Page 56 of The Forsaken Vampire

“There’s nobody around, or I wouldn’t have stopped. So you can scream if you want, but the only person who might come calling is a yeti, and in that case, we’re both dead.” He unhitched the back of the wagon. “So?”

I stared at him and gave a nod.

“Alright.” He grabbed my ankles and dragged me to the edge before he undid all the knots in the binding.

Once my ankle was free, I kicked him in the face as hard as I could.

He caught my boot like he knew I was going to do it the second I was free. “You want to pee or not?” He grabbed me by the arm and placed me on my feet, my hands bound together in front of me.

I stared at him and extended my hands.

“I’ll undo your pants.”

I growled against the ropes over my mouth.

“The second I untie you, you’re going to attack me.” He moved for my pants.

I immediately stepped back and tried to force the rope out of my mouth.

He watched me struggle and took pity on me before he pulled the rope free. “What are you trying to say?”

“If you touch me, I’ll kill you.”

“You didn’t mind me touching you before.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” I extended my hands. “Untie me.”

“Only if you don’t cause a fuss.”

“I won’t.”

He leaned against the wagon with his arms crossed over his chest. “I know you’re lying.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Still lying.”

“Just untie me.”

“Yes, I’ll get right on that.”

I dropped my hands and continued to stare.

“Let me put it this way. If you fuck with me, I’ll never let you use the bathroom again.”

He was an opponent unlike any I’d ever faced. He was faster than my own father. He seemed to know shit he shouldn’t know. Without a sword or a weapon, it seemed unlikely that I would escape in this moment. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“You want to use the bathroom or not?”

“Yes. But I also want to know why you’re doing this.”

He came to me and removed all the knots in the rope until my wrists came free. “You have two minutes.”

I massaged my irritated skin and then stepped into the tree line. We were on the long path that my father had built into the mountain, that wound back and forth down to the bottom of the cliffs. We were almost at the bottom. I could tell by the cold. I moved behind a tree, did everything that I needed to do, and then stood there for a moment, treasuring my freedom for a couple minutes.

My two minutes were up, but he let me be.

The panic set in once I had a moment to appreciate my circumstances. I was being held as a prisoner by some mysterious man, a man I suspected wasn’t a man at all. I’d hurt Ethan, someone who really cared about me, and threw myself at someone who didn’t give a damn about me.