Obsidian Wings (20 page)

“Lex,” Rune yelled, and tried to shake the emptiness from
the girl’s eyes. “The demon is killing Raze.” She softened her voice and put
her lips against Lex’s ear. “Hear me, Lex. He’s killing Raze.”

Lex turned her head with an abrupt and shocking quickness
and buried her teeth in the side of Rune’s neck.

The bite hurt, but the feeding did not.

The agonizing, overpowering pain of feeding didn’t appear.

Rune held still, letting Lex take what she needed. Lex was
their only hope. She could eat
all
of them if she wanted to.

And then Rune realized that Lex hadn’t been hiding—she’d
simply disappeared into the depths of her mind to find her demon.

Rune had done the same thing countless times, and she
recognized it. Maybe because they were connected by Lex feeding, or maybe
because she was so familiar with the internal search for monsters.

Lex had gone looking for her demon.

And when she pulled her mouth from Rune’s flesh and shoved
herself out of Jack’s arms, Rune knew she’d found it.

“I’ll need your help,” Lex told Rune, her chin covered with
blood. “Take out Fin so I can concentrate on the demon.”

“Whatever you need,” Rune replied. Then she looked at Strad.
“Kill Horner’s guards and shut him the fuck up. Keep him alive.” She’d promised
the twins.

Lex took her hand, and Rune suddenly understood how Lex had
managed to mirror her movements when they fought.

They were connected by something so strong, so solid, it was
almost as though they were one person. And as Lex had surely felt Rune’s
darkness, now Rune felt Lex’s.

And it was
dark.

“We are not afraid,” Lex said. “Let’s go destroy that
motherfucker.”

Or maybe Lex hadn’t said a word.

It didn’t matter.

They jumped, the monster and demon, and let go of each other
as soon as they made contact with the roaring, flaming demon.

Rune grabbed onto Fin’s wings and held on while burying the
claws of her free hand into the bird’s heart. They all had a job to do. Her
crew would take care of Horner and the remaining slayers protecting him, she’d
chop Fin into hamburger, and Lex would free Raze.

Then they’d stand back and let Lex fight the demon.

It was a good plan.

But Cree got in the way.

She wanted Fin and she wasn’t about to let anyone take him
from her. After all, if he died, she couldn’t punish him for hurting her.

And that was just Cree.

Long streams of fire and essence and
blood
continued
to flow into Fin’s open mouth as Cree dive-bombed Rune and hit her face with a
sharp, lethal beak.

Hot blood poured from the deep gash, but her hands were
occupied and she couldn’t wipe it from her eyes. She blinked, ignoring the pain
as she pulled her claws free and sent them once more, slashing and hard, into
Fin’s chest.

But the demon had made Fin something more, and the bird
continued to suck the demon into his body.

Lex gave a scream of fury and jerked Raze free, then dropped
him into the midst of the crew battling on the ground.

Rune didn’t understand how Fin continued to live. His chest
was a raw, gaping wound, his jagged heart lifeless and bloody in the open
cavity.

But he lived on.

She’d have to decapitate the bastard. He couldn’t do
anything if his head was lying on the ground.

But again, Cree went for Rune. The bird screamed, her voice
full of fury. Had Rune not jumped free, Cree would have taken her head off with
her enormous, snapping beak.

She hit the ground with a bone crunching thump, but jumped
back up immediately, not understanding at first that Strad held her arm.

“Horner is contained,” he told her.

She nodded, then ran, jumped, and grabbed onto Cree.

The bird was making a sound almost like a human sobbing as
she tried to wrench Fin from the demon’s grip.

Maybe she didn’t want to kill him after all. Maybe she
wanted to save him.

It made little difference.

Rune ripped through Cree’s wings with her razor-sharp claws,
and when the bird let go of Fin, screaming in horror, Rune grabbed him.

She brought her claws down to take his head, but Cree
slapped her in the face with the strong edge of her burning wings.

The hit sent Rune slamming into the demon’s chest, and
before she could fling herself back at Fin, she caught sight of the berserker’s
spear.

Without hesitation she dove into the demon’s vast center,
concentrating on one irresistible objective—getting Strad back the weapon that
was as much a part of him as his very skin.

If the berserker lost his spear, he’d be different. And
there were already too many changes. She
had
to give him back his
weapon.

Maybe it was stupid, maybe it wasn’t.

It was something she had to do.

The demon was being pulled two ways and his mind was not on
Rune. Fin continued to inhale, but that wasn’t the biggest threat to the demon.

Lex was.

Now the demon’s roar was one of fear.

Rune swam in a lake of liquid fire, and her skin began to
melt—but that didn’t matter. It wouldn’t stay melted for long. Her monster
would see to that.

She’d been bathed in fire before.

She wrapped her desperate fingers around the berserker’s spear
and then flipped her body and pushed her way back to the air. Back to the
world. She’d have time to analyze the horror inside the demon later.

Her clothes and weapons were lost somewhere inside the
demon, but she had her claws and fangs and that’s all she needed anyway.

“Strad,” she screamed, and threw his spear.

His face lit with shock and a sort of joy she would have
felt if she’d lost and then been returned her claws.

Cree gave up on Fin and went after Rune—perhaps realizing
she’d never be able to free him if Rune kept getting in her way.

“Shit,” Rune yelled, and threw herself from the demon.

Cree’s snapping beak bit the air exactly where Rune’s face
had been a millisecond before. She followed Rune to the ground in a
single-minded attempt to destroy the one person keeping her from the scorched
male bird.

But Cree had forgotten about the crew and they—especially
one enraged, spear carrying berserker—were waiting for her.

Jack and Strad sprinted toward Cree, but at a look from
Strad, Jack backed off. “Help with the demon,” Strad said. “I’ll deal with
Cree.”

As Cree dove for Rune, Strad gave a battle cry as
frightening as any scream the birds could give.

His voice seemed to cut through the fog of rage controlling
Cree, and she turned her head to watch him.

The twins now stood side by side over the fallen Horner.
They were still pale but they held bloody blades and she knew they’d had a hand
in taking out the remaining COS members.

Raze struggled to his feet, his face lined with pain. The
fall had hurt him, but he wouldn’t have been Raze if he’d let it keep him down.

He started for the demon and Lex.

Owen ran to Rune. “What do you need?”

“Fin,” she answered. “And with Strad taking care of Cree,
I’ll have a good chance at getting him.”

“Wait,” Levi yelled, pointing at the demon. “Rune, look.”

Lex had sunk her hands into the demon’s skull, and suddenly
the monster wasn’t thinking about anything other than Lex.

He dropped Fin.

Right at Rune’s feet.

The unconscious bird appeared shrunken, little more than
ashy, tattered feathers, delicate bones, and broken, dark wings.

The demon screamed.

Not in rage or even fear but in pain.

Rune lost her breath as the demon wrapped Lex in his fiery
embrace, but Lex didn’t seem to notice.

She began to change.

Black wings unfurled, cutting through her clothes and waving
uncertainly in the air. She became surrounded, just as the demon was, with
flickering flames. The blue flames clung to her body, burning through her
clothes but leaving her skin untouched.

And then, it was demon against demon.

“My God,” Rune whispered.

Cree screeched loud enough to hurt Rune’s ears and she
turned to watch as the berserker and the bird fought.

Then she looked back at the demon and Lex as the demon gave
another scream of pain.

She had no idea which one of them to help—Lex or Strad.

Or if they even needed her help.

But then Cree ripped her wing free from the berserker’s
silver spear and flew into the sky.

She would come back. There was no way the crazed bird was giving
up Fin.

Rune had to make sure he was no longer there for Cree to
fight for, and no longer a viable vessel for the demon. Horner was out of
commission and couldn’t do his part to help Fin contain the demon, but it made
little difference. She would kill Fin anyway.

She raised her claws. But then, as though he somehow knew
what was coming, he shifted to his human form.

He opened his eyes and stared up at her, his face filled
with stark terror and confusion. “I had no choice. Tell Cree I loved her. I did
it all for her.”

“There’s always a choice,” she said, and fell to the ground
beside him, going for his throat.

He moved, faster than she would have thought possible in his
pitiful condition, and her claws cut into the side of his neck.

Blood spurted in a pulsating arc, splattering Rune, and for
a second there was nothing but the blood.

Her hungry monster reared up, took control, and she leaned
over to slam her open mouth against his wound.

The blood tasted different, but oddly familiar. It was as
repulsive as it was delicious, as satisfying as it was inadequate.

And then, she realized what it tasted like.
Who
it
tasted like.

The demons blood, the small amount Fin had managed to suck
inside, tasted like the twins, and the birds…

And Damascus.

The demon and Damascus came from the same world.

“Rune,” Jack yelled, and jerked her away from Fin.

She was high and slightly dazed. “What the fuck?”

But the demon roared as Lex’s sudden scream lit up the
night, and the little Other dropped from the sky like a rock.

Her wings were still out, but she had no idea how to use
them.

The solid crunch of bones as she hit the ground was not
encouraging.

“The demon is retreating,” Owen called.

Rune pushed past the twins and dragged Lex into her arms.
The Other was back to normal. Her wings were gone and no fire surrounded her
body. “Lex?”

“Holy shit,” Denim murmured, causing Rune to look away from
Lex.

“What?”

“It’s…”

But he didn’t have to continue. Rune watched as the demon
snatched Fin off the ground. It had come for the twins’ blood inside him, and
it was going to get it.

Cree came out of the sky as Lex had, fast and screaming, but
she didn’t hit the ground. She hit the
demon,
then sunk her talons into
Fin as she tried to drag him from the flaming hands that held him.

But the demon stepped back into the fire,
became
the
fire, and disappeared.

He took Cree and Fin with him.

The last sound Rune heard before the night went eerily
silent was Cree’s horrified screams. She was in the demon’s world.

And she was never coming back.

They were a little shell shocked, more than a little
injured, but they were all alive.

They were alive.

Lex wasn’t broken, but she was bruised. Mentally as well as
physically. She’d have to come to terms with her new status as a demon, and
that wouldn’t be easy. She would have a thousand questions and no one to answer
them.

Just as Rune had.

Across the littered ground, marred by blood and slayers and
small, sporadic fires, the berserker stood holding his recovered spear, his
legs slightly spread, staring at her.

He’d lost his shirt sometime during the fight, as had Raze.
Raze had peeled the remains of his off after the demon had caused most of the
fabric to melt into his skin.

She finally realized Strad had his shirt wrapped around his
left forearm but before she could wonder what new wound was hidden there, her
gaze drifted once more to his face, to his eyes, and she couldn’t look away.

“Here,” Owen said, and tossed her his shirt.

She put it on and gave him a grateful nod, unable, despite
the bloody horror they’d lived through, not to smile at the bevy of
bare-chested men around her.

She gave Lex over to Levi, and Owen held out a hand to help
her to her feet. He kept her fingers in his even after she’d stood.

The berserker walked to them. His big body was crisscrossed
with deep, jagged wounds, his face torn open anew by Cree’s talons.

He looked at Owen.

Owen stared back at him.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Strad told him. “You stood by me
when the crew doubted my intentions. You helped me with Cruikshank. You’ve
fought by my side. I don’t want to hurt you.”

The rest of the crew grew still and silent, watching.

Owen’s smile was crooked, but his eyes were completely serious.
“But you will. And also…” He squeezed Rune’s hand and inclined his head at her.
“You understand.”

Strad nodded. “Yeah.”

They both looked at Rune.

Owen’s face was calm and a little sad, full of mystery. And
she wasn’t going to lie, not to herself.

Something about him pulled at her. Made her want to see
where he’d take her, what he’d make her feel.

He was vulnerable despite his toughness, passionate despite
his laidback cool façade.

She turned to him, brushed his lanky, straight hair over his
shoulder, then raised on tiptoe to plant a kiss on his cheek. “Sorry,” she
murmured.

His eyes crinkled as he smiled down at her. “I’ll always be
chasing after you. I’m not one to give up.”

And he let her go.

Then it was just her and Strad.

The big man waited, silent. Waited for her.

They stared at each other for a long, long moment, and in
the depths of his eyes she saw something surprising.

Uncertainty. Worry.

She didn’t like seeing him that way.

“It was always you, Berserker,” she said, and walked into
his arms.

“
Woohoo
,” Lex said, her voice
weak. “You guys are so cute.”

Rune snorted, then slipped her arms around Strad’s waist,
uncaring that her cheek rested against bloody skin.

“Rune,” Denim said.

She drew regretfully away from Strad. The twins stood once
again over Horner, who lay like a trussed turkey, gagged and blindfolded.

She didn’t know who’d bound him and didn’t care enough to
ask.

“What do you need?” she asked the twins.

“Him,” Levi said, nodding at the man on the ground.

Rune knew she should have turned Horner over to Rice. He
would have met with human law enforcement to figure things out. Eventually
Horner would get his punishment—he’d end up sitting in prison for years,
wasting space and air just as Karin Love was doing.

None of them wanted that.

She exhaled, then nodded. “He’s yours.”

Horner began struggling, his screams muffled behind the gag.
He was in for a bad time, and he knew it. Horner was the master of bad times,
and everything he’d handed out over the years was about to come back to haunt
him.

She needed to know one thing. She yanked Horner’s gag away
from his mouth. “Why didn’t you sneak in to call your demon? Why attack the
city and give us the chance to defeat you?”

The whites of his eyes showed as he stared at her. “Keep the
twins away from me and I’ll tell you.”

“No deal,” she said, turning to walk away. “You’ll go down
in history as the stupid COS leader.”

“The demon would not have come for blood alone,” he yelled.
Then he calmed and continued. “It would come for the blood along with total
destruction, agony, depravity. I gave it that.” He smiled, proud. “I called the
demon.”

“Congratulations,” she said. “And now you’re dead.” She
punched him in the face, watching him choke and gag on the blood from his
broken nose before she turned away.

She hugged Denim, then Levi. “Do what you need to do. Let’s
get back down the mountain,” she said to the others. “The demon may be gone but
slayers are still alive.”

“Not for long,” Jack said, massaging his shoulder.

“Let’s go,” Raze said.

Rune shook her head. “Raze, you’re badly burned. We’re
taking you to the hospital. Don’t argue with me.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “You could always feed me.” And when
she frowned and opened her mouth, he raised his hands, palms facing out. “I
kid, I kid.”

But she wasn’t so sure.

The twins helped Lex up and she walked gingerly to Rune,
Denim’s shirt around her thin body. She put her hand on Raze’s arm. “I’ll go to
the hospital with you.”

Rune nodded. “You need tending, too.”

“Let’s go to Willowburg,” she said. “If COS hasn’t destroyed
the clinic, Dr. Haas will take care of both of us.”

“I’ll drive you,” Rune said. Her phone had disappeared with
her clothes. “Anyone have a cell I can use?”

Strad tossed her his cell. She was glad the crew seemed to
have given up their habit of leaving their cells in the vehicles during
battles.

“Bill,” she said, when Rice answered.

“Update me.” His voice was sharp and jerky, as though he was
running.

“We’re alive. The demon is gone, and Horner is…” She glanced
at Horner, then at the twins. “Horner is dead.” It wasn’t a lie, not exactly.
“Where do you need us?”

“Pick a spot,” he said. “Not much left but a few straggling
slayers trying to escape or give up. You see one, you shoot it.”

Her jaw dropped and for a moment she said nothing. Then,
“Shoot it?”

“Yes.” His voice was hard and impatient. “Don’t talk, just
shoot. Kill the bastards. And when the rest of the motherfuckers escape and the
county is clear, I’ll call you to the office.” He clicked off.

“What’d he say?” Jack asked.

“He said to pick a spot.” She looked at Jack, then Strad.
“He said if you see a slayer, kill
it,
even if it is asking for mercy.”

Owen was the first to grin. “Rice has come over to the dark
side.”

Jack whistled. “No shit.”

“Strad, you, Jack, and Owen go see where you’re needed in
town. I’ll call you as soon as I’ve dropped Raze and Lex at the clinic.” She
looked at the twins. “Levi—”

“We’ll find you soon,” he said, his voice distant.

“We’ll become the slayers.”

She hesitated as those earlier words echoed in her mind, but
Strad took her arm. “Leave them to it, Rune.”

“I am,” she replied. “I was just wondering if maybe I should
help.”

“We’ll hurt him for you,” Denim said. He didn’t smile.

Owen pointed. “I drove your car up. Keys are in it.” The he gave
her a quick but somehow lingering glance and jogged away to catch up with Jack.

Strad walked with her, Lex, and Raze, in case one of them
needed a hand getting to the SUV. “Keep my cell,” he told Rune. “I have another
in the truck.”

“Thanks.” She helped Lex into the car then got under the
wheel as Raze climbed into the back.

And the crew went their separate ways to help quiet the
chaos that had broken loose in River County.