Marked

Chapter 51: Blood Bath

Trigger warning: This chapter contains descriptions of death and gore, please read carefully ❤

I didn't know what to expect but the gruesome scene left behind by those strange rogues was definitely not what I expected. We took cars in the hopes there would be some survivors that would need transported, but as we parked the cars and stepped outside, the scent of death and blood hit so hard, I wasn't confident there was any life left here.

There was so much blood, the ground was wet with it. Every step let out a horrendous squelching sound and none of the bodies were recognizable because there were no whole bodies. The rogues that came through here shredded these vampires, and their home. The manor was torn apart, wood ripped off in random places, the remains of it on top of some bodies. Some of it was barely standing, a lot of it looking like the foundation could give out at any moment. These rogues shredded everything.

Mia stepped forward, her eyes scanning the horrific scene. My heart broke for her and I stepped forward, setting my hand on her shoulder. "I don't know if it's a good idea you look around," I said honestly. Hadn't they all been through enough? "Let the rest of us look for survivors."

"No," she said, shaking her head, her eyes fixed ahead. "No. They're my friends, I'll find them."

She stepped through the scraps of what was left of the clan of vampires like it was nothing but I knew it wasn't. Kane took my hand and I covered my nose with the other. The stench was awful, putrid, nauseating.

I saw the rest of the ranked wolves step forward and I'd never seen them so serious. Even Hunter was serious and he was the most laid back of all of them. He swallowed hard and followed after Mia. "We should split up," he said, stepping through the ground mudded by the blood of I didn't even know how many vampires. "There could be a survivor somewhere."

"Split up," Kane agreed. "See if you can find anyone alive or... Whole, even," he muttered the last part, holding my hand tightly and walking forward.

"What the hell kind of rogues are these?" I said quietly, squeezing Kane's hand as we moved forward.

"Not like anything I've ever seen."

I nodded and stayed silent. Talking required more breathing and this air was not pleasant to breathe.

It would've been helpful if we could listen for heartbeats, that would make this significantly faster, but vampires didn't have heartbeats and the smell was so overwhelming, it took over any scenting we could possibly do. All that made the process much slower.

Every part of me wanted to protect them from this as I saw several Deltas kneel down and move pieces of the house away to check under them. Their hands were getting covered in blood and I couldn't help but feel this would only make things worse, but it wasn't like I could send them away. Who else would come take care of this? If I sent them away, more from our same pack would have to come. There was no winning here.

I decided to brave the part of the house that still looked structurally sound. I didn't even bother with the doorway since the doors were gone. One set of the double doors barely hung on with one hinge and it had claw marks, completely cut through the wood.

Swallowing hard, I walked into the house, Kane right by my side as we stepped over the shattered wood splattered with blood. My wolf eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness and I looked around, only finding more bodies ripped into. Goddess, all they had to do to kill the vampires was get the hearts out, they didn't have to do this.

"I don't like this," Kane said, his hand tightening around mine.

"Neither do I," I agreed. "Have we heard anything about the missing patrol?" I asked, looking over at him.