Killing Land (Rune Alexander Book 8) (15 page)

“Should’ve killed you,” James grumbled, as Rune, Jack, and
Roma herded him and his friends down the hill. “I knew it the moment you got
out of your car.”

“You can’t use us to barter,” the other man said. “No one
cares who lives or dies in Killing Land.”

“Is everyone in Killing Land stubborn and ignorant?” Roma
asked.

“Yes,” James answered.
“Except for me.”

Jack laughed.

“Everyone in Killing Land is a
killer,”
the other man
said, angry. “Fuck you, James, you brown-nosing son of a bitch.”

James turned on the other man. “I’ll—”

“Shut up, both of you,” Rune said. “Is there someone in
charge of you people?”

“We lead ourselves,” James said, turning up his lip. “We
don’t have law, and we don’t have order.”

“Except,” his not so friendly friend said, “for the
Delaneys.”

“They don’t lead us,” James snarled, suddenly the angry one.

“You know they do,” the man answered, mildly, content at
pissing off James.

The people in the valley were ready for them when they
finally reached the bottom and started walking toward the encampment.

Men and women, all armed, all grim and silent, stood
waiting.

“Who are you?” one of them called, before Rune got too
close.

“We’re Shiv Crew,” she answered, “and we’ve come to rid you
of your cannibal.”

“Shiv crew,” a woman said, her voice ringing in the cold
silence. “I’ve heard of them. They’re cops.”

“Not really,” Rune said. “We don’t care about you or your
town. We were told to talk to you. Do any of you know where the cannibal might
be hiding out?”

No one said a word, just glared, guns ready. They wanted to
kill the newcomers, and Rune wasn’t sure why they were holding back.

“Look,” Jack said, impatient. “We’ll leave as soon as we’ve
done what we came here to do. We’re trying to save your worthless lives.”

Jill stepped from the line of people. “I asked them to come.”
Her voice was quiet, but hard with determination.

“What the fuck, Jill?” one of the women said.

“Listen to me.” Jill faced the people. “I wouldn’t bring
trouble to Killing Land. I know Shiv Crew. I know Rune Alexander. If you’d
think about it for a minute, you’d realize you know her, too.”

“She’s a fucking
Other
,” someone
said.

“Yes,” Jill agreed. “And she can take out the monster that’s
going to eat every last one of us if we don’t bring in people to kill it. God
knows
we
can’t do anything about it.”

“You shouldn’t have brought them here,” a big blond man
said. “Now we’ll have to kill them and you too.”

A woman broke from the crowd to stand beside Jill. “You’ll
have to take me on to get to her.
You willing to do that?”
She shook her dark hair out of her face and glared at all of them. “If Jill
says these people can help, then we’re going to let them help.”

“Luciana, stand down. You’re a good fighter. We’d hate to
lose you. But we’ll kill you just the same as we’ll kill Jill and the
Other
.”

Rune noticed a lone man standing a little away from the
crowd, his arms crossed. He stood with his feet apart, watching, silent.

A blonde woman stood at his back, one entire side of her
face covered in scars.

They seemed disinclined to throw their lot in with either group—Shiv
Crew or the Killing Land regulars. They just watched, as though interested to
see what would happen.

Rune was pretty sure that whatever happened, they would
still stand and watch and not lift a finger to help either side.

At that moment, the man met her stare.

She could read nothing in his eyes. His stare was not cold,
it was not amused,
it
was not empty.

But whatever was there was…unreadable.

He stood out—he wouldn’t have been able to help it. There
was just something about his stillness.

A big man, his face twisted with anger and determination,
brought his gun up. “Luc thinks she’s special.” He aimed at her. “But Luc ain’t
shit.”

Rune was glad for an excuse to look away from the stranger.

“Only friends and family call me Luc,” the dark-haired woman
said, “and you, fat boy, are neither.” She shook her fingers and a blade
appeared in both of her hands. “I’ll give you three seconds to point that gun
somewhere else before I put a blade in each of your bulgy little pig eyes.
One.”

“Fuck you,” he growled.

“Two.”

“Fucking bitch.”
But he pointed his
gun at the ground.

“Good boy,” she said. “What a good boy.”

She pointed at Rune. “Bring your people and come with me and
Jill. I’ll answer your questions.”

“Luciana,” the angry man said. “We can’t let you bring them
in.”

“They’re
already
in,” she said, her voice tight.
“Jill vouches for them. I’ll take responsibility for them. If they fuck us,
I’ll hand myself over to you and you can personally kill my ass.”

“If they fuck us,” he said, “you can bet we’ll kill your
ass.”

She lifted her chin. “So step back, motherfuckers. I’m
bringing them in.”

“Give us a couple nights,” Jill begged. “Please. And if they
haven’t found the monster by then, they’ll leave us to our fates.”

The crowd grumbled but no one made a move to stop the crew
as they strode toward the only people willing to help them.

“I’m Luciana Vega,” the woman said, her voice as light as
her hurried steps. Her long, dark hair swung across her slim shoulders as she
glanced constantly from the left to the right.

“Why are you helping us?”

Luciana shrugged.
“Why not?
I don’t
want to be snatched out of my bed some night by a fucking monster looking for a
meal.”

“She’s a friend,” Jill said, giving Luc a slightly
exasperated smile.

Luciana led them through the camp. “Keep your eyes open. We
could still be attacked before we reach the caverns.”

“Attacked?” Roma asked.
“By your people?”

“They’re not
my
people,” Luciana answered.

Rune didn’t relax as Luciana and Jill led them down the muddy,
trampled paths between campers, through barren backyards of neglected shacks,
and around the camp’s garbage dump.

People gathered in yards and doorways as the crew jogged by.
They watched quietly with unfriendly faces and chilling eyes, their bodies
decorated with weapons of all sorts—blades, guns, scythes, even, in some cases,
hammers and sharpened sticks.

“Monster,”
a woman hissed, and her voice seemed to
tunnel into Rune’s ear and echo with endless venom inside her mind.

She dropped her fangs.

“Rune?”
Jack asked.

She looked at him and wondered if he could see doubt in her
eyes.

“The gargoyles don’t associate with us,” Luciana said.
“Everything we know we’ve learned by watching. And when you live in Killing
Land, you do a lot of watching.”

“We heard outsiders were brought in and given to the
cannibal,” Jack said. “Is that true?”

“They’re brought in,” Luciana said, “but not forced in.”

“There are fights,” Jill said, panting slightly. “Can we
slow down? I’m too old to be taking up jogging now.”

Rune slowed immediately and the others followed suit. “What
do you mean, there are fights?”

“Public fights are held,” Luciana said, walking between Rune
and Roma. “The participants are fully aware. If a fighter wins, he’s given a
fat bag of money and allowed to leave. If he loses…”

“He gets fed to a monster,” Rune said.

“Yup.”

“So they’re not captured and brought in,” Jack said, shaking
his head. “They agree to fight.”

“Once a month,” Jill said.

“When the fighter realizes he’s lost, does he try to back out?”
Roma asked.

Luciana shot her a look, one that went from Roma’s head to
her feet and back up. She paused at the slingshot. “Yeah, honey. He does.”

“But he’s too hurt to put up another fight,” Jill said.
“Gage’s men make sure he’s kept alive, because the cannibal likes its meat…”

“Rare,” Luciana said.
“Bleeding.”

“Will kept that from us,” Rune told Jack.

“Will Blackthorne?” Luciana asked. “That crazy bastard…”

“What?” Rune said.

But Luciana shook her head.
“Nothing.”

“So Delaney is helping the gargoyles.” Rune blew out a hard
breath. “Why?”

“Because if you can’t beat ‘
em
,
you join ‘
em
,” Luciana said. “He does it to protect
us, I guess. Regular gargoyles are bad enough. Gage told us at a town meeting
that the monster wasn’t just a gargoyle. It was king of the gargoyles.
Unbeatable.
To keep us safe, they came up with the fights.”

“When did the fights start?”

“About two years ago,” Jill said. “I guess before that, the
cannibal gargoyle was okay. When he went
bad
, this
stuff started.”

“Jill,” Rune said, frowning. “You were homeless in River
County.”

“Yes,” Jill said, flushing a little. “I’d thought I could
leave Killing Land and its violence. I couldn’t. Not for long. Some of the
people out there are worse than any of the ones in here.” She shrugged. “This
is my home. I just want that monster gone. I want things to get back to the way
they were.”

“The caves are bad,” Luciana said. “I’m not sure you all can
handle them.”

“I can,” Rune said.

Luciana smiled at her. “I bet you can. But the goon and the
girl might not manage them.”

“Goon,” Roma said, anger in her voice. “That’s a bit harsh.”

Rune shot her a warning glance. “What happens when Delaney
and the gargoyles find out Jill is helping us?” She leapt over a tree stump and
her foot landed in something she hoped was mud. She didn’t ask what would
happen to Will Blackthorne, because she didn’t care.

Crazy bastard indeed.

“What about me?” Luciana asked. “Aren’t you concerned about
little ole me?”

Rune lifted an eyebrow. “Something tells me you can take
care of yourself.”

Luciana winked at her. “I’m a strong woman.
A hard woman.”
She reached out to lift a strand of hair off
Rune’s chest. “I usually like soft females. But you…I like you.”

Roma grunted. “Soft will get a woman killed.”

“Don’t be jealous,” Luciana told her. “I like you too,
beautiful.”

“Thank you.”

Rune automatically patted her pocket to make sure her cell
was still safely inside. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“At the very most,” Jill said, “I’ll get tossed out.” She
kept her voice light. “I’ll be okay, Rune. It only matters that the monster be
defeated.”

 “This way,” Luciana said. “And let’s pick it up a
little. It’ll be dark before too long.”

“Jill,” Rune said. “We can take it from here. Go back.”

“I’d rather wait for Luc,” she said, her voice casual and
her eyes averted.

“If they hurt you,” Rune said, “I’ll hunt them down.”

“It’ll be too late for me then, though, won’t it?” The older
woman’s tone was crisp and stern, but there was a tiny, tiny splinter of fear
as well.

Rune nodded. “If we don’t find the cannibal tonight, I’m
taking you back into town with me. You can stay with us until this shit is
cleaned up.”

“No,” Jill said. “I’m with my people. I’ll be fine.”

They hurried through a wet, messy field before running up a
small hill. At the top, Jill, panting, pointed to the woods in front of them.
“Two more minutes we’ll reach a huge cave. We believe the cannibal is somewhere
inside it.”

“Because you’ve seen gargoyles up this
way?”
Rune glanced at Jill, a little concerned with her somewhat labored
breathing.

“We’ve also found evidence of them outside the cave,”
Luciana said. “Bits of bone, a bloody shirt one of the fighters had been
wearing. Little piles of rock dust. Stone feathers from wings.” She stared at
Rune, no longer flirting. “The bastard is in there.”

“If he is,” Jack said, “we’ll find him.”

Rune stopped walking and took Jill’s arm. “How are you,
Jill?”

Jill had lost the beanie she’d been wearing the day Rune
first met her, and her dull red hair was gathered into a loose ponytail at the nape
of her neck. Her eyes were bright in her careworn face, her smile ready.

“I’m worried.” She shrugged. “But I’m home. Maybe they’ll
send someone after me. Maybe they won’t. I’m ready, anyway.”

She pulled a pistol from her cardigan pocket and showed it to
Rune. “I can handle it just fine.”

Rune squeezed Jill’s shoulder. “After we’ve handled the
monster, I’ll have a talk with Gage Delaney about how he might not want to send
his thugs to fuck with you.”

For a second, Jill’s stare wavered. “You’re a good woman,
Rune Alexander. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You’re a good woman.”

Rune raised her eyebrows and grinned.
“Sometimes.”

Jill remained unsmiling and simply nodded.

“The people here,” Jill said, after a moment, “are not all
bad. Some of them have had lives you can’t imagine. Beat down from the moment
they were born.
Some women running from men.
Some men
running from jail...”

Rune let her talk and as she explained about the citizens of
Killing Land, Rune slid her cell from her pocket, muted it, and snapped a
picture of the woman.

The sunset, orange and pink and blue, created a beautiful,
somewhat eerie backdrop for Jill’s animated figure, and Rune wanted a picture.

Because Jill could have been her mother.

She wasn’t, of course—Rune the child had killed her adoptive
mother—but something about her made Rune think of that long ago woman whose
smell she somehow still remembered.