'Til Grim's Light (A Grim Awakening Book 2)

by Michelle Gross

  He glanced behind him as a car pulled out of the parking lot. A few people were still hanging around the school building. Some of them were still watching us. He turned back to me. “I came for you.” There went the fluttering of my heart at those four simple words. “Come on, we can’t talk here.”

  He grabbed my arm and hurried me into the opened passenger door. I looked up to him as my butt fell in the expensive leather seats. “My car, Killian,” I tried to tell him.

  “Leave it.” He picked my legs up and placed them in the car before I could lift them up myself. He slammed the door shut and walked over to his side and got in. And there it was, my life was under his command. Or so it felt when he did everything for me.

  I studied the inside of the car. I didn’t even want to know how much it cost. “Where did you get this car?” I asked.

  “I bought it.” He started the engine.

  I stared at him, confused. “You bought it?” I said flatly.

  “Yeah, you know, with money, Melanie.” He smirked at me.

  “You never bothered with a car before,” I mentioned.

  “That was when I didn’t need one. Thanks to Fear, now it comes in handy to have one.” His fingers tightened around the steering wheel as he pulled out of the parking lot.

  I didn’t want to bring up what happened to him since it was sort of my fault—okay, entirely my fault, so I hesitated, “Are you and Grim…”

  “Still separated? Yeah. That’s why the car comes in handy, I can no longer fade out of time and port myself where I need to be.” His eyes focused on the road as he spoke.

  “Fade out of time?” My face squinted up. “Are you referring to that thing you do…” And if only I realized how lame that sounded before I said it.

  His eyes light up with his smile. “Yes, that thing I do is fading.” He was looking me in the eyes as he smirked. “And it means exactly how it sounds. When I—Grim teleports himself wherever he wants to be—he’s fading out of time, literally. Time doesn’t exist there. He’s stepping out of existence—life, away from the human world and the Underworld. Do you remember what it looked like what you last went through it?”

  I nodded immediately. It wasn’t something I could ever forget. “Yeah, it was always the same. The dark came first, followed by the light.” It wasn’t exactly bright; it was just a light falling over the darkness.

  He nodded, watching the road as he drove. “Exactly. The light is what lets you know you are entering back into a time flow. But I can’t do that anymore… Right now, I’m just Killian—with no Grim.” Something about the way his smile slipped and revealed his sadness…

  “Is that why it took you so long to come back?” I asked and regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth. It sounded like I had been waiting…it sounded like I had been worried. Like I missed him. Check yes, check yes, check yes! Which was exactly what I didn’t want him knowing.

  His eyes left the road again and met mine, a curious gleam cast my way. I looked ahead quickly, focusing on the yellow line on the road instead of the intense feeling he was giving me. “Yeah, it took a while for my wound to heal completely. Once I healed, it took time to find a portal chip to enter the human world without Grim there.” Soon we were passing the tiny town of Denver by as he drove us away. Just where was he taking us? “I’m sorry…,” he said. I looked back at him and gave him a funny look and he added, “For taking so long to get back.”

  I didn’t know how to answer, so I changed the subject entirely. “Where are you taking us?”

  “Taking you to my home,” was all he offered.

  I gave him another confused look. “You have a home here now too?” I asked, surprised.

  He smiled. “I had it already. I actually bought it when I first started protecting you…just never had a reason for it until now.” His smile faded as he said the last part. What was it like for him? To no longer be Grim?

  “There goes the neighborhood,” I muttered cheekily and he grinned. But why were we going to his home? My mind, as usual, went straight into the gutter. Dirty images flooded my mind of all the lewd and possible positions he could put me in. I slapped my palms over my eyes and shook my head to erase the images. He tilted his head slightly as he drove as if to question my behavior. His eyebrows went up as he looked at me.

  I had some serious problems…

  “Why are we going to your house?” I asked in an attempt to ignore the nervous jitters I had all through my body. It wasn’t like I was expecting anything to happen. He wasn’t my boyfriend… but then I remembered the kiss we shared in the rain last week and squeezed my thighs together.

  “I think you should stay with me.” I turned my head slightly. Back to this, were we?

  I leaned my head away and couldn’t hide my startled voice. “W-what,” I stammered.

  Before he answered, his eyes left the road and drifted toward my legs which were covered in a layer of jeans. His right hand left the stick shift and found its way to my thigh where it stayed. I stiffened. I could feel the heat of his palm through the fabric of my jeans. “It’s not safe. I can’t fade now. If something were to happen, I would never get to you in time. We should stay as close as possible.” Just how close was he talking? I was finally able to focus enough to swat his hand away from my leg. He simply grinned and turned his attention back to the road. I was right, something was definitely different. Killian was oozing sexual energy and all of it was being directed at me. How was a girl supposed to react?

  I shifted uncomfortable in my seat. “Like I’d be any safer with you?” I huffed, looking out the window.

  “I want nothing more than to keep you safe—” He cut himself off unexpectedly and I could feel his eyes on me again, but I didn’t dare let my eyes leave the window. He had a hypnotic pull about him right now. I tried my best to ignore the heat of his glare against me and focused on the trees going by outside the window. I saw that he was taking a left turn ahead and looked toward the front. We were coming to a stop. I glanced over to him in time for his penetrating gaze to lock me in place. “I want you, Melanie.”

  Oh, God.

  My mind went blank. I stumbled around with my hands before finally deciding to rub my sweaty palms against my knees. “You want my power,” I corrected him, saying it more like a whisper spoken far too shyly.

  He turned off the car before leaning between the seats. His face loomed closer, so close that I could feel his breath against my cheek. “Oh, Love, what do you use those beautiful blue eyes for if you cannot see what you do to me?” he asked. His voice was dark and hoarse. I found myself leaning toward him without realizing. “Do you still doubt me?” He looked sincere and even afraid. I fought myself with all the willpower I had in me not to claim his lips like he had mine so easily before.

  “I don’t know,” I mumbled. At this point we were nose to nose and the words started falling from my mouth with all their honesty. “You’re hard to understand. You’ve never once told me what you’re thinking.” A gasp escaped my lips when he grazed his teeth across my chin in a teasing way. I took a deep breath and whispered, “You were the one that made it clear when we first met that you hated the idea of protecting me… how am I supposed to know what’s what when…” I couldn’t remember where I was going with this conversation.

  I felt his chest vibrate as he laughed deep and husky in my ear. I shivered and leaned away so that I could see his face. His expression was gentle, tender. “Because I knew I was in trouble the moment I laid eyes on you. It was,” his smile faded, “Grim’s way of protecting me—us—him, from you.”

  I leaned forward. “What do you mean?”

  He sighed. “I haven’t figured that part out yet.” He brought his hand to my chin and tilted my head side to side. “I don’t know what is it about you that makes being close to you feel, so…” I waited for him to go on with anticipation

  But my phone started ringing in my pocket. I leaned away from him so that I could get the phone from my jeans pocke
t and answered. “Hello?”

  “Melanie, where are you?” It was Mom.

  “I’m out with… Tess. She wanted me to keep her company.” I lied. I didn’t feel good about it, but Mom wouldn’t agree with me being with Killian.

  I could hear her relief over the phone. “That’s good, I’m glad. You girls have fun,” she told me.

  “We will.” I ended the phone call with a sigh. I leaned back into my seat feeling guilty. Then I noticed we were parked in a driveway of a white, two-story house. I raised back up to admire the house. It was an older home but something about older homes always drew me in. Of course, I didn’t like going to places with history because I was always afraid of seeing ghosts. But now, ghosts were so pale in comparison to demons.

  “So, this is your place?” I asked.

  He nodded, opening his door and climbing out. I noticed how he barely fit in his car and it made me wonder why he even bought it. I stepped out and followed him to the porch. The porch stretched around the house with bannisters. The blue paint that probably had once been beautiful was now chipped, giving a timely feel to the home.

  I found myself smiling as I slid my hand over the bannister, following him toward the door. I heard the click of him unlocking the door and in no time I was stepping into the house. He flipped the light on.

  “Nice place you got.” I practically jumped out of my skin at Ryan’s voice.

  My eyes traveled to where I heard his voice. He was sitting in the middle of the stairway, still ghostly and broken like the state he died in. The stairs were centered in the wide hallway. “Ryan, you scared me.” My heart was still racing.

  “You’re dead?” Killian looked completely shocked and alarmed to see him.

  Ryan stood and started walking down the stairs. “Give him a cookie, he’s smarter than I originally thought.”

  I saw Killian’s shoulders tense up, the tightening of muscles pressed against his jacket. “What the bloody hell are you doing in this house?” he asked Ryan.

  Ryan brought his arms across his chest. “Making sure Melanie is safe.” They stood at a stand-off with each other. I scooted to the side and gave them both a questioning look.

  Killian arched his eyebrow before shaking his head at him. “Why be an idiot and stay in this world as a ghost?” he asked him.

  Ryan dropped his hands and sighed. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but when I came to, I was already standing in the middle of the hallway at the hospital like this.” He brought his arms out and moved them over his hospital gown to make his point. “I never asked to wake up like this.”

  Killian frowned, clearly puzzled. “That doesn’t make sense.”

  There was a crashing sound toward the back of the house.

  Everyone tensed at once, growing alarmed. We all seemed to look toward the back at the same time. Killian wasted no time and hurried down the hallway to the kitchen. I followed behind him. Once he was at the backdoor in the kitchen, he swung it open. I heard something being knocked over, followed by a hissing sound. I leaned my head by the door just in time to see a black tail scattering away. Killian sighed and shut the door. “It was just a cat messing around on the porch.”

  I sighed in relief. “What is it, demon, have you lost your ability to detect danger?” I turned to see the smirk on Ryan’s face as he taunted Killian.

  And his words had hit the right spot. A vein ticked from Killian’s neck as he glared at Ryan. “Yeah, you’re right, I have and it’s not a good thing. That puts Melanie in a lot of danger. There’s Grim and I know he will protect her, but his mind isn’t at a good place right now. And neither is mine.” His eyes seemed to travel over me as he said it. He raked his hand through his hair, his stress filling up the kitchen. “It’s all fucked up.”

  Ryan’s smug looked vanished and the fine lines of worry replaced it. I dropped my head and stared at the floor. “If I’m healed, that means Fear is too. I don’t know what he’s up to but it won’t be good and once Vengeance learns that Fear didn’t succeed in taking the Vessel from you, he will come back for you.” I looked up. Killian’s eyes were on me. I didn’t like how serious he looked or if I looked hard enough, I could see even worry. “Right now, it’s waiting on one of them to come after you.”

  I smiled, halfheartedly. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”

  ________

  Killian brought me back to the school parking lot to get my car. I had to leave Killian’s not long after arriving because Ryan had refused to leave until I did too. I got out of his car and walked around as he rolled down his window. I bent down toward the window, leaning into it. “I’ll follow you home to make sure you get there safe.” The smile was instant and I realized this part of my life almost felt normal. Of course, Killian was the one giving me these experiences when he was a demon! That wasn’t normal at all.

  I snorted. “I’ve been fine on my own this whole week without you, I think I can manage on my own,” I told him.

  “You were never alone, Melanie.” His expression was soft as he spoke.

  “Oh?” I mumbled, confused.

  He leaned closer and smiled. “I don’t doubt that Grim’s been right here keeping you safe.”

  “I doubt it.”

  “Don’t.” I gave him a strange look. He was so sure of Grim.

  That made me remember what he said. “What did you mean about what you said about you and Grim?” I knew I didn’t have to explain further when he sighed and leaned back into his seat.

  He closed his eyes and shook his head. “We have our own fears, Melanie. There are some things that even Grim and I are terrified of losing or knowing.” He opened his eyes and I suddenly felt that nervous excitement again. “Go on, Love. Before I change my mind and take you back home.” My skin tingled at his words and I leaned up quickly hiding my blushed cheeks. I heard him laugh as he rolled the window up.

  I knew he was waiting on me before he left, so I hurried to my car and started it up. I drove home and once I pulled into my hollow, he sped off.

  Chapter Five

  I went to school the next day with Ryan following every step of the way. If I thought he had been overprotective when he was alive, he was ten times worse as a ghost. I glared at him sitting in the passenger seat and he grinned too widely. I got out of the car and slammed the door shut behind me as I made my way to the school building.

  “Someone’s moody,” Ryan chirped somewhere behind me and I suppressed a groan.

  “If you would stop following me around…” I said through clenched teeth, trying hard not to look like an idiot who talked to herself.

  I turned my head slightly and saw that he was scratching his forehead and sighed. “What else am I supposed to do? You’re the only one that can see me.” He did have a point. Deep breath! I continued up the steps as he tagged along behind me. It was still strange seeing him with a hospital gown on, a bruised body, and broken, twisted-looking legs.

  “Say.” He caught up next to me. “You and the Grim Reaper, what’s going on with you two?” he asked, something I didn’t know how to answer.

  I studied his expression for a moment before looking ahead quickly. This had been the conversation I had been dreading. “He’s not Grim anymore.” I dodged the question.

  “You know who I meant,” he went on and tried to grab my shoulder but he went through it.

  I grabbed my shoulder, the cold spread across where he touched. I stopped walking. “He’s protecting me,” I answered.

  He snorted behind me. “The way he looks at you doesn’t seem like he wants to protect you.”

  I ignored him and hurried up the steps to the entrance. I made sure not to speak to him as we went inside. “Answer me,” he started again. He stepped in front of me and I sidestepped from him, almost bumping into someone in the process. When he did it again, I went straight through him and he let out a frustrated sigh.

  I couldn’t stop the grin as I tried my best to ignore him. “Ah, man. This being a ghost
really sucks dick.” My grin only grew when I realized I had the upper hand. “Oh, oh, oh, no, Melanie. You did not just smile.” He moved beside me as he spoke, and I was trying so hard not to laugh. “Are you raging a war? You know what this means, I can’t have you making fun of me like this,” he went on and I shook my head. I looked at him like he was a moron—he was a moron. But I was smiling nonetheless.

  Josh literally popped out of nowhere in front of me and I stopped dead in my tracks so that I wouldn’t collide into him. His lingering dead ancestor stood behind him, glaring at me. Great. “Hey, Melanie.” He smiled.

  I tried my best to give him a smile back. “Oh, hi, Josh.” I tried not to look at his ancestor as she tipped her nose up at me in disgust and poked her lips out in a snarl.

  “Yeah, I see what you mean now.” Ryan brought his hand up to his chin and rubbed it. “She is a hateful looking ole’ cow.” My eyes widened at him.

  The ancestor gave him a murderous look. “What did you just say, boy?” She stepped around Josh and moved toward Ryan. I brought my head down and bit my bottom lip to suppress my laugh. It was all too funny and weird watching Ryan make her mad.

  “I knew you were close to Ryan, so I figured…” I was trying to listen to Josh, but his words were drowned out when his dead ancestor lunged for Ryan. Ryan’s goofy smile dropped when her brittle fingers grabbed both his shoulders.

  Ryan brought his hands down over her shoulders as she held him in the air. He was a lot bigger than she was, but she held him up like he was nothing but air. He patted her shoulders. “I think we may have got off on the wrong foot here…” he tried to tell her.

  She ignored him and with strength I didn’t know a ghost could have, she slung him across the hallway. I saw Ryan’s white butt through the back of his gown as he flew in the air in front of me. He slammed into some lockers. “Ryan!” I screamed out of panic, placing my hand over my mouth. The lockers even opened from the impact with books and papers scattering to the floor. I thought ghosts couldn’t do those things?