by Laken Cane
“Rune,” Ellis said. “Should we really—”
“Ellis taught her the alphabet,” Rune told the op.
His face dropped. “Oh. That’s…amazing.”
Rune nodded. “She’s very smart.”
“That she is. I’ll be in the hall if you need me.”
“Thank you.”
Ellis grinned when the op’s footsteps faded. “Nice.”
Rune shrugged, then went back into the room to kneel beside her child. “Some things we need to keep to ourselves.”
“And Kader blasting inanimate objects into tiny, little pieces with a wave of her hand is most definitely one of those things,” Ellis said.
Yeah.
Kader was something more powerful than Rune had imagined. Barely a year old, and already she was…
Incredible.
“What’s she going to do, Rune?” Ellis asked.
“Everything. She’s going to do everything.”
“Do you think…” His swallow was audible.
She looked up at him. “What?”
“Do you think she’ll become dark? With all that inside her? She’d have to, wouldn’t she? Like you?”
He hadn’t meant to be cruel. He was simply stating facts.
She smiled. “No, baby. She won’t be the darkness. She’ll be chasing the darkness.”
He nodded and squeezed her shoulder. “Like you.”
“Yeah.”
Like her.
But that didn’t make her happy. What a life.
What a fucking life.
Her heart jumped when her cell rang, but it was only Levi. “They got something from that call,” he said. “Eugene and Bill are in the control room getting updates.”
“I’m on my way.” She kissed Kader goodbye and hurried back downstairs. Whatever they had—no matter how small—was better than the nothing they’d had before.
She met her crew outside the control room. “How long have they been in there?”
“Ten minutes,” Denim said. “Not long.”
The control room was off limits to anyone but Eugene, his managers, and the ops assigned to work the room. Rune had never been inside the doors.
“Kader and Ellis okay?” Levi asked.
Rune shot a look at the ops in the hallway, and her crew stiffened. They were aware immediately that she had something to tell them, but it would have to wait until they were alone.
“They’re fine,” she said.
“I’m going to check on Reign,” Jack muttered, five minutes later. “Call me when you we know what we’re doing.”
“Your phone may never ring,” Raze told him.
“I’ll go with you,” Levi offered, and Jack’s face brightened.
Bill was back ten minutes later.
Eugene was not with him, but Logan, pale and silent, was at his side. “I’m going to…” She gestured absently, stared into space, then abruptly turned and walked away.
“What’d they find, Bill?” Rune asked. “Anything helpful?”
He sighed and ran his hand over his head. “They isolated some background noise from the phone calls. Two particular sounds.”
“What were they?” Her stomach began to hurt and she made a conscious attempt to relax her abdominal muscles to ease the pain.
He put a heavy hand on her shoulder. “The first was the muffled sound of someone crying. It was…endless.” He whispered the last word and for a second, he was lost in that remembered sound.
“Oh,” Rune murmured. “God, Roma.”
Bill cleared his throat. “There were also dogs barking. Four dogs, at least. Big dogs.”
“So…wherever he’s staying, the next door neighbor has a backyard full of dogs?”
“Maybe,” he said.
“Crying and dogs barking.” She clenched her fists, restraining an overwhelming urge to punch the wall. “Fuck.”
“So we’ve got nothing,” Raze said.
“We’re putting it out to the public,” Bill told them. “A bunch of barking dogs may not be a lot to go on, but you can bet they’re annoying someone somewhere. We’ll check out every single call. Somebody knows something. We just have to find him or her.”
“Time is against us.” Rune blew out a hard breath. “Get the public thinking about strangers, odd things they’ve seen or heard, anything. Get them calling us, Bill.”
“We’re on it, Rune. Get out of the building for a while. If he calls you, it’ll route to us as well, even if you’re not in the building. And Rune, take your assigned crew car. We don’t want to look casual to the public or to the enemy. I want them to see you out there.”
Rune’s phone rang, interrupting him. “Shit,” she whispered, then answered the call. “This is Rune.”
“I sent you a very special gift,” Ben said. “Run on home and fetch it.”
Rune pushed her cell back into her pocket, shivering. “Call Jack and Levi,” she told Bill, her voice hoarse. “Let them know where I’ve gone. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Raze and Denim, come with me.”
“Rune, no,” Bill said. “Let me send people to pick it up.”
“No.” If it was another piece of Roma, she wasn’t having strangers deal with it. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
When she left the building, she saw Leon walking across the parking lot.
He grinned. “I hear I am now yours, Rune Alexander? I am Shiv Crew?”
“Yeah,” Rune said. “You’re Shiv Crew. Don’t make me regret it, Leon.”
“Welcome,” Raze roared, and patted Leon on the back so hard that the smaller man stumbled forward a few steps.
Leon rubbed his shoulder, frowning. “Damn. You take it easy, Hercules.”
Raze paled and glanced around at the others. “What?”
Leon laughed. “Relax. You don’t hurt me.”
Rune didn’t know what Raze’s problem was, but she didn’t have the time or energy to figure it out. “Go see Bill,” she told Leon. “Luc’s already being taken care of. You’ll be out of commission for the rest of the day.”
Leon stepped back, narrowing his eyes. “Why?”
“Nothing nefarious. You’ll have to meet with a dozen people, get your paperwork done, get your ID badges. They’ll issue your weapons.”
“I have my own weapons,” he said, still suspicious.
“Dude. You’ve had a real job before, haven’t you?”
Leon shrugged, then strode toward the Annex doors. He threw a look over his shoulder at Rune. “You need me, you call—meetings or no, my ass belongs to you now.” His laughter floated back.
Rune hesitated, wondering if she’d made a mistake with Leon. Would he stake her if he thought it would benefit him? If someone came along to give him a better offer?
Maybe.
She walked across the parking lot, the two men at her side. “What do you think of him, Raze?”
He was silent for so long she glanced at him. “Raze?”
“I don’t know,” he said, slowly. “I don’t know.”
“It’s always like that at first, isn’t it?” Denim asked. “I’m sure neither of you trusted Levi and me for a while.”
“True.” But still…
She climbed into her crew car, which was lined up with a dozen other crew cars in the left lot. Raze rode shotgun, and Denim got into the backseat.
“Let’s go see what this asshole left for us,” Raze said. He reached across the seat and patted her arm. “Be prepared, Rune.”
As if.
She hit the lights and siren and sped toward the Moor, though she wanted nothing more than to turn around and run screaming in the opposite direction.
Because in the Moor, at her fucking house, something unspeakable waited.
And the last thing she wanted to do was hurry home to see it.
They didn’t mention the box on the way home. If they didn’t speak of it, maybe it wouldn’t be real.
And even as she walked across the porch and saw the box in front of the
door, she half convinced herself that Ben was messing with her and hadn’t actually cut off another of Roma’s fingers.
As she neared the box, she heard a car careening down the street, horn blaring.
“It’s Jack and Levi,” Denim said, and the three of them watched as the car skidded to a halt behind Rune’s car. Jack and Levi jumped out almost before the car stopped.
“Rune,” Jack yelled. “Wait.”
She frowned as he strode up the porch steps and stomped toward her. “What is it, Jack?”
“You don’t know what’s in that box. Back away. I’ll open it.”
She sighed. “For fuck’s sake. If the motherfucking box explodes, I’ll survive it. You won’t.” She put her hands on her hips, and pretended not to notice that she was relieved at the delay. “You’re all starting to piss me off treating me like I’m a fucking damsel in distress.”
He folded his arms. “Exactly how I feel when you treat me like I’m a fucking damsel in distress.”
“You’re human,” she yelled. “So you are a fucking distressed damsel, asshole.”
“Both of you,” Raze said.
They turned to look at him. “What?” they said, in unison.
Then Rune’s breath caught in her throat. “Dammit, Raze.”
He’d opened the box and held a small yellow envelope in his big hands. He avoided Rune’s gaze.
“What’s in there?” Jack asked him.
“Another finger,” Rune guessed.
He nodded. “Two of them. The envelope was on a nest of her hair. He’s cut it all off.”
“Why?” Levi asked. He didn’t expect an answer. “Why?”
She answered him anyway. “Because of me.”
“It’s not your fault, Rune,” Jack told her. “Nothing he suffered excuses what he’s doing now. And we just need to kill him.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, we do.”
“What’s he going to cut off next?” Raze stared at the box like he didn’t really see it. “If we don’t hurry, he’s going to do something she can’t come back from.”
No one disagreed.
“Let’s get the box back to the Annex,” Rune said. “Eugene will get them on ice. When we find her, he’ll reattach them.” She glared at them, daring them to argue. “And then we’ll help the searchers and trackers tear this county apart.”
It might be a futile search, but they’d feel like they were doing something.
Ben called before they were off the porch.
“You said you would convince Eugene to hand over Lee Crane.”
“I’m working on it.”
“And I am getting tired of waiting.”
“Is she still alive?” Rune asked him.
“Yes.”
“Let me talk to her.”
He was silent. Considering.
“Let me talk to her,” Rune repeated. “I need proof she’s alive.”
“Thirty seconds.” His voice faded as he took the phone away from his mouth. “Say hi,” she heard him say.
“Princess,” Roma croaked. “Don’t worry about me. I’m okay.”
She was not okay. But she was alive.
Rune’s legs weakened and she leaned against the car for support. “Shit,” she whispered. “Roma?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you? Are you…Roma, we’re going to find you. Hang on, baby.”
“Hurry, Princess.”
And in the background, Ben murmured, “Yes. Hurry, Princess.”
“Roma…”
“Hurry,” Roma repeated. “It’s a grim place, Rune.”
Then there was a thump, followed by Roma’s hollow yelp.
“I told you to say hi,” Ben said. Then his voice, loud in Rune’s ear, “Satisfied?”
And quietly, Roma began to cry.
It wasn’t an actual cry. It was the constant sound of horror and misery and something else that Rune simply couldn’t comprehend. It was a sound unlike any she’d ever heard. Roma wouldn’t cry—but her Other would.
And Rune couldn’t bear to hear it.
“Don’t kill her, you fucking animal.”
“I won’t. I’ll hurt her, but I won’t kill her. Not until you’re here to watch.” He hung up.
But before they got back into their cars, she stopped Raze. “Give me the envelope.”
He stared at her for a long moment, reluctant, and then he opened the box so she could reach in and pull out the envelope.
She didn’t want to look at the pitiful bits of flesh, but it was the right thing to do. She upended the package and let one of the digits roll out into her palm. “It’s missing the fingernail,” she said.
He was pulling out Roma’s fingernails.
Jack cursed. “Remember how you gave us Jeremy?”
“Yeah. But I won’t be giving you Ben.”
“You can share him with us,” Raze said. “We want a piece of him, too, Rune.”
“I just want him dead,” Denim said.
Levi leaned against the car and studied the finger. “I want to hurt him first.”
“We’ll see, children,” she told them. “If you’re very, very good, I may let you cut something off him.”
Her promise elicited a tiny, grim smile from them all.
“We’re counting on it,” Jack said.
She slid the bloody finger back into the packet. “Be afraid, you son of a bitch. We’re coming for you.”
Part Two
TAKEN
Chapter Fourteen
“The Church of Slayers,” Eugene said. “Someone is revamping and leading COS right back to its former glory.”
Rune growled. “COS won’t ever die, will it?”
“No.”
Sylvia had been calling Eugene almost nonstop for the last few hours. She wanted her mother, and as the frequency of calls increased, so did her anger.
Rune’s own anger at Eugene for killing Lee was there, but it was buried beneath her fear and worry over Roma.
She and her crew had been searching all day—along with half the Annex and people from the River County Sheriff’s Department. Shiv Crew was exhausted, but they were not willing to rest while Roma was being tortured.
They stood around Eugene’s office, tired, filthy, disheartened. Even Will had stepped into the big room. Strad stood staring out the bank of windows, and the twins stood on either side of Jack. Raze sprawled in a chair two times too small for him, his eyes closed.
Neither Leon nor Luciana felt comfortable enough to enter the room, deciding instead to go to the cafeteria for a meal.
Hawthorne Forest was full of searchers. All of River County was being torn apart. Houses were searched. People were questioned. Camera footage was reviewed.
And they found nothing.
The girl had been missing for four days.
Four days.
It was as though Sylvia, Ben, and their gang simply didn’t exist.
“After my trackers return with the two gargoyles,” Eugene said, “they can help with this case.”
She stared. “You can find the fucking gargoyles but you can’t find Roma?”
“They wouldn’t have gone far.” Eugene straightened his tie. “And they leave tracks Sylvia does not leave. I believe they’re planning an attack to free Gage.”
“Two gargoyles against the entire Annex? Even they are not that stupid.”
“They’re desperate.” Bill lowered himself into a chair in front of Eugene’s massive desk. They’d rather we kill Gage than keep him locked in a room. Gargoyles need the sun and nature. What’s being done to Gage Delaney is worse than any torture we could have devised.”
Rune looked at Eugene. “I don’t like it. You’ll need to figure out another way to control the gargoyles. Either free Gage or kill him.”
“Rune, you don’t run the Annex. I’ll do exactly what I think is best.”
She clenched her fists but didn’t argue. “How will your trackers subdue them if they find them?”
; “They’ll be shot with liquid silver. By the time they can move again they’ll be housed once more in my holding cells.”
She raised an eyebrow. “And then what?”
“I’ll figure something out.”
“Forget the gargoyles. You need to concentrate on Roma.”
“I am.” He leaned forward. “We have every man I can spare out there, Rune.”
“Then why aren’t we any closer to finding her?” She stood. “Ben will kill her.”
“I offered to trade you for Roma,” he said.
Bill stood. “Now wait just a minute—”
Rune interrupted him, eager and hopeful. “And?”
He shook his head. “She refused. She wants Lee—and unlike Ben, she’s not stupid enough to believe they can hold you.”
“She’s helping Ben torture Roma,” Bill said.
“She’s not.” Rune rubbed her temples. “She doesn’t have to.”
“Fleming enjoys it,” Raze said, opening his eyes. “He doesn’t need any help.”
“Lab reports show something…strange,” Eugene said, quietly. “About Roma’s fingers.”
Rune swallowed the sudden lump of fear lodged in her throat. “What?”
Likely he’d known from the first finger but had been reluctant to tell her. “The fingers weren’t cut off. They were bitten off.”
She pressed her fist against her stomach. “He bit off her fucking fingers?”
Eugene shook his head. “He didn’t. Something else. Something…maybe the dogs.”
“Why don’t you know?”
“We have nothing to match the bite marks or the saliva. Whatever bit her is…”
“Not from here,” Rune finished. “You think it’s a creature from Skyll?”
“I simply don’t know.”
“She was part of the Next,” Bill told her. “It could be anything. Likely they have a monster the Shop created.”
“A fucking loaner,” Raze growled.
“I learned something else,” Eugene said. “The man Leon Lafitte captured talked.” He shrugged. “At least a little. One of the people with them is a man named Angel French.”
Will Blackthorn stiffened. He said nothing, but in his stillness lurked something watchful. Something dark.
And beneath that dark stillness was complete and utter terror.
Rune frowned. “You’ve heard of this dude?” she asked him.
