Page 32 of Tangled Fates

“Shit, yeah,” I said, leaning on Soren until I had better balance. “I’ve been in that damn chair since she captured me.”

“How the hell did she manage that?” he asked, looking back at her on the bed.

She looked even more delicate on the bed. Seeing her now, I had no idea how she managed to take me down. Whoever was a potions master in this tower, had perfected a potion I had never been hit with until recently. Was she the mastermind behind the Oria and the potion that stripped us of our supernatural abilities?

“That same potion she hit you with,” I said. “She’s great with artifacts and potions, but it seems her physical abilities rely on a cast iron skillet.”

“I would say she’s pretty good with it,” he mumbled, scratching his head like she had gotten a few hits in. “Who knew that shit would be so painful.”

“Yeah, I guess when in doubt, just pull out your trusty iron skillet and swing away,” I chuckled.

“Come on, let's lock her in here while we look around,” Soren said, glaring at the woman. “I feel like there might be more people around and I want to clear the area before we go snooping.”

“Should one of us go out to get Ryder?” I walked out of the room with Soren, taking one last look at Sunshine before closing the door.

“I left to give him the vials of Oria I found,” Soren said, walking to the kitchen, setting his bag down. “I told him to go save Katarina and check on Serena while I helped you escape. We had been in contact with no one for who knows how long and while I know Katarina still has time, we thought it would be best if he left.”

“Do you have any idea how long we've been out here?” I sat on a stool.

“No, that’s why I sent him away.” He looked thoughtful. “Serena is probably going crazy, and I can’t imagine what Katarina is going through.”

“I hope they are ok,” I said, feeling uneasy about how much time had passed. “This turned out to be way more than we could handle.”

“Here, drink up.” Soren handed me a bag of blood, my mouth watering.

Modern day drinking for vampires was bags that looked like Capri-Suns, but they had blood instead of juice in them. It made drinking in public a hundred times better and let us eat whenever we liked. They were also great to drink on the go and were significantly easier than finding someone to donate to you.

It was also less hassle than using someone. I hated using a person because it always felt so personal, too intimate. It was something you did with a lover and there had never been a woman I had wanted to do it with until Sunshine. My hunger wasn’t overwhelming enough that I was crazed, but I had thought of what it would feel like if she let me have a taste.

My dick perked up at the thought and it wasn’t lost on me that this was the first time in a while since someone had captured my interest like her.

“Another one?” Soren asked, holding up another pouch of blood.

I shook my head as I finished what he gave me, feeling my hunger recede, helping my body recover from the potion.

“Let’s check the bedrooms and make our way down the tower,” Soren said, walking to the stairs. “This was too easy, and I’d hate to get too comfortable and then we both get caught.”

“I don’t think anyone is here but that cat and the woman,” I said, walking into the first bedroom we came upon.

The moment I opened it, I knew it was her bedroom. Her unique scent assaulted me, and I immediately wanted to stuff my face in her pillow. It seemed this woman was turning me into a creepy, thirsty man who was willing to smell anything that had her scent.

Her room was very ordinary, with a brown bed and a brown bookshelf, but what really caught my attention was the doodles she had everywhere. Some were of her grumpy cat, some of a woman with black hair, weirdly Henry Cavill was in here and there was also some of a man that looked very familiar.

Grabbing what looked to be a sketchbook, I flipped through it. The man’s drawings pissed me off because who the fuck was this? She had several different angles of him, but also some of his hand and one of him shirtless. My nostrils fared as anger funneled through me. Possessiveness steamrolled through me.

I wanted to throw the notebook away until the last page caught my attention. It was me tied against a chair with my head to the side and I was asleep. She even drew that damn cat next to me. It was done in pencil, but it was still absolutely gorgeous. Sunshine was talented.

A knock broke my train of thought.

“Hey, find anything?” Soren grunted looking around as I slowly shut the book, worried he would see my drawing.

“No, but it's the woman's room,” I said, slipping the notebook away before he could look at it.

“The other room looks like another woman lives here,” my brother said, passing by her desk as I slipped her notebook under her pillow.

I nodded, looking around, following my brother out of the room before I closed her door. I had a need to bring the notebook with me. Letting Soren walk down the stairs, I slipped back into her room grabbing another notebook. There was also a tin that popped open to reveal some chalk-looking colors and a few pencils.

Grabbing all of it quickly, I took it downstairs, seeing Soren looking around in the kitchen. I set the notebook down on a table by the sofas before I continued searching for anything out of the ordinary.

---