Victor Reyes didn't start as a killer.
He started as prey.
Fifteen Years Ago
The slums of the lower district didn't forgive weakness.
Victor learned that the hard way.
His father was a drunk, and his mother left when he was too young to remember her face. That left Victor to survive alone, scavenging food from trash heaps and dodging gangsters who wouldn't think twice about putting a bullet in a kid's head if he looked at them wrong.
But it wasn't the gangs that scarred him.
It was them.
A group of Awakened thugs who ruled the streets with brutal efficiency. They didn't just extort and kill—they played with their victims.
Victor was ten when they found him.
"Let's see if he squeals," one of them had said, a twisted grin on his face.
Victor didn't squeal.
He didn't make a sound as they beat him, broke his ribs, and left him bleeding in the rain.
But he remembered their faces.
And when he awoke days later, half-dead and feverish, he discovered something had changed.
The first time it happened, Victor thought he was hallucinating.
Lying in a pool of his own blood, he felt a strange warmth coursing through his veins. His wounds… they weren't healing, but something was moving inside him.
His own blood was responding.
He watched in shock as the crimson liquid slithered across his skin, forming thin tendrils that moved at his command.
> [Awakening Detected.]
[Ability Acquired: Sanguine Tracker]
The power was raw, unrefined. But even then, he knew—this wasn't just a gift. It was a weapon.
And he was going to use it.
Years Later…
Victor hunted down every single one of them.
The men who left him broken in that alley?
Dead.
He tracked them through their blood—following every heartbeat, every pulse. His power had grown over the years, evolving into something terrifying.
He could taste the life in their veins. Control it. Turn it against them.
When the last one begged for mercy, Victor didn't hesitate.
"Mercy is for the weak," he had whispered, driving a crimson blade through the man's heart.
That was the moment Victor Reyes stopped being prey.
And became the Bloodhound.
Victor never worked for anyone. Not really.
He was a freelancer—one of the best. But even the best had debts. And when you owed favors to the wrong people, those debts had to be repaid.
When Black Sun took on a high-profile retrieval job, Victor was hired by someone with deeper pockets. Someone who wanted to make sure the job failed.
It wasn't about the package.
It was about eliminating Leon.
Why? Victor never asked. He didn't care. A job was a job.
But Leon made it… difficult.
The guy was sharp. Too sharp for a non-Awakened merc. He had instincts that most Awakened didn't have. And he had something Victor never expected—loyalty.
Leon wasn't just fighting for himself. He was fighting for the crew. For Black Sun.
And that's what made him dangerous.
So Victor waited.
He watched.
And when the opportunity presented itself, he struck.
The Night Leon Died
The rain poured down that night, drowning out the sounds of the city.
Leon was alone, checking the package. The others had scattered to secure the perimeter, but Victor knew Leon wouldn't let his guard down.
"Wrong place, wrong time," Victor had whispered as he stepped out of the shadows.
Leon barely had time to react before Victor's blade was in his back.
It wasn't a clean kill.
Leon fought.
Even with a knife between his ribs, he fought like a cornered animal. But Victor had one thing Leon didn't—power.
Victor's blood formed into spikes, tearing through Leon's body from the inside.
And when Leon finally collapsed, Victor stood over him, watching the life drain from his eyes.
"Should've stayed down, Leon," Victor murmured before walking away.
Back to the Present
Now, standing in the steel mill, Victor's eyes narrowed as he watched his men drag Damien toward him.
"Leon's dead," he muttered under his breath. "And yet… I feel something."
A chill ran down his spine.
For a man who could track the lifeblood of anyone he touched, Victor knew when something was off.
And right now?
He felt a pulse that shouldn't exist.
"Impossible," he whispered. But deep down, he knew—
Leon was back.
And this time…
He wasn't staying dead.