Page 9 of Bound by Vengeance
Vicky’s annoyance with him eased when shesaw the concern on his face. “He didn’t beat me, if that’s whatyou’re thinking. Even before I started training with Ronan’s men,Duke wasn’t strong enough to beat me, and he didn’t break my heartor cheat on me.”
Despite her words, the sorrow in her eyesand the tremor in her hands caused Nathan’s fury to simmer toward aboiling point. He pulled the blind back again to reveal the Savageoutside the pane. It wasn’t the same one as before.
The monster leered at him as it tapped thewindow. Knowing the Savage would most likely move before he couldkill it, Nathan lifted his crossbow and fired. The Savage darted tothe side as the impact of the bolt left a perfect hole in thecenter of the window.
Then, the pane wobbled before collapsing.Shards crunched under Nathan’s feet when he stepped closer to thewindow.
From its hiding spot next to the brick wall,the Savage laughed as it reappeared in front of the window. “Youmissed,” it taunted.
“I meant to.” Nathan’s hand shot out, and heseized the creature by the throat. “Come on in,” he said as hedragged it through the window and threw it on the floor.
The Savage lay like a turtle on its back fora second, too dazed to react to the sudden change of events. Nathanlifted the stake he’d set on the counter earlier as the Savagethrew out his feet. The vampire shoved upright in one smoothmotion. As the monster regained its feet, Nathan stabbed the stakeinto its heart.
“I didn’t miss that time,” Nathan told himwith a wink.
The vampire’s mouth parted in an O ofhorror. Its hand swung out, but Nathan leaned back to dodge theblow. Nathan smiled, placed his foot on the monster’s stomach, andshoved it back to tear the stake free. The Savage hit the ground,its feet kicking against the carpet for a minute before stilling.Then, its arms flopped out, and its head lulled to the side.
Vicky lifted her gaze from the dead Savageto Nathan, then to the window before returning to Nathan. He wipedthe bloody stake casually on his jeans before setting it on thecounter again.
“Impressive,” she murmured, not sure if shemeant the kill orhim. She’d never seen anything quite likeit, and despite her unease over this situation, she couldn’t denyit had been sexy as hell.
She was in so much shit with thishunter.
Another Savage materialized in the window.It gazed into the apartment before spotting the body of its friendand recoiling. Turning, it gripped the railing of the fire escapeand swung over the side to land silently below.
Nathan stepped closer to the window as therest of the Savages fled the fire escape. On the street, the groupof Savages loped around the side of the building. They could enterthrough the front door, but he suspected they would come in throughthe basement if they discovered the side door in the alley on theopposite side of the building. Entering through the basement wouldkeep them hidden for longer and give them more time to flush himand Vicky from this apartment.
“They’ll come in through the basement,”Nathan said.
“They’ll make noise, and someone will callthe police.”
Nathan stepped away from the window andstrode over to the stockpile of weapons to search through them.“This isn’t the type of place where the occupants invite the policeto stop by. That’s why I picked it.”
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Going after the Savages before they comeafter us. They’re not making it out of this building alive.”
He reloaded the crossbow, stocked up on morestakes, and lifted an assault rifle. “It’s difficult to hit theheart with the wooden bullets in this thing,” he told her, “but itwill slow them down and might take some of them out.”
Vicky stepped away from the weapon and eyedit like it would come to life and kill her.
“What if the bullets go astray and killsomeone else?” she inquired.
“I’ll be careful.”
“You don’t think gunfire will make someonecall the cops?”
“Probably not, but if it does, we’ll begone, or dead, before the police arrive.”
The nonchalant way he said it reminded herof the way she felt about life now, almost half deadened or perhapsjust tired of it all. She was too young to feel that way,especially with an eternity looming before her, but she couldn’tdeny the emotion festering within her since her captivity.
“Besides, worse comes to worst, you canalways change the memories of the witnesses,” he continued.
“True.”
Vicky set the ax down to lift anothercrossbow and more stakes before she hefted a small hatchet into herhand. Testing the weight of it, she deemed it suitable for throwingif necessary. Nathan opened the door and checked out the hallbefore stepping outside.
Vicky followed him as he stalked down thehall to the stairs. From behind the closed doors, more humans madenoise as they went about their night, utterly unaware that deathlurked outside their homes. She briefly envied them their oblivionas Nathan stopped at the entrance to the stairwell.
