Waiting for Mercy (Cambions)

by Dermott, Shannon

  When his monologue was over, I was speechless. But as time ticked on, I found my voice. “Why is everyone surprised or in awe of my innocence?” I asked. Luke had mentioned it too.

  “You’re a succubus,” he stated like I should understand.

  Finally, I rolled my eyes again. So maybe it was becoming a habit. “Yeah, and,” I said. “Like that’s a big hint.”

  He sighed. “Come on. You know what you are,” he said.

  “Yes, but I don’t know much about what that means,” I added.

  Then I saw it. The dawn of understanding crossed over his profile. “Your mother?”

  I nodded and said “Yes,” at the same time.

  “Okay, daughter of Lilith, let me bring you up to speed. I can’t believe you didn’t look up the information yourself. I mean the web is full of it,” he said.

  “Yeah, like I’m able to decide what is true or false just because of my species. And yes, I did a search. But it was fruitless. Besides, who is Lilith? I’m the daughter of Julie,” I said flippantly.

  He laughed and maybe for the first time in our long drive and conversation, things got a little relaxed. “I’m surprised you didn’t find a reference to Lilith in your research. Anyway, Lilith was supposedly the first wife of Adam.”

  “Supposedly,” I interrupted. “If she’s related to succubus then she’s a demon. Wouldn’t you know for sure your history?”

  “Ha-ha,” he said. “But you must remember our nature is evil. Truth is buried in lies and nothing is gospel. And yeah, pun indented.”

  “Fine,” I conceded. “Tell me more about Lilith.”

  “Lilith wasn’t a good wife for Adam. She chose to use her feminine wilds on archangels. Her punishment for her crimes was to be cast out as a lust demon. She is the first,” he said. “She made more of her kind through a pack with the devil himself so to speak. The first of her kind reproduced with humans over time which created your species, the cambions. But after the compact to move the war from earth to realms outside, demons were no longer able to reproduce. Thus you cambions seek each other out. With the problem that the mother will not survive the birth, it leaves your species numbers in the low, low hundreds. But nature draws you together, because cambions are not able to reproduce with humans.”

  There might as well been a ringing bell over my head because I understood what it meant what he just said. “So,” I began.

  “So how are you here?” he finished. Nodding, I waited. “You have to wonder on one hand, but then again.”

  “My father was a sociopathic psycho-serial killer,” I finished for him this time.

  Glancing my way, he said. “Well, there’s that. But he was still human because he died.”

  That was true but there was more. “But someone let him out for revenge. Doesn’t that mean he’d sold his soul or something to the devil, thereby making me possible?”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “Honestly Kayla, I don’t know. But something had to be different.”

  Great, my life was truly crap. He drove in silence for a long while. One thing was for sure, mommy dearest had some explaining to do.

  The silence was thick. He’d saved my life on a number of occasions. I wanted to believe that whatever he sought from me wouldn’t result in my harm. I bit my lip, and closed my eyes. I had so much to worry about. Maggie may no longer be human. Brent may have changed her, changed Doug. Luke wasn’t answering his phone. Was he finished with dealing with me and all the chaos my life was? Flynn, what to do for him? He’d made his feelings clear. But Flynn was resilient. I truly didn’t think whatever he thought he felt was real. I was just the girl that had turned him down. That was a first. His ego would only allow him to pursue and conquer me. Now somehow, I may be the cause of breaking up an old friendship. It didn’t sit well with me. I need to fix everything. I needed to make sure Maggie wasn’t a shifter. But that was one problem, I wouldn’t be able to solve.

  Time stretched on just like the miles. No longer on a busy highway, we were on a long stretch of road with nothing but barren land on either side. Ahead were mountains. The sun rose high in the sky but the chill in the air made it clear it was still winter. We were the only car on the road.

  When the noise came from the back seat, I turned expecting that a book or bag may have fallen to the floor. What I should have realized was there was nothing back there. The car was empty. We hadn’t packed for this trip. What I didn’t expect was a red eyed phantom to be staring back at me. I let out a very frightened girly, ear-piercing scream. And I wouldn’t apologize for it.

  Sebastian slammed on the brakes giving a half turn seeing what I saw. I’d pulled as far away as I could from the back seat with the seat belt still restraining me, trying to put distance between me and whatever was in the back.

  The ghostly projection snarled a toothy grin. I surveyed it, thinking of my options. The fact that I could see through it calmed me some. If it had no substance, then maybe it couldn’t hurt me either.

  When the car came to an abrupt halt, I was sent forward with the momentum. Then I was pulled back by my seat belt restraints. Sebastian turned to me. “Stay in the car,” he bellowed, an instant before he hopped out of the car. I turned my head wondering why he was leaving me alone when I noticed the phantom had disappeared.

  I turned back to watch Sebastian make his way to the front of the car. I noticed he’d stopped us in the middle of the road not bothering to pull over to the shoulder.

  Then I saw the beastly thing several feet in front of the car. It was huge and black as night with beady red eyes. It seemed so out of place in the daylight. It snarled and bared its fangs taking its appearance from a giant dog to a beast from that of nightmares, globs of spittle dripping from its mouth. Sebastian steps didn’t falter. But he was a demon of course. I, on the other hand thought it was wise to stay where I was.

  I heard the clopping noise a half a second before a rider on a huge horse materialized in a path aimed directly at us. Sebastian lifted his hands. But before I could see what would happen next, I was wrenched out of the car by my hair. The action so sudden, I had no time to counter the attack. I landed on my back on the warm asphalt of the road. I was tugged by my hair. Sharp needle pricks of pain settled in my scalp.

  Looking up, I saw that my attacker was the corporal version of the thing that had been in the back seat. I had seconds to come up with a plan. Although my self-defense lessons wouldn’t save me from a demon, maybe it might surprise him long enough for me to get away.

  My spine steeled even though it felt like he was going to rip every hair out of my head. I didn’t struggle, saving my strength for the battle to come. I didn’t even scream. Sebastian had enough on his hands. If this thing tried to part time like Sebastian then I would scream to let Sebastian know. But now, I wanted the demon to think me weak and underestimate me. Fear tried to overcome me, but I pushed it back. I could do this.

  My back raw with scrapes from the road felt better when I was pulled onto the grass. The thing stopped and turned. It released my hair and bent down with his hand aimed for my neck.

  Turning, I grabbed its leg and pulling with all my might. As it started to go down, I pulled my legs towards me only to kick out, helping it on its way down. Startled, it fell and I scrambled to my feet. I did the dummy thing and I ran with no real place to go. There was nothing but the car and I headed away from that. So I wasn’t surprised when my arm was taken in its clutches. It’s fist connecting with my face. I went down hard. That’s when a cry of pain escaped my throat. I was a goner for sure.

  Even with the sun above and my eyes barely open, I saw the bright stream of light coming from somewhere out of my sight. My first thought was Luke. He’d come to save me. Gratefully, I closed my eyes, knowing this nightmare would be over soon.

  Covering my face, I expect relief. I didn’t hear any more noises, so I assumed Luke’s angel light had banished the demon back to hell where it belonged. The footsteps were muted against the grass an
d coming straight for me.

  My face hurt and I’d have a shiner for sure. I didn’t remove my hands not wanting Luke to see the bruising on my face.

  “You’re safe,” a familiar voice said. “I’ll be right back.”

  The voice wasn’t right though. It wasn’t the voice I’d hoped it to be. My brain couldn’t reconcile who I’d heard and why that person would be here on an empty road.

  Alone, all the sounds around me came into focus. My head still hurt but I heard the unmistakable sound of a pained noise in the form of a yelp that had to be the demon dog. Then I heard a curse and nothing. I tried to move but my body ached. When another noise sounded close, I opened my eyes preparing to mount an attack. But Sebastian’s face contorted with concern, appeared right above mine.

  “Are you ok?” he asked. His eyes contradicted his worried features. They were the same beautiful empty eyes that I’d always seen, but now they terrified me. I couldn’t say for sure why, I just knew somewhere inside me that I should be afraid.

  “Hey demon boy, move aside,” the voice said. When he did, I saw Nina push Sebastian away from me. She too had a concerned expression on her face. When she moved to place her hands on my face, I swatted them away. “I’m ok,” I sputtered. “I was doing fine. I would have had him.” Even to me the words seemed hollow.

  Nina mouth flattened into a thin line. “Look, I don’t like this more than you do, but Luke would kill me.” She placed her hands on my face and I felt a warm sensation cascade outward. Was she healing me? I remembered back at the lake house the night Luke had conveniently shown up. I’d twisted my ankle. He’d placed his hands on me in a similar fashion. I’d just assumed that his warm touch was body heat. But no, he’d healed me.

  “Better,” she said. I nodded not wanting to speak. I didn’t like this girl and she didn’t like me.

  “We need to get out of here,” Sebastian said. “Others may come and things will only get worse.”

  He stood and Nina stood too, getting in his face. All of a sudden it was as if I wasn’t there. Nobody helped me up as they began talking amongst themselves.

  “You’re not taking her to Poison,” she said. Paimon, I thought not poison. But then I guess she was trying to be insulting. Nina and I weren’t friends. I just didn’t know her well enough. I didn’t know why she was here.

  “Who the hell are you?” he said. That didn’t seem right. He knew Nina. Why would he say that? “She wants to go.”

  “Yeah, what coercion method did you use to get her to go along,” she accused.

  “I don’t have time for this,” Sebastian said.

  “I’m not going to let you take her,” she said.

  “You and what army,” he countered.

  She didn’t speak for a second. “I’ll send you back,” she said. And I knew what she meant.

  “You’re not strong or fast enough. Don’t make me hurt you angel girl,” he promised.

  And there it was. Nina was an angel. I’ll be damned.

  I pushed up on my elbows. “Nina, I have to go get Flynn,” I said.

  Her eyes grew wide. “What in the hell is he doing there?” she asked.

  “We can talk about this later. There isn’t enough time now,” I said.

  She looked at Sebastian and he nodded at her. “Fine, I ride with you guys and we can discuss this.”

  Finally, they helped me to my feet. I pushed them away when they tried to carry me to the car. My ego was bruised enough and I needed to prove to myself that I could make it own my own. So I’d been dragged, punched and thrown to the ground. It could have been a lot worse.

  Once the car was on its way I turned to Nina who was folded in the back seat. Her black hair shined in the sunlight. “Why are you here?” I asked her.

  I don’t think anyone would have expected the next words out of her mouth. “I’m your guardian angel.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  surreptitious (adj.) stealthy

  Nina could have hit me with a two by four and I would have been less surprised. “You’re my what?” I blustered.

  “Well, actually Luke was assigned to you. He’s my mentor. But when the two of you got together, he unofficially turned the assignment over to me.”

  I blinked. I couldn’t speak. Words had never failed me until this moment. I’d learned a lot over the past half year, and nothing shocked me more. Luke was my guardian angel. Why hadn’t he told me? He’d given me over to the care of his ex-girlfriend who hated me. What the heck was he thinking?

  All I managed to say was, “You don’t even like me.”

  “It’s my job, Mercy. I don’t have to like you,” she said flatly.

  Ok, my mind might have been confused with the punch to the head because my next response was, “I don’t even know what I ever did to you.”

  “We would have gotten back together if it weren’t for you,” she stated. There it was. I knew it, but now it was out in the open. I didn’t bother to tell her that Luke never loved her. It didn’t seem the right time seeing as she’d saved my life.

  “That’s on Luke, not me,” I said. “Don’t blame me because he broke up with you.”

  She turned away from my gaze. I turned back around in my seat watching the mountains get closer. “How long?” I asked. My question was for Sebastian, but I never turned towards him when I said it.

  “Not long,” he said.

  “Mercy, this is a bad idea. I won’t be able to protect you in there,” she said.

  I didn’t like that she assumed I needed her protection. It didn’t matter what happened out on the road. She couldn’t say for sure that I couldn’t have saved myself. “I have to go and save Flynn.”

  She bristled. “What about Luke?” she retorted sharply.

  I didn’t like what she was suggesting. But I also wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that he and I weren’t on the best of terms right now. “I’m sure he would agree that helping his best friend is the right course of action.”

  Sebastian smirked and made a noise as if that was funny. I turned to spear him with my pointed stare. “Luke is in trouble too. Don’t you even care about that?” she said.

  Did he tell her what was going on in our relationship? Bile leaped to my throat with that thought. “If Luke needed my help, he would have told me,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt.

  She let out a sour laugh. “He can’t call you. They have him detained until the ruling on his case,” she said.

  I felt my heart stop. Somehow I knew she wasn’t talking about a court hearing about drinking and driving. If it was a human court case, he would be entitled to a call, not that he would call me. “What are you talking about?” I managed to say, wedging myself between the seats so I could look her in the eye when she spoke.

  She pushed her short hair behind her ears before her eyes met mine again in a fierce stare. “So you don’t know do you?”

  I shook my head. “What kind of trouble is he in? Can I help him? What can I do?” I didn’t know how to choose between Luke and Flynn, but I first needed to understand who was in mortal danger.

  She continued, “There is nothing you can do. His judgment will be in three days. You can’t get to him. It’s against the rules for me to take you to him. And really, he’s in trouble because of you. He gave up his post watching over you to me without authorization. No one would have found out if not for you finding yourself in that trouble last year. Now they know that the two of you are an item,” she said full of accusation.

  I opened my mouth to dispute her claim. But she beat me to the punch. “The council is going to clip his wings,” she spewed.

  “What,” I got out. “Luke said you all don’t have wings.”

  “Yeah, it’s a figure of speech. But besides that, his father is pissed. So I’d advise you to stay away from him. He’s already headed to talk to your mother,” she added, looking smug.

  “I don’t understand,” I said.

  “Of course y
ou don’t,” she mimicked, like I was a whiny child. “Let me break it down for you. Luke was a prodigy. He was the one to break down the walls between angels and nephilim. His father saw him as the one to help reinstate the Fallen. But you, demon girl, came along and destroyed everything for all of us.”