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

  I took hold of his shoulders—even his back was intimidating as I placed my lips against his neck. His muscles moved beneath my fingertips, but he made no move to turn around. He was respecting my words even now…

  I slid my hands across his shoulders, down his arm, admiring everything. I kissed his neck again as my arms slid beneath his and wrapped around him. He groaned when my naked breasts pressed against his back and the sound went straight to the pit of my stomach where the heat dipped in between my thighs.

  “Fuck, Melanie you’re not wearing any clothes?” His voice was raw.

  “You’re the one that wanted us to be naked,” I whispered as I slid my hands across his ripped stomach.

  “Yeah, but I didn’t think,” he stopped talking and went still, “Melanie, why is your heart about to fly out of your chest?”

  So he felt that? It was because of what I planned to do next. Before I chickened out, I slid my hands down his stomach and grabbed a hold of his erection. He sucked in a breath and my stomach contracted with a wave of heat and fear. I held him with both hands and even that left so much more…

  He placed his hands over mine. “Why do you go and do something that’s going to scare you away from what I plan to do to you?” He sounded hoarse. How could he sense my worry about his size? “May I turn around to you now?” I didn’t speak, but I nodded against his neck.

  He moved my hands and arms away so that he could turn and soon I was staring into his dark eyes. “You’re too nervous to be making the first move,” he told me. He never tried to look down into the water to see me naked, instead, he took my arms and placed them around his neck and pulled me close. It was impossible to ignore the hard length of him present between us, though.

  “Maybe that’s not such a good idea either,” he said and pulled away from me again.

  “I’m nervous, Killian, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want you to touch me,” I told him.

  “I wasn’t pulling away because of that, I’m pulling away because I can’t think of anything else but your body pressed against me and believe it or not, that’s not why I brought you here.”

  “It isn’t?” I smiled.

  He laughed. “No, I want you to relax.” I arched an eyebrow and he sighed. “Relax. Float around or something.”

  “Why? I’d look ridiculous floating around naked.”

  “No, you wouldn’t.”

  “Then, you float around.”

  He grinned sheepishly. “I can’t for obvious reasons.” He motioned his eyes to his hard-on through the water. I didn’t dare look, but I laughed so hard it became a snort. “Cute,” he whispered, then we became quiet. I moved my legs to keep myself afloat while I watched him. “Okay, obviously I wasn’t thinking this through when I said for us to swim naked. Let’s go somewhere else and talk.” He started to move away and I leaned over his back to keep him from doing so.

  “It’s okay, we can talk right here.” He looked back at me and smiled.

  “I really can’t complain when you’re all pressed against me, now can I?” I shook my head ‘no’ in agreement.

  “Am I allowed to ask about your past?”

  “Yes, not that it’s anything much to talk about,” he replied.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck as he swam around. “Is it true what you said about your mom?”

  He was quiet for a bit. “It is. She left me to die. A group of sisters found me and kept me. They were witches.”

  “So, they took you in and became your family?”

  He snorted. “No, they knew exactly what kind of baby I was and kept me for the very purpose of profiting from me when I grew older.”

  My heart sunk with suspicion. “What do you mean?”

  He leaned his head back and touched my hair with his hand. “I want to tell you everything you want to know about me, yet at the same time, I don’t want you to see me any differently than the man I am today.” I placed my hand over his and brought it to my mouth to kiss it. “But, you already have an idea of what they wanted me for, right?”

  I nodded and he dropped his hand. “At the age of thirteen, I started needing sex to sustain myself. It wasn’t an everyday need, at that point I only needed it once a month. That was when the witches informed me that I had to repay all that they had done for me, so they sold me to the highest bidder every month.” I placed my hand against his chest and felt the rhythm of his heartbeat. “I tried to escape, but once I was caught trying they started locking me away until it was time. But every year I grew older, my needs grew worse and knowing that I had no choice, I was bid on more often.” He laughed sadly. “They made a fortune off me.”

  I moved my hand around in the water before bringing my hand up to rub his face and neck. The water trailed off his skin and I noticed that he had a five o’clock shadow today. “You were so young…” My chest caved just thinking of a younger Killian being locked up and caged; used. “What happened? How did you manage to escape?”

  “Marcus was the one that freed me.”

  “Marcus did?” I asked surprised. It made sense, though. Killian had always seemed so reluctant to believe what kind of monster he was until recently…

  “Yeah, he killed them all.” He shook his head. “Now that I think back, I should have been wary of his actions even back then, but I was so glad that I had gotten out of that place—I was twenty when he killed them and I didn’t even know why he did it. I left with him that day and had thought of him as a friend since, but Marcus constantly caused problems and had terrible mood swings. It was chaotic staying close to him, he was constantly doing things I didn’t understand, yet… I could never leave his side, not when I felt like I owed him my respect and gratitude.”

  “I was thirty the day Grim came for me. Marcus tried to take Grim even then—he didn’t care that Grim was about to merge with me. I kept making excuses for him when deep down I knew the truth. He never actually rescued me, I just happened to be saved when he brutally murdered the witches—I don’t even know why he did it, not that they didn’t deserve it, but he never had sympathy for life. I only let myself see what I wanted when it came to him.”

  “Not everyone’s meant to be saved. At least Marcus got one thing right when he saved you from them, but he’s a monster himself. A terrifying one.”

  He turned around to face me. “I lived those ten years before I met Grim getting by as an incubus demon and a lot of that time was spent seeing him do things that I shouldn’t have let happen.”

  “He saved you from that horrid place. I can imagine it was very conflicting to decide what was right and wrong when it came to him. Not to mention, everything you went through…”

  He smiled at me and traced his thumb over my collarbone. Pinpricks broke out across my skin. For sharing his difficult past with me only made me realize what made him the protective man he was today. I could never judge him for something he had no control over. I would love him for everything that he lived through. “Is it because you’ve been through your own amount of turmoil growing up that you understand me so well?” he asked me.

  I met his eyes. “Let’s just say I know what it’s like to feel judged when you have no control over what gets thrown your way. My parents never believed me growing up, you know even with this mark, they thought I had carved it on myself. I was placed in therapy and for a long time, Killian, I really believed that I might be crazy. Ryan and Tess, they believed me and I don’t think I would have made it through those years without them.” I gave him a goofy smile. “I guess it just makes it easier to understand what makes a person when you know what they’ve experienced and conquered to get where they are.”

  “I want to save him,” he told me. “Ryan, I mean. I don’t want you to carry that weight on your shoulders if something doesn’t work the way you want it to. I will ask around and see if there’s another way but don’t get your hopes up. Ultimately, the choice comes down to what Ryan chooses. To become a monster or disappear as himself.”

  I
hid my face in his shoulder and hugged him. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear, but it was enough.

  I lifted my head up and was close to kissing him when a paper fell next to me. I looked up. “Um, Killian.” I tapped his shoulder and he looked up with me. Papers began to fall all around us landing into the water. It wasn’t just around us, though. As far as I could see, the papers were falling everywhere.

  “Yeah, I see it.” He picked one up from the water.

  Come All Demons,

  The time has come for us to take what should have always been ours. The human world. We don’t have to hide beneath their world anymore. Humans are nothing but prey.

  I think it’s finally time to show them we exist and what better way than on the day they pretend to be us. Let’s show them how wicked monsters really are on their Halloween.

  When the day comes, I will open a portal for all those that wish to cross.

  FEAR

  Killian crumbled the paper in his hand. “I think it’s safe to say we know he’s behind the missing portal chips.”

  And Fear’s games continued.

  Chapter Seven

  Melanie

  Killian carried me out of the water and placed me on my feet where we stood in silence as we put on our clothes. It would have been great if he had brought us something to dry off with. My jeans refused to go up my wet legs. I grunted in frustration.

  “Having trouble?” he asked as he raised back up. Of course, he would already have his clothes on. His dark shirt clung against his wet skin and I marveled at him.

  “Whose bright idea was this again?” I told him as I tried to shimmy into my jeans.

  He laughed. “Here.” He stuck out his hand and a towel materialized. I stopped wiggling and glared at him.

  “Are you serious? My clothes are already wet.”

  The towel disappeared and his smirk appeared. He did nothing but look at me, but the water on me started to bead up and fall off me and my clothes. I looked to him when I could finally slide up my jeans. “Why didn’t you just do that to begin with?” He didn’t care to show off the things he could do when we first met, but now he was greedy with it.

  “To make you ask questions,” was his answer.

  He faded us back into the castle where things were strangely chaotic. Lincoln was in the ballroom along with a few Reapers. Their expressions were grim and Killian tensed beside me. “We were about to come looking for you,” Lincoln said to Killian.

  I stared at all the papers lying around. Fear wanted us to know what he was up to, that much was obvious. “Have you found where Fear’s hiding?” Killian asked.

  Lincoln shook his head. “No, but we did find him.” He turned his head and two Reapers were holding a man by the arms behind him. They shoved him to his knees and he glared up at Killian. He looked… normal. Although, it did look like he took a good beating from the Reapers before we got here.

  “Lycanthrope,” Killian spoke to him. So, he was a werewolf? I looked back at him. “What does he have to do with Fear?”

  “We caught him stealing portal chips,” one of the Reapers told him. Killian nodded and stepped toward him.

  “You have no idea what he has planned,” the werewolf spat.

  Killian dropped down on one knee in front of him and picked up a piece of paper from the floor. “Actually, I do. Fear’s already made what he plans to do very public.” The werewolf laughed. “The problem is finding him; he must have some pretty good help to even hide the scent of his death from me. I’ll bet you know exactly where he’s hiding since you are delivering the chips to him.”

  The werewolf snorted. “Whatever you say,” was all he offered.

  “You do realize you’re going to die. The moment you chose to help Fear, you sealed your fate and your death is now at my fingertips.” Killian stretched his hand out and it became skeletal. I never seen him partially become Grim before. The first time he had changed in front of me, one of his hands was the first thing that changed, but he had been holding himself back from changing. “And I must decide whether I want to send you to Satan’s Flames—you know what to expect there—or…” His scythe materialized in his hand. “Trap your soul inside my scythe with the rest of the souls I’ve collected since I came to be. Which sounds better? Endless suffering and agony or endless battles with demons much worse than you?”

  The werewolf’s cocky smile faded a few seconds before he finally regained his composure. He jerked his shoulders away from the Reapers that were holding him in place. “I. Don’t. Care.” Killian smiled at his answer.

  Something didn’t feel right about this. I studied the werewolf. He didn’t look afraid at all. Was he that okay with dying for Fear?

  Listen to your instinct.

  I was so stunned—relieved—happy to hear the voice that seconds were lost. I looked back to Killian and the werewolf—he was smiling. Killian was standing up now, holding his scythe at the werewolf’s head. He almost looked like he expected Killian to take his life.

  The X set my skin on my fire. I covered it with my hand and yelled, “Wait, Killian!”

  It wasn’t too late. Killian turned back and smiled. “You sensed it, too?”

  What did he sense? I just got some bad vibes and knew something bad was about to happen.

  “Why aren’t you killing him?” Lincoln asked as he studied me curiously.

  “He’s been spelled, but I have no clue what kind of spell.” He looked back at the werewolf who looked annoyed that we figured it out. “And since he’s at ease with dying, my opinion is that it doesn’t activate until he dies.”

  Lincoln nodded just as all hell broke loose. The werewolf growled and swung the two Reapers at his sides backward but instead of attacking anybody, he just grinned and lengthened his fingernails.

  “Killian!” But this time we were too late. The werewolf looked up to Killian with a sinister smile right before he ripped his own heart out. Where his body fell, darkness flooded in and we all went sailing backwards from the force of it.

  I hit both my elbows trying to brace my fall and the pain shot up my arms. Killian was the only one that hadn’t been blown back by it. He covered his face with his arm as he looked at the opening. “This was his plan!” Killian yelled as he became Grim. Demons piled out of the darkened passage. These were beasts, similar to the wolf demons, only a lot bigger. They stood on two legs and their legs weren’t bent backwards like the rat-looking wolf demons. Their eyes were all a golden color. “Take Melanie! We don’t know what Fear’s after!” he told Lincoln. I stood up. Three went after Killian and his scythe morphed into a sword. He took down one as another one grabbed him—he faded in the werewolf’s grip and reappeared behind him. Another jumped him.

  I looked over at the stairway. One of them was sniffing around and then he looked up. My heart raced. “Come on, I have to get you out of here.” Lincoln tried to pull me by the arm, but I jerked away. The werewolf that was sniffing must have caught the scent of what he was looking for. He started up the stairway.

  “Ryan!” I screamed. “They’re after Ryan!” I took off running for the stairs.

  “Melanie, wait!” Killian practically growled at me, but he was too busy to stop me. Lincoln called my name behind me. I took the stairs across from the one the werewolf was going up. He noticed me running up them and growled. He climbed onto the bannister and jumped. I ducked just as he landed behind me on the stairs, but I kept going up.

  A heard a familiar painful cry as I made it to the second floor. When I turned for the hallway, Ryan was already there on his knees. He saw me and looked up. “Go, Melanie!” His eyes were fading out, turning solid white. I ran to him anyway and grabbed him by the shoulder and lifted him to his feet. I hissed and let go of him. He was blistering hot.

  Now that I was close enough, I could smell burning flesh and smoke steaming from every part of his body. He howled in pain. The werewolf growled in front of us. “Fight it, Ryan! We can’t stay here.” I grabbed his shirt and p
ulled him with me.

  “I can’t!” He didn’t sound like himself. “Go, Melanie, I can feel him…”

  “Listen to him, Melanie!” Lincoln lunged for the werewolf. The werewolf slung him against the wall like the centaur weighed nothing.

  “Melanie, get away from him.” Lincoln managed to get the werewolf on the ground but two more were closing in behind him.

  Ryan went up in flames. He fell to the ground screaming and thrashing. I couldn’t look away until the charred demon was standing back up in his place. I stepped away slowly, but his eyes turned on me. Saliva dripped out of his lips as he hissed at me.

  He took a step toward me and the necklace reacted. He flew backward into Lincoln and the three werewolves. Lincoln was clearly outnumbered and he didn’t even have a weapon. The charred demon was already coming back toward me.

  Grim was suddenly in front of me slicing the charred demon’s chest open with his sword. He stumbled back. “Grim!”

  “He can’t be killed in this form,” Grim told me. I knew that but it was still Ryan.

  “Lincoln!” I was surprised to see Penny. She took down two of the werewolves at once with two thin, red swords and tossed one to Lincoln. He caught it and killed the one that had been giving him trouble.

  “We have to get that portal closed or they’ll keep coming,” Grim stated as he waited for the charred demon to attack again. His white eyes traveled over me and he seemed to be deciding something.

  Instead of attacking, he started running. When Lincoln tried to stop him, he slammed him against the wall. Penny stepped in front of him and swung her blade and missed. He backhanded her and it was enough to land her on the floor. Once he was at the bannister, he jumped down to the first floor.

  “He’s going to try to leave through the portal,” I told Grim. “We can’t let Fear get his hands on him again!”

  Grim faded and Penny disappeared right after him. I didn’t have time to check on Lincoln. I ran for the stairs. If he was really trying to leave, I had to find a way to stop him. Just running this much already had me feeling sluggish, and I didn’t understand why my powers weren’t trying to help me somehow. If I could do what I did during the Human Festival, it wouldn’t be so hard to help.