Fangs of Fate (Untish #1)

Chapter 25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHANCE

Shae would be ok. Her injuries were minimal all things considered. She had sustained a broken clavicle, four puncture wounds at her shoulder, and a mild concussion. Other than that, it was just scrapes and bruises. I huffed. Scrapes and bruises, what a mild way of putting it.

I just reached the field and found Holland directing the remaining uninjured guaraman to move the bodies of their fellow soldiers into a line so we could catalog the loss.My torso had been wrapped with a bandage. Thankfully, the cuts weren’t too deep and the healing tonic the medic gave me was already working.

“Holland.” I nodded in greeting.

“Dale.” She sighed, the first sign of exhaustion I’d seen from her. “We took quite a hit.” She gestured to the rows of bodies already being lined up. “So far, twenty-four of the forty-three dokimoses are dead. They were fine yesterday, and today they’re dead. This should never have happened.” She leveled a gaze at me and then looked in the direction of the settlement’s dux.

He had told us all was in order. He lied. When those things attacked, his men were nowhere to be found. I started toward the asshole. Holland’s steps were quick behind me, her small frame visible in my peripheral.

“Hell of a shot, Holland. Where’d you learn to fight?”

“In training, Northern Outpost. My father was an anax there. My mom likes to say I was born with a rifle in hand.”

“Well, thank Mother Blood for that. You saved us last night. Kept your cool. I can see why they made you dux.”

“You held your own.” That was the closest to a compliment I’d ever received from her.

“Where are the creatures’ corpses? I want to take a closer look.” The yard was covered with piles of black oozing goo, blood if I had to guess, and severed vampire limbs. I noted a few creatures’ heads but didn’t spot any of their corpses.

“They’re all around.”

“What are you talking about? Did the dux move them?”

“Dale, they turned to goo.” She gestured to a foul-smelling pile next to my feet. “They started decomposing faster than I’ve seen anything fall apart and now most of them are just syrupy, black goo.”

I paused. Only one thing could make things decompose at unnatural levels.

“Magic. Dark magic.” She voiced my thoughts for me.

I squatted next to a pile and sniffed. It smelled putrid. From closer inspection, I could see lumps in the goo. Bits of purple flesh, a bit of bone, and then just black slimy goo. I went to the next pile. This one contained a claw. I picked up a stick and moved it along. It appeared to be biologically similar to that of human bone structure as it was divided into three segments of bone, and yet, it was a black claw. Sharp. Very, very sharp and scaley. I’d never seen anything like it. I needed something that wasn’t decomposed. I surveyed the yard and twenty feet to the right there was a creature’s head. I stood up and strode for it, stick in hand.

It was large, larger than vampire or human skulls usually were. It was black and covered in scales, though half of it was all slime, already decomposing. Moving it with the stick, its face came into view. The eyes were sunken in. Deep purple circled the eye sockets that were now filled with black goo. Purple veins jutted out in every direction on unnaturally grey-pallor facial skin—a stark contrast to the black scales. The nose was missing and was just cartilage sporting two holes. The mouth had several rows of teeth, four fangs on the top and four on the bottom.

“It’s unnatural. Wrong,” Holland’s voice jarred me from my thoughts.

“It is. Magic will do that.” I looked at her. Studied her movements. Her square face set in a grim expression that somehow made her full lips incredibly thin. Her light brown eyes had darkened to the shade of dark chocolate, delicate and furious; a thing to behold.

“Come on. Time to go talk to Dux Bole.” We marched over there, Holland leading the way. Each of her steps was surer than the last.

“Dux Bole. I think you owe us an explanation.”

The stocky male sneered at her.“I owe you nothing. I am the dux here, female .”

“Yes, the dux of a failed settlement. Is this the first time you’ve been attacked by these creatures?” She appeared unphased by his sexism. Instead, she arched a brow and stepped closer, paying no attention to the foot-and-a-half height difference between them—her confidence was a turn-on.

“I’ve never—” He stopped mid-sentence, eyes going wide. Magic. She was using her magic on him. I knew from personal experience it wasn’t pleasant. “What the hell is this?” His face turned beet red.

“I asked you a question. Was this the first incident like this?”

He turned redder until finally, his mouth opened, and words just poured out. “No! Alright, the answer is no! We were attacked two weeks ago by a small group. We took them out and most of our numbers were intact. Last week we had another assault and lost ten soldiers. It was still a small group, maybe twelve creatures at most. Tonight, was the largest number I’d seen. I didn’t know there were that many.”

“ What are they?” she demanded. I was perfectly content to stand here and watch her work, it was mesmerizing in its own way. I could practically see the aura surrounding the fat male.

“I don’t know. Something unnatural, that much is true.”

“You said you lost ten guaramen. Is that why none of your men assisted in the defense of a settlement you swore an oath to protect?”

“Each time they’ve come they’ve only been interested in the processing plant. They feasted on the humans or took them. My men who fought died and were devoured. So yes, I instructed them to stand down to see if those things would simply come for the plant and leave.”

Unbelievable. He left us to die on a whim.

“How many humans perished in these attacks?”

“Hard to tell. Our warehouse was emptied each time, some corpses behind, but mostly they just left it bloody empty.” He spat the last word as his eyes darkened.

“Taken?”Holland pushed further, asking my own question.

“That’s what I fucking said you b?—”

His body spasmed as the aura intensified. Holland released a bit and Bole snarled at her, but I didn’t miss the fear in his eyes. “Yes, taken. It’s those human’s fault.” He spat on the ground and took a step back from the petite but powerful female.

“How so?” she pried.

“If you ask me, they’re playing with magic trying to become the hunter. That’s why I’ve locked them all up, mandatory house arrest for every last one of ‘em.” He smirked. “I’ve also increased the blood donations. Didn’t you taste the richness of the wine last night?”

“That’s a violation of National Law Agreement of the Four Houses, stature one, bi-law twenty-two of the Blood Donor Compact. Have you received authorization from the president or the district anax?” I asked, speaking for the first time in this entire encounter. I didn’t particularly think much of humans, but the law was one thing I’d spent my life upholding. No matter the cost?—

An image of sandy blonde hair and mahogany eyes filled my vision; a younger female screaming and crying. One I’d betrayed because I believed in the law, believed in a world ruled by order.

“Answer him,” Holland demanded. The male hacked up a loogy, spitting it to the blood-soaked ground before looking at me.

“No, and I don’t need some kid coming in here and telling me how to run things. Pack up and get the hell out of here.”

“As soon as we file an official report, we’ll be out of your hair, Dux Bole.” Holland nodded to me and then we both looked at the blood processing plant. If illegal magic was being used here, it would take blood to create the creatures we encountered last night.

We left Dux Bole standing there, turning bright red with his fists clenched, and stalked for the processing plant. Dread pooled in my stomach as I pulled back the doors and was assaulted by the scent of rotten iron.