Heroes of Falledge Book One: Black Hellebore (17 page)

He growled when he saw Rich. One of Big Don's goons who hated cats. He even kicked Killa before, when the cat had only been a cat. At the time, he had been too timid and weak to stand up for his pet, let alone himself. No wonder Killa had run off. He didn't blame him.

But he did blame Rich. He would be the next to die. It was past time to send Big Don another message.

After that... he stroked his jawbone. Not yet time to go after Big Don.

His father's revenge wasn't enough any longer. He was adding Killa's to the equation.

Killa should never have been born. Which meant his target after Rich was none other than Dr. Richardson.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

They walked back toward Julianna's now destroyed car. Gavina had disappeared sometime during their conversation. Well, conversation wasn't quite right. Julianna hadn't said a word after asking for the whole story. Nicholas didn't blame her -- it was a lot to take in. He still found himself questioning everything that had happened.

It bothered him that she wasn't talking or asking questions. The crunch of their shoes on rock and the crinkle of grass, her breathing and his, were the only sounds he heard.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

She stopped, her gaze on her sneakers. "I don't know what to think."

There was a ring of truth to her words that pierced his soul, wounding him. She didn't believe him.

"So much for the truth setting you free," he said bitterly.

Her lips twitched upward for a brief second. "I guess I have to believe you. I mean, the way you handled that thing..." She shuddered.

"Do you want me to carry you back to Falledge to prove my powers? We can be back to your place in a minute." Walking would take them a good hour from where they were.

Julianna shook her head. "I believe you. It's just..." She stared at the broken cuffs still around his wrists.

He narrowed his eyes. "You still want to bring me in?"

"I don't know." She bent down and rummaged around inside the car before climbing inside.

He bent down. "What are you looking for?"

Julianna was fiddling with the smashed-in radio interface. "I have to report the accident. That thing... The killing." Sighing, she slapped the unit. "It's not working right. I can get it to the right frequency, but it won't let me call in." She held the receiver to her ear. "I can't tell if someone is talking or not. There's so much static." After a long moment, she held it out to him, her eyes on the unit, not him.

Did she not realize how much she was tearing him up inside? Did she not care? He wanted to pull her out of the car, hold her, kiss her, and more. He wanted to love her.

Did she not love him? Was that the issue? Did she think he was using her because she looked like Justina?

"Julianna, I want you to know--"

"Just listen." Her voice was curt. "Please."

He tapped his finger against the side of it. "There's nothing to hear. Just static."

She scowled.

He drew in a sharp breath. Her disappointment was more than he can handle. "We need to go to the station. I can carry you," he offered.

To his surprise, she nodded. He held out his hand to help her climb out of the upside down vehicle, but she ignored him. She looked at him from his toes to his head and crossed her arms. "How?"

He lifted her so that her legs dangled over one arm and curved his other arm around her back. "Hold on."

She shrieked as he took off. Wind blew against him. It was so freeing, giving into his powers. Yet, it also pained him. Normally super speed was his easiest power to harness. Right now, though, he felt his body rebel against the power. Gavina was right -- he was pushing himself too far.

Death.
The side effect he hadn't shared with Julianna. The only tidbit he had kept to himself. Everything else -- including the other guy who had died, even the white "thing" he had seen right before dying, and then again at the apartment -- he had told her.

Luckily, it only took thirty seconds to reach the back entrance of the police station. He lowered her legs carefully and risked wrapping his arms around her middle, holding her close. After half a second, she relaxed against him. Her back was to him, and he leaned forward, breathing in her scent, listening to the rapid beat of her heart. She was alive. She was healed. She was perfect.

Yet he didn't know if she was his.

Before he could work up the courage to say anything, she nudged free of his grasp and entered the station. He followed, smirking as he remembered she had wanted to bring him here to book him. Did she still?

She hurried over to a large desk. "Sheriff? Logan? You guys here?"

Nicholas followed. "They aren't here."

Julianna stomped back to her desk, annoyance twisting her features into a pinched expression. "I--"

"Julianna?" a voice crackled from nearby.

She raced over to a unit and fiddled with some dials. "Logan?"

"Hurry... outskirts... body..."

"You're breaking up." Desperation colored her voice, her cheeks flushed, her brow worried. "Where are you? Where's Sheriff Higgins?"

"Here with... body... evidence of a... tree..."

She lifted her gaze to Nicholas'. "Can you make out what he's saying?"

He nodded, wishing he could lie. "They found the body. And they weren't the only ones."

Her eyes squinty, she said, "We'll be right there, Logan."

"...officers down," a new voice said. "Send back-up!"

Julianna dropped the receiver. "You know where to go?"

Not bothering to answer, Nicholas picked her up and raced back to the scene. As soon as they reached her car and he helped her to her feet, she was running, her gun in her hand, shoving a new clip in it.

He shoved on his mask and hurried beside her, keeping up with her pace.

"Don't." She shook her head. "This is my job, my fight."

"This is my town. I'm Falledge's superhero, remember?"

She ignored him, which didn't surprise him. Julianna rushed over to a fallen body.

Nicholas surveyed the scene. There was another person down, and a third near two police cars.

"Who are you?" a voice asked. Nicholas recognized it as the second voice on the radio.

Nicholas pointed to Julianna. "I'm with her."

"Whatever." The man rolled his eyes. "Freak," he muttered.

Nicholas smiled.

The man blinked, then shrugged. "Cover me. I'm trying to get an ambulance."

Nicholas thought about calling for Gavina but knew that would open a can of worms that neither he nor the witch would want. The downed officers would have to rely on modern medicine.

Cover the man. Nicholas would try, although his first priority was covering Julianna. Where was she, anyhow?

He found her near the other deputy, his gut clenching as she brushed the guy's hair back and kissed his forehead. Despite the distance between them, he could clearly hear her begging Logan to hold on. She patted his clasped hands and stood, looking around, a steel glint in her eyes.

Julianna gripped her gun and stalked away, toward the man she had killed. Nicholas was by her side immediately. Only her lifted chin acknowledged him.

At the crest of the next hill, the body was no longer there.

A gun fired. Then another.

The jerk of an officer Nicholas had spoken to was firing the shots at a tall, skeleton-thin man. A wide hat covered most of his face as he lifted Rich's body high above his head.

Julianna pointed her gun at him. "Drop it."

The guy made the strangest sound, almost a cross between a snort, gurgle, and a laugh. "Go ahead."

"Shoot it, Julianna!" the officer called. He fired another round. This time, he connected. The bullet bounced off the guy, and Nicholas shoved Julianna to the ground even though the rebounded bullet was nowhere near them.

There was something familiar about the guy.

"Drop it," Julianna shouted as she climbed back to her feet.

The guy faced Nicholas, and it unnerved him that he couldn't clearly see the guy's face. "You," he snarled. "We have unfinished business, you and I."

"What are you..." Figuring now was the time for action and not talking, Nicholas leapt forward and grabbed Rich. To his surprise, the guy threw Rich toward him, and Nicholas staggered back a step before letting the dead body fall to the ground. The skeletal guy reached for Nicholas' neck, but he ducked beneath the blow and shoved a fist into the guy's stomach.

And hit a solid wall.

A vest? That would explain the bullet.

Now that he was so close to the guy, Nicholas could see him. Underneath hastily applied makeup was a white canvas, no nose.

The white figure he had seen!

"Who the hell are you?" Nicholas demanded.

The guy smiled. With no lips, it was a rather grotesque sight. "Skull Krusher. Nice to meet you..."

"Black Hellebore."

"A flower. Ha. Stay away from my business, pollen. Or else..."

"Or else?" Nicholas raised his chin, his jaw rigid, refusing to give into temptation to glance over his shoulder to look for Julianna.

"Those who get in my way end up dead."

An ambulance siren wailed nearby.

Skull Krusher smirked. "Too late. He needed help two minutes ago. He'll bleed out." He nodded toward Logan. Then he tilted his head to the other body. "He's already dead."

Nicholas held still, but Julianna, now beside him, winced. "What the hell do you want?" she hissed.

He jumped over Nicholas' head, reached the other car with another leap, grabbed the other officer's neck, and twisted his head off. Skull Krusher turned around, still holding the head as the body dropped to the ground behind him.

Nicholas tore after him, but Skull Krusher kept jumping and leaping, and was soon gone.

Nicholas closed his eyes and concentrated on his nose. He could smell the scent of each tree and grass blade, Julianna's perspiration, the stench of death and decay, the gas dripping from one of the cars...

He whirled around. A tree was on top of one of the police cars. Julianna was walking toward it, to the other fallen officer, tears streaming down her face.

A second later, he grabbed her and kept running. They passed her car when the other exploded.

The scent of fire and gas and fumes were too much for him. Nicholas swayed and collapsed, his heart beating frantically. Julianna screaming his name was the last thing he heard before his super hearing gave out.

Chapter Thirty

Nicholas woke up with a pounding headache. Groaning, he rolled over and fell out of bed onto the floor. He pushed himself up. His arms felt weak, beyond weak. Even his head felt heavy.

"You need to rest." Gavina helped him back into bed. Despite her small frame, she was strong, which was good considering he needed more of her help than he would have liked.

He closed his eyes and breathed in the aroma of the vegetable soup she had brought in. "How did I get here?"

"I called her after you passed out again." Julianna stood in the doorway, her arms crossed.

The sight of her eased his worries slightly.

Gavina handed the bowl to her, and Julianna sat on the bed and spoon fed him.

"I can feed myself," he said.

Wordlessly, Julianna gave him the spoon. He could have cursed himself for being so macho. He brought the spoon to his mouth, but his hand shook so much, the soup spilled back into the bowl.

She took the spoon and fed him. After he finished it, he leaned back, his eyes closed. He needed to talk to Gavina, and as much as he wanted to always have Julianna by his side, he did not want her to see him like this.

When he opened his eyes, only Gavina was still in the room.

"What's going on with me?" he demanded.

"You have to rest and take care of yourself. Your superpowers have gone to your head. You're still human."

"So I need to sleep and eat. When can I get back to being myself?"

Gavina sighed. "You're a stubborn fool, aren't you? If you don't slow down, you'll kill yourself. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah, yeah." He didn't want to die -- again -- but if he had to use his powers to the point of death to save Julianna, or anyone else in this town for that matter, he would, and he wouldn't hesitate.

"Please promise me you won't even attempt to use your powers for at least a week."

"Promise."

She sighed again. "Let's play poker. You're a terrible liar."

He snorted. So was she. They were probably the worst poker players in the world. "I'll rest."

Shaking her head, Gavina left.

He closed his eyes and inhaled. He could smell Gavina -- earthy and natural -- but not Julianna. She wasn't here.

Nicholas got up. Using his powers had become habit so he had to force himself to walk. Gavina stood at a table in a small room. She paused from crushing herbs. "You going?"

He nodded. "Thanks," he said gruffly.

"Just be careful."

He left the house and slowly made his way toward the apartment. The weight in his pocket reminded him of Rich's cell phone. He re-dailed the last person Rich had called.

After three rings, someone answered. "Hello?"

Nick cleared his throat. "Hi. You don't know me, but I knew Rich."

There was a pause. "Knew?"

Someone in the background asked who was on the phone. A deep, booming voice. One that demanded respect, or else took it.

After some fumbling noises, the owner of the deep voice said, "This is Big Don. Who are you?"

"I'm the Black Hellebore, and I don't appreciate you, or your goons, moving into my town. Stay away from Falledge."

Big Don laughed. "Or else?"

"Or else you and your goons will be following Rich to hell."

"Ah, yes, the Black Hellebore. I've read about you. And I do think you could carry through with your threat. I may be a mob boss, but I'm also a businessman. I'm quite glad you called. I have a proposition I wish to discuss with you. "

Nicholas snorted. "You think I'm going to do business with you?"

"Since Falledge seems to mean so much to you, I think you'll appreciate the intel I plan to share with you. Come to Summer Bridge at seven tonight."