Let it go…
It was the voice, and it always had a calming effect on me.
I could make things easier if I just focused on something else other than the crowd. On them. I started blocking out everything—everyone. I knew Ryan was somewhere behind me, but I even let him fall from my thoughts—I would save him when the time came. I had to focus on getting through this moment, and the only way I could do that was to let myself be here with just them—alone.
So, I started letting myself think of how different it would be if we weren’t surrounded by demons. The chaos slowly dimmed around me—there was silence. Grim and Killian were no longer separated in my vision—they were one person again. That thought had my heart wanting to fly from my chest into their arms, and it was another reminder of how deeply my mind, body, and soul fell for him. Which should be weird since I still knew absolutely nothing about him, but that was it, being with him was the one thing that always felt right. Even when I told myself to hate him, fear him.
I wondered if he had those same thoughts when he looked at me. Was he mesmerized with the view I had just given him? Was I the same as every other woman in his eyes or was I different? Would he hold me close and love me gently, or would he be rough and unrestrictive despite my inexperience? What did pleasure look like on him? How did he love? I wanted to know everything because I was foolishly and hopelessly in love with this demon—entity.
I reopened my eyes. Nothing else mattered but them. I smiled, stood straight and held my head high. I wore nothing but my panties and stiletto boots. Grim’s dark essence went wild but I spotted the color in his chest. The same beautiful emotion I saw at Fear’s cave, shining through his tux and cloak—maybe it was something only I could see. Or maybe I wasn’t really seeing it, maybe it was a feeling.
Killian was held captive. His eyes devouring me. He didn’t hide it and when he met my eyes, he smiled—and it was both chaotic and beautiful.
Grim’s scythe moved through the air, leaving his hand. It changed form as it did so. It floated down onto the floor as a black chain, slithering like a snake toward me. It started up one of my legs, moving between them. I gasped, keeping the roar of the crowd tuned out, and focused ahead. The chain slithered against my panties, rubbing and traveling on to my breasts. Heat flared in my stomach and I was trying hard not to squirm as the chain wrapped around each breast, squeezing and caressing them like the chain was a living being. I lifted my gaze to Grim—the chain was a part of him, the scythe was a connection. My own thoughts drove me wild. The cool touch of the chain suddenly felt gentle against my scorching skin.
Killian stepped forward and the anticipation grew with every step he took closer. None of this should be okay. Getting turned on by a chain—was that even possible? But reality didn’t exist here and neither did the Melanie Rose that feared ghosts—life, everything.
The chain started to pull me back and I was being lifted off the ground. My head fell back and the chain was all over me now. My feet left the ground and my legs and butt were thrust forward in the air. The chains were parting my legs, and I lifted my head in a hazy state of wonder and anticipation. I was on full display. His eyes held dark intent and I was bound by the other predator, the one that controlled the chain and left me floating in the air. I shuddered, letting my head fall. The styled magic fell from my hair. This whole situation had me feeling strange and weak—maybe it was a coping mechanism. When I felt Killian touch my leg, I forced my head back up to look at him. He was between my legs while I floated. The chain continued its torment against my body.
I must have been blushing. I couldn’t tell at this point; my skin was already blistering hot. “You’re soaked,” he whispered so only I could hear. I already knew that, though. My neck was starting to cramp and I couldn’t keep holding it up this way. I brought my head to my arm, trying to put some of the weight there.
“How much longer do we have to do this?” My voice was raspy.
“Don’t feel ashamed,” he told me softly, tracing his fingers against my inner thigh.
“Please, don’t,” I begged. “Not here.” Despite how much my body reacted and how easily I accepted this role… I knew this place—the actions I made here would haunt me if I let it go any further than this. My entire hope fell on my trust that they would end it soon.
His eyes fell over me gently. “Never,” he promised—or denied me, my fried brain couldn’t comprehend what that word might mean. He moved his fingers even closer to my panties. The chain moved against me. I arched and whimpered—barely aware I was doing it. “That’s why we’re not.” Hope soared through my chest.
But something came up behind me; the unknown presence had me tensing up until skeletal hands covered my breasts. My head fell against Grim’s chest—his touch was a nice reprieve from the burning I felt. “Get ready.” I barely managed to figure what he meant before everything happened at once.
Fear’s tail shot out in the direction of my chest. The chain—that was wrapped around me—moved to block it, changing into a weapon at one of its ends. I could feel Grim move behind me as the tip of Fear’s tail morphed into a giant mouth and came at me again. The chains slid over me—releasing me—and Killian was there to catch me as the chain slid back to Grim. After it moved up his leg and arm, it became a sword. Fear’s tail jerked back when Grim stepped in front of us to block the mouth on the tail. His tail backed away and Fear materialized a sword in his hand. Almost an exact replica of Grim’s, only it was red—like blood dripping off the blade.
Killian eased me to the ground. Grim took off his cloak, and Fear was ready to attack—I wondered what he was doing until he tossed it to Killian, who then draped it over me. I forgot that I was naked except for my panties and boots. I gripped the cloak and held it close to my body. I could still feel the reminiscence of Grim inside it. It brought reassurance.
I heard Ryan’s piercing cry but as I started searching for him, Fear chuckled. The kind of chuckle that lasted all of one second and died off the face of the Earth— or Underworld. “Tonight, both of you will belong to me.” I didn’t have to guess who he was referring to: Grim and I. Fear lunged for Grim, but he faded and reappeared behind him. Grim kicked him hard—he stumbled forward and hissed in anger, teeth bared and all.
The cloak was almost ripped off me when Killian was caught off guard by Ryan who was currently the charred demon. The impact sent Killian flying—I had expected the charred demon to come after me, but he never even looked my way as he went after Killian. Killian managed to get to his feet in time and avoided the next hit. Punches were thrown back and forth. Killian grunted and the charred demon screamed like an animal. Ryan was human but as the demon, he was evenly matched with Killian. I could see the struggle Killian was having with him. Just how strong did Fear make him? The charred demon only seemed to fight with brute strength alone, though. He threw punches like a madman, never really paying attention to what he did. That proved to be Killian’s only advantage. Killian perfectly timed his movement with the demon’s recklessness so when the demon brought his arms out swinging—Killian hauled him up by them and threw him to the ground. Killian came down throwing punches repeatedly toward the charred demon.
The crowd was wild. Grim turned and silenced them all with a glare. They all started to scatter. I supposed none of them knew Grim’s secret, but Fear could hardly contain his grin. “Funny how they fear you when you can’t even hurt them, can you?” Fear used his tail as a weapon—and his sword as he attacked Grim using both back and forth. Grim blocked him every time.
“I can kill them all.” Grim lifted his sword to block another attack.
“Oh?” Fear arched an eyebrow as he jumped back to avoid Grim’s blade.
“Sup?” Molly appeared in front of me with her hands on her hips. I jumped at her and it was unexpected for both of us. But forever like a ghost or demon, she faded before I could even get close. I met the ground instead. Splintered pain shot up my palms and knees. She reappeared behind me
and shoved me down. My chest smacked the dark stone. I gritted my teeth together to keep from crying out. She pressed her foot into my back, holding me there. “Idiot,” she laughed, looking down at me.
My patience was at its end. I looked to Killian and Grim who were both occupied. I lifted myself up and was surprised that she removed her foot. Foolish mistake. I leaned my head back slightly and smiled at her. “Oh, yeah?” I could already feel the power tingling through my arms, shooting down into my fingertips. I lifted one hand up and the golden-colored light hit her. She shrieked as the light engulfed her. Fear noticed and sneered down at me.
“It’s true. You can wield the power.” Grim shoved Fear back with his sword, earning back his attention.
“Grim!” Killian yelled. Grim and I both looked. He made a gesture with his eyes to the sky. What? I squinted my eyes and looked up. The moon! I never noticed it there before, but—was this the same moon as ours? I didn’t have time to wonder. The gray moon was running red, it looked like it was dripping down over the moon. I understood why they called it the blood moon. And every second, it continued to grow in the sky, expanding and taking up more of the sky.
Grim’s essence darkened around his feet. Fear was catching on and went for another attack, but the darkness shot out from Grim’s feet and attacked him. It wrapped around him—he screamed, but it wasn’t because of the pain. He was furious.
Killian shoved Ryan—still the charred demon—toward Molly who was crumbled on the ground still in pain from what I did to her. Killian and Grim both started running toward me. They exchanged a nod before Grim grabbed my hand. I watched Killian pull out something from his pocket, but I saw no further because Grim was taking us into the darkness—the fade out of time. When the light came, we were standing on a rooftop. I could tell we were still in the Underworld. Killian appeared next to us a second later. The festival was still in full swing below us.
“Hurry, or we will lose the chance,” Grim said to Killian as they moved next to each other. Killian eyed the blood moon in the sky. It was big, bright, and bleeding.
“There’s hardly any time. What if Fear gets here before we can finish?” There was real fear in Killian’s eyes. It made me realize that this night wasn’t only scary for me but for them as well. This was maybe their last chance. It had to work for them to be one being again. It was like all of our fear met and crossed together on the rooftop. The thought of the person I loved never being whole—it stole my entire breath. My heart felt like a magnetic explosion.
“Let’s hurry so that it doesn’t happen,” Grim told him—out of the two, Grim was confident enough for the both of them—and Killian nodded. They stepped close, extending their hands out and placing them together.
There was nothing that happened at first… but I knew the merge had already started.
Then the sky darkened above them in the same manner Grim’s essence did. They stood still—locked in place as the wind picked up on the rooftop. I could only stare, the anticipation, desperation… I felt it all as I waited for something to happen. But nothing had yet, they were still in place. Why weren’t they doing anything? Killian’s expression was filled with pain but otherwise, they weren’t even moving. I wrapped the cloak around me wanting some sort of comfort.
Fear appeared next to them, a dark murderous intent lit up his eyes. He roared and I screamed, “NO!” I was so desperate I was running toward him, but I could only watch as he ripped their hands apart. The mass of power scattered above them—leaving as two.
Chapter Twenty
Kilian was thrown back, landing at the end of the rooftop—almost going over the edge. He wasn’t moving. Grim stumbled before bending over, gripping his knees. His eyeless sockets raised to meet Fear. Darkness spiraled out of control around him. I was just as angry. I was so sick of Fear. A terrifying scream erupted from Grim.
And I was so busy watching them, that I never noticed Molly behind me. Not until she kicked the back of my legs, knocking me to my knees. I hissed. Molly was a dead girl—little but strong with the power Fear had given her. That made her hard to deal with, especially since she had already recovered from my attack. I turned quickly and stumbled back onto my feet. I wanted distance in case she wanted to hit me again, but she faded instead and reappeared behind me. She giggled. I turned around to face her just as she started hopping around me in a circle. There was something in her hand… black powder? Whatever it was, she was forming a circle with it around me. I knew it wasn’t good for me. I tried to run out of the circle, but I bounced off some invincible barrier. It wouldn’t let me pass over. I couldn’t mask my worry in time; she saw my fear and grinned.
“Done!” Molly chirped to Fear who was blocking attacks from Grim with his tail.
“Good,” he told her, laughing in Grim’s face. “Now, kill Killian.” I finally noticed the charred demon standing at the edge of the rooftop, awaiting orders. And when Fear finally gave him one, he nodded and stalked toward Killian.
Killian was only now starting to come to. He slowly picked himself up. The charred demon started running. “Ryan!” I yelled, but that wasn’t Ryan right now. “Killian!” He lifted his head up and saw the charred demon coming at him. He cursed under his breath and jumped to his feet. Grim appeared in between them, and his sword sliced through the demon’s neck. He cried out from the pain, but he was healing just as quickly as he screamed. Fear jumped after Grim and once again the two of them were in the air colliding. Grim split his scythe into two swords and tossed one down to Killian. He caught it just as the charred demon attacked.
Ryan had no weapon, but his claws were dangerous and similar to Fear’s. Killian barely moved his head back in time to avoid the claws. Just as he avoided them, he ran the sword into the charred demon’s shoulder. The charred demon hissed and it filled my chest with unease. The charred demon was Ryan—I wanted to save him, not hurt him. But nothing seemed to phase the demon, he gripped the sword’s blade and pulled it from his shoulder, tossing it to the ground. Killian punched him in the face and threw him to the ground before he got the chance to make a move first.
“Face your future, Grim, the Vessel is in place and Killian will die here tonight,” Fear told Grim. The way they bounced back and forth, swords colliding, it was too hard to keep up with.
“You ignorant demon,” Grim screamed.
“I will have you, Grim. We will merge.” Fear sounded delirious as he spoke.
“What you are trying to do is impossible! You’re already merged with an entity,” Grim tried to tell him, but there was no reasoning when it came to Fear.
“Why do you think I have the Vessel bound? The spell that has her trapped will channel her power to make sure that the merge happens.” Fear was a frightening monster already, but when he spoke of his plans, there was a certain ugliness to him that made my skin crawl. “Too bad for Melanie, though… all that channeling is sure to kill her, but don’t worry, when she dies, she will belong to us.” His words frightened me and a sudden pit of doom hit my stomach.
“I can’t wait to send you into the flames,” Grim growled. “What you want will never happen!”
“It already has. Together, you, Fear, and I—along with the Vessel, will have immeasurable power. Even more so than Satan.” He wanted to overthrow the Devil? Who after that, God? His eyes were warped with greed and power; his thirst could never be replenished because there would always be something more that he would want. And someone as sick and twisted as him should never be allowed to have any more power.
For some strange reason, I looked over to Molly and there a certain haunted, sadness in her expression as she watched Killian and the charred demon. They were rolling around, throwing punches, and the charred demon was constantly trying to sink his claws into Killian. But whatever that look had been, it faded into a glare when she saw me staring. She placed her arms across her chest and stood outside the circle in front of me. “He’s doomed to die here tonight,” she told me. I could only glare back at her. �
�So will you.”
I ignored her and put my focus on what was important. The charred demon managed to roll himself on top of Killian. His claws extended and slashed across his face, Killian screamed. I saw the horrible markings that soon covered his face in blood. The charred demon did the same to Killian’s chest. I was holding my own chest as Killian gritted his teeth, blood dripping into his mouth. Killian managed to throw a punch and pushed the demon away. He was stumbling to get to his feet, blood covered his eyes and chest. The charred demon moved behind him and sunk his claws into Killian’s back. He still tried to stand, but I saw the fade in his eyes; the flicker that scared me. My heart was sinking.
Killian was losing his will to fight. Something was missing in his eyes, that strength and will to go on. He was losing… no, maybe he thought he had already lost when they missed the chance to merge again. “Killian!” I screamed at him but instead of looking at me, his blood covered face dropped in defeat. My stomach dropped—my chest heaved. The tears were unrelenting as my heart screamed at him for giving in.
His shoulders were slumped as he turned toward the charred demon. He threw a punch—very poorly, without any real effort. The kind that lacked any of his true strength. The charred demon gripped him by the throat. I watched the horrible reality play out in slow motion.
“Grim!” I was yelling for a miracle; a miracle I knew wouldn’t happen. Grim looked and we both watched as the charred demon stuck his hand into Killian’s chest. Killian’s eyes were wide and contorted with agony. He dropped to the ground when the demon pulled his hand out.
I didn’t even realize I was on my knees. And I wasn’t processing my crying or the pain in my chest correctly. I was just thinking that he was going to be okay. I watched him survive an attack like that before. But Grim was caught off guard as well. Fear took the opportunity while he was staring at Killian to slice open his chest. His essence was pouring out, floating around him. Grim landed on the rooftop as Fear followed him down. Grim was looking at Killian and that scared me more than anything. “Now!” Fear yelled to Molly.
'Til Grim's Light (A Grim Awakening Book 2) Page 21