In hindsight maybe flooding the room I was being forced to stay in for who knows how long was a bad idea. I sat on the soaked mattress for what felt like days. Norman refused any more conversation and only opened the door to drop off fresh water bottles and granola bars. I guess I had lost the privilege of real meals.

Around his twelfth visit, I was starving and freezing. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt so weak.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he spoke for the first time in days. “You brought this on yourself. No one was going to hurt you.”

“You’ve broken the heater then?” I asked while shaking from the cold penetrating every part of my body.

“This,” he gestured with his hand at the room, “is all your fault.” He then turned and walked out of the room, leaving the door open behind him. “Are you coming?” he yelled from the top of the stairs.

Anything was better than dying from a disaster of my own making. Without a care about what new hell I might be walking into, I darted up the stairs before the invitation was revoked. To my surprise, there wasn’t a new cage or a deathsquad waiting for me. Instead, Norman waved from the end of the hall for me to come. I glanced at the front door, a mere 20 feet away, but I wasn’t dumb enough to try that again just yet.

“Clearly, the current tactic isn’t working,” he said opening the door to the only room on this part of the house. “As I would like to avoid damaging any more of my home, I propose you be my guest instead of my hostage.”

“So you admit you kidnapped me,” I teased walking into the dry and, thank goddess, warm room.”

“There isn’t a private bathroom up here, but you are welcome to the one at the other end of the hall. My room is just off to the right, so I’ll be able to hear anything.” The warning was clear. I was free to roam but not to leave. “The place is small, but the kitchen is stocked, and I have a decent movie and book collection if you get bored. I can also run to town if you need anything, but I would advise limiting those requests.”

“Why? Are you in hiding?” I asked while running my fingers over the bed’s duvet and soft wool throw blankets.

“No, but we’ll have to take precautions if I’m going to leave you here alone. I’m not sure you want to spend more time in your flooded palace.”

“Yeah, I’m good,” I said immediately, but it was worth noting for the future.

“I thought as much.” He replied with a hint of a smile. “In the meantime, you are officially my guest and have access to anything within the property. You might want to start with some dry clothes. There are some items in the dressers and closet.” At that he turned and left the room, leaving me to plunder through the available drawers while stripping off the soaked clothing. Unfortunately, there were no towels in the room but I pulled a blanket off the rocking chair sitting beside the bed and cocooned inside. Nothing had ever felt so warm. I immediately felt at ease and exhausted. Without another thought, I climbed into the bed under many other layers of fuzzy blankets. As I drifted off, I had the distinct feeling of floating.

The night was so dark, but I could see a crackling light just up ahead. I wasn’t sure how I got here, but I could faintly remember needing to get away. Then I heard it, a snarling growl coming from the path I must have taken. It was growing louder, and I imagined something huge was behind such a vicous and loud sound. Without a better option, I chose to head in the direction of the fire. Both paths led to unknowns, but at least this one wasn’t openly threatening death.

As I walked closer, the night broke, and I could see the trees and a host of bodies sitting around the fire. They looked towards me but all I could make out were voids of darkness beneath long black cloaks covering vaguely human shapes.

“Sit,” a voice commanded, and all the voided heads held out a shadowed hand towards an empty spot on the ground. I acquiesced, and the heads returned their focus to the fire. “Trembley, what progress have you made?” the fire asked.

Oh that’s right. I’m a spy.

“They’ve kept me in the dark so far. I had minimal access to Harding’s main location, and Norman has had me locked in the basement until tonight. I don’t think I’ll be able to learn much where I am. My goal is to get him to bring me back to Harding’s. I also don’t have confirmation, but I believe Lucas has been taken out.”

“Good,” the flames spoke, “at least we’re moving in the right direction. Don’t worry about pushing Norman to take you back to Harding’s. He’s too smart for that and will more than likely resist if you seem eager to return to a home full of vampires. No, work on getting close to him. That’s how you’ll break him.”

“He doesn’t seem willing to open up. Currently, I can’t even get him to believe anything I tell him. I did ask for him to send for Aaron, but he’s made no mention of acknowledging that request.”

“Why would you do that?” the fire roared, growing larger. “The last thing we need is for Aaron to figure things out.”

“It wasn’t planned. I panicked when he put me back in the locked room.”

“You’re goal is not to escape, Trembley,” the fire shot around me, cutting off the others around the circle. I could feel its heat and something else permeating my skin. “You’ll do whatever it takes to find out what’s protecting Norman. Help me find my way in. That’s your goal.” The fire then released me and returned to the pit. I was left with the need to please at all costs. This was such an odd feeling.

“Yes, my queen. I won’t fail you.” Who said that? It wasn’t me.

The fire grew once more, but this time it consumed all the voided heads until they became a swirling maelstrom of black fabrics and were sucked into the ground. Then I was left alone in the dark with no protection from the increasing growls approaching from behind. Without the fire, the air became frigid, so I sat trembling both from the temperature and fear of what would happen when the creature was at my neck.

As the sound grew and the temperature continued to plummet, the shaking grew more dangerous. I might give out before death arrived. But when I thought I would never see light ever again, a warm blaze fell across my face. It felt like sunlight, but there was no sun. The shaking persisted and the growls were now directly in my ear, yelling for me to open my eyes.

I don’t understand. My eyes were open, but the darkness was to thick to see through. Open them anyway the monster yelled, and I did.

~

The room was exactly as I left it when I fell asleep except for Norman’s hovering face mere centimeters from mine. “Ahh,” I belted out as this was the last image I expected upon waking.

“Bleeding christ, woman” he exclaimed still too close to me for my own comfort. “You were talking in your sleep, so I came to check on you. Then I couldn’t get you to wake up. Is this a normal condition of yours?”

“What?” I asked puzzled. I don’t remember ever being told I talk in my sleep; although, it had been a while since I’d slept in the presence of anyone I trusted to ask. “I don’t talk in my sleep.”

“I’m less worried about that than you not waking up. The last thing I need is for you to die in your sleep. I don’t know how I’d ever explain that one.”

“I’m touched you’re so worried,” I said sitting up and remembering how I’d fallen asleep a little less than clothed. “Um… could you back it up a few.”

He seemed to realize he was practically on top of me and scooted back until he was off the bed. “I’m sorry to give you a fright upon wakening. I tried talking to wake you, but you seemed… dead. That’s when I started to shake you, and I began yelling in the last few minutes. If I was still human, I think you might have given me a heart attack. For the future, I’ll remember this is a unique Trembley trait.”

Unsure what to say to that, I pulled the blankets up around me. “Yeah, listen, I’m sorry I woke you, but everything is all good. If you don’t mind, I’m going to get cleaned up now. I was so tired I never made it to the bathroom earlier.”

He stood to leave, “Of course, I will get out of your way,” but before leaving he reached inside the closet, pulled out a robe, and laid it at the end of the bed. “You might want this.”

The chivalry appreciation aside, my face felt so warm it must have turned three shades past scarlet. How out of it was I that a vampire not only came in my room but yelled in my face and shook me like a rag doll for who knows how long before I woke up. I was not oblivious to my weirdness, but that was a new issue I was going to have to deal with.

~

The warm shower reinvigorated me, and I felt better than I had in days except for the nagging hunger. It was easy to find the kitchen. Norman’s house was tiny, so it really only took a few steps to reach any part of it. As described, though, the cupboards and refrigerator were fully stocked. Either he regularly kept human company, or this was all for me.

I was in the middle of cooking my first real meal in days when I heard Norman moving about. I looked out the window to see the sun setting. It was so nice to have some idea of time. I never thought that was something that would matter, but slowly going crazy in soggy empty room will make a person have new appreciations for life.

“That smells nice,” he said entering the kitchen, which was really just an extension of the living room.

“Would you like some?” I asked already knowing the answer.

“No thank you,” he predictively responded and proceeded to sit on the beige chaise lounge chair in the adjoining space. “Was the shower ok?”

“Yes,” I politely replied not really sure how to converse with someone holding me against my will. “Thank you for letting me out of the basement, and I’m sorry for the damage.”

“No you’re not,” he said smiling. “If you hadn’t realized how reinforced that room was, I bet you wouldn’t have stopped at the plumbing.”

I gave a smirk to the steak I was frying up because he wasn’t wrong. It didn’t take long to figure out how thick the walls were down there. If I actually had a brain cell, I would have tried the Andy Dufresne approach before going all Noah.

“So, what’s your next escape plan?” he asked. “Leave the stove on while I’m sleeping in the hopes of burning me alive in my own home?”

“Oh that’s a good one,” I responded while taking a plate from a cabinet and tossing on the steak and eggs then sitting down on a barstool at the island. “No, I believe my escape attempts have been halted for the foreseeable future.”

“Really? I didn’t expect you to give up so easily.”

“Normally, that would be the case, but I expect when you get in touch with Aaron you’ll understand this has all been one big case of mistaken identity.”

“About that,” he said sitting up seriously, “ I did ask Harding to look into the name, which turned out to be unnecessary as he already knew him. However, no one seems to know where he is.”

That’s unfortunate. It wasn’t weird for Aaron to drop off everyone’s radar, but usually I had a head’s up that he’d been gone for a while. I wondered if he’d attempted to get in touch with me. I had been incommunicado for at least a week. “Shit.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.