by Laken Cane
“I’ll find his contact information and send someone to his house.”
Rune wanted to volunteer to go knock at his door and break the news to him, but in the end she couldn’t. “Thanks.” She hesitated. “Have them give him my number.”
“Of course.”
She put her cell back into her pocket and closed her eyes, letting the sun warm her skin. It was cold in the house—cold and damp and draining.
Rune wasn’t a sunshine lover, normally, but right then, she needed it. Her crew was inside, tearing the place apart just in case they’d missed something the first time.
She stood in the overgrown yard and stared at the house, shivering despite her jacket. Don’t think about it.
Amy crying, chained on the floor, scared…
Don’t fucking think about it.
It’s my fault.
No.
But how could she not feel responsible? She’d taken off to the clinic with not a word to Amy. No goodbye, no explanation, nothing.
She hadn’t even read the emails.
Now she would, and it would hurt. But Amy had hurt much worse. The least Rune could do was read her fucking emails.
The door opened and the crew filed out, quiet and somber.
She’d given them Jeremy—had owed it to them. He’d hurt them as much as he’d hurt her and they’d needed a piece of him.
But Llodra was hers and she wasn’t sharing him with anyone.
He was hers to kill.
Amy’s death hit Lex hard. She’d read Amy when they’d first met and had seemed to take a liking to the girl. But after Amy had gone back home to her father, the entire crew had just…forgotten about her.
“Do you want to go home, Lex?” Rune asked, as the Other stood shivering between Denim and Levi.
“No. I don’t want to go home to the quiet. I don’t want to think about her.”
Rune nodded though Lex couldn’t see her. It was easy to forget Lex was blind. She took a deep breath. “Okay. There’s nothing we can do for now. Let’s go to work.”
Goodbye, Amy.
They’d all lose themselves in work but tonight when it was dark and quiet, the memories would come. And the guilt.
Rune knew she needed to feed. When her body needed nourishment she was more likely to spiral down into dangerous territory.
“Sometimes it feels like there is something wrong with Spiritgrove,” Lex said, walking beside Rune.
“Bad shit happens everywhere, baby.”
“I know,” Lex answered, her voice dry. “I grew up outside River County and lived through some harsh things.”
Harsh things. Yeah.
“But still. Spiritgrove seems to attract more than its share of nightmares.”
“That it does,” Rune agreed.
“I’ll ride with you.”
“Okay.”
Rune climbed into her SUV, starting up the car and turning on the heater as Lex buckled herself into the passenger seat. She held her fingers to the vent. Winter was never going to be over and she was sick of it.
She waved as Jack pulled away from the curb and honked at her. Levi was with Jack, and Denim was with Z. They’d all meet up at the office after they’d checked out every vampire haunt they could find before darkness started to threaten.
“We could use Raze right now,” Rune murmured.
“Tomorrow,” Lex replied. “He’ll be with us tomorrow.”
“And eager to fight. Cooped up in that jail all this time…he’s going nuts.”
“He wouldn’t let us visit.”
“I didn’t give him a choice.”
Lex’s smile was faint. “You never do.”
Rune lifted an eyebrow, not sure how to take Lex’s remark. She shrugged and forgot about it. “Have you ever tried to read Raze?”
“Yes,” Lex said, unashamed. “But I got nothing. I can’t read Jack, either. But Z…” She smiled, but it wasn’t a happy smile. “You know Z loves you.”
“Z loves all women,” Rune said, and fiddled with the heater.
“He’s a protector. He cares about women, but you he—”
“Lex. Shut it.”
Lex shrugged. “Sorry.”
“Z is too good for me anyway.”
Lex was quiet for two minutes. “Why did you ask if I could read Raze? Is there something you need to know?”
But it was not her secret to tell. “No. I just wondered.”
“This summer, when I can put the windows down and feel my surroundings, will you teach me to drive?”
No one had ever called Rune a coward. “This summer I’ll take you to a quiet country road and let you get behind the wheel.”
Lex’s jaw dropped. “You will?”
Rune laughed and reached over to give the girl’s arm a quick squeeze. “Hell yeah!” It wasn’t Lex’s fault she was blind. If she wanted to drive, she was going to fucking drive.
“You’re a good friend,” Lex said.
“Don’t get all gooey.”
Lex had cheered up. “Where are we headed? I wasn’t paying attention when you divvied up the county.”
“Z and Denim are going to Blackfire, Jack and Levi to Hawthorne, and you and I are headed to Wormwood. Tomorrow we’ll try a few other places if Llodra isn’t found today.”
And he wouldn’t be. It wasn’t going to be that easy to catch the master. She just hoped he didn’t leave them more “gifts” along the way.
“Rune.”
“Yeah?”
“Tonight, don’t…don’t lose yourself because of Amy.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Yeah.”
They both knew better.
“That newspaper reporter is following you again.”
Rune glanced in her rearview mirror at the car that had been tailing them since they’d left Llodra’s house. “I wonder who he found to annoy while I was gone.”
She’d discovered his name—Sam Cruikshank—before she’d left for the clinic. She ignored him and let him get his jollies chasing her around River County, snapping her picture when he could.
It could have been worse. Somewhere out there was a video in which she got sliced up like a tomato. If that video surfaced and was leaked to the media…that would be worse.
As long as he didn’t interfere, there wasn’t much she could do anyway.
They arrived at Wormwood and slipped inside the gates, not sparing Cruikshank so much as a glance when he rolled in and parked behind her car.
“I’ll find Gunnar,” Rune told Lex. “If vampires are inside Wormwood, he’ll know.”
“Gunnar the Ghoul who eats Baby Ruth candy bars.” Lex grinned. “He’s an enigma, that ghoul. Someday he’s going to let me touch him and I’ll get inside that head.”
“I’m not sure reading Gunnar is a good idea, baby.”
“I’m curious about him—about his past, where he came from, how he died…”
“You can get all that?”
Lex shrugged, carefully sidestepping a small, crumbling tombstone as though she could actually see it. “Maybe. It depends.”
They walked down paths made smooth by hundreds of Other feet, finally stepping off the trails and into the trees.
Lex didn’t arm herself with vguns as Rune did, but she wore the stakes. If they found the vampires, Lex would stake them the old fashioned way—by hand.
They’d nearly given up finding Gunnar when he stepped out from behind a tree. The woods were deep and dark, making the winter day seem later than it was.
Gunnar’s long face was carefully blank, his hands limply at his sides. Even if he was disinclined to give information, the scent of the chocolate would persuade him. It was his drug, and one he could not seem to resist.
“Give me the treat quickly,” he said, “and leave these woods posthaste. Wormwood is not safe for you today.” He didn’t look at Lex.
Rune shook her head. “Not so fast, baby. I have a question.”
He held out his hand, frowning. “
No, I do not know where the mad vampire is sleeping.”
“How the hell did you know I was going to ask that?”
“I know many things, Your Highness. I know that you are not safe.” He shook his hand at her. “I’ll have my sweet now, please.”
But she crossed her arms. “Gunnar, you’re not getting the candy if you don’t slow down and answer some questions.”
“Some questions, Your Cantankerousness? Have you brought along some candy bars?”
There were times when she wanted to stuff aforementioned candy bars up his ass, wrapping and all. This was one of those times. “Fine.” She patted the pocket in which the chocolate rested. “I’ll leave now and take my candy with me.” And she turned to go.
“No!” He reached for her, pausing just short of actually touching her.
As far as she could remember, Gunnar had never touched her.
She turned back, eyebrow raised. “Then stop fucking around and answer my questions. You get one more chance.”
“Ask, then. You must hurry.”
She tapped her thigh with her vgun. “First question. What’s the rush?”
He threw a glance over his shoulder, and lowered his voice to a near whisper. “There is mischievousness inside Wormwood. Evil is stirring.”
“What the fuck, Gunnar?”
He stared at her for a moment. “Pardon?”
“Just tell me what’s going on.”
“There are bad people afoot. They will do you harm if you are found here.” He pointed his chin at Lex but still didn’t look at her. “And that one, as well.”
She sighed and patted his arm, ignoring his flinch of surprise. “We can take care of ourselves.” There were always bad people in Wormwood, but she didn’t have time to discuss them. “I need to know where Llodra is, baby. If he’s in Wormwood, you will know where he’s sleeping.”
He hesitated. “Then he must not be sleeping here. I am not aware of the master’s location.” He refused to meet her stare.
“What are you keeping from me, Gunnar?”
“He’s terrified,” Lex said, speaking for the first time. “We should go now.”
“Yes, yes,” he said. “That one is right. You should go.”
Lex’s vibrations, at times barely noticeable, became stronger, faster. “Rune…”
Dammit. Even she was starting to pick up a sense of desperation. “Fine,” she snapped, and threw Gunnar his candy bar.
He snatched it out of the air and almost before it was in his hand, he was gone.
“What a fucking waste of time,” Rune muttered, but she kept a careful eye out for ambushers as she and Lex got out of the graveyard.
Something was wrong. She hoped when things calmed down and the danger had passed, Gunnar would enlighten her.
They’d no sooner shut the gates behind them when her cell rang. “Hey, Z,” she answered. “Any luck?”
“Rune. I’ve been trying to call you.”
“Yeah, I’m just getting out of Wormwood. What’s up?”
He didn’t mince words. “Someone decided to burn your house down. The Fire department is trying to contain it.”
Stunned, she couldn’t speak. Her house? Her ugly house? “Is it…are you there?”
“I’m here with Denim. It’s pretty much gone, Rune.”
“I’m on my way,” she said.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Lex buckled herself in, then grabbed Rune’s wrist.
Rune shook her off. She didn’t want to say who she suspected—not to Lex—and she didn’t want the girl reading her and finding out for herself. “My house, they’ve burned my house.”
Fucking COS.
Chapter Ten
She had to feed.
Had to.
Her monster wasn’t giving her a choice.
An image flashed through her mind, there and gone in an instant. An image of her beneath the sadistic Jeremy as he abused her restrained body. It took her breath.
God, the craving…
Yeah, she had to feed. Reverting to bad habits was not good.
She and her crew, silent and tired, stood staring at the smoldering ashes of what once had been her home.
An empty gas can had been found where the porch had been—the people who’d burned her house hadn’t even tried to cover up the fact that it was deliberate.
“It’s a warning,” Z had said, and she agreed.
A warning from COS—from Tim Emerson. But she was sure they’d find no slimy trails leading to him.
A couple of months ago her own neighbors had threatened to burn her out. Half the population of River County secretly—and some not so secretly—hated her for being Other.
Did she have enemies? Were there people who wanted to hurt her?
Oh hell yeah.
She sighed when Strad’s huge truck rolled to a stop in front of her destroyed house. His face was grim as he strode toward her, and an old feeling of uncertainness caused her to briefly caress one of her holstered shivs.
The berserker had that effect on people.
But she’d tasted his blood. Had drunk from his veins.
Had lain in his arms and let him kiss her…
God, that kiss.
He’d saved her life, not once, but twice. Still, he had the power to scare the fuck out of her.
“Damn you, Rune,” he said, clenching his fists. He shook with his famous rage and no matter how he controlled it, she could still see it. She could feel it.
Her fear and caution didn’t stem from worry over physical pain, either. It was something else. The berserker scared her and she had no idea why.
She grinned, trying to disperse the tension—beside her Z and Jack had stiffened, ready for anything.
But he wouldn’t hurt her. They all knew that. It was just something about him that made people immediately go into defense mode.
“Don’t damn me, Berserker. I didn’t burn my house down.”
He ran a hand over his carved face, visibly trying to calm himself the fuck down. Finally he let out a deep breath and relaxed his big body. “Are you okay?”
She let her gaze drift over his face and down to his throat. She wanted to jump into his arms and wrap her arms and legs around him, slam her open mouth against his smooth skin and—
“Rune?” Jack frowned and leaned down to peer into her eyes. “Are you okay?”
Strad watched her, his eyes dark and knowing. Full of promise. He knew what she was thinking. He knew what she needed.
She cleared her throat. “Yeah. I’m fine. Berserker, where’s your kid? Shouldn’t you be with him or babysitting the new hire?”
His lips tightened. “Matthew is in the truck with Tina.”
She glanced over his shoulder. His windows were tinted and it was impossible to see into the truck—where his wife waited.
That thought eased her hunger somewhat.
He looked over her head at the smoldering remains of her house. It glowed hot and red in the darkness of the winter evening. “I’m sorry about your house. Any ideas?”
“Yeah,” she said, casting a look to where Lex waited with the twins. “COS.”
He said nothing about her going to visit COS without him, or about her not fighting to have him on her vampire purge team, but she could see him struggling not to. It was understandable—he was, after all, Shiv Crew.
But he just shrugged his massive shoulders. “Maybe.”
From behind him one of the truck windows slid down. “Strad,” Tina called. “Matt is hungry. Are you coming?”
Rune met his stare and for a long moment they just looked at each other. “You should go,” she said, finally.
“Yes,” he agreed.
Still, he didn’t look away. In the dark depths of his eyes she recognized his own hunger, as well as a sharp despair she did not understand. “Go,” she said, gently.
He sighed. For a second she panicked as she imagined he leaned toward her, thinking he was going to kiss her or bare his tempting nec
k to her hungry mouth.
But he did none of those things—simply turned and walked away.
Z watched him go, something in his face she did not want to interpret. “You can stay with me until you find a new house, Rune. I have an extra bedroom.” He grinned. “Or you can sleep in mine.”
“If you knew how tempting that was,” she said, throwing him a bone, “you might not offer.”
Truthfully, it was tempting. Too tempting.
Fuck, she was hungry.
“I mean it,” he said.
“I know. Thanks, Z, but I’ll get a room at the River Inn. I might be there a while.”
He nodded, a slight smile lifting the corners of his lips. “Okay. But if you change your mind, my door is always open.” His eyes were completely serious.
“Thanks, baby.” And because there was nothing else to do, she told them all goodbye and climbed into her car to head to a department store. She was going to need a few items since nearly everything she’d owned had been destroyed.
And only then, in the quiet darkness of her car, did she let herself break down. Just a moment—that’s all she’d allow herself.
She hit the steering wheel with the heel of her hand, screaming curses and finally, sniffing back a couple of useless tears at what the fire had devoured.
Pictures, mainly. Pictures of her adoptive parents. Those couldn’t be replaced. The past was well and truly gone. Except for a few memories, there was nothing left.
Not even her ugly house.
It was okay. She’d been thinking seriously about starting over anyway.
Ellis hadn’t called, which meant he’d not heard. She glanced at her dash clock. Ten o’clock. In the literal heat of the last few hours, she’d not realized how much time was slipping away.
She frowned and punched in his number. It went to voicemail. “Ellis, just checking in. Where are you? Before someone else tells you…my house burned down. It’s gone. I’m fine. Going to get some clothes and a toothbrush and rent a room at the inn. Call me.”
She stripped off most of her shivs but left her guns and badge on before she hurried into the store to do her shopping. She ignored the stares of other shoppers. Her hunger needed appeasing and she hadn’t time to care about much of anything else.
An hour later she was ensconced in a small room at the inn and after a quick shower she tied back her still damp hair and pulled on a pair of new jeans and a black T-shirt. She tossed her badge in a drawer, stuck a shiv into her jacket pocket, and went out to eat.