Page 44 of Fated In Blood

God, I was strong.

I had to get faster, though, if I was going to keep up.

“I’m killing you slowly, you little bitch.” Blood bubbled out like a fountain, his eyes tinged with red. “Days. Weeks. Maybe months before I let you die.”

Despite being down to one fang, Collum’s face was already healing. He had to be old, then, older than Ambrose and Spencer.

He climbed laboriously to his feet, balancing on his good leg, but I had no doubt those broken bones were already knitting back together. The silver rings had bought me time and drawn him away from that innocent girl, but at this rate, he’d be back to normal in a minute, maybe less.

“We’ll see. I think I’m getting the hang of this vampire thing.”

Vincent watched wide-eyed from halfway across the room, the twins forming a wall of muscle in front of him. The paranoid bastard was never unarmed. He always stowed a knife in his right cowboy boot, and even in his own club, kept a gun in an ankle holster on his left.

Firing a gun down here was too unpredictable. One mistake and someone could die. Someone who wasn’t Collum. I was better with a knife anyway.

I simplythoughtabout getting across the room, thought about appearing in front of Vincent, and the world blurred, light and shadow smearing together until I hit the twins with enough force to send them flying backward, wiping out a group of spectators before skidding on their asses and crashing into the stone wall.

A confused Vincent tried to crawl away, but I was already ripping the knife out of his boot. By the time I turned, Collum was up and moving, filled with enough rage to make up for any of his injuries.

“Come on, then,” I urged, hiding the knife in my sleeve. “Get on with the killing, if you can.” Collum wouldn’t make another mistake. This time when he came for me, he’d take me down, and once that happened, I’d be dead.

My only advantage before was rage had shoved rationale to the side.

And timing really was everything.

He charged like a bull while I pivoted on the balls of my feet and swung the knife up in a perfect arc. My blow was a thing of beauty, and the bastard presented the perfect opening. I laid his throat wide open, carving a deep crescent through his pale skin, blood splattering me, Vincent, and everyone in the vicinity as he collapsed at my feet.

I took a deep inhale, the knife falling from my shaking hand.

God, that smell was potent. Intoxicating.

I fell to my knees and rolled Collum over onto his back, straddling him, using my weight to trap him against the linoleum floor. My fangs throbbed painfully in response to the crimson river flooding out of that deep gash. So much blood was mesmerizing, and the more the big vampire struggled, the faster the wellspring flowed.

I pinned down his hands, chest heaving. The wound was already closing. I could see the edges knit back together, theblood flow beginning to slow. Collum glared up at me with so much hatred his eyes burned, his mouth working, but nothing coming out since I’d severed his vocal cords.

Even bucking and writhing, he couldn’t budge me, and I threw back my head, reveling in all this glorious strength.

But…I could hardly think around my cravings, my entire body shaking with need.

I was on the verge of losing control.I should leave.

Escape this place while I still could.

Except then I was feasting, fangs sunk in deep, pulling in mouthfuls of blood and swallowing as fast as I could. I didn’t care who the source of this delicious sustenance was, only that I wanted to glut myself.

I vaguely heard shouting, the concrete floor beneath me trembling.

I was probably killing him. I didn’t care.

Collum was an asshole and he deserved to die, but he tasted so damn good I couldn’t stop if I wanted to. And I definitely didn’t want to. Every potent mouthful made me more ravenous, blood flowing down my throat like a river, pooling in my stomach, power crashing through me like lightning bolts searing across the sky.

I was energized, reborn, stronger than I’d ever dreamed. My broken fingers knit back together, blistered palm healed, and torn and bruised muscles mended. I sensed every minuscule change on a cellular level, a flare of realization that surprised me, though it shouldn’t.

I should be beyond being surprised at this point.

My fingers dug into his chest as I drank, fangs sunk so deep if I tore them out, I’d take chunks of flesh with me. A shiver of repulsion went through me at the familiarity of this scene.

This was how I’d fed from Blake. But with Collum, there was none of the sexual desire, none of the craving, none of thewant, thank God. This was only hunger, pure and simple, and understanding settled into place within me, a calm acceptance I didn’t take the time to examine.

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