I woke up to a creaking sound.

After Fenton had cried himself to sleep on my lap, I'd tucked his discarded suit jacket under his head and returned to my side of the cell. I was being as nice to him as I possibly could and I knew that I'd gone a lot further for him than could be expected of me. I knew the look of human suffering though, and I knew how much Fenton had loved Jazz. I couldn't have left him alone in his pain, had I tried.

But when the first opportunity had appeared for me to return to my side of the cell, I took it. It was hard being so close to him. It was hard having him touch me. Though I was comforting him for Jazz (even her memory had me doing things I wouldn't ordinarily! That girl had some kind of special power), I couldn't help but feel our history igniting between us; the history that still made me hurt all over.

I'd slept dreamlessly and fitfully, for once. Despite the gnawing in my stomach (I had barely eaten since being in this cell, whenever Maheen was able to smuggle food to us, though it felt as though my last morsel had come eons ago), the aching of my heart, and the pounding of my grief, I had managed to sleep – only to be rudely awoken by a creaking noise.

I blearily opened my eyes, surveying the cell. Fenton was stirring as I was, so it clearly wasn't him that had made the noise (not that he had anything to make the noise with). My eyes snapped to the cell door which Vlad had opened.

My stomach clenched as I looked at the open gap in the bars. It looked like freedom, though the chain attached to my ankle was telling me that freedom was just an illusion. It might look like I could get away but I knew that I couldn't. I was trapped, despite that tantalizing opening.

"What do you want, Vlad?" Danny snapped. "Come to face a fair fight?"

Vlad snarled. "Please, Daniel, do not kid yourself. A fight between you and I would not be fair. You are not on my level."

"Unchain me and we'll test that theory," Fenton proposed.

Vlad didn't respond to the request. "I'm not here to banter with you, child, as fun as that is. I'm here for Samantha."

"M-me?" I squeaked. What could he possibly want from me?

Vlad moved toward me and I shrunk backward as he advanced. I didn't know what he was going to do. Was he going to hit me? Touch me? What did he want? As far as I was concerned, I thought I was just here to keep Fenton in line. I thought my purpose was to sit in this cell, a chain around my ankle, to keep Fenton from foiling whatever Vlad's plot was. It certainly wasn't what I wanted to be doing and I wanted out more than anything but I'd more or less assumed that, excluding the taunts that had been delivered in my first day, I would be left alone. Vlad had done enough to me. He had used Gregor in an effort to get a hold of me when it suited him; he had proffered a few jabs, though that just fit the villain role. I thought that was it. I thought that was the extent he would antagonize me.

But no.

And now I was terrified.

"Don't be afraid," Vlad soothed, though it only served to scare me more.

"Get away," I shrieked at him, backing myself into the corner.

Vlad didn't even look at me. He pulled a device out of his pocket which efficiently severed my chain from the wall. Whatever that thing was, I definitely needed one if it got me out of here that easily. Or maybe I just hadn't been tugging on the chain hard enough …

"Don't get any heroic ideas while she's gone, Daniel," Vlad warned Fenton as he pulled on my chain, pulling me forward. "Any wrong move on your part will cause her pain and, eventually, it will kill her. Never forget that the two of you are connected."

He yanked on my chain, causing my foot to fly in the air.

"Are you going to get up?" Vlad asked me. "Or am I going to have to drag you?"

I scrambled to my feet, nearly falling onto my face in my effort to get up. Once I was standing, Vlad led me forward. My heart picked up speed as I left the cell, Vlad shutting the door behind us. As scary as it was to be a captive in a cell, it was much worse to be trotting toward the unknown. It was also heart-wrenching to know that I was inches from freedom but would never be able to reach it.

Who knew if I would ever find my way out of this place?

Despair was weighing on me as Vlad led me into a separate room. This room had a tiny window, situated near the ceiling. Through the window, I could see blades of grass and sunlight. It was daytime. I wondered how many days it had been since Vlad had kidnapped me. It didn't feel like it had been very long but it could have been.

I wanted to be out in the sunshine.

I stepped toward the window and tripped on the chain. I threw out my hands to stop my face from hitting the rough floor and ended up scraping them. Blood welled on my palms.

"Samantha, I need you to do something for me."

"What?" I breathed, staring up at him.

Vlad pulled something from his suit pocket. It wasn't the device that he'd used to sever my chain from the wall; it was much smaller, nearly hidden in his hand. I cocked my head to the side, trying to see it, but was unable to.

"I need you to make a recording."

"What?"

"A recording. A smart girl like you should know what that is."

"Of what?" I swallowed.

I didn't like being his presence and I certainly didn't like being alone with him. I even, slightly, wanted Elliot to be there. I hated him but he didn't make me as nervous as Vlad did.

"It will be directed to your mother and father. Having the police around is a little tedious. If I had been thinking, I wouldn't have abducted you from my own party. At the very least, not from my own house. Ah well. They won't find you. I just need to shift the investigation. So, we are going to make a recording of your voice. You'll be telling your parents that you weren't abducted. You're going to tell them that you ran away with Daniel. Tell them that he couldn't take his stressful life; tell them that university can wait and that you needed to be here with him." Vlad paused. "Oh, and whilst you're at it, be sure to add that you are perfectly safe, healthy, etc, etc. Nice positive words, all right, Samantha?"

"No!" I cried, surprising myself with the word. "I … I can't."

I simply couldn't. I couldn't because I wouldn't lie; because it would help Vlad get away with all of this; because I couldn't say that I needed to be with Fenton. I just couldn't do it.

Vlad jerked my chain and came face to face with me, growling.

"But you will, you understand me? You don't call the shots here and you don't have a choice."

His hand went around my throat, choking off my air supply. He lifted me to hold me up against the wall so that my bare toes were inches from the floor. I could feel myself losing consciousness. I kicked out at him but it didn't seem to have any impact.

My vision began to grow fuzzy.

Just when I was sure that I was going to black out, Vlad dropped me. I had no opportunity to catch myself and my head crashed into the floor, making me even dizzier than I had been moments before.

I heaved for breath.

"Pathetic," Vlad spat. "What he sees in you, I'll never know."

I ignored him.

When my breathing returned to normal, Vlad asked, "Are you going to make that recording now?"

I immediately nodded, self-preservation winning out over everything.

"Good girl," Vlad praised. "Make it sound as authentic as possible."

He clicked the recorder on.

"Hi Mother; hi Daddy." My voice sounded fake and upbeat to my ears. I didn't know if my parents would buy it (and it was probably better for me if they didn't) but Vlad was looking pleased. "Sorry it's taken me so long to call. I probably should have long before now but I didn't know what to say. I know you had a lot of dreams for me and I know that I had a lot of dreams for me … And, I'll fulfill them someday. But, right now, there are more important things for me to be doing.

"I think I lost myself. And, uh, Danny, he's lost too. I know we weren't really friends before but at Vlad's party we started talking and we really do understand each other. I'm safe. I'm happy. This is what I want. University can wait. I promise, okay?

"Oh, and tell Maddie and Jack that Danny's fine. He doesn't really have the strength to call, because of Jazz and all, but we're all right. I love you guys."

Vlad clicked off the recorder.

I held my breath. I didn't want his hands on me again.

"Good girl," Vlad repeated.

I felt sick with myself.

As Vlad led me back to the cell, I felt tears begin to prick at my eyes. It was the closest I had come to my parents in days and it was just a recording. I didn't get to hear either of their voices. I didn't get any sort of real connection, but that didn't stop a wave of missing them to wash over me.

I'd tried not to think about the outside world. It was too painful to consider what reality was like, outside of the pain in the little cell. Jazz was dead. Tucker was hospitalized (if he were dead too, surely someone would have come to rub it in Fenton's face). Jack and Maddie were likely destroyed, as my parents were, and Tucker's parents, whom I'd never met. What a tangled web Vlad has weaved.

And on top of that, Vlad and Elliot were playing nice with our families.

A surge of anger surfaced over my despair. In a wild fit of adrenaline, I tried to seize my chain from Vlad's hand. The chain was tense in front of me, leading from my ankle to Vlad's fist. I grabbed it and yanked. There was a slight bit of give and I thought that I might get the whole thing; that I might get away with it.

Then Vlad's grip tightened. He turned to face me. His eyes were red, like his ghostly half. He jumped at me, pinning me against the wall once again. Instead of lifting me up and choking me, this time he withdrew the device he'd used to remove my chain from its original place. I saw a glint on it, something that I thought was a blade.

I screamed.

Immediately, I heard Danny's concerned voice. "Sam? Are you okay? Sam!"

The pain hit me as he was talking. Whatever it was had been jabbed into my left side. The pain was overwhelming; worse than what I had experienced my first day here. I saw black spots dancing over my vision while my entire body became hot. I tried to suck in air to keep myself stable, drool slithering from the corner of my mouth. The pain flashed in waves along with my heartbeats. I sucked in a breath; there came a particularly strong wave.

Vlad pushed me to the ground. I had no strength to try to recover as he dragged me the rest of the way to the cell. The door was opened again; he marched in. I was reattached. I barely noted any of this, though, over the pulsing agony that had become my body.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" Fenton shouted. He was pacing his limit; though his chain could stretch further, he couldn't reach me without causing me more pain.

"Nothing," Vlad replied smoothly. "I didn't do anything that she didn't deserve."

I touched my hand to my side. I immediately felt blood, slick against my fingers.

I gasped; my breath shuddering within me.

Vlad left.

Fenton was crouching parallel to my head, as close to me as he could possibly get.

"It'll be okay, Sam. Just breathe. You're going to be okay."

I wasn't so sure. I wasn't handling this pain. It was coming at me, controlling me. My body felt hot and cold at the same time. I felt sick and lifeless. All I knew was that the hurt was coming in angry waves and that unconsciousness was at the edges of my being. All I had to do was give in and I would escape.

And, despite Fenton urging me to not let go, that's exactly what I did.

I don't own anything recognizable. Thanks to my betas: Forever Sky.

~TLL~