Hunter's Prey

Chapter 2

"Was I asleep?" she groaned the question out loud, confused as she moved her head so that her face was pointed at the ceiling. She put her right hand to her head. Her head hurt. She had been lying down knees curled up to her body in the fetal position.

"What happened?"  Her eyes popped open and saw mostly darkness. It was cold.

"Where am I?" She began to panic. Her heart rate and breathing increasing. Her eyes attempting to see anything but the faint light coming from her, from her strands of hair. Her clothes were different. Her luminous dress was gone. She wore something with sleeves down to her wrists and pants down to her ankles. Her shoes were gone as well.

She stretched out her limbs to get a feel for her surroundings and hit something cold and hard. She sat up and felt around with her hands.

"A cage," she gasped. The cage had bars all along the sides. Her people did not use cages, they had no need for them. But there were plenty of cages in the ruins. A shiver ran along her spine.

Light flooded all around her. She couldn't really see much because there appeared to be cages all around her, some taller, some wider. They all seemed to be made from some sort of metal.

She heard footsteps and cowered remembering the man who stood in front of her in the forest. She huddled down and backed into a corner of the cage, wishing to disappear.

"My bracelet." She looked down at her wrist and saw the cream colored fabric of the outfit she was wearing. Her hand had a white bandage wrapped around her palm. She looked around herself in a panic. The bracelet was gone now.

The footsteps became louder and louder until they stopped. She did not want to look up. She could guess what stood in front of her, in front of the cage he had put her in. He knelt down in front of the cage assessing her. She had her head down and was crouching in one of the corners, afraid.

"This won't do," his deep voice grumbled aloud. She could not understand his language. He let out a heavy sign and opened the door to the cage.

The door to the cage had been opened for seconds, minutes. She didn't know. But she knew she was running. The floor was cold. Soon she was being lifted in the air. She did not get very far before he caught up to her.

She let out a blood curdling scream. He just held her closely to himself, his arms around her waist, her back up to his front. She kicked her legs outward and thrashed her arms. It was useless. He was very strong. Feeling hopeless, she began to cry, letting her arms and legs go limp. He picked her up scooping up her legs with one of his arms, his other arm around her back. She did not dare look at him and instead turned her head to face outward away from the man carrying her, away from her captor. She let the tears run down her face, feeling hopeless.

He took her through a few corridors, all of them a light tan color, until he stood in front of a black colored door. The door disappeared in front of him. She thought it was odd and wondered where it went.

He walked inside still holding her. It was comfortable, dark yet comfortable. There was a dark couch and chairs. She couldn't really make out the colors because of the dim light. There were a few paintings, maybe, on the walls. There weren't any windows. He walked past to another room where there was a large bed in the middle of the room. No windows in this room either. The bed hovered over the ground and had dark colored bedding. He put her down on it.

The bed was soft and comfortable. She thought about running again when he placed her on it. Then immediately realized that he would only catch her again. She started crying even harder. He patted her on the head, a gesture she thought was strange, and walked out of the room. She curled her knees up towards her body and cried until exhaustion and sleep finally took over.

She woke up startled. It was very dark around her. Someone was sleeping beside her. Someone was breathing. She leapt out of bed and her feet barely hit the ground when she was being pulled up and back on the bed. She let out another scream as her bottom landed on the bed. She thought about trying to fight for freedom again, but only tears came out. She did not cry aloud this time, only small whimpers came out. He hugged her close to himself. His front to her back as they both laid down. He held her very tightly around her body and she could feel the muscles of his body. She stopped crying as her mind wandered.

She had never seen a man that looked like him. The men she knew had leaner muscles and maybe only a few were close to as tall as this man. He was warm and he smelled like the forest, like the river that ran through it, like the trees that moved in the breeze, like the small flowers that popped up occasionally on the forest floor. But he smelled of more. Like many forests all different, yet somehow similar.

"Strange." She thought to herself. He was intoxicating and the feel of him had her mind going to forbidden places.

"Stop." She scolded herself. Her cheeks were flushed and she felt a heat and a tingling sensation going through her body. It was especially noticeable between her legs. Her cheeks flushed more.

"No, no, no." She told herself. He was her captor and she had been promised to someone. She didn't even know this man.

He let her go, but now she just laid there. She was too tired to move, too tired to think and very confused about the new feelings she was experiencing. She fell asleep once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please excuse any errors. Also please tell me how I'm doing. Comment. Your comments are appreciated. Please remember to be respectful.