by Laken Cane
Owen pulled open the passenger side door and climbed inside. He said nothing, but his stare lingered on her torn lip.
She licked the blood from it, a little self-conscious under his regard. He closed his door and she waited for him to buckle up before speeding out of the parking lot.
“What’s going on?” Levi asked. “Where are we headed?”
“Zombies have been sighted,” Owen answered. “By the hospital.”
“Think they’re the new zombies?” asked Denim.
“Don’t know,” Rune said, “but I look forward to kicking some ass. I have to get this fucking energy out and that’s as good a way as any.”
“I know a better way,” Owen said.
She didn’t look at him. Fucking cowboy was trouble. She’d known it all along.
“Dude,” Lex said, a little stronger. “I like you so I’m going to give you some advice. Don’t fuck with Rune. The berserker will tear you apart.”
Owen glanced back at her.
“I’m afraid for you,” she continued. “I read him. I know what’s in there. He will kill you over her, and he will make it hurt.”
“Fuck, Lex,” Rune said.
“I saw into that blackness. You should know, Owen. You too, Rune, if you didn’t already.”
Rune couldn’t help but look at Owen.
He was watching her, a slight smile on his lips. “I’m willing to take the chance.” He shrugged. “And that’s just something else you should know.”
Shit. She put her stare back on the road. She didn’t need that kind of trouble. And the berserker couldn’t think beating the shit out of an interested guy was an option.
But Strad Matheson did whatever the fuck he wanted. And she didn’t see that changing anytime soon. No matter what she said.
Lex leaned up to peer at Rune. “He will not beat the shit out of him, Rune. He will kill him.”
“Dammit, Lex.” The blind Other hadn’t even touched her, had just plucked the thought right out of her head.
Lex snorted. “I didn’t do anything anyone in this car couldn’t have done. You don’t take the berserker seriously enough. I know what you’re thinking.” She leaned back and continued, her voice grim. “But you need to do some rethinking. Strad Matheson used to scare you. He still should.”
Rune grunted. She and the berserker were going to have a long fucking talk.
Just not right then. Right then, there were zombies to destroy.
When they arrived at the hospital, there were people all along the front holding crude and hastily made signs, and it took her a few seconds to realize the signs were not about her or monsters in general.
They were about Fie.
The humans, probably guided by COS, had decided the child was a monster.
Rune snatched a cardboard sign out of a startled woman’s hands and tore it into pieces before glaring at the others. “She’s a little kid, you fucking idiots. She’s just lived through shit you cannot even imagine. And you’re out here holding signs demanding the hospital what, put her down?” She sneered, angry and a little alarmed. “You’re the monsters.”
The sign holders backed away carefully, eyes wide, a little shamefaced. But she knew as soon as she and the crew were out of sight, they’d start again with their chants and their hatred.
“Where are the zombies?” she asked Jack. “Call Rice.”
He was off the cell in moments. “One caller said he saw one around back by the loading dock. Another caller reported two of them headed toward the front. We need to find them before someone is bitten.”
“Spread out,” she said.
But they were too late.
As they jogged across the pavement, the screams began.
She felt the zombies before she saw them.
The bond was still there.
The fucking bond was still there.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
There were only six of them, but she had no doubt that more would follow. And keeping it quiet was no longer a possibility.
The zombies lurched with single-minded determination toward the small knot of sign-holders, who scattered with horrified screams when they caught sight of the rotting monsters.
The zombies weren’t the new zombies, so the crew had that to be thankful for. Still, zombies were dangerous—no matter what flavor they were.
Rune shot out her claws and ran toward the zombies, her crew at her back. It took them less than five minutes to dispatch the monsters.
When the zombies lay at their feet, various body parts scattered across the pavement, she retracted her claws. “So much for keeping the military out.”
“They’ll send in a few people to scout the area,” Strad said.
“Yeah,” Jack agreed. He adjusted his eye patch. “With only a couple of zombies here, they won’t do anything drastic.”
“You know these can’t be the only ones,” Levi said.
“Nope.” Rune surveyed the area. Two cars from the police department cruised toward them. “But all we can do is wait for reports and take them out when they pay us a visit.”
Her phone buzzed. “Yeah.”
“Rune, it’s Ellis. Where are you?”
“At the hospital, baby. We’ll be in to see you in a minute.”
“Fie is missing.”
She frowned and clutched at her stomach. “Since when?”
“I don’t know. At least for a couple of hours. I came to her room to visit with her and the nurses were in a panic. She’s just…gone.”
“She’s here somewhere. We’ll start searching right now.”
“What’s wrong?” Lex asked. “The little girl?”
“The hospital seems to have lost her.”
“I’ll take care of the police and the zombies,” Strad said. “Start looking for the kid.”
She gave him a cool look. “I’d planned on it.” She didn’t take well to anyone giving her orders, and after Lex’s talk, she was less inclined than usual to take the berserker’s. He was slowly insinuating himself as a man who thought he had the right to tell her what to do, and that was not a good thing.
Or maybe she was being overly sensitive.
He lifted an eyebrow but said nothing as he watched the cops making their way cautiously toward the downed zombies.
She walked toward the hospital, the rest of the crew beside her. “Lex, do you want to come with me? You guys take a floor and start searching.”
“What about out here? She might have left the building,” Denim said.
“Strad will search after he’s taken care of the zombies and spoken with the cops.” She knew the berserker. He did better with the outdoors than in. He’d search outside.
Lex stopped walking. “Rune…”
Rune stopped, as did the others, and turned toward her. “What’s wrong, Lex?”
“I’m going to stay out here with Strad. I’ll help him search outside the building.”
Rune wasn’t sure what to say, except, “Sure.”
Raze narrowed his eyes at the little Other, though she couldn’t see him. “Why?” His voice was growly and low, and Rune watched as expressions of slowly dawning understanding grew in the twins’ eyes.
They glanced at each other, then at Rune.
She looked away. It was not her secret to tell.
Only now, it wasn’t much of a secret.
Lex shrugged. “I’d rather be out here. I don’t like hospitals. I don’t like the scents, the…” she gestured. “Sometimes the emotions of the sick are overwhelming. I’d rather stay outside.”
Raze nodded, satisfied, then took her arm. “I’ll walk you back to Matheson.”
She grinned, vibrating slightly. “I can find my way to him, Raze. Somehow. He’s what…twelve feet behind me?” Her voice was slightly dry.
Raze dropped her arm and avoided everyone’s stares. He cleared his throat, then turned and strode away.
Rune hadn’t the heart to grin.
Lex made a wry face and shook he
r head, then went to the berserker. Rune watched him for a moment. He looked down at Lex, and didn’t seem at all surprised by her company.
He glanced up, straight at Rune, silently holding her gaze as the cops talked on.
His stare was like a physical touch, hot and hard, and she felt it penetrate every single part of her body.
And her mind.
Owen took her arm. “Let’s get to work.”
The berserker transferred his stare from Rune to Owen. The expression on his face darkened immediately as he took in the cowboy’s grip on her arm.
But Lex wrapped her hands around his big forearm.
He stared for a second longer, promise in his blue eyes, then let Lex calm him.
Shit.
The berserker and his possessiveness were getting out of hand.
And fuck if it didn’t excite the hell out of her.
She shuddered. “Yeah. Let’s get to work.”
Owen grinned.
“You shouldn’t push him, Cowboy.”
“I’m pushing you,” he replied. “Just you. If Strad Matheson gets in my way…” He lowered his voice, though the others were trying hard not to listen. “If he gets in my way, we will fight.” He slid his fingers down her arm before finally releasing her from his hot, tight grip. “And that’s not your problem.”
“Fuck you,” she whispered, her heart beating like she’d just fought a pack of wolves.
But he only smiled.
“How was Ellis?” Levi interrupted, and she’d never been so grateful for anything in her life.
She cleared her throat. “Fine. He sounded strong.”
I’ll take the basement,” Owen said, once they were inside the hospital.
She watched him walk away. She watched his slouchy, casual walk, his long, too stringy hair flopping with uncared-for abandon over his shoulders. Watched his fingers as they caressed the hilts of his holstered blades…
And for one brief, hot second, imagined him naked on top of her.
Fuck. No.
Just no.
But still, her gaze lingered.
“Rune,” Jack said, a tone of sympathy in his voice, “I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes right now.”
“I might,” Levi said, and grinned.
They couldn’t help but grin back at him.
“Let’s find the kid,” she said. “I’ll take the third floor.”
She smiled as she climbed the stairs. It felt damn good to smile after all the horror. Sometimes a person just had to take a smile when it offered itself.
That made her think of Z, and her smile dropped as though it’d never even been there.
Maybe it never had.
But lingering in her mind was an image of the cowboy and the berserker, and she felt something tighten inside her.
Something hot and dangerous.
Something fucking delicious.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Strad called her before she’d covered half the third floor. “You found her?”
“She’s in the wooded area across from the emergency department.”
“I’m coming.”
She was careful until she left the floor, then she streaked down the stairs like lava from a volcano. Urgency made her heart beat hard and fast, and familiar dread curled inside her stomach.
Little Stefanie was Amy all over again, and she wasn’t letting anything happen. Not this time. Not to this kid.
Raze met her as she ran across the floor toward the exit doors. “I called the others.”
“Good.” She hadn’t wanted to take the time.
Once outside, she left Raze behind as she ran almost full out to where Strad waited. It was only then, when she stood beside him and he ran searching fingers over the bandage on her chest that she realized her stake wound was practically healed. It no longer hurt.
“Where is she?” She pulled away from the berserker’s touch, impatient. She looked around. “And where is Lex?”
“Come with me.” He guided her with a hand to her back, deeper into the small wooded area.
She spotted Lex. The Other vibrated gently, her eyes dancing and her head slightly tilted. Watching, in her own mysterious way, the little girl.
Stefanie crouched upon the cold ground, her back to them.
She was dressed only in a tiny pair of pink pajamas. Her feet were bare. She appeared not to notice as the crew gathered a short distance behind her.
All her attention was on the small crowd of zombies standing before her.
“Shit,” Rune murmured. “What is she doing?”
“Sometimes she whispers,” Lex said. “She’s talking to them. She’s talking to the zombies.”
“Holy fuck,” Denim said, his voice low. “What do you want us to do, Rune?”
“We can’t kill them while she watches.” She chewed on a fingernail for a few seconds. “I’m going to talk to her. As soon as I get her away, destroy them.”
She ignored the streams of empathy running through her. She wanted to join Fie on the ground and stare at the zombies, who stood swaying and quiet.
She could only imagine how the child felt. She wouldn’t be able to force her emotions away. Wouldn’t even want to. In her little heart, she loved the zombies.
“They’re my friends,” she said softly, as Rune knelt beside her. “Don’t take them.”
Rune ran a hand over Fie’s long hair, gently. “Oh, sweetheart. You have George. A lot of people care about you.”
Fie looked at her then, taking her solemn gaze from the zombies. The zombies stayed put. Not long ago she had trouble controlling one zombie. Now she talked with Rune while controlling eleven of them.
“George won’t wake up.”
“I’m sorry, baby.”
Fie pointed at the zombies. “I want to go with them. I want to live with my zombies.”
“You can’t do that, Fie.”
“They saved me. They saved me when the lady threw me away.”
Rune closed her eyes for a long, painful second. She had no idea what to say. Not an inkling. She wanted to snatch the child off the ground and run with her, run until the girl forgot her pain.
Kids were resilient, sure, but there had to be a limit to what they could witness and experience and remain sane. There had to be.
She swallowed past the lump in her throat and said nothing. She just didn’t know what to say.
Strad knelt on the other side of the child, his eyes holding the same torment Rune felt. “Fie, I have a present for you.”
She looked at him quickly, interested. “What is it?”
Rune waited, as curious as the child.
“When I was chasing bad guys through the woods, I found a little lost puppy. It was all alone, with no one to take care of it.”
“Just like me,” Fie said.
“The puppy needs you, sweetheart.” He held out a big hand. “And you need the puppy. Can I bring him to you?”
She studied his hand for a long moment. Finally, she put her hand in his. “Can we take the zombies, too?”
“No, little one.”
He stood, and she allowed him to lift her into his arms.
“Where is the puppy?” she asked.
Rune stood with them and took off her jacket, then wrapped it around Fie’s cold body. As she and the berserker walked past the others, she gave them a nod.
They’d get rid of the monsters.
“She’s so much stronger.” She looked at Strad as he carried the child back into the hospital. “Incredibly strong.”
“Because of the witch,” he replied. “Just as you were.”
Rune nodded. The child was a necromancer, and having been inside and then spit out of the witch, she’d absorbed some of her power.
“I’ll bring you the puppy,” Strad told the child, when she was once again ensconced in her room, surrounded by nurses and a woman from social services.
“Where’s Lane?” Rune asked.
“On her way,” someone answe
red.
“I want my puppy.”
“I’ll bring it soon,” Strad promised.
One of the nurses was an older, frowning woman with short gray hair and cold eyes. She put her hands on her hips and shook her head, not intimidated by the berserker. “You can’t bring pets in here, sir.”
Strad ignored her. He leaned down, murmuring something into Fie’s ear that only she heard. Whatever it was, it made her eyes light up.
Rune had no doubt he’d sneak a puppy in to visit with the girl. She also knew he hadn’t actually found a dog, but he would buy the cutest puppy River County had to offer.
Following Strad’s lead, Rune leaned down to whisper in the kid’s ear. “Baby, are you calling the zombies?”
Fie smoothed down the hair of her doll and refused to answer.
Rune tried again. “We’re not angry with you. I just need to know if you’ve brought them here.”
Fie sucked in her lower lip, but at last she turned to her head to stare into Rune’s eyes. Then, slowly, she nodded.
Rune winked at her, then straightened to look at the berserker. “Let’s go.”
Out in the hall, she told him what Fie had said. “I’m not sure if she’s still bringing them from their graves or calling the ones that are already here.”
He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, ignoring the people who stared at him as they walked by. “And we need to figure out how to get her to stop.”
Rune rubbed a hand across her face and sighed. “She needs someone to…train her, I guess.”
“How do you keep from calling them?”
Shame slapped her in the face. Hard. “Because I can’t call them. Llodra took that power.”
“There’s something still inside you. I saw you out there. You felt it.”
The panic was immediate. “It was the fucking witch. I can’t call the dead.”
“I think the witch’s magic sparked something already inside you.”
Fuck if he wasn’t right. What did it mean? That she, too, was a necromancer? She couldn’t control the vampires—that power had gone when Llodra had sucked it out of her. But whatever the fuck magic made her master the zombies, that was still there.
Strad was right. She still felt them. She put the back of her hand to her mouth. “I don’t want it.”