'Til Grim's Light (A Grim Awakening Book 2)

by Michelle Gross

  Grim swore, tossing his head back and in the process, knocking his hood off his skull. He brought his skeletal hand over his skull as he shook his head, annoyed. I tilted my head and eyed his movement with a smile. Killian did the exact same thing when he was aggravated, it was funny to see something so similar about them.

  Right after I took notice, Killian went and did it right after Grim. He blew an aggravated breath as he scowled at Grim. What was crazy was how alike it looked between them, I was suddenly intrigued.

  “You are the danger, incubus.” Grim’s voice rumbled, and I didn’t miss the way the word ‘incubus’ dropped from his mouth like the word itself was dangerous. I pulled away from Killian and stared down at my feet… incubus… incubus, I was pretty sure Killian had told me what that meant.

  “What does that mean?” Killian’s voice rose, and I looked back up. I felt ignored as I stared back and forth between them. Grim moved toward Killian and shoved him. He stumbled backwards.

  Oh, boy… the look on Killian’s face was not a good one.

  “You know exactly what I mean, you don’t even realize you are doing it.” Killian looked surprised then worried, and I watched as Grim’s eyeless gaze drifted down to Killian’s jeans…? I arched my eyebrow. “Control your… problems.”

  Grim turned toward me and I went stiff as a board. Then the next thing I knew, his arm caught me by the waist, pulled me closer before hauling me over his shoulder. I squealed out of surprise and grabbed ahold of his back to keep from falling. But Grim was the same height as Killian and lying across his shoulder still made it seem like I was falling.

  “What are you doing?” I screamed.

  Killian groaned somewhere close by, but I couldn’t see anything as Grim started walking with me. “Will you put her down and stop acting like a Neanderthal. Girls are not into that.” Grim stopped walking and I felt him turn slightly to look behind him. I then felt his hand travel over my back. He jerked his whole body and I went bouncing over his shoulder for a second, a girly peep came out of me as I landed back on his shoulder.

  “OMIGOD!” I yelled.

  His hand grabbed a hold of my butt and readjusted me over his shoulder. There was a moment of relief before I turned my head toward his back and glared at him. Did he just grope me? He started chuckling and it vibrated his whole body. I let my head hang and tried hard not to blush. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

  Killian was right, he was a Neanderthal. I smacked his back and it only caused his hood to fall in my face. I smacked it away and cursed. “Really, what’s with the cloak and hood anyway? It’s totally lame.” Yeah, I liked to start arguments when I was either embarrassed or mad. Although, that had been a lie, nothing about Grim was lame. It just made him look like the badass he was, and that much scarier.

  “No, it’s not.” They both said at the same time. I pushed my arms against Grim’s back and raised myself up enough that I could see Killian walking behind us. When I met his eyes with a snort, he looked away. Was he embarrassed? I smiled.

  “Whatever you say.” I dropped my arms down and fell against his back. Grim stopped beside my car. I felt his arms reach around my stomach as he placed me on my feet. His hands left my sides and I looked up at him. It was strange, letting myself be around Grim when he looked the way he did. Powerful and nothing at all human. I must be getting used to the way he looked because I didn’t cower as much at him anymore.

  He went to open my door and his cold skeletal hand pressed against my back as he forced me inside. I huffed and tried to maneuver myself in the seat the correct way instead of the way Grim was shoving me in there. Once I was sitting, I leaned back and moved my blonde strands out of my face. I looked over at him with a scowl. “Stop acting like a caveman, I know how to get inside a car.”

  His eyeless expression peered down at me as he shrugged his shoulders and slammed the door in my face. He had no manners… I started the car and rolled down the window.

  Killian was standing beside Grim by my car door. “What about my flat?” I asked.

  “Grim’s already taken care of it,” Killian told me. When did he get the chance to fix it? While he was carrying me over his shoulder?

  “Is my hood okay?” I hadn’t thought to look at it.

  “It’s fine.” He nodded leaning into the window. He smiled at me and there I was going all girly on the inside again. “Go home and don’t worry. Don’t even think about anything.” I sucked in my cheeks at his words, I knew I couldn’t not do those things. “You’re safe as long as I’m here.” Grim snorted behind him so he added, “As long as we are here.” He corrected himself, and I grinned.

  “You can come to my place if you want.” That got him yanked out of the window by Grim and punched in the gut. Killian bent over, holding his stomach as he glared at Grim. “Will you cut it out!”

  “Actually, I was going to his house before the demon—” I spoke up only to be cut off by Grim.

  “Not anymore.” Er, what?

  “Why should I listen to you?” I pointed out. His hand went to the window, and I watched as his blue essence darkened enough to know he was getting serious. His grip tightened.

  “You can’t be left alone with Killian. Have you forgotten what he is? He’s an incubus demon.” I turned my head to the steering wheel and felt my face go ten shades of red. “He’s a sex demon,” Grim said what I finally remembered.

  When I looked up, Grim was watching me—staring at everything I wanted to hide. Nothing left me more exposed than him, he was always reading me like I was an open book. Did he see my flaws? My weaknesses? I bet he saw all my wants and the desire growing inside me. My face just kept getting hotter and I knew there was no hiding the blush.

  Killian raised up and was staring at me now too.

  “Now I remember.” My voice was tiny, and I gripped the steering wheel. That explained so much. Why my mind always seemed to be in the gutter lately. But I was already attracted to him before. He meant something to me before he was only an incubus demon. I couldn’t stop thinking about him after he got hurt… I was so confused. Were my feelings real or not?

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” Killian argued. He started moving closer.

  I only looked at him long enough to look back away. I took a deep breath. Funny how something as simple as remembering he was an incubus demon left me feeling foolish. Because what I was feeling around him might not even be me to begin with. I started rolling up the window. “I’m going home.”

  I was buckling up when Grim tapped on the window and I rolled it down slightly. “I only meant that the more he’s around you, the harder it will be for him.” I nodded, not sure what he meant.

  Without a word, not even looking at Killian, I turned my car around in the middle of the road and drove home.

  I looked back to see both of them standing in the rearview mirror as I drove away.

  Chapter Seven

  I was surprised and glad to see Ryan lying on my bed as I walked in the room. Or more like hovering above it. Ghosts were strange, they never really seemed to touch anything, only float. After seeing what Josh’s ancestor did to Ryan yesterday, I knew they could at least touch each other. I shut the door behind me. “Where have you been?” I asked him.

  He glanced away from the ceiling and smiled at me. “Right here waiting for you to get home.” He looked right back toward the ceiling when he asked, “You took a while… did you go to see Killian?” I pretended not to notice the disappointment on his face or the fact that he wasn’t meeting my eyes as he spoke.

  I walked to my desk and flopped down in the chair placing my book I brought home on the desk. I had homework but that didn’t seem as important as everything else that was going on. I circled myself around in the chair for a moment before scooting it toward the bed. “No,” I told him because I never made it to his house. I wasn’t sure I should tell him about the demon that attacked me. Look what happened to him when he found out the first time… although, he couldn’t get an
y worse than a ghost, right?

  Then I remembered the strange light that came out of my palms and how it hurt the demon. I forgot to mention it to Killian or Grim. Although, if it had something to do with the Vessel, would they have any idea themselves. They didn’t seem to know too much about it either.

  I sighed. “I had a flat tire. That’s why it took so long.”

  “Can ghosts get headaches?” Ryan propped himself up, floating Indian style above my bed with a hospital gown on. No, that wasn’t awkward at all. I watched as he grabbed his forehead. “I swear it feels like my head’s going to explode.”

  “Your guess is as good as mine,” I answered and blinked a few times when I thought of something. “Maybe it’s something that happens when you stay in the human world as a ghost? Might need to ask another ghost…” I couldn’t believe I just told him to ask another ghost a question. I didn’t want him getting too comfortable as one.

  “Yeah, I think Josh’s ancestor has weened me from talking about or to any other ghosts,” he muttered.

  I agreed. “Oh, your sister wanted me to let her know when I saw you again.”

  He squinted his eyes at me. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah, I’ll call her before I start on my homework.” I leaned my weight onto the chair arm and reached into my pocket to grab my cell phone. I blinked, my cell phone wasn’t on me. I stood up and checked the other side. Then I swore. I forgot to pick it up off the road. It was probably road kill by now and I was probably the one who ran it over… I covered my face with my hands and groaned.

  “What is it?” he asked as I dropped back down onto the chair.

  There was a knock on the door downstairs. I heard someone running to the door and knew it had to be Alex. Mom wouldn’t run. I listened with Ryan, I couldn’t hear anything until footsteps started echoing up the stairs. Alex threw open my door with a scowl on his face. “You have a visitor.” I raised one eyebrow and got up from the chair.

  “Who is it?” I asked.

  “Killian.”

  Ryan practically leaped off the bed at the mention of Killian. Alex walked out of the room, and I pointed a finger at him. “Stay here. What if Grim’s with him?” He stood still but frowned at me. I hurried downstairs.

  When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I saw Killian standing outside the door. He had his hands in his pockets. He tried to smile as he saw me—a failed attempt at normal. He wasn’t good at not looking dangerous. Mom stood next to him, on the other side of the door, arms crossed as she scowled at him with the same look Alex had given me. Where were their manners when it came to Killian? He was on the losing side when it came to them.

  And that sort of ticked me off. I meant, sure, I had been afraid of him too and might have possibly treated him the same way, but now… it was frustrating to see someone like Mom, who was normally a nice person, treat him like he was nothing. I made sure she saw my angry look when she turned toward me.

  I was supposed to be figuring out how much of my feelings for Killian were real, but as soon as I met his eyes again, I didn’t want to hide my smile. “Hey.” I didn’t want to smile at him too much, though since Mom was watching, and I didn’t want him thinking I was putty in his hands or something… because I definitely wasn’t!

  There was just something I liked about myself when he was around. Almost like I was breaking free and letting myself be the girl that had been hiding for far too long…

  “Can I speak to you a moment?” Mom was mad, I could hear it in her voice. I followed her into the kitchen, and I didn’t miss the nervous look on Killian’s face as I walked away.

  The moment Mom was at the sink, she twirled around to face me with an aggravated look on her face. “What is he doing here again?” she asked.

  “He’s a friend, Mom.”

  With knowing eyes, she looked into mine and planted one hand on her hip. “Melanie, it’s almost nine. Why would a guy that’s just a friend be over this late?”

  “I’m not sure why he’s here, you haven’t even given me the chance to find out, but he’s not a bad guy.” I crossed my arms and looked at her disappointed. “It’s not like you to be so rude to someone.”

  She huffed, looking down before shifting her weight to the other hip and looking back to me. “Melanie, I know nothing about this guy. You say he’s a friend of Ryan’s, but I find that hard to believe. He looks a lot older than you guys, and why does he keep coming here?”

  “He is older,” I admitted.

  “How old is he?” she asked.

  I looked away. How was I supposed to answer that? “I’m not sure.” Her mouth dropped, and I knew I needed to change my words. “Twenty-four, maybe?” I offered quickly, feeling the lie heat my face. I couldn’t tell her he was three-thousand-years old—in demon/Underworld years, now could I?

  “Do you even know anything about him?” She searched my face for clues. She always yelled at me for not getting out enough and doing things. Why was she acting this way now that I finally felt normal more than ever before?

  I spent years hiding myself for her and Dad. I never did anything wrong in my life besides being able to see ghosts. I even hid that for them to make them happy. Every time I saw one and was scared to death, I panicked—all alone. I was afraid all the time—on my own. I felt angry as I looked at her. My life was in danger, hers too, but she would never believe me even if I tried to tell her.

  And I won’t let myself be alone anymore.

  “I know him,” I said. “Well, I will eventually know him.” Wouldn’t I?

  “Melanie!” she went on.

  “Mom,” I said calmly. “I’m going to go see what he wants, and you can yell at me when he can’t hear you.” I hurried out of the kitchen before she could say anything else.

  When I walked into the hallway, Killian still waited outside the door, face tight with worry. Just like that, I knew I needed him. I liked that he cared enough to look at me like that when something was wrong. My anger dissipated and I smiled as I walked toward him.

  I slipped on my shoes at the door and stepped outside on the porch with him, shutting the door behind me. I rubbed my arms trying to keep the coldness away.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked, not sure what other reason he could be here. God, it was really cold. I kept rubbing my arms.

  I heard movement on the right side of the porch. I was surprised to see that Grim was here as well. I closed my mouth shut to hide my shock. He sat atop the bannister, one foot propped up on the bannister with him and the other tapping on the porch. I looked back to Killian. “What are you two doing here?” I muttered and went to Grim. His head was turned away from me, looking somewhere in the distance. I couldn’t see anything beyond the porch light.

  “He wouldn’t let me come alone,” Killian answered behind me.

  “You can’t be out here,” I said to Grim. “What if Mom was to look out and see you. I hope you have yourself hidden so that people can’t see you! She would freak—”

  I shoved his legs and didn’t realize he wasn’t hanging onto anything. His head swiveled around to face me just as his whole body started toppling over. The leg next to me flew in the air, almost hitting my head—and he fell off the porch. I heard the thud and covered my mouth with my hands. “I didn’t mean that,” I said immediately, scared to death with worry and fearful of his wrath.

  Oh, God. I just pushed Grim Reaper off the porch. He was going to give me an early grave.

  “I thought you were hanging on.” I bent my head over the bannister, sounding a little too desperate to make him understand. Only he wasn’t there.

  I looked around until I heard Killian laugh behind me. “She pushed you off the porch.” He was still laughing when I turned around and came face to face with Grim. Well, more like I was looking at his chest, but when I looked up I was staring at his face. Killian laughter died out behind him. “Let’s not forget why we came here.”

  Grim ignored him and grabbed my wrist. “Only you.” I didn’t know what
he meant.

  Then the weirdest thing happened, his hand left my wrist and moved toward my face. I thought for sure he was going to touch my cheek until he hesitated and decided against it. I stared at his back as he hurried away from me.

  What was that? Stop racing, stupid heart, he wasn’t going to hurt you. But why did I have the strangest feeling that wasn’t what was happening at all.

  Killian came toward me as Grim left. He held something in his hand and brought it up so that I could see it. It was my cell phone. “This was why we stopped by. I would have let Grim bring it to your room if I knew I would upset your mother...” I ignored the comment about my mom and made sure the phone still worked. It a took a few seconds for it to come back up but it worked. There was a small crack on the screen but otherwise—she lived.

  “Thanks,” I whispered with a smile.

  I noticed Grim was looking up randomly. I looked at the porch roof where he was staring, wondering why in the world he was staring at that spot so intensely, but then I realized that if the roof wasn’t over the porch, he would be able to see straight into my window. My stomach knotted, did he know Ryan was in my room?

  Of course he did. He was Grim Reaper. He told me he had that sense about ghosts and death and all that weird crap; I watched him nervously. I knew Ryan needed to move on from this world, but I wasn’t ready for that.

  Killian turned toward Grim when I wouldn’t stop looking his way. “What is it?” It didn’t take him long to figure out what was happing. When he looked back, his handsome face was warped with anger. “Has he been staying here?” he asked slowly.

  He wasn’t worried about what Grim might do to Ryan like I was. No, he sounded like a man angry to find out another man was in his woman’s room. That scorching heat slid up my neck and face as I looked anywhere else than at him. I wasn’t feeling guilty or embarrassed that Ryan was in my room. I was just afraid of what he might do to Ryan and… secretly pleased that he was jealous.