Epilogue

“Let go of me,” she begged, over and over again. No one answered. She was trapped in a room with nothing for company but the glass walls keeping her caged in. Her chest felt tight all the time. The room was too small, the air too thin.

They were treating her like an animal, giving her food in bowls. Horrible sludge she wouldn’t even feed to a dog.

She hadn’t showered in days and men kept coming and looking at her, like a pet in a zoo. She hated them. Their looks.

When she was alone, she tried to think of ways to escape, but she wasn’t allowed out of this room.

The only time anyone spoke to her was when he came to the room.

“Hello, my princess.”

He was softly spoken but he scared the living daylights out of her. He tried to get her to use her magic, but warning bells kept going off in her head. Using her magic didn’t feel right.

“What do you want from me?” she screamed when he came to her with more needles and more tests.

Afterwards he would come back and try to soothe her. Katie was too exhausted to move, let alone flinch away from his touch.

She missed Sophie. She missed her parents’ house. She prayed for hours for them to come and find her.

She missed William. The horrible vampire with the bad attitude. At least he had given her freedom.

Katie wanted to live. She didn’t want this. She just wanted to be normal.

Finally, after another day of tests, she collapsed in a ball on the floor. He returned, moving into the room, and he looked happy.

“You’re the one. The one I’ve been searching for, for so long.” He knelt beside her and cupped her cheeks. They were dry from the lack of sun.

How long had she been stuck down here, anyway?

“I want to go home,” she pleaded with him again.

He lifted her up off the dirt floor and carried her out of the room. Katie didn’t know what to do or where to turn.

She just hoped with all her heart that William would find her before they killed her.