Meribella

Meribella must've dozed off during the drive. When she came to, the car was idling outside of a mansion. Wiping sleep from her eyes, she pressed her nose against the window. Mansion didn't do the structure justice; palace was a much better word. Almost every window was glimmering with the cold, glow of artificial lighting, which meant Mr. Bossy didn't care about his electric bill or all of these rooms had occupants.

"Are you going to cooperate, or do I need to carry you into the house?"

Ignoring the man beside her, she blew on the cold glass and drew an obscene gesture. Silence. Then the car rocked as he exited. Certain he wasn't going to allow her to sleep in the vehicle all night, she scooted towards the center of the backseat just as her door whipped open. When he saw her sitting out of reach, he released a low growl.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you to use your words," Meribella taunted, reaching for the other door.

"People usually anticipate my desires without verbalization," he responded, grasping her by her foot and pulling her towards him. "It's how they keep their heads attached."

"Oh, you sound terrifying." She wrapped her hands around the ceiling handle, letting a small shriek out when he pulled her so hard it caused the handle to rip free. "Holy shit. My leg is going to bruise."

Indeed, her leg was throbbing and when she tried to put weight on it, she crumpled. She had no choice but to allow him to scoop her up and carry her into his home.

"At least now I don't have to worry about you trying to escape." How she'd love to tell him about her body's speedy healing, but she'd keep that Ace up her sleeve for later.

They made their way past several men loitering in the foyer, though they all snapped to attention when they saw him enter. A clipped nod and they relaxed. No one even mentioned the woman he was carrying, and she wondered if seeing their leader carting about helpless women was the norm. She studied the route they took closely. He hadn't captured a normal woman this time.

"How far did we go?" Meribella demanded blowing a straggly bit of hair from her face and realizing it had dried from her near drowning. For it to be this dry, they had to have gone a decent distance, and the tingling beneath her skin warned her it was too far from the ocean.

The lunatic didn't answer; instead, he opened a heavy mahogany door and dumped her onto a plush king size bed. He walked past her to inspect a tray of food sitting besides an overstuffed chair. A chair positioned in front of a fireplace. Who had a fireplace in their bedroom- a guest bedroom at that?

"Excuse me," she prompted, squelching the panic rising in her breast. She never traveled more than thirty miles away from a salted water source, and never did she stay more than a few hours. "Please tell me how far we are from the beach."

"You need to eat. You're far too thin.

Real tears leaked from her eyes as she fisted the down comforter. "Stop telling me what I need to do! I need you to take me home. That's what I need."

"Eat. Sleep. Tomorrow we will reassess."

They locked eyes, carribean waters clashing against arctic seas, and when he didn't budge, she turned from him and pressed her face into a pillow. He just needed to go. Leave her alone so she could plot her escape. Even now, the searing pain in her leg had faded to something manageable.

"I'll send someone up to inspect the tray later. If you do not eat, this will delay your release. Is that understood?"

"Understood," she spit out, having no intention of touching their foul food, likely laced with something to make her drowsy.

Curling up into a ball, she kept her back to the man until she heard the gentle click of the door as he left. A slow count to one hundred and then she sat up and considered her surroundings. He'd carried her up two flights of stairs before taking a left and entering the first room to the right. The hallways appeared to have no other stair access, though a large bay window marked the end of each hallway. The front door was out of the question: too many men were hanging out there. If she could slip past them, she could hunt for another exit, but the most likely escape route was going to be out one of those windows.

With a wince, she stood and peeled her stiff jeans off so she could check out the damage to her leg. Five circular bruises covered her calf, the purple and yellow swirls making it look days old instead of less than an hour. Her first few steps were unsteady, but after a few laps around the large room, she felt confident that she could manage a fast sprint. The fact that he'd managed to catch her with her inhuman speed was worrisome, but she hoped to be far enough away by the time he realized she was gone that it wouldn't matter if he could fly.

Dragging the denim back over her hips, she debated poking her head out of the room, but she would get one chance to leave; she couldn't waste it. So she padded over to the window in her bedroom and peeked out. Specks of light flickered in the inky blackness, and her sharp eyes could make out the shapes of several men wandering about the grounds. A light dusting of snow covered the ground, but the skies had cleared and no more would fall tonight.

Letting the ostentatious curtains slide back into place, she wrapped her arms around her thin frames and tried to ignore the tantalizing smells wafting from the tray. Her middle felt hollow, and she wondered when she'd last eaten a full meal. Anything but fish and vegetables made her ill, no matter  how appealing she found other types of meat. Her system couldn't' handle it. Having a picky diet made life difficult on her limited income.

For the first time since losing control on the road, she allowed herself to think about how far the accident would set her back. Thankfully, she didn't carry the family diary with her, only copies. Same with the map. Carelessness had cost the daughters of Kai far too much already. But procuring another mode of transportation was going to be difficult. She'd planned on getting a job at her next location, but now she'd have to stay in the area long enough to save up enough money to buy another junker. Unfortunately, Mr. Bossy complicated matters further.

Falling face first on the bed, Meribella screamed, letting the blankets and mattress muffle her frustration. Walking away from the beach tonight had stirred the first feelings of hopelessness she'd experienced in this journey, but the hopelessness was being replaced by despair: neither were emotions she was familiar or comfortable with.

She lay there long enough to quell the storm raging inside of her, but the tingling in her skin was growing to a sting. Floorboards beneath the persian rug protested as she crept towards the exit, but the door was silent as it opened. A studied glance and silence revealed an empty hallway. Taking a deep breath, she left her cage. The ocean beckoned, her lungs needed salt in the air, and she was done being a captive.