Finally, exhausted and feeling like an idiot, she reeled in her composure and lifted her head to look around. Hope wasn’t completely lost; her guards were dead. Or at least she assumed they were all dead, she didn’t know how many were actually out there, but no one had come out of the woods to stop her or finish off the other vamp.
Maybe she could still get away, but how?
She stared at the snow falling faster from the sky as it stuck to the window and the windshield. The only source of illumination was the light pouring from the cabin windows. Turning in her seat, she stared at what she could see of the driveway.
She’d been bound and gagged when they brought her here, so she had no idea where here was. For the first part of the journey, she’d been unconscious, and when she woke up, she’d faked being out to see if they would talk and she could learn something, but no one spoke throughout the drive.
For all she knew, she could be in Alaska and she could run down the driveway to discover nothing but miles of snow and unfamiliar terrain. But still, she had to try. She couldn’t sit here and wait for the vamp to wake up or for her captors to realize something was wrong and come for her. And they would come, she did not doubt that.
She lifted the chair leg off the seat and pushed the door open. Her breath sucked in when the wind hit her with enough force that it swayed her back into the car. Normally, she loved winter—when she was bundled up against the elements and had hot chocolate waiting for her. She wasn’t such a fan when she was barefoot with a too big sweater hanging off her shoulders and no hat or gloves.
She could end up with frostbite in every one of her extremities, but she made herself put one foot in front of the other. She bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out as the stones dug into her frozen feet while she jogged across the circle area of the driveway. Beyond that, the drive turned to asphalt, and she was able to run faster down the winding surface.
Her breaths plumed in the air as her feet sank into the thickening snow. Her skin felt like ice, and she’d lost the feeling in her hands and feet, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop. Once free of here, she didn’t know what she would do. She’d have to steal a car before going to find her father, but at least she would be free to look for him.
If they discovered she was gone before she found him, they would make him pay, but this was the closest either of them had come to freedom since becoming prisoners, and she couldn’t let it go to waste. Elyse didn’t stop to think about how she would steal a car or get her father free; if she did, she’d probably return to the cabin, curl up in a ball, and wait for them to come for her again.
She would not be a coward. But as she decided this, doubt crept in. What would they do to her dad if they discovered her gone before she found him? And how was she ever going to get him away from these monsters?
The doubts niggled at her mind, but if she didn’t do anything, then they were both as good as dead anyway, and she’d never expected those deaths to be pleasant.
Her chest and legs burned when she made it to the bottom of the drive. Her hopes shattered as she gazed up and down the deserted road. She hugged herself as the sweat froze on her body, and her chattering teeth drowned out the sound of her ragged breaths.
To her left, the road rose steeply while to her right, it descended. A layer of snow already coated the asphalt. She couldn’t see more than twenty feet down the road in either direction, but she saw enough to know there were no nearby homes.
There was nowhere for her to go. If she continued down the road, she had no idea how far it would be until she encountered another home and possible help. How far could she make it before she froze to death or something found her? The bears were probably hibernating right now, but there could be any number of other things out there waiting to eat her, including vampires.
She almost said screw it and raced down the road, but though her life had been full of despair these past months, she wasn’t ready for it to end. Her chances of escaping were dwindling by the second, but she still retained some hope she would survive this.
She didn’t see how she’d survive, but she wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. She had a lot of living left to do, and if she remained standing here, she would freeze to death before she got another chance to break free.
When the snow stopped, she’d try again. Until then, she’d work on making herself something for her feet from what little clothing she had. She’d also put on layers and a blanket before venturing out again.
Turning, she trudged back up the driveway. She tried to run again, if only to warm herself up, but the lack of nutrition, stress, and exhaustion she’d endured over the past months had left her weaker than she’d realized; she didn’t have the energy to run anymore.
When she arrived back at the gravel part of the driveway, the snow started coming down faster. It stung her cheeks as the wind whipped it through the air. Her hand trembled as she brushed frozen strands of hair from her face. When snow fell away from her, she realized it was building on her hair and clothes.
With the lights in the cabin on, she could see more up here, and she paused to take in the carnage littering the yard. The blood staining the snow was fading beneath this new layer. Finally, she turned her attention to the vamp sprawled across the porch.
Was he still alive? And if he was, how long would it be before he woke up? And what would he do to her when he did wake? He was incapacitated, but he’d still taken on her guards and won. She was a mere mortal; it would only take a flick of his wrist to end her life.
It didn’t matter. What mattered was getting inside before she froze to death. She tried to jog across the stone, but her feet were so frozen she couldn’t get them to cooperate, and she was afraid she might break one of them, or her ankle before she made it to the cabin.
Limping across the drive, she arrived at the porch and used the railing to help her carefully climb the steps. The vamp hadn’t moved, but she watched his chest rise and fall as she crept around his blood and into the house.
She was about to close the door, but something stopped her. Turning back, she studied the vamp and then the carcasses littering the yard.
He was their enemy, and if ancient proverbs were right, then the enemy of her enemy was her friend. But what was he doing here, and what did he want from her? Or was he here to kill her because he was their enemy? How did he know about her?
She didn’t have any answers for the questions running through her head, but he possessed the knowledge. Don’t be an idiot. Shut the door and leave him here or stake him.
She chuckled when she glanced at the jagged chair leg. The idea of shoving it through anyone’s chest and into their heart made her queasy, but if she left him here, he would heal and come after her. She was glad her guards were dead, but that meant there was no one to stop this vamp if he’d come here to kill her.
She studied the man for a minute more before turning and limping into the house. Maybe he’d come here to kill her, but he was the first change she’d experienced in all the months she’d been here, and she had to know why he was here and who he was.
She went into the room one of her guards usually slept in and pulled the blanket from the bed; this would also get her in trouble with them, but that was the least of her concerns now. With the blanket tucked under her arm, she went to her room to gather a couple of T-shirts. The idea of ruining some of what little clothing she had made her hands shake, but she had no choice. She could not touch his blood.