Glamorous: A Grace Bishop Novel (Grace Bishop Novels)

by Denise Bossarte

  Grace’s stomach rolled at Gustav’s description of the knives he used to torture the girls as his “tools.”

  “Yes. I read a knife to learn about you and Robyn. But you still haven’t answered my question. If you’re not Robyn, who are you?”

  Gustav paused and looked at her with head cocked, listening to something she didn’t hear, the smile never leaving his face. “I am Robyn’s protector—the one who’s kept him functional and sane all this time.”

  He was the sane one? What an upside down world Gustav had created for himself.

  He gave her a shrewd look, his smile melting into a scowl.

  “You aren’t convinced, Miss Bishop? But I’m sure you were willing to accept everything Nicco and The Family told you. What the other Paranorms told you about someone with Glamour abilities.” His eyes became more intense.

  “Haven’t you asked yourself how Robyn has the Glamour abilities but stayed sane when all his predecessors did not? You assigned me all the traits associated with a Glamour Paranorm. But shouldn’t those be traits Robyn shows rather than me? My ability is Preservation, not Glamour?”

  He was right. Robyn appeared benign in the reading. But shouldn’t the personality with the Glamour ability be the one acting like this self-proclaimed Preserver personality was? It was like the two abilities and the consequences flipped between the personalities. Her stomach twisted thinking about how she had been defining them, how she thought she understood them.

  “I see from your expression I created a quandary for you. Yes, a delightful quandary, is it not? But shall I let you in on a secret?” He moved a few steps up the ramp toward her, as if to create a more intimate conversation.

  Grace fought the instinct to back away as he moved closer. She stood her ground as if his movement didn’t faze her. It was best not to respond. Instead, she waited for Gustav to continue his story.

  “Robyn was becoming like all the other Glamours, unstable and fixated on using his power. Influencing the minds of others requires Glamours to create new realities for whoever they’re trying to manipulate. They have to see and embrace things that are not part of reality in order for their victims to do so as well. Using this power is a rush for the Glamour, but this twisting of reality bends their minds. They lose touch with reality themselves.” His hands tightened into fists at his side.

  “And dear Robyn’s collapse was happening faster because of what The Family was doing to him. They pushed him too far—manipulating him, torturing him, destroying his family. You see, they wanted more Paranoms just like him, wanted to create an army of Glamours.”

  Grace’s eyes widened as a chill ran down her spine at the vision of an army of these unstable Paranorms.

  “Your abilities manifested because of your trauma, your car accident, yes?”

  Grace nodded, not liking where the conversation was heading but wanting to encourage Gustav to continue.

  “The Family was convinced that Robyn’s powers were a combination of being a member of a family that could control animals and because he stopped breathing during childbirth—was dead for a short time. His own trauma—much like your own.”

  Grace blinked rapidly, shaking her head in denial that she might be connected to him and Robyn in any way.

  Gustav chuckled.

  “So, The Family bred Robyn’s family to one another. They tried smothering and resuscitating the children when they were born. You can imagine that most of them died or were brain damaged by the process. When his family could not produce another Glamour, they were killed off, and The Family moved to breeding Robyn and repeating the procedure with his children. Robyn cracked. But when he did, I was created.” Gustav thumped his chest with one fist.

  “I was the one who ‘became.’ I was the one who took on all the ‘consequences’ of being a Glamour, I am what his mind did to preserve his sanity and his life. Wasn’t it fitting in becoming his preserver, I became a Preserver in ability as well?”

  Grace was horrified at what had happened to Robyn, but she couldn’t let that soften her resolve about dealing with the Gustav. Her reading was right. She was back on solid ground with understanding the personalities.

  “How is it Robyn is the only one anyone knows about? How can they not know about you?” she asked.

  Gustav laughed, more amused than the question warranted. With the laughter, his scowl disappeared, and a smile of victory spread across his face.

  “How can someone of my undeniable charisma, strength of personality, and talents stay unknown all this time? Isn’t the answer obvious, Miss Bishop? It’s because I wanted it that way. In splitting himself in two, Robyn somehow maintained his sanity and mine. Robyn lives in the Paranorm world, happy to do as The Family bids him. But I am there always—seeing through his eyes, hearing through his ears. He never knows I am there with him, that I’m the one guiding him.”

  “Guiding him how?” Grace was quick to interject before Gustav changed directions.

  “I have been guiding Robyn since I ‘became.’ I’m planning on making sure The Family pays for what they did to us. Pays for what they did to our family. It took years of work, years of moving the pieces one-by-one with no one being the wiser. Not even Robyn.”

  “If you wanted to hide all these years, then why the kidnappings? Why the tortures and murders? Didn’t it put you at risk of discovery and ruining all your years of planning?”

  Gustav stood unmoving in response to her question, and her heart stalled. She needed him to keep talking. Especially if he would reveal what he was planning. She had done the right thing in asking.

  Gustav came back to the present, his brown eyes wide and glowing. “Yes, I’m sure it seems counterintuitive to you. The purpose. It was easy enough for me to influence Robyn into believing he was simply keeping his abilities honed by enticing the girls to come to him. They were like children’s toys to him, delightful things for him to glamour and then send along their way. He never got to see what happened to them afterward. Never realized I was the one picking out the toys, and they were my playthings, not his.”

  Gustav spread his arms wide. “Don’t you see the beauty of it? Robyn was manipulated and tortured because of his power. And with my power, I can create a creature, that when released on the world, will be undeniable proof that The Family and their Paranorms exist. Revealed at the right place and the right time, The Family’s demise would have been guaranteed.”

  Grace made her decision. “Danny, get the girls manifested. It’s time to bring them into the conversation. It’ll help shake him up if they come confront him now.”

  “We’ll all be manifest in a few minutes. Keep him talking,” Danny replied.

  “Playthings?” she challenged Gustav, disgusted. “Is that how you saw the girls? All the torturing was about ‘playing’?”

  “It was about challenging my abilities, giving myself license for artistic expression. I was creating something of my own from my own powers.”

  “The girls meant nothing to you at all? They were only a means to an end?”

  Gustav brushed aside her question with an indifferent hand.

  “These Norms mean nothing to us. Are worth nothing to us beyond what we want of them. You are a Paranorm, Miss Bishop. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  “No, I do not agree!”

  Hearing the sounds of footsteps on the trail behind her Grace added, “And the girls you ‘played with’ don’t agree with you either.”

  Chapter 49

  Gustav stood frozen in place, his face registering shock as the girls walked up from behind Grace to surround her on the dock. Her plan to take Gustav by surprise and unsettle him was working. Now maybe they would have time to confront him.

  Everyone stood and stared at each other before Gustav spoke. “No, it’s not possible. I killed you all myself. How can you be here?”

  “We here ‘cause we come for a bit of reckonin’.” Sabra stepped toward Gustav, putting herself at the front the group.

  He continued
to shake his head in disbelief. Then he closed his eyes, and his whole body started to spasm.

  “What happnin’? Why he shakin’ like that? He havin’ one of them seizures or somthin’?” Sabra glanced over her shoulder at Grace.

  “I have no idea,” Grace assured her.

  All at once, his eyes flew open again. They had shifted back to a gray color. He looked around, scared.

  “Where am I?” he asked in a hesitant voice. “Who are you?”

  “I already done tole ya. We here for a reckonin’!” Sabra answered.

  Grace stepped forward and placed a cautionary hand on Sabra’s arm. “Let me talk to him, Sabra. This is the other one.”

  Sabra appeared to consider defying Grace but held her tongue.

  Grace crooned like she would to a startled animal. “Robyn, I’m Grace. You’re here at my parents’ boat house. Don’t you remember coming here?”

  Robyn’s face tightened, his brows furrowed. “No, I don’t remember that. The last thing I remember was standing in the bathroom. How did I get here? And who are all these girls? They seem familiar.”

  Sabra jumped to interrupt. “Sure we familiar ya motha fucka. We the ones that ya done mentalized and kidnapped. The ones ya tortured and killed. Don’t try to lie othawize!”

  “No, no!” Robyn shut his eyes as his body shuddered. “I never did anything like that. I would never do anything like that!”

  “Whatcha mean lyin’ to us about whatcha did to all us,” Sabra said as the other girls voiced their anger.

  “No, no.” Robyn pleaded with her, holding his hands up to defend himself. “I never did anything to you, none of you. It was Gustav, it was always Gustav.”

  One-by-one the girls chimed in, shouting at Robyn, demanding he stop lying to them and take responsibility for hurting them.

  Robyn sank to his knees, raising his arms to cover his head and making moaning sounds as he did so.

  The girls stopped shouting, confusion plain on their faces, as their tormentor all-at-once transformed into this cringing, nonthreatening creature.

  Sabra turned to Grace. “Why he actin’ like this? I thought he’d put up a fight or somethin’. But he just sittin’ there cryin’ like a baby.”

  Grace regarded the huddled figure with pity. “This is the person who ‘mentalized’ you but not the person who tortured you,” she explained. “The other personality has used Robyn to help him do all the hurtful things.”

  “Ya sayin’ we ain’t gonna get to confront the man who did this to us?”

  “I’m not sure, yet. Give me a second to find out.” Grace motioned for the girls to stay behind her as she inched toward Robyn, where he was cowering on the ramp.

  “Gracie, be careful!” Danny called out to her. “It all might be a trick!”

  “I’m going close enough to see his eyes. Then I can find out if it’s really Robyn, or Gustav playing possum.”

  “Robyn, would you look at me, please?” She knelt down in front of him but maintained a distance between them to keep herself out of easy arms reach.

  Robyn raised his head out from beneath his arms.

  “You don’t recognize these girls beyond seeing them on the street?”

  “No, I don’t,” Robyn whispered, almost too quiet to hear. His distress was plain on his face and in his voice, growing louder as he continued. “It’s Gustav who’s done these horrible things. I used to think he was a real person, that he was helping me. But I finally figured out he isn’t. He’s some demented part of me that I can’t control.”

  Grace’s heart went out to the child-like man sitting there. She couldn’t imagine being put through what Robyn had to drive him to a point his mind creating another personality to save himself then having to learn someone else was in control.

  She wasn’t sure how much longer Robyn would be with them before Gustav returned. She needed to get answers from him and fast. “Robyn, can you stop Gustav? Can you keep him from torturing and killing more girls?”

  “No, he’s too strong.” Robyn voice shook. “And he isn’t going to stop. He’s going to keep making me help him do those awful things!”

  It broke her heart to say it, but she wouldn’t lie to him. “No, you’re right. He won’t stop doing awful things. I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to make him go away and leave you in peace without hurting you, too.”

  Robyn nodded, the tears flowing down his face. “I’m losing myself. I can feel it. I won’t be around much longer—Gustav will make me go away.”

  “I’m so sorry, Robyn.”

  “But you can, right? You and the others came here to stop him, didn’t you?”

  “Yes. That’s why we’re here. But to stop Gustav, I have to kill him.”

  Robyn gazed up at her face. The trust and relief she saw there struck Grace to the core.

  “Good,” he said with a sigh. “If it means you can stop him, do whatever you have to do.”

  Tears flowed down Grace’s cheeks. “Are you sure? Are you sure this is what you want?”

  “Yes, please help me stop him. I don’t want him hurting anyone anymore, and I can’t stop him myself.” Robyn reached out a hand to Grace. “Please.”

  Grace forced herself to her feet, reaching to pull her pistol from the holster at her side. When she committed herself to killing the Glamour, Danny had called it an execution. His words had not affected her because she’d pictured taking out the man who had tortured the girls. But Robyn was like a child. When she pulled the trigger, she would be executing him.

  As Grace pulled the pistol from the holster, Robyn’s eyes changed from gray to brown. With a roar, he leapt to his feet, charged her, and knocked her backward onto the wooden surface, slamming her head against the ramp. The force of the impact kicked the pistol out of her hands to bounce a few feet away.

  The last thing Grace heard before she lost consciousness was Danny screaming her name.

  Chapter 50

  Nicco climbed down off the black-as-night demon that had carried him to the lake house. His arm still stung where the open wound bled while they traveled. Flying wasn’t an enjoyable experience when he felt like his life was draining away one drop at a time.

  The demon raked its long claws across the glade’s floor, tearing up large chunks of the earth and tossing them behind it. It fought to break the bonds of Nicco’s control, trying to take advantage of the loss of physical contact now that Nicco had dismounted. It snarled in anger, staring daggers at Nicco.

  “You remember our agreement?” it’s snarling voice echoed in the glade. “The blood price must be paid before dawn or I will have your soul.”

  “Yes, the debt will be paid as agreed.” Nicco stepped back several paces to make room for the creature to leap into the sky once more. It flapped its enormous leather wings, gained height, then glided around the lake and surrounding forests.

  Light headed, Nicco placed his hand against a nearby tree to keep his balance. It had taken an act of will to not show how tired he was in front of the demon. Taking a deep breath, he cast a small spell to speed up the healing of his wound—not a full healing as he had to conserve energy for any spell casting he needed to get through the night.

  He closed his eyes to replay the view of the area he had seen when flying to the lake house. Finding his bearings, he dashed to the edge of the woods where he could see what was happening on the dock.

  He got there in time to see a group of girls and a boy congregated at one end of the ramp to the boat house. Grace and a man were at the other end. She was kneeling in front of him where he was crouched, appearing to be having a nonthreatening conversation with him.

  Dammit! Nicco’s fist clenched in rage. He knew that worthless Paranorm was involved in this mess somehow. But for Robyn to actually be the Glamour had implications beyond his threat to Grace. Implications he would have to deal with later.

  Nicco tried to move from the woods toward Grace when his muscles froze, preventing him from getting closer. He cursed to himse
lf in frustration as the spell Viora placed on him forced him to stop. Gabriella had taken on the consequences of the spell to allow him to conjure the demon. But nothing was going to help him to get past the power of the spell now.

  He was here, a few yards away from Grace and the Glamour, yet helpless to do anything but be a spectator at their final confrontation. But he was able to cast a spell to allow him to hear what was happening in the distance. Viora’s spell didn’t limit him from doing that.

  Right after he cast the spell, the scene at the boat dock exploded. The Glamour attacked Grace and knocked her off her feet with enough force to stun her. Nicco strained against the bonds of his containment, the veins in his neck bulging in his efforts to fight his restraints. But he could not break them and instead found himself drained of energy and collapsing against a tree for support.

  The Glamour pulled a large knife from a sheath at his side. He moved a step toward Grace’s prone form and then struggled in place as if battling an invisible force that kept him from approaching Grace closer.

  That pause was enough for Grace to rouse herself and scramble to retrieve her dropped gun. She got off three quick shots into the Glamour’s chest. The force of the bullets spun him sideways, causing him to stumble for a few steps before collapsing onto the dock.

  Chapter 51

  “Is he dead?” Danny asked, hovering near Grace where she stood panting, her gun still held ready to shoot.

  “I’m not sure. I nailed him with all three shots in the chest. That should be enough to take anyone down, even a Paranorm.”

  Sabra moved toward the motionless body, but Grace blocked her path with an arm.

  “Let me check,” Grace said. “You and everyone else, stay put.”

  Sabra grimaced but stayed where she was.

  “Just be careful, Gracie,” Danny said.