by Laken Cane
“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.
Chapter Forty-Nine
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.
Chapter Fifty
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.
Chapter Fifty-One
After she dropped Lex and Raze at the clinic, Rune stopped by her house to shower, pick up a gun, and call Ellie.
River County looked like a different place. It’d been ransacked, burned, and broken, its streets littered with the dead and dying.
Houses still smoked, and sirens shrilled constantly as firefighters and policemen did their best to control the fights and fires.
The identically dressed slayers were a rare sighting now, but the damage had been done. The citizens of River County stumbled down the streets with blank, soot covered faces and bloody bodies, some of the calling desperately for lost family members.
News vans roamed the city, filming the destruction.
Looters were carrying goods from destroyed shops, cars were stalled and burning in yards and streets, and the intermittent, haunting cries of children could be heard echoing from newly parentless homes.
She changed clothes and grabbed a gun, then called Ellie as she left her house. Her new home, amazingly enough, was not on fire, though it seemed like every window it possessed had been shattered.
“Ellis,” she said, when he answered his phone, “it’s me.”
As she started to get in her car, four red-clothed slayers ran down the street.
“Rune,” Ellie cried, his voice tinny. “Are you okay? Where’s Levi? Is he—”
“One second, baby,” she said, and slid Strad’s phone into her pocket. She aimed her gun and shot one of the coming slayers between the eyes. As his friends turned their guns on her, she shot another one.
Bullets whizzed by her as she holstered her gun, shot out her claws, and used the speed her monster gave her to drop the other two where they stood.
Then she retracted her claws, wiped the slayers blood from her hands to her jeans
, and took her phone from her pocket. “I’m fine,” she said, as though their conversation had never been interrupted. “Levi and Denim are on the mountain tying up some loose ends.” She paused. “It’s good to hear your voice.”
“Backup came in from other counties,” he said. “We wiped out the slayers, didn’t we?”
“Looks like it,” she said. “At least the ones who made the mistake of attacking us. We’re going to have a lot of cleanup ahead.”
“The hospitals are overflowing. They’re flying people to different cities.” His voice was tearful and he sounded close to the breaking point. “So many people hurt, and killed…”
“I know. We’ll get everything sorted out, Ellie. I’ll be by the office as soon as I can.”
“I’ll have coffee waiting,” he said, and sniffed. “Love you.” She could almost see him wiping his eyes.
She smiled and put the phone back into her pocket, surveying the area to make sure there were no more slayers lurking.
An ambulance, lights whirling and sirens blaring, flew down the street and stopped a half a block from where she stood.
As she walked back to her house a woman darted from behind a bar and ran screaming for the paramedics.
Order would be restored, but it was going to take a while. A long fucking while. COS had ruined themselves—at least in River County. Horner had bet everything on his demon, and he’d lost.
She gave her jeans a disgusted glare. She had slayer blood on her and would need to change clothes. Again.
She put her key into the lock and then pushed open the door to her house. She sighed as a piece of broken glass jarred loose from one of the windows and hit the floor.
The house was quiet and empty, but traces of those who lived there lingered, making it feel alive and…homey. For the first time in forever she found herself looking forward to settling in for a quiet night at home with those she loved. Then she snorted and grabbed a change of clothes from the closet.
If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up gardening and baking cookies and shit.
Finally dressed, hands scrubbed clean of all traces of blood, she hurried back down the hall and into the living room.
“Son of a bitch,” she muttered as her phone flew out of her hand to land with a clatter upon the floor.
