Killing Land (Rune Alexander Book 8) (4 page)

No one said a word.

“I need a car,” she told them, rubbing the bridge of her
nose. “Then I need…” Her eyes widened as she realized what else she needed. “I
need blood.”

Levi nodded. “We could use your bite.”

“Good to see you, Rune,” Bill Rice called, walking toward
her. “Damn good to see you.”

He was mourning Elizabeth. He carried his loss across his
slightly bent shoulders and in his tired, sad eyes. But he hadn’t rotted.

There was always that to be thankful for.

She hugged him. “Bill.”

“Things have gone a little crazy since you left. Did you
bring back the cure?”

“I did. It’s being released into the air as we speak. The
Others
will heal.”

He gave a long, slow blink. “Thank you.
Thank
you.”

She glanced around. “Where’s Eugene?”

“He’s been in Washington for the last week. I haven’t heard
from him.”

“You’re running this place?”

“For the time being.”

“You have a stack of messages on your desk,” Ellis said.
“Most of them from a lady who keeps calling no matter what I tell
her.”

Rune frowned. “Someone I know?”

“She said she’s the homeless woman you offered to help. Her
name is—”

“Jill,” she said. “I remember. What’s the message?”

“Just that she needs your help, and she’ll keep calling
until you answer.”

“Give her a minute,” Jack
said,
his
voice light but the look in his eye anything but. “She just got back. Fuck the
messages.”

“Things will get back to normal now,” Rune said,
then
realized life would never be back to what it used to
be. Not for her.

Not for Levi and Denim.

Not for the Others.

“I brought back some people from Skyll.” She put Jill on the
backburner.
One thing at a time.
“I lost one of them,
but the other is waiting for me to pick her up.
My car here?”

“No,” Jack said. “It’s at your house. But we can take mine.”

She looked at Raze. “Follow us, Raze. There’s a dog, and
he’ll need to ride in the bed of your truck. Somebody get me a cup of coffee.
And make it the size of a house.”

Raze grinned, despite the devastation of losing Lex. “Good
to have you barking out orders again.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t bark.”

“Yeah,” Jack said. “You do.” He winked. “But we love you
anyway.”

“A dog?”
Ellis asked. “And who are
these people you brought back?”

“I’ll get the coffee,” Bill said, and walked away as she
caught the others up on the two who’d hitchhiked back with her.

“One is a girl named Roma Narez. I don’t know what she is
but she’s crazy good with her weapon.
Shiv Crew material.”

“What’s her weapon?” Levi asked.

Rune cleared her throat. “It’s a slingshot.”

“A slingshot,” Raze’s eyebrows nearly disappeared into the
hairline of his dark red hair.

She laughed.
“Yeah.
I know how it
sounds but…you’ll have to see for yourself. And the other is a very old, very
powerful vampire. He wasn’t with me when I landed. The sun might have killed him
when we left the path.” She shrugged, thinking. “Maybe he went to ground and
will come out when it’s dark.”

“What about Simon?” Denim asked. “He’s going to fight any
master who comes into his territory.”

Rune frowned. “Shit. I didn’t think of that.”

“Rune,” Ellis
murmured,
his face
pale.

Vampires were risky for Ellis. One
bite,
and he’d turn. Nick Llodra had seen to that.

And she’d brought a new one into his life.

“Oh hell, Ellie.
I’m sorry. Here.”
She pulled the fang necklace over her head and handed it to him. “Put this back
on.”

He dropped it over his head without arguing, and didn’t hide
it beneath his shirt as she had done. “I missed you so much, Rune. I was afraid
you wouldn’t come back.”

She squeezed his hand. “I won’t leave you, baby. Not forever.
Never
forever.”

He didn’t have to know how close she’d been to staying.

“Rune,” Levi said. “You wore the fang.”

It took her a minute to understand what he was saying, and
when she did, she put her hand to her chest in shock. Ellie’s fang had, once
upon a time, melted her flesh when she’d touched it.

“I wasn’t sure,” Ellis said. “I knew even though you
couldn’t wear it, maybe you could…just have it. Have it there to help. It was
the only thing I had.”

But then he seemed to understand. He widened his eyes and
clutched the fang. “It no longer works? It lost its power?”

“I don’t think so, baby. I think…I think it just doesn’t
hurt me anymore.” But Nikolai had shown no signs of being affected by the
deadly tooth either. Of course, it had been hidden inside her shirt, but that
thin layer of fabric wouldn’t have completely protected him. Not if it still
worked
.

She held out her hand. “Give it back to me and I’ll test it
as soon as I can find a vampire.”

He handed it back to her. “Skyll killed it, Rune. Skyll killed
the power.”

The fang’s power had come from Skyll, and to Skyll it had
returned.

But she didn’t want to tell Ellie that.

Once more, she dropped the necklace over her head.

“But Z,” Ellis said. “Z is really there? Alive?”

“So many people are there. It’s a crazy place. I didn’t get
to see a lot of it, but what I did see…” She shrugged. “There was good, there
was bad.” She paused.
“Very, very bad.”

“Like here,” Jack said.

“Oh no, Jack.
Worse than here.
Much worse than here.”

“But you miss it,” Ellie said. He knew her.

She did miss it.

And she’d tell them all about it.

But not right then.

Bill came back, carrying a thermos of coffee.
“Coffee to go.”

“Thanks, Bill.”

“When you’ve done what you need to do, come see me. I’ll
catch you up. And I’d like to hear about Skyll.”

“Fie?” Ellis asked, as they walked out the exit doors.

“She’s…different. Good, though. She rides on the shoulders
of a captain in the Army of Death and Darkness.”

“Why did Lex stay?” Denim asked. “Why did she fucking
stay?
”

Rune blew out a tired breath. “She wants to find her
father.” She stopped at Jack’s crew car. “And she’s not blind there. She can
see
.
How hard would it be to give those things up?”

“We watched the berserker take her,” Levi said. “We didn’t
think he could, but he and Dawn…they disappeared with her.
Disappeared
like you and Fie did.”

“And that would mean,” Denim said, “that Strad is
Other
.”

“I knew it all along,” Jack said. “I always fucking knew
it.”

“Lex was possessed by Karin Love, who got a little too greedy
for power. Karin is now in a jar and under Lex’s control.”

She let them absorb that strange bit of information. “I’ll
tell you everything, everything that happened. But right now, I need to pick up
Roma and Grim.”

“Grim?” Levi asked.

“Grim is my dog. And…”

“Go on,” Ellis said, sighing. “Tell us.”

“There’s a crow. I named it Shiv Crow.” She shrugged. “I
thought it was funny.” An image of Z’s face, his quick, white smile, flashed
through her mind. “And it amused Z.”

“A crow,” Raze said, and then, “Z.”

“A dog, a crow, and a girl with a
slingshot.”
Jack shook his head.

“And a vampire,” Ellis said.

“Let’s go fetch Roma before she gets into trouble.”

“We need to do it in a hurry,” Raze said.

“Why?”

“The
Others
are quiet,” Jack told
her. “They’re either too dead or too sick to cause trouble. But the humans…”

“The humans,” Denim finished, “are worse than ever. They’re
hunting the
Others
. They’ve turned it into a vicious
sport.
It’s
open season on all Others still living.”

“And no one is trying to fucking stop them?” Rune clenched
her fists, furious.

“Yeah,” Levi said. “Of course we’ve been trying to stop
them. But there’s a world of humans against us.”

“Fuck them,” Rune said. “I’m back. Our crew is…” She
hesitated before soldiering on. “Our crew is missing a couple of people, but
we’ve gained some members. We’ll make things right.”

Bill, who’d followed them out, snorted.
“Some
members?
You gained a bird, a dog, a slingshot, and a missing vampire.
Really, Rune.
You don’t understand what’s happening.”

She studied him for a long, long moment. Bill was quietly
raging, but more than that, he was hurting.

She reached out to squeeze his arm. “We’ll fix this, Bill.”

“Can you bring Elizabeth back?”

“No.” And unable to keep staring at the pain in his eyes,
she looked away.

“I can’t bring myself to care about anything else,” he said.
“Not yet.”

She nodded. “You will.”

“I’m not sure I even want to, Rune.”

“Shit, Bill,” she said. “We’ve all lost something. You can’t
give up. You can’t lie down and let life kick you until you die.”

“Why not?”
He spread his arms to
encompass the world. “What the fuck does any of this matter?”

“It has to matter,” she said, quietly. “I went through a lot
of hell because this matters. If it didn’t, I would have let the witch have it
all.”

She let him think about that as she climbed into Jack’s car.
“Wait here, Ellie. We’ll be back.”

He hesitated, but then nodded. “I’ll make more coffee.” He
slid his gaze to Levi. “You be careful.”

Levi winked at him and got into the back seat of the crew
car with Denim, and Raze strode the few steps to his truck.

“
You going
to be okay?” Jack asked.
“Strad is a son of a bitch.”

“His kid was there, Jack,” she said.
“His
kid
.”

“Yeah.”
He leaned across the seat to
kiss her cheek.

Then both of them stared straight ahead, a little
embarrassed.

Finally, he started the car.

“Now,” he said. “Tell me about that shotgun.”

Her crew climbed out of their vehicles and stood in silence,
their faces blank and their eyes empty as they took in Roma Narez and the
dog—the really, really huge dog—Grim.

They didn’t move when Rune walked toward the slingshot girl,
but she heard sharp intakes of disbelieving breaths when the enormous crow dove
like a black, feathered missile from the sky to land upon her shoulder.

“Crow,” she murmured. “Good to see you.”

Roma stood with her feet apart, her slingshot ready as she
surveyed the strangers at Rune’s back.

She said nothing.

Grim shoved his face into Rune’s upper arm as, perhaps, a
greeting,
then
trotted toward the new arrivals.

“Um,” Jack said, watching the approaching dog.
“Rune?”

She grinned.

They didn’t step back, her crew, but silver appeared in
their grips with seamless, practiced draws almost too smooth and quick for the
eye to catch.

Grim stopped just before he reached them. He gave a loud
chuff, then sat on his haunches and watched them the same way they watched
him—with a careful, interested suspicion.

“What does he do,” Levi asked, “besides be…large?”

Rune shrugged. “I haven’t known him that long. He guards. He
doesn’t like to be touched.”

“Petted,” Roma corrected. “He doesn’t like to be
petted
.
He’s not a pet.”

Rune nodded.

Raze ignored the dog and stared at Rune. “You have new
scars.”

She touched her chest, but it was a fleeting touch.
“Yeah.”

Scars were slowly taking her over.

Not all of them were physical.

Not even most of them.

“Let’s head back,” Denim said, “and you can tell us
everything.”

Raze pointed at Grim. “You’re riding in the back of my truck.”
Then he strode to his truck to let down the tailgate, not appearing to imagine
for one second that the dog might not follow.

Grim got up, shook himself fiercely, and then jumped
obediently into the back of Raze’s big truck.

“That’s a smart dog,” Levi said.

Rune smiled and clapped him on the back. “You have no idea.”

Raze then pointed at Roma.
“In the front.
You’ll ride with me.”

Roma stared at him, the red of her hair clashing with the
red flush of anger climbing her cheeks. A low growl floated from her parted
lips, and she aimed her slingshot at Raze’s head. “I will not leave my
mistress.”

“Mistress?”
Jack asked, grinning at
Rune.

She ignored him. “One of you
ride
with Raze. I’ll keep Roma with me.” She didn’t want to tell Raze the decision
was for his own safety, but he narrowed his eyes at her and she was pretty sure
he knew.

Finally, he huffed in disgust and got into his truck.

“I’ll ride with him,” Levi said, and trotted toward the
truck.

“Lex will be back,” Denim
said,
when Rune climbed into the car.

Rune nodded at Jack. “Let’s go.” Then she turned sideways in
her seat so she could see Denim and Roma in the back. “She can’t come back. The
portal disappeared.”

“She’ll be back, Rune. Lex wouldn’t leave us like this. She
just wouldn’t.”

“She did, though.”

“She didn’t believe it was forever,” Roma murmured, then
turned and stared out the window when they looked at her.

“Because it’s
not
forever.”
And there wasn’t anything close to doubt in Denim’s voice.

Rune shrugged and let him believe whatever he needed to
believe. There wasn’t anything she could do but argue further, and that would
have made her an asshole.

“Anyone seen Kelic?” she asked, instead.

“I think he’s gone,” Jack answered. “We haven’t seen any of
the vampires for a few nights.”

“How does it feel to be back?” Denim asked. “Different?”

She wasn’t sure why he wanted to know. “I haven’t processed
much yet. Those I left, being back to…normal. I haven’t processed it.” But she
pressed her fist into her stomach. “I need to stay busy. I need heavy things to
happen so I can…”

Jack glanced at her. “Hide? Run from it? You have to deal
with shit, honey. If you don’t, it’ll fuck you up.”

She studied him. “We all need to deal with our shit, Jack.”

He said nothing.

“I’m really hungry,” Roma said.

“Fast food place ahead,” Rune said. “What do you want, Roma?
Fish?
Burger?”

“Salad.
Big one.
Water.
Do they have fruit?”

Rune raised an eyebrow. “That’s what you’re starving for?”

“I don’t know. I guess.”

“They have fried fruit pies,” Jack said, staring at the
drive-thru menu. “Want a pie?”

“Yes,” Roma answered.
“Four of them.”

They all looked at her but she pursed her lips, put her nose
in the air, and pointedly ignored them.

“Get me a large coffee,” Rune said.
“And a
double cheeseburger.”

“No salad?” Jack grinned.

“I’ll have what Rune’s having,” Denim said. “Add some
fries.”

Jack drove as he ate—both he and Denim tore into their food
with an enthusiasm that made Rune think they hadn’t been eating well.

Roma gulped down her salad and fruit pies, occasional
murmurs of appreciation punctuating her swallows.

“What’s been happening with COS?” Rune asked.

“Not much,” Jack said. “They’ve been killing any
Other
they find, but so have a lot of humans. Other than
that, we haven’t heard much from them.”

“Our serial killer is crazier than ever,” Denim said. “He’s
not bothering to hang his victims on buildings now. Just slaughtering them and
leaving them.
Two a day in the last few days.”

“Two victims a day?”
Rune was
shocked. The killer was emotional, raging. He was going to fuck up. “He’s
getting sloppy?”

Jack nodded. “Careless. If it wasn’t for the shit that’s
happening with the rotting disease, he’d have been seen by now. He seems to
know where there might be surveillance and is avoiding those places. Other than
that, he’s going on luck and nerve.”

“And rage,” Rune murmured.

“Yeah.”

“You really killed Damascus?” Denim asked. “Or will she come
back?”

“She’s never coming back. I really killed her. End of
story.”

“Good,” Jack said.

“Ellis will be happy to get out of the Annex,” Denim said.

“Why did he go back in?”

“For the company,” Jack said, shrugging. “He couldn’t stand
being alone in that house.”

“And he needed to be with people who understood his worry
over you,” Denim added.

“I can’t believe Strad let you go,” Jack said. “Just can’t
believe it.”

She nodded. “I know the feeling.”

“Tell us everything,” Denim requested.
“As
much as you can.”

After Jack parked in the Annex parking lot, she let down her
window so Levi and Raze, who’d walked over to lean against the car, could hear
as well.

So Ellie, who’d come out to stand quietly in the circle of
Levi’s arms, his stare on her, could hear.

She settled back, sipped her coffee, and then began to talk.

And she began to tell them all the story of Skyll.