Grimm Consequences (2 page)

I woke with a start. I'd been dreaming again, remembering that day so many years ago when I'd first met Tess. For one brief, heart-stopping moment, I was terrified that I was still searching for her, that I'd never taken the assignment with the Tales in the Here and Now to be near her, that we'd never become friends . . . and now lovers. But then I felt her stir beside me in the bed we'd shared every night for the last two months, and turned toward her, watching her sleep. In many ways, my life still felt like a dream. But as I peered down at Tess, I knew it was real. More real than anything else in my life ever had been.

Still, my routine was the same tonight as every night. If I managed to doze off at all, my heart would seize with panic and I'd immediately check to make sure Tess was still safely beside me, within easy reach should something nefarious creep from the shadows.

And then, when I could no longer convince myself that all was well, I'd check all the doors, the windows, every dark corner of the house, and eventually end up back at the window to watch the darkness until the first tentative rays of light broke across the sky. Only then could I rest easy, perhaps catch an hour or so of sleep.

Daytime was safe. The Judges only came out at night. I knew that from experience. They weren't strangers to me, that was for damned sure. The first time they'd come was when I'd refused to take Tess's soul in Make Believe. To disobey a direct order was to upset the balance of the universe and was not to be taken lightly. But I had done it without hesitation, without remorse. I'd gladly paid the price. And would continue to do so a thousand times over if it meant keeping Tess safe.

I glanced down at the black flames upon my forearms, the physical evidence of the punishment I'd endured over the centuries. There were more flames of penance—along my arms, on my back, across my chest, down my abdomen. Every time I'd intervened to save Tess's life, more times than I'd even admitted to her, my penance had been still more severe. Within twenty-four hours of each act of disobedience, the Judges had arrived and dragged me away for my “session.”

Until this last time. Which is why I was worried.

Not only had I refused to allow Tess to be killed by that raving lunatic, Sebille Fenwick—whose desperate grab for power had left several Tales dead and more than one of my friends in harm's way—but I'd also committed one of the worst sins a Reaper could. I'd committed murder. Pure and simple. I'd used my position as Reaper to kill someone before the appointed time.

But I'd had good reason. I'd known Tess was once more on my list and I'd had to pull some strings at the FMA to get me assigned as her partner so I could get even closer to her, have ready access should things go south. But at that final moment when her life was in the balance, I'd only arrived just in the nick of time. There was literally a split second to make my choice: save the woman I loved or take another life before its scheduled time. I didn't even hesitate. I'd killed Sebille. Ripped her soul from her body in my blind rage. And now I was going to have to pay the price.

And yet the Judges had not come. Not yet. And the longer they waited, the more anxious I became. I could feel them drawing near, could feel the darkness closing in.

Instead of rising from bed tonight to watch for their arrival, though, I reached for Tess between the sheets and pulled her into the curve of my body, needing to feel her in my arms. She nestled close, her arm snaking up to encircle my neck and pull me to her for a sleepy but still sultry kiss.

“Just can't get enough of me, can you?” she teased with that throaty chuckle I adored, her lips still near mine.

“Ah, sweetheart,” I drawled, pulling her on top of me, “I'll never get enough of you.”

“You sure about that?” She grinned down at me, her eyes sparkling with wickedness as she rolled her hips seductively, making me groan. “I've been told I can be difficult.”

“Difficult?” I said with an anticipatory shiver as her fingertips drifted lightly across my chest. “You can be a major pain in the ass.”

“Well, in that case . . .” she said, feigning a pout and acting as if she was going to move away.

“Oh, no you don't.” I laughed, grabbing her hips and keeping her right where she was. “You didn't let me finish—”

“Well, we can't have
that
now, can we?” Her mouth lifted at one corner. Then she rose up on her knees and came back down, slowly sheathing me. “Hmm,” she murmured, rolling her hips in a maddeningly sultry motion. “Now, what was it you were saying?”

“Hell if I know,” I ground out between clenched teeth, thoughts of anything else vanishing as my attention was riveted on the feel of her.

I'd never believed such perfect happiness was possible. But as we slowly made love, reveling in the warmth of each other's body, my hands roaming, savoring every beloved inch of satiny soft skin, fears and sorrows and regrets faded away and there was only Tess. Only love.

When I felt her tensing, her release seconds away, I sat up and wrapped my arms around her so I could feel her heart beating against mine. “I love you,” I whispered in her ear as we moved together.

“Oh, God, Nate,” she breathed before burying her face against my neck, clinging to me as she shattered apart with a husky gasp. The sound alone was enough to draw me along with her, but I held back, not willing to be parted just yet.

I eased her down onto her back, determined to worship every inch of her before giving in to the orgasm building in the base of my spine. I kissed her again as my hands roamed. They already knew every curve, every inch of her, but still they never tired of the journey. I broke our kiss long enough to allow my mouth and tongue to join my hands in exploration, but when Tess shuddered with another release, I let her pull me back up and claimed her mouth once more. No longer able to hold back, I let go, bracing myself on my elbows. She wrapped her legs around my waist, her body arching into mine, accepting all I had to give. Her moan of pleasure sent a chill down my spine, making me shudder.

My head dropped down between my shoulders, my breath ragged as aftershocks rippled between us for several moments more.

“So, how was that for a finish?” Tess murmured, pressing kisses to my jaw, my neck. “Was I wrong to interrupt you?”

“Are you kiddin' me?” I panted. “You can interrupt me for that anytime you want. And often.”

She kissed the corner of my mouth, a tantalizing tease that I couldn't ignore. I captured those teasing lips once more, hungry for the taste of her, my appetite never satiated. I was hard again in an instant. Tess chuckled as I broke our kiss to nip at her neck. And just as it seemed the night was just getting started, our cell phones on the bedside table both started going off, their ring tones competing for dominance.

“Speaking of interruptions,” Tess grumbled as we rolled apart to grab our phones. “This is Red.”

I saw her brows draw together as I answered my own. “Nate Grimm.”

“We have a situation.” It was Al Addin, the director of the Fairytale Management Authority and our boss, which made me wonder who had called Tess. “There's been an escape from the Asylum.”

I ran a hand down my face, scrubbing away the last vestiges of sleep. “I'm on my way.”

“Asylum?” Tess called over her shoulder as she grabbed a fresh set of clothes from those I'd suggested she keep in my closet for just such occasions. I didn't miss the note of excitement in her voice. She loved the chase. Lived for it.

“Yeah.” I rose to my feet, already missing the warmth of Tess in my arms and damning whatever head case we were about to go after for calling us away from our bed so early. “No rest for the wicked, I guess.”

She was grinning as she headed toward the bathroom. “Come on, spooky,” she teased, smacking me on my bare ass as she passed. “Shake off the cobwebs. We've got a bad guy to catch.”

 

 

I folded a stick of gum and shoved it into my mouth, needing to chew on something other than the dread that was choking me. Tess glanced my way with her patented saucy grin, which did little to abate my anxiety. That grin meant she was about to do something reckless—and was planning to enjoy it.

“Stay here,” I mouthed, jabbing my finger at the ground. I started to get up from behind the wooden crates that so far had hidden us from the quarry we'd tracked to a warehouse in an industrial complex about ten miles from the Asylum.

She grabbed my sleeve and pulled me back down, giving me her “you're fucking crazy if you think I'm going to go along with that shit” look. I'd come to know it well. And I'd been seeing it a lot more since I'd saved her life from that psychotic sorceress a couple of months earlier. Lucky for me, with our mark just a few feet away, Tess couldn't launch into the usual lecture on how she was a big girl and didn't need me hovering over her like some overprotective—although admittedly dashing—guardian angel of death.

She could lecture all she wanted, though. There was no way in hell I was going to let her get herself killed. “Fine,” I mouthed. “Together.”

She rolled her eyes but then gave me a terse nod as she palmed the gun strapped to her thigh. And then lunged out from behind the crates.

“Damn it, Red,” I hissed, taking off after her. “I said
together
!”

But she was already out of earshot, her cherry red combat boots pounding the concrete floor of the warehouse as she chased down the son of a bitch who'd had the bad luck to have us on his tail. I heard Tess fire off two quick rounds. There was a roar of rage in response as the bullets struck home.

I caught a glimpse of Tess's black leather trench coat flying out behind her as she took a sudden left. She was completely out of my sight now, and I didn't like it one damned bit. I shot forward, dematerializing into shadow and letting the connection that bound us catapult me forward in an instant, reappearing directly in front of her.

She slid to a halt with a startled cry. Then her eyes widened. “Nate! Behind you!” She brought her arm up in the next instant and fired. It all happened so fast, I didn't even have time to turn around to see what she was shooting at. Or get the hell out of the way of the Jabberwocky's deadliest weapon.

I dropped to my knees with a gasp a split second after dozens of poisoned quills pierced my back, the Jabberwocky's venom working before I even felt the pain. But the agony wasn't far behind. Tendrils of fire lanced through my nerve endings, wrapped their barbed arms around my chest and squeezed. I couldn't breathe, could barely see.

I felt Tess's cool hands on either side of my face as the world began to tilt precariously, and I thought I could hear her calling to me, but her voice was distant, faint. I managed to muster what little strength I had and forced my eyelids open. The face I adored swam before my eyes.

“Nate!” she screamed. “Stay with me!”

I wanted to tell her I wasn't going anywhere, that I
couldn't
because my legs had ceased to function. But my tongue apparently had gone AWOL as well. The venom from the quills of the Jabberwocky wasn't going to kill me—nothing from the Make Believe or the Here and Now could. But it sure as shit could fuck with my head and was gonna hurt like a mother.

Tess's face floated before me like some seriously jacked up kaleidoscope, making my stomach roll with the motion.

At least it's not her,
I told myself over and over as the venom constricted my veins, seizing my heart in its merciless grasp.
At least Tess is safe.

And then I saw him. Or thought I did.

He was standing behind Tess, wearing a shit-eating grin that would've earned him a knuckle sandwich to chow on if I'd been able to move my arms. But all I could do was blink at him, not sure if he was a hallucination or the son of a bitch I'd once reported to in the Reaper Corp until he'd decided to take on a job that had better suited his particular
talents
.

“Nate!” Tess called to me, her voice edged with desperation.

“Nate, goddamn it! Look at me!”

I tried to drag my eyes away from Demetrius and his self-satisfied smile. Couldn't. All I could do was stare, mute, as his shadowy form twisted and swirled around Tess, threatening to overtake her at any moment and drag her down into darkness.

And then I was falling. The ground was only a few inches away, but it felt like I was dropping toward it in slow motion from hundreds of feet in the air. And when my face smacked hard against the cold concrete, it jarred me like a sucker punch to the temple. For a split second my vision dimmed as I fought to stay conscious.

“This is Enforcer Little,” I heard Tess barking into her phone. “I have a man down. Send a medical team right away.”

I felt my heartbeat slowing, felt myself slipping away, and tried to find Tess's face through the blur. She was leaning over me, smacking my cheek to rouse me. “Come on, Nate, hold on.”

Demetrius peered down at me from over her shoulder, his grin growing. He shook his head with a chuckle. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen,” he drawled, his high-pitched titter of a laugh sending a fresh wave of hell through my nerve endings. “I'll let her have you today, Death Bringer. But soon, old friend,
soon
we will meet again. . . .”

The second he vanished, I gave in to the weight of my eyelids. I could hear Tess still calling to me, ordering me to keep it together, to fight off the poison, but I couldn't. There was no defense against the inevitable. Eventually, death claimed us all. And I was no exception.