The orderly’s mouth thinned. “I’m afraid you’ll have to come back at visiting hours tomorrow.”
Grim took a menacing step forward. “Listen here you—”
I pressed a hand against Grim’s chest. “Give us a minute,” I said to Kabir, sending him a flirtatious wink. That twinkle returned to his eye as I led Grim off a few paces from the door and out of earshot. I did my best not to notice the firm, hard muscle of his chest. Tingles spread across my palm, shooting up my arm and warming my body.
Turning to Grim, I whispered, “Do you always try to get your way like this?”
“I will make him let us in,” Grim said, his jaw hardening. Gold flashed in his irises. I wondered if he’d look half as dangerous without the scruff of dark hair around his sensual, magnetic mouth. The heat traveled from my hand to my arm, then pooled in my belly.
I snatched my hand back like I’d touched fire and said, “The bulldozer method is not always best. Sometimes a lighter touch is needed.”
His lips thinned. “Says the sekhor who dressed like a sex toy and flung her stiletto into the eye of her opponent.”
Instead of answering his ridiculous and entirely accurate accusations, I held up a hand, silently telling him to wait. I walked back to the door where Kabir was on the other side, playing on his phone. When he saw me approach, he cracked it open again, a little more than last time. He shot a wary look over my shoulder in Grim’s direction.
“I’m sorry, I still can’t let you in,” he said, with a genuine apology in his tone.
I raised both hands. “Of course, you’re just doing your job. A couple of weirdos show up in the middle of the night on your shift and hassle you, I wouldn’t let us in either. But you see that guy over there?” I asked, pointing at Grim. “I don’t want to put you in any danger, but that guy is with the mafia. Someone threatened his aunt, and he was so worried about her safety, we rushed right over to make sure she’s okay. He won’t rest until he’s set eyes on her.”
I couldn’t tell if Kabir was buying my bull and crap story, but as he eyed Grim, I knew he could at least swallow the prospect Grim was in the mob. In that black suit with an imperious yet menacing demeanor, he absolutely looked like he’d cut off some fingers with his expensive cigar trimmer.
Kabir’s eyes fell back on me. “I wish I could, but I can’t. Visiting hours are from ten to three tomorrow.”
As a last-ditch effort, I put my hand on his wrist to keep him from stepping away from the door. “Kabir, it’s of utmost importance. We need to see his aunt. Please help us out.” I gave his wrist an extra squeeze. Suddenly, I was locked in on his eyes, his essence, his very being. It was as if I’d sucked him in on a tractor beam I wasn’t aware I had until now. His tension seemed to melt away and his jaw relaxed.
“Sure,” he said, before opening the door and inviting me in. His eyes turned vacant, and his response was monotone and strange.
What the hell was that?
Still, I wasn’t about to argue with getting my way. I shot a nod over my shoulder to Grim and stepped inside. Even as Kabir led the way to the front desk where the sign-in sheet was, I felt a tether connecting us.
I wonder…
“We don’t need to sign in,” I said, shooting him my sweetest smile.
Kabir nodded. “I’ll look up her room number. What’s the name?”
Holy blood bags, it worked. I was using vampiric mind control over Kabir. If I had known about this ability sooner, I could have made my life a lot easier the last two weeks. I could have waltzed into a hospital or a butcher shop andsuggestedthey give me some blood instead of feeding on dirty vermin.
“No need,” Grim said, now at my side. “I know where my aunt is.”
I followed him through the swinging doors and down the halls wallpapered in sweet bluebells that smelled of talcum powder.
“What did you say to make him so enamored and pliable?” Grim asked as he strode beside me. There was a stiffness to his tone. If I didn’t know any better, I might have thought him jealous.
Death, jealous of you getting attention? He plans on using you as bait and then killing you. You are nothing to him. Get that through your crazy brain.
“Honey and flies, and all that. You would know. What happened to that magnetic charm I’ve seen you blast on the unsuspecting masses? Are you cranky? Do you need a snack too?”
Grim made a sound somewhere between a snort and a scoff.
I wasn’t about to tell him I just used mind control on good ole Kabir back there. I wasn’t even sure how I felt about it yet. Maybe I had made it up? Still, the orderly didn’t come running after us. But if he did chase us down, I’d get my chance to try out the line “these aren’t the droids you are looking for.”
Grim stopped in front of room #7000 and opened the door. The rhythmic beep of a heart monitor was the only sound in the rest room. A raven-haired woman lay asleep in the bed. She might have had tanned skin at one time, but it was pale now. There was a regal elegance to her nose and cheekbones. Her body was slim and cheeks sunken, but I could easily imagine her muscled and lithe. She was one of those women who could have been twenty or forty years old.
Grim noticed I was hovering near the door. “The Original won’t be waking up. She’s in a coma. She has been for quite some time.”
My shoulders dropped, and I relaxed. I was getting weaker with every minute we approached dawn. I wasn’t looking to tango with some big bad power. I needed a timeout.
