by Laken Cane
She yanked open the door and strode out, punching a guard who was about to hit Levi over the back of the head with a baton.
The twins were battling half a dozen guards who apparently the secretary, huddled and trembling beneath her desk, had summoned.
“Stop,” the warden yelled, and her men immediately lurched away from the twins. “They’re leaving. Make sure they find the exit doors.”
Then she turned, stomped back into her office, and slammed the door behind her.
“Let’s go,” Rune told the twins, and answered her phone. “Ellie, everything okay?”
“God, Rune, no,” he cried.
And in the background, Rune heard…
Chaos.
The nurse was shouting, men were yelling, and Raze, she was sure it was Raze, was roaring incomprehensible orders.
But above all that, one sound drilled into her brain and terrified her like nothing else in her life had ever terrified her.
The sound of her baby screaming.
Chapter Twenty-Five
She ran.
With the assassin’s blood and sheer terror powering her, she raced home.
All the way back to River County.
Back to her child.
When she burst through the doorway of her house, complete silence greeted her. That, and Raze.
He grabbed her shoulders as she looked wildly around, unable to comprehend that Kader wasn’t there. “What?” she cried. “What?”
“Medics took her to the Annex, Rune,” Raze said. “Listen to me.”
“What the fuck happened? Is she okay? Where is she, Raze?”
“Rune, shut up.” He shook her once, hard. “She’s not dead.”
“Of course she’s not dead,” she shouted. “What happened?”
Raze stared at her, silent, until finally she took a deep, deep breath, sank to the couch, and forced herself quiet.
“Tell me,” she whispered, finally.
He squatted down before her and took her shaking hands. “Ellie picked her up and…”
His unintentional pause. That horrible pause.
She said nothing but felt like her eyes, dry and wide, were going to pop from their sockets.
“She was…uh…she was burned by Ellie’s silver chains, Rune.”
“Burned?”
“She…” He swallowed and for a moment, his stare wavered. He did not want to tell her. He told her anyway. “She burst into flames. It was as though she were a vampire left in the sun.”
Rune nodded and stood. Her legs, shaking and weak, refused to hold her and she sat back down. “Take me to her, Raze.”
The long, exhausting run, coupled with the fear, had taken all she had. She needed to feed, but she couldn’t feed from Raze.
He stood and grabbed her, then slung her over his shoulder. Without another word, he jogged to his truck, tossed her inside, then ran to his side of the truck.
He called the Annex as he drove. “I’m on my way with her. Tell Eugene.”
The drive to the Annex took a million years.
It gave her time to recover somewhat, though, and by the time they finally arrived, she was able to enter the Annex under her own steam.
Her crew—except for the twins—was waiting.
No one said anything. They fell in beside her as she sprinted to the small in-house hospital. The Annex had saved Kader once.
They’d do it again.
Of course Kader would be fine.
Eugene was waiting outside the medical double doors. “Rune.” He grabbed her arm to keep her from racing by him. “Wait.”
“I don’t want to wait,” she said, her voice breathy and full of uncertainty. “I want to see my kid.”
Bill was suddenly there as well, and he took her other arm. “You need to be prepared, dear. She looks very, very bad.”
She couldn’t breathe, again. “God,” she whispered, and pushed her knuckles against her lips. The pain helped.
She knew what happened when a vampire—even a part vampire—touched silver. The vampire’s flesh blackened and melted at the contact sites. The longer the exposure, the worse the burns. Pain descended.
But apparently Kader took after her mother. Nothing was going to be exactly as it was for other sensitive beings. She’d burst into flames.
That was what had happened to her baby.
They didn’t need to tell her, to prepare her.
She fucking knew what Kader would look like. Black, bloody, raw.
But Kader had been touched by silver before. It had been one of the things they’d tested her for before she’d even come home from the hospital.
“She’s changing,” she told Bill. She had no idea if he understood what she meant, and it didn’t matter. She wasn’t speaking to him anyway. “She’s changing and her sensitivity to silver has just manifested.”
“Yes,” he said.
And the sun, what of the sun?
Would she become sensitive to that bright orb of light eventually, as well? Would she be forced to live in darkness forever?
“You lost your sensitivities,” Bill said. “She will lose hers. You’ll see.”
“I was never that sensitive,” she whispered.
“Rune,” Jack said, “the twins are on the way. You can feed.”
But first…
First she had to see the child.
“Where’s Ellie?” she asked.
Bill shook his head. “He ran out of here. He won’t go far. I’ll send someone to check on him.”
She nodded, and turned to walk through the doors. That time, no one stopped her.
“Mr. Parish,” a man yelled, and just as Eugene stepped through the doors, Rune at his side, three gowned men and four nurses ran to meet them. “Quickly, sir.”
“What has happened?” Eugene asked, as he and Rune followed the running medical personnel.
“I don’t know,” one of the doctors said. “I really don’t.”
Rune wanted to faint. Dark spots weaved and danced with streaks of light behind her eyes, so heavy and thick she could barely see anything else. She wanted to grab one of the doctors by the throat and force him to talk, but she couldn’t.
She couldn’t.
Roma steadied her on one side, and Jack on the other.
And they bore her along to see what new horror had befallen the tiny one-year-old baby.
“I’m coming,” she whispered. “I’m coming, Kader.”
She heard Kader before she saw her.
The baby was crying.
Rune’s heart lightened just the slightest.
If she was able to cry…
The doctors burst into the baby’s ward, then into her room, and suddenly there was a confusion of too many voices, beeping machines, hot lights, and crying.
Jack squeezed her arm.
The dozen or so people in scrubs parted for her, and she got her first glimpse of the baby.
Kader was sitting up in the hospital bed, staring up at all the strangers, sobbing like her little heart was breaking.
The second she saw Rune she held up her arms. “Mama, get me,” she yelled. “Mama, okay.”
There wasn’t a mark on her.
And then the cacophony of voices began to penetrate her brain and she heard what the doctors were saying.
Kader had been brought in burned to the bone.
And there she was, demanding to be picked up, completely healed.
Gauze, bandages, tape, and other medical paraphernalia was scattered around her, and an IV line was running into her arm. And the only evidence that she’d recently been a severely burned little girl was her singed, uneven hair, hanging fuzzily around her face instead of cascading down her back.
Her skin was as perfect as it’d always been.
Rune rushed to the bed and snatched the baby into her arms, unaware she was crying until Kader ran her fat little palm over Rune’s cheek. She then studied her red-stained hand as though it were the most interesting thing she’d ever
seen.
The crew gathered around her, silent and stunned.
They’d all witnessed Rune’s ability to heal herself. But sometimes her injured body had required intravenous blood, hours—if not days—to heal, and once in a while, she’d slid into an actual coma while her body mended itself.
Rune spoke over the doctors. “Did you give her blood?”
They didn’t appear to hear her, but kept speaking to Eugene and each other, with raised voices and wild gestures.
Roma put her hands on her hips, angry that Rune was being ignored. “Did you give her blood,” she shouted.
They stopped talking at once. “No,” one of the nurses said, rushing to Rune’s side. “She had no blood. One minute she was…” She shook her head, the horror of that memory in her eyes, then she rushed on. “And then she was this. It’s as if it never happened.”
But it had happened, and Kader remembered.
“I got hurt,” she said, her huge blue eyes solemn. “Poof!”
Rune hugged her close, then covered her face with kisses. “I am so sorry, sweetheart. All better now.”
“All better, okay,” Kader agreed. “I want Elwie.”
“We’ll go get him for you,” Rune said. She looked at the nurse. “Get her some clothes. Gown, whatever. I’m taking her home.”
The twins rushed through the doorway. They’d likely been told of the horrific accident, because when they caught sight of the baby in Rune’s arms, their eyes widened in disbelief.
Rune needed to feed. The moment she saw them, her hunger roared over her and she staggered back, coming up against Jack’s solid form.
Yes, she needed to feed. But she wasn’t going to, not right then. She had to find Ellis and let him hold Kader. Kader would help him.
“Was Ellie hurt?” Levi asked.
“Shit,” Rune murmured. She looked at Raze. “Was he?”
Raze nodded. “He has some burns. He wouldn’t allow anyone to tend him.”
The nurse brought Kader a tiny gown that was still a few sizes too large, and after she tied the strings securely, the woman kissed Kader’s cheek.
Then Rune left Eugene and Bill discussing her powerful baby with the excited doctors as she and her crew went to find Kader’s Elwie.
Chapter Twenty-Six
They found Ellis in the tiny chapel.
It was a dark, peaceful room situated between the cafeteria and the locker rooms, and the only person inside the room was their quietly devastated Ellis.
He was on his knees, his burned hands over his face, and he mumbled words no one could comprehend as he prayed to his God to save the baby who’d burned by touching his silver jewelry. By touching his fear.
Levi walked to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Ellie.”
Ellis didn’t acknowledge Levi at all.
“Ellis,” Levi told him. “Someone wants to see you.”
Nothing.
Levi straightened and looked at Rune.
She sighed, kissed Kader’s forehead, then set the child on her feet. “Go get him, kiddo.”
Kader didn’t hesitate. She tripped her way straight to Ellis. She put her chubby arms as far as she could around him. “Get me,” she said. “Okay.”
Ellis dropped his hands and jerked around so fast he nearly toppled the baby. For a second, as she wobbled on her feet and stared up at him, there was something in his face that let Rune know he thought he’d lost his mind.
No matter what he’d seen over the years.
No matter what he’d helped Rune live through.
He could not believe his eyes.
Spooked, he jumped to his feet.
“It’s real, Ellie,” she said, gently. She went to stand beside her best friend and her daughter. “She healed herself. She’s fine.”
His mouth open, he looked from Kader to Rune and back again. “She’s…”
Kader lifted her arms. “Get me. Get me up.”
Ellis thumped his chest, his fingers scrabbling frantically as he made sure the chains were no longer there. He’d have nightmares. He’d have panic attacks. He’d watch the movie inside his mind over and over again as baby Kader burned.
But right then, he plucked the child off the floor and into his arms, and held her so tightly she squealed. And he wasn’t letting go.
“Let’s go home,” Rune said.
When she walked through her front door, Rune flinched at the scent of scorched flesh that lingered.
“I’ll take care of that,” Ellis said, and ten minutes later he’d lit six apple pie scented candles and sprayed a can of something that smelled like autumn leaves, or so he insisted.
Rune didn’t have the heart to tell him that the burning candles and can of chemicals didn’t cover anything up—they just added to it.
“I’ll order dinner in,” Denim said, and disappeared into the kitchen.
Grim slinked into the living room from the kitchen, and took a moment to sniff the small girl before he stretched out in front of the TV.
Rune’s cell phone rang almost nonstop, and finally, she put it on silent.
“Ellis,” Rune said. “Come here and let me see your burns.”
“I’m fine,” he said. “I’m just fine.”
But he wasn’t. Levi grasped his arm. “Let’s play doctor,” he said, and as he led Ellis away, she heard Ellie laugh.
And that was good to hear.
Full of energy, Kader played and laughed and behaved like nothing terrible had ever happened to her. And Rune couldn’t take her stare off the kid.
We almost lost her, Z.
They all sat in the living room to eat their dinner, surrounding Kader with a circle of subtle protection, and gradually, they began to relax.
And while no one said a word about the accident, Roma and Denim walked the house, making sure there were no silver items anywhere that could harm the child.
Kader wasn’t just sensitive to silver. It went way beyond sensitivity. And if she didn’t outgrow it, her enemies wouldn’t have to work too hard to destroy her.
“Kader. Ready for a bubble bath?” Rune asked, once dinner was over.
“No,” Kader said. “No bath.” But she got up and tottered from the room and toward the bathroom, Rune right behind her.
Ten minutes after Kader was happily splashing away in her warm bath, Roma stuck her head around the doorframe. “Bill called. Jett Ramsey just killed the manager of an all-night convenience store in the city. An hour before that, he killed a woman on—”
“I don’t care, Roma.” Rune rinsed the shampoo from Kader’s burnt hair.
Roma withdrew without another word.
But later, when she’d returned to the living room with a clean baby in soft, pink pajamas, Rune found that she did care, a little.
She sat beside Roma on the couch. “Catch me up.” Then she squeezed the baby and nuzzled the top of her head, inhaling deeply. The kid smelled of baby powder and fruity shampoo. The ashy scent that had lingered in her hair was gone.
Kader squirmed out of Rune’s arms and went to Grim. She plopped down on top of him, closed her eyes, and went immediately to sleep.
Rune laughed. The kid was fearless.
“Three people tonight,” Roma said. “Two men and one woman. One was a store manager, as I said. The woman worked at a coffee shop downtown. The other man was twenty years old and unemployed. He lived in his sister’s basement. No connection between them has been found.”
“There’s a connection,” Rune said. “Ramsey isn’t killing random people.” She took her cell off the coffee table and called Eugene. She needed to give him the name of the doctor she’d gotten from the warden.
That little trip seemed like a million years ago. “Denim,” she called, and he walked in from the kitchen just as Eugene answered his phone. “I’ll need you when I finish this call.”
He nodded and plopped down in the recliner with the TV remote.
“Gerald Stavish,” she told Eugene. “That’s all the info
rmation I got from the warden. The doctor’s name is Gerald Stavish.”
“I’ll put some people on it, and I’m bringing the warden to the Annex for further…questioning.”
“No sign of Ramsey?”
“No. He killed the three people earlier and disappeared. We’re working with HLE to check cameras, question witnesses, the usual.”
“We’ll get him.”
“And this doctor. Do we believe the doctor is controlling him?”
“We’re beginning to.”
“Asshole.”
“We could use your help.”
“I’ll be back there tomorrow.”
“I’m very glad to hear that!” He paused. “How’s Kader?”
“She’s perfect. Sleeping.”
“I’ve never seen such a powerful child in all my years of working with gifted Others, Rune.”
“We knew she would be special.”
“She certainly is. I’m certain the silver allergy will disappear as quickly as it presented.”
“That’s the hope. Goodnight, Eugene.”
“Goodnight.”
She was beyond exhausted. When she hung up and tossed her cell to the coffee table, Denim left his chair and sat down beside her. “Feed, then get some sleep.”
She nodded, too tired to argue. Mentally tired. A child in crisis would do that to a person. “I don’t know if I can handle this motherhood shit, dude.”
He laughed. “You’re handling it fine. I remember the way it made me feel when Lex was in trouble. Kicked my ass.” He sobered quickly, and his eyes darkened with pain. “She wasn’t my kid, but sometimes I felt like she was.”
Rune damned Lex all over again. “Fuck her,” she murmured, realizing suddenly why Denim had been looking so troubled. He couldn’t get the little Other off his mind. Losing her had devastated him.
And he needed to mourn the loss.
“It was the blindness more than anything, I think,” he said. “She’d be blind all over again. Can’t really blame her.”
She wrapped her arms around him, dropped her fangs against his neck, and began to feed. The feeding would help both of them.
Afterward, her mind and body still tired but in a good, heavy, almost drugged way, she picked up Kader to carry her to bed.
