Page 46 of Taken By the Vampires
They were close. Too close.
I collapsed to the ground after I stumbled down the last step. The pain from my wrists and knees barely registered as I lurched to my feet and tripped towards the first door I came upon.
Relief coursed through me when the door opened. My ankle gave way and I fell to the floor again. Pain burst up my leg and I cried out.
“I heard her. In here!”
Oh, God. No. I scrambled to my feet, barely registering the room I was in, only focused on the door across the way. Every step was torture, but I thrust it aside, forcing my legs to move as fast as I could.
Davon stepped through the door, blocking me. I screamed, turned back the way I came and ran into Xander’s chest. Hands curled around my biceps. I struggled, blind to everything except escaping.
“Ella. Stop.”
“No. Get away. Let me go!” I lashed out, wrenched and writhed, feet slipping on the floor, blind terror scorching my brain.
Suddenly I was free, but my ankle gave way and I tumbled backwards, onto the ground.
“We’re not going to hurt you, Ella.”
Cassius reached for me. I scrambled backwards, clawing at the floor, kicking out, hands and feet slipping, limbs jolting hard and awkward with each uncoordinated terror-fueled movement.
I hit a wall and yet I still couldn’t stop the urge to keep pushing away from them. I slid backwards. Hit a corner. Nowhere to go.
Nowhere to go.
I rose up on my hands and knees. Xander crouched next to one wall, stopping me. I changed directions. Davon shouldered the other wall. Cassius in the middle. I pushed back into the corner, wedging myself in as far as I could go, curling in on myself to make myself as small as possible. My breaths came in tight, sharp gasps, hitching and struggling to make more than the barest intake.
I shook, uncontrollable, violent movements that took over my whole body. Sweat slicked my skin, coating me in a stinking, hot, sticky mess.
Trapped.
Chapter Thirty Three
“Ella, we’re not going you hurt you. You’re safe.”
I don’t know how long Davon had spoken to me. It could have been a minute or an hour, but my brain started filtering words, morphing them to understanding. I clutched my knees, my knuckles white. “You’re…” My breath wheezed out.
“Yes. We are Vampires.” As Xander spoke, I glimpsed the end of his fangs.
I shuddered, remembering them coated in thick, red blood. “The bear.”
If they could take down a wild bear, I really had no hope. They could do anything they wanted to me and there wouldn’t be a damn thing I could do about it.
“Ella, we had to feed. After we all made love to you…like that…our energy reserves were low. The bear was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.” Cassius was on his knees before me, shoulders hunched, weary lines over his face. I almost didn’t recognize this side of him. Gone was the carefree smile. The light in his eyes. He looked…destroyed.
Everything began to crystallize. The things I’d questioned, but let go. They didn’t seem to feel the cold. They moved so fast. Too fast to be natural. The crimson glints I’d caught in their eyes.
They never ate with me. They didn’t eat at all. There was an otherworldly feel to this house and now I knew it came from them.
“So, you just…killed it.” It shouldn’t be possible. A bear could annihilate three men. Just how powerful were they?
“It isn’t a choice we easily make, but there are…limits…with how we can exist.” Davon’s eyes, usually so bright were dull and heavy.
“Limits? But you’re…” I swallowed hard. “Strong.”And vampires. And not of this world. And could rip me apart with your teeth. They can doanything. Beanywhere.
A fresh wave of tremors racked my body. It was so cold in here that my breath frosted and my teeth chattered. I was never more aware of the fact I was naked and helpless in the face of all of them. The walls and floor were freezing, the intense cold leaching through my skin, into my bones. The terror inside me was like liquid ice in my veins. My ankle throbbed in time with my pounding heart, sending a fiery wake of pain up my leg with each pump.
Xander cursed and ran both hands through his hair, spiking the strands in all directions. He strode to a sofa and ripped away a blanket that was folded across the back. He opened it and walked towards me. My heart raced and I shied away from him, my arms coming up to protect my face, the stink of fear radiating off me in waves.
