by Laken Cane
They were Shiv Crew.
It was what they did.
The wolves that hadn’t been severely injured shifted to human form to carry their wounded to cars they’d parked near the area.
But Rune held up a hand to halt them. When they all gave her their attention she grabbed Chris’s arm and pulled him to her side. “This man is your alpha. He has proven himself this night.” She turned to Chris. “They’re yours.”
He swallowed, then nodded. “Do you agree with her?” he asked the wolves.
Finally, they murmured assent.
“If you need me, any of you, ever, I will be there for you. Just because I’m not your alpha doesn’t mean I’m not your friend.” She waited until they nodded, then turned away.
It was over.
“Drag that piece of shit to your truck, Jack. I’ll follow you to RISC to turn him over to Elizabeth. She’ll know how to get information from him.”
“Elizabeth Peel?” Z asked, grabbing one of the vampire’s legs to help Jack drag him from the clearing. “She’s a desk lady.”
Rune wiped gore from her face. “No. No, she’s not. Inside her chest beats a heart of stone, boys.”
“What makes you think so?” Jack asked.
He looked tired. She couldn’t help but wonder if every time he fought he feared the loss of his remaining eye. “I don’t know,” she finally answered. And she didn’t. It was just a feeling. Elizabeth Peel wouldn’t flinch when she needed to get her hands dirty.
Jack’s truck was parked near her car and she let them worry about loading the vampire into the back while she went to console Ellis. He’d be worried sick and scared out of his mind.
But when she opened her door and peered inside, she couldn’t, for one moment, speak.
Ellis wasn’t there.
But in his seat was a note.
Llodra had Ellis.
Chapter Nineteen
Thank you, he’d written, for making it so easy for me.
That was all.
He’d found the paper and pen in her glove box, and the note screamed with evil glee. Llodra was having fun.
And she was fucking tired of it.
She punched the hood of her car until Z pulled her into his arms, then she shoved him away and screamed curses at the sky.
“Rune,” Jack said. “Calm the fuck down.”
“Oh God,” she cried. “Ellis can’t take that vampire shit. We have to find him.” She grabbed Jack’s arm. “We have to find him, Jack.”
His face was stony. “We’ll fucking find him.” But the look in his eye said he didn’t believe it.
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. She heard an insistent buzzing as though a hundred bees had built nests inside her skull. She shook her head, trying to make it stop.
She should never have brought Ellis here…she should have just kept the wolves.
Too late. Once again she’d made the wrong decision.
Now Llodra had Matthew and Ellis.
She spotted the bag of blood in the floor, where, obviously, Ellis had dropped it in his terror.
Tearing it open, she held the bag to her lips and downed the blood. When it was empty she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and turned to Jack and Z, who were staring into the darkness.
“Okay, boys. We have a vampire. Let’s see what we can get out of him.” They followed her to Jack’s truck where the vampire lay, silvered.
Llodra could be anywhere and she knew how slim the chances were of finding him. But he had Matthew, and he had her Ellie. She was not going to give up.
Ellis wouldn’t have given up on her.
“What would I do without you, Ellie?”
“I don’t know, probably die.”
She grabbed the vampire by his foot and dragged him out of the truck bed, grim with determination. And she was not in the mood to waste time.
Jack draped silver wire back over the vampire’s arms and legs and that bastard wasn’t going anywhere.
She pulled a silver shiv from its sheath and without a word, plunged it into his throat. “I will make you want to die,” she said, talking loudly to be heard over his shrieks, “but I won’t take your head and give you death. I want to know where Llodra is. You have five seconds to tell me.”
He only screamed.
She pulled the shiv from his throat to let the wound close and slid the blade into his right eye. “Five seconds.”
He continued to scream.
She pulled the knife from his eye. “The next one is going into your dick. You have five seconds.” She scraped the blade over his ribs, down his stomach, and to his genitals.
“Shit,” Z whispered, and backed a couple of steps away.
“I don’t know,” the vampire shrieked, his skin smoking from the silver melting into it. “I don’t know.”
She unbuttoned his fly and pulled out his penis, holding it with one hand as she put the point of the shiv at the head. “I’m going to slice your cock in half, dude. You have five seconds.” She began to cut, slowly, gently, giving him time to reconsider his answer. “Three seconds.”
“I’ll tell,” he screamed. “Oh please, stop, I’ll tell.”
She pulled the knife away from his bleeding genitals. Her mind was numb. “Tell me.”
Even later, when she thought about it, she didn’t know how he moved. Fear of the master must have given him super strength and speed. He jerked the blade from her hand and plunged it into his heart, staking himself.
Then there was just silence.
Rune stared sightlessly into the dark. “I don’t know what else to do.”
Sure, he could come back, in days or weeks, if they didn’t take his head. If they buried him in the ground. But there was no time to wait for him to heal.
“I don’t know what else to do,” she repeated.
Z, his face pale in the moonlight, pulled Rune’s shiv from the vampire’s chest. He pulled the strands of silver wire from the body. Last, he took the vampire’s head.
No one said a word.
There was nothing to say.
She finally noticed the glowing eyes of the wolves as they watched from the edge of the trees. In seconds, they melted away, going to tend to their dead and injured. They couldn’t help her.
She’d lost her control, her reason for being Shiv Crew leader. She was only a woman who had lost her way, who had failed her people.
And the old Rune took hold. She forgot the doctors, the promises, and the changes. If she’d been alone she would have hurt herself. But she wasn’t alone.
Jack and Z stood on either side of her, silent but watchful, no idea of the turmoil inside her mind.
“We have to do something,” Jack said.
“Split up?” asked Z.
“Yes,” Rune answered. “Split up. Search. Find me fucking Llodra.” She took off, her booted feet kicking up clumps of dirt and leaves as she ran into the night.
“But I can tell you this—the master will hide where you will not expect him to hide. In the open, in the last place you would think to look.”
The trees of Hawthorne were blurs as she ran past them, deeper and deeper into the forest. Hold on, boys. I will save you.
Somehow.
But hours later she dragged herself back to her truck, despair exhausting her. She had found no trace of the master. Neither had her men.
They’d questioned at least one member of every group in River County, but no one could tell them anything.
But the vampires had to come out at night to feed. They had to feed. Why, then, were they not being seen by someone?
Elizabeth called as Rune was leaving Hawthorne Ridge. The woman got less sleep than Rune did.
“Rune,” she said. “Three humans have gone missing—the first one disappeared the night I sanctioned the purge. I just got the report.”
“That’s how Llodra is feeding his coven.”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Of course it is. He sent his people to th
e fight tonight. I never thought he’d show himself but he was there while I was occupied.”
“I’m so sorry about Ellis.”
“Yeah.”
“He’s here somewhere. He can’t just disappear.”
But Rune was beginning to wonder.
“Go home, Rune. Get some sleep.”
The worst thing she could have done was go home. Being alone with her thoughts was a nightmare she wasn’t willing to face.
She hung up and thought about calling Strad, but changed her mind. Strad was mad at the world right then, and whether he wanted to admit it or not—even to himself—part of him blamed her because Llodra had taken his son.
She should have killed Llodra when she had the chance. Gunnar had warned her about choices.
As usual, she’d made the wrong ones.
Who else would the vampire take before she caught him?
The night had come and gone, the search netting her only more frustration. She got a large coffee and sat in a deserted parking lot drinking it.
Hawthorne was cursed.
Or she was.
Her house had burned to the ground, but she wished that fire was the only thing she had to worry about. Funny how life had a way of putting things in perspective.
There was nothing from the house that would have survived the fire. No treasure lying charred and pathetic among the ashes—
And it hit her, just that quickly, where Llodra was hiding.
“Oh fuck me.”
Hands shaking, she started the engine and broke every speed limit posted as she drove to her destroyed house. Please, please, let them be there.
She parked across the street, jumping out almost before the car completely stopped, neglecting to shut her door behind her.
She picked her way hurriedly over unrecognizable heaps of burned wood and rubble. The back of the house still stood, listing dangerously, a hollowed out skeleton beneath which, she hoped, lay Ellis and Matthew.
There were no scents of vampires that she caught, but then she realized that would have been another reason for Llodra choosing this spot. It would have been nearly impossible for her or any of the Others to catch his scent with the soot, ash, and chemicals overpowering everything else.
She slipped and went down, hard. She held her breath as she listened for stirring vampires. A piece of glass had sliced into her palm but she barely felt the pain.
Her lungs wanted to expel the chemicals and soot she inhaled, but she forced herself not to cough. Would a cough wake Llodra? Probably not.
But she wasn’t taking any fucking chances.
She heard a car start as one of the neighbors left for work. The world outside the burnt haven for vampires began to wake up.
She felt them now.
Their scents might have been smothered by the charred remains of her house, but the feel of them, they couldn’t hide that. Not from her.
She wiped her bloody palm on her pants and pulled her cell from her jacket pocket. Her vgun was still holstered and she planned on using the fuck out of the weapon that morning.
She called Raze, knowing he was probably just going to sleep but she needed her crew. Llodra was mad and he was old, and he wasn’t going to behave like a normal vampire.
If a young vampire woke up, he or she would be sluggish and most likely easily staked. If Llodra woke up, there could be trouble. He might also rouse his children.
She wasn’t taking any chances.
“Yeah,” Raze answered.
“I’m at my house,” she replied, her voice low. “I think—I’m sure—the vampires are in the basement. I need you. Grab a couple of the guys and—”
“On it.” He hung up.
She couldn’t wait for them, and Raze knew that. He would tear up the highway getting to her.
Carefully she climbed to her feet, then unholstered her vgun. Time to play.
“I’m coming for you, Llodra,” she whispered. If Ellie and Matthew were in the basement with the vampires, she was bringing them out. No matter what.
Her basement was an ancient half-basement, full of darkness and crawling things and spider webs. The door had been in the floor.
Finally, she stood where the basement door had once been. It was half covered by a pile of boards. She grasped a thick canvas they’d pulled over the door and pulled it back. She peered into the gaping blackness and the presence of the undead seeped into her pores and covered her mind with a slimy, oily film.
They were there.
Barely breathing, she eased her flashlight from her pocket and clicked it on, then shined it into the hole.
The old wooden stairs looked even more dangerous than usual, but she didn’t hesitate. Those stairs were the only way into the basement.
She hoped they would hold as she crept down them. Falling into a nest of vampires was not on her bucket list.
Trying to ignore the ominous creaking, she kept her light on and went alone into the black basement. She could smell them now, amid the dampness and mold, the animal droppings and old blood. The lingering fragrance of the fire was merely an accompaniment to the strong scent of vampire.
Her fangs dropped in response, but she held back her claws. She wanted the feel of her deadly vgun in her grip.
An eternity later she stepped off the bottom step. She restrained herself from calling Ellie’s name. The first thing she had to do was see if Llodra slept in the basement.
She flashed her light over the unmoving forms of the vampires. They lay in uniform lines with no spaces between them, spreading like giant, malignant tumors across the floor.
In the darkness, broken only by the thin beam of her flashlight, one lump was indistinguishable from the other. Any one of them could have been the child or Ellis.
The stench was almost unmanageable. Something had died down here, and she had no doubts about what that something had been.
From above came the welcome sounds of car doors slamming. Her crew had arrived. They were not rookies and knew enough to be quiet when they entered—but even as she thought it she heard the sound of footsteps running with reckless abandon through her ruined house.
Not Strad. If he’d have been running what remained of the house would probably have collapsed beneath him.
She stayed still, waiting, but continued to shine her light across the bodies. Llodra, because he was master, would have placed himself apart from his children if the level of danger hadn’t been so high. Maybe he would have slept with a favorite curled against him, but he wouldn’t be lying with the others.
Now, however, he would most likely be lying in the center with the bodies of his vampires giving him some sort of meager protection.
She cringed when one of the men clattered down the delicate stairs. She clenched her teeth and turned toward the offender.
Levi stepped into the basement, a hand to his chest. His face was so pale it gleamed in the darkness.
She frowned and motioned him toward her with her light. When he stood beside her she whispered, “Too much fucking noise.”
His hands trembled when he held his vgun toward the slumbering vampires. He nodded. “Sorry. Ellis?”
Then she understood his panic and lack of caution. She stuck her light in a loop on her belt, then squeezed his arm. “Look for Llodra first. He’ll control the others and we need to secure him.”
Again, he nodded, and they began moving slowly, methodically searching. And that restraint was hard on both of them.
The other men entered the basement silently, but she could feel their energy—hope, eagerness, and the desire to kill the fucking vampires.
She looked up when one of the men flashed his light, off and on in quick succession. Llodra had been found.
Her heart beat with painful thuds as she picked her way toward the corner. Llodra lay with a vampire on either side of him, still as death.
Could it really be that easy?
Was it over?
She gave a nod to Z, who quickly silvered Llodra with e
nough of the stuff to deep even the strongest vampire from breaking free.
And just like that, Llodra was theirs.
Chapter Twenty
The pain must have awakened him, but his thin howls of agony did nothing to stir his children as Shiv Crew quietly and quickly slew them.
Strad, tearing the place apart in his search for Matthew, was the one who found Ellis.
Llodra had tied and gagged Ellis and turned him on his stomach. Ellis was under a table in the darkest corner of the basement, a filthy rag tied around his eyes.
When Strad pulled him into his arms Ellis began struggling and trying to scream, until Rune ripped the blindfold off so he could see her.
“It’s us, baby,” she whispered, and wrapped her arms around both Ellis and Strad. He was alive.
Levi tugged her away. “Let me…” He flipped his long braid over his shoulder and pulled Ellis out of Strad’s arms.
After Strad handed Ellis over, he continued silently on his desperate search for Matthew.
From behind her came the sounds of the crew staking vampires. The thwack! of the vguns, followed by the thick slicing sounds of blades cutting through delicate necks.
Levi lowered himself to the floor and cradled Ellis, whose strangled voice broke through the gag. Rune gently cut it from his mouth and discovered that Llodra had stuffed a ball of cloth into Ellis’s mouth before tying the dirty rag over his lips and securing it behind his head.
Levi pulled the cloth from his mouth as Rune freed his hands. Ellis groaned. “I can’t move my arms,” he mumbled, his voice still oddly muffled. “My ears, Rune.”
Llodra had stuffed thick, twisted bits of what looked like sponge deep into Ellis’s ear canals. Rune gently pulled them out, grinding her teeth.
Bound, blind, and deaf, Ellis had been shoved terrified into the dark and…
“Oh fuck me,” Rune whispered, getting Levi’s attention. She dropped her gaze to Ellis’s neck where her light had picked up three sets of fang marks. They’d fed on him.
Llodra hadn’t meant to kill Ellis.
She glanced at the restrained vampire, who had been silently watching them.
He smiled.
She was on her feet and walking toward him before she realized she’d even risen.
