I stayed in bed, ignoring everything. I refused everything. I didn’t want food. I didn’t want to bathe. I didn’t want to dress up. I didn’t want to read the stupid books about vampires. I didn’t want to talk to anybody. I guess in a way, I had given up. I’m sure most people would have tried harder to get away. They would have plotted ways to escape or just fought teeth and bones until they were incapacitated completely. But I had always been a coward in everything. So it made more sense to me to just… give up and wait for my death to come.

Starving yourself is a lot easier than you’d think when you’ve given up completely. At first there’s a hunger. It’s painful over time as your body aches for nutrition. But then the hunger kind of fades into something else. I’d describe it as a hollow emptiness inside.

I should have known this wouldn’t be allowed to go on for long though. After perhaps three days and nights, I was rudely awaken by Aveline, who was pinning me down on the bed on top of me. She had my wrists in her hands and was tying what looked like a cloth of some sort around them before tying my wrists to the headboard.

“What are you doing?” I croaked, considering that perhaps she had gotten tired of me after all and was now about to kill me herself. Though I wanted to just not care, fear was creeping in fast and I decided to struggle against being bound and vulnerable to whatever was to happen to me. “Aveline!”

“You want to play suicidal? I won’t tolerate it,” Aveline snapped before turning to look behind her, “Get her legs, Xander.” It was then that I noticed Xander at the end of the bed, now reaching for my ankles. I automatically began kicking, trying to avoid his grip, but with his supernatural speed he had my ankles tied in no time.

“Stop!” I screeched, trying to buck Aveline off of me, “What are you doing?!”

Aveline suddenly grabbed my hair and brought a water bottle to my mouth. “Drink or I start pulling out pieces of your scalp,” She threatened, making me hesitate. I didn’t particularly enjoy the feeling of a torn scalp so I went ahead and took a large swig from the bottle. Then she released my hair and held her hand out to Xander who replaced the bottle with a bowl of what looked like apple sauce.

“After this I am throwing you in the bath, you stink,” Aveline stated sharply. I clamped my mouth shut, turning my head to the side stubbornly. She groaned on top of me and grabbed my hair again. “The threat still stands, Elysia! You need to eat.”

“There’s no point,” I said dully, “I’m just going to die anyway.” I felt tears burning in my eyes, but I held them back. I didn’t want to cry anymore. I didn’t want to die either, but as far as I could tell there was no other option in a place full of supernatural demons.

“Come on, little tiger. You can’t live your life thinking like that. All mortals die. Whether it’s by heart disease or… or a car accident…”

“Or a crazy vampire mafia,” I grunted before trying again to lift up my hips to knock her off of me. She barely budged and just stared down at me as though I were a child throwing a tantrum.

“Open up, Elysia,” Aveline said, holding a spoon of sauce out, “Don’t make me make airplane noises.” I sighed and opened my mouth. I was correct in assuming it was apple sauce. My stomach was extremely grateful. I, on the other hand, was humiliated. Now I was being treated even worse than a small child. I was officially an infant. And I had given up on giving up. I swear I had to be the lamest person in existence.

“Maybe Darsana will allow you to be ours for the rest of your life rather than kill you off,” Aveline suggested hopefully, looking back at Xander who was only standing watch at the moment. He shrugged at the suggestion and I sighed again.

“Wonderful. I can live in this hole forever. That would be just great,” I responded sarcastically.

Aveline’s eyes moved back to me narrowed. “Oh well then, seeing as you obviously prefer to be tortured to death I won’t even bring it up.” She shoved another spoon of apple sauce in my mouth when I opened my mouth to answer her. “Are you going to tell us what happened the other day?”

“I tried to escape,” I snapped, irritated. Aveline blinked as though startled. “Pff, don’t worry. I couldn’t find an exit to this place if you showed me a map.” Perhaps I had turned completely stupid or had become far too comfortable with Aveline because now I found expressing myself to come a lot more freely than before. I wasn’t sure telling her I had tried to escape was smart… but honestly I didn’t see a point in hiding what I doubt I’d be able to try again. I didn’t see myself walking around these halls willingly with the risk of running into Jacobi.

“If you knew where the exits were, you’d try to escape again?” Aveline asked, sounding hurt. I really didn’t understand how she found my attempt at escape shocking. I had been kidnapped. Of course I tried to escape! I was being threatened to death. Was she insane?

“Maybe,” I admitted truthfully, “Or you could help me and let me go.”

“No, absolutely not,” Xander butted in now. “If you attempt to escape again, Elysia, we’ll be forced to hold you in the cells. You will not like it down there. It’s cold, dark and wet. They feed you moldy leftovers only once a day, if at all. You think there are beds or bathrooms down there?”

I was stunned into a hushed silence. I had almost forgotten that they were a part of this coterie, that they wouldn’t help me except at the most to protect me until my death sentence was delivered. It was stupid of me to admit wanting to escape so bluntly. But also it was enlightening. My way out of this place wouldn’t be through these two.

“I understand,” I said in a quiet whisper. “You can untie me, I’ll eat.”

“And bathe?” Aveline asked suspiciously.

“Yes, I’ll take a bath. I’m sorry.” I responded solemnly.

After bathing, I stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom half-heartedly drying my hair and staring expressionlessly at my reflection. I looked the same as before, if not a little paler and scrawnier. There were freckles where there always were freckles. My hair was still red half-curls and my eyes were still bright blue. When I leaned closer I could even see the small scar under my lip from when I had fallen while playing a rough game of tag in grade school. I didn’t feel like the same person, though.

When I made my way back into the bedroom wearing a topaz sundress Aveline had left for me, I found Xander and her speaking to each other in hushed whispers. They were silent before I could make out a word of their discussion. For a moment, I wondered if perhaps they had thought more about helping me escape. But that hope was diminished quickly.

“We thought maybe you’d like to take a walk with us around the headquarters,” Aveline said soothingly, as though trying to cheer up a toddler who had had a particularly terrible day. I blinked in mild surprise.

“But… I just told you I tried to escape,” I responded in confusion.

“Well, if you do manage to escape, we’re vampires so it wouldn’t be hard to track you down,” Xander stated easily before flashing one of his charming but devilish smiles. “And I think you’d regret it a lot after that.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t even thought about the idea of being tracked down once I did escape. It made sense to consider, being that they had tracked me down before I even knew they existed. I would have to think of ways to hide from vampires during the night in case I did manage to get away…

“Come on, let’s show you around,” Aveline suggested, holding out her hand to me trustingly. I shrugged, knowing this would be my chance to figure out where the exits were after all. It wasn’t like I would plan to escape that night. So it wouldn’t be a terrible thing to know where things were in this maze.

The tour around the “headquarters” turned out to be extremely boring. I wasn’t one to find architecture fascinating, so being told that the walls were made of black marble in some places and cherry oak wood in others was as interesting to me as watching paint dry. Still, I followed along behind Aveline with Xander close behind me as an escort about the place.

A few things I did find out was that the building itself was one large rectangular shape, twisted with hallways that ultimately connected so that if you followed one, you’d end up right back where you started. Some hallways branched off in a T-shape, and those led to more central areas of the building. There were a variety of places where stairways were present, along with elevators that led up and down to four levels: floor 1-4 and the basement, which I assumed would be where the ‘cells’ were.

Apparently, the kitchen was located on the first floor, next to a dining area. There were dining areas leading up the other three floors and an elevator connecting those floors in the kitchens. It was how the kitchens themselves always appeared to be invisible. They could get messages as to where a person was waiting for food and serve them no matter what floor they were on.

I was right in assuming that the level beneath the floor where Aveline and Xander’s room was located was known as where the business areas were. Xander was quick to make sure we didn’t hover there long, pushing us down to the first floor determinedly. It seemed that a lot of the coterie was found in the second floor, due to the business factor and this being the headquarters. The third floor was the residential area for the coterie whether they were passing by or staying for a long time. And the fourth floor was off limits. I failed to mention that I had been there when I had slept-stalked Jacobi that one night…

The first floor was for general use. Besides being the location of the kitchens, there was a ball room, a library, lots of empty sitting rooms some of which included appliances such as television and computers, and plenty of doors Aveline and Xander made a point to walk me past. It was on this floor that we finally encountered two things: an exit and more members of the coterie.

When we stepped around a corner and into what appeared to be a front lobby area, I saw the unmistakable image of double doors that had to be at least one of the exits. I knew this because it was promptly opened, showing me a flash of the dark outside just before a couple of people walked through. Only, they weren’t actually human people. They definitely couldn’t have been due to the very angry death glares I was now receiving as the group of six or so pooled into the lobby. I felt my heart stop and instinctually decided it would be safer if I happened to step back halfway behind both Aveline and Xander, who stood determinedly looking at the group without even breathing.

“That’s the Monet girl,” An unfamiliar deep but feminine voice accused with distinct distaste, “Why isn’t she rotting in the cells?”

“We’ve been tasked to guard her,” Aveline responded immediately, “Jacobi has ordered her unharmed until Darsana arrives.” Without further conversation, Xander reached around and grabbed my arms to steer me past the lobby with Aveline in front of me. I glanced back before crossing out of view to see the vampires were still there glaring and now talking in hushed whispers to each other.

“That was terrifying,” I whispered mostly to myself but out loud so that Xander and Aveline would hear as well. “Are they going to follow us?” I kept trying to glance back to see, but Xander continued to steer me without letting me pause.

“No, they’re just a little testy,” Aveline responded, looking back at me with a reassuring smile. “Nobody really knew that we had stowed away with you until now, well… except for Corentine but she wouldn’t tell anyone where you were if they asked.”

I was confused, “Well, why not? I thought she hated me.”

“Exactly. She wouldn’t want anyone to get any ideas of killing you before she could,” Aveline stated brightly, chuckling as though this were funny. “Anyway, they won’t disobey the Master’s orders, so you’ll be unharmed for now.”

“I don’t know…” I said slowly, trying to glance back once again. Xander suddenly reached around and lifted me from the ground, swinging me up and over his shoulder. I yelped in surprised. “Put me down!”

“Not until you relax a bit!” Xander suddenly was pressing the fingers of his free hand into my sides, where he knew I was most ticklish at, causing jolts through my body and laughter to erupt unwillingly through my mouth. I struggled ferociously, gasping between the laughter. I really hated to be tickled.

“Okay, okay!” I cried out in surrender. Xander easily lowered me back onto the ground, but we were now in front of an opened room Aveline had led us to. It was large, and shaped like another one of those living rooms. On the right was a set of couches in a semi-circle around a large television and stereo station with a coffee table between them. On the left was a large space, only interrupted by a small library lining the wall and chairs positioned next to a nearby fireplace.

“Jacobi made this room for me,” Aveline said simply, looking back at me with a happy twinkle in her eyes. “He’s my maker, you know.” I was stunned for a moment, not sure I heard her correctly.

“Who?”

“Jacobi, our Master.” She practically pranced into the room, collapsing on the very soft and comfortable looking couch to the right. I walked into the room, touching the black hardwood design on the wall that was etched with dragon symbols. “He knew I had a thing for dragons.” The floor was carpeted under the couches with a large white rug that gave the room such an appealing look. It was actually pretty impressive.

“That’s why Xander didn’t want you to leave this coterie?” I asked curiously. “Wait, does Jacobi control you? You said Masters can control their Kindred.”

Aveline chuckled. “I’ve far outgrown the control of my Maker. I only choose to continue to follow his orders. And no, Xander had other reasons for wishing to be the one to switch coteries.” Her eyes met Xander’s, who had just closed the door behind us. They once again exchanged very intimate looks that vaguely reminded me of what I may or may not have dreamed or half-awoken to in the night before I attempted escape. I blushed, wondering if ever I’d be able to get comfortable around that.

I turned to address Xander. “What other reasons did you have besides finding a mate?”

“Oh, no more of this talk,” Aveline quickly intercepted, “I want to play a game.”

“What kind of game?” I asked uncertainly.

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