Page 45 of Taken By the Vampires
“Ella. You will forget.” Xander’s voice reverberated, imbrued with a powerful command that captured my whole attention. His voice filled my mind, syphoning through my will.
Compelling me.
Yes, yes I needed to forget. I would forget. That was a good idea.
I sank into a warm fog, my attention turning to more pleasant things. Not the bear and the blood and the fangs. The guys with red on their faces. In their mouths. Over the snow.
Something in my mind screamed. Fire licked my mind, scorching me from the inside, forcing me up through the layers of fog into crystalline clarity. My mind revolted with sheer terror. I was thrust back into reality, rejecting the compulsion that I wanted to accept more than anything. It would be easier. So much easier. But I couldn’t.
Get away.
I had to get away.
I raced back inside. Eyes blind, mind blank except for the terror filling my veins.
Get away.
I had to get away.
Chapter Thirty Two
I ran blindly through the foyer, my panicked brain trying to work out the best path.
“Ella!”
The staircase rose before me, but I darted to the right and ran down a dark corridor. I had no idea where I was going. What I was doing, except to follow my brain’s command to flee. Find somewhere safe.
Yellowed light barely lit the corridor. I came upon a closed door, fingers desperately grabbing the doorknob. It was stuck. I glanced over my shoulder. I heard them calling me, but couldn’t see them.
I had to find a safe place to hide before they found me. Heart thundering in my chest, I lurched for the next door. It, too, was locked. Stuck fast. I pounded a fist on the wood and dashed down the hallway.
My feet pounded on the floorboards, breaths coming in quick gasps. Sweat slicked my body. I tripped and the blanket fell away, leaving me as naked as when I’d left the bed.
How deliriously stupid I’d been. Thinking I’d found peace for the first time in my life. I’d never seen the truth, but how could I have known?
Vampires.
The word spurned me on. Charged my footsteps with desperation.
I darted around a corner, using my hand on the wall to propel myself. The corridor ended with stairs. There was no other way out. I sobbed. No choice. I couldn’t go back. No choice but to stumble down the stairs, two at a time.
My ankle twisted in the semi-darkness. Pain shot up my leg and I crashed to the ground. Weak light flickered and danced on the walls as I moved. I clutched the banister with two hands, using my arms to take my weight, stumbling as quickly as I could, ignoring the jab of pain each time I put weight on that foot.
Their voices echoed above me. Sounds without words, their shouts edged with determination and steel.
This was what nightmares were made of. Where women disappeared, never to be seen alive again. I should have tried to get away sooner. Escaped in the middle of the night.
But there’d been an element of trust, hadn’t there? They’d saved me and I was lulled into a false sense of security. Surely men who rescued a woman and saved her life didn’t do that just to murder her later, did they?
Maybe it was more insidious than that. They’d saved me, healed me, only to use me for God knew what. A sex slave. A meal. Body parts. Anything.
No one knew I was here. They could keep me prisoner here for a very long time before they grew tired of me.
Hadn’t people been imprisoned in people’s houses for years? Hidden. Chained. Used. I’d be one of those people. Never seen or heard from again.
Only my captors weren’t even human. They were… I’d seen… It couldn’t possibly be true…
“Ella. Stop!”
