The Vampire Hunter's Daughter The Complete Collection (26 page)

I smelled breakfast before I even opened my
eyes. The scent invaded my dreams, forcing my eyes to open so that
I could go and discover what was causing that delicious smell. As
soon as I opened my eyes, I rolled onto my back and stretched, and
then immediately regretted it because every part of me ached at the
slightest move.

Wonderful.

I peeled back the blankets and sat up with my
feet hanging over the bed. If it wasn’t for hunger, I would have
just laid in bed all day, sulking.

After about five minutes of sitting there, I
finally got up and shuffled into the bathroom. I peed as quickly as
I could. I wasn’t sure if there were cameras aimed at me, and the
last thing in the world I wanted was people seeing me pee. After
that, I opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed the bottle of over
the counter pain reliever I’d seen the night before.

I poured two into my hand. After a few
seconds of contemplation, I added another one in the hope they
would kick in quickly. I closed the lid on the toilet and sat so I
could gently pull the bandage off the wound on my thigh. As I
suspected, nothing was there. The only evidence of the injury was a
thin, white, misshapen scar.

Well, at least that was one less thing to
worry about.

After tossing the used bandage into the waste
basket, I wandered back into the sitting room and found the
breakfast that had smelled so good consisted of hash browns; eggs,
over easy; sausage links, and toast.

It surprised me he was feeding me so well,
although I knew Alice had most of the say in what was done in the
kitchen. I kind of figured I might be made to eat bread and water
for the next several months.

Alice was damned lucky I hadn’t been awake
when she brought the cart up though. I still wanted to finish
things with her.

While I ate, I tried to ignore the fact I
watched by cameras. I also suspected there were far more vampires
in the house now that I wasn’t allowed to roam about.

Crap.

When I finished eating, I put my napkin on
top of my plate and turned to get up. Intentionally, but making it
look like an accident, I brushed all of my silverware and the half
full glass of orange juice onto the floor.

“Dang it!” I muttered loudly. “Just
great.”

I grabbed the napkin off of my plate and got
down on my hands and knees. I wasn’t really sure where exactly the
cameras were, but I had to take a chance.

Using the napkin, I scrubbed away at the
juice and discreetly placed my knee over the butter knife. After
scrubbing it sufficiently I leaned over just a tad and used the
napkin to wrap the silverware, except the butter knife, which I
quickly slid into my boot.

I crawled backward and stood. I set the
bundle and glass on the table, making some annoyed noises for the
show, even though I was actually triumphant.

With the intention of killing some time and
making it look like I was just bored, I wandered over to the couch
and flopped onto it, stretching out with my feet up. I turned on
the TV and flipped through the channels, trying to find something
interesting. I stopped at “Blade.” I’d forgotten about him. He was
supposed to be a vampire hunter too, and like me, was half
vampire.

Interesting. At least there was something
besides reality shows to watch while I waited. I never could
understand how people could watch those. Like real life didn’t have
enough drama, people wanted to go watch someone else’s on TV.

I let my mind go a bit numb and was deep into
watching Blade kick ass, when the door locks released.

I looked over and watched a tall male vampire
slip inside the door, head straight to the breakfast table without
even glancing my way, and cleared the used dishes onto the
cart.

“Hey!” I hollered at him.

Obviously, he knew I was there, because he
glanced over and nodded at me.

“I just came in to get the cart,” he told
me.

“Well, have fun being Trevor’s little maid,”
I said to him, turning back to Blade.

He didn’t bother responding; he hurried back
to the door and rapped on it.

“It’s me,” he called out to whoever was on
the other side. The locks released, and he wheeled the cart through
the open door, and then quickly shut it. Again, the locks slid back
into place, the sound confirming my imprisonment.

After Blade was over, I got up and messed
around with the stuff on my desk for a while, organizing and
straightening. When I thought enough time had passed, I grabbed a
book off the shelf and went into the bathroom.

I slid open the door on the tub and set my
book down on the ledge, started the water and flipped the stopper.
I bent and tested the temperature of the water and then looked
around for bubble bath, when I found some vanilla scented bubbles,
I dumped an ungodly amount underneath the stream of water and
watched the bubbles begin to form.

While the tub filled, I put my hair way up on
top of my head in a big bun. I backtracked into my bedroom to the
closet. With every ounce of my being, I hoped the closet didn’t
have a camera inside. I opened the door and stepped inside. I bent
over to take off my boots. Discreetly, I slid my hand down into my
boot, like I was trying get the boot off my foot, and palmed the
butter knife. I stood and slid the butter knife beneath the
waistband of my pants and underwear. It fitted snugly against my
skin. At the same time, I lifted my left hand and sifted through
the hanging clothes for a shirt. Feeling certain the knife was
safely hidden, I ripped a shirt off a hanger without really looking
at it and backed out of the closet.

Back in the bathroom, I checked the tub.
Seeing it was full and almost overflowing with vanilla bubbles, I
shut off the water and grabbed a fluffy white towel. I hated the
fact that there were cameras in the bathroom. I knew I was taking
it for granted Oscar's comment about being videotaped was true, but
I couldn’t take a chance, because it was more likely than not.

First, I took off my shirt and wrapped the
towel completely around my body. Only then did I remove my pants. I
had to be really careful while I was taking them off. Luckily, it
probably looked to whoever was watching like I was just sore from
the escape attempt the night before. I wiggled gently out of them,
holding the towel closed around my private areas.

It also occurred to me I wasn’t supposed to
know that there were cameras. Realistically, it wouldn’t matter if
Oscar had told me or not. Trevor knew I was smart enough to know
he’d been watching me outside with cameras, so it wouldn’t be
strange for me to assume cameras would be installed in my rooms. He
managed to lock me inside a metal prison. Why not watch what I’m up
to as well?

After getting in the tub, I shut the door and
quickly removed the towel and put the knife underneath the water,
on the floor of the tub. I hung the towel over the top of the door.
Finally, I could strip off my bra and panties. I opened the door a
crack and let them fall to the floor.

Whew.
The hardest part was over. Only
then did I realize my heart was beating wildly in my chest. I
released a huge amount of air I’d been unintentionally holding
inside and exhaled while I sank into the near-scalding water. The
bubbles rose and surrounded me like I was sitting on a cloud. As
hot as the water was, it felt amazing on my aching muscles, and I
let my eyes closed for just a moment.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to savor
it. It was time to get to work.

I felt around on the bottom of the tub until
my fingers closed around the knife. I scooted as close as I could
to the wall above the faucet. The tiles were about three and a
half, maybe four inch, squares.

Grasping the knife in my hand, I raised it up
and scraped at the grout separating each square. I scraped and dug
until finally I was able to pry one square off the wall. Chunks of
grout and dust particles drifted down, settling on top of the
bubbles. It was messy, but it was done. Relieved and tired from the
stress, I laid back and opened the door a crack to look at the
clock. It had been twenty-five minutes.

Man, I really, really wanted to get more done
than that. But, I knew if I was in the bathtub too long that Trevor
would start to get suspicious. So, reluctantly, I flipped the plug
and let the water drain. I set the knife and the tile on the side
of the tub underneath the faucet, then stood and wrapped myself in
the towel again.

It took two weeks before I was able to take
enough tiles off the wall that a hole big enough for me to fit
through appeared. After the tiles were off, there was a huge pile
of them sitting in the tub.

I was actually surprised Trevor hadn’t sent
anyone in to clean the bathtub yet. Normally Alice did it once a
week, but now I hadn’t seen her at all. I think Trevor was afraid I
was going to kill her. Part of me wanted to, that was for sure.

Maybe he figured since I was in here with
nothing else to do, I could clean my own bathroom. I probably
should pretty soon, just so the cameras could see that it was being
cleaned and no one needed to come in and do it.

As a matter of fact, I hadn’t seen Trevor
either. The only one I saw was that tall vamp who had come the
first morning I’d been locked up. He collected the cart, the dishes
and my dirty laundry. He also brought me anything I requested or
that was sent up to me. I didn’t really care. I didn’t want to see
any of them anyway.

Except Oscar. He had promised he would help
me get out. What a liar. I shouldn’t have expected anything from
him, really. He was just another of Trevor’s goons now, as far as I
was concerned.

After I got all the tiles off, I dug at the
wall underneath. It was actually harder than doing the tiles and
that took another two weeks. I left the thinnest part of the outer
wall where the plastic siding covered it. I was going to have to
push the pieces of siding out so I could slip underneath them. That
would come when it was time. There was one last thing I needed to
do before I could escape… I needed to make a rope.

For three days more I plotted when I would
make my escape and managed to tie several of my garments from the
closet together, forming a crude, makeshift rope. Hopefully it
would hold until I was safely on the ground.

When the day of my escape attempt arrived, I
woke, just like every day, to the smell of breakfast. I wandered
out to the table and found biscuits and gravy waiting for me. How
strange. Biscuits and gravy was my favorite breakfast meal of all
time, and I just found it a little ironic it was being served on
the day I was trying to escape.

I ate it like I was never going to eat
again.

After I had practically licked my plate
clean, I set my fork down then picked up my coffee and took a big
swig. Hoping it looked like an accident, I spilled a whole bunch on
the front of my shirt. “Ugh! Man… just figures.”