Read Online Grimm Consequences by Kate Serine - Free Book Online

in backup from the FMA, rushing to the nearest victim to see where she could help. My back burned with the pain of embedded shrapnel, but Tess had been spared any injuries. Assured she was okay for the moment, I turned to Eddie and Gran. “You two all right?”
    â€œYeah, we’re good,” Eddie assured me, seeing that Gran was too shocked to respond. “What the hell happened?”
    â€œGas leak,” I said, my voice clipped as I searched the chaos, knowing gas might’ve caused the actual explosion, but the leak was no accident. Several of the Reapers strolled out of the restaurant grasping the souls of the victims as they made their way through the dead and dying outside on the sidewalk.
    They were detached, unconcerned. It was just a job to them, ferrying the souls on to the next plane of existence. There was no compassion, no tenderness. They jerked soul after soul from the bodies, not giving a shit how traumatic the extraction might be to the recently departed. Good God—had I been that cruel? Sadly, I knew the answer to that question, as much as I hated to admit it.
    Take the man.
    My first directive rang out in my head. I glanced at Tess as she tried to help a woman whose thigh was bleeding profusely from a horrific wound. I thought about ignoring my directive in order to stay with Tess, but there could be no reprieve for the Tales inside the restaurant, even if I’d hoped to grant them one. They were gone, their deaths swift—if they were lucky. But if I left their souls too long, they’d become ghosts, left to wander among the living, never at peace.
    I let out a string of ripe curses as more directives started rolling in, bombarding my psyche and calling me forward to do my duty. “I gotta go,” I told Eddie grudgingly. “Keep an eye on Red.”
    I didn’t wait for his affirmation before I went into the blaze to claim those who were lost. The stench of seared flesh assaulted me as I plucked the first soul from the pile of cinder that had once been a Tale. He’d only been in the Here and Now for a little over a year. He still gripped the hand of his wife, their palms fused together by melted flesh. I took her soul, too, keeping them together.
    Fire trucks had swarmed the building by the time I returned for the next round. I searched the crowd before going back in, looking for Tess’s face. She was barking out orders to the FMA team that had just arrived, explaining the makeshift triage system. She must’ve felt my gaze on her, for her head snapped around and she gave me a sad smile, then a terse nod, sending me on my way.
    The next pickup was a young Tale family. I felt my throat tighten as I gently lifted the soul of the three-year-old boy from his mother’s arms. I took the mother then, too, hoping she could lessen the boy’s fear as we journeyed to the other side. The father and twelve-year-old daughter were next. The daughter was a feisty one—giving me attitude about where I was taking them, complaining about having to miss a party that weekend for her friend Jenny Connolly, arguing the whole way. Almost made me wonder what Tess had been like as a preteen.
    God help us if we have any daughters....
    I actually came up short when that thought hit me. Daughters? Was I seriously thinking about what it would be like to have kids with Tess at a time like this? Hell, was I seriously thinking about having kids ?
    I picked up the pace, searching for Tess in the crowd after each trip, reassuring myself that she was fine. The flames had been tamed to a smolder in the ruined building by the time I returned for the last two souls. It was growing dark now and emergency crews were setting up portable lights so that they could continue to work the scene. But this time when I searched the crowd, I didn’t see Tess, couldn’t sense her nearby.
    Panic made my gut clench. I snatched my cell from my suit pocket and dialed hers, but it went