Bedlam Boyz Read online

  “You convinced her to betray me, didn’t you, Perenor?” Nataniel asked, gasping for breath. “Shari would never have done this on her own.”

  Perenor’s only answer was another swift block and cut combination, almost too fast for Kayla to follow.

  Nataniel’s mistake was small, and Kayla nearly didn’t see it. His foot slipped slightly in the blood on the floor, just enough to throw him off-balance. The other elf moved instantly, closing in on his blind side and stabbing upward with his sword. Nataniel made an odd choking sound and fell back as the silver-haired elf withdrew his sword from Nataniel’s chest. Nataniel staggered backwards, his back to the wall, then slid to the floor, leaving a bloody trail on the wall behind him.

  Perenor turned toward Kayla, his sword dripping blood, his eyes bright with insanity. Kayla was held by that gaze, unable to look away. He staggered toward her and nearly fell, clutching at a long gash that cut through his armor along his side. He straightened slowly, his eyes burning, breath hissing through his tightened lips. He brought up the sword with both hands, taking another step forward… .

  “Father!” It was a blond woman, walking quickly across the blood-slicked floor. The sharp contrast between them, the elegantly dressed woman and the blood-splattered man in armor, was so startling that Kayla could only stare at her.

  He looked blankly at her, not seeming to recognize her for a moment.

  “Father,” she repeated, her hand on his arm. “You’re hurt, and the police will be here soon. We have to get out of here.” She glanced at Kayla, and Kayla saw something flicker across those calm blue eyes, too fast for Kayla to see what it was. Then she turned back to her father, urging him toward the door. “Quickly, Father, walk more quickly… . “

  Kayla watched the two leave, suddenly aware of the reek of blood and worse filling the room. She sat there for a moment, just breathing. She heard the sound of a car ignition outside, then the sound of the car pulling away, and realized how quiet it was, so quiet that the loudest sound was her own breathing. Slowly, unsteadily, she got to her feet, walking to the open front door.

  Nothing in her life could’ve prepared her for what she saw. The driveway looked like it had been washed in blood. Elves in armor, T-Men, and Tyrone Street Boys, two uniformed LAPD officers, all lying too still, sprawled on the pavement or against the sides of cars. No one moved, and there was no sound. Except one, the faint voice of someone cursing in Spanish.

  Kayla followed that sound. On the other side of a car, she saw Carlos, propped against the tire, his arms wrapped around his middle. He didn’t see her at first, lost in his pain as the blood seeped around his fingers and soaked into his jacket. He looked up and saw her. “Bruja!” he whispered. “Bruja, you’re here. You can heal me. Do it, do it quickly.”

  She could feel the magic in her responding to his words and his pain, and moved closer, her hands reaching out to him.

  Carlos smiled, leaning back. “Always you do what I say, bruja.”

  She stopped in mid-step.

  His eyes widened with pain and surprise, staring at her. “Why are you hesitating, girl? Heal me!” He coughed, blood spattering across his lips and chin. “Heal me, bruja!”

  I can’t let him die, I can’t …

  I can’t let him own me.

  If I heal him, I’ll never be free. He’ll always want me, he’ll always be after me.

  But I can’t let him die …

  I can’t … I can’t …

  Carlos sighed and slumped back against the car. Kayla felt the life fleeing from him, fading away. There was still one last moment, she knew, when she could put her hands against him and hold that life in his body.

  She didn’t move.

  The light left Carlos’ body, leaving behind a dark, empty shape, faceless as Kayla’s vision suddenly blurred with tears. She sobbed, hot tears running down her face.

  Kayla leaned against the doorjamb, holding onto it for support. Everything was too bright and blurry around her, but one thing she saw instantly. Nataniel and Shari’s bodies were gone, vanished, just like the other elven bodies had vanished during those long minutes when she’d knelt next to Carlos’ body, crying too hard to see anything else. Only the stains of blood on the wall and the floor marked where Nataniel and Shari had been.

  She walked unsteadily across the room, hearing the sound of wailing police sirens in the distance. She sat down next to Elizabet and took Elizabet’s hand in hers, pressing it against her cheek. It’s crazy the world’s all pain and bullets and blood too much blood too much …

  She couldn’t stop the tears from falling and didn’t want to. She could feel the tears washing away the blood from her face, and that was all right; soon she’d be clean again, no blood, no blood ever again… .

  * * *

  “Oh my God!”

  Detective Cable’s face was chalk-white. Walker had never seen her that shocked before, not even when they’d walked into that domestic multiple homicide scene. He’d never seen anything like this, either, not since the Nam.

  Cable and the other officers were walking across the driveway, checking the bodies. They already knew that Quinn and Allen were dead, two good LAPD officers dead on the pavement near the gangbangers.

  He and Houston walked quickly to the front door of the house. It was quiet inside, but he gestured for Houston to draw her piece and did the same himself. They moved into the house, scanning quickly for any armed opponents.

  There was only one live person, and that was a girl sitting, rocking on the floor, blood and tears streaking her face. She stared up at him like a lost soul.

  Walker was a father of two grown boys, and his instincts were good. He holstered his gun and knelt beside her, holding her close and letting her tears soak through his uniform, as the other officers walked quietly through the blood-stained room around them.

  Epilogue

  The sunlight was warm on Kayla’s face, warm and very bright. She stood next to Elizabet on the sandy concrete of the Venice Beach walkway and looked out at the crowd of people walking along the beach, playing in the sand and swimming in the water. “Do you see him?” she asked Elizabet, who was also scanning the crowd.

  “I don’t know what he looks like,” Elizabet said ruefully, “so I have no idea who he is.”

  Kayla saw him then, standing at the edge of the crowd, next to a couple of girls gawking at a weightlifter working out on the sands.

  Ramon looks thinner, she thought, and a little pale. There were shadows under his eyes that hadn’t been there before. He saw her and waved, walking toward them.

  “You must be Elizabeth Winters,” Ramon said, nodding to her.

  “Elizabet,” the older woman said. “No ‘h’ on the end.”

  He stood for a moment, gazing thoughtfully at Kayla. “You look like you are well, querida,” he said. “Are you?”

  “I’m okay,” Kayla said. “How ‘bout yourself?”

  He shook his head. “It’s been very difficult. Mama has not been herself, these weeks since Carlos and Roberta’s deaths. It’s hard for her.”

  “I’m sorry,” Kayla said, and meant it.

  “My life is different, too,” he continued. “After what … what happened with Carlos, I told the other Tyrone Street Boys that I was through with them, and I went to the policía. They offered me a job, working at the prison camp in Malibu where they send young kids from the gangs. And they’ll help me finish high school at night, too. Maybe working at the gang camp will make a difference, maybe it won’t. I don’t know.”

  He sighed. “I miss my brother. I think I’ll always miss him. But I can’t go on living his life. It’s hard to walk away from my friends in the gang… . “

  “Most of the time, the right thing to do isn’t easy,” Elizabet said gently.

  “I know, I know. Life is never easy,” he said simply. “That’s not the reason God put us here on earth. I don’t know the reason God put us here, but I know that isn’t it. At least, that’s what Mama sa
ys… . I look at Kayla here, at what she’s learned to do, the price she pays for helping people, and I think I have to at least try to do the same. I have to try… . “

  Ramon seemed to run out of words, and stood there looking at Kayla, his eyes lingering on her face.

  Elizabet cleared her throat a little awkwardly. “Well, would you kids like some lunch? There’s a good sandwich place just up ahead; we can get sandwiches and sodas.”

  “Thank you, Miss Elizabet,” Ramon said. “That would be fine.”

  They walked in the direction that Elizabet pointed, weaving through the thick mass of people on the walkway. A pair of boys on skates zipped past them, a little too close; Ramon took her hand and pulled her to one side. He didn’t let go of her hand, after the boys were past, and they continued walking, hand in hand, following Elizabet through the crowd.

  No, it wasn’t going to be easy, learning to live with who she was, and what she could do. Kayla knew that. But right now, walking in the sunlight with Ramon, she knew that that didn’t matter.

  Because it was going to be all right.

  Author’s Note

  This book is a fantasy novel, but the dangers for runaways and homeless youth are very real. Covenant House provides runaways and homeless youth under age 21 with food, shelter, clothing, medical help, counseling, and other services.

  If you are a runaway or know someone else who needs help, please call Covenant House at 1-800-999-9999.

  Bedlam Boyz

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note