Mercy for the Wicked (11 page)

“It’s my place, my rules.  If you don’t like it, there’s the door.”

“Oh, like you’re really gonna fire me.  Parker, I don’t want to fight with you,” I tried, but he turned away from me to grab a beer from his mini-fridge.

“Try and remember I’m your boss.  You’re supposed to listen when I threaten to turn you out.”

“We’re more than that, aren’t we?  Didn’t you say I’m one of your oldest friends?”

“I don’t know what we are anymore,” he muttered.

That brought me up short.  Were we in that bad of shape?  Were things that bad with Ben too and I just had my blinders on?  Christ, was everything falling apart?  “That hurts, Parker.”  I turned for the door.

“Mercy, wait…”

I had to fix things between us. I missed that old comfortable give and take, the playful banter, even his horrible pick up lines.  “I’m sorry if what I said hurt you, I was trying to look out for you.”

“I know, but she’s not…”

I didn’t want to hear him sing her praises, and I held up my hands to stem the flow of words.  “If she makes you happy that’s all that matters, right?”  I mustered up a hopeful smile, but inside I knew it was only a matter of time before she stomped all over his heart. 

“She does.  She makes me very happy.”  There was an atypical smile on his lips and I was struck by how handsome he was without his usual smirk.  It was sad he didn’t smile like that more often.  Crap, maybe the bitch
was
good for him after all? 

“So, are we good?”

“Yeah, c’mere.” He opened his arms and I went to him for a hug, feeling better than I had all day long.  At least one of my relationships was mended; I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hug it out with Ben.  As though he read my mind, Parker’s thoughts fell along a similar line.  “If that’s not your new boyfriend out there, you didn’t break up with the cop then, huh?”

“I don’t know, the jury’s still out on that one,” I sighed, resting my head on his chest.

“Shit, I’m sorry to hear that, darlin’. I know you were pretty into him.  Is he the jealous type?  Doesn’t like goldilocks out there hanging around so much?”

A very simplified way of looking at it, but there was a kernel of truth to it.  “Something like that.”

“Some guys are too insecure to deal with their woman having guy friends.  Me, I’m evolved.  I’m secure enough in my masculinity to allow my woman to have whatever friends she wants, as long as she comes home to me at night.”

I looked up at him like he’d sprouted another head.  Did he really think he was evolved?  “Oh yeah, cause that’s progressive.  Ugg, my woman come home at night.” I thumped my chest like a caveman before dissolving into a fit of giggles, and he nodded, a smile on his lips.

“Say what you will, I wouldn’t kick you out of bed for having a guy friend.”

“I kicked
him
out of bed.”  So to speak.

“He wasn’t ringing your bell?”

We were rapidly descending into territory I didn’t want to get into.  “It’s a long story, not one I should probably be getting into with my boss.”

“You want me to talk to him, give him a few pointers?” he winked, and I didn’t bother to disguise my roll of the eyes as I pushed away from him. 

“I’d better get back out there; I’d hate to get
fired
.”

“I shoulda fired your lazy ass years ago,” he waved me away and I stopped to bat my eyelashes at him.

“But you value my friendship so very much, right?” 

“Well yeah, that and it’s such a
nice
ass…”

Back on familiar ground, I returned to work feeling much lighter.  At least something in my life was back on track. 

* * *

Several hours and lots of laughs later, I was in a much better headspace.  With the air cleared between Parker and me, work became a much more comfortable place.  He was even nice to Sam, apologizing for being rude before.  Somehow I didn’t think I’d get anything like that out of Ben. 

Sam forgave and forgot (if he was even ever upset about it in the first place), and we spent some of the down time playing ‘spot the dirtbag’, to use one of Ben’s favorite words that Sam had taken a liking to.  He was, of course, much, much better at it than I was, and could predict almost to the moment when someone’s anger would spill over into violence.  Walter took an instant shine to Sam and they spent a long time talking about football, which Sam had only just discovered.  It was nice to have two facets of my life start to integrate.  And if they thought Sam was a little… quirky, well, there were plenty of quirky people in the city. 

The real trick would be mending fences with Ben.  I had absolutely no idea how to go about it, short of cutting Sam out of my life, which I was not prepared to do.  But it was late, and I tried to put it out of my mind as soon as I said goodnight to Sam and slipped into bed.  Instead my thoughts slipped back to part of the conversation with Ben I’d been trying to avoid dealing with, my feelings for Adam.  As I drifted off to sleep, I wondered how I might wander into the Ether, and how to get him to follow, we had a lot to talk about.     

* * *

I felt him slip into bed with me and my body instinctively turned towards his, scooting into the shelter of his arms.  He stroked my hair and I snuggled into his welcoming warmth. “You came,” I murmured sleepily.

“I intend to.”

My eyes popped open at the unfamiliar voice and I scooted back with a shriek as I spotted Azazael lying there in my bed.  “What the hell are you doing here?”  I clutched the sheets to my chest, even though I wasn’t wearing anything particularly revealing.  The cold weather found me in soft knit pajamas.

“I thought I’d come to you this time, my love.”

“Don’t call me that.”  How had he managed to get into my bedroom? 

“Alright then, blossom.  I could feel you calling me across time and space… I know you’ve been very lonely of late, I came to comfort you.”

An inelegant snort left my lips.  “I don’t need your comforting, thank you very much.  Now get out of my bed before I call Sam in here, and he plays shish kabob with your private parts.”

“Go ahead if you feel the need to, but I would never harm you, my love.”  He seemed nonplussed by my threats, and not needing any further motivation, I yelled at the top of my lungs. 

“Sam!  Sam can you come in here please?  Like now!”  There was no response.  “What did you do to him?”

“Why, not a thing, I have only great respect for Samael. I would never harm him… unless I had to,” he cautioned.

“Then why…?  Sam?  Are you out there?”

“I believe he’s otherwise occupied.”  With a wave of his hand my bedroom wall disappeared and I could see Sam sitting on the couch, raptly watching the cartoon network with the sound turned all the way down, his shoulders shaking in silent laughter.  And that’s when I realized it was all a dream, I’d made it into the Ether and he’d pounced on the opportunity.  Relaxing a little, I gave him a shove which sent him a bit closer to the edge of the bed, but not much. 

“How did you get in here?  Was my message the other day not clear enough?  I’m never having sex with you, so you can stop haunting my dreams and bothering my friends. I saw through you as soon as you opened your mouth.” 

His mouth opened and closed without saying anything as he digested that last bit.  “I’m sorry, how do you mean?”

“That thing with Mitch.  I know it was you, and it didn’t work, so you can knock it off.  I’m sorry you’re trapped and you got the short end of the stick, but it has nothing to do with me.” 

He began to laugh. “You are a delightful creature, such imagination!  Do you believe I came to you in the world and I let you… shoot me down?  I assure you, I do not give up so easily,” he leaned closer, stalking me like a panther.  The sheet slipped and I saw he wore white silk pajama bottoms, so sheer I could see through them, and I quickly looked away.  His voice soon commanded my attention as he loomed over me.  “I will never let you go, Merceline.  We are destined to be together, you and I.”

Panic flared, but an idea came to me.  Within moments, I pressed a sharp knife where it counted most and had the satisfaction of watching his eyes widen in surprise.  “Wanna bet?” I grinned in triumph and he halted in his advance, his voice strained.

“Where did that come from?”

“Are you kidding me?  I’ve seen every single Nightmare on Elm Street movie there is, including the remake.  You don’t have power over me here.  Now fuck off, or I’ll change your destiny in a way you’ve never imagined.”

Instead his body flexed and the knife disappeared from my fingers.  Azazael towered over me, forcing me back against the bed, his face blazing with anger.  “Do you think to threaten me, woman?” 

“You can’t force me and you know it!  You need my love for it to work.”  I clung to the convention, hoping like hell it was true. 

“What better way to procure your love than to fulfill your earthly desires.”  His lips descended upon mine and I turned my head away.  Undeterred, he pressed a kiss to my collarbone, slowly moving lower.  I shoved with all of my might but I couldn’t budge him one bit.  “Adamiel!” I screamed, willing him to join me in the nightmare with every fiber of my being.  Azazael froze for a moment, his head tilting to one side as he listened for something I couldn’t hear, but then the terrible grin returned to his face.  “Perhaps he has other pressing matters to attend to?  Don’t worry, my love, I will wipe all traces of Adamiel from your thoughts.  His head bent to my breast and I grabbed a handful of his long hair and pulled.  Hard. 

“Get off of me!”  A flash of blinding white light erupted between us as my Grace finally kicked in.  I had barely enough time to wonder if it would work on an angel as I scrambled out from under him, but scant seconds later he was on me, shoving me against the wall and trapping me there with his body. 

“Perhaps I have erred in my treatment of you.  Perhaps you need to be broken.”  Azazael grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled my head back painfully, forcing me to look up at him.  “I know many delightful games, my love.  I will teach you to fear me and from that fear will come love.”

Utterly trapped, I tried to look around for anything that could be used as a weapon.  Even if I hit him again with my Grace, where would I go?  It was a cinch Sam wouldn’t hear us from the other room since he wasn’t really there in dreamland.  For whatever reason Adam wasn’t coming, I was completely on my own.  An idea came to me, it was risky as hell and I had no idea if it would work or not, but I was running out of options. 

Another knife materialized in my hand and Azazael sneered.  “Silly little fool, I told you that won’t work on me here.” 

“It’s not for you, it’s for me.”  I plunged the knife into my thigh in one swift movement.  Let me tell you, that’s harder than it sounds, when every survival instinct in your body is to avoid that kind of suffering.  The gamble paid off, and my cry of pain followed me into the real world as I awoke in my bed, my body covered in a sheen of sweat, the knife still clutched in my fingers as my leg bled all over my pristine, white sheets.

The same preservation factor made it hard to pull the knife out; all I wanted to do was will it away but no such luck, being back in reality.  It came out much slower than it went in, the shaking of my hand making it worse before it got better and the rush of fresh blood as I pulled it out was alarming.  With an effort I let go of the knife, my fingers stiff from gripping it so tightly and tried to muster enough Grace to heal my leg.  With a whimper I laid my hand above my thigh, but I couldn’t concentrate enough to focus the Grace.

Sam burst in to stare at me in shock and all I could think to do was scold him for coming in without knocking.  “You’re not supposed to be in here…”

“What have you done?”

“…without knocking.”  I fell back against the pillow weakly.  The pain was starting to fade, but I hadn’t done anything to heal the wound.  Dimly, I wondered if that was a bad thing. 

Sam was quick to kneel beside the bed, laying his hands over my bleeding thigh.  “You were making strange sounds,” he murmured, his eyes slipping closed as he brought forth his Grace.

“I was having a nightmare.”  I couldn’t say anything else after that because the pain flared as my wound knit together at super speed, until he flopped on the end of the bed, satisfied with the result and we stared at each other, each trying to regain our breath for different reasons. 

“Nightmares are bad?” he blinked, and I couldn’t help but give a shallow laugh.  I forgot he’d probably never had one since he didn’t ever sleep. 

“Yeah, that was a bad one in particular.”

“I expect so,” he considered aloud.  “Perhaps you should not keep weapons in your bed if you are prone to nightmares?”

“It wasn’t here when I went to bed, I brought it with me from the Ether.”  I felt a little stronger and sat up higher in the bed.  My leg was all sticky with rapidly cooling blood, but my skin looked smooth and healthy when I peeked through the hole in my pants.  So much for those pajamas…

“That is most curious.  I have never heard of anything being brought across the planes like that before.” A furrow appeared on his brow as he puzzled through it.

“You said to be careful what I did in the Ether, right?  It might affect things here?  That was what I gambled on when I stabbed myself.”

“You stabbed yourself on purpose?”  His head canted to one side.

“Trust me, it was the lesser of two evils, the other being Azazael.  You were way off the mark about him by the way.  You said he wouldn’t force me, that he needed me to give him my love freely or something like that, didn’t you?”

“Yes, those are the conditions of the prophecy.”

“He must have forgotten to read the fine print, because he was all about the forcing.”  My scalp still felt sore from where he’d grabbed my hair and I rubbed at it absently.

“Azazael assaulted you?”  Sam lost all traces of the lovable innocence I was accustomed to, his blue eyes blazing with resolve as they had in the restaurant with Ubel.   

“He tried to, but I got away with that knife trick.  Honestly?  I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again,” I sighed, tiredly.