Killing Land (Rune Alexander Book 8) (11 page)

She put her fist to her mouth, biting her knuckles so hard
she felt the warm, salty taste of blood fill her mouth. “I can’t breathe.”

Roma gripped Rune’s arm. “What can I do?” Her voice was
breathless, panicked.

“Something really is wrong,” Nikolai said. “Stop the car and
let me out, Rune.”

She couldn’t think. Should she stop the car? Should she keep
driving? She inhaled again, deeply, and splinters of pain jabbed at her lungs.

She coughed, and splatters of blood hit the steering wheel,
the windshield, and the dashboard. “
Fuck
me.”

Roma shrieked.

“Stop the car, Rune,” Nikolai shouted. “Stop the fucking
car.”

The lights from a truck behind her nearly blinded her.
“Jack?”

The light exploded into one bright, blinding flash, and she
began to slide into unconsciousness.

Her tongue had swollen so much it cut off her airway. Her
nose was clogged. Her mind was fuzzy. Her skin was on fire.

And the pain…the pain…

I can’t breathe.

You know you don’t have to.

Relax.

Relax.

She clawed at her throat, unable to relax.

The world was black and her body, weak and alien, bobbed
gently in…

Water.
Liquid.

She opened her mouth to call for Roma and the liquid, warm
and as thick as honey, flowed between her lips.

Unable to contain
herself
, she
cried soundless wails of terror and thrashed violently, trying to free herself
from a dark and horrifying prison.

She heard only a deafening roar as water pressed upon her
eardrums, and no matter how she twisted or turned, there was nothing to see.

Nothing to feel.

It was her nightmare.

She was a brain in a jar.

Nooooo
…

But no one would hear her scream.

She made no sounds.

Was that laughter she heard, muffled and echoing?

Had someone called her name?

Was she dead?

Had no one thought to take her heart and head but left her doomed
to exist for eternity in a…

“Rune!”

She was sure. Someone called her name.

Jack.

Fucking Jack.

Oh Jack.

She was sure the liquid in which she floated would be tinged
with red from her tears.

Jack.

He wasn’t dead.

Something hit the glass in which she was encased, hit it so
hard the liquid inside the tank surged violently.

The tank was hit again and a loud crack sent shockwaves
through her mind.

Then the glass shattered with a sound like the screams she
wanted to release but couldn’t, and the water began to pour from the broken
tank.

Rune poured out with it.

“Rune,” Jack murmured. “You’re safe now.”

He’d pulled her into his wet lap and wrapped his arms around
her shivering, nude body, but when she gathered herself enough to look up at
him,
it was to find his eyepatch askew and his good eye
darting constantly.

Watching for danger.

“Get me out of here,” she whispered.
Wherever
here
was.

She’d been a brain in a jar.

Was it as bad as she’d imagined it would be?

Yes. Oh, yes.

The world tilted as Jack stood, taking her with him.

She was as weak as a newborn, and she recognized the
feeling.

“Obsidian,” she
said,
her voice
soft.
Weak.

The liquid inside the tank had been full of obsidian.

She knew from experience it would take a while for the
effects to wear off.

“Let’s take her out,” Jack told someone.

“I got the note,” Raze replied.

She didn’t see him, but his familiar voice was almost enough
to bring her to tears again.

“Raze,” she said.

“Relax, Rune,” Raze said, coming to peer down into her face.
“We’ve got you.”

“We’re here,” Denim said.

The world was dark and she couldn’t move her head to look
for them. They were there. That was enough.

She didn’t speak again as she was placed gently into the
back seat of Jack’s car and covered with a blanket.

She and her crew always carried emergency blankets, and
she’d never been so grateful for anything in her life.

She nestled down into the warm depths of the blanket and let
the hum of the tires on the wet highway lull
her
as
Jack drove her to safety.

It seemed like mere seconds later when he stopped the car
and opened the door. “We’re at the Annex,” he told her. “Eugene insisted.”

She was falling asleep. “Don’t let go until I heal,” she
said.

“Don’t worry,” Jack answered. “I won’t.”

She slept.

When she awakened, Jack was staring down at her, his eye
dark, his face haggard, and he still held her in his arms.

“Jack.”

He grinned. “Told you I wouldn’t let you go.”

She sat up.

Someone had dressed her in a loose hospital gown, and for a
moment Elizabeth’s face floated into her mind.

But Elizabeth would never take care of her again.

She was in the Annex clinic. The room was empty but for her
and Jack.

“How long?”
Her throat hurt. She
climbed out of Jack’s lap and tottered unsteadily to the bed, and didn’t argue
when Jack helped her in.

Ellis entered the room, Levi and Denim at his back.

“Rune,” he cried, and ran to her side. “You’re awake.”

“How long was I out?”

“Only about four hours, honey. How do you feel?”

“I need some water. My throat hurts.”

“You inhaled and swallowed a lot of obsidian,” he said, his
voice severe. “It’s no wonder your throat hurts.”

She watched him as he poured water into a plastic cup.
“Someone want to tell me what the hell happened?”

Ellis handed her the water. He didn’t meet her gaze, and that’s
when she knew they were about to tell her something uncomfortable.

“Where’s Roma?
And Nikolai?”

“They’re fine,” Jack said. “Both were disabled when we got
to them. Roma has a concussion and the vampire was unable to move, but they’re
both okay. The vampire is in a holding room healing, and Roma is—”

“I am here,” Roma said, striding through the door. Her face
was pale and a large bandage covered half her head, but she was alive. “I will
not forgive myself for letting them take you.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Roma,” Rune said.

“I am no guard at all. I’m sworn to protect you, and I can’t
even save you from
humans.
” She sneered and hit herself in the head,
hard. Before anyone could say a word, she hit herself again.

A pink wetness began to seep through the white of her
bandage.

Rune sat up. “Don’t you
ever
let me see you do that
again.
”

Roma widened her eyes and took a step back.
“Pardon?”

Rune shook her head. “Do not take the blame for things you
can’t help, and don’t ever hit yourself again. You understand me?”

Roma nodded, slowly, carefully.
“Yes,
Princess.”

“Roma,” Ellis asked, “why are you so afraid of Rune? She’s
not…” He shrugged. “She’s not
mean.”

“If she were to attack me,” Roma answered, not even
hesitating, “I would not defend myself.”

“I don’t want you to fight her,” Ellis said, confused, “but
why wouldn’t you defend yourself?”

“She’s the princess.” She frowned at him.
“The
princess
.
She saved an entire world. And she saved me. Now we
both belong to her.” She frowned harder. “You people don’t appreciate that—or
her—enough.”

Ellis nodded, and at that moment, Rune could see him begin
to love the Skyllian Other who was so full of secrets that none of them even
knew what she was.

But that was okay, because he knew without a doubt that Roma
would forever have Rune’s back.

Just as he did.

He met Rune’s soft gaze, and for a long, long moment, they
just stared at each other, flashes of the past in both their faces.

“What would I do without you, Ellie?” she whispered.

His smile lit up the room. “You’ll never have to find out.”

Raze stepped through the doorway, his stare going first to
Rune, then to Roma. He said nothing.

“Now,” Rune said. “Someone call for coffee, and one of you
start
talking. I want to know exactly what happened.”

She took a deep breath, noting with relief that there was
only a dull, low pain in her lungs when she did so. She was nearly healed.

Before Skyll, inhaling and swallowing obsidian would have
disabled her for a hell of a lot longer than a couple of hours.

“Why didn’t you meet me at Simon’s house?” she asked Jack.

His lips tightened and for a second a gleam of guilt lit his
eye. “I got a call that distracted me.
Sent me somewhere
else.”
He seemed disinclined to explain further.

“Where?
Who called you?”

“Here,” he said, ignoring her questions. He pulled a note
from his pocket. “I kept this from Eugene. I wanted you to see it first.”

He wouldn’t look at her.

She took the note and opened it with hands that shook only a
little. There was one little sentence on the paper, and it knocked the breath
from her.

When we want you, we will have you.

“Shit.” She looked at her crew. “They meant for me to be
found.
The Next?”

“Surely,” Jack said.
“Or the Shop.”

“Or both,” Will said, stepping into the room. He moved cautiously,
as though he expected them to attack him. “I saw the room in which you were
held. The tank and obsidian could have been the work of my father.
The idea behind it the work of Lee Crane.”

Rune showed him the note, waiting until he walked forward to
take it before she asked her question. “What does this mean?”

“Exactly what you think it means. You must be on constant
guard. They will plot years ahead for one single strike. They took you, but
didn’t kill you.”

“Because they didn’t want to,” she said. “They had me. They
could have done anything.”

“Your car heater released obsidian powder into the air,
incapacitating you. It also held silver, taking care of the vampire.”

“Did you try using your slingshot?” Rune asked Roma.

Roma stared at the floor. “I thought they were rescuers. I
thought they were coming to help. By the time I realized they meant to take
you, it was too late.”

“What’d they look like? How many of them were there?”

“They—”

“Rune,” Jack said, gently. “Roma has already been
questioned. You can read the file when you’re healed.”

“There wasn’t much anyway,” Roma muttered.
“Nothing that could help.”

Rune realized she was clenching her fists so hard her nails
cut into her palms and immediately relaxed them.

She had to practice what she’d preached to Roma.

“It’s being investigated,” Jack said. “We found you because
of an anonymous tip to Ellis.”

Rune looked at Ellis, whose eyes immediately overflowed. “It
was a frightening call.”

Rune patted the bed, and he sat down beside her. “You’re
okay?”

“Of course I’m okay, Rune.” He gave her a watery smile. “Are
you?”

She squeezed his hand. “I’ll always be okay.”

“You’re wrong,” Will the Assassin said. “If you let them
take you again, you will not be okay.”

“It’s not like I invited them in,” she snapped.

“Be more careful,” he snapped back. “I can find no security
in your crew if you can’t even protect yourself.”

Roma went at him, furious. She didn’t appear to have a
thought in her head, only rage in her heart. She pulled her slingshot free,
loaded it, and sent the ammo at Will’s head, all in a matter of seconds.

She was fast, but lucky for him, so was Will.

He ducked, and the ammo hit the wall.

Had she managed to hit his head, he would have been a dead
assassin.

The heavy little ball of metal she’d used exploded through
the wall and into the next room. They heard a crash, a scream, and then a
curse.

One of the nurses stuck her head into the room. “Please,”
she cried. “Stop that.”

For a second there was nothing but amazed silence,
then
they all roared with laughter. Roma laughed with them,
her adoring, relieved stare on her precious slingshot.

Part Two

Darkness Lurking

“Killing Land,” Rune murmured. “The hell kind of place calls
itself Killing Land?”

She and her crew waited just outside the town. Will had gone
in first with the promise he’d be back to collect them once he’d gotten the
‘bosses of the town,’ as he called them, to give the crew permission to enter.

Ellie got out of Rune’s car and went to stand beside Rune.
“Will they let us in?”

“It’s not like they can stop us.”

“How long has he been in there?” Jack sauntered toward them,
moving like a big, lazy cat, but Rune didn’t miss the sharp glances he threw
the around the area or the way his fingers rested near his guns.

Roma,
who’d
stood quietly staring
across the road and into the woods, blanched and walked away.

Jack crossed his arms and stared after her. “Why is she
being so weird?”

“Dude, seriously? She’s going to be weird for a while.”

“Rune, look.”

She followed Ellis’s nod and immediately stiffened as she
spotted a nude man stepping from the trees. “Wolf,” she said, catching his
scent.

Raze got out of his truck, moving quickly despite his size,
his blades in his hands. He stood in the middle of the road, waiting.

“What do you want?” Rune asked, as the stranger stopped and
watched them.

“To talk.”

“About?”

He walked a little closer,
then
hesitated. “You’re our only hope against what’s to come.” He glanced around at
the crew. “All of you are. Our world went to hell when you left and now we’re
headed toward complete extermination. You’re our only hope at survival.”

“You’re all cured. It’ll take a while, but things will get
back to normal. The
Others
will be—”

“No,” he interrupted. “And you don’t believe that. Our
numbers have dwindled and we are in danger of being wiped out. That is our new
truth.”

Her stare wavered. “I won’t let that happen.”

“That’s why I’m here.”

“Why?”

“Keeping you alive, sane, and strong has become our most
important goal.” He pointed his chin toward the town. “You go in there, we’ll
lose you.”

Her crew walked just a little closer to her, surrounding her
in a circle of protection at his words.

Rune’s stomach began flip-flopping. “Join us. Let’s talk. We’ll
need to know everything you know about Killing Land and its monster.”

But they turned to watch the road at the sound of vehicles
approaching, and when Rune glanced back toward the wolf, he’d disappeared.

“Shit,” she said. She could have gone after him, could have
caught him. But Will the Assassin, with two beat-up cars right behind his
truck, braked to a stop and the moment was lost.

She tossed the crew a frown. “He doesn’t have much faith in
our abilities.”

“I hope that’s all it is,” Ellis said. “But I think it’s
more than that, Rune.”

She shrugged off her uneasiness, waiting for the assassin
and his tiny convoy to make a move. “He’s just a scared wolf.”

“He knows something we don’t,” Roma said, looking at no one.
“He seemed aware. He’s an aware wolf. Get it?” She didn’t smile, just stared at
the ground as she tried to amuse them, and they found it hilarious.

Roma was trying to get past her mortification, and Rune
softened even more toward the strange, endearing girl.

They were still laughing when the assassin finally left his
truck.
“Rune.”

She sobered and straightened, her fingertips aching with the
need to release her claws.
“Yeah?”

“You can come in.” He hesitated.
“But only
you.”

“Not happening,” Roma and Jack said, at the exact same time.
He looked at her, and finally, Roma met his gaze and gave him a tiny smile.

“I’m out of patience,” Rune told Will. “Tell the assholes in
the cars behind you not to make a move, or I’ll kill them. We’re going in, and
we’re taking care of business.”

He shook his head. “They won’t allow you all in. They’re
suspicious that you’ve come to tear the town down and take some of them in.
More than that, they’re afraid they’ll get into trouble if things don’t go well
for you in there.”

She growled.
“Idiots.”

He gave a tiny shrug. “Try to see things from their point of
view. Even with the monster, they’re better off here than they ever were on the
outside. They’ve carved out a place for themselves, and now the outside wants
to intrude.”

She put her hands on her hips. “It’s not their choice, dude.
And they’ll find out soon enough I’m interested only in the monster. I’ve come
to kill it—then I’ll go back to River County.”

“They don’t believe things will be that easy.”

“I don’t care.”

Will glanced at the two silent and dark cars behind him. His
movement was furtive and full of warnings. Not for those in the cars.
For her.

“What do you need to tell me, Will?” she asked, quietly.

“They’re not all humans here. They—”

One of the car doors opened and a man stepped out. “No more
talking, Blackthorne. The terms were given. Either she accepts or she doesn’t.”
He was a big man, wearing a silver crucifix, a black coat, and dark sunglasses.
He was armed and took no pains to hide that fact.

Finally, he turned his head to look at her. “You have ten
seconds to decide,
Other
. After that, you and your
men—” He glanced at Roma and gave her a nod. “Pardon me—your people—will be
escorted back to River County. Eight seconds.”

Rune blinked. “You guys have some balls.”

“Seven.”

“Fuck you.”

“Six.”

“Here’s my decision. I’m going in.”

He nodded.
“Fine.”

“And so are my people.”

“Nope.”

She shrugged. “If you give us no choice but to fight you, we
will fight you. We came to kill a monster, but if we’re forced to send a few of
you to hell while we’re at it, our hearts won’t be broken.”

He nodded and removed his sunglasses. Calmly, he tossed them
inside the car and then began to remove his jacket.

Shiv Crew had already drawn on the man and waited only for
Rune’s command to blow him away.

Roma readied her slingshot. She still had Rune’s shotgun,
kept it slung over her shoulder. Though she hadn’t said so, Rune knew she kept
it there as sort of a security blanket. Rune would get the gun back eventually.

But then, one of the men in the second car stepped out.

He didn’t
so
much as flinch when
the crew turned on him. “Stand down, Dash.”

The first man jerked in surprise. “What?”

“Do it.”

Dash’s jaw bulged when he clenched his teeth. “Fuck,” he
murmured, but he stood down.

“Good choice,” Rune said.

None of the crew lowered their weapons, and she did not
retract her claws.

She and the new man stared at each other.

“Rune Alexander and Shiv Crew,” he said, finally. His voice
was mild, without a hint of rancor.

He was dressed with a little more respect for the cold day
than Dash, wearing gloves, a watch cap, and a long, heavy coat. He looked
young—thirty, maybe thirty-two.

She ran a practiced stare over his body, silently
cataloguing his weapons.
At least two guns.
He had an
unfamiliar weapon sheathed on his hip—a thick, twisted blade with a serrated
edge and a silver, ornate hilt—and for a brief second it made her think of the
berserker and his spear.

And she wanted that blade.

The hair peeking out from under his cap was dark brown and
messy,
and his eyes were a color somewhere between green and
gray.

He stood with his feet braced and his hands loose at his
sides, steady and confident. He watched her study him, his eyes clear and
patient, a half smile turning up one corner of his lips.

If she’d been a fool, she’d have let his serene, friendly
face and his casual smile disarm her. Put her at ease. Cause her to dismiss
him.

She was no fool.

She dropped her fangs, and from her peripheral vision, saw
her crew stiffen.

“Who are you?” she asked.

He spread his hands. “I’m the man who has decided not to
kill you and your friends.”

It was her turn to smile.
“Generous of
you.”

He nodded. “You think you could have taken us, with your
pearly eyeteeth and those sharp appendages attached to your hands, but we
aren’t stupid in this town. We’re more than prepared for seven fighters, no
matter how seasoned they might be.”

Though he’d been pushed behind her, she could imagine
Ellie’s chest swelling at being included in the leader’s count.

“You wouldn’t have stood a chance,” she said.

Dash lifted his chin. “We started getting ready the minute
we heard you were coming. We’ve had men watching you since you arrived, with
guns aimed at your heads.” He gave them a self-satisfied smirk.

“Jack,” Rune said, gently.

“Three men in the trees straight across from us,” he said,
without hesitation. “Roma would have taken them out with one shotgun blast. Two
men at our backs, one on the ground behind the oak and another slid back in the
bushes with the red berries. Raze would have cut their throats before they
decided to move.”

Dash’s jaw dropped.

“Two men spaced six yards apart, lying in that smelly ditch
across the road. You’d have taken their heads and then turned to take out the
four men just inside that tree line.” He pointed with his chin, not lowering
his gun. “Then Roma and I would’ve concentrated on the six men coming up behind
us. We noticed them
hiding
when we drove up. Levi and Denim would take
out the five men hunkered down in the cars the two of you just vacated.” He
grinned.

No one moved or made a sound.

Finally, the man crossed his arms and grinned. “And just
who,” he asked, “would have taken me on?”

“Oh, that would have been
my
pleasure,” Rune replied.

“You have a lot to learn about us, sis.” He turned to get back
into his battered car. “Welcome to Killing Land, Shiv Crew. I’m pretty sure
you’ll regret it, but hey…” He faced them with a grin right before he
disappeared from sight inside the car. “I tried.”