Immortals (Runes book 2) (22 page)

I leaned sideways and studied his face. “That was too easy.”

“I’m easy.”

“Yeah, right.” I slid from between his legs and turned to kneel in front of him. “I want to show you something.”

He looked at me expectantly.

“Come to the cemetery with me.”

Torin shuddered. “Why? I hate cemeteries.”

He was such a baby about some things. “And hospitals, too, I know. Yet you spent a week with me after my surgery.”

“There’s a big difference between staying in a hospital with the girl I’m crazy about and willingly visiting a graveyard where souls float around because they’re too stupid to realize there’s nothing left for them here.”

He was crazy about me? I loved it. “If you’re too chicken to go with me, you don’t have to,” I teased and almost laughed when his eyes narrowed menacingly. I got off the couch. “You can wait by the church, which is why I want you come anyway. It might help trigger some of your memories.”

He jumped up as though I’d said the magic word. “Did you just call me chicken?”

13.
 
IT IS OFFICIAL

“I can’t believe he took my ride,” Torin complained as he parked the SUV outside a local dollar store that afternoon. It was the tenth time he’d mentioned it, and I couldn’t help rolling my eyes. “After modifying and tweaking the engine to perfection, there’ll never be another Rod.”

Did he say ride or Rod? “Then buy him another one,” I suggested.

“I can’t. He deserves this one.” He switched off the engine and threw me a glance. “We’ve been through a lot, you know.”

“You and Andris?”

He snorted. “No. I’m talking about Rod.”

I giggled. “You named your bike?”

“Of course, doesn’t everyone?”

I shook my head. “Not that I know of.”

“Not even your ex who happened to look just like me and rode a Harley?”

I grinned, remembering the lie I’d thrown at him to save face. “Oh yeah, him. He never told me, but he would never part with his.”

“He just did. Don’t move.” He hopped down, walked around, opened the passenger door, and offered me his hand. “Careful,” he warned. He looked at the front of the store and grimaced. “Why are we at a
dollar store
?”

He made it sound like the store was a cesspool of everything disgusting. Worse, his voice carried and people turned to stare. He just glared at them, not apologetic in the least.

“I don’t think they sell fresh flowers here,” he added.

“I’m not looking for fresh flowers.” I pulled him inside and down an aisle to the shelves with silk flowers. When I selected several yellow roses and turned, he stared at me in disbelief. “This is the best place to buy cheap silk flowers. We’ll grab a pair of scissors and a reel of ribbon to make timeless bouquets. I wish Cora was with us. She makes the best bouquets ever.”

Torin rubbed his chin, his eyes volleying between me and the flowers in my hand. “You know, I, uh, can afford to pay for real flowers for your friends’ graves, right?”

“I know.” After hundreds of years, he, like most earth-based Valkyries, was loaded. “But the local cemeteries have a policy about what flowers you can put on graves in different seasons. Only silk flowers between the months of October and April.”

He got a cart and insisted on paying for the flowers. We left with several bulky bags and headed north. Grandview Baptist Church on was on 10
^th
North and Fulton Street. The church had a graveyard, but it was smaller than Northridge Cemetery, where most of the swimmers were buried.

Outside the church, Torin looked around curiously. “You and I came to this church?”

“Yes. Remember Kate, the swimmer I told you died after the accident at the club?” I waited until he nodded before adding, “She was buried in Northridge Cemetery, but the service was held here. The swim team came.”

He looked toward the church. “Did I go inside?”

I nodded. “I was halfway through a badly rehearsed eulogy when you appeared. Things got a bit crazy after that, and you had to take me home.” Torin’s eyes narrowed as though he wanted to ask a question, but I didn’t give him a chance. I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the entrance. “Come on. It’s always open.”

I was happy when he didn’t ask why he had to take me home. Thinking about my complete meltdown in front of everyone, including him, still made me cringe. I also felt a little guilty at how I’d envied Kate’s family for finding closure. At the time, my father had been missing for months and we hadn’t known whether he was alive or dead. My personal grief had intruded during my speech.

“You stood right here while I was over there.” I left him by the door and went to the podium. I pretended to talk and made goofy face. He rolled his eyes. He’d stood at that very spot, arms crossed, and encouraged me with a smile whenever I’d faltered. That was before the meltdown. I think that was the moment I knew he had my heart.

I left the podium and rejoined Torin, but there was a shift in his mood. Even though he slipped his arm around my shoulders, he was quiet as we left the church.

“Did you, uh, remember anything?”

He shook his head. I started to worry when we sat in the car and he helped me make bouquets without saying a word. It was as though his mind was elsewhere. When we finished, he insisted on coming with me to the graveyard behind the church, which was totally sweet.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

He shot me a tiny smile. “Someone has to protect you from wandering souls.”

My feet faltered, cold fingers crawling up my back. I couldn’t tell from his expression whether he was serious or joking. He could be messing with my head again.

“Are you saying there could really be ghosts in the graveyard?”

“Lost souls. I’ll let you know when I see one or two. Or three. Or—”

“Quit scaring me.” Swallowing, I moved closer to him, and his arm tightened around my shoulder. “Let’s finish and get out of here.”

Grandview graveyard wasn’t spooky like some cemeteries I’d seen around the state. It had trees on the outskirts, well-tended grass between tombstones and colorful silk blooms in the built-in vases. I pulled out the piece of paper with the locations of six graves circled in red. Cora had given it to me a few days ago, though she wasn’t exactly sure about the exact location of some of them.

“There’s one,” Torin said. I jumped and looked around frantically. “The child’s tombstone to our right with daisies. Don’t look right now. She’s studying us as though she knows.”

“Knows what?” I managed to squeak, my heart pounding.

“That we’re Valkyries.”

“I’m not one yet,” I protested.

“But they can sense your connection to us,” Torin whispered in my ear, laughter in his voice. When I looked at him, he was trying hard not to laugh.

“That wasn’t funny.” I jabbed him with my elbow.

“You should have seen your face.”

“I can’t believe you’d joke about something so,” I shivered, “creepy. I’ve walked across cemeteries and never worried about ghosts until now.” I tried to elbow him again, but he jumped out of the way laughing.

We moved from plot to plot. Even though Torin was relaxed, I knew we weren’t alone. Call it sixth sense or whatever, I just did. A few times, cold air rushed past us and I looked at him to see his reaction, but he just grinned.

“How many were there?” I asked when we went back to the SUV.

“Five. Four men and a woman.”

I shuddered. “What were they doing?”

“The woman was near the grave with the daisies. The men just floated around looking lost. One looked angry. He was younger than the other three.”

Poor lost souls. I didn’t say anything until we left the cemetery and headed toward the city center. “Why can’t you just reap them?”

Torin shrugged. “They are not my responsibility. They had their chance to leave but chose to stay. Idiots.”

His indifference surprised me, but I guessed he’d grown numb after centuries of reaping souls. “So they just wander around forever?”

“No. The Grimnirs will collect them.”

“Grimnirs?”

“Hel’s soul collectors. Skeleton faces, black robes, huge artavo or as humans call them, scythes.”

“Grim reapers?” I asked.

“Yep, cold and unfeeling bastards. Working with them is a nightmare. Whenever a Valkyrie is punished, they’re sent to Hel to help the Grimnirs.”

He and Andris once worked for Hel, I’d overheard him say. I never got a chance to ask him about it, and I probably never would. From her pictures, Hel looked scary. One half of her face was human-like while the other half was blackened skeleton. “I’ll never look at cemeteries the same again.”

“You think cemeteries are eerie? Try hospitals. They—”

I covered my ears with my hands. “La-la-la-la-la-la. I’m not listening to you anymore. You’re ruining things for me.” He was still laughing when he parked outside the Creperie. “What are we doing here?”

“Getting lattes. We need something hot after tramping through cemeteries.”

The Creperie, a favorite hangout for students, was only a block from our school. The four major groups—the jocks, the nerds, the rebels, and the preppies—each had their corners, so I wasn’t surprised to see Andris and Ingrid with a bunch of preppies at a table.

“Great game, St. James,” someone called out as soon as we stepped inside the restaurant. Everyone’s attention shifted to us.

“Hail the new QB,” a jock shouted from their corner, and his friends pounded the table with their fists and yelled, “OOH! HA! HA!”

“Football is life,” the same jock yelled.

“Get in the game,” his friends finished the slogan.

“Hustle and heart…” another one yelled.

“Set us apart,” echoed around the room.

“Winning isn’t everything.”

“It is the ONLY thing,” they hollered and drummed on the tables. Torin bumped fists with those near us.

Stares and whispers followed us to the counter, where we placed our order. I caught sight of bold girls with raised cell phones taking pictures. Did Torin bring me here to get people talking about us? Brilliant as it might be, I was sure not all were impressed. I was still Kayville High’s wicked witch.

“Not joining us?” Andris asked when we stopped by their table.

I didn’t mind staying, but Torin gave me an intimate grin. “Nah, we have other plans.” He didn’t bother to lower his voice, giving the people listening something more to text about. Next, we stopped at the jocks’ table.

“Raine, meet the gang. Everyone, Raine Cooper,
my girlfriend
.”

Nods, smiles, and nice-to-meet-yous came from the guys. I didn’t care that the girls’ smiles were stiff and their expressions resentful. I’d known most of them since elementary school, but they acted like we didn’t breathe the same air because they were popular. Having Torin claim me was the perfect ending to our crazy date, especially when he smiled down at me and slid a possessive arm around my waist.

My cell phone buzzed as we left the restaurant. It was a text from Cora.

“Is it true about you and Torin? Is it official?” she wrote.

I laughed and texted her back. I guess it was official. I was Torin St. James’ girlfriend. It felt right. “It’s Cora,” I explained when Torin cocked his eyebrow. “Word travels fast.”

“About?”

As if he didn’t know. I reached up and kissed him. “How you’re an amazing boyfriend.”

“Oh, so I’m
your
boyfriend?” His eyebrow shot up again and met the lock of hair on his forehead.

I reached up and swept the bangs aside. “You claimed me back there, so I have no choice but to take pity on you and claim you, too.”

“I think I’m going to like being claimed by you, Lorraine Cooper.” Grinning, he took my drink, placed it on top of the SUV with his, then rested his hands on my waist. Slowly, he pulled me closer until our bodies touched, a wicked grin dancing on his beautiful lips. Then he proceeded to claim me in front of the customers of the Creperie, who could see us through the glass windows.

***

Eirik’s Jeep was parked at the curb when we entered our cul-de-sac. Torin pulled into his garage, hopped down, and came around to open my door. Not that I was complaining, but I wasn’t sure whether he was just being a gentleman or if he feared I’d trip and hurt myself again. I wasn’t accident prone or anything like that, but I’d noticed how gentle he was whenever his hand came anywhere near my cranial scar. It was sweet, but so unnecessary.

Eirik stepped out of his Jeep, but he didn’t come toward us. Instead, he leaned against it and crossed his arms. That usually meant he wanted me to go to him.

“Give me a minute,” I told Torin and headed down the driveway. Torin crossed to their patio and lounged on the swing chair Andris had used earlier. Aware of his eyes on me, I hugged Eirik. He was tense. I stepped back and studied his face. He looked a lot better than yesterday. “You okay?”

He nodded, his eyes darting to where Torin sat before shifting back to me. “I didn’t, uh, wake up or anything last night, did I?”

I shook my head. “No. You were dead to the world when I left this morning.”