Chapter Three
Skye wandered the cell, folding her arms as she considered every detail of her prison. There wasn’t much to see, truth be told, but she had to keep her attention off of her impending doom. Death by vampire. Definitely not the end she’d expected for her life. Accidental death, maybe, death by misadventure.
“Does this even fall under misadventure?” She muttered to herself as she paced.
Her feet were getting used to the cold, damp floor. But her hangover was starting to crave the high fat breakfast foods she usually fed it. If she didn’t eat soon, her stomach might revolt and decide to empty its contents all over the floor. She rubbed at her stomach, trying to tell herself not to think about it. The longer she could ignore the hunger, the better for her general well being. She did not need to be trapped in this prison with the smell of vomit lingering in the air. She dry heaved just thinking about it.
The sound of footsteps in the dimly lit room swiped her attention. She moved to the bars and peered out until the shape of a muscular man came into her sight. The closer he got, the more she recognized him. Her mouth dropped open.
“It’s you!” Her grip tightened on the bars as he got closer.
He smirked slightly as he jangled the keys in his hand. “You remember?”
“I remember you were coming on to me last night,” she said, wanting him to come closer so she could slap him. “But I’m guessing you had ulterior motives.”
He laughed as he reached out and unlocked her cell.
Her heart pounded as a plan rushed to form in her head. She’d gouge out his eyes and run as fast as she damn well could to get the hell out of there. She withdrew her grasp from the cell door and ran her nails across her palms. They were sharp enough to do some real damage.
“You’re going to follow me and do exactly what I say.” He opened the door.
She attempted to lunge at him and he stepped back.
“You’re not going to attack me.”
She made a second attempt and gasped as she found herself entirely unable to move. What the hell? She wanted to lash out, but it was as if she was paralyzed, suddenly and completely. Fear shuddered over her, making her quiver.
“That’s better.” He snatched her by the hand and pulled her close. Closing the cell door, he locked it and shoved the key into his pocket.
The usual warm, fuzzy feelings of being so close to a good-looking man rushed through her before she managed to remind herself this guy was a complete asshole, a criminal and something else she couldn’t even name. He’d stopped her from attacking him somehow. He held some kind of power over her that she didn’t comprehend. Was he a vampire?
She grabbed her hand out of his grasp. “What the fuck is going on?”
He smiled. “Oh, yeah. He’s going to love you.”
She frowned at him. “I can’t believe I thought you were hot.”
Hindsight was all well and good. Had he really been attractive enough to wind up in this kind of mess over? Was any guy that hot? He turned around.
“Follow me.”
She moved after him, his gaze drifting. Oh, he’d been worth it. Or he would have been if they’d gotten anywhere before this turned into a nightmare. She couldn’t deny how good looking he was. If she’d gotten warnings about him, she’d have brushed them off. He was exactly her type. It wasn’t her fault he’d turned out to be some kind of freak.
“Who the hell is this ‘he’ you mentioned?”
“You’ll find out.”
Shit. She couldn’t seem to make herself run away. He’d asked her to follow him and she couldn’t stop herself. “What are you?”
He stopped at a closed door and turned to her. “Just call me cupid.”
She snorted and her stomach grumbled. “Don’t I get any last requests?”
He pushed the door open and she gazed inside. The lighting was dim but it looked like a nice hotel room. “Go in.”
Her feet moved at his order. He closed the door when she was inside the room. She heard it lock and her panic flared. Running to the door, she fumbled with the handle. It turned but she couldn’t pull it. It was locked. She was trapped.
Turning as her heart rate accelerated, she scanned the room and gasped at the figure on the bed. He was pale and muscular. Exactly how she would picture a vampire, though probably wearing less clothes. His face was planted in the pillow, jet black hair contrasting starkly against his skin. She watched him closely, but he wasn’t moving.
Holding her breath, she approached the bed. Her hand reached out to touch his back. It was icy cold. She shivered as she moved back, folding her arms. Her gaze refused to leave the half-naked mystery man on the bed. He was something she’d only just found out existed, something she wanted to know more about, but he was also dangerous, someone who could want to hurt her. She knew nothing about him. Forcing her stare away from him, she glanced around the room, looking for an alternate escape route. There had to be a way.
No windows, she realized, rolling her eyes. Of course. Why would there be? Vampires were hardly the sun-worshipping type.
She spotted another door and rushed to it, glancing back to the bed only once. He hadn’t moved. She hoped he never woke up. At least not until she found some kind of weapon.
The bathroom was nothing unusual. She did a quick check through the medicine cabinet, finding painkillers alongside packets of toothpaste and brushes in their wrappers. A fit of the giggles hit her after she popped a couple of ibuprofen. She supposed vampires needed to brush their teeth as much as the next person, but the thought of it made her laugh a little too loudly. Her hand clamped over her mouth and her gaze drifted to the door. She hadn’t found a weapon yet. Waking the vampire would be a bad idea before she did.
She rushed to the door, and breathed a quiet sigh of relief as she confirmed he still hadn’t moved. Maybe he’s dead? She slapped her palm against her forehead. Getting drunk really didn’t help with her blonde moments. Of course he’s dead, dummy, he’s a freaking vampire!
Her gaze drifted across the room. There were no obvious weapons just lying around, not that she really expected there to be. She’d do anything for a nice fireplace poker right about now, but there didn’t seem to be anything like that in the room. Sighing softly, she stepped quickly over to the wardrobe. Her only chance might be finding the right kind of clothes hanger…
A muffled groan made her stiffen as she opened the door. Glancing back, she reassured herself he was still asleep before she reached in and yanked out a hanger.
“Damn it!” She looked at the shitty plastic thing in her hand and tossed it to the carpet. The wardrobe was full of the same damned hangers, some of them holding clothes no doubt belonging to the vampire. The suit she found had a fine layer of dust on it. Clearly he didn’t get out much.
She contained an irritable noise of disgust and headed back into the bathroom. Worst came to worst, she could lock herself in there until she could think of a way to turn one of the spare toothbrushes into a shiv.
As she closed the door, she realized that plan wasn’t going to work either. There wasn’t a lock. She cursed under her breath, felt her bladder moan at her and decided at least she was in the right room for one thing.