Chapter 4

Lydia wasn't sure where she was when she came to, her body and mind still sluggish from the overuse of the sedatives they kept pushing into her. She tried to rub her eyes but couldn't lift her arm, if she had been in a better state of mind that would have sent her in a panic attack. Instead she just let out a breath, all strength leaving her.

She was so tired of all of this. She just wanted it to end. How long could she keep doing this.

Turning her head to each side she could finally see why she couldn't lift her hands. They were still strapped down. Thick white gauze and tape wrapped around each of her hands making it look like she had mittens on.

She frowned slowly, her thoughts and physical reactions felt so sluggish.

Had she done that to herself? She had remembered digging her fingernails into her hands, but it couldn't have been that bad… right?

Lydia heard the door open and she wished she had kept her eyes closed when she saw that it was her doctor walking in with his two usual orderlies. She could feel her heart beating faster in her chest, the need to get away from him sending her almost into a panic attack even in her drugged-out state of mind.

Daniel looked down at the girl and moved to sit down next to the bed in the chair that had been brought over.

"I'm sure that you are feeling rather confused as to what happened." He said his eyes locking with hers as he slowly started to push suggestions through to her mind. Suggestions of what had happened, what she wanted to do.

Lydia felt as if something thick and oily was trying to swallow her up as she looked in her doctor's eyes. She couldn't look away, she could see glimpses of her fighting an orderly, a flash of something silver. Blood pouring from her hands.

The singular thought looping through her mind that she was worthless, she wasn't worth saving, she'd be better off dead.

She could feel it starting to consume her, wrap around her in a thick black coat. She closed her eyes ready to just give in, so tired of fighting it constantly when something happened, a wash of warmth surged through her sending the wave of darkness that was consuming her away in a flash of silver light.

She was afraid to open her eyes, afraid of what she would see in her doctor's face… had he been able to tell that something was wrong with her? What had he been doing to her?

She could hear shuffling beside her and the doctor speaking lowly to his orderlies. "It won't be long now… take her back to her room, make sure you leave the letter opener on the sink. I've already alerted security that it had been taken earlier in the week."

Lydia feigned sleep as she felt the bed starting to move and she was taken back to her room. Did they just give her something to kill herself with? The thought of how set up this was had her terrified.

hr

Daniel watched as the girl was taken out of the medical room and back to her own room. He walked to the window and pulled out his phone. With out dialing or hitting a single button he spoke into it, knowing that his message would be sent through to the correct department for the higher ups.

"It should be finished by the end of the night. She was exceedingly easy to manipulate mentally."

hr

It wasn't till Lydia was sure that she was alone that she stopped pretending that she was asleep. Slipping out of her bed she moved carefully over to the sink seeing that there was a sharp letter opener laying behind the faucet.

Her stomach flipped horribly as her heart sank.

She remembered the feelings and thoughts that had invaded her mind earlier when she had been in the room with her doctor.

This wasn't right, she wasn't going to kill herself!

She was stronger than this. Stronger than whoever these people thought they were.

She moved over to her door and carefully looked out. She could see that the hallway lights were dim, and she knew that it had to be passed dinner time. She had time to get her mind straightened back out before morning. Before she had to deal with whatever was going on.

There was still bit of grogginess she was feeling from the sedatives as she slid down in front of her door, her back pressed against the cold metal. She'd be able to feel the vibrations of anyone walking down the hallway toward her giving her time to get back into her bed.

Looking down at her hands she shook her head. She knew that she hadn't done what her mind had been telling her she had done to herself.

She closed her eyes breathing evenly as she centered herself.

She remembered that she'd been mediating, and in a flash she had felt something invading her mind. She had known then the only way to pull herself out of there and prevent whatever it was from knowing what she could do, was for her to incite a rush of adrenaline and endorphins through her body to snap her out of it.

She'd sank her fingernails into her palms.

It had worked. Maybe too well she mused as she looked down at her bandaged hands. She'd laugh at the absurdity of it all if she had the strength to.

She could still feel that oiliness in her head… like black tar trying to seep in and cover everything. She'd only ever felt like that one other time…

Lydia's eyes widened as a wash of terror slammed into her.

The only other time she'd felt that same kind of taint influence her was when Azrael had taken her voice and when he had touched her mother's forehead before she'd died.

It was only then that she really started to think about what she had remembered, about the memories that had been hidden from her.

Archangels? Was she really losing her mind enough to think that there was so much more to the realm of the supernatural than just ghosts?

If there were archangels… then what else was out there.

Ghosts, she knew. Her throat tightened at the thought of the Maitland's.

No! She refused to think about them, they had abandoned her when she needed them the most.

And now Archangels, did that mean that there were demons as well… the second that that thought floated through her mind she felt a stab of pain engulf her whole head, radiating down and through her chest.

A rouge thought filtering into her mind. "There are no such things as demons, they are made up stories to scare little children"

She gritted her teeth as she pushed past the pain lancing through her as she forced herself to think about what a Demon was. Flashes of black… and white stripes slammed into her, the tight band around her head and chest seemed to loosen slightly.

Lydia fought to keep ahold of that image. She knew it had to be important! What was it, what did it mean!

She felt like she was on a merry go round, her mind spinning as she tried to hold onto a single picture in her head. A voice floating soft through the air, whispering softly.

"Three times."

And then it was gone.

Lydia was panting as she leaned back against the cold metal door trying to get a grip on herself. What did it mean… three times? This was the second time she'd heard something telling her the same two words!

She was running out of time and she knew that whatever that meant… would be what saved her.

hr

Betelgeuse was running low on energy when he managed to get back to his place. He collapsed on his bed and closed his eyes. He'd left the Netherworld and went straight to the mortal world to Winter River's hospital.

He'd thought that maybe Lydia had been in some sort of accident, maybe was in a coma or something. That would explain the bond and how he couldn't reach her through it.

So, he'd spent the better part of the day going through the files in the file room at the hospital not finding anything about Lydia… but he had found something of interest. Her bitch of a stepmother had spawned another breather. He almost felt bad for the kid.

He'd left empty handed but determined to figure out what was going on. His mind was spinning as he tried to think of other places that had 'patients'.

Frowning he got up and started to pace.

His hand rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to think.

Dentist? No… they didn't have rooms.

It had to be some sort of doctor, right? He didn't know this shit. He had no use for it!

And then he felt it, something tugging relentlessly at the bond he had with Lydia.

Something was trying to severe it completely.

Desperation surged through him as he yelled out "NO!" his hands bracing on the wall in front of him as he delved deeply into his mind, panicking as he tried to find the bond.

It was there… barely, nearly completely covered in a thick blackness.

He did the one thing that he knew that he shouldn't do… but he had to save her, save whatever it was that kept them together. He reached out and pushed all his energy that he could through the bond to fight off whatever was attacking it. He could feel the blackness slinking away and then in an explosion of light, silver filled his mind, throwing him physically to the ground in his room.

Betelgeuse groaned loudly, his head pounding with an intensity he'd not felt in hundreds of years! He tried to push the pain away. "Fucking rat shit." He moaned as he rolled over on the floor and slowly crawled over to his bed collapsing on the dusty broken mattress.

"What are they doing to you Lyds, why can't I get to you?"

He closed his eyes letting himself drift through his thoughts, trying to figure this puzzle out when it hit him.

His eyes narrowed as he gritted his teeth through the still lingering pain.

He raised his hand and snapped his fingers summoning a telephone book for Winter River.

Levitating it in the air he flipped through the white pages looking for a specific type of hospital, if he was thinking on the right line he'd find it.

And there it was… the words on the page glowed as he sat up his furry starting to build.

Winter River Psychiatric Hospital, 546 Winding Tree Road, Winter River, Connecticut.

Betelgeuse growled as he lit the phone book on fire watching as the ash dropped to the ground. There would be hell to pay if this was all part of Juno and the Higher up's plans to keep him under control. It was one thing to fuck with him… but to do this to someone that didn't deserve it. Oh there would be hell to pay.

He was just about to say to hell with it all and pop himself to the hospital when an envelope snapped into existence, floating down into his hand.

He opened it up and frowned as he started to read.

B,

I've found out some things since you left, you aren't going to like it.

You were right to think that the Arches are involved, it goes all the way to the top to Samael.

Come see me as soon as you can, there is more to tell you, but I don't dare put it to paper.

-V

Betelgeuse shook his head. Fucking Samael. Of course, it would be that unmitigated bastard. He had heard so many rumors about Mr. I have too many names. Archangel of Death, the seducer, the destroyer.

He had no patience for the way that side worked.

Drawing in a slow breath Betelgeuse groaned as he tried to pull what energy he had to get back to the Netherworld to find out what Vanth had discovered.

With a tired shaky snap, Betelgeuse was gone once again.