by Ciara Graves
“And if we don’t? Shuval’s been ahead of us this whole time. What if Mercy’s not even with her? She could be with the reapers or the dark covens. What if Envy has her?” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the dead kid, imagining a very different body lying there instead. One with black and blond hair.
“Then we’ll burn everything Shuval cares for. We’ll make her pay.” Damian’s words were filled with venom. He reached down and closed the eyes of the dead kid. “We should take care of the bodies while we’re here.”
Burying the dead was a bad omen as far as I was concerned. “What are we going to do about the Hunters?” I asked him quietly.
“One thing at a time.”
It wasn’t the answer I wanted.
As I took one long look down the street again, taking note of the numerous dead we had to lay to rest, I let it go.
Mercy was alive. Today at the office, that had to have been her. She had to be trying to reach me.
I clung to that notion with everything I had and hoped it was enough to stop me from losing my mind before I could find her.
Chapter 3
Mercy
Someone was screaming. I wished she would shut up already.
Then I realized it was me. I crashed back into the nightmare that had become my reality.
Shuval’s hand was pressed to my scarred cheek.
I must’ve fainted at some point. Why couldn’t I just black out again? Arching my back, I thrashed my head back and forth.
Shuval’s hand grew heavier on my scarred cheek, pressing in.
Another rush of agony burst through my limbs. I strained against the heavy chains holding me to the chair. My scream turned hoarse, then my mouth gaped open, as I silently waited for it to be over. Or to die. At this point, I wasn’t sure I cared which.
“Hold her,” Shuval commanded.
Hands grabbed my shoulders and legs, forcing the chair that had been ready to tip back into position.
I snapped and snarled, a growl erupting from deep within. Bright flashes of green and white blurred my vision.
Shuval’s nails dug into my cheek, drawing blood. No not nails. Her damned claws.
I had no concept of time anymore. Every hour dragged into the next one without my recognizing the passage of days. There were no windows in this damned prison cell she called her guest chambers.
I wrenched my head to the side, trying in vain to dislodge her talons. Tearing at the chains, I willed whatever strength was left in me to go after her. To break the metal bonds holding me. I needed a chance to get out of here. One damned chance. I squinted through the blinding bursts of light.
Shuval’s face scrunched in fury. Green and white fire cascaded down her arms. She was in the same black outfit with chainmail as she always was, but, at least now, she wasn’t smiling, like she usually was.
No, she wasn’t smiling at all. Now she was pissed.
My back arched further, testing and stretching the metal links which now threatened to break. Another roar slipped from my lips.
Claws sprouted from the tips of my fingers and dug into the arms of the chair, ripping them apart. Splinters of wood flew. Ever since she started using her evil magic on me, the dragon gene inside me had come to life, willed into existence by her actions.
As the change started to come over me, my mage fire rose within my body. It blasted Shuval and the others clear across the room. I slumped over, gasping to get air in. The chains were loose enough to move my arms freely, but I was too weak to do it.
Blood ran down my wounded cheek and across my lips. I spat it out. My vision blurred in and out, but at least, no one came to restrain me again.
“You,” Shuval shouted furiously.
I lifted my head.
It was Envy. That bastard.
She was speaking to Envy. “You did this to her face. You cursed her.”
“It’s not my fault,” he seethed, eyes glowing green as they flicked toward me.
“The hell it’s not. You have ruined her. I should kill you,” she snapped when Envy took a half-step closer.
“But you won’t, and you know why. You need me. I’m the only one who’s been by your side this entire time. The only one strong enough to watch over you.”
She snarled at him.
In my half-conscious state, it seemed her eyes turned to an amber color, like a shifter’s. That wasn’t possible.
I shook my head, but that only made it ache. Instead, I let myself go limp and listened as intently as I could.
A lot of good that did me.
As soon as my eyes closed, my body gave into the darkness. The voices faded into the background, and then I was floating in the blissfulness of unconscious.
Something cold splashed against my face. My head shot up as I yelped. I shook out my wet hair, spitting water.
Shuval stood before me, but we were alone now. Someone had bound me with new chains.
Great. Just damned great.
“Ah, so you are still with me. That’s good,” Shuval said, her voice rough and gravelly.
“Depends on who you ask,” I muttered. My arms were chained behind the chair and my shoulders throbbed. How long had I been out? “We going again? I’m not sure you can take it.”
Shuval’s cackle was harsh to my ears. “One day this bravado of yours will falter. You will give in, Mercy. After all, why not? You do realize I’m trying to help you, yes?” She leaned in, her face framed by the multitude of braids she wore her hair, decked out with black feathers.
I smirked, reared my head back and headbutted her, then grunted at the pain.
She stumbled back with a curse, holding her nose. “Bitch.” She straightened, wiping blood.
My head was the only weapon I had. Nothing that could be used as a weapon was allowed in my chambers. That, of course, meant I’d been sleeping on a raggedy old mattress with one blanket, and no other furniture. I was allowed out of the room twice a day to relieve myself. Any food or water brought to me was fed to me by one of her hybrids.
This wasn’t the first time I’d gotten one over on her. The memory of a fork jutting out of her neck brought a smile to my face until she backhanded me hard enough to make me see pinpoints of light.
“I am trying to help you,” she insisted, walking around me, her black dress trailing behind.
I imagined stomping on the hem and watching her face meet the floor.
Too bad my legs were chained to the chair and wouldn’t let me carry out that fantasy.
Her expression was grim. “This curse has dampened your magic. I must remove it if I am to bring out your true nature. To allow you to shift without such agony. When the final ritual is complete, you will be able to fully shift into your true dragon form. All of our kin will.”
I barked a laugh. “Seriously? Lady, it’s your fault I’m cursed, remember? You sent Envy after me, and this is what happened.”
She rested her hands on my shoulders.
Something dark and deadly stirred inside me. I cringed at the sensation. It’d been growing over the last few days, ever since she started trying to remove the curse. It was like she was awakening something inside me that shouldn’t be there. Those who were dragonborn that followed her might embrace evil magic to allow them to partially shift, but I wanted it out of me.
“I’m afraid this curse was not my doing. Nor was it done on my orders.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Envy was there because of you. He was there to kill my parents and me.”
“He wasn’t there to kill you, Mercy. He was there to bring you to me.”
I laughed. She had to be kidding, right? “What would you have wanted with me? I was just a kid.”
“You were a child with great potential running through your veins. That night, things took an unexpected turn.”
Her claws pricked my skin, drawing blood.
I was in the same black tank and pants as I had the night she took me away.
They’d brought me fresh c
lothes, but I wasn’t about to put on a dress or do anything that might make me look like Shuval. The clothes in shreds, in the corner of the room, where I’d left them.
Blood oozed from the wounds on my shoulders. She dug her sharp talons in deeper.
I bit the inside of my cheek, not about to wince or let her know how much it hurt. I’d done enough screaming today.
“Envy was supposed to cast a spell to knock you out. Unfortunately, your magic reacted with his and things went awry. This curse was never meant to be placed on you. I am truly sorry.”
“You’re sorry,” I said sarcastically. “You’re sorry you killed my parents? Ruined my life?”
“No,” she said.
The cold edge of the word placed a chill over me.
“They deserved to die. Your mother should have joined me, but she refused. I blame your father for that. He filled her head with worthless ideas and notions of love.” She tore her hands free from my shoulders.
I couldn’t stop the gasp escaping my mouth.
If she noticed, she didn’t say anything, merely stomped away from me. “She would have been a magnificent warrior in the upcoming war. Truly magnificent.”
“She would never have associated with someone like you.”
Shuval’s lips curled into a sad smile. “I knew your mother long before you did. She had a fire within her, a desire to be more than she was. Then she met your father, and as things go, he changed her for the worse. But,” she said, slowly walking toward me, “they did have you. You are the only good thing to come from their union. One who is just like me.”
Fire sparked at my fingertips, but it didn’t do me any good as it fizzled out in a blink. I was too weak to hold onto it. “I am nothing like you.”
“But you are. You see, I too have the blood of a dragon and a mage burning through my veins.” She pinched my chin between her fingers.
I froze when those damned claws came back out of my fingertips.
She didn’t seem to notice and continued rambling. “My father, however, was a pureblood, dating all the way back. The dragon gene in him was not recessive, though it is in me. Before he died, he taught me about our own brand of ancient magic. One that has long since been forgotten and abandoned. With it, I found a way to override our unfortunate circumstances. A miracle you might say.”
“Or a nightmare.”
Her grip on my chin intensified. “A miracle for the rest of our kin who have been forced to remain in human form. We are dragons, Mercy. We are meant to take flight. To breathe fire. To rule over the weaker races.” Her words were filled with desire as her gaze took on a faraway look.
I didn’t say anything since she still had her nails buried in my face.
“We lost the first war, it’s true, but we won’t lose this time.” She let me go and paced away, spreading her arms wide. “This time I will call on the ancient power of this world and create an army unlike any before. Those unwilling to accept will die. Those who do accept will know enormous power, all thanks to me.”
“And you’re going to murder how many people in the process?” I said, furious.
She turned around, brow arched as if I amused her.
“You’ve slaughtered hundreds of innocent people and for what? So we can shift into dragon form? Who gives a shit?”
“I do. And so do countless others.”
“No, what they want is power, and you’re giving it to them. You’re giving them a chance to destroy everything that’s good.” I shook my head and settled back in the chains holding me to that damned chair. “I won’t have any part in it. I don’t want your evil dark magic forcing me to shift into something I shouldn’t be.”
“This is about far more than power, Mercy. This is about taking back what’s rightfully ours. Once the change has taken over you, once the battle is finished, you will come to understand it was all worth it.”
I leaned forward as far as the chains would allow. I imagined myself running her through with two swords, then relieving her of her head. I grinned darkly, wishing she could see what I had planned for her the second I was freed of these chains.
Shuval held my gaze easily enough, but the tiniest hint of uneasiness crept into hers the longer our eyes were locked.
“You’ll never see the end of the battle. I’m going to rip out your heart first, then I’ll feed it to you.”
She swallowed. “You think so?”
“That’s a promise.”
She stalked closer. The fear that had been in her eyes vanished, replaced by true evil. When she smiled, two sets of fangs appeared in her mouth, and her eyes shifted to a familiar amber.
“You aren’t strong enough to defeat me, Mercy. Do you think I stopped at merely becoming a hybrid? Why do you think it’s taken me so long to reach this point? I’ve been quite busy.”
“That’s not possible,” I whispered in disbelief. Those were vampire fangs next to what I could only assume were fangs from her dragon form. And a third set jutted up from her lower jaw. Canines of a shifter. “What did you do?”
“Not nearly everything I’ve set out to do. Not yet.” She laughed as she walked toward the door. “Once I remove your curse, you too will know such power.”
“Never going to happen.”
“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice in the matter.”
The door opened, and one of the black-clad hybrid guards stepped in. He didn’t say anything to Shuval, just stepped aside.
Quin Nolan appeared in the doorway.
I tensed in the chains.
“What are you doing here?” Shuval demanded.
Nolan dropped his head in a subservient manner. “Sycamore confronted me, and he wasn’t alone. The governor was brought in. At least, the sacrifices have been moved to a secure location. I am sorry, my love, it would appear we’ve been found out.”
My love? He just called her my love.
As I watched in disgust, he leaned in and kissed her. And not just a nice peck on the cheek.
Oh no, I received a front row view to a kissing session.
I cleared my throat after what felt like an eternity.
Shuval smirked at me over her shoulder. “Ah, yes, I almost forgot. Mercy, you and Quin Nolan have met before, yes?”
I glanced at him, then back to her. “Yeah, you could call it that.”
Nolan’s lip twitched in disgust. “You’re certain you wish to keep her alive?”
“Yes. She’ll do well when the time comes. Leave that to me. And don’t fret about their knowledge of us. It’s not as if they’ll find us here. I heard they already tore this place apart and yet here we are, undiscovered,” Shuval mused. “They won’t find us until we want them to.”
My brow furrowed, wondering if she meant Rafael and Damian. Nice to know they were searching for me, but where the hell was here? I hadn’t left this room since I was brought to it.
“Speaking of the demon, I told him I’d pass on his regards,” Nolan said. “Filthy demon.”
I tugged on the chains. “Don’t you dare talk about him, you bastard.”
“You won’t have long to worry about him,” Shuval assured me. “He’ll be dead soon enough.”
“You really think you can keep me here until October? That they won’t find me?”
“Who said anything about waiting until October? The Blood Moon will rise precisely when I want it to.” Shuval’s wicked smirk dashed my final hope.
Nolan exited the room. Shuval followed, leaving the guard to close the door behind them.
Once the door was locked, the chains loosened around my body—magical chains—and I was able to get up. I shoved them aside and sprinted for the door, as I did every time, willing it to break open this time. That today, I’d break out of this damned place and find my way back to Rafael.
No matter how hard I hit it, the door remained closed. I bashed my fist into it, screaming at the top of my lungs, then sank to the floor. I rammed my elbow into it one more time for good measure and regretted
it when a jarring pain shot to my shoulder.
I wasn’t getting out of here.
The others needed to know about Shuval. She wasn’t simply a dragon and a mage anymore. What did those other abilities do for her? How had she even gotten them? We had no idea how she created hybrids. Just the rumors Horace relayed to us from his undercover days.
I supposed that if she managed to lift the curse, I’d get to see it all firsthand. I rubbed the back of my neck, letting my head hang, then shut my eyes as tightly as I could. I pictured Rafael sitting beside me. Hearing the steady growl coming from his chest, feeling the warmth from his body. Why had I left the apartment without him?
I should’ve stayed there. Should’ve just ignored my cell.
I opened my eyes, not surprised to find myself still in the same damned room. It was nothing like how it had been when I first arrived. Shuval had everything removed after my first tantrum. She’d let me out of the cage and apparently believed she could talk me into not trying to kill her or the rest of her minions.
I’d proved her wrong in thirty seconds.
When I’d come to, the cage was gone. Along with everything, else except for the bed, the chair with the chains, and a fresh change of clothes.
The clothing I had destroyed, but she left it here, informing me I wasn’t getting anything else to wear. That was just fine by me. Too bad she’d taken my boots and my jacket. That pissed me off.
And of course, they took all my weapons.
I studied my hands, shaking them when no fire appeared. “Come on,” I muttered. I snapped my fingers as if I could have a hope of lighting my mage fire that way.
Shuval messing with the curse had done something to my magic. I hardly felt it inside of me. Instead, I continued to have the uncomfortable sensation that some wild beast was trying to fight its way out of me.
Today, I had claws. And I’d roared. What Shuval told me about being able to fully shift frightened me more than anything I’d faced in my lifetime. We weren’t meant to shift, and anything born from evil magic would end up being just that. Evil.
I needed a tiny hit of magic. If I could get some magic, there was a spell Damian had taught me a long time ago that I could use. One that, if I ever found myself in a situation I couldn’t get out of, the spell would reach out to the person I was thinking about, give them my location, and drawing them to me like a beacon. I’d only used it once before, back when I was learning how to be a bounty hunter.