Page 63 of Blood Bound (Blood Mafia 3)

Would it change things to know I tried to stop her in the end? Nix’s anger was so great she couldn’t see logic. Exterminating an entire species wouldn’t bring her family back.

I knew that.

Nix didn’t.

I let it go for too long. I know I should have stepped in to stop her sooner, but by the time I decided to do something, the hunters were nearly gone and Nix still hadn’t found the man who killed her family.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were done killing hunters.” Nix hisses at me, crouching on a rooftop and watching the street below.

She’s alone. Usually she’s accompanied by a dozen or so vampires, myself included, but after so much death, even vampires get tired of killing.

She’s grown reckless in her need for vengeance. She’s eviscerated hunter after hunter, but never the one who deserves her anger.

“What do you think, Nix? This is madness. You’ve killed too many already. How long will you search for him? How many will you kill?”

Three hunters are laughing as they push through the bar door thirty floors down. The men have been drinking and don’t feel the predator watching.

“I found him, Mateo.” Her whispered words are so faint I almost miss them.

I glance down and eye the hunters. “You found him,” I say, repeating her words as anger washes over me anew. One of those men killed a child.

Her blue eyes bleed black and her dark hair whips behind her in the wind. “The hunters took my family, Mateo. If you’re not going to help me make things right, stay out of my way.”

She leaps off the ledge, plummeting toward the ground and landing in a crouch on the sidewalk in front of the hunters.

They all curse and pull out weapons, wielding daggers, swords, and guns at my sire. She hisses and snaps her teeth at them before launching herself at the first man.

He fires his gun, hitting her in the gut seconds before she knocks him to the ground. The other two close in around her. One with a mop of dark hair raises his sword and slashes Nix across the back.

She howls in pain and spins, swiping at the man. The hunter to her left sneaks past her defenses and stabs her in the leg.

Fuck.She’s going to get herself killed. She never should have come alone.

I drop from the roof, landing on top of the one who shot her and smashing him into the concrete. Using his surprise, I snatch the gun from his hand and shoot him in the head, splattering matter across the bricks.

Somewhere nearby a woman screams. Shouts rise up around us from humans, but they’re all smart enough to stay away.

Nix is staggering around, making weak attempts to stop the hunters who stab her over and over with their blades.

I shoot one in the chest, hitting his vital organ. He falls to the ground and the other one curses. Spinning, he launches a knife at me. I twist but the blade catches my shoulder.

The pain is fleeting, but it’s enough for the hunter to pounce on me. I shove the gun into his stomach and fire.

Nix’s face is twisted in a deranged smile as she grabs the hunter’s chin while he’s distracted and twists his head until bones snap. She continues to turn it until the skin rips apart. Tossing the head behind her, she growls and shoves the body over.

It thuds to the ground, landing next to me. I watch her use one of the knives to carve into his chest and rip his heart from behind his rib cage.

“I found him,” she whispers, crushing his heart in her hand. Blood spills from the muscle, coating her palm and arm with crimson liquid and dripping across the sidewalk. “I found him.”

I yank the knife from my shoulder.

Nix licks her arm and sighs. “Cinnamon and cardamom.” She slaps her bloody hand against my cheek and drags it across my lips, forcing me to taste the hunter.

When she pulls her hand back, she rips the necklace he’s wearing off and tosses it on my chest. “Have a souvenir.”

She takes her time mutilating the body, grinning like a maniac all the while. When she rips flesh from the body, even I have to look away. Once she finishes, she flashes away with the heart.

After that night, I never saw Nix again. Soon after we killed those hunters, the rest disappeared. I assumed Nix killed them all.

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