Grimm: A Novel In The Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Series (The Temple Chronicles Book 3) (8 page)

Something smelled wrong about this whole thing and I felt my face scowl.

The only reason I had chosen tonight to visit could be summed up in one word.

Achilles.

Chapter 6

T
he room filled with soft chatter between Indie and Tomas as Gunnar continued to talk into his cell phone, no doubt warning Ashley of the situation. I was apparently setting off the vibe that I needed a few minutes to myself. This would typically be a time when I would have lit a cigarette to calm my racing mind.

But I had quit eight months ago, during the
Mardi Gras
fiasco. I didn’t miss the habit much on a daily basis. Not at all, in fact. But times like this?

Yeah, a cigarette would have been nice. Or a stiffer drink. Thanks to Tomas’ warning about possible surveillance, I couldn’t open the windows to smoke anyway, so I settled in to attempt to think without the aid of stimulants.

Achilles had asked me to go down to the sewers tonight. If not for that, it could have been a long time until I went down there. The only other reason I had gone down there was to get the engagement ring, and I could have done that any time in the next few days. But I hadn’t told a single person about either the ring
or
the vault. Ever. I began running through all my interactions for the past few days but came up with no smoking guns.

So, Achilles just happened to have a damsel in distress who needed saving in the sewers tonight. I had planned on going to the sewers to get the engagement ring in the next few days anyway, so I had decided to combine the two into one trip. Vampires first, to test Indie’s mettle,
which she had passed with flying colors
, I thought to myself proudly. Then the engagement ring. Simple. Efficient.

Right
.

I glanced at Indie discreetly, amazed by her natural beauty and genuine smile. Tomas was eating it up. A naturally beautiful woman with glittering pearly whites could make any man feel eight feet tall and bulletproof. And Indie had those traits in spades. I focused back on my dilemma.

So, the wolves had shown up at a vault that they shouldn’t have even known existed, wanting to take some old books… that they also shouldn’t have ever known existed. The only person who knew of the books was Gunnar, but even he didn’t know what they truly were. Barbie had wiped everyone’s memory of my first encounter with Jacob Grimm.

Everyone except me.

I shivered at that memory. Jacob had been a heavy hitter for sure, even all by himself. Now he had his brothers to help him take out the trash…
me
. And my loved ones. I shook that thought away. It wouldn’t help me now.

The wolves had been commanded not to harm me. By their Alpha, if I guessed correctly. If that was true, why pick tonight? Why not yesterday or tomorrow?

Because someone had tipped them off.

My main question was whether it was the same person who sent me down there tonight or if there was a third party lurking in the shadows somewhere. Regardless, the Brothers Grimm had taken a contract on us. I was on borrowed time, and the best defense I had were the books in my satchel. If I called anyone for help they would be placed on the kill list too, so reinforcements were out. I had only my motley crew of supernaturals who were by default on the list. Gunnar and who else? Indie, Ashley, Dean… the list grew on and on. How many people were on the list? Were Raego and Death included? How extensive was the assassination contract?

“Tomas.” The room grew silent at my tone. He glanced up at me, looking nervous. “I need you to find out exactly who is on the list.”

“Um, everyone.”

“A little more specific. I’m a local celebrity. Is the gas station attendant I say good morning to every day on the list? His name is Juan. Is the news reporter I’ve sat down with a dozen times on the list? My employees? My dry cleaner? Indie? There could potentially be hundreds of victims here.”

He thought about it for a moment. “I’ll see what I can dig up. If they know about our meeting tonight, then I’m a dead man anyway. If not, I’ll have to be discreet about it. Seem hungry. Like I’m willing to nab a few for myself if the Grimms will let me. Otherwise they will assume I’m fishing for intel and add me to the list, which will help no one. Least of all me.”

“Good idea.”

He was silent for a few moments. “Perhaps only the supernatural associates. From what I’ve read, the Grimms don’t kill vanilla mortals. Only Freaks. So maybe your lady friends are safe. And the gas station attendant, employees, whoever else. That would make the most sense. They are, after all, against anyone able to use magic of any kind. Mortals should be safe.”

“Well, I’ve taken on this particular chucklehead before and sent him packing. I’m sure I can do so again.”

Tomas fidgeted. “Not just one.”

I turned to him, remembering Barbie’s warning. “How many are we talking?”

“Um… more than one?” I scowled back. He threw up his hands. “I just know there is a team of ‘em.
Team
implies more than one. And if I were a betting man I would say both Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, at least. The founding fathers, if you will.”

“Well, if the vamps and wolves in the sewer were related to the Grimms – as unlikely as that is – at least I sent them packing. They won’t be back in the picture anytime soon.”

Tomas was shaking his head urgently. “No way. The stories always start the same. Their first attack is
always
a probe. They treat their kills like hunts. They lead their prey right where they want them. I think that’s why the wolves were commanded not to kill.”

Gunnar chimed in, having ended his phone call. “Either that or it’s because they don’t want to incur the wrath of the only Maker in centuries. They did mention that title specifically. And I’m pretty sure they said their orders came from their Alpha.”

I was glad he had confirmed my thoughts. The Alpha. Not the Grimms. Maybe it wasn’t related. I mean, what kind of idiots would the werewolves be to team up with a hit squad of assassins who killed
all
Freaks? I had met the local Alpha, and although he was powerful, I didn’t remember him being particularly smart. Then I remembered that someone had hired the Grimms. Maybe even the wolves, but I doubted they had any significant means to pay the kind of sum Tomas had hinted at. And other than the scuffle during the
Mardi Gras
fiasco, I didn’t think they had reason enough to take such drastic measures to kill me dead.

Or a regular could have hired the Grimms, which seemed just as unlikely. They wouldn’t even
know
about the supernatural community. Well, probably not anyway.

I could think of only one freak with the brass balls to do something so stupid, and he was definitely in a position of power, maybe even enough to insulate him from the backlash of hiring the Grimms.

And I had pissed him off something fierce. In fact, he was the reason my new Maker powers were so much stronger than my parents’ experiment had originally intended.

Jafar, the Captain of the Justices – the secret wizard police for the Academy. I was no longer a wizard, out of their jurisdiction, as was made abundantly clear with the signed agreement between us. But even if they wanted to flake on me, Death and Eae had also signed as witnesses, and the Academy wouldn’t dare renege on Heaven and Hell. That would cause fallout on a Biblical level.

I was a Maker, and that infuriated old Jafar, because it was essentially his fault I became such a nuisance. His fault that his boss had been forced to sign the agreement.

I stood and made a mental to do list.

Step one, call Jafar. I needed to put a feeler out there. I couldn’t let him know I was aware of the full picture. Just hint around the edges. Maybe something along the lines of bad magic was going on in my city and I wanted him to know about it ahead of time. A courtesy call. Like any good neighbor would do. But I was playing a dangerous game. They were either in on this Grimm business, or might know something about it. But to be completely honest, I was also just covering my ass. If they
weren’t
involved, I
needed
to give them a heads up as a token of good faith. It was part of our agreement. Even though I was no longer under their
jurisdiction
, that knife cut both ways. I was also out of their
protection
. I harbored no false belief that they would swoop in with a platoon to help me out, but figured they would instead likely find a political reason to declare my actions criminal when the dust settled – if I was still alive by then.

Step two, ask my parents for help. They were already dead, now residing in the Armory, so were in no danger by assisting me. I had to come clean with them about what Gunnar and I had really gotten into a few years ago during our first encounter with Jacob Grimm. And the sole reason behind why I had opened Plato’s Cave. To hide the deadly books now sitting a few feet away in my satchel.

After that, a chat with Achilles, who was legendary for his love of pointy things.

Gunnar and Indie followed me – saying their goodbyes on my behalf – as I wordlessly left the room. Tomas’ advice echoed in my ears as I reached the door leading to the street.

Run…

As if that whispered word wasn’t ominous enough, one sight of my parked car convinced me it was simply time to go home and hit the sheets.

I stopped on the steps, staring incredulously, first at the car – which had been beaten with a baseball bat, all the windows smashed out – and then at the street and rooftops for any hidden attackers.

The wind howled through the street, taunting my futile search.

They were gone, but they had left a poignant message.

Whoever they were.

Chapter 7

I
don’t like this.” Gunnar growled, sniffing the remains of the car.

“It’s not even your car. It’s mine.” I answered distractedly, eyeing the destruction clinically. The windows were shattered, the tires slashed, every section of metal dented, and a growing puddle of noxious liquids slowly grew from underneath the vehicle, inching towards our feet despite the cold weather. Which meant it was recent. The liquids hadn’t had time to freeze. We probably should have heard something from Tomas’ apartment. A car alarm at least.

But we hadn’t heard a thing. Which was puzzling, and blatantly pointed towards a supernatural attack rather than a mundane crime of opportunity.

Now,
monetarily
, this was no big deal to me. But as a
message
, it was powerful indeed. Someone wanted me to know I was in their crosshairs, but I spotted no calling card or flashing neon sign stating his or her name. We were now stranded outside Tomas’ apartment, so
someone
obviously knew we were here. The question was did they already know Tomas lived here, or did they just happen to recognize my car and made a move? Regardless, if they didn’t know yet, it was likely that they would soon connect the dots, realizing Tomas lived here, which explained what I was doing here. I had no other reason to be in this part of town. Which put him in danger. I shot him a text, warning him that he might already be compromised. Finished, I looked up to find Gunnar watching me.

“Call a cab. I need to make a quick call.”

“Ashley’s already on her way. She’ll be here in ten minutes.” He growled, still unsuccessfully trying to track the scent. Which was odd. A lot of sniffer problems for the werewolf lately. Maybe the thugs had another moonstone. Or maybe he was still feeling the effects from the vampire’s moonstone in the sewer. It didn’t matter now. I sensed no supernatural presence. At least I could reliably do
that
with my new powers.

“Good. I’m just going to step over here for a minute. We might want to walk a few blocks away. Let Ashley know to pick us up wherever you decide. As long as it’s away from this.” I waved a hand at the vehicle’s remains.

Gunnar grunted, but began walking down the street, Indie hot on his heels, both of them giving me space. My phone vibrated, revealing a string of curse words from Tomas. I smiled at the screen as I followed a few steps behind Gunnar and Indie, scrolling through my contacts until I found the right name.
Arrogrant prickface
. I clicked the name with a smile and readied myself for a cryptic, but not obviously so, conversation with a man who I hated and who hated me back even harder.