Page 8 of Marked Resistance

“Gorgeous, that’s not living.”

“Yeah, people keep telling me that.”

“Then you should start listening,” he said and kissed me again.

He drew himself up, his wicked smile returning to his luscious lips, winked at me, and then he was gone.

The minutes raced towards my deadline. Time to return and let Command know what happened.

Chapter Four

An average-sized, rectangular office with coordinating wooden furniture would be my prison for the next few minutes as I met with Command. Being the only surviving member of my team meant it was left to me to do the debrief. We’d been led by Kristopher, but as my feet sank into the carpet and I eyed the ugly paint on the walls decorated with a wallpaper border, I almost cried. The light provided by wall lamps bounced off the room colors and made me want a mocha coffee to soothe my jumble of emotions in this rustic-looking room.

Among the first things I noticed when I walked in, was a collection of knickknacks and an award plaque. Throwback items from a bygone era. The warrior I was set to meet with was Oriel Yardley, and this girl made me think of a crazed lunatic. Her deep-set eyes were the color of the evening sky. She wore her fine, curly, night-black hair in a unique style to make it look like she had horns growing out of her head. Short with a narrow build and thin eyebrows, she rolled her eyes when I approached.

“You’re late, Youngling,” Oriel griped.

“No, I’m not,” I responded and strengthened my posture. “I had forty-eight hours to return, and I have three hours remaining. I’m not evencloseto being late.”

“What do you mean, you had forty-eight hours? That allowance was rescinded.”

My eyes grew as large as the travel mug full of blood she had on her desk. “What?!”

She sucked through her teeth. “You’d better be glad you showed. Otherwise,yourname would have come up.”

“When?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Oriel answered. “The new regulation is twenty-four hours, not forty-eight. It so happens we’re swamped right now so we didn’t get to you.”

This is fucked up. I’m out doing my job and could have been next because I didn’t check in? Crazy.

My nails bit into my palms. “Swamped with what?”

“You,” Oriel answered as she eyed me. “Younglings. Duradel ordered a bunch more humans and familiars to be joined to the elite.”

“Why?”

Oriel blew out a breath and shook her head. “Why? You’ve been out in the field, try taking a look around you next time. We have to replace the weak vampires and cowards Shaye’s losing.”

“Youneed to get out to the field and take a look around if Command thinks they know what’s really going on,” I scoffed. “This army lacks unity. There's not a single mindset, but there is a single goal: Make sure you survive the war and get back home. That’s all anyone’s trying to do at this point.”

Oriel dragged her hand through her hair. “Kid, don’t bare your teeth at me. How old are you? Thirty? Forty at the most? Duradel ishundredsof years old, as is most of Command. We were fighting this war before your first fang descended. You think a youngling like yourself has a better understanding of what this army is than we do?”

I shook my head but maintained eye contact. “I think you’ve lost sight of what’s important and joining a bunch of new people to the elite isn’t going to help that. The lack of training and bloodlust, coupled with the loss of our leadership on the front lines is going to wear the rest of us thin. You may be ancient, but that doesn’t mean Command has a pulse on what’s going on out there.”

“Noted. You as a youngling have a better grip on the Warriors than the entirety of Command. But let’s get this debrief going. Where’s the head of your squad?”

My heartbeat began to race as my muscles quivered. “He’s dead. Killed in action.”

“Oh, that’s right. I’d heard rumors. What about your third member?”

“He died too. They both died on that bullshit mission. Two KIAs. Two experienced fighters in exchange for one rogue vampire who was tired of fighting. Command sent three of us to capture one. How does that make sense? There has to be a better use for our existing assets.”

“Oh, I see. That’s what you think, huh? Let me ask you something.”

Oriel leaned forward in her chair.

“Did you know the man you thought was merelytiredof fighting, was actually defecting to Corrus to share all our secrets?”

---