“That doesn’t matter,” he replied stiffly. “You’re not a threat to us, no one will believe your story of dragon shifters. That’s why we can let you go, despite your knowledge of us.”
I supposed that was true enough. I absently thought of the beach people, and what they’d tell the authorities. That a pair of dragons kidnapped a woman and flew away? Ensue the laugh track.
“Come on,” Fiona told me, taking my arm. “I’ll show you your rooms. Don’t try to escape, this place is like a fortress. And we can find you wherever you go.”
My gut informed me, similar to a voice in my head, to round my shoulders, keep my face lowered. Stay cowed, never show the spine I so recently discovered within myself. If Damon and Fiona think of me as a lily livered coward, they may slip up. They may make a mistake, permit me to escape.
Now, I crossed the suite to the sliding glass door that opened onto a balcony. The suite sat on the second floor, and the cliff dropped steeply below to the surging surf crashing over the lethal rocks. I peered down, unable to see much in the darkness. The estate house had been built right on the edge of the precipice.
With a locked door on one side and a steep rocky cliff on the other, I was indeed stuck. As Fiona had searched me and taken my cell phone, I had no way of calling Alaric, or the police, for a rescue. Gazing off into the black distance, I suspected Alaric already knew I’d been taken. Would he do as they ordered? Surrender this so-called “authority” to Fiona in exchange for my life?
What abouthislife? Fiona offered to spare him, let him go home in peace, if he gave up his power. What power? Willow said that if Fiona took control of their homeland, she’d cause a destructive war between dragons and humans. Therefore,she must never be permitted to take control of anything more dangerous than a car.
In the wrong hands, a car could become a lethal weapon.
“Fiona must never be given any sort of control,” I muttered, my stomach tight with stress. “I have to get away from here. Help Alaric. He might not love me, but he’ll certainly try to find me. Delay Fiona, search for me, kill her. And Damon.”
Then again, maybe he won’t.
“Toy?”
I turned away from the black ocean to find Fiona entering the suite. She carried a tray of food that also contained a coffee pot and a cup. I shuffled past the sliding glass door, shutting it, my head down in abject submission. I peeked up through my hair to see her mouth twist in contempt.
Good. Keep underestimating me.
“My name is Hayley,” I muttered.
“I don’t really care.” Fiona set the tray on a table. “You’re Alaric’s human play thing. I’ll bring you food once a day, I suggest you make it last.”
If I worried she and Damon wouldn’t feed me, that idea faded. She’d brought fruit, sliced bread, butter, deli ham, bacon, and those pre-sealed cups of mayonnaise. Enough ingredients for at least five sandwiches. She pointed to a refrigerator on the far side of the suite.
“That has water, wine, small bottles of whiskey.” Her beautiful mouth curled in a sneer. “In case you want to drink yourself insensible. I’ll bring more tomorrow.”
“If –” I began, hesitant. “If Alaric, doesn’t, you know, submit, will you kill me?”
Her finely arched brow lifted. “Of course.”
“Oh.” I hung my head.
“Threats of harm do little if the threats aren’t followed through.” Fiona tittered. “He’ll submit to my demands, toy. He loves you.”
No, he doesn’t. He may try to find me, but he’ll never let you destroy the world. Not even for me.
After a long moment of studying me, as though she suspected I played her, Fiona turned on her heels and stalked out. I listened to the lock engage, then straightened. It occurred to me that the pair of them may be watching me via cameras. Hungry, I made myself a ham and bacon sandwich, and ate it while ambling around my prison.
Surreptitiously, I studied the corners, the vents, the ceiling light fixtures. I saw nothing that could be a camera lens pointing down, but that truly meant nothing. These days, current technology made cameras all but invisible.
Hoping that Damon and Fiona hadn’t bothered to install any covert surveillance, since I was nothing but a low life human incapable of deep thought, I finished my late dinner on the balcony. The restless ocean pounded the rocks below, the faint starlight glimmering off the foam cresting the waves.
At dawn. While my captors are still sleeping. I’ll lower myself from the balcony to whatever is below it, then down the cliff’s face. Once at the water’s edge, I’ll make my way across the boulders to freedom.
No, I’m not a rock climber. But I am fit. People scamper up and down cliffs all the time. They even scale El Capitan without ropes or crampons. Surely, I can find enough toeholds to climb down this cliff.
After all, going down is easier than going up.
I shut the door to keep the air conditioning inside and opened the fridge for a bottle of water. I drank it while searching the suite for anything that might help me in my escape. I foundnothing. Of course, no handy ropes lying around, no potential lockpicks, nothing I might use as a weapon.
After shutting off the lights, I laid down on the bed. I doubted I’d get much sleep since my stress and tension continued to rush through my veins.
