Grimm: A Novel In The Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Series (The Temple Chronicles Book 3) (22 page)

I shook my head. “Anyone I call in on this gets added to the naughty list, earning an immediate death sentence. I can’t do that to people I saved in the past. It’s selfish and cruel. Save them from one death only to be available to die for me at a later, more convenient time? I couldn’t live with myself.”

“You do have a few allies who are already well-known acquaintances of yours. They will already be on the hit list. Gather
them
.”

“Why do you think I raced to the Minotaur’s field so quickly? They targeted him. Burned his field down. He’s alive, but gone, whatever
that
means.” I spoke softly, the rage patiently purring deep inside me. “They’re going after my allies first.”

Indie shivered, squeezing my arm compassionately. “What’s the vampire story?”

“It was Alucard. He was never down in the sewers. Those were several members of his coven that went rogue. They impersonated him to scare everyone away from their new abduction and murder business franchise. He thanked me for killing them, but since they
were
his coven, he was still forced to challenge me to save face. I get it.” I shrugged.

She nodded. She had killed a few of them herself. It looked like she wanted to remind me of that superhero act to prove her strength and usefulness in battle. I stopped her before she could voice it. “You did good down there. Seriously. But the Grimms… they’re on a level above even me. Above
any
of us. Perhaps
all
of us.” I sighed at the defiant look in her eyes. “Look, I don’t know how to beat them. But I do know that waiting for them to attack us is off the table. I can’t let them stack the deck anymore. I need to
act
rather than
react
. I need to lure them out. And for that, I’ll keep you by my side. Hopefully we can end it tonight.”

She was opening her mouth to argue at the beginning of my speech, but wisely clicked her teeth shut as soon as I said I was taking her along with me. I still didn’t know if it was a good idea, but I truly couldn’t think of a safer alternative. At least I could keep an eye on her.

She kissed me on the lips. Then darted away. “I’m going to go arm myself for liger. You have some hunting rifles and pistols in the gun safe, right?” I smiled and nodded. “Okay, I’ll meet you outside. Oh, and don’t forget about the Armory. We need to check it again and see what the deal was last night. Maybe it’s fixed now.” I nodded, silently reaching inwards to clutch the nexus of wires powering my magic, allowing the current to course through me. Then I imagined pinching her butt. She yelped and shot a hungry glare over her shoulder. Then stopped. “You figured it out!” I nodded. “Go Team Rippley!” She squealed as she took off with renewed vigor, leaving me no time to correct her. I really needed to get t-shirts or something. Make it official.
Team Temple
.

I sighed, patted my satchel, and mentally prepped myself for battle as I headed outside. I entered the stable and spotted an old rusty knife on the workbench. I had stashed it here as a small project to work on after finding it inside my dad’s desk. Dean made a habit of fixing things before I had a chance to do so, which he knew infuriated me. So, I had decided that someday I was going to fix this little old knife, because it may have been important to my dad for some small reason. Maybe I would even gift it to him when I saw him next. I sighed, admitting that I hadn’t really needed to collect anything for the upcoming fight, only my thoughts.

But Indie had seen to that better than I could have on my own.

I promised myself that once this was over I was going to make her weep uncontrollably when I proposed tomorrow. Messy, snotty, mascara thwarting tears of joy.

“
Team Rippley
,” I muttered under my breath.

She had it coming to her.

Chapter 22

N
aturally, we didn’t drive. We
Shadow Walked
to our destination. I had wanted to make sure I still had the strength to do so. And it was more efficient. It was the first time I had
Shadow Walked
such a large group. I had asked Mallory to stay behind and guard
Chateau Falco
with Dean. I didn’t want to leave it unguarded. Especially with the Armory acting oddly. I also wanted Mallory to get a hold of Tomas, even though neither of us had had any luck over the past few hours.

But the rest of the gang was here. Gunnar, Ashley, and Indie.

If all worked out, I planned on having a few more in the next few minutes…

It was only an hour or so until sundown. We stood on the slushy streets just outside Alistair Specter Silverstein’s old brownstone. Yes, his initials had been
ASS
. Poor guy.

But I didn’t feel bad laughing at his initials. It was his fault I was even in this whole mess. He had listed an original 1812 edition of
Grimm’s Fairy Tales
– known as
Kinder- und Hausmärchen
in German – at an auction house, which had ignited a murderous race to get the book first before ultimately leading me to the biggest bad I had ever faced, Jacob Grimm himself. And he hadn’t liked me much afterwards.

It was a gift of mine. Annoying people to immeasurable levels of hatred.

It had been a while since I had been back to the old home. I had bought the place as a hidey-hole, and just in case ol’ Alistair had secreted away any other potentially world-ending items in the walls or something. I didn’t want a Regular couple to buy the place and accidentally uncover a weapon of mass destruction when renovating the bathroom.

Team Temple
(not Rippley) stood behind me, looking impressively foreboding. I was proud of them.

I glanced down at the prototype smart watch on my wrist. I had bullied the Board into funding the project, despite strong opposition, and was glad to have it today. After seeing the first test run they had quickly changed their tune and it was forecasted to sell extremely well upon release. I was ready to see a real life field test. The weather wasn’t optimal, which would make things difficult, but would also provide a plethora of information for the technicians to study later.

It also performed a truly magical action that many people took for granted these days.

It told the freaking time.

And we were on schedule. Now to see if a man was true to his word.

“Alucard,” I called out in an inaudible whisper, knowing he could hear me. Vamps had supernatural hearing.

A man stepped out from behind a nearby tree, his predatory eyes quickly assessing each face in the group of thugs before him, searching for the man who had called his name. I stood behind my friends, biting back a laugh. He nodded at Ashley and Mallory in recognition, then his gaze continued to quickly rove over the rest of the group, searching. His gaze finally met mine and he froze.

Like, literally.

I waved at him cheerily. “I see you wore the sunblock like I asked.”

He lunged backwards, his coat suddenly flaring out in the shape of giant black bat wings that propelled him a safer distance away. A dozen feet now stood between us. I grunted, eyeing Alucard’s coat thoughtfully. Perhaps this guy was the real thing. Alucard stared at me, dark eyes skeptical. “You’re dead. I killed you. Not an hour ago.”

I turned to my friends. “See? I’m invincible.”

They contemplated that, then shrugged, still not convinced. I scowled back.

I lifted my collar to display my throat, where no injury remained from his claws. “Listen, Alucard. I wasn’t completely honest with you. I didn’t have time to really die. Had a few things to do first. But I let you have your revenge, and I will gladly tell everyone that you killed me in a duel to save face with your people.” I shot him a winning smile. And waited.

He pondered that, frown growing. “Yes, that would… wait,” a thought crossed his face, and then his eyes widened as my words dawned on him.

He was…
undeadly
silent for a solid minute.

Then he began a slow clap of approval, letting out an impressed laugh as he shook his head in disbelief. He began walking closer as he spoke. “Well
played
, Temple. That would most
certainly
improve your reputation quite a bit, wouldn’t it, Little Brother? You dying and then coming back to life an hour later.” I nodded, still smiling. My friends stepped back, giving me room to approach Alucard.

“Sure would.” I said. He had no idea how much. This story would spread like wildfire, which just might keep the Academy off my back for a while. This would be the second tale of me defying death. Only one time had been authentic, but that was my little secret. I knew the guy on the other side.

But then for people to hear about me returning from certain death
again
? They would lose their minds. I managed to bury my grin as I addressed Alucard. “I understand your position. Your people need to know you handled the situation appropriately.
An eye for an eye
. I needed to keep on ticking. So I found a win-win solution.” I had taken a few steps towards him as I spoke. Gunnar’s shoulders itched up protectively, but I had warned him ahead of time. Alucard noticed the werewolf’s movement, but didn’t react. “And now you owe me.” I stated solemnly, extending a hand in a gentleman’s agreement.

He flung up his hands, stammering. “But… people will think…”

I nodded. “You tell everyone you killed me. I back up your story with an oath on my power so people know I’m not lying. Your people respect you. My reputation
explodes
.” I winked. “Or, you do nothing and people see you traipsing around with the guy who slaughtered your coven.” I added softly. “I’ll play it however you want, but you did make me a promise. And I think your word actually means something to you.”

He just stared back, and I felt the concerned looks of my friends doing the same, as if suddenly wondering what level of sociopath they had attached themselves to. I let them think what they would. This was a high stakes game, and Alucard had no cards left.

He knew I was right, but he was right as well. He just couldn’t force the dots into a more beneficial picture. He threw his hands up in defeat. “Fine. I’ve either failed or double-crossed the Grimms – which won’t make them happy – and now we’re all going to die.” He squinted at me. “Unless you’re not really going to die. I don’t quite get that part, but a promise is a promise.” He met my hand in a tight grip.

“Nice meeting a man of his word. Even if you are a fanger.” He peeled his lips back.

“Careful, wiz… Maker.” He corrected. “I killed you once. We aren’t friends.” He studied me thoughtfully. “Yet. But I am mighty impressed. The thought of an alliance is… intriguing. It’s a shame that our maiden voyage is a suicide mission. Great things could have been ours, I reckon.”

“Nothing is written in stone.”

“The Ten Commandments are. And I think we both know that neither of us would pull off an
A
on that grading scale.” He winked. Then he turned away to formally introduce himself to the peanut gallery who was watching the exchange with masked emotion. They didn’t know what the hell was going on either. I didn’t have time for an explanation of the
Dueling Grounds
. I had listed the facts, told them to believe it, and that I would clarify any confusion – like my death and the lack of fatal wounds that Mallory had treated only hours ago – after the Grimms were dead.

I had a different story to share with the class today.

A
Fairy Tale
.

About how one little old wizard had managed to piss off the most deadly of supernatural exterminators in recorded history. And for that, I had brought a prop. Well, I had brought a prop that would
summon
someone who could share the story in
Dolby Digital Surround Sound
.

I scanned the skies. It would be dark soon, which was good for innocent bystanders. Harder to see what was going on. Snowflakes settled on my nose before melting to droplets of water. I closed my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. Now that I knew how to access it, it was time to begin pushing boundaries. I wanted to see if I could tap into it without imagining the pulsing tendrils of power, and me clutching them in my fist. I attempted it, faced a brief struggle of conflicting challenge, but then broke through and was instantly flooded with power. I grinned, eyes still closed as I assessed my mind for strain. It had felt more like using the reservoir that time, except I hadn’t had to be angry.

Baby steps.

Manly
baby steps.

Not wanting to tempt fate, I left my experimenting for later. When I opened my eyes, the world resembled a snow globe, tinted with blue sparkling snow flakes, visible as if under a microscope as I honed in on each one. Like a bird of prey. Was that a perk I hadn’t noticed, or had I just imagined my vision sharper? I couldn’t wait to play with my new toys.

If things played out as I hoped, that would happen all to soon.

Everyone was waiting for me, watching me grinning at nothing. I let out a sharp whistle. Then I turned to address the group. “The door’s unlocked. I’ll be right in. Gunnar knows the way.” Gunnar grunted, eyeing Alucard warily, not letting him near the girls. I liked that.