Rey lay on the bed after having his wrists taken care of by a doctor. He didn't feel like talking to him, especially when he had hinted that Rey had tried to kill himself. That had really pissed him off. He was not suicidal. He wanted to live. He didn't answer any of the doctor's questions. He thought of telling him the truth about what he had seen and what had happened but he held back. There would come a time to answer questions, but this was not the right time, or the right person.

They wouldn't believe him anyway.

It was still night outside. Despite his loss of blood he could still remember every little detail of every second passed. It scared him not to be in control of his own body. He was frightened back in that hotel room hearing Eddie's voice form outside the room and not being able to answer him.

A soft knock came from the door and once open Eddie, Chris and Dave came in. Mark was charged with the task of informing the producers about the accident.

'Accident'. That is how they called it these days and it really ticked Rey off.

"How are you feeling buddy?" Chris asked.

Rey lifted up his bandaged hands and flashed a weary smile.

"Better… listen guys, before you start… I just wanted to thank you… you really saved my life back there."

"Rey… what happened? Who did this to you? I know you said you didn't do it, but these doctors out there think you tried to kill yourself." Dave found the nerve to ask. Rey lowered his head not willing to look at them. He couldn't stand their eyes, not yet. Then Eddie came closer and with his hand he lifted Rey's head up.

"Oscar, I know you wouldn't do such a thing. We all do. It's just we don't understand any of it. Who did this to you?"

Rey didn't want to say. It was scary and his breath seemed to grow cold from the mere thought of his memory. The three men noticed his sudden change of mood and came closer still to the bed to hear him. Rey breathed deep trying to chase away the ghosts. He looked at each one of them hard with his big dark shining eyes and spoke the truth.

"I guess I should start from the airplane."

"The airplane?" Dave asked, not really having been too involved with that incident.

"While I was sleeping, I had a dream. A really disturbing one…" He paused for a while lost in his memories again. He rubbed his face to chase away a headache forming behind his eyes. He tried really hard to focus on the story.

"What was the dream about?" Dave woke him.

"There was a voice, a presence… and pain… blood… and he was there…dead… by my hand…" his voice trailed off slowly fading, his mind getting lost. Dave had to bring him back to reality.

"Who was dead?"

"Adam…" he shook his head chasing the shadows away and continued. "And later tonight, when I got back the hotel, I heard the same voice. And I saw this… this thing, a figure, an eerie black form of pure evil taking shape right in front of me… Only it wasn't in a dream anymore. It was very real…Then… then it attacked…"

"Attacked!" they all said almost at the same time.

"Yeah… sort of… it took over me, I couldn't stop it, I couldn't move. It was in total control. There was only pain, sorrow… death… then the wounds just opened up on my wrists all by themselves. I heard it talking to me, speaking words I shouldn't understand; only I did. I can't remember what it said. Then I felt it leave me…" he paused. "And the strange thing is that despite the pain it caused me… I felt sad to be parted from it."

The look of surprise and amazement was priceless on the three wrestlers.

"Then I passed out for a while. When I came to, I was still bleeding so I tried to grab a towel from the bathroom but I never quite made it. Then you came…"

They still didn't talk. Rey figured how hard it must be for them to grasp the meaning of what they had just heard. Even he didn't know exactly what had happened.

"Listen guys… I swear I would never try and kill myself. I mean, I have so much going on for me right now… after everything I have been though in the past…" he paused again his chest heaving from the effort. "Eddie" he reached out for his hand and he accepted it "You know I tell the truth. You have to believe me"

"I know esse… I know" he answered back keeping his voice low, squeezing his friends shoulder tighter.

"Eddie… can I ask you for a big favor?" Rey spoke and he only nodded. "Don't tell Adam about this… he can't know. He mustn't know."

"Why? He is going to find out sooner or later. How will you explain it to him?"

"Please… I'll explain everything, but not now… later."

They said their goodbyes and silently left. Rey wasn't staying in the hospital long. The doctor had cleared him and a couple of hours later he was ready to leave. He was dressed when out of the blue, a memory stopped him. His arm reached to grab the phone sitting by the table but at the last moment he didn't pick it up. God knows how much he wanted to call Adam and tell him, but a little voice inside advised him that it was not such a good idea.

'He is going to be mad' he thought. 'Mad for not telling him'. He was surprised to see his fingers tremble.

He missed him so much!

That thought always led to roads he didn't want to take. Thinking of how much he missed him never failed to remind him other people he missed.

Like his children. He had stopped counting the days that had turned into months, since the last time he had seen them. He didn't have the time to hate his wife for taking them away though. The horrific incidents that took place shortly after, where more than enough to make him forget. But now, after all this time, he really, truly missed his children. Adam's presence was soothing and he was always thankful to God for giving him the opportunity to love and be loved again. However there was always a small wound in his heart that had never healed… that still bled, ached and suffered for them. He had tried to find them without telling Adam, but all his efforts had gone in vain. A few months ago he had stopped searching and had decided to devote his whole love, affection, and attention to the Canadian.

He was still looking at the phone.

"Call him" a voice spoke from the door. Rey spun around and was surprised to see Dave Batista standing there. Of all the people he expected coming to pick him up, Dave was the last one to cross him mind. "He is worried you know"

Rey just smiled bitterly and shook his head while Dave closed the door entering to lonely room.

"I have come to pick you up and drive you back to the hotel. Eddie wanted to come but he was tight up with the producers. I offered to escort your royal highness back to Buckingham Palace, also known as the hotel." The smirk on his face, the hint of irony of his voice mixed with undeniable humor reminded Rey vividly of Adam. Dave was close to Rey when he added "Call him. I'll be waiting outside" and left.

Rey watched as Dave stepped out walking gracefully, his massive, powerful, muscled body flexing even to the slightest move. When the door closed he turned his gaze towards the phone again. He tried to identify a feeling inside him. He was afraid, but not like he had been in the past. This was something else, something more evil, more sinister. A sense of danger and menace crept in.

Then he dialed. Adam's phone rang twice.

"Hello?"

"Hey… it's me."

"Rey? Hi. How are you? I thought you were going to call me after the interview… what happened? Too tired? Europeans are like that you know. They can exhaust you in a matter of minutes, but they are sure worth it…"

"Adam!" Rey cut him off. "I have to tell you something"

Nothing. Waiting impatiently, wanting to hear what was coming next, a knot forming in his stomach. He looked around and sat on the empty bench of the locker room. Rey's call had found him in the arena preparing for the Raw taping. Kurt was there along with John Cena and Chris Jericho.

"Something happened… and I'm back in the hospital."

"What happened?" stress and fear rising. It seemed all noises in the locker room had faded. Every one was staring at Adam.

"I'll tell you but please you have to stay calm."

"Rey what is it? Come on… you are scaring me"

He took a deep breath and started reciting the events that had taken place starting from the awful dream on the airplane and finishing with the guys finding him on the bathroom floor. He told him everything, the voice, the ominous, evil presence in the room, the threats; how it had spoken, what it had said, how it had taken over control, how ugly, decayed, filthy and diseased it made him feel, but also how much he had enjoyed it, and how it all came to a sudden end with a sense of imminent danger of things to come.

Adam was just listening to his lover without a word. Hearing it was just too much to believe, let alone except as the truth. When Rey finished his story, his heart had shrunk to the size of dry raisin. It felt much like the big breath before the plunge. However Adam's voice came out low and soft.

"I… don't know what to say…This… this is all just too…"

"Listen Adam. I am not making this up… I swear… I would never try to kill myself. You know that. We have talked about it countless times after the…" he hesitated. And Adam understood. They never spoke his name but Jacob although dead was still plaguing their lives and their dreams. "You have to believe me. This is for real… and it scares me because I don't know what it is. I'm afraid because this is not something I can fight back. It… it is not…" he had trouble saying it out loud, "it is not human." A pause. "I know how this sounds, and I swear as God is my witness I would never lie to you especially about something like that."

Adam was about to speak when he heard Rey sobbing. He rubbed his face with his palm, trying to find the right words to say. He could picture him broken, crying desperately, perhaps shaking from fear.

And he was not far from the truth. Rey's tears had formed a shining path from his cheeks down to his neck, sobs coming up his throat. He was scared and he missed Adam so much. He felt so alone without him. He wanted Adam to be with him, hold him and protect him.

"Adam…" he waited for an answer, but when the response didn't come swiftly, fearing of what he was going to hear if he waited a little longer, he rushed and spoke "I will always love you… more than you'll ever know" and hung up never allowing the Canadian to speak his words.

Rey looked at the phone. He had no idea why he had spoken those last words, but something deep inside, a cold feeling, told him that he would never see his lover again. And that only made him want to break down and cry. He felt so close to fainting and for a while he wished he would. He wiped the tears with the back of his hand. He thought he heard, just then, a gasp of wind blowing in the room, a wind that carried the stinking breath of evil.

At that moment the door opened and Dave walked in again. He was about to ask him if he was ready to go, but seeing Rey on the verge of tears gave him the answer he was looking for. He thought of giving him some privacy and turned to leave.

"Don't go" he heard a voice with a Mexican accent invite him. "I don't want to be alone".

Dave looked at Rey, into his deep dark eyes, pleading him. They were shining so bright.

'Where they always so bright?' he wondered

He came and sat next to him on the bed.

"Rey! You are not alone. We are here with you. I'm here with you." Dave pointed out each word. "I am here to help you. Just tell me what to do. Just tell me what to do..." He repeated, looking again into his eyes. They were more beautiful up close. Dave saw something in the smaller man's eyes but he wasn't sure if it was something that belonged to Rey…

"Just take me out of this place. I'm so tired. So very tired"

He let the bigger man lead him out of the hospital and with his car they drove back to the hotel.

Rey got out of the car slowly, enjoying the rare English hot sun falling on his face, warming him up. He missed the sun's natural heat so much. These days he felt always cold, always in the dark, always in despair, and he didn't even know why. He caught Dave smiling happily.

"Why are you grinning?" he asked

"You…"

"Me? Why?"

He didn't respond. He didn't think it was appropriate to share this particular thought with the smaller man. He just waved at him and headed for the hotel.

When they reached the reception, the clerk standing behind the desk smiled at them somewhat embarrassed.

"Hello. Can I have the key to room number 806 please?" Rey asked.

The clerk continued to have a discomfited look on his face.

"I'm sorry sir, but we haven't cleaned it up yet. The cleaning crew is still trying to scrub and wipe out the… 'stains'." He hesitated in the end. "I'm afraid we have no rooms available either, at least not for the moment. But the crew will be done by this evening I suspect, so you don't need to worry." And flashed his toothy English smile leaving the two men speechless.

"Come on Rey, you can crash in my room" Dave offered.

"Thanks…" he mumbled back. Entering the elevator he added "I don't think I want to go back into that room again anyway"

Dave just smiled.