Grim Rising (Aisling Grimlock Book 7)

by Amanda M. Lee

  “She must get that from Lily.”

  “She does indeed.”

  Yeah. Puke, puke and more puke.

  23

  TWENTY-THREE

  I lost track of Dad’s conversation with his good friend Evie as I perused the store, picking a spot in the corner so I could flip through several books. Unlike the tomes at Grimlock Manor, the books in Dauphine’s shop seemed to be old and focused on black arts. Of course, not twenty minutes ago she said she’d abandoned her interest in black arts years ago.

  “I thought you said that you straddled modern times with your beliefs?” I asked when there was a break in the conversation.

  Dauphine, who was in the middle of pouring Dad another cup of tea, glanced in my direction. “What are you looking at?”

  “The Secret to Unlocking the Dead,” I replied, reading from the front cover. “There’s a bunch of stuff in here about raising the dead.”

  Dad left his tea on the counter and headed in my direction, lifting the book from my lap so he could flip through it. “This book looks old.”

  “It is old,” Dauphine said, appearing at Dad’s side. She brushed her hand over his arm, giving the impression it was an innocent act. I knew better. “I offer a multitude of books. It’s part of the mystique.”

  “This book claims that raising the dead is possible,” Dad noted, taking the chair across from me and focusing on the pages. “You indicated that wasn’t the case.”

  “I didn’t say it wasn’t possible,” Dauphine countered. “I merely said I didn’t participate.”

  “So it is possible?” I asked, grabbing another book from the shelf. “How is it done?”

  “I’ve never done it, but the rituals are fairly standardized,” Dauphine replied. “Mostly it’s done through blood magic.”

  “Meaning?”

  “The person interested in the ritual paints symbols on the dead with their own blood and performs an incantation.”

  “And that’s all it takes?”

  “I believe it’s more in depth than that – and the priest or priestess must possess a certain amount of power – but, yes, that’s basically it.” Dauphine gave me a challenging look. “I doubt very much anyone locally is doing it.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Dad said, shifting in the chair. “Aisling was approached by a man who hissed like a snake several nights ago. She punched him in the face, causing him to cease moving. Now, she punches like a man thanks to her brothers, but I’ve never seen her hit anyone with enough force to kill.”

  “One punch can kill if it’s delivered in the proper manner,” Dauphine pointed out.

  “That’s true, but the medical examiner stated that the man had been dead for at least a month,” Dad said. “Then, two days later, she woke to find the police poking around her backyard because someone called in a tip about another body. Even though that body wasn’t ravaged by the elements, the medical examiner believes he died six weeks ago.”

  “Really?” Dauphine didn’t try to hide her interest. “I haven’t heard anything about either case on the news.”

  “I’m sure the police are keeping the details quiet. They don’t want to start a panic,” Dad said. “There’s enough craziness without people whispering about zombies overrunning the area.”

  “You mentioned other bodies were found,” Dauphine said. “What do we know about them?”

  “Not much. Aisling’s fiancé is trying to get additional information. Hopefully we’ll know more this evening.”

  “Fiancé?” Dauphine smirked in my direction. “What kind of man would put up with your attitude voluntarily?”

  I opened my mouth, something snarky on the tip of my tongue, but Dad answered before I could.

  “A good one,” he said. “Griffin is doing his best to track information even though it isn’t easy to come by. The bodies were found in different municipalities and counties. That means multiple jurisdictions are investigating, and we all know they don’t like sharing information.”

  “No, that’s definitely true.” Dauphine rubbed her chin as she considered the situation. “You saw the one body up close, right?” She stared at me.

  I nodded. “He was older. I would say in his sixties or seventies. He had a mark on his neck.”

  “A mark?”

  “It looked like a snake with lines through it.”

  “The Damballah-Wedo,” Dauphine mused. “That would seem to point to voodoo.”

  “We don’t have anything that doesn’t point to voodoo,” I said. “In fact, this all happened after I stopped in your shop to find out what Angelina was doing.”

  “And I’m still not going to tell you about that,” Dauphine warned, shifting from one foot to the other. She appeared to be lost in thought. I couldn’t decide if she was trying to help because she wanted to slide into Dad’s good graces or if she was simply putting on an act.

  “I already know what Angelina was doing here,” I offered.

  “Really?”

  “Her mother is dying. She’s trying to find a way to save her, or at the very least prolong her life. You told her you could help.”

  “I said I could offer a little help,” Dauphine clarified. “I didn’t say I could stave off death forever.”

  “No, but you gave her false hope, and that’s just as bad.”

  “I didn’t get the feeling that you liked Angelina,” Dauphine challenged. “Now you’re acting as if you’re fighting on her behalf.”

  “Oh, I can’t stand her. That doesn’t mean I think it’s okay to take advantage of her when she’s going through something so terrible.”

  “Aisling.” Dad scorched me with a warning look before focusing on Dauphine. “Ignore her. She’s … conflicted.”

  “She’s a reaper,” Dauphine said. “I think all reapers are conflicted on matters of life and death.”

  “Aisling is conflicted because Angelina and she have a difficult relationship.”

  “She’s my arch nemesis,” I offered.

  Dauphine rolled her eyes as Dad smirked.

  “She’ll be alone when her mother is gone,” I continued, sobering. “It’s hard for her. You shouldn’t give her false hope.”

  “And who says I gave her false hope?”

  “Well, you just said you don’t dabble in zombies, yet you reportedly offered to prolong her mother’s life. It seems to me you can’t have it both ways.”

  “I never offered to prolong her mother’s life,” Dauphine clarified. “I simply said I might be able to make things easier.”

  “How?”

  “That’s really not my information to share.” Dauphine forced a smile. I knew if my father wasn’t present it would be a scowl. “Now, how else can I help you?”

  “I’m not sure,” Dad said. “We’re chasing our tails here. Aisling is convinced it’s zombies and I’m not so sure. I think it might be something else.”

  “Like what?”

  “I have no idea, but zombies are far too fantastical.”

  “Zombies were considered normal a century ago,” Dauphine pointed out. “It’s only this country and modern times that seem to disbelieve the condition.”

  I arched a confrontational eyebrow. “Condition? It’s not like psoriasis or menopause.”

  “Isn’t it?” Dauphine’s eyes flashed. “I think you’re the type of person who wants to believe one thing. You won’t open yourself to other possibilities. I’m sure you get that from your mother.”

  “Yes, because Dad spends all of his time hunting zombies and tying them up in the backyard so we can turn them into pets.”

  “Aisling.” Dad made a clucking sound with his tongue as he shook his head. “I’m more reticent to accept the idea than she is.”

  “I think you’re more open than you want to admit.” Dauphine winked. “You’re still handsome as the dickens, too.”

  “Oh, puke.” I made a face as I stood, thankful the bell over the door jangled so I had something to focus on. The two individuals who w
alked through the door were disheveled, neither wearing a coat, and for a moment I thought they were homeless.

  “Can I help you?” Dauphine asked haltingly.

  The figures – a man who looked to be in his fifties and a woman who couldn’t be older than twenty – turned in our direction. I noticed right away that their eyes were the same milky consistency as Jed Burnham’s that first night. Oh, and the woman had a gaping chest wound.

  “Son of a … !”

  Dad was on his feet before I could utter a curse, his hand sweeping out as he moved to push me behind him. I didn’t consider myself the sort of woman who needed to be saved – not ever – so I ignored his efforts as I moved around the display case to get a better look.

  “I don’t understand.” Dauphine’s face drained of color as she stared at the man and the woman. “What’s going on?”

  “They’re zombies, you idiot,” I hissed, grabbing a jewel-handled knife from the shelf and tilting my head as I focused on the male zombie. “How did they open the door?”

  “That’s a good question,” Dad said, giving the female a wide berth as he moved closer to me. He was determined to make sure I stayed out of trouble – something I overheard him promising Griffin in the hallway after breakfast. I bit my tongue to keep from pointing out that I’d already faced off with one of these things and survived.

  “Evie, come here,” Dad ordered, reaching for her arm.

  The male zombie hissed, his grotesque gray tongue appearing between his lips. He stuck out a hand, trying to reach through the display shelf, but I easily evaded him.

  “I’d like an apology,” I announced. “You didn’t believe it was zombies. What do you say now?”

  “That we’re in a very odd position,” Dad replied, his eyes flashing.

  “That’s not the answer I’m looking for.”

  “Fine. You were right. Is that what you want to hear?”

  “It will do for now.” I narrowed my eyes as the female zombie moved closer to the shelf. If I didn’t know better – and wasn’t convinced that she couldn’t see out of those milky eyes – I would have thought she was reading the bindings on the books. “What is she doing?”

  “Looking for dinner,” Dad replied, reaching for the knife. “Give me that.”

  “No. I found it first. I’m going to stab them.”

  “Give it to me right now.” Dad’s voice echoed throughout the room. “I am not kidding.”

  “Fine.” I grudgingly handed over the knife. “If I get bit and die because of this, I hope Griffin makes you pay.”

  “If you die on me I won’t care about anything like that. Now … come here.” Dad grabbed my arm and jerked me so I was behind him. “I’m going to stab him in the head.”

  “Okay, but don’t be surprised if you get called into the police station as my accomplice.” My attention returned to the woman as her hand floated over the books. Back and forth. Back and forth. When it dropped a shelf lower, her body stiffened – as if she sensed something – and her fingers wrapped around the spine of a large book. “What is she doing?”

  “Stay back,” Dad ordered, his eyes focused on the man. My father, in addition to being an avid reader and reality television hater, is an accomplished fighter. His movements were long and fluid as he stepped around the shelf and slammed the knife into the man’s temple.

  I watched, interested despite myself, as the man blinked through sightless eyes before dropping to his knees. He reached out with grubby fingers, as if trying to get his hands on me, but then toppled to the floor, a hiss escaping through his partially parted lips.

  “Gross,” I muttered, wrinkling my nose before remembering I’d been watching the woman. When I turned back to the shelf she was gone. Panic momentarily overwhelmed me as I imagined her creeping up behind me. Then the bell over the door jangled again, and she simply strolled out, a book clutched to her chest. Other than the festering chest wound – oh, and the way she lurched rather than walked – she looked like a normal shoplifter. “What the … ?”

  “Did she just leave with a book?” Dad was as confused as me.

  “She stole a book?” Dauphine, who had been watching the interaction with something akin to detached interest, jerked her head up.

  “Yes, you have a zombie shoplifter,” I drawled. “Call the police, because I’m dying to hear you explain this one.”

  “Step off, Aisling,” Dad snapped. “Now is not the time for your mouth.”

  “When is the time? I’m willing to wait.”

  “Do you ever shut up?” Dauphine challenged.

  “No.”

  Dad ignored our bickering and strode toward the door, stepping over the body on the floor as he focused his attention outside. “We can’t just let her go.”

  “No, by all means,” I said. “I think you should hunt her down in a crowd of people, stab her in the head and take back the book. No one will even notice.”

  “Shut up, Aisling.” Dad opened the door, but he didn’t get a chance to step through it. Detective Green and another man, this one dressed in a uniform, cut off his avenue of escape. The look on Green’s face was full of disgust, and it only grew darker when he caught sight of the body on the floor.

  “Does someone want to tell me what’s going on here?”

  “I’m pretty sure he’s talking to you, Dad.”

  “Thank you, Aisling,” Dad gritted out, gripping the knife as he struggled with how to approach the situation. “I’m happy to see you, detective.” Dad forced a smile, taking me by surprise. His reaction was something I expected from … well … myself. “We have a body. It’s your lucky day.”

  Yeah. I definitely get that from him.

  “SO HE JUST WALKED into the store with a young woman – one who was openly bleeding – and attacked while she stole a book and escaped?”

  One look at Green’s face told me exactly what he thought of that story.

  “I think you should call Neil,” I said, folding my arms over my chest when Green murdered me with a glare. “Oh, don’t give me that look. You’ve been following me for days. You could at least be useful when we’re being attacked by … crazy people.”

  Even though I fully believed we were dealing with zombies, I knew better than to use that word in front of the police detective investigating me for a string of murders.

  “And you expect me to believe that?” Green pressed.

  “It’s the truth,” Dad answered, running a hand through his hair as he worked to calm himself. “I don’t know what more you want from us. We were attacked and fought back.”

  “It’s just that … well … this is the third body your daughter has been responsible for in the past week,” Green noted. “That’s a little more than a coincidence in my book.”

  “She’s not responsible for this one,” Dad argued. “I am. I shoved the knife in his head.”

  “Is there a reason you did that before calling us?”

  “Self-preservation.”

  “I don’t think that’s going to fly in court.”

  “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” Dad lobbed a weighted look in my direction. “Call Neil and have his team report to the police station. I think I’m about to be arrested.”

  Green didn’t miss the gleam in Dad’s eye – it was almost a challenge – but he immediately backed down. “We won’t be arresting you at this juncture,” he said. “We need to wait on the medical examiner and see what he says.”

  “He’s going to say the guy has been dead for days … or maybe even weeks,” I muttered, sliding my eyes to Dauphine as she stared at the empty slot in the bookshelf. She’d been largely quiet since the police arrived. I couldn’t really blame her. Explaining what happened made all of us look like idiots.

  “I guess we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we?” Green sneered.

  I ignored him as I shuffled to Dauphine, pursing my lips as I followed her stare. “Do you know what book she took?”

  Dauphine nodded, her expression unr
eadable. “The Book of the Dead.”

  I filed the name away to share with Cillian. “Do you still think that no one in this area is capable of raising the dead?”

  “Obviously not.”

  “And you’re not doing it, right?”

  Dauphine turned slowly, the movement deliberate. “And why would I raise the dead to steal a book from my own shop?”

  I shrugged. “I have no idea. If you did it, I’m going to find out. I don’t care how friendly you used to be with my father.”

  “Does that bother you? My relationship with your father, I mean.”

  “You don’t have a relationship with my father,” I challenged. “You knew him way back when. Sure, I’m guessing you used to get naked with him – which is so gross I’ll have to purge it from my mind with endless bottles of wine tonight – but you don’t know him.”

  “You might be surprised,” Dauphine argued. “I know him better than you think.”

  “I guess we’ll have to wait and see on that, huh?” I held her gaze for several moments before turning. “If Dad isn’t under arrest, does that mean we can go?”

  Green looked pained, but he ultimately nodded. “Yes. Don’t leave the area. We’ll be watching you.”

  “Thanks for the heads up.” I grabbed Dad’s arm and tugged him toward the door. “We should stop and get more balloons on the way home.” I smirked as Green scowled. “We need food coloring, too.”

  “Whatever you want.” Dad ran his hand down the back of my head, his fingers shaking. “You were right, and I didn’t believe you. I think that deserves a prize.”

  “Oh, I’m getting multiple prizes.” I refused to give Dauphine the satisfaction of looking over my shoulder. “I’ll want ice cream, too.”

  “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

  24

  TWENTY-FOUR

  I needed help carrying my loot into the house. Dad did his best to ignore the snickers and stares from my brothers as we hit his office, but it was difficult.

  “Shut up,” Dad ordered.

  “Is there anything left at the mall?” Redmond asked, grabbing the huge stuffed sloth from the top of the pile. “Why do you have all of this stuff?”