6
Predictably, the elevators did not come up, no matter how many times I smashed the button.
Agitated that I was trapped, I had to resist the urge to take a chair and try to beat out a window. Even if I waited until night and succeeded, it wasn’t like I could surf down the side of the glass building as if it was one big slide.
Or could I?
Then again, I was pretty sure I was only immortal if I didn’t do anything too extraordinarily dumb to get myself killed.
Instead of hurling myself off the building, I wandered the expansive penthouse. There was a mix of slate gray walls, dark wood paneling, and exposed brick from room to room.
Deciding to take advantage of the digs while I had them, I found my way to a bedroom and the adjoining bathroom. Though tempted to touch the pristine white comforter on the way, I kept my grimy digits to myself. Then thought better of it, rounded back and pressed my filthy hands on the duvet, making perfect imprints. Then I drummed on the duvet as if I were performing a show until it looked like a little mud-covered piggy had a ball.
I slightly regretted soiling the covers for Timothy’s sake, who seemed as uptight as a bleached starfish on a stick. But worth it, if I irritated his majesty even the tiniest bit.
Peeling my clothes off and throwing them in the bedroom haphazardly, I made my way toward the shower. Not because his highness wanted me to, but because I felt like it. Though being dirty wasn’t the worst thing in the world—maybe I was a wilderness explorer in my old life?—a steamy shower appealed.
The shower could have fit a party of five. It had pulsating heads positioned all the way around. As soon as the jets hit my skin, I moaned. The stream turned black as I scrubbed away sewer grit, not skimping on the blackberry sage body wash. I didn’t stop until the water ran clear.
Despite being cold as a corpse, I enjoyed the spray of near-scalding water, like a lizard. I spent the next five minutes wondering if vampires were descendants of lizards. I considered how I nearly froze when I didn’t get to drink blood. So if vampires could withstand the sun, would they splay out on hot rocks all day long?
Apparently, exhaustion had caught up to my brain. I wasn’t sure if it was from the bizarre turn of events or because dawn was breaking. The daylight seemed to always sap my energy.
With an impossibly fluffy white towel wrapped around my body, and one around my hair, I padded back into the bedroom. The closet was packed with clothes. Women’s clothes, to be exact. Were they here to accommodate all the women who passed through? Or did women come here, do the deed with Grim, and then pass…on?
My skin crawled at the idea of wearing his majesty’s dead concubines’ clothes, but they smelled and fit better than what I’d stolen from a laundromat.
Most of the options were short, glitter party dresses, so I dug deep for more. I shucked on some supple leather pants, a silver tank top, and donned a denim jacket over it. Though I had to go without panties or a bra, I didn’t mind the feel so much. After rooting through the closet some more, I even found some heeled boots in my size. At the last minute, I grabbed a long leather lace from a corset and wrapped it around my neck and tied it off. The makeshift choker mostly covered the gnarly bite scars.
Next, I moseyed around the penthouse despite being dead tired.
Haa. At least, I knew I was a funny person.
I wouldn’t be able to relax unless I scouted out the layout. To my surprise, not a single door was locked. I discovered a two-story library room, complete with fireplace, fancy old dude’s bar, and big tufted leather chairs. The thick volumes didn’t appeal, and I searched for a magazine with some celebrity face on the cover but came up empty.
Wasn’t that the damnedest thing? I had to reacquaint myself with my face in the mirror—while ruling out the no-reflection myth—but I never forgot a Kardashian. Hell of a joke.
There were two other bedrooms, and there was no doubt which was the master. Walking in his majesty’s bedroom was like strolling into a gothic theater. Heavy, black curtains with gold fringe and tassels lined the walls. The scent of smoke and sex lingered, along withhismusk. The combination made for a heady aphrodisiac that warmed and curled in my belly. A shiver went through me. Similar to the rest of the penthouse, this place was masculine sophistication, but there was something underlying this room. Lust, sin, but above all, danger.
I half-expected to see shackles, whips, or some kind of fancy BDSM equipment laid neatly out somewhere. Aside from the precisely arranged watches and clothes, there was nothing personal.
The true centerpiece was the extravagant bed. More expansive than any king-size, the backboard was a tufted forest-green velvet surrounded by large gold filigree vines. Someone had folded the dusky plum bedspread back to frame black satin sheets.
The only reason to have a mattress that massive is if you are going to fill it with people. Images of tangled limbs from Grim’s orgies flickered in my mind.
Then I wondered how many women or men—I didn’t know Grim’s preference if he even had one—had been up here. When he finished with them, did he kill them? Or if one of them begged him to take them before reaping their soul? Would he take a chosen few on those sheets and fuck them until they died? No, I didn’t want to think of that.
Despite myself, a warmth blossomed in my stomach as I imagined what he looked like stripped of his expensive suit. A girl could wrap her legs around that tapered waist, grab hold of those muscled arms and go to town.
No no no, bad vampire, I scolded myself.
After weeks of isolation, loneliness and the need for touch nearly swallowed me whole. I spent an inordinate amount of time fantasizing that someone was waiting for me to get back to them. A boyfriend, a husband, someone who loved me so much they were going out of their mind thinking I was dead. Then when I returned, they’d be so grateful and happy we would make it work, even though I was a vampire. I’d promise never to bite him in bed, and he’d warm my blood for me every morning in a mug that said, “Bloodsucker in the streets, vamp in the sheets.”
But Grim would never do anything so domestic or mundane. Death took what he wanted, when he wanted. I could imagine those dangerous amber eyes watching a human writhe under him while he remained in complete control.
I backed out of the bedroom. My imagination had gotten away from me, and it was leading to a dark place that made me deeply uneasy.
After sufficient snooping, I lay down on one of the long leather couches. I’d only rest for a minute, then I’d come up with a plan to get out of here. The muscles in my body had turned leaden. Even my eyelids drooped. When I finally woke up again, most of the day had passed while I went into a mini coma.
