Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 138(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 138(@300wpm)
I release her and jerk back.
We have this word in Dragon also. It is reserved for only the foulest, most diseased-of-the-mind among our kind.
“I will never rape you.”
She breathes out in relief. And then she squares her jaw and glares at me. “Then you will never have me, because I will never fuck you willingly.”
“MINE,” I roar in her face. Because she’s wrong. “You are mine now.”
And then, because I cannot stand another second in the presence of her cloying scent, I jerk the chain off from around my waist and wrap it around the radiator; then, keeping my face turned from hers, I slam the front door behind me and leap into the night, my wings catching and lifting me up into the dark sky.
Five
GISELLE
I spend the next three hours trying to get out of the chain. I didn’t see him do it, but he melted the lock closed. Prying the chain free of the radiator is also a no-go.
Eventually I must fall asleep because when I next blink my eyes open, sunlight pours through the small ranch house. Dust motes swim in the dancing light. When was the last time anybody properly lived here? Where is here, anyway? We’ve got to be in either northeast California or Nevada for the landscape to be this desert-like. But just how far away from civilization are we? How far back to Sacramento is it?
I sit up and the chain is long enough for me to make it to the tiny bathroom off the kitchen and living room. But it’s so heavy, every step takes an effort. Still, I’m able to take care of my morning needs and there’s even a toothbrush in a fresh package.
So he’s been planning this. For how long?
My rumbling tummy has me heading to the kitchen. There’s not much there. No refrigerator. A stove so ancient I doubt it works anymore. But there is a loaf of bread on the table and some plates in one of the cupboards.
The bread is stale but I’m hungry enough not to be picky. And water at least still comes from the tap, and it looks pure and clean. I still let it run for several minutes to make sure it’s running clear, and then I fill up a cup and take a long drink.
I look around, but as I suspected, coffee is too much to ask for.
And where on earth is my captor?
Maybe I’ve been stupid lingering here so long when I ought to have been trying to escape. I hurry back over to the radiator where I spent so much time last night.
Now I can see in the light of day what I could only guess at last night. But yes, just like the lock around my waist, the place where the chains are knotted together has been melted down so that all the metal is smelted together.
There’s no way to pull it apart. But maybe re-melting it like that made it more brittle? That’s like, a thing, isn’t it?
I look around and grab the heaviest object I can see—a heavy brass bookend—and bash it down against the melted metal.
The jarring plonk of metal against metal rings up and down my body, but when I toss the lamp base aside, the chains are untouched. The only thing I’ll hurt if I keep doing that is myself.
I growl in frustration and shove the lamp away from me.
The only way I’ll get out of here is if I look for a weakness link by link and there is just So. Much. Chain. Seriously, where did this guy pick this up? Chains R Us?
And where is he, anyway? I thought he wanted offspring. But he didn’t…he didn’t force himself on me last night and where is he this morning? Not that I’m complaining. And I plan on being long gone before I ever get to see those double penises unfolding ever again. Jesus, and I thought Juliet and Ana were telling me everything! I’m going to have a very long conversation with my best friends the next time I see them… if I ever see them again.
I close my eyes and pray as I work my way down the chainlink, “Please let me get out of here and I swear I’ll do good works and never take any of the credit for it.”
If there is anyone up there, they aren’t listening. Then thinking about anyone being up there makes me think of the three alien ships in outer space just hovering over earth. I shiver and wish I had on more than just this stupid silk dress I wore for the banquet. I lost my shoes in flight. Kicking and screaming will do that when you are wearing strapless heels.
If I ever get out of here, I’ll write a Girl’s Guide to Being Kidnapped. Lesson one: Always wear steel-tipped Mary Jane’s.