Page 30 of Bound By Blood
Caro clasped herhands together and squeezed them as she studied the bloodstains onthe floor. Like with her parents, there wasn’t much left behind,but it would raise questions.
“With no one tochange their memories or the autopsy reports, it will get ugly withthe humans,” she murmured.
“Is that what youhad to do after your parents’ deaths?”
“Yes. I came hereto clean up their blood. I still have to do that and this.”
“We don’t havetime, and a fire will take care of it.”
“I’mnotruining other people’s lives because of these assholes!” sheretorted.
Saber bit back aretort that she had to toughen up if she was going to survive. Aghost had more color than her right now, and shock shone in herturquoise eyes.
She was holding upwell for someone unaccustomed to loss and carnage, but she had torealize the Savages were still hunting them and sacrifices, likebusinesses, must be made.
“My van is outback,” Caro said. “We can put them in there.”
“And the humanswill find them when they start to smell.”
She scowled athim. He was right, but he was enjoying making this sodifficult.
The easiest thingwould be to set them on fire and eradicate all evidence of whathappened here. He’d always considered himself a heartless prick,but he hesitated to do that to her on top of everything else she’dgone through recently.
Saber wouldn’thave hesitated with anyone else. No matter what they said, he’dhave already started the fire, but something about her stoppedhim.
You better getyour shit together and do whatever is necessary.He was shovingaside his strange reaction to this woman when another possibilityoccurred to him.
“I have anidea.”
CHAPTER 22
Caro stared afterhim as, with those words, he walked out of the room. She hurried tocatch up with him as the door swung back and forth after hispassing.
When he arrived atthe front of the store, Saber turned to the swords on the wall. Hesearched for one with a jewel in its hilt and removed two as Caroemerged from the back. He turned them in his hands while examiningthe craftsmanship of both.
As he did so, heconfirmed what he’d already suspected. He set the one with a yellowjewel on the counter before returning the one with the orange stoneto the wall. The blade was dull, but he could still plunge it intosomeone.
“What are youdoing?” Caro asked.
Saber didn’tanswer as he took out his knife and used one of its blades to knockout the stone. Caro lunged and grabbed his arm, but he pulled itfree as he succeeded in breaking the jewel free.
“What are youdoing?” Caro demanded as the oaf broke the stone out of a sword herdadcrafted. Everything in her recoiled at such destruction,and acid churned in her stomach.
“Solving theproblem,” Saber muttered.
At least he hopedhe was. Either way, she no longer looked like she might vomit asshe glowered at him. The color had returned to her face.
Reaching into hispocket, he removed the black stone. It warmed against his hand, butwhen he opened his palm, it was as black as always.
“What is that?”Caro demanded.
Saber didn’tanswer as he wiggled the stone into the hole he created in thehilt. It wasn’t a good fit and was sideways, but the hilt held itin place.
He hoped it wasenough to wreak the kind of havoc Willow’s sword did. He couldn’tuse it against live Savages, the stone would never stay in placeagainst a moving target, and he couldn’t risk losing it, but itmight work on dead ones.
When he was surethe stone wouldn’t fall out, he brushed past Caro and returned tothe backroom. Still angry over his destruction of the sword, Carogawked after him as he dismissed her like she hadn’t spoken. Shewas about to stab a fucker.
Gritting her teethagainst screaming at him and, unfortunately, curious about what heplanned, Caro stalked behind him as he returned to the Savages’bodies. She began to question if he’d lost his mind when he stoodover them with the sword in hand.
