Killing Land (Rune Alexander Book 8) (22 page)

She dropped the small, heavy statue on Eugene’s desk. “Get
him secured before you take the silver off,” she told him. “Once he shifts, you
can get his heart.”

She wiped her hands on her jacket, but stopped when she
noticed Eugene eying her movements with a bit of amusement in his cold stare.

“Hello to you, too.”
He pointed to
the small bathroom connected to his office. “Feel free to wash the dust off
your hands.”

But it wasn’t dust she was subconsciously trying to wipe
off.

She crossed her arms. “You’ll need to hurry.”

“Before you change your mind?” He leaned back in his chair,
his lips twitching.

“Before Jack and Roma die, asshole.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “I’ll do what I can, Rune. There’s no
need to—”

She leaned forward and slapped her hands down on his desk. “
Fix
them.”

Bill Rice was suddenly at her side, and he took her arm.
“Come on, dear. He’ll take care of it. Do you want to see them before he
starts?”

She allowed him to lead her from the room. “No. I want to
see the two gargoyles I sent in.”

He nodded. “First, let’s have some coffee.” He steered her
into the employee lounge. “I imagine you have some questions.”

“No. Just…have you spoken with them?”

“The gargoyles?”
At her nod of
assent, he continued. “Yes.
Bellamy Everhart Delaney and
Gavin Hightower Delaney.
I’ve spoken with them.”

She took the coffee he handed her and took too large a
swallow. It burned her all the way to her stomach.
“And?”

“They won’t talk, Rune. They’re gargoyles. They’re…” He
looked away from her. “They’re raging. And they’re hurting.”

“Hurting? Eugene didn’t—”

“No, no, he didn’t torture them. Their pain isn’t physical.
They know they made a serious mistake.”

“Yeah.
They made a mistake trusting
me. They made a mistake coming here. But Jack and Roma will live so…” She
shrugged. “So I don’t care.”

That was a lie so obvious that Bill put a hand on her arm to
comfort her. “We do what we have to do. Don’t beat yourself up.”

“Eugene will have to kill Gage to get the antidote.”

He nodded.

She lowered her gaze. “I’m not a fan of gargoyles.”

“No, but you’re a champion of
Others
.”

“I was.”

“You
are
, Rune. The gargoyles are not exactly
innocents. Think of their betrayal of the Killing Land people. Think of the
outsiders they fed to their brother.”

“Yeah.”

He sighed. “Are you hungry?”

She sat her empty cup on the table. “No. I need Jack and
Roma to heal. Then I’m going back to Killing Land.”

He drew back, surprised. “What? Why?”

“I owe them. And the gargoyles are still giving them
trouble.” The lie flowed smoothly from her tongue. “I promised I’d return to
sort it out.
Shouldn’t take me a day or two.”

He was silent for much longer than he would have been had he
believed her.
“Rune.
What are you doing?”

His hand was still on her arm, and she glanced down,
then
did a double take. His fingers were dark with bruises and
his index finger was swollen to twice its normal size. “What the fuck?” she
said, grabbing his hand.

He jerked his hand from her grip and turned away. “Worry
about your own life. God knows you have enough to keep you busy.”

She wasn’t having it. She pulled him back around to face
her. “Do you need my help? You know you can trust me.”

He smiled. “The way you know you can trust me?”

Her gaze wavered.

“That’s what I thought,” he said.

“Dammit, Bill.”

He folded his arms.

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll tell you the reason I’m returning to
Killing Land if you’ll tell me what the fuck is going on with you.”

He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, she added,
“The
truth,
Bill.”

He wanted to. She could see the desire to unload in his
haunted eyes and his soundlessly working mouth.

When Raze stuck his head through the doorway, interrupting
them, Bill didn’t even try to hide the look of pure relief on his face.

“Rune,” Raze said. “You have a minute?”

“Yeah.”
She looked at Bill. “We’re
not finished.”

But his face had closed off once again.
“Yes,
Rune.
We are.” He strode from the room, nodding at Raze as he went.

“What’s wrong?” Raze asked.

She shook her head. “Someone is hurting him. I’m about to
make him my business. You want to help?”

“Yup.”

“Good. We’ll talk about it later. What do you need?”

“I met Elizabeth’s replacement.”

“And?”

He shrugged. “Her name is Logan Rees. And you’re not going
to like her.”

“Shit.” She looked at the ceiling and blew out a hard
breath.
“Why the fuck not?”

“She caught me when I was walking by her office. Called me
in—knew who I was somehow.”

“Imagine that.”
As though anyone else in
the Annex resembled the huge, redheaded Raze.
“And?”

“She introduced herself and told me to go fetch you.”

She stared at him for a minute. “She pulled you into her
office and commanded you to
fetch
me.”

He grinned. “Yes.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her she could do her own fetching.”

“Yet here you are.”

He shrugged. “She doesn’t have to know that.”

She returned his grin. “I’ll go meet her after I talk to
Bellamy and Gavin.”

He frowned. “You don’t have to do that.”

“What else am I going to do? Avoid them?” She walked from
the room, Raze at her side. “Eugene insists he has a way to keep them as Annex
ops.”

“Not Shiv Crew.”

“No. That’s pushing it even for Eugene.”

“What’s his plan?”

“I don’t know. I forgot to ask when I was in his office
trying not to throat punch him.”

“Maybe he’s just going to offer them what they want.”

“Not to work for me, lots of security, and bags of money?”

“Maybe.”

But she shook her head. “Eugene has something that’ll hurt
them. He wants to control them, and he’s not going to be able to control angry
gargoyles with promises of security and money.”

They paused outside the holding rooms. Bellamy was in one
and Gavin in the other.

“I’ll go in with you,” he offered.

“No.”

He didn’t argue, just turned and walked back the way they’d
come. “Call me when you’re ready to talk about Bill.”

She leaned her forehead against the door,
then
lifted her palm to place it against the handprint scanner on the wall.

“What are you doing?”

She jerked her hand away and turned toward the voice. She
knew immediately it was the new supervisor.

She stared at the woman and waited, silent.

“Rune Alexander,” the woman said. “I’m Logan Rees, your new
manager.” She didn’t offer Rune her hand.

Then neither of them spoke for a long, uncomfortable thirty
seconds.

Logan glanced at the door, finally, then back at Rune. “If
you’ll come with me, we’ll have a talk. Get to know each other.”

“I’m busy. We’ll talk later.”

Logan tilted her head and her glossy, stick-straight black
hair brushed her shoulder. “I’d like the meeting now. Thank you.”

Her lipstick was bright red, framing perfect teeth made
whiter by the darkness of her skin. She was taller than Rune by maybe an inch,
thanks to the three-inch heels she wore. Beneath her tight, white dress, her
body curved like a dangerous, winding street.

She was beautiful, clean, and, as far as Rune could tell,
not bothered by anything as pesky as broken nails or as off-putting as battle
scars.

Rune wished, for one tense second, that she’d taken the time
to shower and change clothes. She barely kept herself from smoothing a
battered, dirty hand over her unkempt hair.

Maybe Rees was thirty.
Maybe forty.
Rune couldn’t tell her age but it wasn’t hard to see that she was accustomed to
getting her way. It was there in her stubborn, shiny brown eyes.

Rune smiled, almost—not quite but
almost
—amused. “I’m
going to interview a gargoyle, lady. I know you think you’re the shit because
Eugene Parish brought you in, but you’re not anything to me.” She leaned over,
just a little, and got into the woman’s face. “Get the fuck away from me.
You’re welcome.”

Rees drew back, just a little. “I’ve been warned you’re a
little rough around the edges.” Her voice was calm, her smile determined. “I
was told you’ve been allowed to run wild, with no rules or—”

Rune dropped her fangs. “Have you also been told I’m a
monster?” She kept her voice even and quiet. Gentle, even. “That I’m
dangerous?” She took a step closer to Logan, and each time Logan took a step
back, Rune followed her. “I won’t tell you again. Stay the fuck away from me.”

Logan didn’t really look scared, just cautious and resolute.
And for a brief, inexplicable second, pity flared in her eyes. “You’re not
alone, Rune. You don’t have to carry the world. And you
don’t
have to be
afraid of me.” She reached out suddenly and pressed a small card into Rune’s
hand. “I’m not a threat.”

Rune gaped.

Before she could think of a single thing to say, Logan spun
like a perfectly dressed diva and marched away, her high heels clicking loudly
on the polished floor. “See me when you’re ready, Rune Alexander. I’ll be
waiting.”

Rune stared blankly at the card in her hand—a business card
with the woman’s name, email, and phone number in bold, raised purple print on
a creamy background.

“The fuck,” she muttered. “How’d she sneak up on me?” Then
she shook off her confusion, automatically stuffing the card into her pocket.
The new supervisor was crazy.

She placed her palm against the handprint scanner and
straightened her spine as the outer door began to slide open.

It was time to face the gargoyles she’d betrayed.

She entered a dim room that held a few scattered chairs, two
tables, and a large, rectangular monitor sunk into the far wall.

She walked to the screen, peering at the card attached to
the bottom right corner.

Gargoyle,
female

Bellamy, then.

She closed her eyes for a second,
then
pushed one of the buttons in the panel to the left of the monitor.

Immediately, the monitor lit up, and she stared into the
white room behind the wall.

Bellamy Delaney lay unmoving on a block of solid steel. She
was restrained, her entire body wrapped in steel coils connected to the bed
upon which she lay.

Even a gargoyle could be controlled with
electricity—especially one that couldn’t shift. If she’d shifted, the coils,
sharp as the edge of Rune’s claws, would have cut through her growing, shifting
body.

Not only would she have been diced like a tomato in a
vegetable slicer, she’d have been electrocuted as well.

Rune hit the speaker button a little too hard. “Bellamy.”

Bellamy’s bare foot jerked, but she said nothing.

Rune hit a switch that brought up the camera focused on the
girl’s face.

Bellamy’s eyes were closed. Her face was pale, her lips
bloodless. She could have been dead.

But she wasn’t.

“They’re coming to offer you a deal. The Annex still wants to
recruit you. I know it’s not the best scenario for you, but you can find a
place here, just as you wanted.”

Nothing.
Not even her eyes twitched
behind the closed lids.

“Bellamy, I wouldn’t have—”

“Shut up,” Bellamy screamed, suddenly. “Shut up!”

Rune jerked and took a quick step back—though Bellamy hadn’t
shifted and her voice wasn’t nearly as potent, it could still cause pain.
Especially when it was so unexpected.

The girl was a gargoyle. Rune just had to remember that.
They didn’t exactly love her, and she…

They made her sick.

She touched her stomach. “Fuck,” she whispered, then hit the
intercom button again. “When you’re released, come find me if you want to hash
this out, gargoyle. I’ll be around.”

When she left the room, she thought strongly of going next
door to see Gavin. She stood outside the door for a full five minutes trying to
decide.

In the end, Annex lab ops decided for her. Six ops, one of
them holding the handle of a large, metal box, stopped at Bellamy’s door.

“What are you doing?” Rune asked them. “What’s going on?”

“You’ll have to talk to Eugene Parish, Alexander,” one of
them said. He pushed open the door and the ops followed him inside.

“Shit,” Rune said, and turned away from Gavin’s door to go
find Eugene.

She saw him striding toward her not a minute later, two ops
at his back. “What’s going on with the gargoyles, Eugene?”

“I’m heading there now. I’ll let you know how it goes.”

“How what goes?” She fell into step beside him, headed back
toward the holding rooms.

“I’m about to ask them if they’d like to join us,” he said.

“Did you…” She swallowed. “Did you get the antidote?”

“I have the lab working on it as we speak.”

They reached the doors and when he pressed his hand against
the scanner, she reached out to grab his arm.

“What exactly are you doing to keep them here? You said
you’d explain.”

“And I will, Rune,” he said, pulling away with a frown.
“Just not right this second.”

“You don’t want to hurt them, Eugene.”

He turned toward her, tightening his lips. “You’re the one
who sent them in and gave them to me.
You
hurt them. Don’t pretend that
anything happening right now is not your fault.”

He nodded at an op and the man, after reaching and
withdrawing his hand twice, finally took her arm. “Come with me, Alexander.”

She smiled at him, and knew her eyes were too wide.
Maybe too wild.
“Take your hand off me, dude.”

And not even Eugene Parish could make the op take on Rune
Alexander. He withdrew his hand and cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

She wasn’t sure if his apology was for her or for his boss.

She turned back to Eugene. “I want to know how you’re going
to convince them to stay.”

“First, I’m just going to talk with them. If they don’t
agree, I’ll try some other type of persuasion.”

“Eugene—”

“I’m going to take care of this. When I’m finished and have
some answers, I’ll send for you. Now back away and let me do my job.”

He waited, staring at her.

She glared at him. “I’ll be waiting.”

He nodded and disappeared into the room, his ops at his
back.

She’d offered up three gargoyles for God only knew what. One
of them—Gage—would die so Jack and Roma could live.

Was it right?

Fuck no.

“Shit,” she whispered.

No wonder gargoyles believed her evil.

They could only see what was there.

She didn’t hate gargoyles. Not really.

She hated what they saw in her.

Jack and Roma would be okay. That was all that mattered.

As she walked to her office, she texted
Raze.

“You want me to search his apartment,” he said, ten minutes
later, “and follow him around while you’re in Killing Land.”

“You’re big, but you’re an excellent shadow.”

He nodded. “I know.”

“I shouldn’t have waited so long. He’s been injured too many
times and the excuses he gives are lame at best. Someone is kicking his ass.”

“We’ll get to the bottom of it.”

“I don’t think it’ll be easy. Bill’s smart and he’s good at
hiding shit.”

“We haven’t tried hard enough.”

“No, we haven’t. Still…it won’t be easy.”

“When are you leaving for Killing Land?”

“As soon as I hear Jack and Roma are on the mend.”

“It could take them a while to heal once they get the
antidote.” He paused. “Why haven’t you gone to visit them?”

“I just got back.”

He
waited,
his eyebrows high.

“I can’t do anything if I do go see them. They won’t know
I’m there.”

He nodded.

She cleared her throat. “Did you see them?”

“Yes. They aren’t in good shape, Rune.”

“I know.” She stood. “I’m going downstairs to clean up.”

He stood with her.
“Crash on one of the
cots down there.
You look like you need some sleep.”

But she didn’t want to sleep.

She wanted things to happen.

The shower felt like a wet, warm heaven, and she stayed
under it until she heard her cell ringing on the sink. She grabbed a towel and
wrapped it around herself as she answered her phone.

“Levi?”

“I just saw the gargoyles following Eugene into his office.”

She clutched the towel. “That was fast. How did they look?”

“Pissed.
I saw Gavin’s face and…”

“What?”

“We’ll want to be careful. I think if they can make it look
like an accident, they’ll try to kill us.”

“Me, you mean.”

He was silent.

“I need to know how Eugene convinced them to work for the
Annex. Especially that fast.”

“Maybe they plan on escaping now that they’re free.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think Eugene would take that
chance. He
has
to have something on them.” She glanced at her screen.
“Hang on.
Getting a call from Denim.”

“Okay.”

“Denim?
Everything
good?”

“Rune.”

She closed her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“I need you to get back up here. That thing…Dray…is
changing.”

“Into what?”

“Fuck if I know. But he’s not content clinging to the wall.
He wants out. And I’m not sure we can keep him contained for much longer.”

“Son of a bitch,” she whispered. “I’m on my way.”