CHAPTER THREE
Jace had just opened her book—Germinal by Émile Zola. A wonderfully depressing tome about a mining town. When Jace wanted to relax, she looked for books that would make most people suicidal. But for Jace . . . The darker, the better. But before she could get past the first paragraph, Erin’s head suddenly appeared in the nearby opening. Erin had always been one of the few Crows who could find Jace no matter where she might have hidden herself.
Like under the house.
“Hey.”
Jace bit back her desire to tell her very dear friend to “go the fuck away” and instead said, “Hey.”
“Rachel’s looking for you.”
Jace frowned. Rachel was looking for her? Rachel? A former bodybuilder and now a Crow clearly hoping to be Clan leader one day, Rachel usually left Jace alone. She thought of her as “trouble. Because she can’t control that fucking rage of hers.”
Which was kind of funny coming from her, since in her bodybuilder days, Rachel took copious amounts of steroids until she became a rage-a-holic, which eventually led to the death that landed her here. She was great in combat, but in day-today situations, Jace would rather work with Satan himself than deal with Rachel.
Unlike Chloe, Rachel simply didn’t know how to adjust to different personalities and temperaments. She thought all the Crows should act the same way . . . like her.
“Why?”
“I guess she heard about last night. It seems she’s concerned.”
Jace rolled her eyes and begged, “Kill me now.”
“She’s gonna track you down. So, you wanna come with me?”
“Where are you going?”
“Food shopping. For Kera’s party.”
Jace rolled her eyes again, now annoyed for a different reason. “Seriously?”
“Come on, it’s great! She’s such a sucker. I could fuck with her all day.”
And clearly that was Erin’s plan. To fuck with poor Kera all day long. Because the caterer had been called, arrangements made, invitations sent out. The party was going to be exceptional, but Erin was ready to convince the poor newbie of all sorts of ridiculous shit. For no other reason than she could. Because that’s what Erin did. She fucked with people. Happily.
All day long.
“Besides, if you come, she’ll believe it.”
“I’m not lying for you.”
“You don’t have to. Just don’t talk, which you barely do anyway.”
“Is she over there?” Rachel demanded a few feet away.
Erin stood and Jace heard her say, “No. She’s not here.”
“You’re such a bad liar, Amsel.”
Actually, Erin was a great liar, but she’d been among the Crows long enough for all of them to know when she was lying.
Rachel’s very large head appeared. “You’re under the house?” she demanded, because Rachel demanded everything. “Why are you under the house? Maybe you need therapy.”
“She doesn’t need therapy.” Erin pushed Rachel over a few centimeters—about all she could manage with a woman that large and unwilling to move—and stuck her hand out for Jace to grab. “She’s fine.”
“You’re not helping by coddling her.”
Jace grabbed Erin’s hand and let the smaller woman yank her out from under the house. Lev, who’d been resting against her leg, trotted out after her, briefly stopping to bark at Rachel. The little guy already knew who bugged Jace the most and acted accordingly.
Rachel glared down at the puppy. “Are you actually keeping this thing?”
Jace tossed her book aside and quickly scooped Lev into her arms. She wasn’t giving up her dog. She didn’t care what anyone said. Lev would stay.
Jace quickly took off after Erin, but Rachel decided to follow them.
“You have to get control of this rage, Berisha.” Rachel was a big fan of using everyone’s last name. As if they were in the military. Even Kera, who had been in the military, didn’t do that here. Of course, her brain hadn’t been addled by past steroid use. “You can’t just go around blowing up our assignments because someone pisses you off.”
They were near one of the outside patios, where a group of unemployed actor-Crows were sitting around, chatting about Hollywood jobs they hoped to get.
Erin, still walking, grabbed Lev from Jace’s arms and tossed him to the first Crow she saw.
“Hey!”
“He’ll be fine.”
And he was. Jace’s sister-Crow caught the puppy and grinned, holding him close. “I’ll walk him with Brodie later today,” the Crow promised as Erin grabbed Jace’s arm and hauled her inside.
But Rachel was still on their heels. And still talking.
“You can’t ignore this, Berisha. It’s become a problem.”
Jace wasn’t about to argue with the woman. Arguing with Rachel took a special kind of patience that Jace didn’t have. A special kind of patience she didn’t want to have.
They cut through the house and were near the front door.
Rachel was reaching out to put her hand on Jace’s shoulder when a fist punched it out of the way and Kera stepped between them.
“Leave her alone.”
“Maybe you should stay out of this, Watson.”
“Maybe you should make me.”
Jace didn’t want a fight to happen between Kera and Rachel. They’d already had their problems, and the bottom line was, they simply didn’t get along.
Not every Crow got along with other Crows. Like the birds themselves, there was always in-fighting. It was in their nature to be kind of dicky. But in-fighting among their own didn’t mean they didn’t have each other’s backs when it came to outsiders. Crows who had been known to hate each other personally, would often risk their lives for their enemy sister.
“Loyalty unto death to our sister-Crows,” was one of their oldest mottos. But when there was no outside battle to distract them, trouble could easily explode inside the Bird House.
Jace didn’t want that.
Ever since they’d first met, Kera had been very protective of Jace. Jace had no idea why, but it didn’t offend her the way Rachel’s concern did.
Or maybe it was just Rachel herself who offended her. The woman could be truly offensive without much effort on her part.
“Kera,” Jace attempted to soothe, “it’s okay.”
“No. It’s not okay,” Erin said. “Get her, Kera!”
Instead of following Erin’s ridiculous order, both Kera and Rachel glared at the petite redhead.
“What is wrong with you?” Rachel asked.
“Actually . . . nothing. I’m amazing. And beautiful. And charming. And sassy.”
Jace snorted out a laugh. This was why she’d put up with Erin all this time. Her insanity had a way of diffusing bigger problems. True, she could be annoying, but she had a way of making it all work out in the end.
“Now, come on, Kera. Let’s get you some Cheez Whiz and crackers for your party!”
Flabbergasted, Kera faced Erin. “Cheez Whiz? Seriously? I got a better send-off from the Marines.”
“What did they do?” Jace asked.
“Nothing. They did absolutely nothing because they figured I’d be back. Surprisingly, the whole stabbed-to-death-then-taken-by-a-goddess thing didn’t really occur to my COs.”
Erin put her hands on her hips, shook her head. “How can you be against Cheez Whiz? As an American?”
“God, I hate you,” Kera complained before yanking the front door open and walking out.
Laughing, Erin followed and Jace realized they’d left her alone with Rachel.
When the bigger woman opened her mouth to speak, Jace skittered out the door, slamming it behind her.
“This isn’t over, Berisha!” Rachel yelled after her.
“What is that woman’s problem?” Kera asked Jace as they walked toward the big circular driveway.
“She just worries about me.”
“She obsesses about you,” Erin corrected. “For a while there, she was obsessed with Kera. But then Kera became a soulless killing machine after her time in Asgard—”
“Gee, thanks.”
“—so now she’s back on poor Jace. Like a tiny, weak mouse who can’t get away from the big, former steroid-using house cat.”
Jace stopped. “I am not a mouse.”
“Rat?”
Kera shook her head. “You know, Erin, it amazes me that no one has killed you a second time.”
“I know, right? And the best part? They can’t kill me the same way!”
“I have no idea what that means.”
“What killed me the first time was being shot in the head. Someone shoots me in the head again . . .” She shrugged. “Nothing except a headache and annoyance. And if someone tries to stab you in the chest again, chances are the knife will break?”
“That’s just weird. Why do you tell me weird things?”
“It’s weird, but also exceptionally cool. Skuld doesn’t want you dying the same way twice. Think about it . . . that would be embarrassing if you died the same way you died the first time. Or if I got shot in the head again. Or if Jace died . . . the way she was originally killed. Whatever way that was.”
All the Crows knew it had been Jace’s ex who’d killed her the first time but no one asked for details. Maybe they just didn’t want to know.
“You can’t tell me that’s not a great thing.” Erin stopped walking and gestured to the car she’d chosen to go shopping in.
Kera gazed at it. “A Chevrolet Impala convertible?” she asked.
“Very good eye.”
“Does it bounce up and down, too?”
“Racist.”
“Can we be a little less LA about this? And take a nice, sensible car to the store?”
Erin parked the Hummer in the grocery store parking lot, making sure to take up two spots before jumping down from the driver’s seat. When she came around the front, Kera was already standing there, glaring.
“This is a nice, sensible car?”
“In Los Angeles . . . yes.”
Jace walked by the pair, eyes practically rolling out of her head.
Erin knew the quiet woman would rather be back under the Bird House, reading her book and rubbing her puppy’s belly, but that was not to be. Anytime she went full-rage during a battle, there was some kind of blowback for several days following the episode. Not from Chloe. She appreciated having a berserker on her team. But from a few of the others. Although Erin didn’t know why. The ones who had a problem with it, like Rachel, weren’t even part of their strike team.
Rachel had her own damn team to manage, so why did she insist on fucking with theirs? Was her life really that boring?
Grabbing two carts, the three women worked their way through the store, Erin making sure to buy the most cliché, cheapest, ridiculous crap she could find for Kera’s “party.”
None of it did she plan to use. And, in the end, she’d probably give it all to some homeless shelter. But seeing the look of disappointment and insult on Kera’s face kind of made Erin’s day.
Okay. So maybe her life was that boring, too. Because there was nothing she loved better than messing with the former Marine. She was just so serious about damn near everything, fucking with her was all sorts of entertaining for Erin.
Grabbing several bags of the most generic, plain, cheap tortilla chips she could find, Erin dropped them into her filled cart and announced, “Okay. That’s it.”
“Gee,” Kera said flatly. “Really?”
“I think we have more than enough. I mean . . .” Erin blew out a breath like she was thinking really hard. “I know our strike team is coming. And a few of the other Crows said they’d try to make it. I think you invited Vig, and of course he’ll be there because he kind of has to . . . so, yeah. I think we have enough.”
Kera looked at Jace. “Seriously?” she demanded. So insulted, that one.
Jace stared at Kera for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders and pushing the cart toward the checkout stands.
See? That’s why Erin didn’t have a problem with Jace’s silence. Who needed someone chatty when silence often worked so well in Erin’s favor?
Erin paid for the food and they made it to right outside the store before Kera stopped Erin. “Maybe we should cancel this thing. It sounds like no one’s coming. It’s gonna be lame.”
“Oh stop! It’ll be fine. Right, Jace?”
Jace gazed at both women, eyes darting back and forth before she gave a forced, closemouthed smile and pushed her cart toward the Hummer.
“You can’t force me to go through with this. You can’t!”
“You owe it to your sister-Crows,” Erin told her.
“You mean the ones who aren’t coming?”
“They’ll try!”
Kera’s eyes narrowed and Erin was sure the woman would finally spot what bullshit this all was, but then her head turned and her expression went suddenly blank.
“Hey,” she said, tapping Erin’s arm. “Who’s Jace talking to over there?”
Erin looked toward the Hummer. Jace stood by the passenger door. She no longer had the cart, and it looked as if she’d put the purchases in the back.
There were four of them. Three women and a man. The females stood around her while the male spoke.
“I don’t know who they are. Don’t recognize them.”
“Does she have friends outside the Crows?”
“Not if she can help it. Maybe they’re trying to sell her something.”
“Oh, or get her to sign some petition or something.” Kera’s face scrunched up. “Let’s rescue her.” Like any proper Marine, Kera hated the ones she called “crunchy-granola hippie types.” And anyone trying to get her to sign some petition fell into that category. And the gods forbid the poor petitioner was anti-government. More than once Erin had been forced to drag Kera away after a ten-minute-long yelling match. Especially once she heard the sirens and knew the cops were coming.
But before either of them could get over there to rescue poor Jace, their quiet friend did something extraordinary to the people speaking to her . . .
She backhanded one across the face. Punched another in the throat. Kicked the one standing behind her in the leg, breaking the woman’s femur. And the male she grabbed hold of by the back of his head and began slamming into the door of the Hummer while screaming.
“Oh shit!” both Erin and Kera yelped before they took off running.
She hadn’t seen them since before she’d been killed. But she’d seen others. They’d hissed at her when she’d walked into the courtroom to get the permanent protection order. They’d hissed and called her a sinner before the judge had them thrown out.
But none of them had ever bothered her after that. She didn’t even think they knew where she lived.
She thought, after openly working with federal prosecutors, she’d be dead to them.
But here some of them were. They’d surrounded her, not allowing her to get into the Hummer. Immediately, he started speaking for all.
Telling her they understood why she’d done what she’d done. How it wasn’t her fault. How they’d forgiven her for her sins. They’d forgiven her for her betrayal.
Then, he had told her that she was still one of them.
And that’s when Jace got angry.
She didn’t want to be one of them. It hadn’t been her choice. It had been forced upon her. Just like this conversation. Leaving her no way out.
Only this time, she took a way out.
By beating the holy shit out of them.
He was bleeding and crying by the time Erin and Kera reached her. Kera, the strongest of them, tried to drag Jace away. But she wasn’t done.
She tossed Kera off, startling them both. But then she reached down and grabbed him by the head again, pulling him to his feet.
She remembered him. His name was Bobby and he was still loyal. He always would be.
They all would be.
But not Jace. Not anymore.
“If you come around me again,” she whispered against his ear. “If you call me. Drive by my house. Send fucking smoke signals. I will kill you. I will cut your throat. I will bathe in your blood, and I will watch you die. Do you understand me?” she finished on a growl-scream, her teeth clenched tight.
Now both Kera and Erin had hold of Jace and they dragged her away.
Erin released her long enough to unlock the Hummer and get the door open before she and Kera shoved her inside. Kera pushed or dragged the others away from the vehicle. Then she leaned in and demanded of Erin, “Give me cash.”
Erin, who was now in the driver’s seat, tossed her wallet to Kera.
Kera walked over to some poor kid who’d been recording the whole thing on his phone. She took the phone from him and crushed it in her hand. Then she took a wad of cash out of Erin’s wallet and chucked it at him.
She returned to the Hummer, jumping in beside Jace and slamming the door. “Go!”
Erin gunned it out of the parking lot and out onto PCH, heading back toward the Bird House.
After a few minutes, Kera suddenly gripped Jace’s chin and turned the berserker’s face toward her.
“Oh shit,” Kera muttered.
“What?” Erin demanded. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s not raging.”
“What?” Erin stopped at a red light and turned in her seat to look at Jace. She gawked at her for several seconds before asking, “You’re not in a rage?”
“No.” At least, not in the rage they were talking about. A berserker rage that involved complete loss of control.
If she had been in a rage, all four of those people would be dead now. Not just wounded. Not just sobbing. But dead.
Erin glanced at Kera before turning back around and moving forward with the rest of the traffic.
“Just so we’re clear,” Erin told them, “I’m pretty sure this is one of the seven signs of the Apocalypse.”
Wide-eyed, Kera looked at Jace, but Jace gave a quick shake of her head. So she wouldn’t worry.
And Jace was almost positive she wasn’t lying . . .