Page 37 of Grim Tidings

That first night, she asked if I ever wanted something different for myself and it was like the slip of a knife beneath my ribs. I’ve felt that blade twist every day since, carving up my insides and leaving me gasping for breath.

I’m a good man. I’m a good Guardian for the department. I take pride in my job. There’s nothing more important than keeping the mortals safe. But there are times—in the darkest corners of night and in the whispery stillness of morning—there are times when I wonder what might happen if I laid down my sword. If I stopped fighting so damn hard. If I decided to finally rest.

Darcy walked into my bar, kissed me stupid, and made me want to be selfish.

I fucking hate it.

I don’t want anything different. I like what I do. I haven’t been tempted by anything in thousands of years, but suddenly, I’m tempted by her. Sad eyes and a cherry-red mouth. Her fingers scratching through my hair and her smiles handed over like secrets.

I don’t want it, so I do what anyone would do when backed into a corner. I lash out.

“That’s right. We don’t pick what we become. We are simply assigned to the office that suits us best.” I lean closer, my nose almost grazing her forehead. “And you, Darcy, seem to be well suited to the end of beautiful things.”

She flinches, the blow landing exactly as I intended. I’m still looking at her face, so I don’t miss it when her bottom lip starts to tremble. She catches it between her teeth, but there’s nothing she can do about the second tear that chases the first. Or the third. Or the fourth.

Each one feels like a crack splintering through my middle. An awful, impossible weight.

This isn’t who you are, a voice whispers. This isn’t how you treat people.

Darcy brushes her palm against her cheek, and I watch as she desperately tries to rebuild her bravado.

“Yeah, you might be onto something,” she agrees quietly, and that makes me feel worse. How easy it was to break her apart. How quickly she agreed.

She looks at me, tears on her cheeks and her eyes blown wide. Like this, she looks impossibly young. Almost halfway human. “I guess I’m not the only one who knows how to be cruel, huh?”

The cracks spread. I’m the worst version of myself around Darcy, and I don’t know how to stop.

“Darcy,” I start to say. “That was—” Uncalled for, an embellishment, my own frustrations leaking out of me like a goddamned sink. I could pick any of them and it would be the truth.

Luckily, I’m spared from choosing. We’re interrupted by the creak of the bathroom door, a familiar silhouette stepping into the hall-way. Nate glances briefly in our direction, then does a double take when he sees how close we’re standing. My forearm is still braced on the wall by Darcy’s head. Her feet are stacked between mine.

A grin appears on his face, his eyes practically twinkling in delight.

“Well, well, well,” he singsongs. He beams at the both of us. “Doesn’t this look cozy.”

Chapter Nine

Darcy

My magic dips and then swells, a rush of energy that leaves me lightheaded.

Young, with smile lines by his eyes. Hair so dark it looks like spilled ink. Thick-framed glasses balanced in the middle of a straight nose.

My skin tingles with awareness and a healthy dose of death magic.

It’s him, my shadows sing, thankfully still hidden. I clench my fists tight and tuck them behind my back to make sure they stay that way. Him, him, him.

This is the soul I was sent to collect.

“Oh, don’t mind me,” he says, misinterpreting the panic on my face. “I was just heading back to the bar. As you were.”

Gabriel steps away from me, the line of his profile in stark relief against the dark of the back hallway. Jaw, chin, nose. He really does look like something carved from stone. “You’re not interrupting anything. We were discussing a … stock issue.”

The stranger—my assignment—snorts. “Yeah. Definitely. Looks like a really good discussion, bro.”

He punches Gabriel’s shoulder, and Gabriel flinches forward, scowling. I’m barely aware of the things they’re saying to each other. I can’t stop staring, trying to catalog as much information as possible.

They seem to know each other. How? Does Gabriel know he’s been marked for death? How much time does he have left? How can I make sure I’m fast enough to stop it if I don’t even know when that is?