Miranda lay on the cold stone floor on her side, her ankles and wrists bound behind her with thickly knotted ropes. Around her the smells of blood and vomit mixed with the rank odor of old death and musky earth. She could do nothing to alleviate the stress of the awkward position and had long since ceased to try work free of the bonds. Her early struggles had no other impact than to leave her abrased and bloodied. As time had passed in her confinement she had grown weaker and weaker; they came nightly to attempt to make her drink but she could not stomach the blood they brought and inevitably she would retch and spill forth everything they forced down her throat. Whatever they laced with the blood still took effect however, she was never really lucid or cognizant of her surroundings.

A dim light bobbed before her tightly shut eyes. A conversation flowed around her but she didn't care to watch or listen, she merely pulled her knees tighter to her chest and tried to forget where she was.

"Why are you keeping her like this? This is not what I had planned for her." A silky voice with a French accent sounded angry.

"She has to take the drug, or do you want her reaching out to those imbeciles in your city? It's her own damned fault she's too weak to even drink the blood we bring her every night, stupid bitch. What did you expect when you knew she'd come here, the fucking Hilton?" A woman's laughter, cold and mocking and unfamiliar.

"The only bitch here is you Meg," the man retorted.

A feigned sigh precedes the words, "Fine, fine we'll do it your way for tonight." The sound of the woman's voice comes from a new direction now. "Wash her and make her presentable, have her ready for the ritual tonight, I don't care what else you do with her."

Light footfalls faded away from her hearing and then there was a presence at her back. Miranda gasped as the cords that bound her open wounds were pulled taught and then fell away. As she rolled to get to her knees she was caught by strong arms that lifted her to sit and stroked back her hair.

"Ouvrez les yeux, Miranda, look at me." The arms shook her impatiently, "Now."

She struggled to comply, opening and closing her eyes, stung by the dim light of the lantern that sat on a far table. After a moment she looked up into into the face of he who held her and blanched, trying weakly to throw herself backwards but to no avail.

The arms shook her again, harder this time. "Cessiez! You are being unreasonable...foolish! I am trying to help you."

Miranda's mind was too far gone to understand the dire situation she was in. She was alone, away from friends and those she loved; her body had been fouled and she was locked away in continuous darkness. What little vitae she had left began to seep through her eyelids and she whispered the name of the only thought that brought her comfort, "Nate..."

An ugly look of hatred contorted the beautiful features of her captor, before relaxing and shifting into the look of a more non-descript man wearing a trench coat and white tennis shoes. He stroked her hair and pulled her close to his body and whispered to her, "Miranda, darling, don't cry. I'm here, you're safe. Shh, it's alright." He held her and rocked her until she stilled.

When she recognized him, she cried out in joy and threw her arms around him and clung to him. "You came! Nate I've been so scared."

He stroked her hair, "I know, I know."

"We have to leave here, now Nate, he'l come back, P re he'll -" she was babbling, still near insensible.

Nathanial stood and pushed her away, without helping her up. He looked down on her as she struggled to her knees and a hard looked masked his features. "What makes you think I came to rescue you? You ran away and left me, did you think of how I would feel when you were gone? No, no you didn't." He moved his leg to avoid her touch when she reached out to him, "I only came to see you got what you deserved. Goodbye, Miranda."

He walked out of the room and slammed the door shut. Miranda's sobs could be heard for hours before both they and the oil in the forgotten lamp dimmed.