I might have drunk his blood, but it was Grim who had siphoned power from me. He took and took from me until he possessed almost all of me.
Then I remembered how he ordered me off him, and I jumped back. I hadn’t moved of my own free will; it had been Grim’s command that controlled me. It was the same as the push Landon Crane had done to my mind when he stoked the thirst in me and set me on Jamal.
“But your fate has not been entirely decided.” He motioned me to enter the elevator when it opened without looking at me. “There is an authority even I cannot defy.”
Remembering Timothy’s fear, I followed Grim in.
I remembered how he once slammed his hands on either side of my head in here. How his fury had morphed into lust as he pressed against me. Even as he chastised me, I’d been turned on, wanting to get even more under his skin, like how he’d gotten under mine.
Now the space between us was leaden and cold. He reached past me to press the black button and the elevator smoothly descended. When the doors opened again, he took my arm. I wasn’t sure if it was to keep me from running, or because I was liable to fall over.
The realization I was Grim’s prisoner left me the rubble of a fallen tower. I didn’t know what to think or do, so I let him lead me through his antechamber. The torches blazed, casting ominous shadows through the room.
Maybe whatever monster was in the side room was going to reckon with me. I didn’t care. I would either remain a prisoner or cease to exist. Either way, my life was not my own anymore. Instead, he led me around his throne to the wall behind it. I hadn’t noticed before but an ancient mural of a giant set of scales decorated the wall.
Grim set his hand on the wall and closed his eyes. Light glowed around his hand until the walls parted in a burst of light. We stepped through. When the glare subsided, I found myself standing with Grim on a black-sand beach. Tall reeds rustled as black birds cawed, streaking across a clear blue sky. When I looked behind me, I found any trace of the antechamber had disappeared.
I threw my hands over my head, expecting to sizzle into ash. Panic closed my throat off. Grim pulled my arms away. “You are safe here. That is a different star,” he said, pointing to the sun.
“So we aren’t on Earth anymore? We are on a different planet?”
He shook his head. “Not a different planet. This is where worthy souls go after they have been deemed worthy of the afterlife.”
“Wait, this is heaven?” Shock made my eyes wide as saucers.
“In a way. Yes, it has been referred to as that,” Grim said.
Huh. I didn’t see any bakeries or cafés. How great could heaven be if you couldn’t get any cookies?
“Ahoy,” a man called out. A grizzled old man, with broomstick limbs, and a bright white beard waved us over to his shiny black boat which reminded me of a gondola. He leaned against a staff he’d stuck in the water to keep it from floating off.
Without a word, Grim swept me off my feet and walked through the marsh before depositing me in the boat.
“I could have walked myself,” I grumbled, crossing my arms. Grim jumped in next to me.
“And ruined your combat boots?”
“So this is her, huh?” the white-haired man huffed as he pushed the boat off from the shore. He had the brightest blue eyes I’d ever seen, but a scowl that could have shamed a nun. “She’s what all the fuss is about? She shouldn’t be here. When he finds out you’ve brought her here, there is going to be hell to pay.”
“Hush, Hraf-haf,” Grim said.
“Don’t tell him to hush.” I stuck my hands on my hips. “You can’t boss everyone around. If the captain wants to judge me to my face, I can take it just fine.”
The old man’s eyebrows shot up. Then a grin spread across his face and I found his teeth were even whiter than his hair. “Oh, I like this one.” Then turning to Grim, he said, “Did you hear that? I’m not just a regular ferryman, I’m a captain.”
I patted his shoulder as he sent the boat gliding forward, cutting through the crystalline water. “Absolutely. Isn’t every man with a boat a captain?” Hraf-haf, the ferryman, went on to talk all about his boat and how he built it himself and there was no other like it. Even though I didn’t understand half of what he talked about, I nodded as if I did. He helped distract me from the jitters that made me sick to my stomach. Grim was silent, but instead of looking forward to where the ferryman was taking us, he’d turned to watch me.
Once we reached another shoreline, I found myself looking up at a massive palace. It reminded me of the temples of Egypt except while those were old, crumbling structures, this gleamed as if brand new. The structure was painted in colorful blues, greens, and whites.
I saluted Hraf-haf and said that was the smoothest boat ride I’d ever taken. He chuckled, then captured my hand, landing a kiss on the back of it. “It sure was lovely to meet you, miss. Shame he’ll likely kill you.”
A chill shot down my spine. Who? Who was going to kill me? This seemed like such a nice place. Surely no one was ever murdered here.
Before I could respond, Grim lifted me once again into his arms and carried me the short distance to land.
The ferryman leaned against his staff and waved.
We walked through the temple until we came to a set of massive doors. Grim stopped, looking up at them with trepidation. He didn’t want to go in.
