Soul Bound

Chapter Six

"Ramsey, enough! We're done talking. I'm not waiting around for Byrom to realize." Wolf picks up on the urgency in his voice. "Knock her out. Now."

"We were promised a challenge. Shouldn't we make this a bit more fun?" Ramsey says, digging his nails into my stomach.

Wolf finally decides. If they take us, we're done. But if we can bide our time, maybe Finn really will get here.

Fight, she howls.

I thrust my heel back into Ramsey's shin and bite down on his forearm with the force of an alligator. He hisses at me, tearing his arm from my teeth, and springs away, landing next to the big guy.

"No bite, huh?" I smirk, wiping his black blood from my chin.

"You bitch!" he screeches. Six oozing indentations in his arm contrast against his otherwise flawless skin, but it's a matter of seconds before they heal and his skin is perfect again.

"Try that on me, you little shit," the big one says, tilting his head to crack his neck.

He pulls off his shoes and more bones start to crack. Crack and bend and break, reshaping in different directions. There's a bubbling beneath his skin. I can see the air puckering his flesh as he rips his shirt off.

What is this? What is he? I ask Wolf, heart pounding in my chest. A familiar scent pours off of him as he starts to morph.

Beast, she says.

A beast I've never encountered before.

Ramsey sighs and looks at his nails. The beast's transformation is slow. He screams out in pain and Ramsey looks at him with repulsion.

"Disgusting, isn't it? You'll regret making him do that," he says, stalking towards me. "But let's play while we're waiting." His lips curl into a sneer. Ivory fangs replace his normal canines and he licks at the sharp curve of one.

Run, Wolf snaps.

I thought you said to fight!? I can't outrun them. We have to fight.

Ramsey ambles towards me. "I will even give you a head start. Go on." He shoos me with his handop.

I stand my ground. "If you think I'm gonna—"

"Run!" he screams, frenzied. His pupils dilate and black out his eyes. Whatever part of them that's still human disappears with the whites of their eyes.

So I take his advice and run like the goddamn wind.

Shift, Wolf orders.

Into what? I can't outrun a freaking vampire!

Blend.

Right. Blend in. Vampires can't smell us. If I can blend in as an animal he might pass me by. I shift into the first form that comes to mind: yellow eyes, tuffs of hair along the face, black-tipped, pointed ears. The bobcat shape replaces my own and with feline agility I take off.

Where do we go? Home is too far. I won't make it.

Ocean.

It's not even a quarter of a mile away. I can't outrun them, but maybe I can outswim them.

I sprint through the forest towards the salvation of the sea. I'd be out into the open ocean in seconds with the blacktip shark's form. They'd never catch me. I could swim down the coast and come back into shore, call Finn from somewhere.

Then a hand entangles itself in my fur.

"Oh dear, you didn't know tracking your kind was my specialty, did you?" Ramsey says, picking me up by the gruff of my neck. I hiss in pain.