Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 149 Lisa: Enthralled (I)

LISA

When moonlight fades and the sun rises, I can see my cell with more clarity.

Rust clings to my wrists and ankles, the metal biting into my skin with every trembling movement. Chains rattle against stone, a sound that mocks my rising panic. No matter how I strain and yank, they hold fast, ignoring the blood that streams down my arms when my skin breaks under the pressure.

This cell, this prison, is a nightmare made manifest. Cold, damp air seeps into my bones, and the stench of decay fills my nostrils. No comfort of a bed greets me, only the unforgiving hardness of the floor beneath my body.

A single, rotting bucket sits in the far corner, a cruel taunt of basic needs denied.

My eyes dart around, desperate for some sign of escape, but the walls offer no salvation. Rough-hewn stone and brick, marred by the telltale stains of suffering, mock my desperation. Those dark splatters, rust-brown and eerie in the dim light filtering through the tiny window above, speak of horrors I can't begin to imagine.

But I don't need to imagine, do I? I'm living it now.

Why? The question pounds in my head. Why me? What does my captor want?

I grasp at my memories, trying to make sense of the jumbled pieces. The party, the laughter, the punch that made my head swim. Bren. The vampire.

But nothing else.

Tears sting my eyes, hot and bitter as they slip down my cheeks.

I want to scream, to yell until my voice gives out, but some instinct warns me against it. Don't let them know you're awake. Don't give them a reason to come.

far,

oh, how I want

did, all night, and no

came to

sobs. I curl in on myself as much as the chains allow, trying to make myself small, trying

me, of keeping me alive? The possible answers terrify me, each more gruesome than the last. Ransom, torture, some sick game... I shudder, bile rising

whispers pierce the silence, dragging me from my

the odd dripping sound, the one that had been my constant companion, disappeared while I was

my head to ache. The whispers, too, become more distinct, though I can't make out the words. The voices are low, urgent, and filled with a malevolence that

there's nowhere to go, nowhere to run, because I'm chained

only silence. Heavy, oppressive, making it

slides into itself, revealing a dark passageway. A figure

vampire from

looks just as I remember, all pale skin and dark hair, with eyes that gleam with a predatory light. His lips curve into a smile, but there's no warmth in it. Only a cruel amusement that makes my blood

kitten," he purrs, his voice like silk

shrink back as far as my chains allow, despite the pain in my wrists, bleeding and swollen from many attempts

you want?" My voice is tremulous, despite my efforts to keep

the walls and makes me flinch. "Oh, we'll get to that,"

hypnotic, his steps slow and measured as he approaches. I can't look away, can't move, can't breathe. It's like I'm frozen, trapped by the sheer

that I can see the hunger in

he murmurs, reaching out to brush a strand of hair from my face.

plea. Not the demand I wish I could throw out, defiant to the

make demands, kitten," he says, his voice low and dangerous.