When I glanced up, Houdini’s owl ascended to the skies and flew away. He didn’t want to get involved. He wanted to show me.
Show me what?
Christian should have heard me coming, so why hadn’t he come out?
The trees chattered as icy limbs swayed into each other.
I noticed there weren’t any footprints around the door, so I took a deep breath before opening it. Light poured into the dark, empty room. He normally kept an old mattress on the floor, but it was leaning up against the right wall behind the small table and chair. Aside from the strip of light coming in, the room was painted in shadows. As I turned away, something caught my eye that I’d never seen before—chains mounted on a wall. I drew closer, staring at the length. Just enough to allow a person to sit. Then I saw the broken shackles.
Anger flooded my veins like hot magma.
“Raven…”
I spun on my heel. Christian stood in the open doorway, white light silhouetting him. Snow covered his worn lace-up boots, and his pants below the knee were wet with a glaze of frost covering the fabric. I noticed small twigs and pine needles on his tight black shirt. But what really stood out was the look on his face, like someone had caught him with his hand in the cookie jar.
I adjusted my knit hat, feeling like a volcano about to erupt. “I didn’t want to believe it was true. I kept telling myself you weren’t the type of man who would deceive me.” I stalked forward and slapped him. “How could you lie to me?”
Being a Vampire, he wasn’t fazed by the slap. He just stood there with a blank expression.
“This is worse than you having an affair.”
He dipped his chin, his voice lower than usual. “Raven, what do you think is happening here?”
“Where did you bury the body? Am I going to find a graveyard out back filled with your victims?”
“This is not what you think.”
“I think we’re past lying.”
“Aye, that we are. But this isn’t what it seems. It’s much worse.”
“Worse than keeping a bloodslave? Do tell.”
“Abloodslave? Is that what you think of me?” He gestured to the chair. “Sit down, and I’ll tell you everything.”
“I’d rather stand.”
“If you wish.” Christian strode into the room toward the chains and stared quietly at them. He turned his head sharply toward the door and then closed it. I listened to his footfalls move around the room until he struck a match and lit several candles on the table. “Are you warm enough?” He collected his trench coat from the table and handed it to me.
I put my hands in my coat pockets, my back to the door. “Not one more lie better come out of your mouth.”
He draped the coat over the back of the chair and mirrored my stance. “Do you remember when Houdini kidnapped you?”
“Yes.”
“And after that, how he sold you on the black market?”
“I don’t need a recap.”
Christian chewed on his lip for a minute. “When we found you with your Creator, he got away.”
“I’m aware.”
“Raven, he never got away.”
Dizzy, I stumbled over to the chair and sat.
Christian knelt in front of me. “I tracked him down and kept him here. I’ve had Fletcher Black in my possession this entire time.”
