Runes #03 - Grimnirs Read online

  “Just now. You were about to kill me and take my soul.”

  He laughed and gracefully got off the bed. “Nice comic relief, sweet-cheeks.” He bent and came up with his T-shirt.

  “I’m a Grimnir, not a killer. There are rules and there are rules. I might break and bend a few, but I don’t cross some lines. I don’t kill my people. Where have you been the last week?”

  Now I was the one confused. His people? “Last week?”

  “You were supposed to meet me, but you just disappeared. What happened?” He pulled on his shirt, tugging it over his broad chest, his movement graceful. The sleeves hugged his hard chest and masculine arms. By the time he covered his ridged abs, I was sitting up and trying, unsuccessfully I might add, not to drool while pulling my button-less shirt across my chest.

  “Meet you?” I asked. My thought process had slowed to a snail’s pace. “I’ve never seen you before until today at the store. I think, uh, you are confusing me with someone else.”

  “Oh, sweetheart.” He reached out and twirled a lock of my hair around his forefinger. “I’d never confuse you with anyone else. I know you in the only way that matters. Intimately. Talking is for those who lack imagination, and the little games we play are just, uh, foreplay.” He caressed my lower lip. “Spices things up.”

  “Cut that out.” I swatted his hand, heat rushing to my cheeks. Needing space, I scooted to the other side of the bed. “You are mistaken. I’ve never…”

  “Never what?”

  I couldn’t just blurt out I was a virgin. That I’d been waiting for Eirik, the guy I loved, to one day wake up and notice me.

  “Never mind. So what you’re saying is that the entire time I thought you were about to kill me, you were playing a game?”

  “Foreplay, doll-face.” He wiggled his brow. “That’s how you like it.”

  “Are you nuts? You scared the crap out of me, and over what? An imagined relationship between us?”

  “Imagined?” He appeared beside me in a flash. I took a step back, but he followed. His earthy scent and warmth swirled around my senses, screwing with my thoughts. “Would you like a blow-by-blow description of what you and I have been doing the past several weeks? How much you like it? How often you—”

  “No,” I snapped, my cheeks burning. “Stop it! I don’t want to be part of your twisted game, reaper. What? You’re bored escorting souls, so you have to find people to screw with?”

  His eyes narrowed. “Are you serious?”

  I wanted to claw his eyes out. Right at that instant, I didn’t care that they were gorgeous or that he had the most incredible lashes I’d ever seen on a man. I wanted to neuter him.

  “Do I look like I’m having fun?”

  “Then tell me how I know personal things about you, Cora Jemison,” he said, leaning in. “Born on December sixteenth in Portland, natural blonde, curtains and carpet.” He grinned when heat rushed to my face. “You wear bra size 30 D, hate spinach, but love Hawaiian pizza. Your best friend is Raine Cooper, and until I came along,” he paused and smirked, “you thought you had a crush on Eirik Seville. The god-child didn’t deserve you.”

  “It isn’t a crush. I love Eirik.”

  “No, you don’t. I could tell you a thing or two about him that would make you run—”

  “Not interested. He’s perfect. And Raine is no longer my BFF.” Gripping my ripped shirt, I moved as far away from him as I possibly could. “You could have gotten that information from my friends or my vlog.”

  His arched eyebrows shot up. “Okay, let’s move on to intimate details. You love it when I kiss your neck. Makes you purr like a kitten. You have two distinct birthmarks: one on the underside of your left breast and the other on your inner thigh, where only a lover would know. You want to cover both with tattoos but you’re scared of the tat guy getting too close.”

  How could he possibly know such things? Covering my birthmarks was something I’d never discussed with anyone, not even Raine. No, that wasn’t true. The topic of body mutilation had come up during a group session with Dr. Wendell at the psych ward, and I’d mentioned wanting to ink myself.

  “GAH! You are a sick, perverted jerk! You had your souls spy on me. No wonder I’d wake up and find them standing over my bed.”

  “Listen, baby-doll. I love playing games with you because it makes sex great between us, but this is ridiculous.” He moved away and snatched his duster. “Stop pretending you don’t know me. If you want to end things, just say so. It’s obvious you’d rather be a Mortal than…” He looked ready to grab me and shake some sense into me. “Forget it.”

  “Than what? Be with you, someone who’s obviously insane?” I pulled a hoodie off the peg on my wall and yanked it on. “What kind of a reaper goes around making up stories about people? Kissing them like… like…”

  “Like what?” he asked, the annoying smirk back on his face. “Like I know you? Like I know what you like and how you like it?”

  “Like you want to suck their soul, you jackass.” I snapped and tried to zip up the hoodie, but my hands were shaking too much. “You want my soul, take it, but don’t go around claiming we are lovers when I’ve never seen your smug, condescending face from wherever hellhole you crawled up from. If this is some kind of reaper joke because I dispersed a few souls, then hardy har har. The joke’s on me. Now get out of my room.”

  He stared at me as though I’d lost my mind, and then he chuckled.

  “Jerk.” I grabbed a pillow and threw it at him.

  He caught it and threw it on my bed. Then he opened his arms.

  “Come here. I should be consoling you, not giving you a hard time. The Norns must have erased your memories. That’s why you can’t remember me.”

  “Norns? I don’t know what those are or care. Just. Get. Out.” I grabbed the nearest thing, the poker I’d used to disperse ghosts, and threw it at him. He didn’t even attempt to block it. It bounced off his chest and landed on the floor with a thud.

  “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll find out why and help you remember everything.” His glance went to my bed, and he gave me a slow smile, the implication clear.

  “In your dreams, reaper,” I snapped, making the word sound like something that had crawled out of a sewer. “Leave.”

  He stopped smirking, his tattoos appearing and starting to glow. “Someone is coming.” He angled his head and listened. “Heavier footsteps mean it’s your father. I’m a Grimnir, not grim or reaper. Grimnir.” He moved fast and was in front of me before I could blink, his hand cradling my head, his lips an inch from mine. “And you and I are lovers.”

  “No, we’re not.” I tried to push him away, but it was like pushing a wall. A warm wall with a pounding heart and scents designed to mess with a girl’s head. His eyes went to my lips. “Don’t you dare,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “Oh, but I do.” Then he kissed me.

  I’d expected an invasion of my senses. Instead I got gentleness and something I couldn’t explain. My hands stopped pushing him away. My fingers curled and bunched his T-shirt. I wasn’t sure what I meant to do. Pull him closer, perhaps. All I knew was the fight had left me.

  He lifted his head, saving me from humiliating myself. Then he opened his mouth and spoke. “You want me, Cora Jemison. Your mind might not remember, but your body does.”

  I wanted to knee him hard, but he was already moving away.

  “If the Norns did a clean sweep, you don’t remember my name. It’s Echo. Don’t forget it, because you and I have a good thing going here, Cora. I’m coming back for you.”

  That sounded ominous. “Don’t bother.”

  “When it comes to you, nothing is a bother.” He stopped next to the full-length mirror on my closet door, his eyes not leaving me, his smirk in place. The surface of the mirror changed texture, growing grainy then cloudy just like the cloud I’d seen him conjure in the store. It churned and formed a tunnel to nowhere. Probably to hell.

  Echo winked just as th
e door flew open and my father stood in the doorway with a worried expression.

  “Later, doll-face,” Echo said.

  Dad didn’t seem to hear him or see the portal on the mirror. “What’s going on, Cora? We heard you yell.” He glanced around as though checking for an intruder.

  “I’m fine, Daddy.” I searched for an excuse and remembered the laptop. “I was online and, uh, kind of overreacted to something I read. I’ll keep it down.”

  He frowned, his eyes on the laptop. “What was it about? You?”

  “No-oo.” I laughed, though my voice sounded shaky. “It’s the stupid fashion trend. I have no idea who comes up with what’s in and what’s not.” I rolled my eyes and gave a fake shudder, then glanced at him from the corner of my eye. He was still frowning, obviously not buying my act. “Leather is big this fall, and I absolutely loathe the feel of leather on my skin, unless they are boots, which reminds me I have to go shopping. I need a new jacket and sweaters and, oh, pants. Several pairs.” Dad winced. Fashion wasn’t his thing. “You or Mom can drive me into town, since you won’t let me drive.”

  “I, uh, your mom can take you.” He started to close the door. “Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes. Come downstairs and help your mother set the table.”

  “I’ll be down in a minute.” The door closed behind him, and I slowly exhaled.

  I sat on the bed and stared at my reflection. What was going on? I jumped up and stripped. The birthmarks Echo had mentioned were still there. Either someone was playing a cruel joke on me or I’d entered an alternate reality where I was having an affair with an annoying, arrogant grim reaper.

  I’d take the cruel joke any day.

  3. Two Places or Two People

  The closer I got to my school, the more nervous I became. The last two days had been a nightmare—worrying about school, Echo returning with more outlandish stories, watching the videos on my vlog over and over, and trying to find anything that made sense.

  The annoying reaper didn’t come back, and I didn’t find anything useful online. It was me on those videos, not someone impersonating me or a doppelganger. The mannerism, facial expressions, even the laugh on those videos said it was me.

  But how had I sneaked out of the psych ward? Had I created a portal through a mirror the way Echo had done, but had been too pumped full of psych meds to remember? The problem was I didn’t sound drugged or look loopy in the videos. Not knowing how I’d recorded them was driving me nuts.

  For two days, I’d researched supernatural phenomena. Astral projection was a possible explanation. I could see souls, so it wasn’t a stretch. Echo flashed his tats and became invisible, so my astral image could have hooked up with him.

  Right. It sounded like something straight out of a fantasy novel. I would have remembered Echo. Making out with him. I just hated the idea of having had sex with him. How could I have forgotten my first time?

  Dad stopped at the stop sign, and I pulled up behind him. I’d insisted on bringing my Elantra even though he and Mom had caused a big stink about it. How the heck was I going to go back to being normal when I couldn’t drive myself to school? After clothes shopping with Mom yesterday and souls following us everywhere like zombies, I knew I couldn’t let her chauffeur me around. She’d almost caught me glaring at a soul.

  A sudden cold draft filled my car as I stepped on the gas. I smothered a scream and slammed on the brakes when my eyes met Echo’s in the rearview mirror.

  “Where did you come from?” I screeched.

  Echo grinned at me from the back seat of my car. “Morning to you too, doll-face.”

  “How did you—? Never mind. You probably walk through metal, too.” His tats were glowing again.

  “Yes, I do,” he bragged.

  “What are you doing here? Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?”

  “Didn’t I tell you I can’t? I miss you.” He draped his arms around the headrest of my seat and scooted forward.

  Heat rushed to my face. The thought of him as my lover filled my insides with butterflies. That it wasn’t nausea annoyed me. He was the grim reaper, damn it. A being I was supposed to fear and revile, not… I wasn’t sure what I felt when he was around. Annoyed was at the top of the list.

  “I told you I don’t know you and we are not…”

  “Lovers? I know. That’s new.”

  “What?”

  “The blush. You never blush, even when I do the naughtiest—”

  “Oh shut up, you letch. It’s like you have a one-track mind.”

  “That’s not my fault. You never wanted to talk. Not that I minded. I loved having you rip off my clothes.”

  “Don’t worry; it won’t happen again,” I shot back as my body heated with images his words evoked.

  “Want to bet?”

  A car honked, and I realized I hadn’t moved since he appeared in my car. There was a long line of cars behind me.

  “Now see what you made me do.” I eased off the brake. Ahead, Dad’s truck was nowhere in sight.

  “Sorry about that,” Echo said, but he didn’t sound or look it. He reached out and lifted the hair on my right shoulder.

  I swatted at his hand. “Stop that.”

  “Can’t help it.” He planted a kiss on my neck. The car swayed as I momentarily lost control.

  “I’m serious. Quit messing with me, Echo.”

  “You smell amazing.” He trailed kisses up my neck to my ear and inhaled.

  The sensations that invaded my body were downright frightening. Not even Eirik had ever made me feel like this. If I could forget Echo was a lunatic and I was losing my mind, I would have enjoyed the sensation.

  I reached up and tried to push his head away, but it was like moving a boulder. Worse, my hand sunk into his hair. It was silky, and for one brief moment, I wanted to run my fingers through it, maybe hold his head in place and savor the moment.

  He bit my ear. I squealed and, once again, lost control of the car. “Dang it, Echo. We could get into an accident.”

  “But we self-heal.”

  I self-healed, too? Nice. No, not nice. I refused to start buying into his crazy assumptions. “I could hurt someone.”

  “There’re just Mortals. If it’s their time to go, it’s their time to go. No force of nature can stop that. No, that’s not true. Norns could. You look breathtaking this morning. Love that shade of red on you. Very vampy. What is it you once told me? Red gives you the extra oomph when you are having a shitty day.”

  The only person who knew that was Raine. “Who told you that?”

  “You, doll-face. Why are you having a shitty day?”

  I glared ahead. “Because you are screwing with my head. How come you keep saying things I don’t remember?”

  “I told you. The Norns put a whammy on you.”

  “Norns?”

  “Deities of destiny. Mean, bitter hags. They control the destiny of all beings—Mortals, Immortals, even the gods. Interestingly, I just found out why they targeted you and erased your memories.”

  “Why?” Not that I believed his rambling.

  “Say please.”

  I was tempted to ignore him, but something weird had happened to me and I wanted answers. I eased the car into a parking spot across from my school, switched off the engine, and turned to look at Echo. He was dressed in all leather again today. I realized that what I’d assumed was a leather shirt was actually a vest of some kind. Once again, he wore fingerless gloves and silver Gothic rings with weird markings.

  “Please,” I said through clenched teeth.

  He touched his lips. “I want a kiss, too.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Why are you such a tool all the time? You think this is fun for me? Not remembering things? Waking up one morning and seeing souls? Ending up in a psych ward, where they pumped me full of drugs, then coming home only to be met by you, a reaper?”

  “Grimnir,” he corrected then frowned. “Are those the fake memories the Norns gave you? Psych ward? That�
�s just wrong.”

  “I was in a psych ward,” I snapped.

  He raised his hands. “Okay. No need to be snippy.”

  “I’m not—”

  He covered my mouth then smirked when I bit his hand. I bore down until I tasted blood. He didn’t even wince. His grin broadened instead.

  “Drink my blood, doll-face. Bond with me for eternity.”

  The thought was scary. I pushed his hand away and wiped my mouth. “Ew. Can your blood do that?”

  He laughed.

  “Will you be serious for even a second?” I asked.

  “Don’t you want to be mine forever?”

  “Ew, no.” I made a face. “I don’t even like you.”

  “What’s liking me got to do with anything? As long as you want me, I’m good.”

  “I don’t want you.”

  He gave me a slow wicked smile. “Want me to prove it?”

  Silence followed, and I could feel heat crawling up my face. He reached out to touch my face, but I dodged his hand.

  “Okay, I’m kidding about the blood,” he said. “But you can bite me any time.” He proudly showed me the bite mark I’d left on his hand. The runes on his hand glowed bright and the wound sealed, the blood disappearing too. “It’s nothing my runes can’t heal. To bond with me, sweet-cheeks, I’d have to rune you.”

  “Rune me?”

  “Etch these,” he pointed at his tattoos, “on you with my blade. Don’t say anything. Your father is here. I’ll explain about Norns later. Right now, I gotta go. Souls don’t wait around forever, you know. They run, and the lucky ones follow hot Grimnirs like you.”

  I turned to find Dad by my door.

  “I’m not a grim,” I said through clenched teeth.

  “Grimnir, doll-face. Stopping calling us grim. It’s insulting. Do I get a kiss before I leave?”

  “No.”

  “Oh, come on.”

  Ignoring him, I opened the door and hauled out my backpack. Echo was already outside, looking like the angel of death in his black clothes and duster, the only color was his smooth golden skin with glowing tats. No, not tats. Runes.

  I glared, but it was wasted on him. He just smirked, leaned against my car, and gave me a slow perusal from under heavy-lidded eyes. I shivered. Did he have to do that? He must have perfected that pose in front of a mirror, but he looked so hot. Ignoring him wasn’t easy, but I managed to drag my eyes away. The parking lot was empty except for a few cars, but soon it would fill with cars and bikes. Oregon was a green state and unless it was snowing, a lot of students biked to and from school.