Shiv Crew by Laken Cane Read Free Book Online

were all losing their minds.”
    “But—”
    “No buts, Rune. You know how
vampires tend to go crazy eventually. Nick Llodra has charged his vampires with
killing humans. Now get the fuck over there and take the fuckers out. Do you
understand me?”
    “You know how vampires tend to
go crazy eventually…”
    “Do you have the order signed?” It
was nothing more than a court order signed by two people. One was a judge who
couldn’t have cared less. The other was the director of River County Vampire Rights
and Protection, a woman who’d been voted into her position seven years ago. She
did seem to care a little and often retracted orders to kill a vampire when
there was insufficient evidence to charge him with death.
    But really, was the probably forced
confession of a captured Other enough to kill every vampire in River County?
Sure, she’d caught him right there on the scene, so obviously he was
guilty, but…
    She could hear Jeremy grinding his
teeth. “I got the go-ahead from the director, and of course I got the judge and
Karla to sign the fucking order, Rune. Do you think I’m an idiot?”
    “It’d be better if you let me talk
to Llodra first. Bring him in. Question him.”
    “Rune, your job is to recover
humans and kill monsters. I will worry about the legal shit. Now go before it
gets dark.” His voice was completely flat, the way it got when he was too full
of rage to risk losing control.
    “Yeah.” She clicked off, motioning
Raze to her.
    “What’s going on?”
    “That was Jeremy. We have orders to
take out a nest of vampires in Wormwood.”
    His gaze sharpened. “While they’re
sleeping.” He curled his lip in derision. “Llodra?”
    “I don’t know if he’s there or not.
I guess we’re about to find out.” The vampires of a city never gathered in the
same place to sleep, at least not if they were being hunted. It wasn’t safe. That
way if one nest was found and destroyed it would give the other vampires a
warning, and they could go so far underground no one would find them. At least
that was their plan. It rarely worked for long. They had to eat.
    If Nicolas Llodra was indeed going
insane, then his vampires would follow—and he’d signed their death warrants. It
would take a while, but they would all be hunted down and destroyed. And the
city of Spiritgrove would be vampire free.
    She had two vampire kill kits in
her car, so she was ready to go. All Shiv Crew carried kill kits. They never
knew when one would be needed.
    As she pulled away from the twins’
house she punched in Levi’s cell number. “We’re about to take out a nest of
vampires. Meet me at Wormwood cemetery…and don’t forget your kill kits.”
    He didn’t ask a single question,
just quietly acknowledged her orders and broke the connection. Next she called
Z, then Jack, and hoped like hell the six of them would be enough.
    Because sometimes, the vampires
woke up.

Chapter Six
    She rethought the numbers before
she reached the cemetery and called in Sherry, one of SCRU’s floaters. Just in
case. When dealing with the vampires, it never hurt to have an extra killer
along.
    Wormwood was Spiritgrove’s largest
cemetery—actually it was the largest cemetery in Ohio. It was almost a town. A
town of Others. They would have been happy to exist there if only the humans
would have stayed out.
    Most humans did stay out of Wormwood.
The graveyard wasn’t safe. But Spiritgrove law enforcement could go wherever
they pleased in the city, and Wormwood was most definitely not off-limits.
    Humans had stopped burying their
dead in the ancient graveyard decades ago and the Others had taken it over,
using it to lay their own dead to rest.
    Rune only ever went there to kill
or capture.
    Needless to say, most of the
residents of Wormwood didn’t love Shiv Crew.
    The huge gates at the entrance of
the cemetery were closed but not locked. The Others had been warned after
they’d locked up once that to do so again would ensure their