Grave Omen (Raina Kirkland Book 3)

by Diana Graves

  Uncle Robert stood by the fireplace, far away from the law enforcement with Alistair by his side. Both of them looked as if they just stepped out of a club. Ruy’s bachelor party, probably. Robert looked just as he had at the rehearsal dinner, besides the florescent wristbands and only half buttoned dress shirt. Alistair was dressed well and classy in a white button-up shirt and black slacks, with his golden blond locks down and resting on his shoulders. He was sporting the same florescent wristbands that Robert had. I didn’t see one on Damon’s wrist, but I wasn’t looking either.

  “Where are Lidia and the kids?” I asked Robert.

  “Raina, thank the Goddess you’re okay. I knew that wasn’t you they found. I told them. I said you’d only been gone a couple of hours at most, and those body parts looked like they’d been in the water longer than that.”

  “You showed my family pictures!” I shouted. One EI officer pointed at Knight. I turned back to Fillips, but instead I got a face full of hunter Henry’s broad chest.

  “Sorry,” he said loudly. “I had to use your toilet. I always drop a duce after seeing chopped up bodies parts. Weird, I know.” He said it all with a smile, all in good humor, but no one else was smiling. He seemed to ignore that and passed between Fillips and I to pat the silent hunter on the back. “Told you that body wasn’t her, Doug.” Doug gave him a scolding look of disdain.

  “Body?” questioned Eros as she poked her head from around the corner.

  “I thought I told y’all to stay downstairs?” Robert said.

  “Well with all this shouting what do you expect?” asked Aunt Lidia coming from the kitchen. She handed the police and hunters each a glass of cold sweet tea from a tray.

  “Can we talk in private?” I asked Fillips.

  “Yes,” she said with a sharp tongue. “Lead the way.”

  I looked over the room again. “Um, Alistair, can you join us?” I asked. I needed both their help, and I didn’t feel like repeating myself.

  “Why him?” Mato almost shouted. He sounded childish and I gave him a raised eye brow. “He is not a part of this investigation,” he continued in an attempt to add reason to his outburst.

  “What I have to say concerns him,” I said.

  “If it has anything to do with this case then it concerns me, too,” Mato said, and he moved up to stand beside me.

  I face palmed. “Fine, fine.”

  “I don’t like this,” said Ass. “You call us in on a case and now you’re having private meetings with a witch and vampires after we drug a shit ton of body parts out of a fucking river with her name carved into the biggest chunk. I don’t fucking like this. I’m out!” he shouted and stomped his way out of my living room.

  I gave Ass a mean look as he stomped his way around the living room, weaving between the police. He stopped at me and gave me the stink eye in return. “I’ll see you later, witch,” and then he kept walking. Knight and Doug followed him out the door. Good. Three hunters down and one more to go.

  Fillips and I looked at Henry. “Don’t worry about me, boss. I’m peachy keen,” he said. He took a seat on my sofa and sipped on my aunt’s sweet tea without a care in the world. He looked comfortable.

  “Good, I’ll be back,” Fillips said to Henry and her men before she put a hand on my shoulder. “Where are we heading?”

  “The library is on the right down the hall.”

  Soon after we settled into the library, my office, Damon came in with two cups of hot coffee, heavy on the soy cream and sugar, just the way I liked it. I took a mug and snuggled into the love seat with my shoes off. Damon sat beside me and I leaned on him. Detective Fillips was sitting in my swivel chair at my desk while Alistair sat on the desk. Mato dragged one of the black chairs from in front of the desk to right beside it. I knew they were all looking at me, waiting for me to speak, but I’d enjoy my coffee first—sweet, rich and hot. I smiled with my eyes closed as it traveled down my throat and warmed my insides. It wasn’t until it reached my stomach that I remembered the baby. Poo bears. I set the coffee down on the floor with a pout. Caffeine bad. Alistair quickly picked up the cup and set it on the desk. I thanked him.

  “What’s going on Raina? That woman had your name carved across her breasts,” said Fillips.

  “Which were not large enough to be yours,” Mato added. “I tried telling Fillips this but she became hysterical nonetheless.”

  “That’s enough,” Alistair said with real anger in his voice. “Don’t talk about Raina like that.”

  Mato smiled. “You do not like being reminded that I have slept with her, do you? And why should you care? You are not, nor have you ever been Raina’s lover.”

  “Oh, shut up!” I said. “I have to tell you all something, okay. It’s important and you’ll want to rant and rave or whatever, but I have to ask you to let me say all that I have to say and just accept it as truth. Can you do that, because I don’t think I have the strength to deal with any more dramatics tonight?”

  “Tell us, Raina. What’s going on?” said Damon in his comforting husky voice that I’d grown to associate with everything pleasant, everything good in my life.

  “I know why people were burned alive in the cages and I know why that family was killed tonight. Me, it’s all because of me.”

  “How?” asked Fillips.

  “It can’t be your fault, Raina. You feel as though you’re responsible for the world, but you’re just you. As wonderful and capable as you are, you can’t save everyone,” said Damon, ever my cheerleader.

  “Let her talk,” said Mato.

  “Be careful, Raina,” warned Alistair.

  “Careful,” I chuckled. The very idea seemed ludicrous. “It’s because of what I am.”

  “A witch?” asked Fillips.

  I shook my head, “No, it’s because I’m a dem…,” I began to say but Damon and Alistair both interrupted me at once.

  “Raina,” Alistair said, while Damon said, “I don’t think you being a living vampire has anything to do with these murders.”

  Mato and Fillips looked fully confused. I looked from Damon to Alistair with a frown. “People are dying. My family is in danger. The same people who did those things out there are after me because of what I am.”

  Fillips stood then. “Are you saying that we have some kind of violent gang out there committing atrocities and now they’re planning on killing you and your family, the same way they killed that family tonight.”

  “Yeah, sort of, but—,” I began, but she interrupted me.

  “Was that some kind of warning for you then? Those sick fuckers! We need to get you and your family somewhere safe.”

  “No, listen,” I said.

  “Raina,” Alistair warned. “Obviously this murderous cult or whatever they are saw your name in the newspaper and they’re targeting you because you’re so well known. What better way to make a name for themselves?” He was looking at me with intense shut the fuck up eyes. He and Damon clearly still felt I needed to keep what I was a secret. They didn’t know about The Hunt. I closed my eyes, trying to think of how best to tell them, especially Damon.

  “All the more reason to get you all somewhere safe.”

  “I do not think that is necessary or wise,” said Mato. “If we have any hope of stopping these men, we need to draw them out. Before tonight, we had no idea what their next move would be. Now we know. But if we hide Raina away, they may just start killing others in her place, like the unidentified family we pulled out of the river tonight.”

  “You want to use Raina as bait?” spat Alistair.

  Mato stood then and his chair crashed to the ground with the force of it. “I want these men stopped.”

  Fillips put a small hand on Mato’s shoulder. “No, what you’re saying makes sense.” She turned to me, “I’ll assign a car to park right outside your home. If this cult makes a move, we’ll be here to stop them.”

  “Agreed,” said Alistair with tight lips.

  Damon’s head was down. He was
staring at the floor; which let me know that he was unhappy and thinking hard. He was probably trying to think of an argument against Mato’s logic.

  “Its fine, honey,” I whispered and stroked his arm. “You can take Thomas and Katie to your old apartment at the Bastion and Robert, Lidia and my cousins can get a motel for now. I don’t want anyone in harm’s way,” I said.

  He looked up at me with a jerk. “I’d never leave your side, but I can send Thomas and your family to the Bastion to keep them safe. I’m sure Alistair can find room for them.”

  “I can,” said Alistair. I smiled and mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to him before resting my head on Damon’s shoulder.

  “I’ll let my men know what’s happening,” Fillips said as she made her way to the door, but before she opened it she turned around and looked at me. “Who was that man on your phone before it cut out?”

  “Uh, just some jerk,” I said. “I was visiting my brother at this night club when you called.”

  “I hope you kicked his ass.”

  “I did,” I lied.

  “Good,” she said, and then she was gone to gather her men and let them know the game plan, but there was so much she didn’t know. I just hoped that what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.

  SHE’S COMING

  KATIE CAME INTO the library after Fillips left, making Mato the only person in the room who didn’t know that I was a demigoddess. I wasn’t sure if I should have or would have kicked him out. I almost didn’t care, but Alistair did.

  “You know what’s going on; now leave,” he said to Mato in a not so friendly tone.

  Katie made a point to avoid both of them while she made her way to me. She sat beside me on the other side so that I was sandwiched between her and Damon. She leaned over and whispered in my ear, a pointless attempt at a private statement in a room with two vampires and a shape shifter with terrific hearing. “If they start fighting, my money’s on Alistair.”

  Mato glared at her with such a severe look that it made her jump with fright when she saw it. I never thought such beautiful gold eyes could be cold, but he managed it. The look was intense and screamed a threat of violence. It was a bit of an overreaction on his part, and I might have forgiven it given what he’d endured every night since The Hunt ritual had begun, so much death. But it was my sister he threatened. She moved closer to me and that made him look at me. My look wasn’t a pleasant one.

  “I don’t take kindly to people threatening my sister, Mato.”

  “I said nothing,” he said, but we both knew what I was talking about. Maybe he truly hated her that much just for that simple comment, but I doubted it. I was pretty certain he was just looking for a person he could direct his anger at, someone not as powerful as Alistair or as elusive as Orestes and his people.

  “It was implied!” I shouted at him as I stood abruptly. There was a pinching ache in my stomach that made the movement awkward and only my stubbornness kept me from showing any sign of pain. “I can ask nicely or demand it, but either way you’re not staying.” Maybe I was being petty, too. Maybe some of my anger was coming from my frustration of still being attracted to him. That’s it, yell like a crazy person and drive away the temptation. Seems legit reasoning.

  “Raina,” he began.

  “Go! Get the fuck out of my house, Mato!” I roared. Anger flashed across his face and I could have sworn I felt the heat of it in my mind, but he turned his back on me and left.

  I grabbed my stomach and lowered myself back onto the love seat, but it wasn’t comfortable anymore. Sitting just hurt, as if I was forcing my bones to do something they didn’t want to do and I had to stand back up. “Shit,” I breathed. It felt like my hips were being ripped apart. “Can’t I get a fucking break?” I almost laughed through gritted teeth.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Katie, and Alistair rushed to my side.

  “I don’t know,” I said with real fear in my voice.

  I couldn’t sit, but the pain was getting to the point that I could hardly stand any longer. There was terrific pressure bearing down on my pelvic region. It wasn’t like before. There was also a huge amount of pain in my back this time, like severe cramps. Imagine a charley-horse in your leg and now put that kind of screaming pain in your back! Fuck! All of this I felt while my lady parts were stinging as though I had a massive open wound down there and someone just poured rubbing alcohol on it. It was the worst pain I’d ever experienced in my entire life and I fell to the floor. I was trying to hold back my screams while on my hands and knees. I let out only bursts of pathetic whimpers while I tried to breathe past the ripping sensation in my nether regions.

  “It’s the baby!” shouted Damon. I looked up at him as the pain was beginning to ebb. He was kneeling over me but talking to the people standing in the door, police and family. My cousins looked worried. The police looked almost annoyed. I thought I was being quiet. I thought of Thomas. I didn’t want him to see me like that.

  “She’s in labor,” said Alistair

  “It’s too early,” said Kent.

  “Oh my Goddess!” Aunt Lidia exclaimed as she pushed her way through the crowd at the door and ran to me. “I know I’m asking a lot, but you have to breathe and don’t push, no matter how much you may want to. We need to get you to a hospital.” She looked up at Damon, “Do you have a non-human friendly hospital in this city?”

  “The Bastion is fully capable of handling this delivery,” Alistair said.

  “Your vampires have many babies?” Detective Fillips asked sarcastically. Her face and tone were heavily patronizing. Great, everyone had a chip on their shoulder, and I had a baby in my gut.

  But Alistair ignored her spiteful demeanor and just explained to her, “Despite the fifty vampire limit that the federal government has placed on all European American vampire collectives, we are a large collective because we take in all manner of beings.”

  “An equal opportunity vampire nest; interesting…” said Henry.

  “Yup, yup, totally noteworthy. Can we go?” I said, trying to pick myself up off of the floor with Katie’s help.

  “Flying would be faster,” Damon suggested.

  “Do you want to do the honors?” Alistair asked him.

  He looked down at me and said, “No, I can form wings, but I think a vampire can move faster.”

  Alistair gave a slight bow of his head and moved in front of me to take me in his arms, but I put a hand on his chest to stop him. “Who’s staying and who’s going? Someone needs to stay with Thomas,” I said.

  Most of my cousins raised their hands, all of them but Everett in fact. Robert said, “I’ll stay, too.”

  “I want to go!” shouted Thomas from behind the crowd.

  “You have school tomorrow,” I said as he squeezed through.

  “But you’re having a baby…” he whined.

  “I’m going. I’ll keep an eye on Tommy,” said Lidia. I gave her a smile of thanks.

  “Fine, you can come, but you have to listen to Lidia,” I said. Really, between Halloween and a wedding, he wasn’t going to be paying much attention in class anyway. Add a new baby being born and it really would be just a waste of his time to go to school. There was way too much to be excited about.

  “I’m sending an escort with you,” said Fillips. “I’m going to keep an eye on you until we catch those bastards.”

  “I assure you that she’ll be well protected inside Bastion Fatal,” said Alistair.

  “I’m sure you truly think so, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I just trusted your word,” she fired back.

  “I’ll leave it to Raina, then.”

  I gave them both a look of impatience. “Hey, the more the merrier, right? Just take me there before another contraction comes. I don’t want to be in the air when it hap…” and, before I could finish that sentence Alistair gathered me in his arms. He grabbed my legs by my thighs and spread them around his waist. This position felt more comfortable but it definitely didn’t look right. I wr
apped my arms around his neck and hung on for dear life. With as much air time as I was getting this week, I couldn’t afford to be scared of heights any longer. They say desensitization is the key to conquering fear. I guess we’d see if that rings true for me.

  “Damon?” I said with my head snug against Alistair’s chest and Alistair turned so that Damon was in my line of sight. “I want you to name her, so think about that while you’re driving, please?”

  “Her,” he said softly. “How do you know?”

  I didn’t know what to say but Aunt Lidia did. With her hand on Katie’s shoulder she said, “Women’s intuition, Damon. I always knew the sex of my children before anyone else.”

  Of course that wasn’t it at all, but bringing up demons and angels right then would have probably postponed the whole flying away thing. A bomb shell like that could not be let alone. They’d force me to elaborate on that tidbit of information, and I just wanted to go; maybe get an epidural? It was so against my elf culture, but screw culture! If I could forgo the whole pain thing, well that would be just swell.

  Damon leaned in and laid a gentle kiss on my lips. Inches from my face he smiled. “I’ll come up with something fitting.” He kissed me once more before Alistair started walking out of the room with me clinging to his chest.

  Once outside we ran into Mato standing on the porch. His eyes glowed gold in the dark as we approached the steps.

  “I don’t suppose you want me there?” he asked as Alistair climbed down the stairs.

  “I don’t understand why you would want to be there,” I said.

  “I still love you.”

  Awe, man. He was messing with my head. Why? Why at that moment of all moments. My head was already scrambled eggs, thanks to Raphael and Trivia.

  “I, I’m giving birth to another man’s baby. Why are you acting so fucking weird? Goddess! I don’t understand you.” And I really did want a straight answer from him, but my body decided to try and rip me in half just at that moment. I dug my nails into Alistair’s back. “I DON’T FUCKING CARE!” I screamed each word between breaths because that was all I could do.