Grim and Bear It
Chapter Twenty-Five

Jake

I had only managed four broken-up hours of sleep, but I woke up happier and with more energy than I'd had in weeks, maybe even months. The sun seemed brighter, warmer. My leg pain was bearable enough to shower standing up. I couldn't stop myself from smiling when I glanced at the bed, where I'd held Poppy in my arms for hours. I'd had a few different partners in my bed over the last decade, but no one had ever made me feel the way she did. It wasn't just nostalgia and secret kisses. I knew Poppy almost as well as I knew myself, even now.

Sure, years had passed, but she still loved with her whole soul, still wanted to help everyone she met. She was extremely loyal and never shied away from duty. Good god, and the way she kissed. As if there was nothing else in the universe that mattered but our lips pressed together.

I pressed my hand to my chest, trying to calm my racing heart. I needed to get my head on straight so I didn't do something ridiculous like giggle or blush in front of Sebastian. He didn't need to know I had a guest in my bed. When I walked into the kitchen, he glanced at me from the living room. "I already know. You two weren't exactly quiet."

I winced. "You can't tell anyone."

He went back to leafing through a book. "I'm not going to. But I'll tell you the same thing I told Mina when she was falling for Carma: Tell your partner."

"Mina didn't tell me until it was basically too late," I pointed out.

"Not for lack of me trying. Inform Paris now before things get out of hand."

I flipped on the coffee pot. "She already knows about Poppy."

"Does she know you spend hours having romantic interludes with someone who's going to collect your soul soon?"

"Speculation."

"Just so."

"Why are you trying to ruin my good mood?" I grumbled, pulling a travel mug out of the cabinet and scooping in hot cocoa powder.

"I know it may seem out of sorts, but I do care about your well-being." He paused for a moment. "Has Poppy explained why she never shared that she was a reaper?"

I frowned at him. "She wasn't allowed."

Sebastian lifted a shoulder. "And you both always followed the rules until now?"

"What are you saying?"

He closed his book around his fingers, holding his place. "Maybe I'm incorrect in my assumptions, but if she was as close to you and Eliza as you claim, it seems rather unbelievable that she didn't tell you about being a reaper. Rather callous to leave you questioning what happened to her for twelve years."

I poured coffee into my cup, then a splash of cream, before screwing on the lid and spinning it between my hands to mix it up. "I can't wait until you fall in love someday. It's happened to Mina, Reggie, and now me. It's coming for you and you're going to lose that judgmental stance."

He just stared at me and turned a page. "I'm perfectly content with my life. I don't need another being infiltrating my routine and causing havoc."

I laughed. "If only our hearts were under our control." I grabbed my laptop bag and my gray cane, which I preferred for work. "If it were, I would definitely not be in love with a dead woman."

Sebastian sat up straighter. "In love with?"

I paused, my hand on the doorknob, replaying the words in my head. I hadn't meant to admit it out loud, but it was true. I had loved Poppy since we were kids.

Her death had not stopped my love-because what was grief, if not unrequited love?-but now that she was tangible, real, able to kiss me again, it had come back full force. "I've been in love with her for two decades. Not going to stop now." He closed his book. "Jacob, I hold Poppy in very high esteem, but there is something very unsettling about this entire situation. I greatly dislike that she kept such a serious secret from you for so long."

"Have you even met Poppy in more than passing? You don't get to pass judgment on her until you actually know her."

He pursed his lips and opened back up his book. "Make sure Eliza knows I want to be moved to her house if something happens to you. I need to be able to check on Reggie and Mina."

"Eliza would never put up with your shit. You could just retire from SHAP and go stay with Mina and Carma."

"SHAP is the much-needed structure I need in my death. When every day is punctuated by the never-ending monotony of drifting aimlessly through space and time, it can destroy a person. Living or dead." He glanced up at me.

"Noted." I opened the door and looked back at him. "I hope you have a non-monotonous day."

"I hope you stay alive."

I should never have said I was in a good mood out loud. It was like the universe wanted to challenge the very idea. It was the only explanation I had for the gunfight in the middle of Café Eleonora.

The café was a well-known SHAP hangout, the makeup of the customers at least sixty percent lethal agents any time day or night. Attacking any agent anywhere near the front door was a suicide mission, not to mention that SHAP was mere footsteps away. This, however, was not a deterrent for the really desperate.

I had barely walked through the doors of SHAP this morning when my phone pinged with the email from an unfamiliar address.

Jake, Let's compromise. Meet 3:30pm at Café Eleonora. Come alone. Fletcher.

Fletcher. That's the name Poppy mentioned. Fletcher had been involved in the clinical trials. I had no plans to compromise and I definitely didn't arrive alone. Paris was wearing a borrowed branded apron and was refilling sugar containers at the table opposite me. Reggie sat across from me, watching the kitchen doors.

A man wearing a tight thermal, beanie over messy hair, and a cocky-as-hell smile walked up to Paris. "Hey beautiful. Can I buy you a coffee?"

"No thank you," Paris responded, not looking up at him.

"Just give me your number and I'll get out of your hair."

Reggie snorted. "Is this guy for real? He'd ghost you faster than me, and I am a ghost." By the man's lack of response to Reggie, it was obvious he was a full-blooded human.

She sighed. "I said no and I'm busy. Please leave."

I studied the tables around me, looking for the humans and any supernaturals who couldn't hold their own. A group of teens hovered around a phone, an awkward first date, a business meeting with warring laptops, a writers' group three coffees in, a dad reading to his kid. Two shape shifters, a werewolf, a handful of agents, and a gaggle of ghosts in the corner.

Thermal Guy leaned his hip against the table. "All I need are seven digits."

My jaw clenched. I hated nothing more than men who couldn't take no for an answer. "She said no," I growled, turning to him.

I heard the soft snap of a tranquilizer gun a second before he grabbed his neck. Paris caught him as he started to sink to the ground, the fast-acting dart taking quick effect, then deposited him in an empty seat behind her without breaking a sweat. "He was annoying me," she defended.

Reggie stared at her wide-eyed. "Cuando crezca, quiero ser como usted," he said reverently. Paris tilted her head and Reggie translated. "When I grow up, I want to be like you."

"God help us if you're ever allowed to carry a tranq gun," I grumbled at him.

The bell over the door rang and two men likely werewolves by their stance and bulk-and a woman walked in. They didn't look around, just laser focused in on me.

"Told you to come alone," the woman said, glancing at Reggie.

"I did come alone. He was here when I got here," I explained. The woman put her hands on her hips which pulled her shirt tighter, revealing the outline of a holster and gun beneath the fabric. My stomach tightened. I didn't have a good feeling about this. "Reggie, go order me a pineapple juice on the rocks." Code for get the civilians out.

"Aye, aye captain." He disappeared.

The woman sat down. "So you're Jake."

I lifted a shoulder. "That's what they call me."

She pursed her lips, looking pointedly at my gray cane, which was balancing on the end of the table. I had activated the recording device in the handle before setting it down. "They say you're not only one of the best agents, but that you're also extremely attractive. I don't really see what all the fuss is about."

I leaned forward. "Well, that feeling is mutual. Judging people for using mobility devices just makes you a shitty person." I clicked the button on my watch to test if Fletcher was a supernatural creature.

She shrugged. "So does taking away something that saves people's lives."

"Venom does more harm than good."

In my peripheral vision, I saw the staff quietly moving through the crowd and asking the civilians to leave, probably under the guise of closing early. The SHAP crowd pretended to be finishing up, but their ears and eyes were pointed in our direction.

My watch buzzed and I glanced down. Vampire-human hybrid unregistered. My stomach dropped as realization dawned.

All vampire-human hybrids had been returned to full human or they were registered through SHAP's database. For her to be unregistered would mean she was made from oral venom but never part of the Thinner program, and that also meant there was probably more than just her. Which explained the influx of demons, who made good on their promises that they'd come visit if we didn't get the hybrids under control. After all, in their opinion, if vampires and vampire-human hybrids didn't follow the rules, why should they?

"What if I told you that I know where the main supply of Vixen is coming from?" Fletcher asked.

I lifted a shoulder in an effort to appear nonchalant. "I'd say I'm not surprised as that's probably part of your job."

She leaned closer. "What if I also told you that I have eyes on everyone in your family right now? Your niece is in math, your sister is in her office with headphones on, your dad is in his car on I-75, and your mom is showing a house on Willow Street."

I lifted the corner of my mouth while clicking my watch button six times rapidly, dispatching an emergency SOS signal. "Wrong. My mom is dead."

"Well then, the rest of your family will soon join her."

"Unless?"

"We make a trade. I give you the location of the warehouse and leave your family and you alive. In exchange, our paths never cross again."

I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair. "Why would I let you walk free?"

"You mean outside of saving your family? Because you want Vixen off the streets, and so do I. But for different reasons. Call it a mutual back scratching." My watched buzzed three times, signaling that a team was on their way.

"I have a question," I started. "When you recruited for your clinical trials, did you only accept the dying to make yourself feel better if it didn't work?"

She hid her surprise, but not quickly enough. "Not all of them were dying. It's always good to have a control."

Poppy was right. Five terminal and one healthy soul. It would account for the shadow attack. "Yes, I suppose it is. Or to have control, which is why I'm assuming you're pushing for this deal."

She tilted her head to the side. "You're smart."

"But you're not, if you think I'm going to let someone who not only threatened me, but threatened my family, walk away."

She leaned across the table. "Ah, but you know that working with me is the best chance you have to close this case, and isn't that what you want to do the most? Close this case and move into a mentorship?"

I concentrated on not reacting. How did she know about Daisy? Daisy's powers were a closely guarded secret, and my requested transfer to be her mentor was only known by a handful of trusted people. I needed to break this down, needed to think like Mina.

One, Fletcher wanted the Vixen off the streets. Two, she knew about my job change. Three, she was an unregistered hybrid. I studied her for a moment, the faint smile, the cocky attitude, the unhurried perusal of the shop. She was confident she'd get what she wanted, which meant she had an ace up her sleeve.

As if Mina was sitting next to me whispering into my ear, the thought popped into my head. Once you take Vixen off the streets, it'll all be in one place: the evidence room at SHAP headquarters. Which wouldn't matter unless Fletcher had access to it. Sometimes the simplest-although most devastating-answers were right.

There was a leak at SHAP.

Which also meant she probably already knew I had sent out the SOS call, based on the smile she flashed me. I had seconds to come up with a plan. I looked around the room and took in the remaining crowd. Two shapeshifters, four ghosts, three werewolves (two were Fletcher's bodyguards and one was Eleonora), and six human agents, including me and Paris.

I caught Reggie's gaze and looked up at the sprinkler system. He returned a puzzled look but shifted closer. "I don't presume to know your age," I said to Fletcher, "But have you seen the cinematic classic Titanic?"

She frowned. "Like twenty years ago? I was a kid. Probably saw a few scenes."

I looked over her right shoulder at Reggie. "I don't know if you know this, but ghosts love that movie. I swear, if they could flood an entire room with a sprinkler and then float around on doors, they would." Reggie's eyes widened as he looked up, spotting the sprinkler. He immediately disappeared and I inhaled slowly, trying to calm my heart rate. I couldn't get too excited yet. This plan could still fail catastrophically.

I had no doubt Paris and I could take Fletcher, but her werewolves posed an issue. I wouldn't have time to give the order to shoot them before they filled me with bullets. Not unless they were sufficiently distracted. Every werewolf I knew hated water, and I just had to hope these two were the same.

"I think you've had one too many concussions, Agent Robinson. You're not making sense, and quite frankly I'm bored with all this." She stood and pulled out her gun, leveling it at my heart. "You have five seconds to agree to a deal with me or die." She shrugged. "Either way, I win."

Paris broke character and grabbed her weapon. Dammit. I wanted to keep her presence hidden. I couldn't blame her. Newbie Jake would've reacted in the same way.

Fletcher's werewolves drew their own weapons and trained them on Paris and me. "Ah, so you did bring company," Fletcher surmised. "Pity. Deal's off." The remaining agents drew their pieces and pointed them at Fletcher and her guards. “Uh- uh, not a good idea."

I raised my eyebrows in a silent reply.

"Because if I fail to call in the next ten minutes, my team's got orders to kill your family. Which means if you kill me, you're effectively killing them."

I pressed my lips together. I didn't have to kill her, just slow her down. "Put your weapons down," I ordered the room. I couldn't risk someone taking her out. Not yet. There were grumbles, but I heard the click of guns on tile. Fletcher took a step back. "Maybe I'll kill your family, anyway. Just to send a message." She shifted her aim. "And I'll start with your pretty partner."

The sprinklers went off, dumping water all over us. Something hard slammed into me as I dove for Paris. A gunshot rang out, and moments later pain radiated through my left arm. We hit the ground so hard, I lost my breath. I rolled us over, shouting at the pain in my leg. A flash of purple faded into nothing.

The two werewolf guards were cowering from the water and the SHAP agents had taken them into custody. I looked around for Fletcher, but she was gone; the glass front door of the café was off its hinges. I hauled myself up with a growl and limped heavily toward a werewolf, holding my gun against its forehead.

"You have ten seconds to tell me where Fletcher's going or I'll put a silver bullet in your brain," I threatened.

"Please, I have a family, too," he begged.

"Then you know I'm serious." I cocked the gun. "Nine. Eight. Seven-"

"We know where the main lab and warehouse are," the other one shouted.

I didn't move the gun but turned to him. "Where?"

"Hayvenwood, Michigan." Hayvenwood. If Fletcher wanted to take out the main lab, no doubt she'd be headed there soon.

SHAP vans rolled up, an armed team entering through the front door and the kitchen. The sprinklers were turned off, and I helped Paris off the floor while SHAP took the werewolves into custody. Paris twisted her soaking wet apron and did her best to tie it around my bicep as a tourniquet as Jim approached.

"Family's safe," he promised. "Security got Daisy. Eliza incapacitated her attacker and got word to your folks."

"Mina and Carma?" I prompted.

"Belphegor."

"We need to get him on payroll." I ran my right hand down my face, trying to wipe the dirty water out of my eyes. "Get my family to a safe house off SHAP radar." I gave him a long look, trying to silently communicate my suspicions about a mole.

He held my gaze and nodded. "See a medic."

I looked at Paris. "You okay?"

"Just bruised." She looked up at me. "I should've waited."

I nodded. "Your instincts will get stronger." We walked out the door and I sat in the back of a SHAP ambulance as they attended to my arm.

"Got lucky," the medic said. "Only needed three stitches from that bullet."

Reggie appeared next to me, panicking. "You got shot!"

"Reg, buddy, I'm fine," I admitted.

He took a deep breath. "What if I hadn't been able to get the sprinklers on? What if Poppy hadn't been there?"

My head snapped to face him. "Poppy was here?" The flash of purple.

He nodded. "She redirected the bullet, mano. A second later and that would've hit your chest. You saved Paris; Poppy saved you."

"Holy shit." We sat in silence for a beat. Had Poppy just saved my life? Did that mean she really was here for my soul?

"What now?" Reggie asked.

"I go to Hayvenwood and try to finish this thing before it's too late."