Bound to the Beast

Chapter 05

     In perspective of Lara Anderson
Bound to the Beast
     Chapter 05: The Blood Bond

     I sat on the roof of my building. A place that was isolated, and grew to be one of my favorite places to cool off. I really didn't have shit to do tonight, I just intentionally lied to have an excuse to get out of Ben's abrasive company. Intent upon making myself busy and staying that way for the rest of the night, I had made other plans as soon as I departed from the vampire's company. Not that I really had to struggle to find something else to do, aside from Pepper's, I also had a few side businesses across the country to help generate income and generate mounds of paperwork. However, my main source of income came from bounty hunting.

It wasn't something I particularly enjoyed, though my partner and I had been quite successful in the past. When bringing in outlaw preternaturals of all varieties, for several years now I have earned myself a fearsome reputation as well as a shit ton of cash. The brighter side of my job included going out and kicking some ass rather than staying up on the rooftop to avoid my own home and its inhabitants.

The larger, and more social of the preternatural species tended to police themselves, but there were often times that a rogue would roam outside of their territory. It was much easier to place a bounty on their head rather than try to go through all of the interspecies' territorial red tape. Preternatural beings were notoriously clannish and possessive. If they lived together at all, it was in very small groups. The average werewolf pack usually didn't consist of more than a couple hundred in a single mid-sized city and there could only be one per city, if there were any more there would be bloodshed. Wolves without a pack, like Charley and Haley, would often fall victim to attack when they wandered into a pack's territory. Wolves and other were-animals whose natural counterparts were social creatures, and the vampires were pretty much the only species that functioned as a cooperative social group. All the others were either too few in numbers or just natural loners. The loners were mainly kept in check by the vampires- and to some degree the demons- who considered themselves the watchdogs of the world. I felt that the demons had only taken that role because it allowed them more opportunities to kill without mercy or consequences.

I was sitting in an old lawn chair by the edge, quietly staring at the setting sun and the faint stars in the sky when Milorad appeared. He would always appear by my side no matter where I was in the world. That was the way blood bonds worked. All Milorad needed was a small taste of blood and he would be able to track you anywhere, for all eternity. I certainly had the same ability but I chose not to utilize it with anyone other than Milo. Anyone else I had a taste of was dead now, with the exception of one individual who I refused to think about. I obviously did not count them. I worked with Milo so much it only made sense to share blood with him, but there were side effects from the bond that kept me from using it with other people. I had taken enough trouble keeping my own emotions in check at times and while my powers as an empath weren't as strong as they could be if I practiced, I could still pick up a lot of emotional garbage from anyone near me if I didn't make the effort to ignore it. That was more than enough for me to handle without being able to feel everything that they felt when they were miles away. It had taken some practice but I managed to tune out Milo's psychological baggage, only tapping into it when I needed to. However, if it opened the bond with more people, I would never be able to keep them all quiet at once.

"Having a rough night? I usually don't find you here unless shit hits the fan." Milo pulled up another lawn chair and sat down next to me. I hadn't intended to go out hunting with him tonight, but after a few minutes with Ben's company, I was ready to explode. I had called Milorad and told him plans had changed. Best to take my anger out on hapless targets rather than my guests.