A thousand razor blades dug themselves within Evonne’s head. At least that’s what her mind visualized when she began to wake. She writhed amidst the pain, the agony too great for her body to remain asleep. With all the strength, she pulled herself to sit. Her eyes looked around the familiar room. She almost stopped breathing. Not here. Her stomach knotted.
     Sliding from the bed, she shuffled across the floor to the door, each of her movements adding to the pain. The door was locked. Why am I not surprised? Taking in an uncomfortable deep breath, she slowly moved around her bedroom and to her tall dresser. There was no fighting this right now. She just wanted a nice relaxing shower. Gathering up a few clothes, she headed into the bathroom and closed the door.
     Evonne stared at herself in the mirror. Half of her didn’t want to admit what she saw. The young lady staring back was unknown to her. She looked as though she hadn’t slept in weeks. All of the trademarked signs were there: the dark circles under her eyes, pale skin, and disheveled hair. She tilted her head to the side. The bite left by Keelan still looked menacing. But there was something odd about the emotions she felt while surveying the mark. She felt proud. Even if her father looked upon her, the disgust in his eyes as he knew she permitted this, there was no remorse in her actions. She was helping a friend and not some monster. It was so much more clear to her now. She didn’t belong here.
     Turning from the mirror, Evonne opened the small linen closet and grabbed a pastel colored towel. She buried her face into its softness and inhaled. Now this she missed. It was like an unknown memory triggered into life by the smallest molecule of time—the chill of fall in the air, the taste of a childhood food, or the scent of a clean towel. It allowed her to forget everything in that precious second. The shower, however, had the opposite affect.
     Every thought and emotion from her time away bombarded into the forefront. One after another, her chaotic mind refused to quiet under her command. The recap in events refueled her anger towards her father.
     Finishing her shower, she headed back into her room and found a tray of food waiting for her at the foot of the bed. She turned on her TV and sat on her bed to eat. A shower, clean clothes, and a nice breakfast—her heightened anger from earlier was beginning to ease. She flipped the channels to something light—cartoons.
     The tray of food emptied fast. She began with the cream cheese cover bagel then moved onto the two pancakes and sausage, ending with the large glass of orange juice. Breakfast foods, but was it really morning? She looked to her windows, noticing them for the first time. The shadows cast over her curtains hinted at something different. She threw them open and found the metal bars, concealing her inside like a prisoner. Though it may have been her father’s main intentions to keep anything from entering her room, she saw them differently. The anger stirred again.
     Evonne heard the bedroom door unlock and open. She looked to see her father enter. Returning to her bed, she grabbed the remote and flipped through the channels, ignoring her father’s presence.
     “I’m glad to have you back,” he finally said. His words seemed unsure, as though he debated whether or not to speak at all.
     Evonne kept her eyes on the TV. “Do you even care about me at all?”
     Alex was hurt. What kind of question was that? “I do care about you. What makes you think otherwise?”
     “If you care about me, then why lie to my? Why keep me locked up here?” She changed the channels faster, not even registering was she skipped over.
     “It’s to keep you safe.” He paused, knowing that the answer was too simple for her. “I wasn’t sure you would understand my past or not. That is why I decided to wait.”
     “I don’t want to stay here any longer,” she replied, struggling hard not to let her anger show.
     “What? Are you saying that you want to go back to them?” He shook his head. “Evonne, it is dangerous out there. It was dangerous with them.”
     She looked at him. There was something in the wording of his last statement. “Did you kill them?”
     “No. I didn’t.”
     Evonne let a visible sigh escape her.
     “My orders,” he continued, “were that if they found you alive, they were allowed to live. And if not, those with you were to be destroyed. But you’re alive and back home. I couldn’t ask for anything else.”
     “What about David? You don’t want him back?”
     “He’s dead.”
     Her eyes went back to the TV as she admitted, “I saw him.” She let the words sink in.
     Her father didn’t reply.
     “He misses his life here,” she continued, “but he doesn’t mourn it. And you know what surprised me the most? He doesn’t miss this place at all. He’s actually thankful to be away from here.” She looked at him and added, “And I’m beginning to see things the same way.” She saw her father’s eyes drop to her neck.
     “I can’t believe this,” he fumed. “You willingly allowed yourself to be tainted by them?”
     She placed her hand to her neck, feeling more vulnerable now than when she received the bite. “My body, not yours.”
     “You have to believe me when I say that I care about you. I don’t want to see the same thing happen to you that happened to Zachary. I know I’ve made mistakes in the past, but you aren’t innocent in this either. If you would’ve listened to me, then all of this could’ve been avoided.”
     “Listened to you? Like one of your soldiers? I’m not a soldier! I’m your damn daughter! And now you’re treating me like a fuckin’ prisoner!”
     Alex was taken aback at her choice of words. “These are my rules and you will follow them!” He left the room, locking the door from the outside.
     Evonne wanted to throw the tray at the door: glass, plates, and all. She instead let out a huff and squeezed the remote, the plastic casing popping under the strain. Her hand eased and she fell back on her bed. Forget him. Forget it all and just kill him with kindness. She wanted to roll her eyes at the idea. I don’t think that’s physically possible for me at the moment.
     She stood from the bed and looked out her window. The midmorning sun shone into her room. The tingling sensation she once felt was not as strong as before. Her blood was winning the battle, but Gabriel’s blood remained strong within her. How long would it take until she was completely free from it? She could imagine that in a few days, as the blood faded, the further away from freedom she would feel.
     Her eyes scanned over the yard below. If she had the chance to escape, then what would her plan be? Where would she go? There was nothing she could do.
     Defeated, Evonne returned to the bed and continued to flip through the channels. In the back of her mind, she trusted that Keelan and Gabriel would come after her. But when? Not now, of course. Things were still too heated around here.
     A calmness fell over her. Hurry up and get here.