Furious Fire: Grimm's Circle, Book 8 (16 page)

Like a nightmarish negative.

“It imitates our world,” she whispered, stunned she’d never seen this before. “Why didn’t I know this?”

There was no answer, but she knew he’d heard her. She felt Will walking alongside that part of her that was still in the dream.

When it ended, she sank to her knees. The food she’d hurriedly eaten after she’d woken churned in her gut and she wanted to hurl it up. Grimm learned control over their bodies within months of coming over and she fought the urge, knowing she needed the fuel from the food, and she couldn’t waste the energy. Plus, it was really just awful to vomit.

She wished she had a way to express her horror, though.

Her horror.

Her fear.

“There are hundreds.” Her voice was listless, even to her own ears.

“Yes.” Will continued to stand, his gaze on the soldiers he’d summoned to his side. Sixty of them. It could be enough, she supposed. But what if there were other ambushes like this coming up over the world?

What then?

“We fight, Sina. It’s what we do.”

Then he strode off, leaving her there alone as she struggled to wrap her mind around what was happening.

Part of her wanted to say,
But we can’t win this…

She knew better, though. She was one of the old ones and she knew all about monsters and curses and death in the night. Maybe that was why she was still so superstitious even after almost eighteen centuries of life.

She wouldn’t say those words—saying them could give that very thing power.

There was little warning.

I knew something was wrong—even if there weren’t four or five dozen of those shiny people out there, I knew.

It was like a rolling blackness spreading out from under me and it made my teeth hurt, my head ache, and what I wanted more than anything was a weapon. I was a sitting duck, trapped inside those walls of rock and I knew it.

Moving through the busted, broken corridor that had probably once been rather grand, I paused in the arched entry and stared out. They felt it too. I could see by the grim set of their faces.

So many of them.

Not a one gleamed quite as bright as Will.

And none of them drew my eye the way Finn did, but I was still pissed off at him.
Sweetheart…
it was an irrational anger and I knew it and I didn’t care. How many times had I come back to find him?

He didn’t even
know
me. He stood there while I was hurting and needing him and he called another woman sweetheart.

“Here.”

Lo and behold.

I stared at the woman in front of me, that irrational anger surging inside me once more.

It was the woman Finn had talked to—easily, like they were friends. I remembered a time when he’d talked to me that way. So, so long ago. Absently, I glanced down at what she held out for me and I frowned.

Then my eyes widened.

Okay, so I preferred pistols, especially the older style, but that, oh yeah.
That
was a thing of beauty. I studied the UMP, a submachine gun manufactured by Heckler & Koch. My hands started to itch and I had to fight to keep from snatching it out of her hands.

Instead, I looked up and lifted a brow. “What’s this?”

“You don’t want to be someplace without a weapon, do you? Seriously?”

Slowly, I reached out and closed my hand around it. “What makes you think I can use it?”

A man with blond hair pulled back in a ponytail came striding up. He gave me a critical once-over and then looked at the brunette for a minute before focusing on me.

I’d already shifted the UMP in my hands, learning the weight, the balance of it.

A faint smile curved his lips as he watched me. “I suspect you know how.” Then, he stopped, frowning as his eyes narrowing on my face.

I began to feel like a bug under a microscope.

I felt that pressure on my head again. It wasn’t as hard as it had been with Will, not even, but I’d already put up with too much of this bullshit. Gritting my teeth, I snarled at him, “Stay out of my head.”

That seemed to shock him.

“Well.” The woman smiled. “Aren’t you full of surprises?” Then she reached over, resting a hand on the man’s chest as he opened his mouth. “Rip, we’ve got enough to deal with. So does she. Let it go for now.”

Her blue eyes continued to cut into me. “Will said your name was Kalypso. Can you use that, yes or no?”

Heaving out a sigh, I looked it over, checked the ammo. Then I lifted it and turned, sighting down the barrel. I didn’t try to fire—no telling who was in the trees, but I needed to know the feel of it. “Yes. I can use it. Is there more ammo?”

Wordlessly, the man turned over several more magazines.

I knew enough about this kind of weapon to now worry. Or worry
more
. That…was a lot of ammo. “Just what in the hell are you expecting to show up?”

“Just that. A little piece of Hell,” he said grimly. He gave me another harsh once-over. “I don’t know why Will’s keeping a human here, but you’re dead meat if you don’t have something to protect yourself with. You look like you know how to use it. Make sure you
use
it if the time comes. Don’t wait, don’t hesitate. I’m going to strangle Will if he doesn’t find someplace safe for you—or as safe as we can get in the time we have. Once I figure out where that is, if anything comes in after you, you’ll be able to take it down with that. Try not to panic and shoot at somebody wearing one of these.”

He tugged at the pendant around his neck, one that seemed to glow to my eyes.

This is so messed up…
I shifted the UMP in my hands as I studied him. “You aren’t telling me what’s going on. You’re putting me someplace with the kind of weapon that might be able to take down a T-Rex and you give me the instructions not to shoot at the shiny people wearing shiny necklaces.”

Now that dark gaze of his narrowed even more.

“Shiny,” he said slowly.

“Yes.” I drew the world out and looked around. “Every single person here shines. Especially that one.” I pointed at Will and then smiled sweetly at the broody blond. If they expected me to pretend I didn’t know they weren’t exactly normal, too bad. “It’s enough to give me a migraine. So I don’t shoot the shiny people. What am I supposed to shoot?”

“I’d tell you but I doubt your cute ass can handle it,” he said shortly. Then he caught the other woman around the waist, pulled her close. “Find me. Soon.” He landed a hard kiss on her mouth and strode off.

“Ignore Rip,” she said, sighing. “He’s usually one of the more courteous ones, but he’s…”

She looked back at me.

“Scared.” I finished it for her and saw the answer in her eyes even if she wouldn’t speak it. Knowing that
these
people—or whatever they were—were scared made me feel so, so much worse. I was surrounded by things that could rip open gates or whatever Will had called that thing. He’d healed me. I’d seen Finn using fire…

My heart wrenched. Finn. He’d been a lover. Full of laughter that hid a wicked temper. Yeah, he’d always been a fighter, but what had turned him into…my gaze sought him out.

“You know him.”

Her voice—Greta—that was what her name was, I thought. Greta’s voice was soft and low. “Can’t really say that,” I said. “I made the fool mistake of crashing into him and Will just the other day. First time I’ve seen him.”

“That’s both complete truth and utter bullshit,” she mused.

I tried not to notice the interest in her voice, busying myself as I pocketed the ammo. The side pockets on the trousers I’d been given came in handy, holding the magazines Rip had given me. What kind of name was
Rip
anyway?

“You do know him. I feel it.”

I jerked my head up and glared at her, tried to ignore the wrench in my heart. “Let it go,” I said, my voice low, hoarse. “I don’t know what you
think
you know, but just let it go.”

Her eyes softened. “You’ve spent your entire life being different, Kalypso. For the first time, you’re around others who would probably understand. Letting go is the
last
thing you need. But now…it’s so not the time.”

“Yeah and doesn’t it just suck? Because I’m not going to survive this.” My gaze sought him out and I realized he was watching me. Turning away, I strode back into the ruin of a castle. “I never do.”

Sina came around the edge of the ruins just as the mortal disappeared inside.

Greta stood there with a look of utter frustration on her face.

When she noticed Sina, she frowned and turned on her heel, striding away.

“That was…odd.” Sina fell into step next to the younger angel. Of course, Greta would probably snort to be considered
young
. She’d been born in 1520, nearly five hundred years earlier. Not young, really.

Unless compared to somebody like Sina.

“Odd doesn’t touch it.” Greta stopped and crossed her arms over her chest. “My…abilities are growing. I’ve gone down twice in the past five years, spent a month in stasis the first time—then three years later, I was…well, disemboweled and my right arm was ripped off. Rip was pissed. I was under for six months, regenerating new organs, a new limb.” She grimaced and shot Sina a look. “When I woke up, Rip was climbing the walls. And I could feel every emotion—worse, when he felt the call to go on a hunt, I felt it too. I feel crazy connections. We were already on our way here before Will sent out the call. I just knew we needed to be here.”

Sina cocked her head, waiting.

Greta glanced over her shoulder toward where the mortal hid. “There’s a connection. Her…and Finn. And she believes she’ll die.”

“You’re worried about a mortal’s sense of foreboding?” Sina asked.

“Yes. My gut says she’s got a reason to be right.” She shivered and ran her hands up and down her arms. “He’s fighting it, but I look at them and it’s like…it’s like looking at Michael and Elle. They fought it for years, but they belong together. They always did. Their souls fit—and it’s like they
know
each other.”

Then Greta sighed and shrugged. “But that’s insane, because in all his years, Finn never once let himself feel anything for anybody. Did he?”

Greta strode off, the thick rope of her hair hanging halfway down her back.

Sina, though, stood rooted to the ground.

Greta was wrong.

He’d felt something once.

Just not in this life.

Chapter Twelve

Mandy knew, without a doubt, that she was going to get her ass ripped over this.

Mandy knew, without a doubt, that it didn’t matter.

Will had left days earlier and she’d been on his trail only hours after he’d left.

It had gutted her to take Natasha to a hospital, but she’d done it, using the story Will had fabricated over the past few months. He’d crafted a tale to explain her disappearance from the mortal world, from the time she’d disappeared in Greece, to now. Although he’d been reluctant each time she’d broached the subject, Will was nothing if not pragmatic—a fact she’d both hated and admired.

The memories that had haunted Natasha were now gone. Maybe she could heal now.

It hurt Mandy to do it—it felt
wrong
. The ever-growing healing gift had changed and warped…nobody should be able to alter memories, but that was what she did. She let the woman remember the murders of her friend, let her remember the horror of the house, but she had to strip away the memory of angels, of demons, of a ghost that had reanimated the dead.

It might be Natasha’s only chance to heal and regardless, she couldn’t risk having the woman somehow speak of what she’d seen.

Maybe Natasha would recover. Maybe she wouldn’t. It was time Mandy accept the truth of it—some things she couldn’t change or fix.

She wasn’t far from Will now, and she knew, better than some, what she was going to find.

Death hung in the air. It was so thick she could taste it in the back of her mouth. Ever since she’d come back to life, not all that long ago, she’d felt death like it was her constant companion. Not that it stalked
her
, but she could feel when it moved in closer on the others.

Three months ago, one of the Grimm had died. A bocan had torn the head from a quiet, soft-spoken man by the name of John. There had been nothing particularly remarkable about John—other than the fact that he’d been an angel and he’d done his job with quiet, determined focus. He’d also died, violently.

And Mandy had woken panting, from a dead sleep, minutes before it happened, because she’d felt it, the pain tearing across her neck and the taste of death in the air, all around.

Sometimes she thought it was because she spent so much of her time around Will, the uber-angel.

Just now, all she wanted was to see him. See him, because something inside her was screaming…
now, now…before it’s too late
.

She didn’t know
precisely
where he was, and she’d reached out, tried to ask.

He’d ignored her each time, and that was weird. Will ignored a lot of people, but he’d never ignored her. Oh, he’d brush her off, but he’d at least acknowledge her question.

Now, it was like a wall stood between them.

It didn’t matter, though. She didn’t need him to tell her where he was, because she could feel him. A whisper of heat along her spine, the chill of death on her soul and she chased it.

Chased it, and tried to ignore the tears that wanted to fall.

Because it really was too late.

The chance she’d never really expected to have was about to slip through her fingers anyway.

The earth shook.

I lurched to my feet even as it started to pitch and roll under me. Bracing myself with a wide stance, I shot a look upward.

“It won’t collapse.”

Looking over at the entryway, I grimaced and fought the urge to squint, because this woman was almost as brilliant against my weird inner senses as Will.

She looked at me, hard, for a long moment, before muttering, “Son of a bitch.”

Then she grabbed my gear from the floor. “Come on. We need to put you somewhere else.”

I gaped at her.

I thought about ignoring her as the ground rumbled beneath me once more.

Off in the distance, I heard screams. They made my blood run cold.

As she disappeared, I jogged after her, keeping the UMP in my hands and thanking God that I could halfway see where I was putting my feet as I tried to keep up with her. She disappeared around the back edge of the ruin just as I broke out into the watery twilight. It was almost night. I didn’t like that. Night was when…

I dodged a look back.

And immediately wished I hadn’t.

When I’d tackled Will, stupidly, we’d tumbled into a brilliant, white opening. It had been…controlled, remaining perfectly round and the energy, even as I fell inside and it tried to rip me apart, had remained steady.

The black rips appearing all over the clearing contracted and expanded, like they were vomiting things out of nothing. In the middle was a large void, a jagged, irregular rent that my eyes just wouldn’t focus on. It hurt too much and my ears hurt and my eyes wanted to bleed and fear choked me, just from looking—

“Don’t!”

A hard hand clamped around my arm and I was jerked around, half dragged toward the back end of the castle by the unknown woman. “That’s a gateway to a world that would drive you mad. Just those few glimpses are enough to scar you. Stop looking.”

As I started to stumble along behind her, she let me go.

Dimly, I was aware of her rubbing her hand along her pants.

She shot me another look, narrowly and shook her head. “Why now?”

At least that was what I thought she said, my ears were still echoing with weird chitters and wailing cries.

When the thunder started, I wasn’t even surprised.

Something grated and then I was shoved, unceremoniously into a dark, dank hole. “You’ve got light. It’s in the kit.”

I stared dumbly at the bag she’d shoved at me.

“Light,” she repeated slowly, like she was talking to a child. “It will last long enough.”

Then she started to shove what looked like a massive boulder in front of the narrow hole—the only way in and out of that hole. I slapped my hand against it. “And what if everybody out
there
dies?” I demanded.

She sighed sadly and then looked at the weapon I held. “If all of us fall, the best thing you could do would be to use that.”

Then she moved the boulder like it was made of foam rubber.

A shiver raced down my spine.

Because she hadn’t been talking about shooting my way out.

Slowly, I backed away, staring at the faint glimmer of light that made its way in around the stone.

Was this how I’d come to it this time?

He’d been so close and I hadn’t even gotten to touch him, hold him, hear him whisper my name.

Of course, which name would I want to hear?

My back bumped against a cool, slightly damp wall and I slowly sank down until I was on the floor.

Maybe instead of coming to an awful, bloody end, I’d die slowly, because I’d never kill myself. I’d wait, until the awful, final end…hoping for a chance. After all, wasn’t that why I kept coming back?

Looking up, I focused on a heaven I didn’t really believe in, somewhere beyond the rock and rubble that lay beyond the dark maw stretching out over my head. “I’m done. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

But nobody answered me.

They probably couldn’t even hear me, not with all the inhuman, eerie wails coming from out there. Even through the stone, I heard them. I rested a hand on the kit she’d mentioned to me and then, slowly, I unzipped it and began to root around for the light.

If I had to sit in here and wait for something to get through, then I needed to know what was around me.

Maybe there really was a Hellmouth, Finn thought, watching as that pit yawned open before them.

It had been…an hour? Two? Four? He’d lost track, but this had raged on for far too long and while they’d kept the demons from spilling past the area where they’d made their stand, they only managed to
kill
.

Will hadn’t yet managed to
stop
them from crossing over.

Three Grimm had died. Each death had been heralded by an eerie strike of lightning and Finn wondered how much longer they could withstand a seemingly endless flow of demons pouring through that tear between the worlds.

His body hurt.

His skin felt permanently singed.

His back throbbed and he knew from the blood that continued to trickle down his hips and back that the wounds had yet to close. A couple of vankyr had tried to lay his spine open. Easiest way to kill a Grimm? Rip out the heart or remove the head. It felt like they’d tried to do both.

As he cleared a path with flame, he stumbled over, fell back against a tree and watched as the pit vomited more of them out.

Higher
, he thought dully.

He had to get higher.

If he could, then maybe he could scorch them as they came through.

Tipping his head back, he eyed the forest giant that towered over him and thought about the bloody mess of his body. Then he started to climb.

Something caught his ankle about ten feet up.

It felt oily and wrong, so he didn’t look down, just let the fire lose. As a scream ripped free below him, he continued his ascent. There was a bare spot about forty feet overhead—he’d make his stand there.

Once he reached it, the full impact of the carnage hit him hard and he gripped a branch, tried to find some level of calm.

If the Grimm stopped this mad influx of demons, he mused, focusing the fire inside and letting it grow…and burn…and consume…then they did and they went on business as usual.

If he fell before that happened?

Then he’d be with Becky.

A smile curved his lips and he watched, waited—

At that moment, Rip looked up from his position near the gaping maw. He glimpsed Finn and a dark smile lit his face. He bellowed out,
“Fall back
!”

In that moment, Finn flung out the fire, watched as it flooded into the darkness.

Screams rose and the hair on the back of his neck lifted at the sound.

Yeah. He could be done now. Go on and find her. Some part of him had held on, thinking maybe she’d be able to come back. She’d promised him, and unlike him, Becky didn’t break promises.

He’d foolishly believed what he’d told her that one night they’d had together.

Not even death could do that. Not now.

He’d believed even death couldn’t separate them, but he’d been so wrong.

The words she’d given him hadn’t been a promise, just a desperate, dying wish.

As the first torrent of fire he’d sent died out, he released those flames and began to gather more, letting the fire grow inside…and let that one part of his mind drift back.

She looked so afraid.

Pale and tired and afraid. Thom could kill Sawyer for that alone. That monstrous heat ripped through him again and his hand tightened convulsively on his Colt.

Sawyer laughed. “And what do you think you’ll do with that useless toy now?”

He went to squeeze the trigger—murder had never felt so justified as it did in that moment. But the Colt felt all wrong. The mangled mess in his hand barely even resembled a pistol now but he was too dazed, too confused, too thrown off by everything to figure it out. He had another, of course. He only needed one pistol, one bullet.

“Boy, you never—”

“I still got…”

Fury ate at him, burned inside him, like it would consume him. Thom could feel himself getting lost in it, in the heat of his own rage. Time slowed, almost to a crawl. All he needed was the one gun. The one bullet.

So
hot
…

A fire raged, exploding from the very earth under them and the rest of his words were lost to the screams and he found himself trapped in a vortex of heat.

Above it all, though, there was one sound—one pained sound—that froze his heart.

Through the haze of heat, through the flames that had come from nowhere, he saw Sawyer clutch Becky to him, then how she stiffened, agony tightening her features.

In the seconds that felt like hours, she staggered and fell.

The distance between them was only a few strides, but it could have been miles. It felt like it took him that long to get to her. Throwing himself to his knees, he caught her. The sight of her blood ripped at him.

“Tommy…Tommy.”

He caught her hand. “Becky.” His voice choked in his throat and he had to force the words out. “Hang on, my darlin’ girl. Just hang on. You’ll be fine.”

“No.” Her lids drooped. “I won’t.”

“Don’t close your eyes!” he shouted at her.

Her lashes fluttered.

“Don’t die on me. You can’t leave me,” he begged. How could this happen? Why… “You can’t.”

“If I had a choice, I never would. Forgive me, Tommy. I’m so sorry.”

Desperate, he pressed his lips to hers. “Don’t die. I came back for you…you can’t leave me.”

“It’s not up to me.” A sigh shuddered out of her and then she turned her face into his chest.

He started to rock her as the pain, the fury, the denial mounted inside him.

“You came back.” Her voice was softer, weaker. “I’m sorry you came back to this.”

“You…” Threading his fingers through her hair, he blinked back the tears and pressed his forehead to hers. He’d come back. She could, too.
Bring her back to me,
he demanded, a silent order sent out to God. There had to be one, didn’t there? He’d died, but he was still here.
Save her, please
.

She was so cold.

“Tell me you’ll come back to me,” he demanded, voice ragged. The knot in his throat was choking him. “If I can do it, so can you. Tell me you will.”

“If it were possible, I’d come back…a thousand…times…sweetheart. Just to find…you again.” She smiled, breath rattling out of her as she whispered, “I love you.”

“Becky…no! Don’t…you can’t die on me! I love you!” he shouted it. He begged. He pleaded. And still she lay lifeless in his arms.

He’d come back…but for what?