Spending three weeks locked inside your own mind with nothing but a nurse for company was detrimental in ways I would never be able to describe. The only way I had managed to stay sane was to spend all my time planning my escape. I passed the time by going through every possible escape scenario.
Thanks to television my brain had collected a lot of jail-break type information. I had never thought watching Prison Break or The Great Escape would ever come in handy, but boy was I wrong. To date I had 34 possible escape ideas in place for the day I was able to move again, which was supposed to be today if Moroi kept his word. I doubted it.
My nurse came into the room, as per usual for this time of day - although I had no idea what time it actually was, and went about her usual routine. I could hear her sighing and grumbling under her breath, which was also a common occurrence. I had heard her complain about having to take care of me on several occasions. If it hadn't been for Moroi's insistence that I stay alive (for now), I had no doubt that she would have tried to kill me ages ago.
The door opened again and I heard the nurse squeak in fear. Someone else was in the room with us. I could hear the person's footsteps nearing my bed. Nine and a half steps, in fact, from door to bed. More information that I had collected for my getaway.
"Well, hello again, Alethea," Moroi's smug voice called down to me. "I'm going to assume you're awake and listening to me. If not, well, that's not my problem.
"I hope you've been getting plenty of rest because today you're going to be very very busy."
I forced myself to concentrate, even though my mind wanted to wander. After spending so much time in my own thoughts it was hard to focus on anything else.
"I know you're just dying to get out of this room, so we've arranged a nice cell for you. It has a great view and you're right across from your parents! Isn't that nice?"
And I had thought things couldn't get worse. Apparently the horror was just starting.
We didn't account for anyone else in our escape plans! This is going to be a disaster! My inner voice shouted.
Shut up! Don't you think I know that! I snapped back. Just shut up and let me think!
"Unfortunately they haven't exactly been the best tenants. They've caused me quite a bit of trouble, especially that mother of yours, so I had to move a few of my friends in to keep an eye on them.
"Throw a few monsters into their cell and they get docile as little lambs. It's funny the amount of fear you can instill in people without actually having to inflict major injuries. It would be nice if you were that easy to control."
If I had had control over any of my bodily functions I would have either attacked him or spat in his face. Probably both. I was going to kill him for good this time. I already had a plan for that too.
"Annette prepare to remove her from the breathing machine and other support systems. I want her in the cell by tonight," Moroi instructed the nurse.
So it was daytime. I made a mental note of that for later.
"What about the drugs in her system? The ones keeping her paralyzed. Do I stop them too?"
Moroi hummed under his breath. "Yes, but give her something for the pain – nothing strong, just enough to take the edge off. I want her conscious and alert when we take her to her cell."
Inside I was smiling: a devious, chilling smile. They would regret ever having anything to do with me. I was going to make sure of it. Moroi liked monsters? Well, he had created a terrible one in me. And for the next several hours while I waited for the paralysis to wear off I spent my time envisioning different horrific deaths for him.
It took hours. Hours upon hours for anything to change. But eventually I began to feel things again. The prickling buzz underneath my skin signaled my nerves waking up and I tried to move about as much as I could to hurry things along. The pins and needles were soon followed by pain.
A deep ache permeated my body all over and every time I made a slight movement a sharp pain would follow the action. I recognized it easily. Muscle dystrophy. I wondered what I must look like after three weeks of no exercise and solid food. Probably a skeleton with skin draped over it.
Moroi had claimed I looked like Frankenstein's monster. It was probably true. He had no reason to lie. But I didn't really care. I was far from caring about my appearance at this point. The only three things I cared about were saving my parents, killing Moroi, and escaping. In that order.
Once my blindfold had been removed, I catalogued everything in the room. I made it a point to add the information to everything else I knew. The room was bare aside from my bed and the remaining medical equipment. It amazed me that they were stupid enough to leave it in the room with me when I was regaining my senses.
Laughing to myself with malicious glee, I set about nailing down the specifics of several of my escape plans and gathering supplies. I used all the strength I had, which wasn't much, to dig a spring out of the mattress. It helped that the mattress was horribly old and the springs were practically falling out anyway. I braided it into my hair and used a piece of my torn sheet to secure the end.
My movements were sluggish and awkward at best, but I was just thankful to be moving at all. The pain was horrible, but I had gotten used to being in pain thanks to Moroi. I had a feeling before it was all over I'd be feeling a lot more anyway.
The lock to the door clicked and I narrowed my eyes at the door. Moroi sauntered in trailed by several of his minions. I smirked.
"What's with the entourage?" I croaked. My voice was harsh and it hurt to talk, but I wasn't passing up an opportunity to antagonize him. "Don't tell me you're afraid of little ol' me?"
He snarled. "Hardly. They are here to escort you to your new home away from home. I think you'll like it. It will remind you of that cave you were so fond of in purgatory."
I frowned when I realized what he had said. How had he known about Roran's cave?
This time he was the one with the smirk. "Oh, yes. I know all about your adventures in purgatory. How did you think it was so easy for David to impersonate your beloved Roran? He had been watching the two of you from the beginning and reporting everything back to me. It's a shame I had to kill him, really, but you had managed to change his allegiance and he was of no more use to me."
"You keep talking about David like you think it's going to upset me. The only thing that means is that Roran is still out there somewhere, free, and away from you," I snapped in return.
A furious growl erupted from his chest and his hand closed around my throat. I gasped for breath and clawed at his fingers, reluctant to remove the spring from my hair too soon.
"He will come," Moroi snarled in my face. "I have been spreading the word that you're here. He will come to rescue you and then I will kill you both."
He released his hold and shoved my neck backward. I toppled over the bed onto the other side and started laughing. The hysterical giggles startled the guards in the room and they looked back and forth between Moroi and me. Once I started laughing I couldn't stop.
"You think I need Roran to rescue me?" I gasped out between chuckles.
I shook my head and stopped laughing abruptly, locking eyes with Moroi. "If you really did watch me in purgatory I think you know that I'm a much bigger threat to you than he ever was. Before I arrived in purgatory Roran never bothered you, David never defied you, Mara never opposed you. So if I were you I would make damn sure I could trust the people I kept close to me. It would be a shame if they decided to take my side instead of yours. Don't you think?"
Moroi fell silent, his eyes flickering to his entourage for a only half a second, but it was long enough for me to see the uncertainty in his eyes.
"If that's the case I should probably kill you now and get you out of my hair," he said.
I shrugged. "You probably should, but you won't."
"Oh really, and why is that?"
"Because I've figured something out."
"And what's that?"
I stretched my arms over my head, feigning confidence and indifference. This plan had been dependent on several things and surprisingly they were all coming together more perfectly than I could have imagined.
"I'm the first and only human to have ever survived purgatory. That means when I die and go where good humans go – heaven – they will find out all about your little deals with the devil. I'm pretty sure they won't be too pleased to find out you and Satan have been bartering souls," I bluffed.
In reality I had no idea if it would work that way, but the look of blind panic in his eyes had me feeling pretty sure of myself.
"I'll just have to change you back into a monster then," he argued, but his voice was lower, practically a whisper.
"I guess you will," I replied, grinning.
"Why are you smiling?" he snarled. "You can't be happy about that! You hated being a vampire!"
I shrugged and tried to keep from laughing. "Oh, I don't know. I kind of miss it."
"You're crazy," he snapped. Turning toward his guards he said, "Get her out of my sight."
The path to my "cell" was long, but not very complicated. I could remember the way out easily, and they didn't even blindfold me. The guards seemed a little spooked around me and it made me smile all the wider. They whispered amongst themselves in Italian and as they dragged me down the hallway like a ragdoll. I smirked when I caught them glancing at me when they thought I wasn't looking. All in all my plan was going better than perfect and I had a feeling my parents and I would be out of there in no time.
We stopped in front of a tiny room with nothing in it but a cot and a bucket. On the other side of the hallway I heard rustling and suddenly remembered what Moroi said about my parents being placed across from my cell.
"Mama?" I whispered to the shadows.
The vampire guard in front of my parents cell bared her fangs at me and snarled through clenched teeth. I rolled my eyes at her, hoping I could rile her enough to finish up my plan quickly and not have to wait any longer.
"Oh back off, you blood whore, no one's scared of you," I taunted.
Her eyes widened in disbelief and she hissed. "What did you call me?"
"Oh you heard me."
She surged forward, slamming me against the bars. The other vampire guards tried to pull her off of me, but she had a tight hold on my arms. The shouting and the noise finally alerted the attention of my parents and I lost a lot of confidence in my plan. I hadn't wanted them to see this next part. But they pressed themselves against the bars, trying to reach toward me, shouting at the vampires to let me go. I could only go through with this and hope they could forgive me.
"Listen, if you're going to do something, do it," I snapped at the female vampire. "But for the love of all things holy, stop breathing in my face, you disgusting leech! Your breath smells like rotten zombie corpse."
She surged forward and I clenched my eyes shut as her fangs sunk deep into my neck. Pain seared through my body like a wildfire and I gasped for breath. I could vaguely hear my parent's screams in the background, but after a while they got fainter and fainter.
When the guards finally managed to pull her off of me I was so drained that I fell over and one of them had to drag me inside my cell. Their voices shouted incoherent Italian words in the hall and I heard Moroi's name mentioned more than once. I smiled through the pain I was feeling. Despite the fact I was in incredible agony, it was reassuring to know everything was going according to plan.
...
There you go, there's the rest! Hope you guys liked these two chapters. Leave me a comment below or vote if you liked it! Thanks!
Also, we're nearing the end of this story. I think there is going to be a sequel though. We'll see. :)