Grim Offerings (Aisling Grimlock Book 2)

by Amanda M. Lee

  I shot him a look. “What?”

  “I … just stay here,” Cillian muttered. “I need to look around the rest of the building.”

  “But … .”

  “You’ll be fine,” Cillian said.

  “Why wouldn’t she be fine?” Reid asked.

  “Because you look like you have eight hands,” Cillian said, moving toward the back of the building. He paused long enough to fix Reid with a serious look. “If any of those eight hands land on my sister I’m going to beat the crap out of you. You’ve been warned.”

  “You look like a fun guy,” Reid said, his face full of faux brightness.

  “You have no idea,” Cillian said, disappearing around the back of the building.

  “So, tell me a little about yourself,” Reid said, not missing a beat. “If you’re going to move into the building, we should be … friendly.”

  I’d rather make friends with a professional cheerleader. “Oh, well, I’m pretty antisocial.”

  “You don’t look antisocial.”

  “I am.”

  “You don’t look it.”

  “Looks can be deceiving.” What is this guy’s deal? Does he think he’s charming? He’s got “creeper” written all over him. It’s right before “tool” and right after “douche” in the loser’s dictionary.

  Either Reid didn’t notice my overt dislike or he didn’t care. I was leaning toward the latter. “So, do you have a boyfriend?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why isn’t he helping you look for an apartment?”

  That was a very good question. “He’s here,” I said. “He’s with my other brother. They’re looking around, too.” I wanted Reid to realize Cillian wasn’t his only worry. I had no idea why.

  “That sounds cozy.”

  “It is.”

  “Are you serious with your boyfriend?”

  “She is.”

  I jumped at Griffin’s voice, but I also was relieved. “Hi, honey!”

  Griffin narrowed his eyes. “Dear,” he drawled. “I’ve been looking for you.”

  “Well, you found me.” Thankfully.

  “What happened to your brother?” Griffin wasn’t sure what was going on but he obviously knew better than to blow our cover. He wasn’t a novice.

  “He’s looking around the building,” I said. “He’s not sure he’d feel safe with me living here.”

  Griffin caught on. “I agree with him. I’ve been watching the people going in and out. I don’t think you’d like it here.”

  “Hey, I live here,” Reid said.

  “Oh, honey bear, this is Morgan Reid. He lives in the building.”

  Reid stuck out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  Griffin’s face was immovable. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  Something was bothering me about this situation – other than the obvious. Reid was supposed to be dead already. Again. Instead, he was wandering around outside of his apartment building. Who does that? Okay, who does that besides me?

  “You know what, snookums, I’m going to run around and see if I can find … my brother,” I said. I didn’t want to reveal any names. “Why don’t you stay here and quiz Mr. Reid on the building?”

  Griffin arched an eyebrow. “Well, baby doll, maybe I should go with you?”

  “No,” I said, glancing around. “Someone should probably stay here and keep Mr. Reid company, you sexy beast.”

  Griffin ran his tongue over his teeth. “But I want to spend some quality time with you, sweetie pie.”

  The names were starting to get out of control, and yet I couldn’t stop. “You’ll be fine for two minutes, Tootsie Roll.”

  Griffin scowled. “If you’re not back in two minutes, pain in my ass, I’m going to come looking for you.”

  “Great,” I said and bolted in the direction Cillian had gone moments before.

  “Wait! I thought we were going to get to know one another?” Reid called after me.

  “You can get to know me,” Griffin said, his tone grim.

  I left Griffin to handle Reid as I scanned the back of the building. It was empty and there was nowhere to hide. I jogged around the next corner, and the scene was straight out of a horror movie. Cillian was on the ground, his face devoid of … anything. A wraith loomed over him, its face inches from Cillian’s, and I realized it was trying to suck his soul.

  “Hey!” I raced forward. I had no idea what I was going to do, I only knew Cillian was vulnerable.

  The wraith straightened as I approached. It was hidden in the shadow of the building, and the opening between the building and the nearby fence was narrow. There wasn’t a lot of room to navigate, but I had to get to Cillian.

  “You get away from him,” I ordered.

  “Aisling.” The voice was a hiss. “Aisling Grimlock.”

  It knew my name. That was … freaky. Hopefully it was afraid of me. “Get away from my brother.”

  “Must not kill her,” the wraith hissed. “She’s not supposed to be touched.”

  I couldn’t figure out who the wraith was talking to. “That’s right. You don’t want to touch me,” I said, closing the distance between us. “Now step away from my brother.”

  “Pretty prize.”

  “Listen, creepy, I don’t have time to deal with you,” I said, extending my finger. “Get away from my brother.”

  The wraith glanced back down at Cillian. “He’s mine.”

  “No, he’s not.”

  “Mine. Mine. Mine.” The wraith made a move to go back to Cillian.

  I felt helpless. I knew I couldn’t let the wraith touch me. If it did, I would be incapacitated. A wraith can suck the energy out of a reaper with just a touch. I scanned the ground at my feet and picked up the only weapon available: a rock. The one good thing about growing up with four brothers is that you’re not allowed to throw like a girl. I hurled the rock as hard as I could, hitting the wraith in the middle of its forehead.

  The creature reared back, its long hands splaying over its forehead as confusion washed over it. “Mine!”

  I took another step forward, this time scooping up an errant brick that had detached from the side of the building. It was big and I wasn’t sure I could hit my target with it, but I hoped the wraith didn’t know that. “I’ll bash your head in,” I warned.

  The wraith was obviously torn, and the second it turned its attention back to Cillian I knew I was out of options. I hurled the brick and scored a direct hit. The wraith tilted to the side as it listed against the building. I put myself between Cillian’s prone body and the wraith. I scooped the lobbed brick back off the ground and slammed it into wraith’s head. It didn’t fall, but it did … scream. Kind of. I pounded the brick into its head as many times as I could. My arm was tiring when the wraith’s body stiffened – and then exploded into a pile of dust.

  I fell back, surprise and exhaustion washing over me. I didn’t give myself time to recover. Instead, I crawled to Cillian and checked him for signs of life. He was breathing, but barely.

  Griffin and Aidan found me seconds later.

  Twelve

  “Is someone riding with him to the hospital?” The impatient paramedic glanced down at us from the back of the ambulance.

  “I am.” I climbed up and settled on the bench next to Cillian’s gurney. He was unnaturally pale and I didn’t like his shallow breathing.

  “We’ll be right behind you,” Griffin said, his face grave. “We’re going to have to answer some questions.”

  I bit my lower lip and nodded.

  “We’ll be right behind you,” Griffin repeated.

  “I’ll call Dad.” Aidan’s voice was low. “Just … stay with him.”

  It hadn’t taken long to explain the situation to Griffin and Aidan when they happened upon Cillian and me. Unfortunately for us, someone heard the wraith’s scream, so we had to make up an explanation on the spot to explain Cillian’s status. Apparently there was an errant mugger in the area, at least that’s what
Griffin reported to the uniformed officers who arrived a few moments later. Aidan and I had no choice but to back him up.

  I had no idea what happened to Morgan Reid; he must have managed to sneak away in the melee. He wasn’t my concern now.

  The paramedic shut the ambulance door and the driver took off like a shot. I gripped the handles on the bench as the ambulance careened around a curve.

  The paramedic continued checking Cillian, who was deathly still. “Did he hit his head?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I don’t see any injuries,” the paramedic said.

  I didn’t know how to respond. I couldn’t tell the man that a supernatural soul devourer with red claws and white skin had tried to suck the life out of my brother. “I just found him on the ground.”

  “And you saw the guy who attacked him?”

  “Not really,” I said, shrugging. “I saw a dark figure in a hoodie escape through the gate. I didn’t get a good look at him.”

  “You’re probably lucky that he didn’t get too close to you,” the paramedic said. “You could have been seriously hurt.”

  I wasn’t feeling particularly lucky. I gripped Cillian’s hand. It was cold. “Is he going to be okay?”

  “He’s your brother, right?”

  I nodded.

  “I don’t know,” the paramedic replied, his face earnest and honest. “I have no idea what’s wrong with him. We’ll know more when we get to the hospital.”

  I reached up to brush Cillian’s hair from his face. Of all my brothers he was the most even-tempered. He was the last one to fly off the handle and it took him longer to anger than everyone else in our family, but that didn’t mean he was quiet. I’d never seen him this still before. “He’ll be okay,” I said. “He has to be.”

  “WHERE is he?”

  Cormack Grimlock is a formidable man on a normal day. On a day when one of his children is in danger, though, he’s terrifying. I heard Dad’s voice before I saw his face, and when his furious countenance fell on me as he rounded the corner into the waiting room I shrank.

  My legs were shaking when I got to my feet. “They’re working on him now.”

  Dad pulled up short when he saw me. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Where is Aidan?”

  “He had to stay at the scene with Griffin to answer questions.”

  “Griffin?” Dad’s eyebrows nearly flew off his forehead. “Why was he there?”

  I glanced around nervously. We were starting to draw curious looks. “Dad, you have to calm down.”

  “You calm down!”

  “Let’s all calm down,” Griffin said, striding into view and pulling me in for a quick hug. “You need to stop yelling, Mr. Grimlock.”

  “I am not yelling.”

  “I could hear you in the parking lot.”

  “You could not.”

  “He’s right, Dad. You need to zip it,” Aidan said, moving to Dad’s side. “People will start to talk if you don’t, and we don’t need to draw attention to ourselves.”

  Dad growled in response, but let Aidan pull him down into a chair.

  “Where are Braden and Redmond?” Aidan asked.

  “They’re on their way,” Dad said. “They were in Dearborn.”

  I rested my head on Griffin’s shoulder as we sank into chairs. Griffin had directed us to a spot near Dad, but not too close.

  Dad leaned forward, quieter now. “What happened?”

  I told him the story, being careful to keep my voice low to ward off prying ears. When I was done, Dad looked as though he wanted to hit something.

  “He’ll be okay,” I said. I had no idea whether I was saying it to make him or me feel better.

  “You attacked it with a brick?”

  The question took me by surprise. “I didn’t have any other options.”

  “And what would have happened if it had gotten its hands on you?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, anger starting to bubble. “Should I have just sat there and let it kill Cillian?”

  Griffin rubbed my knee. “That’s not what he’s saying.”

  “No, it’s not,” Dad said. “You just … you could have been killed, too.”

  “He’s not dead.” Not yet.

  “Aisling, I am not faulting you for being brave,” Dad said, fighting to rein in his temper. “You should have called for Aidan and Griffin. You should never have taken on that situation yourself. Why do you think I wanted Cillian there for backup?”

  “Because you think I’m incompetent,” I said.

  “I do not.”

  “You do, too,” I shot back. Anger and worry over Cillian were eroding all hints of reason from my brain. “No one else had to be on probation as long as me.”

  Dad scowled. “Oh, here we go.”

  “Is now really the time for this?” Griffin asked.

  “It seems all we have is time,” Dad shot back. “You listen, Aisling. I can only deal with one thing at a time. Right now, I’m dealing with your brother. That doesn’t mean I want you to do something stupid and get yourself hurt. This is exactly why I didn’t want you in this line of work.”

  I stilled. “What? When I told you I wasn’t going to be a … antiquities dealer … you practically disowned me.”

  “I did not.”

  “You did so.”

  “I did not.”

  “You did so.”

  “I did not.”

  I turned to Aidan for help. He looked as though the last place he wanted to be was in the middle of this conversation. “You did yell at her,” he said finally.

  “I only did that because you all expected me to yell,” Dad said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I was secretly relieved.”

  “Why?” I was flabbergasted.

  “Because you weren’t in danger in an office setting,” Dad said. “You were off in your own little world. The worst thing I had to worry about then was whether you’d ever date anyone because you spent all of your time going to gay bars with Jerry.”

  “But … you were always so disappointed.”

  “Aisling, I’ve never been disappointed where you’re concerned,” Dad said. “Well, that’s not true. When you were arrested for stealing that car as a teenager I was disappointed.”

  “I did not steal that car,” I hissed. “I borrowed it from Kelly Kolchak. It’s not my fault she was too drunk to remember, and when her parents caught us she totally threw me under the bus.” I glanced at Griffin. “That is exactly why I don’t get along with other women.”

  He smirked. “Don’t worry. I saw the stolen-car charge on your record the day I met you,” he said. “It’s not like it’s news to me.”

  I scowled. “I did not steal that car.”

  “I’m sure you didn’t, baby.” Griffin rubbed his hand over my shoulders. “Listen, I know there is a lot of drama where this family is concerned. A lot of drama.”

  I shot him a look.

  “I do not think now is the time to air all of your dirty laundry, though,” Griffin said. “You’re all upset about Cillian. I get that. We just have to … wait.”

  “In case you haven’t noticed, this family isn’t good at waiting,” Aidan said.

  “Oh, I’ve noticed.”

  Braden and Redmond picked that moment to arrive, and after an initial flurry of questions we all settled in for the wait together. After a very uncomfortable ten minutes, Redmond couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Do we know what happened to Reid?”

  “I was talking to him when I heard the scream,” Griffin said. “I didn’t really think about watching him. I thought Aisling was in trouble.”

  “No one is blaming you, man,” Redmond said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I just think it’s suspicious. Why was he outside?”

  “I’m wondering if the wraith was supposed to kill him,” Braden said. “Maybe Cillian got in the way?”

  “No,” I said. “Reid should have been dead before Cil
lian and I even separated.”

  “And why did you separate again?” Dad asked.

  I narrowed my eyes.

  “I’m not asking because I want to attack you,” Dad said. “I’m asking because I’m trying to understand what happened.”

  “Once Reid showed up, he wouldn’t stop asking stupid questions,” I said. “Since we knew he was supposed to be dead already, Cillian was worried and he wanted to take a look around the building.”

  “So, he left you with a potential murder victim?”

  “Don’t you dare say anything bad about him,” I warned.

  Braden sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. “How long are we supposed to wait?”

  “If you all promise to behave I’ll see if I can get some information,” Griffin offered.

  “How are you going to find anything out?” I asked. “We’re his family. We should be the first ones to hear updates.”

  “Did you forget who works here?”

  I knit my eyebrows together. It took me longer than it should have to figure out who he meant. “Maya.”

  “She’s on duty,” Griffin said. “I’m willing to ask her to check on Cillian.”

  I jumped to my feet. “Let’s go.”

  Griffin was unsure. “Maybe you should stay here.”

  “Why?”

  “You know why.”

  “Why?” Redmond asked, curious.

  “His sister doesn’t like me,” I said.

  “She didn’t say that,” Griffin protested.

  “She takes yoga classes with Angelina Davenport,” I supplied.

  Four Grimlock faces twisted into identical grimaces of dislike.

  “Wow, that was impressive,” Griffin said. “I just … why don’t you wait here? I won’t be gone long.”

  I was desperate for information about Cillian. “But … .”

  “Stay here, please,” Griffin said.

  “Fine.”

  He brushed a quick kiss against my forehead and then focused on my brothers and father. “Do not attack her while I’m gone.”

  “Why would we attack her?” Braden asked.

  “If I understood why you guys do half the things you do, I would be one of the wisest men in all the land,” Griffin said. “Just … sit here and try to get along with one another.”

  “Yes, sir,” Braden said, mock saluting.