Page 58 of Lifebound

The vampire moved.

He moved and when he did, he turned to a shadow. The way he walked out of the shop, through the door that must have been at the back, then went to stand under the shade on the other side—it was impossible. He was too fast—impossible.

“We’re in no need of your services,” Rune said, and his voice had completely transformed. He sounded like a different person altogether.

The vampire raised his brows. “Where’d you buy her? How much did you pay?” he asked. “I’ll pay you double.”

My heart fell all the way to my heels.

“She’s not for sale.” Again, Rune sounded like a person who wouldn’t mind ripping you apart piece by piece, and he would actually enjoy it as much as he said he’d enjoy ordering me around.

Right now, I had no trouble with it. As long as this man who had eyes made of pure black ink and who’d had fangs coming out of his lips—and who still had some blood on the corner of his mouth—stayed away from me, I had no trouble with Rune ordering me around all day every day.

“Three times, then. I’ll pay three times what you paid,” he said, his eyes scrolling up and down my body, and he was big. He was possibly six five, with shoulders twice as wide as Rune’s, and the way he moved…

God, I was so scared my whole body was shaking, but I also had plenty of energy now to move around Rune, practically hide behind his back. Both my hands were around his arm as I looked at the vampire, and at the two-headed guy who seemed to be asleep now in that chair inside the shop, clueless as to what was happening around him.

“Walk away,” Rune simply said, and I heard the threat in his voice.

I thought the vampire wasn’t going to care—the size of him alone was terrifying—but instead he raised both hands in surrender.

“I don’t want no trouble,” he said, and I could hardly believe my ears. “I just want to do business. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a marked one before.” He waved a hand to the side of his neck—to indicate Rune’s tattoo. “What was your crime?”

The way Rune’s arms tensed, I knew he had pulled his hands into fists before I saw them.

“Rune, let’s just go,” I whispered and tried to pull him back, but he could have weighed a ton. I couldn’t even budge him.

“I’m here every half-moon for three nights. Whenever you’re ready to sell, I’ll be interested,” the vampire continued. His eyes fell on me again, and he was grinning.

Every inch of my skin rose in goose bumps. There wasn’t a single instinct in my body that wasn’t screaming at me to run, but I wasn’t going anywhere without Rune.

“Please, let’s just get going,” I said and pulled him back again.

By some miracle, Rune moved.

His fists had loosened, and when he looked at me now, he seemed calmer.

Then he told the vampire, “I’ll keep that in mind, bloodsucker.”

He took my hand in his and didn’t stop walking until we were two rows of shops away, and deep into the crowd.

* * *

“He was biting him.”The memory replied itself in my mind. “He was…he was whimpering, and I thought…I thought he was in pain.”

“He was paying.”

I looked up at Rune, who couldn’t stop looking around us instead, searching—maybe for that vampire?

“For what?”

“Whatever service the vampire offered.” He made almost a full circle, searching the faces of every creature around us.

“He was afraid of you, Rune. He’s not going to follow.” Not that I knew for certain, of course.

“I know. I’m just making sure he hasn’t sent a tracker after us.”

“A tracker?”

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