Shiv Crew (10 page)

Rune’s disgusted look must have
egged her on. “I love their bite. Have you ever been bitten by a vampire? It’s
fucking heaven. I could come just thinking about it.”

Rune blew out a tired breath. It
was hard saving the humans from the monsters when the humans didn’t want to be
saved. “It’s against the law, kid.” For now. The vampire bite could be
addictive, and there were a lot of secret human junkies. Getting the junkies
“clean” had proven nearly impossible, especially if the human had been fed from
with any sort of regularity. “Those vampires are going to be destroyed, and you
are in trouble.”

The girl hissed, looking for a
moment as though she’d already been turned. “You’re evil. Both of you.” Then
she spat at Rune.

Rune clenched her fists. She wasn’t
patient with stupidity, and the girl was just plain rude. “I’m going to cuff
you now. When we’ve finished cutting off a few heads, I’ll figure out what to
do with you.” She would probably be transferred to a hospital where they’d tie
her to the bed and try their best to wean her off the drug that was the vampire
bite.

The girl burst into tears. “How can
you do that to them? How can you sneak in like this and kill them?
You’re
the monster. Satan’s spawn.” She cried like a little kid—mouth wide open, eyes
screwed shut, bawling loudly and unashamedly.

Rune pursed her lips and looked at
Jack, who widened his eyes and stepped away from the emotional girl. Crying
girls made Jack uncomfortable.

“They’re abducting and killing
humans,” Rune said, talking loudly to make herself heard over the girl’s
weeping.

She stopped crying and sniffed,
then wiped her nose on the back of her sleeve. “No they’re not. But you and the
other cops don’t care who really is doing it. They tell me things,” she
finished, another note of pride in her voice.

Rune folded her arms. “What
things?”

The girl glanced down the stairs.
“Make them stop killing the vampires and I’ll tell you.”

“No.”

It was suddenly as though an old
woman peeked through the girl’s eyes. “Please,” she whispered. “They’re my
friends. They…” She paused, searching for the right words. “They’re
people
.”

Dammit. Rune was a sucker for a
person in pain. She was built to protect, not to torment. She nodded at Jack.
“Call them off.”

Shocked, he could only stare at
her. “Rune—”

“You heard her,” the girl snapped.
“Call them the fuck off!”

Rune almost smiled. The girl was a
pain in the ass, but anybody who could shout orders at the huge, frightening
Jack went up a notch in her estimation.

Jack sighed, then went to do their
bidding.

“What’s your name?”

“Amy.”

“Amy…”

“Just Amy. And listen. I know who
you are. You can help them.”

“I don’t help monsters, kid. I kill
them.”

“You wouldn’t if you’d just get to
know them.” She stood and grabbed Rune’s hand. “I’ll tell you, because I think
you will be the one to save them when you know the truth.”

Rune gently extracted her hand and
sat on the steps, motioning the girl to sit beside her. “So what’s the truth?”

Amy sat down, her eyes wide and
determined, but desperation and honesty were there as well. “The vampires
aren’t the ones taking the humans. A
human
is.”

“What human?” Despite herself, Rune
was intrigued by the girl’s sincerity. Even if she was full of shit about the
vampires, she had
something
to tell.

Amy bit her lip. “I don’t know who,
exactly.”

Rune sighed.
Of course you don’t.
But the girl’s next words set her heart pounding and her brain on full alert.

“I just know what he’s called. Preston.”

She flashed back to the injured
girl she and her crew had saved. “
It’s Preston. He’s killing the other—”

Had she meant, simply, other? Had
she been going to say Preston was killing the other humans? Or killing the
Others?

One thing was certain—the girl had
her full attention. “Tell me everything, Amy.”

Amy’s face brightened. “You believe
me.”

“Just talk. And I don’t have a lot
of time, so talk fast. Everything you know, I want to know.”

Amy nodded. “You got it.”

The crew was climbing the stairs,
and one look at Rune’s expression had them finding seats as well, all eyes on
the bite junkie.

Lex climbed to join the females,
one hand trailing the wall.

“Oh my God.” Amy had as much
trouble whispering as Jack did. Her voice echoed off the cold walls of the
stairwell. “Is she blind?”

Rune made room for Lex and held out
a hand to help her to sit. Before she’d gotten her hand up, when it was just a
thought in her head, Lex had her own hand out, waiting for it.

Vibrating softly, Lex sat between
Rune and Amy. “Continue.” She felt for Amy’s hand, holding it gently between
hers.

Amy looked startled for a second,
then shrugged and began telling her story.

“I’m telling you exactly what I’ve
heard, guys. There is a man named Preston. His name alone is enough to scare
the Others half to death. He’s in a high position of authority. Nicolas told me
that himself.” Again with the proud smile.

“Nick Llodra?” Rune asked. “The master
is talking to
you
?”

Amy lifted her chin, scowling.
“Well I was
there
, in the room. He said Preston is in a high position of
authority and that’s how he terrorizes the groups.” She glanced around at the
faces watching her. “You know, the Others.”

“We know,” Rune said, gently. “Go
on.”

“The groups have to pay him for
protection. But it’s not really protection. They pay him because if they don’t
he makes bad things happen to them.” Again she looked at the attentive crew.
“Real bad things.”

“Like what?” Z asked.

She blew him a kiss. “You sure are
sexy.”

“Amy.”

Amy frowned at Rune, then
continued, scratching at her scalp with ragged nails. “He does things like hurt
the leaders’ people. A few months ago he had one of the shifters picked up because
they refused to pay him. They just didn’t have the money. Preston is greedy. Nicolas
said so.”

Rune glanced at her crew, trying to
wrap her mind around Amy’s words. She met Raze’s eyes, and waited.

He nodded.
She’s telling the
truth.

“What happened to him, the shifter?”

“He came back missing a leg,” Amy
said, loud and defensive. As though it was Shiv Crew’s fault.

Maybe it was.

“It grew back,” Amy continued.
“Because shifters are special. Just like all the Others.” She narrowed her eyes
at Rune, waiting for her to argue.

“When did the extortion begin, Amy?”

The girl wrinkled her nose,
thinking. “About a year and a half ago, I think.”

“Okay. Go on.”

“I can’t believe none of you have a
clue about the shit that goes on around here. Or maybe you do, but you don’t
care. For all I know, you’re in on it.” She sneered. “The amazing humans
against the lowly monsters. You’re all—”

Rune reeled her back in. “Amy. Shiv
Crew is not your enemy. Tell us your story.”

Amy took a deep breath. “Anyway.
The Others pay Preston so basically he’ll allow them to live in the city. He
uses them against each other. He had the bears bring in the shifter. Now they
all hate each other.” Again she paused, lost in some memory. “It’s totally
sad.”

“What about the vampires?”

Amy snapped back to the present.
“Yes! Nicolas refuses to pay Preston for this…protection. Preston is going to
destroy them.” She gestured at all of them, her eyes sad. “Look. It’s already
begun.”

“How much does he take?” Rune
asked, fighting the heat of shame that wanted to wash over her.

“Five thousand a month,” Amy said.
“From each group. Some of the Others have been—” As though realizing she’d
almost said something she hadn’t meant to say, she blanched, and stopped
talking.

Stealing? Robbing banks?
Prostituting themselves?

“Amy, how…” Her words trailed off
as she remembered something
. Sherry.
Sherry begging for money. For five
thousand dollars.

Oh fuck me.

Was Sherry Other? Or was she
secretly fraternizing with a certain group of Others?

“Rune?” Jack asked. “What is it?”

She shook her head. “Remind me
later. It’s about Sherry and something that happened while I was on vacation.”

“Sherry!” Amy said. “I know a
Sherry.” Once again she realized she might have said more than she should have,
and she stared at her and Lex’s clasped hands, swallowing hard.

“Why didn’t you come to us, Amy? Or
any of the SLE?”

Amy looked up, her eyes hard. “Are
you fucking kidding me?”

Rune shrugged. “You’re talking to
us now.”

“They’re dead anyway. I had no
choice. Maybe…maybe I can help save the last few Spiritgrove vampires. And
Nicolas.”

“You like him.”

Amy lifted her chin. “I love him.”

“He’s an asshole to his people,”
Jack said.

“He’s just strict. He’s only
punishing the ones who went behind his back to gather money for Preston. The
wolf alpha is the asshole.”

Preston, Preston.
Who the
fuck are you?

“So you’re saying the vampires are being
set up. They’re not really abducting and killing humans.” Rune leaned back,
suddenly tired. What a mess.

“Yup.”

“What good would that do Preston?
He’s not going to get cash out of dead vampires.”

“I don’t know everything. I just
know it’s true.” She pounded her knee with her fist. “Please, please, stop
killing them. If you only knew them…” She began crying again, the changes in
her mood as melodramatic and fast as only a teen’s could be.
“Please.”

Rune forgot to reply when she
noticed that Lex’s face was wet. Her face, at that moment, was the saddest face
Rune had ever seen. “Lex,” she whispered, and took the blind Other’s free hand.

Levi and Denim bounded up the steps
and snatched her up, their eyes dark and accusing.

“I’m sorry,” Rune said, but wasn’t
quite sure what she was sorry for. “Take her to my car. We won’t be staying.”

Amy gasped and put a hand over her
heart. “Really?
Really?
”

Rune smiled and stood. “Really. And
thank you, Amy.” She hesitated, unsure what to do with the girl. She could
force her out of the nest, but…

“How old are you, kid?” she asked.

“Twenty-two.” She said it with dead
earnestness.

Rune sighed. “I’m doubting that
pretty intensely.”

“My mother is dead. My father is a
drunk who cares only that I cook and buy him whiskey.” Again the old woman
peeked from her eyes. “Leave me alone, Rune.”

But still, Rune hesitated. “Look at
you. It’s wintertime and you’re dressed in next to nothing.”

“I have a coat and shoes
downstairs, dude. I just don’t want to sleep in them.”

Rune pulled a card from one of her
pockets and a pen from another. “This is my card. My office number is on the
front…” She scribbled another number on the back. “And this is my cell. If you
think of anything, if you hear anything, call that number. I don’t care what
time it is. Got it?”

Amy glanced at the card. “Yes.
Thanks. Thanks, guys.”

Shiv Crew walked away, leaving
behind a small human girl and a nest of vampires—many of whom were missing
their heads.

But there was nothing to be done
for it.

“Let’s go talk, boys. We have to
figure this shit out.”

“Couldn’t agree more,” Z said.

They had a hell of a lot to think
about. “We can’t trust anyone,” she said, as they walked soberly to their cars.
“Not anyone.”

“No,” Jack agreed. “But we can’t
stop this on our own.”

“Maybe you should talk to Jeremy,”
Z said. “He’s higher on the food chain than we are.”

“Not yet.”
Hell
no
.
She
couldn’t trust Jeremy.

“So we’re going to fix this
ourselves? Shiv Crew?” Jack’s voice was a little too skeptical.

“We’re sure as hell going to dig a
little deeper,” she said, her tone even. “And then we’ll see.”

“I recommend handing this over to
RISC and letting them sort things out,” Jack said.

She reached her car. Lex sat inside
with the twins, her body slumped, her head hanging.
Shit.
She opened her
door. “Noted.”

He inclined his head. “Okay then.”

Raze spoke, finally. Sometimes he
was so quiet that if he wasn’t so damn big he would be forgotten. “Lunch and
then the next item?”

She rubbed her temples. “The fucking
schedule. I miss the good old days when we sat in our offices drinking coffee
and waiting for emergencies to happen.”

Her men grinned in agreement.

“We’re supposed to go to Willowburg
and run off some rogue rooks. According to Mitch they’ve half shifted and can’t
change back to human form. Those living in Willowburg are terrified of them.”
She shuddered. “Stuck between forms. That’d be a bad way to live, boys.”

They stood for a moment in silence,
contemplating the condition of the rooks. In the grand scheme of things, they
were all pretty damn lucky.

Even her.

“I’ll take the twins to oust the
rooks, you guys go get lunch and head back to the office.” It wouldn’t take the
whole damn crew to get rid of a couple of unfortunate rooks.

Unless Mitch decided he needed to
send them to exterminate a houseful of termites or something equally
irritating.

She glanced at Lex, unsure how to
make the girl feel better. She didn’t want to pry into something that was none
of her business. Lex would tell her what was wrong if she wanted her to know.

“Where do you want to have lunch,
Lexi?” She realized she rather enjoyed having the other woman for company.

Lex kept her face turned toward her
window, though there was nothing she could see. “It doesn’t matter.”

“I know a little place we can get a
couple of good sandwiches and sit out on benches to eat. It’s not that cold
today. The sun is shining.”

“I feel it.”

“That’s good.”

“Yes.”

So much for small talk.

They didn’t speak again until Rune
pulled into the parking lot of the diner. It wasn’t busy yet, but she knew from
experience that in a half hour or so the place would be crawling with the lunch
crowd. “What do you want to eat?”

“Anything. I’m not picky. Or
hungry.”

Rune sighed. “Fine. I’ll choose
something.”

When the food was done she carried
the bag out to the picnic tables and then went to fetch Lexi from the car. “I
got us a table in the sun.”

Lex said nothing but sat down, her
face lifted to the sun. She ate her lunch quietly, her thoughts turned inward.

“Lex.” Rune had finished her
sandwich and her drink and sat idly watching the parking lot begin to fill up.
For the first time in a while she wasn’t bouncing off the walls, eager to go.
It was good to just sit and relax.

Maybe because she hadn’t had her
usual amount of coffee.

“Yes?”

“What are you thinking? What’s
inside that gorgeous head of yours?”

“You don’t like my silence, my…”

“Sadness,” Rune finished. “I don’t
like your sadness.”

Lex smiled, kind of. “You can’t fix
everyone.”

“So I’ve been told.”

Lex took pity on her. “Sometimes
memories can be overwhelming.” She turned her face toward Rune. “You understand
that.”

Rune swallowed and looked away,
even though Lex couldn’t see her. “Yeah.”

“Sometimes the voices of the past
refuse to be silenced. Then all one can do is sit and listen.”

“I know.”

“Yes. You do know.”

Rune sipped melted ice through her
straw, saying nothing. Did she regret urging Lex to talk? A little bit, yeah.

“It’s almost always noisy in my
head, Rune.”

Rune nodded.

“The silence. It doesn’t happen
very often, but when it comes…it’s like white ash raining down in the dark of
my mind…and that’s all I see, that white ash falling.

“It doesn’t make a sound, not
really. Maybe just a whisper. But then I’ve got to wonder. What burned up in
there? It wasn’t the bad memories—they’re still there.

“So what burned up? What sends down
that ash?”

Words wouldn’t form. Rune started
shaking her head and couldn’t stop.

“Maybe it’s the burning bodies of
my people,” Lex continued. She stared into the distance, seeing things Rune
could only imagine. “Maybe they’re sending down the ash.”

Rune swallowed hard, her mouth dry,
her head aching.
Burning bodies…

“You find the silence through
violence and sex, Rune. When your body feels pain, it takes pressure from your
heart, doesn’t it? Know how I get the silence?”

“No,” Rune whispered.

Lex stood, staring for a long
moment toward the wall. “Neither do I.”

Rune was quiet all the way to
Willowburg. It would have been too hard to push words past the huge, horrified
lump in her throat.