Grimm Tidings: Grimm's Circle, Book 6 (13 page)

No. Celine was too strong for that. Now. Besides, he wasn’t that important to her. Still, he’d gotten them in a right mess. He needed to do his best to help get them out of it.

Even if it took everything he had.

“There you go.” Rob put more distance between them, a smirk on his bloodied face. “You had me worried for a minute there.”

He fell.

Celine, with a scream trapped in her throat, saw it coming as the one of parasei leaped forward and took Jacob’s staggering body down. She wanted to lunge for him, wanted to grab him, cradle him…

And she couldn’t.

Crouched by the four sleeping humans, both guns out, all she could do was fire as one by one, injured parasei tried to come for the vulnerable humans. Out like this, their minds would be so vulnerable—

“Jacob…”

Rob came out of nowhere, that blurring speed terrifying. He tore through the parasei trying to pile on Jacob and sent them flying. He grabbed Jacob and hauled him up, brought him to Celine’s side, laid him with the mortals. “Girl, if you go down, I can’t help you,” Rob said. Then he was gone, once more lost in the crush.

“God.” She shoved one of the guns into the holster and reached over, laying a hand on Jacob’s chest—it was wet, wet with so much blood, and under the wet, his skin was cold. “Dear God.”

“You…you should have…left,” Jacob rasped. “We’re all fucked, Celine.”

A harsh rattle escaped him. “All of us.”

No.

It wasn’t going to end this way.

It just wasn’t.

Laying a hand on his cheek, she shot the door a glance and then bent over, glared at him, nose to nose. “You’re not dying. I’m not dying. We’re not fucked, you ass. I still have some yelling to do.”

A faint smile twisted his lips. “You’ll have to do it on the other side, I’m afraid. Sorry…this is my fault.”

“No.”

Then she stood and faced the door. She wasn’t
going
to the other side. Not yet, damn it. Not damn yet.

Targeting a demon in the hall over Rob’s shoulder, she squeezed the trigger.

Then another. And another.

Rob whirled around, staring at her, his mouth agape. She ignored him. The more demons
she
took down, the fewer could get in here to hurt the humans, or her, or Jacob, right?

“You’re shooting at them over my bloody shoulder!”

“Then I suggest you don’t move your head much.”

For about sixty seconds, she had easy targets. But then the parasei figured out the game had changed and they stopped giving her such easy targets.

“Grimm and guns,” Rob muttered. Shaking his head, he looked at Will. “What’s this world coming to?”

“I asked that very question when I brought
you
over.” Celine ignored them. Sinking back down by Jacob, she covered his heart with her hand. It was still beating. He still breathed. And he was still so very, very cold…

Ironically, it was Jacob’s fall that turned the tide. Even after Celine’s little reenactment of the shootout at the O.K. Corral, apparently, the parasei got cocky. Too cocky.

Moments of silence dragged on.

Then Rob frowned and shot Will a look. “I hear scratching.”

“Scratching?”

“Yeah, like a pen on paper—”

That was when they rushed the small room where the Grimm held their ground, and that was when Celine got to see which of the two Grimm left standing were the scariest. It wasn’t the blond man covered in blood, that was certain.

Will, still wearing his trademark white, had managed to keep himself mostly pristine. There was something almost elegant in that lethal violence of his, and it was echoed in the way he lifted a hand as the hall flooded with parasei, dozens of them, possibly thirty, a crush of them so thick, it was a miracle they didn’t trample each other.

The white light that always flashed when he did that traveling bit of his erupted. But this came from his hand, somehow brighter. It was even brighter than it had been when he’d healed Jacob.

And even from where Celine knelt by the mortals and Jacob, she felt the heat. It edged close to Rob and he dropped to the floor in a feline crouch, watching the parasei with a strange little smile as he whispered, “Burn, baby, burn.”

The stink of scorched flesh filled the air seconds later and Celine watched as flame consumed the whole lot of them.

“You’d think they’d learn by now,” Rob said, shooting Will a look. “They shouldn’t ever crowd in so close that you can see that many of them at once.”

“The stragglers are gone.”

Celine didn’t look away from the bedside, still staring at Jacob’s pale, ghostly face.

Will stood at the foot of the bed and glanced at Rob. “Thank you.”

“How long will he have to be under, do you think?”

Celine barely heard them. How could he have lost weight?

It hadn’t been more than a few days…no. A day. It had been
one day
since she’d seen him last—since she’d gone into the gym and tackled him, felt that long, lean body pressing into hers, all those muscles and planes.

Now he wasn’t much more than a skeleton, skin stretched over bone. His cheeks were sunken in, his hair was dull—she’d seen cancer patients with more life.

“Celine.”

Jerking her head up, she looked at Will.

At some point, he’d moved to stand by her side.

“Yeah?”

There was a troubled look in his eyes and he hesitated, then finally said, “It would be so much easier to tell you this if I didn’t have so much guilt already over how much I’ve messed up your life.”

“You didn’t mess it up. My life is how it’s meant to be,” she said quietly.

“She might not be so forgiving in a minute.” Rob stood in the doorway, a disgruntled look on his face.

“Rob, be quiet. For once in your blasted life, would you please just be
quiet
?” Will snapped.

“Why, so you can flounder around for the words?” Rob shrugged restlessly, moving into the room and starting to pace. “He’s sending you away, little girl. You’re coming with me.”

“I… What? No.” Celine stood up, shaking her head. “I need to be
here
. With Jacob. He needs me.”

He needs me…

It was a bizarre echo of what she’d said to Jacob all those weeks ago. About Gavin. She’d been wrong, then. She wasn’t wrong now. Was she?

“What he needs is to heal,” Will said, his voice gruff. “We don’t feel much in stasis. We aren’t aware of much. But those with a psychic gift…it can split the energy. And he needs to devote that energy to healing. Right now he’s searching for you, and he’s trying to heal. He can’t do both. It’s draining him.”

Draining—

She jerked her hand away from his arm. “I’m
draining
him?”

“Not
you
. He is doing it. By trying to find you. He feels you near, even if he isn’t
aware
.” Will watched her closely, like he thought she was going to fall over the edge.

Celine wasn’t so certain she wouldn’t.

I’m hurting him
—

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. “I’m leaving. I’ll go.” She turned on her heel and stumbled toward the door. She was halfway there before she was able to force herself to open her eyes and bother looking around.
 

Pack. She needed to pack.

Where was she going to go?

A hand curled over her shoulder. “He’ll be fine, girl,” Rob said, his voice gruff. Gentle.

She shoved his hand away.

Chapter Eleven

“That’s a nice trick.”

Celine watched the young man as she guided him out of the bar. “Thanks,” she said listlessly.

“You know, you’re not as much fun as I thought you’d be.”

She looked at the Grimm at her side. “Sorry, Red-eyed Rob. Would you like me to buy some red contacts and pretend to be as crazy as you are?”

He grinned at her. “Red-eyed Rob? Oh, I kind of like that. Makes me sound rather maniacal.”

She sighed and looked back at the mortal. He’d been about ready to slip. She hoped she’d caught him in time. It was a different breed of demon that time—succubae. She didn’t like succubae. They felt…sleazy.

“You know what’s bad about this little gift?” Rob said thirty minutes later as they left the young man alone at his home. He hadn’t ever noticed his escort.

Of course, they’d kept themselves cloaked.

“All sorts of things?” She still didn’t feel entirely right about the hypnotizing bit.

“Well, no. It’s not a bad thing to make people see reason the way you did. But the way you do things, you don’t even get to get your hands dirty.” With a morose sigh, he said, “We walked out of the bar without killing so much as
one
demon.
One
.”

“We had to get that guy home. Away from the demons. That was more important.” Slipping him a look, she asked, “Do you want to go back?”

He shrugged. “No. It’s like eating stale popcorn now. The fun is doing it
then
. Besides, she left not long after we did. I felt it. I’ll track her down later. You need to get some rest. You look knackered.”

Knackered
—translation? Tired. Hell yes, she was tired. But she almost feared going to sleep anymore.

Two weeks.

It had been two weeks since she’d been sent away from Jacob and every day that passed without seeing him made the icy ache in her heart spread even further.

“Shouldn’t he be awake by now?”

The question slipped away from her before she even realized it.

But she couldn’t take it back.

Rob blew out a breath, moving to lean against a tree. Absently, he reached up, curling a hand around the limb hanging over his head. The muscles in his arm bunched, tensed, relaxed. Bunched. Tensed. Relaxed. She heard wood crack and she arched a brow as he darted out from under the tree just as the thick limb came crashing down.

“Oops.”

He glared at her. “It’s your fault. You keep making me think. And I’m not supposed to work with others anyway—I’m no good with them.”

“I’ve gotta agree with ya there.” She had to trot to keep up with him. Even as fast as she was, she couldn’t do it. “You broke that poor tree, and you didn’t answer me.”

“How am I to bloody know when he’s to wake? I don’t even like the fool.” Rob shoved his hands in his pockets, his eyes staring straight ahead. “Poking his nosy fingers where they don’t belong, prying about the way he does.”

“He did it to you too, huh?”

Rob’s lip curled. Then he sighed. “Well, it’s likely it wasn’t intentional with me. I’ve got…issues. And his gift was still new, wearing on him. But he couldn’t keep it under control and the two of us, we had a row.”

“A row, huh?” Somehow, Celine suspected that was putting it lightly. “You still haven’t answered me.”

“Yeah, I did. I dunno how long he’s going to sleep. He’s lucky, though, that sleep is all he does. He could be dead, right and proper.”

They hit her, those words, brusque and cool, like a fist in the heart. Staggering in her steps, she pressed a hand to her chest and closed her eyes. “It was that bad.”

“And this is why they don’t put me with people,” Rob muttered. Eying her narrowly, he went to her. “You’re not going to cry, are you? I’m sorry. He’s alive. I know that. So that means he’ll wake.”

“I know.” She swallowed and took a deep breath. Somehow she had the feeling that tears might just make Rob go a little madder than he already was. “I’m fine.”

Awkwardly, he patted her shoulder. “You’re not a bad sort, you know.”

“Gee, thanks.” She sniffed and pressed the tips of her fingers to her eyes. Man, she missed Jacob. She just wanted to
see
him—reassure herself he wasn’t still the same man she’d last seen in that bed…

“Oh, come now, you can’t do that!” Terrified, Rob patted her back. The ability to comfort anybody was something he’d lost long ago, so long ago, he didn’t even remember it. But instinct had him wrapping his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. “Come on. You don’t need to cry now. I told you he’d be fine, didn’t I?”

A harsh sob escaped her.

He winced at the sound of it. Helpless—female tears had always made him feel completely helpless. Well, for a very long time, he hadn’t cared. Odd…he cared now. That was—strange. Frowning, he reached up and absently toyed with one of Celine’s curls. “I guess maybe you need to get the tears out, then.”

She sobbed harder.
 

He stroked the silken curl. She cried, and it bothered him. So very strange. The misery of others didn’t leave him
unaffected
. Too often it
amused
him, which was just plain wrong, but this didn’t amuse him. He didn’t like it. “Come on, pet. You can stop it with the tears. It’s not as bad as all that—”

He felt the rush of wind, but he’d been distracted. Too distracted.