If she fled here, she could find her dad, and maybe she could save him too. She doubted it, but she definitely couldn’t do anything for him if she remained here. But what would they do to him when they realized she was gone?
She shuddered at the possibilities, and bile rose in her throat. If she stayed, they would both die; if she ran, they would torture her father and punish him for her actions.
Rushing to the door, she turned the knob and inched it open. She ignored the bite of the wind and stuck her head out to watch as the vamp staggered toward her last guard. He knelt by the monster, yanked out the bolt, and sank it into the creature’s back.
Bowing his head, he rested his hand in the snow and knelt there for a couple of minutes. Then he rose and turned back to the cabin. The blood streaking his face made him appear more lethal as he wiped it away and flicked it into the snow. Drops of red stood out starkly against the pristine snow as they followed him toward the cabin.
Elyse closed the door before he spotted her and locked it. The lock would only buy her a couple of seconds against him, but it was better than nothing. She rested her hand on the door before turning and fleeing into the kitchen.
If she couldn’t decide what to do, she could at least get a freaking weapon. The other vamps hadn’t worried she might find something to use against them. They knew how to keep her meek, and as a human, they saw her as inferior, but this guy was severely wounded; she might have a chance.
A chance at what?
Just do one thing at a time.
The legs of one of the wooden chairs at the small kitchen table squeaked against the tan, tile floor when she pulled it away from the table. Lifting it over her head, she took a deep breath before bashing it against the floor.
The impact jarred her arms and nearly knocked the chair from her grasp, but it didn’t shatter. Damn it! Before being held here, she could have broken it in one try. She may be small, but she’d always been stronger than she looked; she couldn’t say that anymore.
Frustration propelled her across the room with the chair, and she lifted it again. Her arms shook from the weight as she brought the chair down against the edge of the green marble counter. The impact ripped the chair from her hands, but two of the legs broke off. One leg flew across the room; the other bounced off the cabinet and nearly hit her in the head before falling to the floor and spinning under the table.
The wooden leg stopped spinning as the first step sounded on the porch. Elyse shoved aside another chair and lunged for the leg. She nearly fell when her foot slipped on the tile and bit her lip to keep from crying out when her knee twisted to the side. And then her hand wrapped around the leg, and she lifted it before her while she listened to the approach of the newest monster to arrive on her doorstep.
Chapter Four
What have you done?
Glancing at the ruined chair, she fought against the hot wash of tears filling her eyes. Her captors would see this chair, and her dad would suffer because of it. Her emotions started to fray as the full horror of what she’d done sank in. A buzzing like bees filled her ears as the room blurred; she grasped the table to keep from going down.
A loud thud from the porch vibrated the cabin floor; Elyse held her breath as she waited for the front door to burst open. When the seconds ticked into minutes, and her chest began to burn, she released her breath. The door remained intact, and she didn’t hear the man again.
She dreaded going anywhere near that man or the door, but she had to know what was happening. Clutching the leg against her chest, she edged around the table and tiptoed toward the front door.
She looked out the windows on either side of the door but didn’t see the vamp standing there. Her breathing was abnormally harsh in her ears as she clung to the leg like a two-year-old to their favorite teddy.
She glanced around the empty, snow-covered driveway before turning toward the kitchen. He must have gone around to the back door which meant….
She spun around to gaze at the car. If she could get to the car while he was behind the cabin, she might be able to get out of here!
Unwilling to give herself time to think about the consequences of her actions, she threw open the door and plunged outside. Her feet skidded awkwardly on the porch, and she darted to the side in time to stop herself from running over the top of the handsome vampire sprawled face first across the porch. She squeaked when her ankle twisted, and she went down in a heap beside his motionless body.
When she scrambled away, her foot almost touched the blood seeping out from under him. No, no, no, no!
She lifted her foot and turned it toward her to make sure the blood hadn’t touched her skin. Her shoulders slumped when she didn’t see anything there, but she still wiped at her skin with the sleeve of her overly large sweater.
She lowered her foot and drew her legs against her chest while she took a second to steady herself; she’d been so close to touching his blood. When she felt a little more in control, she studied the vamp while she tried to see if he was alive or not. Then, his fingers twitched, and he released a low moan.
Elyse scrambled to her feet, dashed around the vamp, and rushed down the porch steps. The chill of the snow and the sharpness of the stones against her bare feet made her wince with every step, but she didn’t slow as she ran for the car. She barely glanced at the dented hood before flinging open the driver’s door.
She hadn’t let herself think about keys, but she smiled when she heard the beep indicating they were in the ignition. Tossing the chair leg onto the passenger seat, she climbed into the driver’s side and closed the door. The wind blowing through the broken window caused her to shiver as she rested her hand on the wheel.
It had been months since she was behind the wheel of a car and sitting in the driver’s seat, and it gave her a sense of freedom. Some strange, almost hysterical laugh issued from her as she grasped the key, but she couldn’t stop making the terrible noise.
And then she turned the key.
The car sounded like it was going to start before making an awful, grinding noise that caused her to flinch. Her gaze flew to the vamp sprawled across the porch, and she bit her lip as she waited for him to rise and come after her, but he didn’t move. Taking a deep breath, she focused on the ignition again.
“Please start,” she pleaded before turning the key.
This time, the car didn’t bother to pretend it was going to start as the grinding noise filled the air before the lights inside dimmed and the car died. It was useless, but she couldn’t stop herself from turning the key again.
Gurrr. Gurrr. Gurrr. Thunk. On the thunk, a puff of black smoke seeped out around the hood. Elyse sat and stared at the smoke as her emotions swung wildly back and forth between hopelessness and rage. And then, before she knew what she was doing, she started beating on the steering wheel while tears rolled down her face.
“Ahh!” She screamed as she gripped the wheel and yanked at it like a madwoman.
She didn’t recognize herself, but she didn’t care as all her well-maintained composure over these horrific months unraveled, and she allowed her anger and terror to burst free. For months, she refused to cry or let her captors see how much they were breaking her, but she couldn’t hold it back anymore.
She’d been so close! Freedom was at the tips of her fingers, and it had been cruelly ripped away, but then, she could never truly be free while these bastards held her father.