“Where are you taking me?” Bree was out of breath as she spoke. Zane ignored her as he pulled her along to the edge of the park.When he got her there he stopped and turned to look at her.She was panting.“Please tell me where you are taking me?”
“Into the woods.” He did not elaborate and Bree sensed that he wouldn’t even if she asked him to. He stared at her for a moment, his face blank.Then he turned again and furiously yanked on her arm.Bree lost her balance and tumbled into Zane. “Get up, you worthless thing!” He pushed her away from him. “Stand on your own two feet!”
“And how can I do that when you pull on me so hard?I cannot keep up with you!”
Zane was only reminded of how cumbersome humans were.They were clumsy and slow and so easily tired.He was able to sidestep stones and jump over roots in the dark without effort.Bree on the other hand, she kept tripping, slowing him down.He stopped and turned to face her again, this time he looked exasperated.“I am not carrying you, so get that thought out of your head now.”
“You are hurting my arm, but you have no idea, do you?”
“Why would you ask me that?”
“Because you are a vampire. You don’t remember being human, do you? How long have you been-.”
“Be quiet!” The last thing he wanted now was to have any semblance of an intimate conversation with his dinner. “Be quiet or I will have to kill you so you stop annoying me.”
Bree pulled back from his grasp. She began to cry again. All around her was darkness.She looked back from where they had come and saw nothing, none of the streetlights or the lights from the park were visible to her.In fact, she saw no sign of civilization at all. Had they really gone that far in?Since the night was cloudy and dark, she had no light at all to see by now.And she had no idea where she was or which was the way back. Zane sensed her apprehension and became highly agitated. He was so damn hungry now that he was losing sight of why he brought her into the woods in the first place.It was to test her blood, he reminded himself.He wanted to know if she was worth keeping or not.He wanted to know if she was something he could feed off of on a regular basis to stay as strong as he possibly could while he brooded over his doomed fate.
After what seemed to Bree like hours, Zane stopped and let go of her arm.She pulled it back and rubbed it with her other hand, scowling at him.Some of the clouds had cleared and the moon poked through enough where she could see Zane and her immediate surroundings.He was scowling back at her, he had no time or patience now for her to ask questions. He spoke, not giving her a chance to say anything first.
“We are here.”
“Whe-.”
“At the starting point! I will leave you here and let you run and try to hide or maybe even escape back to town.After three hours, I will come after you.If I don’t find you before daybreak or if you make it back to town, you are free.” Bree shrunk back as she began to make sense of what Zane was doing.He was going to hunt her!“But if I find you in the woods while it is still night, you are mine.”
