'Til Death We Meet Again (A Grim Awakening Book 3) Read online

“We can’t kill Fear, you keep forgetting,” Killian said to Ryan.

  “Which is bullshit.” Ryan clenched his teeth together and glared at him.

  “Even so, Marcus has always been the one pulling all the strings and he will die. If you can keep yourself alive until then… who knows, maybe we can figure out a way to do something about Fear.”

  Ryan stood up and walked past us. “We both know I won’t have that much time, so stop trying so hard when really you could care less.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong.” Ryan turned around and looked at Killian. “Your soul matters to me because it matters to Melanie. I don’t want her crying over you any more than she already has.”

  “What?” Ryan was angry. Killian was no better next to me as he arched an eyebrow at Ryan.

  “If something happens to you, there’ll be no getting over it for her, you know that.”

  Ryan was in Killian’s face before I had time to grasp the situation. He grabbed ahold of his shirt and glared. “Do you think I want to leave her knowing she will be with you? I’d much rather be alive and making her mine!”

  “Oh?” That one word from Killian sounded terrifying.

  “Stop it, you two!” Neither of them was listening to me.

  Lincoln intervened and pushed them apart. “Grim,” his voice was full of lecture and disappointment as he scolded him. He turned on Ryan. “When he says he wants to save you, it’s true, but he doesn’t know how to handle his jealousy when it comes to your relationship with Melanie, either.”

  “Jealous?” Killian scoffed. His reaction even to me was a dead giveaway that he was, in fact, jealous.

  “Yes, jealous.” Lincoln felt like the one in control at the moment because Killian went quiet. “Good Devil, I mean look at you. You baited the human into arguing just to release your frustration.” Caught red-handed, Killian scratched his chin innocently and looked away.

  “Well, well,” Ryan said. “I’ve always known you were.” He placed his hands behind his head and grinned cockily.

  Killian’s hand turned into a bone and the scythe materialized in his hand. Lincoln and I both moved at once. “I should put him out of his misery right now,” Killian growled.

  “Now you’re the one baiting him,” Lincoln stated to Ryan and he shrugged his shoulders. “I think you should probably go,” he added, and Ryan walked out of the room.

  Lincoln looked at me and we both sighed together.

  ________

  Killian and I hadn’t spoken much after his argument with Ryan. He took me back to my room and left. He was probably feeling guilty about how he acted earlier. Or maybe, I wanted him to feel guilt instead of just hoping he was.

  I ended up watching a movie with Mom and Alex, although she fell asleep thirty minutes in. I showered and went to bed only to toss and turn. I knew why. Killian and I hadn’t got the chance to spend time alone with each other today. The more time I spent with him, the more I wanted it.

  I was curled up underneath my cover when I called out, “Killian.” He came immediately and took one look at me and smiled.

  “You called?”

  “Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?” I asked lamely. I couldn’t think of a better reason for why I called him here.

  Without another word, he took off his leather jacket and tossed it on the floor. He didn’t take off his boots, though. When he got in bed with me, he moved his hand underneath me so I placed my head on his chest.

  “Talk about something,” I ordered him and he chuckled softly.

  “About what?”

  “I don’t know,” I whispered. “How about your real age for one thing? You’re a lot older than three thousand years, aren’t you?”

  “As Grim, yeah,” he admitted. “But I didn’t start counting my age until the merge. Melanie, I never lived until then, I only longed to be more than what I was. Then once I discovered what it meant to live, the rest of my years would be waiting to find love—waiting for you.” He was rubbing his fingers up and down my arm. It was relaxing and his words topped the cake and I couldn’t help but smile.

  “Gag,” I mumbled, and his laughter made his chest vibrate and I felt it against my cheek. “If I hadn’t been the one you were destined to be with—”

  “It would have still been you. The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew that you were going to turn my world upside down.”

  “Gee, thanks,” I told him.

  “You continue to make me feel things no one has ever done before.” He placed a kiss on my forehead. “This madness they call love—what I’ve always wanted, you pull it from me so easily. The one thing I’ve discovered, the one thing I’ve desired and craved to have with someone, you gave to me just by crossing my path. How many ways do you want me to word it for you?”

  Smiling, while I listened to the rhythm of his heartbeat against my cheek, I fell asleep.

  Chapter Ten

  Molly

  Two more witches dropped dead, the other ten was chanting together. Blood seeped from their eyes and nose—they were all slowly dying and yet, none of them stopped. Either way, they knew they were dead if they didn’t listen to Fear.

  He forced them here in order to keep himself hidden from Grim and it was working. When they started to die off, he made the werewolves find more. My stomach was coiled up with a mixture of irritation and fear these past few weeks.

  My boss had always been a sick demon, but now, he had clearly gone mad. He was desperate to escape his own death. I kept clinging to the body I wanted, but I was beginning to understand Fear had never planned to give it to me. He kept me baited all these years just so I would do what he wanted.

  I had been young when he found me and naïve. He got me to believe him so easily. I didn’t know what Grim would do to me once Fear died. Sometimes I didn’t want him to die because of that very reason, but then, I wanted him gone—out of my life more than the rest of my troubles. I wanted to get away from him.

  But Fear couldn’t be killed. It was Marcus that was meant to die… was there no escaping regardless?

  Fear looked up and smiled at me. He looked like he expected good news. It made me nervous to continue to tell him the same results. “The ghosts can’t enter her body. Even when Grim’s not around, the necklace she’s wearing dissolves them before they can even get close.” Not to mention, the Reapers he was keeping around her house.

  “So, he plans to keep both my marks from me?” Fear laughed. “I don’t think so. I don’t know how they are keeping the boy away from me, but it won’t last forever. As for Melanie, there’s a way to get the ghosts inside her. And once the spell activates inside her, things are going to get interesting.” The look in his eyes twisted my stomach. I didn’t even know what kind of spell he placed over the ghosts.

  “I think it’s time I come out of hiding to pay her a visit,” he told me.

  I nodded and he ported. I assumed he expected me to join him. I took a deep breath and followed, only something interrupted my portal and I ended up somewhere other than Melanie’s.

  Something sinister lurked in the darkness before me. “What the hell? Who brought me here?” I asked. I was still trying to use my portal chip to get me the hell outta’ there, but it wasn’t working.

  “Molly.” Recognition of the voice turned me to stone. “I’ve come to make you a deal. One you won’t want to refuse.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Killian

  It was in the crook of my arm where her body lay close to mine. Her breathing became softer and more even, letting me know she had fallen asleep while mine, on the other hand, continued to quicken.

  My eyes lingered to the X on her chest and the dark thoughts I was having these days were growing on me more and more. I knew Melanie had noticed as well, but she didn’t pry me with questions. Instead, she was waiting for me to come out and tell her what was on my mind.

  If it was one thing I learned about her, it was that she hated when I kept her in the dark about things. Which
was why she was constantly asking questions… and that was why I found it funny that she wasn’t trying to get this answer from me. I grinned and stopped as quick as I started. I probably looked foolish… looking down at her while she slept with a lovesick expression.

  I wanted nothing more than to spend all my time with her and to steal all of hers, but I was still Death. I would always have a balance to deal with and looking for Fear was making my impatience grow. I couldn’t relax until Marcus was dead and Melanie was free of Fear’s mark.

  I slowly slid my arm out from underneath her head and placed it on her pillow. She didn’t even flinch and that alone made my heart swell. The girl that once could hardly sleep when I first met her… so easily succumbed to sleep around me. The fact that I could give her that bit of peace despite everything going on… it had me feeling like I was on top of the fucking world and that only proved how caught up I was in her completely. I put my jacket on and took another look at her lying on her bed before I faded to the Underworld.

  At this rate, I knew the chances of me finding Fear before Halloween were slim… if I was going to find him, I would have been able to do so already. His death clawed through my veins and knocked against my bones everyday it grew closer. Whatever he was using to keep himself hidden was working, but it wouldn’t work on the day he was supposed to die. Nothing would keep me from him on that day, but I couldn’t stop his plans if I didn’t find him before then.

  I found myself at another wolf den. There was no sign of Fear or Molly. I faded to a new place. My thoughts drifted back to Melanie—much like they always did when I was away from her. It was agony waiting to see her again, and sometimes I wanted to wake her up through the night just to satisfy my need to be around her. A night of her sleeping and going to school was no time at all for her, but for me, that was days turned into weeks.

  Love wasn’t what I expected it to be. It was more. So many other emotions came with loving someone. I cared for a lot of demons over my lifetime, and I knew what it felt like to lose friends and allies—I outlived everyone, so it came naturally for me to expect that, but with Melanie… everything was amplified to the point that the thought of losing her drove me insane. I was terrified.

  Loving Melanie meant constantly worrying about her when she wasn’t around. It meant fearing for her life. Worst of all, I was always untouchable by any demon that wanted me dead and now that I loved her, she became that weakness everyone wanted me to have. A weakness I would never let go of.

  I was helpless—completely taken by her and she didn’t even know the extent of my love for her.

  Every time I sent her back home, I fought myself to keep her with me. I didn’t want her to leave. I wanted to treasure her, but then I also wanted to ruin her. I wanted to feel her crumble beneath me as I showed her what it meant to be born mine.

  The thoughts both worried and excited me. Just because we were meant to be didn’t mean I could claim her—I wasn’t an animal… then again, the more I let myself think about all the things I get to show her—all the things she had never seen before and the desire I saw blazing in her eyes as she looked at me even when she was nervous… I couldn’t keep myself away from having the dark thoughts.

  I wanted Fear out of the picture. For good. Then I’d take my time in showing her my world. And I’d do whatever she’d let me do to her. I smiled at my own inner dialogue. When the danger was gone, I’d show her what it meant to be loved by me.

  To be loved by a guy that carried the weight of death on his shoulders.

  To be loved by Grim Reaper.

  Then it might make her realize how long I’ve been waiting for her to love.

  Like a plague—when I least expected to feel his presence, it popped up clearer than ever before. My heart died out. I knew exactly where he was. Melanie. I faded to get to her as quickly as I could.

  Chapter Twelve

  Melanie

  I woke to the sound of Alex screaming. I jumped up and touched the part of the bed where Killian had been. I didn’t have time to wonder when he had left. Alex was still screaming. “Alex!”

  I was already opening the door and immediately stopped at the doorway. Molly walked on the bannisters on the second floor. Her tiny arms were out as she balanced herself and when she saw me, she flashed a smile. “It’s been awhile.”

  I ignored her and ran for Alex’s room. “Alex!” I yelled again. I was pulled back by the hair and panic was already gripping me—I had to get to Alex. My arms swung out as I fell on my butt. The power came out like static at my fingertips, but Molly dodged my attempt to hit her with it and punched me in the face. It knocked me back and for several seconds I was too stunned to do anything.

  When I opened my eyes, Miles was thrown out of Alex’s room. He smacked against the wall and didn’t move once he landed on the floor.

  “Too bad your mom’s at work to join in on the fun,” Fear’s sinister voice drifted out of Alex’s room.

  “Sis!” he was crying out for me, and I quickly stood up.

  “Alex!” I screamed. “I’m right here.” I clenched my teeth and felt all this hatred and fear fester to the point that it was suffocating. “Leave him alone! He has nothing to do with this.”

  He stepped through the doorway gripping Alex by the shoulder. His claws dug into Alex’s skin and he looked close to passing out. Fear was going all out; his horns and tail were there for Alex to see—to make him terrified.

  “I don’t know.” Fear looked down at Alex with a smile. “I’m perfectly okay with marking him as well.” The very thought made my blood boil.

  “That’s a nice necklace,” Molly added next to me.

  Grim appeared out of nowhere and slammed Fear against the wall. Alex stumbled a few steps back but was quickly able to get away from them when Fear lost his grip on his shoulder. He ran my way but when I brought my hands out to scoop him up in my arms, Molly kicked me in the stomach. A sound escaped my lips right as I doubled over in pain.

  “Sis!” Alex cried out my name again. He squatted down in front of me. “What’s wrong?” He couldn’t see Molly because she was a ghost, but he had no problem with seeing Fear.

  “Stay back,” I told him.

  Molly grabbed him up by the shirt and shoved him away. He was freaking out and looking around frantically. It hurt to see him look so afraid of something he couldn’t even see.

  “I thought this necklace was supposed to be protecting you?” Molly studied the necklace with a smirk. “I think I’ll get rid of this, what do y’all say?” I looked behind her to see who she was talking to. Ghosts were in the hallway, floating behind the bannisters and in the stairway… all of them were waiting for something.

  I couldn’t even make out Grim. He was surrounded in his dark colored essence. Fear laughed. “Why are you so angry? And here I thought you’d be happy to see me since you’ve been trying so hard to find me.” A guttural sound ripped from Grim’s throat. One minute they were in front of Alex’s bedroom door, and then the next, they weren’t. I could hear them in another part of the house.

  “Stop looking for Grim, he can’t save you right now,” Molly said to regain my attention.

  Alex was covering his ears and there was a wild look in his eyes. “Sis, what is going on? What were those things fight—” Grim and Fear appeared on the stairs. Fear’s tail shot out toward Grim and he caught it and slung him against the wall. The wall caved in with his weight and Alex started screaming.

  “Alex, it’s going to be okay!” I tried to tell him, but I wasn’t sure that it was.

  “Geez, you don’t even care that I’m right here in front of you,” Molly huffed. “Guess I’ll get straight to the point then.” She reached for the necklace and it reacted, sending her flying back through the hallway. She went through all the other ghosts and instead of landing on the floor—she fell straight through like the ghost she was.

  I stood up and went to Alex. I scooped him up in my arms and placed his legs around my waist. “Come on,�
�� I said. He was crying and hiccupping against my shirt.

  “I’m scared,” he whispered, and my heart broke. I took us to my bedroom and slammed the door shut. I glanced at the door and quietly waited.

  “Alex, I need you to go hide in my closet until this is all over.” I placed him on his feet and gently wiped his eyes.

  Next thing I knew, I was being yanked backward by the hair. I grabbed my bedpost and took ahold of my hair and looked back. There was nothing, but I knew why when I looked back to Alex. Molly held him by the shirt with a knife against his neck. “Lose the necklace.” She tapped Alex’s neck with the blade and he squealed almost silently—his bottom lip trembled as he looked for what was holding him back.

  “Stop!” I cried. “Let him go and I will,” I promised. I was already reaching behind my back to take it off. She grinned in triumph, and I sneered at her. “You’re no different than Fear,” I spat the words out without thinking, but she was the one that looked surprised by it. Her expression faltered and gave way to what I could have sworn looked like shame.

  She recovered quickly, though. “We all can’t be perfect. Someone has to be the villain.”

  “No, no one’s forcing you to do these things. That’s all you.” There it was again, that expression on her face.

  She glared. “You’re right. Not all of us make the right choices to begin with, and we are stuck paying for them until it’s all over and we’re done for.” I got the feeling the ‘we’ she was talking about was actually her, but I didn’t care—I didn’t want to try to understand the one that was holding a knife against my brother’s neck.

  “You’re stupid if you expect me to believe someone has to continue to make bad choices like they have no choice. That only makes them selfish—weak.”

  I was making her angry. “Take. Off. The. Necklace.” She moved the knife against his skin and he started panicking worse. “You’re only valuable to Fear because Grim cares for you. Now that he knows you’re Grim’s Light or whatever, instead of the Vessel, let’s just say things only got worse for you. I’ve never seen him loathe someone as much as he does Grim Reaper.”