Conjuring Wrath (Seven Deadly Book 3)

by Michelle Gross

  Or maybe it was the same, and the reason why she irked me so damn bad.

  I thought about sending the job to Joy. She was kinder to souls than anyone else but oddly that wasn’t appealing either. Since Gwendolyn’s date had done and pissed on valuable time, I could’ve spent killing demons and saving lives elsewhere, I was determined to figure it out. Maybe even continue to annoy her.

  Actually, I wanted to know why Gwendolyn could see me.

  A human couldn’t see us except if we revealed ourselves, and I hadn’t done that. Unless she had demon blood, but she didn’t. I knew for a fact she was onlyhuman. There wasn’t a trace of anything else in her. Except for death.

  A fine sheen broke out on her forehead as she watched me.

  I exhaled. “Troublesome human.”

  “So…” She lowered the sheet to her chest. “Do you just appear and disappear out of thin air?”

  “It’s called fading,” I muttered.

  “Oh.” She nodded. “Can you show me?”

  “No.”

  Her dark eyebrow raised. “I’m not dead yet so, what are you doing here?”

  She was back to being insolent.

  “Ask fate.”

  Her nose wrinkled. “Is there like a person designated to that job or something?”

  My eye twitched again. Coming to see her was a bad idea. I was always so close to tipping over and raging out. I avoided anything I could that made it happen, but sometimes it randomly occurred, and I couldn’t help it. If I just left and got away from her questions, I’d be okay for a while.

  “What are you doing when you do that?”

  I frowned. “When I do what?”

  “You’re like disappearing in places. I see red wisps of smoke flowing around you whenever it happens.” She showed me by wiggling her fingers.

  Shit.

  Was I that close to losing it? How? I didn’t seem that far gone although I definitely felt anger pulsing in my skull. Horrible words wanted to fall from my tongue, death wanted to happen in my grip, and my eyes wanted to see the gore. That was mild, though. It was when I began to act on it that it was bad. But maybe I was wrong.

  Walk away, Barron.

  I only had to get away from the problem that caused my intense emotions—anger being the most potent. The issue was her, her, her. I couldn’t step away because my feet refused to move. My gaze never wavered from hers. My heartbeat sped up. Something not like wrath flowed through me. Heat blazed in my stomach and up my spine. It was so unexpected that everything inside me paused a second including my madness.

  I watched the soft inhale, then exhale of her chest as she gripped her sheet tightly. Too innocent, too vulnerable looking. All the anger flooded back.

  How could she see my essence shimmering into wrath?

  Gwendolyn was a lie.

  Even most demons couldn’t see the essence of others.

  I glared at her. “You’re not the real Gwendolyn, are you? What are you?” I materialized my scythe. My essence tinged the blade with red as I hoisted it over my shoulder.

  She fixated her gaze on a weapon she shouldn’t be able to see. Even a human with psychic powers wouldn’t be able to see any of it—me, my essence, or the weapon.

  “Oh, my God! That thing practically reaches to the ceiling.” From the very beginning, her expressions lacked the usual intense fear a human had when they saw me. There wasn’t enough terror in her. That should have clued me in earlier.

  I stepped closer.

  “Um… what are you doing with that!” She screeched and held up her hands as if that could keep me away. Ignoring her nails digging into my shirt, I gripped her by her pajama collar and hauled her off the bed. She kicked my thighs as I dangled her small frame in front of mine. Her fingers left my chest. She desperately pinched and slapped at me. “I knew it! You’re a bad guy!”

  “What are you?”

  “What do you mean?” She coughed. Up close, I noticed, her candy-green eyes had specks of brown in them. And in that moment, they were desperate and scared as they bore into mine.

  “You shouldn’t see me or my essence.”

  “Put me…down. Can’t…breathe.” She inhaled. When tears welled up in her eyes, I froze.

  Was I wrong? Could a human really see me?

  I dropped her back on the bed. In my haste, the nasal cannula ripped from the machine. I searched for the end of the apparatus, plugged it in, and she shoved the prongs up her nostrils. My scythe dematerialized as I focused on her. Her wheezing was still noticeable after a couple of minutes, and that’s when I realized her condition was gradually worsening. I thought back to watching her with the nurse, her breath was labored.

  That was the real Gwendolyn Dolson—dying human.

  Once again, I was the problem—not her. Because I stayed so wired and unstable all the time, I always itched for a fight. But did I want to fight an unimportant human?

  As if I could get any less likeable cursed as wrath, I stooped lower.

  Rest. That was what I needed. With my chaotic thoughts, I couldn’t remember the last time I slept. There was so much we had to do to save the world, and my rage wouldn’t let me know peace.

  I dragged my fingers across my forehead and wearily glanced over at her. She squinted at me just as cautiously, gripping her covers tightly. Her body shook beneath them. Even her hands jerked as she held on like a blanket could hide or protect her from me. It couldn’t. That was why I was the worst being to walk the human world and Underworld.

  Perspiration clung to my skin as I tried to ignore her frightened posture. Forget fucking butterflies. I had bees buzzing in my gut. I didn’t like the fear reflected in her emerald gaze.

  I cocked my head. She flinched.

  My chest tensed.

  Ah, fuck.

  My guilt was going to swallow me whole, and I wanted it to. It was what I deserved for making her even more afraid than what she was before.

  But she should be wary of me. I was wrath—unsafe around anyone.

  “You shouldn’t be able to see my essence,” I said, attempting to explain myself.

  “Is that what that red stuff was? Your essence?” She formed air quotations. “I deserved to be dangled off the ground just because I can see that stuff?” Some of her fear dissipated as her brows furrowed together. “And that makes sense to you? You’re a bully. I guess they exist even in other realms.”

  Her attitude rubbed me the wrong way even though she had a right to be mad. That was the way I worked—everything, everything set me off. My festering anger seeped back through the cracks of my guilt.

  “Forget it. I had a lapse in sanity thinking you were a threat.”

  She crossed her arms, feigning toughness despite the unmistakable tinge of blue around her lips and eyes. Was it faked, or was she really strong beneath all that trembling and chatter?

  “Has anyone ever told you how arrogant you are? Instead of admitting you made a mistake attacking me, you make jabs at my being weak. Not to mention, you’re so hateful and unfriendly.”

  “All the time,” I grunted. And my arrogance? It was nothing compared to her reckless behavior toward her fragile health. “Forget mine, let’s talk about your—” I stopped when I realized what I was doing.

  Why was I standing there wanting to talk—something I didn’t normally do? Too much conversation, and I wanted to kill someone or something. Gwendolyn pressed on my sin. She angered me so easily that my power rippled beneath my skin. Being around her left me with such a strange sensation. One I could easily lose myself in. It was something far more dangerous than wrath. I realized that I didn’t mind the chatty dying human no matter how much she pushed my buttons, and that was so fucking bad.

  It didn’t make walking away easy, but I had to. For her sake and everyone else’s.

  “Forget it. I’ll see you when you’re dead.” I didn’t need to say that. In fact, I probably shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t stop the impulse to say something to her… For some reason, I
wanted her to know that I’d be back when I should send somebody else.

  Stop it, Barron.

  I’d never been the selfish or jealous type. Even my family, I was distant with. I couldn’t allow fickle emotions. But something ignited in me being around Gwendolyn. Suddenly, I wanted to see her. And that smile she gave the male nurse? I couldn’t bear her flashing it at someone else. I had to bury those thoughts. My duty required me to escort her soul. Nothing more.

  Nothing, I reminded myself. Why did I have to keep repeating it?

  A spark of anger fueled in my chest. Wrath slithered across my skin as if my thoughts pissed it off.

  “Wait.” She reached out and grabbed my hands. The second her cold fingers touched mine, wrath came to life inside of me. There was no warning, just the fire bursting through my veins.

  Fucking Hades!

  My skin shimmered. The familiar grab captured my mind and tugged me under. It happened every single time I lost control. It was like someone took hold of my skull on both sides and pulled me underwater. For a second, blackness greeted me, and I was alone. The desolate place I always came to when I raged out. I had a feeling it was the part of my brain sin controlled.

  I gripped my head and pulled at my hair.

  No!

  I was in the human world—at a hospital. All those lives…

  Gwendolyn.

  I didn’t know why I thought of her since I’d been waiting for her to die but picturing her burning to death filled my head with even more rage. I couldn’t lose control around all those people, but it was too late. I was no longer in the hospital. I was trapped within my curse while it ran rampant in my skeletal form. My anger was no longer the danger. Screaming and fury didn’t help when I knew what waited for me when the episode was over.

  Death.

  Destruction.

  Gwendolyn.

  Suddenly a deep, menacing chuckle erupted around me. I whipped my head around. What the fuck? The laughter ended abruptly, and I was back inside my body. I flinched at the same time Gwendolyn jerked. Heat spread through me, beginning where we had touched. She wiggled her fingers as my gaze bounced around the room. Everything was normal. No destruction. The hospital was intact. Safe. No sign of my chaos.

  What? How? I gawked at her. I raged, didn’t I? If I didn’t, why was I plunged into nothingness? My heart pounded, making the churning in my stomach ten times worse.

  “Ow.” The sound pulled me from my bewildered state.

  “What happened?” I asked. For all I knew I could have done something in the short time I was trapped within wrath.

  “You shocked me,” she answered as she blew on her fingers. “I’ve never been shocked so strongly before.” She studied her hand. “It’s strange. I feel kind of warm.”

  The act of her blowing her fingers did something strange to me. My chest warmed to the point of bursting. Why did she worry me so damn much? Careful not to touch her skin again, I grasped the material over her wrist. What happened? That was the first time our skin had touched, and I could still feel heat inside me. It could be dangerous to someone who was dying. “Let me see,” I flipped her palm up so I could study her fingers. They appeared normal.

  “I’m feeling hot like I’m burning up.” She fanned herself with her free hand. Her cheeks had more color to them.

  “I think you’re running a fever. Call the nurse.”

  “I’m fine—”

  “Call him,” I barked, and her eyes widened.

  “Did you do something to me?” she whispered.

  “No.”

  “Then why call anyone when you know I’m already dying? If you’re feeling worried, how about you sneak me out of here instead?”

  Her words made me freeze and then I scoffed. “You can barely breathe. Your heart is shutting down, and you want to leave? And go where exactly?”

  “Please.” Her eyes glistened.

  I wasn’t equipped to handle a crying or begging human. Any time my sisters shed a tear, I’d kill whoever caused the problem and be done with it. I hated when women wept.

  And Gwendolyn was already having some sort of weird effect on me.

  “I don’t have much longer, do I?” When I said nothing, she became more adamant. “You can get me out of here without anyone seeing. Please. I just want to put on a pair of skates and glide across the ice. Although it might kill me, I’ll go with a smile on my face. Then you can do whatever it is you’re waiting to do.”

  For once in my life, my shitty mood went out the door. I saw candy-colored orbs staring up at me and felt weak. I couldn’t say no.

  Why couldn’t I say no?

  Better yet, why couldn’t I have walked away earlier before she even saw me? Why did I want her to see me? I’d spent my entire life hiding in darkness to avoid talking to anyone. Until her.

  “Do you have any sense of danger?” I muttered. Asking a stranger, one that wasn’t human, to whisk her away was a terrible, risky idea.

  “Please.”

  Sighing, I dropped her wrist. “Grab your tank.”

  She beamed, and my reluctance to take her evaporated. I wasn’t being selfish, and it wasn’t about being near her. I’d give her what she wanted. Nothing else, I warned myself.

  The idea spiked my anger.

  “I need to change,” she said excitedly as she swung her legs off the bed.

  “No. What you have on will do. It’ll just be the two of us there.”

  Her gaze darted over me before she frowned. “I thought you were taking me to an ice rink?”

  “Don’t pout. That shit doesn’t work on me.” That was a lie. It might if I had gazed at her any longer. She rolled her eyes, and I added, “I’m taking you to skate. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

  “Yeah…”

  “Come here,” I barked.

  She huffed, and that was when I looked at her again. She pouted, rolling her oxygen tank behind her. My heart sped up—fucking Hades.

  “How can I skate with this thing?” She yanked at the tubes in her nose.

  “Better figure it out.” I faked a cough.

  I slipped my hand around her waist, being careful to only touch her shirt. She stiffened and shivered. Her floral fragrance, absurdly provoking, filled my nostrils. Everything about the human stirred something inside me along with wrath. It was proof of why I should stay away.

  “Wait,” she mumbled. “How does this work?”

  “Scared?” My lips tipped upward.

  “Do you really just disappear? Is that what we’re going to do?” She pushed a palm against me. “Jesus, why are you so big?”

  She barely came up to my pecs. Gwendolyn touched the hard ridges of my abs without a clue that she was petting wrath. Delicate fingers traced over my shirt. The curious sensation seeped through the fabric, tingling and heating every inch of skin she outlined. I was oddly overwhelmed by her. Feeling the need to put some distance between us, I pushed her hand away. She was so small next to me. How could something so tiny affect me so much?

  “Is that an eight pack?” Her nails dug into my abdomen as she started counting, not bothered that I had pushed her fingers away.

  Fucking Hades! She was the little engine that would never shut up.

  Without warning, I faded with her. She shrieked and threw her arms around me, tossing the oxygen tank to one side. I took pleasure in spooking her. It was the only way I had an influence on her too. Wanting her to feel anything but fear toward me was dangerous. I stared down at the top of her head as she screamed. Even when we arrived in Grim’s woods, she was still yelling nonsense and pinching her eyes close.

  During her panic, I materialized her tank we left behind and put the cannula back in place.

  Even while I did all that, she still refused to open her eyes, so I said, “We’re here.”

  Slowly one eye cracked open, followed by the other. Then she gasped and pushed off me. Her reaction didn’t surprise me. Nothing like that place existed in the human world. The rainbow monstrosity
of the forest was surreal.

  “Where are we?” she asked, laughter bursting from her lips as she clutched her chest. “It’s so beautiful. Is this where I’m going when I die?”

  I almost chuckled. Leave it to her to think of something like that. “No. This is my world.”

  She froze, glancing over at me with one brow arched. “Your world? You’re wearing a freaking cloak for Pete’s sake. You’re constantly reminding me that you’re waiting for me to die… How is this your world?”

  Honestly, I didn’t get it either. The Grim Reaper was the Angel of Death. The home he created for us was sunshine and rainbows—without the actual sunshine—not dark and dreary.

  “It just is,” I grunted and pointed toward the lake in front of us. “Go skate.”

  She glanced at the lake and tossed her hands up. “It’s a pond! How do I skate on that? And hello? No skates.”

  I materialized a pair of skates on her feet and she jumped. “What the—” She peered down at her feet. “How did you do that?”

  “Ask one more question today, and I’ll toss you over my shoulder and take you back to the hospital.”

  She pinched her mouth shut, blinked, then pointed innocently toward the lake. I crossed my arms and smirked. She wanted to ask how again. “Go on. Take a step, and you’ll see.”

  I could freeze the water over at any point, but I wanted to see her reaction as I did it. Maybe it would freak her out. Maybe she’d be amazed. I just wanted to see her response.

  Pulling the prongs from her nose, she sat the contraption on the ground next to the oxygen tank and turned it off. Grabbing the bottom of her pajama shirt, she wrung it in her hands like she needed something to hold. Was she nervous? She glanced hesitantly over toward me again.

  “Just place my skates in the water, is that right?” she asked sarcastically as she bit her bottom lip and continued to tug at her shirt. She was wary, but the longing in her gaze as she looked at her skates told me that her desire would win over her reluctance.

  She slowly ventured toward the water and then lifted her leg high in the air. I didn’t break my expression, but even I had a hard time not laughing at the ridiculous way she dangled her leg over the water. Her gaze kept darting over to me every few seconds like she was counting on me to do something. Smart girl. Finally, she dropped her skate down, and ice scattered out. She gasped, looked over at me with a smile, and I smirked as if to say, Yeah, that was me.