Mariella got her memory back the next morning and knew what she and the rest of the pack had to do. After breakfast, she said to Adam and Charles.

"We need to talk, and this is going to be hard to hear, but you need, really need, to hear this thing through before you say a word. Please?"

Charles and Adam looked at each other and nodded.

"Okay," Adam said shortly.

Mariella smiled sweetly and innocently.

She said, "I know Adam, you have a temper, and this might blow it, but you need to hear the whole story. But first, excuse me."

Mariella said and went to the basement, where she released Mimosa and gave her savior teeth a substance that bound the small amount of silver that had been spilled on Mimosa.

Mariella then returned with Mimosa to the kitchen and said.

Are you ready now?"

Charles nodded.

Mariella took a deep breath and began.

"You probably don't know everything Damien has done to Mimi and what he did during this last session. That is, he has embedded Mimi full of nano molecules coated with some kind of polymer, plastic, or even metals. They are embedded everywhere in Mimi, in the brain, in the eyes, in the bones, in the muscles, and these are causing these medical problems in Mimi. Because when this kind of shell breaks down, whatever it contains is released and causes problems. It's got everything from pathogens on it.

Well, Damien was leaking them on me as well as you know, and Damon finally got them off me when he pissed me off completely. The same unfortunately didn't work for Mimi, her white-hot rage doesn't break those shells. This hasn't been an easy decision, and it won't be easy for anyone, but this is the only way to get the shells off Mimi. If these shells are not broken or gotten off, Mimi will be constantly sick, weak, weigh well under 50 kilos, and worst of all, Damien will continue to have shed sessions, and we will not be able to keep Mimi safe. I have spoken to God about this, and quite frankly this is the only way to help Mimi, even though it may not seem like it at the moment."

Charles looked at Mariella for a while and said,

" What are you talking about, what to do with Mimi?"

Mariella continued wearily.

" This is the hard part. At the moment, Damon is with Mimi and is giving her a shed session, a bad one. As bad as he can. Damon has the ability to sense when the shells are cracking, and he'll keep working until the shells don't crack anymore or..." Mariella sighed.

"Or Mimi is dead," Adam stated dangerously.

Mariella looked Adam straight in the eye and said,

"Yes, this is not easy for you, not fair to Mimi but I won't even try to convince you that this is really hard for Damon. I have to deal with him when this is over because Damon is in a very bad place. Getting Mimi well or at least starting to get her well is then your responsibility."

Charles snarled,

" How can Damon even do that to Mimi? I don't think he loves Mimi anymore."

Mariella replied, "It is out of love that he is making this sacrifice, for Mimi's future. Believe me, no one would want Mimi to suffer for the next 50 years. Now if and when Mimi dies, she will be on your head. We need to make a place there where we can get her to rest and be at peace and recover. I will help you create that place in your head."

Mariella continued matter-of-factly.

"Believe me, there was no other way, I looked too, and this was the only one," Mimosa said quietly.

Damon was ruthless. He didn't allow recovery time if he himself went to rest. He made sure I was hurting and felt my strength waning. His equipment was different from Damien's.

Where Damien crushed and destroyed without regard for power, Damon was cold, efficient, and calculating. He knew exactly what to do. He always knew how to do maximum damage and inflict maximum pain and panic. Now he didn´t do this slowly, like there in the hospital, that teaching session. No, he did this now so brutally and badly as he possibly could, making me suffer as much as he possibly could. and it was a lot.

The CPAP mask was the worst. One night, or whatever it was, when he left me alone, he poured wax in my ears so I couldn't hear, wrapped me in numbing jelly so I couldn't feel, and covered my eyes so I couldn't see, then he put the mask on and left me to panic for what seemed like forever.

He took away almost all my senses except pain, fear, and panic. He didn't put the fear and terror because he wanted me to be present. I feel and am aware of everything. He was cruel.

Damon drained me one morning, first thing in the morning, full of concentrated tomato jelly. Then he brushed crushed coriander over my skin and wrapped me in some kind of self-adhesive bandages.

He enjoyed tearing them off in the evening. I had no skin left, and Damon put me in molten metal for the night and a CPAP mask on.

My life was nothing but pain, I couldn't get the pain out anywhere, the pain was always changing shape and place, and fear and horror were now and then. I did notice the difference between Damien and Damon.

Where Damien was almost chatting, almost talking to himself in a normal voice, Damon was different. He was always talking to me, in a dangerous, cruel voice that oozed anger.

He knew how to say the cruelest phrases and make everything hurt the hardest it ever hurt. He crushed my body as he crushed my will to fight. Every time I tried to come up with some distraction in my head to hide. He came into my mind and crushed my shield. He put his own will in my head so I had no place of protection.

Damon came up to me once again and said, "I would have imagined that this would actually be difficult, but no. When I know you're not going to die, I mean die. That's how you provide excellent entertainment. Plus, Baby, you can be really naughty sometimes. You have no respect for anyone or anything.

You should have thought about that road trip and especially those safe deposit boxes. Maybe then, sometimes when I tell you I want all that stuff for the pack and you give it to me, maybe then you should remember this before you say no. Maybe this will teach you a lesson. I can and will do this again if ever, ever I feel the need. Remember, baby, I don´t lie."

Damon was serious. He saw nothing wrong with this. After all, I couldn't die. I tried to wrap my head around this for a moment. I have to remember.

And he did the creepy things, too. He came over to me and stroked my hair. He kissed my forehead. He smiled like he really cared. I would have much rather endured the flesh-cutting and the scorn, but this broke inside me in a way I never thought possible.

Damon was making all the antics between us creepy now. All of them and I would know never to have anything to do with Damon again. He told me how I had no choice, how he'd always find me and wouldn't be happy if I tried to run away. Then he said I'd have to be taught again. Now, I didn't know what to think.

After two and a half weeks, Damon thought he'd had enough. Mimi would never look at him again. He wouldn't feel her touch, her kiss, her love. He'd heard every thought Mimi ever had, every single one, and he'd hated having to destroy every touch, everything.

And they had grown so close in the Heat that their bond had strengthened. Damon had to tear that apart, too. He'd so hoped to have another relationship with Mimi, but no. They were history now, and Damon couldn't even remember the last time they'd had a truly happy or wonderful moment.

The whole pack probably hated him except for Mariella. Mariella was the only anchor that kept Damon going. The shells kept breaking, Mimi's straps had started to fall off yesterday, and he knew Mimi wouldn't last much longer, but he hated those shells. He wanted to destroy them as much as he could. He hated Damien. When he talked to Mimi, he talked to those shells. But Mimi believed he was talking to her.

I was lying on my back in another pool, this time with aconitum and battery acid, and there was a little motor in the pool that kept the liquid moving so that it burned evenly on all sides. I could feel or actually had been seeing my straps for 24 hours. Damon gave me the ability so that I would see my situation better. Now there were 18 left, no, 17. One strap once an hour fell off, and I thought another 17 hours. Salvatore sat on the edge of the pool and stroked my hair again.

I couldn't even tremble with fear anymore, even though I was terrified. I had been all this for 18 days. Damon admired the pool.

He said, "I see our time is running out. I told you, baby, you can't take much more of my treatment, but we'll see what kind of tolerance you get over the years. Damien was right about that, what doesn´t kill you, makes you stronger. Just remember that."

Damon heard another big pile of shells crack as Mimi realized what he had just promised. That had been an effective phrase because another terrible pile of shells was now cracked. Just how many would there be, and would he really have to do this to Mimi more than once? But then he wouldn't be able to tell why.

Damon lifted his now unconscious wife into his arms, and the shells hadn't broken again for a couple of hours. It was over. The shells that were left over would be. Damon would never do another session like this again. Mimi had one weak strap left. She was unconscious, bruised, torn, and poisoned.

Damon stroked Mim's hair and said, " I am so sorry, Baby, so freakin´sorry. I know we're going our separate ways now, but maybe one day you'll understand that I was doing this for love."

Damon tried to give healing energy, but it was as if Mimi's body knew it was Damon's energy and decided to reject it. The last strap broke, and Mimi was free.

Damon tried to collect himself and put Mimi's body on the table with the intention of at least flushing it. But he couldn't. He fell to the ground as if paralyzed, unable to do anything. He was indeed a monster and far, far worse than Damien, the doctors, Spike, or anything or anyone Mimi had ever experienced. He had crushed them utterly. Every part of her. Everything. Hope was truly gone.

Blackness began to call to Damon. He could feel himself beginning to sink into a bottomless black well of self-hate and self-loathing. He didn't want to hold on. He just wanted to be and forget.

He would rather go to the coffin aprond shrivel there for decades so that the world would forget him, and he knew that there in the coffin, all his past sins would haunt him, including what he had done to Mimi. He would deserve it all.

Once Mariella saw what he was capable of, she wouldn't dare or want to come to him anymore either because Mariella had thought he was a born healer, not a destroyer. And now he had destroyed her in every way, mentally, physically, psychologically. Mimi would have a long and difficult recovery and never be the same baby again.

Charles noticed the moment when Mimi came into his head. Mimi fluttered there like a butterfly in panic, and Charles was able to gently guide Mimi to a shelter made for her, where Mimi's soul would recover before it could return to her body.

Mariella came into the room. "It's over?"

She looked questioningly at Charles, who nodded.

"I just got Mimi sedated to rest and recover. She's very weak." Charles said seriously.

"You know what you have to do, how you help Mimi. Me and Adam will go and get Damon and Mimi's body." Mariella said.

She felt bottomless despair from Damon and tried to send their truesoulmatebond of unconditional love trust and perseverance.

Adam came into the room.

"Are you ready?" he asked Mariella, who nodded.

"I'm totally focused on Damon, but you need to keep your expression under control and not show any, no matter what condition Mimi is in," Mariella said with her mouth in a tight line.

"We have no time to waste, now let's go."

And so they teleported to where Damon was. Mariella crouched down next to Damon and wrapped herself around him.

"It's over, shh I'm here. You'll be fine. I got it." Mariella reassured Damon.

Adam controlled himself and approached the table where there was something under the sheet, a slight rise, revealing a barely human form. Adam went to the table and gently lifted the non-existent weight of the scroll into his arms.

Damon said, " Let's all go outside so I can blow this place up before we go home."

His voice was flat, emotionless, resigned. Adam, Damon, and Mariella stepped out of the house, and Damon took a remote from his pocket and pressed the button.

Soon, flames could be seen from the windows.

"Now we can go home," Mariella said tenderly, still wrapped around Damon, who began to shake and slump again.

Adam teleported them back to the California mansion, and Mariella guided Damon into one of the bedrooms, where she put up a protective curtain to prevent anyone from getting in.

She guided her shaking husband to the bed and stayed glued to Damon. She soothed, stroked, and said,

"Remember, you need to talk, start talking, and don't leave out any details."

Damon was quiet for a moment and whispered.

"I don't want to, I don't want to talk. I just want to be and forget. I'm a monster."

Mariella soothed and pleaded for a while and finally got Damon to talk. Damon told her in detail what he did and what he said to Mimi. How Mimi was getting weaker by the day and how the fucking shells kept breaking, how there were so many of them.

How he hated those shells. He told her how he crushed Mimi's body. Her psyche, her spirit. How he destroyed Mimi completely. How he completely destroyed them. How they would never exist again.

Mariella said, " Remember when I said you might get 80% of the shells broken? Guess what, you got 95% broken. You really saved Mimi. We'll look at the rest of the shells at some point. It's not guaranteed that some medical problem might not still come up, especially if there were bacteria or viruses left in there, but you did really well. The upstairs said you have the key to destroying the rest of the shells too, and it's a much nicer job."

Damon quietly began to calm down the more he talked. He began to fuck Mariella hard, roughly. Mariella responded with equal passion.

Adam and Charles concentrated on fixing up Mimi's body. First, they flushed her inside and out then they filled her with bump and nutrient solutions. They kept it in a healing jelly and repaired what they could. It was three weeks before they put Mimi back in her body. It would take time to heal, but the mimo' hides the healing energies would help.

Ever since I got into Charles' head, I was tired. He put me in some kind of cocoon, a cradle, where I was comfortable. I was so exhausted. When I finally woke up in my own body, the first thing I noticed was that I was not hurt.

I opened my eyes, and the light was so bright I pinched them back shut.

" Hey, you're awake. " said a familiar voice, a voice like warm cocoa, Charles.

I kept sliding back and felt him come up next to me and wrap himself around me.

He embraced me and whispered, "I'm glad you're awake and okay."

All right and well, I thought. My weight was probably nowhere near 30 kilos, and I felt helpless and weak. All of a sudden, terror struck me, and I started shaking.

Charles noticed and asked, " What's wrong? Why are you shaking?"

I had just remembered what Damon did to me, and I was terrified that he would come at me again when he noticed I was awake.

"Damon, he's coming at me; don't let him come at me again," I begged Charles.

Charles sighed. " Now, what I'm about to tell you may be hard to grasp, but the whole shed session had a purpose. I wouldn't have agreed to it myself at first, but I understood then why it had to be kept."

I was horrified, confused, and bewildered. They had known all along what Damon was doing to me and still accepted it. Charles started explaining, and it took me three hours to get my head around it. It was all so that I wouldn't fall at Damien's mercy in the future or become permanently ill.

I said wearily, "I need to think about this a bit. That was the most horrible experience of my life. Recovery and understanding are two different things. Can you just let me rest now, please?"

I didn't want anyone near me. I felt like the whole pack had betrayed me. I thought, "One day, I'll probably forgive and understand completely, but not yet."

Charles got out of bed and walked away.

One by one, my pack members always came up to me to talk, even Damon, but I pretended to be asleep every time he came near so he wouldn't notice how terrified I was. Over the last few years, everything has changed so much.

Anyway, when everything changed shortly before the gala, Mirella was killed, and they completely destroyed her. Bran and Samuel were revealed to be evil. They had evil earth and space metal poisoning, and their bodies were in the magic house if they ever got the metals out.

The Chicago house had had to be burned down. There had been a shed, a ground metal in the walls, and everything so contaminated it had to be destroyed.

Fortunately, for some reason, probably because of Mariella, I had packed up things that Damon and I had shared and stored them. I had saved Damon's bedding, even though I had thrown it out at the time. I had been doing that since Mariella came. I packed, cleaned, and put away.

Now, in many houses, a large master bedroom was ready for them. I didn't want to go there anymore. Magnum was also metalized, and I felt like I had no one impartial on this issue.

Two weeks later, I took my faltering first steps at a weight of just a magical 35 kilos. I had my own internal organs, growing though, as my body was not nurturing anyone else's organs. Damon and Mariella had left for another house a week ago when Damon was supposed to be recovering.

Adam and Charles looked after me as much as they could because Mimosa and Shadow were starting their rutting season, and they had to deal with the rutting. Luckily, shortly after the heat started, Charles teleported me to a house in New Hampshire, where I was able to continue my recovery on my own.

There, I ate, rested, and began to get my head in order, as I had done every time I had gone through a horrible experience. I took all the memories and feelings and put them in a big coffin where I had put all the rubbish from before. There, it would compost out of time, and I could move on.

Although, for some reason, I knew that I would have all the memories stored away somewhere, and if I wanted to, I could go through everything I had ever experienced.

Jarod was the one I opened up to. We talked on the phone for hours and went over everything. He didn't mind talking to me. I partly understood why it was done, but it would take time to fully accept and work through it.

What this experience taught me is that even Damon can make me shed sessions and do evil, no matter what the intention. I may be thankful in the future that Damon got those damn shells off, I do remember when they were put on.

Damien was still alive somewhere. I wanted to go for the kill so badly, but I didn't want new shells and shed sessions. I didn't know when I was ever going to trust Damon and when I was going to tolerate his touch or even be in the same room.

I understood that the experience had been horrible for Damon, at least in part, but I remembered the pleasure on Damon's face that flashed occasionally. And then I remembered the other session Damon had done while I kissed Charles.

It had been Damon. My memories showed the clear difference between what had been Damon and what had been Damien. And I looked through the whole eight weeks.

Yep, Damon, not Damien at all. And there was a difference. He had even admitted it himself. This session had the same rhythm, systematic breakdown, and analytical approach. I remembered every touch and knew I didn't want Damon anywhere near me now. I don't know when or how. If ever.