as Adam sat up even more in his bed, rubbing at his eyes and touching the side of his face.

"Dorian... what's going on?"

"Hold on, Adam. I'll be right with you on that." He took Adair's arm and gently led him into the hall, closing the door behind them. "This is unreal. I have heard of this kind of thing, but I have never seen it until now."

"What are you talking about, Dorian?"

"You said he seemed not like himself when he left, right?"

"Well, not like his depressed self. He seemed to be almost like his old 'on the prowl' self which is unusual for him these days."

"Something triggered in his mind. I bet almost anything he is suffering from temporary amnesia. Stress related. Whatever he did last night, he'll never remember."

Adair glanced back at his brother's door. "From the look of him... I am taking a wild guess that this night is one he will appreciate never remembering... "

Dorian nodded. "He should be okay as long as the memories never return if the night was bad enough. If they do... we could have a problem though."

"Then let's pray that the amnesia sticks with him... Just in case," Adair said softly with a sigh before shaking his head and going to his own room.

In the darkness of his room, Adam stared at himself in his mirror, lightly touching the cut on his face. Confusion flooded his gaze and his eyes narrowed. "What happened to me last night?... Why can't I remember anything?" Faint thoughts flitted in his mind and Adam tried desparately to grasp onto them. "What did I do?"