Shiv Crew (13 page)

Rune put her hands on her hips and
stared them down. “All of you go home. Get some rest. Bad things are coming
whether I’m nice or not, and we need to be ready.”

What a fucking mess.

When she finally managed to fall
asleep, her dreams were full of mistreated Others, her parents, and a faceless
man known only as Preston.

Her first text of the day was from
Jeremy.
Come to my office. We need to talk.

She tried to deep breathe the knots
of anxiety out of her stomach. It didn’t work. Fucking bastard.

Might as well get it over with. She
couldn’t avoid him forever.

Breakfast was two cups of coffee
and a dozen saltines she covered with grape jelly and ate over the kitchen
sink.

She arrived at RISC and strode
toward Jeremy’s office, determined to tell him it was over between them. “Fuck
off, Jeremy,” she muttered. “Just fuck off.”

She’d said it before. She just had
to stick with it. She didn’t have much faith in her ability to do so.

She had her hand raised to knock
when his heated voice came through the door, making her hesitate. She couldn’t
hear his words, but she knew well his anger.

Furious at herself for the fear
that shot through her, she frowned and fondled her gun—something she always did
when nervous. It wasn’t about her, though, that anger. He had company.

She’d just raised her hand again
when the door was yanked open, and she came face to face with an Other.

She wasn’t sure how she knew he was
an Other, but she knew. Her monster knew. Funny, when short weeks ago she wouldn’t
have been aware that Lex was an Other without the silver binding her. Her
monster was trying to take over, the bastard, and trying hard.

The Other was a slim, dark man with
a faded crescent-shaped scar dissecting his top lip. He stared at her for a
brief moment before murmuring an apology and slipping by her.

It was all she could do not to
sniff at the air like a fucking wolf.

“Look at you,” Jeremy said, when
she walked into his office. “I missed those beautiful blue eyes.”

“Who was that?”

He pushed his chair back and walked
to the doorway, peering out it quickly before pulling it shut. “He’s no one.”
He turned to look at her, smiling. “Come here, baby.”

Like nothing had ever happened. She
narrowed her eyes at him, disgusted with herself because this same scene had
played out so many times before. “I have to get to work. What do you want?”

He pulled her into his arms,
holding her and rocking gently for a second. “I’m sorry, Rune. I didn’t mean to
go that far.”

He tightened his embrace when she instinctively
tried to pull away. His arms were hard bands around her, his chest solid
against her cheek. He didn’t relax his grip but tightened it further when she
struggled.

And part of her stilled immediately,
relaxed in the face of his domination. She was just like fucking Pavlov’s dog.

But she closed her eyes and thought
of Ellis, remembered her reflection when he’d told her to look at herself, and
she stiffened right back up. He wasn’t expecting her to continue to struggle,
and with one good shove, she freed herself from his arms.

It would do no good to tell him she
wasn’t going to see him again. He wouldn’t believe her. “You’re a fucked-up
asshole, Jeremy. Why did you call me in here?”

“I wanted to see you.” His deep
voice rumbled, seductive and enticing, but surprise lingered in his eyes. “I
had
to see you.”

She forced herself away from the tempting,
dark place toward which he urged her. As determined as she was to change, she
was still weak and vulnerable when it came to Jeremy and to the relief he gave
her.

She swallowed convulsively and
backed away from him. “No.”

“Baby—”

“Someone is extorting money from
the Others,” she said.

It was gratifying to see his eyes widen.
He forgot to try to convince her to make out in his office. He straightened his
tie and motioned her to a chair, then went to sit behind his desk. “What do you
mean?”

“Just what I said. I don’t know who
he is, only that he’s a powerful man. He set Llodra’s vampires up because they
refused to pay him.” She spread her hands. “That’s all I’ve got.”

He just stared at her, his eyes
dark. Dark meant he was getting angry, usually. His temper wasn’t his most
endearing characteristic. “Where are you getting this idiotic information?”

“Call the vampire purge off until
you figure this thing out.”

“No.”

She stood. “Then I’ll go to someone
else.”

“Sit down.”

She smiled and knew it would not
look pleasant. “No.”

“Rune, please. Sit down. Who…” He
hesitated and ran his hand through his dark blond hair. “Tell me everything.
Start from the beginning.”

“I can’t give you the names of my
sources.”

“Sources?”

“Two of them…so far.”

“If I can’t talk to these people I
can’t get anything done.”

She shrugged. “Sorry, but I’m not giving
them up. It’s dangerous to them, and I gave my word.”

He waved his hands in the air. “
Fine
,
whatever. Just talk. Tell me everything.”

She told him as much as she could,
and by the end of her account he sat quietly, his stare pinning her to her
chair. But she had a feeling he wasn’t even seeing her.

“Jeremy?”

He gave his head a little shake and
focused on her. “Yes. I’ll see what I can do. It’s probably a good idea to keep
this to yourself until I can find out if it’s even true.” Once again he left his
chair and came to her, but this time to hurry her out.

She shook his hand from her arm. “I
want to be kept updated.”

“Of course.”

“We have to catch this guy. He may
be connected with COS. He
and
they need to be put down.”

“Don’t be naive, Rune,” he said,
glancing at the big clock on his wall. “People are entitled to their opinions.
Not everyone wants a world full of fucking monsters.”

“The Others would rather not live
in a world full of fucking humans, but there’s not a lot either side can do
about it. We can’t
kill
each other.”

“We’ll talk about it later.” He
planted a quick kiss on her forehead. “Can I come see you tonight?”

She didn’t waver for a second.
“No.”

“I understand. It’s too soon. But
you look well.”

She frowned. “Jeremy…”

“Yes?” Hand on her arm again,
urging her toward the door.

“You hate the monsters.”

He shifted his eyes away. “I don’t
necessarily
hate
them.”

Her laugh was hard. “Come on. Don’t
fucking do that.”

He shrugged, then pulled open the
door. “Go away, Rune.”

“I know you’re sadistic, but you
take extra pleasure in hurting me because of…” But she couldn’t say it. “Don’t
you, Jeremy?”

He shot her a quizzical little half
smile. “What is bringing all this on? Go home. Call me when you’re ready for
me.”

“You hate me,” she said, disgusted
that her voice came out in a hoarse whisper. Of
course
he fucking hated
her. And she let him take all that contempt out on her. To stare at her with it
in his eyes as she lay naked beneath him.

She had to get out of there.

She left the room without another word.
Shamed and humiliated, she stumbled through the building. If someone had tried
to talk to her she wouldn’t have heard the words. Only a loud rush of blood
sounded in her ears, along with the uneven, fast tapping of her heartbeat.

Come on. I knew he hated my
monster.

Yes. But not that he hated me.

Really?

This time when she ran from RISC,
there were no berserkers lurking to trip her up. Might have been better if he
had
been there. He could have stopped her panicked rush from the building and given
her a moment to just breathe.

Jeremy didn’t think of her and her
monster as separate. Only she thought that way. Jeremy hated her. He hurt her. She
leaned against the brick building biting a fingernail, a habit she’d managed to
quit years ago.

It took her ten minutes to get
herself under control.

Finally anger took the place of
fear and scorn replaced shame.
Fuck you, Jeremy.
Who was he to shame
her?
He
was the true monster.

Whatever came, she’d deal with it.

She and her fucking monster.

As she climbed in her car Mitch
called. “Giving you a heads-up so you can get ready, Rune. In two days we’re
scheduled for the River Run Hall meeting. Get something nice to wear.”

“God,” she said, groaning.

He laughed. “You’ll have fun. I
promise.”

Yeah.

Like she still believed in
promises.

They met at the office. Rune, the
twins, and Lex would ride to River Run Hall together. Jack, Z, and Raze would
follow in Raze’s truck.

They were dressed up Shiv Crew
style, which meant mostly black with some bright spots of color. Each of them
wore a special silver shiv, ornate and beautiful, which usually hung behind
glass at home for show.

Rune’s had been with her ever since
she could remember—a leftover from a childhood she sometimes saw through a haze
of doubt.

Raze had taken his off the first
man he’d killed in battle—a relic his adversary had stolen from a witch in New
Orleans.

Rune had given Z his for his last
birthday. She’d searched for months for the perfect one before finding it in
the small collection of an ancient Japanese gentleman.

Jack had found his on eBay, or so
he’d said. She didn’t believe him, but it was his secret to keep.

The twins refused to say where
they’d gotten theirs—long, gleaming blades with twisted, elaborate handles that
made Rune’s mouth water. Even Lex boasted a special blade, stolen, she’d told
them, from her mother. But it hadn’t belonged to Karin anyway, she’d added. Not
really.

It was also not silver, which would
have made the Other sick. It was a steel blade in a gorgeous, matching steel sheath.
The handle and sheath both were beautifully designed with vines, heads, and
moons.

Denim’s voice, wrapped in a blanket
of sorrow and rage, echoed in her mind. “
Karin tried to force Lex to develop
a tolerance for silver. It didn’t work, but Karin enjoyed trying.”

Rune looked at them, all brushed
and polished and striking, and could barely breathe. They were simply
beautiful, her crew.

Stunning and dangerous.

She was so proud.

Don’t get all tender, you
fucking marshmallow.
She turned away from them and glanced in the hand
mirror she’d taken from her desk drawer. Every strand of her black hair was in
place. Glossy and flowing. She rarely had occasion to dress up and had to admit
part of her was enjoying this moment.

She’d put on some makeup, and the
eye shadow made her blue eyes even more vivid against her pale skin. She’d
stained her lips with a little red lipstick. It matched the single red stone in
the center of the black choker Lex had given her.

Over a black blouse she wore a red
corset-style vest with matching laces. Soft black leather pants and knee-high
black boots completed the outfit.

Her special blade went into a
sheath at her back. She also pushed a small blade into her left boot and one
into the sheath around her forearm.

Technically they were not working,
but they never knew when trouble might pop up. They’d have their show blades,
but all of them would be armed with work blades as well.

She took a breath and put the
mirror down, turning to face her crew. “We’re stunning, guys. Now let’s go get
this over with.”

“And remember,” Z said, “Mitch
wants this to be a—”

“Sedate and dignified meeting,”
they all chimed in.

Over the last two days he’d drilled
that into their heads over and over, as though he was afraid the cameras would
start rolling and they’d break into song or start telling jokes.

“We want you to be movie stars of a
sort,” he’d said, putting air quotes around
movie stars
, “but we want
them to be respectful of you, to know you are warriors, that you can protect
them.”

“We get it, Mitch,” Rune told him.
“We won’t be silly. Relax already.”

As though they’d conjured him,
Mitch stuck his head in the office to look at them. His face was flushed, his
eyes sparking. “Ready, gang? I must say, you all look just wonderful.” He
looked at Rune, hesitated, then asked, “You don’t think that top is a
little…er…showing a bit too much skin in the below the neck area?”

She rolled her eyes and smoothed
her hair one last time. “Stop looking at my boobs, dude.” But then every guy in
the room eyed the aforementioned boobs, and she had to fight to keep from
hiding her chest behind her hands.

The top wasn’t that low, but no one
was used to Rune dressing provocatively. Not even Rune.

Lexi took her arm. “Ignore them,
Rune. You look divine.”

Rune laughed, but she wasn’t so
sure Lex couldn’t see her. The girl was that spooky. Lex had hidden her eyes
behind a pair of black sunglasses. On one lens a sparkly pink heart, dissected
by a silver shiv, stood out against the black. If Lex hadn’t been blind, that
would have annoyed the hell out of her.

“So do you, Lex. Truly beautiful.”

Mitch glanced at his watch. “I’m
heading there now, kids. I’ll be waiting with Jeremy and the director. Just
remember. The chief wasn’t crazy about this idea. No shenanigans. Sedate and
dignified.”

As soon as he withdrew they broke
into laughter, then quieted when Ellis stuck his head into the room. “I’m going
now too, guys. You all look…” He pressed his lips together. “There are no
words.” His gaze lingered on the twins.

The inconceivably gorgeous twins.
Their images belonged on a painting in a museum. They were the only ones not
wearing black, instead sporting deep reds, chocolate browns, and dark greens.

Denim’s scar twisted down his face,
a cruel reminder of a wicked stepfather. But his masculine beauty was not
dimmed by his scar.

Ellis hadn’t dressed up, despite
Rune’s insistence that he walk through the hall with them. He’d claimed that he
had more interesting things to do.

He blew a kiss into the room and
hurried away, his excitement palpable.

Raze stood looking out her office
window. He had his dark red hair tied back loosely with a thin black cloth. All
that hair cascaded over the black of his shirt, and was his only contrasting
color.

He was the most uncomfortable of
them all. “Trotted out and paraded around like circus freaks,” he’d muttered,
but other than that hadn’t said a word.

“Raze,” she called, suppressing a
smile. He was so enormous, so obviously awkward, and as high on the hotness
meter as the rest of the men. “You doing okay, baby?”

He growled.

And finally, it was time to go.

When they arrived at the hall the
huge parking lot was overflowing with vehicles, and the street was taking the
spillover. Rune and Raze pulled up to the front doors. Valets would drive their
vehicles to the back of the building.

The atmosphere was that of a county
fair. The hall was enormous, but Rune wasn’t sure how it could possibly hold all
those people. It looked like the entire population of River County had turned
out.

Rune would walk in first, followed
by Lex, then Denim and Levi, side by side but spaced apart, and behind them Z.
Behind him would be the two giants, Jack and Raze.

Rune had refused to show up if Lex
wasn’t included.

When they reached the big double
doors, the waiting doormen pushed them open and Shiv Crew strode in. There were
audible gasps as the audience got an up close and personal glimpse of those who
kept them safe from the monsters, all decked out and too pretty for words along
with a good dose of scary as fuck.

The crew began to walk down a red-carpet-covered
aisle. The audience stood on both sides, cordoned off by thick velvet ropes.

They were watching quietly. The
message was clear. Shiv Crew was to be looked at, not touched. Rune wasn’t
crazy about the separation. Or the quiet.

The people, young and old, male and
female, stood behind the ropes with curious faces, but no one was smiling. No
one looked at ease.

Halfway down the long, long path
that led to the stage, something made her look up. She wasn’t sure what—perhaps
a movement, perhaps a feeling.

In the corner, high up on the wall
was a bank of windows accessible only by stairs backstage. Behind those windows
stood Ellis, his grin wide and white. He waved at her, then held up a finger.
Wait
for it.

When he was sure he had her
attention, he looked down and fiddled with something. And suddenly the whole
hall was filled with music, loud and wild, coming out of every speaker set up
in River Run Hall.

At first the audience stood in
stunned silence, unsure, but then Lex began to dance.

A group of teens joined in, and in
seconds the whole atmosphere changed from serious and solemn to just plain fun.

Shiv Crew kept walking, but now
they were smiling as well. Rune glanced behind her at Lex who was dancing to
the irresistible music, framed by the beautiful twins.

Behind Ellis, who’d locked the
large glass doors before he’d hit the music, stood police director Rice, flanked
on either side by Mitch and Jeremy—and they were pissed.

The police director gestured
furiously, his face flushed. Jeremy began beating on the doors, shouting words
she couldn’t hear.

She laughed, and unable to help it,
began dancing as well. Shiv Crew kept on walking toward the stage, the two
girls dancing as they went.

Strad stood against the wall by the
stage, unsmiling and serious.

Watching her.

The audience was thrilled. They
danced, yelled, sang. They began waving, and whistling.

Z grabbed Rune around the waist and
they grinned at each other as they danced. She glanced up to see Ellis enjoying
his own dance as he completely ignored the men behind the glass at his back,
and the trouble he was almost certainly in.

A boy in the audience, perhaps
trying to impress the girls who surrounded him, grabbed what looked like a
phone case from the girl next to him, drew back his arm, and threw it at Lex.

Obviously word had already spread
about the blind Other.

The object hurtled toward the
dancing girl with ferocious intent, and the absolute millisecond before it hit
her she had it in her hand.

Denim had stepped back out of the way
to let Lex handle it. Rune was relieved he hadn’t snatched it out of the air
and then gone to beat the hell out of the boy.

Lex grinned and hurled it back at
the boy. Hard.

Her attempt was better than his—the
case made it to his head. He dropped like a rock. The girls next to him laughed
and kept right on dancing.

Rune made a mental note to remember
that Lex could take care of herself.

High above, Mitch dropped his face
into his hands.

When Shiv Crew had nearly reached
the stage, the song ended. Still, the people were feeling better, and the hall
had a definite party atmosphere.

All because of one song and Ellis, who
did indeed deserve his big head.

As she passed him, Rune met the
berserker’s gaze. His stare dropped with deliberate intent to her breasts.

She shivered as gooseflesh arose on
her skin.

Fucking berserker.

His muscles bunched as he crossed
his arms, still watching her, his face unreadable. The tip of his silver spear
peeked over his massive shoulder. He wore his usual uniform of black T-shirt,
camouflage pants, and a pair of boots that looked older than Rune.

She forced her attention from the
huge man and along with her crew, climbed the few stairs to the stage.

The officers ran back down the
stairs and Rice, panting and slightly purple in the face, strode onto the stage
with the crew. He was not happy, but wasn’t about to let the audience know
that.

“Well,” he boomed into the mic,
“that was some entrance!” Then he looked over at the crew. “Ladies and
gentlemen, Shiv Crew!”

The audience went nuts, yelling and
clapping, and he had to wait—impatiently if the tapping of his toe was any
indication—a good three minutes for them to calm down.

He introduced them one by one. Rune
got the longest applause, Lex got the loudest. The twins got only scattered
applause because everyone in the audience was too busy snapping pictures of
them to clap.

Z had every girl in the room
hooting and screaming out invitations. He blew them kisses and tossed them a
couple of winks. There would be many dreams about Z that night.

The giants had the girls swooning
and the guys doing mock battles. One lady, at least a hundred years old,
decided she was going up on stage to feel Raze’s and Jack’s muscles.

When it became obvious it would
take her a week to get up there, Raze shocked everyone by jumping off the
stage, picking the old lady up, and carrying her up to the stage. She spent the
remainder of the time going from man to man, feeling him up.

The audience began yelling out
questions.

“What will you do if the city is
attacked?”

“Will you take occasional ride-alongs?”

“Does Z have a girlfriend?”

Rune started getting impatient long
before the director was ready to release them. She’d decided to lead the crew
out whether he liked it or not, when Mitch dashed on stage and whispered in the
director’s ear.

Rice held up his hand to halt the
questions. “I apologize, but there is an emergency and Shiv Crew is needed in
the field.”

Before he’d finished speaking Rune
and the others were hurrying out the back door and into the parking lot, the
sound of applause behind them.

Rune took a deep breath of the
fresh, cold air. It was only seven o’clock but already dark. The high
streetlights cast an eerie yellow glow on the parking lot. “What’s going on,
Mitch?”

Jeremy came out to join them, his
stare going immediately to Rune. She looked away, but her heart began to beat
hard and fast. Damn him.

Lex slid her fingers into Rune’s
hand, and though Rune wanted to pull away, she didn’t. Lex probably sensed her
distress and was trying to comfort her. Rune wasn’t going to throw that back in
the girl’s face.

Just please don’t read me.

Strad slipped through the door and
stood in the background, quiet and watchful. As always.