“Don’t worry about it. Go have fun. I’ll see you soon,” she replies, dismissing me easily.
“Feel free to raid the closet for anything you want,” I tell her in consolation.
“Anything?” Her eyes are bright.
“Anything,” I confirm.
“Woohoo!” She jumps down to the seat in front of the vanity, then slides down the leg of the chair. There’s a smile on my face when I bounce down the stairs.
I’m cautious when I open the door connecting the garage to the house. This new feeling of apprehension has put me on edge, but I kind of like the intrigue of it all. I think I’ve gotten rather bored with the way things have been going.
I don’t bother turning on a light; my eyes are already accustomed to the darkness. Betty is sitting in her usual spot. Even the dimness can’t hide the glitter flecks in her paint.
After I’m seated, I hit the button to open the garage door, reaching out with my extra senses as it does. I spent the hours I couldn’t sleep today pushing myself to see how far my ability to sense someone would stretch.
I struggled a bit at first. I’ve been training myself for a long time to ignore and dull my extra senses. I didn’t really feel like they had much purpose when I wasn’t actively hunting. I let the awareness come over me now, dropping the walls I didn’t even realize I had been erecting.
I can feel Aeson still up in my bedroom. She tastes like I would imagine a red wine would taste, heady with a sour aftertaste. Pushing further out, I feel a human, but not the same one from last night. He’s about a mile from the house. I touch the edge of his soul. If he’s sinned today, it’s too small for me to sense, at least from this distance. But I do wonder what he’s doing out here—another spy for Gunnar, perhaps?
A flicker of something dark appears near the human. I know without a doubt it’s Grim, and my breath catches. Is he here to take the man’s soul? Why else would both of them be here, now?
A sense of urgency comes over me, I need to know what Grim is doing here. Betty could cover the distance of a mile in a matter of seconds, but they would hear me coming before I could get close to them. I look down at my heels and dress. “Shit!” I slam my palms on the steering wheel. There’s no way I could run in these shoes. I kick off my heels and climb out of Betty, feet be damned. I want to know what they’re up to. Too bad my senses don’t tell me anything other than if they’re sinful or give me a gauge of their humanity, or lack thereof.
Cutting through the woods will offer me cover, and it’s the quickest route, but I’ll lose a little bit of speed running barefoot. I jog along my driveway, staying on the grass, but I still wince every time I step on a rock or almost trip over the uneven ground. Once I’m closer, I slow my trot and move behind the tree line.
My heart is racing and I’m panting. Yup, I definitely need to work out. But I’m also filled with excitement. Who knew what a thrill it would be to have someone stalking you?
Chapter 7
The human is leaning against his car, staring down at a cell phone in his hand, seemingly oblivious to the dark presence.
I look around for Grim. I can sense him, but he must be cloaking himself, because I can’t see him anywhere. Making sure not to step on any twigs, I inch closer. The night is so quiet that I hear when the man’s phone vibrates in his hand.
“Great, I was just about to win,” he mumbles, then brings the phone up to his ear. “Yeah?” he answers.
I use his distraction to get even closer, but I pause, realizing that if I can feel Grim, he might be aware of me, too. Damn it. I pull back a little and focus on where I think he is—several feet on the other side of the road. His essence tastes smoky, like a campfire.
“No movement,” the human says into the phone, not bothering to keep his voice down. Ha, I was right, he is here to watch the house. I wonder if it’s Gunnar on the other end of the line.
Grim chooses that moment to step out of his shimmering portal. I tilt my head, realizing I can sense him when he’s not really here. That’s new. I wonder if it’s because I’ve actually met him, or was it because I was actively looking?
I file those thoughts away to think about later and focus on what’s happening in front of me now. The man drops the phone from his hand and takes a step back, the heel of his shoe scraping against the tire of his SUV.
“What the hell?” He looks at Grim, who’s completely cloaked in his robe. The only new addition would be the gleaming scythe curved over his head. I slam my hand over my mouth to keep myself from speaking. That thing looks wicked. The dark wooden handle is worn smooth and bent crooked in places. It looks like it’s been curved and honed into shape with years of use. The blade is outrageously large, and the arc of the knife edge catches the glow of the moon in an unnatural way. Runes and letters are etched along the top, giving it an even more terrifying appearance. It’s strangely beautiful.
“Quiet,” Grim orders. A chill skates down my spine when he speaks. His voice is layered, making it sound as if several people are speaking at once.
“Wha-what do y-you want?” the man stammers.
“I want you to tell the Berserker that I know the pact has been broken. Without the covenant in place, all deals are off.” Grim takes a step closer to the man. “He broke the decree, and now he will deal with the consequences.”
“I’ll tell him, I’ll tell him,” the man promises, arching back to get as far away from Grim as possible.
It takes everything inside of me to stay hidden behind the trees. I don’t want to reveal how much I’ve heard, especially when I have no idea if any of this involves me. Grim disappears, dissolving back into the place he came from, and my awareness of him fades quickly.
The man collapses back against the car, a curse falling from his lips. Seconds later, he scrambles for the fallen phone on the ground.
“Are you there?” he asks, panting into the phone. “Holy fuck! I think that was the Grim-fucking-Reaper!” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small set of keys. The SUV chirps, unlocking. He fumbles with the door handle, trying to get in, while still holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder.
