Grim Business

Chapter Twenty-Six

They had a meeting the next day.

Phoebe hadn’t been prepared, having finally gotten to sleep for a full night and even half of the day, but when she woke up and came downstairs with her hair a mess and still in her pajamas, she was stunned to be faced with all of her friends…and Alaina.

“What are you doing here?” she blurted out.

“Ethan told us everything,” Dru said, rushing over and pulling her into a hug. “We’re here to help.” Dru held her out at arm’s length, looking her over, then made a face. “You look awful.”

“Gee, thanks,” Phoebe muttered with a roll of her eyes, but she couldn’t fight the happiness she felt at having her friends by her side once more; she’d been doing the lone ranger thing a little too long.

Rambo came over next and draped an arm around her shoulder. “I knew it was something like this. I even told Dru.”

“You said that she was obviously a vampire. I disagreed.” Dru pointed out, shaking her head. “Ugh, what happened to your neck? It’s all…bruised and gross.”

“Strangled by a demonic spirit,” Phoebe said sheepishly, “Comes with the territory, I guess.”

Slowly, Alaina came over and Dru and Rambo exchanged a look before backing away, letting the two girls have a moment. “You came to help,” Phoebe said.

Alaina nodded. “Yeah. I guess that after what happened, I thought…well, I owe it to you.”

Phoebe shook her head. “No, you don’t owe me anything. It’s not a big deal. Apparently, I was supposed to save you anyways.”

“Nevertheless, you saved me. So thank you. Now, where do we start with all this…” Alaina motioned vaguely at the air. “..stuff,” she finished.

“Research,” Ethan said, suddenly stepping into the foyer from the living room. He smelled faintly of oatmeal and cinnamon. “But first, we eat! I made some oatmeal…”

“With cinnamon?” Phoebe asked.

“How’d you know?” Ethan asked ,and Phoebe came over and placed a hand firmly on his chest, almost as if making sure he was really, truly there. Then, she pressed a light kiss to his lips, lingering a moment before stepping away.

“Because it’s my favorite. And here I thought I was gonna have to do all the cooking in our relationship!” Phoebe said.

They all ate comfortably in the dining room. It was quiet at first, the group not sure how to react to their strange circumstances, but it was only a matter of time before conversation started flowing around the table.  It was nice, she thought, having people all around the table for once instead of just her and her dad, or more often, just her. Eventually, the conversation turned more towards their goal and what Phoebe was trying to accomplish. She explained how she had trained extensively, saved Alaina, and was now struggling to save her father. She told them about the file Hel had given her, about Mike who they faced last night, and about the Necromancer.

“But who is the Necromancer? Sounds corny to me,” Dru said, shrugging.

“He’s powerful,” Phoebe said. “Really powerful. Strong enough to take a fully grown, trained Grim out of his house and dismantling centuries of protection spells in the process.”

“Sounds like someone you shouldn’t be messing with to me,” Alaina said, and when Phoebe shot her a reproachful look, she held up her hands in surrender. “I didn’t say I wasn’t going to help! Just that I don’t think we’ve got much of a chance here. If this thing can take out your dad, how are you supposed to match it?”