Taken by the Heartless (HEARTLESS, Book 1) (NOW EDITING)

AWAKENING AND LUSTING

 For days, it was touch-and-go for Cassandra. Skirting through the edges of consciousness, she woke and saw her mother smiling down at her. She wanted to talk; she wanted to reach out and touch her mother's face, but she couldn't. Her body was too limp to move. It was like that for days.

When she finally woke up, she saw a strange woman sitting by her bedside. The room was strange to her too, and she tried to recall how she got there. The last thing she remembered was running out of the mansion, towards the gate.

"You are finally awake, sleeping beauty," Adella said casually, ignoring the confused look on Cassandra's face.

Cassandra tried to sit up, but pain shot through her like a spare. She gave up and remained lying on the bed. Trying to talk, she realized her throat was too dry, so she cleared it.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"In my room," the old woman answered, smiling for the first time. Cassandra almost sighed with relief at the thought that she was no longer in Eros' mansion. "To save you the stress, you have been asleep for five days and you are still in Eros Castillo's mansion," the woman said again as if she read Cassandra's mind.

An alarm went off in Cassandra's head, and she almost broke down in tears. The old woman stood up, went over to the table on the north side of the room, poured a liquid from a jug into two mugs, and carried them back to her.

"You have to take something; you have not had anything since the surgery."

"Surgery?"

Adella didn't answer; she placed the mugs that were producing hot steam on the nightstand, went over, and helped Cassandra up. When Cassandra was seated, she handed her a mug. The young girl took it without saying anything and just stared at the creamy coffee. How could she eat when she was still a captive? The thought of still being within the four walls of Eros Castillo's mansion weakened every nerve in her and made her just want to fall back to death. It would have been better if she died from that bullet than to be saved to face cruelty from him.

"I had to remove the bullet he put into you."

"Are you the mansion's nurse? Does he always do this? Shooting people at will and bringing them to you to cut open?" Anger and resentment were building inside her, and she could take it out on just anyone.

The old woman smiled and sipped her drink without saying anything. Cassandra wondered how she could be so calm in a situation like that, or were they organ harvesters too? Her eyes darted around as if she would see anything if she looked.

"I like you," said the woman as she set the mug on the nightstand, pretending not to notice Cassandra's reaction. A deep scowl was visible on Cassandra's face. "You remind me so much about myself."

Cassandra restrained herself from rolling her eyes. Her father would never encourage her to disrespect her elders. But she didn't know which was getting on her nerves, the woman, or the fact that she was still in the godforsaken mansion of the formidable Eros Castillo.

"Feisty and brave..."

"Do you have a daughter?" Cassandra asked, interrupting the woman.

"I don't..."

"Great, because if you do, you won't be working for this psychotic man. That man is a mess and deserves to be jailed with hard labor. You are aware of what he does with girls, right?"

"I don't know; maybe you should enlighten me."

"Stop playing ignorant with me. How could you work here as a nurse and pretend you don't know what is going on? The girls he shoots and brings them for you to treat. What do you think that is? He is joking around. How many more have died?