Grimm Consequences by Kate Serine

it’s all right,” Benedict said, getting up from the massage table and wrapping the towel around his waist. “Thank you for your concern, gentlemen, but I am quite unharmed, as you see.” He offered them all a comforting smile as he lifted his arms to his sides and herded them out the door. “That’s right, now, off you go.”
    As soon as the guards were gone, I raised the gun again, keeping it trained on Benedict. He chuckled and gestured with his hand. “Oh, do put that away, m’boy.”
    â€œNo offense,” I replied, “but I’d feel better if I didn’t.”
    He shrugged, going to a wardrobe and pulling out his clothes. “Suit yourself, Max—” He paused and turned to face me. “Sorry. Not sure what I should call you. Maximus? Nate?” He chortled, gesturing toward me. “Little Red Riding Hood?”
    I bristled at his taunt, but I wasn’t going to rise to the bait. “I need to find out where Demetrius took her soul.”
    â€œAnd you think I would know?” he asked, feigning ignorance. “I oversee the Reapers, m’boy, but I don’t babysit them.”
    My grip on the gun tightened. “He plans to punish her in my stead. And then he intends to make her a Reaper. All Reaper candidates still have to be approved by you. So tell me where the hell she is!”
    â€œYou know,” Benedict said, casually pulling on his shirt, “when I decided to step down as Reaper for the Tales, I didn’t even hesitate when it came to a replacement.”
    â€œI don’t have time for a trip down memory lane, Benedict,” I snapped. “Tell me where Tess is, goddamn it!”
    â€œI knew it would be you who replaced me,” Benedict continued. “I always knew. But I thought it would be as Supreme Reaper, master of all, not just as the Reaper to the Tales. I mean, you were the great Death Bringer . . . the most celebrated, the most dedicated, the most heartless Reaper I have ever known. I mean, the Black Death? Never once did you shirk from your duties on that one. There were days I actually worried about you, m’boy, thought perhaps you enjoyed this job just a little too much, that you might go rogue on me. Until”—he grinned and shook his head, shaking his finger in the air—“until the day I sent you to Make Believe and you saw her. ”
    I clenched my jaw, not sure where he was going with this, but knowing for damned sure that he was wasting my time. “I love her,” I ground out, not sure what else to say.
    Benedict nodded, buttoning the cuffs of his shirt. “Clearly. You have broken our laws time and time again for her benefit, Maximus. By all rights, I should’ve had you relieved of duty and left to your damnation.”
    â€œIf you were so pissed about me granting her reprieve after reprieve, why the hell did you assign me to the Tales?” I demanded.
    Benedict regarded me for a long moment, a look in his eyes I’d never seen before. For a moment, I wasn’t quite sure what to call it. But then he gave me a sad smile. “I was once like you—completely heartless. Until someone showed me I wasn’t quite as unfeeling as I’d thought.” He heaved a long, sad sigh that was rife with regret. “I loved her. It’s that simple. But unlike you, m’boy, I lacked the courage to tell her so. I just watched from afar, wishing for what could never be.”
    â€œYou’re in love with a Tale?” I asked, finding it hard to believe that Benedict was capable of loving anyone. “Who?”
    He waved away my question. “Doesn’t matter. She died many years ago, before the relocation to the Here and Now. Oh, I could’ve stopped her death, could’ve granted her a reprieve. But when she saw me as I really am, the depth of the darkness in my soul, she was terrified of me. She screamed at the sight of me. Me! The one who