Blood and Bite (6 page)

She
stumbled
back so fast she fell,
barely feeling it when one of the men grabbed her arm, yanked her to her feet,
and pulled her from the room.

Someone was moaning and when she realized it was her she
shut her mouth. She shut the fuck up.

Fuck me. Fuck me.

Amy had suffered unimaginable shit.
Fucking
little bite junkie, so full of life with her purple hair and her drama.
How eagerly she’d fought to save the vampires. How badly she’d needed to
belong. Just to belong.

“I told my dad all about you and Shiv Crew. He thinks I
could be Shiv Crew material.”

Now she understood Jack’s roar. It hadn’t been rage so much
as anguish.

She tried to shake off the guilt but it wasn’t going
anywhere. None of the crew was going to get out of those shackles anytime soon.

She went outside to get some air and some sunshine and to
call Elizabeth. The boss would want to send some people to get photographic
evidence. She’d have Amy’s remains picked up as soon as possible.

“Did you find anything else in there?” Elizabeth asked.

“No. There was nothing else. He left her there for me and
that was all he needed to do.”

“You have no idea why he would want to hurt you?”

Rune shifted the phone to her other ear. “I don’t know.
Because he’s angry, maybe.
Angry at what he’s become. He
needs someone to take it out on. I don’t
know.
” She did not want to have
a connection with Llodra.

“You might need to take the rest of the day off.”

“No. I need to work. But Amy’s father…”

“I’ll find his contact information and send someone to his
house.”

Rune wanted to volunteer to go knock at his door and break
the news to him, but in the end she couldn’t. “Thanks.” She hesitated. “Have
them give him my number.”

“Of course.”

She put her cell back into her pocket and closed her eyes,
letting the sun warm her skin. It was cold in the house—cold and damp and
draining.

Rune wasn’t a sunshine lover, normally, but right then, she
needed it. Her crew was inside, tearing the place apart just in case they’d
missed something the first time.

She stood in the overgrown yard and stared at the house,
shivering despite her jacket.
Don’t think about it.

Amy crying, chained on the floor, scared…

Don’t
fucking
think
about it.

It’s my fault.

No.

But how could she
not
feel responsible? She’d taken
off to the clinic with not a word to Amy. No goodbye, no explanation, nothing.

She hadn’t even read the emails.

Now she would, and it would hurt. But Amy had hurt much
worse. The least Rune could do was read her fucking emails.

The door opened and the crew filed out, quiet and somber.

She’d given them Jeremy—had owed it to them. He’d hurt them
as much as he’d hurt her and they’d needed a piece of him.

But Llodra was hers and she wasn’t sharing him with anyone.

He was hers to kill.

Amy’s death hit Lex hard. She’d read Amy when they’d first
met and had seemed to take a liking to the girl. But after Amy had gone back
home to her father, the entire crew had just…forgotten about her.

“Do you want to go home, Lex?” Rune asked, as the
Other
stood shivering between Denim and Levi.

“No. I don’t want to go home to the quiet. I don’t want to
think about her.”

Rune nodded though Lex couldn’t see her. It was easy to
forget Lex was blind. She took a deep breath. “Okay. There’s nothing we can do
for now. Let’s go to work.”

Goodbye, Amy.

They’d all lose themselves in work but tonight when it was
dark and quiet, the memories would come.
And the guilt.

Rune knew she needed to feed. When her body needed
nourishment she was more likely to spiral down into dangerous territory.

“Sometimes it feels like there is something wrong with
Spiritgrove,” Lex said, walking beside Rune.

“Bad shit happens everywhere, baby.”

“I know,” Lex
answered,
her voice
dry. “I grew up outside River County and lived through some harsh things.”

Harsh things.
Yeah
.

“But still. Spiritgrove seems to attract more than its share
of nightmares.”

“That it does,” Rune agreed.

“I’ll ride with you.”

“Okay.”

Rune climbed into her SUV, starting up the car and turning
on the heater as Lex buckled herself into the passenger seat. She held her
fingers to the vent. Winter was never going to be over and she was sick of it.

She waved as Jack pulled away from the curb and honked at
her. Levi was with Jack, and Denim was with Z. They’d all meet up at the office
after they’d checked out every vampire haunt they could find before darkness
started to threaten.

“We could use Raze right now,” Rune murmured.

“Tomorrow,” Lex replied. “He’ll be with us tomorrow.”

“And eager to fight.
Cooped up in
that jail all this time…he’s going nuts.”

“He wouldn’t let us visit.”

“I didn’t give him a choice.”

Lex’s smile was faint. “You never do.”

Rune lifted an eyebrow, not sure how to take Lex’s remark.
She shrugged and forgot about it. “Have you ever tried to read Raze?”

“Yes,” Lex said, unashamed. “But I got nothing. I can’t read
Jack, either. But Z…” She smiled, but it wasn’t a happy smile. “You know Z
loves you.”

“Z loves all women,” Rune said, and fiddled with the heater.

“He’s a protector. He cares about women, but you he—”

“Lex.
Shut it.”

Lex shrugged. “Sorry.”

“Z is too good for me anyway.”

Lex was quiet for two minutes. “Why did you ask if I could
read Raze? Is there something you need to know?”

But it was not her secret to tell. “No. I just wondered.”

“This summer, when I can put the windows down and feel my
surroundings, will you teach me to drive?”

No one had ever called Rune a coward. “This summer I’ll take
you to a quiet country road and let you get behind the wheel.”

Lex’s jaw dropped. “You will?”

Rune laughed and reached over to give the girl’s arm a quick
squeeze.
“Hell yeah!”
It wasn’t Lex’s fault she was
blind. If she wanted to drive, she was going to fucking drive.

“You’re a good friend,” Lex said.

“Don’t get all gooey.”

Lex had cheered up. “Where are we headed? I wasn’t paying
attention when you divvied up the county.”

“Z and Denim are going to Blackfire, Jack and Levi to
Hawthorne, and you and I are headed to Wormwood. Tomorrow we’ll try a few other
places if Llodra isn’t found today.”

And he wouldn’t be. It wasn’t going to be that easy to catch
the master. She just hoped he didn’t leave them more “gifts” along the way.

“Rune.”

“Yeah?”

“Tonight, don’t…don’t lose yourself because of Amy.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah.”

They both knew better.

“That newspaper reporter is following you again.”

Rune glanced in her rearview mirror at the car that had been
tailing them since they’d left Llodra’s house. “I wonder who he found to annoy
while I was gone.”

She’d discovered his name—Sam Cruikshank—before she’d left
for the clinic. She ignored him and let him get his jollies chasing her around
River County, snapping her picture when he could.

It could have been worse. Somewhere out there was a video in
which she got sliced up like a tomato. If that video surfaced and was leaked to
the media…
that
would be worse.

As long as he didn’t interfere, there wasn’t much she could
do anyway.

They arrived at Wormwood and slipped inside the gates, not
sparing Cruikshank
so
much as a glance when he rolled
in and parked behind her car.

“I’ll find Gunnar,” Rune told Lex. “If vampires are inside
Wormwood, he’ll know.”

“Gunnar the Ghoul who eats Baby Ruth candy bars.” Lex
grinned. “He’s an enigma, that ghoul. Someday he’s going to let me touch him
and I’ll get inside that head.”

“I’m not sure reading Gunnar is a good idea, baby.”

“I’m curious about him—about his past, where he came from,
how he died…”

“You can get all that?”

Lex shrugged, carefully sidestepping a small, crumbling
tombstone as though she could actually see it.
“Maybe.
It depends.”

They walked down paths made smooth by hundreds of
Other
feet, finally stepping off the trails and into the
trees.

Lex didn’t arm herself with vguns as Rune did, but she wore
the stakes. If they found the vampires, Lex would stake them the old fashioned
way—by hand.

They’d nearly given up finding Gunnar when he stepped out
from behind a tree. The woods were deep and dark, making the winter day seem
later than it was.

Gunnar’s long face was carefully blank, his hands limply at
his sides. Even if he was disinclined to give information, the scent of the
chocolate would persuade him. It was his drug, and one he could not seem to
resist.

“Give me the treat quickly,” he said, “and
leave
these woods posthaste. Wormwood is not safe for you
today.” He didn’t look at Lex.

Rune shook her head. “Not so fast, baby. I have a question.”

He held out his hand, frowning. “No, I do not know where the
mad vampire is sleeping.”

“How the hell did you know I was going to ask that?”

“I know many things, Your Highness. I know that you are not
safe.” He shook his hand at her. “I’ll have my sweet now, please.”

But she crossed her arms. “Gunnar, you’re not getting the
candy if you don’t slow down and answer some questions.”

“
Some
questions, Your Cantankerousness? Have you
brought along
some
candy bars?”

There were times when she wanted to stuff aforementioned
candy bars up his ass, wrapping and all. This was one of those times.
“Fine.”
She patted the pocket in which the chocolate rested.
“I’ll leave now and take my candy with me.” And she turned to go.

“No!” He reached for her, pausing just short of actually
touching her.

As far as she could remember, Gunnar had never touched her.

She turned back, eyebrow raised. “Then stop fucking around
and answer my questions. You get one more chance.”

“Ask, then. You
must
hurry.”

She tapped her thigh with her vgun.
“First
question.
What’s the rush?”

He threw a glance over his shoulder, and lowered his voice
to a near whisper. “There is mischievousness inside Wormwood. Evil is
stirring.”

“What the fuck, Gunnar?”

He stared at her for a moment.
“Pardon?”

“Just tell me what’s going on.”

“There are bad people afoot. They will do you harm if you
are found here.” He pointed his chin at Lex but still didn’t look at her.
“And that one, as well.”

She sighed and patted his arm, ignoring his flinch of
surprise. “We can take care of ourselves.” There were
always
bad people
in Wormwood, but she didn’t have time to discuss them. “I need to know where
Llodra is, baby. If he’s in Wormwood, you will know where he’s sleeping.”

He hesitated. “Then he must not be sleeping here. I am not
aware of the master’s location.” He refused to meet her stare.

“What are you keeping from me, Gunnar?”

“He’s terrified,” Lex said, speaking for the first time. “We
should go now.”

“Yes, yes,” he said. “That one is right. You should go.”

Lex’s vibrations, at times barely noticeable, became
stronger, faster. “Rune…”

Dammit. Even she was starting to pick up a sense of
desperation. “Fine,” she snapped, and threw Gunnar his candy bar.

He snatched it out of the air and almost before it was in
his hand, he was gone.

“What a fucking waste of time,” Rune muttered, but she kept
a careful eye out for ambushers as she and Lex got out of the graveyard.

Something was wrong. She hoped when things calmed down and
the danger had passed, Gunnar would enlighten her.

They’d no sooner shut the gates behind them when her cell
rang. “Hey, Z,” she answered. “Any luck?”

“Rune.
I’ve been trying to call
you.”

“Yeah, I’m just getting out of Wormwood. What’s up?”

He didn’t mince words. “Someone decided to burn your house
down. The Fire department is trying to contain it.”

Stunned, she couldn’t speak.
Her house?
Her ugly house?
“Is it…are you there?”

“I’m here with Denim. It’s pretty much gone, Rune.”

“I’m on my way,” she said.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Lex buckled herself in, then
grabbed Rune’s wrist.

Rune shook her off. She didn’t want to say who she
suspected—not to Lex—and she didn’t want the girl reading her and finding out
for herself.  “My house, they’ve burned my house.”

Fucking COS.

She had to feed.

Had
to.

Her monster wasn’t giving her a choice.

An image flashed through her mind, there
and gone in an instant.
An image of her beneath the
sadistic Jeremy as he abused her restrained body.
It took her breath.

God, the craving…

Yeah, she had to feed. Reverting to bad habits was not good.

She and her crew, silent and tired, stood staring at the
smoldering ashes of what once had been her home.

An empty gas can had been found where the porch had been—the
people who’d burned her house hadn’t even tried to cover up the fact that it
was deliberate.

“It’s a warning,” Z had said, and she agreed.

A warning from COS—from Tim Emerson.
But she was sure they’d find no slimy trails leading to him.

A couple of months ago her own neighbors had threatened to
burn her out. Half the population of River County secretly—and some not so
secretly—hated her for being
Other
.

Did she have enemies? Were there people who wanted to hurt
her?

Oh
hell
yeah.

She sighed when Strad’s huge truck rolled to a stop in front
of her destroyed house. His face was grim as he strode toward her, and an old
feeling of uncertainness caused her to briefly caress one of her holstered
shivs.

The berserker had that effect on people.

But she’d tasted his blood.
Had drunk from
his veins.

Had lain in his arms and let him kiss her…

God,
that kiss
.

He’d saved her life, not once, but twice. Still, he had the
power to scare the fuck out of her.

“Damn you, Rune,” he said, clenching his fists. He shook
with his famous rage and no matter how he controlled it, she could still see
it. She could
feel
it.

Her fear and caution didn’t stem from worry over physical
pain, either. It was something else. The berserker scared her and she had no
idea why.

She grinned, trying to disperse the tension—beside her Z and
Jack had stiffened, ready for anything.

But he wouldn’t hurt her. They all knew that. It was just
something about him that made people immediately go into defense mode.

“Don’t damn me, Berserker. I didn’t burn my house down.”

He ran a hand over his carved face, visibly trying to calm
himself the fuck down. Finally he let out a deep breath and relaxed his big
body. “Are you okay?”

She let her gaze drift over his face and down to his throat.
She wanted to jump into his arms and wrap her arms and legs around him, slam
her open mouth against his smooth skin and—

“Rune?”
Jack frowned and leaned
down to peer into her eyes. “
Are
you okay?”

Strad watched her, his eyes dark and knowing.
Full of promise.
He knew what she was thinking. He knew what
she needed.

She cleared her throat.
“Yeah.
I’m
fine. Berserker, where’s your kid? Shouldn’t you be with him or babysitting the
new hire?”

His lips tightened.  “Matthew is in the truck with
Tina.”

She glanced over his shoulder. His windows were tinted and
it was impossible to see into the truck—where his wife waited.

That thought eased her hunger somewhat.

He looked over her head at the smoldering remains of her
house. It glowed hot and red in the darkness of the winter evening. “I’m sorry
about your house.
Any ideas?”

“Yeah,” she said, casting a look to where Lex waited with
the twins.
“COS.”

He said nothing about her going to visit COS without him, or
about her not fighting to have him on her vampire purge team, but she could see
him struggling not to. It was understandable—he was, after all, Shiv Crew.

But he just shrugged his massive shoulders.
“Maybe.”

From behind him one of the truck windows slid down. “Strad,”
Tina called. “Matt is hungry. Are you coming?”

Rune met his stare and for a long moment they just looked at
each other. “You should go,” she said, finally.

“Yes,” he agreed.

Still, he didn’t look away. In the dark depths of his eyes
she recognized his own hunger, as well as a sharp despair she did not
understand. “Go,” she said, gently.

He sighed. For a second she panicked as she imagined he
leaned toward her, thinking he was going to kiss her or bare his tempting neck
to her hungry mouth.

But he did none of those things—simply turned and walked
away.

Z watched him go, something in his face she did not want to interpret.
“You can stay with me until you find a new house, Rune. I have an extra
bedroom.” He grinned. “Or you can sleep in mine.”

“If you knew how tempting that was,” she said, throwing him
a bone, “you might not offer.”

Truthfully, it
was
tempting.
Too
tempting.

Fuck, she was hungry.

“I mean it,” he said.

“I know. Thanks, Z, but I’ll get a room at the River Inn. I
might be there a while.”

He nodded, a slight smile lifting the corners of his lips.
“Okay. But if you change your mind, my door is always open.” His eyes were
completely serious.

“Thanks, baby.” And because there was nothing else to do,
she told them all goodbye and climbed into her car to head to a department
store. She was going to need a few items since nearly everything she’d owned
had been destroyed.

And only then, in the quiet darkness of her car, did she let
herself break down. Just a moment—that’s all she’d allow herself.

She hit the steering wheel with the heel of her hand,
screaming curses and finally, sniffing back a couple of useless tears at what
the fire had devoured.

Pictures, mainly.
Pictures of her adoptive parents.
Those couldn’t be
replaced. The past was well and truly gone. Except for a few memories, there
was nothing left.

Not even her ugly house.

It was okay. She’d been thinking seriously about starting
over anyway.

Ellis hadn’t called, which meant he’d not heard. She glanced
at her dash clock. Ten o’clock. In the literal heat of the last few hours,
she’d not realized how much time was slipping away.

She frowned and punched in his number. It went to voicemail.
“Ellis, just checking in.
Where
are
you? Before
someone else tells you…my house burned down. It’s gone. I’m fine. Going to get
some clothes and a toothbrush and rent a room at the inn. Call me.”

She stripped off most of her shivs but left her guns and
badge on before she hurried into the store to do her shopping. She ignored the
stares of other shoppers. Her hunger needed appeasing and she hadn’t time to
care about much of anything else.

An hour later she was ensconced in a small room at the inn
and after a quick shower she tied back her still damp hair and pulled on a pair
of new jeans and a black T-shirt. She tossed her badge in a drawer, stuck a
shiv into her jacket pocket, and went out to eat.

To drink.
To
feed
.

She pushed thoughts of Strad from her mind and drove to a
seedy, dark town known as the Moor. She had no idea when or why the area had
developed its nickname—its proper name was
Mossville
.
The town was a mean, thin strip of badlands on the edge of the city. If you
went to the Moor, you were looking for trouble.

Tomorrow she’d go back to work looking for vampires and
stressing over her house. Right now, she was looking to feed.

She parked along the street in front of the first bar she
came to. If the number of vehicles was any indication, the place was
overflowing with people.

The hunger grew with each step she took until by the time
she reached the building, she was ravenous. Her heart beat hard and slow,
sending the message
feed me
to her brain.

“I’ll feed you, you fucking monster,” she muttered, then
shook her head to clear it. No. She was not a fucking monster.

She wasn’t.

But when she didn’t take care of that part of her, it tended
to rise up and kick her ass.
To take over.

Because that’s what it had learned to do
to survive.

“You’re thinking of yourself as two separate people.”

“I am my monster and my monster is me.”

“Yes, Rune.”

She shook her head again—there was no room in her mind for
echoes from her shrinks. Not tonight.

She shoved open the door and found herself in a dark
entranceway. It was empty except for a wooden bench that held up a very large
man.

He stood when she entered, raising a meaty hand. “Hold it,
girl.”

“Hold what, dude?
Your
fucking
hand?”

He laughed, but it was a mean laugh. “You don’t belong here.
Get your ass back out the door before you—”

She had him by the throat before he even realized she’d
moved. “Don’t fuck with me, baby.”

“Fuck,” he squeaked.
“Yeah, yeah.”

Her fingers tightened for just an instant then she let him
drop when she realized how badly she wanted to fuck him up. The monster made
her a mean son of a bitch.

She walked past him and into the crowded room. Sweaty bodies
and desperation made her even hungrier. The humans in the room were all so
weak, so needy.

But she wanted someone special.

No, Rune. No.

“Fuck me,” she whispered.

So maybe she’d left the clinic a little too soon, but she
could handle herself. She wasn’t going to pick up the wrong guy. She was better
than that.
Stronger than that.

Her phone rang and she fished it out of her pocket. It was
Ellis, and she didn’t want to answer while inside the bar. He’d freak.

She hit mute, put it back in her pocket, and let it go to
voicemail.

The music was deafening. Hazy red lighting colored the sea
of blank faces with their black spark-less eyes, and made her think of blood.
Everything was making her think of blood.

He wasn’t here, the man she would drink from.

No one in that room was strong enough to take her.

Fuck you, Berserker.

She turned to leave and a man started toward her from the
long bar. She held up a hand to halt him and after a tiny hesitation, he
thought better of approaching her.
Smart guy.

After the heat and noise of the bar the cold quiet assaulted
her when she stepped outside the door. She remained aware of her surroundings
but her mind was on her need.

A human had a scantily dressed woman pushed up against the
side of a car, and she didn’t seem to mind. A snoring man lay across the
sidewalk on his back, his dirty shirt pulled up to expose his swollen belly.

She stepped over his body and went on to the next bar.

No one waited at the entrance as she strode into the
building—a place, according to the weathered sign on the front, called Toad’s
and Butter’s.

Whatever.

The music was just as loud as in the last bar. People danced
and drank, trying to drown out the voices of their troubles and drink
themselves senseless and maybe for one small minute, to connect to someone.

“Fucking depressing,” she muttered, and circled the room,
looking for her own connection.

She found him sitting alone at a small table against the
wall. He wore an old cowboy hat, pulled low to shadow his eyes. His hair fell
over his shoulders in an uneven line. Most likely he’d chopped it off himself
when it became an annoyance.

His coat was too thin and would have done little to protect
him against the cold winter. He nursed a beer, and finally, when she’d stood
silent in front of him for about two minutes, he looked up.

His face would hurt her skin if she rubbed against it—he’d
not had a shave for a couple of days. The look in his eyes made her almost,
almost
look for someone else, but she was done waiting.

He’d been through some shit.
Some bad
shit.
He reminded her of someone and it took her all of twenty seconds
to realize who.

Llodra, the mad vampire master.

Not because he was mad, this stranger, but because his eyes
held no hope.

“Fuck me,” she whispered, then leaned across the table so he
could hear her. “Come with me.”

“Why?” His voice was the gravely, rough voice of someone who
didn’t talk a whole lot.

“Dude,” she said, smiling.
“Why not?”

She’d found her dinner.

She walked from the bar, not looking behind her but feeling
him there, following her. A cold, light rain had begun to fall but she didn’t
care—it felt good on her overheated skin.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“Someplace dark.”

“I get the feeling you mean that in more ways than one.”

“You talk too much, cowboy.” But his observation surprised
her. Dude had a sharp mind and it didn’t seem dulled by alcohol.

If she hadn’t been in such a fucking hurry she’d have driven
to another town, found someone she’d never have to worry about running into
again. But the Moor was as good as she could do.

Her body was aching. Her movements were slow and her
thoughts were sluggish.
Fucking
monster.

“You got a name?” she asked, shocked that she even cared.

“Trade you.”

Fine.
“You can call me Marie.” Her
middle name was good enough. There wasn’t a soul in the city
who
wouldn’t recognize the name Rune, not now. Only a few of them didn’t recognize
her face. She figured the people who lived in the Moor had more pressing things
to do than watch the local news.