Dark Flight Chapter Twenty-Five
Disclaimer: I do not own the Carpathian Series.
Sierra woke naturally the next morning, blinking slowly to fully waken herself. The ceiling looked wide and uninviting, jogging her memory of where she was, why, and what had happened just before she had been forced to sleep last night. Slowly, unwillingly, Sierra's hand crept up to her neck. Sure enough, her fingers encountered a small set of bumps from Zane.
No, she told herself. Don't be afraid to say it: those marks are where Zane ripped your neck open with his teeth so that he could drink your blood. Then she remembered the other part of her evening. The same fingers went to her mouth, touching the lips which had taken Zane's blood in return. It had been much worse than a simple feeding: it had been a blood exchange.
Sierra tried desperately to calm her racing heart. It's all right, Sierra. It's only one exchange. If you can keep him from doing another one, and another one after that, you'll stay human.
But she didn't have a choice, did she? Sierra was trapped here, in these rooms, waiting for Zane to leisurely decide to feed on her or turn her into a Carpathian. She was completely at his mercy, and could do nothing to stop him. Nothing at all.
In need of a way to feel normal, Sierra decided to take a shower. She got up and went into the bathroom, then adjusted the temperature of the water until it was right, basking in the normalcy the entire time. She was fine until she went to shampoo her hair, when she thought that it would have been nice to listen to her music while she bathed. A tear leaked from Sierra's eye and trailed down her cheek. She managed to shove the emotions aside until turned to wash the suds from her hair and her ankle chain chimed. Her sadness and desperation rose up to consume her and she dropped to the floor of the shower.
Zane had been upstairs, making food for Sierra when he heard the sound of someone falling coming from downstairs. As he flew down the stairs, he cursed himself. Why had he taken Sierra's blood? Why had he left her alone for so long this morning? She was likely weak from the blood loss and had fallen in the bathroom.
Zane burst into the bedroom, and then sprinted to the bathroom, not bothering to knock on the door. He took in the room in a glance, seeing Sierra curled up in the corner of the bathtub. Zane hurriedly slid the glass door open, but stopped when Sierra's eyes opened to glare malevolently up at him. Forgetting all Carpathian pride and bravery, he flung the door shut and stepped back, but it was too late.
Through the frosted glass, he watched Sierra stand up and open the door, still glaring at him. Zane winced slightly and drew back further, laying his hand on the doorknob. "Get your hand off of that doorknob," hissed Sierra. Her voice was a whip, lashing out at him, slicing at his skin with deadly precision.
"Do you really think that you can keep me in a room like a dirty secret and then use me as a blood supply whenever you want? Do you think that you can cause me all this pain and walk away whenever you want? Hell, no. You will let me out of this room, you bastard." Sierra's gaze was steady throughout her speech, water streaming from her unclothed body. Her voice was unembarrassed and her silence spoke clearly that she expected an answer.
Zane forced himself to straighten up and step toward her. "Sierra, we have gone over this. I cannot allow you to wander freely where I cannot truly protect you. I cann-"
Sierra slammed a hand on the wall, interrupting his words. "Do you hear yourself? You, you, you. Do you want to know something about you? You promised to take care of me and put my happiness above your own. Can you take care of me? Yes, you can. Can you protect me perfectly at all times? No, but that's not necessary. Have you forgotten that I took care of myself all of the time I was running from you? Don't make me do something that I don't want to do."
Zane's voice became flat. "Reminding me of your running is not the way to make me understand your side of things, Sierra. And what is this thing that I will be forcing you to do? As you have pointed out, you can do nothing in this situation."
Sierra's voice, in return, grew lower and more menacing. "At some point in time, you're going to leave something in this room that can be turned into a weapon." She laughed derisively. "Hell, there are things in here right now. Understand this, Zane Von Shrieder; I willnot be a prisoner. I will find a way to end things if I'm forced to."
This statement caused such a surge of emotion that Zane took another step toward Sierra, bringing him within touching distance. Sierra drew back slightly, and for the first time, Zane saw the knowledge of her lack of clothing hit her. Still, he reached out and grasped her shoulders, bringing his face down to hers. "You may end things here in this life, Sierra, but you will never be rid of me. We will journey to the next world together and I will find you there as well. You are my lifemate, and I will not allow you to leave me."
Sierra's eyes were too wide, her breaths coming too quickly and too shallowly. Seeing that he was not going to achieve a response in this way, Zane spoke again. "However, I concede your points from this conversation, and I will consider removing you from this place. I need you to promise me that you will not harm yourself in any way until I can fully think things over. Is this a deal?"
Shockingly, anger flashed in Sierra's eyes. "No, it is certainly not a deal. I don't need you to concede my points; I know that what I've said is the truth, and there is no considering that you have to do. We are partners in this relationship. You call me your lifemate? Maybe you should think about giving me a chance to decide what I want."
Zane laughed and let go of her shoulder. Adopting a carefree tone, he said, "Honey, I do not believe that you even know what you want." With that, he turned and left the room to finish making Sierra's breakfast.
Sierra stared at the door, releasing in a rush the breath she had been holding for the last few moments of the conversation. Zane had simply dismissed her, saying that she didn't know what she wanted? She didn't, but it wasn't for him to say that. Throughout their relationship, he had never, not once, asked her what she wanted.
Some of the steam in the bathroom had disappeared with Zane, and Sierra caught sight of herself in the bathroom mirror. She made a sound, something that was half gasp and half laugh. Through all of the emotional turmoil, she had completely forgotten that she was previously in the shower. Sierra had yelled at Zane, having the most serious discussion throughout their entire relationship, while completely naked.
Awesome.
Sierra finished her shower, not happy, but feeling just a tad lighter than she had been feeling before. She felt as though she was doing something, but in the back of her mind, the thought remained that all she could do was sit in these rooms and wait for Zane to decide how she would spend the rest of her life.
Upstairs, Zane slumped down in the same chair and buried his face in his hands, sighing. What was he going to do? Every second that he knew Sierra was safe was like heaven to him, but she was not happy. She had threatened to take her own life. The very mention of this had caused him pain more extreme than had been caused by any vampire.
Also, Sierra had made a good point, and however much he tried, Zane could not come up with an argument. He had taken Sierra her breakfast a short time after leaving her. Zane had tried to leave the tray at the door, but had been stopped by the sound of a throat being cleared sharply. Sierra was standing in the bathroom brushing her damp hair. She had not even looked in his direction, but had said, "I can't reach that if you leave it there. For some weird reason, my shackle won't allow me to get within three feet of the door."
He had immediately felt even worse than before, and quickly walked in to deposit the tray on her bed before turning and leaving just as rapidly. A few hours later, he had returned to give her lunch and to take the breakfast tray. He put the lunch on her bed and grabbed the breakfast tray, but stopped when he realized that something on the tray was missing. He had given Sierra a knife to spread jam on her toast, but the knife was missing.
Zane had shot Sierra a suspicious look and she had laughed before tossing him the knife. With a shrug, she said, "I'm just getting ready." He had not found the statement to be amusing, but he got the strange feeling that it had not been meant to be funny. Now, he was up here thinking, trying in vain to find a solution to their problem. Sierra had come up with a solution, but if there was any other option, he wanted to find and seriously consider it. He was beginning to think that there was not another, easier solution. It was now growing dark, and it would be time to bring Sierra something to eat for dinner. He disliked going in the room now. Zane's hearing was, unbelievably, even more acute lately, waiting to hear a sound that would indicate Sierra attempting suicide. He did not want to leave the house tonight for that same reason, but he had to feed if he did not want to attack his lifemate for the sole reason that he could not help himself.
Author's Note:
Sorry for updating so late. There are a few keys on my keyboard that aren't working and it's really hard to type on it. I'll update as soon as I can. Sorry once again. For those readers in the U.S., Happy Thanksgiving!