Page 9 of Stolen By the Vampire

The hours passed quickly. She couldn’t track the time precisely, but she had been awake for several hours. Her stomach growled, putting an abrupt end to Silas’s description of the desert sands some distance away.

“I don’t suppose you have food for humans here?” she asked. “Otherwise, this will be a rather short abduction.”

Of course, she had her own countdown she was working against.

Silas frowned. “I’ll return directly with something suitable.”

He disappeared down the caves he had led her through.

Esmae had no intentions of simply sitting around and waiting. She couldn’t break his thrall and attempt to escape—even if she ever managed to find her way through the winding paths. But she could look for other weaknesses the vampire might have. Esmae was resourceful. Her copper knife was forgotten on the floor of the place she’d woken up, but there might yet be something else.

Though she might feel bad, just a little, if she killed Silas. He hadn’t really harmed her. On the contrary, he’d saved her. But she couldn’t die, not with her father counting on her.

She ventured deeper into the caverns. Upon closer examination, there were trinkets of all sorts around. Religious totems. Clothing of any number of styles in all manner of colors. Pottery, paintings, sculptures. Plates of obsidian that looked almost like scales, only they were far too large to belong to any creature she’d ever seen. No copper, however.

She passed another row of treasures and stumbled, clutching her chest. A chill spasmed inside her.

Cold, so cold.

A moment passed. Another.

Eventually, she could move again, her heart once more beating. She cursed Jared aloud.

The curse. She didn’t have much time. Perhaps a week, at best.

Desperate times…

The deck of cards was still at her side. She flicked through the cards quickly, finding the second to last card her mother had left her.

With her mother’s stored oracle magic, she only had to think her question to draw forth the magic. How can I defeat Silas and make him let me go?

The magic spoke in her ears, ominous words ringing:

Find his fated mate.

“Lady, what are you looking for?”

Esmae startled and looked around. “Who said that?”

“You can understand me!” a voice squeaked.

She sighed, her magic swelling around her. She’d been so distracted after using the oracle card. Normally, the card would at least point her in the right direction, like when it showed her the path to the cliffs, but this time, nothing happened. Only the echo of an answer rattling through the cavern for her ears. It was puzzling. Or maybe there was no puzzle; maybe the card didn’t have enough magic to guide her. In any case, she hadn’t realized she had company.

“My magic allows me to understand animals,” she explained.

“Oh wow!” was the excited reply.

She was used to it. Animals, so often ignored and overlooked, tended to get very excited when they realized she could understand them. It came from being so often overlooked, she supposed. Considering she, too, had leaped into the arms of the first man to overlook her poor social status and shower her with attention, it was hard not to empathize.

“Why don’t you come out where I can see you?” she encouraged. She hated talking to disembodied voices. “If you do, we can talk more.”

A beat of hesitation. “The creature doesn’t like when others enter his hoard.”

“He won’t hurt you.” Maybe she shouldn’t have promised that, but she could hardly see Silas caring about a little mouse or whatever she was talking to.

Another moment of silence. Then, there was a flurry of scurrying, gold coins rattling in her periphery until a small, fuzzy lump emerged. A long pink snout protruded from the sightless skull, eyes squeezed shut. Not a mouse, but a mole.

“Do you have a name?” she asked.

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