The remaining two hissed and jumped at me in unison.
That was bullshit. Hadn’t they ever seen any kung fu movies? Whenever multiple people attacked, it was supposed to be done one at a time. It was only fair.
But I was ready for their speed this time.
I dived forward, under their arc. Then I rolled and sprang back to my feet, spinning back to face them in one smooth motion. My left hand was up and my left leg was forward. I was ready to kick or punch or whatever.
At least their tell was obvious.
Another hiss and a dive, right at my face. Apparently they didn’t get the memo regarding body shots being quite effective.
This time I grabbed the guy’s wrist and spun around, bringing his inertia to full bore against him. He was flying when I spun back and twisted his arm with enough force that he flipped over. Typically this move looks great on paper but doesn’t do much in the wild, but I had a feeling it’d work because these dudes were all-in on their attacks, giving me leverage.
I snapped a kick to the side of his head and he passed out.
Two down, one to go.
Just as the last one was about to hiss, Reaper stepped up and karate-chopped him on the neck.
“Nice,” I said as the body hit the ground, but I felt a little disappointed.
Reaper shook his head at me. “I thought we may wish to have at least one of them still breathing.”
That sounded like an admonishment. Who was he to talk to me like that? If it weren’t for him and his glowing eyes and loud mouth, I could have knocked these three out quietly.
Besides, I’d only killed one of them.
“He’s alive,” I argued, pointing at the guy I’d just dropped.
“He’s truly not,” Reaper disagreed while putting his quarry in stasis. “His head hit a rock when you flipped him over. Your kick only made a bad situation worse.”
I knelt down and checked the dude’s pulse.
Nothing.
That was odd. These were vampires, right? They had the fangs and the nails, but they couldn’t take a punch?
“Oh, well, shit.” Then I glanced over at Reaper. “Wait a second here. How’d you know he was dead, Reap?”
“I felt it.”
Yet another useful piece of the puzzle that was Reaper Payne.
“Right.” I stood up and brushed off my clothes. “Well, send that guy back and let’s get to the station and see if Brazen and Kix have found anything useful.”
“That’s what I’m doing,” he affirmed with an edge.
I turned and stared down at him as he expertly ran his fingers over his tattoo. Obviously he was good at using that thing, but it didn’t mean he knew the life of a Retriever. Chances were he hadn’t been put through that first-mission crap like Brazen and Kix were about to feel, but it was also clear that he wasn’t one who would easily play second fiddle in this one-woman band.
“Something you want to say, Reap?” I challenged.
He didn’t bother to look up. “Not really.”
“Good.”
Chapter 12
I’d decided it was best to send off all three bodies to Dr. Hale, even though two of them were dead. There was no sense in leaving them in the Overworld for someone to stumble upon, at least not without first clearing whatever Cross had done to them out of their systems. Besides, I wanted to know what exactly would allow them to have some of the vampire traits but not all. Obviously it had to do with the magical infusion, but I was hoping Hale could shed some light on it.
“What have you guys learned?” I asked Brazen and Kix as we got back to our desks. “Something useful, I hope?”
“We went through everything,” Brazen stated as he pointed at his screen, “but there’s just no tracking this guy.”
“Wait,” interjected Kix before I could say anything. “I’ve been scanning around for his past known acquaintances and I think I’ve got something.”
He tapped on his keyboard for a couple of seconds and then clicked his mouse to reveal one of the Netherworld’s video feeds at The Ruby Slipper. He zoomed it around until he locked in on someone who looked a lot like Gallien Cross.
“That’s him,” I said, pointing. “I think.”
“I concur,” agreed Reaper. “Shall we go and—”
“No, wait,” I said, holding him back. “Who is he seated with?”
“Checking.”
Kix started typing again. He wasn’t anywhere near the speed of Pecker, but it’d take a robot to match that goblin.
“Jax Mitchell,” he said finally. “He’s traceable.”
“Any history?”
“Uh…” More typing. “He did some time in the nineties for robbery.”
I nodded. “What did he steal?”
“Jewels and some cash.”
“Looks like a shifter of some sort,” Brazen spoke out, hovering over my shoulder. “Guessing wolf, but he’s kind of small.”
“Vampire,” Kix stated after a few seconds.
“Why does this matter?” asked Reaper.
I started chewing my nails as I thought. Then I grunted at myself and stopped. I hated that habit and I’d been trying to stop it for quite some time, but it was a subconscious reaction that happened whenever my brain was faced with a puzzle.
“Helps to know what you’re facing when you go in for a fight,” answered Kix.
“Piper doesn’t seem to care what race they are,” Reaper stated. “Her killing is equal opportunity.”
I furrowed my brow at him and sniffed.
Fact was, he was right. I couldn’t give two shits if you were a djinn or a pixie, if you ran I was going to hunt you down. If I could bring you back alive, I got 100% of my commission; if you fought to get away, I’d happily take 25% commission and drag whatever remained of your carcass back as proof of a kill.
“How are these two connected?” I asked to the air.
“We can dig into that,” offered Brazen, which was kind of a surprise. “Unless you want us to go with you topside?”
I gave him an appraising glance. Was he actually trying not to be an asshole? I wasn’t sure I was fond of that prospect.
“No, you’re right,” I said, nearly reeling in shock that I had to say those words to him…ever. “Dig up what you can on this guy. Reap and I will go and see if we can grab hold of Gallien before he—”
“He’s moving,” Kix interrupted. “Sorry, Piper, but he’s moving.”
“Shit. Any cameras around that you can use to follow him?”
He started accessing things, but it was clear that this was over his head. Honestly, I was impressed he’d gotten as far as he had.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, calming him down. “Go back to Jax. Is he still there?”
The video came back online.
“Yeah, he’s there.”
“Let’s pay him a visit, Reap,” I yelled as I started for the portal. “You guys see what you can dig up on their relationship, if anything.”
“You got it,” Brazen called back.
Honestly, I wasn’t fond of his compliancy at all.
It was making my skin crawl.
Chapter 13
We got to The Ruby Slipper just as our pal Jax was getting up to leave.
I was hoping there’d be a convenience store nearby so Reaper could get a pair of shades, but no such luck.
“Jax,” I said, pushing him back into the booth, “we have a few questions, if you’ve got a minute?”
“Doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice,” he said, scooting over.
He was a small guy with straggly black hair, beady eyes, and a thin mustache. He was also very fidgety. I knew he’d just had an encounter with Gallien, which would put most people on edge, but this guy had “victim” written all over him.
“You were just talking with Gallien Cross,” I stated. “He’s an escaped prisoner from the Netherworld and it’s my job to get him back.”
“Our job,” corrected Reaper.
> I gave him a look.
“Retrievers, eh?” Jax whispered and then swallowed hard. “I…uh…”
“You’re going to tell us what he told you,” I pushed. “That way you don’t end up going to jail also. It’s pretty simple, actually.”
He licked his lips and looked around as if trying to find a way to escape. We had him boxed in pretty well, though. He wasn’t going anywhere.
Finally, his shoulders slumped.
“I can’t tell you anything,” he groaned. “If I do, he’ll kill my wife.”
“What?”
“Why would he kill your wife?” asked Reaper.
Jax gave him a serious look. “I literally just told you I can’t tell you anything.”
“You’d rather go to jail?” I asked.
I couldn’t actually take him to prison for not giving us information, and it wasn’t like he was harboring a fugitive. He could just as easily say that he had no idea where Gallien was staying and we couldn’t prove otherwise.
But I had to try.
“I would,” Jax answered soberly. “My wife is everything to me. I can’t risk her life over this. If you take me to jail, Gallien will know I didn’t talk.” He then looked around with worry. “Actually, if you don’t take me to jail he might think I did talk.”
“That puts a wrinkle in things, doesn’t it, Piper?” Reaper admonished.
Okay, so I hadn’t considered the point before making the threat.
“We can’t actually take you to jail for not telling us something, Jax,” I revealed. “Sorry.”
“Son of a bitch,” he said with a scowl. “Thanks a lot, you fuckers.”
“Don’t worry,” I said calmly. “If we walk out of here looking annoyed, he’ll read that in our body language and know we’ve got nothing out of you.”
“We’ll have to make it abundantly obvious.”
“I know, Reap.” Then I reconsidered things. “You know, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway seeing that we were going to talk to you one way or another, Jax.”
He was seething at this point.
I guess I couldn’t blame him. While I’d never had a serious significant other, I wasn’t completely heartless. Even though Jax was clearly mixed up in a bad situation, it didn’t mean his wife was at fault. She could have just been in the unfortunate circumstance of having fallen in love with the wrong guy.
It happens.
Me, I’m more into the concept of one-night stands. If I get horny, I find a dude who’s looking for the same thing I am. No phone numbers, no flowers, no mushy shit. Just a hopefully-not-so-quick boom and done.
Relationships took more effort than I was willing to give.
Besides, it was the rare guy who would be cool with the fact that I was a Retriever. We had a reputation for being somewhat controlling and prone to violence. Some guys were cool with that. Ian Dex of the Las Vegas PPD came to mind. He was the best I’d had, in fact, which made sense considering what he was, but my limit with any partner was a single tryst. Anything beyond that moved into relationship territory.
Still, just because I wasn’t into building a life with someone didn’t mean I couldn’t understand why someone like Jax would be freaking out at the moment.
“We’ll make a show of it,” I said. “Don’t worry.”
“Don’t look now,” Reaper said while keeping his mouth still, “but I think I see Haley across the street.”
“The girl who was with Gunter and Philip at the docks?” I said as I immediately looked over.
Then I grimaced, as I knew what was coming.
“You’re really not good at following instructions, are you?” Reaper asked, repeating verbatim what I’d said to him earlier that night.
“Damn it,” I spat as Haley took off.
We jumped up from the booth and ran out of The Ruby Slipper.
I scanned the area and caught Haley running at full speed down Magazine Street.
“Can you track her, Reap?”
“I’ve got her.”
His eyes were shut again.
“Can you run like that?”
“Yes.”
I nodded and took off across the street and then tore down the sidewalk. She was fast, and she had a head start, but I was known to have some decent times on the forty-yard dash myself. Besides, with Reaper’s crazy tracking thing going on, we’d catch her eventually.
“Out of the way,” I was yelling. “Move it!”
“Fuck you,” came one drunkard’s response.
There was no time to pluck him in the balls so I just kept running.
Reaper didn’t say a word. He just kept pace with me as I plowed ahead.
I could see Haley just fine from where I was until she cut around the corner past the building on the other side of Sixth Street.
From here it was up to Reaper to keep her in his sights.
We hit sixth and Reaper sped past me, proving he could really move when needed. He ran directly across toward the GNC nutrition store, and then turned right into a courtyard just past it.
Standing there waiting for us were Haley and a mass of goons.
We’d been set up.
Chapter 14
This time I didn’t even think twice. I just pulled out my gun and let all hell break loose.
Reaper threw up a shield and it was clear that Haley’s crew hadn’t done the same. I knew this because two of her crew ate Death Nails and were systematically ripped apart. There was a level of catharsis in that for me, being honest.
But then a bullet tagged me on the shoulder.
“Your shield is off, Reap,” I yelled out as I hit the dirt while the pain radiated through my arm. “I just got hit.”
“The shield isn’t for us, Piper,” he replied. “I’m trying to protect the normals. They’re not immortals, if you may recall.”
Smart ass.
I scurried over toward his position while firing. He didn’t have to cover me, but if I got close enough to him, I’d be protected either way.
And, yes, I knew I was immortal, but getting shot still sucked. Smack your finger with a hammer. Probably won’t kill you, but it’ll still make you damn well wish you’d never smacked your finger with a hammer.
I’d be healed within thirty seconds anyway.
Haley was backing off as I fired at her. While her crew was open for business, she obviously had protection of her own because nothing was getting through.
And then something even worse happened.
“We’ve got a bunch of those things with the dark eyes incoming,” I said to Reaper, and then realized that describing them like that wasn’t going to be easy. “Let’s call them ravens,” I added.
“Why?”
“Because of their eyes, that’s why.”
“I don’t get it.”
He looked genuinely confused.
I pointed at the beasts.
“They look like ravens, Reap.”
“They do?”
There was no time to debate the point or to bring up images of ravens and go through the details on why I thought it was a good name for them. I’d needed a name and I thought it fit.
“That’s what I’m calling them,” I stated before unleashing another round of Death Nails at the goons. “Deal with it.”
“You’re an odd person, Piper,” Reaper replied.
“Says the guy with the glowing eyes.”
Normals were gathering around the area, which was not good. They weren’t likely seeing much, but it probably appeared odd.
Fortunately, I was able to counter this type of thing pretty easily. I dropped to a knee, keeping within Reaper’s shield, and hit a few lines on my tattoo.
Instant null zone.
And it had reach.
In a flash, all of the normals scattered like roaches when you flip on a light.
“Good thinking,” Reaper said. “I can focus on protecting us now.”
The ravens were coming at us like a bunch of…well, ravens. They were fas
t and there was no way I could shoot them all. I also doubted they’d honor that one-at-a-time fighting ritual.
“Fuck the shield,” I cried as I dropped one magazine and expertly loaded another. “Shoot these bastards.”
“You mean I can use the energy bolt?”
“I don’t give a shit what you use, just do it!”
Three seconds later I regretted making that statement.
A plume of energy rolled across my body with such force that it felt like I was being torn apart at a molecular level. It hurt like nothing I’d ever experienced before. The pain was incredible.
Screams radiated from the goons, and the ravens too, telling me that they were experiencing the same level of joy I was. But where I was still managing to stay conscious, the bad guys were literally disintegrating.
Honestly, I felt a bit envious of them at that moment.
Once the area was clear, Reaper fell down on his face and groaned.
I tried to ask if he was okay, but my mouth wouldn’t work, so I used the connector. Even that required a fair bit of effort.
“Reap?” I said, barely able to think straight.
“I’m completely drained,” he replied, using the connector this time.
My eyes felt like sandy marbles, but I managed to glance around the area. It was empty. Reaper’s energy blast had obliterated all the supers and ravens. The memory of them being ripped apart would haunt my dreams for some time to come.
“You did good,” I said.
“Well,” he replied.
“Well what?”
“The proper language is to say ‘you did well,’ not ‘you did good.’”
I snorted. “You’re a dick, Reap.”
“Thanks.”
We lay there for a couple of minutes while allowing our bodies to heal and our strength to return.
Finally I pushed myself up and then helped Reaper to his feet.
“I’m guessing this is what having a migraine headache feels like,” he moaned while holding his head. “I can’t say I recommend it.”
“I think your energy pulse thingy needs some fine-tuning,” I commented while shutting down the null zone. “If nothing else, it’d be great if I wasn’t impacted by it.”
Blood Crossed Page 5
