Sing for the Dead (London Undead) (10 page)

Kayden cleared his throat. “There’s an animal shelter a few streets over. You know it?”

“Aye.” Ollie nodded. “The one the werewolves guard.”

Observant boy. Though, Sorcha guessed the shape-shifters hadn’t been making an effort to hide their presence so much as not be obvious.

“You lot head straight over to the shelter at first light. And no faffing around either.” Kayden straightened. “You tell them I sent you and you’re to wait for me there. We’ll be seeing to it you have a safer place and some honest work.”

“Really?” Peas had shadows in his expression, despite the hope in his eyes.

“No more baiting zombies. I’ll not have you anywhere near the parks.” A low growl rumbled up from Kayden’s chest. “I’ll see to it you’ve got somewhat better to keep you busy. It’s not going to be easy, mind, but you’re a lot less likely to end up dead or worse.”

“That’s good enough fer me.” Ollie hopped up and brushed off his trousers.

“More than good enough.” Dougie got to his feet, paused, then looked directly at Sorcha. “Yer going down into the dark, aren’t you?”

“Aye.”

They were all staring at her again.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be with her.” Kayden’s promise seeped into her heart. “We’ve been down and back again before, we’ll be doing it again.”

Five pairs of eyes grew round with surprise.

“Off with you then, get up to wherever it is you sleep for the night.” Kayden waved his hand toward the back of the big church. “Make sure you’re holed up good and safe, then get to the animal shelter in the morning. Understood?”

He was rewarded with a chorus of “ayes” and the boys scrambled past the pews and up to the second level of the church.

Chapter Eight

“In and out of my own hunting grounds and I didn’t notice. What are the chances?” Kayden stood inside of Notting Hill Gate tube station. Again. They’d come all the way inside and to the top of the escalators leading downward to the second level.

“You had no reason to take note of the scents and the boys used other Tube entrances as well.” Sorcha stood a step behind and to one side, swords drawn to guard their rear.

“Still something happening in my territory.” He stared down the stairwell splitting the two escalators. Neither the upward nor the downward heading escalator was running, but the stairs were the steadier footing in case they found themselves face-to-face with zombies. Going down there had never occurred to him, not when there were plenty to fight on the subsurface level. Besides, the Circle Line had been closer to where the kids had been.

The child zombie’s face flashed across his memory, followed by the smiles on the boys’ faces from earlier in the evening. He’d texted Seth, requesting a wolf patrol to keep an eye outside the church through the night. Hopefully, the boys would do as they were told come dawn. They were safe and he would make them even safer.

It was like a game trail, the scent trails coming up out of the tube station. He’d not noticed it before because he’d always assumed zombies wandered and found their way above from the tunnels. But what if zombies traveled in both directions, coming and going, more than anyone had realized? And what was the one place sane people wouldn’t go searching?

All those times he’d come, killed, vented his guilt and rage. Something hid below and laughed.

Why would the fae want others of his kind? What use did he have for them?

The image of the child returned, the corpse’s mouth covered in blood. Sorcha’s blood.

“Last night, you created one of the new ones.” Too many things were falling together too fast. He needed to talk it through.

“Pardon? I did what?” How many men died moments after she’d used such a quiet tone of voice, the icy cold deceiving in its calmness?

“Remember the boy, the dead boy? Did you see what he did after he bit you?”

“I was occupied.” The frost hadn’t left her voice and the bite to her words told him he’d better explain himself faster.

“The moment he had a taste of your blood, he changed. Hell, he spoke. And if you hadn’t ended him, he’d have had me too.” Aye, Kayden would admit it. He’d left himself open. How many normals had died when they faced the corpses of their friends, their family? He’d not imagined he’d have been a victim himself until it happened and if not for Sorcha... “Lass, the fae you’re looking for is likely—nae I’m sure of it, he is the reason for the new breed of zombies plaguing us.”

Surprise flashed across her face lightning fast, and then her features hardened as she set her jaw and gave him a sharp nod. “What you say rings true, and I should have made the connection earlier when Ollie and his friends told us of their errands.”

“Well and I’ll take some accountability for distracting you.” He gave her a brief grin before focusing his attention on the darkness. “Since I’m fair certain our quarry is hiding himself down below, the question is how far?”

“How many levels beneath the surface?”

“There’s four.”

“Call in the wolf pack.” The command cut sharper than her blades and if she hadn’t already been to him what she was, they might have had a problem. As it was, he simply raised an eyebrow. His fae woman was truly sexy when she took the lead. And she
was
his. “We’ll go to the very bottom level and search, work our way up. If our prey is flushed out of hiding, he’ll flee into the jaws of our allies.”

“The bastard could bolt down the tunnels.”

“He could.” She tipped her head to one side. “But he’s not as likely to. Whatever else, he is fae and in enough of a panic, he will take the shortest route out and into the open air. It gives us the best chance to make use of our glamour to mislead any chase and find a new place to hide.”

“I’m not going to doubt your word, faery, but I do need to know the why of it. The better I understand our prey, the more help I can be in bringing him down.” Kayden checked his mobile, thankful the thing still had a bare bit of signal. Any farther into the tube station and he’d lose reception. He tapped out a quick message—a call to arms. “What if this fae feels the underground is his very own Under Hill.”

“This is nothing like Under Hill.”

He glanced up from his mobile, studied her blank expression. No anger, no happiness either. A master of the unearthly unreadable expression, his Sorcha. But he’d seen her free of conscious thought, caught in the throes of passion. He knew the relaxed softness of her sleeping face. And the longing hiding at the corners of her mouth, in the hunch of her shoulders? Homesick, she was.

“Will you be going back there?” He’d have to work hard to give her a reason to stay. She’d not yet understood his full intent, and he wanted to see her mission fulfilled before he convinced her.

When her gaze met his, the sadness in her eyes nearly swallowed him whole. “No. Not for a long time to come. There are many in the world like this one, and with the zombies spreading, it is my purpose to eliminate any who might harness the walking dead to threaten the Court of Light.”

“And the Court of Dark?” He knew only that there were the two. Most of the lone fae he’d heard of living outside the Courts were bits and pieces of folk tales and lore, old superstitions.

“What I do benefits the Court of Dark, just the same. But I do not serve them and they have soldiers of their own.” She hesitated and then continued when he hadn’t thought she would. “It is more truthful to say there is no place for me Under Hill. I’ve become too useful a weapon in the mortal world, more...comfortable with my purpose than my brethren.”

“Well, let’s eliminate this bastard. And then you and I, lass, we’ll have a longer talk of what you plan to do next.”

She nodded and stepped down the first step of the staircase, then halted.

“What is it?” His mobile pinged and he glanced at the message, setting the mobile to silent as he did.

She didn’t turn to face him, but instead leaned back until her shoulder blades pressed against his chest. “I always hunt alone. Those who know of me would assume as much. And the fae...” A pause. “They think little of shape-shifters. Less, if possible, when you are in animal form. It would be easy to overlook you.”

He placed his hands on her shoulders and gave them a squeeze. “Good for us to plan for every advantage we can.”

He stepped back and stripped down. She looked over her shoulder and he gave her a wink. “Are ye sure ye dinnae say that just to see me in the nude again?”

“Get on with ye. I’ll not wait too long.” She took a few steps farther.

Embarrassed, his fae? He’d enjoy doing that to her more often.

It only took him a few minutes to change. Shaking off the last tingling pain of the shift, he left his clothes piled where they were and padded down the steps after her. Butting her hip, he leaned his head into her hand when she reached down. He enjoyed her caress, glad she had no issue touching him in this form.

“Let’s go.” She kept her voice to a murmur.

He let her take the lead, staying back in the shadows. They made it all the way to the landing of the second level before the first of the zombies shambled into their path.

No way to dispatch them in silence. Their hungry groans and hisses echoed through the tunnels. Anyone would know something had riled up the walking dead. Instead, Kayden made an effort to keep his presence a surprise. He fought silent—no growls or snarls, no roars.

The fae might hear them coming, but hopefully, he would only be expecting Sorcha.

Efficient and quick, Sorcha did away with most of the zombies as she walked toward the next set of stairs and escalators. Kayden only cleaned up the few stragglers to keep the way behind her open. Her two swords cut through decaying flesh and bone as easily as air and her stamina held with no signs of flagging.

“He is close.” Her whisper floated back to him, the sound a caress.

They descended to the third level. She’d sent a zombie tumbling down the stairs into a pile of them with a front kick. It took Kayden and Sorcha both a few minutes to make their way through. Kayden was careful to stay clear of her blades. Her spicy sent changed as they fought their way forward, heated with anger and lust. Her berserker heritage was wakening.

Once they stood alone on the third-level platform, she paused, her muscles trembling. “Stay back if the blood madness takes me. Don’t let me kill you.”

Aye, he’d stay back, but he wouldn’t leave her. He hadn’t forgotten the desolation in her eyes when she’d told him she’d woken alone on the battlefield.

He’d never abandon her.

As they took the last set of stairs, the darkness below moved. Groans floated up the stairwell from the absolute black. She paused, waiting for a few to climb the stairs to meet them. Blades swept through the air and body parts fell at her feet. A few more steps, another couple of zombies eliminated.

Kayden lingered farther back, hugging the wall along the escalator instead of the center stairs. They weren’t coming in more numbers than she could handle and he worried about their return path. He turned to check, make sure they didn’t have more flanking them.

The squeal of metal wheels pierced the dark. Sorcha cried out in surprise.

Kayden spun and darted down the escalator steps. When he saw her, caught up in a huge net, swinging above a mass of zombies, it took everything he had not to dive into them to get to her. His muscles trembled and his leopard aspect clawed the inside of his mind.

No, no. She’d not be happy with him if he got himself killed before she won her way free. He needed to watch, wait for their quarry. Hope she stayed alive.

His heart pounded in the cage of his chest. She had to live or he’d not go on without her.

* * *

“I set out to catch dinner, and, lo, I catch a prize!”

Sorcha blinked her eyes against the pain in her skull. She’d taken a hard hit to the head. Considering how much rubbish pressed against her on all sides, it was no wonder.

“And what do we have here?” Her captor peered up at her, suspended as she was in some sort of...cargo net? Big eyes—round and bulging—studied her from a wizened old face. “A fae, yes, feel lucky my snare caught you. And don’t try to struggle against my magic. I assure you, the
geas
will only turn your power back on itself, and your will is mine.”

Panic shot through her, her breath harsh. What sort of
geas
had he managed to lay on her? She wouldn’t know the true extent until she tried to do something...and failed.

She made a few cautious movements. Whatever netting held her, it held strong, suspending her above a sea of zombies. Their inarticulate groans floated up as their upraised hands reached for her. How long had she been unconscious? Not long or Kayden would have moved to free her.

“You are quite fortunate I had my servants set this so high, my dear.”

Her captor wandered through the mass of undead, the corpses giving way before him and giving him wide berth. Power radiated from him, an effortless miasma and if she could have, she’d have taken herself far away from him too. Wherever Kayden hid, she hoped he was safe and biding his time. The wrong moment and her companion would be zombie bait. On the other hand, he hadn’t been the one to set foot in a trap.

Stupid. How could she have been so careless?

“Ah mortals and their technology. It is a shame so few of them have the spark of intelligence to create such things.” Her captor moved to the base of the stairs and tapped a tiny nub tucked in a crevice. “Isn’t it a wonder a tiny infrared device sensitive to temperature could be so useful? One of my servants provided these. I was so pleased I let him live. So much easier to have a means of snaring unwary intruders without the cold corpses setting it off as they stumble everywhere. I forbade him speak of it, of course. I couldn’t have him betraying me.”

Never had she feared so much in the heat of battle, where every moment was an action or reaction, kill or be killed. Trapped as she was, helplessness crushed her. Sorcha fought to shove her panic far down. Discipline from years of training lent her focus and she gathered her thoughts in a methodical progression, banishing fear as she did so.

Alone. Of course this fae had to be alone. Immortal or no, too long without interaction and even the long-lived spoke simply to hear themselves. Otherwise, they went mad. She studied this one, his stooped form and ragged clothes. He didn’t bother to use glamour to hide his blemished hide or his overlarge skull. As he shuffled around her, muttering, she wondered if he hadn’t already gone mad anyway.

“Why set a trap?” Would he respond, engage in conversation? Possibly not, if he considered her on a level with the mortals he used as servants. Still, he had to have given them orders.

“Sustenance, of course, for my pets.” It wouldn’t have been unheard of for a fae to feed on humans. In fact, she’d encountered many. “And they make for interesting test subjects.”

“Testing?”

He chuckled as he used a stick to poke at something high up on the wall. “Of course, testing. One doesn’t develop a strategy without testing the effectiveness of the weapons he has at hand.”

She fell to the ground, unable to catch herself or break her fall, tangled up in netting and random debris. A roar echoed around her and suddenly Kayden was there, standing over her in his leopard form.

“Careful, careful.” The fae held up a long finger. “If your pet kills me, there will be nothing to hold back all of these.”

Beyond him, a sea of zombies rocked back and forth.

Shite.

Had she ever seen so many? She’d faced regiments smaller than the host of undead filling the train platform. There were too many for her and Kayden to fight, even if she had her swords.

“And if I keep my pet under control, what will you do, old one?” Wrapping her arms around Kayden’s shoulders, she prayed he would remain in animal form for the time being.