Page 71 of Looking Grimm

Between his legs, I saw the cell door standing open as an invitation to run. This was far from the final standoff I’d imagined, but it was better to escape and live to fight another day. I collected scraps of energy, ready to channel them into a bolt toward the exit. Before I could right myself, commotion from the hallway stopped me cold. Voices clamored closer, punctuated by shouts of alarm. A crack of gunfire split the air, and Grimm smirked.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“We’ve seized the Capitol,” he replied. “A decisive move in a centuries-long war.”

A chilling scream echoing from outside gave credence toGrimm’s claim. I imagined chaos unfolding in the near distance. Since the prison break, this had been the plan. The new recruits gave the Bloody Hex the numbers they needed to stage a full-blown revolution. Who better to send onto the battlefield of the Capitol building while Grimm amused himself tormenting me?

I tuned my ears to the approaching noise. Footsteps and a scuffling, sliding sound preceded the arrival of a flock of gang members dragging an investigator’s suited corpse down the hall. They dropped the bloodied body against the wall, turned away from me so I couldn’t see his face. Fortunately, his buzzed hair the same muddy brown as his suit made him unknown to me.

No sooner had I sighed relief than did I wonder why. I should have been saying good riddance to the government employees currently plotting my execution. They were no better than Grimm and his ilk.

The group of Hex members filed into the cell. They took turns aiming disparaging glances my way as they formed a line against the far wall. There, they stood with their hands clasped behind their backs and their feet set shoulder-width apart like a practiced military regiment.

In response to their collective scorn, I drew up onto my knees again.

Grimm reached over and ruffled my hair. “Don’t look so concerned,” he said.

I swayed away and scowled up at him as he explained, “Your role in things hasn’t changed. Much. You’re still going to die but, this time, you’ll have company.”

His confidence unnerved me as another pained cry echoed down the hall outside.

“What company?” I asked.

My lack of awareness of time created new concerns. What if the Hex hopefuls caught more than investigators in their net? Nash might still be here with an order out for his death.

Grimm drew a deep breath, trying to appear grandiose but mostly looking like a blowhard as he launched into a speech. “During my previous rise to power, I believed Maximus to be dead.” His gaze landed on me, withering. “Now I’m taking no chances. He will be executed alongside his daughter, and the end of their reign will signal the beginning of mine.”

The rookies murmured approval, highlighting what must have been Grimm’s biggest problem with me. He liked Yes Men. People who nodded along to whatever bullshit he spouted and congratulated his deranged thoughts.

He told me once that I came into his care too late in life. Too old to be properly molded. But it was more than that. These were fully grown adults swearing allegiance to his criminal empire. They were willing to kill for Grimm. Probably die for him, too. And, while I’d taken my share of lives in his name, I’d done none of it willingly.

While I frowned, Grimm continued. “Icouldblame you for my abrupt and unceremonious dismissal.” A fancy way to describe him scurrying out of the Capitol with his tail between his legs after I released Maximus from his cellar prison.

“But this is better in a way,” he said. “This requires neither illusions nor disguises, and all the peoples’ praise will be mine alone.”

At that, I could no longer keep quiet. “You think they’regonna praise you for wiping out their police force and replacing them with a bunch of shit criminals?” I scoffed. “They hate you now, and they’ll hate you even more then. Trust me; I would know.”

Grimm lunged in and grabbed the shock collar, using it to haul me forward till my chest hit his knees. “Ithink,” he began, his voice a hiss. “That you are a weak-minded child, incapable of seeing my vision. That’s why you, and others like you, must be culled. The Lyles’ deaths will be a testament to my power, and yours will serve as a warning to those who intend to defy me.”

The disbelief that had filled me before erupted in a harsh laugh. “People think we’re on the same side, you pompous ass. They’re not gonna get the message.”

More footsteps and the swish I now recognized as a body being dragged across the low-pile carpet came from beyond the open cell door. The newbies lined against the wall turned, and I traced their attention to a second suited corpse being piled atop the first. This one had her face toward me. It was a young woman with cracked glasses and blood leaking from a cavernous gash in the middle of her forehead.

Did they intend to murder every investigator in the building? What about support staff? Cafeteria workers? Janitors? My mouth went dry. It would be a hell of a body count.

Grimm pulled on the collar until the nape of my neck throbbed. I scrambled to get my feet under me before he shoved me back onto my tailbone again.

“Just kill him already, boss,” one of the rookies chimed from the doorway.

“You wanna have a go, hot shot?” I snapped out ofreflex more than reason. Schooling the lot of them at the Bitters’ End had been a vastly different situation than the one we were in now. They could beat me bloody with no magic at all or find the shock collar remote and pump me full of electricity until I exploded like a transformer blowing.

“Who gets his spot?” someone else asked. They were so tightly packed in the adjoining hall that I couldn’t tell who spoke.

Turning aside, Grimm stroked his beard in exaggerated contemplation. “Let me think.” His brows knit together over his pale blue eyes as he glanced at me. “How many people have you killed, Marionette?”

I clenched my fists, wishing I could hide the strings tattooed on my fingers. The answer was as plain as those bands of black ink.

“Thirty,” a deep voice rumbled. That one, I recognized.

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