“I’m going to keep the lights off just in case she’s sleeping. Try not to knock anything over,” I whispered as I started to unlock the door.
“Uh, Salem. I think you’re forgetting that I’ve seen you trying to be sneaky. Trust me, I’m not the one you need to worry about.”
I stuck my tongue out at him over my shoulder as I pushed the door open and let us inside. We weren’t completely silent, but almost, especially with our hearing. I shut the door behind us and made it two steps before something went whizzing past my right side.
A loud thunk made me jump.
I scrambled to flip the light on.
Nailed in the wooden frame only two inches above Graves’ head was an arrow.
What the fu—
“Oh, it’s you,” came my aunt’s voice. I followed the path from the arrow all the way across the room to where my aunt stood with a crossbow. My mouth fell open, then closed as I tried to find words.
“Esme,” I said in shocked breath. “What the fuck are you doing?” It seemed my words came back, and judging by my aunt’s face, she wasn’t thrilled with the ones I chose. “You nearly shot him in the head with a crossbow!”
“I was practicing,” she answered defensively. Ten feet to my side a heavy blanket was draped over the staircase and a red bullseye was spray painted on it. Bolts stuck in the fabric and the paint dripped onto the hardwood floors.
“At midnight?” I asked.
“It’s not my fault you two startled me at night trying to sneak in the house like you’re up to no good. Come now, Salem, you remember that talk we had about me time. I’ve got a great brand I can recommend that’ll surely do better than this one.” She motioned with her elbow and sniffed once. “Any guy sneaking into your house and smelling like trash ain’t worth the quick scratch.”
My face flamed red. “We are not having this talk right now,” I said, grabbing Graves’ wrist and stepping further into the room. I tried to keep myself between him and her at all times. “Graves and I are just friends. We’re going to . . . do a thing. Please, can you refrain from practicing with a crossbow in the house next time?” I looked from her to the makeshift shooting range she’d made of the entryway.
“Mmm,” was the only response I got as we started down the hall. “Make sure to use condoms,” she called after us. “I’m not sure how smart this one is, and I don’t need dumb grandkids.”
If my face weren’t already on fire, it would be now. I didn’t grace her insults with a response as I opened my bedroom door and motioned for Graves to go in.
“Okay,” he said slowly. “Your aunt is officially nuts.”
“Sorry?” I offered half-heartedly, closing the door behind us. “She’s usually not this bad. She’s gone off the deep end since Shep died and is handling his passing in her own weird way.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Graves said under his breath before turning his attention to my room. My bed wasn’t made. My shoes had been haphazardly tossed in my closet and clothes were spilling out of the door. At least I didn’t have any dirty laundry laying around.
I opened my bathroom door and pulled a stack of towels out, setting them on the counter.
“You cool showering in Shep’s room? You can take whatever you need to wear. I’ll shower here, then order us some pizza since Esme is being weird.”
“You sure?” he asked hesitantly.
“Yeah, it’s right across the hall. I wish I could lie and say I’m doing it to be nice, but really I don’t want to wait to shower and you’re also disgusting.” Graves gave me that look most people gave me when they couldn’t believe what came out of my mouth. Not saying anything, he grabbed a towel from my stack and headed toward the door, shaking his head while he did so.
I closed the bathroom door and stripped my nasty clothes from my skin. Taking my first real look in the mirror, I wasn’t sure how my aunt didn’t ask more questions. My hair was a pink bird’s nest with strands sticking out in every direction. Dark circles lined my bloodshot eyes. Red smudged my neck and lower. Fortunately, most of the blood not being near my face probably helped. That and the all black clothes I’d been wearing.
I took one look at them and wrinkled my nose, tossing them into the trash can before flipping the shower on as hot as it could go. As soon as steam started to fog the glass walls, I stepped inside. My skin went from chilled to burning as the two water jets did most of the work. I washed and scrubbed every part of me, not giving two shits that most of the hair dye was bleeding into the water along with the blood and gunk from earlier.
When my skin was sufficiently pink and my stomach grumbling enough to pull me away from the shower, I flipped the lever off and stepped out. Water dripped from my skin as I wrapped myself in one of the fluffy towels and used a second one for my hair.
I opened my bedroom door to see Graves sitting on my bed. He lifted his face, and our eyes met. If my cheeks weren’t already red from the water, they would have been then.
“What?” I said.
His eyes traveled my form before returning to my face. “Nothing.”
The word liar was on the tip of my tongue, but my stomach gurgled again, and reality came back. I retreated to my walk-in closet, closing the door behind me as I dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. Once dressed, I flipped my head a few times, letting my shaggy bob air-dry as I stepped back into my room.
Graves opened his mouth to speak. I held up a finger as I picked up my phone. “First step, pizza. Then you can talk.”
“At least no one will ever doubt your priorities.”
“Preferences?” I asked as I dialed the pizza place by memory.
“I’m not even surprised you have their number memorized.”
“Last chance,” I said, flipping him off as the line rang.
“Anything with meat,” he answered.
I ordered us two large pizzas, mostly ignoring his raised eyebrows when I added on an order of breadsticks, hot wings, and chocolate lava cake. I’d just died. Again. I was going to eat whatever I wanted, and I was starting with the cake.
Hanging up the phone, I settled next to him on the bed. “Alright, now you may speak and say all of the dire things.”
Graves studied me, an odd expression crossing his face. “You know, before tonight, I thought I knew pretty much everything there was to know about the supernatural world.”
“That’s funny. Before tonight I already knew I didn’t have a clue about any of it.”
Graves grinned at me. “I should have remembered the cardinal rule. It can always get worse.”
“Yeah, no kidding. At least we seem to be immune to dying, or whatever,” I said, playing with my sweatpants.
“Salem,” he said, his voice tentative, “that’s not a thing. Reapers only come back once. Whatever you are . . . I don’t think you’re a reaper.”
“Really, because a few days ago you were certain I was.” My gaze held onto his, but he extended a hand, begging me with his eyes to let him finish.
“I’ve been on the fence for a while. I mean, female thing aside, you seem to be able to do stuff that no other reapers can do, and not much of what they can. The seeing and talking to ghosts for one, your crazy speed, and now this.”
I don’t know why it felt harder to accept this possibility than everything else that had happened since coming home. I’d died and come back. Been told I was a reaper, and that my dad and twin were too . . . I felt like it fit. Like there was a piece of them I didn’t have before but maybe I would now. It had made an odd sort of sense. But now I was different. Other. Unknown.
“How is that even possible?” I finally asked.
“I don’t know,” he admitted softly. “But we’re going to find out.”
“How? You just said you don’t have a clue what I am.”
“So? That doesn’t mean someone else won’t. I’m sure Darla probably knows something she didn’t tell us last time.”
“Okay . . . but what about you? You came
back too.”
“I think the blood rite had something to do with it.”
“So, you can’t die because I can’t?” I asked, thinking through the implications of that.
Graves scratched the back of his neck. “I think so? I’m guessing here. This is all way out of my comfort zone. A few days ago—hell, a couple hours ago—I would have told you this entire conversation was impossible, but now that I’m living it…” he trailed off and shrugged.
I flopped back on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. “I’m going to need an entire truckload of Hostess cupcakes to deal with this.”
Graves waved one of the plastic wrapped treats above my eyes. “It’s not a truckload, but how about one to hold you over till the pizza gets here?”
I sat up. “Where did you get that? Don’t tell me it was in your pocket when we were in the dumpster.”
Graves laughed and shook his head. “No. I’ve been keeping a stash in the car since I know how impossible you get when you’re hungry. I snagged it when you grabbed your purse. Just in case.”
I was oddly touched by the thoughtfulness of it. Even if he did sound like a bit of an asshole when he said it. Ripping off the plastic wrap, I took a giant bite of sugary sweetness.
“You know, Graves, there’s worse things than being what I am—whatever that is. At least if we can’t die, this bullshit punishment doesn’t really mean anything.”
“Well, there is that.”
“We still gotta deal with your brother, though,” I said around a mouthful of chocolate cupcake.
Graves sighed. “For once, I think we’re on the same page. Pizza first. The other shit can wait.”
Despite how shitty and yet not shitty our situation was, I smiled.
Because this wasn’t the end for us.
It was the beginning.
To be continued . . .
Salem’s story continues in:
REAPING HAVOC
The Grimm Brotherhood: Book Two
—Preorder Now on Amazon—
Also by Kel Carpenter
The Grimm Brotherhood Series:
Reaper’s Blood (Book One)
Reaping Havoc (Book Two)
Reaper Reborn (Book Three)
The Daizlei Academy Series:
Heir of Shadows (Book One)
Trial by Heist (Novella)
Scion of Midnight (Book Two)
Queen of Lies (Book Three)
Vessel of Destruction (Book Four)
Queen of the Damned Series:
Lucifer’s Daughter (Book One)
Wicked Games (Book Two)
Infernal Desires (Book Three)
Brimstone Nightmares (Book Four)
The Dark Maji Series:
Fortune Favors the Cruel (Book One)
Blessed be the Wicked (Book Two)
Twisted is the Crown (Book Three)
For King and Corruption (Book Four)
Long Live the Soulless (Book Five)
Also by Meg Anne
Fantasy Romance
The Chosen Universe
The Chosen
Mother of Shadows
Reign of Ash
Crown of Embers
Queen of Light
The Keepers
The Dreamer – A Keepers Story
The Keeper’s Legacy
The Keeper’s Retribution
The Keeper’s Vow
Paranormal Romance
Cursed Hearts
Co-Written with Jessica Wayne
Star-Crossed
Amria
Supernova
Cursed Hearts: The Complete Collection
The Grimm Brotherhood
Co-Written with Kel Carpenter
Reaper’s Blood
Reaping Havoc
Reaper Reborn
Undercover Magic
Hint of Danger (Coming May 2020)
Anthologies
The Monster Ball Year 2
*contains an Undercover Magic prequel novella which takes place after events in The Keeper’s Vow
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Academy for this . . . oh wait, wrong speech. First and foremost, thank you so much for taking a chance on Salem and her always-sexy-sometimes-annoying reaper. She is so much fun to write, and we laughed more writing this story than any other. Seriously, scythe text anyone?
We knew this series was going to be something special as soon as we started talking about Salem and her demon stuffie, but neither of us had any clue just how much fun it was going to be bringing it to life. We can’t wait for you to see what else is in store for Baaaaaaad Salem.
To all our alpha readers, thank you for the love and support. Your encouragement helped bring this story to life.
A – Special thanks to you. This story wouldn’t be what it is today without you.
About Kel Carpenter
Kel Carpenter is a master of werdz. When she’s not reading or writing, she’s traveling the world, lovingly pestering her editor, and spending time with her husband and fur-babies. She is always on the search for good tacos and the best pizza. She resides in Bethesda, MD and desperately tries to avoid the traffic.
Join Kel’s Readers Group!
About Meg Anne
Meg Anne has always had stories running on a loop in her head. They started off as daydreams about how the evil queen (aka Mom) had her slaving away doing chores; and more recently shifted into creating backgrounds about the people stuck beside her during rush hour. The stories have always been there; they were just waiting for her to tell them.
Like any true SoCal native, Meg enjoys staying inside curled up with a good book and her cat Henry . . . or maybe that’s just her. You can convince Meg to buy just about anything if it’s covered in glitter or rhinestones, or make her laugh by sharing your favorite bad joke. She also accepts bribes in the form of baked goods and Mexican food.
Meg loves to write about sassy heroines and the men that love them. She is best known for her adult fantasy romance series The Chosen, which can be found on Amazon.
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