Mercy's Debt (Montgomery's Vampires Series Book One) (16 page)

After Jerry departed, I
turned my attention back to the group of police officers. I tilted my ear in their direction nosily, listening in on what they were discussing. They were engrossed in a dialogue with a man wearing a white jacket with CORONER printed across the back.

From what I
gathered, Liz had been dead since around midnight, which validated the alibi David had given them. One of the neighbors might have found her sooner, but nobody had seen her because of the smashed-out light. I clenched my fists in rage; the killer had left Liz on the front porch to perish in the rain overnight like she was nothing more than a heap of garbage.

A few moments later,
an officer unlocked David’s handcuffs. He rushed over and threw his arms around me. He was shaking violently, just as I was.

His cold lips brushed against my ear
. “I’m going to find the bastard who did this, Mercy,” he whispered. “And when I do, I’m going to rip his fucking heart out.”

“The police will find hi
m, David,” I reassured, but I wasn’t so sure. Unless they were on the lookout for a vampire, they’d be searching in the wrong place.

The
apartment was cleared for entry a little after dawn. The painful and sickening souvenir from Liz’s murder had been left on the door. I ran my fingers over the smear, feeling the dried, cracked blood: the last mark Liz would ever leave on the world.

Before
the police left, one of them had awkwardly handed me a flyer for a service that specialized in crime scene clean up. I’d have to remember to give them a call later.

I took one s
tep into the apartment and stopped. I couldn’t be there, not alone, and not with Liz never coming back. I stepped back out through the entryway, grabbing my cell phone off the table by the door. Without a second thought, I punched in Robert’s number.

The line rang several times.
“Mercy. I was just thinking of you. I-”

“
Liz has been murdered!” The words came tumbling out. “Somebody came to my apartment and killed her last night on our doorstep. Her throat was ripped wide open and I think it was a vampire who did it. A vampire, Robert! I’m sorry for bothering you, but I didn’t know who else to call. There’s blood all over my door and I can’t believe that she’s dead. How could anyone do this to Liz?” I babbled. “How can she be gone?”

Even after touching her blood,
the loss of Liz hadn’t seemed like reality until my deceleration to Robert. Stating the words
out loud
was what finally legitimatized her death to my subconscious.

I
felt very, very tired. I wanted to go to sleep and wake up months later, to miraculously turn the hopeless nightmare into a distant memory.

“What? But that cannot
be. I just…” He faltered. “Have you been harmed? Where are you?”

“
No, I’m okay,” I sobbed. “The murderer was long gone by the time that I’d come home. There were police everywhere, but they just left. I’m on the porch of my apartment and I’m so scared, Robert. I don’t want to be alone.”

“
Stay where you are. I will send Carl to pick you up. You will be safe as long as you stay in the sunlight. Whatever you do, do not go inside or step near any shadows. Understand?”

“
No, Robert, I don’t need you to send a car. I absolutely cannot stand to be near where Liz was… my apartment right now. I’ll come to you, okay?”

“
As long as you are not too upset to drive?”

“I’ll be okay.
Don’t worry about me.”

“
I will always worry about you, Mercy. I care for you deeply.”

I
was at a loss for words, much too traumatized to come up with any sort of coherent response.

“Mercy?
Are you there?”

“I’ll
see you in a few,” I said, hanging up.

NINETEEN

I parked
diagonally in Robert’s driveway, undoubtedly giving the lawn maintenance crew next door the impression that I’d been drinking.

I’d assumed that I was steady enough to operate
machinery before I’d gotten behind the wheel of my car, but I’d driven like a maniac on the way over, nearly rear-ending a minivan full of screaming kids at a stoplight. The driver, a stressed-out mom with a nasty case of bed head, shook her fist at me angrily before giving me the finger. I couldn’t blame her, but perhaps she would have been a bit more understanding if she’d known that my best friend had been assassinated by a vampire on my front porch sometime during the middle of the night.

Carl
was waiting for me at the front door. He was polished and professional, despite the early hour. I wondered when the man slept, or if he even did at all. As I made my approach, he bowed his head.

“I’m
very sorry for your loss, Mercy,” he said.

I simply bowed my head in return,
as there really was no appropriate way to respond. I’d known plenty of people who’d died of natural causes, but never of murder
. A murder at the hands of a vampire.

“
Please, follow me. Robert apologizes profusely for not meeting you at the door.” He raised a hand towards the sky, indicating the rising sun. “He is waiting for you inside his sleeping chamber.”

Carl
led me underground into the chamber and then left without another word. Robert ceased his nervous pacing when his eyes met mine, and I was enveloped in his strong arms before I had the time to register that he’d crossed the room.

He held me silently, caressing my hair. “I cannot tell you how reli
eved I am that you were not hurt. I do not understand why a vampire would do this to Liz,” he said irately. Feeling me tense within his arms, he hushed his voice. “How are you feeling?”

“Numb,” I whispered into his steely chest.
“I really don’t want to think about any of this. Liz’s murder, the fact that I’m being stalked by a vampire…”

“It’s okay. You’re safe now,” he said gently
.

“
I’m on the verge of losing my sanity completely, Robert,” I cried, burying my face into his chest. “I just need some time to compartmentalize my feelings. I don’t want to sound cold, but can we please just talk about something else for a while?”

“Okay. Whatever you want, sweetheart,” h
e said softly. “I will be here for you when you are ready mourn.” His grip on me loosened. “Oh, what
have
you got on?” he asked, taking in my figure-hugging dress, mud-encrusted stilettos, and Jerry’s enormous coat.

I looked down
at my freakish ensemble. “I was coming home from a Dignitary thing when I discovered… Anyway, I didn’t want to go inside my apartment to change.”

He
pursed his lips. “A Dignitary thing, hmm?” He tried to sound light, but jealousy seeped from his every word. “It doesn’t matter now. Here, please,” he led me to the bed in the center of the room. “I’m afraid I will be burned by the sunlight if we leave this chamber, so the bed will have to do for seating, unless you’d be more comfortable if I had Carl bring in a chair?”

“No, this is perfect.”
I kicked off my stilettos and took a seat, leaning back on the plush down duvet.

Acknowledging
his earlier jealousy, I ventured, “You know, my date last night was with a gay man.”

“Oh?
” He tried to convey a sense of indifference, but his relief was palpable. “And what of your ex-lover? Is he still bothering you?”

“Who?
Mathew?” I said his name with unimportance. It felt amazing to finally be able to truly feel nothing for him: not hurt, not anger, not longing.
Nothing.

“Yes. Look, from the bottom of my heart, Mercy, I am
terribly sorry about the scene I made outside the coffee house. I know you must think the absolute worst of me because of my appalling behavior. And when I saw that scoundrel grab your arm the way that he did… I was only watching you to keep you safe.” He pulled me close. “I could not bear to lose you.”

“
No, I’m the one who should be sorry. You were obviously right to be paranoid. I was the idiot for ignoring my gut and downplaying everything that was happening to me. Maybe if I had listened to you, Liz would still be alive.”

I
began to weep once more. Fat, angry tears of remorse spilled from my eyes, leaving quarter-sized splotches on his shirt. “I should have warned her, Robert. It’s my fault that she’s dead.”

Robert locked onto m
y face with his icy gaze. “Do not blame yourself for Elizabeth’s murder,” he said furiously. “The only one responsible is the vampire who did this. I will avenge her death. I promise you.”

I looked u
p into his livid face. “Thank you, Robert. I appreciate it, but…”

“You want to talk about something else?”

I nodded, taking in a jagged breath. “Anyway, to answer your question about Mathew, the answer is no. I haven’t talked to him since the night that I also saw you. Even now that I know that he’s not a stalker, I still don’t really care to.”

Robert seemed satisfied with my answer.
“Well, I am happy to hear that you have ridded him from your life.”

“So, w
hat did you do last night?” I asked. It made me feel grounded, sane, making polite chitchat.

“N
othing too exciting. I worked, mainly.”

“Oh.”

He wouldn’t meet my eyes. He was hiding something. Then again, I was still feeling jaded from the murder scene; distrustfulness
is
the natural byproduct of crime.

“
What was his name, the vampire you were with last night?” he asked, switching topics.

“He’s an artist-cum-
lawyer named Jerry-
Jerome
- Bellamy.”

“Oh, yes. I know him. I hav
e one of his paintings. It is a horrifying thing, so I keep it hung in a room I hardly use. The piece invoked such emotions within me, however, that I just could not pass it up. When something reminds me that I once had a heart, I simply have to have it.” He rested his hand over my left breast as he said this, his words loaded with double meaning.

“He mentioned that he knew you,
” I said, pretending to be impassive. I wasn’t ready to give in to him just yet.

His
hand dropped down from over my heart.

“You spoke about me?”
He was pleased.

He traced his fingertips down my cheek, along my jawline, and then rested them on my collarbon
e. He pulled Jerry’s jacket off my shoulders and removed it, replacing it with a cashmere throw he’d taken from the bed.

“
Yes, but I don’t really have a whole host of subjects I
can
talk about with vampires.”

“I see,
” he said evenly, but his face betrayed him. I’d clearly hurt him with my insensitivity.

I chewed o
n my lip, saying nothing more. I stewed in a restrained silence, deliberating on why I was so reluctant to give Robert the pleasure of knowing that I’d mentioned him to a mutual acquaintance.

Yes, Robert
had followed me, which would have seemed creepy to an outsider. But so what? It wasn’t as if he’d done it out of malice. He’d been trying to keep me safe.

I cradled his perfect face in my palms, pushing a few strands of hair away from his brow. There was nothing but fondness in the depths of his eyes. This was a vampire who’d shown me nothing but respect, kindness, and loyalty.

There was also the little
detail of him being the most lovable and gorgeous man that I’d ever known.

So what was I waiting for
?
What was I so afraid of?

I took his hand into mine,
twining my fingers around his. Resigned, I took in a long breath. It was all or nothing time.

“Yes.
I talked about you, Robert. And if you really want the honest to goodness truth, I’ll tell you. When I’m not talking about you, I’m thinking about you. And when I’m sleeping, I’m dreaming about you. I’ve tried to deny the depth of my feelings for you for as long as possible, but I no longer see a point in doing so. As I learned today, life can be extinguished at the blink of an eye. So, you know, I might as well just come clean. Since we’ve met, there’s hardly been a moment when you
haven’t
been on my mind. And there isn’t a man on Earth- human or vampire- that I’d rather be with than you.”

He squeezed my hands.
“You have just made me the happiest vampire on Earth, Mercy. I love-”

I silenced him
by pressing my mouth deeply against his, parting his lips gently with my tongue. “Shhh,” I whispered, nibbling on his plump bottom lip. “Let’s save it for later.”

“Are you sure you want to do this
now?” he asked softly. “I do not want to take advantage of your grief.”

I ki
ssed his face once more, working my lips down from his forehead, to his eyelids, and to the hollow spot under his jaw. I bit lightly on his delicate skin, teasing him into submission. He let out a rasping moan, pressing his stiff manhood against my hip.

“I’ve never wanted anyt
hing more in my life,” I purred, pulling off his shirt.

He
wasted no time throwing me down into the bed, his fine silk pillows flying out from beneath us. We kissed hungrily, desperately, our bodies crashing together in a frantic tangle of sheets and emotions.

“My darling Mercy,” he whispered
. “I have wanted you since the moment I first saw you. It has nearly driven me mad. How much I have wanted to taste you…”

H
is strong, masculine hands moved under my rear and up to the spot in the center of my shoulder blades where my zipper rested. With a flick of his wrist, I was freed from my dress, feeling his powerful hands exploring my naked chest. He ran his moist tongue over my nipples, flicking the tips of them rigid until I thought I’d lose my mind in ecstasy.

I bucked my
hips against him, aching to feel his wicked touch. He took my breasts into his plush mouth, drawing my flesh upwards between his lips. He pulled away abruptly, my pulse hammering in my eardrums as he traced his tongue from my cleavage, to my navel, and then down to the blazing gap between my thighs. He pulled my damp panties down with his teeth, letting out a sexy growl. He winked at me mischievously before driving his thick tongue high up into my throbbing insides.

I ran my fingers though his soft hair, pushing his face into me, rubbing my
slippery skin against his glorious face. The anticipation of this moment had been so fierce that I came almost instantly, flooding his mouth with my cream.

Emboldened by
desire, I pulled his face back and gazed into his eyes. “I want you to taste me, Robert- to
really
taste me.”

His eyes flickered.
He knew what I was demanding.

“I don’t want to hurt you,
” he said softly.

I opened my legs wider, exposing the
sensitive flesh on my inner thigh to him. “I trust you,” I murmured. “I trust you completely.”

He lowered his face
to my leg in a deliberate motion. He looked up into my eyes, revealing his pointed incisors to me:
Was I absolutely certain?

H
e was so close to me that the tips of his razor-sharp fangs left behind tiny droplets of blood as they made contact with my flesh. I smirked longingly:
Yes, drink from me. Take me into you.

He bit in
to me; gently at first, but his pressure increased as he latched onto my thigh. I gripped his shoulders, my mouth falling open to let out an inaudible shriek. My pulse surged, my plasma vibrated through my body. The feeling was thrilling; like being pushed but pulled, scared but lustful, and melancholy but euphoric simultaneously.

He
shoved himself away roughly, his hands crushing the sheets. He threw back his head and licked my blood from his lips, letting out terrifying grunts as he peered at me forebodingly with his blazing metallic eyes.

He reached for my ankle,
pulling my entire body under him in one swift movement. He brought his face to mine, and kissed me so I could taste by own blood and musk inside his mouth.

I fumbled with the zipper on his slacks
. I finally managed to get it down with my trembling fingers, and his impeccable prick sprang free. I licked my lips, marveling at its perfection.

I took the tip
of his shaft into my mouth, tasting him, making circles with my tongue around the head. He clenched his buttocks and moaned, gently seizing the hair at the nape neck. I pushed him deep into the back of my throat, keeping my lips closed tightly around his member. He thrust into my mouth uninhibitedly, his moans echoing off the walls.