by Laken Cane
Levi answered his ringing cell. “She’s…she’s not good, Ellie.”
Then he listened, nodded, and clicked off. “Ellis says to give her blood.” He glanced at Rune. “His exact words were, one of you motherfuckers feed her, and feed her fucking now.”
Again, Rune grinned.
Ellie was a force to be reckoned with when he was pissed.
Later she’d want to hear about their battle with the Others at the clinic. Right then, it was enough to know they were all safe and accounted for. Ellis was safe.
But was he turned?
That was a question for another time.
“I’ll feed her,” Denim said, and every one of her crew offered as well.
But she wasn’t about to addict any more of her people to her blood.
Lex took her hand. “I will be the one to feed Rune. You guys don’t need to know the reason why it has to be me. It just does. Get the strangers out of here and let me help our captain heal.”
They sent the medics away and formed a protective circle around her, and Lex climbed up on the cot. She didn’t hesitate to lie down on top of Rune’s ruined body and bare her neck.
“Drop those fangs, honey,” Lex whispered, “and take your medicine.”
Her first attempt to drop her fangs failed, as did her second. But finally, she gathered enough strength to send them through her gums, and right into Lex’s neck.
Thank you, baby.
She felt Lex smile. No problem.
For one startled second she realized that not only could Lex hear her thoughts, but she could hear Lex’s as well. Maybe not real words, but the feelings. A knowing of thoughts.
It was fucking freaky to be so connected to another person. The line of blood from Lex to Rune was a strong link.
She was bathed in the blood, the magical, healing blood. Each time she swallowed a mouthful it coated her inside, flowed through her veins, made her heart beat.
It made her high.
But she’d been devastated, and it would take her longer to recuperate. The blood hurried things along.
She took only what she absolutely needed, then reluctantly released the Other. Now, she could rest.
Her burns, cuts, and bruises were less painful, no longer flooding her with agony. Yes, she still hurt, but it was bearable. She could think.
When Lex climbed off the gurney, Owen leaned over and took her hand, gently. His eyes, once hopeless and full of secrets, were now bright and full of promise. Maybe he’d just needed Shiv Crew. They were awesome, after all.
She smiled at the thought.
“We got the fucker, Rune,” he said. “We got Emerson.”
She blinked back tears. Emerson was going to prison. He was going to have to live with an addiction worse than anything he’d ever known or imagined, with no access to the drug he needed.
“A cruel and unusual punishment,” she murmured. “Way to fucking go.”
Jack was next to lean over her. He kissed her on her forehead, his one visible eye gleaming with relief. “You’ll be all right, sweetheart.”
She wanted to touch his eye patch, and was shocked when she found she could actually raise her hand to his face. “I’m so sorry about your eye.”
He grasped her hand and turned his face into it, kissing her palm. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. It makes me irresistible to the ladies.”
“You were always irresistible.”
“True,” he said, smiling.
“Let’s get her to the clinic,” Z said.
She closed her eyes and spiraled down into a dark and dreamless sleep. Her crew would take care of her, and Matthew was safe.
So she slept.
When sleep released her and she swam through the murky depths to awareness, she knew a lot of time had passed.
Hours, many hours.
She opened her eyes and found Ellis staring down at her, his eyes cloudy and sad. But when he saw her watching him his face immediately changed.
“Rune,” he yelled, and started raining kisses onto her face.
She grinned. “Hey baby. How are you doing?”
“I’m doing great. Now.”
She studied his dear face. “Did you…?”
“No. Not yet.” He squeezed her hand. “Maybe not ever.”
Please God. “How is Matthew?”
A quick frown, there and gone. “He’s doing better.”
“Don’t lie to me, Ellie.”
He sighed. “He’s not great, Rune. But there’s nothing else you can do for him. He’s being cared for.” Again, he squeezed her hand. “You just concentrate on getting better, my love.”
It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. She’d dragged the boy out of bloody hell only to have him die in a hospital? He’d been born for greatness. She knew it.
Blood and Fire hadn’t been there for her.
They’d been there for him.
Just as she’d been there for him.
“How long have I been here?”
He crinkled his nose, thinking. “Nearly sixty hours.”
A large cart rattled to a stop in the hall outside her room and a uniformed woman distributed breakfast trays to the patients.
Scents of cooked meat drifted to her nose and her appetite woke up with a roar. Her stomach growled loudly enough for Ellis to hear.
“Want some breakfast?” he asked, smiling.
“I really do, baby.”
She felt pretty damn good. But it had taken her sixty hours and she was still not back to top shape. Ellis had gone into the hall to score her a tray, and when he came back she sat up in the bed, frowning. “I must have been in bad shape.” She flexed her left hand. She couldn’t feel a hint of the shattered claw inside as she could the others, but it didn’t hurt, either. She’d test it later.
Ellis sat the tray on a tray table and pushed it to the bed. “I don’t know how you were alive, honey.” He met her stare. “I think you’re immortal. It’s the only way to explain how you lived through that.”
She lifted the dome off a plate of bacon and eggs. “In the end, when the fire might have been too much for me—and would have for damn sure been too much for Matthew—Blood and Fire came. They wrapped us in a circle of protection and nothing could touch us. Boosted me out the door.”
He frowned. “I saw the news footage. There was only you, carrying the child. You looked…” He put his fist to his mouth as his eyes misted. “It was so terrible, Rune.” He cleared his throat. “But there were no dogs. Just you, carrying that poor child out of hell.”
“I can’t escape TV,” she said, and forked up a bite of egg. “But Blood and Fire were there. You just couldn’t see them. I have a feeling they’ve done what they came to do and will leave now. If they haven’t already.” Strange, the sadness that overtook her at the thought. She had a definite connection to the beasts, but might never know what it was. “I think their purpose here was to save Matthew.”
“You saved Matthew.” Ellis folded his arms.
“I did help save him,” she agreed, and dropped the subject of the dogs. “Tell me about the battle. I was on my way here when Emerson called. Kinda changed my plans for me.”
“They hurt my feelings.” He stuck out his bottom lip. “I couldn’t believe the Others turned on me like that.”
“I’m glad only your feelings were hurt.”
“But listen, Rune. In the end, I showed them the sign, and they returned it. All is forgiven and they—I think—have truly accepted me.”
Ellie tapped his chest, over his heart, twice. He then raised his right hand high, his index and middle fingers crossed. He stared at her, waiting.
She grinned and mimicked the gesture. This was their symbol of protection to the Others. When the Others gave it back to them, they were showing acceptance.
Ellis had always been optimistic that someday the Others and humans would be equals. Rune didn’t think it’d happen in their lifetimes, but the Others were already much more accepted than they’d
been a mere few months ago.
It could happen.
Now that she’d been yanked kicking and screaming from the monster closet, Ellis was even more intent upon equality.
She knew she was fortunate. She hadn’t been chased from River County by a mob with torches, hadn’t lost her job, hadn’t been jailed for her lie.
A lot of Others weren’t that lucky.
“Anyway,” Ellis continued, “the crew and I handled it. Levi was spectacular.” He grinned at her.
“So.” She casually poked at her food with her fork. “About you and Levi.”
He laughed. “I’m happy, Rune.”
“I see that. Are you and he—”
But her question was cut off as Tina rushed into the room. Her eyes were red and swollen, the only color in her deathly pale face. “Rune. You’ve got to come.” Her tears spilled over and she grabbed Rune’s hand. “You have to feed my son.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jack drove Rune to the hospital, following behind Tina as the woman zigzagged in and out of traffic.
She’d made Ellis stay at the clinic. He’d argued, but in the end had been satisfied with Jack going along to keep an eye on her.
Tina told her the doctors had done all they could for Matthew. The first day, they’d actually seen a bit of improvement, but then he’d backslid into a greedy, dark abyss that Rune wasn’t going to let claim him.
The kid had to live.
“You can’t save everyone, Rune,” Ellis had said. “I don’t want the child to die, either. But sweetheart, you can’t interfere like this. You’re not…”
Not God.
No, she wasn’t, but she had a gift. She had it for a reason.
She didn’t look forward to the pain that came with feeding, but would handle it. Matthew had to live.
“It may not save him,” she told Tina, striding into the hospital. “It may make him feel good for a while, but may not save his life. I don’t know much about how it works.”
“You brought Lex back from death.” Tina’s face was grim, set in determined lines Rune had never seen before. And lurking deep in the depths of her eyes was dread. Fear.
Rune frowned but asked no questions. Something was going on and she’d find out soon enough.
She just had to reach Matthew.
The nurses on the boy’s floor stared at them silently, exchanging confused, sad looks.
“He’s in here,” Tina said, ignoring them. She pushed open the door and urged Rune and Jack inside. “He’s here.”
Strad stood at the window, his big body held in such a straight, tight line that Rune knew he was hurting in a way few people hurt. He was in pain. Deep, deep pain.
Rune recognized the look. “Strad?”
He turned to look at her, startled. “What are you—” Then he glanced at Tina and a terrible understanding dawned. “Tina, no.”
Tina stood at Matthew’s bedside, her face calm. “Feed him, Rune. Save him.”
Rune swallowed, understanding immediately that it was too late for Matthew. He was dead. She fought back tears and rage. Why?
He’d been meant for greatness. He had been.
She put a hand to her stomach—her constantly churning stomach—and tried to compose herself. She had no right to devastation. She had to be strong. Had to be.
Fuck me.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, aching for the huge berserker and the little blonde.
Tina shook her head. “Don’t be sorry. Heal him. You saved him. You brought him back to us once. Do it again, Rune.”
Rune wrapped her arms around Tina. “I can’t raise the dead, Tina.”
“How do you know? You don’t know. Just try. That’s all I ask. Try.”
Rune felt a presence and looked toward the door, understanding what she would see before she actually saw it. Her skin erupted with gooseflesh and her mind seemed to shiver.
Blood and Fire. They came into the room silently, faces calm. They glanced at Rune and then their stares went to the boy’s still form.
He’s ours now.
She didn’t understand. Probably never would.
But a thought slid through her mind, there and gone. Maybe he was theirs because they’d saved him. Maybe if he’d died in the COS inferno, he’d have been lost to them.
The dogs might have planted the thought there. A sort of parting gift. Anything was possible. She’d witnessed enough of the impossible to know that.
“Jack. Do you see Blood and Fire?”
He stared down at her, then glanced around the room, frowning. “What?”
Strad took Tina from her. “I’ll take care of her.”
Rune nodded. “I’m sorry.”
But Tina wasn’t going to give up. She shoved away from the berserker and grabbed Rune’s neck, forcing her toward the boy. “Just try,” she begged. “Try.”
Strad pulled her off. “Tina! Enough. He’s gone. He’s gone.”
The big man’s voice broke, and it took everything Rune had not to throw herself into his arms and try to comfort him. But there was no making it better. Time was all they had. Time might make the loss a little more bearable. Rune could not.
Tina hit Rune’s face, gently, not to hurt her but to gather some of the red tears escaping her eyes.
She put her wet fingers to her son’s mouth, wiping his lips, begging him to drink.
Rune couldn’t take anymore.
“Jack,” she whispered. “I need to go.”
Blood and Fire waited. Watched.
As Rune turned away, she glanced at them and then stared, frozen to the spot.
Matthew waited with them.
He stared at her, and then he smiled.
“Tina,” Rune cried. “Strad!”
Strad strode to her, pulling Tina’s resisting body with him. “What is it?”
Rune pointed to where Matthew stood smiling between the two dogs. He and the animals looked as solid and clear to her as Jack did.
“He’s there with Blood and Fire,” she said. “He’s smiling.” She turned to look at Strad and Tina. “He is meant for great things. Just not here.”
But they couldn’t see him. They couldn’t believe something they couldn’t see. Not really.
“Rune.” Jack took her arm, his voice soft. He thought she’d lost her mind.
Maybe she had.
But as she watched, Matthew left his spot and walked to her. He pulled her head down, his touch as real as any she’d ever felt, and whispered into her ear.
“No,” she said. “No.”
He just looked at her, then stood once more between the animals. He hadn’t moved, just was suddenly there. He nodded, lifted his hand, and was gone.
On to great things.
She realized she was sobbing and felt the heaviness of Jack’s arm around her shoulders. “He’s gone.”
“Stop it,” Tina cried. “Stop it!”
Rune turned to face her. “I swear it, Tina. He’s okay. He…” she glanced at Strad, Matthew’s whisper still echoing in her mind. She did not want to share that secret, though Matthew had insisted.
It would make them believe. It would comfort Tina.
But it would devastate Strad.
Tina went back to the body on the bed, the vessel that no longer held her child. She began smoothing back the hair from his forehead, murmuring words Rune didn’t want to hear.
Her heart shattered.
“Tina. He was here. He spoke to me—”
Strad ran a hand over his face. “Be quiet, Rune.”
God, she wanted to. “I can’t, baby. He wanted me to tell you both something. Something Tina knows but you don’t. He said you both needed to hear it.”
She had their attention.
“What then,” Tina asked. “What?” She had a look in her eyes that said she wanted to hurt Rune, wanted to hurt somebody to see if it would take some of her pain away.
Rune swallowed, then forced the words through a desert-dry throat. She gla
nced at Strad, but had to look away. “He said that Tim Emerson was his father. He said no one on earth knew that truth but Tina.”
At first no one moved, no one breathed. Then Tina began to shake as Rune’s words sank in. She grabbed Rune’s shoulders, squeezing hard enough to bruise. Her face was a grimacing mask of disbelief, then hope so bright it hurt Rune’s eyes.
“He told you? My child really…you did see him? Tell me everything. Tell me where he was going. Tell me everything.”
She believed.
She believed and was comforted.
Strad believed as well. Rune saw it in his eyes, in the way he held himself so still and stiff he might have shattered into a million pieces if someone had touched him.
“Tina?” he asked.
Tina glanced at him. “Yes, it’s true. I was pregnant when I met you.” But she turned back to Rune, uncaring how that might affect Strad. She’d lost her baby. She couldn’t worry about Strad. She needed to save herself. “Where did he go?”
Rune kissed her cheek. “He went to a wonderful place. Blood and Fire were special. Guardians, maybe. I don’t know what Matthew will be in that world, only that he will be. He’s not dead.” She looked at Strad. “He’s just not here.”
And because Strad’s eyes were so flinching, so filled with anguish, she lied. “Berserker, he said you would always be his daddy.”
Strad moaned, then fled the room. He wouldn’t want anyone to see him break. She understood that.
She spent the next hour with Tina, explaining over and over what Matthew had said, how he’d looked, how he’d smiled.
She talked about Blood and Fire, about Gunnar—who Tina wanted to question as well—and about possibilities.
But in the end, when Jack left to get some coffee and Rune slipped into the bathroom, Tina left a scribbled note and went to find her son.
He’s out there. I want to be with him. I’m going to find my baby.
They found her hours later, sitting behind a pipe in a small basement room, her wrists cut and a smile on her face.
Maybe it was what Matthew had wanted.
Or maybe that was just what Rune needed to believe.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The world was full of grief and pain, but it was tempered by love and joy and a deep-seated desire, by those who inhabited it, to survive. Such was life.