by Laken Cane
The other man thought about it, then shook his head. “Nah, I’m good.”
“Denim,” she called. She could no longer see his eyes.
“Here comes the doc,” Mark said.
“Open the door,” the doctor said, a minute later.
Mark opened the cage door and the doctor rushed in, his face covered with a light sheen of sweat despite the cool morning. He was thirty something, balding, and when he smiled nervously at her, he revealed a row of discolored teeth.
He grunted as he heaved his overweight body down beside her. “This will only take a minute.” He didn’t seem to find it strange or upsetting that he was tending a caged, beaten woman.
But he was on the payroll of COS. Others were less than nothing to him.
“One of you take off her jacket. I need her arm,” he told the slayers.
“You do it,” Mark told his pal. “I’ll cover you.”
“Oh, for God’s sake,” the doctor said. “She’s weak as a baby and half dead. She’s certainly nothing to be scared of.” He glanced down at her. “Are you, honey?”
She said nothing.
The COS member pulled a blade and cut the jacket sleeve from her arm. “That work?”
“Fine, fine,” the doctor said. He put his bag on the ground, opened it, then handed the slayer some vials. “Hold these.”
In seconds, he had a tourniquet around her upper arm and a needle sticking a vein. She had no blood to spare.
The hunger was so extreme she did attempt to grab him and sink her teeth into his arm. All she succeeded in doing was annoying the doctor when she jerked and twitched enough to displace the needle.
But in the end, he got what he was after.
“Now,” he said, wheezing as he climbed ponderously to his feet, “let’s fix up the boys and get some more blood from them.”
“What does he want with all the blood?” Mark asked.
“Insurance,” the doctor replied. “And I do what I’m paid to do.”
They left her and went into the twins’ cage.
One slayer helped the doctor while the other stood at the door with a gun trained on the prisoners.
Adrenaline came in fits and starts as she watched the adjoining cage. It wasn’t much, and the splinter jabbed and cut into her as she moved—but she grabbed the bars and dragged herself up until she was half sitting.
“You like to watch, huh?” the slayer with the gun said, grinning. He spat through the bars, just missing her bare leg.
She smiled, ignoring the fresh blood that spilled as her dry, swollen lips split. “If you’re still alive when I get out of this cage, you’re the first piece of shit I’m going to tear apart,” she told him.
His grin faltered, but then he curled his lip, and his voice was filled with contempt. “When you get out of that cage, you’ll be dead and I’ll be dragging your headless carcass to a hole in the ground.”
But there was fear in his eyes.
There should have been.
“All done,” the doctor said. He walked past the slayer with the gun and strode away.
The slayer was still staring at Rune when the twins exploded into action.
Rune gave one unintentional sob as it happened. The twins, the beautiful, shining twins, naked and bloody and wild, attacked.
“Hurry,” she whispered.
But then one of the guns went off, and she knew the sound would call the other slayers before the twins could get the splinter out of her heart.
“Hurry,” she begged, but the fear and urgency made her voice breathless and squeaky and she doubted the twins even heard her.
But they didn’t need to hear her. They were aware.
The slayer she’d promised to kill was still alive. Barely. Levi dragged him into her cage and dumped him on the floor, then ripped free the blade the slayer wore at his side.
“I won’t kill you?” he asked. “Tell me I won’t kill you.”
“No, baby,” she murmured. “Dig it out.”
Denim joined them, helping to turn her gently to her belly so they could dig through her back. It might be less painful than going through her chest.
Maybe.
“Do it fast,” she said. “Once you get a grip, don’t hesitate. Hurry.”
“They’re coming,” Denim said. “COS is coming.”
Without another word, Levi went to work.
She ground her teeth as the blade plunged into the splinter wound, losing her breath, and for one brief second, losing consciousness.
Too bad she couldn’t stay unconscious.
“I see it,” Levi said, his voice hard. “Grab hold, Denim.”
More pain as Denim dug his fingernails in with the blade and took the tip of the splinter. The obsidian tried to stay put. Meat and blood and desperately mending flesh screamed as Denim forced the splinter free.
Finally, it was out.
Levi pulled the blade from her back and then offered her his wrist. “Feed fast, Rune.”
“No,” she said. “Bring me that bastard.” She turned gingerly and pointed to the slayer on the ground. “I promised to tear him apart. Might as well eat him first.”
Denim dragged the slayer to her as Levi helped her pull on her jeans. He stuffed her feet into her boots, then sat back to wait for her to feed.
She dropped her fangs, her glorious fangs, and plunged them into the slayer’s throat. His screams were weak, and she drank with grim pleasure.
Drank as the slayers ran up the path, their stomping feet like a thousand drums in her ears, their shouts and even their panting breaths a hundred times louder as her body began to heal.
There was no time to feed properly as the slayers, armed with guns and hatred, ran toward them, but that was okay. She shot out her claws and hacked her tormenter’s head from his body.
She’d feed from the slayers.
She’d feed from the fucking birds.
She would spare no one, not Fin, not the scepters. Not Cree Stark.
And maybe they realized that, because even as Rune and the twins left their cold prisons and ran to meet the coming humans, the sky was filled with birds and dozens of huge, flapping wings.
The birds were fleeing.
She was Death and the twins were her angels. They were not the same, and she’d known they would not be. But they were not less.
Armed with the blades and guns they’d taken from the two dead men, the twins, aided by the magic inside them and Rune’s blood in their veins, went for the slayers.
Rune didn’t fear for them.
They’d been starved, beaten, and dehumanized, but now, they were free.
And Lex was right.
They were mighty.
Chapter Twenty-Two
There were around twenty COS members, but Rune, Denim, and Levi took them on without hesitation, and without uncertainty.
Rune bathed in the blood of her enemies, drank it as it spewed from arteries and splashed upon the ground, and roared her glee.
She was the monster.
The world became suffused with more extreme scents, louder sounds, and colors so vivid they hurt her eyes. The odors mixed and mingled, and she acknowledged them without letting them distract her from the battle.
From the butchery. She was there to kill and she did it with a cold savagery she’d somehow lacked before.
She sliced and hacked through warm bodies, her body rejecting bullets almost as soon as they punched their way into her flesh. And the entire time, she was on the lookout for one person.
Bach Horner.
She ripped the throat from one slayer as she gutted another. When she turned to sling away bits of stringy entrails, she caught sight of the twins, and they stopped her in her tracks.
They flew over the killing ground in their dance of death, completely in unison, not one motion wasted. Naked and covered in gore, they were a primitive picture of brutal barbarians, a breathtaking portrait of vicious beauty, everything wild and agonized and real.
&n
bsp; And they were shot.
Levi’s body jerked as a bullet slammed into his shoulder. But he didn’t stop.
She threw back her head and screamed, because if she hadn’t she would have shattered into a million pieces.
Finally, the ground was littered with parts of the dead slayers. The air was silent and heavy, and nothing moved.
She stared across the bodies at the twins.
“We survived,” Levi said. “Didn’t we?”
She ran to them, then, and wrapped her arms around them. Shuddery and dazed, they held each other.
“Yes,” she said. “We survived.”
“What do we do now?” Denim asked. “Where do we go?”
As if they no longer had a place in the crew. As if they were too different.
“Home,” she said. “We go home.”
“I don’t think I can,” Levi said.
“You can try.” She lifted her hand to brush back his hair.
Levi nodded once, curtly. “We can try.”
And still they stood in a tight knot of bewilderment, unsure. When they left that mountain, they’d have to begin to deal with everything that had happened.
To accept it.
All three of them.
Their dirty bodies expelled bullets and the twins watched it happen with something close to disbelief, even though they knew what Rune’s blood was capable of.
Finally, the two men stripped the fallen enemy and dressed in their bloody clothes, and Rune searched for a cell.
She found it quickly but held it for a long moment. She had no idea whom to call. She didn’t want to call the crew. She didn’t want them looking at her. Didn’t want them seeing her. Asking questions.
And she did not want to see the berserker.
She punched in a number. “I’m on Spikemoss Mountain in the bird’s nest,” she said. “I have the twins.” Then, her voice broke. “Can you come?”
“I’m on my way,” Elizabeth said.
“The birds are gone,” Rune told her, for no reason.
“Hang on, Rune. I’m coming.”
Rune clicked off.
“Who’s coming?” Denim asked.
“Elizabeth.”
He thought about it, then nodded. “Okay.”
“Horner escaped,” Levi said, coming to stand beside them. “We have to find him.”
“Yeah,” she replied. “We do.”
Denim blew out a tired breath. The twins were ill, injured, and near collapse. Her blood made their bodies forget how truly damaged they were. It had healed them enough to make them fight and function. For a while.
But some injuries were beyond her blood’s ability to repair.
She shivered. “Fucking COS.”
“Fucking birds,” Denim added.
“They’ll come back.” Levi’s voice was grim. “And so will we.”
Denim pushed his hands into the pockets of the ill-fitting jeans. “Why the fuck is it so easy for us to be taken? Why the fuck?” His eyes went a little too wide, a little wild. “We’re not…” He gestured, unsure.
“We’re not safe,” Levi said. “We’re nothing. They can take us anytime they want us. Any of us.” He looked at Rune. “They even took you.”
Shit. She wished she could tell him that it’d been her plan to be taken. That’d she’d known the birds held them, and it was her only way to find them.
But she couldn’t lie to them. They knew better anyway. So she just nodded. There was nothing to say.
Then Levi grabbed her hand. “We’ll kill them all. We’ll kill them, and if fucking Karin Love is ever released, we’ll kill her too. We’ll fight dirty, we’ll ambush them, we’ll shoot them in the back.”
“We’ll become the slayers,” Denim said, a desperate gleam of hope in his eyes. “And we’ll wipe out every single fucking member of COS.”
They had to feel in control. She understood. The same way she’d taken control of her hated immortality, they were taking control of their lives. They would not be victims. Instead, they would become the hunters.
And they’d kill humans. Just like those very humans were killing Others.
So again, she nodded, her chest hurting when she saw the frustrated gleam of tears in Levi’s eyes. “We’ll kill them all,” she replied.
She wasn’t sure, but she thought that when those words left her mouth, something irreversible, and maybe something terrible, shifted in the universe.
Chapter Twenty-Three
She directed Elizabeth to their exact location, then tossed away the dead slayer’s phone. When Elizabeth arrived, the twins and Rune were waiting.
Rune still hadn’t called the crew.
The twins climbed into the backseat, and Rune got into the front with Elizabeth.
Elizabeth studied them, briefly. “It’s good to see you,” was all she said, and she drove them back down the mountain.
“We lost Horner,” Rune said, after a long while. “And there are a lot of dead slayers up there.”
“He can’t escape capture forever,” Elizabeth replied, her voice even. “And the birds will dispose of the bodies. The last thing they want is human law enforcement on their land.”
“They welcomed the church with open arms.” Rune heard the bitterness in her voice, but didn’t try to disguise it. She was bitter.
Fucking Strad Matheson.
Elizabeth didn’t speak again until she pulled up outside Rune’s house. “Get cleaned up. I’m going to go get you some hot food and clothing for Levi and Denim. I’ll also tell Bill you’re all safe.” She looked at Rune. “Do you want to tell the crew, or would you like me to?”
“I will. After I shower, I’ll call them.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Good enough.”
Elizabeth was back with food and clothes before Rune could force herself out of the shower. She’d scrubbed herself raw with hot water and soap, but she couldn’t scrub her memory.
But Elizabeth was insistent, and she was stubborn. She knocked on the bathroom door until Rune left the insulating water for the real world.
The twins were sitting in the living room on the sofa, dressed in new clothes and eating the first hot meal they’d had since their capture, she was sure.
They didn’t eat much. Rune didn’t want anything to eat, but she did accept the huge mug of hot coffee Elizabeth handed her.
“Elizabeth,” she said. “Thank you.”
The older woman knew Rune’s heartfelt words weren’t about the coffee. “You’re most welcome. Do you have a spare phone or would you like to borrow mine?”
Rune drank down half her coffee before answering. “I have an extra but it’s at work.”
So Elizabeth handed over her phone. Rune called Jack first.
“Elizabeth,” he said. “There’s news?”
“It’s me, Jack. I’m home. Call the others and come over. You’ll need to pick up Lex.”
“Rune,” he said, his voice raw and strained. “What the fuck? What the fuck?”
“I’ll explain when you’re all here.”
“You’re okay?”
She hesitated. No, I’m not okay. I’m hurt, I’m shocked, I’m raped. I’m not okay. “I’m alive.” Then, before he could say anything else, she said, “The twins are here, Jack. I have the twins.”
He breathed gently into the phone. “They’re alive?” As if he didn’t dare hope for that much.
“They are,” she murmured.
“I’m on my way.” He hung up.
And finally, she called Ellis. “Ellie. It’s me.”
“Rune,” he screamed. “My God, Rune!”
“I’m okay,” she said, calm. “I’m okay, baby.”
“You were dead,” he said, his voice so thick with tears she could barely understand him. “I dreamed you were dead. And I was here alone.”
“I’m home. I need you to come here. Are you okay to drive?” She didn’t dare tell him she had the twins. He’d have wrecked and killed himself before he got halfway to th
e Moor.
“Yes, yes.” He sniffed. “I’m on my way. I’m so glad you’re okay.”
She gave Elizabeth back her phone and turned to the twins. “The crew is coming.”
They were a mess. It didn’t matter that they’d showered and dressed in new clothes. They were battered and shrunken and their hands trembled.
She was healing so much faster, and even she was still marked with bruises and cuts and…
She shook her head hard as an unacceptable image of the brutal rape flashed across her mind. Out, you fuckers. Out.
“Rune?” Levi said.
She swallowed. Elizabeth watched her, as did the twins, with understanding in their eyes.
“Did you kill the ones who hurt you?” Elizabeth asked.
“Yes,” Rune answered. “We did.”
She nodded. “Good. I’m going back to RISC. I want to bring Bill up to speed. Unless you need me to stay?”
“Go. We’re fine.”
Minutes later, the door flew open and Lex exploded into the room, her face wet with tears, her lips pulled back in a grimace of part disbelief, part joy.
Denim and Levy jumped to their feet and opened their arms, and she nearly knocked them over as she ran into their embrace.
None of them said a word.
They were beyond words.
Lex reached out a searching hand and when Rune took it, pulled her into the circle.
“Rune,” Jack said.
She pulled away from the others, and they immediately closed themselves back into their desperate, thankful hold as she went to talk to Jack.
He stared down at her with a sort of feverish calmness. “Tell me everything.”
“When everyone is here. I don’t want to repeat myself.”
He jerked her to him then, and she realized as she slid her arms around his waist that she really no longer cringed away from hugs.
Considering that her crew seemed obsessed with hugging, that was a damn good thing.
She smiled against his chest. “I’ll be okay.” And she would.
She shuddered as the berserker stepped into the room. She didn’t see him, didn’t hear him, but his presence sent chills down her spine. Her heart beat painfully hard and fast against her ribs, and her stomach churned like a tornado had generated inside her.