Page 27 of Marked Resistance

“What’s going on?” Ilanis asked as she entered. “Oh, good. You found something to eat. I thought we’d starve soon. Not all us use the blood bags.”

Grim cocked his head to the side as he kept the young woman pinned between his hands. “Blood bags might be all we get. Sweetheart here is about to stop me from feeding.”

Ilanis lifted her chin. “Is that true? You’re about to stop a vampire from enjoying a meal?”

“No. I…”

Grim’s lip curled. “I didn’t think so.”

I needed to think. Things were crashing in too quickly for me to process. Humans were at the bottom of the food chain, I knew this. But the young blonde was around the same age as my sister and seeing as how savagely Grim ravaged the poor dead girl on the floor, with the pleas for help, clouded my mind.

The door swung open again. Xavier entered with sword in hand but lowered and by his thigh. “Report,” he ordered and sheathed his weapon.

“Nothingtoreport,” Grim answered and eyed me. “I found us a nice meal. It’s dinner time.”

“Oh,” Xavier remarked and shrugged.

Ilanis sped and grabbed the eldest. “I do like them vintage,” she teased, her face hardened and fangs descended.

Xavier took a step and then cranked around back to me. “Want to split the last?”

“I’ll pass.”

It might have been the clearest thought in my mind.

Xavier tilted his head and then nodded.

“Xavier?” Ilanis called as she pulled in opposite directions on the elder woman’s head and shoulders to expose her neck. A lone tear strolled down the woman’s cheek. “Want a bite? They taste different when they’re older. Sharper. Sourer. It’s a bit of a kick.”

“I’m not hungry,” Xavier answered as he maintained eye contact with me.

Ilanis flicked her wrist and discarded the woman. She slammed into the wall and collapsed into a mass of broken flesh and bone. “That’s ridiculous. We haven’t fed in hours. We need to eat before we go hunt.Youneed to feed in case we need to rely on your...” Her mouth curled and she glared at me. “Guidance,” she finished.

“What more can you all hunt?” The blonde shrieked as she remained pinned between Grim’s hands. “What’s left? You’ve already taken so much from us,” she cried.

“We’re not hunting you,” Ilanis answered. “You’re not even smart prey. Sitting there huddled up waiting to die? You’re not a challenge. No, we’re searching for a vampire. A rogue. A deserter to our clan.”

The blonde sniffed and widened her eyes. “Wait. Wait,” she pleaded. “A lone vampire passed through here a little while ago. It’s why we were already in hiding.”

The four of us froze in our movements and became as still as statues.

“A lone vampire. How long ago?” Xavier asked, breaking the silence.

“Not long,” the blonde answered with a minimal shake due to Grim’s restraint. “If you spare us, I’ll tell you all I know.”

“Or, we could turn you,” Ilanis reminded her and pointed a finger, “and then you’d tell us anyway. Don’t forget who and what we are,human.”

“I’d rather die. You’ve already killed my sister. There’s nothing left for me. Not even immortality. If what I’m understanding is correct, you either feed on us and kill us or join us to your Elite vampire clan. But both of those options appear to have horrible consequences for you. Something about you all having to run? Maybe even get killed yourselves? If you make me a vampire, I have to fuck and feed to complete my transformation, or I die within a couple of hours, right? Ipromiseyou, I won’t do either. I’ll die and leave you to fend for yourselves. Or, you canlistento me right now, and let us live. Then you can live too.”

Live. It keeps coming back in my face.

Xavier rubbed his chin. “Hmm.”

“I believe her,” I said. Her words gave me the opportunity to think and see a clearer path. “Let her go.”

Grim’s nostrils flared. “What?!”

Xavier stepped forward. I placed my hand on his right bicep and halted his movement.

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