Page 40 of Bound in Blood
“We don’t have to hurt him, then.” Logan took a careful step toward them, holding up his hands.
“What do you suggest we do, Logan? Tie it up? Ask it real nicely not to kill anyone ever again?”
Logan did his best to ignore the obvious sarcasm. “He’s afraid, Vik!”
Vik scoffed but didn’t take his eyes off the feral. “Good. It should be.”
The feral took another shaky step backward, shoulders hunched like he was bracing for a blow. His fingers twitched as if they wanted to claw something, but he didn’t lift his hands. He just watched with wide, glassy eyes.
Logan was going to be sick.
There was somethinghumanleft in him, underneath it all. Logan knew it. Something raw and desperate to come out.
Vik, however, was done hesitating.
With practiced speed, he lunged.
The knife flew from his hand, aimed with deadly precision for the chest, but before the blade could land, the feral moved.Too fast,a blur of ragged limbs and desperate instinct, heducked,holding up his arms to defend his face. His body twisted at an unnatural angle as he just barely avoided the attack.
Vik cursed under his breath, already reaching for another weapon, but Logan was focused on the boy’s arms.
More specifically, the gigantic bite-mark-shaped scar on his left arm.
It stretched jaggedly across his forearm, deep and brutal, like something had taken the flesh with it when it bit down.
The feral’s breath hitched as he scrambled back, his entire body trembling. His hands clenched into fists, bracing for another attack, but he didn’t fight back.
For a moment, Logan thought he saw the black of his eyes flash. Recede into something that looked like blue, but it might have just been a trick of the streetlights as the boy turned and ran.
Logan stood frozen, heart pounding as the feral disappeared into the dark.
The alley was silent except for the sound of Logan’s own breathing while Vik remained eerily still, knife still clenched tight in his grip.
“Fuck!”Vik growled, throwing his knife to the ground, his eyes still scanning the darkness like he could somehow will the vampire back to finish what he started.
Now that Logan was removed from the conflict, though, something wasn’t sitting right with him. “How did you know only fire would kill him?”
Vik stiffened, jaw clenching so tight that Logan could hear the faint grinding of his teeth.
For a moment, he didn’t answer. Just stared into the darkness where the feral had vanished, chest rising and falling with controlled, angry breaths. Then, with a frustrated huff, he bent down to snatch his knives off the ground, wiping the blades on his jacket before sliding them back into the hidden sheaths.
“I run a bar in Boston, Logan,” he muttered. “You see some weird shit.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Vik.” Logan took a step closer, forcing Vik to look at him, “You knewexactlywhat to do. You didn’t hesitate. You didn’t evenflinch.”
Vik scowled. “Don’t go asking questions you don’t want answers to, kid.”
Logan straightened, eyes narrowing in anger. “Maybe Idowant answers, Vik. I feel a bit lied to. Is this why you were acting so weird all night?”
“I’macting weird, Logan?” Vik scoffed. “You’re the one who no-call no-shows from work fordays,has someone come in and ‘compel’me to give him your address—don’t give me that look, once you know about compulsion it doesn’t work anymore—and then, once youfinallycome back into work, you are the most obvious fucking baby vamp on the planet.” Vik rolled his eyes. “Honestly, kid. You sniffed like… every customer tonight. You broke a guy’s wrist in the alley when last week you could barely throw the trash away without a struggle. I’m a bartender, not an idiot.”
Logan’s stomach dropped.
Vik knew.
Ofcourse,Vik knew.
His mouth went dry, his brain scrambling to find a response, but Vik wasn’t finished.
