Grimm: A Novel In The Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Series (The Temple Chronicles Book 3) (7 page)

“Promise you won’t be upset…” he didn’t make eye contact, looking ashamed.

“Don’t tell me you know what’s going on. Because that would mean I need to make a Tomas sized smear on the wall.” I growled, flexing my fists. Here he was, going on a date, all the while knowing I had been in danger.

“Possibly. This sounds similar to a strange contract I was offered a few weeks back. I didn’t think it was related – and especially not that
you
were the mark – or I would have warned you sooner.” Tomas was a mercenary, but he was loyal to me after the dragon ordeal a year ago. I trusted him. “I didn’t win the bid, and talk died down about it immediately. I had assumed it had been withdrawn. Then I got the update a few hours ago. I called you immediately, but your phone went straight to voicemail and I couldn’t say anything sensitive on voicemail. I also couldn’t say anything in front of Linda.”

“Don’t worry about that in the future. My phone is encrypted from both ends, so you can say whatever pleases you on my voicemail in the future. Especially if it’s important. Like a contract on my life.” I stared daggers at him and watched him crumple a bit at the shoulders. Tomas was
good
. He and his crew were contacted for
all
the big hits. And when I say
hits
, I mean contracts involving an upcoming murder or kidnapping of a rogue Freak, or supernatural person. “So, spill.” I demanded.

“No names were mentioned. Just a high value target with strong defenses. A rogue wanted for punishment regarding unspecified crimes. No details on who the target was, who the employer was, or exactly what the mark had done. Just a lot of freaking money.” I must have looked doubtful. “Enough money to make even
you
bat an eye.” He amended, taking another drink. Which got my attention. “Then, a few hours ago, I was notified that the bidding for the contract was closed, and that the target must be avoided at all costs, except by the contracted team and their associates. Anyone interfering or getting involved in any way whatsoever with the target would be added to the hit list. They called it a Salted Earth Policy. All known acquaintances.” He slowly lifted his gaze to meet mine. “And you are the primary target, Temple.” He shivered.

I slowly relaxed. Then I began to laugh. Softly, but with great relief. I leaned back into the couch and took a long sip of my drink, crossing my feet on his coffee table. I had feared that Tomas would know more about the Grimms. Part of me was relieved to hear it wasn’t so. Part of me wasn’t. Gunnar and Indie looked just as confused, so I finally explained. “Well, if hiring a half dozen werewolves to take me out is the extent of their genius, I’m not too worried. We already took care of them.”

Tomas was shaking his head. “No. No. You don’t understand. You didn’t take care of anyone. Their first attack is always a probe to get to know their enemy. No one survives them. They are legion.”

My shoulders went back to full anxiety mode.

I had heard of only one other group described as
legion
.

The Grimms.

Not only did they want to take me out for personal reasons, but also they were now going to be paid a pile of money to do so. Oh, Capitalism. The thing that really got me was that no one should even know they were back in our world.

This smelled of the Academy. No one else was powerful enough, or ballsy enough, to risk contracting the Grimms. But I couldn’t imagine even that being the case. That was blatantly illegal of the Academy. They literally couldn’t touch me unless I openly attacked them. We had agreed that bygones were bygones. I had even attended a face-to-face meeting with the Grandmaster of the wizard nation after the events at
Mardi Gras
, accompanied by Death – a Horseman of the Apocalypse – and Eae, a freaking Angel of Heaven. If that wasn’t a convincing team of people to have on your side, I didn’t know what was.

The Academy had agreed, and written up a formal agreement that the past was behind us. I was a Maker, the sole member of my particular flavor of Freak, and thus outside their purview. Meaning they would leave me alone if I left them alone. We would be allies, with neither above the other.

So what in the hell was going on?

“Just between us girls,” Tomas continued, “chatter also says that this group is interested in acquiring a…
book
you may or may not have collected in your misspent youth.” He glanced at me pointedly, eyes flicking to Gunnar and Indie with the silent question. I waved a hand, unconcerned.

“It’s okay. They know what we’re talking about. The Brothers Grimm, right?”

He frowned at me with his mouth open for a moment, and then regained his composure, letting out a single nod. “Aye. It was the book comment that made me think you might be the target. So I called you immediately.”

Tomas polished off his drink and everyone sat in silence, pondering. A long minute later, he said a single word that sent a chill down my spine. “Run.” He said it softly, but the emphasis made it a clarion call to my ears.

I was paranoid enough to actually jump to my feet, eyes darting to the windows, ready for an attack. But everything was safe and Tomas didn’t look immediately concerned. I sat back down as Tomas chuckled.

“Not this
second
, Temple. But tonight. Or tomorrow. The earlier the better.” He added, eyes darting to the windows instinctively. Which made sense now. He had said that anyone assisting or even interacting with me would be added to the list. I turned to see him watching me. He shrugged. “Yep. I’ll be leaving town myself after your visit. Won’t be returning here for quite some time. If that makes any difference or not. It was a burner house anyway. Temporary.” He shrugged, not completely hiding the disappointment in his eyes at having to pack up and leave.

Because of me.

But he didn’t say a word about me putting him in danger, which on a deeper level, meant a lot to me. I had shamed him in front of a lady friend, put his life in very real jeopardy, and instead of running to turn me in, he shrugged, laughed, gave me what information he could, and calmly told me that my visit had ruined his life in St. Louis and that he was leaving town – perhaps permanently. All without batting an eye.

Tomas was solid.

Indie chimed in, having been mostly silent up until now. “So, you said
Salted Earth Policy
. What exactly does that mean?”

“All known acquaintances, past and present.” Tomas repeated softly, avoiding eye contact.

I spat on the ground in frustration, my mind racing. I doubted Tomas cared about getting his deposit back on the apartment. Gunnar’s thoughts seemed to follow the same path, because his eyes suddenly widened and his hand went instinctively to his phone. But it was still in the microwave. Ashley was an acquaintance of mine. And she was his fiancé. Tomas clucked a warning, tapping his ears to signify the potential tapping of our phones.

“They’re encrypted, remember?” I told him.

“Until you run into a hacker more clever than your phone’s engineer.”

I folded my arms. “My company made them.” Tomas merely stared back, unimpressed. “They cost $17,000. Each.” His eyes widened a bit, but he shrugged anyway. “And Othello designed the encryption software.” His face slowly morphed into a predatory smile.

“That one’s a real piece of…” His eyes flashed to Indie, cheeks flushing, “Work,” he clarified. Indie managed to grin and roll her eyes at the same time. “She’s a real piece of
work
. Freaking cyber genius. I only got to speak with her for a few moments last time she was in town. Seems she helped me out on a few of my old contracts, not that I knew anything about it at the time, of course.” Gunnar was already prowling to the microwave.

Tomas grew thoughtful. “Hey, when we first met you were able to dig up information on me that isn’t available. To anyone.” He watched me for a minute. “It was Othello, wasn’t it?” I smiled and nodded. “Hot damn. You should arrange a more formal introduction sometime.” He glanced back at his room. “Sans stalker collage…” His voice trailed off with a small smile. “Well, if there
is
a sometime in the future for any of us,” he added. Gunnar was already shooting off a text, thumbs flying over the screen.

“The Brothers Grimm.” Indie broke the tension slowly building in the room. “They wrote a collection of
fairy
tales. I still have a hard time believing they are the boogeymen of the supernatural community.” She stated in disbelief.

Tomas shuddered. “You have no idea, little lady. No idea…” His eyes trailed off for a few moments before snapping back to me. “Wait a minute. How did you guys already know about them? Remember, if anyone talks, they get added to the hit list. You should probably warn them. Whoever they are,” he probed.

I smiled, detecting his ploy. “We’ve all got people, Tomas. Just remember that I’ve always got more people than anyone else and you’ll be betting safe.” Tomas blinked, no doubt wanting to hear the story, but I was done telling stories. As far as Tomas knew, someone I had pissed off at some point had been willing to pay a lot of money to get me and my friends dead. This someone was also well connected enough to know that the Brothers Grimm were back in play. Which made no sense to me. “How do
you
know about the Grimms?” I asked instead, not wanting to admit my ignorance.

Tomas shrugged. “People talk on the tougher hits. Stakeouts get boring. We do what soldiers have done since time immemorial. We tell stories. I won’t lie. Some of their stories are downright legendary.
Impossible
hits. No evidence. No calling card. No bragging rights. Just a job well done.” His voice trailed off. “Of course there are also the stories about totally innocent people disappearing under similar circumstances, but we all tell ourselves it’s just a coincidence.”

I nodded. I hadn’t ever heard any stories, but I could imagine. “But how does anyone know they are back? Or that they are even real?” I wondered aloud.

“They weren’t secretive about announcing it. Flyers went up everywhere. Email notifications. Mailers. YouTube videos.” He trailed off.

Indie and I turned to blink at him. “What?” We asked in disbelief.

He was nodding. “Yeah. Very odd. We all thought it was a prank. Looked like one of those
Anonymous
group’s videos. Warning that they were back and they had some house cleaning to do. To stay out of their way until they came for you.”

They had spent hundreds of years out of this world and their grand entrance includes a full social media blast? What the hell was going on? “How long ago was this?”

“Months.” He answered. I blinked at him, my rage roaring to the surface. If I had only known sooner… But no, that wasn’t Tomas’ fault. No one had known that they had personal beef with me. Why would Tomas have even thought to tell me? He had no reason to do so. Other than as a professional courtesy. Hell, he probably assumed I saw the news like everyone else.

“Next time something like that happens, you get me on the phone immediately. I could have resolved this a long time ago without them having months to prepare.” I warned. He swallowed guiltily, nodding.

My thoughts began to wander as I heard Gunnar speaking urgently into his phone. Indie was staring at me but I didn’t acknowledge her.

The Brothers Grimm were supernatural hit men – as in they killed
any
and
all
supernatural creatures, good or bad, naughty or not. So who ran in my circles that would be ballsy enough to hire a group of mad dogs to take me out? Mad dogs that would immediately turn around and kill them too? Who exactly had I pissed off?

Tomas spoke up. “The thing that gets me is why the wolves and fangers left you alone. Or why they were down there in the first place. If the wolves had orders not to kill you, why would they chance breaking into your vault when they could smell that you were down there?” I didn’t tell him I had masked our scent from the vampires up until it had become obvious they were aware of our presence. Nor did I answer the unspoken question,
what are you hiding in a sewer vault that could attract a werewolf or vampire’s attention
? Or the one he didn’t know to ask.
How had they even known about the vault in the first place
?

I had enough problems on my mind, so I went along with the presumption that for now, it didn’t matter how they learned about the vault. They simply knew.

So, next question.

I had no idea why they had been there, especially with conflicting orders. Rob from me, but don’t kill me. They had to know that five wolves wouldn’t have been enough for the job. Unless they hadn’t planned on me being there. But then, how would they have broken into the vault in the first place? With me being a notorious wizard, my vault would undoubtedly be locked with
magic
. And why hadn’t they tucked tail and run as soon as they discovered I was present? The wolves had scented us long before talking to us. So they wanted something. Something they assumed I had hidden in a secret vault.

Questions piled on top of more questions. Maybe there was more than one thing going on here. I ran through the catalog of items in my vault, but couldn’t think of anything particularly interesting to the supernatural community at large. Sure, there were nifty things in there, but all the super powerful and dangerous stuff was locked away in the Armory now. Maybe the wolves thought I had some kind of key to the Armory in my vault beneath Plato’s Cave.

Still, these questions only led me back full circle to the most pressing issue.

No one knew about my vault.

I had
literally
told no one.

Not Gunnar. Not Indie. Not my parents. Not even my old traitorous friend, Peter.

No one
.

And I couldn’t remember the last time I had been down there, but it had been a long time. Which meant that someone must have followed me down there at some point, and then waited
years
until the perfect night to go get the goods. Tonight.

The same night I happened to be paying a visit.