None of that would be an issue right now. He wanted the boy to see the dog first and focus only on the dog.
Children relaxed more around animals than they did around adults. Especially scarred, scared children who carried as much sadness as this one seemed to carry.
Gripping the harness, Luc automatically moved into the more cautious mannerisms he used when he played at being human. Even though the boy wasn’t as likely to think anything of it, it was simply another habit.
As he drew closer, he sensed the boy’s surprise. Sensed that he was thinking about bolting, then curiosity as he saw Krell. Curiosity that kept him in place.
A few feet away, Krell gave a polite little yip.
“Is somebody there, boy?” Luc asked.
Krell yipped again.
Luc didn’t turn his head toward the boy, although he heard him breathing, even smell the bread he’d eaten for breakfast. He could also smell the boy’s unwashed skin, all but smell the misery and the exhaustion on him.
“Hello?” Then he scowled and scratched his head and said it again in stilted Greek. He had to blend, after all. Blend and play the bumbling tourist.
When the boy spoke, his voice was nervous. “I speak English.”
“Oh, good. Hi there. I didn’t think I’d meet anybody up and about this early.”
He moved a little closer, stopping when he felt the boy’s mind icing up with fear. So much fear…
“Do you mind if I sit down? Krell and I were on a walk—he loves them, but he wears me out.”
“I do not mind.” There was a pause and through Krell’s eyes, Luc watched as the boy came a little closer, plucking at a threadbare pair of jeans. “Are…you cannot see?”
“No. I was born this way.” Not exactly a lie, Luc figured, seeing as how he’d be reborn into this life sightless. He patted Krell’s head. “He’s my eyes.”
“He is beautiful. May I…” the boy paused, his face scrunching up. “I would like to touch him.”
He sensed Krell’s intention and placed a heavy pressure on the dog’s mind before the silly animal could start begging for attention. Krell knew better. He hadn’t been trained as a companion animal—he was Luc’s companion, but Luc wasn’t exactly the typical blind person and it wasn’t wise for a boy to go and pet a companion animal. “He is working right now, I’m afraid. If I go letting him get attention right now, he won’t want to work and then he might think he can get lazy on me and not take me back to the hotel. I’d be in trouble then. He’s only allowed to play when he’s off his leash. I hope you understand.”
The boy looked even sadder, so sad that Luc almost relented, but he’d hate for the boy to make a mistake later on that could cause problems. “You can sit by us, if you like,” he offered.
A few minutes later, the boy settled by them, keeping several feet between them. Krell cast him longing looks. The boy did the same thing. It was rather pitiful and Luc felt like a bastard.
“Are you always up and out so early?” he asked. He nudged Krell with his knee. “I had this hairy oaf dragging me out of bed, but if it wasn’t for him, I’d still be sleeping.”
“I like it here early.” It came out in a near whisper. Krell wasn’t looking at the boy, so Luc couldn’t read what was on his face, but his mind was a tangle of fear and misery.
An ugly twist of it.
Images slammed into Luc and he lapsed into silence as he went through them. Angry voices. A fist. Hands clenching tight into skinny arms. Hunger, the kind that was an aching pit in the empty hole of one’s belly. Fear and shame—
So much of it.
Pressing lightly at the boy’s mind, he saw more. Too much.
Confusion. Memories that went further back. That angry voice—the boy’s mom, Luc thought—softer now. Kind and gentle. Full of love. Dancing in the sunlight.
“Have you lived here long?” Luc asked softly.
“Two years,” the boy said quietly.
“Hmm. It’s a pretty spot. I’m thinking about moving here myself—”
“No.” It came ripping out of the boy, torn from the very soul of him.
Don’t. People who come here die—I’m going to—
Well, hell.
Reaching up, he closed a hand around the pendant he wore around his neck.
Mortals used cellphones, emails, Facebook and the like to communicate. The Grimm had their pendants. Magical little things, really. They were all identical, silver circles etched with upswept wings. If one stared at them long enough, one might see the words—they would start to glow. A language long dead.
Handy things—they didn’t run out of batteries. They didn’t stop working in tunnels, in elevators, underground or when the power went out, and they didn’t run on a server that could be crashed or hacked, either.
The bad thing? They only worked with one other person.
Will.
Will, the angel in charge of their merry band of lunatics.
A man Luc would very much like to hurt just then.
As the pendant pulsed and warmed in his hand, he sent out a question.
Is this boy in danger?
He didn’t bother explaining who the boy was, how he’d met him, any of that. Will would know. After all, this was Will.
He might not be the omnipotent Almighty, but he wasn’t far from it. Omnipotent, that is. Will was too big a bastard, too callous and arrogant to be anything like God.
Mere seconds passed before Luc had his answer. Everybody in that village is in danger, Luc. That’s why you and Sina were sent.
Luc blew out a pent-up breath, turned the problem over in his head and pressed upon the boy’s mind a little more. Cold. Hungry—
Had slept on the street last night, with a blanket he’d taken from his room. He was too afraid to sleep in the house, but his mother had gone looking for him.
No. Just…
No.
Come get the boy.
The pendant grew heated, almost singing his palm, but Luc ignored it, keeping that connection.
I cannot bring a boy here. And your job isn’t the boy—it’s much bigger than just one child.
Smiling a little, he leaned back on his hands and stretched out his legs. Yes. It is. And if you don’t come get this boy, right now, I will remain here until you do. I do not care if it takes weeks. It’s not like I have to leave to eat. Sleep. Any of that mess. I’ll just wait.
This time, Will didn’t bother warning him through the pendant. His voice was a raging bellow in Luc’s mind. Luc closed his eyes.
“So,” he said to the boy. “How long do you usually stay here?”
“Until people start to come,” the boy said, unaware of the battle raging inside Luc’s mind. “Then I go to a different beach. It’s rocky. Not as many people go there.”
“Perhaps you can show it to me,” Luc said. Will’s voice ratcheted up a bit more and he inwardly winced. “I don’t always fancy company myself.”
“I do not know. It is a hard walk.”
Patting Krell, Luc said, “That isn’t a problem. Krell is a good guide.”
Krell whined and lowered his head. Luc felt the dog trembling. He could sense what was going on, even if the boy couldn’t.
It will be well, Krell, Luc said reassuringly as he continued to ignore Will.
Threats were next.
Those lasted for about ten minutes.
Luc figured he had another hour or so of arguments before he could try again to make Will see reason.
It was something of a surprise when Will abruptly gave in.
Fine. You supercilious son of a bitch. Just keep his eyes facing away when I arrive. I’m getting Greta and I’ll be there in under ten minutes.
Greta?
He frowned, puzzled by Will’s sudden acquiescence, puzzled by the decision to bring Greta.
Krell nosed his leg.
Frowning, he rested a hand on the dog’s head as the dog swung a look back to the boy. He was getting up.
“
Are you heading off?”
The boy was frowning. “Do you want to go to the other beach?”
Chapter Eight
They’d only been walking six minutes, give or take, Luc thought, when he felt the gathering tension in the air.
His name was Georgios, although Luc was told to call the boy George, after Luc butchered his name several times.
A nice boy, Georgios. A nice, sad boy who needed to have somebody straighten out the mess that had become of his life.
Georgios might feel something when Will arrived, Luc suspected. Kids were more sensitive to that sort of thing than adults—they hadn’t locked their minds off the way many adults do, and this child had already sensed an evil in this village.
He pretended to stumble and in a sheepish voice, he said, “Could you maybe let me hold your arm as we walk?”
If he had to, he could put his body behind the boy’s just before Will came through.
And that was exactly what he was forced to do as Georgios stiffened. Luc apologized silently for the intrusion on the boy’s mind as he edged in front of him and formed a mental link at the same time. The boy sensed something of it, stiffening, fighting it, but he simply couldn’t hold Luc off, and Luc couldn’t let the boy see anything that would endanger him or raise questions.
He’d seen nothing, though and Luc found himself eyeing at his own chest as he used his body to block off the trail behind him.
His ears popped as Will’s portal formed and then, as the tension in the air lessened, Luc broke the link. “I think I hear—”
He moved aside just as a woman’s voice called, “Hello up there!”
Greta.
“Why Greta?”
Will stood off to the side as Greta laid a hand on the boy’s neck.
Luc was inside his own mind again, preferring the silence of it when Will was around. The man disconcerted Krell and Krell was sitting off by himself, sulking a bit with his head on his paws. Rather than listening to that, Luc kept himself in the darkness.
“You’ve worked with her before. What does she do?”
He frowned and thought back. It had been an age since he’d worked with that particular Grimm. Greta was more of a solo player in their field. Or she had been, up until she paired up with Rip a while back. She’d take on a pupil every now and then if one came along who had a gift like hers…oh. Oh, yes.
“Compulsion,” he murmured. Greta had the ability to control people. “You’re going to use her on that boy.”
“Well, it’s either that or drag him along kicking and screaming.” Will’s anger was a cold, scathing slice in the air. “He doesn’t want to leave, or didn’t you bother to look for that?”
“Oh, I looked. But his mother is doing awful things—it doesn’t make sense.”
“We’re ready, Will,” Greta said, her voice strained and heavy.
Luc fell silent as he sensed the portal being built. He had more questions, but they’d just have to wait. After all, the main thing he’d wanted was for the boy to be safe.
That was all he’d wanted and now he had it. He could get back to the hotel, rest a bit and refocus.
Try to figure out what the boy had meant. Don’t. People who come here die—I’m going to.
Why the darkness of this place seemed to infect people. It was almost demonic, but not quite.
Almost.
As the power of the portal faded from the air, he called for Krell. “Come on, boy. That’s done—”
“Not hardly.”
Will.
Cracking his neck, Luc sighed. “Why in the hell are you still here?”
“Trying to figure out why you’re botching up a job that should be relatively simple. Trying to figure out why you’re here, instead back in the village dealing with the problem. Trying to figure out a great many things, to be blunt.”
“If the problem is so simple, if the job is so simple, why I can’t see the solution?” Luc said, rocking back on his heels.
“Because you’re not looking for it. You’re too busy thinking with your dick, and Sina is too busy thinking about your dick when that’s the last thing she needs to do. Just screw her already and get the job done,” Will snapped.
Carefully, Luc reached up and pulled off his sunglasses. He tossed them over by Krell as he took a step in Will’s direction. “I’m sorry to inform of you of this, Will, but my bed partners are none of your concern.”
“Bed partners…” Will laughed. “Oh, that’s a good one, Luc. You have had exactly one bed partner and you haven’t even had her since you were human.”
Closing a hand into a fist, Luc pondered whether or not he could land a punch before Will moved. He knew where the man was standing. Nobody understood how he could know that, and he couldn’t explain it well himself, but after a hundred or so years in the darkness, he’d developed a sense of things. Almost like he could feel a person’s aura, he supposed. And he knew exactly where Will was standing. It took a few seconds longer to track than it would if he was using vision, either Krell’s or the sight of somebody else, but it worked well enough.
He wanted, very much, to throttle the man standing roughly five feet away.
“Again, none of your fucking business,” Luc bit off.
“No. It’s not. Although I admire the persistence, Luc, you’re right. It’s not my business. Except right now, you’re out here, your head screwed up six ways to Sunday, instead of thinking about the assignment.” He paused, and then asked, “Can you say I’m wrong?”
“I can say your little protégée is rubbing off on you. You just used the phrases six ways to Sunday, and screwed up. You almost don’t sound like the ancient old fossil you are,” Luc muttered, turning away.
He couldn’t decide what pissed him off more. The fact that Will was right. Or the fact that he didn’t even know what to do about it. Oh, he could make himself focus. But it was a temporary fix, and he knew it. Luc might as well have written the definition on obsessive. He’d obsessed, grieved and focused on Perci for so long that she’d become his everything, even when he was nothing to her.
Nothing but a painful memory, at least.
And now it seemed that Sina was going to become a different sort of obsession.
“She doesn’t want me,” he said quietly and then he swore as he realized he’d let those words out at all. “Fuck me. She might well want sex, but she thinks about as much of me as she does of a mongrel dog and I’ve a bit too much pride for that, Will. So while I understand the need for concern, you’ll have to keep your nose out of my sex life, as non-existent as it is.”
“You’re wrong.”
Will had moved. Luc felt the disturbance in the air, felt it as Will’s very presence moved closer, their auras clashing together. Will had never played very well with others. Over the years, Luc had amused himself watching the way Will’s aura had bounced, rubbed, grated against others. Spiritual annoyances, he supposed.
It wasn’t a new experience for him, but damned if he cared for it as Will stood there in front of him, maybe two feet away now and Luc felt like striking out, even knowing it would be a waste of time.
“Sina rarely wants anything. Ennui is her lot in life, as it’s mine.”
Luc could feel the weight of Will’s gaze, a heavy, intent one and just then, he was glad he couldn’t see. He might have found himself looking away from that weighty gaze.
“She wants you, though,” Will said quietly. “She has from the beginning. The problem is Sina, like you, has a great deal of pride. One of you will have to take a step forward. Who will it be?”
The pressure lessened as Will turned away.
Luc sucked in his breath as that question settled inside him.
He’s wrong, he told himself.
Very wrong.
But another part of him wondered.
He felt the gathering tension in the air.
“Wait!”
The tension subsided. “Yes?”
He opened his mouth, then snappe
d it shut. Luc would be damned if he asked for any more insight into the puzzle that was Sina. He’d figure that out on his own, thank you.
Still.
Will sighed. “Luc, I don’t have time for this. I’ve got a mess with Finn going on. I need to figure out what to do with the boy. I’m still trying to get Mandy trained. And you have a job. Ask your question and be done with it.”
“This town. The boy thinks people who come here die.”
“People die everywhere, Luc,” Will said, his voice cryptic.
“Unnatural deaths, you arrogant bastard.”
“It’s an irony, hearing that from you,” Will said caustically. “And while I don’t think the boy said anything or thought anything about unnatural deaths, he isn’t wrong. There’s a darkness here. You’ve already felt it. It’s your job to fix it.”
“It’s not demonic.”
“No. Not yet. But it could easily go that way. It’s something of a miracle it hasn’t happened yet.”
With that, Will cast his portal and left.
Closing his eyes, Luc turned that over in his mind.
Luc wasn’t the only one with tricks that let him peer around things, into things.
I had my own.
He used the eyes of others.
I used a mirror.
I imagined I could use a mind, the way he did, but I didn’t like touching the minds of others all that often. A static, lifeless thing was easier.
It hadn’t always been that way.
It was something I started messing around with after that silly story came out and I thought maybe I could actually use some of those twists to my advantage for once, instead of just using them to hide us all.
The stories were my idea, but sometimes they were such a pain in the ass.
The mirror thing was cool, though.
I’d discovered it when I was teaching Luc.
Blind Destiny: Grimm's Circle, Book 7 [retail mobi] Page 7