Page 6 of Bound By Blood

Because his darker side had been so ravenous, he had been impatient. He ended up grabbing the first person who happened to be passing by the alley he was lurking in. Usually, he was a bit pickier than that, but not tonight. He couldn’t wait even a moment longer, or he risked going on a full-on massacre, and that wouldn’t be good for anyone. The police were good at covering up their kills when the need arose, but there would be little they could do to hide a bloodbath of that caliber.

Landon wasn’t going to deny that the woman he grabbed had a very pleasant floral scent. Nor was he going to deny that she was beautiful. He actually rather liked the way she didn’t cake on the make-up and how she didn’t wear frumpy, baggy clothes to hide her curves.

She had green, almond-shaped eyes and full, naturally red lips. Her face was round and he noted that she had a couple of dimples, one on each side of her cheeks. He had spotted them just before he went in for the kill. Her skin was soft and pliable, allowing his fangs to pierce through it easily. Like a knife through softened butter.

Her long blonde hair made it easier for him to angle her neck the way he wanted it and he was surprised at how amazing her body felt against his own. At any other time, he would have considered taking her for a spin before he killed her, his cock already hard and straining against the confines of his zipper. But he had been far too hungry to thoroughly enjoy all she had to offer.

Much to his displeasure, she didn’t fight him as he fed. He preferred it when they struggled as their fear seemed to make the kill that much sweeter. However, her heart was pumping rapidly with her shock and fear, making the blood flow easier. He could feel her blood strengthening him as he drank, feeding his hunger and fueling the dark monster within him more than anything else ever had before. It was intoxicating. A low, deep growl came from deep within his body as he tightened his grip on her. And that’s when it happened.

All of a sudden, a small voice in the back of his mind began whispering to him. It started soft, barely a whisper on the breeze, but it quickly began to grow in volume until it blocked out the rapid beating of her heart and was all he could hear. He blinked as the voice suddenly overwhelmed him with this insane urge to stop, to let her live. For some strange reason, this voice didn’t want him to kill her.

Landon snarled angrily as he let her go, the voice becoming too loud for him to bear. He took a step back and studied her, his lip still curled in a snarl, trying to figure out what was going on. The voice had stopped, but he was still torn between wanting to kill her and wanting her to live. He shook his head, trying to force the thoughts away and clear his mind.

Silence had fallen in the alley, the only sound was that of her rapid breathing. The girl reached up with a shaky hand and covered the spot on her neck, her green eyes wide. Blood dripped between her fingers in small rivulets, drawing his attention briefly. The need to kill her was all he could think about. It was still very prominent in his mind, despite the voice telling him otherwise.

Landon’s hand shot out and gripped her hair again, yanking her forward before he roughly sank his teeth into her neck again. She squealed at his sudden movement, and the stench of her fear slammed into his gut like a sledgehammer. He was only capable of taking two more gulps of her delicious blood before he was shoving her away again. It was then he realized that something was wrong. He couldn’t kill her even though he so desperately wanted to.

He watched intently as the girl stumbled backward due to the roughness with which he released her. It only took a second for her fight-or-flight instincts to kick in, and she turned to escape back down the alley. Landon tensed, the predator in him rearing his ugly head, and he prepared himself to stop her should she reach the street.

She had almost made it, but, from the blood loss he assumed, she began to sway just before she reached the end of the alley. She braced her hand against the brick wall of the building, but her foot slipped on the gravel and she fell to the side. The sound of her head smacking into the brick wall filled the air as her body crumpled onto the ground, and she suddenly stopped moving.

For a few moments, Landon worked to control himself. He licked her blood from his lips, tasting her once more. There was something different about her blood that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. It was sweeter somehow, more potent. It called to him on some deep level, and yet, he was incapable of following through with the kill. His fingers were clenched at his sides, and the need to finish the job was still there, but even now, as he stood there, his chest heaving with desire, he knew he couldn’t. Something within him wouldn’t let him drain her dry.

Landon shook himself, both mentally and physically, working to release the tension coiled in his body. When he felt like he had at least a bit of control over himself again, he moved toward her. As he squatted down next to her, he could hear the steady beating of her heart. She was still alive but knocked out cold.

Balancing with one elbow on his knee, he turned her over with his other hand. Her eyes were closed, and the terror that was once there was now smoothed into a peaceful expression. It was then that he was able to see just how beautiful she really was. Striking even. Which was an odd thing for him to notice, considering his usual distaste for humans.

She was wearing a deep purple t-shirt with some kind of graphic printed on it and a pair of black, ripped skinny jeans that accentuated her curvy body. Her hair was tousled due to his gripping it so tightly, but it framed her beautiful face. Instinctively, he reached up and brushed a few strands back behind her ear so that he could see her more clearly. What the hell was he going to do with her now?

He could just leave her here, and he stood to do just that. However, his feet remained rooted to the spot, and he couldn’t bring himself to move in any direction. Confusion took over him then, as did an insane urge to protect her. If he left her there, she would be easy prey for the more unsavory humans, the rapists, and the murderers. That thought didn’t settle well with him.

Landon sighed heavily as he knelt back down and began searching her pockets. His fingers wrapped around a small bunch of items, and he pulled them out. She had a few dollar bills, a key, and an ID card. He glanced at the picture, confirming it was her, and then looked at her name. Carly Harris. Committing it and her address to memory, he pushed the items back into her pockets.

With a look out toward the street, he realized that her place was not too far from where they currently were. Which was probably why she felt comfortable walking home alone despite the time.

It went against everything he was, but he lifted her into his arms, her scent swirling around him once more, and he strode back out onto the sidewalk before he could talk himself out of it. With his enhanced strength, she was as light as a feather to him, and he wasn’t worried about anyone seeing the two of them either. To anyone else, it would appear as though he was just carrying a loved one.

As he was walking down the dimly lit street, her head lulled to the side, resting against his chest. His heart hammered once against her cheek then went quiet once more. Vampires’ hearts still beat, it was just extremely slow. Though, it had been a long time since he had felt it beat that hard.

Turning onto her street, he began to read the house numbers as he walked. When he found the one he was looking for, he turned and headed up the path to the door. It was dark inside, leading him to believe that no one was home. Cradling her in one arm, he turned the knob only to discover it was locked. He fished into her pocket to pull out the key he had found earlier.

Once he was inside, he closed the door with his foot. He didn’t bother with lights as he was a predator. He didn’t need them to see as his vision was perfect even in the dark. Though, there was no denying the uneasy feeling he had in his chest, knowing that he was in her personal space.

There were two distinct scents in the home. One was Carly’s floral scent, which he knew he wouldn’t forget anytime soon, and the other smelled of honey. It also didn’t go unnoticed that the place had an expensive feel about it. It screamed money, which was the exact opposite of the girl currently cradled in his arms.

Landon turned down the hallway off to the left and spotted two doors on the right. He opened the first one and knew right away it was the wrong room by the strong perfumed scent that lingered in the air. He exited the room, closing the door behind him, and headed to the next one. Confirming it was hers by scent alone, he stepped inside.

There was something about the contents of a bedroom that could tell someone a lot about the person who inhabited that space. Landon stopped just inside the room, still clutching Carly to his chest, and took a look around. He was trying to figure out what it was about this girl that made her so different from the others he had killed before. He had never found it so impossible to end a life, and that alone had intrigued him.

The room itself was simple in nature. The walls were a neutral color as was the furniture, and the room was clean and tidy. There was a queen-sized bed off to his right, covered with dark blue sheets and a black comforter. On each side of the bed sat a nightstand, both of which held several books and a lamp. Directly across from the bed sat a dresser with a small television set on top of it. The closet was small but full of clothes, and there was a window that gave her a view of the street in front of the house.

Crossing the room to the bed, Landon gently laid her down and instinctually removed her shoes. He hated having shoes in his own bed, so he assumed that she felt the same way. He set them nicely next to the nightstand and then picked up the throw blanket that was folded neatly at the end of the bed.

When her legs were covered, he froze. Her shirt was rumpled, revealing her midriff, but that wasn’t what had caught his attention. There, carved into her skin at her hip, was a tattoo of a rose. A black rose. The details were exquisite, and he couldn’t help but study them for a moment. On his own hand, on the inside of his wrist, he had the tattoo of a gold skull with fangs. Both of them had gotten things that were odd in their own right as neither could really be considered ‘normal.’ He shook himself at the strange moment of commonality and tugged the end of her shirt down to cover her stomach.

When she was all tucked in for the night, he rose to his feet but then was suddenly slammed with realization. He had just taken care of her as if he cared about her. It came as a shock to him because he didn’t care about anything anymore, apart from his next kill.

It was obvious that there was something about this girl that seemed to have shifted his entire world on its axis. He just didn’t understand what it was. He knew he couldn’t kill her, despite her now knowing about the existence of his kind, and even the thought of leaving her didn’t sit right with him. Though he had no reason to stay. He had already gone above and beyond what he would have done for anyone else.