Blood Bound

Chapter 27: Near death equals bonding

I hear the gunshot, I even see the spark from the barrel. Next thing I know, it's like someone hits me with a baseball bat on my left shoulder. The impact is so sudden and strong that it knocks me slightly off my feet. I stagger backwards, staring in disbelief at the man and his gun. Then comes the worst burning sensation I've ever felt. Like getting badly sunburned and it's taking ages for the skin to heal. Then I make the horrible mistake of looking down my left arm and see the shiny blood flowing down like a river.

„That was a warning shot," the man tells me as he approaches, cocking the gun again. He points it at me and this time he aims for my head. „Last chance to tell me where you're hiding the creature,"

My trembling hand tries to put pressure on the bullet wound but it feels like touching extremely hot, albeit wet coals. I stare blankly at the barrel of the gun as my mind goes into a state of shock. I couldn't tell him even if I wanted to. The man looks coldly at me and I can see the contempt in his dark eyes. Apparently this is a man who doesn't care who he kills. Almost like a hit man. But one thing's for sure: he's after Sophie. And he mustn't get to her. I have to stall him in some way but when I open my mouth and attempt to speak, no words come out, only terrified whimpers.

He narrows his merciless eyes before taking a careful aim.

Something wet runs down my cheeks and I realize I'm crying. This is it, I think automatically. I'm going to die. I'm sorry, mom and dad. Sophie. . .

Suddenly an unnatural shriek echoes all around the parking lot. The source of it comes from above. The man whips his head up just in time to see a purple blur descend on him. His reflexes are lightning fast and almost on par with Sophie and he fires his gun at her before catching her. Sophie gives a howl of pain but that only seems to add fuel to her rage as she doesn't stop scratching the man's face with her sharp nails. They crumble to the ground and struggle together like an obscure wrestling match and it seems at first that the man has got the upper hand as he pins her down, holding her arm behind her back while his arm wraps around her neck. But Sophie somehow manages to wriggle herself loose from the man's half nelson with her small frame and punches him hard in the groin. The man grunts in agony and momentarily drops his gun. Sophie seizes the chance and kicks it far away. She scrambles to her feet and faces him again, knees bent and fists clenched, snarling and hissing like an alley cat.

Groaning, the man gets to his feet as well, his body tense and his eyes carefully monitoring Sophie's movements. With a swift and fluid motion, he grabs something thin and shiny behind his leather jacket and catching Sophie off guard, he slips what seems to be a silver chain around Sophie's throat and pulls back with a tight grip. She gasps at the burning touch of the silver and tries everything to wrench herself free from the man's silver noose, from kicking with her kneels at his shins to scratching his arms.

I stand still in utter shock, watching the fight from the sidelines. My hand grips the bleeding wound tightly. The bleeding has subsided somewhat and I can't feel much of the pain anymore because adrenalin has kicked in and is forcing me to stay awake instead of fainting. The fight between Sophie and that man is brutal yet I can't take my eyes off them. I was sure that Sophie would handle it in an instant but that man seems to know how to battle someone much agile and stronger than a normal human. And now he has the upper hand again, strangling the vampire with a lethal silver chain.

He'll kill her, I think in anguish and desperately look for something in the vicinity that I can use to help. Anything that can help us escape. Something glints brightly from the light of the streetlamp and on the ground, I see the gun the man used to shoot me. Sophie had kicked it away in their deadly wrestling match. It looks ominous in the light and I feel immense revulsion at the sight of it. It's also probably very filthy. But I can't worry about hygiene now. Sophie needs me!