Grimm: A Novel In The Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Series (The Temple Chronicles Book 3) (41 page)

On cue, my crew broke up in an explosion of shredded fabric as the shifters tore free of their mortal skins and raced after the regrouping Grimms, dragons and a werewolf already wreaking havoc. The Grimms answered in kind, barely hesitating as they met their foes with sickening thuds of flesh and claw and blood. I heard Raego’s distinct bellow as he slammed into another black dragon. It reminded me of
How to Train Your Dragon
. Blue and purple fire slammed into each beast, but they didn’t seem to notice the liquid fire splashing across their scales as they slammed into each other again.

Alucard was laughing as he danced between two Grimms, umbrella deftly swiping at their heavier swords. He moved like a wraith, cutting, slicing, stabbing, and biting. Their blood painted his face, and his ivory fangs glowed in the rising sun. Three familiar shapes suddenly swooped in from the darkness of the hedge maze, aiming straight for Alucard, fangs shining in the darkness.

Vampires. The ones who had stopped by my house to threaten Alucard.

Damn it. I had forgotten about them.

The two Grimms fled, leaving Alucard to fight his own subjects.

I tapped the bracelet on my wrist in a predetermined staccato. A distant wail instantly responded, the sound seeming to shred my eardrums, and then a freaking meteor shower of stone griffins slammed into the earth surrounding us, sending up geysers of rock and earth.
Chateau Falco’s Guardians
. They immediately tore after anyone with an amulet, which was their only rule of engagement tonight, according to the command I had tapped out on my bracelet. It throbbed, letting me know all of them were active. Two exploded in a violent shower of gravel before they had a chance to enter the fray. I hoped they would even the odds a bit, but I didn’t have time to worry about them now. They were effectively on autopilot until every amulet attached to a body was gone.

I looked up, but the vampires were gone. So was Alucard. I wished him well as my eyes quested the fight. A stone bench slammed squarely into Wilhelm, knocking him back a few paces before his boots planted themselves in the dirt. His face was a sheet of blood as he squared off against Tory.

She waved at him, flashing a teasing smile. Then she turned and ran.

Wilhelm pursued instantly.

Only to be met by my idea of the three Sisters of Fate, the sprites.

Trees and vines suddenly exploded out of the earth, wrapping around Wilhelm in a blink before morphing into obsidian, inky black tendrils of rock. Then a lance of pure silver light struck the trapped Grimm and the shockwave sent me flying backwards.

Roars of fury shattered the night as dragons slammed into each other in the skies, limned by the rising sun. I watched it all for a second from my vantage on the ground, trying to regain mobility. I finally scrambled to my feet to see Wilhelm standing in the same place, a steady ring of darkness surrounding him as he glared back at the sprites. Whatever he had done had protected him from the blast.

But not from a two hundred and fifty pound werewolf. Gunnar slammed into his side, actually managing to knock him out of one of his boots before the Grimm shifted into his own wolf form. Tory and the Sprites took off after a pair of Grimms racing to help a fallen brother who was struggling to his feet after being thrown from the skies by a dragon, judging by the claw marks on his chest. Crackling energy split the night as they did whatever mayhem they preferred. I didn’t have time to watch.

Jacob stood before me. Waiting.

Gunshots cracked the air, which was already filled with the musky scent of beast and fire and dust. Neither Jacob nor I blinked. We just stared at each other, having a silent conversation. Howls, snarls, and the snapping of teeth surrounded us as Gunnar and Wilhelm fought to the death. I sensed that Gunnar was doing his best to at least keep Wilhelm from interfering with Jacob and I.

Mortals are off limits, you bastard
, I snarled in my head.

He shrugged.
They are if they aren’t aiding a wizard. Those that side with freaks are fair game. This all could have been avoided. All you needed to do was give me the book and die in silence
.

“Hey, Jakie?” I asked with a furrowed brow.

He frowned angrily. “My name is
Jacob
.”

“Sure thing. Don’t clench.” I smiled.

Before he could react, I whipped out twin cords of purple fire and lightning-infused chains, sizzling and snapping hungrily as they latched onto his torso and legs, wrapping him up like a spider. I began to twirl in a circle, using my power to aid with his weight, and then launched him as hard as I could. He roared in fury, but just before he struck another set of trees, his body morphed into a dragon and he spread his wings, buffeting the air powerfully. He still struck the statues, pulverizing them, but his scaled skin was much tougher. He swooped down, racing straight towards me.

I dove and rolled as a blast of silver shards pelted the earth. I looked up to see that Gunnar wasn’t watching, and was directly in the line of fire. I whipped out a blast of air and struck him in the back hard enough to give him whiplash. A second torrent of silver spikes slammed into the earth where he had been, and his body crashed into some bushes a dozen paces away. Wilhelm was already on top of him, swiping claws and fang at Gunnar’s back as my friend tried to untangle himself from the brush with snarls of pain and rage.

Then he let out a terrifying bark of pain, instinctively jerking his head backwards. His jaws managed to clamp down on Wilhelm’s foreleg, shattering the bone in powerful canine jaws. Wilhelm yelped and darted away, limping on three legs. Gunnar finally tore himself free from the shrubbery and slowly raised his gaze to glare unbridled rage at the Grimm.

His icy blue eye practically froze the Grimm in his place.

But the other eye socket was empty, a gaping, bloody, hole of mangled flesh.

My heart stopped in disbelief and shock. But Gunnar was having none of it. He took a single step, angling his head so that his one eye kept Wilhelm in his sight. Wilhelm crouched as if about to attack, then froze, whining as he stared over Gunnar’s shoulders. I turned and saw a dozen wolves tucked low in the grass around the shrubbery behind Gunnar. Their growls filled the night, almost a cackling, bubbling snarl. Gunnar jumped ahead a step, so focused on Wilhelm he hadn’t realized the pack behind him. I didn’t see any amulets, but perhaps they were still enthralled by the Grimms.

Gunnar erupted in an explosion of furious warning growls and barks that I could feel deep in my chest. His ears perked towards Wilhelm since he had only the one eye now.

One of the wolves crouched low and lifted his throat, baring it in submission. Gunnar blinked with his one good eye. The other wolves mimicked the motion, in complete silence. Gunnar seemed to grumble an acceptance, and snapped his teeth once at them in warning. “
You… are… mine…
” a truly monstrous voice growled from Gunnar’s canine jaws. My neck instantly pebbled. I had never heard Gunnar speak when in full wolf form. I hadn’t known that he
could
. Then he slowly turned to face Wilhelm. His one good eye seemed to dance with laughter.

Then he fucking
howled
.

And I almost believed that I could see the sound wave of it. It was so primal and aggressive that the goosebumps simply jumped off my arms and ran away, replaced by pure adrenaline. It was a reminder of when mankind huddled in caves and beasts ruled the night. It was a hunting cry. No, a hunting
command
.

And Gunnar’s wolves obeyed

The wolves launched over Gunnar like a cresting wave as they tore after Wilhelm. I had never seen a wolf run away so fast. Which only pushed the pack to faster speeds. Gunnar chased after them, trying to become accustomed to his hampered vision. I smiled as Jacob landed beside me, now in human form, watching with a pensive frown.

“Looks like the wolves are mine again, Jakie.” He didn’t respond. “Just curious, but what do you think they are going to do to your brother? Disembowel him? Eat him? Or just kill-”

The blast of force should have been expected, but the
level
of power was not.

It slammed into my hastily prepared shield and I skidded back on my heels for ten feet or so. Sensing no other attack, I lowered my arms, brushed off my pant leg, and then smiled at Jacob. He was panting. The disgust flickering in his eyes almost hurt my feelings.

Now
this
was the man I had met several years ago. No more polite façade. This was the man who hated every single cell in my body. The polite, congenial, incredibly suave assassin had been so different from the beast of a man I had first met several years ago that it was practically a Jekyll and Hyde persona. The man was mad. As mad as a hatter.

It was sort of a relief to see him back in his true form. Like Wilhelm. Now he was emotional.

And emotional people made mistakes.

The wolves were much faster than the injured Wilhelm, and they swarmed him, darting in for strike after strike, alternating and synchronizing with each other in a practiced, subconscious pattern. Tearing flesh here, snapping bone there, clawing a side here, and finally one wolf shattered the chain holding Wilhelm’s amulet in an explosion of links. Wilhelm instantly transformed into his human form, broken, battered and bloody. The wolves stepped back, growling darkly as Gunnar approached on silent paws, head tilted to view the situation in his one eye.

Jacob instantly roared in defiance, morphing into his dragon form to defend his brother. I cast out a sizzling web of power that caught one of his wings, sending him crashing down to the earth, twitching and spitting in a furious snarl. Useless spikes of silver sailed off into the night as he tried to lock onto the wolves. Three of them broke off to harry the lamed dragon, but his skin was too tough for it to be too effective. Razor sharp silver talons practically ripped one wolf in half.

They seemed to realize all of a sudden that the dragon was
actually
silver, which was about as dangerous to a werewolf as one could get. They played defense, trying to instead wear him out and keep him distracted. I cast a few more spells at him, flashing lights and crackling explosions on either side of him, messing with his senses. Gunnar locked eyes with me, blinked, and then turned back to Wilhelm. He approached calmly, padding up to the wounded man, turned to glance at Jacob, snarled…

And then tore out Wilhelm’s throat. He swallowed the meat, and then calmly strode off to find a new dance partner. The wolves slinked off to accompany their Alpha. Jacob writhed, roaring in pain, rage, and grief, eyes locked onto his fallen brother.

I had a moment or two to study my surroundings, the explosions, and fighting now more prevalent to my survival. My
Guardians
pelted the Grimms. Alucard slashed and bit at the other vampires – of which only two remained. Wolves harrowed. Tory physically
pummeled
. And the sprites, well, I’ll let you imagine. I had a feeling that the stakes were about to rise a bit. We had just killed one of the infamous Grimms. Brother to the leader of them all.

And Gunnar had gobbled him up. No chaser.

I was sure repercussions would be severe.

Chapter 41

I
t was one of those moments when time stretched. Not literally, but perhaps my heightened adrenaline merely sped up my brain. So I got a clear view of the battle.

The war.

I spotted Tory squaring off against a Grimm who seemed to be matching her strength, judging by the fatal blows they were swinging at each other, and the fact that they kept getting right back up. It was like watching two bulls go at it. Unbelievable power. Direct hits that would shatter vertebrae to dust. Then another one. Then another. Tory was moving oddly, and I began to grow concerned that she wasn’t going to be able to stand up to him.

Then I noticed why.

Her arm was missing at the elbow. Her left arm. I blinked, unable to process.
How was she still moving?

She moved slightly off balance, but the make-shift tourniquet – made from pulsing green vines, no doubt courtesy of the green sprite – seemed to staunch the flow of blood, and was in fact growing inside of her arm socket in one place, as if giving her a transfusion. On closer inspection, I noticed that parts of her skin seemed barklike, shattering off in splinters with each blow from the Grimm. He tried to duplicate her new power when the silver sprite appeared out from behind him and whispered into his ears.

He froze like a startled rabbit. So did Tory. And another Grimm I hadn’t even noticed also froze in the act of creeping up on Tory’s unsuspecting back from behind a low bush, clutching a knife in his fist. He stood from his crouch, dropped his knife, and began to approach the sprite openly.

The first Grimm turned to face the sprite, face quivering as he tried to fight her power.

His erection was quite obvious.

Then Barbie enveloped his face in an open-mouthed kiss. He began to ravage her, and a very sinister, joyful laugh pierced the night, creepily contradicting the sounds of battle. She grabbed the back of his head and held it before her… well…
that
was new.