Fields of Blood (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 2) (7 page)

The tight statement from Reun caught my attention. “It wasn’t like this when you left?”

“No. There were boxes, bags. They’d not moved things out yet.” He walked toward the body, crouched at the edge of the blood spill and pointed. “Here. You can see the impression where a box was removed.”

I looked. There was a kind of dimple in the curve of red liquid, and darker lines that formed the outline of a corner.

“Damn. And it wasn’t the cops, or they would’ve taken this kid too.”

Sadie gasped and stared at me. “Kid?”

“Yeah.” She must not’ve looked too closely at the dead guy. “And he doesn’t exactly fit the Milus Dei mold. You sure he was one of them, Reun?”

“Of course he was. He’s marked with their symbol.”

“Okay, then.” Still, it didn’t seem right, butchering a kid like that. “Guess I should talk to him. Find out what he knows.”

With a faint shudder, Sadie drifted further into the room and picked up the briefcase. “I’ll check this out,” she said. “Maybe there’s something in here.”

“Go for it.”

She nodded. “Tell us what he says, okay?”

“I will.”

I approached the body without much enthusiasm. Something told me I really didn’t want to talk to this kid, but with the other bodies gone, I didn’t have a choice.

As I tried to find a place next to him with the least amount of blood to kneel in, Sadie laid the briefcase on a table and popped the latches. I was surprised it wasn’t locked. She lifted it open, stared inside, and frowned vaguely as she leaned in closer.

Then she jumped back with a startled cry. “No,” she moaned. “No,
please…
”

I rushed over and put an arm around her before she could fall. She’d gone white as paint, and her whole body trembled. “What is it?” I said, glancing at the open briefcase. It looked like all it contained was a stack of papers and a handful of glossy pictures, and something attached to the top photo with a paperclip. A stiff white rectangle of paper.

“My pack.” She turned her face to mine, her eyes stark with fear. “Gideon, that photo. That’s where my family lives.”

“Oh, Jesus…” Gut wrenching, I reached in and picked up the picture on top. It was a large, bunker-style building, half-embedded into the side of a mountain. The photo had been taken from an angle above, showing that the structure was in some kind of canyon lined with moss-covered rock.

And the white rectangle was a train ticket from the Port Authority station to Scranton, Pennsylvania. Right in the middle of the Appalachians.

I’d been dragged through those mountains more than once on the Valentines’ endless hunting trips, enough that I knew without a doubt this picture had been taken in that range somewhere. This was where they’d been headed—to Sadie’s family.

Now I definitely had to talk to the dead kid.

C
HAPTER 9

I
put the photo back carefully and closed the briefcase. “Let’s leave that alone for now,” I said, still holding onto Sadie. “We’ll take it with us, okay?”

“Yeah. Okay,” she said shakily. “It’s going to be all right. I mean, you killed them all before they could leave,” she said, looking at Reun. “Right?”

He didn’t answer right away. Finally, he said, “All that were here. But if the human police did not take the boxes…”

Sadie gave a violent shudder. “Oh,
God.
”

“Hold on. We don’t need to guess, when we can find out for sure,” I said, offering a reassuring squeeze. “Let me talk to him.”

She nodded once.

I rubbed her arm and drew a bracing breath before turning to the body. Somehow I knew this was really going to suck. “I’ll do what I did last time, all right?” I said. “Whatever he says, I’ll repeat it.”

“Hurry,” Sadie whispered.

“Yeah.”

I got down carefully, kneeling in the bloody pool that surrounded him. There was no other way to do it. The kid had been dead for hours already, and he’d lost all traces of human coloring along with most of his blood. His staring eyes had started to cloud with the film of death, ghostly white patches on dulled brown.

Three years of moving bodies, and the young ones still got to me every time. There was no getting used to this.

I laid a hand on his torso near the shoulder, avoiding the worst of the slashes Reun had carved into him. “Hey, kid,” I said. “You there?”

OH GOD WHAT IS THIS! Is somebody there oh my God why does it HURT. Shit I think I’m dead I’m DEAD OH SHIT I’M DEAD. Hello? Is anybody there? I can’t—

“Calm down,” I said firmly, closing my eyes against the pain. It had skipped over needles and went straight to drill bits this time. “What’s your name, kid?”

Leonard. Leo. JESUS am I really dead? Who are you? What’s happening?

“My name is Gideon.” I glanced up at Sadie, who hovered nervously besides me, and shook my head slightly. “You are dead, Leo.”

Shit! That crazy guy with the knife, he killed me! Oh GOD, I’m dead, I’m in that ROOM and nobody knows about it. My folks! Jesus, this’ll KILL them. What if they never find me? What do I do? Shit oh shit oh shit—

“Leo. You’ve got to calm down.” My throat clenched, and not just because of the pain. “I need to ask you a few questions,” I said. “You’ll have to answer. But the less you talk, the less it’ll hurt. Okay?”

Okay. Okay, shit, okay.

“What’s going on?” Sadie said hoarsely. “Is something wrong?”

“He’s freaked out. Doesn’t know what’s happening.” I wouldn’t explain it all right now. This had to be as fast as possible, because it was killing me in more ways than one. “Just…don’t interrupt, okay? If he says anything important, I’ll tell you.”

“All right.”

Hello? Are you still there?

The utter terror and confusion in the kid’s voice nearly brought tears to my eyes. “I’m here, Leo,” I said. “Let’s get through this, and then you can go. Did you work for Milus Dei?”

Yes. I mean, sort of. Yes. Go where? Where am I?

“I don’t know, kid. I’m sorry.” Christ, this hurt my heart almost more than my head. But it wasn’t doing my head any favors, either. “Where were you going, before you…?”

I couldn’t finish it. I figured he’d know what I meant.

Scranton. The mountains. They said everyone was dead. Shit I’m DEAD. I’m dead…

“Leo, listen to me. Less words.” I let out a shaking breath. “Why were you going to the mountains? What were you going to do?”

Meet the rest of them. Ten, twelve already went. We had nine. Are we all dead? Where are they? They want to get the girl. The werewolf. GOD make it STOP!

I glanced at Sadie. “He says they were going to get a girl werewolf.” I couldn’t tell them the rest of it yet. Not until I could end this, let the kid go.

“Elara,” she rasped. “My little sister. Ask him if he means Elara.”

“Is the werewolf’s name Elara?” I said.

I don’t know! I’m just a research assistant! SHIT!

The last screamed word drew blood from my nose in a hot gush. I gasped and gritted my teeth. “Okay. Calm down, Leo,” I managed. “Less talking, less pain. Remember?”

Ye-es.
He wasn’t exactly calm, but at least he’d stopped screaming.

“He doesn’t know,” I murmured to Sadie. “Last question, Leo. Do you know exactly where everyone was going?”

Some town. Elk Heights. Shuttle into the mountains.

“All right. Thank you, Leo.”

Wait. Gideon…will you make sure my folks find me? Please. It’s better if they know. And…I don’t want to rot down here.

I closed my eyes. “Sure, kid,” I half-whispered. “We’ll get you out of here.”

Thank you.
The voice in my head wobbled slightly.
What’s going to happen now?

“I really don’t know.”

I’m scared.

The broken whisper burned through me. “Everything’s going to be fine, kid,” I said, with no idea whether I was telling the truth. “No one can hurt you now.” Except me, I thought—but I’d never do this to him again.
I could promise that.

Because I’m already dead. Right?

“Right,” I said. “Goodbye, Leo.”

Bye, Gideon.

I pulled my hand away and stayed on my knees, letting the pain in my head fade to a dull ache. At least no one tried to speak to me. I wouldn’t have been able to give a coherent answer—not for a few minutes, anyway.

Finally, I got up with Leo’s blood soaking into my jeans and my own running sluggishly from my nose. I ignored all of it. “We’re bringing him outside,” I said. “We’ll leave him around the back, and I’ll let Abe know to have someone get him.”

“You’ve released him?” Reun said harshly. “Why did you not interrogate him further? We must know—”

“He’s just a kid, Reun,” I spat, and he actually backed up a step. “He told me everything he knew. It wasn’t much.”

“It was bad, wasn’t it?” Sadie said.

“Yeah.” I tipped my head back and stared at the ceiling for a minute, until the burning stopped. “Like I said, it’s not much. But he told me enough.”

“What did he say?”

“Let’s get him out of here first,” I said. “I’ll tell you on the way back.”

I expected Reun to protest. But he moved toward Leo’s body wearing a strange expression, and then went down on one knee beside it. “
Is féider leis an éirí an bóthar leat
,” he said in a lilting, almost lyrical tone.

It wasn’t quite the Fae language, but it was close. “What was that?”

“It was said by the people of the Old World, when we moved among them. A blessing for the dead.” He stood slowly and gestured over the kid, his face turned down in solemn regard. “May the road rise to meet you.”

I nodded. “Thank you,” I managed through the lump in my throat.

Reun helped me carry him out.

C
HAPTER 10

I
t was pouring rain by the time we got back to the Castle.

I’d told Abe about the kid’s body. He took it well, considering I’d sworn that the two in the theater were the last ones. I figured he was saving up the shouting for the officers who’d investigated the church the first time—he didn’t even ask what I’d been doing there.

Sadie hadn’t taken the other news so well.

When I finished explaining that a bunch of them were already headed for Elk Heights, and the two others Reun didn’t kill must’ve taken the boxes, she lapsed into a pale, strained silence. Didn’t say a word for the rest of the drive. Whatever happened between her and her pack, she obviously still cared about them. And especially her little sister.

Reun reacted with a stony glare and a string of angry words in the Fae tongue. I’d figured now wasn’t the best time to say he wasn’t as great at hunting and tracking as he thought.

I parked the van in the front yard, then got out and ran for the entrance through the downpour. Sadie wasn’t far behind. I got the door open, stepped inside and shook water from my hair, just before Sadie rushed in.

After a few seconds, I said, “Where’s Reun?”

“Um. I thought he was coming.” She moved aside and half-turned to peer outside. “He’s…not coming.”

I looked out. He’d gotten as far as the stone path to the door—and just stood there, with his head bowed and the rain beating down on him. “Reun,” I called over the roaring whisper of water. “Something wrong?”

He lifted a pained expression. “I am not welcome in this house.”

“Screw that,” I said. “Come in and get out of the rain, at least. You can go back to your stakeout when it stops.”

A rueful smile crossed his lips. “You do not understand,” he said. “I cannot go inside. Taeral has cast me out—and once he’s left it, no Fae can enter a dwelling where he is not welcome.” He shivered a bit and crossed his arms. “I’ll not be able to enter again, unless Taeral invites me directly.”

Damn. That would happen somewhere around the time Miss Universe called me up to ask for a date. “Where did all these rules for the Fae come from, anyway?” I said.

“They have always been. The Laws are eternal.”