Chapter 17

He woke, the room was bright, too bright. His head hurt, a dull throb sitting behind his eyes and his mouth dry. "Shush, Nomis, you're safe now."

Nomis? Who was Nomis? He couldn't think straight. Was he Nomis? He couldn't remember his own name. He tried to sit up, but a hand pressed him back down. "Don't try and exert yourself. You need to stay calm, the potions are still healing you, and the arm cuffs need time to realign your energy flow. We nearly lost you."

He turned his head and saw a man he didn't recognise, with short, dark brown hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and grey eyes.

"Who are you?"

"Your emergency physician said your memory might be affected for a little while. I'm Dr Ralph Mettle. Your husband."

He tried to think but he couldn't get his thoughts in order, he didn't know this man, but then he didn't know who he was either, or where he was.

Nomis didn't sound right, yet it was somehow familiar. "I don't remember."

"You've been sleeping for several days. You caught a nasty virus and it made you very ill. I brought you here to recover. To protect you."

This time he wouldn't let Ralph deter him and he sat up. He was in a large bed, the rest of the room was minimally furnished, a dressing table with a chair and a wardrobe made from dark wood. Light streamed in from an open window, and the net curtain billowed in a breeze. He could see nothing of a personal nature and even the nightshirt he wore was plain white. Nothing triggered a memory. Nothing helped him to think.

"Protect me from what?"

Ralph sighed. "You need to rest. I'll explain everything, I promise. But you're safe now."

"No, tell me what's going on."

"I'm sorry. It's for the best if you sleep now, Nomis."

Ralph took hold of his hand and he noticed a golden cuff on each of his wrists, strange markings on their surface that looked like letters but he couldn't read them. "What are these?" he demanded.

"Magical medical devices. For healing."

"Healing from what?"

Ralph shook his head and removed a blue jewel on a silver chain from under his shirt. "Sleep, sleep, sleep," he said.

His mind whirled and he couldn't keep his eyes open, the flash of a man's face, with blond hair and kind blue eyes, drifted across his thoughts before he succumbed.

He jolted awake. His head didn't hurt any longer. "Oh, you're awake. Ralph thought you'd be out for hours yet."

It was a female voice. He turned his head to see a pretty woman sitting on his bed reading a book. She smiled at him. She had a perfect bow-shaped mouth with red lipstick, pale skin and dark hair, like something from a storybook but he couldn't remember which one. "Who are you?"

"My name is Kitty. You're Nomis, but you probably don't remember that."

He couldn't focus, the name meant nothing to him. "You know me?"

"Not really, only what Ralph told me. But then I don't know much about me either."

He noticed she had gold cuffs around her wrists too and he pointed to them. "What are these for?"

"Oh, I was very ill, and these are healer bands, they use magic to block out negativity and focus positive energy."

Something stirred inside his chest but it was fleeting. "Magic? Do you have magic?"

"No, or I don't think so." She examined her hands. "Or maybe I forgot I did."

Nothing made sense, least of all Kitty. "Is this a hospital? Ralph said he was my husband, and I was here for my safety."

" Husband ?" she wrinkled her brow. "He didn't say that to me. But then again he might've, I can't keep all my thoughts straight in my head."

He held up his hand and shrugged. "I have a wedding band so maybe he is my husband. But you're a patient, like me?"

"I suppose so. Ralph is a doctor… he helps so many people."

He noticed a bandage around her elbow, he didn't have one. "Why do you have that?"

"There's a cannula under there for blood samples. They take them daily to check my progress. Sometimes I have to have a supplement."

He stared at his own arm, and couldn't see any sign the skin had been broken. "I don't have one."

"Maybe you don't need one." She shrugged. "You've not been here long, only a few days… might change."

Ralph had said he'd been unconscious while they'd healed him from a virus. Could it have damaged his mind? Maybe Kitty had caught the same one? "How long have you been here? Have you a virus too?"

She cocked her head to one side, thinking. "A few weeks, could be longer. I'm not sure. But I didn't have a virus…"

"Then what?"

Kitty slid off the bed. "I'll let a nurse know you're awake. Ralph should be back by now."

"Back from where?" Kitty didn't seem keen to talk about herself, but she didn't know him so why should she?

"Helping people."

"Who's he helping?"

She didn't answer and left, leaving Nomis on his own. His mind didn't object to the name, but it somehow didn't feel right, neither was his hair. It was long, that much seemed right, well past his shoulders, but it was red, a scarlet-red at that, and he couldn't help but think it should be darker.

He swung his legs out of the bed, unsure if he could stand. He had no idea how long he'd been here or if he would be strong enough to support his weight. From a physical perspective, he didn't sense anything wrong, but his mind was a jumble and when he tried to think about who he was or recall memories his thoughts seemed to fragment and dart away. He cautiously put his feet on the floor and stood, he didn't wobble or come over all faint, and he had no trouble walking over to the window, which he thought a little odd if he had been bedbound for a few days. His room was on a higher floor, maybe second or third, too far to jump from and not break something, but then he had no evidence he was being held prisoner so why would he think he needed to escape? Why was his first response to get away?

Looking out, he saw the grounds of a large house, with beautiful gardens with wide paths and sculpted hedges. There were several people taking a stroll, others in wheelchairs, all accompanied by someone wearing a nurse's uniform. He wondered how many others were here and what was wrong with them.

"Ah, Nomis, you're out of bed."

He turned to see Ralph dressed in a white coat. "I still don't remember you."

Ralph was carrying a pile of clothes. "Why don't you get dressed? We can go for a walk, get some fresh air and we can talk and I can answer some of the questions you must have."

"I…"

Ralph placed the clothes on the end of the bed. "I'll wait outside while you put those on."

"You said you were my husband, surely you've seen me undressed before."

Ralph gave him a rueful grin. "All part of the explanation I will give you. Suffice to say, we are not intimate and even if we were you are clearly uncomfortable with me at the moment, so I do not want to cause you further distress. Come, I will tell you all I know."

Ralph left him alone and Nomis examined the clothes, they were made from a soft material, and even with the uninspired grey colour they were better than the nightshirt he was wearing. For a moment he hesitated, but if he wanted to know who he was and what was going on, he would need to talk to Ralph.

There was a pair of slippers on the floor by the bed and he put them on, and opened the door, half expecting it to be locked. Again, he couldn't understand why his reaction was to think he was a prisoner here.

Ralph was reading something on a tablet, Nomis took a moment to get a closer look at him, there was no attraction, making the idea they were married even stranger. "I can't believe I'd have married you."

Ralph glanced up from the screen. "Not your type?" he said with a smile. "Prefer a woman?"

He didn't think that was the case, but then he couldn't remember much at all. "I don't know but I don't think it's your gender that's the issue. I'm just not drawn to you in that way."

"You'll be relieved to know that I'm not attracted to you either. I prefer my partners to be female."

"Then why are we married?"

Ralph pushed off the wall. "We will walk and talk."

He wasn't sure if he could trust this man, but he didn't have any other option.

Ralph took his hand and a tremble of something unquantifiable rippled through him, the cuff on his left wrist warmed. It wasn't unpleasant but it wasn't right.

He let go of Ralph's hand. "What was that?"

"What?"

"The tingle and the cuff… it changed temperature."

Ralph examined his palm and the cuff. "I'm not sure. There are some tests we can run, I'll add them to the list. Here take my arm instead."

"Why do I need to?"

"You've been in bed a few days, you may tire easily."

The request sounded reasonable enough so he accepted Ralph's arm, there was no reaction. "You can start by telling me who I am and why I am here, and who you are and where here is."

"My name is Dr Ralph Mettle, and this is a specialist facility where people from all corners of the paranormal world can come to recover from traumatic experiences when they can't be helped at home. Residents are not forced to stay, but many are here for the long haul, some permanently. I offer them treatment where I can or somewhere safe when I can't."

"You said I was recovering from a virus." He remembered, it was one of the first things Ralph had said, although he could recall little other detail about their first meeting. "How is that a traumatic experience? Did I almost die from the infection? Or was it how I caught it that was the trauma?"

"I know what I said, but I did that because it was a simple answer you could process easily when you first woke in a strange place and to prevent you from panicking. But it's a bit of a white lie, there is something, but it's not a virus, and we do need to deal with it."

His brain refused to cooperate, everything just got more confusing. "Deal with what exactly?"

"Hear me out and it will all be clear. I reiterate, you're safe here, and I will help you get better."

They walked through the house. It might once have been home to a noble family, but the walls were white and there was no age to anything—sterile almost. His mind seemed to know some things, but not how he would know them or what connection he would have to somewhere like this, but it was as if he would have been at home in a large house but not in this minimalist state.

"So am I one of your patients? But you called me your husband."

"You are a bit more complicated. Most people here come to me for help, I hold regular clinics where I try first to cure them, and when I can't I bring them here. You were rescued from a terrible place, and I was asked to help you recover."

"Rescued from where? What sort of terrible place?" Nomis just had more questions every time Ralph opened his mouth.

"There is a business called Prometheus Holdings, who are under investigation after the police received a tip-off that they are not a legitimate scientific reagent supplier but instead they capture and imprison creatures in order to exploit them. I'll be honest, Nomis, I don't a hundred percent know what you are, you're certainly part fae, some vampire but exactly what else is not clear. However, friends of mine at the paranormal division of the London Metropolitan Police Force raided Prometheus Holdings' premises in one of the docks in the city, and rescued several people, including you."

He didn't question what he was, and his brain seemed to know what vampires and fae were and it seemed as feasible as anything, but he was still no closer to knowing who he was. "I was being exploited, how?"

"First you need to understand a couple of things about yourself, as I said you're at least part fae, and that means you have magical abilities. Can you feel anything?"

Apart from the momentary stirring in his chest there was nothing else, yet he was sure there was something missing, but there was a distortion he couldn't describe, but he wasn't convinced Ralph could be trusted with that knowledge. "No, there's nothing."

"When I first examined you, it became clear that your magic had been drained, syphoned off to an almost dangerous level. I'm not sure exactly why, no doubt a monetary scheme, but the police are investigating. The cuffs you're wearing are to prevent your magic from completely draining out of you until I find a way to reverse the energy loss and restore your magical abilities."

He stared down at his hands, they didn't look magical, but from nowhere he had a feeling that maybe they should be and there was something he was missing. "Who am I? Surely if I'm some magical fae then there would be people looking for me?"

"There are people looking for you, remember you're only part fae, and your mixed physiology makes you interesting. Because of that, you're here under the assumed identity of my husband. To make sure they don't find you."

"Who are they ?"

"The owners of the Prometheus Holdings… they're a powerful vampire family. The head of the family is Dark Viscount Whetford, Claude Flint, but it's his heir apparent, Robin Flint, a nasty piece of work, who's the brainchild of the company."

"Robin Flint?" The name tugged at his mind but he couldn't pin it down. "The name seems familiar."

Familiar. Good. Not a threat.

"There's no easy way to say this, Nomis, I think he was keeping you for other reasons than just your magic. We will need to be careful what memories we might find."

He could guess what Ralph meant, and he wouldn't linger on it for now. The name Robin didn't make him nervous—quite the opposite—but then maybe that was deliberate. He seemed to be safe here, no one making any demands other than he recover, and he needed time to try to think and work through his scrambled thoughts.

Nomis stopped walking, a realisation hitting him hard. "So you don't know who I am?"

"No. All I know is your name and I only know that they called you Nomis. Typically fae don't have surnames, and I couldn't track you to a vampire family so perhaps you are a fae who was turned but not completely. I'm still working on it, but don't worry, whatever we discover you will have a safe home here. For as long as you need."

"Couldn't the police find anything about me? Wasn't there some sort of paper trail in the place they raided?"

"Nomis, the Flints know how to cover their tracks. They had a warlock working for them, he set the whole place on fire, using a guided cleansing inferno spell. Many other people perished, and the police removed several badly injured individuals who are being treated in other hospitals—I'm afraid, there was nothing left to find."

If anything he felt even more lost than before. He had nothing concrete to help him remember who he was, and would be reliant on strangers. It was bad enough he didn't know who he was, that no one else did was far worse. "What will happen to me now?"

"You can stay here, I have several generous benefactors who help fund this facility. But first, we need to make sure you are fully well, then see if we can restore your magic. I'll help you find your family but I don't want you to get your hopes up."

"Why? There must be a way to find out who I am."

"There will be I'm sure, but the more questions I ask about a scarlet-haired fae with vampire tendencies, the more likely the people who are looking for you will track you down to here. While I want to help you, I will not sacrifice your safety or the safety of my other patients."

Standing on a terrace overlooking a beautiful camomile lawn, Nomis thought the peaceful surroundings were a parody of the tumultuous nature of his mind. He had no reason to disbelieve Ralph, yet didn't have a reason to trust him either. The other patients, or residents as Ralph referred to them, were enjoying their strolls in the grounds, they didn't look worried or concerned. For now, Nomis didn't think he had any other option but to give Ralph the benefit of the doubt. As to whether everything he said was true, Nomis would withhold judgement, but he needed a way to figure out who he was and Ralph was the only option he had. Even if some of the memories he uncovered weren't pleasant he would need to face them.

"So what happens now?" he asked.

Ralph appeared pleased by the question, Nomis thought he had probably expected more of a fight. "After I have given you a short tour of the house and gardens so you can get your bearings, we'll have dinner and you can rest. Tomorrow, we will go to my consulting room and conduct more extensive tests than I've done already."

" Tests ?"

Ralph smiled, a little on the condescending side. "Yes, I had to ascertain a few things, but only the minimum and I had to stabilise your magic. Now you're conscious, I need to do a thorough exam."

"I feel fine apart from my memory."

"We need to see if there is a way to restore your memories, there may be physiological reasons underpinning the loss. As I mentioned, your dealings with the Flint family may not have been wholesome and you could be repressing things because of it. I promise I won't do anything that will make you uncomfortable, I'm a doctor. I'm here to ensure my patients recover as quickly as possible. But for this evening, we can have dinner together and you can get to know me better."

"Just the two of us?" He wasn't sure he wanted that, if he had been at the mercy of one man why would he want to risk being the same to another?

"Yes, well, you are my husband, who else are you going to eat with? And, I sense I need to do a little work to reassure you of my intentions, so we should spend some time together."

Ralph wasn't wrong, but he wouldn't admit it. "I just thought I would get to meet some of the others here."

"Don't worry, Nomis, tomorrow you can meet more of the residents. More like Kitty, she's a lovely lady, and will be happy to help you settle in."

Kitty was someone else he had questions about. "Who is she?"

"Another amnesiac, but her memory is slowly returning. We have learnt that she was abandoned by her family, and another one who is safer here than anywhere else, at least for now. I will let her tell you her story, it's not my place."

Nomis wondered how many of those at the facility were in a similar situation. Ralph seemed friendly and honest, with a genuine desire to help. It didn't change the situation. He was stranded here, and had no immediate way of doing anything about it. First, he wanted to remember who he was but his mind wouldn't cooperate. This wasn't something he could solve with a good night's sleep. He would need to take little steps, and if Ralph was telling the truth, he would need to rebuild his life in the shadow of someone wanting to kill or enslave him. The name Robin Flint floated back to the surface, he didn't get a sense of dread or fear when he thought about him. He might have buried the memories to protect himself, but he would see if he could learn about this Robin Flint, after he'd discovered more about himself.