by Laken Cane
Lex grinned. “About time.”
Rune strode to the closet, yanked it open, and grabbed a change of clothes for the day. “I only meant—”
“Hush,” Lex said. “Don’t ruin it. He knows exactly what you meant. Don’t you, Strad?”
Lex was enjoying herself a little too much. Rune glared at the shirt she held, seeing nothing but the berserker’s surprised face.
Ellis stuck his head into the room. “Owen’s here. He asked me if I’d make breakfast. Can you believe his nerve?” Then he peered around at all their faces. “What?”
“Come on, Ellis,” Lex said, and hooked her arm through his. “Let’s go make breakfast.”
He let her distract him. “You make breakfast?”
“No, but you can and I’ll supervise.”
He tossed a look back at Rune as they exited the room. Whatever he saw must not have worried him too much, because he walked away smiling.
Rune avoided Strad’s eyes. “I’m going to take a shower before Rice calls us in.”
He never said a word.
She shut herself inside the bathroom and showered for a good forty-five minutes before she could force herself to leave the room and face the others.
She was pretty sure she’d have to kick someone’s ass before the morning was over.
“Anyway,” she said, as she walked into the kitchen, “yes. I bit the assassin.” As though the conversation hadn’t been interrupted.
Jack and Raze had arrived during her drawn-out shower and sat around the huge table, forking down eggs and bacon.
Strad leaned back in his chair, holding a cup of coffee.
All her crew was there in her kitchen. All of them but Z.
It was almost perfect.
“When he discovers he is now addicted to the one he was sent to kill, he’s going to be pissed off,” Owen said.
“He probably won’t know he’s addicted. He’ll drive himself nuts agonizing over the fact that he suddenly can’t get me out of his mind.” She grinned.
“I know that feeling,” Owen said.
She lifted an eyebrow and went to pour herself a cup of coffee.
Finally, she looked at the berserker.
At that moment, her cell rang.
She dug it out of her pocket. “Hi, Bill.”
“Rune, Elizabeth isn’t in yet and I wanted to let you know another tortured, murdered victim has been found. Another male, nailed to the exterior wall of a building.”
She frowned. “But…that doesn’t make sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know the story of the first two Others, why they were killed, who killed them…”
“And you’re just now telling me?”
“Sorry. I was going to explain everything when I came in.”
“Come in now,” he said. “Send two of your crew to Piper’s Bakery to check out the crime scene.” He clicked off.
“What’s going on?” Jack asked.
“Another victim murdered and nailed to the side of a building. This one is at Piper’s Bakery.”
“In the Moor,” Raze said. “Like the other two.”
She nodded. “I have to run to the office and talk to Rice. Raze, you and Strad take the bakery. The rest of you, let’s head to RISC.”
She drove to work, her mind on the latest killing. If COS had killed Lara, and Cree was claiming responsibility for the second victim, who the fuck had killed number three?
“I thought we had a serial killer,” Rice said, after she told him Fin’s story. He sounded just the tiniest bit disappointed.
“Give it time, Bill. It’ll happen for you.”
His phone rang. “What? Are you sure? Yes. Okay. I’ll let them know.” He hung up. “That was Strad. He said the scene is almost exactly like the first murder.” He leaned over his desk, his stare intense. “Except this vic is human.”
“What the fuck is going on?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll have to hand this over to the humans.” He picked up his phone, then pointed it at her. “I’ll tell you what I think. I think COS is playing their manipulative games again. They know human opinion is turning against them, and what better way to turn it back than to kill humans and pin it on the Others?”
She inclined her head. “You could be right. They can get their warped enjoyment out of torturing and killing, and send the entire community into a panic at the same time.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “Times are changing and COS is getting desperate. Proof of that is in their planned attempt to bring a demon in to help them out. All that’ll do is get the bastards killed. Maybe we should leave them to it.” He stood. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to call the humans. They’ll send a forensics team to the scene. We’ll see if they can tease some COS evidence out of this one.”
“Let me know.”
“Of course.”
Ellis met her in the hall. “See Elizabeth.”
“I’m headed to her office now. You doing okay?”
He smiled, but clutched at the fang. “You, Levi, and Denim are going to be fine. That makes me more than okay.”
She walked to Elizabeth’s office, wishing for another cup of coffee. Just as she reached the door, her cell rang.
She didn’t recognize the number. “Rune Alexander.” She stuck her head into Elizabeth’s office and held up a finger, then leaned against the hallway wall after Elizabeth nodded.
“Rune,” Cree Stark said. “Fin is in trouble. We need your help.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Rune took the phone away from her ear and squinted at it. The bird had delivered her to COS to be tortured. She’d watched as the twins were beaten day after day. She’d murdered an Other to take suspicion off the birds. Off her.
And she was asking for Rune’s help.
“I’m going to help you into your grave if I see you again,” Rune said, her voice flat. She shook her head, still unable to believe Cree’s balls. “You guys really are fucking psychopaths.”
“Please,” Cree said. “Fin is dying. I’ll do anything you want. I’ll turn myself in. I’ll kill myself. Use me. I’m a great fighter, you know I am. I’ll help you, I promise.”
“Yeah. You promised me Horner if I let you keep your wings, but I don’t have him, do I?”
“Horner? What?”
“Fuck you.” Rune clicked off, barely restraining herself from throwing her phone against the wall.
She took a deep breath, stuffed her phone back into her pocket, and strode into Elizabeth’s office. “What do you have for me?”
Elizabeth frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Rune sat down. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
“All right.” Elizabeth peered into her computer screen. “River County is reasonably quiet this morning, but I got a call earlier about a situation I’d like you to check out.”
“Sure.”
“A witness claimed to have spotted a dead bird last night. The bird was still shifted, and the caller said he looked like a pile of bloody feathers.” She met Rune’s stare. “I can send someone else, if you’d rather not go.”
Rune stood. “I’ll get it. The birds are fucked up, but I don’t hold Cree and the scepters’ actions against all of them. Location?”
“Creeper’s Point. The caller said she was there with her boyfriend. They spotted the bird around four o’clock this morning.”
“What time did she call to report it?”
Elizabeth made a wry face. “Seven.”
Rune shook her head. “Nice. She was sure the bird was dead?”
“No. She said it looked dead, but she didn’t want to get too close.”
“I’m on it. I’ll take one of the crew with me. Anything else?”
“Yes, but you check the bird out and I’ll send Owen out on the other run. Call me when you find the bird. Oh, and Rune,” she called, when Rune was in the hall.
Rune went back into the office. “Yes?”
“Bill and I have be
en making some plans, and I’d like to discuss them with you and the crew tonight.”
“What plans?”
Elizabeth smiled. “Tonight. Go take care of that bird.”
She took Jack with her to Creeper’s Point. “Elizabeth said she and Rice have been making plans. She wants us there tonight to discuss them.”
Jack snorted. “Last time the bosses made plans, we had to dress up and prance down the aisle of River Run Hall.”
“Yeah. God, that seems like a million years ago.”
“A lot has happened since then.”
Lost in their thoughts, they were silent the rest of the drive to Creeper’s Point.
“If a bird was here,” Jack said, when they stood on Creeper’s Point, “He’s gone now.”
Rune walked a few steps away, sniffing the air. “Birds were here. I smell them. And I smell blood.” She followed her nose until she was almost to the edge of the thick woods. “There.”
Jack whistled. “That’s a lot of blood.”
The ground was soaked with blood, the short tufts of grass bent and broken where the huge body had lain.
“So where is he now?”
“With that much blood loss, I don’t see him getting up and flying away,” Jack said.
“I don’t see him getting up at all, let alone flying. So where the fuck is he?”
“There are no blood trails leading away.”
She nodded. “Another bird came and carried him off.”
“That’s what I’m thinking.”
“It might have been Fin.” She told him about Cree’s desperate phone call.
“The birds…” He shook his head. “They’re a little strange.”
“Understatement.”
“Did she say where she and Fin are?”
“You’re not seriously thinking we should help those motherfuckers, Jack.”
“If she’d keep her word, we could use her and Fin against COS on the night of the new moon.”
She crossed her arms. “I don’t think she knows how to keep her word.”
“To save Fin, she just might. And he’s the least…birdlike of all the birds. I think if Cree made a deal with us, Fin would make sure she saw it through.”
“Fuck.” But he was right. On the night of the new moon, the birds could help them destroy COS. And no matter that she hated them, the birds were almost matchless fighters.
“We have the new master and his vampires as well. Add in the birds…”
“Two birds,” she said. “Cree and Fin might help, but creating an alliance with the entire convocation will take a while. If it’s possible at all.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “Also, we couldn’t put Cree and Fin together with the birds who banished them.”
“The birds must have been the ones who attacked Fin. No other group could have taken him from the sky.”
“Strad will kill them both, eventually.”
“Another positive,” she said.
He laughed. “So call her back.”
Cree answered on the first ring. “Rune? Are you coming?”
“One condition. On the night of the new moon, you and Fin fight for us against COS.”
Silence.
“You have five seconds before I hang up.”
“We’ll do it. Doctor Fin up and if he lives, we’re yours.”
“Where are you?”
Cree stepped out of the woods. “Follow me.”
Rune put her phone away and walked to the bird, Jack at her side.
“You have any food on you?” Cree asked. “I’m really hungry.”
“No. You’ll have to catch a mouse or something.”
Cree was splattered with blood and covered with grime, and her hair hung limp and lusterless. It changed colors as Rune watched, but slowly and less obviously. “I’m really hungry,” she repeated.
“You have no idea how to take care of yourself, do you?” Rune asked.
“I’ve never been without my convocation.” Even her voice was dull. “Fin is better at it than I am, but Fin is useless right now.”
“What happened to him?” Rune forced herself to remain civil, though she wanted nothing more than to rip the bird’s head off.
Cree led them deeper into the woods, then started up a hill, toward the caves. “He went to ask the birds to reconsider, now that the old scepters are gone. But the birds are confused and disorganized. They’re fighting each other, each of them trying to claw his way to the top. They attacked Fin.”
“You sent him into danger while you stayed hidden?” Rune curled her lip, disgusted.
“Fin takes care of me,” Cree said. She didn’t seem even a little ashamed. She glanced over her shoulder at Rune. “You have to heal him. I can’t do this on my own.”
Rune was pretty sure the girl had no idea how utterly self-centered and selfish she was. Maybe it was simply immaturity, but Rune doubted it. Cree Stark was about as caring as cardboard. Just like all the birds. “How much farther?”
“Just up there. I put in him the cave on the left.”
Once they reached the entrance to the cave, Cree grabbed Jack’s arm. “After you’ve made sure this isn’t a trick, I’d like you to do some shopping for me. I need food and clothes.”
“Lady, I’m fucking Shiv Crew, not a personal shopper.” He shook her hand off his arm and strode into the cave, about as insulted as Rune had ever seen him.
Rune motioned Cree ahead of her—she didn’t trust the bird at her back—and followed them into the cave.
Fin lay on the cold floor, unmoving and colorless. He’d half-shifted, his human body nestled in his huge wings.
As Jack stood guard, Rune knelt beside Fin and placed her palm against his colorless, icy flesh. Blood covered him, matting his wings and hair. Gashes and torn skin and deep wounds decorated nearly every part of his body.
The birds hadn’t been trying to wound him. They’d been trying to kill him.
And as she pressed her fingers against his throat, searching for a pulse, she wasn’t sure they hadn’t succeeded.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“You need to hurry,” Cree said, kneeling beside Rune.
“Jack,” Rune said. “Take the car and see if Dr. Haas will let you bring her here. We can’t move him. It’s like he…exploded.”
“The doctor won’t be enough,” Cree said. “He’s dying. Feed him. I know what your blood can do. Feed him, or he’s dead.”
“I’m not feeding him. My blood might help him, but it will also addict him.”
“Fuck you,” Cree said, clenching her fists. “Better an addict than a corpse.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Jack told her. “But it’s not your decision.”
“Hurry, Jack,” Rune said, sure the doubt was in her face. Fin wasn’t going to make it.
Still, he hesitated. He looked at Cree, then back at Rune. “I don’t like leaving you alone with her.”
“I can handle her,” Rune said. “Go.”
Cree turned up her nose. “Don’t worry. I won’t hurt your mistress.”
Jack snorted, then strode from the cave. He pulled his cell as he walked. “Put Dr. Haas on the phone,” he said.
“You should have taken him to the clinic when you found him like this,” Rune told Cree.
“The doctor wouldn’t take him. I called her. And she won’t come unless your man forces her to. She hates the birds. You’re wasting time.”
“She’ll come.”
But she wouldn’t.
“I’d have to hold a gun to her head,” Jack said, walking back into the cave. “She said she’d kill him if we needed him out of his misery, but she won’t fix him up.”
“She’s an Other doctor,” Rune said, confused. “How can she not help him?”
“She didn’t even hesitate. She won’t help him. She asked where we were but I didn’t tell her. She’d have turned the birds in.”
Rune sat back on her heels. “That’s that, then. We can get some supplies a
nd patch him up. Maybe he’ll pull through.” But even if Haas had agreed to come, she doubted Fin would have lived. He was too far gone.
“No,” Cree said. “No, you can’t let him die. You can’t walk away and let him die.”
“She can’t save the world, either,” Jack said. “Let’s go, Rune.”
“We can’t fight COS if we’re dead,” Cree whispered. “Please. I’m begging you. Save him. Save him and we’ll defeat the church. I swear it.”
“He walked away from me,” Rune said. “He walked away from me and the twins and you put me on that mountain. I’m not playing doctor with this one and I’m not addicting him to my blood.” She hesitated. “I’m sorry.”
And she really sort of was.
Jack pulled his gun, ready to blast the bird out of existence if she attacked. But Cree simply squatted on the cave floor. She began to pet Fin’s wings, slowly, carefully.
As Rune and Jack walked from the cave and down the hill, they could hear her humming to her friend.
“Dammit, Jack,” Rune murmured.
“There’s no guarantee they’d keep their word and help us.”
“I know.”
But what if they did?
They were almost to the bottom of the hill, but Rune imagined she could still hear Cree’s humming, haunting and sad. “Son of a bitch, Jack.”
“You’re going to feed him, aren’t you?”
“I don’t want to. But everything inside me is screaming for me to save him. What if there’s a reason? What if without him and Cree, COS wins a couple nights from now when we have to fight them?”
He stopped walking and stared down at her, then adjusted his eye patch. “You’re going to feed him.”
“I guess I am.” And just like that, she decided. She ran with all the speed being part vampire afforded her, and was back inside the cave in seconds.
She’d heal those she needed to heal, but she’d never bring another person back from death. Never.
Cree jumped to her feet. “You’re going to heal him?”
“I’m going to try. Move out of my way.”
Cree stood against the wall, trembling and sobbing. “Hurry, Rune.”
“You’d better deserve this,” Rune muttered, and sliced her wrist. She’d give him enough to get him started healing. No more.