Paranormal After Dark

by Rebecca Hamilton

  Grimm chuckled and then groaned. He clutched his stomach. “It’d probably be me dead underneath you, destructress.”

  She nodded and stepped over the marshal. “Take care of that, will you? And next time wolf, don’t stray too far.”

  Her words were like a blow, shaking him from this moment to another where he had strayed too far and almost got himself killed. Before he knew it, he was back there, back with the cold damp scent of the forest….

  As frightening as the immortal was, she never failed to find him when he needed her the most. The wide tear in his shirt from the knife was bloodied, even though his body was mostly healed. There was no way he could go out like that. He sighed and cursed under his breath, then pulled his shirt off and replaced it with the marshal’s.

  The air marshal was a solid guy, but not nearly as big as Grimm. So his shirt was snug, short, and much to his disgust... pink. He looked like a fucking back-up dancer for Britney Spears.

  He picked up the marshal and carried him to the toilet, placing an Out of Order sign on the outside, before he slid the latch closed and backed out. Jinx stood outside, his eyes glowing white, mesmerizing the humans seated in business class. The passengers gazed at him, spellbound. Brainwashing was just one of Jinx’s little tricks. The mind-fuck weirded Grimm out.

  Kali took off, leaving Grimm and Jinx to finish up with hocus-pocus shit and follow.

  “Everything okay, Grimm?” Jinx stared at his chest. “You’re wearing some other guy’s pink shirt. Is this the part where you say it’s you, and not me?”

  Grimm laughed and tugged the hem, which rode dangerously close to his navel. “Nah, everything's cool. You’re still my one and fucking only.”

  Jinx’s inflection was as flat as a tombstone. “Yay for me.”

  They passed their empty seats. Grimm noticed the human he sat next to was still missing. He turned his head towards Jinx and motioned to the empty seat. “Say you haven't seen the guy who’s sitting next to me, have you?”

  “No, he took off a while ago. I haven't seen him since. Sorry, man. I gotta keep checking the rest of the plane.”

  “Okay,” Grimm said, watching him walk away. There was something about the human that nagged at him. He wasn’t a vamp. But for a second when he sat, Grimm could swear he caught a sense of other about him.

  A muffled yell made Grimm groan, and then he took off, pushing men and women aside as he headed toward the back of the plane and the cargo hold. The questions started. “What's going on? Who is in there? Are we going to crash?”

  The sound of body-on-body contact grew louder the closer he came to the blue barrier at the end of the plane. He wrenched the accordion door aside and was hit in the chest with a spray of blood. Jesus fucking Christ.

  He slammed the divider shut and hit the tiny thumb latch before trying to make sense of the scene around him. Jinx was underneath two vamps, trying to hold his own and by the look of it, failing miserably. Two air hostesses lay in the corner, one still twitching. Her neck was a bloody hole. It was obviously her blood Jinx wore. Grimm felt a twinge of sympathy, before he snapped himself out of his mental fog. Kill first, worry about the rest later.

  Grimm lunged for a vamp who was buried up to his molars in Jinx’s leg. He pulled, and then jerked, but the fucker wouldn't let go.

  Shit. There was nothing he hated more than the taste of blood-sucker. But given the circumstances, he didn’t have a whole lot to work with. Grimm opened his mouth and attacked, tearing dead flesh until there was nothing left.

  Grimm dropped the vamp’s head where he stood. Bodies littered the floor. Jinx was hurt bad. His flesh was bright pink, trying to heal itself as soon as he was torn and three vampires on Kali was soon becoming a losing battle.

  Kali was a blur as she fought off the other three vamps, slicing her way toward a fatal blow. Her attackers defended themselves, unable to attack, not yet anyway. But Grimm could tell she was tiring. Her movements were slowing, the grunts of exertion getting louder. Any minute now, they would have their turn.

  A door on the far end of the compartment opened. Grimm caught sight of an empty space on the other side. The baggage compartment? He didn’t have much time to wonder, as a muscle-bound vamp moved around the others, heading his way.

  Grimm focused on the vamp and inhaled. His size wasn't the issue. He’d taken on bigger and lived to tell the tale. The black vest his new opponent wore was the problem, the one with lots of pretty wires and a blinking green display, which was counting down, nineteen minutes and fifty-nine, fifty-eight, fifty-seven....

  Chapter 20

  Edric

  THE BLONDE BITCH had become his constant companion, but for the sake of his own survival, Edric upped his game. He moved from town to town, state to state, and the Abortionist left behind a wake of broken and dead, like a massive tsunami.

  The police couldn’t catch him. No one could. Even without Mercy, he was invincible. His high was their pain and he watched them bleed before him, like he was God Himself. After the fifth murder, he noticed something inside him had changed. No longer did he pick his victims as they came to him—blonde, brown, black hair. No, now he was after one type of woman in particular. It was as though he hunted the blonde bitch all over again. None of them felt like her though, none possessed the right ingredient he craved.

  God was happy with him. While this arrangement was being fulfilled, he enjoyed the benefits his Master allowed, more income and more power and most of all, pure blood. It seemed as though God siphoned his power to those he chose and right now, Edric was riding fucking high.

  “I have a surprise for you.” God assigned him another detail, and then tempted him again. “Something you’ll enjoy very much.”

  “Yeah, what's that?”

  The dream played out like a movie inside his mind. At first, he panicked, until God's voice filtered through, laughing. “Relax, enjoy the ride.”

  In the vision, Edric sat in his car watching a world that blurred and then cleared, from the wipers. The scent of ozone hovered in the air. This was somewhere he didn’t recognize, but he knew it all the same, just another shitty town on another shitty day. Another day where he killed for God and waited for her. He stared through the rain-streaked window at an old weatherboard house. The yellow walls were the color like the nicotine-stained walls of his childhood, although this one had no dents from his mother’s fist.

  Edric shifted in his seat and looked at the blurred outside world. He could almost hear his mother call him, her drunken slur cruel, Edric, Edric baby come to mommy… I promise I won’t hit you. Edric, Edric you little fuck, get back here! Edric’s gut clenched and he could feel the sweat break out on his skin. He wanted to get out of here. He wanted…

  The ominous feel of death had followed him here. He didn’t want to go in. He didn’t want to see what God had planned for him. His vision shook like an earthquake and projected him inside the walls. He now stood in a bedroom. The mottled brown carpet stuck to his feet as he tried to move, but the more he struggled, the harder the dirty carpet held him.

  He couldn’t go back there, to the childhood he once had. He was different… he was better. Panic seized him, twisting his gut. He could almost hear his mother’s voice, calling for him to help her. No… no way was he going back there, to find her passed out underneath another nameless man who beat him. He wasn’t going to do this again. He was in charge. He… was… in… charge….

  “Easy, Edric.” God chuckled. His master’s laughter was humiliating. The vision shook once more. He was projected through the door and into the motel room. Edric squeezed his eyes closed. He didn’t want to see his mother again. She was dead. He’d watched her drown in her own vomit, he’d watched her die. Hysteria took hold as he heard her voice.

  At first he didn’t understand.

  He’d been expecting someone else… but not her.

  His eye’s shot open and he hissed.

  There she stood. Not his mother, but the one he fantasized a
bout… the blonde bitch.

  She twisted her misshapen body in an effort to grab something from the end of the bed. Her honey-blonde hair fell to one side, framing her face. He wanted to reach out and grab her. He wanted to throw her onto the floor and take his knife to her pretty face. But he couldn't move. He could only watch her.

  “You should get going.” A man came from a room to his left and walked over to where the blonde bitch waited. Edric felt his brain fire randomly. At first he didn't understand what was happening. His past had somehow intruded into his future. No, this isn’t right. This. Isn’t. Fucking. Right!

  The man with Eve was the detective. The one who’d arrested him, Adley fucking Scott.

  “No, I watched you die.” Edric snarled and tried to jerk out of this hold he was in, remembering the way the detective went down. “I watched you fucking die!”

  Had he really? From the back seat of the unmarked car he saw Mercy attack this man. But, did he actually see the cop die? A chill swept over him. No… he hadn’t and now he was here with her….

  The copper had aged in the last few months, but the hunger was still there, gnawing, eating him away. Edric could sense the detective’s need like it was his own. He walked toward Mercy’s killer and she turned to him, sliding her hands around the detective’s waist. He held her, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. And then they kissed.

  Edric felt the connection like a knife in his gut. “Get the fuck away from her.”

  She was his and only his. Edric’s rage poured out of him like water from a broken dam. He launched himself toward Adley, desperate to get bloody. Whatever force had held him in that spot, let go. He swung his fist, but the blow passed through them as though they were made of air.

  The blonde bitch moaned and the detective drew her harder against him. The sound was throaty and seductive. Edric could feel the detective’s reaction, it mirrored his own. “Get the fuck away from her, copper, or so help me God, I’ll tear your fucking heart out!”

  “I love you, Adley.”

  He jerked as though he’d been slapped. The heat of his rage vanished as he focused on her. “Do you hear that detective? She loves you, and I bet you love her too, don’t you? I’m going to let you watch, the first time anyway. I’m going to lay her out bloody and torn. Her screams will haunt you, Adley Scott. Even in your death.”

  Chapter 21

  Grimm

  “SO THIS MUST be the legendary Family. I must say, impressive is not the word I’d use.” The vamp snarled, heading toward Grimm.

  He might’ve been speaking the ancient dialect of the snowdragon for all Grimm cared. All he could hear was the snapping of numbers on the bomb’s display, which was now eight minutes and decreasing.

  “You know you can never win, right? There’re too many of us for you to—”

  “Yeah, I know. I can’t kill all of you, blah, blah, blah. You fucking vamps talk too much,” Grimm had had it with all the holier-than-thou chit-chat. All he needed to do was knock this fucker out and Jinx could do his thing with the bomb, stopping countdown.

  The dog-tag tattoos on the vamp’s arm and the buzz-cut he wore screamed ‘military’. And though he put up a good front, Grimm understood two things with blinding clarity. One, he was heading for a world of hurt, and two, the enormity of what he and the rest of the Family faced.

  Vampires were everywhere. The Family had been so busy cleaning up the mess of every damn immortal species, they failed to notice the one kind who schemed. Vamps were the cockroaches of the immortal world, invading every mortal organization, until soon they’d be the only ones left. Where would that leave the rest of them? Where would that leave the humans? Grimm clenched his fists, readying for the fight.

  “What the hell is happening here?”

  Grimm spun at the sound, eyeing the human who was the missing man seated next to him. There was that feeling again, like a vibration. Grimm focused on him, searching his muscled frame and brown eyes. He was human, but there was a trace of other. He’d never known anyone that felt like this before. The imprint lingered like a spiritual aftertaste. What if they weren’t just sent to save this plane because these were humans… what if they were sent to save one human in particular? The man’s gaze bounced from Grimm to the vamp with the ticking fashion accessory, and then back again.

  Grimm cursed as this thought resounded inside of him. He watched the man track the spray of blood to the bodies of the dead hostesses, then to Jinx.

  Kali grunted with exertion behind him, he glanced back at her, watching as another vampire joined the fight.

  “Holy shit... holy shit.”

  Grimm didn't really want to kill this odd human, but the risk of exposure was too great to let him live. He’d make his death quick. A snap of the neck and it’d be bye-bye before he knew it.

  Grimm took a step toward the man and was smacked in the back by a flying vamp. There wasn’t enough room for fighting. The cramped space barely left enough room to swing a cat, let alone a wolf. Others would hear the commotion.

  “You... you're trying to stop this aren't you?”

  Grimm swore under his breath and reached for the human, keeping the bomb in his sight. Maybe I can just scare him off? And if by chance they survived this fucking flight, Jinx could wipe his memory. Grimm set his sights on the bewildered man. “You don't want to be here. Go back to your seat.”

  The human shook his head, invoking a growl from Grimm. “No, there’s something going on here. Something I need to understand.”

  Fuck! He didn’t have time for this. “What you need to understand is this, you’re gonna get yourself killed if you don’t go back to your seat, now for fuck’s sake!”

  The human was shaking and clearly terrified, but he set his feet and lifted his clenched his fists. Grimm could see the muscles in his jaw working while he surveyed the bloody chaos and found Grimm’s gaze. “I don't know who you are, but I’m sure somehow I’m meant to be here. I’ve had a message from God… a woman. She told me this would happen. She told me to my place was to fight.”

  Grimm inhaled and expelled his breath slowly as something inside of him shifted. Fuck. Now why the fuck did he have to go and say something like that? Respect bloomed inside the lycan. “You stay here and you might see things you wish you hadn’t.”

  “Consider me forewarned,” he said, then threw himself onto the nearest vampire.

  The lunge was well-executed. Grimm couldn’t help but be impressed, although the man went down like Grimm knew he would—like a bag of shit.

  Kali snarled and the flash of black caught his attention. She whipped her body from side to side, the clash and clang of blades sounded like a shaken cutlery drawer. Her movements had slowed, until the tirade of blows was one-sided. Grimm wrenched her attackers off her, his fist smashing bone, bathed in blood—vampire blood. Kali stood there, her sword hanging by her side, unable to protect herself, or them, any longer. The look on her face was one of pure terror. Her creamy pallor now looked like ash.

  “Kali?” He called to her, but he couldn’t stop fighting. He surged forward stepping in front of a blow that’d been meant for the human—a killing blow.

  “Can't... stop... Grimm!” Kali cried. He reached for a vamp, as the bastard latched onto her neck. Grimm’s hand slipped and the over-sized mosquito reared back, hissing, before tearing into her flesh once more. The sucking sounds of triumph and satisfaction filled the air.

  Grimm fought, grabbing his throat.

  “Grimm.” Kali stared at him. Her eyes were wide and soulless and a wisp of black mist trailed from between her lips. His wolf whimpered and Grimm shuddered. He knew whatever was happening was bad—Kali never called him by his name.

  Chapter 22

  Edric

  A WOMAN EXITED the building and waddled across the street in front of Edric’s car. He’d been waiting for eternity after she’d entered the doctor’s surgery.

  This was his life now, waiting. Watching and killing. Their
faces blurred into a bloody scream, and one more demand from God. He’d become nothing more than a murdering robot.

  Edric could feel his human feelings fading. What few he had to start with. The thought disturbed him for a moment. He found himself longing for the vibrant crimson emotions he’d never had. Now his world was grey.

  Something was missing. Someone, more to the point. He longed for another to share his pain, his suffering. He longed for Mercy and to feel their connection again. The need was so intense, it felt like an addiction. But when he closed his eyes and tried to remember his maker, all he saw was Eve. Her murder was the only thought that made his heart race and bought back color to his world. For now, he searched for her amongst the endless line of victims. None of the others he’d hunted were even remotely special. None had the quality he was after—until now.

  He’d spent days watching every supermarket and doctor's surgery until he found her. Her golden hair was the same shade of blonde as the bitch. He wanted to wrap her hair around his fingers and listen to her screams echo inside her chest as he cut her sternum open.

  The blonde climbed into her yellow Suzuki Swift. He followed her into the stream of traffic. She pulled ahead. He wondered if she felt safe and protected. The constant media hadn't helped his plight. The bitches now hid behind locked doors and semi-automatic guns.

  Neither would help them—not now.

  She turned into the parking lot of a grocery store but he drove on. He’d followed her home the day before, when he found her shopping. Careful to make sure he wasn’t noticed, Edric parked down the street. He gathered his tools, locked the car and glanced back at the house before he started walking. The street looked like so many others. The winter grass stunted and sparse, bare branches would bloom come spring—unlike his victims. There were so many houses, so many women for his knife, he wondered when would it end? Only God knew.