by Laken Cane
“Okay.” She blew out a long breath. One thing at a time. “Okay. We have to figure out who she has with her. The man who called me is…angry. He wants me, Sylvia wants her mother. We need to find them and take them out.”
“You should’ve traded him for that information,” Raze told Eugene.
“He said he didn’t know,” Eugene said. “He was lying, of course.”
“Could be anyone,” Rune muttered. “There are a hell of a lot of people who want to capture me.”
“I’ll need a list of any enemies you can think of,” Logan said, speaking for the first time. “There are a lot of captures and kills in your file. It’d be helpful if you could narrow it down.”
Rune curled her lip, staring at the other woman incredulously.
“You forget who you’re talking to.” Bill lifted his cup to his lips, hiding a smile.
Logan looked at the small stack of papers in front of her, uncharacteristically subdued. “Enemies who were young boys, though. You can list those?”
“Yeah,” Rune said. “I guess. I’ll email the names to you tonight.”
“Where are you going?” Bill asked, walking with her and the crew to the door.
“Wormwood. Gunnar knows things. If Sylvia is already in River County, he might know where she’s hiding.”
Roma straightened her shoulders and gave a quick, decisive nod. “We haven’t killed anyone today. It’d be good to rectify that situation.”
Logan stood. “Killers,” she shrilled. “The Annex is supposed to be the good guys.” She spoke to Eugene but pointed at Shiv Crew. “Yet we hire stone-cold killers.”
Bill turned to her, frowning. “What is wrong with you lately, Logan?”
“Maybe I’m a little sick at realizing the Annex is no better than the Next or the Shop. Maybe I don’t want to work for people who think nothing of torturing their prisoners or murdering human beings.”
“That’s enough,” Eugene thundered.
Logan looked at Rune. “He tortures Lee Crane,” she said. “Did you know that?”
Rune put her hands on her hips. “Is it possible that you have no idea of the things that woman has done as leader of the Next?”
“So you think it’s okay,” Logan murmured, nodding. “You really are a monster.”
Roma narrowed her eyes and took a step toward Logan, but Rune stopped her with a touch. “You don’t belong here,” she told Logan. “You never did.”
Then she walked out of the room, her silent crew at her back.
But all the way to Wormwood, images of a tortured old woman battered her brain.
Chapter Six
Jack and Raze rode with Rune to Wormwood.
She sent Denim and Roma back to the house to check on Kader—her gut was beginning to stir, and despite the fact that there were a couple of ops guarding her house, as well as Grim, she wanted them to check.
They’d meet her back at the Annex.
Strad had gotten into his car and driven off without a word to any of them. That was okay. She didn’t need him in Wormwood anyway.
She wasn’t holding out much hope that Gunnar could give her the answers she needed, but she was absolutely certain that if anyone could, it was the ghoul.
He knew a hell of a lot about things that went on in the city—especially for a guy who never left the graveyard.
The scent of bitter, acrid smoke still hung over the cemetery from its last attack by humans. The place had become dismal and eerie with its blackened trees and burnt, patchy grounds.
Gunnar was waiting.
There was a mystical, invisible line connecting them. He knew when she needed him, or when she was on her way to see him—and almost every time he was waiting for her when she walked through the main gates.
That time, he wasn’t alone.
“Dawn,” Rune said, giving the female ghoul a nod. She had no idea where the woman had been, and didn’t care enough to ask.
She slid a Baby Ruth candy bar from her pocket and tossed it to Gunnar. “I need some information, Gunnar.”
He caught the candy, gave it a quick sniff, then tucked it away inside the tattered outfit he wore. “I’m aware, Your Highness.”
“Ask your questions,” Dawn said. “He will tell you what he can.” She draped herself around the tall, skinny Gunnar, and her long, blonde hair floated around his skinny shoulders like a protective cloak.
“Stay out of this, Dawn,” Rune said.
Dawn put her nose into the air. “What touches him also touches me.”
Rune clenched her fists. “I’d like to touch you.”
Dawn curled her lip. “You have a wild heart and a wicked soul. That is the only reason I’m allowing you to live.”
Rune laughed—she couldn’t help it. And that made her a little less anxious.
She held out a hand, and after a millisecond of hesitation, Gunnar took it. There’d been a time when he’d have simply turned away.
“Tell me what you know,” he said.
Jack and Raze stood silently behind her, alert for danger, though Wormwood had been nearly emptied of Others. She concentrated on Gunnar and let the men worry about her back.
She repeated every word the man had spoken to her, then told him what Sylvia had said.
And when she fell silent, Gunnar studied her with a mixture of pity and exasperation. Finally, he tilted his head, his shiny black eyes similar to a crow’s. “Remember when you gave me my first candy bar.”
“What does a fucking candy bar have to with what I just told you?”
“It wasn’t a question,” Dawn snapped. “Remember, Rune Alexander.”
Rune narrowed her eyes. “We were chasing a man through Wormwood. He…” Then she stiffened. “Fuck me.”
“I remember,” Jack said, and when she glanced around, Raze was nodding as well.
“The fuck was the kid’s name?” Raze growled.
“Ben,” Rune said. “Ben Fleming. It was his father we chased through Wormwood. He was determined to kill the boy. Said he was born evil.”
“We should have let him,” Raze said.
“He burned people when he touched them,” Jack murmured. “Killed his baby sister.”
“He burned Ellis,” Rune said, closing her eyes in a long, slow blink. “It’s him. That’s the guy, Gunnar?”
Gunnar inclined his head. “He told you who he was, Rune. You were too upset to hear him.”
“You knew I wasn’t evil. You shoved me into that room and gave me to the bad guys.”
She felt the blood drain from her face. He was right.
She’d turned him over to Jeremy almost without a second thought. No, no, that was wrong. She’d had plenty of second thoughts. She’d known Jeremy.
And then Jeremy had “lost” the boy.
“Motherfucker,” she whispered.
That was how Reign would end up being Kader’s enemy.
That was how.
If no one cared.
“Do you have any idea where he might be hiding out, Gunnar?” she asked. “Or if he’s here yet?”
“No. But he is not inside Wormwood.”
She closed her eyes. Despite the blood, despite the bite, she was…
She was tired.
Gunnar called her back before she stepped through the gates.
“There is something for you,” he said. “Maybe it will help you…” He patted his chest. “In here.”
Her heart leapt. “Something to help with Ben?”
“No,” he said, gently. “Not that.”
“What is it, Gunnar?” Jack asked, impatient.
“Come.” Gunnar ambled away, and Dawn flitted ahead of him like a demented butterfly. Rune threw up her hands and followed them.
After ten minutes, Gunnar stopped outside a small, crumbling building. “Wait here.”
“Gunnar, hurry up. I need to get this information to the Annex.”
He wasn’t long. He ducked into the old building then emerged almost immediately with
a package. The wrapping was wrinkled paper that had once been white, tied with a piece of hairy twine.
He held it out to her. “This is yours.”
She couldn’t bring herself to touch it. “What is it?”
“Nothing sinister,” he told her. “Please, Your Finickiness. It will not harm you.”
“Why are you giving it to me now?” she asked.
He lifted his chin. “Because now is when you need it.”
“Rune.” Jack snatched the package from Gunnar when she made no move to take it. “Let’s go.”
But she had one more question for the ghoul. “The gift from the edge of hell, Gunnar. There were three people who came through. Which one should I have sent back?” She licked the dryness from her lips. “The berserker?”
And for once, Gunnar simply answered her question. “You could have sent any of the three back and saved yourself from pain. But it is the child who comes from the edge of hell, Rune. And it is she who will hurt you the most.”
She pressed her fist against her heart as gooseflesh covered her body. “I can handle a little pain.”
Maybe he was telling her the truth. Maybe he wasn’t.
She turned without a look at any of them and ran back the way she’d come. The package…it could have been anything.
And she had a feeling it was going to hurt, no matter what Gunnar said.
When she made it back to her car she called Eugene.
“Rune,” he said, when he picked up. “Any revelations in Wormwood?”
“I have his name. When he was a kid I apprehended him and turned him over to Jeremy Cross, who was head of RISC at the time. Jeremy…” She shook her head. “He told me the boy disappeared, that he didn’t know what happened to him. He auctioned the kid off to someone. If he’s with Sylvia, he must have been sold to the Next.”
A long forgotten memory of the boy begging her for help echoed through her mind, so sudden and intense it took her breath.
“I don’t know who I am. Somebody help me.”
Why the fuck had she left him there? With Jeremy?
Eugene’s voice yanked her back into the present. “Name?”
“Ben Fleming. He’d be around twenty-six or twenty-seven now, I think. He blames me for whatever hell he went through after I turned him over to Jeremy, and he’s out for revenge. He’s going to—”
“Rune,” he said, gently. “I know. We’ll catch him.”
“My gut is screaming, Eugene. We have to catch him before he fucks with my crew.”
“We will.”
She took a deep breath, then started the car as Raze wedged himself into the backseat. Jack climbed in beside her, then turned and tossed the package into the back.
It’d be there when she was ready to open it.
Chapter Seven
The twins and Roma were waiting inside the main entrance, and they weren’t alone. Strad leaned against the wall just inside the doors, his arms crossed.
He raked her with a sharp, concerned stare before his face relaxed into softer lines. Strad before the unkind path missed little. The Strad who watched her now missed nothing.
She gave him a nod, her skin blistering beneath the heat of his gaze. “Berserker.”
He said nothing, but didn’t stop watching her.
“Should you be out of bed?” she asked Levi. “You look like shit.”
“I was losing my mind up there,” he told her, forcing a grin.
He did look like shit, but she was sure he felt much worse than he looked—and that was saying something.
“Where’s Ellie?” she asked.
“He’s cleaning the room and changing my bed while I’m up.” He leaned against the wall, trying not to look like he needed to.
“They have people for that,” she murmured, pulling out her cell phone.
“Yeah,” he answered, “but you know Ellie.”
“We learned some things in Wormwood. I’ll catch everybody up when we go upstairs. But first, we’re going to grab Ellie and go visit baby Reign.”
“Reign?”
“I named her,” Jack said, smiling. Proud.
Denim shook his head. “You go if you want. We’re not.”
Jack frowned. “What? Why not?”
Rune tightened her lips and glared at the twins. “You’re fucking coming with me to see this kid.”
Levi blew out a hard breath, glanced at Denim, then shrugged. “It won’t change our minds.”
“We’ll see.”
“What the fuck?” Jack clenched his fists and his eye glittered. “The fuck?”
“Jack. She…” Rune shook her head. “She brings up bad memories.”
He leaned down and got in her face. “So? You’ll deal with it. None of that is her fault.”
She nodded. “I know, baby.”
“She’ll be better off with Eugene,” Denim said.
Jack’s laugh was ugly, mean. “If we give her to Eugene, it’ll be because we’re fucked up assholes. Not because she’ll be better off. Don’t lie to yourself.”
“We put it behind us, Jack,” Levi said.
“There was a time,” Raze put in, “that you wanted nothing more than little baby monsters.”
“That time is not now,” Denim said, quietly. He pointed at Levi. “He’s as good as he’s going to get. A baby full of bad memories isn’t going to help.”
“It’s not about him,” Jack snarled.
“Come with me,” Rune said. Eugene could wait a while longer. There was no time to waste getting the twins and Ellie—and herself—to baby Reign.
The urgency of the situation was choking her.
Kader’s life might depend on it.
And Jack was right. Little Reign was just a baby. Nothing was her fault, and she deserved someone to love her. To take care of her. To guide her into her adulthood. To keep her fucking safe.
And to keep her from losing herself to the same darkness that had claimed Ben Fleming.
“It’s not just about the memories,” Strad said, falling into step beside her. “She’s been touched by Skyll.” He pointed his chin at the twins. “They’re afraid of her.”
“We’re not afraid of a little girl,” Denim said, sneering.
Rune texted Ellis, and he left Levi’s room to meet them in stairwell. His worried gaze went from Levi to Rune. “What’s wrong?”
“We’re going to take a look at Reign.”
“Reign?”
“The little black-haired baby. Jack named her after his sister.”
Ellis’s lips trembled. “Why, that’s beautiful, Jack.”
“So is she.” And Jack’s stare was so full of accusations that Ellis couldn’t bear to look at him.
That made Rune feel better. Ellis hadn’t changed. He was just afraid for her and Kader, and worried about Levi’s fragile mind.
But if Levi lost himself to the darkness, Reign would be just a tiny thread in the tapestry of horror that put him there.
Rune took a deep breath, smiled, and squeezed his arm. “I love you, Ellie.”
Then she led them all to Reign’s room.
The lights were dim inside the room, and a nurse sat in a chair at her bedside, reading a book. She stood when they entered. “Hello.”
Rune gave her a nod. “How is she?”
“The same. She hasn’t been responsive to any stimuli, pain or otherwise. She—”
Jack padded toward her. “Pain stimuli?” His voice was soft, but his entire body was stiff.
Rune grabbed his arm. “She doesn’t do the tests, Jack. We’ll talk to the doctor.”
“Oh, we’ll talk to the fucking doctor,” he said, nodding. He looked at the nurse, who gasped and stepped back so fast she tripped over her chair.
The nurse looked at Rune, and Rune pointed at the door. “Go.”
When she was gone, Rune raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to need to calm down, Jack. Seriously.”
He crossed his arms. “Pain stimuli, Rune.”
�
��Yeah,” Raze said. “The fuck, really?”
“That’s a shit thing to do,” Denim admitted. “What do they do to cause pain?”
“Stick needles in her toes or some shit,” Rune said, and she waited.
“Assholes.” Levi sidled a little closer to the bed without appearing to realize he was doing so. He glanced at the child, tiny and still beneath sheets so white they hurt Rune’s eyes. “She’s too small, isn’t she?”
Rune nodded. “God knows what’s been done to that baby.”
“Nothing good,” Jack growled. “She’s been hurt in ways we can’t imagine.”
“She’s never known love,” Rune said. “It may be too late for her.”
Ellis gave a loud sob and rushed to the bed. He had the rails down in seconds and pulled the child, lines, leads, electrodes and all into his arms. “Poor little thing,” he cried. “You poor, poor little thing.”
Rune looked up to find Strad watching her, a small smile on his lips.
She shrugged, then grinned. Baby Reign might never get better. Her damage was insane. But Shiv Crew—all of them—would be there to help her through it.
Especially Jack.
And she had a feeling the little girl was going to help them, as well.
A doctor, flanked by two nurses, strode into the room. “Ah, our little unknown has company! Can’t hurt. Well, unless you pull out her intravenous line, young man,” he said to Ellis. “Let’s get her back into bed.”
“She’s not unknown,” Jack said. His voice was calm—too calm—but his eye shot sparks of outrage. “Her name is Reign.”
“Good to know,” the doctor said, surprised. “I’d thought she was an abandoned Other that Mr. Parish was curious about. I haven’t actually had a meeting with him yet.” He grabbed Reign’s chart, then pulled a pen from his pocket. He clicked it, then looked at Jack expectantly. “Could you spell her name for me?”
Jack did.
“Last name?”
Jack turned to Rune. “Uh…”
“Slaughter,” Rune said. “Her name is Reign Slaughter.”
Jack widened his eye and put a big hand over his heart. “What?”
Rune squeezed his arm. “You have a problem with that?”
“No,” he whispered, then cleared his throat, and turned away.
