Page 12 of Bound By Blood
Caro threw thedoor shut and locked it behind her. She punched the alarm code inand set it for home mode.
Normally, shewouldn’t do such a thing, but someone murdered her parents in thisstore. It would have been safer if she never returned.
She didn’t havethat option. She wasn’t a complete idiot though and was glad tohave the alarm armed.
The policewouldn’t be any good against the monsters who killed her parents,but at least the alarm would give her some warning if someone elseentered the store. Lifting the totes, she carried them through theshelves, packing crates, and other assorted items cluttering theback room.
Lifting one of thetotes, she pushed through the swinging door to the front of thestore. Before arriving, she devised a game plan to start at thefront and get the stuff out of the windows so the place would lookclosed. People would be more likely to leave her alone then.
She wasn’tstarting in the front because her parents died in the back. She wasnotbeing a coward by avoiding it.
But youare,she admitted to herself.
True, but that wasthe least of her worries regarding their murder. It had taken herhours to locate and change the memories of all those involved thatday.
Once the policearrived at the store, so did onlookers and the press. She hadn’tbothered with the onlookers. They were nosey assholes who could rotfor all she cared, but they didn’t know any details about thedeaths, even if they had all whispered excitedly to each otherabout the rumors they started and spread.
The local paperwas also outside, taking photos like it was some sort of partyinstead of what it was… the death of her parents. Then the localnews station arrived.
By then, enough ofher shock had worn off that she jumped into action, took control oftheir minds, and sent them away before they could start filming.She’d saved the story from becomingmorepublic.
The last thing sheneeded was the truth about her parents getting out. Vampirespreferred to remain hidden; it was safest for all of them to staythat way.
Her father was apurebred vampire, and her mother turned, but that didn’t make adifference. Their biology wasn’t human, and it had taken a lot ofher ability to control minds to ensure their secret remainedsafe.
Caro made surethey falsified the autopsy before cremating her parents. Shechanged Clarice’s memories, the police, medical examiner, andanyone else who saw what happened here.
They now allbelieved it was a carbon monoxide leak. A sad, freak thing no onecould have foreseen or prevented.
No one rememberedher parents’ murders except her. And the memory haunted her everymoment.
Her parents hadn’tgone to sleep because of some gas; they were tortured and tornapart. Before Caro changed their memories, she overheard one coptell another they believed knives were used on them.
Caro suspectedvampires had torn them to pieces, but she had no idea why. And ithad to be more than one to overpower her parents, probably four orfive of them.
Butwhywould so many converge to attack her parents? Did they knowsomething the vampires wanted? Did they have something theirkillers needed?
Those questionshad haunted her for the past two weeks, but for the life of her,she couldn’t think ofwhatthat could be. Her parents liveda peaceful, happy, simple life and never bothered anyone.
Maybe theirkillers didn’t come here for some kind of unknown information.Perhaps the psychopaths who did that to them simply did it forpleasure.
It was adisturbing possibility, but she was aware vampires like thatexisted out there. Her father had warned her about them, told herto remain vigilant, and cautioned her against ever killing aninnocent as it could turn her into one of them.
He also told herthey couldn’t go out during the day, smelled of rot, and to run ifshe ever encountered a Savage, but she never had. There were alsodemons out there, but her dad said she was less likely to meetthem; still, the idea of them made her skin crawl.
Her parents wouldwant her to stay far away from this place after what happened tothem, but she was a sentimental fool who couldn’t leave everythingbehind. She also couldn’t leave behind the bloodstains in thebackroom; they didn’t exactly scream carbon monoxide poisoning.
During the manytimes she tried to talk herself out of returning to this place,that reminder was the thing pushing her to return. Besides, it wasdaytime; her dad said Savages couldn’t come out during the day, soshe’d be safe if she was out of here by night, and she hadeveryintention of being gone by then.
CHAPTER 10
Caro stopped tosurvey all the things lining the shelves; she couldn’t take it all.She would leave thousands of dollars of merchandise on the shelves,but there simply wasn’t enough room for all of it.
There were specialthings on the shelves that she would take with her. Trying not tothink about the blood in the back and the possibility her parents’killers could return, she walked over to the shelves full ofdragons.
She didn’t botherwith the lights; her vision was excellent, and she could seeclearly through the gloom shrouding the store. She also didn’t needsome potential customers banging on the door if they thoughtsomeone was in here.
Taking a deepbreath, Caro lifted her eyes to scan the beautiful, handcrafteddragons lining the shelves. Her dad had created them from steel,iron, copper, bronze, silver, and wood. Each was designed withspectacular care and individualized; no two were identical.
