The Killin' Fields (Alexa's Travels Book 2) (35 page)

He looked up at her with anguish. “I had already lost my Sophie. I couldn’t lose him too.”

Alexa ignored the loud, furious buzzing from the ghosts, busy playing judge and jury, “Quit hiding behind your lies,” Alexa warned. “Be honest for once in your life.”

Roscoe began to weep, shaking at his final moment neared.

“I wasn’t really the Mayor,” he confessed in a gravelly blurt. “I was his golfing caddie.”

Alexa knelt down to hear the rest, needing the break from her throbbing ribs. “Finish it.”

“I found him in his office,” Roscoe went on, staring at Alexa’s Colt. “I look a lot like him, you know?”

Alexa didn’t respond, and he gave her the rest in a choked tone that said he was ready to face his maker.

“He was hiding under his desk when I came in. He didn’t even scream when I started hitting him. I was going to throw him out the window, but some dumb secretary found me and thought
I
was the Mayor. She snuck me by the mob demanding city protection from the bombs and we stayed with the poor people as the draft trucks came. In the sewers.”

Alexa sensed the final sin coming and felt her mind go a bit gray. Evening was nearing.

“Right after we came back out, the woman, Mariah, figured out what I’d done.” Roscoe glanced toward the sewer drain under Alexa’s feet. “She’s down there.”

The noise from above them had been loud as each betrayal was revealed and the ground under them rumbled in outrage and the need for justice.

Alexa slowly stood up, aware of Mark and Edward subtly coming to each side. “I find you guilty,” she intoned, causing the din to magnify even further. “I sentence you to the fire.”

The ground split open under Roscoe and flame-like hands rose from the abyss to surround Roscoe. Alive, he couldn’t be taken however, and Alexa quickly used the last round in that mag to end his torment and start his suffering.

The ground closed up as if it had never opened and the sky above them became a shooting-star filled sunset as the souls were finally freed. They’d been held to the earth because of their hatred and their many crimes, but Roscoe’s death released those bonds into a stunning show of a true afterlife.

Jacob watched the souls blink out of existence with a slight wave of bitterness. Unlike the other men standing here and contemplating the heavens and hell, he was railing against a silent god who still hadn’t come forward to claim his people. That was the bitterness he carried daily now and it allowed him to commit the most grievous sins upon Alexa’s command. He’d lost his faith and it had made him a killer, was how he thought of it.

Alexa felt Jacob’s unrest, and placed an arm around his waist, as much to comfort as to lean on unnoticed.

Jacob did notice it, feeling her heat and the ragged rise and fall of her chest. He supported her weight as much he could and felt her gratitude when she relaxed against him.

“I’m sorry your belief was destroyed.”

Jacob sighed. “I am too, sometimes.” He smiled softly at her. “But most days, I’m not. It gave me to you and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

Alexa was overwhelmed with emotion and with exhaustion, and she stepped back. She scanned the sky and the dead city, picking out a few shadows remaining among the rubble. She wanted to go to them, to ask what awful thing had been done to them that Roscoe’s death hadn’t paid for, but Edward took her arm. “No, lady.”

Alexa could have refused. She had a last reserve of strength, of energy, and she wanted to cleanse this city in a way that could never be undone.

“Alexa.”

She shut her lids, exhausted, depressed, hurting. “Tell me why.”

Edward didn’t want to, but understood it was the only thing that would get her to leave here. “You can’t save them all. Only Adrian can.”

A single tear slipped down her red cheek and Edward felt the heat baking from her then. She’d gotten worse.

“Get us settled,” she told him, standing on her own. “Quickly.”

Edward waved the men into their basic formation and immediately got them moving, only this time, he had an arm around Alexa’s waist to help her. As they trotted, she gradually became slower and less responsive until Edward swung her up into his arms and put Daniel in the lead.

The biker got them back to the farmhouse where Paul was stashed in a hurry, each of them silently noting they didn’t encounter a single obstacle. Other than the few remaining souls in the city, Alexa had cleared this area of problems. It was impossible to guess how long it would stay that way, though. Without Alexa here to defend it, the land would once again go wild, though the master of the corn would no longer haunt weary travelers. The leftover zombies would do that.

4

Edward jogged up the stairs and into the house, glad David had gotten there first to hold the door. He took Alexa to the upstairs bedroom he had already chosen for this very reason. It had a bathroom and a mini kitchen, and a wide living space that all of them could share without being cramped.

Edward put her on the bed once David stripped the dusty top cover and then leaned against the webby wall to catch his breath. He’d never been so tired.

“First watch volunteers?” he asked.

“I’ve got that,” Jacob offered. There was no way he could sleep yet, not after all they’d just seen.

“Great. Someone get Paul up here in case she wakes up.”

“I’ll get him,” Mark stated from the doorway.

“Okay,” Edward delivered the good news. “Off duty time, boys, and damn did we earn this one.”

There were small nods and chuckles of agreement. They all felt good about the role they’d played, but waiting for Alexa to explain it all would be hard. Edward planned to sleep through the wait.

The horseman settled down against the bed Alexa was on and leaned his head back. When his lids closed, he didn’t try to stay alert. Even if he only got five minutes, he wanted it.

“He’s gone.”

Edward’s eyes flew open as he realized who Mark was shouting about. “Damn it!”

Alexa’s hand on his shoulder was a comfort, though her grip was nearly nonexistent and her voice a whisper. “Let him go.”

Relieved, Edward said,” You heard the woman. Let the rabbit run.”

Alexa’s hand went slack as she grayed out again, and Edward left it on his shoulder. When she stirred, he would be the first to know.

5

“Hello in the house.”

Company was the last thing any of the fighters wanted and they rose from an hour’s sleep to fight with their remaining bullets. They would be out quickly and die in a hand-to-hand gory mess of glory. It was what Alexa would want.

“Coming in.”

The voice was female, familiar, and Edward motioned for Mark to open the door.

“Hi!”

Tabitha and Paul stood on the porch, her arm wrapped tightly around his.

Paul shrugged at the looks from the men. “I told you. Most women like me.”

Tabitha smiled at Paul with a deep affection that made every man there want to know what the scientist had done to deserve it. Noticing his bruise were already mostly healed came second.

“Tabby knows a few things about vampires,” Paul explained. “She mentioned it while we were traveling, but I didn’t make the connection until she’d already run off. After that, we didn’t get a lot time alone and well,” Paul blushed. “We didn’t talk then.”

Tabitha flushed prettily, giggling, and Paul swatted her on the ass, making her laugh. “Upstairs, Tabby, and go slow. They don’t know you.”

The woman didn’t seem to mind the big men who scowled at her in warning. She climbed the steps eagerly and flounced into Alexa’s room without saying anything else. She sat on the edge of the bed, studying their mistress, and the helpless males watched in concerned frustration.

After a moment, Tabby hesitantly reached out and placed her wrist over Alexa’s mouth.

Alexa lunged so fast that none of her men could have interfered. She rolled Tabitha off the bed and landed straddling her, teeth (fangs!) inches from the woman’s throat.

Tabitha whimpered, but didn’t struggle. “Please.”

Alexa’s men didn’t know what to do, but Paul did. He gently put a hand on Alexa’s ridged shoulder. “She is innocent.”

Alexa wanted to gorge herself on the blood and it told her that Paul was right. This woman had committed no crime here.

Alexa rose in a painful growl and tossed herself onto the bed. “Get out.”

Paul took the shaking Tabitha downstairs, where Edward got as much information as he could before loaning Paul his sleeping bag. The couple disappeared into the basement bedroom and the fighters stared in surprise a while later at the sounds. It wasn’t the Paul they’d come to know.

6

“Is it possible that we underestimated him?” Mark asked, hearing a moan that clearly wasn’t faked. Tabitha was enjoying whatever he was doing to her.

Edward sighed, mind taking him into images he didn’t want to be a part of. “I think so. He’s still alive. That’s bigger for me.”

As he said it, Edward heard a female groan of climax and shook his head. “I’ll be upstairs. Let me know when he’s… available.”

“You know it,” Mark sent with a chuckle. He still didn’t like Paul and perhaps he never would, but at this moment, Paul had impressed him and that wasn’t an easy feat to accomplish.

Mark and Jacob took up posts at the front and rear of the farmhouse as the sun disappeared and the darkness fell over the land. Time slowed as the shadows filled the yard and obscured the corn. And in the blackness, a pair of red, rage-filled eyes watched the men with hatred.

Jacob saw it and knew who was out there drooling over him. “Come on, boy,” the preacher called. He’d had enough of this place. “Don’t be shy.”

But the child knew better and stayed out of the preacher’s range.

Jacob started to call for Edward and then spotted a second shadow in the corn. Zombies?

No, he realized as he caught a quick flash of a uniform. It was Brian sneaking up behind the corpse boy, jerking his knife across the undead neck and then snapping it.

Jacob thought about telling the others, but when Brian only tipped the bloody blade to him and walked back into the corn, Jacob chose to wait. So they had a protector outside. It was worlds better than the alternative and he saw no reason to wake the others for it. Alexa’s green bunker baby was turning out to more valuable than any of her men had realized.

In the basement, Paul growled as he finished and Jacob rolled his eyes. “Come on, rabbit! Damn!”

In the rear of the house, Mark burst out laughing. He’d been about to do the same thing.

7

Edward heard the laughter and let himself drift down into a deeper sleep where the war hadn’t come and it was his wife’s hand on his shoulder.

Across the room, Billy and David had also fallen out, but Daniel was still awake. He was having a smoke and going over their battle with the hag. The moment where David had fallen still had him confused and he was running it through his filters, trying to figure out what had happened. The conclusion he’d come up with the first time, that David had caused the hag to retreat, was too unbelievable and he planned to ask Alexa about it. There had to be another explanation. How could David have a power like that and Alexa not know?

Daniel was sure that he’d missed something and he settled against a peeling wall and ran through it again.

On the bed, Alexa was awake. This mission was over, with only the explanation left and she felt like a failure. There were still souls to be freed in Lincoln and she mourned them in place of being able to help. It was a wound that wouldn’t be able to heal until she did something about it.

As for her own illness, Alexa now understood more than she wanted to. When she gave her men the final answers they would soon expect, they wouldn’t want to know it either, but there was no going back.

Travelin’ On

1

The sound of music playing woke the house.

The haunting strains of a world that had passed by flowed softly through the basement of the farmhouse and floated to where Alexa and four of her men were still snoozing.

Alexa stretched carefully, enjoying the feel of the bed under her, but missing the harshness of the ground. It was who she was.

She scanned the room, met the eyes of those coming to alertness under the haunting notes of Hotel California. For Alexa, it brought instant memories of her father. For her men, it gave flashes of wives and children, and of happier days before it had all gone to hell.

Alexa felt a shoulder under her hand and gave a brief squeeze, recognizing the feel of her thick horseman.

Edward sighed in pleasure as she ran her fingers through his messy hair, caressing.

He turned around to meet her eyes and found glowing red orbs where bright blue should have been.

Alexa’s tinted vision was something of a concern for her fighters, but she only shut her lids and tried to sleep a bit more. She was drained, with nothing left to give. The virus had done its damage and she wasn’t the same as she’d been yesterday. The differences were in the textures of the blood running through their veins. For a minute, it was all she could think about.

“Lexie?”

Her eyes flew open at the nickname her father had called her. “What?!” she snarled defensively. She didn’t want their pity

“We love you.”

Alexa had no defense against that and tears slid from her lashes.

“We have to know if this is the end.”

Alexa sat up on the bed and each of them saw the tear streaks were scarlet.

“That will be up to you,” Alexa told them, holding out her arm. “But see what I am before you make the choice.”

She used a nail to slit her arm downward, catching a vein that gushed blood.

The men rushed her way, but Alexa slowly licked the wound and then held her arm up

“It’s healed,” Jacob exclaimed in a panicked shock. “You’re not human anymore!”

Alexa sighed, staring at the floor. “I haven’t felt that way in so long that I’m not sure if I should miss it.”

“What can we do?” Billy demanded, coming over to wipe away the blood that remained.

Alexa’s glowing orbs went to his throat and the driver didn’t flee. “Whatever you need.”

Billy had complete faith that she wouldn’t hurt her own and he was right.

“You will eventually be in danger from me,” Alexa told them. “This thirst is…powerful.”

The men were all tempted to swear their lives to her again, but Alexa wouldn’t allow them to hide from the truth. “You’ll have to watch me as much as our enemies. You should leave now; salvage what you can of your lives.”

Denials filled the room and brought her other two men up the stairs. Each one waited to be heard and Alexa had no choice but to listen.

“We’re a team. We’re not going anywhere.”

“The quest ends when we reach Safe Haven and not before!” Mark insisted.

“You don’t scare us,” Edward lied. “We’ll stay.”

Alexa had to keep trying to protect them. “I won’t be able to control it. You’ll all be in—”

“We’re staying,” David told her firmly. “And so are you. We’ll adjust.”

Alexa felt more of those red tears slip from her eyes and she understood their bond had finally sealed itself. Very little would be able to come between them.

“So, do you have any, uh, extra gifts?” Jacob asked curiously.

Alexa snorted, reading the thoughts in the room. “A clique of vampire fighters. Yeah, Adrian will let us in that way.”

Realizing they would be denied entrance to paradise, the men didn’t ask her to share the virus so they could be like her. They’d planned to, but discovering that Adrian would view them as evil quickly changed their minds.

Alexa was glad. She wouldn’t have refused these men anything they wanted, but it wasn’t right and it would have cost them everything. Considering their leader was now a legendary creature who had to feed on the weak, Alexa wasn’t sure if they might not already be doomed.

“Paul brought Tabitha back while we were gone,” Edward told her. “She came up to help you.”

Alexa sighed. “She smelled too good. Keep her away from me until I have more control.”

“Maybe she can help,” Billy insisted. “What if we stand between you two?

Alexa reluctantly agreed to let the woman come up, hoping her will power was strong enough to keep from ripping out Tabitha’s throat. Alexa had never been so hungry and she preferred to test her strength on a stranger and not her fighters.

2

Paul and Tabitha came up the steps slowly, eyes wide as they took in Alexa. The glow on her skin was a lie, an appearance of health that the rabbit knew she didn’t really have. “You’ve completed the transformation.”

Alexa nodded, trying not to breathe deeply. “Suggestions?”

Paul glanced at the fighters without speaking and Alexa shook her head, voice sharp. “They’re not cattle. I’d never do that.”

“You did with me.”

Alexa stared at his exposed skin in anguish and control. “Yes, and I thank you for that. It allowed me to finish this part of the quest and I’m grateful.”

Paul frowned. “So why wouldn’t you—”

“We’re not like you, rabbit,” David explained. “We’ll change if she… Hey!”

All the men understood at the same time and turned to sweep Paul with fresh accusations and curiosities.

The scientist flushed, confirming their suspicions. “It was one of the first things Corbin did when he realized I had gifts.” Paul’s voice was scornful. “He thought he could make me a man, but crossing descendants and vampires didn’t work for me.”

“What do you mean?” Mark wanted to know.

“It cancelled out my inherited power. I became impotent.”

Next to him, Tabitha giggled and Paul brushed a hand down her arm in affection. “I’ll find you some Advil.”

The men stared in shock. Where was their frightened scientist who couldn’t survive on his own?

As if to remind them that he was still the same klutz, Paul took a step toward Alexa, caught his foot in a blanket, and went sprawling.

Chuckles filled the room and Alexa soaked it in as deeply as she could, trying to mend her heart. During all the chaos, she’d figured out who Brian was.

“Tabby made breakfast,” Paul announced as he picked himself up, still bitter about being laughed at, but not as much as before. Facing his fear of the fire and of Shane had helped him to grow mentally. In time, he may not even hate the big brutes that Alexa had surrounded herself with.

Paul led Tabitha to the bed, and retreated a step. He shoved those big knuckles into his pockets and waited. This was his last chance.

Alexa and Tabitha had both frozen as they scented each other. Alexa in ravenous hunger, Tabitha in horror.

“It’s too late. You’ve already changed.”

Neither of them spoke again for a moment, where Paul’s future hung in the balance.

“Would you give yourself to me?”

Tabitha shook her head as if coming from a daze, and Alexa smiled gently. “Then get the hell out of here.”

Alexa turned her head, holding her breath as Tabitha fled all the way to the kitchen downstairs.

“Food?” Edward asked Alexa. “A little?”

Not sure she could take a single bite, Alexa reluctantly let Edward help her from the bed. She’d never been so tired.

Edward noticed that her smaller injuries were healed and wondered if her ribs were slowly doing the same. Her slow grunts and breaths as they went down the stairs said the vampire process didn’t fix everything and the horseman was almost glad despite not wanting her to be in pain. He’d been anticipating caring for her.

Alexa’s hand tightened on his arm. “Thank you.”

Edward hugged her. “It’s my honor.”

3

The nine travelers enjoyed a meal together, but Alexa stayed in the corner and her men provided a wall between her and Tabitha as she finished cooking. The eggs and bacon had come from the house stock, dehydrated, but the biscuits and gravy were fresh and for a while there was only silence as the men got their fill.

Only Edward noticed Alexa wasn’t actually eating her food, but dropping forkfuls onto his place to make it appear that she was. He began to understand right then how hard the rest of their quest might be. Her diet would was now drastically different than theirs.

Paul and Tabitha served the food and made the rest of them feel invisible in the way only lovers can. It seemed like a good match for the twitchy man and the fighters were even a bit jealous. Until Edward muttered about descendants having an unfair advantage and the others realized Paul was using his gifts to keep Tabitha with him.

Daniel used the hand code to question:
Do we need to help her?

Edward studied the barefoot woman humming with the music as she served them all. Between rounds, she gave Paul small smiles of contentment and happiness.

No
, Edward signaled.
Let them have a chance. He won’t hurt her.

Daniel agreed and the two men put it from their minds, but it did ease their feelings of inadequacies to know he had help as a lover.

“I’m not cheating!” Paul protested suddenly, answering their thoughts. “She’s sad over her cousin. I’m helping with that.”

Edward raised a brow. “No help for you?”

“No.” Paul flushed with male pride. “I’m just that good.”

Tabitha giggled again. “Yes, rabbit, you are.”

Paul swung around to deliver another swat to her behind as she passed and everyone chuckled except for Alexa. She was staring out the window, trying to pretend that the smell of the food wasn’t making her stomach churn. To control it, she’d been counting the corn stalks, but a shadow had caught her attention.

She knew who it was and pain flooded her in fresh waves. She remembered her own days of being on the outside, of waiting to be old enough to join her father. It had felt like forever while she peered in windows and tried to stay alive.

“Why doesn’t he come in?” Tabitha asked suddenly, following her line of sight. “He’s one of the nice soldiers.”

An awkward silence fell as the men saw Brian sitting at the edge of the corn, eating something that looked dried and dusty.

Edward glanced at Alexa, but the emotions made her sharp.

“You have spent this trip talking, drawing stories, and filling in your blanks. Enough. I’ll not be badgered into given away information it has taken me a lifetime to earn. You’ll get it when you need it or when I’m ready for you to have it, and not a second sooner!”

Paul, feeling braver than he had in a long time, retreated a step and provided the answer.

“He can’t join his mother until he’s of age. It’s a law among our kind.”

Gasps and shock filled the kitchen, and Alexa rose without speaking. As she staggered from the room, she paused long enough to slap Paul.

The scientist fell into the cabinet, knocking down a stack of pots that thumped into him repeatedly, nearly rendering him unconscious.

Tabitha wanted to run to Paul, but she hadn’t forgotten and stayed still until Alexa was gone.

Paul let Tabitha help him up, noticing the fighters hadn’t risen to assist him. Even though they were grateful to know who Brian was, they agreed with Alexa that he should have kept his mouth shut.

“That’s why I have to stay here,” Paul said lowly, rubbing his shoulder and neck. “I know the rules and our ways, but I …”

“Can’t follow them,” Edward supplied.

Paul shrugged. “Maybe I could, but not with you guys. I’ll spend the entire trip doing what I just did to get you to like me. And it won’t work.”

New guilt rose to suffocate the fighters, and each of them shifted uncomfortably or glanced away.