When the Grave Calls Read online

  “Hey, Rory.” I blew on my coffee as some of my annoyance melted away.

  “Ordin is missing.” Rory’s hard voice froze me down to the bone.

  “What do you mean he’s missing?” I set the coffee mug down and quickly looked out the back window, half expecting Ordin to be there coming toward the house.

  “I mean he’s gone missing from his room at the psychiatric hospital,” Rory reiterated.

  Heart pounding, I hurried to the back door and checked the lock. “How the hell is that possible? Isn’t that place locked down?”

  “It is, but somehow he got out,” Rory said.

  I rushed through the house to the front door and threw the lock with shaking fingers.

  “Lexie, you need to calm down.”

  “Calm down, my ass.”

  “The police are all over it, combing the area around the hospital. We’ll find him,” Rory promised.

  I went to the house alarm and found it off. I jabbed my fingers over the buttons, turning it back on. Who the hell went to bed last night without turning on the alarm? This couldn’t be fucking happening. Not again.

  “They’re calling all officers in along with borrowing a few officers from the next county for the search,” Rory said, gaining my attention again. “We’ll find him.”

  “Call me when you do.” I hung up the phone then leaned back against the wall beside the alarm panel and sunk to the floor, my insides shaking as memories washed through my head. The abduction, the beating, his touch … No! No! I wasn’t going to hide from this fucker. But I sure as hell wasn’t going anywhere alone. Fuck, I had work today. What the hell was I going to do?

  Hades’ tall, lithe frame came into the foyer, his blue eyes landing on me. He quickened his pace to kneel beside me. “What’s wrong?”

  “Ordin is missing.” I looked up at him. I’d never been so happy to see him in my life.

  His eyes met mine. “He’s not missing. He’s dead.”

  My breath left my lungs as everything grew sharper. The light coming through the sheer white curtain. The chill of the floor under my palms. The pounding of my heartbeat. “What?”

  “The police just haven’t found his body yet.”

  Relief swamped me so quickly that I was almost dizzy from it. I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths as nausea rolled through me.

  “He deserved it, Stellina.”

  Deserved it? I got to my feet and stepped away from him. “Who are you to play judge, jury, and executioner?”

  He straightened to his full height. “Your familiar. And when it comes to your safety, there is no other way.”

  I shook my head and stepped back from him again. “No, you’re not. You’re officially not.”

  “He was sick. It was only a matter of time before he came after you again or killed someone else.” Hades’ eyes ran over me then back to my face. “You’re upset.”

  “You think?” I snapped. “You don’t kill the sick, you treat them.”

  “I don’t understand,” Hades said as his brow drew down. “You hated him.”

  “That doesn’t mean he should have died,” I countered.

  “He was dangerous.”

  I ran my fingers through my tangle of curls, pulling sightly as I tried to see things from his point of view. “I know.”

  “Some people do not belong in this world,” he countered in a hard voice. “And I don’t just answer to you.”

  “Who else do you answer to?” I asked, weariness dripping from my words.

  His Adam’s apple bobbed as he seemed to weigh some unknown choice in his head. “Your Reaper.”

  I didn’t know what I was expecting as a reply, but my Reaper was definitely not it. “You know my Reaper?”

  He nodded.

  “Then get their ass over here, I have a few questions of my own I’d like answered,” I bit out between my teeth.

  With a raise of his eyebrow, he shook his head ruefully. “I can’t do that.”

  I shook my head. “Of course not. You just kill people.”

  Hades reeled back as if I had hit him.

  Guilt ate at my gut. I shouldn’t have said that. He didn’t deserve that. But I didn’t have it in me to apologize. Not when he had seen … My stomach knotted even more. He had violated my privacy, he had lied to me for a year, he was never my dog.

  His shoulders were rigid as he clenched his fists. “I’m sorry you don’t approve, but it's my job to protect you.”

  I scoffed as I jabbed the code into the panel. “That shouldn’t mean killing people.”

  “Sometimes it does.”

  I shook my head and headed for the door.

  “He was going to come after you again,” he called after me.

  I opened the door then shot over my shoulder. “I guess we’ll never know if that is true or not.” I slammed the door behind me and headed to my Blazer, already tired of today.

  Tara

  I was sitting in Jessica’s living room working on a design sketch when I finally had to ask. “So, which one of the guys is Lexie dating?”

  Jessica and Lucy lifted their heads from their own books and turned to me.

  “I think she’s dating my brother,” Jess said, closing the book while using her finger as a bookmark.

  Lucy shook her head. “It’s Miles.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Why do you think that?”

  Lucy shrugged. “The fact I was staying with Miles seemed to bring up some problems between them.”

  That did make sense, but … “I think it’s Zeke. He’s so protective of her.”

  “What about the twins?” Lucy countered. “They have no problem touching her.”

  “Yeah, but they’ve always been that way,” Jess said. “Ever since we were kids.”

  Lucy tucked a stray hair behind her ear in a sweet way. “Are there any rumors at your school?”

  Jess sighed. “A ton. Everything from people claiming she’s dating each of them to her dating all of them.”

  “Well, that’s just ridiculous,” I muttered as I went back to my sketch. There was no way she was dating all of them. Though … I ran over some of the scenes I’d seen over the last few weeks. Walking into the living room to find Lexie pulling away from one of the twins. I just thought they were cuddling as friends, maybe it was something more? “Oh well. I was curious.”

  “It’s all the gossip lately, who she’s dating. Which one of the guys? It’s gotten worse since they all went on home study.”

  “It doesn’t help that Lexie is living there now,” I muttered.

  Jess’s head snapped around. “She’s living at Miles’ now?”

  I nodded. “Ever since Dad got compelled things have been, I don’t know, weird between them.”

  Jess shook her head, worry filling her eyes. “It seems dangerous to be friends with Lexie.”

  I huffed. “With all the crazy supernatural stuff, yeah.”

  Jess went back to her textbook. “It’s not good for the powerless around her.”

  “Asher’s hardly powerless,” Lucy added. “He’s a werewolf.”

  Jess scoffed and sent her a look. “Yeah, and whose fault was that?”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You’re blaming Lexie for that? He let a werewolf use him as a pacifier.”

  Jess’s face softened. “Okay, yeah, that was stupid.” She closed the book and turned to face us fully. “But Lexie is the reason he was there in the first place.”

  I took a breath and tried to be reasonable. “I don’t think we can blame Lexie for that. Asher probably wanted to go.”

  Jess got to her feet. “Yeah, my brother is stupidly loyal like that.” She headed through the pass through and down the hall to the kitchen.

  I went back to my drawing.

  “What are you working on?” Lucy leaned over from the chair. Her floral perfume filling my nose.

  I quickly covered my sketch, my face burning. “Nothing. Just doodling.”

  She grinned, her eyes lighting u
p. Before I knew what she was doing, she reached out and snagged the sketch pad out from under my homework.

  I tried to snatch it back but she held it out of my reach and flipped it over.

  She looked at the sketch of a long, flowing pink gown I had been designing for myself.

  My heart slammed against my ribs. “I-i-it’s just a doodle.”

  She smiled and looked over at me. “A doodle my butt. This is a design, and a damn good one.”

  My cheeks warmed. “A good one?”

  She nodded. “It’s beautiful. What would you make it out of?”

  I squirmed in my seat as I looked down at my colored pencils. “A satin bodice with a tulle or lace skirt.”

  A smile slipped across her face making it almost glow. “Delicate and feminine. That would be perfect for you.”

  A flutter filled my chest. “Really?”

  She nodded. “Yeah.” The tip of her tongue peeked out as she licked her lips.

  Quickly, I looked down at my textbook and tried to get my wits back. I couldn’t be thinking like this. “Thanks.”

  “Are you thinking about going into fashion design?”

  I lifted my head and glanced at her before looking at my notebook. “Yeah, I’m actually hoping to get into Pratt next year, in Brooklyn.” Instantly I wished I could take the words back. I had never told anyone my plans. Not really. Not about fashion. Why the hell had it been so easy to tell Lucy about it?

  “Have you designed anything else?” Her head dipped low to try and catch my gaze again.

  I fiddled with my pencil for a moment as I tried to focus on just making a new friend of Lucy. As I settled into the familiar falsehood, I looked right at her. “A few costumes for the drama department.”

  Lucy’s smile faltered a little as she cocked her head slightly. “Got any photos?”

  I’d never shown anyone but Mrs. Archer my designs, and that was simply to get better at drawing them. I leaned against the side of the couch and brought up the photos. “I did design an Elizabethan gown for Romeo and Juliet last fall.” I showed her the red and white dress with gold embroidery.

  Her jaw dropped as she took the phone from me. “Are those fake jewels in the embroidery?”

  I could feel the smile as it stretched across my face “Yeah, I thought it would help emphasize that Juliet was higher in social stature. It was her ballgown when she met Romeo.”

  She turned to me. “Did you do anything else?”

  I nodded and swiped to the right. “This was her costume for the rest of the play. I went with a more middle class, underwhelming look to emphasize what she actually felt was important.”

  “Love.” She turned and met my eyes. “You brought her character out so clearly without even needing her to say a word. That’s incredible.”

  My heartbeat thundered in my ears as I met her sparkling eyes. Her eyes held mine as silence descended.

  My gaze moved to her lips. The urge filled me enough to make me pull back. I blinked several times as my face burned. I took my phone back. “That’s all for last year.” I busied myself with getting my textbook in order so I could get back to my homework.

  “Well,” she said, her voice noticeably quieter. “They’re beautiful.”

  Could she be as disappointed as I was? Shoot.

  Lexie

  On the way home from work, I couldn’t help but savor my alone time. It was getting harder and harder to have a moment to myself in the house, especially with everyone on home school and the guys hanging around Miles’ house. I simply took slow, deep breaths and focused on the now as I drove past the pine trees. The leaves on the birch trees were a stunning golden sprinkled in among the green. A low-lying fog was creeping out from the trees toward the road. The whole scene was stunning. It was life. And it reminded me it was important.

  When I walked into the foyer at Miles’ house I spotted Zeke in the living room.

  The large mountain of muscle was hunched over, typing away on a laptop on the coffee table. Those ice blue eyes met mine. Genetics had given Zeke rather frightening looks, with his wide jaw and cheekbones. The leather jacket and semi-permanent scowl that he usually wore didn’t help any, however the black-haired guy was a big teddy bear on the inside. Hell, he even growled once in a while. I smiled to myself as I crossed the living room to his side.

  His hand went to my hip and squeezed. “I heard you had a fight with Hades this morning.”

  “What? No, hi, how was your day? Just straight to it?” I slid my hand over his hard shoulder to the back of his neck as I leaned into him. “I’ll tell everyone about it at dinner.”

  His hand tightened on my hip. “Baby?”

  “I’m okay,” I promised, knowing exactly where his fears took him. “It’s just … there’s news from town.”

  His grip eased. “You don’t need to wait until dinner, Ethan wanted to call a family meeting as soon as you got home.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Really? What about?” Ethan was one of the most easy-going of our group. If he needed to call a meeting it was serious.

  Zeke shrugged.

  “How was Miles today?” I asked as I slipped my fingers through the thick mass of hair.

  “You mean, is he still ignoring everyone but you?” he asked, his eyes closed as he hung his head.

  I began to rub the tension out of his neck. “Yeah, that.”

  “Yeah, he is.” He groaned, his arm slipping around my waist and pulling me to stand between his knees. His forehead rested on my belly as he relaxed under my kneading hand.

  “I’m sorry, Tough Guy,” I said softly.

  He shook his head. “If he’s talking to you then it’s better than usual when he gets like this.”

  “You mean his tunnel vision?”

  He nodded.

  A knot gave.

  He squeezed me gently before lifting his head and meeting my gaze. “Just, see what you can do about getting him to eat dinner today. He missed lunch again.”

  I let my hand drop from his neck. “I’ll try.”

  “Thanks, Baby.”

  “Did you pick up the mail from your house?” I trailed my fingers over his shoulder.

  “And checked the locks.” He let me go.

  I stepped out from between his legs. He picked up the laptop and got to his feet, towering over me. “Everyone’s in the dining room doing schoolwork.”

  A small smile tugged at the corner of my mouth and heart. “Is that why you’re out here?”

  His hand went to the small of my back as we started towards the door to the long hallway. “They wouldn’t stop yapping,” he said as he guided me to the dining room.

  Asher was the first to look up. Classically handsome, his sandy blond head came up before we even reached the doorway, his ocean eyes anchoring to me. And I do mean ocean. Flecks of white, light blue and dark blue were warm as they met mine. My heart fluttered.

  “Hey, Ally.”

  I stepped through the doorway then met Ethan’s gaze.

  His jaw length black hair was tucked back behind his ears, showing the five silver hoops that ran up his earlobe. Where his twin wore a lot of colors, Ethan almost always chose black and army boots. “Hey, Beautiful.”

  “Hey, Ash. Hey, Snoopy,” I said as I sat down in the empty seat beside Isaac. “I heard you were calling a meeting?”

  “Yeah.” Ethan’s chocolate eyes darkened. “But Zeke said you had a fight with Hades this morning, what’s up with that?”

  I sighed. I might as well tell them now. “So, I heard some news.”

  “What kind of news?” Asher asked.

  “Ordin’s dead,” I announced.

  Everyone turned to me, stunned.

  “What?” Isaac asked.

  I leaned my elbows on the table. “The police think he’s missing, but Hades told me he was dead.”

  Zeke held up his hand. “Hades told you he was dead?”

  I nodded. “He said he killed him.”

  The guys all shared a look
.

  Zeke dropped his hand. “Can we throw a parade?”

  I scowled at him. “What? No!”

  “I’ll make him dinner tonight,” Asher murmured to Zeke.

  Zeke nodded. “Steak.”

  “Guys, this isn’t funny,” I snapped, my stomach knotting. “He killed someone.”

  “Yeah, Ordin,” Ethan said. “Someone who hurt you. I say we throw a party.”

  “Yeah, he only killed a person who was locked in a psych ward. Yeah, we should celebrate.” Enough sarcasm dripped from my words that the guys all turned back to look at me.

  “Ally, we’re not going to feel bad for this guy,” Asher said. “He hurt you.”

  “No, it’s just …” I buried my face in my hands. “Complicated.”

  “How do you feel about it?” Miles asked carefully.

  I dropped my hands. “I’m pissed Hades killed—”

  “No.” Miles’ emerald eyes were calculating as they met mine. “Not that. How do you feel about Ordin being dead, not about who killed him.”

  “I … I don’t like that he’s dead.” I shrugged, not sure how to put what I was feeling into words. Everything was a jumble inside my stomach, swirling around until I was nauseous.

  “Lexie.” Zeke’s voice brought my attention to him. “How do you feel about Ordin’s death?”

  I looked down at the table and thought about it. Ordin was gone. He couldn’t hurt me again. He couldn’t stalk me. He couldn’t find me. Relief flooded me. Guilt ate at me. My stomach clenched and un-clenched as emotions rose and fell.

  “You feel safer, don’t you?” Zeke asked using his gentle voice. I met his gaze to find a knowing look crossing his face. Yeah, if anyone could understand this, it would be Zeke.

  I didn’t like myself for it, but I nodded.

  “That’s a very standard human reaction,” Miles added, his timbre soft and soothing.

  I dug my nails into my palm. “Then why do I feel bad for feeling better?”

  “Because you’re a good person,” Zeke said as I turned my gaze back to his sky-blue eyes. “It’s perfectly normal to feel that way about someone who hurt you.”

  I held Zeke’s gaze. “But it was Hades.”

  “Did he say why he did it?” Isaac asked, frowning.