Shiv Crew (5 page)

“What’s up, Jeremy?”

“Rune, we just learned of a vampire
nest in Wormwood. They’re sleeping under the old stone church. I want you to take
your crew in and destroy the motherfuckers.”

She sat in silence for a long
minute, processing what he’d just told her. They could always find some sort of
justification for the cold killing of vampires because the law didn’t see
vampires as living creatures. The shifters, the weres, the trolls…every other
group was given more rights than the undead.

In her gut, it just didn’t feel
right when she was ordered to kill them while they were unaware and defenseless.
Dead or not, vampires had emotions. They wanted to roam the earth, so who was
she to end them as they slept?

Let her and her crew meet them in a
fair fight, and she’d take every single one of them out. If they were killing
humans, they had to be destroyed.

“A purge? This fast?”

“Rune.”

“I’m not going anywhere until you
explain.”

He sighed, as though disappointed
that she couldn’t just do as she was told and stop with the pesky questions.

But Rune Alexander had never been
one to go on blind faith, and she wasn’t about to start now.

“The vampire you captured. He
talked.”

“And?”

“He told us everything we need to
know to legally take out the vampires. They are abducting and killing the
humans. And according to our friend, they don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
He said they were all losing their minds.”

“But—”

“No buts, Rune. You know how
vampires tend to go crazy eventually. Nick Llodra has charged his vampires with
killing humans. Now get the fuck over there and take the fuckers out. Do you
understand me?”

“You know how vampires tend to
go crazy eventually…”

“Do you have the order signed?” It
was nothing more than a court order signed by two people. One was a judge who
couldn’t have cared less. The other was the director of River County Vampire Rights
and Protection, a woman who’d been voted into her position seven years ago. She
did seem to care a little and often retracted orders to kill a vampire when
there was insufficient evidence to charge him with death.

But really, was the probably forced
confession of a captured Other enough to kill every vampire in River County?
Sure, she’d caught him right there on the scene, so obviously
he
was
guilty, but…

She could hear Jeremy grinding his
teeth. “I got the go-ahead from the director, and of course I got the judge and
Karla to sign the fucking order, Rune. Do you think I’m an idiot?”

“It’d be better if you let me talk
to Llodra first. Bring him in. Question him.”

“Rune, your job is to recover
humans and kill monsters. I will worry about the legal shit. Now go before it
gets dark.” His voice was completely flat, the way it got when he was too full
of rage to risk losing control.

“Yeah.” She clicked off, motioning
Raze to her.

“What’s going on?”

“That was Jeremy. We have orders to
take out a nest of vampires in Wormwood.”

His gaze sharpened. “While they’re
sleeping.” He curled his lip in derision. “Llodra?”

“I don’t know if he’s there or not.
I guess we’re about to find out.” The vampires of a city never gathered in the
same place to sleep, at least not if they were being hunted. It wasn’t safe. That
way if one nest was found and destroyed it would give the other vampires a
warning, and they could go so far underground no one would find them. At least
that was their plan. It rarely worked for long. They had to eat.

If Nicolas Llodra was indeed going
insane, then his vampires would follow—and he’d signed their death warrants. It
would take a while, but they would all be hunted down and destroyed. And the
city of Spiritgrove would be vampire free.

She had two vampire kill kits in
her car, so she was ready to go. All Shiv Crew carried kill kits. They never
knew when one would be needed.

As she pulled away from the twins’
house she punched in Levi’s cell number. “We’re about to take out a nest of
vampires. Meet me at Wormwood cemetery…and don’t forget your kill kits.”

He didn’t ask a single question,
just quietly acknowledged her orders and broke the connection. Next she called
Z, then Jack, and hoped like hell the six of them would be enough.

Because sometimes, the vampires
woke up.

She rethought the numbers before
she reached the cemetery and called in Sherry, one of SCRU’s floaters. Just in
case. When dealing with the vampires, it never hurt to have an extra killer
along.

Wormwood was Spiritgrove’s largest
cemetery—actually it was the largest cemetery in Ohio. It was almost a town. A
town of Others. They would have been happy to exist there if only the humans
would have stayed out.

Most humans did stay out of Wormwood.
The graveyard wasn’t safe. But Spiritgrove law enforcement could go wherever
they pleased in the city, and Wormwood was most definitely not off-limits.

Humans had stopped burying their
dead in the ancient graveyard decades ago and the Others had taken it over,
using it to lay their own dead to rest.

Rune only ever went there to kill
or capture.

Needless to say, most of the
residents of Wormwood didn’t love Shiv Crew.

The huge gates at the entrance of
the cemetery were closed but not locked. The Others had been warned after
they’d locked up once that to do so again would ensure their forced departure
from the graveyard.

Rune and Raze were the first to
arrive, and they took the time to unload their kill kits and arm themselves
appropriately for a vampire purge.

They still would carry one gun as
there were more than just vampires in Wormwood, but they replaced most of their
blades with wood.

Thin and sharp, the wood stakes
were loaded into special shooters called
vguns
. Each vgun would hold six
stakes. Each Shiv Crew member would push a minimum of twenty-four extra stakes
into belts they’d wind around and buckle to their waists.

If they went through that many
stakes and found themselves lacking, most likely they were dead anyway.

Also contained in kill kits were small
night-vision goggles for when the dead slept in places too dark for humans to
see, and a knife for taking heads—although each Shiv Crew member had his or her
own preferred blade for that, therefore the kill kit knives were usually left
behind.

There were vials of holy water,
cloves of garlic, and silver crosses attached to silver chains. Rune had never
used those little items and had no idea if they would even work for her.

Silver was deadly to Others but
didn’t really bother her. Her monster, though. It bothered her monster.

Ignoring Raze as he armed himself,
she took in the sights. It was a beautiful place. November in Spiritgrove meant
dead grass and leafless trees, but Wormwood was green. Deep, dark greens, vivid
colors, sweet-smelling scents.

Still, the facade of warmth and
peace was just that—a facade. Death lived in the graveyard, and fear. A few
humans had told her Wormwood possessed such an overpowering sense of Otherness
it was often difficult to slog through the graveyard.

But it was a beautiful place.
Eerily so.

Now she was about to take her crew
into that beauty and purge it of vampires. She was going to insult it, violate
it, desecrate it. Wormwood would never accept her.

Levi and Denim arrived, both in the
same vehicle. Usually Denim drove the old red truck and Levi drove a battered
black Cavalier. Maybe now that they were making money they’d get themselves
some decent rides. She’d noticed Levi eyeing her SUV with envy in his green
eyes.

Jack and Z arrived soon after, and
lastly, Sherry. She was a big woman with a shaved head and a dozen painful-looking
piercings. She had a big mouth and not a spot of loyalty to the crew, but she
could shoot and was familiar with staking vamps. She owned a vgun and even had
her own kill kit.

“Okay,” Rune said. She headed
toward the huge old gates, tightening her stake belt as she went. “It will be
dark in two hours. Let’s purge these dudes and get the hell out.”

Sherry strode up beside Rune and cracked
her knuckles. “Yeah! Let’s have some fucking fun, motherfuckers.”

Rune glanced around to check the
twins. She wasn’t sure they were ready for staking vampires, but they said they
were and she’d let them prove it. And if they weren’t… Well, this would be a good
learning experience.

She pushed open the moss-covered
wrought iron gate. “Let’s do this.”

“Be careful, Rune,” Z said, because
he was Z.

She winked at him and pulled her
vgun. If there was any lingering guilt over the cold killings, she ignored it.
There was no room for anything in the field but concentration and skill.

They went through the gates and
fanned out slightly. Z was on her left, Sherry on her right, and they were
followed by the twins. Jack and Raze came last.

It would take them about ten minutes
to reach the stone church if they jogged, and she didn’t want to waste time.
She set the pace and they followed, alert for attacking Others.

Wormwood was full of them.

They made it to the old stone
church with no attacks, though the air was suddenly full of expectation and
danger. By then, every Other inside Wormwood knew they were there.

The vampires were the least liked
among Others. Master vampires usually dealt with all Others as though they were
his vampire children. That caused a lot of resentment—especially with the
wolves, who hated the vampires anyway.

Because of that, chances were none
of the Others would attack the humans when they discovered that they were there
to purge the vampires.

Too bad for the vampires.

“How do we reach them?” Z asked.

Rune shrugged. “He didn’t say. Just
that they’re under the church.”

“Tear that bastard down brick by
brick,” Sherry shouted. “Let me at the mother—”

“Shut up, Sherry,” Rune said, her
voice mild but her eyes narrow. She got tired fast of hearing bullshit from the
bald lady.

Sherry shut up.

Satisfied, Rune looked at Jack.
“You and the twins go inside and see if there’s a way down. Try to radio me if
you find anything.” Cell phones didn’t work inside Wormwood, and the radios
were hit and miss. Usually miss. “Z, Sherry, and I will take the back. Raze,
take the sides.” She hesitated. “Do you want one of the twins?”

Raze snorted. “No.”

Truthfully, he wouldn’t need a
second man with him. He was Raze, after all.

Jack opened his mouth. “I don’t—”

“Jack, take the twins and go. Raze
is going to end up around back with us anyway.”

Men were such prideful creatures.

Z and Sherry followed her to the
back of the church. Before they were halfway there an Other stepped from the
shadows of the pines.

Sherry pulled her gun and dropped
to one knee, her eagerness to get a kill obvious.

“Put the gun away,” Z said. “It’s
just Gunnar the Ghoul.”

“Gunnar? The ghoul?” Sherry put her
gun away, looking like a kid whose candy had been stolen.

“You haven’t met Gunnar?” Rune
asked. “Come then, I’ll introduce you.”

“No
thanks,
” Sherry replied.
She actually shuddered. She wanted to kill Others, not talk to them.

Gunnar was the one Other Rune
actually enjoyed. Of course, if he hurt a human, she’d snap his spine, but he
amused her. And he was enamored of her.

“Hello, Your Highness,” he said
when she stood in front of him. “Which beastly beasts are you after this lovely
evening?”

“Vampires, baby.”

He shuddered delicately, putting a
long-fingered hand to his mouth.

She imagined that in another time
he might have been a good-looking man, but now he was just undead hideous. His
hair was black and stringy and fell into his hollow face without hiding a damn
thing. His thin body was long and bony.

She never asked him where he got
his clothing—most likely off the corpses he had for supper—but he seemed fond
of fashion, putting together outfits that complemented his patchy complexion
and what he surely thought of as his tragic circumstances.

Today he wore a long green jacket,
the ends of which trailed nearly to the backs of his knees in tattered tails.
He’d fastened a wide black belt around his middle, and wore dirty yellow
breeches that were three inches too short for him. His footwear consisted of faded
black boots covered with graveyard mud.

“What do you have for me?” she
asked.

“Well, now, Your Invaluableness,
that depends on what you have for Gunnar.”

She rummaged around in one of her
pockets as he waited with clasped hands and an eager, hopeful smile.

“Here you go, sexy,” she told him
and tossed him a king-size Baby Ruth candy bar.

He caught it and held it to the
side of his face, rubbing his cheek over it as though it were a puppy. “Thank
you, Your Semipreciousness.”

She folded her arms. “Talk to me,
Gunnar. The vampires are going to wake up on me. That wouldn’t be good.”

“No, that wouldn’t be good,” he
agreed. He glanced behind her at Z and Sherry, causing Rune to throw a look
over her shoulder. Z appeared calm and slightly amused, but Sherry stared with
her mouth open and her eyes wide.

Rune frowned at her. “I thought you
were a badass, Sherry. Are you scared of Gunnar?”

Sherry shook her head. “No, I guess
you could say I’m more…stunned. I’ve never seen a ghoul. Not one like him,
anyway.”

“What’s that mean?” Z asked.

“I’ve seen pictures of ghouls, and
they all were naked and had rotting skin. They didn’t talk and eat candy bars.”
She seemed almost offended.

Rune laughed, softening just a
little toward the floater. “He’s special, our ghoul.”

“He’s still ugly as fuck, though,”
Sherry added.

Rune sighed. So much for that. She
turned back to Gunnar, whose lips were a tight line, his nose in the air. But
she hadn’t time to pacify him. “Tell me what you got, baby, or I’m going to
take back the chocolate.”

His gaze snapped to her face, and
he hid the candy behind his back. “I will tell you where the vamps rest, Your
Ignoramusness, if that would suit you.”

It would make things a hell of a
lot easier. She nodded. “That would be a big help.”

“You know,” he said, “I am similar
to a vampire. You would never come after me, would you?”

“Only if you gave me a reason to.”

He frowned, not quite satisfied
with her response. But Gunnar was a smart ghoul. He pursed his lips, then gave
her the information she wanted. “Back to the front, dearie. There is a row of
lovely little gold rings under each window. The last window on the right,
middle ring. Pull it and you’ll find your vampires.” He blew her a kiss. “Good
luck, Your Scrumptiousness.” He turned and disappeared back into the trees,
where she imagined he would enjoy his Baby Ruth.

“Let’s go,” she said, and jogged
back around to the front.

Raze rounded the corner just as she
pulled the ring and revealed a small opening into the depths of what could be
called hell.

Killing was killing, and if the
vampires had been awake and able to fight back she would have thought nothing
of it—it was a sanctioned killing to protect humans.
Dammit.
Gunnar had
put thoughts back into her head that had no business being there.

The entrance to the nest was a
long, rough climb down. There were small, choppy steps the vampires would have
no trouble with—some of them could probably have dropped down and ignored the
steps. But for a human it was a little tricky. She hoped the crew would give
her ample time to reach the bottom before they plowed into her. Raze could
crush a person.

“Careful, Raze,” she said. “Your
feet are three times bigger than these steps.”

She kept one hand on her gun and the
other trailing the wall for balance. The cold stone was moldy and covered with
damp slime and God knew what else, but it was better than falling into the
vampires below.

It was dark in the nest. When she
finally reached the bottom she felt for her goggles, breathing easier when they
were firmly on and she could see again.

She wasn’t afraid of the dark, but
it did make her claustrophobic.

Z, then Raze, and finally Sherry joined
her. Even though the vampires were asleep, her crew had been trained to keep
the silence. If the master was down here, it wouldn’t have been impossible for
him to smell the humans or hear their voices. Not likely, but not impossible. He
might even feel the threat and rise to greet it.

She backed up, reaching for her
radio to call Jack and the twins. She tripped over a body and down she went,
radio flying from her hand. “Fuck,” she whispered.
Are they all just lying
willy-nilly across an open floor?

But no, they weren’t. What she’d
tripped over was a drained, dead human. A familiar fist of rage beat at her
brain.

Now
she had her
justification.

Z knelt upon the floor, knowing the
woman was dead but still trying to find a pulse.

They’d carry her up after they’d
destroyed the vampires, and SLE would find her family. Suddenly it was hard for
Rune to breathe. She swallowed past the lump in her throat, forced images she
was not willing to see from her mind, and went with grim determination to kill
some vampires.