Killean raced around the back of the car towards the bastards. Seizing Andre, Killean lifted him and threw him into the mangled bed of the truck. He didn’t stop to kill Andre as the other Savage neared the passenger side of the truck and Simone. The need to destroy coursed through him until every beat of his heart repeatedly hammered one word—kill.
Before the Savage could grab the door, Simone opened it and shoved it into the creature’s chest. The force of the blow caused the vampire to stumble back a few feet, and Killean dove at him. Wrapping his arms around the Savage’s waist, Killean tackled him.
The creature grunted when they hit the ground and tumbled across the asphalt; in an attempt to dislodge Killean, its hands flailed behind its head. Killean ignored the blows landing against the side of his head and sank his fangs into the Savage’s throat.
The creature howled as its blood burst into Killean’s mouth. Jerking backward, Killean tore the Savage’s throat out and spat away the chunk of flesh before twisting its head to the side. Sinew and bone gave way beneath his hands as Killean tore the head from the Savage’s shoulders.
When something crunched behind him, he gripped the Savage’s hair and turned to find Andre only ten feet away and sprinting toward him. A look of murderous rage blazed from Andre’s eyes, and a Joker-style grin twisted his features as he closed the distance between the two of them.
Killean threw the head at him, and though it caught Andre in the chest, it did nothing to deter the Savage. Before Killean could regain his feet, Andre crashed into him.
Simone gawked as the vampire barreled into Killean, and they both somersaulted into the middle of the road. Panic tore through her when they stopped rolling with the Savage on top of Killean.
No! The scream echoed in her head as the Savage pulled back his arm and battered Killean’s face. The scent of Killean’s blood filled her nostrils, her throat went dry, and helplessness filled her as she watched them fight.
She’d resented the self-defense classes Nathan decided the women in the stronghold should take. Those classes were breaking from their ways, and the first time she’d been reluctant to learn anything she was supposed to. Now, she wished she’d paid more attention as Killean’s fingers dug into the Savage’s throat while the beast continued to pummel him.
She may have no idea what to do, but she couldn’t sit here and watch Killean being beaten. Her legs wobbled when she leapt out of the truck, but she managed to steady them beneath her as the vamp pulled back his arm to punch Killean again. Simone forgot all about her hesitation and terror when she spotted Killean’s blood glistening on the Savage’s knuckles.
She had no idea what she would do as she sprinted across the road toward them, but she had to stop this. There was no time to think as she launched herself onto the Savage’s back, gripped a handful of his hair, and ripped his head back.
She didn’t realize her fangs were extended until she sank them into the Savage’s throat and a wash of hot, rancid blood filled her mouth. Killean may be more Savage than anything else, but his blood didn’t taste rotten as this thing’s did.
She’d prefer to spit his blood out, but she didn’t release her hold on him. The monster reared back and battered the side of her skull with one, beefy hand. Stars burst against the back of Simone’s closed lids as a ringing erupted in her ears. Thick fingers entwined in her hair and though the vampire’s movements were growing sluggish, he yanked so cruelly she was sure he tore a handful of hair from her head.
Wrath unlike any Killean had ever known tore through him when Andre hit Simone. Blood pooled in his right eye from a cut above it as he lifted himself onto his elbows and drove his head forward. Andre howled when Killean bashed his forehead into the Savage’s nose, flattening it beneath the impact.
He wanted to shove the prick off him, but he didn’t dare risk doing so with Simone clinging to his back; Andre would injure her if he fell on her. Seeming to realize the same thing, Andre suddenly lunged backward and flipped himself toward the pavement.
Simone cried out when she realized the vampire’s intent and released him. She tried to leap off his back, but she wasn’t fast enough and found her arm pinned beneath him. She bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out.
Then Killean was rising over them. She’d never seen anything like the wrathful look on Killean’s face as his eyes burned hotter than the fires of Hell and his fangs slicing his bottom lip caused rivulets of blood to slide down his chin.
She almost felt sorry for the creature on top of her.
Grabbing Andre’s throat, Killean plucked him off her and dangled him over the ground with one hand. Andre’s feet kicked in the air as he issued strangled cries of terror. He tore at Killean’s hand when Killean dug his fingers into his throat. Blood poured down the sides of the wounds Killean inflicted on him and splashed onto the ground around his feet.
Through the thick muscle of Andre’s neck, Killean’s fingers touched, and he released an inhuman snarl before he tore Andre’s throat out. Andre’s head lulled back on his spine before Killean gripped the top of his head and pulled it free.
He stared into Andre’s unseeing eyes before he dropped the head and focused on Simone. Killean knelt at her side and started to reach for her, but the blood dripping from his hands stopped him before he could touch her. The sight of that blood brought him back to the motel room as he scrubbed the blood from his blistered hands. However, this time the blood was real, and he felt more in control of himself than he had in that moment.
Killing sates the beast. But then, for him, killing had always kept the demon part of him at bay. Yet, as he gazed at the bodies surrounding them, he felt as if something were missing as the demon part of him hungrily sought out something more than this death.
Then he realized that he wanted to do more than deliver death to his victims. Killing wasn’t enough for him anymore, he also wanted to experience the suffering of those he slaughtered, and he hadn’t done that with these three.
Killean lowered his hand and rested it on the ground before her. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes. Are you?” she asked and stretched a shaky hand out to caress his battered face. His right eye was nearly swelled shut, and blood spilled from a nasty gash above it that revealed a gleaming piece of his skull.
“I’m fine,” Killean said and turned away from the gentle prodding of her fingers. “I’ll heal when I feed. I have to clean up this mess, and we have to get out of here before someone comes across us.”
Killean gazed at his hands before wiping them on the front of his shirt. Blood already splattered it; adding more didn’t matter. Taking the elbow of the arm Simone wasn’t cradling against her chest, he helped her rise before gripping the wrist of her injured arm.
“Do you think it’s broken?” he asked as he tenderly examined it.
“I think he just squished it.”
“It will heal fast.”
He released her arm and lifted his eyes to meet hers. Unable to resist, he clasped her chin and ran his thumb over her lips to wipe away the blood staining them. It bothered him she’d fed from another, he should be her primary source until they were separated, but the lethalness she’d exhibited excited him. There was far more to this little hunter than he’d ever realized.
“Stay here while I clean this mess up,” he said.
“I’ll help you.”
“No,” Killean said. “I don’t want you touching these things.”
“Killean—”
“You’re injured, Simone. Just let me take care of it.”
Simone stepped back, and he turned to gather Andre’s head and body.
“How did they find us?” she asked as he worked.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“Do you think there were more of them at the campground, and they saw us leave?”
“No. I would have sensed them if there were, and they would have found us sooner if they knew what vehicle we were driving. They could be patrolling all the roads and simply got lucky.”
He didn’t believe that, but he didn’t know how else the Savages could have stumbled across them. There hadn’t been any other vampires at that campground; he was sure of that.
Killean carried the remains of Andre over to the car, opened the passenger door, and heaved him inside. The Savage pinned behind the wheel made a gurgled sound and jerked harder at the column keeping him in place. Killean leaned over to examine the Savage more closely and realized the wheel was fusing into the vampire’s skin as it healed.
“You should be afraid,” Killean assured him before closing the door on Andre’s body.
Simone stood behind the truck while he gathered the rest of the bodies and tossed them into the back seat of the car.
“Go stand by the front of the truck,” he said to her when he shut the door on the last of the remains.
Simone flexed the fingers of her injured arm. They tingled with the feeling returning to them, but it didn’t hurt when she twisted her arm to the side. “Why?”
“Because I’m going to kill him.”
She glanced pointedly at the blood splattering the street around her. “I already saw you kill all the others.”
“Yes, but I’m going to drain this one dry,” Killean replied unapologetically. He would not make excuses for who or what he was now, and he had to feed. These deaths hadn’t completely satisfied his bloodlust the way drinking the life from someone would.
Simone stared at him as she tried to process what he was telling her. This last kill would not be as merciful as the others. No, this one would be an unleashing of the Savage he’d become. She should be repulsed; instead, all she felt was a level of understanding she’d never expected to experience for a being who thrived on killing.
In the glow of the one remaining headlight on the car, Killean watched her turn away before he walked around to the driver’s side door, pulled it open, and bent down to meet the eyes of the Savage within. The vamp’s eyes rolled in his head, his distressed sounds increased as he beat his hands uselessly against the wheel.
Killean tore the steering wheel off its mount and out of the pinned Savage’s chest. The wounded vamp couldn’t put up much of a fight, but Killean wasn’t so far gone that he would kill a defenseless man.
Hauling the Savage from the car, Killean barely acknowledged the blow the creature delivered to his cheek before he sank his fangs into the Savage’s throat. The monster hit and kicked him for a good thirty seconds before the agony of having its blood unwillingly drawn overwhelmed it. Its fingers dug into Killean’s forearms as its body went rigid in his grasp.
Killean savored the vampire’s suffering as it flooded his system and eased the demon’s craving for this pain-filled, bloody end. The last of the Savage’s blood slipping down his throat didn’t bring with it the rush of power the life of an innocent did, but he still felt sated when he released his bite.
Lowering the dead Savage, he met Simone’s gaze over the roof of the car. He didn’t know how long she’d been standing there, but it had been long enough to see at least some of what he’d done. He braced himself for her revulsion, but he saw no disgust or loathing in her eyes; instead, there was only a strange caring he didn’t understand, and it unnerved him.
He didn’t want her understanding or to care what she thought of him, but with a sinking feeling, he realized he did care. However, she would be going back.
Killean shoved the Savage into the car and bent down to pull the latch for the trunk. When it popped open, he stalked behind the vehicle to examine the contents of the trunk before pulling out a lug wrench. Taking the wrench, he walked over to where the gas lid was located and slammed the wrench into the side of the car until he found, and punctured the gas tank.
Gas poured onto the roadway as he tossed the wrench into the trunk and returned to the truck. He searched the vehicle for anything he could use to start a fire and discovered a disposable lighter in the glovebox. He removed their bags of clothes from behind the seat before returning to the car and taking off his shirt. After dipping his shirt into the gas, he flicked the lighter to set it on fire before tossing the cloth onto the spreading puddle of gasoline under the car.
He’d returned to Simone and was already running with her across a field of cows when the car erupted into a ball of fire.