Shiv Crew by Laken Cane Read Free Book Online Page A

forced departure
from the graveyard.
    Rune and Raze were the first to
arrive, and they took the time to unload their kill kits and arm themselves
appropriately for a vampire purge.
    They still would carry one gun as
there were more than just vampires in Wormwood, but they replaced most of their
blades with wood.
    Thin and sharp, the wood stakes
were loaded into special shooters called vguns . Each vgun would hold six
stakes. Each Shiv Crew member would push a minimum of twenty-four extra stakes
into belts they’d wind around and buckle to their waists.
    If they went through that many
stakes and found themselves lacking, most likely they were dead anyway.
    Also contained in kill kits were small
night-vision goggles for when the dead slept in places too dark for humans to
see, and a knife for taking heads—although each Shiv Crew member had his or her
own preferred blade for that, therefore the kill kit knives were usually left
behind.
    There were vials of holy water,
cloves of garlic, and silver crosses attached to silver chains. Rune had never
used those little items and had no idea if they would even work for her.
    Silver was deadly to Others but
didn’t really bother her. Her monster, though. It bothered her monster.
    Ignoring Raze as he armed himself,
she took in the sights. It was a beautiful place. November in Spiritgrove meant
dead grass and leafless trees, but Wormwood was green. Deep, dark greens, vivid
colors, sweet-smelling scents.
    Still, the facade of warmth and
peace was just that—a facade. Death lived in the graveyard, and fear. A few
humans had told her Wormwood possessed such an overpowering sense of Otherness
it was often difficult to slog through the graveyard.
    But it was a beautiful place.
Eerily so.
    Now she was about to take her crew
into that beauty and purge it of vampires. She was going to insult it, violate
it, desecrate it. Wormwood would never accept her.
    Levi and Denim arrived, both in the
same vehicle. Usually Denim drove the old red truck and Levi drove a battered
black Cavalier. Maybe now that they were making money they’d get themselves
some decent rides. She’d noticed Levi eyeing her SUV with envy in his green
eyes.
    Jack and Z arrived soon after, and
lastly, Sherry. She was a big woman with a shaved head and a dozen painful-looking
piercings. She had a big mouth and not a spot of loyalty to the crew, but she
could shoot and was familiar with staking vamps. She owned a vgun and even had
her own kill kit.
    “Okay,” Rune said. She headed
toward the huge old gates, tightening her stake belt as she went. “It will be
dark in two hours. Let’s purge these dudes and get the hell out.”
    Sherry strode up beside Rune and cracked
her knuckles. “Yeah! Let’s have some fucking fun, motherfuckers.”
    Rune glanced around to check the
twins. She wasn’t sure they were ready for staking vampires, but they said they
were and she’d let them prove it. And if they weren’t… Well, this would be a good
learning experience.
    She pushed open the moss-covered
wrought iron gate. “Let’s do this.”
    “Be careful, Rune,” Z said, because
he was Z.
    She winked at him and pulled her
vgun. If there was any lingering guilt over the cold killings, she ignored it.
There was no room for anything in the field but concentration and skill.
    They went through the gates and
fanned out slightly. Z was on her left, Sherry on her right, and they were
followed by the twins. Jack and Raze came last.
    It would take them about ten minutes
to reach the stone church if they jogged, and she didn’t want to waste time.
She set the pace and they followed, alert for attacking Others.
    Wormwood was full of them.
    They made it to the old stone
church with no attacks, though the air was suddenly full of expectation and
danger. By then, every Other inside Wormwood knew they were there.
    The vampires were the least liked
among Others. Master vampires usually dealt with all Others as though they were
his vampire