Chapter 17

The second Ren locked eyes with the large beast, he felt a shock, like something was pushing him from behind. The sensation made him lose his footing and he gasped for breath. Its eyes were like Ashton's. Deep dark red that seemed like they went on forever. They were the color of blood. They sucked Ren in, trancing him with just one look. He forced himself to pull away from the feeling. The addiction was already rising up. He didn't know what was so appealing about the strange sensation, but it was all that he could think about right then.

It bared its teeth, lips quivering as another loud growl came from its throat.

Time slowed. It was all but a moment when Ren first saw the beast, but it could have been an hour for all he knew. The thing that had been controlling his body had the same effect on him. This thing, it was similar in a way that he couldn't quite place. All he knew was that if he didn't get out of there right then he was going to end up like the girl.

He turned on his heel and ran in the opposite direction. He hadn't thought about Ashton or where he was going. He could only think about the girl's face, her body almost ripped apart, and how they just found the murderer. Or the thing that had killed her.

The ground flew past as he ran at full speed.

For a brief moment, he thought he was a goner. A vivid scene played out in his head. The Hound flew onto him and ripped him open. His guts painted the forest floor. The red shined in the moonlight. But none of that happened. He was just racing against the inevitable.

Ashton grabbed his wrist. He jerked back, almost stumbling over his feet. There wasn't enough time to think about what Ashton was doing. Ren followed him, meeting his red eyes in the dark. They looked so close to the Hounds that Ren's heart leaped in fear. But Ashton was focused. His hand tightened around Ren's wrist, leading him toward the direction Ashton had gone to get the gas. They were running at the same time. The rush of it set Ren's skin on fire.

Everything was a blur but an explicit array of images at the same time. Ren's eyes were everywhere yet he couldn't describe one detail besides the press of Ashton's fingertips to the inside of his wrist, right on his pulse, and the growls echoing in the dark forest behind them.

His feet were on fire by the time they reached the point where Ashton had left him. Ashton raced past the point and into the path they went. But the path was overgrown with large trees that seemed to stretch on for miles upward. Ren didn't have the time to crane his neck to see where they ended. Ashton was faster than him. He pulled Ren along after him, not minding that Ren was stumbling over every single pile of leaves and fallen branch. His shins ached from how many times they collided with some foreign object.

Ashton's hand was burning into his wrist. He took a deep breath, heart skipping as he turned to look over his shoulder. The red eyes peeked out from between the dark trees. The shadows split through the beast, turning its already large body into an infinity of flesh and fur. His eyes widened as it slid through the brush, kicking up leaves and dirt. The dark ate it up until he couldn't tell which was the Hound's body and which was the shadows. Everything became a blur of terrifying images that turned his legs into jelly.

He tripped. Ashton fell down with him. They were a tangle of limbs. A beat, a faded second that knocked the air from his lungs, was all that it took for the Hound to run up behind them. Ren cried out as a large paw smacked down on his lower back. The searing pain was like a knife slicing through him. He gritted his teeth. He turned over, hands held up to cover his face. The Hound snapped its jaws at him, snarling and dripping saliva over him. He gagged at the smell of rotten breath.

He kicked his legs out. Each hit jolted through him. It was not enough to get it off him. Ashton flung his entire body onto its back.

"Your knife!" He yelled. It took Ren a second too long to snap into focus.

The Hound caught him by the shoulder. He screamed, eyes squeezed shut, as the fans sunk deep until it felt like they hit bone. But he forced his hands into his pocket and grabbed the handle of the switchblade. He didn't have time to be thankful he'd brought it.

The blade flicked out. The Hound thrashed. Its fangs tore him open. The pain made it hard for him to move, but Ashton locked his arms around its throat and yanked its head up. He bared its throat to Ren. A clear shot.

"Do it!" He screamed over it growls.

Their eyes met.

Ren raised his knife and stabbed into the Hound's neck. It howled in pain. Ren ripped the blade across until blood spilled from the open wound. From the left all the way to the far right, up to its ear. He sliced through its fur and tough skin. The blood gushed out like a broken fountain. Ren held back vomit as he pushed against the Hound's heavy body.

It tried to growl once more, but the sound was lost in a gurgle. It thrashed against Ashton's hold and Ren's hands were too weak to keep it up on his own.

The blood was a dark red that looked closer to black. It smelled greasy and lacked all the aroma Ren was used to with human blood.

The Hound's body twitched and then fell limp. Ren grunted as its large head knocked against his. The blood smeared across his face. His lips were soaked with the greasy dark red liquid and he pressed them into a hard line so that it didn't get into his mouth. The smell was so pungent that he couldn't think of anything else besides how bad it smelled and how to get it off him. He turned his head, biting back the sickness taking over his sensitive stomach. There was nothing worse that he could think of besides this.

Ashton shoved the Hound's body to the side. It rolled over, tongue flopping out of its mouth. Its eyes were pitch black now. There was no sign of life.

Ren let out a sigh.

Leaning on his elbow, he peered at the corpse.

Ashton panted in front of him. He leaned back on his heels and wiped at his forehead. The blood smeared across his head. Ren stared up at him. His tongue was stuck as he took him in. His white shirt was streaked with the blood. The long sleeves were shredded at the end from the Hound struggling against his grip.

Ren swallowed and looked away.

Ashton's chest heaved. He was still looking at Ren.

And the more Ren looked back at him, the harder it was to turn away. He was glowing in the moonlight, covered in blood, and heaving like a mad man. His jaw clenched, teeth showing between his lips, and he was glaring. Ren knew it wasn't at him. At least, he hoped it wasn't because that look scared him.

It was the same look he was wearing when Ren found him hunched over the girl's body. There had been blood that time too. All over him.

Now it was on both of them.

Disgusting.

Then, the moment snapped like a thin string. Ren jolted back into his body. He let out a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

The forest was colder now. A soft breeze dried the blood on his hands and face. It was crusty even though it hadn't been that long.

"What was that?"

Ashton smoothed the glaring look from his face, but Ren still didn't want to look at him. He was too much to look at all of a sudden. The ache in Ren's chest didn't feel right. He wanted it to go away, but he knew that if he looked at Ashton it would stay.

He's the reason behind the feeling. Ren didn't want to put a name to it though he knew what it was.

"Hounds." The word barely made it out between Ren's chapped lips. He licked them, hoping he could get some of the bad taste out of his mouth. He made it worse by tasting the blood of the Hound.

He spat out the little blood that had made it onto his tongue. The taste traveled to the very back of his throat. He couldn't get it out no matter how many times he spat.

His stomach twisted. He was sure he was going to throw up. The ache was there, pushing up through him and to his throat. He pushed it down with as much power as he had. His strength was waning.

When he couldn't taste the blood any longer, he glanced at Ashton out of the corner of his eyes. His glance turned into a glare. Anger surged within him. He couldn't pinpoint when he lost the control to put a cap on his emotions. At first, it was just irritation, and then all of a sudden, he wanted to rip his throat out. The anger faded to something more manageable, but he felt as if the blood of the Hound had made him this way.

Ashton looked at him with a calculating look.

"What?"

His gaze lingered. The heat traveled to Ren's face. The anger turned to something worse. His gut burned and it wasn't because he just licked Hound blood.

The feeling grew the longer Ashton was looking at him.

"Nothing." Ashton tilted his head. "Let's go."

Ren scurried to his feet. It didn't feel right. His legs wobbled as he followed after Ashton. He was so done with this night, the Hounds, Ashton, and not finding where his grandfather's damn ring was. The moonlight shimmered against Ashton's silky locks. He has too pretty of hair for an annoying guy like him. Of course, he had money, good looks, a fit body, and nice hair. Why the hell did a guy with such a sour attitude get everything in this world?

Well, the only thing he had going against him was that he was full vampire.

Ren didn't care anymore. He didn't care to ask Ashton where they were going.

"Why was it here?" Ren asked. That was the main question. That was the main fucking question that he didn't know how to answer.

It wasn't a question directed at Ashton, but Ashton answer back anyway.

"Shut up?"

Well. Not the answer he was looking for.

Ren mocked him behind his back, mouthing shut up with a funny face. Rolling his eyes hadn't seemed like enough and though he would have liked to kick him square in the back, it was still hard for Ren to keep standing.

They walked for at least fifteen minutes, maybe more, when a clearer path started to form under their feet. Ren glanced behind them and then forward where the path had started. The trees and lower brush was cut back like it had been taken care of recently.

Something irked him. He didn't know what it could have been until he saw the top of a house. His heart got lodged in his throat. He should have known this was coming. Ashton had left him behind to get the gas. There was really only one place he could have gotten it from. Though he hadn't put two and two together until it was too late.

Ren looked down at his clothes. They were stained with blood. His face must look just as bad. The dried blood was itchy. He scratched the itch away and when he looked at his nails, the flakes of dark blood were under them. A shiver of disgust rocked through him.

He couldn't go home like this. There was no way he could hide this big of a mess from his mom.

The house was not what he expected. It was a large manor, built before the war, and was in almost perfect condition. The paint was a sleek coat of white, the trim an expensive-looking dark wood, and the small shed to the side had its own porch. The strange thing about it was that it looked empty. The curtains were drawn shut, the lights were off, and there was not a trace of life anywhere in the yard. A small garden peeked from the back, but he couldn't get a good view of it.

Ashton turned to him. He raised a finger to his lips.

Ren nodded.

Satisfied with his compliance, Ashton walked toward the front door. It swung open without a sound. And from the inside of the house, Ren smelled flowers and a strong sweet aroma that made his gums throb. The smell was blood. It was a mix of human and animal, though the former was the strongest out of the two.

He thought back to the night he met Ashton. He'd been hunting he said. Animals weren't the best diet and didn't hold much nutrition. Ren couldn't imagine how he could settle for something that couldn't possibly ever fill him up. Even Ren, a half-vampire, had trouble with the amount he had to drink a day. His stomach was a bottomless pit that was always craving for more. A full-vampire would need twice as much.

Ashton didn't meet Ren's eyes. He must have felt how intense Ren's gaze was. He looked at him in a new light. Whether it was true that he lived solely on animal blood or mixed it with human blood, he was trying something. Ren didn't know his reasoning. But it was interesting.

They entered the hall that led to a large living room and a foyer. The only light was that of the moon streaming through the white thin curtains. He could tell that the decorations and the furniture were exquisite. It was the only word he could use to describe them. It still didn't do them justice.

But the beauty couldn't hide the ominous feeling. It settled in around him, like a spider slowly crawling its way down a string of web. Inside, it was warm, yet his teeth chattered and goosebumps rose up along his arms and legs. He straightened his back and looked around with a slight tilt of his head.

Ashton grabbed his wrist and pulled him toward the end of the hall. A large set of stairs jutted out from the wall. They were darker than the rest of the wood in the house. New, from the looks. He raised his head to get a better look at the top of the stairs. The moonlight wasn't enough to see up that far and there were no windows up that way.

He looked down where Ashton's hand held his. His fingers were so white against Ren's. He stared at them, mesmerized.

With his free hand, he ran the tip of his finger along his knuckles.

His grip tightened.

Ren looked up. Their eyes met.

Then, the light flickered on.

"Ashton Mantel. Would you like to explain yourself?"