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

by Michelle Gross

  He grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open. I looked in horror at our uninvited guest on the other side. The charred demon growled, teeth exposed. I moved on instinct and took the doorknob from Killian’s hand and slammed the door shut. I looked to him afterwards. “You really should reconsider who you invite over.”

  Killian’s eyes stayed on the door. “Fuck!” he yelled just as the demon charged through the door—entering like a ghost and tackled him to the ground. The demon’s claws went for Killian’s chest, but he was able to grab his wrists before he could. He pushed the demon upward by the throat—using the other hand to punch his face before he kicked him off. Killian hurried to his feet as the demon scurried around like an animal before standing. The demon growled—claws outstretched, flexing in and out toward Killian.

  Killian bent down and took a knife from his boot. He lunged for the demon, grabbing it by the arms. He threw a punch, the demon staggered back. Then he sunk the knife into the demon’s skull. I automatically looked away—the blood and the sound of the blade piercing through the skull—all of it was brutal. The demon roared and it made me look back. How was he even still alive? I watched in disbelief as the demon pulled the knife from his skull. He tossed it on the floor.

  “Killian, he’s new. Try not to kill him, would ya?” I recognized Molly’s small voice and whipped my head around to find her behind me. She was still the same—same ole’ bored-like expression and body of the child she died as.

  “Molly,” I spat her name out.

  “Yeah,” she said. “It’s been a while.” She brought her hands up and rolled her shoulders once. “Sorry for the wait.”

  “Get away from her, Molly.” Killian stepped in her direction, picking up his knife on the floor as he watched the charred demon.

  Molly smirked. “Oh, Killian,” she said his name with pity. “How sad it must be to go from being a powerful entity back into a mere sex demon.”

  “You shouldn’t have said that,” he warned her.

  “I don’t fear you. There’s nothing left to fear.” She even mocked him by laughing.

  He charged at her but she faded—as Killian called it, or was what she did something different? —and reappeared next to the demon who was already fully recovered from the knife wound. Blood still covered his eyes and face, but he looked angry.

  “You think you know everything.” Killian smiled but it wasn’t friendly.

  “What blubber are you trying to speak now?” Molly glared.

  “Stay behind me.” He tucked me behind him before answering her. “Like I said, you know nothing.”

  “Oh?” She grinned and glanced my way. “Kill her, take her—I don’t care, do whatever you have to so that we can get that Vessel for Fear,” she ordered the demon, and he nodded. His eyes landed on Killian, then me.

  “Don’t fucking dare,” Killian warned him.

  “I think you have other things to worry about, incubus,” Molly said. Growls echoed through the house at her words. Lots and lots of growling in every direction of the house. Behind her, bright eyes came into view along with their giant bodies. Two behind her and the charred demon with more coming out of the kitchen. Some were standing on the second floor waiting to attack. Wolf demons. I didn’t even hear them come in.

  One jumped from the second floor and lunged for Killian. “Go!” he yelled as he wrestled the wolf demon to the ground.

  “What about you?”

  “Melanie!” he hissed, stabbing the wolf demon in the head with his knife as he pinned it to the ground. More were coming for him—us, only it was too late for me to do anything. The charred demon yanked me by the arm and I used the opportunity to kick him between the legs. It didn’t hurt him. He grabbed me by the other arm and pushed me his way.

  A wolf demon howled in pain, and I turned my head to see it dropping to the floor. Already dead. Only it hadn’t been Killian that killed it. “Need help?” Grim’s velvety voice dripped with power. Another one dropped as he impaled it with his sword. Relief washed over me knowing he was here.

  The charred demon threw me at Molly’s feet. I looked up to see her grin. Molly wasted no time now that Grim was here. She grabbed me by the hair and yanked me up. I was fueled by anger when I swung at her, but she laughed as my fist went through her.

  Hot with rage, that same energy I felt before vibrated through me—calling to me, letting me know it wanted to be released. I tingled with power and without the voice telling me to do it, I pointed my palm toward her and let go of the energy at my fingertips. The golden light shot out and knocked her in the chest. The impact on her small body was strong but instead of hitting the wall, she flew through it.

  Grim saw it happen and just stood there staring at me. Something grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to my feet. I saw that it was the charred demon and glared as he continued to pull at my arm. Killian football-tackled him into the wall and the wall caved in from their weight.

  Grim was already at my side, pulling me close. His cold-boned touch ran along my arm causing chills to break out over my skin. I glanced up to see two more wolf demons jumping down onto Grim. He let go of me and slung them off easily before killing them.

  There was another crashing sound and I swung around to see the tables had turned between Killian and the charred demon. The demon had him pinned against the wall with a tight grip around his neck. I started running to him, not sure what I could do to help, but Kilian’s leg shot out and kicked the demon backward before I was even there. Killian grabbed his neck and coughed. “Just what the bloody hell are you?” he asked the demon as he came after him again.

  “We need to get Melanie out of here,” Grim told Killian impatiently. Three more wolf demons came into the halls. “Molly has a portal opened up for them to keep entering.”

  “You can’t kill him, Killian,” Molly laughed, stepping back through the wall. She rubbed her chest as she looked at me. “Oh, my. Fear will be most intrigued to learn that you can even use the power now.”

  “I won’t let Fear have it,” I hissed, not realizing that I was holding my chest possessively. Since when was I so protective of the Vessel?

  “He already has it.” I looked at her confused. “Did you forget that mark on your chest means you belong to Fear the moment you die?” She smiled when my eyes widened. “Ah, see… I think you understand what I mean now. The power is his because you’re his as well.”

  “She doesn’t belong to him.” Grim’s blue essence darkened.

  “Kill her or something, we don’t have all day!” Molly snapped at the charred demon. He pushed away from Killian, but Killian grabbed him from behind. “I told you, you can’t kill him. Fear made him using a part of himself to do so,” Molly said. I eyed the demon, no wonder he was so hard to deal with.

  Grim took one stepped toward Molly and she faded. I wasn’t surprised, she was good at running away. The house was crawling with wolf demons. “Open a portal and leave them!” Grim looked at Killian. “I’ll take Melanie.”

  Killian nodded as he threw the charred demon to the ground. I felt Grim’s cold fingers through my jeans as he scooped me up in his arms. I leaned into his chest and looked up. The blue essence danced around the inside of his hollowed eyes and he asked, “Ready?”

  “Get her!” Molly reappeared just as the darkness swallowed us whole. And now I knew what this place was in between. It was actually no place at all… a place out of time, an in between our worlds—then the light came.

  Chapter Nine

  There was a look of utter amazement on my face when we reached our destination. “Where are we?” I asked as he eased my feet to the ground. I moved my hands from his chest and stepped to the side. With my mouth still opened ridiculously, I circled around to look at our surroundings. I had never seen anything so beautiful or strange. We stood high on a cliff looking over the woods. Grim pushed his hand into my back urging me closer to the edge. I leaned back, pinpricks of sweat and fear breaking out over my skin. I didn’t want to get an
y closer to the edge.

  The dirt was pink at my feet. Or maybe a light purple. “Home,” he answered as I leaned against his chest. I took everything in with a smile. This place was magical. I knew this couldn’t be any place in my world…

  The sky wasn’t blue but a reddish-yellow looking color. I saw no sun and although the sky seemed dull, the place was vibrant with colors. The trees in the woods were all variety of colors. There were pink and purples, blue and greens, orange, and reds. My mind couldn’t fully grasp what it was seeing.

  Although this place was beautiful, something still felt terrifying. Maybe it was because I wasn’t in my world anymore. I was in his. I closed my eyes—letting this enchanted place control my every sense. It smelled pleasant here, almost fruity. Something stirred inside of me. A feeling of content.

  Home.

  The voice told me. I didn’t know what it meant, but something about this place did feel… right.

  Everything about this place made me think of Grim and Killian.

  “This is where you live?” I asked with a smile, completely mesmerized. He nodded, and I took in another deep breath.

  I could hear a waterfall somewhere in the distance. Bird’s chirped and I heard other strange animal sounds I couldn’t recognize. There was a piercing roar above us and I shrieked, stumbling back into Grim. His hands fell over my shoulders and held me still. Dragons flew above us. I counted five…six…seven. Ten or more—and more seemed to fly over the mountains in the distance. Nothing was a normal color here. Pink dirt, bright trees, and odd, skyscraper-sized mountains.

  “Dragons?” I asked fearfully. The first dragon I encountered tried to kill me…

  He nodded. “You don’t have to be afraid of them. Although, they are protective, deep down, they are very loving and gentle creatures.”

  “Not the first one I met.” I eyed them with wary.

  “They’re a very different breed than the one you saw at Fear’s.” He brought his hand up to point at them. “Look how different—these are flying, Melanie. The one you saw was a lot bigger and had no wings.” I nodded, noticing the difference. He dropped his hand. “My land has been their home for a thousand years, maybe more. A group of demons were wreaking havoc on their lands and hunting them down. When it was finally time for me to step in as Death and descend the demons hunting them, they were nearly extinct. What was left of them, I offered sanctuary here in exchange that they would protect these lands and everything in it.”

  I tilted my head back so I could look at him. The more I learned about Grim, the more unpredictable he was—proving how very wrong I was about him. I didn’t know nearly enough about him or Killian. I was beginning to understand that I was never a burden to him—protecting was a part of his nature. He either didn’t realize that about himself or liked to keep it hidden under a very cranky façade. It was incredible what he did for these dragons when he didn’t have to. I smiled.

  Looking up at the dragons, I studied how different they were than the one I encountered previously. Grim was also right, these dragons were big but nowhere near the size of the one with no wings. These dragons were still slightly terrifying with their bat-like wings, but I was also mesmerized by their mysterious beauty; they were all black with red scales underneath their wings. Long, slender necks—I couldn’t make out any of their faces from this distance.

  A piercing call echoed behind us and I twirled around to see what dragon it was. It was a beautiful white dragon. She flew over us, looking down at us with interest. She was every bit the same as the other dragons only she was solid white. Bright blue eyes met mine for several seconds before catching up to the others. It was sad to watch how they treated her. They would scatter apart when she got close like they were shunning her. One even swept behind and bit into her tail. She cried and flew away from them.

  “What’s going on?” I squinted my eyes.

  “What do you think? She’s different than them, they treat her different because of it.” I felt unexpected sadness for the dragon. She was treated horribly because she was different. In a lot of ways, I was just like her… maybe that was why.

  “That’s horrible,” I told him. I could feel the bubbling rage entering my chest—I despised the others for treating her differently.

  He sighed, looking up at them. “She has to find her place.” He whistled—I wasn’t going to wonder how a skeleton could whistle and I had still couldn’t, okay? One of the dragons jerked his flexible neck in our direction before heading toward us. When he swooped down, I saw how impressive his wings were up close. Sharp and edgy looking. I backed away as he landed at the edge of the cliff. His talons gripped into the ground. As he tucked his wings away, pink dirt flew in my face. I had to guard my face with my arm as I watched him curiously. At this distance, I was now one hundred percent positive the dragon was a male. He might even be a little bigger than the rest. Grim walked past me. “This is Rixen, their leader.” Rixen hunkered down, lowering his head as Grim came close so that he could rub his head.

  Deep, bright red eyes flickered up at me. I had a moment of panic when I thought of Fear’s red eyes, but then I took a deep breath and told myself not to compare this beautiful creature to a monster. And Rixen was beautiful. There was a crunching sound in the dirt behind me, and I twisted around to see the white dragon was lowering her head at me.

  No, not me. I realized her blue eyes watched Rixen with fear as she stepped closer to me. I could be wrong, but it seemed she wanted to come to me. But at the same time, she was afraid of her leader. She eased closer and Rixen noticed, jumping on his hind legs as he roared at her. Grim stepped back to give him space. He shook his head at the white dragon. She lowered her head and backed away. I took a step in her direction. “This is between the dragons,” Grim reminded me, but I still went to her.

  I shook my head, brushing my hair behind my ears with my fingers. “I think she just wanted to come to me. She wasn’t trying to make her leader mad.” Once she saw me coming, her head perked up and she helped shorten the distance between us. I brought my hand out and her head dipped underneath my palm, rubbing against it. Her scales felt oddly smooth and warm. I smiled while rubbing her head. With my other hand, I cupped her chin and pulled her to my face. Her blue eyes had a clouded look about them as they peered into mine. She was so beautiful. Why would they treat her so poorly? “See?” I turned to meet Grim face with a cocky smile.

  Rixen nostrils flared in our direction. Grim shrugged his shoulders and patted him. “She’s never came to anyone before,” he told me.

  “What’s her name?” I asked.

  “She doesn’t have one. Not even in their language would they give her a name.” That was cruel. Grim looked over to Rixen. “I gave him the name Rixen, but he has his own name in the dragon language that can’t be pronounced.”

  So, if he named Rixen… I looked back to the white dragon, feeling a connection with her. That likeness we both seemed to share. “Do you want a name?” I asked her. She lifted her head from my palm and nudged me slightly with a shake of her head. I gave her a toothy grin. “Is that a yeah?” She made a whimpering sound. “How about…Sky?” She tilted her head slightly, a dog-like manner that I found adorable. “Your eyes are the same color as the sky back where I live. Beautiful, bright, and blue. Not like this reddish-yellow sky here.” She rubbed her head into my hand. I took that as a sign she liked the name.

  Rixen made a huffing sound and I smirked. Someone didn’t like that I was giving the outcast a name, or attention. “It’s only a name,” Grim told the leader, and I turned to see the dragon shaking his head in disagreement. Rixen looked away, not wanting to meet my eyes when he saw me staring.

  Grim looked at me. “Shall we ride?”

  My stomach bottomed out. “What?” Just the thought made me queasy.

  “Rixen will take us to my castle.” Castle?

  “Why don’t you just poof us there instead?” I suggested, and he laughed.

  “I don’t poof any
where, Melanie, and this will be a lot more fun.” I extremely doubted it. And if he didn’t poof anywhere, what the heck did he call his disappearing skills. Oh, right… like fading was any better.

  “You do poof,” I mumbled to myself.

  He heard me. “I fade out of time—or look at it this way—I have my own travel line that no one can use except me. I do not poof,” he swore. “Don’t make me sound like a witch.”

  I tried not to laugh. He didn’t know that Killian had already sort of filled me in. Sky bucked beside me and I turned to her. What was she doing? She kept spinning around, showing me her back as she nodded her head.

  “I think she wants to take you there herself.” Grim sounded surprised.

  “I don’t know, Sky… I’m not a fan of heights.” I looked to the cliff and the flying dragons and literally swayed.

  Sky nudged my shoulder and I tried to smile. Grim was already mounted on Rixen. He grabbed the small bit of hair lying over Rixen’s back to hold on to. “Don’t worry. Nothing will happen. Besides, I’m here if you were to fall.”

  I poked my lower lip out into a pout as Sky excitedly turned her body for me. “You better poof and get me if I fall or I swear—” He had the nerve to laugh at my serious anxiety.

  I sighed. Now, how did I climb up? Sky lowered her stomach on the ground and pinned her wings to her sides. I used her mane—which was silvery-white like her—to pull myself up and over her. My nerves kicked in the moment she started raising up. My grip was probably hurting her hair as I momentarily freaked out. “Relax. All you have to do is hold on. She will do the rest,” Grim assured me right before him and Rixen dove off the cliff.