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 want

and no one came to save

no one came to shut me

harder now, my body shaking with

Lisa Enthralled

myself as much as the chains. allow, trying to make myself small, trying to disappear. But there’s nowhere

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 throat.

sounds and whispers pierce the silence, dragging me from

straining to hear more, to understand what’s happening beyond my cell. It’s only then that I realize the odd dripping sound, the one that had been my constant companion, disappeared

head to ache. The whispers, too, become more distinct, though I can’t make

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curl up and hide.

nowhere to run, because I’m chained to the

moment, there’s only silence. Heavy, oppressive, making it hard to

into itself, revealing a dark passageway. A figure steps through, tall and imposing, and my

The vampire from

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 run cold.

his voice like silk over

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

want?” My voice is tremulous,

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sound that 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

I can’t look away,

Close enough that I can see the hunger in his eyes, the

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

out more like a plea. Not the demand

to the

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

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Lisa Enthralled

mine now, and I’ll do whatever

hard to breathe. I don’t want to imagine what he means by that, don’t want to think about the

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

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