“They do,” he said mischievously. “What, you think you’re the only one here up for an adventure?”
Isabel smiled and followed him. He took a right and headed down one of the corridors, surveying one decaying door after the other. “I don’t know everything in this mansion, but this, I know,” he said, standing in front a pair of swinging doors at the far end of the hallway. Isabel pushed one of them and they begrudgingly creaked open. A musty, dank stench travelled up her nostrils. The house was dead silence except for the intermittent creaks and moans that echoed everywhere as they walked across the floorboards. Black and brown mold dotted the ceiling in clusters, evidence of rain seeping through the roof. “So, what are we looking at?” Isabel asked, her nose wrinkled.
“Gavin’s room,” Presten replied.
Isabel felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Finally it settled with her that Gavin had this whole other life, a life she knew nothing about. She walked across the suite, looking at the musty walls. “This room’s too shabby to be Gavin’s room,” she said, rather to herself.
“I wasn’t allowed to enter,” Presten said. “I only caught glimpses.”
Isabel stopped when she noticed a closet at the far end of the suite. She walked over to it, swung it open and started searching through Gavin’s clothes. Suddenly her sleeve got hooked on something and she let out a gasp. It was a doorknob. “Presten, check this out,” she hissed, motioning for him to join her. Presten crept up behind her, and as soon as she felt him brush up on her back, an electric current flowed through her.
“What is it?” he asked, leaning in close to her ear. Isabel would have liked to let him take her right then and there, but she was wise enough to know that this little discovery of hers was much, much more important.
“It’s a doorknob,” she said. “But the door’s locked.” The both of them sighed in frustration, and then, desperately, Isabel started searching for the key in the pockets of Gavin’s clothes. “It’s not there,” she said, clenching her eyes. “What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know,” Presten said, his eyebrows furrowed. “I think we might find the key somewhere around here,” he continued, looking around the room. He probed near the bedside table, pulling its drawers open and searching inside. Nothing. “Gavin probably has it,” he said.
“No, it might be lying around here,” Isabel said, her voice stern. “We need to find it, who knows what could be in there?”
They must have spent an hour searching. Isabel flipped the mattress over, crawled under the bed and ripped the pillow sacks apart, but still, she found nothing. She rose to her feet and clasped her hands behind her head. This was hopeless. “Oh my God,” she said. “I’ve never been so frustrated in my life.”
“Hey, come look at this,” Presten said. Isabel jumped to where he was, and when she realized he was holding a pair of books, she snatched them from him. “I see you’re excited,” he said, rolling his eyes at her. He was beginning to think Isabel was a little controlling. She realized it herself, not that she was apologetic about it.
“Oh my God,” she said, flipping through the pages. She closed the leather-bound book and stared at its cover. “No title,” she said, opening it up again and beginning to skim through its pages. What she saw shocked her. “Hey, Presten, d’you think this is Gavin’s handwriting?” she asked, her eyes darting from Presten, to the squiggly pen lines, and then to Presten again.
“I am absolutely certain of it,” he said.
“How can you be so sure, though?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
“Isabel, we’re in Gavin’s room, this is his study,” Presten said. “Who else’s handwriting would it be?”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Isabel said, her eyes fixated on the lines of writing. They were awfully hard to decipher. “Alright, this is going to need some looking into,” she said, closing the book and tucking it under her arm. “Let’s save it for later.”
“Are you sure you wanna do that?” Presten asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “I, personally, have never been more curious.”
“I’m even more curious to see what’s behind that door,” Isabel said, ignoring him. She scanned the room one last time before she pounced on the bed again and started tucking her hands underneath the mattress.
“We’ve already looked there,” Presten said, heading for the coatrack. “Maybe it’s in one of those pockets,” he said.
“Did you find anything?” Isabel asked impatiently as he finished searching the pockets.
“No, nothing.”
“This is hopeless.”
Isabel clasped her hands behind her head again and started pacing the room. Deep down, she knew they wouldn’t find anything. Gavin was smarter than that; he wouldn’t leave an important key lying around like that for anyone to find. He must’ve taken it with him. She thought about ambushing him in the cells, but she knew that was a horrible idea. He would probably resist with so much force that even Isabel wouldn’t be able to stop him.
“I think we should call it a day,” she said finally.
“I think so, too,” Presten said, his eyes fixated on the chipped walls. “Besides, this room is giving me the creeps.”
“Let’s just head back down,” Isabel said. “But we’re going to come back, and we’re going to find that key.”
“Tomorrow morning?” Presten asked. Isabel nodded. “Just remember to take those books with you.”
“I will,” she said, flashing Presten a smirk. “You don’t think I’m that forgetful, do you?” They headed for the door, but when Presten reached the end of the corridor, he was alone.
“You gonna come with me, or?” he called back to Isabel.
“I think we should assign ourselves rooms, first,” she said. “Because by the looks of it, we’re gonna be here for a while.”
“Alright,” he shrugged. “Where would you like to stay?”
“Well, when I was staying at the old mansion, the vampires were sure to assign me a room in the tower… they said they wanted to make me feel special or some shit, and, of course, I fell for it.” There was a pause. “Turns out they were just trying to isolate me from all that was happening. How could I have been so blind?”
“Don’t beat yourself up,” Presten said, stepping back along the hallway. “We’ve got the entire mansion to ourselves, we can pick whatever room we want.”
“That’s true,” Isabel said, smiling. “I think we should look for a room a couple of floors down… just so we’re closer to all the happenings.”
Presten led the way downstairs as they strutted down the corridor, their eyes darting from one bedroom door to the other. “I find this door to be quite appealing,” Isabel said sarcastically. Besides Gavin’s room, they all looked the same. “I’ll just stay in here,” she said, picking out a room at random. She swung the door open and stepped inside. She had started to feel the hunger gnawing at her and thought it might be best if she and Presten parted ways. “Would you like to stay in the room next to me?” she asked.
“I would very much like to,” he replied, the corners of his lips curving upwards. Isabel knew what he was thinking. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t think the same. But she knew she had to resist it; any imbalance could possibly cost them their lives. After all, Isabel had been warned time and time again not to feed on anyone else but Gavin and Oz, and even though she now knew that all she had learned was bullshit, these ideas were still engrained in her mind. The truth was, Isabel was having a hard time unlearning the things that were once so integral to her being. She was lost, like a little girl trying to find her way. One thing was for sure, though, she was free to have sex with whoever the fuck she wanted.
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then?” she asked, eyeing Presten as he retreated into the room across from hers. He nodded, flashing her a coy smile before he closed the door behind him. Isabel stepped back into her room, her mind spinning with images of Presten and what he could possibly do to her. She co
uld feel herself getting wet, but she shrugged it off, trying to distract herself with anything else. “Maybe if I go out, I can get my mind off this,” she thought. But where would she go? She couldn’t leave the mansion right now; that was her responsibility. So she just wandered around the corridors, opening up random doors to see what was inside.
“Hello, Isabel,” a voice said, as she opened a door. It took her a second or two to realize that the voice belonged to Oz.
“Oz, what are you doing here?” she asked. “Weren’t you guarding the vampires?”
“Well, you guys were taking too long, so I thought I’d check up on you,” he said. Isabel knew he was up to something. He was spread out over the bed, as if waiting for her to barge in there at any second. Was he jealous of Presten?
“I appreciate that,” Isabel said, staring down at her feet. Seeing Oz always seemed to make her feel better.
“Why are you standing all the way over there? Come here.”
Isabel’s feet steered her in his direction. After all this time, Oz still had the most control over her; he was her weakness, the one person she knew she would never get over. It had occurred to her that maybe he had the most power over her because she loved him so much, but then she dismissed the idea, thinking that succubi don’t fall for angels, they don’t fall for anyone. “Are you going to stay in this room?” she asked, sitting down at the edge of the bed.
“Yeah, it’s about time I get some rest from the cold hard prison cells, don’t you think?” he asked, wrapping his arm around her. Isabel moved in closer. He was reeling her in. Her head was on his chest and she could hear the sound of his heartbeat.
“I missed that sound,” she said, burying her head in his chest. All at once, she took in his smell, that smell she had missed so much. She had been away from him for so long; all she wanted right now was to be one with him. He pulled her even closer to him.
“I missed you,” he whispered. She leaned in and pressed her lips to his, and they made out in rhythmic, synchronized motion. She found herself lost in his arms, and everything around her seemed to melt, everything but him. He was the only one she saw, the only one she knew she wanted. Her memory of anyone else just melted away; his touch was the only touch she craved. His hands spread over to her thighs and he squeezed them lightly. Instantly, she could feel the fluids trickling down her leg. She had never been so drawn to someone in her life, and deep down, she knew no one else would measure up to him.
“I want you so much right now,” she said against his lips. And suddenly, he rolled up on top of her, pressing his entire weight against her.
“Just the way you like it,” he hissed. Isabel closed her eyes and freed her mind. She knew she wouldn’t be craving anything or anyone else in a long, long time.
CHAPTER 4
“So, what are you thinking?” Oz asked, brushing a hand through Isabel’s silky brown locks.
“I’m thinking how much I’ve missed you,” she said, raising her eyes to his. He planted a kiss on her forehead and continued to stroke her hair. “What, don’t you miss me?” she asked, her eyes boring into his.
“It’s not that… I’m just speechless,” he said, staring back at her. “Isabel, I don’t think you realize how beautiful you are.”
“And I don’t think you realize how much I love you,” she said after a long pause.
“I love you, too,” he said. They sat in silence. It had occurred to Isabel that maybe this was the first time she had ever been in love. When she was with Oz, all her doubts seemed to disappear, to dissipate into thin air. She felt safe with him and only him. “You know, the hardest part of all of this was having to be away from you.”
“It was hard on me, too,” Isabel admitted. “It was really scary, seeing you in the state you were in... at one point I didn’t know if you would live or die.”
“I didn’t know, either. Isabel, you have no idea how much I’ve suffered without you. You’ve given me strength.” He paused for a second, clearing his throat. “When Mikael decided to replace me, they locked me up in this room… and they tore off my wings and threw me into the cell. I thought it would be worth it, but it turns out, I was an idiot.”
“There was no way you could’ve seen that coming,” Isabel said, her eyes swelling up with tears. The truth was, she couldn’t stand to see Oz get hurt. She knew how much he had suffered in those cells, and as much as she wanted to listen to him, it still hurt like a bitch. Somehow, she felt responsible for all of this. Was there anything more she could’ve done to prevent this? Were there any red flags she should’ve paid attention to? Of course there were. She knew from the second she saw Mikael that something was wrong. She knew he didn’t have Oz’s spirit in him. But she stayed quiet about it, thinking that maybe she was wrong. “I’m the one at fault here,” she said, sniffing. “I should’ve paid more attention, I should’ve known that something was wrong.”
“Hey, there was no way you could’ve seen that coming,” Oz said, his lips curving to a smile as he repeated her words back to her. “I think we should both just give ourselves a break,” he continued, stroking her face with the back of his hand. “From now on, promise me you won’t worry about anything.”
“I can’t guarantee you that,” she said, taking his hand and squeezing it. “I won’t rest until we end this, all of this.”
“And we will,” he said, his eyes locked on hers. “You just need to believe in yourself, and in Presten.”
“Right, Presten,” she smiled. She didn’t know what it was about the mention of his name that made her uneasy. Perhaps she wanted to feed on him just as much. Perhaps she would, someday.
“Isabel,” Oz said, brushing his hand under Isabel’s chin. “Don’t let me hold you back. We have a great time together, but that doesn’t mean you can’t feed on anyone else.”
Isabel opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She wanted to tell Oz that she loved him more than anyone, that there was no one else she would rather feed on or be with, but she held back. Oz made her weak, and she didn’t like feeling weak, not anymore. “You’re right,” she said after a long pause. “You’re not holding me back… I want to be here right now, with you.”
“Well, I was just making sure,” he said, brushing the hair out of her eyes. “I want you to forget everything you learned while I was away… I want you to start over.”
“And I will,” Isabel said, raising her eyes to him. “I promise.”
“We need to meet up, all of us, to plan our next move. Isabel, are you with me?”
She looked at him with the determination of a thousand warriors. “I’m with you.”
CHAPTER 5
Isabel woke up with a strange sense of contentedness. Her nights spent with Oz always seemed to recharge her, to make her feel whole again. She was ready for that meeting. “Hey, hey,” she whispered into his ear. He shifted in his place before he drifted off to sleep again. “Hey, Oz.”
“What?” he jumped. “Is it time for our meeting?”
“I would say so,” she smiled. “Come on, let’s call the rest… we need all the time we can get.”
Not long after all four of them were back around the round table next to the trapdoor. Every now and again, Ava would climb down, leave the hostages some food and then climb out again, a weary look on her face. “They don’t look so good,” she said, shaking her head. “They’re in really bad shape.”
“Word’s going around that the vampire council’s out looking for them,” Presten said, rising to his feet and beginning to pace the room. “One of the hostages threatened me last time I brought them food… he said the vampires would come for us. I’m surprised they haven’t, yet.”
“They must be plotting something,” Isabel said, looking a little frantic. “You can never really predict their next move.”
“They’re going to come for us, we just need to be ready for when they do,” Oz said. There was a pause. “Holy shit,” he said suddenly. “We’re missing something.”
“What, what do you mean?” Isabel asked, her eyebrows furrowed. “Oz, talk to me.” He leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head. He clenched his eyes shut, and for a moment it looked like he was mumbling to himself.
“They’re rebuilding the old mansion,” he hissed, his eyes fixated on the wall behind Isabel. “They’re trying to find another headquarters, and they’re leaving us to plan here like idiots!”
Isabel felt a lump rise in her throat. “This’s crazy,” she said, shaking her head in denial. “Do you think a lot of them made it out alive after the fire?”
“Right before the fire, the vampires had reached their peak; there were more of them at the mansion than we could count,” Oz said. “Gavin had already recruited tens, maybe hundreds of them… the hostages we have down there are nothing compared to the rest!”
Suddenly it hit Isabel that they were all severely outnumbered. Gavin had managed to round up so many vampires while Oz was away. It was unbelievable he had gotten away with it. Isabel kicked herself for never questioning him, for letting all of this fly past her. She felt stupid, but right now, she knew how to recognize a vampire when she saw one. “But they’re still going to come for them,” she said finally. “They’re going to reassemble their army and attack us here. We need to act, fast.”
Touched by A Dragon: The Exalted Dragons (Book 2) Page 69
