Free Moon Tortured (Sky Brooks Series Book 1) by McKenzie Hunter Page B

weather called for. Today was an unseasonably warm fall day and I was about to enjoy it.
    “Going somewhere?” he asked with a raised brow.
    I still wasn’t sure exactly where I was, but Steven, during one of our many conversations, disclosed that I was just 38 miles from Chicago. This meant I wasn’t too far from my home. It made staying there a little easier.
    I nodded. “The city … I need to go to the city,” I blurted out. “I don’t have a car, and remarkably, the GPS on my phone can’t seem to locate this place; a taxi is out of the question.”
    His lips pressed together, forming an unwelcoming line. “What do you need in the city?”
    I need to get the hell out of here.
    “I need to go to the city,” I repeated
    “What do you need? I will have someone pick it up for you,” he stated obstinately.
    I let out an exaggerated sigh, “I need to get out of here. I’ve been cooped up in this house for four days, and I can’t stand it any longer. You claim I’m not being held captive—”
    “—you’re not.”
    “Then I would like to leave for just a little while,” I admitted.
    He stared at me for a long moment; it seemed like he was about to deny my request, when he glanced up behind me. A whisk of a smile slowly settled on his face. I didn’t need to turn around; I heard her gentle gait and sensed the faint floral scent, Joan.
    “Fine,” announced his forced surrender through tightly pulled lips as though obliging my request pained him. I was willing to bet it was because he hated that Joan forced him to be amicable, when all he really wanted to do was keep me locked up.
    “If it makes you feel better, I will stop by a church to get some holy water, and I am wearing a cross,” I informed him.
    He held the cross between his fingers, “Unless you plan on giving the cross to the vampire as a gift and providing the holy water as a refreshing beverage, then you are pretty much defenseless,” he stated dryly. “They have an aversion to the cross but it doesn’t make them weak as legend would have you believe. If anything, it’ll further irritate them and they’ll just take your arm with it as they snatch it from you.”
    I shuddered at the image. “Unless they’re up for a daylight stroll, I will be okay.”
    “Ethan will take you,” he stated firmly.
    Well, Sebastian, that would totally defeat the purpose of this day-trip, which was to stay as far away from him as possible.
    “Is Steven here?” I asked.
    “Yes he is. Ethan will meet you out front,” he walked passed me into his office and closed the door.
     

     
    Ethan met me out front in a dark SUV. He looked about as happy chaperoning me as I was about him taking me. It was quite apparent, even if I couldn’t feel the palpable anger that surrounded him like a cocoon. The petty side of me found a little joy in that. Ha! Ha!
    On the drive away from the house, I saw why the GPS couldn’t pick up a signal and navigating from the house was so difficult. It was placed in the middle of no man’s lands, only enough land cleared of trees and vegetation to build the small compound. Calling it a house seemed so inefficient; an estate seemed too pristine. There were three exits from the back, side and front. It was close to a three-mile ride to get off the property. Then it dropped into a single-lane road that I’m sure wouldn’t show up on my GPS either. This was where you go to disappear, your existence camouflaged by nature and desolation.
    I made a mental note that it was nearly a half an hour before I was in civilized territory, where the map on my phone could determine where I was, where I felt that if I ran into someone, they wouldn’t be hiding from the world.
    He was quiet as he navigated through the city, darting in and out of the congested freeway traffic, pissing off people without remorse. After close to an hour of horrid Chicago traffic, we found ourselves driving through the crowded streets, bumping over roads destroyed by