Killing Land (Rune Alexander Book 8) (7 page)

Wormwood was no longer silent, no longer empty.

As soon as she stepped inside the gates she felt the
difference. The
Others
were back—at least those few
who had survived.

All of them had found their shifts. By calling the ones in
Willowburg, she’d called them all.

The air was charged, and sounds, no matter how subtle,
drifted through the graveyard.

“There,” Roma said, pointing slightly to the left and into
the trees.
“Movement.”
She had her gun up and ready,
but waited for Rune to finish surveying the area.

Rune nodded. “I see it.” She walked toward the trees, Roma
at her back.

The rest of her crew arrived and followed quietly behind
her, blades ready. There was a newly sinister air to Wormwood and Rune wasn’t
the only one who felt it.

She rubbed her arms, suddenly chilled.

“What is it?” Roma asked.

“Bad feeling, Rune?”
Jack
asked,
his voice quiet.

“Yeah,” she answered. “Be ready.”

“Always,” he said.

“Food,” Roma said, stopping in her tracks.

Rune frowned. “What?”

“I smell…” Roma swallowed, hard. “I smell meat. It’s a…it’s
a very pungent aroma.”

Rune lifted an eyebrow. “We’ll feed you as soon as we leave
the cemetery.”

“You have a little drool on your chin,” Raze said,
helpfully.

Roma glared at him.

Truthfully, she
did
have a little drool on her chin.

“Disgusting,” Roma muttered. “I’m going to be sick.”

Rune sighed. “Let’s concentrate on work.”

But she felt better—less filled with dread and doom.

A sudden flurry of movement behind the tree line startled
them all, and it was followed quickly by a weak scream of pure horror.

Rune shot out her claws and ran toward the scream, her team
spread out around her. She burst through the trees into a small clearing, and
then, unable to process what she was seeing, she stopped so suddenly that Roma
ran into her.

“Grim, no,” she cried, when she could speak. “Grim!”

“Holy shit,” Jack murmured.

Roma fell to her knees and began retching—and Rune
understood that the girl wasn’t sick because she was disgusted by what she was
seeing and smelling, but because she wasn’t.

Raze lifted his gun.

“No,” Rune said.

“But Rune—”

“Raze. No.” Then she took a deep breath and walked carefully
toward the big dog. When she reached him she closed her eyes for a second and
took another deep breath to calm herself.

She wished immediately that she hadn’t, as the ripe, thick
scent of eviscerated human slid into her nostrils.

The dog had his face buried between the human’s ribs,
cheerfully and single-mindedly tearing at the half eaten flesh.

“Like a fucking zombie dog,” Rune whispered,
then
had to swallow down the bile that rose. It wasn’t the
scents so much as the sounds that got to her—slurping and chewing, and stretchy
flesh popping as it was pulled apart.

“God,” she said.

Grim appeared to suddenly realize she was there. He pulled
his face from the steaming, bloody body and looked at her, a question in his
eyes.

As though killing and eating a human was perfectly normal
and he wondered why she was so rudely interrupting his meal.

He shot his tongue out to clear some of the gore from his
muzzle,
then
gave an impatient half-scoot back and a
quick whine.

He’d changed in the little bit of time they’d been apart.
He’d grown even larger and his face had completely lost any resemblance to the
young pup he’d been.

Thick brows lowered above his dark eyes as he watched her,
waiting patiently despite the unfinished meal before him.

“Grim. What have you done?”

Raze stepped to her side, ignoring the fact that Grim
lowered his head and gave an almost silent growl.

Jack took her other side. “I can put him down.” He motioned
with his gun. “We’re going to need to put him down, Rune.”

“He’s not a fucking mad killer.” Rune walked the rest of the
way to the corpse and forced herself to kneel beside him. “Look. This man’s
been beaten.
Tortured.
If Grim killed him, it was to
get him out of his misery.”

“No,” Jack said, gently. “It was to eat him, honey.”

“Fuck you.” But her voice was dull. “This human was
attacked, but it wasn’t by Grim.”

No way in hell was she going to kill Sorrow’s offspring. No
way.

And as he finally grew tired of his polite and patient
waiting, Grim lowered his head once more to finish his bloody feast.

“Get away,” Rune yelled, angry. “Get the fuck back, Grim.”

But the dog refused to listen. He burrowed deeper into the
mess.

Raze strode forward and kicked Grim in the ribs, but other
than an abrupt yelp, Grim ignored him.

“Shit,” Rune muttered, then launched herself at Raze when he
drew his foot back to deliver a second blow. “Raze, no more.”

“Wait,” Jack said. “Look at him.”

Grim had caught something with his front teeth and was
pulling it gently from the body.

“He can’t have been here long,” Levi said. “He’s just now
got the heart.”

“That’s what he was after,” Denim agreed.
“But
why?
He’s not a werewolf.”

“Once they’ve tasted a human heart,” Roma said, weakly,
wiping her mouth, “they can’t get enough.”

“
What
can’t, Roma?”

“Spirit dogs,” she answered.
“Messengers.
This will corrupt him.” She looked at Rune, her face solemn, eyes worried.
“Change him.”

“He’s holding evidence,” Denim said.

Rune agreed. “Grim. Drop—”

Holding the bloody organ in his jaws, Grim turned abruptly,
leapt away, and disappeared into the woods.

“Not even a goodbye,” Rune murmured, staring at the corpse.
“Anyone recognize him?”

The others crowded around.

“No,” Raze said, “but I recognize the handiwork of our
serial killer.” He leaned over and plucked something from the ground.
“And this.”

“A nail.”
Rune nodded,
then
began eyeing the ground. “There are two more. This guy
is absolutely our serial killer’s victim.”

She was relieved.

Grim hadn’t killed the man—he’d simply wanted his heart.

Not that eating a man’s heart was winning Grim any points,
but still. Werewolves ate hearts. It was…frowned upon, but it was done.

She stood. “Levi, Denim, search the area for the person who
screamed when we first came in. If you see any
Others
,
question them. Bring them to me if they saw anything at all.”

They nodded and jogged away.

“Jack, call Bill. If you can’t get him, report this to the
Annex, then you and Raze do some tracking.”

Raze didn’t wait for Jack but walked slowly away, his stare
on the ground.

“He used to torture and nail the victims to buildings,” Rune
told Roma.
“And trees.
Now he just tortures them.”

“He still uses nails,” Roma said.

“Yes.”

“Why nails?”

“It’s been speculated that he was hurt by nails himself in
some way,” Rune answered, studying the mutilated body. “By a human or humans,
since he doesn’t torture
Others
.”

Roma leaned over the human’s face and peered into his open
mouth. “Looks like a nail in his mouth. Shall I get it out?”

“No. Don’t touch him. The Annex will send investigators.
They’re going to be pissed that we’ve fucked with the scene.”

“And that the victim’s heart is missing.” Jack pushed his
cell into his pocket. “I couldn’t get Bill but I reported it to the Annex.”

Rune nodded. “Roma and I will stay here until they arrive.”

“I don’t like to make things difficult at this time,” Roma
said, her gaze on the ground. “But I am so hungry I’m sick. I must eat, Rune.
I’m sorry.”

“Something happened to you on the path. It’s not your fault.
Jack, can you—”

“I’ll take her to Ellis, and then I’ll be back.
Won’t take half an hour.”

“Thanks, baby.”

After the crime scene investigators arrived, she got away as
soon as they were finished with their questions. She told them the heart was
stolen by a wild animal.

They didn’t appear to think she was lying.

She left the scene. While she was there, she might as well
search for the ghoul and his girlfriend.

“Gunnar,” she yelled. “I have your fucking candy.”

She jogged through Wormwood, searching and calling, but the
ghoul didn’t appear.

She wondered how ravaged he was by the rotting disease.

Fuck you, Owen
.

She called Bill’s phone as she left Wormwood, and it
surprised her when he answered. She’d expected his voice mail.

“You heard about the serial killer’s latest victim?” she
asked.

“Yes, just now. Come in and tell me about the scene.”

“Will do.”
She clicked off,
frowning.

He hadn’t wanted to check out the scene for himself.

Bill was worrying her. His behavior had been strange even
before he’d lost Elizabeth. After the loss, he’d become more withdrawn, bitter,
angry.

She’d promised Eugene she’d spy on Bill and find out what—or
who—was bothering him, but in the end had told Eugene to leave it alone. She
hadn’t wanted to get in Bill’s business.

Still
didn’t want to.

It was his life. His secrets were his secrets.

But that didn’t mean she might not occasionally try to
convince him to share his burdens with her.

If she accidentally discovered someone was fucking with him,
she was taking care of business.

Right or wrong.

Her meeting with Bill netted her nothing. He was tired,
quiet, and his interest in the serial killer seemed to have waned. His interest
in
everything
seemed to have waned.

In the back of her mind, poking at her brain like a hot
iron, thoughts of Killing Land grew stronger.

She had to go back there—had to tell her crew, Eugene, and
Bill about the place, and go hunt a monster.

Eugene might not give her permission to go, but she’d go
anyway. There were monsters to kill and people to protect, and it didn’t matter
if they weren’t in River County. Shiv Crew would handle it.

But right then, River County was in need of her and her
crew, and she wasn’t deserting them for Killing Land.

She went home to sleep, unsettled, worried, and feeling as
though the world had changed too much while she’d been gone. Life was
unfamiliar, and a painful, hard knot of anxiety lived in the pit of her
stomach.

Her night was restless and uncomfortable, and she was almost
glad when her cell rang after she’d finally drifted into an agitated sleep.

“Ready to go to work, Rune?” an Annex dispatcher asked.

“Always,” Rune replied. Better to work than lie in the dark
and…grieve.

It was still dark when she and her crew arrived in
Willowburg and stationed themselves around the
Other
clinic. The Annex had received information that a planned attack would be
taking place at dawn.

The attackers were humans seeking to wipe out the remaining
Others
. Humans from other towns had flowed into
Spiritgrove—hunters, they called themselves—on a mission to help the rotting
disease wipe out the
Others
. They weren’t the Next or
the Shop or COS, but a crowd of disappointed, raging humans with guns and
silver bullets could always cause trouble.

Shiv Crew waited silently but had radio contact, all of them
eager for a battle.

Four Annex ops waited with them. Bill had insisted Shiv Crew
needed backup, and Rune hadn’t argued.

Her crew wasn’t as powerful as it once was with the
berserker, Owen, and Lex missing. She’d take the backup and be grateful for it.

She was also grateful for the distraction. Without work,
bleakness and pain squeezed her heart a little too hard.

Z?

I’m here, sweet thing.

“You okay?” Jack whispered.

His worry broke her heart. “Yeah, Jack. But this is what
life has become for the
Others
. It was bad enough
before. Now it’s fucking hell.”

He nodded.

“And how long before they turn on me?” she wondered.

“We’ll be ready for them.”

She had her crew.

She was not alone.

She caught herself looking around for the berserker before
she remembered—again—that he was gone.

The truth of it was
,
he hadn’t been
the man she’d believed him to be.

Not really.

Had he?

He’d stayed for his child, and she couldn’t blame him for
that.

But her berserker would not have stayed.

Because he’d sworn to her that he would not leave her.

Or hurt her.

Not on purpose.

And she was fucking cold.

She shivered.

A fight would warm her up.

Dawn arrived, pointing red fingers across a lightening sky,
and when it came, the enemy came with it.

“I see them,” an Annex op said, his voice sliding into
Rune’s ear.

“I really need some sleep,” Rune muttered. The dawn was cold
and her eyes were heavy. Her teeth clacked together when she opened her mouth.

And a thought snuck into her mind.

What if the path had taken her ability to be a warrior? What
if it’d taken that and made her lazy and needy and emotional and tired?

What the fuck
if?

That possibility was enough to wake her up.

The humans snuck through the shadows, guns up, and
surrounded the clinic.

Only the ill and weak remained in the clinic. Those who’d
healed completely were out hunting, feeding, running through the woods and
streams with joy and hunger.

Though Rune had returned their shifts, a couple dozen of the
shifters and wolves had been so far gone from the rot that she wasn’t sure
they’d ever come back from it.

Those were the
Others
the humans
sought to finish off that morning.

Because, simply enough, they were assholes. They gathered in
dark living rooms and plotted angrily as their spouses cooked up “game night”
foods and filled the fridges with beer. They brought out huge, serrated blades
to compare. They donned their hunting clothes, buckled on their guns, and said
goodbye to families as though they were going to war. And then, they went after
the weak.

Rune forced herself to forget her heartbreak, her
loneliness, and the fear that the path had taken too much.

She needed to fight to protect those like her.

“But where the fuck is my rage?”

The murmured words were too low for anyone to hear, but she
knew if the berserker had been there, he’d have looked at her.

He’d have heard her.

You know where your rage is.

He stayed in Skyll.

She closed her eyes.

“I will always catch you.”

Fucking liar.

She shook the shadowy image of his face from her mind.

He was gone, and sooner or later, she’d have to really,
truly accept that.

Or…

Or she’d have to go get him back.

That very admission and the sudden realization of future
possibilities buoyed her spirits, and in seconds she went from feeling pain so
deep it hurt her to breathe to…

Almost joyful.

Shit.

She
hadn’t
given him up.

No matter what she’d told herself, or what she quietly
believed, she hadn’t.

The hope, smothered by the hurt, was there.

And she’d finally found it.

It might take lifetimes to figure out.

He might forget her.

But someday, she would find the berserker.

She had to.

And then…
then
she’d get mad.

She’d rip his fucking heart out.

Yes.
Yes.

That was when she found her freedom. That was the moment she
was able to move past the pain.

It wasn’t over until she
said
it was fucking over.

She released a war cry of dark promise and blood lust and
tormented liberation, and everyone stood frozen for one brief second.

“
Kill
them,” she yelled.

Those
Others
were hers.

She was theirs.

And she was going to protect them.

Path or no path.

She pushed everything from her mind but delivering death,
and in a few short moments she was bathing in their hot, spewing blood.

She caught a glimpse of Grim roaring through the fighters.
He ripped out the throats of the human enemies and absorbed whatever injuries
were dealt him without a single whimper.

Only afterward did she think to look for him again, and by
then he was gone.

All the attackers were either dead or had fled the scene,
and she had no one to question. Strad would have made sure at least one of them
was restrained and waiting for an Annex interview.

But Strad wasn’t there, and the rest of them had been too
caught up in the battle to remember the importance of taking prisoners. In the
heat of the battle, they hadn’t cared.

“You okay?” Jack asked, again.

He stood in front of her, his hands still filled with
dripping blades, his eyepatch perfectly straight, his short, dark hair
glistening with droplets of enemy blood.

Roma watched him watch Rune.

Rune had one moment of weakness during which she found it
nearly impossible not to walk into Jack’s arms and press her cheek against his
warm, hard comfort.

She struggled, and he watched her struggle.

But not for long.

Jack would never stand back and allow her to flounder in
misery if he could do something about it. He’d not stand in silence and allow
her to keep her pride at the expense of her heart.

If she wouldn’t take what she needed, he’d simply give it to
her.

As he reached for her, though, she backed away and held up
her hands to ward him off. If he’d touched her right then, she’d have broken
down.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she whispered. “I’m so
fucking emotional.”

He shrugged. “That’s understandable, Rune. But don’t be
stubborn, for once in your life.”

“She’s better than she used to be,” Raze said, wiping his
blade calmly on his shirt. “Remember?”

The twins and Roma waited expectantly.

“Yeah.”
Jack grinned. “Back in the
day, one did not
hug
Rune Alexander.”

“Shut up,” Rune said, but she smiled. The hateful, waiting
tears crept back down into her soul.

“Will things ever get back to normal?” Denim asked.

Rune shook her head. “This is our new normal, boys. And
we’re going to be fine.”

“I will always catch you.”

“I will never leave you.”

“I will always love you.”

The berserker’s deep voice echoed gently inside her mind,
then faded and disappeared.

And that was just a little fucking sad.

“I’m putting him away,” she told them, because they needed
to hear it. She wasn’t the only one who wanted permission to move on. “I’m
putting them all away.” She waited until they looked at her.
“For
now.”

For a long second, no one moved. Then, understanding dawned,
and they nodded slowly.

It wasn’t over.

She was just hitting the pause button.

They could all breathe again.

And it was just like starting over.