A cellar? A cellar without windows?
But she was just fooling herself. She knew. The skin of her face seemed to sense the pressure of tons of rock above her. Her ears told her that that musical dripping was water on rock, very far away. Her nose told her that she wasn't in any building. And her fingers could feel the natural irregularity of the ground underneath her.
She didn't want to believe it. But the knowledge crowded in on her, inescapable.
I'm in a cave.
A cave or a cavern. Anyway, I'm inside the earth. God knows how deep inside. Deep enough and far enough that I can't see any light from an entrance or vent hole.
Very deep inside, her heart told her.
She was in the loneliest place in the world. And she was going to die here.
Hannah had never had claustrophobia before. But now she couldn't help feeling that the mass of rock around and above her was trying to crush her. It could fall in at any minute, she thought. She felt a physical pressure, as if she were at the bottom of the ocean. She began to have trouble breathing.
She had to get her mind off it. She refused to turn into that screaming, gibbering thing in the darkness again. Worse than the thought of dying was the thought of going insane down here.
Think about Thierry. When he finds out you're missing he'll start looking for you. You know that. And he won't give up until he finds you. But I'll be dead by then, she thought involuntarily. This time, instead of fear, the idea of her death brought a strange poignant loneliness.
Another life where I missed him, she thought. She blinked against tears suddenly. Oh, God. Great.
It's so hard. So hard to keep hoping that someday it's going to work out. But I'll meet him again in my next life. And maybe I won't be so stupid then; I won't fall for Maya's tricks.
It'll be harder for him, I guess. He'll have to wait and get through the years day by day. I'll just go to sleep and eventually wake up somewhere else. And then someday he'll come for me and I'll remember . .
. and then we'll start all over.
I really did try this time, Thierry. I did my best. I didn't mean to mess things up. Promise me you'll look for me again. Promise you'll find me. I promise I'll wait for you. No matter how long it takes. Hannah shut her eyes, leaning back against the post and almost unconsciously touching the ring he'd given her. Maybe next time she'd remember it.
Suddenly she didn't feel sad or afraid anymore. Just very tired.
Eyes still shut, she grinned weakly. I feel old. Like Mom's always complaining she feels. Ready to turn this old body in and get a new...
The thought broke off and disappeared.
Was that a noise?
Hannah found herself sitting up, leaning forward as far as the rope would allow, straining her ears.
She thought she'd heard... yes. There it was again. A solid echoing sound out in the darkness.
It sounded like footsteps. And it was coming closer.
Yes, yes. I'm rescued, I'm saved. Hannah's heart was pounding so hard that she could hardly breathe to yell. But at last, just as she saw a bobbing point of light in the blackness, she managed to get out a hoarse squawk.
"Thierry? Hello? I'm over here!"
The light kept coming toward her. She could hear the footsteps coming closer.
And there was no answer.
"Thierry... ?" Her voice trailed off.
Footsteps. The light was big now. It was a beam, a flashlight. Hannah blinked at it.
Her heart was slowly sinking, until it seemed to reach stone.
And then the flashlight was right in front of her. It shone in her face, dazzling her eyes. Another light snapped on, a small camping lantern. Vision rushed back to Hannah, sending information surging to her brain.
But there was no happiness in it. Hannah's entire body was ice cold now, shivering.
Because of course it wasn't Thierry. It was Maya.
I hope I didn't disturb you," Maya said.
She put down the lantern and what looked like a black backpack. Then she stood with her hands on her hips and looked at Hannah.
I will not cry. I won't give her the satisfaction, Hannah thought.
"I didn't know vampires could really change into bats," she said.
Maya laughed. She looked beautiful in the pool of lantern light. Her long black hair fell in waves around her, hanging down her back to her hips. Her skin was milky-pale and her eyes looked dark and mysterious. Her laughing mouth was red.
She was wearing designer jeans and high-heeled snakeskin boots. Funny, Hannah had never noticed any of Maya's clothes before. Usually the woman herself was so striking that it was impossible to focus on how she was dressed.
"Not all vampires can shapeshift," Maya said. "But, then, I'm not like other vampires. I'm the first, my darling. I'm the original. And I have to say I'm getting really sick of you."
The feeling is mutual, Hannah thought. She said, "Then why don't you leave me alone? Why don't you
leave me and Thierry alone?"
"Because, then, my sweetpea, I wouldn't win. And I have to win." She looked at Hannah directly, her face oddly serious. "Don't you understand that yet?" she said softly. "I have to win-because I've given up too much to lose. It can't all be for nothing. So winning is all there is."
Chapter 15
Hannah's breath was taken away.
She hadn't expected a coherent answer from Maya... but she'd gotten one. And she did understand.
Maya had devoted her life to keeping Hannah and Thierry apart. Her long life. Her thousands of years. If she lost at this point, that life became meaningless.
"You don't know how to do anything else," Hannah whispered slowly, figuring it out.
"Oh, enough of the press conference. I know how to do lots of things-you'll find that out. I'm through fooling around with you, cupcake."