Mercy for the Damned (2 page)

“I think it’s pretty obvious we need to get Adam out of Midian as soon as possible.” I just had no idea how to go about it.

“Don’t forget about Ben,” Daphne piped up, and I added that to my list of insurmountable obstacles, feeling a little guilty for not sparing much thought to his fate in my worry for Adam.  The last time I’d seen Ben he’d been trussed up over Adam’s shoulder with a bullet in his stomach. I only hoped he was still alive.

“That brings up a good question.  Even if we can sneak into Midian, break not only Adam, but Ben free and somehow sneak past Naberios – who I still owe a favor to by the way, what do we do with Ben once we’ve got him here?  We can’t keep him bound up forever.  His family, the police… they’re going to keep looking for him.  If it gets out we’re keeping a cop hostage, we could be in some serious trouble,” I pointed out and Matty let out a low whistle.

“Let’s kill one bird at a time, sweetheart,” Parker patted me on the knee.  “First off, can you do anything to get us into Midian?” he asked Raziel.

“Sadly, no.” A shake of the head was given.

“Then you don’t actually have a plan on how to keep your prophecy from happening?”

“It isn’t
my
prophecy, and no… no guidelines were given in my task to set things right.”

My heart sank a little, and I wondered if I hadn’t hurt Sam’s feelings for nothing.  Maybe we didn’t need Raziel’s help after all?  “We know the guard does take favors, I wonder if he’d be interested in anything we have to offer?” 

Daphne offered a suggestion with her tongue firmly in cheek.  “He’s been at the gate for a long time, what about chocolate?”

“Forget chocolate, if he’s always stuck at the gate we need to get him a girl,” Matty snickered, as he and Parker shared a knuckle bump. 

“No, you can’t go anywhere near Midian or Naberios, your innocence would be like a beacon to them.” Sam’s tone brooked no argument and I gave him a reassuring smile. 

“It’ll be fine, Daphne won’t need to go anywhere near Midian, none of you will.”  That particular danger I reserved for myself.

“Somebody needs to go, I’m thinking a neutral, third party negotiator might be a good idea,” Parker volunteered. I shot him down before he picked up too much steam behind that idea.

“No way.” 

“Why not?  You said innocence was like crack to them, right?  I think we can all agree I’m hardly a babe in the woods,” Parker smirked, but I refused to let his considerable charm get to me.

“No offense, but you’d be defenseless there.  Unless, maybe you feel like spending eternity down there playing slaveboy to depraved demons?”  I laid it on thick, not wishing that fate for any of them.  “If anything I’ll take Raziel with me.”  Raziel perked up over that, even as Sam practically glowered in his corner.  “But from what I understand, it’s especially dangerous for anyone with Grace to go down there, so I’d understand if you didn’t want to go.”

“I stand ready to accompany you into the deepest pits of hell, my lady,” Raziel bowed deeply, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes over the theatrics.  He’d obviously never been to Midian.       

“Maybe we can think of a way to get Raum to meet us on neutral territory to arrange for their release?  I don’t know, we have a lot to think about.” I glanced at the clock on the DVD player.  “Why don’t we call it a night and think things over?  We can meet up tomorrow morning and come up with a plan of attack.” 

Matty approached as the others rose to their feet, a hopeful look on his face.  “Do you have those leftovers wrapped up for me?”

I didn’t begrudge giving my brother the lion’s share of the leftover turkey, I knew it’d feed him for the rest of the week.  “They’re in the fridge, hold on a sec.”  I turned to retrieve them, and by the time I was done digging in the refrigerator, I saw Sam and Daphne had already gone. 

“You sure know how to throw a mean party, sis,” Matty grinned, taking the Tupperware out of my hands.  “Let me know if you need me to drive the getaway car on this caper,” his eyes flashed playfully and I kissed his cheek noisily before he left.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Matt.”

“I will take my leave of you as well, my lady,” Raziel came to stand before me, taking both of my hands in his.

“Please, just call me Mercy, okay?”

“As you wish, Mercy,” he smiled, lifting my hands to kiss the air over each of my wrists before he disappeared out the patio door.

“Weird guy,” Parker snorted, picking up the empty pizza boxes and stuffing them into a garbage bag.  “How come Sam’s got his panties in a bunch over him again?”

“Here, I’ll wash, you dry.”  I tossed a dishtowel over his shoulder as I tackled the holiday dishes while I filled him in on Raziel’s connection to both Sam and Adam.  We fell into an easy rhythm in the small kitchen, much the same as we did at work, although in my apartment,
I
was the boss.  To his credit, Parker didn’t balk at being asked to help out, he even seemed to enjoy the domestic tasks as we set the apartment to rights. 

“You should have told me about this before,” he chastised me lightly, draping the dishtowel over the drying rack when we were done.

“I didn’t know Raziel was gonna crash the party,” I shrugged, drying my hands off on my jeans.

“No, not about him, about you.”

“What?  That I’m part angel?”

“All of it.  If I’d known what you were dealing with, I might not have come down on you so hard.”

“It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault.”  He’d only really yelled at me about Sharona anyway, for the rest of it he’d been pretty great.  “Go home and get some sleep, we’ll talk tomorrow, alright?”  Parker lifted my hands like Raziel had, kissing the air over my wrists in the same oddly formal gesture and we giggled at each other before I gave him a real hug, kissing his raspy cheek on the way back down.  “Happy Thanksgiving.” 

“Happy Thanksgiving, angel.”  He bent down to kiss my cheek, pulling away slowly, something unreadable in his eyes.  For a long moment, I thought he might say something else, but instead, he leaned in again, his lips brushing against mine. 

“Parker…” I pulled away, unsure who I was more upset with (him for kissing me, or myself for letting him), when I’d known it was coming in the seconds before. 

“No, I get it,” he nodded, taking a half step backwards. 

“It’s alright,” I shook it off, not wanting things to be weird between us.  After all, we had to keep working together, and I didn’t want our friendship to suffer over one kiss.  Especially since I knew it was less about me than the allure of the Grace. 

I’m vain/realistic enough to realize I’m pretty enough, with long, dark hair (in the stage of growing my bangs out), and the Grace transformed my brown eyes to a brilliant blue, (my most striking feature - one I shared with all angels, fallen or otherwise).  I wasn’t too shabby in the dating department in the past, but it was nothing like the male attention I’d drawn since Sam gifted me with his Grace.  If the number of times I was regularly hit on at Eden was any indication, it had seriously upped my hottie factor, and I knew that had to do with why Parker kissed me then of all times. 

“It’s the Grace, it sort of makes me a guy magnet.  It’s not your fault you got sucked into it.”

“It’s never been the Grace,” he replied roughly, and I stared up at him in surprise, not quite sure what to say to that.  Parker cleared his throat in the absence of my response, taking another step backwards.  “I’m gonna go.  Sleep deep, I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

I nodded numbly.
God, that was all I needed…

Nelo stepped out of the shadows the instant Parker was gone, taking care of the final chores to return the room to its usual order.  “I think that went well, Mistress,” he observed carefully.

“Compared to what?” 

“You now have more champions in your cause, was that not the purpose of the evening?”  Nelo was pretty unassuming for a demon.  Only coming up to about waist height on me, he was small and dark, his skin absorbing the light rather than reflecting it, giving him a slightly indistinct, shifting appearance, as if he was made up entirely of shadows.  I happened to know his mouth sported rows of sharp little teeth, but I also knew he’d sooner cut off his own right arm than hurt me. 

“That was the plan,” I had to admit.  So since I had the extra ace in the hole, why did I feel more overwhelmed than before?  “You know, you can leave that stuff for now, Nelo.  I’ll take care of it in the morning.”

“I don’t mind, Mistress.”

No matter how many times I asked him, he never stopped calling me Mistress, and I admit, I kinda liked it.  But at that moment, I didn’t want any company, not even his earnest little face smiling up at me.  All I wanted was… well, that wasn’t going to happen unless Adam magically appeared before me, so for the moment I would settle for a good night’s sleep. 

I left Nelo fluffing couch pillows and went to bed early for once.  Unfortunately, my body wouldn’t cooperate.  While I chased after that sweet oblivion, something kept me from finding even the false happiness of dreams.  Tossing and turning, I couldn’t seem to find the right position that lent itself to slipping out of consciousness.

Even my cat, Mimsy gave up, leaving her usual spot at the bottom of my bed when I rolled over one too many times.  Eventually I gave up and lay there concentrating on the tendril of connection I had with Adam.  I could feel him out there, very far away, but alive.  That tenuous thread was enough to carry me through the night. 

The first rays of dawn that slit in through the blinds found me glad for a reason to get up and around again.  A hot shower and a cup of coffee, and I almost felt human again, even if I did feel cut off from the rest of humanity.  Without Sam to keep me company and Nelo asleep in the hall closet where he retreated from the harsh rays of the sun, the apartment seemed quieter than usual.  Odds were it’d be quite some time before everyone came back for another session of brainstorming, none of us were exactly early risers.  The sharp knock at the door gave me a corresponding jolt of anticipation.  Maybe Daphne wanted a little one on one time? 

Chapter Two

Completely forgetting to check to see who it was first, I flung the door open with a cheerful smile, coming to a short stop at the stern face of my early morning visitor.  Clearly she wasn’t a morning person either, and she looked like she hadn’t had her daily cup of coffee.  Just a little shorter than me with dark hair pulled back into a no-nonsense bun, she wore blue jeans and a black turtleneck with a heavy navy peacoat. 

“Oh, um… hi,” I recovered, drawing my cardigan a little closer around me.  “Can I help you?”

“Merceline Renault?”  Her dark eyes assessed me critically, and I instantly regretted not playing the ‘not at home’ game, usually reserved for Jehovah’s Witnesses and kids peddling cookies. 

Uh oh…
“That’s me, can I help you?”

“I’m Detective Anna Santiago, I’d like to ask you a few questions.”  She held up her badge long enough for me to look at it, before tucking it away again.

A cop.  I was so used to Ben’s laid back, polite style, her stern approach caught me off guard.  “What is this about?”

“You really want to do this in your hallway?” she cocked a single brow.  Her aura was a brilliant red, with darker swirls of red towards the center.  In my experience playing “spot the dirtbag” at work, that meant she had a hot temper, but wasn’t necessarily evil, per se.  Either way, I’d have to tread carefully with Detective Santiago. 

“Ah right, come on in.” I stood back to let her pass, glad I’d already tidied up from the party the night before.  Even though I hadn’t done anything wrong, something about her made me feel guilty.  “Would you like some coffee?”  I was ready for another cup.

“No, Ma’am.  I’d rather have some answers,” she replied brusquely, taking a good look around my small living room instead of taking a seat.

“Alright, let’s hear the questions.”  Her attitude started to get to me a little; she acted like I had something to hide.  Okay, I realize I did have something to hide, but
she
could hardly know that, could she? 

“When was the last time you saw Detective Ben Gates?”

“Oh, that’s what this is about?”  I couldn’t help the note of relief that crept into my voice and she picked up on it right away.

“Why, did you have something else you think the police want to talk to you about?”

“No, I just thought you already had everything you needed from me.  I already talked to a detective… um, Rogers I think it was, after Ben disappeared.” 

“So?  The last time you saw Detective Gates?” she prompted. 

“Right, like I said before, I haven’t seen him since we broke up.  He came to my work, I’m a bartender at Eden.” I paused to make sure she was tracking with me, but she seemed to be familiar with who I was, and my relationship to Ben.  “We talked and decided to end the relationship, and I haven’t seen him since.” 
Not a lie…
though I knew exactly where he was.     

“Just like that?”

“Just like what?”

“You two talked and ended the relationship.  Why did you break up with him?” 

“Not that it’s any of your business, but we hadn’t been seeing much of each other and… I started seeing someone else.”  Also not a lie, though I left out the part about him being possessed by a psycho fallen angel.

“Who?”

“Why is this relevant?”  I didn’t really want to bring Adam into it.

“Your ex-boyfriend drops off the face of the Earth the same night you break things off with him?  I want to talk to your new guy.”

Shit.
  “He’s not around right now.”

“Where did he go?”

Shit, shit, shit…
I couldn’t tell her about Adam, it was way too suspicious that he’d disappeared around the same time as Ben.  Then there was the whole fact that I had no idea where he lived or even what last name he used.  “I meant he’s not here right now.  It’s still a little new, so he doesn’t really stay over,” I lied glibly.