Page 31 of Marked Resistance

“Why would you think she was frightened?” I asked with a frown. Mental images of Sarah alone, afraid for her life, running from place to place with no idea of who or what she’d become pushed me to the brink. Xavier was right. This line of thinking wasnotgoing to help me calm down.

“Because she just turned,” he answered. “She has a rush of emotions, all stronger than anything she’s ever experienced being a human. With everything that’s happening to her, her instincts and impulses screaming in her mind, what would anyone else want to do?”

“Seek out help. Try to figure out what’s happening or what to do?”

“Exactly. And she was told what to do, but she didn’t.”

“She didn’t go to Dobgar.”

“But she didn’t go to Dobgar,” he echoed. “Why?”

“She’s waiting forme!” I gasped.

“You’re the only one she trusts. To find your sister, where would she go to wait for you is the only question you need to ask yourself.”

“The village. She picked this place because it's small. She’s comfortable here.”

“She set the tripwire?”

“Yes. I taught her and my father some rudimental ways to protect themselves in the event of an attack. Guess I didn’t do a good enough job.”

“Nonsense. You did the best you could with what you had to work with at the time.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because it was your sister and father. You wouldn’t withhold anything from them.”

“True.”

“Forgive yourself, Zenobia. You did the best you could. Accept what happened and embrace what has to happen. This is how you remain steady. What else?”

“The village is compromised.”

“Would she run?”

“We never ran on the farm. Dad was determined to defend it until his final breath. He instilled in us the same. Regardless of the situation, we don’t run. We face it.”

“That’s why you didn’t run when facing Ilanis in open battle?”

“Right. She’s older, stronger, and more experienced. But I’m not running.”

“It’s also why you were able to kill the vampire who murdered your other team.”

“Yes.”

“Good to know. If your sister is the same, and she didn’t run…where?”

“Not the docks, that’s for sure. She’d lower her exposure, and shrink her area. She’d find someplace like— “

“Like your farmhouse?”

“I know where she is.”

I headed in the direction I saw the little girl run to when she fled the building from Grim. The child ran to a thicket, so I headed in the direction of where I saw her disappear. Pushing the bushes and branches aside, revealed a small path which led to the back of the building and beyond. I drew Assurance from its sheathe, but Xavier held up his hand and entered first. The midnight symphony of crickets and birds as they fluttered in the branches of the trees, played like a horror soundtrack as we made our way. The path led us to a small hut. Xavier paused and turned around to face me before he entered. I nodded and he pushed on the door.

The little bit of moonlight we had flooded in and gave us what we needed. Inside the hut, on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees, sat the young girl. In front of her, a woman whimpered as a vampire had their fangs on the woman’s neck. The vampire hadn’t bitten the woman but could do so at any moment. When the door opened, the vampire’s eyes met mine and a small gasp escaped my lips.

“Sarah?” I whispered. “Oh, Sarah. Is that you?”

---