Annie Nicholas - Bait

The boat dock was visible from here. Tane’s boat floated by it while another smaller one pulled up behind.

I almost closed the window completely when I remembered who was on his way home from the city anticipating a rabbit dinner when he returned. Dragos.

The window rattled in my haste to open it again. I took my first tentative step onto the ledge. This ranked as the second stupidest things I’d ever done. Letting Johnny Turner convince me to give him my virginity in the seventh grade still took first place.

A breeze blew around my legs as I hugged the building. Even with the cool spring weather, sweat trickled down my back and made my palms slick. Inch by terrifying inch I groped away from Dragos ’ study. My plan only went as far as to escape the room. The overcast night sky hid the moon so the darkness surrounding me seemed endless. We only climbed one set of stairs to get to the study, which meant I should be on the second floor. The ground looked far, then I remembered the house sat on a hill and the land must slope away.

A decorative stone protrusion blocked my path. Every ten feet one marked the ledge. Their width gave me pause. Five inches sounded small until you hung from the side of a building like Spiderman. Except when I fell I wouldn’t swing away safe. I’d go splat.

I wiped my sweaty hands on my jeans before reaching around the obstacle to search for a handhold. An outcrop of what felt like mortar met my fingertips after searching forever. I grabbed it and hugged the pillar with my knees.

My heart drummed against my chest as my palms got moist again. I glanced down. Even though I could barely see the ground the muscles in my legs registered danger and froze.

I clung to my perch like a love-struck loon, closed my eyes and tried not to be sick. A lightheaded swirl took me all of a sudden. Heights made me nervous but they never made me dizzy. I leaned my head against the structure, I couldn’t stay here all night yet my limbs refused to listen.

The cold stone on my face cooled some of the hot flush of my fear and the sound of my panting filled the night.

Left foot already around the obstacle, only the right one needed to get to the other side, I concentrated on shuffling with my eyes closed and body glued to the wall. Muffled male voices floated from the dock, followed by laughter.

My fear of Tane’s master slapped me on the ass. It made me deal with my spinning head and rebellious limbs quick.

I swung my right leg around the pillar and shuffled along the ledge. At the corner of the building I ran into a thorny rose bush. The sharp pricks on my skin, like fangs, startled me and I choked on a scream. By the scent of the soft flowers, which grew on it, and upon a closer inspection of the plant in the dark, I concluded it to be a rose vine intertwined on a trellis that grew to the roof. In other words, a makeshift ladder.

Hand and foot holds were easy to find, I tested my weight on both trellis and ancient vine by bouncing. Nothing snapped or groaned. I leaned back and watched the upper sections by the roof and it appeared to stay attached to the building.

The window above me had thick iron bars over them. It struck me as odd for the third floor, unless they were trying to keep something in the room instead of out.

A strong curiosity washed over me, almost a compulsion, to look inside. Determined, I climbed the trellis to the next level instead of to the ground.

Thorns hooked to my clothes and skin, slowing me. I tried my best not to make a racket. At times I didn’t know if I stepped on the trellis or the vine.

I transferred to the third floor ledge and ignored the little voice screaming about the heights.

What I saw through the barred window should have rocked my world but something inside me said I already expected this.

Rurik.

I grabbed onto a bar and touched the window as if I could reach him.

They had him chained to a black free-standing stone pillar with thick, heavy metal bindings. He wore only a pair of briefs so his multiple wounds were exposed for my view. My stomach churned at the pool of blood under his feet. It trickled from the multiple large cuts at key arterial areas. He hung limp like a corpse.

A strange man came into the room. With a sharp knife he sliced at my lover and refreshed the cuts.

Rurik cried out. He strained against the chains and snapped his teeth at the man, who yelped in surprise, slipped in the blood, and fell to the floor.

The metal from the window’s bar cut into my palm as I squeezed it tight. I guess to keep a vampire weak you would need to drain him of his source of power, blood, but he healed so damn fast his captors needed to keep reopening the wounds.

I had to rescue him. I didn’t know how but I had to.

Two sills over a window stood ajar. I shimmied over to it and listened for movement inside the room but heard nothing. The window sill sat only a foot from the floor and I stepped into the building. My earlier lightheadedness returned with a vengeance, I grabbed onto something cold and metallic to steady myself. As my vision cleared I saw that I held an arm. With a small gasp I released it and jumped back. Suits of armor stood at attention along the wall.

I entered a medieval armory. The only weapons I recognized were the swords, all the other toys of mayhem remained nameless, except a nice Connie-sized hammer dangling from a belt. A weapon could be handy, so I pushed my sleeves to my elbows before taking hold of it. Wrapped around my wrist was a delicate silver bracelet holding a key. Where did I get that? My memories weren’t adding up, Swiss cheese had fewer holes. The chain bent and curved in an intricate pattern. Very pretty and antique, maybe Rurik gave it to me?

I slipped the hammer out of the belt loop. It weighed more than I hoped but with a two handed grip I could dent heads. A simple and insane plan formed.

The hallway appeared empty. I knocked on the door to the room where Rurik remained captive and prepared the hammer, like a baseball bat, over my shoulder. My arms shook with the restrained effort. I shifted my weight to my back leg. Grandma taught me to play baseball. Her voice flashed in my mind, “Keep your eye on the target, put your back into it, and follow through!”

The door opened and I swung the hammer with all my strength. It was a home run.

The man who had cut Rurik sprawled back onto the floor after my hammer connected with his chest. He never had a chance to make a noise.

I prepared for retaliation but he didn’t move. Was he playing possum? His feet blocked the doorway. I would have to step over them to get in. I kicked his shoe and scooted back. Damn, I’d been expecting more of a fight from a vampire.

A weak groan came from inside the room. It drove me to jump over the man’s legs. As I landed I spun with the hammer in hand to face the body on the floor, afraid of a surprise attack.

No wonder my plan worked. He was human. A bite mark on his neck declared it. His chest rose and fell in a shallow, irregular rhythm. Guilt, satisfaction, shame, and joy jumbled inside of me. I’d never hurt a fellow human being before.

“Connie?”

The whisper of my name reminded me of my objective. I turned at the sound of his voice.

Rurik stared at me with wide astonished eyes. His skin, the palest of whites, made the sharp angles of his face more apparent. Dark strands hair framed his face as he stared at me from dark wells. The predator in his soul closer to the surface than I’d ever witnessed.

“My Rabbit, what are you doing here?”

I rushed to hug him. To convince myself this was real. He felt frigid. “I thought you were dead.”

“Get out. He’s here-”

I kissed him. Foolish, carefree, and happy to have my Rurik back. Once more my head spun and I found myself hanging on to him instead of hugging him.