Chapter 4 Spider Bite
The Grimm hissed his breath in through his teeth at the sting of Liliana's fangs piercing his flesh.
His scent was gunpowder and steel, sweat and soap. She reveled in it. She licked the trickle of blood from the two small puncture wounds. The taste of him was coppery sweet and salty.
He moaned and she felt the vibration under her tongue.
She looked at his face with all her eyes, smiling at the confused euphoria she saw there.
"See, beautiful Grimm. You are not dying."
"If I am, I'm going to die happy." He chuckled, blinked, and shook his head as if trying to clear it. "If you could bottle that, you could make a fortune."
Liliana nodded. "Spinnesehen venom is worth many thousands of dollars, but I prefer to make my living in other ways, and save my venom for those I choose. Venom is meant to be shared with a lover, but I have not had a lover in some time."
She stroked the sharp cheekbone of the Grimm with the pretty blue eyes, and searched his fuzzy, floating mind and heart. "Do you still believe that I am the killer you seek?"
He chuckled and leaned toward her, touching his forehead to hers. "I get it. You're a lover, not a fighter."
"I defeated a Grimm in single combat."
He laughed again. "It's just an expression."
She saw the Grimm's conviction that she was the killer fading. She clearly had not killed anyone with her fangs. Even under the fog of her venom, he recognized that her bite was not in any way similar to the bite of the spinnetod.
But, he was a Grimm, and he knew what she was now. He might still decide to kill her just to be sure.
She saw in his heart an almost overwhelming need to protect women and children, especially any woman he cared for.
"Kiss me and I will free you," she told him. That would probably do it.
He hesitated, thick brows pulled together as if he was trying to remember something. It took a strong will to resist the suggestibility of her venom. He must really find her true form repulsive. She understood. Most of her lovers had been human since they couldn't see her eyes. A lot of wesen found her eyes unnerving.
Liliana looked into him to see what held him back, expecting a horrific view of herself.
Liliana saw the Grimm's red-haired lady instead. Thoughts of her held him back from Liliana. He had a ring. He was just waiting for the right moment to ask her. He didn't want to kiss another girl and betray his beloved Juliet.
Liliana looked forward in time with her fourth eyes. She saw the moment he sought come to pass in his near future. His lady love would tell him no, because he hid the Grimm aspects of himself from her. She would break his heart for something he could not share with her.
Sadness for him filled her. She stroked his silken hair.
"Sweet Romeo. Your Juliet will have a lifetime of kisses from you if she will but say yes. She can spare a single one for me."
He grinned at her, wide and sparkling and mischievous. Dazzling. "I'll make it a good one, then."
The Grimm was true to his word.
She closed all but the eyes that looked into his heart and mind, as she sank into the taste and textures of the beautiful Grimm.
He kissed with the same passion and purpose that he fought.
In his mind, she saw herself now. He thought she was pretty, and her eyes were fascinating, like exotic jewels embedded in her face. The image of herself inside his mind pleased her.
Liliana found herself envying his red-haired Juliet.
But that was insanity. A Grimm would never have a relationship with a wesen that didn't involve sharp instruments and blood. She kissed him in hope that he would not wish to hunt and kill a woman he had kissed.
She flexed her wrist to extend her right arm blade so she could cut his bonds. She had to kill the tiger in her trap or free him, and she didn't want this Grimm dead, especially not after she had kissed him. She should set him free while the venom made him docile.
The Grimm's eyes widened. "Cool." His first reaction was to admire her natural weaponry. His second thought, piercing through the fog, was that she was going to kill him now. The venom in his system made it virtually impossible for him to really feel fear, but his dark eyebrows drew together again. "Why?" he asked her. "I thought you liked me." Hurt feelings.
Liliana flexed her wrist to sheath her blade back in the natural, all but invisible pocket in her forearm. The Grimm still believed she would kill him, and to be honest, the kiss was not enough to make her feel safe either. "I do like you, beautiful Grimm. I just don't trust you not to kill me in my sleep."
"I wouldn't do that. I'd only kill you when you were awake," he said, with the honesty the venom brought out.
Liliana chuckled. "I am not reassured, but thank you for trying."
There was nothing for it. Liliana would still have to leave town and disappear. And she would have to be somewhere else when the Grimm was freed.
She felt in his pants pockets, then jacket.
He grinned and squirmed as she checked his pants pockets. "Hey, I thought you knew I was taken."
She pulled out his phone and looked at the Grimm's contact list. Hank. His partner. She dialed the number and waited. She got voice mail. She considered leaving a message, but didn't want to leave the Grimm tied to a post for an unknown amount of time, defenseless, until Hank remembered to check his voice mail.
A Grimm's life had to be a deadly dangerous one. Being defenseless at the wrong moment, or trusting the wrong person, could mean death.
She asked the Grimm, "Besides Hank, who would you trust with your life?"
"Monroe," the Grimm said without hesitation.
She searched his contact list and touched the number for Monroe, home.
A deep male voice answered with a weary sigh. "What do you want this time, Nick?"
"You are Monroe?"
"Yeah, who is this, and how did you get Nick's phone?" The voice had gone from mildly annoyed to tense.
"Nick needs your help." She gave him the address. "How soon can you get here?"
"What kind of trouble is he in?"
Liliana knew the Grimm hid himself from his lady love. Who else did he hide such things from? His closest friend?
"He is in a grim situation." Liliana was proud of herself for managing a sentence with a double meaning.
"Is he hurt?"
She looked at the Grimm. There were two tiny trickles of blood on his chest. Aside from that, the Grimm wasn't even visibly bruised from their fight. "Not seriously. But he cannot defend himself."
"I can be there in twenty minutes."
Liliana put his phone back in the Grimm's jacket pocket.
She left the tiny island of human visible light to collect the Grimm's weapons.
"Anna?" he called to her nervously as she walked away. "You're not going to just leave me like this, are you? You said you'd let me go if I kissed you."
Liliana placed his gun, axe and sword at his feet. "I keep my promises, Grimm. Your friend, Monroe, is coming. He will free you."
"Why won't you?"
"I need to go."
"Where are you going?"
"Somewhere far away where you won't find me, beautiful Grimm. I don't want to kill you, but I also don't want you to kill me."
"You don't have to go. I'll talk to Charlotte, the spinnetod you told me about. If your story checks out, I'll know you didn't murder those men and I'll leave you alone."
"Will you?" Liliana tried opening her fourth eyes, searching for possibilities, but everything was fuzzy regarding this Grimm and her. Turning point. Decisions made in the next few minutes would forge her future path. Liliana's future was fluxing too much for her to see anything solid.
She touched her forehead to his again, standing on tiptoe. "Be well, beautiful Grimm."
"Nick. My name is Nick."
"Nick." Liliana tilted her head to one side, considering. "My name is Liliana. People mostly call me Anna now. But I like Lily. My father used to call me Lily when I was little."
Nick smiled. He had a stunning smile. "Lily," he said. "I like it."
Liliana caught a silk line and swung up into the rafters, into the darkness his eyes could not pierce. In minutes, his friend would be there to save him. She should go.
But she didn't.