Page 18 of Marked Resistance

Xavier extended his hand and the two grasped each other by the forearms in greeting.

“Grim,” Xavier said with a smile. “Bears? You’re on to talk. You look everybityour two hundred years.”

“Oi, fuck you,” Grim joshed and gave Xavier a shove on his shoulder. “I seem to remember you having a great deal to do with the way I look.”

“Hey man, listen,” Xavier said and patted Grim on his shoulder. “Two wrongs don't make a right, just look at your parents.”

Grim laughed a booming belly laugh. “Oi, fuckyou!”

Grim wore dark clothing and a heavy breastplate, which kept many of his physical features obscured, but power emanated from his frame. His attire stood in sharp contrast to his sword, which was beautifully polished and possessed an ornate carving of a butterfly on it. His dark hair was knotted and matted and sat on top of a feral face with sharp distinguishing features. His spectacle-hidden eyes were the color of the night sky, and a large scar ran across his neck. A reminder of some past battle no doubt.

I alternated between the two and relaxed my muscles. “I guess you two know each other?”

“You bet your sweet little ass we do,” Grim answered and eyed me up and down. He flashed a smile in my direction. “Damn. Aren’t you beautiful?”

A tingle swept up the back of my neck and across my face.

Xavier stepped forward and in front of me, shielding me partially and breaking the strong eye contact from Grim. “We know each other a little,” Xavier answered, his voice deeper than it’d been a second ago.

Grim’s smile remained as he stepped sideways to see me fully. “We joined the elite together. He showed up out of nowhere, and I was a familiar who’d been turned. Best cunt I ever had, the vamp who turned me. Best by far. I’mstilltrying to find that high. I still don’t know who joined Boss vamp here to elite vampire status. How come you’ve never told me? Were you a familiar like me? Was a vampire attack ravaging your home and leaving you for dead? He never tells. It kind of makes me wonder about you.”

“I don’t lose much sleep over it,” Xavier quipped.

“Well, you don’t lose much sleep over anything, if memory serves me correctly,” Grim ribbed. “Ole cool man X.”

“Cool man X?” I echoed.

“Oh yeah,” Grim answered with a mischievous smile. “This man here? If I’m oil, then he’s the water. Nothing rattles him, no sir. Cool and steady as a bubbling brook. Why I remember a time when I saw— “

“Another time, Grim,” Xavier interrupted.

Xavier looked at me as he spoke and my chest tightened.

Grim nodded. “Oi. Some other time, little lady. Maybe over dinner? I know where we can find a couple of human holdouts right over by the— “

“Grim,” Xavier jumped in.

“Right,” Grim said with a sigh. “Don’t worry Sweetheart. Maybe I’ll get to show you why I’m calledGrimanother time.”

A cold chill went up my back making me shudder.

“So, let’s get to it then,” Grim continued. “You three are supposed to be chasing a deserter. Why are you wasting time connecting with me? You know what happens if you don’t get this guy in the time allotted.”

“You know the mission?” I asked.

“Oi, I got the folder, as you three did. I studied up.”

Ilanis looked at me with a smirk on her face. “Ask the youngling here. It was her decision to rendezvous with you first.”

“Was it now?” Grim asked and rubbed his chin with his right hand. “Tell me something, Sweetheart. Why’d you make that call?”

All three pairs of eyes were on me, and the air around me grew thick. I swallowed hard and made myself stand taller.

“I joined this team a few weeks ago, and we’ve already been given the assignment to catch a rogue. We’re not used to working together, haven’t trained together, or hunted together. We don’t know each other’s strengths or weaknesses on the battlefield where a moment of hesitation can be your last. I’ve seen it…experienced it. It’s not something to be taken lightly.”

“But youknowwho your lead is?” Grim said more as a statement than a question. “And you know how to follow orders, correct? So, why not trust the system, trust your training and go after the threat?”

“I do trust the system, and I do trust my training. And I follow orders. But there’s something to be said about chemistry. We’re unfamiliar with each other. I thought our best chance for success was in a numbers advantage. So, given the option of going in as is, or adding another Fang, I chose strength in numbers.”

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