Grim and Bear It
Chapter Thirty-Seven

Jake

Fenton and Romi had us packed and ready to go within thirty minutes, as promised. Paris confirmed the next helicopter wouldn't be available for ten more hours, so we piled in the truck. Fenton took first shift driving with Poppy in the front seat. Paris was strapped into the trunk, a makeshift bench seat made of couch cushions and a harness, while Romi and I occupied the middle. I wished I could sleep, but I was too worried, too hopeful, too much in disbelief. Could Poppy finally have the chance to live a normal human life? Well, as normal as one can be after being dead for twelve years. Could it mean that we'd be together for as many years as she had left? Was this the reason I could see her? Because somehow she had begun to change back?

Paris had gasped in surprise at the sight of Poppy when we had picked her up, but like a good agent, she took it all in stride, and then immediately fell asleep in the back. I was restless after an hour, wishing she was awake so we could talk about the case. Four and a half more hours seemed like an eternity in the dark.

My leg didn't love sitting upright this long without breaks to stretch, but we all agreed that we'd try to make only one stop, to get gas when we reached a more populated town about ninety minutes outside of Applechester. The long stretches of forest that hugged both sides of the road only diverged into small towns shut up for the night, and they were too risky. With Fletcher still at large, and us likely now on her radar, we were taking extra precautions.

"Romi?" Poppy asked. "Can you tell me your story? From the beginning?"

She nodded. "Of course." Romi was great at storytelling and the restlessness settled. Poppy asked question after question, and Fenton filled in parts that Romi missed.

"Could that happen to me?" Poppy said. "Where I have to be in the hospital for a long time?"

Romi reached out and took her hand. "I don't think so. You seem to be doing okay right now, which is a good sign! And your death wasn't violent like mine."

"Also, you didn't have to climb out of hell," Fenton added.

"That's a solid point," Poppy concluded.

We drove on, Romi's conversation leading her to share the stories about her twin and their best friend Raine. I eventually pulled out my crochet, using the dashboard light and touch as my guide. It wasn't going to be perfect, but at least it lowered my anxiety.

I watched Poppy laugh and gasp and cry, her face silhouetted in the same dashboard glow. She was so beautiful, so confident in her emotions. I could feel her hope filling the cab, as if she was on the verge of having everything she ever wanted.

It was going to be interesting explaining her presence to my family, and I worried about how she would handle not seeing hers again for a long time, but I couldn't do anything about that right now. All we had to do was keep going. "Um..." Poppy turned around in her chair. "I think I have to go to the bathroom?"

"Think?" I prompted.

"Well, it's been awhile, but I think that's what this pressure is?"

"Romi," Fenton said. "Any feelings, good or bad, about this exit?"

She closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side. "Hard to tell. Possibly neutral." She gave us a sad smile. "I'm still working on feeling out new places. I'm pretty decent at Hayvenwood, but the further we get away, the less intense I feel things."

"We just need to travel more," Fenton added. "But we've been so busy getting the bar up and running." He took the next exit with a rest stop and pulled into the nearly empty parking lot.

Two semi-trucks were in the back of the lot, idling for the night. Two dim streetlights illuminated the sidewalk in front of the building, which immediately dipped into shadow.

"I'll do a perimeter check," I said, reaching for the door.

"We'll go together," Paris said, sounding completely awake.

I startled and looked back at her. "You were passed the hell out!"

"It's a talent." She lifted a shoulder. "Now come on, I have to pee, too."

The two of us climbed out, weapons and flashlights in our hands. We went in opposite directions around the building, then met back at the front entrance.

"All clear," Paris confirmed, "but unsettling. Let's move quick."

"All clear," I echoed. "And agreed."

We moved as a group to and from the building, and then returned to the highway without incident. Paris, who was more awake now than any of us, took over driving. Romi and Fenton took the back, and I lay down in the middle seat, exhausted enough to close my eyes, and drifted into a light sleep.

I woke when the truck stopped moving, my body stiff and sore from lying down while buckled in. I pushed myself upright and saw we were at a gas station. That meant only ninety more minutes to go. Paris grabbed her purse, but I called her name. "I need to stretch my legs. I've got it."

"I'll come out with you," Poppy said. "I'm getting stiff, which is a new feeling for me!"

"Do not envy you relearning what hurts," Paris added.

We slipped out the door and I squinted at the blinding florescent lights illuminating the twenty-four-hour gas station. "Cash," I told Poppy. "Don't know if we're being tracked."

She nodded and bounced alongside me as we walked into the small convenience store, where the cashier sat on a stool behind a partition. Despite being a small town, the station was right off the highway, likely making it an easy target for robberies.

"Thirty on pump three," I said, dropping the bills into the small opening at the counter.

The cashier looked up when he handed me my receipt, his brow furrowed. "Not again." "What do you mean?"

He gestured behind me. "Some weirdo wearing a purple cloak has been in here for the last three nights. That woman you came in with is talking to her. I'd get her away from the freak show, man."

My blood ran cold. Purple cloak. I spun around to see Poppy talking to...air. I ran over to her. "Who are you talking to? Are you okay?"

She looked up at me, eyes huge. "Sylvia," she whispered.

"Let's go." I grabbed her hand and kept her behind me as we hurried out the door.

"Call your loved ones!" Poppy yelled to the cashier, who gave her a strange look. "If he can see Sylvia, it means he's about to die," she whispered.

I should've had Paris pull the truck around. I should've called them from inside the store. I should've tried for the helicopter after all. Romi opened her car door and jumped out, shouting as she ran toward us. But I couldn't hear her. Not over the sound of the explosion. Déjà vu.

As if in slow motion, Poppy screamed. "No!" She tackled me from behind seconds before a wave of heat and debris swallowed us whole. All the oxygen disappeared, and I sucked in a lungful of smoke, choking until my eyes watered. "Poppy?" I wheezed. "Poppy, are you okay?" I went into another coughing fit.

Someone grabbed me by the shoulders, hauled me to my feet, and pressed a gun to my head. In my career as a SHAP agent, I'd had a gun pressed to my head enough times to not panic immediately. I tried to suck in a calming breath, still shaking with silent coughs.

"Stop," my attacker ordered.

Fletcher. I could tell by the voice. "Can't order an involuntarily reflex to stop for your convenience," I shot back, pissed off, coughing through the entire thing. She'd likely killed the attendant who was only doing his job, and for what? To come after me? "You didn't have to blow up another building."

"What can I say? I like being theatrical." She turned us around, to face the spot where she pulled me from. Romi and Fenton were crouched over Poppy, while Paris held a gun pointed at Fletcher in one hand and her cell in the other. Loren was next to her, gun trained on whoever was behind us. "Speaking of drama, we should talk about your girlfriend."

My gaze went to Poppy again. Fenton tore off his coat and bundled it under her head. Then Romi shifted, and I saw it. The blood on her hands. Poppy's blood.

"Poppy!" I cried out, trying to shove away from Fletcher, but she was a hybrid and stronger than any human.

"Calm down, Prince Charming, she'll be fine."

I scanned Poppy's body and saw a giant shard of curling metal that had caught her side. It wouldn't have hurt a reaper, but it would kill a human. I was going to lose her again. My knees buckled.

"How very sweet though," Fletcher cooed, lifting me off the ground with one arm. "She'll die saving the man she loved. Had she been a few inches to your right, you'd be bleeding out right now instead of her. Of course, that would've deprived me of this."

I stilled, realization dawning. Maybe I hadn't seen Poppy because she was coming for my soul. Maybe she saw me because I killed her. "What do you want?"

"Your life for hers. I give her the venom, she turns into a hybrid and miraculously heals. You die and get off my back. I have a plan, and you keep getting in my way."

"Let me guess...gathering up as much Vixen as you can and selling it to the highest bidder. It's why you were cutting the venom with fentanyl, wasn't it? To skim off the top and keep as much as possible?"

"You're good, I'll give you that." She leaned even closer and said into my ear. "You know what? Maybe I'll take your partner, too. Seems she's just as skilled."

"Me and me alone," I shot back. "And Paris will drop the case, and make sure it's not reopened." I held my partner's gaze even as she shook her head no. "Paris, promise you'll let the case drop."

"Jake, I can't do that," she protested.

"You can't work if you're dead," I warned. I knew she'd never give up this case, not when it took so many innocent people. But I just needed her to agree so we could help Poppy.

She clenched her jaw and lowered her phone to her pocket, putting both hands on her gun. "Fine. I promise. But if she makes one wrong move..."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Fletcher said. "I've got my boys with me. And they'll tear you apart with their teeth before you could blink. Also it's really hard to kill me."

Paris raised one eyebrow in challenge, but kept her mouth shut.

"Jake!" Poppy called, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I'm here, love," I promised. "If I give you something to make you better, would you take it?"

"I" she wheezed, "I don't know."

My eyes were glued to the puddle of blood next to her. There was no way that she'd survive this. I'd seen enough of life and death and everything in between to know when a miracle was needed. "Love, listen. This would turn you into a half vampire, okay? But you'd still be half human. You can heal and still live a wonderful life."

"She's losing consciousness," Fenton said, looking over his shoulder at me. "This decision's got to be yours."

"It can't be," I admitted. "The only thing she wanted was to make a decision about her own life. I can't make that for her."

"She won't have a life soon!" Fenton returned.

"She'll go back to being a reaper, right, Sylvia?" I asked, knowing Sylvia was here. "That's why you were here, wasn't it? To take her and the station attendant."

"Jake," Loren called. "Look at me." It took all my strength to tear my gaze away from Poppy and look at him. "She made her decision. She gave her life to save yours. Either way, her human life is over. She's either going back to being a reaper or she's going to be a hybrid."

My eyes stung as my heart cracked in half, knowing there was nothing I could do to save her delicate human body. Why couldn't she have waited just one more day to turn human?

"If she goes back to being a reaper," Paris added, "all of this, everything you two fought for is over, forever. And I'm pretty sure Fletcher's gonna kill you anyway."

I felt her arms move in what was probably a shrug. "She's not wrong. This is an Academy Award winning speech-"

"But you can give her a chance," Paris interrupted, ignoring Fletcher. "She's still partially human as a hybrid and maybe they can reverse the venom. If it's not laced with fentanyl. She can still live a wonderful life. And a life would've been her choice. I just met her, but I'd bet my own on it."

"I've got a shot," Loren said, holding his gun level. "Bet we can get the venom and take out the trash."

One of Fletcher's wolves moved into my sight line with a gun on Poppy. "Go ahead and try. Your reaper's not coming back with a bullet through her skull," Fletcher warned.

I sank in defeat, running every scenario through my head and all of them ending with someone I cared about dead. "Take care of her, okay?" I asked Paris.

"With all of me," she swore.

I swallowed hard, my mouth dry and my eyes wet. "Fletcher, you have a deal. Me for the venom. Straight, non-diluted, no-fentanyl venom."

"Pleasure doing business with you," Fletcher said. "Bring the pill!" she called.

I heard a door open and one of the werewolves sauntered over, stopping just outside of my field of vision. I wondered if I managed an escape if I could take them. Chances were slim.

"Give it to the one covered in blood," Fletcher ordered and started dragging me backward. "If you keep your word, I'll never see you again. If I do see you, I'll kill you on sight, no questions asked. Then I'll go after everyone you've ever loved." The werewolf tossed a pill bottle to Romi who caught it midair then turned around to walk back with me. I knew if I didn't make a break for it while in this parking lot, I was a dead man. But I didn't want to struggle until they'd dosed Poppy. "Paris," Romi called, then gave her a nod. She grabbed something from behind her back. "Jake, duck!"

I shoved Fletcher's arm with all my strength and threw my head back, my skull making contact with her nose. She hissed at the pain. I didn't care that she'd heal almost immediately, I only cared about distracting her.

Three gunshots rang out. A burst of fire burned across my temple and forehead, my vision going hazy. Fletcher's hold disappeared and I plummeted to the ground.

I was turned over, Paris looming over me. She ripped off her sweatshirt and pressed it against my forehead. I hissed at the pressure. "You scared me, you asshole," she shouted. "It's just a graze."

"Poppy!" I shouted, or maybe whispered. My ears were ringing from the shot. I forced myself to sit up on my elbows and looked over at her pale, still body.