I cleared my throat to get everybody’s attention. “I really don’t want to invade your personal space. I get that you don’t want to tell me what you are. It’s smart to protect your identities. But I want to figure out what’s going on, and I think you guys know.”
“I think you’re giving us too much credit,” Aisling countered, throwing herself on the small settee on the other side of the room and planting her feet on the stool as she regarded me. “May I ask why you care about this so much? You’re not local. None of the girls who were taken are related to you, right? It seems like a weird thing for you to be obsessed about.”
“I’m not local,” I confirmed. “I was at one time. I lived here until I was eighteen.”
“Whereabouts?” Cormack asked.
“I was in the suburbs until my parents died. Then I was moved to various foster homes. After that ... I took off on my own. I was a street kid until I managed to get out thanks to a friend. This very well could’ve happened to me if it occurred back then.”
Realization dawned on Aisling’s face. “Oh. You’re trying to keep the kids safe because nobody ever kept you safe.”
That was a simplistic answer. “Not quite. I’m not convinced what’s happening isn’t paranormal in origin. I mean ... I did watch Redmond take out a banshee with a sword the other night. I don’t really believe in coincidences — and banshees don’t normally spawn around here — so I’m wondering if the two are connected.”
Cormack and Redmond exchanged a weighted look before the elder Grimlock shifted the baby against his chest. She’d fallen asleep and seemed perfectly content in her grandfather’s arms.
“We’ve been wondering that, too,” Cormack admitted, choosing his words carefully. “Here’s the thing: We don’t know you. My instincts say to trust you, but I’m a father first and I put my children’s safety before my own. I just don’t know how we can help you.”
Aisling’s gaze never moved from my face, and when she spoke, it appeared to be off the cuff. “We’re reapers,” she announced. “What are you?”
“Reapers?” I’d heard the term, but I wasn’t familiar with the actual beings. “Like ... grim reapers?”
“Yup.”
“Aisling, you have a huge mouth,” Cormack complained. “I can’t believe you just did that.”
“It’s fine.” Aisling seemed sure of herself. “She’s not our enemy. If she was, she would’ve already attacked ... that first night, or the next morning, or again last night. You heard Braden and Redmond. They’re magical, which means they’re probably more powerful than us.”
Cormack heaved a sigh. “You are an incorrigible child,” he muttered.
“I’m right.” She smiled at me. “We absorb souls after the dead depart and then act as ferrymen of sorts. We transfer the souls to the regional gate, and then they’re transferred to another place.”
Kade stirred. “Where?”
“Onward.”
That wasn’t really an answer. Of course, she might not have an answer. Either way, it wasn’t important to our reason for being here. “I’m psychic,” I explained. “There is no real name for what I am because I seem to be a hodgepodge of things. I can read minds, direct energy and control others if need be.”
“You can read minds?” Redmond was suddenly intrigued. “How does that work? Wait ... you don’t need to explain. Just tell me what I’m thinking right now.”
It didn’t take a mind reader to recognize the smug smile on his face. “That you want my boyfriend to beat you up,” I automatically answered.
Kade looked intrigued at the prospect while Aisling dissolved into gales of laughter.
“You really are a pervert, Redmond,” she said when she recovered. “As for the missing girls, we’re not sure what’s happening. All we know is that some of our souls have gone missing, too. We managed to track one of them the other night. That’s how Redmond found the banshee.”
I was confused. “So ... you literally absorb souls?”
Aisling bobbed her head. “We have scepters.”
“But ... I’ve never seen a reaper before,” I admitted. “At least not that I’m aware of. Wouldn’t I have seen a reaper before?”
“Are you often around death?” Cormack asked.
“Actually, yes. We’re more than a circus. We’re monster hunters. We have a variety of paranormals in our service.”
“Told you.” Aisling looked triumphant. “I knew I was right about you.” She leaned forward, eager. “What kind of monsters do you hunt?”
“Any that we can find.” That was the truth. “Right now I want to know who is taking young girls from the streets and what’s happening to them.”
“We would like to know that, too,” Cormack said, the baby sleeping sweetly in his arms. She didn’t look like much of a monster when she was passed out cold. “We’re simply unsure. Redmond was on the hunt for his soul — sometimes they run, but this one was taken — when he crossed paths with the banshee.”
“She ran, so I chased her,” Redmond said, taking over the story. “She headed straight for the cemetery. I had every intention of following her to find her lair, but she started screaming when she realized she was being followed and I knew I had to dispatch her before someone heard. Unfortunately, it was already too late for that.”
“And that’s all you know?” I couldn’t help being disappointed.
“So far,” Cormack conceded. “We’re not giving up. We want to help those girls. The odds of them still being alive are slim ... but we’re digging as hard and fast as we can.”
I fought the dejection threatening to overwhelm me. “Well, great. That’s not really what I wanted to hear.”
“It’s all we have.”
I rubbed my forehead and then realized Aisling was staring at me. “What?”
Her grin was wide. “What other kinds of paranormals do you have in your group? Do you have a vampire? I’ve always wanted to meet a vampire.”
“We have a lamia who sleeps with a clown who wears leather chaps.”
Aisling flashed an enthusiastic thumbs-up. “That’s even better. Tell me about them.”
I needed time to absorb and think, so I acquiesced to her demand. What? The butt-less chaps story is always a crowd pleaser.
12
Twelve
The Grimlock house was utter chaos.
At first, I thought it was because we’d invaded their space and they weren’t used to other paranormals under their roof. I was quickly disabused of that opinion. This was simply how they lived.
Braden and Cillian arrived in short order, mentioning the fifth brother was detained over planning a wedding with his fiancé, a man named Jerry who they told a series of raucous jokes about. Cillian was the easiest to identify because of his longer hair. Braden and Redmond looked so much alike I often had to look closely to be sure which was speaking. Of course, they had very different energies.
Redmond was all boastful jests and inflated ego. Braden had an ego, too, but he seemed to be distracted with something else and was constantly on his phone. The vibes I got from him told me it was a woman ... and he was altogether smitten.
“What are you smiling at?” Kade whispered, leaning close. He was much more relaxed now than when we’d first arrived. Apparently seeing the way the Grimlocks interacted with one another was enough to ease any suspicion he might’ve had. It wasn’t as easy for me.
Aisling must’ve judged that, because at one point she motioned for me to follow her out of the office and into the main house. She gestured toward the stairs and I followed, leaving Kade to entertain himself with the testosterone trio and their long-suffering father.
“It must have been cool to grow up here,” I offered halfway up. I didn’t know what else to say to her.
“It was,” Aisling confirmed, turning down a hallway. “We got in a lot of trouble, but we were always entertained. Even on snow days.”
“I can see that.”
“We created games and to
rtured one another. My father ultimately had to separate us into different wings of the house as we got older because we fought so much.”
“You seem to get along okay now.”
“Oh, we still fight.” Her smile was mischievous as she turned into a bedroom. “We just don’t hold grudges like we used to.”
The bedroom was enough to take my breath away. There was a huge sleigh bed in the middle of the room — I always dreamed of having one when I was a kid — and stuffed toy sharks littered the floor, which I found odd.
“Oh, sorry.” Aisling scooped up the sharks and tossed them toward the bed. “Things got out of hand last night.”
I was confused. “With sharks?”
“It’s a game I play with my brothers ... and husband. He’s really gotten into the spirit of it since the first time he played and thought we were nuts.”
I took a moment to study the room in greater detail. Everything was a hodgepodge. There didn’t seem to be a unifying decorating scheme. In fact, if I had to guess, the room had been decorated when Aisling was a child and only mildly updated as she aged.
“Huh.” I was thoughtful as I glanced around. “I’m confused,” I admitted after a beat. “Where is all your baby stuff?”
“Lily has her own room down the hallway.”
“Oh. Of course.” No, it was still weird. “Doesn’t it bother you to still live with your father?” It was a blunt question, but I was curious. “I mean ... don’t you ever want to venture out on your own?”
Instead of being offended, she was amused. “Oh, I don’t live here. I mean ... you wouldn’t know that from how often I spend the night these days. Griffin and I have our own place. It’s right next door to the townhouse my brother and his fiancé share.”
That was a relief. She wasn’t nearly as weird as I originally thought. “That’s good. Do you like your brother’s fiancé?”
“Yes. Jerry was my best friend first and then he and Aidan fell in love. My nose was out of joint for a bit because I thought Aidan was stealing my best friend — we’re twins so we’ve always been competitive — but I’m happy now. They’re even on a list to adopt a baby. I’ve offered to give them mine, but they don’t seem interested.”
I knew she was kidding. Even as she mentioned her daughter, a wave of love rushed through her ... and then weariness. I think I finally understood.
“You’re just staying here because your father and brothers help with the baby,” I surmised. “You’re a little frightened you’re going to screw up, and they’re your safety net.”
Aisling looked impressed. “So ... you really are psychic. That was pretty impressive.”
“I wouldn’t need to be psychic to see that. It’s all over your face. You love your daughter, but you’re used to being the center of attention around here. Having to be the provider for a helpless infant has you terrified ... and you want your daddy.”
Aisling snorted. “Wow. I’m glad I’m so easy to read.”
“It’s not a bad thing,” I offered hurriedly. “I would assume that everyone who could take advantage of a situation like this would.”
“I’m lucky.” Aisling sounded intensely grateful. “My father and brothers have stepped up. My brothers pretend they want to be Lily’s favorite — and I’m sure that’s true on some level — but they’re really trying to help me. I haven’t gone back to work full time yet. I offered to go back full time, but my father thought it was better to ease me in. I tend to find trouble when I’m reaping.”
“How does it work?” I was genuinely curious.
She shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. We get a list from the home office and it tells us where to go. Sometimes we can get in and out without a problem. Sometimes we have to wear rings that make us invisible. Sometimes there are wraiths at the sites looking to steal the souls. Other times it’s quick and easy. I tend to be a talker, so my jobs are never quick and easy.”
I tried to picture what she described and found it difficult. “Being invisible must be cool,” I said finally.
“You would think. But it loses its luster after a bit.”
“Yeah, well ... what do you think is going on with the missing girls?” I wanted her opinion even more than the others. She was more intuitive, though I wasn’t sure she realized it.
“I don’t know. I think it’s bad.” Aisling was thoughtful as she turned to me. “Do you think it’s possible to create a banshee for a specific purpose?”
Her take interested me. I’d been wondering that. “I don’t know. I know a little about them. One type springs from grieving. The other type, the more dangerous type, happens when the sum of human suffering for one individual becomes too much. Is that what you think is happening here?”
“It’s possible. No bodies have been found. That’s the part that bothers me the most. Most people here dump bodies in the Detroit River because of current that allows them to disappear. We were curious and sent people from the home office out searching, but they couldn’t find anything.”
“You have people who search the river for bodies?” I wrinkled my nose. “What a fun job.”
“Gargoyles,” she corrected. “They can fly over the area and smell death. We have several who work for us. They came up empty.”
My mouth dropped open. “You have gargoyles working for you?”
She seemed amused by my reaction. “Doesn’t everybody?”
“Um, no.”
“Well, they’re useful ... at least when they’re not trying to kill you.”
“How often do they try to kill you?”
“Not much lately. That’s a bonus. For now, I don’t know that we have enough information to form a solid opinion. We need to keep digging. It could take days ... or weeks.”
That’s what I feared. “I don’t have weeks. We’ll be out of here on Monday.”
“It’s not your responsibility,” she pointed out. “This doesn’t fall on you.”
“No, but I feel I should help. This used to be my turf. I want to save them if I can. If they’re out there and need help ... I want to find them.”
“So do we. The thing is ... when you deal in death, you come to expect it. I think the odds of finding these girls alive are slim.”
I thought about the banshee Redmond had dispatched. “I wish I would’ve gotten a better look at that banshee. We could’ve sketched her face and showed it around to the street kids. At least that would be something.”
“We can’t go back and make that happen. We can only move forward. For now, that means holding the course. There’s nothing more we can do.”
I hated that she was right.
WE LEFT OUR CONTACT INFORMATION with the Grimlocks and returned to the circus. Kade seemed reluctant. He was having a good time. But I was adamant. We couldn’t shirk our duties to hunt for a monster — man or beast — when we didn’t know what we were seeking. We were rudderless, so we had to focus on our regular work and leave the hunting for later.
Larry was at the fairgrounds, wearing khaki pants and a white shirt with a weird badge affixed to the pocket. As we drew closer, I realized the badge declared him the “official festival organizer.” It was laminated, and I couldn’t help wondering if he’d made it himself.
“Is something wrong?” Kade asked, instantly alert.
“I’m here to check on the progress of things,” Larry replied, his tone crisp and official. “So ... what is the status of things?”
I was confused by the question. “Good?”
He flashed a smile that I understood was supposed to feign patience, but there was an undercurrent of annoyance about him that wasn’t easy to ignore. “Are things on time?”
“Yes. Why wouldn’t they be?”
“Well, I heard you hired extra help and I figured that was because you were behind.”
So that’s what he was worried about. He’d heard two street kids were working with us and wanted to know if we were up to something nefarious.
“If you’re talking about
Cotton and Michelob, they’re just earning a few extra dollars by cleaning bleachers. I ran into them this morning when I was visiting the shelter around the corner and offered them money for a few chores. Do you have a problem with that?”
Larry’s insincere smile never faltered. “Do I have a problem with you bringing drug abusers onto the property and allowing them to run wild for what’s supposed to be a family-friendly event? Um ... just a little.”
His tone rankled. “How do you know they’re drug abusers?”
“Are you saying they’re not?”
I recognized the slippery slope. I couldn’t deny it. Frankly, it was none of his business. “I’m saying that the girls are working for me and we’ll take care of them. Do you have specific knowledge of them somehow ruining the festival? I’m guessing not since it hasn’t even started.”
“Young lady, this festival is a big deal,” Larry shot back, imperious. “Do you understand that we’re trying to revive a family tradition here? For years, the state fair was the premier event in the entire state. Now, we’re not bringing the state fair back to this location, but we are bringing family activities back. We want this festival to be synonymous with clean and wholesome fun. We don’t want it mentioned in the same breath with dirty fun. Frankly, I don’t want my name associated with dirty fun, and there’s no one on the steering committee who wants that either.”
His unintended double entendre had me struggling to keep a smile from my face. Thankfully, Kade picked that moment to swoop in and play security chief extraordinaire.
“I don’t think you ever have to worry about anyone thinking you offer dirty fun,” he said with a straight face, which only made it harder for me to hold it together.
“I don’t think so either.” Larry obviously missed the sarcasm flying fast and furious between us. “Now, I would like to talk to you about the entertainment lineup for the festival. Is now a good time?”
I wanted the guy out of here as soon as possible. He gave me acid indigestion. He was technically in charge, so there was nothing I could do about it ... which was beyond frustrating.
Freaky Reapers (A Mystic Caravan Mystery Book 8) Page 12
