Realm Walker rw-1

by Kathleen Collins

  She stepped past him and out of the room. Black adorned her from head to foot. In one hand she carried her bag and in the other a leather trench coat. It was warm for the duster, but one never knew when a weather mage might conjure up a cold snap.

  The wall shut behind them. She dropped her things at the top of the stairs and retrieved a sword from above the door. It was a beautiful piece of weaponry. Thomas couldn’t recall if he’d ever seen its equal.

  “I’ve got to call this in. And I am going to look for Nathaniel. You can argue or you can come with me. Your choice.” She grabbed her bag and headed out the back door.

  Thomas took a deep breath. His bride was not hunting a demon-ridden werewolf. Especially while she was still recovering from an injury. He was also certain that she hadn’t stopped for a moment to absorb what had happened since she walked in the house. He followed her to the back porch and turned her to face him. He cupped her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. “Breathe, Joya. Just breathe. Calm yourself.”

  She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. When she opened them, his heart clenched at the plea he saw there. “Please.”

  That’s all she said. One word. He didn’t even know what she was asking, but she asked. Unable to deny her, he said, “I’m here. Whatever it is you wish.”

  She nodded once then turned her head so he was forced to let go. Stepping away from him, she pulled out her phone. A scowl marred her features and she reached back in the house and flipped the light on. Several dark shapes dotted the lawn. It took him a moment to realize they were pieces of her motorcycle.

  * * *

  “Cursed demon,” she muttered and turned the light back off so she wouldn’t have to look at the destruction any longer. She turned on her gift so she could see if anything tried to sneak up on them. Not that it would be any help with the demon, but it made her feel more secure.

  She called Ben’s cell phone. “It trashed my house.”

  “Wasn’t it warded?”

  “Of course, it was warded. It was warded up the ass. If they went off, they didn’t do anything to deter them. I think the demons shut them down.”

  “You better come in. I’ll tell Doc to get a bed ready for you.”

  “Find somewhere else.”

  “I’m not sure there is anywhere else.” His tone was distracted and she knew he was running through a mental list of all the beds in the Agency.

  “It doesn’t matter.” She waved a hand through the air in impatience. “Figure something out. The bike’s in pieces, too. I’ll call when I need a portal.”

  “I’ll send one now.”

  “Not yet. I’m going after Nathaniel.”

  “Damn it, Norris.” Ben paused, probably calming himself so he didn’t scream. “I’ve already got enough people crawling all over me because of you. Come in and get some rest. You said you wouldn’t go after him for twenty-four hours. Actually I believed I ordered you not to.”

  All the more reason to do it. “I’m fine. Besides, I’m not alone.” She hung up. The phone began to vibrate. She ignored it and looked at Thomas, daring him to deny her.

  He opened the passenger door with a bow. “Your carriage awaits.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Thomas started the car and looked at Juliana for direction.

  “Just drive,” she told him. Since it wouldn’t help her find Nathaniel, she shut down her gift. She’d already used it much more than she should have in the past couple of days.

  “Should I assume you have a plan, or is that too much to hope for?” Thomas asked after she directed him to turn for the fourth time.

  “We’re driving around hoping to run across a demon. Is that a plan?”

  He sighed. “No. That’s more of a vague idea.”

  Her phone vibrated again. She pulled it out. Jeremiah. “Talk to me.”

  “You promised you wouldn’t go after him alone.” His voice was tired, strained. She didn’t know if that was because Ben woke him up or if dealing with her wore him out.

  “I have no idea where he is, Jeremiah. Not a clue. What good would it do to have half the Agency roaming around with me. I was going to call if I found anything. Besides, I’m not alone.”

  “Ben said as much, but as I am at home and Nathaniel is...incapacitated, who are you with?”

  She glanced at Thomas who tried to look like he wasn’t listening but failed. “My vampire.”

  The corner of his mouth quirked up in a smile that quickly disappeared.

  “Your...you are with Thomas Kendrick?”

  “That would be the one, yes.” It wasn’t as if she went around claiming a lot of vampires.

  There was a long silence. “Very well. The vampire will suffice. Just be careful. I had another reason for calling. Someone reported a 1062 in Devil’s End.”

  That made her pause. “No one ever reports anything in the End.”

  Thomas turned around and headed back in the direction they’d come from.

  “That’s why I’m passing it along,” Jeremiah said. Devil’s End was the rundown and desperate part of town and it was far closer to her house than she liked to admit. She was going to have to move in a few years if the borders kept creeping out. She’d live near the End, but she wasn’t going to live in it.

  “What’s a 1062?” She never could remember the codes.

  “Rogue shifter,” Thomas and Jeremiah answered in unison.

  She arched her brows at Thomas, wondering just how he came to possess that bit of knowledge. “Set up a perimeter around the area. Keep it wide and tight. Call in the locals if you have to. I don’t want to risk losing him again and I don’t want anyone going in there with guns blazing either. I’m the primary. Please advise them not to shoot the vampire either.” She hung up the phone and turned in her seat to study Thomas.

  “What?” he asked when she just continued to look at him.

  “Would you care to tell me how you know Agency code?”

  He slid to a stop alongside a curb just outside the borders of the End. “I am a very old vampire, Joya. I know a great many things.” He climbed out of the car and stood beside it with the door open.

  “That didn’t answer my question,” she grumbled. With a sigh, she followed him into the darkness.

  She reached in the back, pulled out her bag and dropped it on the trunk. He scowled, but she ignored him and unzipped the bag. “What do you want?”

  He reached under the driver’s seat and came up with a gun identical to hers. It wasn’t a coincidence. Thomas taught her to shoot and bought her her first gun. It was still the one she was most comfortable with. He also dropped something around his neck. Something that looked very much like a badge. She studied it more closely. Correction...something that looked exactly like a badge. A star with eight points, to be exact. He was a Warden of the High Order. The blood drained from her face. “Are you kidding me?”

  A muscle twitched in his jaw. “No, Joya. I have been with the Order for a very long time. It will cause fewer problems for you if I am here in a somewhat official capacity, will it not?”

  She nodded but was still stunned. The Wardens traced their origins back to Stonehenge. An intimate group whose purpose had always been to keep the Altered from discovery. After the Rending, that purpose had shifted to more closely mirror the Agency’s purpose without the government involvement. Freelancers with connections all over the globe, they worked with all branches of law enforcement and government, both human and Altered. Among the Altered, the Wardens were the ultimate authority though the humans still thought it was the Agency. And if it came down to a public dispute, the Agency did supersede the Order’s authority. Later, when no humans were watching, the Wardens would impose the Order’s justice.

  Leave it to her vampire to be a Warden. Shaking her head, she turned back to her bag. She pulled out one clip of blessed ammo and one clip of silver ammo for each of them. After a moment’s hesitation, she handed his over. No matter the reasoning behind it, she was st
ill outfitting them to hunt one of her friends. Sometimes she really hated her job.

  She cleared her throat. “Don’t bother with the silver unless I tell you it’s not Nathaniel. He’s immune.”

  Thomas’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline. “A werewolf immune to silver? How does that happen?”

  She smiled. “Cursed.”

  He paused for a moment. “You know the most interesting people.”

  She slid her sword onto her back, adjusting it until it rested comfortably. After a quick check that she had everything, she zipped up the bag and tossed it back into the car.

  “Where should we begin?”

  She glanced around and drew her gun. No matter how skilled the person with the sword, a gun was still more intimidating to most people. “I don’t hear any screaming. I suppose that’s a good sign. Start walking. The person that called it in will find us, or we’ll find the shifter.”

  Her gift brought searing pain with it this time. She ignored it and moved quickly down the street, Thomas right behind her. When they neared a cross street, she pressed against the corner of a building and leaned over to see around the edge. Halfway down the block a large hairy figure with no signature was leaning over something in the street. The distinctive sound of rending flesh had her swallowing the bile that burned its way up her throat.

  Pulling her head back, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. Her gift had served its purpose so she shut it down. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her courage. She could do this. She had to do this.

  “What is it?” Thomas said next to her ear.

  She opened her eyes. “Chewing. You hear it?”

  He nodded once, his face grim.

  She stepped out, raising her gun to point at the dark figure before her. “Walker. Stop what you’re doing and put your hands up.”

  Nathaniel froze. Slowly he turned his torso to face her. His growl reverberated through the night making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Blood saturated the fur on his muzzle and chest and dripped in steady drops to the pavement below. Tissue clung to the teeth he bared as he snarled. There was nothing of her friend in the creature before her. She only hoped there was a little of him left inside.

  The demon reached down, grasped something in its claws and lifted it. Though it was difficult to tell, she thought it was a length of intestine. The demon lifted it and shoved it into his mouth. His eyes never left hers as he started to chew.

  “Okay. That’s just gross.”

  The demon snapped its jaws at her and growled again. Thomas fired two shots from her left and hit Nathaniel in the chest. He rose to his full height. Arching his back, he howled in rage. He spun and jumped over the body. A couple of buildings down, he leaped up a fire escape before disappearing onto the roof. There was no way they were going to catch him. But she had to try.

  “Damn it.” She slammed her gun back into the holster. She took off after her prey, keeping the spot where she’d last seen him in her sights. Just before they reached the fire escape, a figure stepped into view. It was gone just as quickly. It was probably the other demon, but if it was he’d found a new host. Just what she needed. She fired up her gift and stumbled a step when the pain tore through her brain.

  Thomas caught her arm to steady her but she shook him off and went up the fire escape. The impact of her feet on the metal rang through the night air like a siren announcing her presence. The vibration of each step ran up her body and into her head, intensifying the pain. She was panting by the time they reached the top.

  Thomas shoved her sideways before she even had a chance to get her bearings. If he’d been half a second slower, the headache wouldn’t have been a problem anymore. Bullets connected with the short brick wall behind them. He wrapped himself around her, protecting her. She strained to see around him, to get a glimpse of their assailant.

  The shooting stopped, presumably so the gunman could reload. Thomas pulled her to her feet and hauled her behind a large air conditioning unit that offered more coverage. As they went, her eyes snagged on a patch of purple-blue smudged with black in the night. It couldn’t be. Thomas released her to ready his weapon and she scrambled out into the open.

  Yes. There it was. She shut down her gift. In the half-second it took her eyes to adjust to the darkness again, he raised the gun. Raoul hesitated as their eyes met. It was the face she’d seen a million times in her nightmares. Only now, the entire right side was missing, melted off. When had that happened? And how?

  “Juliana,” Thomas hissed and tugged her back against his side. He shook her. “Juliana! What is wrong with you? What is it?”

  She shook her head. Here was her chance to finally get the man she’d been hunting for seven years and she was frozen like a fairy in a troll pod. She shoved down the fear that clawed at her insides looking for purchase. Pulling her gun out, she rolled to the side prepared to fire. He was gone.

  No. No. No. She pushed herself to her feet and ran to where she’d last seen him. Nothing. She fired up her gift without thinking. Pain like an ice pick to the brain doubled her over. Liquid warmth flowed from her nose and she tasted the coppery tang of her blood. Through narrowed eyes she scanned the dark, but he was gone. She’d had her chance and she’d lost it.

  She locked her gift down but the pain receded only enough to allow her to function. She swiped a hand across her face to get rid of the blood and turned on Thomas. “Why did you shoot him?”

  * * *

  Thomas eyed the blood smeared across her porcelain skin and trickling from her nose. “You can’t be serious. And why are you bleeding?”

  She brushed aside his concern with a wave of her hand. “That’s not important. Why did you shoot him?”

  His bride was an intelligent woman. She should already know the answer to that question. “He was eating someone.”

  “It’s not like the guy was still alive. And now Nathaniel got away.”

  She dug her phone out of her pocket.

  His eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched. “He threatened you.”

  “He was at least ten feet away.”

  “And you really think it would be that difficult for any werewolf, let alone one hosting a demon to leap that distance before you could think of reacting?” She opened her mouth to protest and he shook his head. “Don’t. Just don’t. I will not justify my actions to anyone. Especially when it comes to your protection.”

  “Jeremiah, it’s me. Any sign?” She paused for the answer. “Let me know.” She put the phone away and walked past him and back down the fire escape. He watched until she disappeared below the edge of the building. Damnable woman. He hurried after her. “And what was that on the roof? You nearly get your head shot off and you thrust it back into the line of fire. For what?”

  “I thought I recognized the shooter,” she said as she hopped off at the bottom. She didn’t stop until she got back to the victim. He followed along behind her at a slower pace, mulling over her words, trying to remember if he’d gotten a glimpse of the person trying to kill them.

  “And did you?” he asked when he reached her.

  She glanced up but said nothing. It was answer enough. She did and she wasn’t going to share with him who it might be. “Talk to me, Juliana. What is going on? And why are you bleeding?”

  A hand shot up to her nose and she seemed surprised to find the blood still trickling. He stepped closer to her and used the edge of his shirt to wipe the blood away. She looked at him a minute and then dropped her head, breaking the connection. “I’ve used my gift too much.”

  He’d all but forgotten about that gift of hers. And he was an idiot for doing so. No wonder she was a full-blown Walker, risking her life in the field every day. They would never waste a talent like hers behind a desk.

  Thomas shifted his attention to the body at their feet. It was a male. His throat gaped open in what was probably the killing blow and most of the stomach was gone. They always started with the stomach.

  Julia
na pulled out her phone which had no doubt vibrated to alert her to a call. “We’ll be right there,” she said after she listened a moment. “They found both demons. We’ve got to go.”

  He put a hand on her arm to stop her. “There are two?”

  “Yes. Didn’t I tell you that?”

  “No.” His lips were a tight line. “You’ve been rather single minded about your wolf.”

  “The other one’s smart and communicative. At least fifth level.”

  “And they are connected how?”

  “They’re working together. It’s how Nathaniel got the jump on me.”

  His eyes locked on her new scars. “So you were not injured because you were reluctant to hurt him?”

  “I’m not an idiot.” Thomas refrained from commenting. His bride was a very intelligent woman, but her actions far from reflected it sometimes. “Was that the shooter?”

  She shook her head and looked at him a long moment before answering. “It was Raoul.”

  His blood chilled. “Why is Raoul trying to kill you?”

  “Actually I have no idea. Usually it’s the other way around.”

  This was the heart of her secret. But he didn’t have time to get into it now. The demons weren’t going to wait for them forever. “We should go.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Cold night air enveloped Juliana as she walked through the streets of downtown New Hope searching for their quarry. Her glasses hid the glow of her eyes as she used her gift. Demons weren’t the only things hiding in the night. She’d snagged a stack of gauze from a medic and kept it pressed under her nose. She was going to have to shut down soon or she’d fry something. Thomas searched the rooftops above her head. She left him to it. She had enough to worry about without double-checking his work.

  As she scanned signatures, she looked for one in particular. If Raoul was smart he left town the moment he realized she’d seen him. Unfortunately, intelligence had never been one of his strengths. She still couldn’t figure out why he was here, what he wanted from her.