Obsidian Wings (17 page)

Outside was chaos.

The night lit up with fire, smoke, and disorienting shrieks
that sounded like missiles coming from the sky.

People ran, and fell, and scrambled to get up again before
their heads were sliced off or the constantly fired bullets found their brains.

The slayers, dressed in matching blood-red uniforms, cut
people down as they ran. As they stumbled and fell and held up pleading palms
against the sudden invasion.

The slayers kicked doors in and pulled people from their
homes, executing some of them in the streets.

Rune watched it with horror, her body frozen, her mind
unable to contemplate what was actually happening.

“We were lied to,” Lex said, snapping her out of it. “They
weren’t waiting for the new moon.”

Rune turned to face the twins and Lex. “Are you ready for
this?”

“More than ready,” Denim said.

“Eager,” Levi said, and smiled. It was maybe the first real
smile she’d seen on him since his capture.

“Hell yes,” Lex said.

“Then go get every weapon you own. It’s going to be a long,
hard night.”

Rune couldn’t wait for them. She released her claws, dropped
her fangs, and shot out her doorway. She threw herself into the fray, targeting
red-dressed slayers.

She cut through them like a slicing tornado, having little
time to think as COS attacked the city.

Hundreds of slayers surprising the unprepared.

RISC and the River County Sheriff’s Department shouldn’t
have been unprepared, but there it was.

COS had been smarter than those they sought to destroy. They
were pretty sure they’d have a demon to control soon, and no matter what they
did that night, they wouldn’t be punished. Their master would soon be a
demon-possessed Karin Love. This was their last stand.

And it was fucking incredible.

A blonde woman with a handbag squashed protectively against
her chest caught Rune’s gaze, just for a second.

She was mowed down, abruptly and in such surreal dramatic
fashion that Rune never batted an eye. The blonde’s grip on her purse didn’t
appear to loosen, even as her head went rolling down the sidewalk.

COS wasn’t only targeting Others—they were killing humans.

The city was on fire.

Rune battled her way through the sudden throngs of people,
trying to guide her killing rage to the red-uniformed slayers. There were a few
plainly dressed men shouting their allegiance to COS as they shot down ordinary
citizens.

She went after them, too.

A few slayers came out of the shadowy, flickering flames
riding horses, swords and guns given equal time, depending, most likely, on the
slayer’s preference.

And it was then that she spotted the COS doctor who’d stolen
her blood. He rode a huge, white horse, and there was no mistaking him, though
he looked harder in the hazy smoke and moonlit shadows.

He forced his screaming mount to a halt as he squeezed his
dick with his left hand and the trigger of a gun with his right.

Long, stringy streams of semen arced from his body as he
killed and masturbated, surrounded by murderous men.

He gave a last look around, then turned his horse and
sprinted away, other mounted men at his back.

His face was frozen in cruel lines, COS depravity stamped on
his features. She was sure if she followed him, she’d find Horner.

But she lost sight of the doctor as she continued to fight
the slayers, unsure if she made a dent in the packed, heaving streets. She
killed one slayer and another took his place.

That so many of them had managed to sneak into River County
was staggering. That so many had managed to keep such a secret was impossible.

Yet they had.

She fought back to back with the county’s human law
enforcement, with the Moor’s armed citizens, and though she didn’t spot them,
with her crew.

They were there.

But the slayers…there were just so
many
of them.

Then, the Others came.

The vampires came.

A wolf streaked past her, then leaped and sank his fangs
into the throat of a slayer whose eyes were red and wild, his lips pulled back
to bare his teeth. They appeared mad, the slayers, every single one of them, as
though they’d taken drugs to gear up for the fight.

When a vampire dropped a slayer who was inches away from
slicing off her head, she realized she might not mind the vampires so much,
after all.

And how could she? She was one of them.

She drove her claws through the chest of one of the few
female slayers and worked her way to where the doctor had disappeared.

Rice had shown her three likely places from which the church
would call their demon, and she was going for the closest one.

She couldn’t let her county birth a COS-controlled demon.
Zombies still roamed the countryside and the cities, searching for living food,
but they were babies compared to COS and their threat.

A zombie apocalypse seemed far, far away.

The demon invasion, that was close.

She ran through the streets, and they thinned out as she
headed for the less populated part of town.

Bones and flesh and jellied blood crunched and squished
beneath her boots but finally, the screams faded as she sprinted toward Hook
Road.
Please, please let them be there.

She ran with crazy speed, and when that wasn’t good enough,
she ran faster.

But the area off Hook Road was empty.

“Fuck,” she screamed, and her voice echoed through the
woods, bounced off the trees, and streaked off to join the screams of the
besieged city.

She had to decide then—Willowburg or Hawthorne.

And though Hawthorne continued to be a troublesome place,
she chose Willowburg. It was so much more…Otherly.

So she ran.

The streets were clogged with humans and Others and stalled,
burning vehicles. There were houses aflame as well. And trees, and…

People.

She dodged a burning car with a screaming man trapped
inside—he was trapped not by the flames but by four slayers who brandished guns
and leaped at the car, laughing at the victim as he watched them through the
windshield.

“Assholes,” she growled, and delayed her run to Willowburg
long enough to send the four COS members to hell.

She yanked open the car door and pulled the man out. “Run,”
she said, but he fell to his knees, staring at her with wide, shocked eyes.

She left him kneeling on the road, his face stark with
terror, hoping he’d find his way, somehow, to safety.

When she found Horner, she’d need her crew to help her fight
him. And
it,
if he called the motherfucking demon.

COS had planned carefully for this night and her crew was
otherwise engaged.

But there were two others she could use.

She reduced her speed and pulled out her cell to call Cree.
With the two birds, she could manage.

Cree answered after three rings. “Rune, I can’t—”

“Shut up and listen,” Rune said, her voice uneven as she
jogged. “There’s a hill close to the clinic in Willowburg. I think Horner is
there now trying to call his demon. Grab Fin and meet me.”

Cree was silent.

“Cree, do not betray me. You swore you’d help with COS.”

Cree sighed. “We’re not in River County.”

“What?” She sprinted through the woods, which appeared to be
the only quiet place in the entire county. There was no screaming, no burning,
no explosions. But that peace wouldn’t last. As soon as she came out on the
other side, she was sure she’d find more mayhem.

“We left the county.”

“Where’s Fin?”

Cree’s voice went tight and unsure. “I don’t know. He left a
few hours ago to get some supplies and hasn’t returned.”

“Cree, shift and get your ass back here. Call fucking Fin
first. I swear to you—”

“I know, I know,” Cree muttered. “All right. But Horner
isn’t—”

“Hurry the hell up,” Rune interrupted, and shoved her phone
back into her pocket. Cree had left the county, which meant she’d never had any
intentions of helping with the fight against COS.

Fucking birds.

The sounds of fighting came to her before she ran from the
woods, jumped a ditch, and ran down the road leading to the Other clinic.

As she turned a bend in the road she spotted a lumbering
truck ahead of her, its bed full of red-clothed slayers.

She looked up when she heard the distinct beating of wings
in the air, the
whoosh, whooshing
as an uneasy ally came to help the
good guys. But it wasn’t Cree.

Zooming toward the slayers like a deadly, golden angel, his
wings darkly outlined against the moon, was Fin Lynch.

Rune shot her claws back out and went to help him kick ass,
silently cursing Cree Stark for her totally predictable betrayal.

Wolves streaked from the woods at the side of the road,
joining Rune as she headed for the truck, the bird, and the fight ahead.

She recognized Amanda, the wolf who’d helped her when Llodra
had staked her, and Chris, the one who’d fought her to become the wolves’
alpha.

The truck with the slayers was all that stood between her
and the real target—Horner and his demon. She had to be right. Horner was in
Willowburg.

An engine roared and a long, dark car careened around the
curve ahead, tires squealing as its driver tried to maintain control. The car
was fishtailing straight into a collision with the truck.

A slight breeze picked up and tossed a gamy, rich scent of
cooking meat at her. It was only after her brain recoiled that she recognized the
agonized smell of burning flesh and the acrid scent of singed hair.

Horrified screams drifted to her as well, and the closer she
got to the small town the hazier the air became.

Willowburg was on fire.

She ignored the oncoming car and the truck of slayers as she
quickly surveyed the area. The hill where Horner would be prepping for his
gruesome ceremony should be just about…

“There,” she whispered, and leaving the slayers to Fin, the
wolves, and the crazed car driver, she streaked up the magical hill.

She glanced behind her once when she heard someone crashing
along in her wake, and caught a flash of three large, shaggy shifters running
behind her. She didn’t recognize them.

She faced forward once again and gasped as she nearly lost
her face to a tree. She sidestepped it at the last second and picked up her
speed even more, until she was flying over the ground.

She started up the hill, not slowing.
Be there, be there.
Be there, you motherfucker.

And along with that,
don’t let me be too late.

There were people on the hilltop—dark figures danced and
twirled around a smoky fire, a mix of male and female voices discordant and
gleeful as pale faces lifted to the moon.

Time slowed down to a crawl. It was as though no matter how
fast she was, it wasn’t fast enough. All she heard was her breath, loud and
strained, and the cool air whistling past her ears.

And on the hill, fuzzy, dancing figures, beckoning her on.

The slayers didn’t run when they saw her coming, but they
scrambled for a small pile of weapons. Before even one of them could aim and
shoot, Rune was upon them.

She’d shot her claws out and slashed the life from half of
them before the shifters arrive to finish off the rest.

Then she dropped to her knees. One of the slayers lay with
his right arm in the fire, and once again she breathed in the scent of cooking
flesh. “He’s not here. He’s not
here.
”

She’d gambled on Horner choosing Willowburg, and she’d lost.
The slayers on the hill were either placed there for a distraction or were some
part of the ceremony to call the demon, but Horner was not there.

He was in Hawthorne. Fucking Hawthorne.

One of the shifters regained his human form and knelt down
beside her. “Tell us what you need.”

She looked at him, slightly dazed. It was Michael from the
Camp. “I thought Horner would be here, calling his demon. The only place left
is in Hawthorne.” But even as she said it, she didn’t believe it.

He could be anywhere in River County. Rice’s circles on the
map had been guesses. She stood, and Michael stood with her.

Slayer blood gleamed in the firelight, covering his face,
his chest. “Tell me what you need,” he said, again.

“I need Levi.” She pushed a fist to her mouth. “I need
fucking Levi. He can find Horner.” Maybe.

“Where did you see him last?”

“In the Moor. I have to get back to the Moor. And there’s
just not enough time.” It seemed like hours since the street outside her house
had erupted in violence and flames.

What if he’d already called his demon? What if, somehow, the
vessel used to contain it was on its way to Karin Love?

Knowing it was a useless attempt but trying anyway, she
called Levi’s cell. It went to voicemail. “Levi, I need you. I can’t find
Horner. Please, if you get this, fucking call me.”

But COS was keeping her crew well occupied.

She heard the strident call of a bird and remembered Fin. He
could fly her to Hawthorne in a few short minutes. “Fuck me,” she exclaimed,
and left the wolves staring after her as she ran to Fin.

Once more on the road, she found the car in a ditch, still
running. No one was inside. The truck was gone.

The white road leading to Willowburg was empty.

“Fin,” she screamed. “Fin Lynch!”

It wasn’t Fin who answered her call, but Cree.

She loomed in the sky like a dark, feathered monster, her
wings batting the air as she came.

Rune ran to meet her. “Take me to Hawthorne, Cree. I have to
find Horner.”

But Cree shifted and stood in her human form, hands on her
hips. “Fin was here. I followed his scent.”

“Yeah, he was here. Last I saw, he was getting ready to take
out a truck full of slayers. Now get me to Hawthorne. I’m sure that’s where
Horner is.”

But Cree shook her head. “I can take you there, but Horner
isn’t in Hawthorne.”

“How do you know?” Then she gestured impatiently. There
wasn’t time for those kinds of questions. Not yet. “Where the fuck is he?”

Cree smiled. “He’s on Spikemoss Mountain, sugar. Land of
obsidian, realm of wings. If you’re ready to face him, I’m ready to take you
there.”