Griffin made a wry face. “I’m sure you meant that as a boast, but since you generally work with your brothers, the fraternizing you’re suggesting is illegal … and a little gross.”
“I wasn’t talking about my brothers,” I snapped. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”
“Who were you talking about?”
“My charges. They’re generally perverts. I have no idea how I keep ending up with the sexually demented ones.”
“It’s probably karma,” Griffin said, chuckling as he urged me forward. “Let’s get inside. It looks like it’s going to rain … oomph.”
I didn’t see the wraith moving out from behind the nearby SUV until its hands were already on Griffin, pitching him forward. Griffin slammed into the adjacent car headfirst and then dropped to the pavement, unmoving.
My heart rate ratcheted up as I took a step back, my mind working overtime as I tried to figure out a way to take on the wraith with my movement was so limited. I had exactly one idea, and it wasn’t one of my better ones.
“You should probably go now,” I said, letting my gaze bounce between Griffin on the ground and the wraith. I was relieved when I realized Griffin was moving, although the way he reached for his head wasn’t a good sign. He was alive, though. That was the most important thing. “This is a public parking lot. You shouldn’t be here.”
“Aisling Grimlock,” the wraith hissed.
“Oh, good grief, are we going to start that again?” I dug in my purse, pushing past my wallet, compact and hairbrush before finding the item I needed. “You guys should watch Sesame Street to enhance your vocabulary.” I wrapped my hand around the nail file, mentally thanking my lucky stars Jerry labored under the delusion I would give myself a manicure one of these days while sitting in the car waiting for a charge to expire. “Don’t come any closer.”
Griffin was shaky as he pushed himself to his feet, and I didn’t miss the trickle of blood running down the side of his face as he turned in my direction. His eyes were cloudy and unfocused, and I was deathly afraid he had a concussion – or worse. With my luck the head blow would give him amnesia and he’d run off with Angelina. Wait … now was definitely not the time to worry about that.
“Aisling Grimlock,” the wraith rasped. “Mine.”
“Oh, you’re sick,” I said. “I wouldn’t dare go anywhere with you. If you come any closer, by the way, I’m going to kill you. I don’t care if we’re in public. It’s a beautiful fall day in Detroit. People are going to be in and out of this parking lot. We’re just in one of those odd lulls. You’re making a huge mistake.”
As if on cue, the skies opened up and Griffin’s worry about rain became a reality. That meant my threat about people loitering in the parking lot to enjoy the weather quickly became an empty one.
“Well, crap,” I muttered, frustrated.
“Aisling,” Griffin said. “Move away from that … thing.”
The good news is that he remembered me. The bad news is that he slurred his words and his gait was becoming increasingly sluggish. “I’m trying,” I said, taking another step back. Keeping distance between me and the wraith wasn’t my only goal. I also wanted to keep its attention focused on me. Griffin seemed … out of it.
“Aisling Grimlock must come with me,” the wraith said. “Mine.”
“I’ve had just about enough of that,” I said, tightening my grip on the nail file. It wasn’t overly sharp – and it certainly wasn’t silver – but I’d managed to kill a wraith with a solar light stake once, and that wasn’t made of silver. Legend had it you could only kill wraiths with silver. Not all legends are created equal.
“Aisling, run,” Griffin said, moving in my direction. “Get away from it.”
He was trying to help, but he was making things worse. The wraith shifted its attention to Griffin. He made an easier target because he was hurt, but I wasn’t about to play that game. The moment the wraith stepped toward Griffin I pulled the nail file from my purse and plunged it into the wraith’s back. I aimed for its heart, but had no idea whether I hit the mark.
The wraith snapped its head back and offered a high-pitched shriek. If I got its heart, it wasn’t a bad enough blow to kill it … at least not yet. I wrenched the nail file from the wraith’s back as it slowly turned and reached for me, extending its claw-like fingers and attempting to touch me. If it got its hands on me, Griffin and I were goners.
I hopped back, leading the wraith on a merry chase.
“Aisling, run,” Griffin repeated. He leaned on the neighboring car to keep his balance. “Run!”
I ignored him, and when the wraith moved as if to look at Griffin again I lashed out with the nail file, this time aiming higher. If the legends about silver are false, maybe the stories of having to stab a wraith in the heart aren’t true either. The nail file was too small to do significant damage to the wraith’s body, but it might be able to damage something else.
I gathered my courage and slammed the nail file into the wraith’s eye, shuddering as a milky liquid oozed out and the wraith screeched its disapproval. The wraith clawed at its eye, the otherworldly sounds scraping out of its throat causing me to cringe. It reached for the nail file – I’m sure to pull it out – but the wraith’s hands began flaking into ash and blowing away in the increasing wind as a steady drizzle settled into a downpour.
I didn’t wait to watch the wraith die, instead hurrying around its degrading body to Griffin’s side. He looked relieved when I caught him around the waist, trailing his finger down my cheek as he tried to focus on my features.
“Aisling.”
“It’s going to be okay,” I said, struggling to keep him standing as he began to sag. His weight was too much for me. “I’ll get you inside and everything will be fine.”
“My Aisling,” Griffin said, his head lolling to the side. “You’re okay. That’s all that matters.”
His body went limp as I fought to hold him upright.
“Help me!”
22
Twenty-Two
I paced because I didn’t know what else to do.
My screams garnered attention from a passing hospital visitor and she got emergency personnel out to the parking lot. They carried Griffin in on a gurney, and then locked me out while they ran an endless loop of tests. I started pacing the second they left me alone with my thoughts. I continued pacing when Maya showed up and skirted into the room to check on her brother. Forty minutes later I was still pacing.
I couldn’t take this.
“Aisling?”
I jerked my head up when I heard Dad’s voice, ready to take my licks for ignoring the souls that needed collecting in this very hospital. Instead, when I saw the concern etched across his features, I threw myself in his arms and burst into tears.
“It’s all right, Aisling,” Dad said, smoothing my hair. “It’s all right.”
“What happened?” Redmond asked, moving into the hallway. He looked as worried as Dad. “Is she okay?”
Redmond’s words did nothing but make me cry harder.
“Aisling, it’s going to be all right,” Dad murmured into my hair.
“They won’t let me see him,” I sobbed. “He’s unconscious, and they won’t even let me sit with him.”
“Is he in here?” Redmond asked, peering through the small window in Griffin’s hospital room door.
“What are they doing?” Dad asked.
“They’re just kind of standing around,” Redmond answered. “Maya is in there and she’s listening to whatever they’re saying. I can’t tell whether it’s good or bad news, though. She has her nurse face on.”
“Tell me what happened, Aisling,” Dad prodded.
I ignored him as I pressed my face tighter against his chest, rubbing my runny nose on the expensive fabric. I’m sure he noticed, but he didn’t stop me.
“Aisling, we need to know what happened,” Dad pressed. “I know you’re upset, but Griffin is alive. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
&n
bsp; “He’s got a hard head, Ais,” Redmond said. “He’ll be up and pawing at you in no time. If anything, a little brain damage might make him more careful when he does that in front of us.”
“Yes, that’s a great help, son,” Dad deadpanned, shaking his head. “Did you collect Aisling’s souls?”
Redmond nodded.
Well, at least I didn’t have to deal with that. Wait … . I jerked my head back and met Dad’s sympathetic lavender eyes. “Griffin didn’t show up on anyone’s list, did he? Please tell me that he didn’t.”
“He’s not on anyone’s list, Aisling,” Dad said, cupping the back of my head. “I wouldn’t have told you he would be fine if that was the case.”
“You might if you thought I would try to stop you from absorbing him,” I countered, my lower lip trembling.
“I guess that’s true,” Dad conceded. “He’s not on our lists, though. I promise.”
I nodded and returned to my sobbing while Redmond directed his attention back to Griffin’s room.
“The others want to be here with us, but I told them they have to finish our charges because we can’t fall behind,” Redmond said. “I promised we’d call the minute we heard something.”
“Like he’s dead?” I couldn’t help myself. I was always a “glass half empty” girl.
“He’s not dead, Aisling,” Dad chided. “Stop … freaking out.”
“Yes, let us freak out for you,” Redmond said, resting his hand on my shoulder. “Aisling, we need to know what happened before the doctors come out and you can’t talk openly. We need to handle security issues, and information is key if we want to do it the right way.”
“We were just walking into the building,” I said, sucking in a snotty breath. “We were joking around. The wraith was behind a vehicle. It grabbed Griffin and shoved his head into the car on the other side of us before I even realized what was happening.
“Griffin was … confused,” I continued. “He was shaking but he managed to get to his feet. He kept trying to follow the wraith to keep it away from me. I didn’t know what to do, so … I used the nail file Jerry always shoves in my purse and stabbed it through the back.
“The blade was too short, though, and all that really did was piss it off,” I said. “I figured if the silver thing wasn’t true, maybe the stabbing them in the chest thing wasn’t either so I shoved the nail file into its eye and it turned to ash.”
“That was very smart thinking, Aisling,” Dad said.
“Don’t patronize me.”
“I’m not patronizing you,” Dad countered. “You did what most other people couldn’t even fathom in a terrifying situation. I’m very proud of you.”
Under normal circumstances I would preen and demand a dinner of my choice. All I felt was worry, though. “I need Griffin to be okay.”
“I know you do,” Dad said, tightening his arms around me and swaying back and forth. “We all do.”
MAYA joined us ten minutes later, a tight smile on her face as she took in my red-rimmed eyes.
“Well?” Dad asked, not beating around the bush.
“He’s got a head injury,” Maya said. “I’m sure you figured that out yourself. The scans don’t show any internal bleeding, which is good. He’s still unconscious. The doctor asked me to talk to him in the hope he’ll wake, but I think Aisling should do that.”
“Yeah, she’s a mess,” Redmond interjected. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
On one hand, I was upset with Redmond’s words. On the other, I totally agreed with him. I was a mess. “What should I say?”
“What do you usually talk to him about?” Maya asked.
“I usually talk about myself,” I admitted, rubbing the side of my face. “I don’t think that’s appropriate right now.”
“Aisling, we need my brother to wake up,” Maya said. “He loves you. He’ll respond to your voice above anyone else’s. The sooner he wakes up, the better it is for him. If you’re not up to this, though … .”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t up to it,” I snapped, smoothing the front of my wrinkled T-shirt. The rain left me bedraggled and rumpled, but I was beyond caring. Jerry would have a fit when he saw me, though. “I’ll talk to him.”
“Good,” Maya said, prodding me toward the door. “Say whatever you think will wake him. It doesn’t matter what it is.”
“We’ll be right here, Ais,” Redmond said. “We’ll handle everything else.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him I didn’t care about anyone besides Griffin. He probably already knew that, though.
I suspiciously eyed the doctor standing in the corner of Griffin’s room before moving to the bed. Griffin was still, a bandage over the upper portion of his forehead on the left side. I’d never thought about him as helpless. He was strong and virile. He always had a ready laugh. Now he was so quiet it pained me.
I collected his hand when I got to the side of his bed and sat in the empty chair there, my mind working overtime.
“Hi.”
He didn’t move or respond. His eyelids didn’t flicker. I didn’t really expect him to jolt awake from my touch and one word, but it would’ve been nice … and boosted my ego at the same time.
“I need you to wake up,” I said, fighting to maintain control of my emotions. “I’m so sorry. This is my fault. I shouldn’t have brought you here with me.”
“Aisling, talk to him about something he wants to hear,” Maya instructed. “He doesn’t want to hear that. I know my brother. He doesn’t want you blaming yourself.”
I ran my tongue over my teeth as I considered her words. “If you still want to move in with me – and I know that’s a big if right now – I think we should get one of those circular couches and a big flat-screen television so you can watch football on Sundays.”
Maya nodded her encouragement.
“I thought maybe we could designate one day a week where we locked ourselves in and shut everybody else out, too,” I said. “It doesn’t have to be the one day, but I thought if we had a regular day for just us it might make things easier when we try to keep my nosy brothers out.”
I couldn’t be sure, but I was almost positive I saw Griffin’s eyes flutter.
“I love you, Griffin,” I said, tears falling freely as my voice cracked. “Please wake up for me.”
“I’m awake,” Griffin muttered, although his eyes remained shut. The doctor hurried to his side while Maya’s face split with a wide grin. “I love you, too, baby. Don’t cry.”
I couldn’t help myself as the sob caught in my throat and I tightened my grip on his hand. Griffin finally wrenched his eyes open, and instead of focusing on the doctor, his steady chocolate gaze found me.
“Don’t cry, Aisling.” Griffin’s voice was weak, but his reassuring hand squeeze was strong. “It’s okay. Everything is okay.”
“OKAY, the bad news is that Detective Taylor has a concussion,” Dr. Leonard Kelly said as he appeared at the end of Griffin’s bed an hour later. “Other than a few abrasions from his fall, he seems to be okay, though.”
“See,” Maya said, squeezing Griffin’s hand. “I knew that hard head of yours would come in handy one day.”
“That’s what I said,” Redmond interjected, his eyes twinkling.
“I’m glad it’s good for something,” Griffin said, propping himself higher on the bed. Since regaining consciousness his color had returned and he almost seemed jovial. I knew he was putting on an act so everyone wouldn’t worry, but it was a pretty good show for those who didn’t know him as well as I did. “When can I go home?”
I glanced at the doctor. I was curious about that, too.
“You need to stay overnight for observation,” Kelly said. “You can go home tomorrow, although you should have someone to take care of you. I’m guessing that would be this young lady.” Kelly offered me a wink.
“Not if he wants to survive, it won’t,” Redmond said. “Aisling couldn’t even play at being a nurse when she was a
kid. She used Band-Aids to wrap Christmas presents. We should probably hire someone.”
“He doesn’t need a nurse,” Kelly argued. “He merely needs to rest for a few days and have someone cook his meals and generally fuss over him. I’m sure your sister is up to the task.”
“Aisling used to bury any broken toys in the back yard instead of trying to fix them,” Redmond said, causing my heart to roll. “She won’t be a good caregiver.”
“Leave her alone,” Griffin said, rubbing his thumb against my cheek as he searched my face. “She’s had a bad day. There’s no reason to harp on her.”
“I’m not harping on her,” Redmond protested.
“Yes, you are,” Dad countered. “Aisling can’t take on Griffin’s care by herself. He needs someone to cook his meals, and as much as I love my daughter, I don’t think a bout of food poisoning will assist in Griffin’s recovery.”
“We can get takeout,” Griffin said. “I can sleep in the new townhouse. It will be quiet. I’m sure Jerry will cook for me.”
“You’re not sleeping in a townhouse with no furniture and only a mattress in the middle of the living room,” Dad argued. “Yes, I heard about your wakeup call the other day. I was thrilled with the retelling.”
“Well, I guess he can come home with me,” Maya offered. “I would love to dote on him for a few days. He hasn’t threatened to kill me since he was a teenager. All of that togetherness will make him want to do it all over again.”
“No, I’m going to take care of him,” I said, scowling as Redmond slapped a hand over his mouth in an effort to hide his smile. “I know you guys think I’m generally an idiot and completely incapable of taking care of someone, but I’m going to take care of him.”
“Calm down, Aisling,” Dad said. “No one is implying that you can’t take care of Griffin. You’ve done that once already today.”
“What are you saying?” I challenged.
“I’m saying that Griffin will be coming home with me tomorrow,” Dad answered.
Grim Reunion (Aisling Grimlock Book 4) Page 19