Page 26 of Marked Resistance

There wasn’t much to explore. Humans sought refuge here, and for a while, had been able to either resist Shaye vampires or remain undetected. Inode’s size made the latter more probable and would explain the tripwire Grim discovered upon our entry.

Tripwire.

Thoughts rammed to the front of my mind when a scream from behind focused my attention. I spun on my heels and unsheathed Assurance in time to see a human child run out of one of the buildings on the far right.

Chapter eleven

The wailing could be heard from the street. Inode’s size didn’t leave much in the way of places to hide, with its rusted rooftops, lava stone walls, and scavenger birds, Inode had a gruesome atmosphere. Where the child ran to was of little consequence as she could easily be located later. The inside of the building she came from is where my attention focused.

I sped to the building the child ran from with Assurance in my right hand, and burst through the front door. A plaster and wood framed and sprawling single-story building, with a yellow tile roof and shuttered windows, a small dragon's skull hung over the hearth, and a large bookshelf filled with books and messy tables covered in cutlery and leftover food awaited me. The small fire in the hearth bathed the room in an ethereal glow. In the corner by the hearth were three women of different generations huddled together. While one of the women covered the eyes of the youngest member, the other two stared with horrified looks at the scene in front of them.

In the center of the room, Grim had his pants down around his ankles. He fucked savagely a bent-over human female whose head had rotated around so her chin flopped on her back as he banged into her dead body from behind. A deep red pool of blood inundated the floor around them, and rivulets of blood dripped from an open gash in her neck. Blood coated his mouth and chin. Her open eyes stared into nowhere, and yet Grim continued to slam into her as if she were alive, enjoying every violent thrust of his hips.

My head jerked back from one of his collisions. “What the fuck are you doing?!”

“What? Oh, this?” He panted. “Told you I’d get to show you why I’m calledGrim. It’s my thing.”

The sound of Grim’s hips as they slammed into the woman’s ass sickened me.

“I fuck them till they’re one drop of blood away from death and then turn them, joining them to our elite vampire clan. I bring them back from the edge and then fuck them again. You of all people should know newly made vampires have to fuck within a couple of hours of turning or they die. I’m like the Grim Reaper, I get to bring them back from death while getting my rocks off twice. It’s amazing orgasms.”

“You dumb shit. She’s dead.”

“Oh,” he moaned, and right in front of me, his eyes rolled back into his head and a wicked shudder coursed through him. “Fuck!” He bellowed as he orgasmed. “Damn she had some good pussy. Well, they’re nothing but food for us anyway. No second life for you,” he remarked and released her body. She crumpled to the floor in a disgusting heap which seemed to ramp up Grim’s desire more. He looked at me with hunger in his eyes.

A look I’d seen many times.

“I’m not fucking you, Grim,” I said as a bitter tang entered my mouth. “Get your creepy eyes off me.”

“Hmm,” he said and turned his attention to the women curled in the corner. “Okay, time for a double.”

One of the women screamed. Her shrill voice pierced the eerie glow from the flames and shot through me. She was a mite stocky and well-dressed, for this tiny village, but even with her fine clothing, she looked run-down. Her long golden hair reached to her waist.

“Oi, Ilovescreamers. Don’t worry, I’ll make it…no. I was going to say quick, but my second nut never comes quick. I can’t promise it’ll be painless either. I do love me some blondes.”

“Do something,” the eldest woman cried out to me. “Don’t stand there and let him do this to us. Whatever you are now, you’re still a woman. Help us!”

“Oh, she’s not going to help you. She’s going to join in, andeatyou. Aren’t you, Sweetheart?”

My skin crawled. “What makes you think I’d feed with you?”

A slow smile built on his face. “Because you need to get your strength up. We’ve got a deserter who is light-years ahead of us, and we’re going to need to be readyifwe even find them. Or ready to run if we don’t.”

“I’ll pass.”

Grim shrugged. “Suit yourself. More for me then, but when you’re on the wrong end of another Fang Ranger’s sword, you’ll wish you’d listened to me. Come here.”

With powerful strides, Grim covered the small distance between him and his next meal. The women sobbed as Grim ripped the blonde away from the next youngest who’d she’d covered her eyes. As she squirmed in his vice-like grip, he put his hands over both of her ears, ready to twist her head with ease.

“No, wait,” I held my palm up to him.

Grim’s forehead scrunched. “What?”

“I…”

“Iknowyou’re not about to stop me.”

My mind raced, searching for answers as I tried to formulate a response. Before I could, the door groaned on its hinges and opened, sending a cold wind in.

---