Blood and Bite (2 page)

Rune strode into the RISC building, eager to see Ellis and, though
part of her dreaded it, to meet the new Regional Investigations of Supernatural
Crimes boss.

She’d lived through the horror that had been Jeremy Cross,
the former captain of RISC. It was no surprise that there was some anxiety
about the person taking his place.

Right before she’d gone away, RISC and her old department,
Spiritgrove’s Criminal Recovery Unit—SCRU—had been merged. Now there was only
RISC.

“This place was not the same without you,” Ellis said,
finally letting her out of one of his famous hugs. He handed them out like
cigars at a birth, and she liked them about as much.

Lex stood by the window of Ellis’s new office, looking out
at the world as though she weren’t blind. Rune sent Ellis a questioning
look—which he answered with a shrug—and walked to stand beside the girl.

“Hello, Lex.”

Lex was an
Other
, one of the most
unusual Rune knew. She turned toward Rune, her eyes shaking, her body
vibrating.
But only a little.
“Welcome home, Rune.”

She shot out a hand and grabbed Rune’s arm, then slid her
fingers down to grasp Rune’s wrist.

Rune withdrew, gently. “You know I don’t like you to read
me.”

“Or touch you,” Lex replied, and there was a hint of smile
at the corners of her mouth. Her eyes picked up speed and her body vibrated
with a little more zeal.

Rune watched the little
Other
,
waiting for some hint about what was bothering her. “Why weren’t you at
Wormwood helping the crew kick hairy wolf ass?”

“Your head hurts,” Lex said.

“You’re a fast reader.”

Ellis sighed. “You were hurt in the fight?”

Rune smiled, fingering the still-sore spot on the back of
her head. She’d showered away the blood that had made her long hair a sticky
mess, and the wound had closed up. That’s what being half
Other
did for her. Still, a bit of a headache lingered. “One of the fuckers hit me
from behind while I was fighting the alpha.”

“You weren’t paying attention,” Z said from the doorway.
“You were busy
playing
with the alpha—at least that’s what I heard.”

Rune grinned. “Hi, baby.”

He walked toward her. “You’re getting a hug.”

“Fuck me,” she said, groaning. “Shiv Crew is full of
huggers.”

They all laughed and Z pulled her into a bear hug almost
fierce enough to break her ribs. “You look great, Rune.”

“What, you were thinking I’d come back with my hair in my
face, drooling? Wearing a straitjacket, maybe?”

He snorted. “Anyone heard from Strad?”

Rune stiffened at once. Too casually, she picked some
imaginary lint off her shirt sleeve. “Not me. What’s he doing in fucking
Pennsylvania?”

“I don’t know,” Ellis answered. “He just said he was going
and told the crew to look after your wolves. He said he wasn’t sure when he’d
return.”

Or if
.

She deliberately ignored Z’s considering look and changed
the subject. “How much longer is Raze in jail?”

“Two days,” Z said. “He’s having a rough time.”

Rune nodded. “Put a man like Raze inside a cell for a
month…”

“He’s lucky he only got a month,” Ellis said. “APRO wanted
him in prison for a couple years.”

American Protection and Rights of Others had gotten involved
when Raze had been sent to oust some trespassing rat shifters and one of them
had bitten him. Raze suffered from musophobia—an extreme fear of rats—and had
julienned the poor son of a bitch. If the rat had shifted back to his human
form Raze would have maintained control, but all he could see were little red
eyes and long front teeth.

Scared the fuck out of him.

Because it was self-defense, kind of, and because it was
only an
Other
he’d killed—and a rat, at that—Raze had
gotten off lightly. Still, APRO had needed placating and times were changing.

In the last month a law had passed in Ohio allowing humans
to feed vampires if they so wished.
Tools
, they were called. Bite
junkies.

It was a tricky situation. If a human became pissed at a
vampire he or she could report the vampire bite as an attack and the vampire
was likely to be destroyed.

The masters had taken to requiring notarized signatures from
the humans, proving the vampire in question had the human’s permission.

It was a strange time—but she could see it happening. The
Others
were becoming more accepted every day.

COS—the Church of Slayers—was surely screaming in rage with
each tiny
Other
step forward. At the thought of COS,
she glanced at Lex.

Z took a miniature turtle from his pocket and while he was busy
showing it to Lex, Rune pulled Ellis into the hallway.

“Tell me what’s going on with Lexi.”

“I really don’t know. She was like that the entire time you
were gone. If I didn’t know her I’d have said she was withdrawing from drugs.”

Rune pursed her lips, thinking. “We know that’s not it. I’ll
talk to the twins.”

“She seems better now.
Now that you’re
back.”

“You think she’s become dependent on me?”

He shrugged, rubbing absentmindedly at his right arm. He’d
had some breaks in that arm during the Hawthorne battle, and the cast had just
come off. “Her anxiety levels went through the roof a few days after you left.
If something else happened, she didn’t tell me.”

Rune studied him. Ellie had changed after the battle. They
all had. She wasn’t sure quite how to take the newly mature, less naive Ellis.
Maybe he just needed more time to get back his joy. His…zest. “I love you,
Ellie.”

He winked, but his eyes remained sad. “I know.”

“What’s wrong?”

He hesitated. “I fell in love.”

“Ellie!
But that’s great.
Isn’t
it?”

“It is if that love is returned.”

“Who could not love you?”

That brought out a hint of his old grin. “Fishing, are you?”

“Fuck yeah. Who is it?”

But he shook his head and refused to say.

Dammit. She’d been gone for a few short weeks and her crew
had changed. Ellie was teetering on the edge of a broken heart, Raze was in
fucking jail, and Strad was gone.

“Where did the berserker go?” she asked, even though she’d
asked already…as if Ellis would suddenly have knowledge he didn’t have half an
hour ago. She regretted the question as soon as she spoke it.

“Rune Marie Alexander.
You’re—”

She put her fingers against his lips.
Hard.
“Do not say whatever it is you’re getting ready to say. Just…don’t.”

He smiled against her fingers, his eyes sparkling.

She glared. “Show me my office,
then
point me toward the new captain.”

“You’ll like her, Rune. She’s a little…different, but once
you get used to her—”

Rune groaned. “Fuck me.”

“You’ll like her,” he said again, laughing, and laced his
arm through hers. “I promise. You can trust her.”

“Yeah.”
Like she
believed that.

Her new office wasn’t any larger than her old office, but
her old office had been pretty huge.
Big enough to hold her
desk, a couple of chairs, and all of Shiv Crew.

This one had a wall of
windows,
and
someone—probably Ellis—had added a few personal touches. A couple of plants, a
framed photo of Shiv Crew Mitch Percell had presented her with before the
Hawthorne battle. One side wall was taken up with a huge corkboard on which
someone—again, probably Ellis—had pinned a welcome home message.

She took a moment to close her eyes and pull in a deep
breath. She was home—and life was looking up.

Ellis stood in the hall talking with one of RISC’s
employees, and when Rune joined them the guy darted a look at her then away.
Not everyone in River County would accept her. A lot more of them had than
she’d expected, but not all of them.

Ellis noticed and put his hands on his hips. “Of course you
know Rune Alexander, Shiv Crew captain?” he asked the guy.

Inwardly, she grinned. Ellie was protective of those he
loved and no one was going to mess with Rune in his presence.

She kept her face blank and offered a hand to the guy. “Dale
Royce, right?”

He paused,
then
took her hand.
“Welcome back, Alexander.”

“Thanks. Let’s go meet the boss, Ellis.”

She hesitated outside Jeremy’s old office, pretending to
read the sign on the door. Honestly, she just needed a minute.

Ellis touched her arm. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

“Fucking Jeremy Cross,” she murmured.

Unwilling to let her think about recent pain, Ellis rapped
on the door,
then
pushed it open. “Ms. Peel?”

A tall woman, around forty, arose from behind her gleaming,
organized desk and motioned them inside. “Please. Come in.”

Her voice was quiet, her eyes peaceful. Her dark hair was
pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck, but not a severe one. More to
keep her hair out of her face while she worked, the same reason Rune usually
pulled hers back into a ponytail.

Brown eyes stared at Rune from a subtly made-up face. Her
suit was a simple but expensive skirt and jacket, and she wore only a single
pair of gold hoop earrings.

She showed no curiosity—more of a patient knowledge that put
Rune immediately at ease.

She didn’t look anything like the man whose place she’d taken,
but everyone had the potential to be a killer.

“Ms. Peel,” Rune said, and extended her hand.

Her boss smiled. “Elizabeth, please. May I call you Rune?”

“Yeah.”

“Lovely name.”
She glanced at
Ellis. “Thank you, Ellis.”

He nodded and smiled. “I’ll leave you two to get
acquainted.”

When he’d left the room and closed the door behind him,
Elizabeth pointed to a chair. “Would you sit for a moment?”

Rune sat.

Elizabeth sat as well,
then
folded
her hands on top of her desk. “I’ve heard nothing but good things about you.
I’m aware of what you’ve recently gone through, and I know it will take time
for trust to develop between us.” She paused, but continued when Rune remained
silent.

“If you have problems, questions, or just need to talk, I
encourage you to come to me. My door is always open.” She smiled a wry smile.
“And I am almost always here.”

“You’ve heard I’m not exactly human,” Rune said. “If you
have issues with that fact we need to discuss them now.”

Elizabeth smiled. “I have no issues with any group—human or
Other
. I don’t care what you are. If you treat me with
respect, I will treat you with respect. I will trust you unless you prove I
can’t.” She pointed to a plaque hanging on the wall behind Rune. “Those are
words I live by.”

Rune turned in her chair to read the plaque.
When someone
shows you who they are, believe them the first time
.
“Maya
Angelou.”

“Yes.”

Rune nodded slowly and stood. “I’ll start work officially
tomorrow.”

“I heard you’ve already had a busy morning.”

“Yes, but I wasn’t on the clock. That was just for fun.” She
grinned and headed for the door. Her new boss seemed peachy, but she’d been
fooled before.
Time.
It always took time.

And Elizabeth Peel was probably thinking the same thing
about her. “Rune…”

Rune stopped in the doorway. “Yes?”

“Strad Matheson.”

She stilled. “What about him?”

“I know he was Jeremy Cross’s…confidant, if you will. Do you
trust him?”

Rune nodded slowly.
“Yeah.
I think
I do.”

“Good. I’ve been waiting for him to make an appearance since
he returned from Pennsylvania, but he has yet to come in.”

The knot inside Rune’s stomach tightened. It was almost
always present, that knot, and depending on the circumstances it could be a
huge, painful knot, or a smaller, less obvious one. And at the RISC captain’s
words it grew and twisted inside her. She had to swallow hard before she could
speak. “He’s back?”

A tiny line appeared between Elizabeth’s eyes. “For four
days.”

Fucking berserker
.
She
nodded and left the room, thinking hard. Why the fuck had Strad not contacted
his crew? What was he hiding?

But at least the new boss hadn’t sat there with dark, secret
things sliding through her eyes. How refreshing
that
was.

She’d go to her ugly house and air out the place after one
more stop. She was going to see Raze. She’d been informed that Raze had refused
visitors the entire time he’d been incarcerated, but Rune wasn’t going to let
that stand in her way.

As she neared Ellis’s office thoughts of Raze flew from her
mind. The berserker’s voice rumbled from inside the room and despite her
attempt at nonchalance, her heart went crazy.

Strad Matheson had always made her nervous.
Freaked her right the fuck out.
She wiped her palms on her
jeans, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

And then wished with everything inside her
that she hadn’t.

Please don’t let them read anything in my fucking eyes
.
She nodded a hello to Strad, who stood beside a small blonde woman and an
angelic looking boy of around eight years old. The kid had wispy blond hair and
was so little a light wind could have carried him away.

Strad sported dark circles under his eyes and lines she
hadn’t seen before had appeared on his face. He looked like he’d been through
some rough shit in the last few weeks.

Lex immediately left her chair and grabbed Rune’s hand. That
almost made Rune more nervous than the look of total dismay in Ellis’s eyes.

What the fuck?

But somehow, she knew. Just knew
. Bad news, that’s what
the fuck
.

Strad pinned her with his fierce blue gaze but after a
glance at him she had to look away. She couldn’t stare at him. Couldn’t do it
and nothing short of a bullet could have made her.

The blonde left Strad’s side, her smile guileless, hand
outstretched. “You’re Rune, aren’t you? I’ve seen you on TV, of course. I’ve
heard so much about you, I feel like I already know you.” She stopped in front
of Rune and Lex. “I’m Tina, Strad’s wife, and this is our son Matthew.”

Rune had to pry Lex’s grip from her hand before she could
trade handshakes with the blonde. She muttered something, she must have.

She hoped it wasn’t
fuck
me
, because that’s all that was running through her head. Not only because
she was dazed, but because she’d figured during her time away that repeating
nonsense might keep Lex from reading her.

Fuck me
.

Lex snatched Rune’s hand from the stranger, her body
vibrating wildly. “Go away,” she said, as though she were a scared child.

“Lex,” Rune said, startled. Lex wasn’t usually rude unless
the situation warranted it.

And it wasn’t the fucking blonde’s fault Strad was a son of
a bitch.

She hadn’t fed for eight weeks. Dreams and thoughts of the
berserker’s blood had kept her going in the clinic. It was the treat at the end
of a long, hard time away.

And he was married.

With a kid.

Fuck me
.

Tina withdrew, paling at Lex’s venom. Or maybe it was
because she’d gotten an up close and personal look at the
Other’s
crazy, dancing eyes. “I’m…” she put a hand to her chest and went back to Strad.

Compartmentalize, Rune
.

She cleared her throat.
“Nice to meet
you.”
Then she nodded at the boy. “Hey, kid.” She didn’t really have a
clue how to act with kids so she generally talked to them like she would an
adult and hoped for the best.

So far, none of them had bitten her or kicked her shins or
anything. She must have been doing something right.

The little boy jerked his stare from Lex to Rune. “I saw my
dad give you blood. It’s on YouTube. He has a scar on his wrist.”

He has a scar on his fucking neck, too.

“Matthew,” Tina cautioned. “I asked you not to—”

“Yeah, your dad saved my life,” Rune interrupted. “He’s a
real hero.” Maybe he heard the coldness in her voice or maybe he just knew her.
Whatever, her words made Strad flinch.

She smiled down at the kid. Wasn’t his fault, either, that
his father had hidden an entire family away in Pennsylvania and hadn’t bothered
to tell any-fucking-
one.

The silence came then, awkward and heavy.

Ellis broke it. “Strad’s…family is in trouble, Rune. He was
just explaining.”

Nice
. “Tell me.”

Strad spoke for the first time since she’d entered the room.
“My son is a…” He lifted his big hands helplessly, words eluding him.

“A clairvoyant,” Tina finished for him.
“Since
birth.”
She leveled a long look at Strad.
“A birth defect,
according to some people.”

Trouble in paradise
.

Of course, there must have been trouble long before then.
Why else would Strad be living in Ohio while his wife and kid lived in
Pennsylvania?

“It’s dangerous and only hurts him,” Strad said. “I attempted
to keep his
gift
secret, but somehow…” he threw the look right back at
Mrs. Matheson.
An unfriendly look.
“It escaped.”

“Nothing stays hidden forever,” Rune murmured.

Ellis hurried over to Matthew. “Let’s go find you a candy
bar, Matthew.” He led the boy from the room after a quick glance of disapproval
at the adults.

Before Strad could continue his story, the office door
opened and Jack and Z entered, followed by the twins.

Jack slapped Strad on the back—next to Raze, Jack had been
the biggest of the Shiv Crew members, until Strad had joined them.

Her giants.

“Guys,” Rune said, “This is Tina Matheson. Tina, this is
Jack, Z, Denim, and Levi.
Shiv Crew.”

“Dude,” Jack said. He shook hands with Tina, who stared a
moment too long at his eye patch before transferring her wide-eyed stare to the
scar twisting its way down Denim’s face. Jack grinned at Strad. “You have a
sister?
”

“No.” Rune smiled, and it stretched across her face in an
almost painful way. “He has a
wife.”

She made the mistake of looking at Strad as she said it. He
caught her stare in the snare of his own and refused to let go.

Fuck you, Berserker
.

Tina looked from one to the other, frowning. “It’s obvious
you two have some issues with one another, but please, put them aside for now.
Matthew is in danger.”

Rune nodded and managed to drag her stare away from the huge
berserker. “You’re right.”
Major issues.

Strad caught the new arrivals up quickly and then picked up
where he’d left off. “Someone attempted to abduct my son a few weeks ago.”

“No leads at all?” Rune folded her arms, wishing she’d
thought to grab a cup of coffee from the break room.

“Not really. Three men broke into my…into Tina’s home and
attacked her. They wanted Matthew. He was sleeping at his grandparents’ that
night—that’s what saved him. Because his gift is not so secret now, everyone
wants to see if he can find their missing people.”

 No one asked the question on everyone’s mind, so Strad
continued. His expression was cold—he knew they were judging him. “I’ve decided
the best thing for him is to bring him here so I can protect him.”

 “And you guys,” Tina said. She twisted her hands
together and looked with beseeching eyes at Shiv Crew. “You’ll help protect
him, won’t you?”

“Yeah,” Rune said, looking at no one. “We’ll do everything
we can.”

Tina buried her face in her hands and started sobbing, and Z
patted her on the shoulder. Z’s weakness was women—he couldn’t bear to see one
mistreated or unhappy.

She finally regained control and tossed a smile at Z.

“You okay?” Strad asked her.

She nodded, but didn’t offer
him
a smile.

Strad went on. “We’re in the dark. We’ve questioned every
group from wolves to the local Church of Slayers.”

Lex moaned and hid her face behind her hands.

“Fuck,” Rune said.

Levi and Denim immediately put their arms around Lex and led
her from the room.

“I’m sorry,” Strad said. He rubbed his eyes.
“Fucking mess.”

Tina frowned.
“Strad.”

“
What
, Tina? It is a fucking mess.”

She blushed when the crew looked at her but straightened her
shoulders and changed the subject. “What’s wrong with Lex?”

“Her mother is Karin Love,” Rune explained.
“Founder of the Church of Slayers.”

“
What?
I thought Lex was
an
…”

“
An Other
? She is. Her mother was
raped by
Others
. She made sure Lex paid for that fact
until finally Karin went to prison and the twins got Lex out of the church.
Even the mention of COS sends Lex back into that nightmare world.”

COS had disbanded when Karin Love and half the members had
been sent to prison—but all over the country, small branches continued to pop
up. They all claimed the same thing—they had separated themselves from Karin
Love and they did not harm
Others
. But they strongly
believed in a world free of monsters—and no one pretended to believe COS wasn’t
still doing terrible, illegal things.

When unlawful activity was proven, the branch in question
would be taken down. Almost immediately another took its place.

“There’s a branch in…” Rune gestured at Tina. She had no
idea where in Pennsylvania Strad’s wife had lived.

“Yeah.
Philadelphia. Every inch of
the church has been searched. Those who belong to PCOS have had their
properties searched, been questioned…threatened. Nothing turned up.” He rubbed
his face. “The attempt could have been made by anyone.”

Rune sighed. “You’ll need someone to babysit them when you
can’t be there.”

“I hired a couple of men.”

“You hired werewolves,” Tina said, shuddering. “I can’t
relax with them in the apartment, watching my every move.”

Rune stared at her for a long moment,
then
glanced at Strad. “If you need someone else, a floater Shiv Crew uses is a
badass. Her name is Sherry.” She threw a look at Tina. “She’s human.”

“And a woman,” Tina said, eagerly. She pulled a pen and
paper from her purse. “May I get her number?”

“We’re still keeping the wolves, Tina.”

She narrowed her eyes at Strad. “Fine, they can be there
sometimes. But I’d rather have a woman in the house, thank you.
Especially when I’m sleeping.”

He shrugged,
then
nodded at Rune.
“If you recommend her.”

Rune gave Tina the floater’s number. Sherry, besides lending
her services to Shiv Crew when they needed an extra hand, was also the sister
of one of Rune’s wolves.

She’d also staked Rune’s mother, but Rune couldn’t really
hold that against her. She’d been doing the job Rune had hired her to do.

Ellis stuck his head into the room. “Can he come back in
now?”

“Yes,” Tina said.

The boy walked back into the room with Ellis, his candy bar
almost gone.

Rune addressed her next question to both parents. “Wouldn’t
it be easier to just allow the kid to help find missing people? I know it’d be
impossible for him to help everyone who needs it, but maybe if you took the
most serious cases.”

“No,” Strad said. That was all, just
no.

Tina put her arm around Matthew. “Matthew found a missing
child for a family friend fifteen months ago. My fault, I’m aware,” she
snapped, looking at Strad. “It nearly killed him. He still has not recovered.
He—”

As if on cue, Matthew gasped and dropped his candy. His
entire body stiffened and his eyes rolled so far back only the whites were
visible.

His back arched and he fell, but Strad caught him and gently
lowered him to the floor. Tina put her fingers to her mouth, backing away from
the seizing boy.

“
That
,” she half-screamed, looking
at Rune.
“That’s from finding the last child.”

“Z, call 911,” Rune ordered, and dropped to the floor beside
the child and his father. “Jack—”

“No,” Strad interrupted. “Paramedics can’t help. Doctors
can’t help. We’ve had him to the best.”

“His doctor gave me Valium for these episodes, but they
don’t stop them. They only make him sicker.” Tina leaned weakly against the
wall, her face pale, eyes wide. “Oh God please. Please.”

“Tina,” Rune said. “You take the Valium. Jack, get her some
water.” She looked at Strad. “What do we do?”

“We wait,” he said.

Tina huddled in the corner muttering about suppositories,
but she took the water when Jack handed it to her.

The seizure lasted for nearly five minutes and when he came
out of it, Matthew lay quiet, dazed.

“He’ll sleep now,” Strad said. “I’ll take him home.”

Tina finally pushed away from the wall and leaned over to
smooth her son’s hair over his forehead. “We need a home.
He
needs a
home.” Her voice was low, angry.

“I’m looking,” Strad answered.

Rune stared at the boy, pretending not to be listening to
the conversation.
We need a home.

“Your apartment is certainly not good enough. There’s not
even a back yard or a place he can safely—”

“
He
is not the one complaining,” Strad said, “and
will be fine until I find a secure place.” He shot an uncomfortable look at the
others in the room.

If the circumstances hadn’t been so serious, Rune might have
laughed. The berserker doing something as mundane as arguing with his wife…who
would have thought?

Rune had never been to the berserker’s house and had no idea
where he lived. “I’ll need your address so I can
come
check on him or sit with him if you need me to.”

“Thank you,” Tina said, and gave Rune the address.

Rune smiled. “It’s what we do. We protect the humans.” Once
upon a time, they’d protected
only
the humans. Not so now. Now, they
protected anyone—human or
Other—
who needed protecting.

She watched as the berserker lifted his son from the floor.
With
a tenderness
she hadn’t thought the huge, raging
man capable of, he carried the boy from the room.

She sighed. “I’m going to see Raze.” She looked at Jack and
Z, who’d stood quietly during the events of the last few minutes. “Anyone want
to go with me?”

“He won’t see you, Rune,” Ellis said. “Go have some lunch.”

“And coffee,” Jack added. He knew about Rune’s coffee
addiction.

“After. I’m going to see Raze.”