Page 4 of Bound by Vengeance
His hand on her arm tightened when somethingdown the street clattered. “Inside!”
Spendingmoretime with Nathan was atthe bottom of her list of things to do, but she suspected a fateworse than death awaited her if she remained on this street.
Reluctantly, she followed him up thecracked, concrete steps. He pulled open the sagging, wood door ofthe building and gestured for her to enter before closing the doorbehind them.
Vicky stopped when she saw the hallway. Overthe years, the dirt from people’s hands, cigarette smoke, and otherassorted things had smudged the gray walls a dirty brown. Thestench of stale smoke, alcohol, and the acrid scent of drugsmingled with cooking human food and body odor in such a way thatshe’d rather smell the Savages than this place.
Cigarette butts, nip bottles, needles,baggies, food wrappers, numerous other garbage, and rodentdroppings littered the torn gray carpet. Closed doors lined thehall, and a set of stairs rose to her left.
From behind one of the doors, a TV blared soloudly it made her eardrums ache. Behind another, she heard peoplescrewing, and inside another apartment, a man berated his wife. Ifshe had the time, she would teach that guy a thing or two aboutrespect for others, but the poor woman was on her own tonight.
Over the years, she’d been in worse placesthan this. The warehouse had been ten levels below a sty, butNathan seemed too refined or classy or something to even know aplace like this existed. Perhaps this hunter had more layers thanshe realized.
She mentally slapped herself when shebriefly contemplated peeling those layers away to learn more abouthim.
“This way,” Nathan said and tugged on herarm.
“If the Savages are still close, Duke willbe able to smell me. He’ll follow me here.”
“Who is Duke?” Nathan asked as he led her tothe chipped, garbage strewn, wooden steps. He nudged her when shehesitated at the bottom.
“A big-time prick who Iamgoing tokill.”
He’d been around many human women over theyears, but it still surprised him to hear a woman curse or be sovehement about anything. Hunter women were composed above all else.They kept control of their emotions, remained demure at all times,andneverspoke so bluntly.
Part of him inwardly cringed at such candidtalk from a woman, but in Vicky’s words and tone, he sensed thesame hatred propelling him in his relentless hunt for Joseph, thevampire who murdered his father.
What did Duke do to engender that kind ofloathing from her?
“I see,” Nathan murmured as they reached thesecond floor and he led her down the hall toward his apartment.“You’ll be safe here.”
“How…?”
Her question trailed off when he stopped infront of one of the closed doors. He pulled out a set of keys,unlocked the door, and pushed it open.
“Come in,” he invited as he flicked on aswitch while entering the apartment.
Vicky followed him inside and froze when thesingle, bare bulb hanging from the cracked ceiling revealed whatlay within. What the room lacked in furniture, it made up for inweapons stockpiled against the walls of what she assumed would bethe living room in anormalperson’s apartment.
There were so many weapons that, in someareas, they were stacked five feet high and spread out from thewall to cover a couple of feet of the brown, industrial carpet. Theone trunk in the room was closed, but Vicky would bet money itcontained an arsenal. From what she could see,everyone ofthe weapons was explicitly designed to end a vampire’s life.
Delightful.Rolling her eyes, Vickywondered if she would be better off hightailing it out of here andtaking her chances with the Savages. Nathan’s sister may be avampire now, the hunters might have allied with Ronan, but they’dbeen the enemies of vampires for millennia.
Just because she experienced wickedfantasies about the things she yearned to do to him didn’t mean hewouldn’t try to lop off her head. After Duke, she’d had enough ofbedmates who turned out to be praying mantises in disguise.
Then she realized that Nathan wouldn’t riskthe fragile truce he’d established with Ronan by assaulting herwhen she’d done nothing to warrant it. Besides, if Nathan wantedher dead, he would have left her on the street with theSavages.
Stepping further into the apartment, Vickyfrowned at the newspaper clippings tacked to the dingy, white wallacross from her. The articles covered a ten-foot square section ofspace; a pinned map of the Northeast hung next to the newspapers.Red thumbtacks pinpointed different locations throughout themap.
Swallowing, she glanced at Nathan as heclosed the door behind her and locked it. “So, what’s with all theweapons? Are you preparing to become the next Dexter?” sheasked.
“I don’t know who that is.”
She blinked at him. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a TV show. He’s a serial killer, butyou know, kind of a good guy, in a weird sort of way.”
