by Laken Cane
He sighed. “Just be fucking careful, will you?”
She raised her eyebrows but gave him a smile. “Of course I will.”
Lex began vibrating hard, her eyes dancing crazily. “Something is down there.” She grabbed Rune’s arm. “Send someone else.”
Rune patted Lex’s hand and gently moved her fingers off her arm. She gave the rope a tug. “I’ll be fine, baby. Do you sense vampires, or what?” If anything was down there, it had to pretty much be an Other of one flavor or another. If today was her lucky day, it’d be Llodra, sleeping the sleep of the dead.
Lex shook her head. “I don’t know. Just something.”
The girl had become clingy since Rune had returned from the clinic, but Rune didn’t know how to address the issue. Ignoring it and hoping it’d go away wasn’t doing any good. They were going to have to have a talk.
Raze took Lex’s arm and pulled her away from Rune. “We won’t let anything happen to our captain,” he told her.
Lex’s frown stayed in place. “I guess.”
Rune put her night vision goggles on, then sat at the edge of the gaping black hole of nothingness in front of her. Mustiness, the scent of a rotting carcass, and earth rose up to greet her nostrils.
And something else. Lex was right.
There was something down there. Rune could smell it.
She gave Raze a nod. “I’m ready. Don’t bounce me off any walls, baby. If they are down there, I don’t want to wake them up.”
He grinned. “I’ll do my best.”
She took a deep breath, trying to ignore the fact that she was a little on the claustrophobic side.
It was like being lowered on a string into a clogged drain, looking for a lost ring. She held on to the rope, and the farther she went into the darkness the more disoriented she became.
“Still good?” Z’s voice floated down to her and she grasped onto it gratefully.
“Yeah,” she whispered. “Fucking awesome.”
It seemed like she dangled from that rope for a solid hour, but finally her booted feet touched solid ground. She kept the rope securely around her and gave her green-tinged surroundings a quick check through the goggles. They were bulky and ugly, but they let her see better in darkness.
At first she saw nothing other than a half caved-in basement, full of unidentifiable scents and shapes. Nothing moved, nothing breathed.
But then…
“Bingo.” She carefully slipped out of the rope and gave it a tug, and it was pulled noiselessly from the hole.
The place was full of vampires.
Light wouldn’t wake them, so she pushed the goggles to the top of her head and pulled her flashlight from her belt.
She glanced up. One of the men was being lowered to join her—probably one of the twins or Z as they were so much smaller than Jack and Raze. She’d be glad of the company.
The hole in the ground was cold and grim, made worse by the few sleeping vampires. When she flashed her light over the white faces with their closed eyes and unmoving chests, she had to force away insidious thoughts that even now, the insanity Llodra had surely passed on to his children could be somehow passing to her.
“That’s just fucking stupid,” she muttered, and forced the fear away.
What was the madness going to do, seep out of the vampires’ brains and crawl across the floor like a crab?
She scoffed.
Moving carefully, she put her vgun to the first vampire she came to and pulled the trigger. Thwack!
The vampire’s eyes popped open and for a second there was just a realization of death. And something close to grateful relief.
Or maybe that was just her imagination.
She pulled a long, razor-sharp knife and took the vampire’s head, then went on to the next one. She looked up when she felt one of her men beside her, long enough to give him—Z—a thumbs up.
He nodded and flipped on his own flashlight. Couldn’t have too much light when you were in the dark with the vampires.
They’d get the job done and take one step closer to Llodra. She had a feeling he wasn’t in the basement. He wasn’t going to be that easy.
But soon enough, his mad ass would belong to her.
They cleared the basement and were out of the hole in less than twenty minutes—it had gone so smoothly she was pretty sure that later there would be hell to pay.
Lex slid close to Rune. She didn’t say anything, just stood near her and waited for Rune to get the rope off.
Z had gone up first and was busy cleaning his gory blade. Levi and Denim watched Lex, both with frowns. They didn’t know what was going on with her either.
“Now,” Rune said, glad to be out of the dank basement, “let’s see if the cellar holds any surprises.”
Elizabeth had sent them to the farm that morning with little hope they’d actually find something. The successful mini-purge was going to put a gleam of joy in her eyes.
The cellar was an ancient root cellar built into the side of a hill. Jack pulled open the door. Raze, ducking his head, went first into the room. The rest of the crew followed single file, but there was barely enough room to hold them all.
There were no more sleeping vampires in this room, but Llodra had left them a note. They stared at it for a long moment and dread gathered in the pit of Rune’s stomach. This was not going to be good.
She pointed her chin at Denim. “Read it out loud.”
He nodded and gingerly picked up the paper, an ordinary piece of lined notebook paper, and began to read the cursive script.
“If you’re reading this I will assume you’ve found my children. To add to the entertainment, I’ve decided to kill a human for each vampire you have staked this day. My darling Rune, I hope your doctors have helped you. The guilt you will carry for murdering the humans will surely devastate you.
PS: Because you have a softness for children, a boy child will be the first to die. Can you guess which one?”
“Shit,” Rune whispered. “Shit.”
It had taken two long weeks, but now they knew.
Llodra had Matthew.
She could only hope the child had died quickly.
Chapter Thirteen
“How many did you stake?” Elizabeth didn’t even bat an eyelash but a subtle tic at the corner of her mouth gave her away.
“Fourteen,” Rune answered.
“Fourteen,” Elizabeth repeated, and squeezed the bridge of her nose. “You know him. Will he attempt fourteen human murders in retaliation?”
Rune didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“As of this moment, the purge is temporarily suspended.”
“Elizabeth, you can’t give in to him. He’ll kill them anyway. We need to destroy him and we need to do it soon.”
“I will call Shiv Crew to a meeting after I’ve discussed the issue with Bill Rice—”
“Delays aren’t going to save the kid.”
Elizabeth leveled a long, cool look at her. “Do you really believe the child is still alive?”
Rune took a gulp of her cooling coffee, then shook her head. “No. Not really.” But I’d die before I admitted that to Strad and Tina.
“We have to concentrate on keeping the humans safe from the master’s retaliation.” Elizabeth stood, signaling an end to her meeting with Rune. “I’ll let you know the new plan as soon as possible. In the meantime, do not hunt the vampires.”
Rune shrugged and got to her feet. “Whatever you say.” Then she left the room and went to find Strad. She had to show him the note—a copy of the note, as Elizabeth had taken the original—before someone else blurted out the terrible truth of his son’s capture.
Elizabeth had sent him out with the new hire—whose name, Rune had discovered was Owen Five. Owen Five. What a shit name.
She walked into Ellis’s office with her cell to her ear, waiting for the berserker to answer. It went to voicemail. Shocker.
“Strad, I need to talk to you. Call me as soon as you get this.”
She hung up and leaned against the doorframe, watching Ellis. He sat behind his desk furiously typing up one report or another, and she waited quietly until he stopped.
He rubbed his recently broken arm and looked up with a cheerful smile. “Hi, love!”
She lifted an eyebrow. “You’re feeling better, I take it?”
“I’m tired of moping. I’m making myself sick.” He leaned back against his chair and stretched out muscles that got too little exercise. “Move in with me, Rune. Leave that room and come stay with me.”
“Sweetie, your apartment is the size of a closet. I don’t mind the inn. I’m rarely home anyway.”
He rummaged through his desk drawer and brought out a folded sheet of paper. “I sent this to your email before remembering your computer was lost in the fire.”
“I could have gotten it on my phone,” she said, leaving the doorway. “What is it?”
“A list of things already done and things you need to do. I rented you a post office box and notified the post office and a few other places of your temporary new address. The fire marshal wants a meeting—I set up an appointment. You won’t be allowed a walk-through of the house, there’s too much damage. And—”
“Ellie. What would I do without you?”
He grinned and said what he always said when she asked him that question. “I don’t know, probably die.”
She snatched the paper out of his hand, smiling. “Well, you are my assistant, after all.”
“And I’m awesome. Any leads on the fire?”
“No. But it could have been anyone. Spiritgrove is full of assholes.”
He nodded in agreement. “What’s going on, Rune? You look upset.”
She sighed. “Bad shit, baby.”
“Oh no.” His face fell. “Tell me.”
She handed him the note and said nothing more as she waited for him to read it. He skimmed it, then started over, more slowly. “Oh no,” he said again.
She took the note, folded it neatly, and slid it back into her pocket. “I’ve told the crew to keep it to themselves until I can tell the berserker.”
“How horrifying. This will send him over the edge. He’s already close.”
“I know.”
“What’s the plan to get Matthew back?”
“There is no plan, not yet. Elizabeth has called off the purge until she meets with the police director and the others.”
“Nicolas will kill the humans?”
“Yes, he will.”
“You have to find him.”
“I will.” Llodra knew her. Somehow, he knew her. She’d carry the guilt of the murdered humans around like the burden was hers to bear. Hers alone. And really, wasn’t it? Some part of her had known that in his madness he’d not sit back and let them destroy him and his coven, not this time. But she hadn’t wanted to think about that. She’d just wanted to kill vampires, to destroy the madness before it reached her.
She hugged herself, suddenly cold. Could she handle it?
As though he knew what she was thinking—and why wouldn’t he? Ellis had brought her back to life when she’d let Jeremy tie her to that bed—he stood and walked around his desk to pull her into his arms. As usual, he ignored her immediate knee jerk reaction to affection and held her until she relaxed.
“It’s not your fault, Rune. You have to know that.” There was a note of fear in his voice that she didn’t want to hear.
“I’m not going to hurt myself, Ellie.”
“Swear it to me.”
She hoped her hesitation went unnoticed. “I swear it.”
He took a deep breath, his arms tightening. “Thank you.”
Ellis wasn’t much taller than she was and she rested her head against his shoulder, her lips close to his throat. She shuddered at the sudden desire to feed from him. She pulled out of his arms, smiling into his worried eyes.
“Everything will be okay,” she said. “Fucking Llodra.”
“Maybe he hasn’t killed Matthew. Maybe he’s having too much fun with him alive. Besides,” Ellis hurried on, when she started to speak, “he may realize he needs the child for leverage.”
She closed her eyes for a long second. “Ellis, I hope the boy is dead. Because if Llodra has him, he’s torturing the fuck out of him.” She blinked away the sting of bloody tears. “I hope the boy is dead.”
“That’s…you can’t say that, Rune.”
She changed the subject. “Talk to me about you. Tell me about the guy you’re in love with. How is that going?” She hesitated. “Is he…” She couldn’t tell Ellis she’d discovered his love interest was Levi. He’d tell her if he wanted her to know.
He sat back down and motioned her into the chair in front of his desk. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. We obviously aren’t meant to be together.” He straightened his shoulders. “I’ll be fine.”
“You will. You’ll find someone else. Fish in the sea, blah blah and all that.”
He laughed. “You’re messed up, girlfriend.”
She winked at him. “You don’t have—” Her cell phone rang and interrupted her. “It’s Strad,” she told Ellis, and answered the phone as she strode from the room.
“Rune? Has he been found?”
Part of her died at the hope in his voice. “No. I’m sorry. I need to talk to you in person, Strad.”
“I’m on my way back. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“I’ll be in my office.”
She clicked off and went to her office. God, I do not want to fucking do this. But she had to. And if he wanted her to, she’d tell Tina as well. But he wouldn’t want her to. He’d do that himself.
She paced in her office until the berserker walked into the room. He shut the door behind him and walked toward her, stopping just short of touching her.
His face was pale and he had dark circles beneath blue eyes so stark and hopeless she wanted to cry. Lines of worry and dark stubble didn’t take away from how striking he was. Perfection in one big berserker. Dammit.
She was starting to feel a little more for him than she’d realized. Starting to?
“Strad—”
But he held a hand up. “Just give me a few minutes before you break my heart.” He tried for a rueful smile, but couldn’t pull it off.
She swallowed hard. Her emotions were all over the place. Don’t cry. Don’t you cry.
He opened his arms and she walked into them.
“God, Rune,” he said.
I’m so sorry, so sorry.
He lifted her and she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her lips against his throat. Melting heat grew between them but not only that. She was accustomed to feeling lust.
But there was tenderness.
Fuck me. I’m falling in love with the berserker.
She wanted nothing to do with love.
But there it was.
“Strad,” she whispered, her lips moving against his warm skin. “Strad.”
She pulled back just enough to look into his eyes, then fighting it all the while, she kissed him.
It was perfect, that kiss. Just like the berserker.
Part of her stood back with crossed arms and watched for a second, then snorted in disgust and gave the hell up. She was too far gone to listen to logic.
Strad turned to press her against the wall and holding her there with his body, he touched her in places he’d never touched her.
She held his face between her palms and let him take over. He kissed her with a passion and desperation she’d never felt, never imagined, and he made the whole world go away.
There was only his lips, his body, his need.
His desire fed hers. She shuddered in his arms, hot, cold, breathless.
He deepened his kiss and slid his hand inside her shirt, over her ribs, and to her breast. She moaned into his mouth, her skin erupting in gooseflesh, her fingers tightening on his face.
After an eternity, or a moment, he pulled away, his breathing ragged
, his stare so hot she could physically feel it. He let her slide down his body until her feet touched the floor, then he turned and ran trembling fingers through his hair.
She leaned against the wall, fluttering her fingers over her chest, her throat, her face. What was that?
He took a couple of deep breaths, then finally faced her. “Tell—” His voice broke and he cleared his throat, then tried again. “Tell me.”
Disoriented, it took her a second to remember what she had to tell him. Oh fuck. She’d rather have forgotten forever.
She stared up at him. “I’m so sorry, Strad.”
“Fuck.” He closed his eyes. “What?”
She clenched her teeth and pulled the paper from her pocket. “We found this today at the mini purge.”
He took it, glanced at her, then read Llodra’s words.
She’d never seen such desolation on another person’s face.
He stared at her for a long moment, then turned and left the room without another word.
He took the note with him.
She sank into her chair, her entire body shaking, and let him go.
Chapter Fourteen
She drove down her old street on her way to the inn. She wanted to take another look at the burnt rubble that used to be her house.
“What an eyesore,” she murmured. But that house had always been an eyesore. Like a lot of the other older houses in River County, it boasted an attic and a basement. The attic she’d used for storage. The small, mean basement she’d left alone.
The rest of the house hadn’t been so bad, really. The rooms had been large, and she’d never once had trouble with frozen water pipes in the winter.
But now, it was gone.
She’d have to start looking for another place.
Soon.
Right now finding a house wasn’t first on her list of things that needed to be done. Finding Matthew, that was first.
She wanted more than anything else to give him back to the ones who loved him. Tina was a shell of the person she’d been when Rune had first met her.
She’d been visiting Tina, or at least calling her, as often as she could. The woman was a mess and the thought of her medicated and alone in Strad’s silent apartment was more than Rune could comfortably stand. So she did her part.