Obsidian Wings (9 page)

“How are you doing?” she asked the twins, later.

“Shut up,” one of the slayers barked.

“Denim?” she asked. “Levi?”

The slayer strode close to her bars. “I told you to shut
up.”

The other slayer came up behind him. “Hey, Mark. We got time
to grab her for a quickie?”

“I’m not taking a chance pissing the boss off,” the first
one said. “You go ahead if you want to.”

The other man thought about it, then shook his head. “Nah,
I’m good.”

“Denim,” she called. She could no longer see his eyes.

“Here comes the doc,” Mark said.

“Open the door,” the doctor said, a minute later.

Mark opened the cage door and the doctor rushed in, his face
covered with a light sheen of sweat despite the cool morning. He was thirty something,
balding, and when he smiled nervously at her, he revealed a row of discolored
teeth.

He grunted as he heaved his overweight body down beside her.
“This will only take a minute.” He didn’t seem to find it strange or upsetting
that he was tending a caged, beaten woman.

But he was on the payroll of COS. Others were less than
nothing to him.

“One of you take off her jacket. I need her arm,” he told
the slayers.

“You do it,” Mark told his pal. “I’ll cover you.”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” the doctor said. “She’s weak as a baby
and half dead. She’s certainly nothing to be scared of.” He glanced down at
her. “Are you, honey?”

She said nothing.

The COS member pulled a blade and cut the jacket sleeve from
her arm. “That work?”

“Fine, fine,” the doctor said. He put his bag on the ground,
opened it, then handed the slayer some vials. “Hold these.”

In seconds, he had a tourniquet around her upper arm and a
needle sticking a vein. She had no blood to spare.

The hunger was so extreme she did attempt to grab him and
sink her teeth into his arm. All she succeeded in doing was annoying the doctor
when she jerked and twitched enough to displace the needle.

But in the end, he got what he was after.

“Now,” he said, wheezing as he climbed ponderously to his
feet, “let’s fix up the boys and get some more blood from them.”

“What does he want with all the blood?” Mark asked.

“Insurance,” the doctor replied. “And I do what I’m paid to
do.”

They left her and went into the twins’ cage.

One slayer helped the doctor while the other stood at the
door with a gun trained on the prisoners.

Adrenaline came in fits and starts as she watched the
adjoining cage. It wasn’t much, and the splinter jabbed and cut into her as she
moved—but she grabbed the bars and dragged herself up until she was half
sitting.

“You like to watch, huh?” the slayer with the gun said,
grinning. He spat through the bars, just missing her bare leg.

She smiled, ignoring the fresh blood that spilled as her
dry, swollen lips split. “If you’re still alive when I get out of this cage,
you’re the first piece of shit I’m going to tear apart,” she told him.

His grin faltered, but then he curled his lip, and his voice
was filled with contempt. “When you get out of that cage, you’ll be dead and
I’ll be dragging your headless carcass to a hole in the ground.”

But there was fear in his eyes.

There should have been.

“All done,” the doctor said. He walked past the slayer with
the gun and strode away.

The slayer was still staring at Rune when the twins exploded
into action.

Rune gave one unintentional sob as it happened. The twins,
the beautiful, shining twins, naked and bloody and wild, attacked.

“Hurry,” she whispered.

But then one of the guns went off, and she knew the sound
would call the other slayers before the twins could get the splinter out of her
heart.

“Hurry,”
she begged, but the fear and urgency made
her voice breathless and squeaky and she doubted the twins even heard her.

But they didn’t need to hear her. They were aware.

The slayer she’d promised to kill was still alive. Barely.
Levi dragged him into her cage and dumped him on the floor, then ripped free
the blade the slayer wore at his side.

“I won’t kill you?” he asked. “Tell me I won’t kill you.”

“No, baby,” she murmured. “Dig it out.”

Denim joined them, helping to turn her gently to her belly
so they could dig through her back. It might be less painful than going through
her chest.

Maybe.

“Do it fast,” she said. “Once you get a grip, don’t hesitate.
Hurry.”

“They’re coming,” Denim said. “COS is coming.”

Without another word, Levi went to work.

She ground her teeth as the blade plunged into the splinter
wound, losing her breath, and for one brief second, losing consciousness.

Too bad she couldn’t stay unconscious.

“I see it,” Levi said, his voice hard. “Grab hold, Denim.”

More pain as Denim dug his fingernails in with the blade and
took the tip of the splinter. The obsidian tried to stay put. Meat and blood
and desperately mending flesh screamed as Denim forced the splinter free.

Finally, it was out.

Levi pulled the blade from her back and then offered her his
wrist. “Feed fast, Rune.”

“No,” she said. “Bring me that bastard.” She turned gingerly
and pointed to the slayer on the ground. “I promised to tear him apart. Might
as well eat him first.”

Denim dragged the slayer to her as Levi helped her pull on
her jeans. He stuffed her feet into her boots, then sat back to wait for her to
feed.

She dropped her fangs, her glorious fangs, and plunged them
into the slayer’s throat. His screams were weak, and she drank with grim
pleasure.

Drank as the slayers ran up the path, their stomping feet
like a thousand drums in her ears, their shouts and even their panting breaths
a hundred times louder as her body began to heal.

There was no time to feed properly as the slayers, armed
with guns and hatred, ran toward them, but that was okay. She shot out her
claws and hacked her tormenter’s head from his body.

She’d feed from the slayers.

She’d feed from the fucking birds.

She would spare no one, not Fin, not the scepters. Not Cree
Stark.

And maybe they realized that, because even as Rune and the
twins left their cold prisons and ran to meet the coming humans, the sky was
filled with birds and dozens of huge, flapping wings.

The birds were fleeing.

She was Death and the twins were her angels. They were not
the same, and she’d known they would not be. But they were not less.

Armed with the blades and guns they’d taken from the two
dead men, the twins, aided by the magic inside them and Rune’s blood in their
veins, went for the slayers.

Rune didn’t fear for them.

They’d been starved, beaten, and dehumanized, but now, they
were free.

And Lex was right.

They were mighty.

There were around twenty COS members, but Rune, Denim, and
Levi took them on without hesitation, and without uncertainty.

Rune bathed in the blood of her enemies, drank it as it
spewed from arteries and splashed upon the ground, and roared her glee.

She was the monster.

The world became suffused with more extreme scents, louder
sounds, and colors so vivid they hurt her eyes. The odors mixed and mingled,
and she acknowledged them without letting them distract her from the battle.

From the butchery. She was there to kill and she did it with
a cold savagery she’d somehow lacked before.

She sliced and hacked through warm bodies, her body
rejecting bullets almost as soon as they punched their way into her flesh. And
the entire time, she was on the lookout for one person.

Bach Horner.

She ripped the throat from one slayer as she gutted another.
When she turned to sling away bits of stringy entrails, she caught sight of the
twins, and they stopped her in her tracks.

They flew over the killing ground in their dance of death,
completely in unison, not one motion wasted. Naked and covered in gore, they
were a primitive picture of brutal barbarians, a breathtaking portrait of
vicious beauty, everything wild and agonized and real.

And they were shot.

Levi’s body jerked as a bullet slammed into his shoulder.
But he didn’t stop.

She threw back her head and screamed, because if she hadn’t
she would have shattered into a million pieces.

Finally, the ground was littered with parts of the dead
slayers. The air was silent and heavy, and nothing moved.

She stared across the bodies at the twins.

“We survived,” Levi said. “Didn’t we?”

She ran to them, then, and wrapped her arms around them.
Shuddery and dazed, they held each other.

“Yes,” she said. “We survived.”

“What do we do now?” Denim asked. “Where do we go?”

As if they no longer had a place in the crew. As if they
were too different.

“Home,” she said. “We go home.”

“I don’t think I can,” Levi said.

“You can try.” She lifted her hand to brush back his hair.

Levi nodded once, curtly. “We can try.”

And still they stood in a tight knot of bewilderment,
unsure. When they left that mountain, they’d have to begin to deal with
everything that had happened.

To accept it.

All three of them.

Their dirty bodies expelled bullets and the twins watched it
happen with something close to disbelief, even though they knew what Rune’s
blood was capable of.

Finally, the two men stripped the fallen enemy and dressed
in their bloody clothes, and Rune searched for a cell.

She found it quickly but held it for a long moment. She had
no idea whom to call. She didn’t want to call the crew. She didn’t want them
looking at her. Didn’t want them seeing her. Asking questions.

And she did not want to see the berserker.

She punched in a number. “I’m on Spikemoss Mountain in the
bird’s nest,” she said. “I have the twins.” Then, her voice broke. “Can you
come?”

“I’m on my way,” Elizabeth said.

“The birds are gone,” Rune told her, for no reason.

“Hang on, Rune. I’m coming.”

Rune clicked off.

“Who’s coming?” Denim asked.

“Elizabeth.”

He thought about it, then nodded. “Okay.”

“Horner escaped,” Levi said, coming to stand beside them.
“We have to find him.”

“Yeah,” she replied. “We do.”

Denim blew out a tired breath. The twins were ill, injured,
and near collapse. Her blood made their bodies forget how truly damaged they
were. It had healed them enough to make them fight and function. For a while.

But some injuries were beyond her blood’s ability to repair.

She shivered. “Fucking COS.”

“Fucking birds,” Denim added.

“They’ll come back.” Levi’s voice was grim. “And so will
we.”

Denim pushed his hands into the pockets of the ill-fitting
jeans. “Why the fuck is it so easy for us to be taken? Why the fuck?” His eyes
went a little too wide, a little wild. “We’re not…” He gestured, unsure.

“We’re not safe,” Levi said. “We’re nothing. They can take
us anytime they want us. Any of us.” He looked at Rune. “They even took you.”

Shit.
She wished she could tell him that it’d been
her plan to be taken. That’d she’d known the birds held them, and it was her
only way to find them.

But she couldn’t lie to them. They knew better anyway. So
she just nodded. There was nothing to say.

Then Levi grabbed her hand. “We’ll kill them all. We’ll kill
them, and if fucking Karin Love is ever released, we’ll kill her too. We’ll
fight dirty, we’ll ambush them, we’ll shoot them in the back.”

“We’ll become the slayers,” Denim said, a desperate gleam of
hope in his eyes. “And we’ll wipe out every single fucking member of COS.”

They had to feel in control. She understood. The same way
she’d taken control of her hated immortality, they were taking control of their
lives. They would not be victims. Instead, they would become the hunters.

And they’d kill humans. Just like those very humans were
killing Others.

So again, she nodded, her chest hurting when she saw the
frustrated gleam of tears in Levi’s eyes. “We’ll kill them all,” she replied.

She wasn’t sure, but she thought that when those words left
her mouth, something irreversible, and maybe something terrible, shifted in the
universe.

She directed Elizabeth to their exact location, then tossed
away the dead slayer’s phone. When Elizabeth arrived, the twins and Rune were
waiting.

Rune still hadn’t called the crew.

The twins climbed into the backseat, and Rune got into the
front with Elizabeth.

 Elizabeth studied them, briefly. “It’s good to see
you,” was all she said, and she drove them back down the mountain.

“We lost Horner,” Rune said, after a long while. “And there
are a lot of dead slayers up there.”

“He can’t escape capture forever,” Elizabeth replied, her
voice even. “And the birds will dispose of the bodies. The last thing they want
is human law enforcement on their land.”

“They welcomed the church with open arms.” Rune heard the
bitterness in her voice, but didn’t try to disguise it. She
was
bitter.

Fucking Strad Matheson.

Elizabeth didn’t speak again until she pulled up outside
Rune’s house. “Get cleaned up. I’m going to go get you some hot food and
clothing for Levi and Denim. I’ll also tell Bill you’re all safe.” She looked
at Rune. “Do you want to tell the crew, or would you like me to?”

“I will. After I shower, I’ll call them.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Good enough.”

Elizabeth was back with food and clothes before Rune could
force herself out of the shower. She’d scrubbed herself raw with hot water and
soap, but she couldn’t scrub her memory.

But Elizabeth was insistent, and she was stubborn. She
knocked on the bathroom door until Rune left the insulating water for the real
world.

The twins were sitting in the living room on the sofa,
dressed in new clothes and eating the first hot meal they’d had since their
capture, she was sure.

They didn’t eat much. Rune didn’t want anything to eat, but
she did accept the huge mug of hot coffee Elizabeth handed her.

“Elizabeth,” she said. “Thank you.”

The older woman knew Rune’s heartfelt words weren’t about
the coffee. “You’re most welcome. Do you have a spare phone or would you like
to borrow mine?”

Rune drank down half her coffee before answering. “I have an
extra but it’s at work.”

So Elizabeth handed over her phone. Rune called Jack first.

“Elizabeth,” he said. “There’s news?”

“It’s me, Jack. I’m home. Call the others and come over.
You’ll need to pick up Lex.”

“Rune,” he said, his voice raw and strained. “What the fuck?
What the
fuck?
”

“I’ll explain when you’re all here.”

“You’re okay?”

She hesitated.
No, I’m not okay. I’m hurt, I’m shocked,
I’m raped. I’m not okay.
“I’m alive.” Then, before he could say anything
else, she said, “The twins are here, Jack. I have the twins.”

He breathed gently into the phone. “They’re alive?” As if he
didn’t dare hope for that much.

“They are,” she murmured.

“I’m on my way.” He hung up.

And finally, she called Ellis. “Ellie. It’s me.”

“Rune,” he screamed. “My God, Rune!”

“I’m okay,” she said, calm. “I’m okay, baby.”

“You were dead,” he said, his voice so thick with tears she
could barely understand him. “I dreamed you were dead. And I was here alone.”

“I’m home. I need you to come here. Are you okay to drive?”
She didn’t dare tell him she had the twins. He’d have wrecked and killed
himself before he got halfway to the Moor.

“Yes, yes.” He sniffed. “I’m on my way. I’m so glad you’re
okay.”

She gave Elizabeth back her phone and turned to the twins.
“The crew is coming.”

They were a mess. It didn’t matter that they’d showered and
dressed in new clothes. They were battered and shrunken and their hands
trembled.

She was healing so much faster, and even she was still
marked with bruises and cuts and…

She shook her head hard as an unacceptable image of the
brutal rape flashed across her mind.
Out, you fuckers. Out.

“Rune?” Levi said.

She swallowed. Elizabeth watched her, as did the twins, with
understanding in their eyes.

“Did you kill the ones who hurt you?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes,” Rune answered. “We did.”

She nodded. “Good. I’m going back to RISC. I want to bring
Bill up to speed. Unless you need me to stay?”

“Go. We’re fine.”

Minutes later, the door flew open and Lex exploded into the
room, her face wet with tears, her lips pulled back in a grimace of part
disbelief, part joy.

Denim and Levy jumped to their feet and opened their arms,
and she nearly knocked them over as she ran into their embrace.

None of them said a word.

They were beyond words.

Lex reached out a searching hand and when Rune took it,
pulled her into the circle.

“Rune,” Jack said.

She pulled away from the others, and they immediately closed
themselves back into their desperate, thankful hold as she went to talk to
Jack.

He stared down at her with a sort of feverish calmness.
“Tell me everything.”

“When everyone is here. I don’t want to repeat myself.”

He jerked her to him then, and she realized as she slid her
arms around his waist that she really no longer cringed away from hugs.

Considering that her crew seemed obsessed with hugging, that
was a damn good thing.

She smiled against his chest. “I’ll be okay.” And she would.

She shuddered as the berserker stepped into the room. She didn’t
see him, didn’t hear him, but his presence sent chills down her spine. Her
heart beat painfully hard and fast against her ribs, and her stomach churned
like a tornado had generated inside her.

Jack hugged her even more tightly when she stiffened against
him.

Fucking berserker.

He waited.

After a few long, anxious moments, she pulled away from Jack
and turned to face Strad.

He wasn’t alone. Owen stood beside him, and both of them
were covered in gore and blood, and their eyes were…

Their eyes were a little monstrous.

“We tortured the fuck out of Cruikshank,” Owen said. “We
thought he had you.”

“COS had me,” she said, and then, she met the berserker’s
gaze. “The
birds
had me. Just as they had the twins.”

Raze slipped in to stand behind the berserker.

He watched Rune as he slid a blade into his hand.

Strad stiffened, but didn’t turn to look behind him. “I
would never betray you or the crew.”

“You were up there,” she said. “You were on the mountain.
The twins were there. They were right fucking there.”

“You didn’t even try,” Levi said.

Strad closed his eyes. “I fucked up.”

Jack eased his own blade into his hand.

But Owen moved a step closer to the berserker. “He didn’t
know, Rune. If you’d have seen him when you went missing—”

“Maybe,” she said, her voice calm. So calm. “But he’s right.
He fucked up.”

“Rune.” Strad gestured, unable to find words that could
possibly show how tormented he was. How sorry.

“I didn’t need you to save me,” she told him. “I just needed
you to believe me. You didn’t search.” She took a step closer to him. “And the
birds knew you wouldn’t search. They knew you’d believe them over me.” She
smiled as darkness thickened inside her. “Why, Berserker?”

“I trusted them.”

“You told me the birds couldn’t be trusted.”

“Not by you. Not by…” He clenched his fists, his jaws
knotting as he ground his teeth.

And then, he told her something that helped it all make
sense. The berserker had also been betrayed.

“The birds took me in when I was a kid. When I was…they’re
my family.” He shook his head, and the rage he was famous for began to swirl
around him like an almost visible mass of deadly debris. “The scepters were
like parents to me. I thought they were too honorable to betray me.” He smiled,
and it was not a nice smile. “I believed I mattered to them. I will avenge
you.” He looked at the twins. “And you. I will earn back your trust.”

And without another word, he turned, shoved Raze out of his
way, and strode from the house.

She might not see him again.

The part of her that had died up on that mountain wasn’t
sure if she cared, or if she didn’t.