Witches (Runes series Book 6) (14 page)

Minutes crawled by. Getting restless, I texted Andris. Nothing from him. He was probably lost in some woman’s arms, the man-whore.

The portal opened and I stopped pacing. Andris glared at me from a bathroom which looked too fancy and sterile to be someone’s home. He wore a robe and from the logo on the robe, it was hotel issued. The bare legs and visible chest said he was naked. He smirked when my cheeks grew warm.

“Never mind,” I said. “Sorry, I bothered you.”

“I was just getting ready for round,” he counted his fingers, “three. What’s going on? Lost Torin?” he asked, peering behind me.

A woman’s voice called his name. Andris ignored her and stepped into my room, concern flickering in his eyes as he studied me. “What’s wrong?”

I felt silly pulling him away from his latest conquest. But by the time I finished talking, the lover was gone and a warrior had taken his place.

“Where’s Torin?”

“I don’t know, but Blaine went to find him.”

“How did Jace seem?”

“Okay. I gave him enough runes to bring down the swelling and left Onyx to keep an eye on him. Onyx is my cat,” I added when he shot me a questioning look.

Andris didn’t even crack a smile. “Good. I’ll be there in a few.” He turned and re-entered the hotel bathroom. “Something has come up, sweetheart,” I heard him add. “A family matter. Let’s do this again.” The portal closed. A few minutes later, it reopened and he entered my room fully dressed. “Engage your invisibility runes. Once you get your cat, you come straight home.”

Yeah, right. I went to my drawer and pulled out the dagger. Was it only an hour ago I’d sworn never to touch it? I had no idea what was going on, but this boy was important enough to pull both guys from their ladies. I was going prepared. Besides, Onyx wasn’t back. The Earl might have her.

“What’s that for?” Andris asked suspiciously.

“For kicking ass,” I said.

“Which part of ‘come straight home’ didn’t you get?”

I pushed the dagger in the pocket of my jacket. “I’m getting Onyx back by whatever means necessary.”

He frowned, opened his mouth as though to say something, then closed it and sighed. “This is going to screw up Torin’s surprise,” he mumbled, but I heard him.

“What surprise?”

“Let’s go.” The portal to Jace’s room opened so easily for him I knew Andris had been there before. Jace had picked up his room, and he was back at his desk either doing homework or online. “We find your little fur-ball then you head straight back home and to bed. End of discussion. You have school tomorrow,” Andris added.

“Don’t call her Fur-ball,” I shot back. “Her name is Onyx.”

“Okay, sheath your claws. Come on.”

Jace looked over his shoulder and like before, stared straight at where we stood. My feet faltered and Andris’ hand rested on my shoulder reassuringly. We waited until Jace went back to his work, then cut across his room.

“Did he hear us?”

“Of course not. We are cloaked. That includes sounds. Don’t touch or move things in his room though.”

I looked around and refused to panic. “Onyx is not here.”

“Call her,” Andris said and opened another portal. This one showed Jace’s father in the kitchen, cleaning up. Cheering and sports announcers discussing a game came from the TV. It couldn’t be easy being a single dad, but Jace’s father seemed to be pulling it off. But then again, if his wife had been sick all those years, he’d probably gotten used to taking care of the house, himself, and Jace.

Onyx? Where are you?

Once again, just before we left his room, Jace glanced over to where we were and frowned. Andris didn’t seem bothered. As soon as the portal closed, he removed his artavus and started toward the man.

“What are you doing?”

“I need to question him,” he said.

“About what? The cat is not here.”

Andris sniffed the air. “Yes, but something was. Don’t you smell it?”

There was a rotten stench in the air. “So he’s not the cleanest father in the world, but he’s trying. It’s not easy being a single parent. You’ve seen my mother. She’s great at everything except house chores.” I looked around. Jace’s father was turning off lights. “The house looks clean and Jace is a well-adjusted guy.”

Andris shook his head. “Sometimes I forget how green you are. I’d know that scent anywhere and it’s not garbage.” His eyes locked on me. “You know what? I’ll find your little fur-ball on my own. Go home.”

Something in his eyes set off warning bells. “What is it?”

“It’s getting late, Raine.”

He was hiding something. He opened a portal to my room and pulled me out of the path of Coach Taylor, who turned off the kitchen light, plunging the room into darkness. The runes on Andris’ and my body gave us enough light to see our way. Andris nudged me toward the portal. “Go.”

“Fine. Find Onyx, okay? She might be a pain, but she was just starting to grow on me.”

I turned to enter the portal, but a flash of light appeared in the corner of my eye and I whipped around. Squinting, I peered out the window and into the darkness. I could recognize runic lights anywhere. It had come a fair distance from the house. I had no idea where Jace’s family lived, but I knew StubHub was in Carson, California. The area appeared to have medium-sized houses with trees in the distance. The lights zig-zagged again to the right, then a howl filled the air, rattling the windows.

“What was that?” I asked.

“
Garm.
Go home, Raine.” He shifted to hyper-speed, created a portal, and disappeared through it.

Garm
was the hound guarding the gates of Hel, the realm of the dead, definitely not Valkyries’ territory. Something was wrong. I engaged my runes and followed Andris before the portal closed.

He zipped around homes and headed for the trees, then stopped so suddenly I almost bumped into him. We were inside a fenced basketball court at a neighborhood park or a local school. I couldn’t tell which from the surroundings. There was a building to our right, bushes and trees adjacent to it. No one was playing basketball. Instead, headless bodies and ripped limbs littered the ground. The carnage was straight out of a horror movie, the stench suffocating.

Some of the limbs were too big for regular humans, the skin gray like mummies, but they were definitely human cadavers with long, stringy hair. Most were male in tattered gray pants and no shirts. Even more puzzling was the lack of blood. Just red flesh inked with black gooey stuff.

A flash of light zipped across the basketball court. Even at hyper-speed, I recognized Torin chasing one of the gray men. Things. Or whatever they were. It was huge.

Torin leaped and tackled it. A loud roar escaped its mouth as it lost its balance and started to fall. Moving faster than I thought possible for something its size, it turned and tried to grab Torin, but he was no match for Torin. He turned and rammed his fist into its back. Bones cracked. A bellow left the thing’s mouth as the impact of the blow propelled it forward. Instead of hitting the ground, it disappeared through it and was swallowed by the earth.

Okay, that move was definitely not human.

“What are these things, Andris?”

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” was his answer.

“What?” I glanced at him, but he was looking to his right, where Blaine was fighting one of the creatures. But Andris wasn’t staring at Blaine. His focus was on the second man fighting further ahead. The Earl. Despite the beard, I recognized the Earl of Worthington.

“Raine!” Torin yelled. “What the hell, Andris?”

“I told her to go home, but you know how she is,” Andris said, his eyes still on the Earl. “Do you guys need my help or shall I just take her home? Because I think you need our—” He didn’t finish his question and I saw why.

One of the things was moving toward us. Andris pulled out two artavo and went to meet him. He leaped up, landed on its chest and severed its neck with a blow. Inky goop dripped from its neck and I could have sworn I saw a dark head-shaped shadow inside the body before it disappeared.

Badass Andris. Guess the next one will be gunning for me. I shouldn’t have followed Andris. Death and mayhem wasn’t my thing. I was a witch. A Seeress. A healer, not a killer. Worse, my presence was distracting Torin. He kept trying to keep an eye on me while kicking heads off of the humanoids as they slithered from the ground.

“Behind you!” I yelled when one reached for his legs.

He whipped around, grabbed the head, and ripped it clear off the thing’s neck. Most of the body was still partially buried. No wonder the place was littered with heads. This time, I was sure I saw a second head. It was the soul of the thing. It looked like a regular person. There was even something familiar about him. Like we’d met before. Torin pointed a glowing artavus at it and snarled something. Light shot from the artavus, but the soul sank into the ground with the rest of the body. Torin cursed.

“Miss, can you take me home, please?” a voice asked and I turned. A boy around ten stared at me with round eyes, a skateboard under his arm. What the heck was he doing here?

“You shouldn’t be out here this late,” I said.

“I was going home from a friend’s when I saw you. There are weird noises coming from the trees.”

Weird, he could see me when I was cloaked? Lavania often said children were sensitive to the supernatural. Still… I put some distance between us. “Where’s your home?”

“Over there,” he pointed past the trees.

“Okay. Come on.” We barely reached the line of trees when his body started twitching, bulging, and stretching. In seconds, the boy was a man. Not just any man, a Native American with markings on his face and long straight hair. I stumbled backwards and reached inside my pocket for my dagger.

“Hungry,” he growled, saliva dripping from his mouth. “Food.”

He dove for me, but I already had my speed runes. I leaped to the side and brought my dagger down, aiming for his neck, but he seemed to be growing larger. I caught him in the chest instead, leaving behind a gaping wound oozing black blood. He kept moving, like the wound was nothing. He loomed down to grab me, his breath hot and stinky, a gurgling sound escaped his mouth.

I turned to run, but he was faster. He grabbed my leg and pulled. I lost my balance and landed on the ground, rocks digging into my hands. His head lowered, rotten teeth bared. He didn’t have fangs, but I was sure he didn’t need them to eat me.

Someone yelled my name, but my mind was focused on the blood-thirsty brute. Desperation kicked in and with it, an instinct to survive. I kicked at the thing’s chest with my free foot. He staggered backwards, letting go of my leg.

Torin appeared in a streak of light, eyes blazing under the glowing runes. He went for the guy with a snarl, but the thing sank into the ground and disappeared, leaving Torin holding a tuft of hair. He cursed and threw it away.

“You okay?” Torin asked, helping me to my feet.

I nodded. I didn’t think I could speak.

“Good. See if you can connect to the earth and stop the souls from robbing more graves.” He turned, walked to the middle of the basketball court and yelled, “Listen up, scum of the earth! You want revenge? Fine. Here I am. Come and get me.” He spread his arms.

Was he nuts? These creatures didn’t seem like the kind you reasoned with. I glanced around and realized I was wrong. The weird creatures appeared to be listening to him. Even the ones crawling from the ground turned to look at him. I noticed something else. They all had long hair and tribal markings on their faces like Native Americans.

“You touch her,” Torin continued, pointing at me, “and I will personally make it my mission to find your worthless souls and escort them to Corpse Strand.”

He’d gotten a kick from me for pulling this crap before. This time, I had no problem letting him be my hero. These bastards were scary.

“And once I’m done with you,”—he pointed at the creatures—“I’ll go after each and every one of your
living
relatives and send them to join you.” He glanced at me and grinned. I rolled my eyes. Such arrogance. “Work your magic, Freckles. Strip them of their stolen bodies. Keep an eye on her,” he added and was gone.

I turned to see the person he’d spoken to, but there was no one there but bushes and trees. He was back fighting and none of the creatures were coming after me. That would have been great if more weren’t slithering from the ground like worms. In fact, they seemed to be an extension of the ground.

Stolen bodies, Torin had said. Were they zombies? They didn’t move like any zombies I’d seen in movies. Maybe Hollywood got that wrong too. And then there was the one that had changed its shape right before my eyes. The problem was they were just as fast as the Valkyries.

Torin was busy fending off three of them. He yanked off a head and the light from his artavus caught the soul in the face. It disintegrated and the headless body crumbled to the ground.

Hmm, so the light from an artavus was just as deadly as that from a scythe.

Blaine and Andris had their hands full too, and several more were crawling around the Earl. Not that I cared what happened to his sorry ass. Let them bury him alive for all I cared. But Torin was right. If I connected with the earth, I could stop the zombie-like creatures and end this nightmare.