Killing Land (Rune Alexander Book 8) (12 page)

They followed him through the eerie streets of Killing Land,
and the deeper into the town they went, the more convinced Rune became that she
shouldn’t have brought her crew there.

There was something in the air, and it for damn sure wasn’t
a good something. She put her window down, despite the coldness, but the fresh
air didn’t help—the air was the problem.

She tasted something strange. It lay on her tongue like
rocky dust, infiltrating her lungs and clogging her nostrils just enough to
make her fear the Next had somehow slipped more obsidian into her heater.

“Just paranoia,” she muttered, and gradually, the heavy
strangeness in the air seemed to clear.

Maybe it
was
just paranoia.
Fear.

She spotted a very few people as she drove. A couple of them
stood in front yards to watch the procession pass by, and one man sat in a
worn, rickety rocking chair on a small porch. A couple of them had even walked
to the middle of the street and refused to move until the man who led them put
his window down and uttered a few words too soft for even Rune to catch.

Mostly men, but there were women, as well.
She saw three women with tired, worn faces, stringy hair, and dispassionate
eyes.

No one smiled.

Smoke rose lazily from a few of the chimneys, and some of
the occupied homes appeared to be lacking electricity—she spotted lanterns and
candles through the bare windows.

Once, she saw a woman snatch a couple of kids into the
house.
Children in Killing Land.

Finally, they stopped along the street in front of a large
house with peeling white paint and a wide porch. Small stone gargoyles sat on
crumbling columns, guarding the walkway, and she spotted more of the ugly
things on the posts at the corners of the old porch.

Rune stepped out of her car, studying the house as she waited
for her crew to join her.

Gargoyles were thought to ward off evil. The previous owners
of the house must have been pretty sure evil lived next door, waiting for a
chance to strike, because they were all over the place. They even squatted on
the roof, outlined in dark, strange grandeur against a huge, fading sky.

Rune put a hand to her stomach as nausea threatened to rise
up and choke her.

Fucking gargoyles.

She hated gargoyles.

Gargoyles hated her.

The man watched from the front of his car, but motioned his
men away. They walked silently into the house without a single look back.

“Shitty town,” Rune said, looking around at the dilapidated,
abandoned buildings and the barren, ravaged yards, and the small knot of
unkempt, unfriendly men and women watching them.

“It’s like someone cut one of the poorer towns from Skyll
and plunked it down here,” Roma said.

She was right. Rune nodded.
“Exactly.
Shitty fucking town.”

“You’re hurting my feelings,” the man with the twisty weapon
said.

Roma was curious. “Why? Did you make this town?”

He laughed. “No, I did not make this town, sweetheart.”

“You never told us your name,” Rune said, walking toward
him, her crew at her back. “And before this goes any further, tell me—are we
going to kiss or are we going to fight?”

A small blonde woman stepped out of the house and onto the
porch. “His name,” she said, her voice crisp, “is Gage Draven Delaney, and this
town belongs to him.” She crossed her arms after patting the knife holstered at
her hip. “And if there’s any kissing to be done, I have dibs.
So fuck off,
Vampira
.”

Rune laughed.

Gage Delaney simply waited to see what would happen.

The blonde girl’s face turned a bright shade of pink. “Laugh
while you can, bitch. You won’t be laughing when I’m standing over your dead
body right after I’ve—”

Roma shot her in the face.

The stone or ball or whatever she’d had in her slingshot
took the girl’s head off.

“Best they learn right up front,” Roma declared.

“Holy hell,” Rune whispered. “Roma, what the fuck did you
just do?”

“Some threaten you but have no intentions of backing it up,”
Roma said, after a pause. “That one meant it. She was going to take off your
head.” She nodded grimly. “I had to take hers off first.”

“And how,” Rune asked, her teeth clenched almost too hard to
speak, “could you possibly know that?”

Roma paused and pulled her brows low in a puzzled frown. “I
don’t know.”

“Well, hell,” Gage Delaney
said,
his voice soft.

Rune looked at him,
then
glanced at
the armed men standing suddenly and quietly on his porch. They all stared at
the girl’s lifeless body with gaping mouths and wide eyes.

Rune knew exactly how they felt.

She held up her hands. “I’m sorry.”

“See, though,” Gage said, turning his back on Rune and the
crew and walking up the porch steps. “I got a dead innocent on my hands. One of
yours killed one of mine. And no apology is going to take that away.”

Talk about getting off to a bad start.

And Rune had no defense. Roma had simply cut down a woman.
Murdered her—and all because of a few words.

There
was
no defense.

“Shit,” Jack murmured. “What now, Rune?”

“They’re going to try to take her,” she said, her voice low
and quick. “We don’t let them.
I
will deal with Roma.”

But Delaney surprised her. “You took the life of one of my
people, Alexander. I ask for something in return for that life.” He took his
stare from the dead girl and planted it on Rune. “I’d like to avoid a war with
you.”

She forced herself to breathe. “What do you want?”

“I want you to get the fuck out of my town, sis.”

She wanted to tell him not to call her
sis
but it was
too close to her telling Z not to call her sweet thing. She ignored the
nickname.

“While I’m here, Delaney, this is
my
town. Once I’ve
taken out the monster, I’ll give this sorry place back to you.”

He wasn’t amused. “We’re never going to allow an outside
organization to manipulate us.
That I can promise you.
And trading one monster for another? I can’t let that happen.”

“You won’t be trading shit. I’m going to rid you of your
monster, and then
this
monster is getting back to civilization.” But she
couldn’t help adding, “Motherfucker.”

He walked toward her, ignoring the danger that surrounded
him in her crew—in
her
. He stood too close to her. “You’ll want to be
careful.”

She looked up at him. “Are you threatening me?”

His eyes sparkled and he stepped back.
“Oh
no.
I wouldn’t want your pretty slingshot girl to deprive me of my
head.” He reached up to run a hand over his watch cap.
“Just
a friendly warning, sweetheart.”

“I have no desire to spend any more time than necessary in
this…town.”

“Of course.
You’re much too good
for the likes of this place.”

She didn’t disagree. “I’ll deal with Roma over the girl.
She’ll be punished for…”

“Murder?
How will you punish her,
sis?” He gestured. “I’m just curious.”

Rune took a deep breath, then wished she hadn’t when she
pulled his scent into her head. It was not unpleasant, but it was unfamiliar.
Man, soap, and something…something that teased her nostrils without telling her
brain a damn thing.

She frowned, trying to capture it.

“It was my mistake,” Roma said, stepping to Rune’s side. “I
will bear my punishment.
You.”
She pointed at Gage
Delaney. “She was your friend. You will decide my punishment.”

He stared at her for a moment. “Are you at all sorry for the
life you took?” His eyes held only curiosity. At least, that was all he allowed
to show.

“I’ve spent much of my life in battle,” Roma replied. “We
kill threats.” She motioned at the girl she’d killed. “Especially those who
would sneak up and slip a blade into the heart of one we’re sworn to protect.”

“So you’re saying it was a sort of preemptive strike. You’re
sure Carla was going to murder your mistress, so you killed her, thereby saving
Rune’s life.”

She nodded.
“Exactly.”

He studied her for a minute more as Rune and the crew stood
silent and ready. Finally, he glanced at Rune. “I won’t have your girl punished
for one reason—she was right.”

Rune slowly straightened, staring at him in amazement.
“What?”

“Carla never made a threat she didn’t carry out. Right,
Ray?”

A man standing on the porch stared down at them and nodded.
“I was tying my sister to a tree in the woods tomorrow morning. She deserved to
be eaten by the monster.” Then he turned and walked away. The old screen door
creaked when he opened it and it slammed shut with a sound of finality.

“Well then,” Delaney said. “If you’re bent on staying, I’ll
have a house set up for you. There’s one right across the street that’ll
accommodate all of you. I assume you’d rather not be split up.”

Rune nodded, not surprised.

“Come in while my people are cleaning it up for you. Have
some coffee. One of my men will take you to the house when it’s ready. Follow
me.”

One of his men lifted Carla’s headless body from the porch
and slung it over his shoulder, then trotted down the steps to toss her in the
back of a newish truck.

“Where is he taking her?” Rune asked.

“To the cemetery.”

Possibly the same cemetery she and Roma had been dropped
into.

“Let’s talk about the thing that’s eating people.”

He shrugged. “I can’t help you with that. I’m afraid you’re
on your own, sis.”

“Hardly,” Roma disagreed.

“I don’t need your help,” Rune told him. “I have my crew.”

His smile was breathtaking. “You might be surprised.”

“What is this monster, Delaney? I’d like to know what we’re
up against.”

“You shouldn’t have come here. You’d have been better off to
mind your own business, Ms. Alexander.”

“Hunting monsters
is
my business.”

“You have no idea what’s going on in Killing Land.”

“So tell me.”

“I have nothing to say. My people have nothing to say,
either.”

“We’ll see.”

His smile was not kind. “You wouldn’t want to get these
people hurt, would you?”

Shit.
She narrowed her eyes and took a step toward
him. “You hurt anyone in this town because I question them, and I will come
after you, Delaney.” She wouldn’t tell him she was going to deal with him after
she dealt with his monster.

But only a very stupid person would believe he could murder
outsiders, feed them to a monster, and not have the law hang his ass.

And Gage Delaney was not a stupid person.

But he…

He made her nervous.

“I’ll be waiting, sweetheart,” he murmured.

His
sweethearts
were like blocks of ice pushed into
her brain. Every time he said it, she wanted to shiver.

Not in a good way.

She feigned interest in his rather large living room to have
a reason not to look at him. The room was minimally furnished except for
shelves and shelves full of books. “I’ll give you my cell number, and you can
call when the house is ready. You have a pen?”

“I’ll remember it.”

She rattled off her phone number, eager to get out of his
house and find the graveyard on the hill.

Because that was where she hoped to find
Gunnar the Ghoul.

And Gage Draven Delaney made her fucking nervous.

The man following them made no attempts at secrecy. He
simply trailed along behind them, stopped when they stopped, and seemed to have
no end to his patience.

It was the same truck that had escorted her and Roma out of
town.

“Gage Delaney,” Roma said, leaning up from the back seat,
“is a liar, Rune. You can’t believe anything he says. He manipulates people.
He’s not to be trusted.”

Rune glanced into her rearview, catching Jack’s eye. He
shrugged and sent her a quick grin. Roma had hesitated when Jack climbed into
the back of Rune’s car, but finally had slid into her seat and stared so hard
away from him that Rune was afraid the girl would get a stiff neck.

Raze and the twins had gone together to check out the town.
They were only a phone call away, but their absence made Rune uneasy.

Because that dust was in the air, and there was a monster
eating people.

And of
course
Gage Draven Delaney was a fucking
manipulating liar. She didn’t need Roma to tell her that. The entire time she’d
stood in his house, she’d felt too close to him.

As though his presence was bigger—much bigger—than he was,
and he was standing in her personal space. Too close.
Just
much too close.

She’d wanted him to take his dark knit cap off, because even
though it was just a cap, it seemed to somehow hide him.

Maybe that was why he wore it.

Gage Delaney was someone to be careful around. She could
feel it. His quick grins, winks, and laidback attitude didn’t fool her.

“He didn’t fool any of you, did he?” she asked.

“Nope,” Jack answered.

“Not even me,” Ellie said, “and God knows I’m the first
person to believe what people show me. But Gage…” He shivered. “No. He didn’t
fool me. There’s something off about him.”

“He’s not to be trusted,” Roma repeated.

“Roma,” Rune said.

“Yes?” Roma’s voice was quiet. She knew what was coming.

“You cannot kill people because of their words. I don’t care
what you think you know. Do that again and I’ll toss you out.”

“But I—”

“Do you understand?”

“Yes, Princess.”

“He makes me uncomfortable,” Rune said, five minutes later.

“Is he human?”  Jack asked. “I couldn’t tell.”

She hesitated.
Was
he? “Me neither—I’d assume he is
because the fucking town is made up of humans who dislike
Others
.
And he called me a monster. Just doesn’t sound like an
Other
.
But…”

“But he’s hiding something.”

She nodded.

“He doesn’t want help with the monster,” Ellis said. “Maybe
he wants to keep it here.”

“The doctor in the cellar said there are handlers who take
care of the monster. How can they handle it, get it back into its…home, but not
kill it?”

“These people have to know, but they’re not talking.”

She agreed. “Someone will. There’s always someone in a town
willing to talk.”

“Maybe they’re scared,” Ellis said. “I’m sure there are a
lot of things we don’t understand.”

“We will,” Rune said, grimly. “Meanwhile, be careful.
Especially of Gage Delaney.
Human or not, he’s dangerous. I
don’t think he misses much. He may suspect we’re going after him once we handle
the monster. I’m sure he’d rather kill us than leave his hole of a town.”

“He doesn’t like you,” Roma said.

Surprised, Rune glanced over the seat at her. “Who doesn’t
he like?”

“You.
He doesn’t like you.”

“What the hell?” Jack said. “Have you suddenly become
psychic or something?”

Roma turned back to her window. “It’s weird. I don’t know. I
just…I can almost see what he’s thinking. Not exactly, but I…” She stopped
talking.

“That is weird,” Rune agreed.

“What are you, Roma?” Ellis asked. “You’re among friends.
You can tell us.”

Roma didn’t answer his question but continued talking about Gage.
“When I’m around him, I can come close to reading his thoughts. They’re all
over his face. But maybe it’s just my imagination.”

“Do any of you taste dust in the air?” Rune asked.

“Not me,” Jack said, and others concurred.

“It’s not obsidian is it?” Ellis voice squeaked a little at
the end. “
Is
it, Rune?”

“No, baby.
It doesn’t weaken me.
I’m just aware of it. It’s heavy. I don’t like to breathe it in, but it’s not
disabling me.”

She didn’t tell him that she’d been worried about obsidian
as well. That feeling had passed, and had left just a vague sort of anxiety in
its place.

“You’re thinking Gunnar will be in the cemetery?” Jack
asked.

“I’m hoping. But there are a dozen graveyards in Killing
Land. He could be in any of them.”

“Or all of them,” Ellis said. “Not at the same time, in case
anyone is worried I’ve lost my mind. But you said he could jump from graveyard
to graveyard, correct?”

“Yes. If he’s here, he’ll know we’ve arrived. He’ll be
waiting for us.”

“For you,” Ellis said, gently.

“Maybe,” she said. “But he didn’t show himself when Roma and
I first landed.”

“You’re worried.” He reached out to squeeze her hand.

“I have a bad feeling.” She hadn’t wanted to admit it, but
there it was. “I have a very bad feeling.”

“Rune,” Jack said. “Remember how Will told us we could
recruit from the town? What I’ve seen so far isn’t exactly impressive.”

“Keep an eye out,” Rune replied.

“No pun intended,” Roma said.

“Roma!”
Ellie’s voice was sharp
with astonishment. “We don’t joke about Jack’s eye.”

“We could have Will the Assassin bring people to us,” Jack
said, ignoring both Roma and Ellie.

“We can’t trust the Assassin,” Rune answered. “God knows who
he’d bring us. I don’t know how we’ll find recruits here, but as much as I hate
to admit it, Eugene is right. We need more muscle.”

“Yeah,” Jack said. “I’m betting he knows more about the
monster than he’s telling us.”

“He hasn’t told us anything other than the monster is fed
humans,” Rune said. “We need to question him a little more thoroughly.”

“We will,” Jack said.
“Soon as he shows
himself again.”

She drove up the hill, her stomach in knots. She missed
Gunnar. She
loved
Gunnar. She’d forgiven him for his secrets. But right
then, seeing him again scared the fuck out of her.

She cleared her throat. “Get the candy, Ellis.”

He pulled a bag from the glovebox.

“You’ve got candy?” Roma scooted up in her seat and slid her
hand over Ellis’s shoulder. She walked her fingers down his arm like a fleshy
spider,
then
caressed the bag.
“Chocolate?”

“It’s for Gunnar,” Rune said. She parked the car and got
out, glancing back inside just in time to see Ellis sneaking Roma one of the
six bars.

Once Roma had her hands on the candy, she didn’t care if
Rune saw her eating it or not. She tore the wrapper from the bar and was
cramming candy in her mouth as she climbed from the car. “I’m a pig, and I
don’t care.”

“Is
that
what you are?” Ellis asked.

Roma nearly choked on her candy.

“Maybe Gunnar will have some information about the
cannibal,” Jack said. “Right now, we don’t have shit.”

“He will,” Rune answered. “That ghoul knows pretty much
everything that goes on.”

“Yeah,” he said. “But how often does he actually share that
knowledge?”

He had a point there.

She took the bag from Ellis, watching with annoyance as their
tail drove slowly by and tapped his horn in greeting. “Bastard’s laughing at
us.”

The guy parked a little distance away, but didn’t get out of
his truck.

“I can go talk to him,” Jack offered.

“You mean you can go rough him up,” Ellis said. “He’s not doing
anything but following us.”

“We’ll leave him alone,” Rune said. “Ignore him unless he
gets too close.”

Ellis took his cell from his pocket. “I’ll check on the
guys.”

Rune nodded, and began to walk, her crew at her side. She’d
wanted Ellis to stay in River County where it was safer, but he’d gotten Levi
on his side and she’d crumbled.

Besides.
She’d missed him.

She didn’t call out for Gunnar as they walked the graveyard.
If he was there, he’d come out.

An hour later, she began to notice the people following
them. “Wonder what took them so long,” she murmured.

Jack grinned and patted one of his holstered blades. “We
could use a little practice.”

Rune glanced at Ellis. “See the angel to your left, Ellie?”

“Yes.” He swallowed. “I see it.”

“Get behind it. We won’t be long. It’s just the
townspeople.”

“Only six people,” Roma said.

“That’s pretty stupid of them,” Jack said.

Rune agreed. “And why would they be stupid?”

“Might be a little more practice than I first thought.” Jack
pulled his blades as Ellis went behind the large stone angel.

Rune nodded.
“A trap.”

“Why the fuck would they want to kill us? We’re here to help
the idiots.”

“Don’t know. Let’s go ahead and kick their asses. We can ask
questions later.”

Jack’s laugh was the only sound in the cemetery.

The graveyard was silent, the trees tall and dark with
skinny, naked limbs that stretched longingly toward the sky, as if begging the
sun to chase away the cold and return to them the green, sheltering clothes
that winter had stolen.

It’d been tended well, despite the town reaching near ghost
town status, and for a second Rune wondered about those who’d continued to live
there after things had gone badly.

“Rune,” Jack said.

“I hear them.” And then, she saw them.

At least a dozen pickup trucks roared up the hill. Men
holding shotguns stood in the beds of noisy trucks, and when they caught sight
of Rune and the others, began to hoot and yell and shake their guns.

Rune sighed.

“Lord,” Ellie yelled.
“Rednecks from hell.”

“Call Raze, baby.
We’re going to
need him and the twins.”

“Already did.” Then he rushed out from behind the angel.
“Roma, give me that shotgun.”

She tossed it to him before Rune could open her mouth.

And there was no time to argue with him or try to force him
back behind the angel. The fight was on.

Rune and her crew dove for cover as the shotgun toting men
wasted no time—they opened fire from the trucks,
then
jumped to the ground even before the drivers brought the trucks to a halt.

A lone truck climbed the hill, going so fast it fishtailed
and looked, for a moment, like its driver was going to lose control and send
the truck rolling over the side of the hill—but he righted it and it roared to
the top, running two of the attackers over before Rune realized it was Will the
Assassin’s truck.

“
Hmmmm
,” she said. Then, “Ellis,
can you shoot that gun?”

He answered by squeezing the trigger. He missed the men he
was aiming for, but hit the truck behind them. It exploded, and the men
standing close to it went screaming to meet their makers.

Ellis’s face whitened, and his eyes were wide and staring.
“I meant to do that.”

Rune grinned. “Good job, baby.” Then she was thrown backward
as a blast from one of the enemy’s shotguns hit her square in the chest.

It took her only a couple of seconds to shake it off. She
climbed to her feet. “Hush, Ellie. That didn’t hurt me, just pissed me the fuck
off.” The injury reminded her that though she’d brought body armor along with
her, she’d neglected to put it on.

But the armor was for obsidian-laced weapons. Shotgun blasts
didn’t worry her.

She slid her hand through the bloody mess, finding the pain
and the gore strangely pleasing. Then she shot her claws out and ran at the
shooters.

Jack was circling the area, getting behind the attackers,
and she’d lost sight of him before she’d been shot. Roma was taking out any man
she could see, and Ellie…she just hoped he wouldn’t aim for the guys to the
right of her and
end
up blowing her head off.

She’d nearly decapitated three of the attackers before she
paused to drink from the fourth one.

Jack didn’t bother shooting—he preferred, when it was
possible—to use either his fists or his blades, and as she tossed her empty,
bloody vessel aside, she caught sight of him pounding the hell out of a guy who
somehow managed to keep his cap on even as Jack pummeled him.

It was Will who nearly made her lose her head—not Will, but
her own curiosity, really. He’d taken on a man twice his size, and both of them
fought with silver, not guns.

The other attackers gave them wide berth, as though afraid
of one or both of them. Rune wasn’t afraid, but she was fascinated, and she
paused to watch Will fight.

For a second, just a brief second, she forgot she was in the
middle of a bloody battle and that yes, she could be hurt.

Will sizzled like droplets of water hitting a hot skillet.
She drew in a quick, silent breath and forgot to release it.

Will the Assassin could have taken out his opponent at any
time, but he…he was
playing
with the guy.
And having a
damn good time doing it.

He was a sinister black shadow, his
movements
effortless and flowing, nothing of him showing but his eyes, and she couldn’t
see those.

He was fast—so very fast, twirling and dancing and leaping
like a fucking streak of black light, and she couldn’t take her stare off him.

“Fuck if he doesn’t belong in Shiv Crew,” she said.

And she realized something at that moment. Will Blackthorne
was
an assassin, and if he’d wanted to actually take her head, he could have.
At any fucking time.