An image of being pinned to the wall of Kisten’s boat yanked itself from my unconscious, twining about the reality of my back against the fridge. With a nauseating suddenness, it coated my present in a choking layer of fear and helplessness. A memory I hadn’t known existed turned Ivy’s eyes into someone else’s. Her fingers in my hair became foreign. In my thoughts, her body pressing into me became coated in the alien scent of angry, undead vampire bent on possession.

“No!” I screamed. Ivy’s touch had sparked memories I hadn’t known even existed. Fear electrified me, and I shoved her away. A burst of ley line energy swarmed out to find her, and I yanked it back, hunching over in agony as the force rolled under the skin of my palms, burning until I finally pushed it back into the line and let go.

My wrist hurt. A vampire had hurt me. I had been pinned against the wall. Someone had pinned me against the wall and…Oh, God. Someone had bitten me.

God help me, what had I almost done?

Panting, I pulled my head up to see Ivy slide down the cupboards across the kitchen to the floor. Her expression was unfocused, and she looked out of it.

I pressed against the fridge, holding my upper arm, with helpless tears flowing. Ivy lurched upright, her balance unsure. “Rachel?” she whispered, hand outstretched as if dizzy.

“Someone bit me!” I burbled, the tears coming from nowhere. “On my lip. Tried to…” Anguish coated my soul like black tar, and I sank to the floor. “Kisten was dead,” I sobbed, knees coming to my chin as I sat against the fridge. How could I forget? “He was…He was dead! The vampire who killed him…” I looked up, more scared than I’d ever been before. “Ivy…His murderer bit me…so I couldn’t fight.”

Ivy’s expression was utterly empty. I stared at her, one hand clenching the opposite arm until it throbbed. God help me. I was bound. I was bound to Kisten’s killer, and I’d never even known it. What else had I forgotten? What else was waiting in my thoughts to crush me?

Ivy moved, and I panicked. “Stay there!” I said, heart jumping. “Don’t touch me!”

She froze as my reality fought with the lies I had told myself. My tongue ran over the inside of my mouth, fear rising anew as I found the tiny, almost nonexistent scar. I am bound. Someone bound me. Nausea rose high, and I felt like I was going to be sick.