“Let me get those,” Hans said.
He closed the shutters with a tug, the metal thumping hard as the glow of the street outside disappeared. He worked the bolts and the locks in a flash, and it was clear we were sealed in so tight it was like a bedroom tomb.
After the dark metal shutters came a blackout blind that pulled down from above, and still came the thick damask curtains on top. He did the same with the other large window as I watched him, and if I was claustrophobic, I’d have been a wreck in this place, no matter the size of it.
“Just as well you’re not.” Hans smiled. “We’re even more enclosed than you think we are right now, by the way.” He tapped the oak floor with a heel. “Under here is solid steel, and there are matching layers in the walls to box us in.”
“And in the ceiling?”
“Yes. In the ceiling, too.”
“So, we’re in a metal box?”
“Yes, effectively. No people, and no sunlight. They’d need an industrial team to get us out of this place.”
I looked around through fresh eyes. Surprisingly, the place didn’t feel all that eerie. I didn’t feel uncomfortable at the thought of being locked in a London City tomb, bolted in tight by steel panels all around me.
“Let’s get ready now, little one,” Hans said, and I saw the hunger in his eyes. “It’s time you learnt what it’s like to truly be taken.”
He gestured to the middle of the room, and I felt like I was walking onto a stage as I edged over with tiny steps.One, two, three.
But wait–
It was like something shifted in my subconsciousness on the journey.
Something primal. Wild. Crazy.
I mean, I wanted it. I wanted this…
But no.
NO.
My pulse was racing, and my legs were shaking, and the true force of what was about to happen seemed to hit me like an axe in the head.
“It’s all right,” Hans whispered. “Your body is scared. Let it be.”
My body wasn’t just scared, it was terrified. My eyes took on a life of their own as they zoomed around the place, realising in a new light that we really were sealed inside a bedroom tomb.A vampire’s tomb.It was like being in the dream again with my feet wanting to sprint along cobbles, but here there was nowhere to run.
“This is natural, Katherine,” Hans said. “Your body wants to flee because it fears what’s coming.”
“It’s what I want, though,” I said with a raspy breath. “I want you to bite me and take me.”
He smiled with beautiful pointed teeth, but my legs were still braced for running.
“Your soul does, yes, but your body doesn’t want to give in yet. Fight or flight needs to pass, so give it a moment. Take a breath and let it break its hold.”
I took a breath, trying to calm myself.
“That’s it,” Hans whispered. “Your body must accept that it belongs to my will now. It must give up the fight.”
My thighs tensed up, instinct still simmering.
“Give up the fight,” he said. “Sink beneath your own survival instinct and tell yourself that your fate is mine to deliver.”
“I… I’m not going to die though, am I?”
“No, but survival instincts don’t work that way. Your body won’t be believing you, especially when I sink my teeth into your throat.”