I have to question the vampire’s understanding of the definition of the word prisoner because even if he did leave this door unlocked, he told me he won't let me go, so I'm still a prisoner, right?
I hesitate at the door. What should I do? Should I go in search of Stephan and demand my freedom?
He said he would never hurt me, and, amazingly enough, I believe him.
But then I remember the dark look in his eyes when he told me I was treading on dangerous ground and that one of the reasons he kept away from me is because he wasn't sure he could control himself in my presence.
What does that even mean? Is it that he wants to drink my blood that badly? Or is it something else?
My face flushes. Does he desire me? You know, in the way a man desires a woman?
I feel completely juvenile even thinking of it that way. Does he want to put his cock inside me? There, that's better, I suppose. A more grown-up way to think of it.
I might be a virgin, but I'm not totally stupid. I understand the mechanics of how sex works. I've just never done it before.
Does Stephan just want to bite me, or does he want to have sex with me, too? He said that he's infatuated with me, obsessed with me, in love with me if he could love.
Surely that means he desires me, too.
My face flushes when I think of him watching me without my knowledge, all those little prickling sensations along the back of my neck.
I wasn't crazy. Ifelthim. I felt him watching me.
It’s an odd feeling to be the object of someone's obsession, but even odder than that is knowing that the someone who's obsessed with me is a vampire.
Hopelessness at my situation crashes over me. It would be just my luck that the one time I garner a man’s attention, that man is a vampire who wants to suck my blood.
A dangerously hot, insanely attractive vampire with dark hair, golden eyes, and a voice as smooth as velvet.
I let out a hollow laugh. I've just been doing the best I could to get by and survive, and now it's like I'm thrown into some crazy Hollywood movie.
I square my shoulders as I make a decision.
I'm not going to be the docile little prisoner. Regardless of Stephan’s supposed reasons for kidnapping me or stalking me, that's his problem—not mine.
I'm going to get out of here and take back my life.
Somehow, some way.
Twenty
Elena
I spendthe next hour trying to learn my way around the castle. I keep trying to find the entrance, but I don’t have any luck. The place is like a labyrinthine maze—especially to someone like me who’s navigationally challenged. I don’t know what room Stephan placed me in, but it must have been deep in the castle.
I don’t know what good I think it will do me to know where the front door is anyway. It’s not like I can simply wait for Stephan to fall asleep and slip out because vampires don’t sleep?
Or do they? Stephan placed me in a room with a bed. Why would he have a bed if he never sleeps? But maybe the bed is just for guests who do sleep.
I don't know where I’m going, and my head hurts every time I think about all of this.
I don't know how long I wander the castle, but eventually, I'm not even trying to learn my way around it. I'm so lost in it it's hopeless.
Instead, I appreciate the old-world architecture of the stone walls and the paintings that would probably be an art curator’s wet dream. There is room upon room, and they all have the same dark yet elegant design.
Though I have yet to come across another one that has completely black walls like the one I woke up in.
Many of the rooms still show the natural stone wall, although others have been outfitted with wood or sheetrock that must have been layered on top of the stones.