Page 5 of Like Grim Death: Part One
A burden he took from us before he was old enough to understand he’d be doing just that for the rest of our lives. Saving us. Shielding us.
Thinking of it—the wicked property, along with all the horrorshere—I grip the crucifix tight in my pocket. I’m not even fucking religious, but in a house like this one, you hold onto any sliver of God you can get. Otherwise, the darkness will swallow you whole.
“Lover’s Death.” I hear the smile in my father’s words. “Keep the tradition alive. It’s always a good night for someone to disappear.”
My heart picks up speed, and I have the urge to run my finger over my scar again, but I don’t. I stay perfectly still for a breath. A point on the cross digs into my palm and I feel a sharp pain as I bite my tongue.
My dad speaks again, and my hands feel clammy and slick against the cross in my pocket. “Don’t fucking embarrass me, or you’ll never see her again.”
“Where is she now?” I can’t swallow the desperation in my tone and regret instantly fills my lungs, like wet cement poured inside my mouth, thickening the moment it drips down my throat.
Dad laughs, shaking his head once. “She always wanted to be an actress, didn’t she?”
My breath catches. I don’t take in air.
“You two are fighting again?”Something like that.“I’m still surprised she didn’t tell you, but maybe tonight you’ll catch a glimpse of her.”
He walks off without another word, and I breathe in through my nose. Out through my mouth. Dizziness nearly makes my knees buckle. I grip the edge of the banister, bowing my head over the blackness beneath.
I hate everything about my life.
It’s the single thought that blares louder than the others.I hate everything.
I fucking hate everything here.
But I know I’m still going to do it.Halloween.Dad is right. A good time for girls to disappear at the hands of the Unsaints.
I’m going to Lover’s Death then, while Rain Malikov is safe and sound with Brooklin Astor, the unofficial babysitter of us all. I’ll spare Rain this shit, because he’s my nephew too, in everything but blood.
And yet, that’s not quite true either, is it?
I’ve bled for all of my brothers.
I’d bleed for Rain too.
But the girls are not one of us, and I know what the 6 see.A weakness. A liability.Sid holds too many secrets. Ella isn’t meant for Maverick. She has nothing to lose, and their downfall is what they envision when they look at her.Pathetic.That’s how they view her. Her mom, if she ever found out where her daughter ran to, if she ever cared to know, she would sell 6 secrets for her next fix, even if it killed her.
Fucking. Pathetic.
I clench my jaw. My father called me much the same, many times growing up. Even still,I might hate this, and loathe him, but it won’t stop me. You’re born into the 6, you follow orders.
Or you die. It’s very simple.
And Sid… She might not be my priority, but I know the 6 aren’t done with her just yet. She is a loose cannon. A wild card. Only so many Astor children can fit in Alexandria before things start to go sideways.
I think though, she might trust me, and I could get Ella to do the same. Maybe Iampathetic. Maybe I am as lowly as my father believes me to be. No one seems to fear me like they do my brothers. But on the plus side, the good thing about being the nice one is how much you’re underestimated.
Natalie never saw her addiction coming, did she? It was easy to be her downfall.
And Maverick chipped my tooth Halloween night all those years ago. Fractured my cheekbone.
He wouldn’t ever think I’d fuck him over again.
That night I hadn’t meant to.
But this Halloween?
It’s a little different.
