Chapter 14: The Man In The Shadows
Annalise kept her eyes trained on the person hiding in the shadows of the room as she slowly moved towards the farthest corner of the pool, creating as much space between herself and that person as possible.
"Who... w-who are you?" She repeated her question when that person refused to respond to her previous one.
Still, there came no reply. And the silence only made her heart race like a maniac. She chewed on her lower lip as her eyes suddenly looked around the pool room which appeared way darker than it was a couple of minutes ago and as usual, even her enhanced sight couldn’t see through the darkness that resided inside the castle.
The thought of calling out for help entered her mind but she hurriedly shook it away. She was in the farthest corner of the castle. There was next to no chance that anyone would hear her and if no one heard her, she would only end up alerting the person in the shadows.
As her thoughts returned to the intruder, her eyes hurriedly moved to look in the direction where he/she was hiding but that place was empty now. That person had taken advantage of her distraction and changed their hiding place.
Annalise became even more anxious as she couldn’t seem to find that person anymore but her instincts were telling her that he/she was still there, hiding in the shadows.
If it had been some other place or time, she would have already escaped from the room or at least, had tried to. However, her current situation wasn’t favorable at all. She was not only underdressed but also wet from head to toe. Leaving the pool wasn’t an option and she could do nothing about the intruder by staying inside the pool.
"Are you looking for me?"
A gasp escaped Annalise’s lips as she felt the warm breath against her ear as the man whispered the question to her. At the very same time, one of his hands snaked around her shoulders and wrapped itself around her collarbone.
Goosebumps shot all over her body as she hurriedly turned her face to look at the man while her body was pinned in place by the force of his hand. Her eyes found themselves looking into brightly glowing red orbs that reminded her of the vampires she had read about in the books.
She couldn’t look away from his eyes even if she wanted, even when there was a voice inside her head that was telling her constantly to get away from the man. Something about him, or his eyes, was making her stay in her place.