Tangled

142 Lisa: Chained

The sound of water dripping is the first thing to break through the darkness of my mind.

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

It’s an erratic rhythm that leaves me uncomfortable.

The voices come next, soft, sibilant whispers. Evil. Whoever they are, they’d be the villains in any story.

Eventually, I realize the darkness is really just pain. Pain that throbs and aches in half my face. But why?

Vampires.

That’s why.

My eyes fly open when I finally remember, and I struggle to sit up, blinking into the darkness.

I can’t see anything.

Are my eyes open?

My hands won’t reach my face, yanking against

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142 Lisa: Chained

something cold and hard around my wrists.

Manacles?

Swiping my hands around, I can feel the heavy, rusted chains holding me down, bolted to the floor.

Fuck.

This is…

Really not good.

Ava. Is Ava here?

but

erratic plink, plink–plink of something dripping.

the voices are

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

sound slithers into my mind, coiling around my heart and squeezing with a mania of isolation and fear. I try

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142 Usa Chained

chest and I scream, the

at the manacles, the metal biting into my wrists. Pain sears through my arms, but I don’t care. I have to get out. I have to find Ava. “You

my skin tearing, blood trickling down my forearms. Sobs wrack my body, each one tearing out of

barely stand, the shackles forcing me to hunch over. My muscles burn from the awkward position.

Plink. Plink–plink.

to the darkness. Shapes slowly emerge from the inky blackness. Rough stone walls, a small window high above my head. The barest hint of moonlight filters through, only to be swallowed by clouds

a cell.

A fucking cell..

142 Lika Chained

in a strangled laugh. I’m chained up in some vampire’s dungeon like a gothic romance heroine. Except there’s no dashing

1. am.

Plink–plink–plink.

up pace, as if mocking my S~ᴇaʀᴄh the Findɴovel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to

I want to scream again, to rage against

magic or super strength hidden deep inside. I can’t shift

are weak and helpless against the supernatural.

I hate this.

around. Hated his grim determination to keep us safe, at the expense

I wish desperately that he was here to tell me I

take his smugness over this

How can he possibly find

142 143 Chalice)

know where I

my eyes, hot and bitter. I let them fall,

fierce determination and unwavering loyalty. She won’t give up on me. She’ll

really

know. I don’t know anything about this world.

so fucking scared and I don’t know what to

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

out every other thought. It’s maddening, the irregularity of it. I want to scream, to

enough to taste blood and focus on the pain. It grounds me, keeps

342 LISA Chamed

will find me. That Lucas and the Westwood

the

imagine his arms around me, his voice in my ear telling me it’s going to

for a moment, just a

Plink.

fills my mind

was his weird breeding kink and the biting. Of how he wasn’t great at