Tangled

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,

149 Lisa: Enthralled (1)

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.

It’s been peaceful so far, but that can’t last forever. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the FɪndNøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

I want to

no one came

one came to shut me up, either.

now,

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as the chains. allow, trying to make myself small, trying to

me? Why go through the trouble of taking 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 in my

sounds and whispers pierce the silence, dragging me from my

my cell. It’s only then that I realize the odd dripping sound, the

my gut tightening into a cramping pain as the scraping grows louder, closer. It’s a grating, unnatural noise that sets my teeth on edge and causes my head to ache.

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to curl up and hide.

to go, nowhere to run, because I’m

scraping stops, and for a moment, there’s only silence. Heavy, oppressive, making it hard

eyes widen as part of the wall slides into itself, revealing a dark passageway. A figure steps through, tall

The vampire from the

pale skin and dark hair, with eyes that gleam with a predatory light. His lips curve into a

kitten,” he purrs, his voice like silk over

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

My voice is tremulous, despite my efforts to keep it

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echoes off the walls and makes me flinch. “Oh, we’ll get to that,” he says, taking a step closer. “But first, let’s have a little chat, shall we?”

and measured as he approaches. I can’t look away, can’t move, can’t breathe. It’s like

that I can see the hunger in his eyes,

you?” he murmurs, reaching out to brush a strand of hair from my face. His touch is

I whisper, but it comes out more like a plea. Not the demand I wish

the end.

his fingers trailing down my cheek, my jaw, my neck. “You’re not in a

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and dangerous. “You’re mine now,

don’t want to think about the horrors that await me. But my mind races ahead, conjuring

the way my voice breaks, hating the tears that sting my eyes. “Please, just let me go.”

flash of white teeth in the gloom. Two are long