Gaslight (Crossbreed #4)(69)
“I’m not your Learner.”
“Is that so? My light’s in your body; I beg to differ.” He sneered as he closed the distance between us.
Fletcher’s intense eyes made my hair stand on end. It was as if he could see all my secrets—all my weaknesses. It was easy to lose sense of time and slip back into the past, but that wasn’t me anymore, so I held his cruel gaze.
“I bet you’d like to have a go at me,” he said, stroking his beard.
“Unlock the chains, and let’s see what you’ve got. I used to think you were a scary guy, but now I see the truth. You’re weak. I’ve killed men twice your size. Now I know why the Mageri won’t give you permission to make one of us legally.”
He gripped my face with one hand and squeezed my cheeks hard. “A lot you know. Who do you think hired me to make sure Breed bodies never make it past the morgue? You’d be surprised how many Vamps are staked and left for dead.” He let go of my jaw and gave me a scathing glance. “Had I not brought you home with me, you’d be in a coffin right now. Or worse—cremated. Not uncommon when it comes to a Jane Doe.”
“Why didn’t you turn me in?”
He waggled his brows. “You had all the telltale signs of a newly made Vamp. It takes a while for the blood to take hold and turn you completely. I was curious if I could still make you a Mage, my little Frankenstein.”
“Frankenstein was the doctor, you idiot.”
Fletcher backhanded me so fast that I barely had time to process it. I spat blood in his face and grinned. I’d finally found a button to push.
He scowled, not bothering to wipe it off. “Never actually thought it would work. Tried it once before. It’s a shame to see it wasted on an ungrateful bitch. I was going to lengthen the chain so you could reach the toilet, but it looks like it’s the bucket for you.”
“How about neither? Just like old times.”
He quirked a smile. “If you’d like Rachel to clean it up, then by all means, throw your feces around like an ape.” Fletcher smoothed his hand over my head and gave me an appraising look. The kind of look a man gives a prized steer he just purchased in an auction. “After all these years. I knew you’d never leave the city. When I saw the ad on the black market, I knew it was you.” He leaned in and smelled me. “I’ve learned a thing or two, and we won’t be making the same mistakes again. You’ll stay in chains for at least a year. I trusted you too soon, and I definitely don’t trust you now. Your words mean nothing to me.” His fingers fidgeted with one of the ties on my dress. “Made up your mind?”
That was when I broke eye contact and stared at the wall to the left.
He pulled the tie, touching me with his dirty finger before he pinched my side and twisted. “Give daddy a drink.”
If I was going to live through this year—or eternity—then I needed my strength. Someone juicing my light would weaken me over time. I’d thought about complying with his demands and pretending to be the good prisoner, but that was before I found out how long he planned to keep me in chains. With my skills, I stood a good chance at fighting him off. As long as I kept him away from my core light, I’d have my strength. Maybe he’d eventually make a mistake.
If anything, it would give me a good workout.
When I raised my knee, he never saw it coming. I delivered a bone-crunching kick to his chest that knocked him right on his ass.
Chapter 20
Fletcher made good on his promise. He left the short chain on my wrists, forcing me to either stand or kneel for two days. I didn’t require sleep, but it hurt like a bitch and limited my positions.
Without food or water, the toilet became a nonissue. One perk about being a Mage is not having to worry about dying from dehydration. But while my core light kept me alive, the thirst never went away. I’d managed to fight him off until the third day. Weak from lack of food, I made a mistake, and he got the upper hand. Fletcher juiced my energy until I passed out, and only then did he switch my chain to the longer one. That first taste of my light put a blissful calm in his eyes I hadn’t seen in years—the look an addict gets on a high. It reminded me to fight harder next time, because Fletcher didn’t know how to control his light addiction. The longer chain allowed me to lie on the ground, which was probably where he wanted me in the first place. Fletcher couldn’t live out his domination fantasy with me standing at eye level.
Rachel entered the room every so often to change out the candles. For whatever reason, Fletcher wanted the candles out of reach. Did he think I was going to try to set him on fire with a puny little flame?
How long have I been here? One week? Two weeks?
I curled up in a ball, shivering from the cold. My breath fogged around me at night when the temperature dropped. I must have been in a basement near the outside door. Whenever he came down for his visits, I could smell the snow and feel the icy wind. Every so often, I heard muffled sounds above me. We could have been in an abandoned building, but office buildings have framework that makes it impossible to hear people above or below, so this was probably a rural house. If I escaped, either Fletcher needed to die, or I’d need enough energy to flash God knows how far. He probably had a vehicle, but searching for keys would be a dangerous waste of my time.
I could sense the time was now one in the morning. Rachel and Fletcher were outside in the hall, their voices low but not low enough.