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.

how I want to

and no one came to save

no one came to shut me up, either.

tears come harder now, my body shaking

Lisa Enthralled

chains. allow, trying to make myself small, trying to disappear. But there’s nowhere to hide, nowhere

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

silence, dragging me from my

tense, 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

louder, closer. It’s a grating, unnatural noise that sets my teeth on edge and causes my head to ache. The whispers, too,

16:14 ●

3/8

up and hide.

nowhere to run, because I’m chained

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

slides into itself, revealing a dark passageway.

vampire

dark hair, with eyes that gleam with a predatory light. His lips curve

he purrs, his voice like silk

my wrists, bleeding and swollen

tremulous, despite my

Enthralled

laughs, a 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

can’t look away, can’t move, can’t breathe. It’s like I’m frozen, trapped by the sheer force

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

a pretty little thing, aren’t you?” he murmurs, reaching out to brush a strand of hair from my face. His touch is like ice, and I jerk

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

the end.

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

5/8

Enthralled

says, his voice low and dangerous. “You’re mine now, and I’ll do whatever I please with

he means by that, don’t want to think about the horrors that

way my voice breaks, hating the

of white teeth in the gloom. Two are long and sharp, shooting pure terror down my