Light the Shadows (A Grimm Novel) (24 page)

Anna grimaced then dropped her hand away from Micah’s shoulder. “I know, sweetie, but you aren’t this Kelly person anymore.”

Micah swiped at a tear that trickled down her cheek. How long had Sully known about this
, and why had he kept it hidden? Did he think she couldn’t handle what he’d found?

“None of this matters.” Anna gestured at the pages strung across the bedcovers. “This is about a total stranger. You are Micah Munroe now.”

“But I’m starting to recall things. Like, how did I know how to pick that lock?” Micah shied away from Anna’s outstretched hand. “I remember the blonde hair and brown eyes. Other things, fragments, are drifting back to me. I saw shadows back then, but couldn’t handle it. It drove me bat-shit crazy.”

Micah took a deep breath and swiped at her wet eyes. “I wish I had never found this. I was better off not knowing.”

“Stop,” Anna said, quiet warning in her voice. “The past doesn’t define who you are. There’s no sense in clinging to it. Let it die.”

“Why wouldn’t he tell me he’d figured out who I was?” Micah’s shoulders dropped
, and she turned her back to the disappointing discoveries. What Anna said made sense, but how could she turn her back on an entire lifetime? “He knew I was trying to figure these things out. He didn’t even mention it.”

“Maybe he did it to protect you.” Anna shrugged. “He probably knew you’d be upset by what he’d found. It’s all bullshit anyway.”

“I have a right to know, Anna!” Micah shouted. “I feel so betrayed.”

A weird feeling settled in the pit of Micah’s stomach. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to vomit or cry. She didn’t have time to contemplate it though, because Thomas St. Clair appeared in the doorway.

“Sullivan is in trouble,” he said then advanced several paces into the room.

Anna flitted backward to avoid him. Her eyes were large and full of fear.

Micah tossed the paper aside. It drifted to the floor on the other side of the bed. Even though she was upset and angry with him, she couldn’t help the overwhelming sense of fear and worry that suffocated her. “What do you mean he’s in trouble?”

Thomas closed the distance between them,
and his hands dropped onto her shoulders. “Shadows ambushed him. He was sent on a big job…”

Anna frowned then cut him off. “What job? The shepherds haven’t been any busier than usual.”

“Sully managed to reap the souls he was supposed to, but Natalie interfered. Not all of them got through the doorway,” Thomas said.

Goose-
bumps arose on Micah’s arms. “She’s the little girl from your apartment.”

Thomas nodded
, and his gaze shifted away. “She turned the souls against him as soon as they lifted from their bodies. There were just too many of them.”

Tears distorted her vision, but she blinked them away. She didn’t have time to cry
; she had to help Sully. “Do you know where she took him?”

Thomas gripped her shoulders tighter, making her wince. “You know it’s a trap, don’t you? It’s not really Sullivan she wants. If you go, you will die.”

Anna’s face clouded, and she squished her eyes shut. “Reapers have no power over the dead, just the living.”

“She wants me?” Micah said on a shaky breath.

Anna’s head snapped around to look at Micah. “You can’t go. It’s suicide.”

A shudder of fear crawled down the length of Micah’s spine. “I have to help him.”

“She can’t go,” Anna said with a snarl.

Thomas shook his head. “I agree. She shouldn’t, but what choice do we have? Sullivan can’t do anything against them. They’ve crowded his mind with their will and are probably torturing him. They were strong enough to convince him to go with them.”

Anna opened her mouth to argue, but Thomas cut her off. “Would you have me ignore the danger my friend is in?”

Anna stood toe to toe with the tall man. “Would you have me send mine to be slaughtered?”

Micah pushed an arm between them, the action sending tingles of chill all the way through her. She didn’t understand how Thomas could feel so corporeal while Anna remained misty and transparent. “Enough, you two. I’m going, and that’s final.”

Anna glared up at Thomas as though he’d somehow put the crazy notion into Micah’s head. Finally, they backed away from each other. Thomas sat heavily on the end of the bed while Anna drifted to Micah’s side.

“Please, Micah, don’t do this. You’re mortal. They’ll kill you,” Anna said on a sob.

Micah sighed. “I love him, Anna. I can’t let them hurt him.”

Her friend stared at her a moment. It appeared there was something else on her mind, but she was unsure of how to say it. “If they’re in Sully’s mind and making him do what they tell him, he might hurt you. Please don’t go. There’s gotta be something else we can do.”

Micah bit her bottom lip. Anna had a point
. However, she wasn’t going to sit aside and allow them to do as they pleased to Sully either. She turned to look at Thomas. “How many are there?”

Thomas shrugged. “Hard to say. While I was held there, she brought several over to her side. The thing is … I saw
only about a dozen that were constant. It’s like once she’s got them, they disappear.”

“Maybe she did something to them,” Micah said then sat next to Thomas. “I nicked her hand with the dagger, but she didn’t die or disappear like the others.”

“Maybe you have to cut them like you’re killing them,” Anna said with a grimace.

Micah considered this, but came up with nothing for an explanation.

Thomas frowned at Micah. “She’s one of the strongest shadows that I’ve ever come across.”

Micah stood to pace across the room. Anna didn’t even complain when Micah passed through her a couple times. “Where did she take him?”

Thomas watched her pace. “She’s a creature of habit. She’ll go somewhere she feels safe and in control.”

Micah pursed her lips, thinking. Something about this just didn’t feel right. Anna had said Sully only had power over the living.
Grimms had power over the dead, yet her dagger had had no effect on Natalie. “We need to find out more about this girl.”

Thomas cast a thoughtful glance at the floor. “She isn’t like an ordinary shadow.”

Anna’s image flickered. “I’m on it. Don’t do anything until I come back. Please? Sully is strong. He can hold on just a little longer.” With that, she disappeared.

Thomas stood now and glanced down at Micah
, who was fighting another bout of frightened tears. He said, “Thank you.”

She wiped the moisture away with the back of a hand. “I’m not doing this for you.”

“Sullivan is a lucky man.” He squeezed her shoulder one last time before turning away. “I’m going to see if I can locate where they’re holding him. Maybe I can get close enough to see what’s going on.”

Micah watched him walk toward the doorway. “Don’t get caught.”

Chapter Eighteen

Sully lifted his head off the cool, hard concrete. His vision was bleary, everything cloudy and unfocused. When he finally managed to find his voice, it was hoarse and croaky. “Where am I?”

A shadow lifted from the corner of the room then moved fast toward him. It growled an obscenity before lashing out and striking him across the face.

Sully’s head whipped to the side, and blood bubbled out of his mouth. “What the hell, dude?”

He scrambled up to his feet and met the overlarge shadow head on. The man growled in his face, revealing badly yellowed, crooked teeth. The shadow’s beefy arms were made of pure muscle. He tossed Sully onto the floor and didn’t even grunt with the effort.

The air puffed out of Sully’s lungs when he struck the concrete. He was unable to draw in more air as the shadow’s gargantuan foot came down on his chest. A couple of Sully’s ribs cracked beneath the weight. The shadow’s laughter echoed throughout the cramped enclosure.

“What are you doing?”
a child’s angry voice asked. The soft tap of her shoes carried her into the dim room.

The shadow huffed an apology then scrambled back toward his previous haunt. He stood with hands clasped in front of him, his gaze lowered to the floor where Sully was now kneeling.

Natalie crossed the short distance and stood in front of Sully. “Poor guy,” she sighed. “I don’t think anyone’s coming for you. Maybe that bitch just doesn’t love you like we thought.”

Blood from his split lip seeped into his mouth. He
spat it onto the floor then twisted his head to glare up at her. “Good.”

The girl’s face twisted into something ugly. “How is that good? You’re going to be tortured until we find a way to kill you. Then you’re going to bend to my will and become one of these things you call shadows.”

She patted his cheek with a delicate touch. “We’re already dead. Your scythe doesn’t work on us, remember? How are you going to fight back, Reaper?” Her pats became harder, like her voice. The next time her palm landed on his cheek, it felt as if he’d been struck by solid steel. Pain radiated up through his cheek, behind his eyes and into his head. He winced, but didn’t cry out.

Natalie laughed, the sound
high-pitched and threatening. “Why don’t you get your weapon out? Hmm? Perhaps we could use it on you.”

“Fuck off, brat
,” Sully snarled then pushed himself backward until his back met the wall. Using its rough surface, he pushed up onto his feet.

Natalie’s black gaze watched his movements. A slow smile spread across her face as she turned back to look at the hulking shadow against the wall. Sully didn’t like that look one bit.

Natalie said, “All right, Dennis, he’s all yours.” Then she disappeared.

All Sully heard in the dimly lit room was the shuffling sound of Dennis’s heavy feet and a sinister chuckle.

****

When Sully next awoke, he spotted a small rectangle of light at the far end of the room. There was no telling how much time had passed since Dennis
had unleashed a fury like he’d never known. Dennis had not only beaten and bruised him, but had broken this pathetic body as well. He was slowly healing, but the process would take a while.

It pissed him off to no end that once the shadowy voices got into his head, there was little he could do to protect himself. These shadows were some of the strongest, most malicious he’d ever witnessed. Dennis had tried to provoke him into removing his scythe. Even though it might have helped him defend himself, he was a bit antsy about bringing it into play. What if Dennis and Natalie really could end him with it?

He sat up slowly, allowing his equilibrium to adjust to this new position. Still, the entire room swirled and swam before him. One eye was swollen shut, and Sully’s jaw throbbed in time with his pulse. It was hard to breathe, and he suspected Dennis had not only cracked a few ribs, but broken some as well.

Using the wall as a brace, he eased into a standing position. When he was met with no resistance from Dennis or any other shadow, a bud of hope blossomed within him. Moving as quietly as he could, he eased toward the lighted rectangle in hopes of finding a window. In his weakened state, he wasn’t entirely sure he could scale the wall and shimmy out. Nor was he certain if he could use any of the
Reaper tricks he’d learned over the years, but he had to try. He had to stop Micah from coming to his rescue and getting hurt.

Sully made it halfway across the small room before he heard the soft tap of shoes on the cement floor. Instead of stopping his progress, the noise urged him forward. His fingernails gripped the brick wall
, and he pleaded with his limbs to do as he bid them. His arms were too weak and weary. They trembled beneath the strain of pulling him toward the window. He fell, landed on his feet, then whirled to meet the intruder who had come into his holding cell.

Natalie was alone. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest and simply stared at him. The only indication that she was annoyed was the soft tap of her right shoe. “Going somewhere?” she asked in a cheerful voice.

He allowed the scythe to fall into his hand. “Nah, just needed a breath of fresh air.”

Natalie’s gaze drifted from his eyes down to the hand holding the weapon. One side of her mouth lifted in a smirk. “So you
do
want to play?”

Using the wall as a means of support, he nodded. “Bring it on, bitch.”

“We’re practically family, Uncle Sully.” Natalie’s face contorted into a mockery of remorse.

“We were never family, Natalie.” Sully snorted with contempt.
“You were just my friend’s kid. I hate kids.”

Natalie shrugged,
obviously unconcerned with his accusations. “And deep down, I’m sure Daddy knows you were the Reaper who came for me and Mama. He’s not stupid, Uncle Sully. Do you really think he’s going to help you? You killed his daughter.”

“Your time was up, kid. It was nothing personal.”

Natalie seemed to consider this. “Things could be so much easier for you if you’d stop fighting me. Join me, and I’ll put aside my anger at you.”