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

17:36

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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?

I whisper, but there’s

erratic plink, plink–plink

the voices are

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

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

scream, the sound raw

me go!” I yank 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 forearms. Sobs wrack my body, each one

can barely stand, the shackles forcing me to hunch over. My muscles burn

Plink. Plink–plink.

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 some vampire’s dungeon like a gothic

1. am.

Plink–plink–plink.

mocking my S~ᴇaʀᴄh the Findɴovel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of

scream again, to rage against

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

Humans are weak and

I hate this.

how he was always around. Hated his grim determination to keep us safe, at the expense of our freedom.

desperately that he was here to tell me

this any day

can he possibly find

142 143 Chalice)

know where

let

loyalty. She won’t give

will it be enough? Can they really go up against

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

is that I’m scared. I’m so fucking scared and I don’t know what to do.

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

other thought. It’s maddening, the irregularity of it.

don’t. I bite my lip hard enough to taste blood and focus on the pain. It grounds me,

342 LISA Chamed

have to believe that Kellan and Ava will find me. That Lucas and the Westwood pack will tear this place apart stone by stone until

to believe that. Because the alternative is too terrifying to

eyes and picture Kellan’s face. I imagine his arms around me, his voice in my ear

for a moment, just a moment, I

Plink.

Bren’s face fills my mind and I can’t stop thinking about him.

wasn’t great at foreplay. Of the slightly–better–than mediocre sex and then the aphrodisiac that