“Dahlia, that’s Kidnappee Rule number one! Survey your surroundings for possible escape routes!”
“All right, all right, I’m getting up.” Dahlia levered herself off the floor.
All things considered, Cecilia had taken things well. After railing at her hysterically for several minutes over her disappearance, she’d calmed down enough to listen to the whole story. The worst part was having to explain Felix — who he was, what he did, and whattheywere. Had been. Might be.
Dahlia stood by her reasons for hiding him, but it didn’t quite soothe the guilt that pierced her when Cecilia exclaimed,“You’ve had a secret syndicate boyfriend for three fucking years?”
She tried explaining that Felix wasn’t her boyfriend several times. It didn’t do much good. Cecilia had only been convinced to give up the argument when Dahlia told her that, boyfriend or not, she was technically being held prisoner.
Padding over to one of the towering windows, Dahlia nudged a heavy curtain aside and peered out into the darkness.
“Huh.”
“What do you see?”
“We’re in the city,” she answered, surveying the sprawling yard and the intimidating walls that separated it from whatlooked like an exclusive gated neighborhood. Not far off were what could only be apartment buildings and the dull glow of the city. When she turned to her left, a dark swath of water glimmered with the house’s lights.
“I think Felix lives on the Potomac.”
He’d once told her that he lived in the United Washington, but she’d always assumed he lived in some modern monstrosity of a penthouse in the heart of the city. She couldn’t have been more wrong. The waterfront house was huge and the yard was carefully landscaped. Play structures for children dotted the grass, and she was pretty sure she spied the edge of a pool.
“Do you see a way to get out?”
Dahlia cupped her eyes to block out the glare from the low bedroom lights and squinted. She wondered if she’d ever get that superior vampiric night vision to go along with all the other horrific side-effects she’d been saddled with — like ravaging the neck of someone she cared about the second they started talking about other women.
Shuttling that thought out of her mind as quickly as it came, she eyed what looked like a sturdy pergola beneath the window. It didn’t look liketoohigh of a drop.
“There’s an awning or something below one of the windows,” she explained, “but Marietta said that the place is super guarded. Even if I could make it out and down without killing myself, my choices are the walls or the river. Both of which are probably monitored, right?”
Cecilia made a skeptical noise in the back of her throat. “That doesn’t sound like a woman with a can-do attitude. Are you sure you really want to leave? It’s okay if you like him, you know.”
Dahlia straightened. “Of course I want to leave!”
“I’m just saying, it doesn’t soundsobad, and you’ve been dating this guy for three years. I get that the situation’s fucked, but?—”
“I’m being held against my will, Cece. I can’t juststay.”
It didn’t matter that she was living in luxury, or that she was safe from what sounded like a new overbearing father figure, or that Felix was turning out to be a lot more complex than she thought he was. Just because it turned out he’d do anything for his family, forher,didn’t mean she could allow herself to be held prisoner.
At least, that’s what she kept telling herself.
“Then stop dawdling and get your head in the game. How do you escape your hot vampire captor who wants to pamper you and give you unlimited orgasms?”
“You arereallymaking me regret telling you things.”
“Look, I’m not saying it’s right, but also it doesn’t sound so bad. You need help learning to be a vampire, and he seems like he’s head over heels for you. He’sbeenhead over heels for you. Some of us keep getting stood up, Dahlia. Maybe count your blessings a little.”
“Cece, that can’t be my life. I can’t be a kept pet here. I have a list. I havegoals.”She eyed the yard, her throat oddly tight. Dahlia hated that a part of her really didn’t want to leave. It looked at that stretch of dark water and asked her why they couldn’t just stay with him.
But the other half of her rebelled at being… whatever it was he expected of her now. It couldn’t just let him or anyone else bulldoze her. She was still Dahlia, even if she was a vampire now. Staying true to that had become more vital than ever.
If she let her entire identity go, she’d be giving up everything she’d fought for. It wasn’t about her feelings for Felix, which she could privately admit were distressingly considerable. It was about her. She’d just be a thing to these people. A blood bride. A daughter. Not Dahlia.
She refused to let that happen.
“All right. I hear you. Let’s get you out of there,” Cecilia said, all notes of teasing evaporated from her voice. “Let me just ask: Did Marietta say that the house was guarded against peopleleavingor peopleintruding?”
TWENTY
