After taking a shower, Kara came out of the bathroom and fastened the belt of the robe she had seen draped over the chair's back around her waist. In addition to leaving her a robe, someone also gave her a toothbrush and a set of fresh clothing.
She had no idea who the garments belonged to and didn't give a damn. The thought of getting back into her clothing after Joseph's assault made her skin crawl, even if her garments weren't so damaged that she couldn't wear them again.
Before returning to the bathroom once again, she gave the bedroom door a quick peek. When she had woken up, Lucian had already left. The last thing she wanted was to be seen nude since she had no idea when he would return. She let go of the towel and put on the white bra that was waiting for her. She could have worn a smaller bra, but it was still comfortable enough. She slipped the white cotton underwear out of the box, put them on, and then pulled the yellow sundress over her head.
She walked over to the sink and raised her damp hair to look at her neck wound. Only the two initial puncture wounds caused by Joseph's teeth remained after it had largely healed. The thought of how she had been degraded by his onslaught made her stomach churn. Regardless of what they all thought, she felt that female hunters needed to be properly taught.
Among the scant assortment of amenities placed by the sink, she found a hairbrush. She brushed her fingers over the brush before the shaving cream container and a disposable razor that wouldn't make a very effective weapon. Her fingers shook. These belonged to Lucian personally. She had a sneaking suspicion he had done it based on the still-warm dent in his pillow she saw when she woke up. Standing here, touching his belongings, was nearly as personal as lying next to him all night.
Her hands found the hairbrush. Before using it to untangle the knots in her hair, she turned it over in her palm and admired the delicate ivory handle. She set the brush down before leaving the room once again.
She looked around the room as her stomach growled and she disregarded the food on the plate. There was no indication of any softness like the guy who slept in this room or of anything personal, from its gray walls to the enormous armoire and the chestnut headboard and footboard of the bed.
The sole picture she had of her complete family together, taken when she was five years old before her mother passed away from a fall off a horse, and her modest nightstand at home had more indications of her personality than this entire room. It also included an ever-present Shasta daisy from the greenhouses. Her first impression of the guy sleeping here would be that he was cold and austere, not at all like the man she had spoken to earlier in the day or the one who had looked at her with such passion. Who is the real him, on whose side?
It made no difference since she would never get to know him well enough to find out.
Before seeing the button next to them, she padded up to the window and ran her fingertips over the metal shutters covering them. Pushing it, she took a step back as the shutters above the picture window rolled up and neatly folded themselves. The exterior of the glass was covered with bars.
Kara walked over to the glass and leaned in to look down at the huge pool below. The plants around the pool were all weighted down by a covering of ice, and the puddles on the pool's cover were frozen. Sometime yesterday night, it rained, and it became once again frozen. Even the pool's black, wrought iron border was draped in an ice sheet.
She was unable to see what was beyond the pool area due to the fence's height. She took a step back to take another look around the room as frustration flooded her. Other than the fact that she hadn't been relocated to a tropical location while she had been asleep, neither the room nor the surroundings provided any clue of where she was.
She looked at the walls and scowled as she saw the spots of deeper gray paint. She took a while to discover that the outlines on the patches were once-hung pictures or paintings. She discovered the holes in the walls left by the removed nails while she was searching for them. Something has been removed from the walls at least 10 times.
What had become of everything? Since Lucian didn't seem to have much time for color schemes, she didn't believe he had any plans to redecorate. However, why had all the paintings and photographs been taken down?
It didn't really matter what had happened to them all in the end. But her interest was aroused.
She moved to the platter and grabbed a piece of bacon when her tummy growled once again. She also didn't know how to explain why vampires had food in their homes, but she joyfully ate the bacon before taking another piece and chewing into it.
Despite her suspicions, she nonetheless inspected her coat's pockets to make sure no weapons were still inside. She threw her coat back over the chair and turned her shoulder, happy to see she was no longer in pain.
She picked up the navy cardigan that had been laid out with the dress, put it over her shoulders, and fastened the buttons. She really didn't want to look through Lucian's belongings, but she had no other useful options in sight.
The armoire's thick oak doors were wrenched open by her. She looked at the neatly hung clothing inside as the fresh cedar aroma greeted her. The majority of them were dressed in various colored button-down shirts and jeans. There were some black cargo trousers and a black three-piece suit, both of which she thought Lucian looked dashing in.
She salivated at the thought of ripping that suit off him to show all the ridges and chiseled muscles of his chest and belly.
Stop She could no longer attribute her peculiar attraction to a vampire to the fact that she was no longer lacking at least two quarts of blood. Instead of contemplating what it would be like if Lucian kissed her, she needed to plot her escape. She had managed to escape the fortress, so surely she could navigate this one as well.
Though it had taken her a lot of planning before she was able to escape the fortress. She remembered reading a novel where the investigator used baby powder to find fingerprints, so she thought she'd try it. She sneaked outside one night to use the baby powder on the keypad beside the gate just after Nathan and the hunters had left. As the code was updated once a month, all the numbers had fingerprints on them, but she had utilized the four most obvious fingerprints to determine the correct combination of numbers.
She had spent a lot of time with Roland, the guy in charge of the stronghold's security system, over the years. She had never sat with Roland intending to leave. She disliked the arrangements made for her life, but she had never imagined doing anything different from what had been suggested. Because Roland was one of the few elderly guys still living and his tales were intriguing, she had spent time with him.
But for the whole time she had been with him, she had also seen them on video as they conversed. The houses and the huge garage with all the cars had no cameras. Nobody thought that was necessary. The outside world was the only subject of all the cameras.
Kara eventually understood that there was a minute every hour at the twenty-three mark when none of the three cameras observing the gate and highway were focused on it. Every night after the hunters were gone, she had enough time to rush up and punch two fresh combos into the pad.
She had discovered throughout the course of her years in the fortress that the system was set off by three incorrect combinations in a twenty-four-hour period. However, two unsuccessful attempts went unreported. She had hoped and prayed that none of the hunters who came after her would input the incorrect combination on their exits and entries since they would have noticed something was off.
It had taken her weeks of perseverance and unsuccessful attempts before she eventually struck lucky with the ideal mixture. Before it could open more than an inch, she shut the gate and ran away.