Escape

She couldn't believe that the vampire who had bought her was eating in front of her while letting her starve without offering a single bite from the table. She swallowed at the sight of food, trying to hold back the hunger that was churning in her stomach. She had thought the man who bought her was a good man, but she should have known better. 

Penny looked away from the food as well as the man to stare at the wall which had a painting of a deer in it. It was a simple image yet there was something very disturbing about it, with the way it was painted. Looking away from it too, she stared at the ground for the remainder of the time until the vampire was done eating. 

And over the course of his meal, not once had he offered her the food which he ate. It was understandable at some level of the system that they lived in. She was a slave beneath his status, even an elite didn't have a meal with a regular man or a woman, and here she was someone of no value but the irony was that he had placed a value high enough for no one to buy her. In the end haggling with a word of a lie to give only three thousand gold coins. 

Instead of concentrating on the food and the scent of it, she tried remembering the doors of the inn which was somewhat similar to a mansion. She had noticed a door at the back, all she needed was to get to it and out of there. Far enough for the man to not catch her in this land before going to a human town. That way she would be safe, thought Penny to herself. 

A human land because they were much more trusting compared to the vampires in her eyes. With no brand on her skin, he wouldn't be able to do anything to her. He wouldn't be able to claim her to be the slave he bought. With that thought, she patiently waited in time. He was having the last course of his meal when she decided to put her theatrical skills to use which were minimum. 

Her legs moved enough beneath her body for Damien to notice her, "What is wrong?" he asked. She let herself frown slightly as if in discomfort, she said,

"I need to use the bathroom."

The man stared hard at her, not speaking and letting the seconds increase making her worried. He hadn't offered her food and she hoped she wouldn't be denied to go to the bathroom. 

When a servant arrived at the room they were in, Damien spoke, "Take her to the bathroom and bring her back here," he ordered the woman who bowed her head. 

The servant who was a human-like herself had shown utmost respect to the vampire but when she turned to look at Penny, she raised her brows as if she was too tired before leading the way outside. Penny noticed it, her eyes narrowed but at the same time, Damien noticed her expression.

"Little mouse," Damien called Penny who stood up, "We need to fix that attitude of yours. Go now, we need to leave in ten minutes," he took a bite from the fork. 

Not waiting for another word, she turned around to follow the maid. As they made their way out of the room through the corridor, she didn't see anyone around and felt some kind of relief. Looking left and right, she asked the servant, "Where is the bathroom?" but the servant woman never answered back to her as if she hadn't even spoken a word. 

Sighing, she didn't bother to ask again knowing she wouldn't be getting an answer. The shackles around her feet made her nothing less than a prisoner and keeping up with the servant was hard with little movements. Finally reaching around a corner, the servant woman didn't say anything but opened the door leaving it open. 

"Berium," another servant came to call her, "Mistress is asking for you."

"Tell her I am occupied with Mr. Quinn," said the servant name who had led Penny the way.

"It is urgent. The spoons are missing from the drawers," the other girl whispered for Berium to huf. 

The servant woman turned to give Penny a look before saying, "I will be back here. Don't go anywhere," she instructed. Even though the place looked like any other regular inn, the place was filled with pureblooded vampires. Anyone wandering around without a chaperone was sure to get into trouble and that was exactly what happened with Penny. 

After she had stepped into the bathroom as if she wanted to use it, she peeked out of the room after a few seconds to note that both the servants had disappeared from there. Slowly tip-toeing, while she slid her feet across the floor so that it wouldn't alert anyone of her presence. The task seemed harder than what she had imagined but Penny was quick. Taking a sharp turn, she went to see the back door which was wide open. 

The door glowed in her mind, like heaven waiting for her, and she could hardly contain the relief that the sight brought to her mind. 

Turning around to make sure there was no one seeing her, she slipped and walked through the door to finally be able to breathe. Running was impossible in this condition but she didn't want to hide here where there were people who could easily catch her. Looking forward, the inn was surrounded by trees but it was situated next to the village which they had passed by before the carriage had stopped in front of this inn. For now, she could go there. 

Deciding to leave with the shackles still around her both feet, she readied herself to walk but at the same time, something came flying from above to fall a few feet away from her.

Penny who was in a hurry to leave stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a dead body laying flat and cold on the ground. For a moment shock took over her body and she didn't know what to do. 

Was she supposed to leave the woman who was on the ground and flee or was she supposed to go help her? Her heart started to beat quickly.

Closing her eyes she cursed at herself before going to the woman.

"Miss?" she shook the person but the woman was long dead. Penny looked up from where the person might have fallen. There were a series of windows above and all of them were open. As she tried to wake the woman, she finally checked the breathing where no air came to be breathed on her fingers. 

The woman was dead and like the woman, Penny's fingers turned cold. She doubted she would be able to run after seeing the dead woman lying cold on the wet ground behind the inn. By the color of the eyes, she noticed that it was a human as seconds passed, so did the blood that started to spill and spread around the woman's head. 

Staggering back, she went inside the inn, her shackles clinking for Damien to appear before she could turn around. As if noticing something was wrong, Damien walked towards her, smelling something.

"What are you doing here? Did you hurt yourself?" 

"O-outside," she stammered with a shaky voice. It wasn't the first time for Penny to see a dead body as she had seen her mother's but she had seen nothing like this before. 

The pureblooded vampire gave her a look before walking towards the open door which led to the backside of the inn. After several minutes he returned back his expression grave and dark. Without giving her time, he took hold of her arm, dragging her with him. His hand on her wasn't gentle which made her flinch.

"Ow, where are you taking me?" she cried softly for him to loosen his grip on her as if he didn't know his hold had been tight on her. Taking a key from his pocket, he opened the lock of the door and pushed her inside, "Stay here," he said before locking the door with the key. 

Penny placed both her hands on her head. Oh God, what just happened to that woman? Why was she dead? By the looks of how she fell it was obvious that it was a murder. What was she doing here?! She had the opportunity to run, she could have but she wanted to see if the woman was alright. Panic struck into her system, she walked back and forth in the room to pause her footsteps after a while before looking at the door that had been locked. 

When Damien opened the lock of the door, his eyes narrowed to a great extent at the sight of the girl missing in the small room. With the window open, he walked towards it to see the length of the bedsheet hanging outside the window which had been knotted for one to leave the room or in this case escape.