Heartless Lover (Dark Syndicate 5)

1

Eric

6 Years ago

The darkness engulfing my mind recedes.

It fades away as a sense of awareness comes to me.

I’m between sleep and awake, but I can’t remember falling asleep, and I have that mind-fucked sensation of not knowing where the hell I am. The last time I got like this was at a frat party in college. While I’m a few years away from college, I’m still the reckless asshole I used to be.

I just can’t remember what’s going on.

I make the mistake of trying to move, and I’m met with a sharp, mind-numbing pain that stabs through my head and shoots down my body.

Fuck.

What the hell happened to me?

The agony is so intense it churns my stomach and scrambles my brain.

The pain pulsing from the back of my head feels like someone hit me with a gasoline truck.

Hit me…

Wait… that is what happened.

Someone hit me.

I remember the blow.

Someone sucker punched me.

I was in my apartment. I just stepped inside and closed the door, then it happened.

Against the pounding pain, the realization forces my eyes open, and I find myself staring at a murky gray stone wall.

When I try to move again, chains clink. The rattling makes my blood run cold and I snap my head around, looking left then right, instantly seeing I’m shirtless and bound by chains to metal poles on either side of me.

My fucking legs are bound too.

Helplessness overpowers the pain in my body, and I thrash against the chains, trying to break free. It’s no fucking use, though. I can’t do anything but hang here and be at the fucking mercy of whoever did this to me.

Who did this?

Fuck. I need to figure this out.

Panic assails me, and I look around the dark, dank room.

There’s a dim light hanging over my head, and I can hear water dripping onto the ground behind me. To my right is a set of stone steps leading up to a door.

From what I can see, I think I might be in a dungeon. The damp, moldy smell filling my nose tells me I might be right.

Closing my eyes, I will myself to concentrate and push past the fog surrounding my brain. That’s when I remember what happened before the darkness took me.

I remember hearing his voice—Robert.

My best friend.