Blood of Eden

Chapter 20

The first reaction she had upon waking was a feeling of surprise that she was still alive and in one piece.

Her clothing was shredded from Raphael's attack and, through the tatters, she could see at least thirty separate patches of healing skin; some small, some long and jagged. She could easily tell where he'd used the silver against her skin. Those areas were still angry and red, though still healing.

The simple act of raising her head brought a wave of nausea and a grip of pain to her abdomen. The physical pain of the healing cuts was nothing compared to the agony that her memories replayed in her mind.

Katherine thought in one seemingly never ending moment that she'd lost her mind during the torture and would never be ok again. She was aware enough to know that the pain wasn't real so she hung onto that truth and pushed past the fear and memories. It took a full minute of focus and breathing to make her body understand that the pain was over.

Only a few hours had passed since Raphael had turned her into his own personal voodoo doll and began poking her with pins. She looked toward the window and frowned. She hoped it was only a few hours and that an entire day or more hadn't passed.

The room was quiet like it had been the first time she'd woken up in this God forsaken barn. Raphael's scent was everywhere around her, on her, but she could still tell that he wasn't in the room.

The other times she'd awakened, Katherine hadn't dreamed that Raphael would go where he'd gone, torturing her for no apparent reason besides some incomprehensible mad justification. Those times she'd waited and watched, hoping for a chance, but this time was different. There was no more waiting. There was no chance in hell she was staying here any longer.

In a fit of desperate rage, Katherine began to jerk her body against her binds. Her wrists grew slick with a mixture of blood and sweat, lubricating the rope. It took a solid fifteen minutes before she felt any give at all around her hands but at the first movement, her heart sang with hope.

The rope was encrusted with her blood by the time she untangled her feet and crouched, staring about the room, ready to get the hell out of there, or die trying.

She remained in human form, for now, ready to use her hands and body to defend herself. Once she cleared the building she'd change and run like hell but for now, she desperately needed a weapon of some kind.

When her hands closed around the poker, now cold, she smiled. She didn't need to be in wolf form to be deadly.

Keeping low to the floor, Katherine inhaled sharply and sorted through the scents, rolling them across her tongue and tasting each for Raphael's reek.

Satisfied, she moved toward the old door cautiously, continuing to sniff the air, searching for any sign of a trap.

Her instincts told her that it wasn't a trap; that this was her chance and that she'd been smart to take it because another one wouldn't come along in her lifetime. Focusing on that thought, she pushed open the door and slipped outside silently.

The night was bright, the moon that she'd enjoyed with Quinn still high in the sky. The thought of Quinn fearing for her life, of her family searching for her, filled her with determination and strength.

One glance at the sky showed her which direction to run and she turned and immediately sprinted toward the tree line.

The moonlight glinted off the visible skin of her legs and stomach so she bent low to disguise herself and make her less noticeable. The muscles in her midsection still ached and pinched as they healed where he'd stabbed her deeply but she ignored the pain completely and just ran.