Dhampirica

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"YOU'RE WASTING YOUR ENERGY," came not the first of Lord Dante's dry remarks of the night. It was one of many derisive responses to Yvanna's attempts to escape from her handcuffs in the past few hours. Unfortunately for her, she was in a slightly more difficult position than he was. Whilst Lord Dante's hands and legs were cuffed in front of him, Yvanna's hands were not. She tried twisting the cuffs and jamming them against the wall in order to break them, but to no avail. She then tried shuffling towards the bathroom cupboards to see if she could find anything useful, but was equally unsuccessful.

"Better energy than time," she replied, but gave up for the time being. She slumped back against the wall. She would have to think of a different approach. "What's your solution then?"

"You could try picking the cuff lock with a hairpin," he suggested.

"My hair came undone when we were attacked," she pointed out, though he already knew that. Regardless, it was not as if she knew how to pick a lock anyway. Thinking on it, however, it seemed like a worthwhile skill to learn in school.

"What about dislocating our thumbs to get out of the cuffs?" was his next suggestion. "I saw it in a movie once."

"That doesn't work when the handcuffs are locked on tight, you know."

"Well, then there's nothing," he said sulkily. "Even if we somehow get out of these, the door has a combination lock."

There was something. There was the offer the human had made to her, but it would not make a lot of difference anyway. He would not release her until he knew for certain who she was, and he would soon find out. The moment he did, Lord Dante would never be free. Perhaps it was for this reason that Lord Dante avoided suggesting the idea. Perhaps he worried that if she thought on it for too long, she might actually consider accepting. But regardless of her feelings toward him, Yvanna could not allow him to be harmed. That was not how she was raised.

"We'll think of something," she said quietly. She felt like a broken record, but truly she did not know what else to say. She could not bring herself to vocalize just how hopeless she felt. She did not want to admit that she had failed him. She had only been his minder for two weeks, and she was sure his father was already regretting his decision.

He gave a short laugh. "Is that before or after I end up attacking you? Or perhaps they'll kill us first."

As he spoke, she saw something spark in his eyes. An idea.

She straightened up. "You thought of something. What is it?"

He leaned back against the wall. "It doesn't matter. You wouldn't like it anyway."

"Tell me."

He eyed her from the corner of his gaze. "I just thought... maybe I could attack you. I could drink just enough of your blood to make it look like you'll die without their help. They'll be forced to unlock your leg cuffs if they want to carry you out of here. I'm willing to bet they have blood bags and some medical supplies here, so you should be fine. The question is whether it'll be enough for us to get out."

It wasn't enough. Not only that, but she was also repulsed by the idea of being fed from. She was dhampiri — a minder — not some human. She was not even sure she could remain conscious enough, after the fact, to make a move against their captors. There were so many things that could go wrong with this plan.

It wasn't enough, but it was all they had.

With that in mind, she gave him a slow nod. "We have to try, but it needs to be at the right moment. They need to believe you're hungry enough to attack me, but we can't wait until Monday morning. We'll do it at dawn."