Blood Prize (Bloody Dance #1) Read Online Free Page B

failing.
    “How is Zero?” Why was she always asking about me? Amy was a good woman. She was the kind of person who worried about people. Amy was bright, sweet, and always smiling. She had a way of making you smile. She was also a great mother to her daughter. She was a great mother to everyone on the team.
    “Zero’s strong; he has to be,” Shu answered. I frowned at his words. He was right though. Shaking my head, I raised my hand again. This time knocking on the door. “Enter,” Shu called and I turned the knob opening the door.
    “You made it home.” Amy gave me that famous smile of her. She was always a very pretty person. Her brown hair, her gray eyes, her tanned skin. She didn’t seem to fit in this world. She stood out against the dull backdrop of this city.
    We met Amy on the road when Shu and Amy were teenagers. She once was a Demon Hunter, as well. It wasn’t until they had their daughter that Amy settled into the life of a stay at home mom. We got this house. We brought in the team to live here with us. We were all family.
    “You’ve eaten?” Shu asked me and I nodded my head. Why would I come back if I hadn’t already? Even if Shu was annoying with his worrying, I always ate when he told me to. Most times I did it before he told me to. We were just . . . busy looking for the Blood Demon these last three months.
    “I collected on a bounty.” I waved my card at him a bit teasingly. Shu rolled his eyes. Even if he was older now, even if he pretended to be my father at times. In the end, Shu was my best friend. Nothing could change that. I teased him and he teased me.
    “What do you want?” he asked when he reached for the card a few times, but I yanked it back before he could grab it from me. Shu knew that any credits I earned was for both of us. Not just the two of us but the whole team.
    “We have to get real work Shu.” He had to know this by now. We couldn’t keep chasing after someone without money anyway.
    “We’re close, Zero.” I could hear the desperation in his voice. I closed my eyes shaking my head. We were days behind the Blood Demon with no idea where he went next. I wouldn’t call that being close.
    “We have no idea where he is. He won’t feed again for months. We have nothing.” That was the simple truth. I never bit my words for Shu. He has never sugar coated his for me. Shu was wrong; he knew he was wrong. I could see his shoulders slump as he let out a sigh. He nodded his head in defeat.
    “We’ll pick someone tomorrow,” he spoke. Picking someone meant going to the Demon Hunter bar and finding someone to collect on the board. I hoped that we were lucky and found someone that we could make credits off quickly.
    “It’s the right move.” Shu looked at me before he nodded again.
    “Maybe some other demon will put us on his trail.” That was true. Demons had no loyalties. Maybe if we squeezed one of them tight enough, they would give us the Blood Demon. “Maybe we’ll find your demon, as well.” My eyes shifted to Shu.
    I only nodded turning from the room and going back to my own. I laid down in my bed my mind racing. I had been putting so much effect into Shu’s demons I forgot about mine. My demon, my white whale, my . . . Ban.
     
    My hands were above my head. They were tied to the bars of the headboard. There was fear in me that I’ve never known before. I tried to struggle, I tried to free myself. I couldn’t. I was powerless. Fingers pressed up my chest. It made my back arch as a moan parted my lips.
    The pleasure the man brought was horrifying. It almost scared me as much as the blood that covered him. Or maybe right now I was scared of myself. Frighten that even after the evil I saw this man do I still . . . enjoyed his touch.
    My eyes shifted around my brother’s room. I didn’t know why he had brought me in here. It was a violation of my brother. Maybe it was because he couldn’t actually kill my brother. I silently cursed myself for not leaving