Grimm: A Novel In The Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Series (The Temple Chronicles Book 3) (26 page)

Wilhelm chuckled. “Thanks, Ichabod.” The man grunted in acknowledgement, tired eyes passing over me in what looked like quiet rage and calloused disgust. His eyes twinkled with power, but I didn’t know what kind, and they weren’t black. Perhaps he was the one duplicating my Maker ability, because I sure as shit couldn’t think of another power that could do what he just did – not counting the two kids with healing powers the Grimms had no doubt taken. Unless I myself could have someday learned necromancy with my Maker ability. Well, that pipeline thought ended here and now. We were through. Caught. Kidnapped. Bested. My trap turned on itself. Ichabod walked away to stand a bit apart from the rest of the men. I idly wondered if his power came from the banded collar around his neck rather than the amulets I had seen everyone wearing so far.

Wilhelm turned back to me. “I have no further use for your people, but I do have use for you. I’ll let you off with a warning this time. I have what we need for now, so get your affairs in order. We’re back and we’re going to end your reign of terror. I need you…
cooperative
,” he smiled darkly. “So I’ll let your people go as long as-”

A thunderous crack interrupted him and his shoulder exploded in blood, which liberally sprayed me. Wilhelm howled, pointing a finger at the house. “Get the bitch!”

Men darted for the house, and I realized something I had missed in my first glance. Indie was nowhere to be found.

Ichabod approached on tired feet and placed his hands on Wilhelm. I felt a gentle thrum of power similar to mine as the flesh began to knit itself back together. She had hit him in the joint, destroying his cartilage and tendons with a five-hundred-grain silver bullet, the kind used for hunting big game. My crew hadn’t taken my caution lightly after hearing about the liger.

But it didn’t matter. In seconds, Wilhelm was back to normal. He turned on me with a murderous scowl, rolling his shoulder. “You’ll pay for that. Luckily we don’t typically kill humans or she would be dead. Instead, I think I’ll keep her. For myself. After we conclude our business.” I began to shake, trying to break free. My head was still scrambled from the unseen blow that had taken me down. And I couldn’t touch my power.

“Stop struggling. I’ve got Ichabod blocking you anyway even if you managed to get up.” I stopped, spitting out blood, hitting his boots. He kicked me in the face. I came back to consciousness what felt like a few million years later.

The Grimms from the house were talking with Wilhelm, who was looking more furious by the minute. “What do you mean you can’t find her? She’s a god damn human. You’re telling me you can battle monsters and demons but you can’t find a young girl?” He backhanded the Grimm, knocking the man off his feet. A single tooth sailed into a pile of snow, but the Grimm merely spat, stood, and bowed apologetically.

He nodded to Wilhelm. “Aye, Sir. My apologies. I offer my life as payment.”

“We don’t have enough of us to go about tossing your lives about for these things, lucky for you. Just remember our goal. We need to get the rest of our brothers back.” He scowled at the house, ignoring the nodding soldier. The man genuinely looked reprimanded. I shook my head in disbelief. These guys were true zealots. Wilhelm turned back to me, looking angry. “It seems I don’t get my entertainment for tonight. Don’t worry. You’ll be hearing from us soon. She will be mine shortly after. For now, we leave. I don’t want to waste Ichabod’s time bringing us back one by one if she decides to begin shooting again.” He tipped an imaginary hat at me. “It’s been a pleasure. Thanks for the…
book sale
. And also for masking the fight from the humans. We wouldn’t want to show them your true colors, demon.” He muttered, kicking me one more time for good measure.

Then, as one, they began trotting down the street, disappearing from view. Apparently my people had been restrained because none of them moved. They merely watched. None of it made sense to me. Why had Wilhelm let any of us live? The Grimms
hated
all freaks. I began to grow terrified as my mind stirred up all sorts of reasons for leaving any of us alive, and each was worse than the last.

As one, my friends suddenly jumped to their feet as if still in the thick of battle, glancing about frantically for enemies. I blinked at that. Then realized what had happened. The entire conversation had happened out of their time reference and I hadn’t even realized it. As soon as Wilhelm began talking to me he must have frozen time, as I had seen his brothers do once before, so that our conversation remained private.

Raego exploded into his dragon form, snarling at the fog, droplets of fire splashing the snow in flashes of steam. After a few seconds, my friends saw me, no bad guys nearby, and bolted towards me to form a protective circle. They helped me to my feet, tossing questions back and forth and checking on each other. It seemed that more or less, everyone was okay. Flesh wounds all, but nothing requiring immediate attention. Other than rebuilding their dignity. I had brought a literal army to take on these clowns and it hadn’t been enough. And Jacob hadn’t even been here. He was apparently the bigger, badder brother. We had killed or injured plenty, but they had all been brought back by their spellslinger, Ichabod. He was the key to stopping them. I had to kill him next time we met. First. Fast. Without hesitation. Without his interference we may have won.

“At least we still have the book. We lost the battle, but there is still the war.” Gunnar was reminding Raego and Alucard, who looked as furious as it was likely to possibly get, having shifted back to their more or less human forms.

I cleared my throat, accepting Ashley’s arm for support. “About that…” I said through pained breaths, sure my ribs had cracked or been broken from Wilhelm’s well-placed kicks. My wrist throbbed. Everyone looked at me. “They took it.” Faces turned white, lips setting in tight lines.

“Oh.” Alucard mumbled. We absorbed that in silence as Ashley led me into the house. I had to find Indie. The rest of the world could burn for all I cared if Indie wasn’t safe. The sprite appeared beside me, landing on my shoulder, now doll-sized again.

“She’s okay. Don’t worry. I led her to a safe place. She’s in the office now. A nice shot.” She murmured. I grunted, relief enveloping my shoulders. Indie was safe. I sighed as we entered the office. Indie stared at me, and her shoulders sank in relief. I gripped her in my arms, and then my legs gave out as the pain hit me. She fell along with me, cradling my head in her breasts. I began to cry.

I had been beaten, and I could think of no way to win. Soon they would bring over their brothers, and an already unbeatable crew of black ops mercenaries would get bigger. And badder.

I had thrown my best punch, setting the time, location, and we had been ready. We had been calmly swatted down like rueful puppies.

Mainly because of Ichabod. If we stood a chance of going back against them I needed to take him out first. Indie stroked my hair as the rest of my friends silently left, Gunnar and Alucard taking charge of two smaller groups, leading them deeper into the house to give us some privacy.

“I failed you. I failed all of us. Who did I think I was to lead us into that? Without Wilhelm’s mercy, we would all be dead now.”

Indie continued to silently stroke my hair, letting me vent. “We were winning. We were beating them. Then my mouth got in the way and someone suckerpunched me. I didn’t see what happened next, but I look up and everyone was suddenly down.”

I felt Indie mutter under her breath. “That man, Ichabod, happened. He did… something and everyone dropped. Then he calmly went from body to body bringing everyone back to life. Misha landed on a car, totaling it. No one could move. As he brought them back, they broke off into groups and gathered up everyone, leading them back to kneel before you in a line. Taunting and mocking them before Ichabod gave them a look and they stopped. I think even they are scared of him. Or wary of him. Was there a third brother in the stories?” I shook my head. “I wonder why he’s so much more powerful than they are?” She asked to herself.

“He was using the power of a Maker. I think.” I felt her look down at me, her body shifting. I shrugged. “Each Grimm duplicated our powers. I felt him use his power to heal Wilhelm. It felt familiar. I think he was the one blocking me. Except he knew how to use the power. I don’t. At least not nearly as well. Maybe these amulets of theirs let them understand how to use their powers completely. Makes sense. Of course they would have no idea how to use the abilities they steal beforehand, so it makes sense that they gain not only the power but knowledge of the power as well.”

She grunted. “Scary.” We were silent for a time, me trying to breathe deeper and stretch out the injured ribs as Indie continued stroking my cheeks and head. “He needs to die first.” She finally said.

“My thoughts exactly,” I growled.

“Consider this a test run.
Veni, Vidi… we got our asses kicked
.” I burst out laughing as she improvised the saying,
we came, we saw, we conquered
. “We should learn from it. This doesn’t sound over. They haven’t brought anyone else over yet. And they let us live. That means that they need something else.”

I nodded, hissing at the resulting shooting pain in my skull caused by the motion. “Wilhelm said the same. That we would meet again soon.” Another thought hit me. “You can’t see him again. He has plans for you. Especially after shooting him. And he wants to hurt me. He gets you, and I’ll do whatever he wants. I won’t be able to help it.” Indie began to growl an argument but I interrupted her. “I can sit here and tell you whatever you want to hear, that I’ll take the right path and do the right thing, but let’s be honest. When it comes to you, I’ll choose you every time.” I didn’t mean it to sound romantic. I was just being honest, showing my flaw as a leader, but Indie squeezed me in a loving hug that hurt me so much I wanted to scream. But I didn’t complain.

I could hear her crying, as well as sirens in the background. The damage in the street had been noticed and reported to the authorities. And it was outside another property I owned. This wasn’t going to end well.

“Nate…” She didn’t say
what are we going to do
, but she must have thought it very loudly.

I nodded. “I know…” I answered her unspoken question. “We need to vamoose.” She helped me to my feet and we headed towards the others to
Shadow Walk
back to
Chateau Falco
, the only safe place I knew. As I began to cast the familiar spell of
Shadow Walking
, a thought whispered in my subconscious. I modified the spell a bit, and instead of ripping us to a new location, a vertical ring of blue fire erupted before us, revealing the snowy steps leading up to the front door of
Chateau Falco
. A gateway. That was new…

The sprite appeared before me, not giving me time to analyze the unique power I had instinctively used. I would worry about it later. Barbie shot me a silent look that said
call me when you are ready…
I nodded back and continued through the ring of fire, wondering if I would ever be ready to sentence my friends to die in order to save the supernatural community at large from the Grimms. It looked like sacrifice was our only option.

Chapter 27

W
e had managed to get everyone into his or her own rooms, and when I say ‘we’ I of course mean Dean, my Butler. But he worked for me, so I gain credit by extension.

The task seemed to have filled Dean with a level of pride and energy I hadn’t seen in him in a long time. This was his job, and he took it very seriously. Each guest’s request was met with an eager smile and then promptly satisfied. Mallory was ever present to help Dean out, but when I caught his eye he shook his head discreetly, letting me know that no one had tried to break in, but that he also hadn’t located Tomas either.

With Jacob being absent from the fight earlier, I had feared that he had attempted to break into the Armory or something while his brothers kept us distracted. But it looked like all was clear.

Alucard was very pleased, studying my house with acute interest. He had shed blood for me, and even though we had met under less than ideal circumstances – him attempting to separate my head from my shoulders – I realized that I trusted him. I hoped that wasn’t a mistake, but then again, I noticed Gunnar studying him several times, looking wary but also impressed. It was nice to see him also approving of the vampire, a natural enemy of a werewolf, but I knew he would keep an eye on things, leaving me to focus on our bigger problem.

Bros.

A powerful word.

Gunnar had been beaten, knocked down, but seeing that Ashley was more or less unharmed had given him renewed vigor, and a personal stake in the matter. In fact, everyone was now personally involved. It was no longer about helping me out of my own mess. They had all kicked ass, and had their asses kicked by the Grimms, and all looked anxious – and terrified – for round two. But none looked as downtrodden as I felt. They looked full of purpose, so I put on a mask, like my father had taught me long ago. A leader couldn’t show weakness.