Grimm: A Novel In The Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Series (The Temple Chronicles Book 3) (40 page)

Raego and his dragons stood off to the side, speaking quietly, ready to shift in a blink, and far enough away to not take any of us out when they suddenly transformed to creatures ten times the size – or larger – of their human skin. But I wished we had more. Most of them were off on assignments overseas or protecting the Dragon Lord’s American interests thanks to the arrival of the Grimms. And Raego had adamantly refused allowing Misha’s daughters to participate.

I agreed.

The injured, but not down for the count, Mallory had finally gotten a hold of Tomas, who had been lying low after attracting too much attention to himself. The two were up on the roof at discreet points, armed with sniper rifles, relying on mortal means to aid in the battle. With Mallory already injured, his best support was being on the roof.

But to me, the world felt empty despite all my friends willing to die by my side.

Indie was gone.

Taken.

Captured.

Either Death had betrayed me, or the Grimms had overwhelmed him somehow, but I doubted the latter. Despite how badass the Grimms were, Death was a legendary warrior. At the Armageddon level. Which likely meant he had switched sides at some point. Made a deal with the Grimms. I realized I was growling, only noticing so as Tory placed a calming hand on my wrist. Her fiery eyes met mine. “Not yet.” I nodded back, regaining some semblance of control.

After my head had cooled a bit, I had tried reaching out to Death to confirm my fear. But he hadn’t answered.

No matter now.

Glancing at the skyline, I realized it was almost sunrise. Time to get to work.

I knelt down on the ground. My friends formed a loose circle around me, and I murmured a word, not bothering with the ritual. I wasn’t here to protect myself, or make a bargain. I was here to do a single, all encompassing action.

Raise holy hell.

On the third repetition of the word, I felt my friends stiffen as one, and three heavy thumps struck the earth strong enough for me to feel it in my knees. I rose, sniffing the air, which suddenly felt like a spring or summer morning in the woods, and saw two figures standing beside a silver-clad goddess. Well, what looked like a goddess. She and her companions were petite, despite the loud sound of their arrival. Alucard murmured appreciatively and the sprite noticed.

I wasn’t sure if it was possible for silver skin to blush, but the skin of Barbie’s cheeks did shift color a bit. Enough for me to smile faintly. The sprite turned to me. “So, it is time.” She said simply.

“Yes. I needed some thugs, and your name came up.” I looked at her two compatriots. “Brought friends to the party?” She smiled, and nodded.

Two women stood beside the sprite, also human-sized at the moment, and equally naked. One carried a small ebony stick, oozing the gravitas of age and power. Her mocha skin, almost black, seemed to shine, and her inky black eyes seemed to glimmer with undisclosed power. She was wrinkled, and aged like her stick, but you could tell that she had once commanded great attention from the opposite sex. If not from her looks, then from her seemingly raw power. It was elemental to my senses. Her cool gaze promised pain and pleasure in equal measure, and she didn’t mind which one you preferred.

The other sprite was green. Like the green of fresh buds on a tree. In fact, her skin seemed made of grass and leaves. Gnarled vines formed a makeshift outfit that only emphasized her lean body. She wasn’t curvaceous, but more of an innocent adolescent, a nubile maiden found by a pond in the middle of the woods.

The kind of young slip of a girl only read about in stories that usually ended with a disappearance of an innocent young boy. Her smile was cool, detached, and predatory. I averted my gaze as her eyes drifted to me.

Neither spoke. Not a word. “They have their own…
reasons
for joining me today. Old business with your…
guests
.” Barbie offered with a humorless smirk. I shrugged.

Dean popped his head out the front door behind us. “Jeffries just phoned. Police have been served with a warrant for your arrest and are mobilizing now.”

I nodded. “Is everything in order?”

“Yes, Master Temple.” He responded, voice tight with stoic calm.

“Seek shelter then, Dean.” The door began to close. “And thank you for your service.” I added. The door remained open as I heard a sharp intake of breath, then he popped his head back out. “Movement discovered in the old gardens.” The door closed, latching shut with a metallic snap. Several bolts slammed home, barring access to the mansion.

“Its party time, folks.” And so I led the group of bloodthirsty Freaks to meet the equally bloodthirsty assassins. I used currents of power to shove my captive ahead of us so that he could be a meat shield against his brothers. I didn’t need him for leverage. Just to prove a point. I masked his presence, so that the Grimms wouldn’t see him at all. I didn’t need them attacking on sight. I wanted to see Indie. Make sure she was safe.

Or even alive.

As we began to move, fanning out in an arch, I suddenly felt the now familiar throb of power that signified a time warp. We were used to it now, although I heard Barbie growl to her companions.

We were going to battle in our own cocoon of time, unaffected by the outside world. Which would prevent the approaching police from becoming collateral damage. I wondered if that fact was a conscious decision by the Grimms, since they preferred not to harm Regulars. Well, Regulars that weren’t friends of mine. Apparently, being in the Nate Temple fan club revoked that mortal protection.

We walked for a few minutes in silence, braving the icy path that led down to the gardens. Tall trees suddenly stood before us as we crested a gentle rise, looking down upon the ancestral Temple Gardens. Benches, fountains, and statues dotted the pathways meandering through the once thriving greenery of the gardens. A small hedge maze stood in the center, surrounded by a soothing collection of perennial and floral arrangements that had been created to inspire peace and tranquility.

But like my current mood, the area was now barren, devoid of all life but the stone sentinels rising up like cresting waves over the brown shrubbery. And the towering trees that formed a circle of protection around the garden – casting an eternal shade over the life inside – only seemed to foreshadow the bloodshed about to take place.

The statues were all depictions of my various ancestors, and my father had hinted that no secrets could be shared within eyesight of any of them. Each statue had been erected using the cremated remains – if only a part – of the person in question to form either the statue itself or the base or the mortar. Regardless, each and every statue down there had a bit of the owner inside of it, and by extension, a form of immortal existence. I wasn’t sure if it was possible to converse with them, but my dad never made idle warnings, and if he didn’t want me spilling secrets near a statue, no matter how odd the advice, I damn well wasn’t going to be uttering any secrets around them. A vast field of once perfectly manicured grass surrounded the gardens – now covered in a blanket of snow – gently rolling up to the foundation of the sprawling mansion itself, perched atop the hill like a living entity. From this angle, the house was foreboding, dark, threatening.

To everyone but my crew.

I noticed movement at the same time as Alucard and Gunnar. A dozen figures stood around a large statue at the edge of the gardens and trees. The
Gatekeeper
of the garden, my father had called him. No other description had been given to me, but I knew he was a distant ancestor of mine.

Indie was chained to the base of the statue with thick, heavy links of some kind of glittering metal. Thick enough to eliminate the chance of even most Freaks breaking free. I wondered if my magic would work against them. Perhaps that was the point. Indie stood no chance of escape on her own, and perhaps we didn’t stand a chance of breaking her free either. At least not until the battle was concluded.

My blood began to boil at the sight. There she was. Helpless. Kidnapped. A Regular whose only crime was to love me.

And now she sat at the hands of monsters.

The Grimms turned to face us, eyes hard, glinting in the pre-dawn light.

We approached, and the Grimms waited, idly thumbing the weapons at their belts.

Well, all but Jacob and Wilhelm, who stood closest to the statue. Jacob’s face was blank, but Wilhelm’s was full of glee. I stopped before the two brothers, the other Grimms stepping a few paces out of my way to grant me unbroken sight upon Indie and their Big Brothers.

My friends fanned out beside me, and the Grimms subtly squared off to match them, eliminating any holes in their formation, pairing off subconsciously. My eyes stayed on Indie for several long moments. She finally looked up and I practically felt the fear in her gaze. Her makeup ran down her cheeks, smearing her mascara, or whatever you called the stuff women smeared around their eyes. She was terrified, but seemed to have cried too much to have any more tears left. Seeing me seemed to rejuvenate her. She suddenly grew calm, confident, and resolved.

I didn’t like that look. It gave me the Heebie Jeebies for some reason.

Wilhelm tossed the
Infinity Gauntlet
oven mitt down on the ground between us with a smirk. “Looks like you won’t be needing this any longer.” Indie’s eyes tracked the motion, locking onto the familiar glove, and her eyes grew sad as they rose to mine. She recognized it, and although not completely understanding the particular meaning of its presence, she seemed to at least understand its significance.

Perhaps she knew enough to realize it was a token of my love, and would only be in his hands if things had gone horribly wrong. She had no idea it was her engagement ring.

“Enough.” Jacob murmured softly. Wilhelm grunted but complied, stepping back. Jacob nodded in thanks. “We have the book. We have your woman. We have shown you time and time again what happens to those who oppose us. It is time for you to end this pointless quest and accept your place in the new world. And that place would be six feet under the ground.” He didn’t sound menacing. He sounded clinical. Stating facts. Reading a report. I didn’t respond. “The only thing left is to decide how painful you want your end to be. Give us the Armory, and we will make it swift. Painless. Or…” He held out a hand in invitation.

“They called you guys
Decapitares
during the Crusades, right?” I asked softly.

Jacob frowned thoughtfully, but nodded. In response, I shoved an unseen force ahead of me, and suddenly the beefy Grimm from my garage lay sprawled at my feet, shivering in pain and humiliation, abruptly visible where before he had been unseen. I withdrew the sword at my side – the confiscated weapon belonging to the Grimm – and decapitated him with one swift blow. His head thunked to the ground and I nudged it with a boot until it rested at Jacob’s feet. Mustachio’s head, which had been held by McBeefy on the way here, rolled towards Wilhelm’s feet, touching his boot briefly before he angrily kicked it away. I dropped the sword. It clattered to the cold ground. Then I lifted my gaze to Jacob and shrugged, brushing off my hands. “His mustache offended me so I killed him too.”

I had their attention now.

Jacob’s gaze smoldered with barely restrained rage. His brothers tensed, ready to destroy every last one of us. “Last chance, boy.” I spotted Ichabod a few paces behind him. He looked sickened. I smiled back.

“But I gathered my crew and it would be such a waste to ruin a scrap when everyone’s here to dance. No blocking my power. Let’s see what you bitches can do without hiding behind that sad, old, pitiful wretch over there.” I pointed at Ichabod.

Jacob nodded. Wilhelm looked anticipatory. Hungry.

“Good. Now, before we get started, I should probably warn you. You are trespassing.” I said softly. “And we don’t care for that ‘round these parts.” I did my best to sound like a Texan. I lifted a hand slowly, snapped my finger once, and one of the Grimms suddenly crumpled to the ground with an explosive exhale of breath and a bloody mist where his head had been. The crack of a distant gunshot echoed throughout the grounds a moment later. I snapped again. Jacob began to yell, but he was too late.

The same thing happened before anyone thought to seek cover, another Grimm collapsing in an explosion of blood. Two headshots. Most survivors threw up shields of power before them. Others rolled to safety behind a tree or bench or anything that would slow a bullet. Ichabod stared at the scene, unmoving. Jacob snarled at him to see to the men. Ichabod met my gaze… and winked.

I didn’t have time to decipher what
that
meant, so launched a blast of power at him. It struck him true in the chest and he went cartwheeling into the statue, cracking it in half. I hurriedly sent another blast, knocking the collapsing statue to safety so that it didn’t crush Indie. Ichabod landed in safety and didn’t move. Indie shrieked as the stone titan crashed only inches away from her.

At least I thought that was why she screamed. My eyes met hers and I saw a spreading stain of blood surrounding an aged ivory knife handle buried in her stomach.

And there was Wilhelm, kneeling beside her, grinning at me.

I almost lost control right there, but managed to remember I was our only chance at survival. I tossed up my other hand in a prearranged signal as I used my other hand to cast an incomplete dome of power over my crew and a smaller complete one around Indie. A whistling scream shrieked past my shoulder and I instantly lifted the dome of protection the rest of the way. The ground where the Grimms had been standing exploded in a crater of fire and screams, sending rock, dirt, benches, and shrubbery in every direction.

Rockets were fun.

For some, more than others.

I wasn’t sure how many Tomas had, or where he had gotten them, but I was thankful. I dropped the dome of power shielding my friends and let loose my restraints, leaving only enough power to keep Indie’s dome up and running. My rage pulsed hungrily. She was dying. And the only way to save her was to end this quickly, and keep her safe from further harm with my shield. The rest of us were on our own for now.