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.

oh, how I

did, all night, and no one

to shut me

come harder now, my body shaking

Enthralled

sobs. I curl in on myself as much as the chains. allow, trying to make myself small, trying to disappear. But there’s nowhere to hide, nowhere to go but the confines of my

keeping me alive? The possible answers terrify me, each more gruesome than the last. Ransom, torture,

the silence, dragging me from

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

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. The whispers, too, become more distinct, though I

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curl up

nowhere to go, nowhere to run, because I’m

there’s only silence. Heavy, oppressive,

then, a grinding sound, like stone against stone. My eyes widen as part of the wall slides into itself, revealing a dark passageway. A figure steps through, tall and imposing, and my

him. The vampire from the

gleam with a predatory light. His lips curve into a smile, but

his voice like

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

tremulous, despite my efforts to keep

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a sound that echoes off the walls and makes me flinch. “Oh, we’ll get to that,” he says,

are almost 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,

crouches down in front of me, close enough that I can feel the chill emanating from his skin. Close enough that I can see the hunger in his eyes, the way they seem to darken as they roam over my

brush a strand of hair from my face. His touch is like ice, and I jerk

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

the

down my cheek, my jaw, my neck. “You’re not in a position to

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Lisa Enthralled

low and dangerous. “You’re mine now, and I’ll do

imagine what he means by that, don’t want to think about the horrors that await me. But my mind races ahead, conjuring up images of pain and

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

of white teeth in the gloom. Two are long and sharp, shooting