Over and over she thought about the consequences of staying rather than trying to escape to take her chances with the police. In her gut, she knew the answer to her dilemma, but was afraid of admitting it to herself. As minute after minute passed, she couldn’t delay her decision any longer. She would stay.

However, there was one thing she had to do first: she needed to call her parents to tell them she was all right and that she would be home soon. One short phone call, only for a few seconds, that’s all she needed. Short enough that nobody could trace it back to Oliver’s house.

But since Oliver had removed the phone from her room, she had to find another one. Maybe he kept a spare one somewhere. If not, she would have to venture downstairs once he was asleep and try the library or the kitchen. Didn’t everybody have a phone in the kitchen?

Ursula reached for the remote and switched on the TV, turning up the volume so the sound masked her own actions. She was fully aware that vampires had excellent hearing, sharper than that of any human. Let him think she was watching TV.

While a dull infomercial about the latest weight loss drug droned from the monitor, she explored the bedroom.

Thoroughly, she went about her search, not leaving a single corner untouched. However, her hopes were quickly dashed: no computer with internet access, no old cell phone, no spare phone she could plug into the wall jack. What he had in abundance were music CDs and a large collection of movies on DVD.

If she didn’t know any better, she would have imagined this room belonged to a perfectly normal man, a human man, not a vampire. Everything looked so decidedly . . . normal.

Not that she had ever been in a vampire’s bedroom before. Even though she knew that most of the vampire guards lived in the same building that she’d been imprisoned in, she had never been to the lower floors where their quarters were located.

Disappointed that she had found nothing useful, she plopped onto the bed, propping the two pillows behind her back, and started flicking through the channels. When she turned her head, she inhaled a heady scent: masculine, strong, appealing. She recognized that smell: it was the same way Oliver had smelled when she’d kissed him. It did something to her. It made her want to touch herself to find release. Damn it, but she wouldn’t do it. She wouldn’t touch herself, because she was turned on by the scent of a vampire!

Shame coursed through her at the mere thought of it. No, she would not sink that low, no matter how long she’d not felt any sexual satisfaction. Even though she wasn’t shackled any longer, she would not give into her desires now. Soon she would be truly free. Then she could begin to live again.

Ursula closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to think of other things. Of going back to college to finish her education, of finally seeing her parents again. Of going out to movies with friends, of family gatherings, of trips to the beach. Things any normal young woman wanted. Things that had been stolen from her.

With a sigh, she relaxed into the pillows and pulled one corner of the blanket over her lower body to ward off the chill she suddenly felt. Tiredness crept up her legs and settled in her belly. Maybe she would just nap for a few minutes. Only to gain her strength back.

Ursula jerked up to a sitting position. For a second she didn’t know where she was, but then it all came back to her. It hadn’t been a dream.

“Good morning,” a male voice said, making her heart stop and her head spin in the direction it came from.

Relief took two more seconds to set in when she realized that a news caster on TV had spoken the words, greeting his viewers as he started one of the local morning shows.

Jumping up from bed, she ran to the window, pushing the heavy drapes aside. When she looked outside, she realized that even though it was already daylight, not much of it penetrated the window pane. She focused her eyes on the glass and noticed that a thin colored film was over it, which appeared to limit the amount of sunlight entering the room. She wondered whether this film worked like a sun block, even though it wasn’t dark enough to block out all rays like a black cover would have done. Was it maybe reflective on the other side, thus diverting sunlight like a mirror?

Well, it didn’t matter to her. It was time to get ready. She had to stalk downstairs and find a phone.

Nervousness made her mouth feel parched. To find relief, she marched into the bathroom and gulped down a mouth full of water from the faucet, then stared at herself in the mirror. The puffiness around her eyes had waned and nobody would ever know that she’d cried. Why that made her feel better, she didn’t know. It wasn’t like she cared about a vampire’s opinion of her.