A pair of grand oak doors opened and the room behind them was enormous and exquisite. the dome-shaped ceiling that reached up to the second floor of the estate, had an exquisite blue mosaic. At the front of the room, near the entrance were two foyer sets. Behind them, further to the end of the room was a pair of double doors; one on the left side of the room and one to the right. At the end of the room was a grand staircase. Standing to the right of the staircase was an old man, dressed in a butler’s uniform. Alexandria gawked at the room with bated breath as they entered. She felt like she had somehow walked into Mr. Bingly or Mr. Darcey’s estate. As Alex stood in the middle of the room, the old man introduced himself to Claude and began to seat him at one of the foyer sets.
“Would you like any refreshments sir; maybe a cup of tea or perhaps some coffee?” The old man asked as he took Claude’s coat.
“Some tea would be génial , merci Isaac.”
The old man, Isaac, turned to a young man in a vest, handed him Claude’s coat and nodded. He then turned towards Alex who was still standing in the middle of the room, spinning around slowly as she took it all in.
“Miss, please follow me,” he said waving her towards him as he began walking to the double doors on the left side of the room.
Alex found herself following the old man despite how she felt. The door opened as quiet as a whisper. The old man held it open, waiting for Alex to step through. Alex took a small step forward just making it past the entrance. This room was almost just as big as the last one; the floor was a dark cherry mahogany with clear wax that reflected the warm glow of the sunset from the tall windows on either side of the room. At the far end was a long sofa crowded with women. Something in the air made Alex feel like she had just walked into a bad situation. She squinted and saw amongst the women was a young man, whose face was buried in one of the girl’s necks. All the others were trying to slowly back away from him. The one poor girl who had his face buried in her neck was trembling. Alex could feel the blood drain from her face as a stream of red liquid began to flow down the girl’s collarbone and stain her pink dress. Alex tried to quietly back out of the room when her back bumped into the doors that were now shut behind her. The soft bump from her back hitting the doors, echoed throughout the room. Alex froze waiting for a reaction and suddenly all eyes were on her; Except for the young man who was wiping the blood from his mouth.
When he moved his sleeve from his face, Alex had to suppress a gasp. The young man had slightly overgrown jet black curly hair that was tied back into a ponytail. His cold metallic eyes pierced Alex’s heart as a grin crept on his face.
The man from the auction, she thought surprised.
Suddenly he was right in front of Alex, his grey eyes filled with excitement.
“Well this is a pleasant surprise,” he said, his left hand holding his right elbow, while his right hand rested on his chin as his grin grew. He was examining her as if she was just a piece of furniture. Alex wanted to beat his smug face in; she dug her nails into the palm of her hand to help keep her cool.
“Isaac, to what do I owe this… honor?” he asked the old man, that Alex had failed to realize followed her inside.
“She is a gift to you, Master Ezra,” Isaac replied. “Claude delivered her but the sender wishes to remain anonymous.”
Ezra stepped closer to Alex until they were only a couple inches apart. His eyes were locked on hers and Alex was again frozen in place, the doorknobs digging into her spine. Ezra reached one hand towards her and hooked his finger to the belt loop on her pants, pulling her towards him until there was only a sliver of space left between them. He curved his back so that his face was inches from Alex’s.
“I told you, you were mine.” He breathed in her ear.
Before he could do anything else, Alex finally broke the trance she was under and shoved him away. She was done with all this owning crap, vampires or not this time she was fighting back.
“Olivia, take our guest to the attic room please,” he waved to one of the girls before he started to walk back towards the sofa.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Alex said as Olivia tried to grab her hand.
The girl gave her a pleading look before trying again to force Alex towards one of the doors behind the sofa. This time Alex didn’t hold back. She grabbed the arm the girl was reaching out to her with, quickly moved her leg behind Olivia, kicked back as hard as she could, sweeping Olivia’s legs from underneath her. Alex then used her hand that was holding Olivia’s arm to push the girl backward, forcing her to the ground in one fell swooping motion. The next thing she knew, Alex was crouching on the floor with a sharp pain on her cheek. Alex could see Ezra’s boots enter her line of vision. He then put his hand under her chin and lifted her face to look at him. Before he said anything he licked Alex’s cheek where his slap had cut her, then grabbed her wrists and looked her in the eyes with a smile that was all venom.
“The only reason you’re not wearing chains like them, is because you have tiny, little, wrists,” he said circling his hands around Alex’s wrists like cuffs. “And I have to get them made special, but they will be here by tomorrow,” He said lifting Alex back on her feet by her wrists. “Now let’s try that again,” he said shoving Alex towards the door on the right of the sofa. “Isaac” he called to the old man. Isaac looked sad and tired; he didn’t look Alex in the eye as he dragged her out of the room.
Isaac pushed Alex into the room and slammed the door behind him. She could hear a click as Isaac locked the door. Alex listened for his footsteps before she took a look around. The room was small and dark; the only light emitted from the window and cast a soft blue glow around her. In the corner, to the left of the window was a full sized bed. On the left side of the room was an old bookshelf, filled with more dust and cobwebs than books. On the right side was an oak dresser with a big mirror; Alex could see her glowing face through the mirror. When her eyes finally got used to the dim twilight Alex walked over to the window. From it, she could see the whole front of the estate, all the way back up to the main gate. Claude must have still been inside because his carriage and horses were being tended to by the servants and Claude was nowhere to be seen. If she wanted to escape now was the time, however, Alex was still unsure of what she should do.
I want my memories back, she thought. But what am I willing to do to get them back? This guy is obviously dangerous; staying could get me into a lot more trouble than I’m already in. She pondered the idea frantically as she paced the room. And what about Keith? He is probably really worried about me; I haven’t even had a chance to contact him, she thought as she made her way back to the dresser. Then again, what if this is my only chance to finally get my memories back? She placed her hands on the flat surface of the dresser as she leaned over it; she looked at herself in the mirror. I’m tired of not knowing, I’m tired of feeling so empty. Alex looked back at the window again. If only I had an ally… She could climb out the window, down the side of the building, and hide under the carriage when no one was looking until it drove off as she hung on.
“Ok,” she said to herself out loud. “If the window’s locked then I stay; if the window opens then I escape.” Alex walked over to the window and gave a push. The old window that had probably not been opened for years, swung open with a loud creak.
“Well, I guess that’s that,” she said sighing to herself as she stepped out onto the roof.
Alex crouched her body low to the roof so that no one could see her and so that she didn’t fall off. She then looked around to see if there was anything to help her climb down without the guards seeing her. At the end of the roof, at the edge of the west wing where it connected to the main building, was a rose trellis scaling up all the way to the roof. Alex made her way towards the trellis as fast as she could possibly go without falling or being seen. When she looked down she could feel her heart in her throat, she was up higher than she had thought. Quickly and quietly, before the patrolling guard came back Alex began to scale down the trellis. She made sure to be extra careful not to cut herself on any of the thorns, so that the vampires couldn’t sniff her out, when suddenly, her foothold gave out with a loud crack as the piece of the trellis fell to the ground. Alex was now holding on to the trellis with just her hands. She quickly found new footholds and took a look around. The guard that was patrolling was now looking up at her with two of his fingers on his temple, like he was trying to catch her with telekinesis or something.
“Ezra sir, that girl escaped and is now hanging onto the trellis on the west wing,” he said out loud, but there was no one around. Alex’s heart was beating double time now, she was caught and what’s worse is she was also hanging from Ezra’s rose trellis. Alex closed her eyes and tried slow her heart down before she began climbing down again. Suddenly she could feel a presence near her, like a cold chill down her spine. She stopped and turned to see Ezra, suddenly next to her on the trellis. She was so surprised at his sudden appearance that she lost her grip and began to fall. Just before she was out of reach Ezra grabbed her by the shirt and she hung there in a cold sweat, looking at the ground.
“Such a nuisance,” Ezra said to no one in particular, before jumping off the trellis and catching Alex in his arms. He landed on the ground as if he had just jumped from a small ledge rather than three stories. Alex blinked in amazement, before kicking and squirming to get out of his grip. However, Ezra just threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and didn’t put her down until they were safely inside.
“Should have known you’d try and escape. Isaac, you forgot the windows again didn’t you?” He said it with more amusement than anger as he crossed his arms. Alex just glared at him, all the anger he had from before had turned into playfulness.
“I’m sorry sir,” was all Isaac said as he bowed.
Ezra looked down at her, “What’s your name?” he asked with a smirk. Alex just continued to glare at him. Isaac looked like he was about to answer for her when Ezra interrupted him; walking towards Alex, backing her against the wall behind her.
“You like to play games, love?” he asked slamming his hands on either side of Alex, leaning closer to her. This time instead of trembling or trying to escape like she had done before, Alex stared right back into his eyes. At this, his grin grew bigger and he leaned in closer, so that there was barely any space between them. He leaned in so that they were at eye level with each other.
“What do you want?” Alex asked without breaking eye contact with him.
“How about we play a little game?” Ezra said letting her go and leaning backward.
“…A game?” Alex asked.
“I’ll explain, you choose a random number that corresponds with any room in this entire estate and you will start there. Then I will choose a random number that will put me in any room. If you get out that door-” he said pointing to the front door. “-before midnight, or before I find you and catch you, then you win and I’ll let you go. And just to make it fairer, since I already know my own estate head to toe, I will give you a blueprint. So, what do you say?”
“And what if I don’t make it, if you… catch me first?”
Amusement filled Ezra’s eyes, “Then you tell me your name.”
“My name, that’s it?” Alex asked confused.
“That’s it.”
Then what do I have to lose? Alex thought. “Fine,” she said out loud.
Isaac pulled out the blueprints of the estate and drew numbers on each room, so that neither Ezra nor Alex could see them. He then looked up at Ezra.
“Ladies first, love,” Ezra said, motioning towards Alex.
Isaac looked at Alex, waiting for her number. Alex closed her eyes trying to think of the perfect number. There was no way to guess what number went to which room or even what part of the estate, and Alex was no mathematician. Instead, she chose her lucky number.
“13,” she said as she opened her eyes to look at Isaac. He nodded his head and then looked at Ezra.
“3,” he said.
“Grayson,” Isaac called to one of the other servants. “Please bring the master to this room.”
Ezra followed Grayson up the stairs. When Grayson returned, Isaac bowed at Alex. “Shall we?” he asked taking her hand. He led her up the stairs, but in the opposite direction that Ezra had gone. They walked a while before finally appeared in front of a large wooden door. Isaac opened it and showed Alex inside. Before he left he handed Alex the blueprint with the numbers on the rooms and then pointed at the clock.
“When the big hand lands on the six, you may start. Starting before time will result in Ezra’s default win, good luck,” he said before he closed the door behind him.
Taking a seat at the fireplace, Alex took this time to study the blueprints. First, she found her number, she was on the second floor at the very end of the east wing. Then she found Ezra’s number, he was all the way in the attic on the third floor, where she had been. Alex found herself wondering if he had done this on purpose. She shook her head frantically and began studying the map while also looking for a good way to make it to the front door unseen. She then tried to predict how Ezra might play the game. Would he go straight to looking for her? Or would he go to the entrance and just camp out until she showed up? Alex looked up at the clock and the big hand was seconds away from landing on the six. Her heart began to beat out of her chest.
“I guess this is it,” she said to herself.
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