A/N: I got tired of Karissa and Vox’s clothing so I switched it up a bit. For story purposes, you guys can just imagine that Vox found some spare clothing and brought it to her XD Enjoy the chapter!

The door creaked, instantly jolting me awake. I’d learned to do that courtesy of Treznor always coming to pull me or Elubarin out. It was dangerous to be asleep when he came calling.

Sitting up silently, I swung my feet off the end of the plank and lightly touched them to the ground. A thin sliver of light beamed through the open door, then quickly snuffed out as the door shut. My eyes scanned the dark room in vain; my ears strained, listening for any sounds of breathing other than my own and Elubarin’s.

“Karissa!” A hushed voice came from the other side of the bars. Definitely not Treznor. I jumped off the plank and hurried to the bars. “Kariss- Oh, there you are.”

“Hey. Why are you here so late?” I whispered, trying not to wake Elubarin. He wouldn’t appreciate our visitor.

“I have something to show you. Get the key and unlock the cell door.” I sensed, rather than saw, Vox’s eyes gleaming.

I dropped to my knees near the ‘bed’ and slowly started sweeping the ground with my hands. The key was wedged between two planks somewhere around here… Elubarin snored a bit and rolled on his side above me. I froze. Thankfully, he didn’t wake up. My search slowly resumed.

Finally my hand struck something hard and metallic. Gritting my teeth, I pried the key loose and returned to Vox.

“Took you long enough,” he chuckled. I rolled my eyes and passed him the key. He passed it right back. “Nope, you have to learn how to unlock it yourself from the inside.”

“You have a point,” I grumbled.

After nearly dislocating my shoulder to get the key at the proper angle, I heard soft click as the lock sprung open. My feet stepped outside the cell without Treznor’s knowledge for the first time.

“Should I re-lock the door?” I asked, glancing at Elubarin as he slept. What would he think if he woke up and found me and the key gone?

“It’s up to you. Nobody usually comes and checks the cells this late, but I could be wrong.”

I swallowed nervously and hoped that I was making the right choice. “I’ll lock it then. That way Elubarin won’t think I left without him and come looking for me. Or… he might think I purposely trapped him in there.“

Vox shrugged, being no help. In the end, I locked it just in case someone came to check. I could always explain myself to Elubarin later.

“Have they really not noticed the spare key is missing yet?” I asked Vox as he led me through a series of winding hallways.

“Nope. Don’t need the spare until the original goes missing.” He shook his head and laughed. “You’d think they would keep a better eye on their keys. Oop, wait. Be quiet around here – there’s a meeting room through those doors.”

We kept to the shadows, slinking down the corridor on tiptoe past the room. Vox yanked my arm up a narrow flight of stairs and around another corner. The only thing that greeted us was a long row of bookshelves. There wasn’t anywhere to go.

Vox pulled aside one of the shelves, revealing a hidden study. “Through there,” he whispered.

“What the- How did you know this was here?” I marveled at all the books, the cosy looking chair, the antique wooden desk.

“Treznor’s private study.” He winked while walking over to the window. “There are some privileges to being stuck in this castle for so long. For instance, this window -” With a grunt, he heaved it open. “-leads right out onto a turret. Go on.”

He waved a hand at the window, now open about a foot. I doubted I would even fit. “You can’t be serious. What could possibly be out there that you want to show me?”

“Well, in case you didn’t notice, I’m showing you an escape route. I hope you memorized the way here.” I made a face at him. “Right… Well, pay attention on our way back.”

We squeezed through the window, with Vox obviously unaware that my butt was way bigger than his, thus leading me to almost get stuck. Some escape route...

Once through, I joined Vox at the open space in the middle of the turret and took a deep breath. The air was so clean. I looked up at the deep night sky and laughed. There were stars. In the distance there were shadowy trees and rolling hills as far as I could see.

“Feels great, doesn’t it?” Vox murmured.

I nodded my agreement and gazed back at the Silva. How long had it been since I’d seen the outdoors? It was all so beautiful. There were still a few vampires roaming between the trees, but the forest was so leafy I doubted they could see us. For the first time, I started feeling like this escape plan might work.

“If you timed it right, you could climb down the side of this turret and make a run for it. You just need to know which direction to run.”

“And which direction should I run?”

He laughed and pointed to the right. “I would go that way if I were you. Might not take you straight home, but it’s a start.”

I looked right and pondered what he had said. “Alright, you may be a genius but there’s no way you figured all this out in a few weeks. How long have you known about the window?”

“Got me there.” Vox raised his hands in mock surrender. “This is one of the first things I discovered when I started ‘working’ for Treznor. So it’s been about… five years?”

“Damn,” I whistled. “And you didn’t try to escape?”

“Had nowhere to go. My parents… Well, I never want to see them again. And none of my friends had room to take me in.”

“You can come to the Palace with me. We’ve got more than enough room,” I offered. The thought of living with Vox… Agh, it made me want to blush.

“I would, but I doubt your father would like that. He’d probably think I’m the one that kidnapped you for ransom.”

I sighed and turned away, resisting the urge to shake him and yell that anyplace was better than here. But since he seemed to be in a sharing mood, I decided to ask something I’d been dying to know since he first brought it up. “You know… I’m sure you know all about me, but I know barely anything about you. Why are you a prisoner?”

“Mm, I don’t know everything about you that I want to.” Vox gave me this devilish smile straight out of a cheesy Rom Com movie and suddenly I was aware of how close he was to me.

“You didn’t answer my question.” I tried not to sound overly mad. Or overly flirty…

His face seemed to sober up and go serious immediately. “They’re punishing me because I saved you the first time.”

“You’re here because of me?” A heavy seed of guilt planted itself inside my stomach. “They caught you after that?”

“Wasn’t hard. Like I said, I had nowhere to run to.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “I never meant for you – or Elubarin – to get caught up in all this because of me.”

He opened his arms and I gratefully buried my face on his shoulder. “The vampires had their own reasons for taking Elubarin. From what I’ve overheard, he has quite a nasty past with them.”

We stood there a while, me clinging to his shirt, until he quietly added, “I convinced Treznor that beating you everyday won’t work. And that Elubarin needs more time between feedings so he can recover. It should buy you some time to escape.”

“But what about you?” My voice came out like a whimper.

“I can get out on my own.” Vox sighed, then tugged my hair so we were looking eye-to-eye. “You guys need to figure out a good time to escape and go when it’s convenient for you. You can’t wait for me to do everything. What if the vampires find out I’ve been helping you? They’ll throw me back in the cell at the very least and you’d never see me again.”

“What if I escape and still never see you again?” He deserved freedom too.

Before I even registered what was going on, he leaned down and pressed his lips against mine.

“There. Just in case I never see you again after tonight.” I looked up at him half in surprise, half in ecstasy. He smiled and let go, backed away and sat down facing the stars.

I could’ve walked away. I could’ve gone back to the cell and pretended that this never happened, but I didn’t. Instead, something stupidly made me walk over and kneel down next to him, grab his face, and kiss him a lot longer than the first time.

“If I only get one kiss from you, it has to be a good one.”

“Technically that was two…” was his response.

“Do you really think I can make it out of here?” I sighed and leaned up against Vox. He was so warm… Might as well enjoy it while lasts.

“I know you can. You’re strong, and smart. You’ll make it.”

I nodded, not knowing what else to say. After a moment, I sighed again and said, “Should we go back now?”

And almost as if he read my mind, he pointed to the stars and said, “Nah. We may as well enjoy them while we’re here.”