Page 11 of Bound by Vengeance
Nathan ran by her, lifted a stake, andwhipped it through the air to take down one of the other Savageswhile, at the same time, he fired his crossbow at another one.Neither of them were killing strikes, but they disabled andweakened the Savages.
Vicky lifted her crossbow and trackedanother Savage through the shadows and fired; the bolt struckstraight through the heart. Before the Savage hit the ground, Dukepushed himself up and raced for the door again, but Vicky wasfaster and intercepted him.
Her hand lashed out as he ran at her; shecaught him under the chin in an uppercut that lifted him off hisfeet. A grunt of pain escaped him when he landed on his back, fivefeet away from her. On the other side of him, Nathan stalked theother remaining Savage.
Rolling to the side, Duke shoved himself tohis feet. The blade of the hatchet was now buried all the way intohis back with only the handle protruding. His movements wereslower, but when he spun toward her, she saw the killing frenzy inhis crimson eyes.
Vicky braced herself as he charged heragain, seemingly too hell-bent on killing her to think out a bettercourse of action. His lips skimmed back, baring his fangs at herwhile animalistic noises issued from him.
At the last second, Duke darted and came ather from a different direction. Vicky spun and launched a sidekickthat caught him in the knee and snapped his leg to the side.Howling, Duke stumbled and almost went down, but he snagged herfoot while it was still in the air and held himself partiallyup.
Before he could regain too much of hisbalance, Vicky jumped off the ground, and swinging her other footup, she drove her heel onto the hatchet. Duke grunted, bloodspraying from his mouth and over her jeans before he released herfoot and slumped to the ground.
He drew his arms beneath him and tried topush himself up, but his shaking limbs wouldn’t support his weight,and he face-planted again. Fingers digging into the dirt coatingthe floor, he started dragging himself forward. Vicky pulledanother stake from her coat as she stalked him. He must have heardher coming because he shuddered and mewled pitifully.
Vicky had been looking forward to this forseven months; she’d enduredfarworse than this because ofhim, yet she didn’t take the satisfaction she thought she wouldfrom seeing him like this. A creature in pain, no matter howrepugnant it was, tugged at her sympathy.
“You don’t have to do this, Vicky. Don’t youremember how good we were together?” he croaked.
“No, I don’t,” she said flatly.
“I didn’t have a choice,” he whined.
“There’s always a choice.”
Nathan dispatched the last remaining Savage,but he remained in the shadows, watching Vicky. Duke heaved abreath and fell forward, turning his head to look at Vicky when shestopped beside him. Though she’d kicked Duke’s ass, there was noanger or joy on her face; there was merely a sad acceptance.
The strangest urge to hold her and assureher it would be okay hit him. He wanted nothing more than toprotect her.
He shook his head to clear it of theimpulse, but it persisted.
“No!” Duke wailed. “I had to turn you overto them. I was in deep, Vicky, real deep. I owed a lot of money tosome scary vamps. They were going to kill me if I didn’t give themsomething. I’ve regretted it all this time. I cared so much foryou, baby, really I did!”
Hatred coiled in Vicky’s belly, but shedidn’t know if it was for him or herself. When she was younger, shedreamt about her mate, but with every passing year, the strange,growing certainty she would never have a mate started to fester inher. It hadn’t been a thing where she feared it might never happenfor her; it had become this dreadfulcertaintythat shewould never have a mate.
Something in her changed with the knowledgeof spending an eternity alone plunged her into a more recklessexistence.
Lifting her head, her gaze briefly metNathan’s as he remained half hidden in the shadows. It dawned onher… perhaps it wasn’t the realization she would never have a matechanging her over the years, but that somehow, instinctively, she’dgleaned the knowledge her mate was out there, and she would neverbeableto have him.
If they never slept together, neverexchanged blood, and never went any further with the mating bond,she still fully expected he would be the end of her. Spending aneternity knowing she’d found her mate, and lost him, would destroyher.
And what would happen when Nathan inevitablydied? She shuddered and refused to think about it further.
She focused on Duke again.One obstacleat a time.
“I cared for you as much as you did me,” shereplied. “You say you owed them money, yet theygaveyoumoney when they came for me. I saw it, Duke, before they took meout of your apartment, I saw the money they handed you.”
“No, I… no,” Duke whimpered.
“How much did they pay you for me?”
“Nooooo,” Duke whined.
A creak drew Nathan’s gaze to the basementstairs. Slipping out of the dark, he raced across the basementbefore someone could enter. Stepping into the stairwell, hediscovered two bedraggled children huddling together on the steps.They recoiled when they spotted him.
“It’s okay,” he said, but they hugged eachother as their eyes fell on the bloody stake in his hand. Beads ofblood plopped onto the floor from both his hands.
Vicky glanced over at Nathan when he spoke,and she realized someone had come to explore the noise.
