Page 106 of Love Bleeds

Or was that more so Luke wouldn't get out, even if he overpowered Crimson?

While Crimson was still pondering this, Luke rushed to the bed to remove the gag from Savannah's mouth. The make-up around her eyes was smeared and she stared at the two of them in shock.

"What are you doing here?" she asked Luke once she could speak. Then her eyes darted to Crimson. "And how can he be here? Where are we? Who are thesepeople? They just took me! It was horrible!" Tears started streaming down her face again, smearing the mascara stains on her cheeks even further, but she barely even got a breath in before speaking again. "And now they have you too! Is that what happened to you? Did these people kidnap you?"

"Something like that," Crimson said while Luke worked on untying the rope around Savannah's wrists.

"We came here to get you out," Luke said. "I'm so sorry about what happened to you."

Savannah shook her head. "Just tell me what's going on."

"You wouldn't believe me." Finally, Luke got the girl's hands free.

"Give it a shot," she said, rubbing her thumb over the inside of her wrist to get feeling back into it. How long had she spent tied up like that? Crimson's own joints hurt just watching her.

"This is a vampire coven," he said. "I'm a vampire."

She stared at him. "I mean, you look freakishly pale, but... no way." She drew in a deep breath that seemed to catch in her throat halfway through. "Jesus, Damian, I thought I'd never see you again and now you're trying to pull some sort of weird shit on me."

"He's not," Luke said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "But we don't have time to explain. We have to get out of here. Do you think you can stand?"

"When we get this off." She reached down to help Luke with the rope around her ankles. "That man who brought you in here, he's so fucking creepy," she complained.

"Did he hurt you?" Crimson asked.

"No, he just... I don't know." She shuddered. "Helookedat me, you know? As if I was his next meal."

She very well might have been, if Crimson and Luke hadn't come here, but Crimson thought it best not to say that.

Once Luke had untied the rope, he addressed Crimson. "How much time do you think we have left?"

"Not much," Crimson said. Since their phones had been taken, neither of them had a clock, but Crimson estimated that they had maybe half an hour. In any case, it would be safer to underestimate their time than to overestimate it.

His voice a little lower, Luke asked, "Are you really going to attack us if we try to get out?"

His sire's words sounded in his head again, the order to bite Luke and Savannah if they tried to escape. There was an edge to the memory as it bled into his consciousness. An order that was still in effect. He tried to push it aside, but the feeling persisted.

"How would you even try to escape?" he asked, hoping to redirect Luke. "The door's locked."

Luke studied the door and then looked back at Crimson. "It's just a door, though."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It might keep me in, but not you."

Fair point. The door was made of wood, not iron or metal. It was almost as if getting his memories back had made Crimson forget how strong he was now, in his reborn form. A wooden door wasn't going to hold him. It had never been the door keeping him in this room. He'd been bound by his sire's words.

Nicolai had told him to stay here.

Hehadn'ttold him that he couldn't open the door.

"It's not going to open quietly," he warned.

"I know." Luke thought for a moment. "It's not that far to the escape tunnel, though. If we caused a big enough distraction, Savannah could make it."

"Escape tunnel?" Savannah asked.

"We're in an underground base," Luke explained. "There's a tunnel down that way. Aldrich says the entrance is hidden behind 'a big ass tapestry'." He made air quotes. "It comes out about three quarters of a mile from here, near the High Bridge. The combination for the lock is 5321."