Page 54 of Bound by Vengeance
A delivery truck nearly broadsided hispickup before Nathan yanked the wheel. When the ass end of thepickup fishtailed, he righted it and swerved around an oncomingtaxi.
If someone had touched her, if someonehurther, he’d tear them apart. He stomped on theaccelerator, praying he wasn’t already too late.
CHAPTER 25
Pain seared across Vicky’s back as somethingembedded deep in her shoulder and twisted there. Bone and muscletore; hot blood ran down her flesh and soaked her sweater to herskin. So surprised by the sudden attack, she didn’t have time toreact before the door thumped shut and a heavy body hit her solidlyin the back, bringing her down beneath it.
She fell on top of her coat, trapping herweapons beneath her. Before she could regain her feet, a kneeshoved into her spine, pinning her to the floor at the same timeher attacker jerked her right arm back and, placing their knee onit, yanked it back to snap it at the elbow.
Vicky’s teeth sank into her lip, drawingblood as she suppressed a scream of agony. Shards of pain lancedthrough her arm as it fell limply beside her. It seemed theappendage didn’t even belong to her as she stared at her numbfingers, willing them to move, but there was no life in them.
“Hello, whore,” a male voice hissed in herear.
Anger surged forth to replace her shock. Shebriefly wondered if it was the man from downstairs, but he couldn’thave recovered enough to come after her already. She had no ideawhat was going on, but this prick hadstabbedher, and she’dmake him pay for that. It didn’t smell like a Savage perched on herback, but she sensed something more than human.
Judging by the way he positioned himselfwith his left knee in her back and his right one on the floor byher head, it was his left hand twisting the weapon deeper. Whichmeant he could have another weapon in his right hand, positionedover her heart. And she’d bet money he’d stabbed her with astake.
“Where is he?” the man demanded.
“Who?” she asked.
“Don’t play dumb with me, you bloodsuckingleech.”
Well, that confirmed her growing suspicionhe knew what he was dealing with when it came to her. Was he ahunter? And if he was, then why would he risk the truce byattacking a vampire?
“Were you talking to him on the phone?” theman asked.
Vicky glanced at where her phone hadskittered across the room to lay ten feet away from her.
“Were you talking to Nathan?”
Hatred choked his voice when he spat outNathan’s name and twisted the stake further into her shoulderblade. Bits of wood broke off inside her when the tip tore throughsinew and bone; she could feel them burrowing deeper into her body.Vicky gritted her teeth and laughed bitterly.
“I’ve been tortured by far worse than you,you prick!” she spat.
The man didn’t respond as he twisted thestake until she felt his hand against her back and the tip of thestake scraped her collarbone. Vicky laughed again, hoping to baithim into making a mistake and not into staking her through theheart.
“I’ve seen him with you. Are you fuckinghim? Has he sunk so low as to stick it in something as repugnant asyou?”
“We’re not having sex,” she replied, “but Ihave sucked his dick a time or two.”
The sharp inhalation of his breath followeda subtle shifting on her back. He intended to kill her, no matterwhat; she had to make a move. Her broken arm had healed enough thatneedles of returning feeling stabbed her fingertips.
But what move should she make? If she triedto get her legs beneath her, he would feel it and counteract hermovement.
“Is he coming here?” the man demanded.
“He’s come here many times.”
“You’re—”
Before the man could spew more degradationat her, Vicky spun underneath him and swung her broken right armup. Her arm hung at an awkward angle, she barely had any controlover it, but she knocked him to the side when she bashed him in thehead with her floppy forearm. Stars burst before her eyes as themotion rebroke her arm and her fingers went numb again.
Can’t stop. Keep moving.
He’d hammered the stake deep enough into hershoulder that her weight on it didn’t push it in any further, buthe’d hit a nerve or something that made her left arm more uselessthan her broken one. Planting her feet on the floor, she propelledher hips up, knocking him further off balance. Unable to use herhands, she shoved her hips up again. When the motion rocked himforward, she swung her head up and bashed her forehead off hisnose.
His blood burst over them both. The potentscent of it caused her fangs to lengthen. She’d fed before going tomeet Duncan tonight, but there was power in this blood, and hersurvival instinct screamed at her to tear his throat out and endthis.
