I knew that if I took off this necklace, I was screwed. But Alex’s life came above mine. I promised myself no one would end up like Ryan—especially not my little brother. My fingers were on the necklace when Grim faded behind Molly. “You’re a ghost, it matters not where I’d send a soul such of yours,” He was talking down at her and she looked up—wide-eyed and fearful. “Fear’s death has a set date, you, on the other hand, are already dead.”
He lifted the scythe out and she and I both knew he planned to open a passage that sent her straight into flames. She tossed Alex down and disappeared. Fear appeared where she once was and Grim grabbed him by the neck. “Go ahead, I’d like to see you try,” Fear goaded him.
I bent down and Alex scrambled away from them and closer to me. I noticed ghosts were filling up the space around us in my room. Everything about this made me uneasy. Why did Fear come out of hiding when he knew Grim was looking for him and the missing portal chips?
He had a trick up his sleeve and whatever it was started and ended with me and the ghosts. “Don’t be afraid, go ahead and jump inside. The power inside her can bring you all back to life,” he was lying. The devious smirk on his face was so plain to see. Only the ghosts were desperate enough to believe anything he said.
“I can’t bring any of you back.” I forced Alex to his feet and tucked him behind me.
“What’s going on?” Alex asked behind me.
“If you honestly think going inside her body will bring you back to life—you’re all pathetic,” Grim said to them, and Fear only grinned wider.
“Only one way to find out,” Fear mumbled. Grim tightened his hold around Fear’s neck, but he made no move to try and get away.
“If anyone even tries to go near her, you’ll never get to your afterlife. I’ll make you suffer a terrible fate,” his teeth were clenched together as he spoke.
The ghosts were all around us. Their eyes were going back and forth between me and Grim and Fear. They were contemplating their chances of making it near me before Grim got to them. They made their decision—five came at me at once and Grim let go of Fear and swung his scythe toward them—they screamed and evaporated to nothing as the blade touched them. Two were already near me and the necklace reacted.
“What an irritating sight. No wonder I had to come out of hiding,” Fear studied my necklace as he spoke. Grim refocused on Fear instead of the ghosts when he saw that my necklace was still doing its job. “I wonder, though…” He pointed a finger over his chest, in the very spot his mark rested on the skin of mine. “Can she be protected from the one that practically owns her?” He pretended to draw an X on his chest and laughed.
The X was burning to the point that it burnt through my shirt. The knowledge of what he came here to do only seemed to hit us when it was already too late. “Melanie,” my name fell from Grim’s lips like a cry for help. Every ghost in the room ran for me at once. His scythe morphed into a sword and a scream that sounded more like a roar escaped his throat as he swung out and obliterated some of them.
But they were coming at me from every corner of the room. And when the first one reached me, the necklace didn’t react and the X continued to set my skin on fire.
The ghost went inside me and I fell to the ground like a brick—I was a deadweight. I couldn’t move. I didn’t know how many managed to get inside me. I could hear Alex crying next to me and Grim went ballistic.
Heavy… my eyes were so heavy, but I was terrified of giving in to the sleepiness that suddenly filled my entire body.
No wonder Grim fought so hard to keep me away from Fear. Because even he couldn’t protect me against his mark.
I didn’t want to close my eyes. I didn’t want to think that Fear finally succeeded in killing me.
But the darkness came whether I wanted it to or not, and with it, who knew what followed.
Chapter Thirteen
Killian
I could hardly grasp what was happening—how fast things fell to ruin. A murderous sound came from my throat as Melanie fell to the floor the second the first ghost went inside her. Behind me, Fear was laughing like a maniac and he knew there was nothing I could do to kill him today. I focused on destroying every ghost in the room, but I wasn’t quick enough—I didn’t know how many had already slipped inside her.
Panic held me like a vise and it didn’t help that Melanie’s brother kept asking her to wake up as he shook her body. His eyes kept going back to me and Fear as he cried out for his sister.
My essence was as dark as my anger and continued to hide me within it. Once there were no ghosts left, I turned to Fear and slammed him into the wall. I held him by the chin and I squeezed so hard that if he had been a normal human or demon, his jaw would have shattered. “What did you do?” I screamed in his face.
His eyes leveled with mine. “She’s somewhere not even you can reach her.” His words were meant to set me off and it worked.
I was furious—ready to push my boundaries. I didn’t know what he did to her. “I’m going to kill you,” I said through clenched teeth as I dropped him on his feet. He ran his hands down his shirt with a smile and mocked me with it. He didn’t expect me to bury my hand into his chest. For a moment, I reveled in the look on his face as I held his heart in my hand. It beat wildly and with fear—he should be fearful… I was pushing every limit that existed as Grim.
“You can’t,” he hissed, yet his eyes were unsteady… I had him afraid. “I’m immortal, it doesn’t matter what you do to me,” he spat in my face, and I growled—pressing my skull into his forehead.
“Fear is the only one immortal, remember that,” the words echoed with my rage and power. “Marcus, you are a dead demon. You won’t be able to hide inside of Fear much longer. Death has a way of getting its way.”
I squeezed his heart harder and even now, I felt my anger going past its limits. My fingers were clawing and I felt my energy trying to pull out Marcus even now—I was reaching as far as my power would let me go, and inside of me, my own warning came knocking—my own power wouldn’t let me go any further. It wouldn’t let me get Marcus, no matter how easily I could pull him out right now… I could feel his sick, pathetic presence burying himself deeper inside of Fear.
I finally stopped trying to fight myself as Grim—I knew I couldn’t take Marcus’s life right now and so did he, because he laughed. “That’s what I thought. How incredibly pathetic, to be stopped by your own fate.” My hand was still in his chest as he leaned in next to my ear. “Don’t worry, I’ll take my time in ruining her before she finally gives in and accepts death as a means of escaping the hell I put her in.” My essence pooled around us. “Even if she’s not the Vessel—I’ll have my fun in snuffing the light out of what was meant to be yours.”
I clamped my hand over his heart until it burst. His eyes went wide before shutting. He wasn’t dead, he would be back. I flung him across the room and turned to Melanie and Alex. He looked petrified as I moved toward them.
“Stop. Don’t hurt us—” My hands were over his forehead—wiping his memories clean before he could finish his sentence. I caught him before he fell and gently placed him on the floor. Through the house, my power was already sweeping over everything and fixing the damage.
Skin took form on my bones and I was Killian again as I picked Melanie off the floor. Her pulse was strong but when I placed her in my arms, she dangled like she wasn’t okay at all—my fear was coming at me full force, and I was reminded of how fragile her life was compared to mine. I tried to come up with a logical reason as to why she was born human… but I couldn’t.
I never experienced any type of fear until Melanie came into my life. Now it came to me all the time—naturally and so fast that it was crippling.
“Melanie,” I could hear the quiver in my own voice. She was shaking then I saw that it wasn’t her shaking but me. I pulled her limp body closer and when I looked back to where Fear had been laying—he was gone like I expected him to be. “What did he do to you?”
I whispered to her.
I faded to Tess’s house and Penny greeted me outside when she sensed my presence. She took one look at Melanie and her jaw tightened. “What happened?” she asked.
“Fear. I have to get her to the castle, but I need you to call another Reaper to come stay with her brother. Miles is unconscious at her house and the boy is alone.” She nodded and her eyes lingered on my hands… they were still shaking and I couldn’t stop. It took everything I could to hold myself together. She’d never forgive me if I left her brother alone…
“Get a grip… you’re no good to her if you fall apart before helping her,” When I opened my mouth to say something, she held up her hand. “Go, I got everything handled here.”
I didn’t waste another second and faded into the castle.
When I saw Lincoln, I started to unravel. I lifted her further up against my chest and held back what might be tears. The Grim Reaper didn’t cry, but Melanie was giving me all sorts of firsts. “Fear got to her,” I told him in a rush.
“What happened? Bring her to the couch!” I followed Lincoln into the room and sat her down on the couch.
“What’s going on?” Ryan stepped into the door and took one look at Melanie and rushed over. “What happened to her?”
“Fear was there and because of him, the necklace couldn’t protect her from the ghosts entering her body,” I panicked. “I don’t know what he did to her. Can you do something?” I asked Lincoln.
“Have you tried using your healing on her?” Right, I could heal as well. I couldn’t focus on what I might be able to do for her myself.
I brought my hand above her chest and my healing sparked to life. Only there was nothing to heal… absolutely nothing. “I can’t!”
“Calm down,” Lincoln told me and shoved me out of the way. His healing came to life under his fingertips as he hovered his hand up and down her body. After a minute, he sighed in frustration. “There’s nothing wrong, physically,” he said.
“Something’s wrong, look at her!” I yelled. “She won’t wake up.” I gripped her shoulders and gently shook. “Melanie, Love, wake up.” Nothing. I placed my hand over her heartbeat—it was steady.
“I think he might have trapped her in a dream state,” Lincoln told me.
I didn’t like the sound of that. I’ve been around since the beginning, so I had seen plenty of death within the realms of dreams. “What do you mean? How could he with ghosts?”
“Easy. He just needed a witch or any demon that deals with spells and there you have it.” Lincoln studied me. “Grim, you should know more than I, nothing is impossible when it comes to the resources in our realm.”
“Then all I need to do is force the ghosts out.” I fisted my hand as it became bone and right when Lincoln yelled for me to stop, I reached into Melanie’s chest. It was easy to feel what wasn’t supposed to be there, but when I tried to pull it out her entire body jerked forward.
‘Stop! Are you mad? You could do more harm than anything!”
I sunk to my knees beside the couch as I watched her. She looked like she was sleeping peacefully. “I can’t do anything! Who knows what he’s putting her through right now.”
The tremors were running through my body again. I was powerless. I didn’t want to fall into despair—no matter what. I couldn’t do anything when he could kill her in her sleep.
Lincoln moved behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder. “You have no choice,” Lincoln didn’t even hesitate to say the words. “The only one that can save her is herself. It’s all up to her.”
“Melanie,” Ryan was behind the couch. He grabbed her hand as he smiled down at her. “You didn’t come this far to lose in your sleep. Your entire life has been a nightmare because of Fear. I say give him hell.” I was stunned by the boy’s words… how could he take it with ease? Then I saw his hand that held hers was shaking. That was how I knew the extent of his feelings for her right now were no different than mine. And right now, I couldn’t hate him for it.
I looked at Melanie. I focused in on the sound of her heartbeat—the only thing that gave me comfort. I decided to hand it over to her. The only thing I could do was have faith in her.
I grabbed the hand closest to hers while Ryan still held the other one tight. My resolve was clearer than ever before. There would be no more hesitating on what was right or wrong…
Looked like, in the end, I would have to use a page out of Fear’s handbook.
When she woke, I was never going to leave her side.
Then, her heart rate spiked and water started shooting out of her mouth—she was choking.
Chapter Fourteen
Melanie
Water.
Something had a hold of my foot and I was being dragged down… further and further. I was finally able to open my eyes but when I did, I couldn’t breathe. I made the mistake of sucking in water when it should have been air. I looked up and saw the light growing distant—the surface was so far away and the water was so dark.
My lungs were on fire, and I thought that I should be dead. I didn’t know what was happening… it was hard to focus on anything besides the pain of drowning. It hurt so much, I almost wished for it to end sooner.
“Already want to die so soon?” I looked down in the direction of the voice—it belonged to Fear. He was the one pulling me down. I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was there. His voice was muffled from the water, but I couldn’t be mistaken. I struggled and tried kicking him away. “I want to make sure your death is slow and painful,” he laughed afterward. “Just because you aren’t the Vessel doesn’t mean I won’t make use of you once you die and belong to me.”
Then I remembered. Fear had used Alex as leverage, and Molly was there as well. The ghosts managed to jump inside me, then what? What happened? Where was this?
He released my foot and the next thing I knew, I was falling onto my bedroom floor. Water came down over me. I spluttered and coughed up water, only when I lifted myself to my feet, I wasn’t wet. Which was odd…
Nothing was right about all of this.
My bedroom was dark—I never left my shade lamp off at night. I was confused and disgruntled—what had Fear done? If not for the small bit of light peeking in from the window, I wouldn’t have been able to make out the objects in the room. But the first thing I made myself do was run over to the light switch, it wouldn’t come on. I tried the lamp on my nightstand—no luck either. There was a creak outside my door—possibly somewhere in the hallway or… Alex’s bedroom. I never worked well with my own fear—my irrational dread of the dark amplified everything and made it worse.
Where was Killian? I couldn’t wait on him, not if Fear or Molly was somewhere in the house. I had to find Alex. There was another creak on the other side of the door and I lost some of my nerve. I took a deep breath and walked to my door and opened it. I heard Alex scream and all that mattered to me was getting to him—I ran through the hallway, forgetting that I was scared myself.
“Alex!” He stopped crying by the time I got to his door. It was slightly open but not enough for me to look inside. I pushed it open. Only it wasn’t Alex that awaited me. A faded silhouette stood a few feet in front of me. I scanned the room for the person it belonged to but there was no one. It wasn’t a silhouette—it started to expand and where it once stood in the form of a human was now disfiguring into something unrecognizable. Only I did recognize it from a recent encounter and it chilled me to the bone.
The black fog fell to the ground and started moving after me. I took a few steps backwards before I turned around and ran. There was no light in the house—nothing about the house felt normal. Something kept bothering me about what was happening.
“Killian!” I yelled as I ran down the stairs. I looked back and the fog was already dropping down through the bannisters.
I figured it was best to get outside… I didn’t want to be trapped in a corner of the house with that thing but when I tried to open the front door, it wouldn’t open. Of
course, it wouldn’t. I slammed my hand against the door in frustration.
When I started to run in a different direction, something caught my eye outside the window. I stopped and pulled the blinds back. There was nothing. Everything was gone.
Someone was raking a knife against a metal counter. It was coming from the kitchen—the screeching hurt my ears. Wait, maybe it wasn’t a knife… but claws? Fear.
This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. Killian would never let Fear take me.
Those words were what kept me from falling apart. I wasted too much time and the fog was closing in. I couldn’t run in any direction. The living room and kitchen were both blocked.
Hands expanded out from the fog—coming closer. “Melanie,” those voices slithered my name.
I backed into the door. This wasn’t real. This wasn’t real. Fear was messing with my head somehow. The ghosts! I tried to think. I passed out and… this was a dream? Yes, it had to be. I was in water before I landed in my room, that alone didn’t make sense!
One of the hands latched onto my arm and I couldn’t even jerk away—instead, it felt like I was being sucked in. I was breathing hard, trying not to scream.
This realm is real. You die in this place; you die for real.
With the voice, my power sparked from my hand and vaporized the fog. I gulped in a lungful of air. I didn’t get all of the fog, but the blast from my hand was enough to make a path through it. I ran for the living room because I feared I knew what awaited me in the kitchen. Only I chose wrong.
Fear’s red eyes met mine and that was all I saw before he was slinging me across the room. I didn’t know how hard I smacked into the wall but it was enough to make me feel like I was paralyzed. I rolled over on my back and gritted my teeth. I was scared to move—this pain was real. Which meant the voice wasn’t kidding around—my dreams made the perfect place to kill me—it completely isolated me from the one person that could stop him from hurting me.
'Til Death We Meet Again (A Grim Awakening Book 3) Page 11