Page 21

Because kidnapping women was so polite.

So, when yet another chicken salad sandwich was delivered to me, I asked to see Lukas.

I have no idea who the person was that delivered my food. I hadn’t gotten a name, but the guy rarely spoke. He just dropped off a covered platter and left.

“Miss?” His eyes were about to bulge out of his head.

Trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice, I said, “I just really want something different to eat. You said menu changes weren’t allowed so I need to ask someone else.”

He gave me a short bow and scurried away.

Five minutes later, the man I’d asked for walked in. There was no way my face didn’t turn a hundred shades of his favorite color when the first thing he did was glance at my hands.

“You asked to see me.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Yeah,” I replied. He was so imposing it took me a moment to remember what I was going to ask.

He waited patiently. “Can I please have something other than this?” I held the sandwich up and placed it down again. “It's not bad or anything, I just can’t eat the same thing every day. All day long. For every meal.”

“A different sandwich. That can be arranged.”

He turned on his heel but stopped when I said, “Something non-sandwich. Please.”

Lukas faced me. “That would require utensils. Utensils that you misuse for target practice.”

“It's not like you don’t catch them.”

He drummed his fingers along his thigh and his chin jutted as he looked at the floor.

“Please? I promise I’ll stop trying to stab you with them.” Just then, I remembered the stiletto in his desk. This whole time, I had something way better than ordinary silverware.

I could have sworn he subdued a smirk, and I watched him carefully. “As you wish,” he said, marching out the door.

With no idea if something else would be delivered, I picked at my current meal for a moment. Honestly, I had no complaints about the quality of the food. It was delicious.

Something comparable back home would have been extremely expensive. The ingredients were beyond fresh and flavorful. It was shocking everyone here was so fit and healthy, with this kind of food hanging around.

But, also, I’d never heard of a fat vampire. The reminder of what I was surrounded by soured my mood, and my appetite.

The weapon was still in the drawer, and I grabbed it, tucking it under my pillow. I had just left the side of the bed when Lukas returned.

It was an odd sight, seeing him holding food. He placed the new meal on the coffee table. There were a steak and some vegetables, and a buttered roll. It smelled good enough that my appetite sparked again.

“Do you eat? I mean food,” I corrected myself. “I have no idea if I’m supposed to ask that.”

“Occasionally. I have no need for it although that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it.” He glanced at his desk, and I shifted on my seat. Could he possibly know? “Thank you for getting me something else.”

Lukas’s eyes narrowed just a fraction, and he rubbed his chin. I wished I knew what he was thinking. “You are welcome,” he said.

The door shut and with him gone, I dug in, trying to keep my appreciative moans quiet. The lights flickered, and it struck me how even foreign lands had issues with power grids.

There was a twenty-four-hour blackout once, when I was a kid. Someone had hacked into the power company and shut everything down. My mother fed me and my dad ice cream sundaes for dinner, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever playing with flashlights all day and night.

The event had turned into something kind of like a snow day, where all regular activities were shuffled to the side and my parents acted like little kids with me. I missed them. A lot. It was pointless to think about them too much as it didn’t do me any good, but every now and then, I indulged. The combination of flickering lights and the lack of personal security brought up old memories.

I had to wonder what kind of new ones I’d be forming here.

As I chewed the steak, I focused on the windows across the room. There were no clocks in the room, but if I had to guess, I would have said it was around midday. The sun’s angle indicated it had to have been pretty close to directly overhead. Would Lukas let me go outside?