Struck (A Vampire Novel) ✔

Ten

“Wonderful. I can live in this hole forever. That would be just great,” I responded sarcastically.

Aveline’s eyes moved back to me narrowed. “Oh well then, seeing as you obviously prefer to be tortured to death I won’t even bring it up.” She shoved another spoon of apple sauce in my mouth when I opened my mouth to answer her. “Are you going to tell us what happened the other day?”

“I tried to escape,” I snapped, irritated. Aveline blinked as though startled. “Pff, don’t worry. I couldn’t find an exit to this place if you showed me a map.” Perhaps I had turned completely stupid or had become far too comfortable with Aveline because now I found expressing myself to come a lot more freely than before. I wasn’t sure telling her I had tried to escape was smart… but honestly I didn’t see a point in hiding what I doubt I’d be able to try again. I didn’t see myself walking around these halls willingly with the risk of running into Jacobi.

“If you knew where the exits were, you’d try to escape again?” Aveline asked, sounding hurt. I really didn’t understand how she found my attempt at escape shocking. I had been kidnapped. Of course I tried to escape! I was being threatened to death. Was she insane?

“Maybe,” I admitted truthfully, “Or you could help me and let me go.”

“No, absolutely not,” Xander butted in now. “If you attempt to escape again, Elysia, we’ll be forced to hold you in the cells. You will not like it down there. It’s cold, dark and wet. They feed you moldy leftovers only once a day, if at all. You think there are beds or bathrooms down there?”

I was stunned into a hushed silence. I had almost forgotten that they were a part of this coterie, that they wouldn’t help me except at the most to protect me until my death sentence was delivered. It was stupid of me to admit wanting to escape so bluntly. But also it was enlightening. My way out of this place wouldn’t be through these two.

“I understand,” I said in a quiet whisper. “You can untie me, I’ll eat.”

“And bathe?” Aveline asked suspiciously.

“Yes, I’ll take a bath. I’m sorry.” I responded solemnly.

After bathing, I stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom half-heartedly drying my hair and staring expressionlessly at my reflection. I looked the same as before, if not a little paler and scrawnier. There were freckles where there always were freckles. My hair was still red half-curls and my eyes were still bright blue. When I leaned closer I could even see the small scar under my lip from when I had fallen while playing a rough game of tag in grade school. I didn’t feel like the same person, though.

When I made my way back into the bedroom wearing a topaz sundress Aveline had left for me, I found Xander and her speaking to each other in hushed whispers. They were silent before I could make out a word of their discussion. For a moment, I wondered if perhaps they had thought more about helping me escape. But that hope was diminished quickly.

“We thought maybe you’d like to take a walk with us around the headquarters,” Aveline said soothingly, as though trying to cheer up a toddler who had had a particularly terrible day. I blinked in mild surprise.

“But… I just told you I tried to escape,” I responded in confusion.

“Well, if you do manage to escape, we’re vampires so it wouldn’t be hard to track you down,” Xander stated easily before flashing one of his charming but devilish smiles. “And I think you’d regret it a lot after that.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t even thought about the idea of being tracked down once I did escape. It made sense to consider, being that they had tracked me down before I even knew they existed. I would have to think of ways to hide from vampires during the night in case I did manage to get away…