by D L Blade
“Get up, Colin. Wake up!” But there wasn’t any movement. Maurice screamed and kicked his brother. “Wake up!” He shouted again.
“You see, if you do that to a human, they die,” I said to him with a slight smile.
Maurice screamed and moved toward me. He struck me across the face. Right at that moment, the lights in the ballroom went dark.
Someone came up behind me, covered my mouth, and pulled me behind the stage curtains. One arm was wrapped around my waist as another pulled around and placed a hand over my bracelet. I felt the sensation of burning around my wrist. I winced as the bracelet melted off and fell to the floor. The strong arm that wrapped tightly around my waist was familiar. It was Caleb.
I quickly turned around and threw my arms over his shoulders, holding him tight. “Caleb! Where is everyone?” There was panic in my voice and I tried to catch my breath.
“They’re safe. We were able to hide Shannon before they got to her,” Caleb explained as I released him.
Those words sent a wave of relief but there was still Cami. “And Cami? Has anyone checked on her at the hospital?”
“Joel sent Lily through a portal to the hospital so she could move her body. Don’t worry. She’s safe at your home, too.” I let go of the air I had been holding in. My friends were safe.
“They told me they captured her.”
“They lied. I’ll explain everything on the way.”
He grabbed my hands and led me off the stage.
“Wait! We have to save Dorian. They are going to kill him,” I said. “I can’t leave him.”
“We cannot save him right now, Mercy. We can come back for—” He stopped. The look on his face showed me that he knew I was aware he had lied to me.
I frowned at him. “Yes, the same Dorian. You lied to me”
His face grew grim. “I was just protecting you from a world of hurt. He joined this clan on his own. I wanted you to have good memories of him.”
“That’s a lie!” I said sharply.
“Let’s talk about this later. We have to go.”
We heard Maurice shouting orders to his men and I knew Caleb was right. We needed to leave, but I would come back for Dorian. I would come back for everyone behind these walls that didn’t want to be here.
It took us over ten minutes to find the back door that led out to the garden on the side of the property. It was so dark out that we couldn’t see where we were walking anymore. Caleb held up his hand and a flame lit on each fingertip.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“We need light.”
I followed closely behind him.
The air around us was refreshing as it entered my lungs. I took several deep breaths. We were free. Well, almost.
“How did Shannon escape?” I asked. “They said they got into the safe house.”
“Some of their men disconnected the power to the safe house and the door we had her locked behind was no longer secured. Abigail was able to get her out on time through another passage way through the sewers and took her to your house,” he explained. He opened up another door that led through the garden behind the property. “They were right behind them but Abigail is fast. She was able to make it on time to Joel’s portal.”
I sighed with relief, but my relief was short-lived as the flood lights turned on as we approached the property gates.
We turned our attention toward Maurice as he cleared his throat. Standing on each side of him were Noah and Kyoko.
“Going somewhere?” Maurice asked.
“It’s over, Maurice. You can’t stop us,” I said.
Caleb pulled his hand out and a ball of flames circled the top of his palm. He didn’t throw it. He just looked at Maurice with fuming rage.
“I know about the dagger. I’ll find it.” His threat didn’t faze me one bit. This blood sucker wasn’t going to win and he was no longer going to scare me.
“Then I’ll be waiting,” I threatened back.
Maurice turned around and moved to the side, letting us pass. I was puzzled as to why he would just let us go, until I saw Riley and Amber in their wolf forms, approaching the property. Caleb closed his hand, releasing the power of Fire.
Maurice and Kyoko looked terrified, still staring at Riley and Amber.
“Like I said, you can’t stop us,” I repeated as we crossed each other, slightly bumping my shoulder against his arm. “Goodbye, Maurice.”
Caleb and I picked up our speed and ran toward the pack.
Caleb led me to an open portal about a mile from the house. We were then teleported to the front porch of my home. Once I saw the house, I stood there, relief finally hitting me. My heart felt heavy. We were safe, but Dorian was not.
“Leah, Ezra, and Simon are here. We are finally a coven again. They’re excited to see you,” Caleb said.
I wanted to be happy in this moment. My coven was my family and I hadn’t seen them since I had died. They were a part of me and I a part of them. But I felt empty in that moment. I took one step forward and a bright light radiated on the front of the house, but it was coming from behind me. I turned around and the light was so bright I had to close my eyes.
The light slowly dimmed and a beautiful woman in a long, white dress stood in front of me.
I recognized the angel as she approached. Caleb stood between us. “Don’t come any closer.”
“I’m not going to hurt her,” she said softly.
“No? I find that hard to believe after she killed your son.”
“The world has one less monster. I came here to thank her.” Tatyana looked over at me with a gentle smile.
“Thank you, Caleb, for trying to protect me. But I’m not afraid of her,” I explained, hoping he would back down.
She walked around Caleb elegantly, and reached out her hand. I touched it and I felt warmth and power fill my body. I lowered my hand.
“Caleb, please leave us,” I ordered, but his hands clenched.
“Not a chance.” He shook his head and took a few steps closer to me, but I held my hands up.
“I’m not asking for your permission,” I snapped.
Caleb glared at me for a hard moment and threw up his hands. He walked to the side of the porch and plopped down on the rocking chair by the front door. He looked upset, but he apparently knew this wasn’t an argument he was going to win. After I saw he wasn’t going to protest anymore, I followed Tatyana toward the driveway, so we had some privacy to speak.
Tatyana turned toward me and smiled.
“Thank you for killing him. I couldn’t do it, but he had to die. He would destroy this world if he hurt you. You five are my greatest creation, especially you, Mercy.”
It was such a weird thought, that we had been created by an angelic being, to kill the very thing she created in the first place. I knew though, that without her guidance, I couldn’t do this.
“I need your help, Tatyana. I can’t do this alone.”
“Of course you can. All of you can.” Her voice was so calm and gentle, but that’s to be expected coming from an angel, I guess.
“Will you save Dorian from Maurice’s clan? Please? Save as many as you can from that place. He was taken for saving me. That is, if they haven’t already killed him.”
“I will try to save Dorian and take down that house. I will rescue those who want saving behind those walls, but it’s your mission to fight vampires, Mercy, not mine anymore. I failed once, and now it’s your turn to restore the balance that was lost because of my mistake.”
I turned to Caleb and then back to Tatyana. “How do I do this? How do I fight this fight?”
She smiled gently and walked closer to me. “You love them both, don’t you?”
I nodded. “Caleb is complicated and frustrating, but my heart aches whenever he touches me. And Dorian …” I paused and tears began to fill my eyes. “Dorian is the love of my life.”
She lowered her head to my ear and whispered. My eyes widened, and I couldn’t hold back
the tears that stung my eyes.
I looked up at her again, nodding my head. “Thank you.”
She bowed her head, extended her wings, and took off into the sky.
“Roland is almost here,” Caleb said as he stepped down from the porch.
I wiped the tears on my face. “You can’t trust him. He purposely led me out of the vampire lair at the cemetery so I’d get caught.”
“I know.”
“You knew?” I said furiously.
“I didn’t know then, of course, but after he became human, he came back here to help us. He needed your blood to become a witch again. He’s a powerful witch and he needed to be human again to use the kind of magic we need in this fight. Maurice wasn’t going to let him leave if he didn’t give you up.”
“And Dorian … was he all part of this plan, too?” He was silent.
“You knew he was alive, Caleb. You lied to me.”
He walked up to me, hesitated, and placed his hand on my cheek. “Mercy, please don’t.”
I pushed his hand away from my cheek. “Stop, Caleb! You purposely kept me from him. Why?”
“Because I love you and I’m selfish. You and I had something special, and it was ripped apart by parents that didn’t understand the kind of love we had for each other. You met Dorian the day we were forced to stop having a relationship. You gave your heart to him.”
He stepped closer to me, causing me to have to take a step back so we weren’t touching. “I also thought keeping that secret would protect you from being in the arms of someone I never trusted. We have a chance to start over again. Dorian and you could never have what we had.” He put his hand under my chin and lifting it gently. “He’s a vampire, Mercy; he’s the very thing you were sent here to kill.”
I shook my head. “That isn’t your decision to make, Caleb.” I grabbed his hand and removed it from my chin. “Your father and Abigail are vampires and you still love them.”
“They’re my family.”
“And Dorian was mine.”
He backed up slightly. “I’ll fight for you.”
I filled in the gap between us and lightly touched his hand. “I do love you, Caleb. But I also love Dorian.”
I lowered my head but kept my hand gently in his, afraid of the words that I had to say next. They were words that he had to hear, and something I had to do to fulfill our given mission.
“Tatyana is going to rescue Dorian from that clan and anyone who wants to leave, but the fight isn’t going to stop there. There are more clans to destroy and humans and witches to save.” I choked back the sobs that were threatening to escape.
Caleb stood there in silence, tears now filling his eyes.
I let go of his hand. “I can’t let my feelings for you and Dorian distract me from what we were sent here to do. Your father was right. We were never sent here to fall in love.”
“Please don’t, Mercy.” He reached for me but I held up my hands.
I closed my eyes as a ray of white light poured from my fingertips. I opened my eyes and formed a bright white ball with the light. The ball grew larger and brighter, my hands swarming around it, keeping it strong and bright. I whispered to myself the words Tatyana had spoken in my ear. I pulled the ball in toward my chest, almost falling over by the force of energy entering my body.
“What are you doing?” he yelled, taking a step toward me.
I looked up at this man that I had once loved. All the feelings I’d had for him in the past and in my current life were gone. I thought about Dorian and everything we used to have and the feelings I had when I had seen him again. Nothing was there. They were two beautiful men I knew cared for me, but the only feelings I had in my heart were memories.
“Mercy, what did you do?” he asked, panic echoing in his voice.
“The angel showed me how to take it away, Caleb. I had to take it all away.”
He moved back slightly and fell to the floor on his knees. He realized what I had done.
“I’m sorry, Caleb. But the only feeling I have now is the desire to kill every one of those blood sucking demons and purify our world once again.”
Chapter 1
Deep breath, Mercy. You’ve been in way worse situations than this. If you can relax, you’ll be able to muster an idea of how to get out of this situation.
“Focus,” I muttered to myself. “Just focus.”
I sucked in a breath and slowly released it, hoping that would slow down my heart rate. Each breath I released burned my dry mouth. I assumed I’d been six feet under for at least two to three hours. I wasn’t sure how long it would take for me to consume all the oxygen, but I couldn’t imagine it being much longer than this. The air was thick, and it became harder to breathe with each minute that passed.
It’s not like I could die in here. It would just really suck to be stuck in a wooden box for eternity.
I hadn’t died and come back yet since I had become immortal. I wondered how that would play out. Would I pass out, open my eyes again, pass out, wake up, and repeat that over and over again until I lost my mind?
My muscles quivered just thinking about the two creeps who had put me down, but I also cursed myself for being so stupid. I should’ve been paying better attention to my surroundings.
It wasn’t about getting out of this situation so I didn’t suffer . . . it was about getting out so I could make them suffer.
Come on, guys. Where are you?
I looked around the wooden coffin they had forced me into after they’d injected me with God only knew what, which had crippled my powers. Once the drug had worn off, I’d opened my eyes to this nightmare—I had been buried alive.
I knew this was going to happen, eventually. It was the only way they knew of to stop me, as long as the dagger was hidden away from their grasp.
I currently had my palm open so I could use my powers to light up the walls around me.
Man, it’s hot in here.
Sweat dripped down my forehead, and the taste of salt consumed my senses as it touched my lips and entered my mouth. I rubbed the sweat off my lips with my other hand and looked around the small and cramped space. The earth was slowly seeping through the cracks every time I shifted my body.
This wasn’t one of those fancy, metal caskets stuffed with white cushion padding they use at most burials today. This was a tattered, wooden coffin that looked like it came straight out of the Stone Age. The wood had split in several places, and I feared the whole thing would crumble on top of me if I so much as sneezed.
I placed my hands on the top of the lid and applied some pressure. When I pushed, even slightly, the wood cracked, causing the dirt to seep through again.
I couldn’t use my powers; it would have only caused the ground above to crush me, then I’d die of suffocation over and over again for eternity.
Now, that would be worse than passing out.
I didn’t have much time.
I watched the earth slowly fall through the crack near my chest, the dirt and small round pebbles hitting my chest.
That’s it! I beamed.
Earth.
Ezra’s element.
Without skipping a beat, the tip of my finger reached for the earth. I pressed my index finger deep into the soil through a small hole right above my chest. I focused on Ezra. He was the ground we walked on. He’d feel it.
“Ezra, I’m right here,” I whispered quietly. “Where are you guys?”
My pulse pounded faster when I closed my eyes and brought myself into a state of meditation in order to focus on what I had needed to do to reach him.
This needs to work.
I kept my finger on the soil for what felt like hours, but time seemed to move differently in there, or the lack of oxygen messed with my head.
Oh, crap.
The coffin cracked, the dirt poured in, and I had to remove my finger to cover my face.
Panic rose in my throat. What had I done?
I felt a jolt but kept my hands hovering ove
r my face. The coffin rattled, and the lid blasted high in the air like an explosion. I moved my hands to see the earth and wooden coffin parts swirling around the hole I had been in, as if I were in the eye of a tornado. I drew in a deep breath of fresh air and briefly closed my eyes while still in the center of the dust devil. When I opened my eyes again, I saw my coven standing around it, with Ezra’s hands outstretched, his eyes glowing an ashy brown color.
He lowered his arms, releasing the earth, as I reached for the top of the hole I had been in. Caleb reached for me and pulled me out.
“Oh, thank goodness,” he cried as he pulled me to his chest, holding me tightly.
All of the tension I had held in was finally released. “Thank you, guys. Thank you.”
The lightheadedness dissipated as my powers healed the trauma my body had experienced while buried alive. Being immortal didn’t make me invincible. I still felt pain just like any mortal would. I also felt fear and anger, sadness and hopelessness. Right now, I mostly felt anger. Heat flushed through my body as I looked around to see if the vampires were nearby.
The coven ran to me and pulled me into a group hug. “They’re probably long gone by now,” Simon said as he released our embrace. “Unless they’re that stupid.”
“They’re that stupid,” I said through gritted teeth as my attention left Simon and focused on the two vampires who had stuck me inside the coffin running from the cottage next to us.
“Seriously, they buried you in their front yard?” Leah asked. She shook her head as the two idiots fled the scene.
I frowned at that thought. They had been here the entire time, knowing I was suffering right outside their own door.
Caleb gestured in their direction. “They’re all yours, Mercy.”
A smirk replaced my frown as I raised my hands, energy flowing through my fingertips, and pulled my hands forward, blasting my force in their direction. The force of my magic slammed into their backsides, sending them airborne. It only took a minute for the pair to stand on their feet again, facing us with fangs out and fire burning in their eyes. Caleb handed me my stake and I ran toward them. The vampires froze in place.