Page 42 of Marked for Desecration

Pfft. Not like it mattered. I needed to find my way back to the Cromwell estate. Lifting my head to the sky, I estimated that it was late evening, the sun already cresting down in the west.

I did the only thing I could. I chose a path away from the tunnels and started walking.

A couple of hours in, I decided to take the path along the cluster of trees in case I ran into trouble.

Wouldn’t you know, trouble found me.

“What are you doing out here all alone?”

I stopped in my tracks and looked over my shoulder. The human’s eyes flashed with fear right before I pounced on him, sliced his flesh, twisted his neck, and bit down pulling his life’s essence into me. His blood wet my face and I relished in it.

I was going to need strength. I didn’t know how far I had to walk.

His blood was the perfect temperature, warming my insides as the nightfall began to cool my surroundings. I was going to have to tread lightly, reduce the noise in case Landon came after me.

Placing my hand on one of the tree trunks, I looked around again, trying to orient myself. One of the disadvantages of being a Vargas was the fact that my mother kept me sheltered.

“Thanks a lot, Mother.”

I kept walking, guided by the light of the moon.

All of a sudden, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and I stopped, slowing my breaths. I listened intently until the snap of a twig made me sprint between the trees.

Landon’s growls echoed around us as I lept on low hanging branches and over boulders and hills.

His body pounded behind me. He relished in the hunt. I leaped toward another tree trunk, grabbing the branch above it when the sound of two boulders colliding made me gasp.

I slipped off the branch I was standing on but grabbed it before I could fall to the ground.

The crash of tree roots and snarls from Landon made my eyes widen with rapt interest.

It was like watching a morbid dance as he flashed in and out of darkness. I couldn’t see his opponent, distracted by the way he was thrown against rocky boulders and trees, taking them down and knocking them to dust.

I coughed as the dust hit my face, waving my hand in front of me and slipping off the branch from my other sweaty palm.

Fuck!

Landing on my ass, I groaned and rubbed my eyes.

“You will die!”

Landon’s roar made my eyes snap open. Two Infiltrators flashed in and out. Each time they flashed in, a body flew and crashed.

The glint of a blade cut through the air and aimed directly at Landon. It hit him in his large shoulder, pushing him back but not enough to take him down. He grinned, gripped the hilt, and pulled it out, spraying his blood down his front.

“What is with you and attracting these lunatics, Valka? I just need a fuck, not a million fights to get to your pussy.”

There was only one asshole that would talk to me that way. “Ian?”

They both blipped out of sight and my breath caught. What was happening?

“Something funny about you.”

Ian was an idiot goading Landon.

A growl cut through the air and Landon’s arm appeared, hitting Ian right in the chest. How did he know he was there?

Ian flew backward, his body broke a tree in half, collapsing it against another. His maniacal laughter boomed and sent some of the birds scattering into the air.

---