Lost In The Night (On Hold)

Safe Haven

(Raphael's P.O.V.)

I felt the second Cressida flat lined, and thankfully the vehicle she was in had just pulled into the parking lot of their headquarters. Slamming on the brakes in the parking lot, I waste no time in jumping out of my car. I rip open the back door of the ambulance and the door flies behind me when I toss it back carelessly.

Adrian's head snaps up when the back door is torn off of its hinges, and I can see the plain fear and panic in his eyes. My attention quickly moves to the girl lying on the stretcher, though she was often cold towards me, I could always tell how full of life she was. It was just wrong to see her like this.

"Come on Cressida," I say firmly, "enough of this bullshit. You're stronger than this."

"You're going to need to step aside," one of the paramedics says. I look at him, about to argue and possibly tell him to fuck off, but I take one more look at Cressida and do as he says.

A team of five paramedics huddle around the stretcher and feverishly work to restart her heartbeat, not bothering to take her into the building, probably because there's no time to waste.

Adrian has tears streaming down his face as he tightly grips his sister's hand, my chest gets tighter with each passing second that Cressida remains without a heartbeat.

"Damn it Cress," I mumble as I reach out to brush a lock of hair away from her face but as soon as my hand touches her temple, I gasp.

Suddenly, I'm in a house. I look around and I see a family of four crowded onto one couch watching a movie together. My eyes widen as I realize it's Adrian, Cressida, and their parents.

The twins look younger, maybe about fourteen or fifteen, and their parents aren't vampires.

Where am I? This seems like a memory, but how can I be seeing it? Before I can dwell on that, my head starts pounding. I scream out in pain and it feels as if some invisible force is trying to push me back. I resist it on instinct, but whatever it is doesn't relent. With on final, powerful push, I'm yanked back to reality.

"Shit!" I exclaim, ripping my hand away from Cressida's head. All eyes were on me as I sat there, panting and staring bewildered at my hand and then Cressida.

"What did you see?" Amara had come into the ambulance, staring at me with an unreadable look.

"I-I saw a memory, at least I think it was a memory," I tell them what I saw and Amara's features go from stone cold to having a glimmer of hope.

Adrian and Amara and exchange a look before she speaks. "Cressida's brain is still active, it's possible we can bring her back before she fully leaves the world of the living. Raphael, what you saw was Cressida in her safe haven. All hunters have one in the recesses of their mind, they retreat there when they are in immeasurable physical pain. It seems as though your bond allows you to enter Cressida's mind, enter her safe haven, and see what she is seeing."

"Okay, I'll question that later. But how exactly can I bring her back?"

This time, Adrian is the one to talk. "You'll need to enter her mind again, make your presence known. The momeory Cress is living in is one where she doesn't even know you exist, so it'll take some pushing to make her remember you and bring her back."

"Why can't you do it?"

He rolls his eyes as if that's the stupidest question I could've asked. "Because," he says with an abundance of annoyance, "despite us being twins, I can't get inside her head. No hunter possesses that power, but you do. Plus, you two are bonded, whatever the hell that means. You won't have long to bring her back, probably about ten minutes tops. Our brains remain active for quite a while after our heart stops beating, but she's been out for ten minutes already, and ten minutes may even be a stretch at this point."