Page 17 of Entranced By the Immortal

I wanted to pry, wanted to ask what happened or what changed to make Corvin to not feed on her anymore, but I bit my tongue. She was a stunning woman. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had some kind of history together, but the thought of him fucking her the way he fucked me last night is enough to turn my stomach.

I cleared my throat and changed the subject. “Where are my things? My backpack? My cell phone?”

“We have everything you need here in the manor.” Her voice was dry.

I shifted back and forth, anxiety eating at me from the inside. “It’s not that. I…I just want to text my mom and let her know I’m okay. She’ll be so worried; She’ll probably come looking for me, and I just want to tell her to stay away from the woods. Please, I don’t want her to get hurt.”

Edith’s gaze burned into mine as she contemplated my words, and I hoped with every fiber of my being that she had an ounce of empathy left after all these years. She was cold and distant, and I couldn’t get a read on her. I took a shaky breath, prepared to drop to my knees and beg if I had to.

“You reallyaremore trouble than you’re worth,” she huffed, glancing back into the hall as though Lord Dupont would suddenly appear. “You can have your phone. Nothing else.”

“Deal.” It was better than nothing, and the thought of reassuring my mother calmed the worst of my nerves. At least, if she knew I was alright, she wouldn’t worry. I could tell her to bring the police and come find me, but I feared what Corvin would do to them all.

And, if I was brutally honest, I didn’t want them to find him. Not yet.

It was stupid, and I probably should have wanted to burn the place to the ground, but whatever spell the vampire’s venom had put me under made me hesitant. I’d figure everything out again after I saw him.Hopefully.

Edith turned to leave the room and I made to follow her, but she whipped around in a blink. “Stay here,” she warned. “Don’t leave this room until I come back.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but closed it just as quickly. I was lucky she was helping me at all—she had no reason to—andI wasn’t going to screw things up by whining. Instead, I nodded, and rooted myself to the spot.

Edith wasn’t gone long, and when she returned, she shoved my cell phone at me hastily. My heart leapt into my throat as I unlocked the screen, but then crashed a second later when I looked at the battery life. It had two percent left.

Shit.

There were half a dozen missed calls and just as many text messages, most from my mom and a few from worried coworkers. I hadn’t missed a single day of work since I started at the print shop until today. I was going to be in so much trouble—I’d most certainly get fired if I didn’t get back to town and explain myself—but I’d worry about that later. I was only focused on one thing.

I opened the messages from my mother, my eyes poring over them eagerly. She mentioned a new storage building to put some of her things and how we needed to do lunch again at a new place in town. The last message asked ‘are you ok?’ and I froze.

Physically, I was fine. Mentally, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t have time to explain much, and even as I read the messages, the battery dropped to one measly percent.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I whispered, quickly tapping out a reply.

Me:I’m fine. Went camping and lost signal for a while. Don’t worry. Love you lots.

I hit send without hesitation, and the screen went black a second later. If I’d waited any longer, the phone would have died, and I wouldn’t have been able to text her at all. It was a tiny relief, a way to placate my nerves until I figured out what the fuck I was going to do. Reluctantly, I handed the phone back to Edith. I didn’t have a use for it anymore.

“You’re probably hungry,” she said, gesturing to the hall. “Come, let’s find you something.”

At that exact moment, my stomach rumbled. I had no idea how long it had been since I’d eaten, but I was suddenly starving. Without a word, I followed her.

The kitchen was the most updated room in the house, with electric appliances. Someone—probably Edith—had to make occasional grocery runs, because there was at least a little food in the kitchen. I ate a can of soup warmed on the stove.

Afterward, Edith suggested I bathe, and I couldn’t agree more. I was still covered in dirt and grime and dried blood. She showed me back to my room and the enormous en suite bathroom, and I tasted bile when I saw my reflection in the gold-framed mirror.

I looked like fucking hell.

Twin bite marks on either side of my neck were crusted with dried blood, smears of it dripping down my skin. I had bags under my eyes, despite all the sleep I’d gotten, and my skin looked pale, sickly. My hair was a tangled mess, dusted with dirt from rolling around outside.

What the fuck did he do to me?

“If you need anything, I’ll be down the hall,” Edith assured me before disappearing again.

Carefully, I peeled off my clothes and settled into a hot bath, taking my time to scrub every inch of skin. The bite marks ached, but not as much as I thought they would. Would he feed from me again when he woke? Or did he only need to feed occasionally? Edith said he hadn’t fed from her in a while, but I hadn’t seen anyone else around the manor.

I went under water, my head spinning with questions.

Everything will make sense when I see Corvin again.

---