Reaper's Blood (The Grimm Brotherhood Book 1)

by Kel Carpenter

  “Salem Kaine,” she greeted me before I was more than a few steps in. “You’re late.”

  “How can I be late when I didn’t even know I was coming here until about an hour ago?” I asked.

  She gave me an enigmatic smile, pushing a few rogue dreadlocks behind her shoulder. “I take it your summoning did not go as planned?”

  “My Latin’s a bit rusty,” I answered with a hard smile.

  She laughed. “Ask your questions, Salem. I will do my best to answer them.”

  Her sudden willingness to be helpful was almost more unnerving than her knowing before I did that I would be coming to see her today.

  I walked up to the counter and plonked my purse down. Shep’s head popped out and looked from me to Darla.

  “Baaaaad Salem.”

  I facepalmed. “So the summoning worked,” I said. “But my brother didn’t come back as a ghost or even able to talk in full sentences. He’s defective, although cute this way.”

  Darla looked the stuffie over, not seeming remotely surprised. “I’m not hearing the question in there,” she said tepidly.

  I barely restrained myself from rolling my eyes. “He can’t speak correctly. He’s a watered-down version of himself. He didn’t come back like the other ghosts, and he doesn’t talk like them either. Why is that?”

  She didn’t take her eyes off the sheep. “You’re not going to like the answer.”

  “I rarely do these days.”

  She snorted. “Your brother’s soul has been shredded.”

  I blinked hard, my mouth falling open. “Shredded? What the fuck does that mean?” I asked, even though the sick feeling low in my stomach told me I already knew what she was about to say.

  Her brown eyes slid from the sheep to me. “The reaper boy has been keeping you in the dark about some things. If you summoned your brother’s ghost—which is in essence his soul—you’ve only summoned a fraction of it because a fraction was all that was found.”

  Anger that was always simmering within me turned to a boil. If my brother’s soul was shredded, that meant a reaper was behind it. My thoughts immediately turned to Dom. By the time I’m done with you, you’re going to wish you were never born, fucker. Before I could get carried away planning my revenge, I needed to make sure I had all the facts.

  “So you’re telling me Shep is a demon?” I asked, recalling my conversation with Tamsin and Graves.

  Darla nodded. “For now, he is likely close to what you remember. At least in temperament. However, over time, the longer his soul is shredded, the more corrupted he’ll be.”

  I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the thinning veneer. “How do I un-shred it?”

  She regarded me for a long moment before replying, “Reapers have the ability to shred a soul, but they cannot put one back together.”

  I frowned. “Reapers also can’t see the dead or talk to them, but I can,” I said in a hard voice. “There’s gotta be a way.”

  Darla sighed. “I’m sorry, Salem. If there is a way, I do not know it, and I know a great deal.”

  I looked around the shop, biting back the fighting words I wanted to sling at her even though it wasn’t her fault. Instead of arguing, which was basically my default, I turned the conversation to something that might help me find the answer I needed. “You said Graves was keeping me in the dark with some things. What kind of things?”

  Darla smiled, and I got the impression she was enjoying this.

  “You’re not ready to know just yet,” she said cryptically.

  “Seriously?” I snapped. “You don’t just dangle something like that in front of me and then be like ‘mmm actually no’. What the hell, Darla?” I demanded, slapping my palms down on the counter. The wood creaked.

  Darla looked from the counter to me, her expression completely unfazed. “You’re a smart girl, Salem. You already know he’s keeping secrets. You just don’t know what. Next time you see him, ask him about the history of Grimms. Ask him how they were created. You know their purpose, but not their origin.” She turned away to grab a rag and began wiping down the counter.

  “Okay,” I drawled. “Why can’t you just tell me now?”

  “Because,” she said. “Things need to happen. Things that have not yet come to pass.”

  I groaned. How much more fucking vague could she get? “You know what? Fine. Play your mind games. I’ll get my own answers,” I said, turning to leave. I already had an idea just how to do it.

  “Be careful, Salem,” Darla called after me, almost like she was reading my mind, but I ignored her.

  As I stormed out of her shop, my phone was in my hand and my finger was pressing speed dial.

  Tamsin answered on the first ring. “Hey girl! Dying of boredom yet?”

  “Tam, I need a favor.”

  14

  B&E

  One thing they don’t show you in the movies is how much you sweat when you decide to do something illegal. I could hear my heartbeat raging in my ears like a siren, each nerve-racking step making me pause and shift my eyes from side to side to ensure we hadn’t been seen.

  A soft rustling sent me a foot off the ground as I jumped and then pressed myself as far into Kappa Phi’s back wall as I could go.

  Tamsin let out a whispered curse. “Salem, we’re never even going to make it up to the back door if you don’t start walking like a normal person. Skulking about is only going to make it more obvious we’re up to no good. It’s not exactly like we have the cover of darkness here.”

  I peeled myself off the wall and sighed. “If you’d let us do this in the middle of the night like I’d suggested, we would have.”

  She crossed her arms. “It’s a frat house, not a bank. What exactly do you hope to accomplish sneaking around in the dark where a bunch of supernatural twatwaffles sleep? Not to mention that there are likely more people in the house up and moving around in the wee hours of the morning than any daylight ones.”

  Okay, so she had a point. It’s how she convinced me that two in the afternoon would be a smarter time to break into Gamma Rho than say, two in the morning. But I felt entirely too exposed. More icy rivulets of sweat rolled down my back. I was going to take the world’s longest shower after this was done.

  “We don’t have to do this, you know,” she said, voice still whisper-soft.

  “Yeah, we do.”

  Just thinking about what Darla told me was enough to put the steel back in my spine. My brother’s soul had been shredded, which meant a reaper was behind his death. One way or the other, I needed to know how deep their betrayal ran. I needed to find proof of Dom’s involvement.

  His and anyone else’s that might be involved.

  Tamsin and I crept forward. Well, Tamsin walked like a normal person while I continued with my bad impression of the Scooby gang. I was about as subtle as a neon sign. I clearly wasn’t cut out for this shit.

  We were just crossing the hedges between the Kappa and Gamma houses when another rustling made me pause. It sounded close. Way too close. I froze, my eyes closing while my brain scrambled for some explanation about why I was taking a casual stroll through some bushes instead of on the sidewalk.

  That’s when I heard it.

  The muffled bleating.

  “Oh, hell no,” I growled, my neck twisting down to the small purse I’d brought. I’d wanted to make sure I had my phone and a couple other essentials. You know, a lock-picking set, flashlight, and a screwdriver. It would double as a tool or a shiv. Just in case.

  Tamsin had stopped to look back at me. I opened up my bag as I heard a loud, “Baaaaaaaa.”

  “What are you doing?” I hissed at the little sheep as it tried to climb out of my bag.

  “Haaaaaaaalping.”

  That gave me pause. How exactly did Shep think he could help me with a breaking and entering? “Uhh . . .”

  “Salem,” Tamsin whisper-shouted. “Are we doing this or not?”

  “Coming,” I said, pushing his head back in the bag w
ith a finger. “You just stay there.” His little mouth quivered like he wanted to protest, but for the moment he seemed willing to obey.

  The frat house was oddly silent. I’d sort of expected to hear the chatter of voices or the sound of a TV at least, but there was nothing. The oversized French doors that opened up to the patio and the pool were closed, and the black and silver curtains drawn. Tamsin and I exchanged a look. I started to move to the window, testing the edge to see if it was unlocked. She stopped me with a hand on the arm and a roll of her eyes. Taking two steps away from me, she turned the door and it swung open.

  So much for the lock-pick.

  “Well if you want to do it the easy way,” I muttered, brushing past her and into the house. It wasn’t what I expected from a frat house. Instead of beer pong tables and sticky floors, the interior was clean and tastefully decorated in shades of black and silver. It even smelled nice. I’d been prepared for eau de’frat; AKA beer, weed, and vomit. But it smelled good. Like fireplaces and something else. Sandalwood, maybe?

  Tamsin trailed my steps as I moved around one of the overstuffed black leather sofas and started making my way to the staircase. If there was anything to be found, it wouldn’t be in one of these common rooms. We needed to find the rooms they didn’t let visitors see. Specifically, the bedrooms. I knew they’d be upstairs, but I had no clue how many I’d have to go through before I found Dom’s.

  The bottom stair gave a loud squeak as soon as I put my weight on it, and my body gave another jolt. Now was really not the time to get distracted.

  “You stay here and act as a lookout; I’m going to head up and see if I can find his room.”

  Tamsin’s jaw was clenched, and there was a deep furrow between her brows. She gave a tight nod, positioning herself behind a piano that was to the side of the staircase. It would keep her body hidden if anyone walked by.

  I moved quickly, but cautiously, testing each stair before allowing my full weight to settle just to make sure there were no more unwanted squeaks. When I got to the top, I was in a hallway with doors on either side and one at the end. All of which were closed.

  A plush black carpet ran along the length of the hall, muting my footsteps. I stopped beside the first door to my right and pressed my ear against it. The only thing I could hear was the sound of my heartbeat. Opening the door, I let out a disappointed breath. It was empty. Not even a box for me to dig through.

  Closing the door, I stepped back and went on to the door of my left. This time I was greeted by a sea of white sheets. Did anyone actually live here? Or were these rooms a front just like the frat itself, I wondered as I lifted up the edge of a sheet and saw an exact replica of the couch downstairs. Further bulky sheet-covered items were scattered around the room, but all they hid were pieces of furniture.

  Dust filled the air from all the sheets wafting, and I fought against the urge to sneeze. My eyes watered as the pressure built in my nose. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. The feeling started to fade, and I took a stumbling step forward, right into the corner of the antique desk I’d discovered only moments prior.

  “Motherfu–” I cried out, barely clasping my hand over my mouth to contain the outburst as I hunched over in pain. My purse fell from my shoulder, spilling its limited contents on the floor.

  “Baaaaa!”

  I was still half-blinded by agony, so I didn’t immediately notice the tiny body making a beeline toward the door. Blinking back tears, I dropped to my knees and started scrambling to collect the items. The phone and lock-pick hadn’t made it far, and I let out an immediate sigh of relief when I saw that my screen wasn’t cracked. My flashlight and screwdriver were another matter. The screwdriver was perched beneath an old armchair a few feet away, but the flashlight was still rolling. Scooting forward, I snagged the screwdriver and pushed to my feet to chase down my light source.

  My steps forward were more of a limp. I’d hit that desk right on the corner, and there was no question a nasty bruise was already forming. Rubbing the area on my thigh to try to ease some of the ache, I moved slowly, trying not to make any more unnecessary noise. It was a damn miracle no one had heard me.

  Flashlight in hand, I shoved it into my reclaimed purse along with other items. “Alright, Shep, time to get back in—” My whisper broke off when my eyes found no trace of my little demon.

  You’ve got to be kidding me. I didn’t have time to waste chasing down my wayward sheep. Peeking my head back into the hallway, I watched just as a crocheted tail wiggled through the doorway at the end of the hall.

  I blinked in surprise. The door hadn’t been open when I got up here, so how had he . . . I realized it didn’t really matter how he’d managed to open the door, and I took off down the hall after him.

  “Get back here,” I hissed. I don’t know why I bothered. My twin hadn’t listened to me during his human years. Why would he bother in the middle of this grand adventure? I was so going to make him pay for this. Although . . . I wasn’t sure what kind of threat would be very effective for a demon.

  At the end of the hall, I paused at the barely opened door. My heart was galloping in my chest, but I still didn’t hear anything other than my shallow breathing. Using my shoulder, I nudged the door open the rest of the way. I was half-expecting another empty room, but this door was different. It led not to a room, but another staircase. A staircase that ascended into almost complete darkness.

  “Little sheep?” I whispered.

  Nothing. Frustration merged with the adrenaline inside of me, pushing me forward into the darkness. That little fucker better enjoy his field trip because it’s going to be his last.

  It was soon hard to make out anything in the darkness, so I fumbled in my purse and pulled out my flashlight. Clicking it on, I swept it across the floor to guide my steps up the stairs. I forced myself to keep moving, all the while yelling at myself for being as stupid as those girls who always die first in horror movies. Especially now that I knew monsters were very real.

  I made it up the narrow stairway and found myself facing a lone silver door, my demon twin perched directly in front of it. Like he’d known it was there—which, come to think of it, he probably did.

  “There you are, you little bastard.” My words were barely more than a whisper, but the sheep turned and bleated at me.

  “Saaaaalem goooooo.”

  It was a little hard to make out the design on the door from my perch on the stairs, but as I moved closer, it came into sharp relief. A Grim Reaper was etched into the panel.

  Something touched my leg, and I barely kept myself from screaming. A fearful glance revealed Shep standing on his back two legs, leaning against me. It almost looked like he was trying to push me back, but that was ridiculous. It would be like a piece of dandelion fluff trying to move a boulder.

  Crouching down, I grabbed him and pulled him up to eye level. “Don’t you ever do anything like that again.”

  “Baaaa.”

  “How did you even get up here?”

  He was nudging me with his head, but I was still learning how to interpret his movement and wasn’t sure if he was apologizing or still trying to get me to leave.

  Turns out, it didn’t matter. For the first time since entering the frat house, the sound of footsteps reached my ears. There was nowhere to hide and no way to escape notice from the reaper or reapers walking toward me.

  Except for the door.

  “Fuck it,” I muttered, grasping the doorknob that was shaped like a boney fist. I’d just twisted it when a cold, angry voice sounded right behind me.

  “Want to tell me what the hell you’re doing here?”

  15

  Oops

  “I . . . uh . . . I was”—I scrambled for words as I shoved the stuffie into my purse—“I was looking for my earring.” I dropped to my knees despite being on the stairs and started patting the cheap carpet.

  “Salem, you’re a terrible liar,” Graves said on an exhale.

  “Well, may
be it’s because lying is bad, and contrary to what my brother thinks, I’m a good Salem,” I said, blabbering on from the nervous energy zinging around inside me.

  “Get up,” he said, motioning with his hand.

  I let out a sigh, my shoulders deflating as I climbed back to my feet. “Okay, look—I tried to get ahold of you for days, but you wouldn’t even send me a ‘new number. Who dis?’ to let me know you’re tired of me. So I went to Darla to ask her about Shep. Want to know what she told me? She said his soul was shredded. Shredded,” I repeated for good measure, in case he missed the implication. “I didn’t fuck up the summoning. One of your reaper buddies—probably Dom—did it. This just proves I was right to begin with,” I said, speaking in a rush to get it all out before he interrupted me.

  “Are you done now?” he asked, sounding both more and less annoyed than I’d predicted.

  “Is that all you have to say?” I asked, throwing my hands up.

  “What do you want me to say?” he replied, anger quickly leaching into his tone. “I lost my phone shortly after the summoning, but things have been crazy here. Another kid died three days ago and I’ve been stuck dealing with that, so excuse me for not having time to drive over and tell you what was up. I was going to come by your place this afternoon, but you couldn’t manage to hang tight for three fucking days—”

  “Uh uh,” I said, shaking my head. “You don’t get to spin this on me. We did things your way and you refused to listen to me, only for Darla to tell me I was right to be suspicious to begin with. Look, you may not have had your phone, but it’s the twenty-first century. Get on Facebook and send me a message. Ghosting me because you don’t wanna talk is a pussy move.”

  “A pussy move?” Graves repeated. “Salem, someone died three days ago,” he said, his voice rising.

  “And my brother died a month ago,” I snapped back. “Something that only one of us seems to be remembering. I’m trying to catch his killer before he kills more people. Meanwhile you’re being obstinate and refusing to see reason—”