Obsidian Wings (Rune Alexander)

by Laken Cane

  If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up gardening and baking cookies and shit.

  Finally dressed, hands scrubbed clean of all traces of blood, she hurried back down the hall and into the living room.

  “Son of a bitch,” she muttered as her phone flew out of her hand to land with a clatter upon the floor.

  She leaned over to grab it. At that exact moment she heard a click and a strange whirr, and a draft of air brushed her hair as something whooshed over her head.

  She didn’t think about it. She dropped to the floor and rolled, her claws already out.

  Strad’s cell had saved her life—if she hadn’t dropped it, the blade her would-be assassin had sent her way would have taken her head.

  The attacker was already gone as she jumped to her feet, crouching, looking wildly around the room for the danger.

  He was gone.

  “What the fuck?” she said. Then, louder, “What the fuck?”

  The only place he could have thrown the blade from was the broken living room window.

  She yanked open her door, then loped around the house. She saw no one.

  She walked the street, searching for the person who’d tried to kill her.

  But he wasn’t there.

  Then, something light and somewhat familiar wafted by, a smell so delicate and faint she shouldn’t have caught it at all. But she did, and she recognized the scent.

  It was the scent of the man who’d attacked her before—the scent of a human.

  A human.

  How could a human dare attack her from so close? More importantly than that, how could he just disappear? It was as though he’d never been there at all.

  But that elusive, teasing scent lingered, and she pulled it deep into her brain, memorizing it.

  The scent of a human, but some kind of fucking…super human.

  She went back inside and stared at the blade he’d left. The strength of the throw had embedded it in her wall.

  She grasped the part sticking out, avoiding the sharp edges, and forced it free. Had she been anyone else, a pair of pliers and a lot of muscle would have been required to work it free.

  The weapon looked like a long, skinny razorblade. There were no dull edges on it—all four were razor sharp.

  He couldn’t have thrown it. He’d shot it.

  Every day, new weapons and ways to execute them were created. Every single day.

  This was one she hadn’t seen before…and one she wouldn’t mind getting her hands on. Her crew could use this type of weapon.

  She had her very own assassin. “Sweet,” she said.

  Later, she’d discuss her hit man with the crew, Rice, and Elizabeth, and they’d figure shit out.

  She wasn’t worried. She was curious.

  And a niggling thought kept occurring to her. That somehow, the memory-wiped shifters and her assassin were connected. After all, they’d both started around the same time.

  Maybe they were connected to the church, but she doubted it. She didn’t get a COS feeling from either one of them.

  She dropped the blade into a leather bag, draped it over her shoulder, and went out to lend a hand to the people of River County. And, if she had a chance, kill any slayers who remained.

  The night seemed to last an eternity, but as the sun rose to cast a weak light over the city, Rice called her in.

  She walked into the building, the scent of coffee hitting her even before Ellie ran around the corner to meet her, a huge mug in his hand.

  “Bill said you were on your way.” He gave her the coffee, then wrapped his arms around her.

  She didn’t mind the pain from the fang inside his shirt—she was simply too tired to care. As soon as he released her she turned up the cup and gulped down half the coffee. “Good,” she groaned. “So good.”

  Ellis updated her as they walked to Rice’s office. “Raze will be okay. I feel so badly for him. All those burns.” Ellis shook his head, then shuddered before continuing. “Lex is doing great. When I called to check, the nurse said Lex was telling Raze jokes to see if she could get him to smile.” He grinned at her. “I know what would make him smile.”

  Rune winked at him. “And the others?”

  “Jack and Owen are here—they’re in with Bill drinking gallons of coffee.”

  “Strad?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not sure where he is.”

  “Here’s what we know,” Rice said, when Rune and Ellis walked into his office. He ran a hand over his face. His eyes were bloodshot, the circles underneath them so dark they made him look like he’d been punched. Maybe he had. “Slayers are dead, dying, or escaped, but they are no longer in River County. We did it, despite our governor’s refusal to send in the National Guard.” He smiled at each of them.

  “What about the slayer’s doctor?” Rune asked. “Johnson. Any sign of him?”

  Rice pursed his lips and shook his head. “It’s going to be a good while before I have a tally of every person affected by this attack.”

  Elizabeth walked into the room. “I apologize for being late.”

  Rice’s phone rang and he excused himself to answer.

  “Fie okay?” Rune asked Elizabeth.

  “Yes, thank you.”

  “George?”

  Elizabeth’s smile lit up her face. “That’s why I’m late. George woke up.”

  “That’s great,” Rune said.

  “He went back under.” She accepted the cup of coffee Ellis handed her, taking a sip before continuing. “But I’m optimistic.”

  “Did he say anything?”

  “He asked for his mother.” Elizabeth’s smile dropped. “Then he seemed to remember what happened.”

  “Poor little boy,” Ellis said.

  They were all silent.

  “What about the memory-wiped shifters?” Rune asked, finally. “Anything new with them?”

  Elizabeth shook her head. “They remember nothing about their pasts or what happened to them. One of them did remember his first name though. That’s a start. Maybe their memories will come back and we can figure out what happened to them.”

  “Any signs of abuse?”

  “Needle marks,” Elizabeth said. “But their lab work came back clean. No drugs that we could find.” She frowned. “We still have to order more tests. Some scans. The female had a burn mark behind her left ear.”

  “And you can’t say doctor without them going nuts,” Rune said.

  Strad walked in, and the tightness in her chest eased.

  Bill hung up his phone. “I just got word there was another murder. A couple of cops found a body tortured and nailed to the back of an old gas station.”

  “In the Moor?” Owen asked.

  “Nope,” Bill answered. “This one is right in the middle of Spiritgrove.”

  “When?” Strad asked.

  Rune looked at him and found him watching her. He winked, and she smiled slightly, unable to help herself. Then she cleared her throat and studied her hands.

  “I don’t know,” Bill said. “With the chaos in this city, it’s amazing the body was noticed at all. Our people are a little busy right now, but we’ll put him on ice until we get a chance to look at him.”

  “Maybe COS did it before the attack,” Rune said, “and it’s just now being discovered.”

  Rice’s eyes were bright. “I’ll tell you this. COS is done. They might not know it yet, but they’re done—and not just in our city.” He beamed. “In our world.”

  “I’m not convinced the church is ever going to die out completely,” Rune said.

  “Right now, you don’t need to worry about anything other than going to sleep. Go home, get some rest. All of you. I’ll see you back here in the morning.” He looked around at all of them. “Good work, Shiv Crew. Good work. You have my thanks.”

  But they didn’t need any special thanks.

  They were Shiv Crew.

  It was what they did.

  Epilogue

  “I don’t see
you for years,” the man said, his grim, tattooed face unmoving. His brown eyes were emotionless, with not so much as a tiny gleam to make them look anything but dead.

  “I need a favor,” Rune said, quietly.

  “Why should I do you any favors? You the bitch help put me here.”

  She smiled. “Are you going to hold a grudge, Leon? You may get out someday. You’ll need a friend.”

  He snorted and looked down his nose at her. “You no friend of mine, Alexander.”

  “Think about it, dude. I’ll owe you one. And I always pay what I owe.” The words made her think of Cree Stark, and she wondered for a moment if she wasn’t selling her soul to the devil—or Leon Lafitte—just as Cree had sold hers to COS.

  “I see you on TV,” he said, slowly. “I hear bad, bad things about you.”

  “No doubt they’re all true.”

  He contemplated her for two long minutes without speaking.

  She waited silently, letting him think.

  Finally, he ran his hand over his bald, inked head. “What you want?”

  She glanced around, meeting the cold gaze of one of the guards. He held her stare for a second before looking away.

  She leaned forward. “Come closer, Leon.”

  He slid closer, a light of curiosity in his eyes. “What?”

  “You’re still in contact with Annie.”

  “Yeah. So? She never getting out. At least you don’t put her in prison—she have killed your ass by now.”

  Again, Rune smiled. “Does she still think you’re the center of the universe?” Knowing she did.

  “Always will,” he said, leaning back and crossing his arms. “Me and Annie…” He trailed off and looked away from her, as though she might see the truth of his feelings in his eyes.

  She didn’t need to see. Leon and Annie’s obsession for each other was legendary. For them, there was nothing else. “I need you to convince her to do something for me.”

  Then it was his turn to smile. It wasn’t a nice smile. “If I do this thing for you, you owe me for the rest of your life.”

  “I’ll owe you,” she said, “for the rest of your life.”

  He frowned.

  “Well?” she asked.

  He stood, and two guards started toward him, almost too casually. They knew what Leon was capable of—maybe even more than Rune did.

  Just as the guards reached him, he leaned over to murmur, “I get it done.”

  Yeah, she’d sold her soul to the devil.

  But in the next few days, or weeks, or maybe even months, she’d get a phone call telling her the deed had been done.

  And she’d have sold her soul twice for that.

  About Laken Cane

  Laken Cane is the pseudonym of a published paranormal romance author currently living in the Midwest. Shiv Crew is her debut book under this pseudonym and the first in the Rune Alexander series. You can learn more about her and join her mailing list at www.lakencane.com, follow her on Twitter @lakencane, or friend her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/laken.cane.3

  Books in the Rune Alexander series—

  Shiv Crew, book one

  Blood and Bite, book two

  Strange Trouble, book three

  Obsidian Wings, (This book) book four

  Book five in progress!

  From the author—

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  Thank you!