Child of Mercy

by Lisa Olsen

  The last thing I wanted was a drink, but I agreed readily enough. “That would be nice, thanks.”

  “I’ll take a scotch if you’re going that way anyway,” Adam smiled cheerfully, but we both ignored him. Instead I accompanied Parker to the door, radiating soothing Grace the entire way.

  “It’ll be fine, I promise.”

  Parker nodded, but I could see the hurt behind his eyes. The fact that I’d called Adam at all was a sore spot between us and I guess I couldn’t blame him. The fact was, I needed them both, I just hoped they could put aside their enmity long enough to help me get Bunny back.

  “You got your body back. Well, mostly.” I turned around to see Adam staring at me with open hunger, but he quickly shuttered it behind his trademark grin. “Where is the little rug rat anyway?”

  I ignored the barb, a rush of relief sweeping through me when he brought up the baby. If he remembered Bunny, the chances were he could help me figure out who took her. “You heard me calling you from the hospital?”

  “I sure didn’t come to watch the happy couple. How was the wedding, by the way? Did you wear white?”

  “Then you remember our baby. You remember why you left me.”

  “Is that a trick question?” It was Adam’s turn to look confused. “Of course I do. You don’t think I’d have left otherwise, do you?”

  I didn’t want to fight about the stupidity of that statement at the moment, I just wanted his help. “Yeah, well… you, me, and Nelo are the only ones that do. Everyone else has developed amnesia as far as the baby is concerned.”

  “Really?” His face changed, but I wasn’t sure with what. He almost looked pleased to hear it.

  “Not only that, she’s gone. I went into the hospital and it was… bad.” I swallowed at the agonizing memory. “When I woke up, she was gone and they called me insane for claiming to have ever been pregnant.”

  “No sign of the child at all.”

  “No, nothing. Even her crib and things are all gone. What do you think could make everyone forget like this?”

  “Not only a loss of memory, but the fabric of reality has been altered.” Adam lost the lackadaisical attitude and I was gratified to see him take me seriously. “Offhand, I’d say there are some pretty dark magics involved.”

  “But magic can’t obliterate a person, right? Whatever magic was done, Bunny’s still out there, right? She does exist somewhere.”

  “Bunny?”

  “Would you try to focus please!” I yelled in exasperation at the look on his face.

  “Yes, in theory. The baby is still out there somewhere, but we don’t really know what we’re dealing with.”

  “Then there’s a chance she might just be gone.” I sank onto the bed, the strength going out of my legs as I wrapped my arms around my empty middle.

  “Hey, it’ll be okay, Mercy. We’ll get her back one way or the other.”

  “But if…”

  All of a sudden he pulled me into his arms, and I felt his Grace kindle mine as he calmed me with his touch. “Don’t even go there. I’m here now, and I’ll help you get her back, I swear.”

  “I can’t believe any of this is happening.” I sucked in a gulp of air. “Nine months, you know? Nine months I’ve been waiting to meet her and now she’s…”

  “Hey, shhh.” His hand stroked my back lazily. “Once we find out who did this we’ll make him reverse it and boom, we get her back easy peasey.”

  I looked up to find him gazing at me, our faces close enough to share breath. “I, um… thank you.” I pulled back, needing to put some space between us.

  “Mercy, I…”

  “Am I interrupting?” Parker said from the doorway, a drink in either hand.

  “No, perfect timing as always.” I offered him a smile to counter Adam’s scowl.

  “Yeah, perfect,” Adam muttered, leaving his place by my side to pluck a drink from Parker’s hand. “So, we’re on a baby hunt. Any ideas where to look first?”

  “That’s why I called you. I can think of a few, but I’m not sure where the best place to start is.”

  “Okay, first thing we do is…”

  “Wait… wait a minute here,” Parker interrupted, not at all happy with the turn of events. “When did this turn into Adam running the show? I said I’d help you find her, Merce. We don’t need him.”

  “How can you say that? We need all the help we can get. We’re lucky to have Adam on our side.”

  “What can he do that we can’t?”

  “It’s this kind of stupidity that’s keeping our baby out of your arms, Mercy,” Adam snarked. “I can see why you called me.”

  “You, zip it,” I said, pointing a finger at Adam. “That is not helpful. Parker, every second we spend arguing about this is another that goes by with her out there somewhere. God only knows what could be happening to her. I’d never forgive myself if I let Azazael or Raum hurt her, just because Adam’s a tool.”

  “Hey,” Adam protested, much to Parker’s amusement.

  “Alright, I’m sorry, I understand.” Parker wrapped an arm around my waist. “I’m not trying to make this harder on you, I swear. We’ll find her.”

  I went into his arms, trying to take the support offered, but to tell the truth, I felt pretty uncomfortable in the room with both of them. “I think we should make a plan of attack. List out every possible suspect and then rank them in order of likelihood.” It helped to have something to do, even if it might only be busywork for the time being.

  “You start on that list, I’m gonna call Sam and get him in on this too,” Adam added, maybe as an excuse not to have to watch us in each other’s arms. I guess I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t think he’d be able to reach him though.

  “It’s no use, I already tried calling him. He didn’t come.”

  “Hey, it’s me,” Adam replied cockily. “I’ll get him back here in two shakes.”

  We all left the bedroom - Adam to step outside and make his call, and Parker and I to the kitchen table to work on the list. As near as I could tell, my top three suspects were still Raum, Azazael and Lucifer, but I had no idea what order to rank them in. Adam came in a few minutes later, looking none too pleased.

  “Did you talk to him?”

  “I got him, but he’s on the ass other side of the world. It’ll take him a while to get here, but he’s coming.”

  For some reason that made me feel a hundred times lighter. I missed Sam so much, despite how I thought he’d messed things up with Daphne. Just knowing he was on the way made it feel like the odds were stacked more in our favor.

  “Who’s on the list so far?”

  We pored over the paper, making a list of pros and cons in a complicated ranking system none of us could quite agree on. Adam insisted we call Lucifer by anything but his real name so he wouldn’t know we were talking about him. An hour later found us no closer to picking a place to start. Personally, I leaned towards Azazael, but none of us were sure how to find him.

  Adam suggested we have Luz do a locator spell to try and find the baby, but a quick phone call nixed that idea. First of all, Luz didn’t remember a thing about the baby. Second, she said she’d need a personal item from whoever we were looking for to track them down, and not a scrap of physical evidence remained of Bunny’s existence.

  Adam’s money was on Lucifer as the culprit, because there was no one sneakier than him and he had access to the most powerful magics to be found. But I wasn’t sure I agreed. When I’d met him, he didn’t seem like the type to go through all the trouble of changing reality. If he wanted Bunny, I thought he’d take her and be done with it.

  Parker… I still wasn’t sure if he really bought into it all, but he played along well for my benefit. All in all, it was more frustrating than anything else until Nelo stepped out of the shadow behind the TV, practically dancing in place with excitement.

  “Mistress, I bring news.”

  “Well, don’t just stand there, out with it,” Adam encouraged him
.

  Noticing Adam for the first time, Nelo broke into a toothsome smile. “Master Adam does care about our problems after all, Mistress. See, I told you he would come.”

  “Nelo…” I prompted, a warning creeping into my tone and the little demon snapped back to the topic at hand.

  “I have heard it said that Raum has a new plaything. One he guards jealously, absenting himself for great periods of time. None have seen it, but there have been reports of strange wailing cries from his private chambers.”

  “That’s good enough for me.” Adam patted him on the head. “Great job, Nelo.”

  “Did I truly help, Mistress?”

  “More than helped, you cracked this case wide open.” I pulled him into a grateful hug. “That settles it, we’re going to Midian.”

  “Great, we’ll pop in, snatch her back and pop back out again. Where’s the ring?”

  Adam held out his hand, but I gave him a shake of the head.

  “I don’t have it, I gave it back to Remiel.”

  “We’ll have to get him to cough it up again. He owes me for thrashing my house anyway. What possessed you to let him crash there?” he added irritably, reaching for his phone.

  “There’s no time, he went back to Texas.” I stopped him before he got too far. “This isn’t a problem, we’ll go through the main gate.” Getting into Midian wasn’t a worry. Come to think of it, the only worry I had was for Bunny’s safety once we got there.

  “Are you nuts?” Adam stared at me as if I’d grown a second head. “What makes you think Raum will let you walk out of there if this is a trap?”

  “I’m not afraid of Raum, not one bit.” I gave a half shrug, heading for the hall closet to get a light jacket. It would be warm in the tunnels, but the open air of Midian could get chilly.

  “It’s true, she pretty much kicked his ass when he came looking for Oriana.” Parker gave me a supportive smile and I was glad he still retained that memory at least.

  “Having a tussle with Raum in the world is a little different from going up against him in his seat of power,” Adam insisted, a deep furrow still present on his brow. “We need to plan this out more.”

  “I don’t care, I’m going.” I slipped on my jacket, more concerned with how I’d convince Parker to stay behind.

  “The hell you are,” Adam growled, physically blocking me from the front door. “What makes you think I’m letting you put yourself in danger again?”

  It was time for lesson in humility. “What makes you think you have a say in what I do or where I go?” Where Adam’s strength had once far surpassed my own, the gift of Raziel’s Grace gave me the ability to physically move him out of the way. Not easily, but I didn’t break a sweat. I think I made my point.

  Adam’s face registered shock as he realized I was stronger than him. “What happened to you?” he breathed in wonder. I might have felt more inclined to explain if I wasn’t still mad that he’d left me to fight the Angel of Death on my own in order to “protect me”.

  “I don’t have time to play catch up with you right now, Adam. If you want to know, you can tag along and I’ll fill you in on the way.”

  “At least wait for Sam to get here,” he pleaded, hand resting light on my arm, but I shook it off.

  “I’m not waiting any longer. I’ll be glad to have you with me, but I’m calling the shots. Can you live with that?”

  I saw a slew of sarcastic remarks threaten to spill from his perfect lips, but instead he nodded. “Yeah, I’m good with that.”

  “I’ll drive.” Parker picked up his keys, taking his cues from me.

  “You’re not going,” I said as gently as I could manage. “I might not be able to protect you and Bunny at the same time, and I know you don’t want to rely on Adam.”

  “I can take care of myself.” He started to work himself up to an argument, but I laid a finger to his lips.

  “No, you can’t. Not in Midian.”

  “You’d better sit this one out, sparky. Don’t worry, I’ve got things well in hand.” I wasn’t looking at him, but I could hear the smirk in Adam’s voice and I could guess his meaning at having things in hand.

  “Adam, go wait outside, I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

  Instead of arguing, Adam obediently stepped through the door. “I’ll be waiting.”

  “Should I wait outside too, Mistress?” Nelo asked, looking to the door in trepidation.

  “No, you can sit this one out too, Nelo.” I had a feeling things were going to get a whole hell of a lot bloodier than they had on our past forays into Midian. That time it wasn’t about stealth, it was about going in and taking back what belonged to me. If Raum was the one behind stealing Bunny, I couldn’t let him live to try it again. I didn’t want to expose Nelo to that.

  “But… ohana means family…”

  “I know, Nelo, and that’s why I need you to stay here with Parker and help him remember our family for when we get back, okay? I’m counting on you to help him fill in the blanks. You’re the only one who can help him do that.”

  “As you wish, Mistress.”

  “Good, now give me a hug.” I held his little body to mine, a goodbye without saying goodbye. “Why don’t you go start a pot of coffee for Parker, I’m sure he’ll be up late tonight.”

  “I really wish you’d let me go with you on this one.” Parker’s voice was low as Nelo left the room. “At least let me be there with the car for when you get back. You never know what you’ll end up bringing back with you.”

  Which was exactly why I didn’t want him anywhere near the portal. “Thanks, but we won’t need a ride, remember?” With a flex of muscles my wings appeared for an instant before I tucked them away again. I counted on it as a distraction, but it didn’t work for very long.

  “Mercy… why not wait for Sam? Even up the odds a bit if you won’t take me.”

  “Parker, I’ll be fine, I promise. You know what I can do. I meant it when I said I wasn’t afraid of Raum in the slightest. The last time I saw him I had him flat on his back begging for his life,” I smiled. “Besides, I have Adam there to watch my back.”

  “You know he’s using this as an excuse to get close to you again,” he said, his eyes narrowing.

  “I get it, I just don’t care. I’ll do anything I have to in order to get her back. Parker, you have nothing to worry about.” I cupped his cheek with my hand. “If I were you, I’d be more worried about getting used to the idea of me bringing a newborn back home with me. We’re completely unprepared here. We need everything, a crib, clothes, diapers, carseat…”

  “Okay, okay, I understand. Just… God, it’s killing me to let you go off like this with him.” He leaned into my touch and I brushed my thumb across the corner of his mouth.

  “Don’t you trust me?” Leaning up on my tiptoes, I showed him how much he meant to me the best way I knew how. It felt strange to kiss him without the bulk of my pregnant belly between us, but as his arms wrapped around my waist and he hauled me up against his body, the strangeness melted away in the heat of his embrace. Knowing full well it might be our last kiss if things went wrong, I put all my love and longing into it and it was long minutes before we came up for air.

  “Of course I do.” Parker rested his forehead against mine. “It’s him I don’t trust.”

  “You don’t have to. He’s the one who threw away his chance to be a part of this family. I’m going out there to bring back our daughter. Ours, yours and mine. That is if you still want to raise her with me.”

  “It’s still a lot to wrap my head around,” he answered honestly, and I could understand the hesitation. “I wish I had the same memories you did.” He touched my face gently.

  “So do I. This is more than we can talk about right now, I have to go. We’ll continue this when I get back.”

  “Merce…” He caught hold of my hand when I pulled away. “What if Raum plotted this all as a trap for you?”

  “I really hope he has.”

 
“Huh?” he blinked in confusion.

  “At least then we’ll know where she is for sure, and let him try and stop me from taking her back.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “This will never work, you know.” Adam kept pace beside me easily, his longer strides eating up the road once we emerged from the tunnels into open air.

  “Less talking, more walking.” If it wasn’t for the disgusting morfrans, I would have taken to the mauve sky and flown over the arid, rusty rocks below. I didn’t want to waste my energy on fighting anything but Raum though. For a moment I wondered if it wouldn’t have been smarter to bring Nelo with us, the faster to hop from shadow to shadow. It was too late for that, and a few more minutes of walking wouldn’t change anything one way or another. I hoped.

  “Even if Raum does have the baby, you don’t think he’ll give her up without a fight, do you?”

  “Naberios let us pass without a word.” He’d taken one look at me and stepped aside. Then again, it was always easier to get into Midian than it was to get out.

  “Not really the same thing.”

  “Look, are you here to help me or not?” I demanded, coming to a stop. “Because all this negativity is getting on my last nerve!”

  “I’m sorry.” His hands came up in a defensive gesture. “I’m just worried. You remember the last time we were here, everything Raum threw at us to keep us from leaving? Without that handy dandy portal…”

  “I’m well aware of the odds. But what do you want me to say? Okay, let’s let him have her and go home?”

  “Of course not. That’s not what I meant at all.”

  I started walking again. “Then what did you mean?”

  “Like I said, I’m worried about you. Both of you. Regardless of what you believe I still care, you know.”

  “Wouldn’t know it from our end,” I muttered, wishing we hadn’t gotten into it. Retreading through the same old arguments didn’t serve any purpose. He’d made his choice and I’d made mine. I’d moved on over the past several months. I was sorry if he hadn’t, but he had no one to blame but himself.

  “How much time do you think has passed here since she’s been gone?” I asked, more to change the subject than anything else.