Realm Walker (11 page)

Chapter Eleven

Thomas started the car and looked at Juliana for direction.

“Just drive,” she told him. Since it wouldn’t help her find Nathaniel, she shut down her gift. She’d already used it much more than she should have in the past couple of days.

“Should I assume you have a plan, or is that too much to hope for?” Thomas asked after she directed him to turn for the fourth time.

“We’re driving around hoping to run across a demon. Is that a plan?”

He sighed. “No. That’s more of a vague idea.”

Her phone vibrated again. She pulled it out. Jeremiah. “Talk to me.”

“You promised you wouldn’t go after him alone.” His voice was tired, strained. She didn’t know if that was because Ben woke him up or if dealing with her wore him out.

“I have no idea where he is, Jeremiah. Not a clue. What good would it do to have half the Agency roaming around with me. I was going to call if I found anything. Besides, I’m not alone.”

“Ben said as much, but as I am at home and Nathaniel is...incapacitated, who are you with?”

She glanced at Thomas who tried to look like he wasn’t listening but failed. “My vampire.”

The corner of his mouth quirked up in a smile that quickly disappeared.

“Your...you are with Thomas Kendrick?”

“That would be the one, yes.” It wasn’t as if she went around claiming a lot of vampires.

There was a long silence. “Very well. The vampire will suffice. Just be careful. I had another reason for calling. Someone reported a 1062 in Devil’s End.”

That made her pause. “No one ever reports anything in the End.”

Thomas turned around and headed back in the direction they’d come from.

“That’s why I’m passing it along,” Jeremiah said. Devil’s End was the rundown and desperate part of town and it was far closer to her house than she liked to admit. She was going to have to move in a few years if the borders kept creeping out. She’d live near the End, but she wasn’t going to live in it.

“What’s a 1062?” She never could remember the codes.

“Rogue shifter,” Thomas and Jeremiah answered in unison.

She arched her brows at Thomas, wondering just how he came to possess that bit of knowledge. “Set up a perimeter around the area. Keep it wide and tight. Call in the locals if you have to. I don’t want to risk losing him again and I don’t want anyone going in there with guns blazing either. I’m the primary. Please advise them not to shoot the vampire either.” She hung up the phone and turned in her seat to study Thomas.

“What?” he asked when she just continued to look at him.

“Would you care to tell me how you know Agency code?”

He slid to a stop alongside a curb just outside the borders of the End. “I am a very old vampire,
Joya
. I know a great many things.” He climbed out of the car and stood beside it with the door open.

“That didn’t answer my question,” she grumbled. With a sigh, she followed him into the darkness.

She reached in the back, pulled out her bag and dropped it on the trunk. He scowled, but she ignored him and unzipped the bag. “What do you want?”

He reached under the driver’s seat and came up with a gun identical to hers. It wasn’t a coincidence. Thomas taught her to shoot and bought her her first gun. It was still the one she was most comfortable with. He also dropped something around his neck. Something that looked very much like a badge. She studied it more closely. Correction...something that looked exactly like a badge. A star with eight points, to be exact. He was a Warden of the High Order. The blood drained from her face. “Are you kidding me?”

A muscle twitched in his jaw. “No,
Joya
. I have been with the Order for a very long time. It will cause fewer problems for you if I am here in a somewhat official capacity, will it not?”

She nodded but was still stunned. The Wardens traced their origins back to Stonehenge. An intimate group whose purpose had always been to keep the Altered from discovery. After the Rending, that purpose had shifted to more closely mirror the Agency’s purpose without the government involvement. Freelancers with connections all over the globe, they worked with all branches of law enforcement and government, both human and Altered. Among the Altered, the Wardens were the ultimate authority though the humans still thought it was the Agency. And if it came down to a public dispute, the Agency did supersede the Order’s authority. Later, when no humans were watching, the Wardens would impose the Order’s justice.

Leave it to her vampire to be a Warden. Shaking her head, she turned back to her bag. She pulled out one clip of blessed ammo and one clip of silver ammo for each of them. After a moment’s hesitation, she handed his over. No matter the reasoning behind it, she was still outfitting them to hunt one of her friends. Sometimes she really hated her job.

She cleared her throat. “Don’t bother with the silver unless I tell you it’s not Nathaniel. He’s immune.”

Thomas’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline. “A werewolf immune to silver? How does that happen?”

She smiled. “Cursed.”

He paused for a moment. “You know the most interesting people.”

She slid her sword onto her back, adjusting it until it rested comfortably. After a quick check that she had everything, she zipped up the bag and tossed it back into the car.

“Where should we begin?”

She glanced around and drew her gun. No matter how skilled the person with the sword, a gun was still more intimidating to most people. “I don’t hear any screaming. I suppose that’s a good sign. Start walking. The person that called it in will find us, or we’ll find the shifter.”

Her gift brought searing pain with it this time. She ignored it and moved quickly down the street, Thomas right behind her. When they neared a cross street, she pressed against the corner of a building and leaned over to see around the edge. Halfway down the block a large hairy figure with no signature was leaning over something in the street. The distinctive sound of rending flesh had her swallowing the bile that burned its way up her throat.

Pulling her head back, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. Her gift had served its purpose so she shut it down. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her courage. She could do this. She had to do this.

“What is it?” Thomas said next to her ear.

She opened her eyes. “Chewing. You hear it?”

He nodded once, his face grim.

She stepped out, raising her gun to point at the dark figure before her. “Walker. Stop what you’re doing and put your hands up.”

Nathaniel froze. Slowly he turned his torso to face her. His growl reverberated through the night making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Blood saturated the fur on his muzzle and chest and dripped in steady drops to the pavement below. Tissue clung to the teeth he bared as he snarled. There was nothing of her friend in the creature before her. She only hoped there was a little of him left inside.

The demon reached down, grasped something in its claws and lifted it. Though it was difficult to tell, she thought it was a length of intestine. The demon lifted it and shoved it into his mouth. His eyes never left hers as he started to chew.

“Okay. That’s just gross.”

The demon snapped its jaws at her and growled again. Thomas fired two shots from her left and hit Nathaniel in the chest. He rose to his full height. Arching his back, he howled in rage. He spun and jumped over the body. A couple of buildings down, he leaped up a fire escape before disappearing onto the roof. There was no way they were going to catch him. But she had to try.

“Damn it.” She slammed her gun back into the holster. She took off after her prey, keeping the spot where she’d last seen him in her sights. Just before they reached the fire escape, a figure stepped into view. It was gone just as quickly. It was probably the other demon, but if it was he’d found a new host. Just what she needed. She fired up her gift and stumbled a step when the pain tore through her brain.

Thomas caught her arm to steady her but she shook him off and went up the fire escape. The impact of her feet on the metal rang through the night air like a siren announcing her presence. The vibration of each step ran up her body and into her head, intensifying the pain. She was panting by the time they reached the top.

Thomas shoved her sideways before she even had a chance to get her bearings. If he’d been half a second slower, the headache wouldn’t have been a problem anymore. Bullets connected with the short brick wall behind them. He wrapped himself around her, protecting her. She strained to see around him, to get a glimpse of their assailant.

The shooting stopped, presumably so the gunman could reload. Thomas pulled her to her feet and hauled her behind a large air conditioning unit that offered more coverage. As they went, her eyes snagged on a patch of purple-blue smudged with black in the night. It couldn’t be. Thomas released her to ready his weapon and she scrambled out into the open.

Yes. There it was. She shut down her gift. In the half-second it took her eyes to adjust to the darkness again, he raised the gun. Raoul hesitated as their eyes met. It was the face she’d seen a million times in her nightmares. Only now, the entire right side was missing, melted off. When had that happened? And how?

“Juliana,” Thomas hissed and tugged her back against his side. He shook her. “Juliana! What is wrong with you? What is it?”

She shook her head. Here was her chance to finally get the man she’d been hunting for seven years and she was frozen like a fairy in a troll pod. She shoved down the fear that clawed at her insides looking for purchase. Pulling her gun out, she rolled to the side prepared to fire. He was gone.

No. No. No. She pushed herself to her feet and ran to where she’d last seen him. Nothing. She fired up her gift without thinking. Pain like an ice pick to the brain doubled her over. Liquid warmth flowed from her nose and she tasted the coppery tang of her blood. Through narrowed eyes she scanned the dark, but he was gone. She’d had her chance and she’d lost it.

She locked her gift down but the pain receded only enough to allow her to function. She swiped a hand across her face to get rid of the blood and turned on Thomas. “Why did you shoot him?”

* * *

Thomas eyed the blood smeared across her porcelain skin and trickling from her nose. “You can’t be serious. And why are you bleeding?”

She brushed aside his concern with a wave of her hand. “That’s not important. Why did you shoot him?”

His bride was an intelligent woman. She should already know the answer to that question. “He was eating someone.”

“It’s not like the guy was still alive. And now Nathaniel got away.”

She dug her phone out of her pocket.

His eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched. “He threatened you.”

“He was at least ten feet away.”

“And you really think it would be that difficult for any werewolf, let alone one hosting a demon to leap that distance before you could think of reacting?” She opened her mouth to protest and he shook his head. “Don’t. Just don’t. I will not justify my actions to anyone. Especially when it comes to your protection.”

“Jeremiah, it’s me. Any sign?” She paused for the answer. “Let me know.” She put the phone away and walked past him and back down the fire escape. He watched until she disappeared below the edge of the building. Damnable woman. He hurried after her. “And what was that on the roof? You nearly get your head shot off and you thrust it back into the line of fire. For what?”

“I thought I recognized the shooter,” she said as she hopped off at the bottom. She didn’t stop until she got back to the victim. He followed along behind her at a slower pace, mulling over her words, trying to remember if he’d gotten a glimpse of the person trying to kill them.

“And did you?” he asked when he reached her.

She glanced up but said nothing. It was answer enough. She did and she wasn’t going to share with him who it might be. “Talk to me, Juliana. What is going on? And why are you bleeding?”

A hand shot up to her nose and she seemed surprised to find the blood still trickling. He stepped closer to her and used the edge of his shirt to wipe the blood away. She looked at him a minute and then dropped her head, breaking the connection. “I’ve used my gift too much.”

He’d all but forgotten about that gift of hers. And he was an idiot for doing so. No wonder she was a full-blown Walker, risking her life in the field every day. They would never waste a talent like hers behind a desk.

Thomas shifted his attention to the body at their feet. It was a male. His throat gaped open in what was probably the killing blow and most of the stomach was gone. They always started with the stomach.

Juliana pulled out her phone which had no doubt vibrated to alert her to a call. “We’ll be right there,” she said after she listened a moment. “They found both demons. We’ve got to go.”

He put a hand on her arm to stop her. “There are two?”

“Yes. Didn’t I tell you that?”

“No.” His lips were a tight line. “You’ve been rather single minded about your wolf.”

“The other one’s smart and communicative. At least fifth level.”

“And they are connected how?”

“They’re working together. It’s how Nathaniel got the jump on me.”

His eyes locked on her new scars. “So you were not injured because you were reluctant to hurt him?”

“I’m not an idiot.” Thomas refrained from commenting. His bride was a very intelligent woman, but her actions far from reflected it sometimes. “Was that the shooter?”

She shook her head and looked at him a long moment before answering. “It was Raoul.”

His blood chilled. “Why is Raoul trying to kill you?”

“Actually I have no idea. Usually it’s the other way around.”

This was the heart of her secret. But he didn’t have time to get into it now. The demons weren’t going to wait for them forever. “We should go.”

Chapter Twelve

Cold night air enveloped Juliana as she walked through the streets of downtown New Hope searching for their quarry. Her glasses hid the glow of her eyes as she used her gift. Demons weren’t the only things hiding in the night. She’d snagged a stack of gauze from a medic and kept it pressed under her nose. She was going to have to shut down soon or she’d fry something. Thomas searched the rooftops above her head. She left him to it. She had enough to worry about without double-checking his work.

As she scanned signatures, she looked for one in particular. If Raoul was smart he left town the moment he realized she’d seen him. Unfortunately, intelligence had never been one of his strengths. She still couldn’t figure out why he was here, what he wanted from her.

Their prey had been followed to this area but they’d been searching for half an hour with no luck. She’d just made up her mind to call Thomas to join her when a plaintive howl cut through the night. Her breath caught. Nathaniel. It had to be. She needed it to be.

She tried to pinpoint the sound, but the echo from the buildings made it impossible. Thomas joined her and gestured to the northwest. On the roof he hadn’t had the same problem with the echo so it was easier for him to target the source. They took off at a run.

Thomas looked surprised as she kept pace with him. She couldn’t maintain the speed for as long as he could, but for a while she could match him step for step. She grabbed his arm to pull him to a stop a few blocks later.

She sniffed the air. As Thomas watched her, his fangs slid out and his eyes darkened in anticipation of the fight. They crept forward, keeping to the shadows of buildings. They used her nose to track the demons, leaving her feeling a little like a bloodhound. A giggle floated from the upper reaches of a building across the street. Her gaze shot up to find two dark forms devoid of signatures crouching next to each other on the roof. She shut her gift down and wiped the blood away from under her nose again.

She pressed on her earpiece and conveyed their location.

“How should we go up?” Thomas asked, pitching his voice low.

She kept her eyes locked on the demons and shook her head. “We’re not going up. They’re coming down.”

The demons would know they were there without her announcing it, but she stepped into light anyway. She slid the sword from the sheath on her back.

For a moment, all was still and then they came. The small fae flew to land lightly on the ground while Nathaniel leaped from landing to landing on the fire escape. They stood twenty feet away, staring them down. Thomas stood motionless beside her and she forced herself to be patient. To wait for them to come. Her pulse raced and her breathing quickened in anticipation. This was the part of the job she lived for. The part she was good at.

“Hello again, Juliana Norris. I see you still live. How...fortunate. Your blood smells delicious,” the fae said.

Somehow she didn’t think “thank you” would be an appropriate response, so she said nothing.

“If you think I’m going to let you have her, you’re mistaken,” Thomas said.

“Very well, Thomas Kendrick. You will both die eventually anyway.” The fae smiled revealing rows of pointy teeth. Thomas ran forward to meet it as it charged. Nathaniel stood entranced by their battle. She took the opportunity to slip her sword back in its sheath so she wouldn’t be tempted to use it. She wanted to kill the demon, but she needed to keep her friend alive. What she needed to do now was get Nathaniel’s demon away from its more powerful counterpart. She took a deep breath and whistled to get the demon’s attention.

He glanced in her direction but quickly turned back to the fight. She whistled again and patted her thighs. “Come on, boy. Come on. Come get me.”

His head snapped in her direction. He snarled, drool dripping from his mouth to the ground. Instead of waiting for him to charge, she bolted down the alley to her right. Relief flooded through her when she heard paws padding against the pavement. She never thought she’d be happy to have a demon chasing her.

She pressed on her earpiece. “Is Kennedy High still in use?”

“I think so,” Jeremiah answered.

“Good. Have a squad meet us there. Don’t use portals. I don’t want to scare him off.”

Kennedy was built next to a multi-denominational worship house. When the school needed more room, they offered to buy some land. Someone on the board of the church realized they’d make more in the long run if they rented out the land instead of selling it outright. Part of that expansion included a pool. A pool that sat on holy ground that was resanctified weekly.

She’d tried to lure a demon there before. It hadn’t ended well for her or the host. It would be different this time. There was no alternative.

Someone screamed in frustration behind her, but she didn’t stop. Saving Nathaniel was too important. Besides, it had to be the fae that screamed. Thomas wasn’t the screaming type. She wove through streets and alleyways, always just steps ahead of the demon-ridden werewolf.

A weight hit her back just as Kennedy High came into view. She flew to the ground and slid across it from the momentum she’d built up. Thick claws dug into her back and she yelped in pain. She couldn’t let this happen. Couldn’t let the demon get the best of her. She bucked, trying to get out from under him, but he held on, refused to be moved.

“Get off me you cursed mutt!” She pushed against the ground with all her strength, twisting as she did so. He fell to the side as her movement knocked him off balance. They crouched, sizing each other up. She eased her hand to her belt and grasped the flask of holy water. She flipped the cap off with her thumb.

With a flick of her wrist, she splashed the contents onto Nathaniel. He fell back with a howl and she took off for the school again. It bought her enough time to get a small lead on him. When he started to chase her again, she was even more convinced Nathaniel’s demon was low-level.

Low-level demons worked on rage, thought only about what they wanted at that precise moment and what they needed to get it. They weren’t thinkers or planners. All the demon in her friend knew was that it wanted her, so it followed. It never crossed its mind that she might be leading it somewhere.

At the school she fumbled with the chain on the door, finally found the padlock and unlocked it. She let the chain fall to the ground as she yanked open the door of the school and ran inside with the demon right on her heels. Fortunately a werewolf in hybrid form looked like the wolfman from all the old horror movies so he had paws and claws, neither of which were good for traction on linoleum floors. She gained a little more ground, put a little more distance between them. The layout for the school was easy to recall and she headed straight for the pool.

She slid into the room and ran to the far wall. Bending over, she put her hands on her knees and panted while she tried to catch her breath. Her head throbbed, her vision blurred. Damn demon. Nails clicked in the hallway outside the room and she drew her blade. Pressing her back against the wall, she let all the fear she felt for Nathaniel, for Thomas, and even for herself come to the surface. The scent of it would bring the demon right to her.

It scrabbled into the room and slid to a stop when it saw her. It sniffed the air, then crept forward. She didn’t have to fake her yell when it launched itself at her. Heavy paws pinned her shoulders against the wall. Snorted breaths fanned the hair around her face. Her lip curled at the rancid smell. It pressed its full weight against her body and she suddenly knew a lot more about her friend’s anatomy than she cared to. The demon seemed to be hesitating and she wasn’t sure why, but she intended to use it to her full advantage.

“Sorry, Nathaniel.” She brought her knee up in one quick motion, putting all her strength and speed behind it. The demon howled and released her shoulders as it bent over in pain. Dropping her sword, she used both hands to push the demon toward the pool.

The creature was in the water before it even realized what happened. She arched her back and rocked forward on her toes to keep from following it into the water. Ignoring the howls and screams coming from her friend, she turned her back on the pool and pulled the other flask out of her pocket. As she filled her mouth with the whiskey, she walked back to the wall. She put the flask away and bent to retrieve her sword from the floor.

The horrible sounds stopped just as she turned to face the pool. Nathaniel, completely human again, was half out of the water with his back arched at an impossible angle. He opened his mouth as if to scream and black mist poured from his mouth. It collected in a cloud above his head, hanging in the air for a moment before sweeping toward her.

When it was a yard away, she spit the whiskey, spraying the cloud. A high-pitched keening filled the air and her blade flashed red as it sliced through the cloud. Once, twice, three times. “Go back to whatever dark god you came from,” she said with a growl that would have made Nathaniel proud if he was coherent enough to hear her.

The keening grew louder, higher pitched until pain lanced through her ears. She belatedly threw her hands up to cover them. The windows behind her imploded and she dropped to the ground, hunching her shoulders in an effort to protect her head. Tiny shards sliced her skin as they flew past. Finally, the cloud fell to the ground in a fine powder.

She stood, wincing at the pain that wracked her body and pierced her ears. Her equilibrium off, she stumbled to the side a bit. She pulled a flask of water from her pocket and used it to drench the ash. That wasn’t supposed to be necessary but there was nothing wrong with being cautious. The demon dealt with, she turned her attention to its former host. She found him floating face down in the water. Panic lodged in her chest and made it hard to breathe.

“Oh, hell no. I did not just save your ass from a demon so you could drown.” She dropped the sword and snatched the communicator out of her ear.

* * *

Thomas came through the door just as Juliana dove into the pool. The elemental was right behind him. Other agents surrounded the building. All the windows were shattered, the broken glass littering the floor crunched under his feet as he hurried to the side of the pool to help his mate with her friend. She looked surprised when Thomas lifted the wolf from her grip and passed him off to the elemental.

Thomas came back, grabbed her hands and lifted her out of the water. She staggered to the side and grunted in pain. The sweet scent of her blood flooded his senses. Even as his heart skipped a beat in worry for her, his mouth flooded with saliva. It had been a long time since he’d tasted her, so long.

Juliana turned to check on the wolf and Thomas caught a brief glimpse of her back. It was enough for him to see that was the source of most of the bleeding. The wolf coughed and Thomas glanced over to see the elemental had him rolled on his side. Given Juliana’s relaxed stance, he assumed she’d done what she’d intended and freed her friend of the demon.

His bride stumbled away from him. He reached out to help, but she righted herself before he reached her. She kept her back turned from them as she slid her sword into its sheath. As if she could hide an injury like that from him. Thomas clenched his jaw but forced himself to be patient. They would take a portal directly from here to the infirmary and she would be taken care of.

She bent to retrieve her blade and stumbled to the side again. “Are you okay?” he asked. Juliana didn’t respond, didn’t even acknowledge he had spoken. Instead, she was examining a dark smudge on the ground. “Juliana?
Joya?
” This wasn’t just her ignoring him, something was wrong.

The elemental called for a portal with the earpiece. “What’s wrong with her?”

Thomas shook his head and headed across the floor toward her. She turned as if sensing his approach. That was when he noticed the thin line of blood running from her ear. He reached out and wiped it away with his fingertips. Holding out his hand, he showed her the smear. She shrugged. His mate had obviously shattered her eardrums and she was shrugging. Gods grant him patience.

“Did you get the other one?” she asked at a volume just short of yelling.

No, he hadn’t. The damn thing had eluded him. Its single-minded fascination on escaping him to get to Juliana disturbed him. It had tried several times during the course of their battle. Of course, after he ripped one of its arms off, it had lost interest in her and focused on surviving. It took off in the opposite direction and he went after Juliana.

Given the fact that she most likely couldn’t hear any of that even if he was to explain it, he just shook his head. The portal opened and Thomas took her arm. She twisted out of his grip. Cursed woman. Fine. Let her fall on the wet cement and broken glass.

Three men came through the portal to assist with the wolf. Once they were cleared away Thomas and his bride moved to follow. When he was certain she wasn’t watching, he placed his fingers in his mouth. The exquisite nectar of her blood coated his tongue, entered his system, throbbed through his veins. It fed the blood magic that sustained all of his kind. It thrummed within him, making him stronger. One drop of her blood was like a liter of anyone else’s. He closed his eyes to savor the sensation.

“Gods, Thomas, get a move on,” his mate yelled and grabbed the front of his shirt to haul him through the portal.