Page 52 of Marked for Execution

“He’s connected to the wolves. Don’t ask how I know. I just feel it. Put him down!”

Fuck.

I dropped him like dead weight and gave him a good, swift kick. He coughed and cackled as the wolves continued to circle us.

“Fucking bloodsuckers walking in the sun, crazy cults and sacrifices, what the hell is next? Why not an old man who controls wolves?”

Right as the words left my mouth, one of the wolves leapt toward the prisoner with a growl.

Chapter 10

Fitri

My eyes widened and my body prepared to slam my knife into the wolf’s back, but Eliseo grabbed me and pulled me toward him.

We both watched as the old man bit into the wolf’s neck and drank his blood.What the hell?The beast whined as he shoved him aside and stood up, chin coated in crimson. His crazed eyes looked wilder with burst blood vessels. I frowned when I noticed that his body looked different—like it gained some weight.How was this possible?

The wolves all howled in unison, rattling the side of the walls, and sent shivers down my spine.

“Do an old fool a favor and come closer. My eyes aren’t what they used to be,” he goaded, his finger doing the come-hither motion.

Hell fucking no.

Eliseo pulled a gun out of the waist of his pants and pointed it at him. This would grab the attention of the whole compound if he fired a shot.

The old man cackled and pulled the chain out the wooden pillar with barely any effort.Is he…

“I see it in your eye, girl.” He walked around us, circling with his wolves, dragging the chain with him loudly across the floor. His eyes flicked to Eliseo as hetsks. “Now, you know that will bring everyone out of their quiet homes. Who knows what these crazy people are up to with how they so easily sacrifice their members for what they deem as a good cause? They think I don’t know, butI know. A man leading a cult this easily? It was easy to figure out.”

One of the wolves lunged at us and snapped their jaws, taunting. When it closed its jaw, I kicked its head hard, making it whimper and skitter away. Throwing a knife at it, it lodged into its side, but didn't stop it from circling.

This old man had a strong hold on their minds for them to ignore injuries.

“Now why would you go and do that? You should be grateful that I let them spare you. Three human bodies a month isn’t enough to sustain them, you see.” The old man’s voice was no longer raspy, and his back was no longer hunched over.

“Fuck this shit,” Eliseo said out loud, right as he shot the old man in the chest, the sound resonating into the night. His body slammed onto the wolf that still lay there, making him yip in further suffering.

The rest of the wolves growled and snarled, going crazy with no direction. The old man groaned and rolled as he brought himself back to standing. The bloody wound on his left pec spewed blood as he fingered the hole with a hiss and sucked on his blood-coated finger.

“You’re making me excited, human. All this entertainment in one night.” The old man leapt and landed on Eliseo’s shoulder, his claws dug into his flesh, ripped it away, and dropped him to the ground.

Eliseo cried out in pain as my heart beat out of my chest and my body temperature rose from fury. Grabbing another blade from my body, I threw it, lodging it into his back. The old man cried out for a split second but then continued to maniacally laugh as his feet landed on the ground and wrapped his arm around Eliseo’s neck from behind.

Eliseo used his weight to throw the man over his shoulder and onto the ground in front of him. The wolves barely made it out of the way in time and were now fighting amongst themselves as the stranger landed on his feet and crawled on hands and feet toward us like a creature from nightmares with the hilt of my blade still sticking out of his back. My eyes burned with a hatred I didn’t know I could harness, my chest so tight it wanted to explode with fury. Eliseo growled, stood up, and pointed his pistol at the old man again. The stranger’s neck twisted to the side unnaturally right as he grabbed Eliseo’s ankle, taking him down. A shot fired off through the ceiling of the building, sending dust down and making me turn to cover my face and cough.

Eliseo screamed, and my eyes saw red. The stranger had his mouth latched onto his calf while Eliseo continuously brought down the butt of his pistol on the back of his head. My skin perspired from my internal temperature as I tackled the old man off Eliseo, ripping the flesh of his calf and squirting blood onto the wooden floor.

I dug my fingers into his mouth, his fangs piercing my skin, and pulled, screaming against his face with the tumultuous emotions that ran through my veins. He didn’t fight back.

My fingers wanted to slip with my sweaty hands, but I didn't let up on my grip, not until the sound of a crunch and his face tore in two. My mind was in a haze as I slammed his head again and again against the floor despite his jaws having already ripped in two. Blood splashed and suddenly the growls around us grew to higher levels that vibrated through my chest.

The first wolf snapped his jaws into the old man’s shoulder and knocked me onto my ass. I crab walked backward away from it. Eliseo grabbed me from behind and hauled me to my feet, but my eyes never strayed from the old man devoured by his own wolves, his life force coating the entire floor, making the beasts slip and slide as they fought over his carcass like they were starved.

“Let’s get back and get the fuck out of here,” Eliseo said aloud as he limped back with me by his side.

We made it out the door, leaving the sound of beasts behind, only to run into another voice that sent shivers down my spine.

“And where do you think you two are going?” Devon’s voice was calm, like a simple inquiry during dinner.