Wormwood Echoes Read online

  It took her one horrified minute to process the details—blood, whimpers, the restrained woman, fear…

  “My baby,” the woman cried. “God, my baby.”

  Rune knelt on the slippery floor beside her. The woman had delivered recently, and the traffickers had left her on the floor where she’d given birth, her hands cuffed to a table.

  She lay in the mess of fluids and blood, her gown shoved up to her waist. “Oh, my baby,” she whimpered. Her face was dead pale, her eyes black and feverish. “They took her.”

  “I know,” Rune said. She pushed the woman’s sweaty hair out of her face. “I’m going to find your baby.”

  She broke the chain of the cuffs easily and helped the woman to her feet. When the mother couldn’t stand on her own, Rune carried her to one of the tables and placed her carefully on it.

  She grabbed Rune’s hand. “Don’t leave me here. Please, don’t leave me here.”

  “I’ll be back. I swear.” But she couldn’t have pried the desperate grip off her hand without hurting the woman, and she wasn’t willing to cause her more pain.

  “Fuck me,” she said, under her breath, then pulled her cell from her pocket with her free hand.

  “I have traffickers and an injured human at the clinic in Willowburg,” she said, when an Annex tech answered. “I need transport here now.”

  “Are the traffickers neutralized?” he asked.

  “They’re dead,” she said, her voice flat. “That’s pretty fucking neutralized.”

  “Dammit, Alexander,” he said. “The boss wanted traffickers brought in alive. We need information, not more dead bodies.”

  She lifted an eyebrow. “Apologize to Eugene for me. Now get the fucking transport here.” She clicked off.

  She was in a hurry. She had traffickers to execute.

  Jack and Owen stomped into the room, guns and blades ready, death in their hard stares.

  “Okay?” Jack asked, gun up.

  “They took my baby,” the woman cried. “Don’t leave me.”

  “One of you stay with her until the Annex arrives,” Rune said. “I called them. I have to find the fucking traffickers and the infant.”

  Owen glanced once at the tormented woman and headed for the door. “I’ll help you search.”

  Z would have stayed with the woman.

  And just that quickly, Rune stopped thinking of Owen as Z.

  It hurt. It hurt a lot. It was almost like losing Z all over again. Almost like he died right there in that room. She’d been holding on to him, holding on to him through Owen.

  “Rune?” Jack stood beside the woman, gently transferring her grip from Rune’s hand to his. “You good?”

  She loped toward the doorway, her heart beating wildly, desperate for air. Grief was like that.

  It hit her all of a sudden, out of the blue, and tried to send her to her knees.

  You going to let me go, sweet thing?

  “No,” she growled. “Never. Never, damn you.”

  Owen frowned. “Rune?”

  “Find me some fucking traffickers,” she said, and dropped her fangs with such force they cut her lip.

  She didn’t wait for his nod before she shot down the hall, her claws slicing through the air, her pain needing an outlet. She needed to cut somebody.

  Not herself, though. Not herself.

  Just the bad guys.

  Her monster ran with her, sniffing the air, more animal than human or even Other, tracking the distinct scent of an infant.

  Whatever had softened and hesitated in her since her decapitation hardened once again, manipulated like clay by her monster’s strong hands.

  She followed the trail through a door that opened into a long, dark hallway. Mingling with the sweet scent of the infant and the sour stench of unwashed humans was the heady perfume of earth and mud and air, and she knew the hallway would lead her to an exit out of the clinic.

  She caught them halfway across a back parking lot she hadn’t known existed—three men, one carrying a small black duffle bag.

  Her monster cracked its knuckles and smiled.

  The man carrying the bag threw a look back over his shoulder and screamed, started to run, then turned around and hefted the bag into the air. “Here, here! This is what you want.”

  She slowed but didn’t stop, giving him just enough time to throw the bag at her before she ran her claws through his belly and unzipped him like an ugly dress.

  She lowered the bag with its precious contents to the ground, and then she went after the two remaining men.

  The one she caught first threw his arms over his head, yelling, “We’re not fighters, we’re not fighters!” until she silenced him forever.

  That left one man, and too bad for him she hadn’t gotten the rage out of her system. She stalked him, understanding when he glanced behind her, his eyes showing a flash of hope, that Owen was coming.

  Owen.

  She wanted to play, but she wanted to kill. Wanted to taste blood. Wanted to be a fucking vicious monster and hurt the asshole who ripped babies from wombs to sell to sick, starving vampires.

  She grabbed him, gratified by the terror in his wide eyes. Gratified by his begging.

  “Please, please,” he moaned. “I’ll do anything. I can tell you things—”

  “Oh yes,” she agreed, “you’re going to tell me many things.”

  She rode him to the ground, to the hard, cold ground, growls coming from her mouth as he fought and struggled and screamed.

  She leaned forward and ran her tongue over his lips, sucking on them for a second before putting her mouth on his neck. “You are going to taste so fucking good.”

  “You’re crazy!” he screamed.

  “I’m not crazy, baby,” she assured him. “I’m mad. There’s a difference.”

  And she slid her fangs into his flesh, soaking up his blood like a dehydrated sponge.

  From somewhere behind her, Owen’s whisper, full of darkness and delight, floated to her ears.

  “Mine…”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  She hadn’t realized how unsure she had become until the uncertainty left her. She played with her dinner, coaxing information from him, feeding from him, teasing him with promises of death before finally, she’d taken everything he had to offer.

  Replete, she killed him.

  She rose from the body, stretching, and caught sight of Owen. He crouched a few yards behind her, watchful. Interested.

  She shivered as a chill of danger touched her spine, and then she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and strolled toward him.

  He stood in one smooth movement, his hands loose at his sides, his eyes steady. When she stopped walking he tilted his head, causing his hair to slide silkily over his shoulders, and motioned her on.

  But when she didn’t move, he did, closing the gap between them. He slid his hand up her arm, over her shoulder, then gripped her neck gently. “In another world,” he said, “you’re meant for me.”

  “In this world,” she replied, “I’m meant for death.”

  “Death’s mistress,” he murmured. “Death isn’t always the end.”

  She reached up to touch his face. “That depends on your definition of end.”

  “I want to fuck you.”

  She lost her breath at the ferocity of his words. “I know.”

  “You just ate a fucking man,” he said. “And all I could think was how hot you looked doing it. I got hard watching you suck blood from a guy’s neck. I wanted to fuck you while watching you become a monster.” He took another step closer, pressing his body against hers. “I wanted you as you killed. What does that make me, Rune Alexander?”

  His intensity called to her.

  The dark pain in his eyes called to her.

  Everything about him called to her.

  “I don’t fucking know,” she whispered.

  The baby’s cry interrupted her, brought her back to earth, made her remember everything the cowboy had
shut out for a long, hot moment.

  She turned away from him and fell to her knees beside the bag, nearly ripping it apart in her hurry to reach the baby.

  It was alive. She was alive.

  Rune lifted the infant to her chest. “Damn,” she said. “She’s so small.”

  Owen took her arm and helped her to her feet. “Let’s take it in.”

  She felt a twinge when she thought of the little black-haired baby she’d likely never see again. “Come on, kid. Let’s get you to your mama.”

  The berserker met them as they walked back inside the building, his sharp stare softening as he took in the naked, bloody infant squalling in Rune’s arms.

  Denim was beside him.

  “I got the baby, Strad,” she said.

  He nodded, smiling. “The traffickers?”

  “Three of them. Dead. But one of them gave up the locations of two more groups before he died.”

  “And he told us where a nest of vampires is hiding out today,” Owen said.

  Strad looked at him, finally, and Rune felt her heart stop.

  She knew death when she saw it, and there was death in the berserker’s eyes. There was no doubt at all in his mind that he would kill Owen.

  And there was no doubt in hers that he would succeed.

  He was the berserker.

  In this world I’m meant for Death.

  She handed the baby to Denim.

  “Owen,” she said. “You and Denim take the child inside and wait for transport.”

  Once they were gone, she looked at Strad. “Why do you want him dead? You kicked the shit out of him already. You made your point. Why do you have such a need to kill him?”

  Because maybe she hadn’t truly believed, until that moment, that he really would.

  “Rune.” He closed his eyes and blew out a hard breath, then looked at her. “He will hurt you. You can’t see it, but I can. He wants to take you away. To own you. He wants to possess you like a fucking toy. To hurt you. And I won’t allow it.” He shook his head. “I can’t.”

  She squeezed his forearm. “And you think I would allow it?” She grinned up at him.

  “Oh, sweetheart.” He didn’t smile and there was only pain in his gaze. “You would. That’s who you are.”

  An image of Jeremy slicing into her flesh, beating her, torturing her, flashed through her mind and she took a quick step back. “Fuck you,” she snarled, but she wasn’t really talking to the berserker.

  He said nothing.

  She waited for her heart to slow, to beat a little less painfully.

  “What makes you think you know what Owen wants?” she asked, her voice hard.

  “There’s a little of Owen inside all of us.”

  “I don’t need you to protect me from the fucking cowboy.”

  His laugh was sharp. “You could crush Owen if you wanted to. I’m not protecting you from him. I’m protecting you from you.”

  “I’m sick of both of you,” she said, suddenly tired. She started to walk away, then turned back. “If you kill him, I won’t forgive you.”

  He kept his stare on hers, and though she saw the hint of a flinch in his eyes, his voice was calm. “I’ll do what I have to do.”

  “So will I.”

  He nodded. “I know.”

  She sighed. “You’re so fucking…” then she paused. “You’re afraid of him. You’re afraid of Owen.”

  He stared over her head, silent.

  “Strad?”

  “Damn you, Rune. I’m afraid of what he can do.” He grabbed her upper arms, his grip hard.

  “Rune,” Levi called, running down the hall. “Hurry.”

  “Shit,” she said, and ran, with Strad right behind her, to meet Levi. “Tell me.”

  His eyes were too wide, his voice breathless. “Karin Love is at the Annex with an army of COS. She’s after Lex.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Shiv Crew made it to the Annex without killing anyone, though they broke every speed limit posted getting there.

  Lex would be fucking terrified.

  They’d thought Karin was away, trapped with Orson Blackthorne, maybe, or sticking close to Damascus.

  Obviously they’d been wrong.

  Karin Love led her slayers in a battle against the Annex, and the building, along with the people inside it, was being hammered like a dollhouse in a hailstorm.

  Fighters burst through doors and spilled out into parking lots, yells of rage mixing with screams of pain, gunfire, and clinks of blades.

  The crew slammed their cars to screeching halts in the street and jumped from their vehicles, guns up and blades ready.

  “Berserker,” Rune screamed, not looking around for him but knowing he’d hear—and heed—her words. “With the twins.” The twins were going to need him.

  She ran with her claws out, cutting down slayers as she went. She had to get to Lex, and any slayer that got between her and the sick Other was dead.

  She didn’t see Karin.

  A slayer got into her path and maybe it was the way his eyes looked or the color of his hair or just the fact that he was a fucking slayer—she flashed to her time at their mercy, to her pain, to her fear, and it stopped her in her tracks.

  He might have put a bullet into her brain had it not been for Owen, who appeared suddenly at her side and sent a blade into the slayers throat.

  Then she was back, the split second memory hidden once more beneath the urgency of the fight.

  She was pretty sure Eugene would have had himself and Lex spirited to a safe room, but he may not have had time. She had no idea if some of the slayers had managed to slip past Annex guards.

  The Annex ops fought like the trained army they were, using long blades, axes, whatever weapon they favored, to put down slayers. Still, they’d been taken by surprise and the slayers would be desperate not to displease Karin.

  Shiv Crew, lethal in close combat, fought like two armies.

  And they began to take the slayers down.

  As the groups thinned out and those slayers still living fell back, Karin Love made her appearance. She stood atop one of the parked cars, unafraid, her voice strong. “Stop,” she called, sounding almost bored, and her slayers didn’t even hesitate. They stopped fighting immediately—so suddenly most of them died as the Annex ops and Shiv Crew continued the fight.

  Karin sought Rune with her cold, black stare. “If you want my daughter to live, you’ll take me to her.” She gestured at the few slayers remaining. “If my men weren’t so worthless I’d have already gained access to her. I can see that won’t happen today—but Alexis is running out of time. Take me to her.” She shrugged. “Or bring her to me.”

  Rune stiffened and prepared to race to the COS leader and fling her bloody and screaming into hell.

  But she knew she couldn’t kill Karin—that was Lex’s right. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t capture the bitch.

  “You’ll never get one of mine,” Rune called.

  “Yours?” Karin’s mocking laughter was loud in the silence. “She’s not yours.”

  Her guard fanned out around the car upon which she stood, guns trained on the crowd. “She’s mine. And I am the only person who can cure her.” She grinned, looking, for one heart stopping second, so much like Lex that Rune couldn’t breathe. “Lex is dying,” she continued. “She needs to be with her mama.”

  The slayers continued backing away, trying to leave the area while their mistress held the attention of their enemies.

  Rune wasn’t having it. Karin might be able to order the slayers to stop fighting, but she wasn’t commanding Shiv Crew. “First we’ll kill your slayers,” she said, “then we’ll take you to Lex.”

  The crew didn’t hesitate. They slaughtered the remaining COS members, their hatred of COS strong, their rage not even remotely assuaged.

  The Annex ops joined in, catching and executing fleeing slayers, killing with a grim ferocity that made Rune proud to fight with them.

  Karin
didn’t seem to care that her army was being destroyed. She didn’t say another word until only she and her guard remained.

  Rune looked up at her. The area was suddenly and completely silent. Even the cops who’d arrived silenced their screaming sirens and watched in silence.

  It was surreal, staring up at the most hated enemy she’d ever known, dead littering the ground, lights from cruisers flashing…

  The adrenalin from the battle fled and left Rune facing the reality of a fear much worse than spilled blood and battling slayers.

  Karin had something planned. She might have believed Rune would take her to Lex before she’d let the little Other die, but Rune wasn’t so sure.

  No. She had something else.

  And then Rune discovered what that was.

  “I have your friend. I have Ellis. You really shouldn’t have left that poor boy unprotected, Rune. Tsk, tsk.” She laughed, lightly, happily. “I’m going to ask Levi to decide. Ellis or Lex?”

  Rune’s legs weakened and began to shake. Beside her, Levi cried out. She barely heard him over the noise in her head.

  “My sweet Levi,” Karin said. “What a quandary this must present to you. You love Lex and are fucking Rune’s little friend. Whew. I wouldn’t want to be you right now.”

  “I’ll get him back,” Rune said, her voice hoarse.

  “Get him back?” Karin laughed. “You can’t get him back from Satan’s clutches, lovely Rune. And if you don’t agree to go pluck Lex from wherever she’d hiding like a fucking coward, I’m going to send Ellis to hell right now. You have three seconds to agree.”

  “No,” Rune said, despairing. “Karin, don’t.”

  “Give her to me,” Karin screamed, suddenly, viciously angry. “Give her to me!”

  “I’m giving you my monster,” Rune muttered, and ran.

  Karin’s guard opened fire, but their bullets might as well have been bee stings. Rune felt nothing. In her mind, there was only white noise.

  Some part of her understood the slayers were shooting into the crowd around her—the Annex ops and her crew.

  But even that didn’t stop her.

  She wanted Karin Love, and she was going to get her.

  She tossed Karin’s guard out of her way as they shot her pointblank, or tried to. She was fast. She was enraged.