“Ryker?” she asked, fake timidity seeping into her words, a complete opposite to the way she strutted. Sure, like she didn’t already know it was him.
“Yes?” he answered, stepping closer.
“I’m Violet. Knife sent me over. Said I might be able to help you with some of the books? I’m a real fast reader.” The way she said it made me think that she wasn’t only fast at reading and the insinuation was intended for him to pick up on.
Knife. That bastard knew I was here and was screwing with me. It worked. If this were a contest, he’d get first.
For some reason, Ryker glanced back at me, his magic making me warm again.
It shut off suddenly as he turned back to her. “Yeah. Come in.”
She did, giving him a look like he was already hers.
Violet wasn’t a Wyrd Blood. Actually, the majority of the women I’d seen trailing in and out of his place weren’t. Was that the problem with me? He didn’t like Wyrd Bloods who had too much magic? He was only into dulls or low levels?
Ryker glanced at me and said, “Let’s call it a…” All of his attention was outside.
I walked over to the door to see Sneak running toward us. No one seemed to notice or think it was odd. He was cloaking himself so people didn’t know there was a problem.
“Violet, you need to leave,” Ryker said, opening the door as Sneak approached.
“What?” she asked. Clearly, this wasn’t the way things worked for her.
“Now. I’ll call you when I need you.”
She stood stunned for a second but finally walked out the door with the help of Ryker’s hand on her back.
Sneak rushed in, and no one had to ask him anything. He burst the second he stepped inside. “We’ve got six dead in the West Corner.”
I moved closer, not wanting to miss a word. His tone was hushed, as if he thought someone passing by might hear. He didn’t need to bother. The news wouldn’t stay quiet for long. This time, even the snowflakes would get rattled.
Ryker’s attention was zeroed in on Sneak. “Any signs of the cause of death?”
Sneak’s eyes dropped to the ground. He shook his head as he explained, “They were all from the same building but different units. No obvious cause other than a couple of them had the trickle of blood in their ear, but it’s been too long for the Boom.”
Six? No one had died for days, and now another wave. I agreed with Sneak. It didn’t match up to the Boom, or not only the Boom. But I’d seen this happen in the Ruined City.
This was some sort of foul play, maybe by the Debt Collector or maybe from Bedlam. Who could tell at this point, and I was sure Ryker had other enemies I hadn’t heard of yet.
Ryker, Sneak, and Burn were out the door, and I was right behind them. I’d only made it a block when I saw Ruck running over to catch up with me. I could tell from his face that word had already spread.
“Why aren’t you on the tower?”
“I’m on break and just heard. You’re going to go check it out?”
I glanced at the guys disappearing from sight and stepped in between Ruck and them. “You can’t go. Go back to the tower.”
“Why?” He looked up ahead toward where Ryker and the guys were getting farther away. “It’s not the Boom. It’s been days.”
I grabbed both his shoulders. “Do you remember the time the raiding crews came into the Ruins and we tried to fight back?”
His lips parted. “You think…”
“Yes.” I gave him a shake in my desperation. “I can’t let it kill you.” I couldn’t lose Ruck and not lose what was left of me with him.
I’d had the misfortune of standing in front of a dull as she’d died. If that was ever Ruck, I wasn’t sure I could hang on. “You know how bad it got. Please, stay here and keep your distance from everyone else.”
Each word sank in as he remembered with me. A shudder ran through him before he met my eyes, nodding.
He took a step back and said, “Go.”
“Thanks.” He didn’t want to stay behind, but he would do it for me.
I took off running, weaving through people. The guys had moved pretty fast, so they were almost at the barracks by the time I caught up to them. I ran up and then past Ryker, putting a hand to his chest.
His attention immediately turned to me, his eyes landing on my hand. I never touched Ryker intentionally—if you didn’t count the times I’d tried to hurt him.
“What?” he asked.
“Clear the area of dulls.”
His eyes narrowed. “You sure?”
“No. But knowing what I’ve seen, it’s what I’d do.”
He stared for a second more. He lifted his head in the slightest nod before yelling, “I need this area completely cleared, now. I want everyone back at least fifty feet.”
Every head swiveled toward Ryker, and then people couldn’t scramble away fast enough.
Burn moved closer, knowing something had changed. “What’s going on?”
“Everyone here is getting relocated and we’re warding off this section.” Ryker turned to me, his eyes sending a message that he followed up with a nod away from the area. “I need more Wyrd Blood to handle this.”
What he didn’t say was that if I stayed, the Wyrd Blood he needed couldn’t come too close. I nodded, feeling as if I’d lost a foot of height and my spine had slumped forward.
“Sure.” I bit the corner of my lip and turned. I picked up my pace, getting away from the area so that the people who could help, were able to.
17
I scrubbed the soap into my hair, rubbing my scalp and skin raw as I thought of all those people helping while I was showering. I pulled my magic tight to me and felt the heat of it burning and then slammed the soap down. This place had been peaceful for so long. It was hard not to think I had a dark cloud trailing me that was about to wreak havoc on a bunch of dulls who wouldn’t know how to handle the chaos while I was rendered useless.
Would there be more dead? Would this be the same as the Ruins, when people started dropping all over the place with no rhyme or reason? Was it retaliation from Bedlam? That at least made sense. The Debt Collector didn’t make sense, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t him.
Someone tripped outside my stall, and I jerked, running suds into my eyes. A second later, I heard Ruck yell my name from somewhere farther down.
I jerked toward the sound, water rushing even more suds straight for my eyeballs. By the time I darted my head out of the curtain, my eyes stung and my vision blurred. The burn in my eyes was nothing compared to the acid burning in my gut.
“What? What’s wrong?” I yelled, not sure how far away he was.
I heard his steps and saw his blurry form approach. I held the curtain around my top, not that I had anything Ruck wanted.
He stopped a few feet from me. “Ryker asked me to come and get you.”
“So you scream for me like the place is on fire, knowing what’s going on?” I rubbed a hand over my eyes, only making matters worse, like I was sudsing them up.
“I can’t very well go stall to stall looking for you. What a colossal waste of time.”
There weren’t that many stalls, and only a few of them were being used. I didn’t care enough to argue. Ryker was calling, which meant maybe there was something I could do.
“Give me a second.” I ducked back in and toweled off as best I could, struggling to pull leather pants up over damp legs. My hair dripped everywhere and still had soap in it, but I didn’t care.
Maybe Ryker had gotten some answers. Maybe the deaths weren’t suspicious at all. Maybe all the people who’d died were all newcomers too. They could’ve been friends who got back from a trip together and had eaten the same poison berries. It could happen.
“What’s going on? Any news?” I asked as we headed out of the shower house and I followed Ruck toward Ryker’s.
“He’s hoping you have answers.” Ruck smiled, realizing how screwed that made us.
“Ah, shit.”
; “Yep.” His arms swung as we walked, making a snapping-clapping combo he only did when his nerves were frayed. “I already told him everything I remembered. He wants to quiz you now.”
Oh joy. This was going to be a fun night to top off a shit day. Ryker’s door was open as we approached. I could hear Knife’s voice as we got within a few feet. “My people are here. I deserved to know what we were walking into and what’s going on. You should’ve told me about the other deaths.”
“I didn’t think it was a problem or I would’ve told you. Right now, I. Don’t. Know. Anymore,” Ryker replied.
Ruck put a hand on my arm, halting me. He threw a thumb in the direction of Ryker’s, then tilted his head in the other way.
It was a good idea to let them finish before we walked in, but I took a step forward anyway. Ruck didn’t realize that there was no buying a few minutes of time. They already knew I was close, if Knife had been telling the truth the other night. They sensed my magic already.
“Bugs, you coming in anytime soon?” Ryker asked, even though he couldn’t see me.
Yep, it was true. He knew when I was around, even if it was twenty feet away. Ruck was staring toward Ryker’s place, squinting as if he wasn’t sure he’d heard him right.
I gave him a tap to his arm and an I’ll-fill-you-in-later look. Then I walked the rest of the distance.
I stepped inside, with a reluctant Ruck behind me. Ryker was on one side of the room, with Sneak and Burn. Knife was on the other, a tall blonde beside him. She had hair hanging to her waist and legs for days. She was also packing some magic, but it seemed well controlled.
Still, I hesitated to walk any farther. Knife tilted his head to the blonde. “This is Dezz. She’s solid. You should be good.”
Dezz? How was I supposed to figure out what she could do with a name like that? And why did he want to tie himself to me when he had a woman like that? Was she a total asshole or something? Yeah, I might have more magic, but she was stunning.
“Hey, it’s really nice to meet you,” Dezz said, and then smiled so easily it was as if her teeth were greased and she actually enjoyed meeting people. No, not an asshole either. Man, people really were magic-hungry.
“You too.” I smiled back, my lips moving like they were rubbing over sandpaper. Whatever. I’d tried.
I side-eyed Ryker. Was he staring at Dezz? I wasn’t even into women, and I wanted to stare. You couldn’t not stare if you had eyeballs. Burn and Sneak were, but Ryker was staring at me. Interesting. He’d probably already stared at her for a good while before I’d gotten here. Or he was as magic-hungry as Knife.
“What do you know? Tell me everything you’ve seen,” Ryker said.
I walked farther into the room, taking a deep breath. “Not a lot. I think it’s some sort of Boom that’s been messed with. If it’s like what I’ve seen, it kills like the Boom, but not as predictable.” I shoved the wet hair from my face. “I’m guessing you already know about the raids in the Ruined City looking for Wyrd Blood?”
I’d be shocked if anyone in the room didn’t know. The practice of sending out raiding crews to mine for Wyrd Blood in the Ruined City to see if there were any fresh magic to snatch up had been going on for decades. In the dozens of times I’d seen them come, they’d never left the place the way they found it. What little we did have would be looted and stolen. The women raped, and some of the men, too. You were considered lucky if you made it through a raid unscathed.
“Of course,” Ryker said, with what sounded like a clean conscience. The other side of the room was quiet. The silence was damning, and I stared at Knife.
He flipped his hand out as he said, “I might’ve sent a few people, once or twice. It wasn’t unusual. Everybody did it but Ryker.”
How many times had I been run out of my home? How often had I come back to nothing left, whatever food stores I’d built up gone, or smashed and ruined? He was one of the reasons my crew had gone hungry. I had a bone the size of a dragon’s leg to pick with him, and my glare in his direction made it clear we’d be doing just that after this emergency was handled.
“I’ll help you kill him later, but right now I need the rest of this story,” Ryker said.
Ryker was probably happy I was pissed off. Anything that kept me from merging with Knife was another step in his direction, so he could use me. Still, I put it all aside, since we had people dropping dead right now. I’d add to the body count once I knew that the innocent would be okay.
I crossed my arms over my chest, thinking back to the details that were still fresh. “Most of the time, we didn’t get much notice. But this one time, a scout spotted a raiding group heading toward us days out. All of the different crews, all the people who lived in the Ruins, bonded together. Didn’t matter if you stabbed someone’s brother the week before, screwed their sister, and stole their goat—for that small span of time, we were in it together.
“We laid a trap a few miles outside the city, right where the road narrows and the forest edges you in. We ambushed them with everything we had: arrows, swords, knives. They were better armed, but we were hungry for vengeance and had the numbers. They lost so many soldiers that they turned and ran. It was payback for years of torment and loss.”
I walked to the table and perched on the corner as I thought of what had come next. “Like idiots, we celebrated for two days straight. The Ruins had never been so joyous. We shared food and drink with each other as if we had an endless supply. We talked of how we’d scared them off. We stupidly thought that word would spread and no one would mess with us again.” I slid back and perched a heel on the edge, bringing my knee up to my chest. “We daydreamed about building our own country, purely democratic. We’d all vote to see who would run it. We’d be the first seed in a new world.”
If Ryker or Knife were bothered by what I was saying, they didn’t let on as I told the story. I was so lost in my memories that maybe I didn’t notice. “We were young and stupid and never saw it coming. Five days later, the sickness struck. At first it was only a few, and then there was a lag of time. We thought we were safe. But then it came back, over and over again. I never knew how many had died. It was impossible to count, since so many fled.”
I pointed to Ruck where he’d gotten comfortable on the couch. “We used to talk about how the Boom had found a way to not only kill a body, but kill a soul. Back then, I’d thought maybe we were crazy and paranoid, that it hadn’t been them.” I looked about the room, knowing everyone understood but feeling the need to make sure I hammered it home. “Seeing what’s happening here, I think it’s the same and it’s being organized.”
Ryker stepped a few paces closer. “We don’t know that it’s not a mutated strand of the Boom, but it needs to be looked into. Do you know where that particular raiding party came from?”
“They didn’t exactly fly banners or write their names across their chests.” I looked to Knife. “Did you now?”
He straightened. “Did I send a few people out from time to time to see if I could recruit a couple Wyrd Blood? Yes. I’m guilty. Did some of my people get out of hand sometimes? They might’ve, but it wasn’t on my orders. But I don’t mess with biological warfare.”
My gut said to believe him. I tilted my head slightly in Knife’s direction, giving him a silent we’ll see. He’d better be telling the truth, or I’d use that dragon bone to stab him in the chest.
He nodded toward me, as if to reassure me of his honesty.
“How long ago did it happen?” Ryker asked.
“Two winters ago,” I replied.
“Burn, have someone go over our ledgers. I remember word reaching us about a bad outbreak of the Boom in the Ruined City around then. See what details we might have on the comings and goings of nearby countries at that time.” Ryker’s attention switched back to me. “I want you to worm it. See what that comes up with. We need whatever answers we can get.”
Right then, I felt like I had a dozen worms all squirming around my stomach. There woul
d be no worming anything. It was only a matter of telling him now or later. I’d like to think he’d lose interest, but he wouldn’t. He was a leave-no-stone-unturned type, give it everything you have or don’t bother. Normally, I liked that about him.
Knife asked, “What’s ‘worm it’?”
Ryker’s brow dropped slightly as he watched me, and I knew he was already questioning my lack of reply. “She juices worms with magic and uses that as a divination tool. It’s unreliable but better than nothing.”
I turned to Knife. “He’s right. It’s not a reliable source of information.”
Ryker leaned a shoulder against the wall, seemingly relaxed to the unobservant. “It’s not reliable, but we should do it anyway.”
Knife and Dezz moved toward the back of the room, farther away from Ryker. So did Burn and Sneak. I saw Dezz begin to fan her face, and then Burn leaned over to Sneak and say something too low for me to hear. They were talking about the magic that was starting to bounce off the walls. I swear, it was happening more and more often with Ryker. Or maybe it was something that was happening when our magic commingled? Either way, everyone noticed it but Ryker.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea after Sinsy,” I said, hopping down from the table in case I needed to exit the room quick.
“You used to worm it every day, sometimes twice. Now you won’t do it when we need it?” he asked, stepping closer to the door.
“It’s not reliable.” I crossed my arms and walked around the table. “Hasn’t worked out in the past. It’s not a good idea.” I wasn’t telling Ryker about the promise I’d made to Marra. He’d tell me it was stupid. I wasn’t sure why he’d call it that, but I was sure of it.
Ruck let out a loud groan that sounded like it would last for days. “Oh, for magic’s sake, tell him already.”
I shot him a look. I would’ve jumped over the table and planted a palm over his mouth, but I was pretty sure he’d already screwed me.
“What are you talking about?” Ryker’s attention snapped to Ruck, as if it were a race to stare him down. Our stare-downs were greatly different. Mine was more of a delivery. Shut the hell up. I didn’t need to glance at Ryker to know his was more of a fess up before I make you.
Full Blood (Wyrd Blood Book 2) Page 11
