Page 57 of A Bond Beyond Blood

A vampire could survive a fall from the second story no problem, would land on his feet and walk away without even a scratch, but he didn’t behave like someone who knew that.

I’d only met the kid twice now and it was glaringly obvious that no one had bothered to show him the ropes.First, with his sad show of defiance when we met in the shop downstairs—shit, was that just this morning?—blatantly proving that no one had taught him to respect his elders.And now, with his lack of understanding about his own vampiric abilities.

He gulped audibly and I narrowed my eyes.“Who turned you?”

“I-I don’t know.”He glanced behind him again, eyes wild as he assessed the drop from the balcony to the lot below.“P-please don’t—”

I sighed.A vampire with a fear of heights?This was the last thing I wanted to deal with right now.

But someone needed to take this kid under their wing, and while that sure as shit wasn’t going to beme, I could at least teach him a lesson.First one’s on the house.I glanced down the street in both directions, listening as I did so, but at this late hour on Christmas Eve, the only people not tucked snugly into bed or frantically building play structures and putting tricycles together in their living rooms were vampires and Santa Claus—neither of whom would blink twice at what I was about to do.

With a flash of teeth, I said, “It’s your lucky day, Garrett.”

“Gannon.”

“I’m going to do you a favor, Greg.”

He looked behind him once more, then back at me, his terror evident in those comically wide eyes.

“Thank me later.”With that, I hauled his ass up and over the railing, sending him flying over the cars parked below before he could realize what had happened.

He screamed as he soared through the air, but then, as I knew he would, the baby vamp landed in a crouch on his feet a few yards past the parking lot.He looked around, quickly assessing the situation, then his dark brown eyes lifted to meet mine—

Then he bent at the waist and vomited a sea of crimson all over the pavement.

I frowned as I watched.What a waste.

When he finished, he swiped his sleeve across his mouth, then looked up at me with awe in those wide eyes.

I raised my hands.“Like I said, thank me later.”

He raced toward me, a streak of black and denim hauling ass up the stairs, stopping just a foot away from me.“I landed on my feet.”

“Very observant.”

“H-how?”

I bared my fangs in a sinister grin.“How else?”

He looked back and forth between me, the parking lot, the balcony railing, then finally settled on me again, that prior terror seeping from his eyes, quickly being replaced with wild excitement.“Do it again.”

I rolled my eyes.“No.”

“Come on,” he whined.

“Madon’, I said no.”

“Bro—”

I raised my hand.“I am not, nor will I ever be, yourbro.”

“Will I land on my feet every time?”

I shrugged.“Generally speaking, yes.”

“Can we fly?”

I groaned and stepped back inside, shutting the door to what I imagine would soon be a laundry list of questions.Whoever made him, truly let him down.

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