The Glorious Flame (#2)

Chapter 35

Rouhem

     "Rouhem!" 

     His eyes blinked open at her alarmed shout, and was met with the darkness of the night. It was hard to think past the furious blurring of his thoughts, but her voice was like a splash of cool water. 

    He looked around and collapsed as his stride was cut off. Panic set in when he realized he blacked out. "Inferno?" He was out of breath. He was angry. What happened?

     She came into his vision, crouching next to him, dressed in next to nothing. He recoiled when she tried to touch him. "Did I hurt you?" he demanded. 

     Her brows stitched together. "What the hell are you talking about? Rouhem, what is going-"

     "Did I hurt you? All animals in heaven, whose blood is this?" He looked down at his hands with a pounding heart. There was blood on it. It was dripping onto the grass. They were hands of a murderer. He was terrified. "Inferno, did it hurt you?!"

    Instead of being angered, she seemed to calm. She grabbed his palms and rubbed at them. "There isn't any blood here. No one is hurt. See?"

     His voice was rough and unsettled. "What happened? What did I do?" 

     Inferno shook her head with a dry chuckle. "You didn't tell me you were a sleep walker? I am not sure. I just know that you got out of bed after sniffing the hell out of my hair, and you were growling about-" she bit her lip and he was ruffled by the storm in her eyes. "You said a name."

    He leaned back and knew she was hiding something. "What name?"

    "It doesn't matter," she attempted to deflect his question, "it is obvious to me now that your brain got confused and decided to go for a walk."

    "But what name?" 

    "Jimmy." That was too quick of an answer. 

     "Just tell me the name. It might be important." It might implicate just exactly what the beast was after. 

     "I just told you. What, are you still sleep?" 

     "You just lied to me. I don't understand why. What was the name I mumbled, Inferno?" 

     She was still a a statue. "You said the name Charles. That mean anything to you?" 

     Rouhem had a bad taste in his mouth at the mention, yet he had no recollection of meeting anyone with the name Charles. "No, not to my knowledge. Mean anything to you?" 

     He could see in her eyes that she was mentally shutting away her emotions. "No, nothing." His concern surged but he decided to keep his mouth shut about it. They were at a fragile stage, and they both knew it. 

     "Did I do anything else?" 

     The change of subject released a little warmth back into her face. "Besides be a complete weirdo?" she tapped her cheek. "Not really. You just got up, didn't bother to put on any more clothes and went on a little stroll. We reached the front yard before I could wake your fatass up."

     "I didn't say anything else?" 

     "Nuhuh. You kept stopping to sniff me. Your eyes were glowing too. Have you always been a sleepwalker?" 

     Rouhem didn't know if he was ready or ever would be ready to reveal the truth. "No, but a lot of things have been changing lately, I guess." They said not a thing to each other for a few seconds.