A Grim Love: Can't Fight Time (3 page)

It was only natural that Nina would be freezing and not know why. The sun was out, everyone else seems to be unfazed, yet she was freezing, with her lips turning blue! And there was no doubt that the officer had seen it and chosen to ignore Nina's condition.

Grim continued to walk away from Nina and the detective, walking straight through the wall and into the chapel. If he suddenly materialized in front of a dozen witnesses, that would mean big problems for the Underworld. They only had a few rules, but those rules were absolute and could result in the "true death" if broken.

Cranking his neck to make sure no human was lurking around; Grim materialized himself, choosing to wear black jeans and a dark green T-shirt under a leather jacket. Quickly he began to walk to the door leading outside, but at the last minute he Grim materialized a light grey scarf that matched her faded blue jeans and dark blue pullover.
She's probably freezing right now because of me, and it'll only get worse when I'm with her.

He continued without breaking stride, pushing open the front double doors of the chapel with more strength than he intended, and heard them bang violently against the sides of the building, bits of brick flying off.

Damn! It's been too long since I've been a human and had to touch stuff!
Grim continued to walk over to Nina and the detective, careful to make sure he didn't do anything inhuman, such as walk through walls or break people’s bones with a handshake.

Oh and don’t forget to breathe! Humans breathe!
His subconscious reminded him as he took a deep breath in and blew it out, and hoped it looked natural.

He was about 10 feet away from them when the detective noticed him. He saw her hackles rise immediately, and had to wonder how he looked.
Well, no one’s screaming bloody murder, so I must look something like a human.

"
Amica,
" Grim said quietly when he reached Nina’s side, surprising both her and the detective.

Grim watched as Nina whirled around and pointed an accusing finger at him, her voice reflecting surprise and wonder; "You!"

"Him?" the detective chirped, resting her hand over her holstered weapon. She might not know him, and he might not fit the profile, but the detective wasn’t taking any chances.

Grim just inclined his head at the detective as if saying hello and shook out the scarf before wrapping it around Nina. "Yes,
Amica
, it's me. Who else did you expect?" Grim asked with a lopsided grin as he watched goose bumps flit over her skin again as his hands brushed her arms.

Nina gave him a pointed look before quickly looking around and then looking back at him.
She's weighing her options.
Grim could practically see the wheels turning in her head.

If she stayed any longer she could be called down to the station for questioning and miss class. If she feigned some kind of excuse and left with him then she could probably make it to class and get the detective off her back. There were many other possibilities that he watched flit through her mind, but her eyes judged, calculated, and systematically dismissed them all. She knew just as well as he did that making up an excuse and leaving with him would be the best option.

Planting a bright smile on her face, Grim watched Nina transform into a flirty if somewhat stupid chit. "Oh, you! I told you to wait for me in class. You didn't have to come all the way here to pick me up," Nina gushed, twining her arms around his torso and giving him a quick squeeze. Her body immediately stilled and gave a large shudder.
Shit! That's right!

Grim was just about to pull her away when she burrowed closer and feigned another shudder, this one not about cold at all. "But I'm happy you didn't listen."

"I'm sorry, who is this?" Grim heard the detective ask as he slowly moved Nina to his side so that she wouldn't be so blasted cold. Not that he could do much about his temperature except lay out in hundred plus degree weather and hope his temperature rose to a more manageable seventy degrees.

"I'm her boyfriend," Grim answered with a wry smile, trying to look as non-threatening and casual as he could while simultaneously watching his strength to make sure he didn’t accidentally bruise or break one of Nina’s ribs.

The detective gave them both an incredulous look. “Can I see some identification, boyfriend?”

Nina turned in his arms and tried to sputter off excuses, but the detective wasn’t buying it. Grim smiled and knew a sure way to get her off their tail.
Time to mess with her a bit,
Grim chuckled internally as he cast out his power and began to “read” the detective. When he only came up with impressions and glimpses of her thoughts, he sighed silently.
Obviously haven't been around humans for a while.
Trying again Grim probed her mind and the thoughts lying innocuously there.

“Darcy.” Grim said slowly, thickening his accent and casting power into his words. “I’m sure you’re very worried about your daughter. It’s her first day of kindergarten. You should call the school and make sure that everything is okay,” Grim finished lowly, hypnotizing her with the timbre of his voice and the magic laced through the words.

The detective’s face went immediately blank, and he probed her mind once again. Fear for her daughter reached out to him and nearly suffocated him with its desperation.
Perhaps I used too much power.
Grim tried again, this time choosing his words more carefully. “I’m sure your daughter is fine. You should call, just to make sure.”

Beside him, Grim could feel Nina inching away from him. She could obviously hear the power in his voice and was probably freaked out by it. But Grim couldn’t have her running away. Snaking a hand out he pulled her back to his side and immediately felt her body start to shake and her teeth begin to chatter.

“I’ll keep in touch, Ms. Strathmore. If you’ll excuse me, I have some pressing business to attend to,” the detective said quickly, casting them both one final pointed stare before stalking off, cellphone already in hand.

Grim felt Nina stiffen even as she continued to shiver. “You’re not human.” It was a statement, which Nina whispered lowly with a fear she couldn’t conceal.

Grim frowned slightly.
I don’t want her to fear me.
The thought came unbidden and left a strange ache in his chest. He was breaking the laws of the Underworld and for what? Even he couldn’t answer that question. Instinct had brought him to Nina and a strange sense of kinship kept him glued to her side.

“No,” Grim answered after a moment, turning them in one swift motion away from the chapel, the officers, and the murder scene. “I’m Death.”

CHAPTER THREE

Nina wasn’t an idiot. In fact, she prided herself on being pragmatic in the extreme, except for those rare occasions when she completely lost her marbles. But this wasn’t one of those times.

Fact: He appears as if out of thin air and he apparently has the ability to control people. Not only that, but he also knew about the officer’s daughter. Now, either he’s a fantastic magician or telling the truth.

Nina cocked her head and regarded his side profile. Strong jaw, chiseled features made even clearer in the light of day. His skin seemed to be super pale, as if he was sick, but the slight olive hue, recalling a Mediterranean background, was still there. And goodness was he tall! Though what his height had to do with him being Death or not, Nina refused to examine, because she knew deep down she wasn’t just looking at him objectively anymore.

“You look young for Death.” Nina said casually as they began to get closer to the school mall. The sun was bright, but surprisingly Nina was still freezing; like she was near an open freezer.
Is that him?

“My body reflects the age that I became a reaper. I stopped growing when I was... hmm, I think 28, but it’s been too long for me to be sure,” Nina heard him respond.

Interesting.
“Growing? Were you born? Aren’t people who are, well, Death supposed to have died? And then like, be brought back or something?” Nina asked curiously trying to dig through her mind for the romance novels, movies, and general lore she knew about Death and Grim Reapers.

Am I really doing this?
Nina wondered as she began to walk across the mall, the sun shining brightly as she watched several girls tanning and guys playing Frisbee without their shirts, sweat glistening on their skin.
And yet, I’m freezing in long sleeves, jeans, and a scarf. It’s definitely got to be Mr. Death.

“I was born. Reapers cannot be made in the way you think. They must be born from a human female or a female Reaper. But I’m very curious to know why you’re not running for the hills or laughing at how ludicrous this conversation is. I would’ve assumed you to be too rooted in science to believe in myths.” Grim said slowly, his voice like a slow burn in Nina’s abdomen.

Like steel roses, beautiful, deadly, and strong.
Nina thought that defined his baritone voice perfectly as goose bumps appeared on her skin when he leaned closer to hear her response after calling her out.

What could she say? That she was just humoring him, and she really did think he was crazy? Because in all honesty, she didn’t think he was crazy. She didn’t get a dangerous vibe from him, or even a crazy one. No, the vibe she felt from him was of ancient power wrapped in the guise of a twenty-something, good-looking college guy. Perhaps it was the fact that he clashed so distinctly with the image she had of Death that her mind couldn’t surmise any other explanation than for him to be the real Grim Reaper.

“I am rooted in reality. I believe what I can see and touch with my own hands.” Nina said as she stopped under the shade of a tree, her lecture hall right in front of her. Reaching out, she grabbed his arm, feeling a numbing cold shoot up her hand and go straight to her heart.
Definitely him
.

“And I’m touching you, ergo you must be real. That is the only probable explanation to the fact that you seem to be as cold--no pun intended--as Death. Not only that, but you’re able to control people’s will, go into their minds, and appear and disappear as if you were never there. I accept that you are Death. But I’m curious... How am I seeing Death? I’m alive and breathing?” Nina finished, forcing her numb hand off of his arm and finding that she could breathe again, even if her throat was a bit parched and her lips felt cracked like she’d been out in the cold.

Nina watched Grim closely, daring him to tell her she was wrong, or laugh and say it was all a joke and he was just one freaking awesome magician. But of course reality is so unlike the movies, you anticipate someone’s actions only to be disappointed when you are utterly wrong. Nina was utterly wrong.

“I could tell you the truth, which would likely ruin your day. Or we could go and grab a cup of coffee and I’ll let you ask all those questions buzzing around in your head. Which would you prefer?” Death asked, with such politeness Nina almost missed the whole “ruin your day” thing. But she wasn’t an idiot, as she liked to remind herself often.

She’d read somewhere that if given the choice to know that you were going to die, most people would like to know. Maybe that was because they wanted to stop it, or live however they wanted for as long as they had left. But to Nina it didn’t matter; death was inevitable, so why fear it? Humans were born to die; it was one of the consequences of life: nothing lives forever.

“Coffee and questions,” Nina said after another moment, giving her lecture hall a longing look as she watched her money going down the proverbial drain. “But, before I forget: do you have a name besides Death? It would be weird if someone heard me calling you Death,” Nina said as she started walking again, this time in the direction of the small cafe on campus.

“You’re quite a curiosity,
Amica
,” Nina heard Death chuckle beside her, and she cast him a sidelong glance with a questioning brow;
Name?

“Grim,” he said finally, making Nina snort: “Should’ve known.”

The laugh that flowed from him was throaty and sexy all at once, and had Nina squirming uneasily as she walked.
Stupid! You can’t be attracted to Death! He’ll literally kill you!
That thought cooled Nina’s ardor quickly as they continued to walk towards the cafe.

***

Five hours, two lattes, and a turkey Panini latter, Nina had all but exhausted her questions. The old adage, “curiosity killed the cat,” didn’t apply to Nina for two reasons: 1) talking to Grim basically meant she had one foot in the grave already, and 2) it didn’t kill the cat, it killed her very grounded belief in what she could see, hear, smell, and touch, because some of the things he described sounded like they came right out of a Monsterpedia.

Still, her fascination at talking with someone who was literally a living relic far surpassed her suffocating fear that she would die soon. In fact, talking with Grim she’d all but forgotten he was Death. Actually, when they’d started talking about history and the modern world in comparison to the vagabonds of the 12th century and the prophets that people had named their gods of today, the attraction she’d first felt spark inside her ignited like a roaring fire!

Even now, nursing the last few sips of her vanilla latte, she couldn’t help but lean closer to him and lower her voice to a seductive purr. “So, you’re telling me that you were actually there during the Great Flood?” Amazement and wonder colored her tone, with a hearty dose of attraction she just couldn’t hide.

The man was an irresistibly sexy, walking history book!
And Nina could appreciate that as the fact it was. Of course she wasn’t blind, and neither was she celibate. In all honesty, if the reaper sitting in front of her blatantly asked her to drop her pants and fuck him on the coffee table in front of God and everyone, Nina would have been hard pressed to say no.

Grim chuckled, dark and exotic with that hint of an accent she had detected a few times and which he had admitted came from his time in Athens. “
Amica
, I was
in
the flood. Died a few times, actually, but that was when I was first getting used to the reaper’s power. I was still a newbie back then and didn’t know my hand from my ass.”

Nina hoped her jaw didn’t dislocate from being dropped so long, but goodness the man was interesting!
And funny, sexy, smart...
Nina swiveled her stirring straw around in her cup as she regarded him through the curls covering her eyes.
If only he wasn’t Death and I wasn’t going to die.

The thought came unbidden and added a harsh light to the last five hours. The truth was that he was here, which meant that, very soon, she was going to die. And even if he told her all of his knowledge, all of his memories, what good would any of that be to a corpse? But that was the point. He had the luxury to tell her all of his secrets, all of his weaknesses, and just watch them die along with her.

She finished off her now tepid latte, and thought about her next question. Grim was relaxed, sipping at his drink of choice mint tea. At one point she remembered asking him “Why mint?” His response: “Because it calms me.” The line had been almost comical.
Death needed calming? I thought he was the very definition: silent, deadly, and calm.

“Tell me about the Underworld,” Nina said, stuffing a napkin in the now empty latte cup and turning to him.

Grim seemed to think about it, stroking his slight five o'clock shadow, while leaning forward to place the tea on the table. “It’s not very interesting,” he said finally with a shrug.

Nina paused, looking at him for any sign that he was lying to get her away from the topic. He was completely relaxed, watching her through half lowered lids, like a lion might watch a mouse. But Nina wasn’t scared by that, because the fact still remained that he was a lion, and she was a mouse, and at any time he could readily slaughter her.

But Death doesn’t kill.
Grim had told her that. It wasn’t their aim to kill, but to guide. They were mediums for spirits (basically ferrymen without boats) who shuffled souls that wanted to go on; because, even after death, some souls still clung to this world even though they could not be a part of it. Everything she’d learned from Grim;
freakin’ walking encyclopedia.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s not interesting. It’s something that we haven't talked about.”
Something I don’t know about you.

Nina watched Grim pause and then get up. “We’ve been here forever. Why don’t we take a walk and I tell you all about it?”

Nina was up in a heartbeat, stiff muscles protesting their use.
He’s right. We have been sitting too long!
“Sure. A walk would be nice.”

What's he trying to hide?
Nina thought as she gathered up her school bag, their trash, and threw everything away, trying to be as quick as possible.
Damn! Now I really want to know!

What she’d learned over the course of five hours with Grim was that he didn’t sugar-coat the harsh realities he had faced, or try to make it more palatable for her to digest. He spoke from experience and answered her questions outright.

They were outside walking, with the midday sun shining a bit too brightly overhead, when Grim finally began. “Like I said before, the reaper kingdom is ruled by three monarchies. Sort of like your America’s Legislative, Executive, and Congressional branches. Except that they don’t check each other; they come together and equally make the laws. We do not have a specific monarchy that is above the rest. At least that’s what we
say
,” Grim said with his hands clasped behind his back, sourly muttering the last sentence.

Nina frowned at the tone he used with the last sentence. She was just about to ask what he had meant when he continued; “The three families are the Castoff, the Bloodspurn, and the Darklore. Each of these names reflect the history of their family.

“The most powerful--or rather, wealthiest kingdom is the Castoff kingdom on the Northern plain. The second is the Bloodspurn, which is known to have the fiercest reapers. The last is the Darklore, it’s the only kingdom where the monarchy is matriarchal, and the queen is the oldest reaper to date.”

Nina listened contentedly to him as he explained each family and their specific attributes. It wasn't obvious how he felt about the monarchy that ruled him, but she had to wonder how he felt about the world he lived in. “Grim?” Nina asked quietly, making Grim pause to look at her.

He’d seemed so consumed in his description of the royal families that Nina had wondered if he would even hear her. “What kingdom are you under?”

Grim paused in his walk and, as if on a string, Nina stopped with him. He raised a questioning brow at that, but Nina didn’t want to think of her reaction to him. She’d realized she had one. Subconsciously she matched his breathing, even though he said it wasn’t necessary for him to breathe, but when in the human world he tried to mimic humans as much as he could. If he leaned back she leaned forward. If he licked his lips she followed the action with her eyes. Nina didn’t want to examine why she was doing these things, or the many others that she refused to cop to.