Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 49441 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49441 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
“I wish you would have gotten some rest,” he said as we walked toward the elevator.
“I slept on the plane,” I reminded him. “And in the car,” I added.
He nodded at that.
“I don’t know when you will be able to sleep again is all,” he said as we rode down to the lobby.
“How long could it possibly take to navigate the labyrinth?” I asked, having this growing sense of dread that I was going to quickly regret those words.
Not that it mattered anyway.
Things were already in motion.
Within a few moments, we were in the back of a town car that was heading to the address Nathaniel had provided as I flipped open the pizza box to find three separate slices of pizza.
Cheese.
Pepperoni.
And baked ziti.
I’m not proud of how erotic the moan that escaped me sounded.
I could feel Nathaniel’s gaze on the side of my face then too. And I hoped that the heat I felt moving up my neck and cheeks didn’t manifest as a blush as I wondered if he was comparing my pizza moans to the ones I’d made in the tub.
“How far is the labyrinth from here?” I asked once I’d finished gorging myself on the pizza. His words from earlier came back to me. About not knowing when I would be able to sleep again. I imagined that also meant he didn’t know when I could eat again.
“Forty minutes,” he said as we drove deeper and deeper into the woods, the trees growing tall enough to make claustrophobia start to spread through my system.
“There’s no one out here,” I remarked as we drove deeper and deeper into the wilderness.
“I believe that is the point,” he said.
I guess that made sense. If you built some super magical maze in the middle of a city, no matter how hard you tried to hide it, someone was bound to happen upon it eventually.
Anxiety was the rush in my veins, the pounding of my pulse in my throat, chest, and wrists.
Beside me, Nathaniel appeared deceptively calm. There was tension in his hand as it gripped the door handle, though, betraying the emotions he was clearly trying to hide.
Somehow, that made me feel a little better, though.
“Sir?” the driver called as, I assumed, the GPS told him we’d arrived.
“Yes, thank you,” Nathaniel said, not waiting for the driver to open his door this time.
He rushed out and moved around the car, opening my door for me.
Some part of me wanted to slam the door and tell the driver to haul it back to the nearest town.
But it was too late for that.
I was bound to this vampire now.
Through our arrangement, sure, but also something more. Something I couldn’t really name yet.
“Ready?” Nathaniel asked as I set my hand in his and let him help me out.
No.
Not the littlest bit.
“Sure,” I agreed as he slammed the door.
Then Nathaniel tapped the roof twice, and we both turned to watch the car turn and drive away, two cherry taillights fading off into the distance until there was nothing but the darkness, the chirp of the crickets, and the occasional hoot of a nearby owl.
“I don’t see a labyrinth,” I said.
Granted, I didn’t see much of anything. Whatever light the moon may have provided disappeared under the thick canopy of trees as we stood off the side of the dirt road.
“You will feel it,” he told me.
“Wait,” I said, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. “Do you know where it is?” I asked.
“This is the location,” he hedged.
“But you don’t know. You’ve never been here before.”
“No,” he admitted. “That is part of the magic. I can’t find it.”
“But I can.”
“Correct.”
“I think you’re putting a little too much faith to rest in me.”
Not only did I not see anything, I didn’t hear, smell, or feel anything either.
“I don’t,” he said, waving a hand out toward the woods.
“We’re just supposed to… walk?” I asked, lip curling.
“The faster you walk, the faster this will be over, and you can go back to your life. Two million dollars richer.”
That was a valid argument.
But my under-used leg muscles started to burn pretty quickly as we did a big loop around the woods.
To no avail.
“Nathaniel, I think maybe you are working on some faulty… wait,” I said, stiffening.
“Do you feel something?” he asked, tone taking on an excited edge.
“No,” I admitted, taking another few steps forward.
But I did hear something.
The same soft, angelic-sounding song that I’d heard in the gardens at the cathedral.
“You don’t hear that?” I asked as it grew louder and louder as if drawing me nearer.
“No,” he admitted, intense gaze on me as I listened and adjusted our path slightly. “What does it sound like?”
“Singing. Like the prettiest song you’ve ever heard, but it never stops,” I admitted as it got louder. I assumed that meant we were getting closer.