Mercy for the Wicked (12 page)

Sam rose to his feet, no signs of fatigue in his stance.  “I am truly sorry, Mercy.  I underestimated the level of degradation to which he has fallen.  I had known him to be given to certain excesses, but I still labored under the assumption he was the brother I once knew.  I can no longer sit idly by while he places you in such torment.”  Whatever he had in mind it didn’t look pleasant from the look on his face. 

“Wait, what are you going to do?”

“I can’t go where he is imprisoned, but since he has made the Ether his hunting ground, I will pursue him there and end this.”

It sounded good in theory, but why hadn’t he tried that before?  “Just like that?  How are you going to get him to stop?”

“It will not be easy,” his face clouded.  “I may be gone for some time, and I do not like leaving you unprotected.”

“Hey, I’d rather have you deal with Azazael, I can take care of myself here.”  At least I hoped so, but there hadn’t been an attack on the demon front for a little while.  “Do you want me to come with you? You know, as bait.”

I didn’t think he’d go for it, but Sam actually appeared to consider it.  “It will be difficult to find him in that plane without being called, but I do not wish to place you in danger.  Promise me you will be careful while I am gone.”

It was a relief not to confront Azazael again so soon, even with angelic back up.  I was still pretty shaken up about our last encounter.  “Yeah, of course.  I’ll stick to crowds and I’ll have Ben come pick me up after work tonight.”  Of course I still hadn’t talked to Ben after our last argument…

“Take care, Mercy.” Sam leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to my forehead.  “I will not rest until I find him and make him pay for his treatment of you.”

“You take care too, Sam.” I caught his hand before he pulled away.  “He’s not playing fair, so you can’t count on any bond you might have had before.  Whatever he was before the fall, that guy is evil to the core now, so watch your back.”  Sam nodded, and with a last long look, he was gone.

There was no way in hell I’d get back to sleep that night, so I stumbled into the shower, washing away the last vestiges of the nightmare.  My bed wasn’t so easily taken care of though, and I was glad I had my own stackable washer and dryer and wouldn’t have to make the trip to the Laundromat to wash out all the blood.  By the time I got cleaned up and settled in on the couch, I noticed I had seven missed calls from the same unlisted number with no messages.  Having a good idea who might be on the other end, I dialed the number, not at all surprised when the line clicked open with no response.

“It’s me,” I spoke into the silence.  “You’re probably wondering what happened since I called you in the Ether, but… I don’t know, Adam.  You didn’t come.  I needed you and you weren’t there for me.”  My voice broke at that last as I remembered the panic I’d felt when I called his name.  “You might think you’re protecting me, but you blew it this time.  I was this close to being…” I swallowed, taking a deep breath as I tried to steady my nerves. 

“I don’t know what this passive aggressive phone call that isn’t a phone call thing is about, but stop calling me if you don’t want to be a part of my life.  I need someone I can count on.  I need someone who puts me first every now and again in the real world.  Goodbye, Adam.”  I waited long seconds before I hung up, hoping against hope he’d say something, but there was nothing but dead air.  With a beep, I broke the connection, and I sat there, staring at nothing in particular until I saw the sun peek over the horizon outside my sliding glass door to the patio. 

Wrapping my soft, fuzzy blanket around me, I stepped out onto the patio, Mimsy close on my heels, eager for a little outside time.  It was cold, bracingly so, but I welcomed it, I needed the breath of fresh air.  By the time I was ready to come in, I knew what I had to do.  Despite the early hour, I dialed the one person who’d been begging me to let him in the whole time and who I’d been resisting.  Ben answered on the second ring.

“Hey, are you still talking to me?”  There was a note of hope mixed with apology in my voice and I waited to see what kind of mood I’d find him in.

“Mercy, I didn’t think you were ever conscious at this hour of the day.”

Ben sounded guarded, and I couldn’t blame him.  He probably wondered what horrible thing I was going to tell him next.  “Yeah well, I’ve been up for so long this actually feels kind of like midday to me, so…”

“Long night, huh?”

“You don’t know the half of it,” I muttered, but that wasn’t what I wanted to talk to him about.  I was tired of always calling him with a ‘poor me’ story.  I realized I had no idea what was going on in his life right now except for the parts that revolved around me.  More than anything I wanted to get back to that place we’d been before all the craziness erupted.  That place where we were a normal guy and girl living normal lives and the only demons we wrestled with were personal ones.  “Look, the reason I’m calling is, I wanted to apologize for things.  I’ve been under a lot of stress lately and maybe I haven’t made the best decisions, but…”

“No, I shouldn’t have left like that, you were right, we should have talked it out,” he interrupted, and my heart swelled with happiness to hear him meet me half way. 

“It’s a lot to deal with, I get that.  And even more than that, I should have told you everything a lot sooner and about Sam being here and… I’m sorry the way things turned out.  I’ve been thinking…” I paused, taking a deep breath before taking the plunge.  “I was thinking maybe you were right.  Maybe I should come and stay with you for a while, if the offer still stands.”

“Of course you can!”  The enthusiasm in his voice made me smile, I should have done it long before.  What was I letting hold me back from loving him?  “Do you want me to come and get you?”

“No, I can manage to get a few things together on my own and I’ll need my car to get to work tonight.  How about I come over after work?  Or is that too late?”

“No, I’ll wait up for you, no problem.  You know me, I can sleep in bits and pieces.  It’ll be good to see you again, Mercy, I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too,” I replied, blinking rapidly through the swell of relief those words brought me.  Our relationship was strong enough to weather a few hiccups along the way and that knowledge made me feel something in short supply of late.  Safe.  “I’ll see you later tonight then.”

“See you then.  And Mercy, I’m so glad you came around.”

I was going to take control of my life even if it killed me.  Oh sure, I planned to stick to crowds at night like I’d promised, and hope that Sam could keep Azazael off my back at night so I could sleep someday again, but for the rest of it, I was tired of living in fear.  No more using my angelic gifts to stick my nose into other people’s lives like I had with Parker, and no more half conversations with Ben.  I was going for full disclosure from then on.  No more doomed fantasies about an angel that was out of reach by his design.  If Adam didn’t want to spend his life with me, I wasn’t going to wait around indefinitely in the hopes he might change his mind and throw me a bone.  I was ready to start the rest of my life with Ben and make a real commitment to him. 

Only I never made it there.

Chapter Eight

I have to admit, I was a little wigged out at the thought of going out into the parking lot by myself after work without Sam around, I’d gotten pretty used to him there as my constant shadow.  I thought about asking Parker to walk me to my car, but Sharona was there hanging all over him, and I wasn’t going to stick my nose into that.  Instead I tried something new.  Waiting until I had a moment alone by the exit, I focused on making myself imperceptible.  While I had no idea if it worked on demons at all, it somehow felt safer having people walk right by without taking any notice of me.  I slipped out the door, growing bolder with each step when nothing jumped out of the shadows at me. 

With a whispered prayer, I started the engine, patting the dash affectionately as the little car roared to life.  Maybe things were turning in my favor?  I sang along with the radio on the way to Ben’s, looking forward to making things up to him in more ways than one.  Worrying about Azazael trying to force himself into my life by possessing Ben was a stupid fear.  I wasn’t going to give up sex for the rest of my life just because of that possibility, was I?  I’d be able to tell it was Ben, we had too many shared experiences for Azazael to impersonate him with any kind of accuracy.  Maybe we could even work out some kind of signal, so I could always know it was him?

I had to park down the street since someone was already in his extra parking spot and I didn’t have the clicker thing for the garage door.  I admit, as I fiddled with the keys, I did have a few moments of trepidation as I fumbled with the lock.  The second I found the right key, I scooted inside.

“Hey, Ben?”  Ben’s townhouse was three levels, with the garage on the ground floor, the living room in the middle and two bedrooms on the top floor.  I set the deadbolt and turned the alarm system on right behind me out of habit, I knew he was big on home security, probably normal for a cop. 

So you can understand my surprise when I heard the disembodied voice. 

“Nice to get you alone for once, Lovey.”

I froze halfway through the darkened garage.  Had someone been lying in wait for me the whole time?  “Whoever that is, I’m not alone.  My boyfriend’s right upstairs and he’s a cop.  So you’d better do yourself a favor and take off right now before he hears you.”  Two figures stepped out of the shadows.  I mean they literally stepped out of the shadows, as in; there hadn’t been anybody there a second ago. 

One was scruffy with jaundiced eyes that bulged slightly out of his thin face, his friend was a good deal shorter and huskier, long stringy hair hanging greasily from his scalp.  Neither of them looked like they’d ever spent much time in the dentist’s chair.  In easier times I might have mistaken them for a couple of dirty, homeless guys, but there and then, I knew they were far more dangerous from the lack of auras. 

“Wasn’t talkin’ ‘bout no copper,” the shorter one laughed thickly.  “But we can have a dance with him first if you’d rather.”  He started for the stairs and I called out as loud as I dared to stop him.

“Wait!  What do you want?”  It was fairly certain that whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good.

“We got to collect you for the Master, miss,” the tall one gave what I imagined passed for a pleasant smile among demons. 

“Collect me…”

“Too right, he was most explicit you wasn’t to be harmed.”

“Unless you was to put up a bit of a struggle,” the shorter added, “then we was allowed to have a little taste.”  He looked very, very interested in that possibility, probably because I was already starting to glow softly as my Grace keyed in to my distress. 

“A taste, but we ain’t allowed to harm her much, Hubie.”

“Is that you, Mercy?”  Ben’s voice sounded from above and I looked up the stairwell, torn between relief and fear at hearing him so close. 

“Yeah, I’ll be right up,” I called out before lowering my voice again.  “Look, I don’t want any trouble.  It’s real nice of you to come all this way to bring your master’s invitation,  but now is not a good time for me to go anywhere.”

Hubie’s smile widened in anticipation of my refusal.  “Oh, I’m sorry, were you under the impression that we was askin’?  She’s a cool one, ain’t she, Bert?  Butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.”

“Too right,” Bert chuckled as his companion shuffled a step closer, and then another.  “Try and understand, miss, we hold you in the highest regard.”

“That is a fact,” Hubie nodded, continuing his advance, even as I backed toward the stairs, the glow brightening against my futile attempts to smother it.  There was no telling what might happen if I accidentally gave them a blast of my Grace.  To hear it told, the Grace is absolutely delicious to minor imps and demons.  It might possibly trigger a feeding frenzy, and between the two of them, I might not survive it, orders from the Master or not.  “But we mean to take ya, there ain’t nothing else for it.  Now, you do your shiny best to cooperate, or we’ll have to pay a visit upstairs before we go.  You don’t want to bring the copper into it, do you?”

“Leave Ben out of this,” I hissed, the Grace flaring brighter and I tried to work up a good head of righteous anger to try and tamp it down. 

“Makes no difference to us whether he lives or dies, poppet.  The choice is up to you.” Hubie scratched at his lank scalp furiously, and it started to make me itch just watching him. 

“Who are you talking to, hon?” Ben called down, sounding a little closer.

“I’ll be right up!” I called out frantically, trying to figure out how the hell I was going to keep him out of it without having to go with those two.  “Sa…” I opened my mouth to call for Samael, but a filthy hand clapped over my face before I could get the rest of the word out.  

“Sorry, miss, but we can’t be allowin’ ya to call for no help, particularly of the angelic variety.”  Bert looked almost apologetic as he held me still.

“Look-see here, poppet.”  Hubie pushed his way into my face, his breath strong enough to make me gag.  “You come with us real quiet like, or I’ll have m’self a good look at his innards before we go.  But we
is
going, ain’t we?” he nodded and I nodded with him, my eyes wide.  I had no idea how I’d get out of it, but I couldn’t risk Ben getting hurt, and I couldn’t use my Grace against them.  Hell, I had no idea if Sam would even come if I did call, he was busy chasing after Azazael in the Ether.  And Adam… yeah, there was no use in calling for him anymore. 

“Grand.  Let’s be off then, shall we?”  Bert eased his hold on me, ruined teeth showing as he smiled.

“What about Ben?  I can’t leave without talking to him. At least let me go on up and say goodbye, smooth things over.”

“No time to keep the Master waiting.” Hubie grabbed my arm, propelling me forward. I threw up my hands to brace myself as he strolled right up to the darkest corner of the garage and we passed through the wall, out into the night air.  That solved the answer of how they’d gotten in there in the first place.