Grim Offerings (Aisling Grimlock Book 2) (12 page)

“Dr. Mackenzie, this is his sister,” Maya explained apologetically. “They’ve been waiting for word. I thought it might be good if he had a familiar voice here to try to wake him.”

Mackenzie looked me up and down. “I see the family resemblance.”

“There are four more of them in the waiting room,” Maya said.

“Okay,” Mackenzie acquiesced. “Try talking to him. We’re not sure why he’s still unconscious. He doesn’t have a head wound. And if he fainted, he should have regained consciousness by now.”

I took Cillian’s hand in mine and smoothed his hair off his forehead with my other hand. “Did you hear that? They think you fainted.”

Cillian didn’t stir.

“Try again,” Mackenzie instructed. “Talk about something that would … I don’t know … upset him.”

I wracked my brain. “How freaked out are you that Ben Affleck is going to be Batman?”

Mackenzie shot me an odd look.

I sucked in a breath. “Angelina was here,” I said. “She insisted on seeing you. I didn’t rip her hair out, but I did smack her across the face. Then Maya … she’s Griffin’s sister, by the way, had her escorted out by security. I’m kind of sad I missed it, but I’m hoping Aidan filmed it on his phone to show me later.”

Still nothing.

“Dad told me he never wanted me to join the family business,” I tried again. “He said that he only worried about me before because I kept going to gay bars with Jerry.”

Cillian’s eyes fluttered. I leaned forward excitedly.

“You know you’re going to be his favorite for at least a week straight if you wake up right now, don’t you? You’ll get chocolate cake every night, and blueberry pancakes every morning.”

Cillian’s mouth opened. “Blueberry pancakes are your favorite.” His voice was hoarse, and he hadn’t opened his eyes yet, but he was back. I wanted to cry, I was so relieved.

“I’ll eat as many mushroom omelets as you want if you open your eyes right now,” I offered, gripping his hand tighter. “I’ll even eat the ones with the funky mushrooms.”

“Morels aren’t funky,” he said, forcing his lavender eyes open to focus on me. I’d never seen anything so beautiful. “They’re delicious.”

“Hi,” I said, tears spilling out.

“Hi, baby sister. How are you?”

“Better now.”

“Good,” Cillian said.

Mackenzie moved up to the other side of the bed. “Do you know where you are, son?”

Cillian glanced around the room, his eyes finally falling on Maya. “Heaven?”

I rolled my eyes. “Really? You’re going to hit on the nurse now?”

“I have to use my ailment while I can,” Cillian said, winking. “Women love to dote on an injured man.”

“That’s Griffin’s sister.”

“I don’t care,” Cillian said, pressing his eyes shut briefly. “She’s hot.”

I let loose with a shaky laugh. “You’re going to be okay.”

“Of course I am, Ais,” he said. “I could never leave you.”

“What happened?”

After an hour of doctors hovering around Cillian and asking an unending series of questions, my family – and Griffin and Jerry – were left to our own devices.

“I don’t really remember,” Cillian said, rubbing his forehead to clear the cobwebs. “It’s all … fuzzy.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Dad asked.

“Morgan Reid,” Cillian said. “He found us next to the building.”

“That’s good,” Dad said. To no one’s surprise, he was doting on Cillian. “What do you remember about the conversation?”

“He’s a pig,” Cillian said. “He was hitting on Aisling.”

“He is a pig,” Griffin grumbled.

“And that was after we told him we were married,” Cillian added.

Redmond made a face. “Gross.”

I stuck my tongue out at him.

“He didn’t believe us,” Cillian said.

“You look too much alike,” Dad said, soothing.

“Especially with your hair,” Redmond teased. “It’s very feminine.”

“Don’t you dare pick on your brother’s hair,” Dad ordered.

Redmond raised his eyebrows once Dad turned his back and mouthed the word “wow” as he smiled at Cillian.

“I remember leaving Aisling with Reid,” Cillian said. “I didn’t want to, but I was worried. I couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t already dead.”

“I think someone is hiring people to kill him,” I said.

“Why do you think that?” Griffin asked.

“One murder might be random,” I replied. “Two murders in two days? That’s design.”

“See, you are smarter than you look,” Aidan teased.

“She has a point,” Dad said. “The guy who tried to kill Reid yesterday had a lengthy record. That means he wasn’t a novice. You have to be gutsy to go after a guy two days in a row.”

“Or desperate,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe Reid has dirt on someone,” I suggested. “He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’s above blackmailing someone. Why else would someone go after him? He’s not married. I mean, if he were married I could see his wife wanting to kill him, but his file says he’s single.”

“Did he touch you?” Griffin asked pointedly.

“No.”

“Did he want to?”

“He definitely wanted to,” Cillian said. “The dude just feels slimy.”

“Let’s get back to this afternoon,” Dad prodded. “What happened after you left Aisling with the human piece of filth?”

“It’s probably a good thing I almost died, huh?” Cillian said, his eyes twinkling through the weariness. “I’d be in big trouble for leaving you if things had gone differently.”

“That’s exactly right,” Dad said. “What happened after?”

“I … I just remember rounding the building,” Cillian said. “I didn’t see anyone right away. It was more like … I could feel someone moving in behind me. I didn’t see anyone. There were hands on my shoulders, and then everything went black.”

“He couldn’t have been down long,” Redmond said. “Wraiths can kill us in less than a minute if they want to.”

“Aisling must have been there within a few seconds,” Aidan said.

“You found me?” Cillian’s eyes landed on me. “How did you … ?”

I shot him a reassuring smile. “I’m tougher than I look.”

“But how?”

“She beat it to death with a brick,” Redmond said.

Cillian’s eyebrows shot up. “A brick?”

“There was one on the ground.”

“How did you get close enough to hit it with a brick without it putting its hands on you?”

“I threw the brick at it first,” I said. “While it was stunned, I grabbed the brick and beat its head in until it dissolved into dust.”

“I … I remember something,” Cillian said, his face grave. “It talked to you.”

“I thought you were unconscious?”

“Wait, it talked to you?” Aidan was on his feet. “You didn’t tell us that.”

“I kind of forgot,” I admitted.

“You forgot the wraith talked to you?” Redmond was incensed. “How does that happen?”

“I was worried about Cillian.”

Dad held up his hand to silence everyone. “Okay, calm down.”

We all waited.

“Seriously, how could you forget the wraith talked to you?” Dad exploded.

I shrank back, bumping into Griffin as a never-ending sea of lavender eyes landed on me. He put a reassuring arm around me. “Do we have to yell at her?”

“This is big,” Braden explained. “Wraiths rarely talk. I mean, I guess they talk to other wraiths, but I’ve never heard of one speaking before.”

“I didn’t know they could speak,” Redmond admitted.

“What did it say?” Dad pressed.

“I don’t … it said my name,” I said, flummoxed at the memory.

“It recognized you?”

I nodded. “It said that I couldn’t be touched.”

“Be more specific,” Jerry said, speaking up for the first time. “Did it want to touch you in your naughty place?”

“Jerry!” Dad was beside himself.

“There are different kinds of touching,” Jerry said. “They’ve done after-school specials about it. Watch something other than
Downton Abbey
for a change.”

I couldn’t hide my smirk. “It didn’t want to touch me that way. It did recognize me, though.”

“What else did it say?” Braden asked.

“It just kept looking at Cillian and saying ‘mine.’ I was waiting for it to call him ‘my precious’ and jump into the fiery pits of Mount Doom while cuddling him close to his chest.”

Jerry made a face. “It’s a good thing you’re pretty, because most men would not tolerate a
Lord of the Rings
geek in their bed.”

I glanced at Griffin.

“I don’t care what kind of a geek you are,” he said. “It does help that you’re hot, though. It helps more with your family than anything else.”

Redmond grinned as my father scowled.

“We still don’t understand why the wraith was in the area,” Cillian said. “We’re not even sure it was the same wraith that killed Grant Spencer. Of course, we can’t be sure a wraith killed Spencer at all.

Griffin wasn’t happy with the insinuation. “You’re saying there are more wraiths here, aren’t you?”

“I think we have to assume that,” Dad said.

“And why would they recognize Aisling?”

“I don’t know,” Dad said. “Maybe they recognize us all.”

“It didn’t appear to recognize Cillian,” Griffin pointed out. “They seem to specifically be fixated on Aisling.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Dad said.

“You’re always the one who jumps to conclusions,” Griffin argued.

Dad made a face. “Calm down.”

“You calm down,” Griffin shot back.

“You calm down.”

“Everyone calm down,” Jerry snapped. “We can’t freak out.”

I tilted my head as I regarded him. “Really?”

“I don’t freak out, Bug,” Jerry chided. “I calmly ascertain a situation and then enthusiastically voice my opinion. That’s not the same thing.”

I rolled my eyes. “We need more information,” I said.

“I know where to get it,” Redmond said, his eyes resting on me. “And you have to come with me.”

“Where?” Dad asked.

It took me a second to grasp what he was suggesting, and I immediately started shaking my head. “No way. That woman hates me.”

“Who hates you?” Griffin asked. “And, by the way, I’m not sure I buy that ‘every woman in the world hates me’ motto you keep espousing.”

“Women hate me,” I said. “It’s a fact.”

“You’re going to Madame Maxine, aren’t you?” Dad asked.

Redmond nodded.

“I’m not going to see that woman,” I said. “She always tells me awful things about my future.”

“Who is Madame Maxine?” Griffin asked.

“She owns a magic shop on Woodward,” Braden explained.

“She’s a psychic,” Aidan added.

“She always tells me I’m going to be rich and famous,” Jerry said, beaming.

“Why don’t you like her?” Griffin asked.

“I already told you. I don’t like her because she tells me awful things about my future.”

“She said that you were wasting your time when you became a secretary,” Redmond interjected. “How was that awful?”

“It was the truth,” Jerry pointed out.

“Shut up, Jerry,” I grumbled.

“You need to be there,” Redmond said. “She’s more forthcoming when you’re there.”

“She loves you,” I said. “She thinks you’re the greatest thing since the iPad. She’s mean to me.”

“I am the greatest thing ever,” Redmond said. “The iPad isn’t even in contention. She’s not mean to you. She’s … matter of fact.”

Griffin’s gaze bounced between Redmond and me. “Why does she have to go?”

“Madame Maxine likes to see her,” Redmond said.

“Is she in any danger?”

Redmond shook his head.

“Then I think you should go,” Griffin said.

Oh, great, now he was turning on me, too. “You’re just letting me go? I thought you wanted to watch over me?”

Griffin smirked. “I have no doubt your brother will protect you from this Madame Maxine. As long as you’re not taking on a wraith, I’m happy.”

“But … .”

“It will only take an hour, Ais,” Redmond prodded. “We need information.”

One look at Cillian’s wan face told me I was outnumbered. I crossed my arms over my chest. “Fine. If she tells me one bad thing … .”

“You’ll listen and have a fit, like you usually do,” Redmond finished. “We should go now. The shop will close in two hours.”

Griffin ran his hand down the back of my hair and gave me a quick kiss. “I’ll meet you at your place. I’ll bring pizza.”

“I don’t want pizza,” I sniffed.

“I’ll get Chinese.”

“I want Crab Rangoon … and spring rolls.”

“Fine.”

“And sesame chicken.”

“Fine.”

“And fried rice.”

“I’ve got it, Aisling.” Griffin pinched the bridge of his nose.

“We’ll put together a list,” Jerry said, patting Griffin’s arm. “We like choices when we have Chinese.”

“I can’t wait,” Griffin deadpanned.

The door to the hospital room opened and Maya entered. “How is everyone doing?”

“We’re fine,” Griffin said.

“I want to go home tonight,” Cillian said.

“The doctors want you to stay overnight for observation,” Maya said. “I think you probably should.”

“He is,” Dad said.

Cillian opened his mouth to protest.

“When you get home I’ll have the cook make whatever you want,” Dad said. “You’re staying here tonight, though. We’re not taking any chances.”

Braden shot him a thumbs-up. “Don’t worry. I’ll stay here with you.”

“Oh, good, you two can cuddle together and watch television,” I teased.

“We’re not you and Aidan,” Braden shot back.

“I think the patient needs rest,” Maya said. “I don’t think an overnight guest means he’s going to get rest.”

“Yeah,” Cillian said, smiling weakly. “I’m sure Maya will be willing to soothe me if I have any bad dreams.”

“You stop that right now,” Griffin ordered.

I pressed my eyes shut briefly. Things were back to normal. Everyone was okay. Now we just had to keep everyone that way.