Chapter Thirty-Three #3
“Not really, but he’s kind of an ass.”
“You could say that,” Grim responds, darkly.
“Why don’t you like him?” I ask, swiveling to face Grim again.
Grim’s eyes follow Pisces as he disappears into the crowd.
“He was with you when you found the body? And earlier when you met the girl during the scavenger hunt?”
“Yeah.” He was also in the garden that first night. But he showed up after I’d sat down. There’s no way he killed Carly—the redheaded woman. Her dress flashes in my mind. Unless he was coming back to clean up the evidence? I shake my head to clear the thought. There’s no way.
He nods, his eyes dark again. “It’s not the first time a fan of theirs has turned up dead.”
“Seriously?” I ask, brows sky high. He nods. No way, huh?
He turns his gaze to me, his eyes narrowing. “That’s another thing I wanted to tell you. Sometimes the fae council tasks us to investigate fae-related crimes.”
“And you think what? That one of the Voracious Maw boys is killing fans?”
He doesn’t say anything, his gaze going back to where Pisces has long since disappeared.
“You think Pisces Penrose is killing fans?” I ask incredulously.
“I didn’t say that. But there are definitely reasons for you to stay away from him.”
“Like what?”
He grimaces and stands up, helping me to my feet. “There are things I can’t tell you, but please just be careful around them, alright?”
My thoughts don’t stop racing the whole walk back to the townhome.
It’s pretty clear that Grim suspects someone tied to Voracious Maw in the death of Stephanie—the blonde girl with the blue streaks.
He hasn’t outright accused them, but warning me to stay away from Pisces seems to indicate he thinks Pisces might be involved.
I’m already having enough trouble trying to match Pisces, the sometimes asshole, to the guy who can write and sing such beautiful lyrics.
What would Grim say if I told him about meeting Wrath in the garden the first night of the festival?
I turn and walk down the row of townhomes. Just a few porches before mine, I see a group of guys sitting on the steps. “Bliss!” one calls, and I see Simon get up and head down the steps to greet me.
“Hey,” I say, as he comes to a stop in front of me and gives me a quick hug.
Pisces and Evan sit on opposite sides of the porch, their long legs stretched out in front of them.
Benny sits a step below Evan, leaning his head back on Evan’s thigh.
Evan idly runs his hand through Benny’s brown waves and the vampire seems to vibrate with joy.
“All the paperwork for the tour should be sent over,” Simon says, looking at me hopefully. “We’re still on, right? No one changed their minds?”
“Nope, we’re still all set.” I look over at Evan, who watches me carefully. I pitch my voice a bit lower, knowing the rest of the guys can still probably overhear me, but that’s okay. “I think Amelia was just a bit caught off guard.”
Simon nods understandably. “Same for Evan,” he says, but a snort from Evan makes me think Simon’s just being polite.
Maybe this tour is a huge mistake, but we actually already signed the contracts this morning before we could second guess it.
“Anyways, I should probably go. Got to get ready for the shows tonight,” I say, trying to hurry away from them. I see Pisces shift in my periphery.
“Hey wait,” he says, his voice so much deeper than I keep thinking it will be.
It slides over me in a gentle but firm caress that makes my insides turn to mush.
Now that I know he’s Wrath, his voice sounds so familiar, exactly how I’d expect Wrath’s speaking voice to sound.
He walks slowly down the steps and comes and stands next to me.
Simon gives us some room, going to chat with the others.
“Yeah?” I ask, wanting to turn and flee, a little bit from awkwardness and also a little bit from Grim’s warning, even though I can’t get myself to believe it.
He pulls something out of his pocket and hands it to me, unable to look me in the eye. White ribbons fall into my hand. Two completely spotless white ribbons.
“Where did you get these?” I can’t help but smile up at him.
“They’re the ones you were wearing before. I, uh, cleaned them.”
“They’re spotless,” I say, trying to look him in the eye, but he keeps staring down at his shoes.
“I’ve a lot of experience in magically cleaning blood out of things.”
“Oh right,” I say. “Aren’t you a vampire?” I almost laugh, but then the memory of his tongue makes me pause. Taser certainly has never used that neat trick on me.
Pisces cocks his head to the side. “Erm, no.”
“Oh, sorry, I just assumed. You said blood and…” I trail off, feeling stupid. He doesn’t have the sharp canines all vamps have, but I also could have sworn I saw him as Wrath use his vampire speed at that masquerade party. Maybe I’d just had too much to drink already by that point.
I inhale, trying to pick up his scent, and I feel even more dumb for thinking he’s a vampire. It’s not the same slightly metallic, slightly earthy scent. It’s something softer. Sea salt and something musky and warm but not overpowering.
“Are you smelling me?” he asks, the corner of his mouth lifting in a smirk.
A blush creeps into my cheeks, and now I’m the one looking at my shoes. “Yes, sorry, I was trying to place your scent, and I realize I’ve never met anyone like you.”
“I’m a siren. Very rare, I’m told,” he responds, grimacing.
“I’ve never met a siren,” I say, forgetting about my embarrassment long enough to start to study him anew.
“Well, you strike me as someone who doesn’t hang out with Made fae very often.”
My gaze hardens at that. Didn’t he just say sirens are rare?
So why would that indicate I don’t hang out with Made fae?
“Why do you keep acting like you know anything about me?” My eyes threaten to start unleashing droplets.
And those aren’t the tears I need. I start to turn, but he reaches out and tugs on my sleeve, getting me to turn back to him.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. It’s just Goddess’ Trance isn’t a mixed band, so I just kind of assumed there’s a reason for that.”
I shrug. “It’s not on purpose,” I explain. “We just all grew up together, except for Taser and Blake.”
He nods in understanding. “I guess I was just thinking about your old guitarist. He hates Made fae.”
My hand goes to my neck at the mention of Jordan. Pisces’ eyes track the movement and his throat bobs. “Yeah, well, that’s one of the reasons he’s not in our band anymore.”
“What are the other reasons?” Pisces asks, his voice soft and gentle. His gaze travels back to mine.
I let out a hollow laugh. “You got a few hours? It’s a long story.
” I look down to the ribbons in my hand and let out a sigh.
“Thanks for cleaning these,” I say. It actually was very thoughtful of him.
I could always get more, but these ones are special.
Liz and Amelia got them for me one year for my birthday.
“Sure,” is all he says. He continues to stand there, towering over me.
I smack my hand to my forehead. “Your hoodies! I keep forgetting to get them back to you!” I turn towards the townhouse but pause and look over my shoulder. “Come on, I’ll go grab them.”
“Erm, okay.” He follows me at a little bit of a distance, as if he’s too good to walk next to me. I roll my eyes, even though he can’t see it.
We enter the townhouse a few doors down from where Voracious Maw is staying and I groan as I see all the band members gathered around the living room.
“Hey, Bliss,” Dericia calls cheerily. “How was your date with the super sexy Grim? Oh, did you bring him back to recharge—” She breaks off as Pisces, not Grim, follows in after me.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting that,” Taser says with a chuckle, patting Dericia on the forearm.
Amelia just arches her brows at me in question and I ignore all of them. “Wait here,” I call to Pisces as I race up the stairs. I grab both his hoodies and race back down, coming to a stop before him in the entryway. I hand over the black hoodies, a little sad to see them go.
He doesn’t take them immediately. I wave the bundle towards him, trying to get his attention. He shakes his head as if he just mentally went somewhere else and focuses on what I’m offering him.
“I guess you can’t wear another man’s clothing if you’re dating Grim now,” he says quietly.
“I’m not,” I say quickly, too quickly. He looks at me, his head tilting in that perpetual question. He knows that I know that he saw me kissing Grim earlier. “I mean, well, we went on one date, that’s all.”
“Hmm.” He takes the hoodies, tucking them under his arm and turning to the rest of the band.
“Have a good show tonight,” he says and heads out the door.
I go out after him, but I don’t have anything to say so I just watch as he heads down the steps, throwing one last glance my way as he strides back to his townhome.
“Mystery solved.” Blake quietly sniggers to Tubbs, who tries to keep in a laugh but blurts it out.
“You were hooking up with Pisces Penrose?” An incredulous look passes over Tubbs’ face. “I’m a bit impressed, actually.”
“Please, why be impressed? He’s the one who won the lottery hooking up with Bliss, not the other way around,” Amelia says, swiping up a magazine from the coffee table and swatting Tubbs on the head with it.
“What? He’s sexy, and incredibly talented, and even I can appreciate the abs— What?” he yelps as Amelia continues to swat him.
“Bliss is sexy and incredibly talented and she has amazing tits and an amazing ass so that lanky, nerdy, too tall douche should be throwing himself at her feet.”
“Amelia, please,” I say, going to take the magazine away from her. “You might accidentally hit him in the eye and then he won’t be able to play the show…”
I trail off as Tubbs breaks down in a fit of coughing. At first I think he’s just laughing too hard.
Blake claps him on the back. “You okay, man?”
Taser gets up, going over to Tubbs, but he jumps back as Tubbs starts vomiting blood all over the floor.
“Okay, I swear I did not hit him that hard,” Amelia says jokingly, but her eyes reveal concern as she takes in all the blood.
Tubbs looks around the room, eyes growing wider as blood starts to drip from his mouth onto the floor. He continues to cough and can’t seem to stop.
“Shit, we need a healer fast,” Taser says, looking from me to Amelia. None of us are healers. But I think I know who is.
“What the fuck is happening?” Amelia goes to stand behind Tubbs, supporting a bit of his weight as he slumps in his seat.
“Did he catch something?” I ask, but an illness coming on this suddenly in fae isn’t something I’ve ever seen before. To Tubbs I ask, “When was the last time you recharged your powers?”
He doesn’t respond, eyes closing in pain as he coughs up more blood.
“He recharged this morning,” Taser answers for him. “We definitely need a healer.”
“There’s a first aid booth down at the festival,” Blake says, but we so don’t have time for that.
“I’ll be right back.” I race off to the nearest healer we have.