“Whatever.” I blew out a sigh and watched as Aisling tickled her daughter, who grinned at Cormack when he leaned closer. Maybe the entire thing was worth it after all. Then I caught Braden’s gaze again and found him glaring hard enough to cause me to gulp.
Twenty
Cormack was determined to hold strong and ban Aisling and me from dessert. He held out until Redmond and Cillian started taunting their sister with cookies dipped in ice cream, which made Lily smile. She was in her grandfather’s arms when it happened, so he turned into a big ball of mush and acquiesced.
Aisling managed to hide her smile until it was just the two of us at the ice cream bar, and then she was full of herself. “I knew he wouldn’t be able to hold out,” she muttered, clearly proud of herself.
While I was happy for the ice cream, I had other things on my mind, including the fact that Braden refused to meet my gaze. I didn’t see his anger dissipating anytime soon.
“Don’t worry about Braden,” Aisling offered when she realized I was staring at her brother. “He won’t stay angry. He never does. Although ... if any of my brothers are going to hold a grudge over the long haul, it’s him. It shouldn’t be more than a few days, though.”
That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. “I don’t even understand why he’s angry.” I blurted out the words even though they weren’t true. “I was simply doing my job.”
Aisling arched an eyebrow as she dished a huge dollop of hot fudge onto her sundae. “Your job is to monitor the gate. You didn’t have to go after the revenants. You know that’s exactly what he’s going to say to you when he finally decides to start yelling.”
Yes, and he had a point. That didn’t mean I was going to acquiesce to his demands and suddenly turn into a wilting flower who needed a chaperone on dangerous outings. “He’s being a butthead.”
“He’s king of the buttheads,” she agreed, her eyes turning to the door as Griffin walked in late. The look on his face was as dark as the one Braden sported. “And here comes second in command for butthead dominance.” She let loose a sigh. “I was hoping to get through a few bowls of ice cream before he showed up. This won’t be good.”
“You’re in big trouble,” Griffin announced, hands on hips. “I mean ... huge trouble. If there was an Olympic event for getting in trouble, you would have the gold, silver and bronze medals around your neck right now.”
Aisling, never one to back down, smiled. “Look, everybody, it’s the most magnificent cop and husband in all the land. Doesn’t he look handsome?”
Cormack snorted. “And now you know why I don’t feel all that bad about backing off regarding your punishment. He’s going to do far worse to you than I ever could.”
Aisling looked the exact opposite of afraid. “Yes, but I know his secret tickle spots. He’ll be putty in my hands.”
“Think again.” Griffin’s tone was grave. “I’m angry. I mean ... I’m Hulk angry.”
“And funnily enough I still like you when you’re angry,” she drawled.
As if on cue, Aisling’s brothers – even Braden – started growling and flexing their muscles. It was a routine I’d never seen before.
“What was that?” I was beyond confused.
“Aisling was obsessed with that old television show about The Incredible Hulk from the seventies,” Cillian explained. “She used to growl like him when she was a kid. It’s something we all used to do when she started growling at Dad.”
“Yes, and it’s no cuter now than it was then,” Cormack argued. “In fact, it’s beyond ridiculous.”
Actually, I found the scene endearing. Now wasn’t the time to point that out, though. “I think I’m going to sit down.” I clutched my bowl of ice cream tighter and tried to skirt around Aisling in an attempt to get away from her. She was having none of it.
“You didn’t get any sprinkles.” She dumped a huge spoonful in my bowl, her gaze never wandering from Griffin’s face. “There’re whipped cream and cherries over there. You should definitely add those.”
All I wanted to do was flee. Apparently that wasn’t going to happen, because Griffin cut off my avenue of escape.
“You’re in trouble for taking her with you,” he announced, pinning me with a murderous glare. “I can’t punish you like I can her, but I’m definitely ticked.”
I risked a glare at Braden and found him watching the exchange with something akin to triumph. Griffin didn’t have to worry about punishing me. Braden was doing a bang-up job of it on his own.
“Don’t threaten her,” Aisling snapped. “She’s not to blame. If you want to be angry with someone, be angry at me.”
“Oh, I’m angry with you.” Griffin snagged a gummy worm from her bowl. “But I have plenty of anger to go around.” As if to prove it, he shifted his attention to Cormack. “I’m angry with you, too. In fact, you might want to start running now.”
Cormack shook his head and shifted Lily so he could hold her more comfortably. “I’m terrified. Whatever will I do?” he drawled.
Griffin opened his mouth, a nasty response at the ready, but then his gaze dropped to his daughter ... who was smiling again. Apparently now that she’d broken the seal she couldn’t stop.
“Hey, she’s smiling at me.” He forgot his argument with his wife and moved closer to the baby. “Look at that. I won. She’s smiling at me.”
“She’s been smiling nonstop for an hour,” Redmond offered, morose. “You’re not the first recipient of her smile. That honor goes to your wife, who apparently amused the crap out of her because she was filthy and whiny when Dad started yelling at her.”
“Yes, proving she’s a true Grimlock. Lily seems delighted when everybody yells at one another,” Cillian volunteered. “It would almost be funny if it weren’t so tragic.”
Griffin deflated upon hearing the truth. “Oh, geez. She really is her mother’s daughter.”
Aisling’s eyes lit with delight. “She is,” she agreed. “If you want to get in good with her, you have to stay tight with me. That means no yelling.”
“I didn’t agree to those terms.” Even though he was putting up a modicum of fight, it was over. I could sense that Griffin was in full retreat. The baby’s smile had defeated him, too. “I’m just going to wait until we’re alone later to explain my disappointment.”
Aisling mock saluted and then went back to piling things on top of her ice cream. “I look forward to fighting and making up. I shall pencil you in for ten.”
“Ugh.” Cormack made a disgusted sound as he shifted, shaking his head when Griffin reached for the baby. “Have your dinner first. She’s fine.”
Oddly enough, that’s the moment I realized everything was fine with the Grimlocks, that everything had gone back to normal – except for one thing. I glanced at Braden again, but his features showed no sign of softening.
Ah, well, it was only mostly over. I still had a battle in front of me. I was about to launch my first offensive to get into his good graces when the butler approached, a cordless phone in his hand. He immediately handed it to Cormack, who pressed it to his ear and began talking.
It didn’t take long to realize that something horrible had happened. Cormack was on his feet, Lily clutched tightly against his chest as his face went unnaturally white. No one said a word until he was off the phone, and then the deluge of questions began.
“Shut up ... all of you.” Cormack used his most authoritative voice. “I will tell you what happened. Don’t interrupt.”
“Well, this can’t be good,” Aisling muttered, clearly distressed.
“It’s not,” Cormack confirmed. “We had guards at several of the revenant homes. We were watching in case the revenants returned. At three of those locations, we lost contact with the security teams at almost exactly the same time. The home office dispatched backup. When they arrived, they found all of the security team members dead.”
My stomach twisted into a big ball of horror. “Are you serious? How many men?”
“We’
re down six men. There were two at each location.”
“But ... .” My mind raced. “We need to get over there. I need to see if I can sense something.” I discarded my ice cream bowl on the table. I’d lost my appetite. “It’s a long shot, but I might be able to figure out what happened.”
“Then we’ll go,” Cormack confirmed, immediately shaking his head when chairs began scraping against the floor. “Not all of us. I want most of you to stay here and keep researching. And, before you say one word, Aisling, you will be part of the contingent that remains.”
“I’m fine with that,” she supplied, her eyes on me. “I have information to share with those who stay behind. Besides, it’s not as if I can help. I’m not magic.”
“You’re going to tell them what I learned from Claire?” I asked. I figured that’s what she was talking about, but I wanted to be sure.
She nodded. “You can fill in the bigger gaps later. I’ll give them the basics.”
“Okay.”
“Good.” Cormack shifted Lily into Cillian’s arms. “Braden and Izzy will come with me. If we learn something, we’ll call. Otherwise, I want everyone locked down in this house. Does everybody understand?” He paused for a beat. “Aisling, if you’re about to say something snarky, I would advise against it. I’m not in the mood.”
“When has that ever stopped me?” she challenged.
Griffin slapped his hand over her mouth before she could continue. “Go. I’ll handle her. Just ... be safe. Always look over your shoulders. These things are apparently sneaky and strong. We don’t want to lose anyone.”
I SAT IN THE BACK SEAT OF CORMACK’S Maserati Quattroporte. It seemed a safe bet. Braden slid into the passenger seat and met my gaze long enough to nod. There was no warmth in the gesture, so I didn’t know how to read it. I only knew I felt bereft.
When we arrived at the first scene, it was buzzing with activity, but there were no police. That’s the first thing I noticed. All the emergency personnel were low key and dressed in street clothes.
“Why aren’t the cops aren’t here?” It was a stupid question, but I was feeling slower than normal.
“This isn’t a job for the police,” Cormack replied. “They can’t do anything to stop this. What’s happening here is our responsibility.”
I couldn’t really argue with that, so I moved around him and headed straight for one of the bodies on the street. I took a moment to study the houses that were packed in on both sides of the older street — there was very little space between the houses — and was surprised to find an absence of curious faces in the windows.
“Why aren’t the neighbors watching?” I asked, accepting the rubber gloves shoved in my direction by one of the reaper paramedics. He was dressed in gray rather than white. “Thanks, but I don’t plan to disturb your crime scene. I do need to touch the bodies, though.”
The paramedic opened his mouth to argue, but Cormack shot him a firm head shake.
“Give Ms. Sage the room she needs to operate,” he instructed. “If you have a problem with that, take it up with the head office. I’ve been cleared to do whatever I deem necessary on this scene.”
The paramedic snapped his mouth shut and nodded.
I circled the body twice before dropping to a knee. The body was in bad shape, blood coating the man’s face and chest. I had no idea how he died. The only thing I could be certain of was that it was a hard death.
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Braden offered, moving closer to me. Concern etched lines in his face and it was obvious he had more he wanted to say. “I mean ... no one will think less of you if you choose not to look inside his head. It doesn’t always have to be you.”
That was almost laughable considering the circumstances. “If not me, who?”
“We can figure out what happened without you having to emotionally batter yourself. We basically know how this happened anyway.”
“Details are always helpful.”
“Not at the expense of you getting a good night’s sleep.” He leaned forward to make sure nobody except me could hear what he was about to say. “I won’t pretend I’m not angry, but I don’t want you punishing yourself. It’ll be okay.”
Even though I told myself I wasn’t worked up about his insistence on giving me the cold shoulder, the simple declaration was enough to loosen some of the worry that had been gripping my heart. I never wanted to be one of those women who got her self-worth from a man. That didn’t mean I wasn’t greatly relieved to know that he didn’t plan on holding a grudge forever.
“I have to look.” I forced a smile for his benefit. “I have to see. We’re assuming the same thing happened at this house that happened at Dunning’s. Once I get confirmation of that, I won’t have to check the others. We have to be absolutely sure.”
He held my gaze for an extended moment and then sighed. “Okay. Just don’t stay in there longer than you have to. See what you need and get out. I’ll make sure you get the ice cream you missed when we get back to the house.”
The statement was so absurd, so out of the blue, that I had to fight the urge to laugh. “I thought you were angry with me.”
“I am. Well ... was. It doesn’t matter. Nobody should go without ice cream from the ice cream bar. It’s a special treat ... and the gummy worms are delightful.”
On instinct, I reached over and squeezed his hand. “I’ll be as quick as I can. Don’t worry. This is hardly the first time I’ve had to do this.”
“I won’t be able to stop myself from worrying, just like you won’t be able to stop yourself from poking your nose in dangerous places. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to mine. We’re just going to have to learn to accept annoying things about each other.”
This wasn’t the place for the conversation, but I enjoyed the words all the same.
“All right, knock it off,” Cormack growled, shaking his head. I’d almost forgotten he was watching over us. Apparently he’d witnessed everything that just went down, and he didn’t look impressed. “Seriously, between you two and Aisling and Griffin, I’m going to lose all my hair before the end of the year. I don’t understand why everything must be so dramatic.”
“You raised us,” Braden offered, taking a step away from me and positioning himself next to his father. “Maybe you provided the drama gene. Have you ever considered that?”
“No. It was definitely your mother.”
The exchange was normal, cute, and almost sweet. It relaxed me enough to extend my hand and touch the guard. Almost instantaneously, I was transported to his final moments. What I saw was confusing ... and chillingly violent.
“Oh, geez.” I jerked my hand away after two minutes of contact. I’d seen all that was necessary. In fact, I was certain I’d seen more than was necessary. My hand was shaking when Braden moved behind me and helped me to my feet.
“What did you see?” Cormack asked. He almost looked pained to ask, but we were here for information.
“First, the revenants are doing something with the souls,” I offered after I’d collected myself, running the scene through my head again just to make sure I’d seen what I thought I’d seen. “I’m not familiar with sucking souls, but Braden has described what happens and I’m almost positive that the revenants took the souls of your guards.”
“Took them?” Cormack’s eyebrow winged up. “Did they absorb them in a scepter?”
“No.”
“Then how did they take them? You need a receptacle for the souls. Otherwise they can just take off.”
“They didn’t have time.” I was chilled by what I saw. “They seemed confused when they emerged from their bodies. The revenants were on them right away. They ... ate ... the souls. That’s the only way I can think to explain it. They sucked them into their mouths ... and they shared what they got as if it were a huge meal.”
Cormack’s features twisted as he shifted his gaze to Braden. “Well, I guess that could explain why our people didn’t sho
w up on the lists of the dead. We know from personal experience that reapers are no different from humans when it comes to collecting souls. Apparently someone recognized we could never save these souls.”
“We should check the surrounding houses,” I suggested. “We know the revenants aren’t afraid to kill neighbors. The guards might’ve served as a sustainable meal, but we need to be sure. The revenants by Dunning’s house were killed. We need numbers. I can’t be sure who we killed. We need to know who was in that house, because if Dunning wasn’t with the revenants we killed he’s still out there ... and a danger.”
Cormack blew out a weary sigh. “This is beyond anything we’ve had to face before. We need to get ahead of this, but I don’t know where to start.”
This situation was quickly growing out of control and there was no end in sight. If the revenants continued to multiply, we would be overrun quickly. We couldn’t allow that to happen.
We were already running out of time.
Twenty-One
I was exhausted by the time we returned to Grimlock Manor. I didn’t mount an argument when Braden directed me toward the kitchen. I thought we would be alone, but most of the family was there mixing sundaes. We joined in without saying a word.
“I take it things were bad,” Redmond said as Braden dished up a huge serving of ice cream and handed it to me.
“They were bad,” Braden agreed. “The revenants ate their souls.”
“What?” Horrified, Aisling pulled away from Griffin. They looked to have made up, because they were both in pajamas and giving each other flirty looks. The crackling atmosphere between them died in an instant.
I nodded dully. “I saw what happened to the guards when I touched one of them. The souls didn’t have time to flee. They were gone in an instant ... and it was ugly.”
“Well, crap.” Aisling rubbed her cheek. “Do you think they would’ve done the same to us?”
Griffin straightened his shoulders at the question. Obviously he hadn’t yet worked his way around to that possibility. “You’re not leaving the house,” he announced.
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