Chapter 4: Demon of my past

~Elara~

The first thing I felt was pain.

It radiated from my shoulder and wrapped around my ribs like a vice. My head throbbed with every heartbeat. I tried to open my eyes but the light was too bright.

"Ms. Vance? Can you hear me?"

I forced my eyes open and saw a nurse standing beside my bed, clipboard in hand.

"Lily." My voice came out cracked. "Where's Lily?"

"Your daughter is stable. She's in the bed next to you." The nurse gestured to my right. "She has some minor bruising but no serious injuries. She was very lucky."

I turned my head and saw her. Lily lay in a smaller bed a few feet away, her dark hair spread across the white pillow. Her stuffed rabbit was tucked under her arm. Someone must have retrieved it from the wreckage.

She looked peaceful, almost as if the thing in the car had never happened.

"How long have I been out?"

"About fourteen hours. You have a concussion, two bruised ribs, and some lacerations on your arms from the glass. Nothing that won't heal." The nurse made a note on her clipboard. "There's a man who's been waiting to see you. He's the one who pulled you from the car. He's asked about you several times."

I raised a brow. "A man?"

"He's been very concerned. Should I send him in?"

I wanted to say no. Something in my gut was screaming at me to refuse. But I needed to know who had found us. Needed to know how much he had seen.

"Fine."

The nurse left and I used the silence to take inventory. My left arm was bandaged from wrist to elbow. An IV dripped steadily into my right hand. Everything hurt but I was alive. Lily was alive.

The door opened, a man stepped inside, and every muscle in my body went rigid.

My hands clenched the sheets so hard my knuckles turned white. My breath caught in my throat. The heart monitor beside me beeped faster, betraying the panic I was trying to hide.

He was tall and dark haired, with features that seemed carved from marble.

I couldn't breathe.

He looked at me with concern in his eyes and something about that concern made my skin crawl. It was wrong. It didn't fit. It didn't match.

"Ms Vance." He smiled. "I'm glad you're awake. How are you feeling?"

I didn't answer. I was too busy searching his face for the thing that would confirm my worst fears.

His left brow was smooth. No thin white scar cutting through the hair.

My grip on the sheets loosened slightly but my heart was still racing.

"Who are you?" The question came out harder than I intended.

If he was offended, he didn't show it.

"My name is Rhys. I was driving behind you when the accident happened. I pulled you and your daughter from the car before the ambulance arrived."

Rhys. Not Kaelan. A different name.

But names could be changed. Names meant nothing.

"Thank you." I forced the words out. "For helping us."

"Of course." He moved closer and I fought the urge to flinch. "The doctors said your daughter is remarkably uninjured."

I watched his eyes when he mentioned Lily. Watched for any sign of recognition. Any hint that he knew more than he was saying.

There was nothing. Just polite concern.

"Do I know you?" I asked suddenly.

He tilted his head slightly. "I don't believe so. Have we met before?"

"I don't know. You look familiar."

"I have one of those faces." He smiled but it wasn't the smile I remembered. "People tell me that often."

I kept pushing. "Did you go to Westbrook University? About five or six years ago?"

"No. I attended school abroad. I've only been in the country for a few years."

Wrong answer. Wrong history. Wrong man.

But the resemblance was so strong it made me nauseous.

"Is something wrong?" Rhys asked gently. "You seem uneasy."

"I just woke up from a car accident." I let an edge creep into my voice. "I'm allowed to be uneasy."

"Of course. I apologize." He took a small step back, giving me space. "I didn't mean to intrude. I only wanted to make sure you were recovering well."

The door opened again and a doctor entered with more forms and more questions. Rhys excused himself quietly and stepped into the corner of the room. I answered the doctor's questions while keeping Rhys in my peripheral vision.

The doctor finished his examination and left. The room fell silent except for the steady beeping of machines.

"Your daughter." Rhys spoke without looking at me. "Has she always had episodes like the one in the car?"

I glanced sharply at him, accusation unhidden in my stare. "How do you know about that?"

"I saw it." He turned to face me. "When I reached the car, her eyes were glowing. She was making sounds that didn't match her size. By the time I got her out, she was unconscious and normal again."

"You're imagining things." I croaked. "It was dark. You saw headlights reflecting off her eyes."

"Ms Vance." His tone was patient. "I know what I saw."

"You don't know anything about my daughter!"

Before he could respond, a sound came from across the room. My head snapped toward Lily. She was still asleep but her body had gone rigid. Her small hands gripped the sheets and I heard them tear.

"Lily?" I threw off my blanket and stumbled out of bed. My legs nearly gave out but I forced them to carry me to her side. "Baby? Mommy's here."

Her eyes flew open. They were that colour of burning gold again.

"Mommy." Her voice was strange, as if something else was speaking through her. "Mommy, it hurts."

She arched off the bed with a cry and I saw her fingers dig into the mattress. The metal frame groaned under pressure that a five-year-old shouldn't be able to create.

"Help!" I screamed toward the door. "Someone help!"

But Rhys was already there. He moved past me and placed his hand on Lily's forehead. He leaned close and whispered something I couldn't hear.

Lily's body relaxed almost immediately. The gold faded from her eyes, replaced by her normal warm brown. Her grip on the mattress loosened and she slumped back against the pillows, unconscious again.

I stood rooted to the spot as a cold rush swept through me.

"What did you do?" I grabbed his arm and pulled him around to face me. "What the hell did you do to my daughter?"

"I helped her." He said calmly. "But it won't last. She needs more help than I can give her here."

"She needs a doctor. She needs—"

"Doctors can't fix this." He held my gaze and I saw truth burning there. "You know that. You've known it for years. Every specialist, every medication, every test that comes back normal when you know something is wrong. They can't help her because they don't understand what she is."

Panic flooded me all at once. "What she is? She's a little girl. She's my daughter."

"She's more than that." Rhys glanced at Lily, then back at me. "And if you want her to survive, you need to trust me."

"Trust you?" A bitter laugh escaped my throat. "I don't even know you. You show up out of nowhere, you know things you shouldn't know, and now you're telling me to hand over my daughter?"

"I'm not asking you to hand her over." His voice remained steady despite my rising hysteria. "I'm asking you to let me help."

"Why? Why do you care what happens to us?"

Sadness gleamed in his eyes. "Because I've seen what happens when children like her don't get help. And I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

I stared at him. This stranger who wore a face that haunted my nightmares. This man who had just done the impossible and was asking me to believe in more impossible things.

Every instinct screamed at me to refuse. To grab Lily and run and never look back.

But Lily was lying in that bed, pale and fragile, and I had spent five years running out of options.

"Get out." The words scraped against my throat. "I don't need your help. My daughter and I are fine."

He didn't argue. He simply nodded, reached into his pocket, and placed a small card on the table beside Lily's bed.

"In case you change your mind." He said quietly. "And I hope you do…for her sake."

Then he was gone.

I sank into the chair beside my daughter's bed and palmed my face. My whole body was shaking. My mind was spinning with questions I didn't have answers to.

Who was he? What did he know? How had he calmed Lily with just a whisper?

And why did looking at him feel like staring into the face of my worst memory?

I reached over and picked up the card. Simple white cardstock with a phone number printed in elegant black script. I shoved it into my pocket and turned back to Lily.

Her chest rose and fell with steady breaths. Her face was peaceful. Whatever storm had been brewing inside her had passed for now.

But it would come back. It always came back.

And when it did, I might not have a choice but to call the number in my pocket.