She came back to consciousness slowly, her head feeling like it was stuffed with cotton and dry as a desert. She sat up slowly, blinking to try to clear away the darkness, but it was to no avail; she couldn’t see anything. She brought her hand up to her face in an effort to see it and panicked when she could not, even when she brought her hand close enough to touch her forehead.

“You’re blind,” a man’s smooth, rich voice said out of a sudden, and she gave a start as he whipped her head around in a futile attempt to see who had spoken. Only darkness met her eyes though and she couldn’t stop the fear rising in her, though she hoped it wouldn’t show in her words.

“What do you mean, blind? I’m not blind,” her voice sounded frightened to her own ears and that angered her, so she took a deep calming breath and straightened her shoulders. “You’ve just got me in a black room,” she decided, but to her dismay the man only chuckled in return.

“No, girl. You’re blind and you’ll have to make do with it.”

A slight noise, almost too faint for her to catch, came from in front of her, and she shuffled backward on her hands as she decided that she did not want this man to touch her. There had to be a way out of this dark room, he had to be lying…

Her right hand bumped into something and as she wrapped her fingers around it, she realized that it was a boot. A man’s boot, from the feel of it, and she gasped in surprise and fear as a hand grasped her shoulder and pulled her to her feet before releasing her immediately. Instinct kicked in and she spun to kick at where she assumed his private parts would be, but her foot hit empty air and she nearly fell, his laugh echoing around them.

“Easy, don’t hurt yourself,” he said, amusement thick in his low voice, and she felt her temper rise at his obvious taunt. His voice was farther away from her, though, and she wondered if maybe there were two people here to torment her. “There are important things in store for you, Amber,” he added, and she stilled in fear. How did he know her name?

“How… who are you?” she whispered, and suddenly a stinging blow struck her cheek from beside her; she hadn’t even heard anyone approach. She gasped at the pai