Reaping Mercy

by Ciara Graves

  “Yes, you look like one of them.”

  “Good. I don’t know how yet, but I’m going to be back for all of you.” I started to walk away then stopped. “The tunnel you came in through, where does it start?”

  The vampire hissed as he glared in the direction of a massive set of double doors, big enough for the cages to fit through. “Beneath the reapers’ mansion, though the newer additions were brought down from above.”

  That was not what I wanted to hear. We couldn’t escape that way then, not a chance in hell. The tunnels might have other passages branching off, but there wasn’t time to see where they all led.

  “You better go before they come back.”

  Gigi was still unconscious, but I hoped she’d know I was here. I told the vampire if she woke up to let her know help was coming, then I was off. I sprinted all the way back to the elevator, waiting to be caught, but there were no more signs of a patrol. As soon as the elevator doors closed, I hit the button for the sixth floor and kicked the wall, denting it. Kids, there was a cage filled with kids to be disposed of if their parents didn’t do what Shuval wanted. So many innocents were down there. We had to get them out. Sycamore was our only chance for backup. As soon as I was back in the room, I’d give him a call.

  I paced around and around the cramped space, cursing when the elevator dinged on the third floor.

  The doors opened, and a shaky witch jumped to find someone already in there.

  “Oh, hi,” she said, her voice high-pitched as she stepped inside.

  “Heading up?”

  She pressed the button for the highest floor. “Yeah, I uh, couldn’t sleep. Someone said there was a pool up top, so that’s where I’m headed.” She was dressed like all the others, but her hands shook the entire time, and she kept mumbling under her breath. She was maybe a couple years younger than me, and looked a wreck.

  “Are you alright?” I shouldn’t have asked. I had enough problems to deal with, but I’d been around enough messed up people to know when someone’s in trouble.

  “Uh? Oh, yeah I’m fine.”

  “You sure?” We were on my floor, and the doors opened, but I didn’t get out.

  “Is this you?”

  “It is, but I want to make sure you’re okay.” I let the doors close and rode higher with her. “You can tell me, you know. Won’t say anything.”

  She tugged hard on a lock of hair. “First conference. My boyfriend dragged me along.”

  “You didn’t want to come?”

  “No, not really. We met at college and everything. I thought he was a white warlock, but turns out he’s not.” She let out a breath and tears shimmered in her eyes. “He wants me to leave my coven and join his, but I’m a white witch. I can’t do it.”

  “Did you tell him this?”

  “I did, but he won’t let me leave.” The doors opened on the top floor, and I stepped out with her. “He’s changed since we’ve been here. He’s scaring me. I want to leave, but I’m worried what he’ll do.” The tears came then, falling down her cheeks as she held her face.

  I really didn’t have time for this, but kicking some warlock’s ass for being a d-bag sounded like a great way to vent some of my pent-up anger. “What’s your name?” I asked as I put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

  “Val.”

  “Val, I’m Maggie. I want you to come to me if he threatens you again, alright?”

  “What? No, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “Trust me, he won’t hurt me, but he can’t keep you here. You find me.” I gave her my room number and hugged her again. “Go for a swim and clear your head, but don’t let him push you around. You’re stronger than you think.”

  “No, I’m not. At least he doesn’t think so.”

  “And who gives a shit what he thinks?” I took firm hold of her shoulders and caught her eye. They were a strange shade of hazel that caught me off guard. “Just remember what I said,” I mumbled, faking a smile. “I’ll be around if you need help.”

  She bobbed her head then hugged me so hard I couldn’t breathe. “Thank you.”

  “Welcome.” She let me go and darted down the hall toward the rooftop pool. I hit the down button for the elevator, and the doors opened immediately. Once inside, I rested against the back wall. There was something odd about Val, but there was no time to figure it out. I’d keep an eye out for her as long as I was here.

  As soon as we were ready to make our move, she’d be on her own.

  Chapter 9

  Rafael

  Mercy was talking loudly.

  I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I leaned over and glared at the clock on the nightstand. It was barely six in the morning.

  Across the room, Mercy stood at the back door, talking to someone on the phone.

  I reached for mine, wondering if Nor had gotten back to me yet, but my cell wasn’t there. As I got out of bed, Mercy glanced at me and held up her hand, stopping me from getting my question out. My question was what was going on. When I came closer, I realized she was on my cell. I crossed my arms and waited impatiently.

  “Two days?” she said. “You sure that’s as soon as you can make it?”

  “Mercy,” I whispered loudly.

  She turned her back to me. “I don’t think they have that kind of time,” she snapped, then stalked to the other side of the room. When she whipped around, she was pinching the bridge of her nose, shaking her head. “That’s not good enough, Sycamore.”

  “Sycamore? From the Gathered?”

  Mercy ignored me again, but when she walked around this time, I stayed with her, waiting for her to give me more information, so I knew what she was up to.

  “If you’re late, or you’re lying, I’ll kick your ass from here to next year.” She paused as I assumed Sycamore spoke, then she said, “I don’t trust the Gathered, but I’m trying to trust you. Don’t mess it up.” She hung up and tossed me my cell. “We’re going to have a friend joining us in two days.”

  “A friend? What friend?” I glanced at my cell again. “Why are you talking to Sycamore?”

  “We need help, and he’s the only one around unless you want to call in the Feds to raid this place. Which honestly, I’d be quite alright with.”

  She was shaking, but it wasn’t out of fear. It was anger, pure, raw anger. She muttered under her breath a few times then whirled around and kicked the nearest end table sending it crashing to the floor. She grabbed the lamp and chucked it across the room. Glass shattered, and I was ready to pull her away from it before she hurt her feet, but she was wearing her boots. She was fully dressed and wearing her damned amulet.

  “What are you staring at?”

  “Why are you dressed?”

  “You really have to ask? You’re not stupid. Why don’t you tell me?” She poked me hard in the chest with that last question, punctuating every word until I took a firm hold of her hand.

  “You left the room?”

  “Kind of had to.”

  I dragged her closer as I growled, “You went back there, alone? What were you thinking? What if you were caught or Shuval was down there? Damn it, Mercy,” I ranted and stalked away from her as images of her locked in that massive cage battling it out with some shifter—or worse—appeared in my mind.

  Seeing her dead. Seeing her in Shuval’s grip before she was torn apart and sold on the black market. Mercy had no outward signs of being a dragonborn. For all I knew, Shuval would sell Mercy alive to the reapers for being a rarity.

  My gut gave a sickening lurch, but when I faced her again to continue the lecture, she didn’t even appear ashamed of lying to my face. Again. I should’ve expected it. I knew Mercy as much as I told myself I didn’t want to. Just like I cared for her even when I told myself repeatedly it was a bad idea and was only going to get me in trouble.

  “I only ran into one patrol.”

  Her words did nothing to make me feel better. “I’m assuming you weren’t seen?”

  “
No, they were hybrids, too.”

  “Of course they were.”

  Why couldn’t she have just waited?

  “You can drop the pissed off act now. They have cages, Rafael. Cages, and cages of shifters, vampires, demons, every race. They’re trapped down there in cages like animals.” A flicker of her white fire flared to life in her eyes. “Humans too. And children. Paranormal children.”

  “Shit.” If there was a way to call in the Feds to raid this place, I’d do it. But the second they caught wind of any authority headed for the hotel, it’d disappear in a shot. I knew that, but it didn’t make the decision any easier not to call it in. “You find Wesley?”

  “And Gigi. They’re both in bad shape, which is why I called Sycamore. We need help to get them all out of their cages.”

  “All? That’s not why we came here. We can’t get everyone out.”

  “There are close to a hundred innocents down there being pitted against each other every damned night this conference goes on. Shit, probably when it doesn’t,” she seethed. “I am not leaving this hotel until we get them all out. Their cages have shields I can’t remove on my own. We need Sycamore’s help. We’re rescuing them from this hell. You can either help me or get the hell out. Shuval has hurt enough people already.”

  “No.”

  Her eyes flared brighter. As happy as I was to see her powers weren’t as off-kilter as they were before, now was not the time for her to lose control and blast me into a wall. “No? What do you mean, no?”

  “We came here to get Gigi out, and that’s all we’re going to do. Saving the others is going to have to wait.”

  “Since when did you turn your back on innocent people?”

  “Since it entailed putting your life in more danger. You said it yourself, Shuval’s here. I will not watch you get taken by her. I won’t so don’t ask me to help you with this impossible mission.” I was breathing hard by the time I got to the end of my short rant.

  Tying her up and hauling her ass back to Sector 21 was starting to look like a damned good idea. We’d come up with a way to free everyone else once we had Gigi and Wesley safely back home.

  “I’m doing this,” she reaffirmed. “You try to stop me, and I’ll beat you senseless and leave you for the warlocks to find.” The look on her face was dead serious.

  I ground my teeth. “Mercy.”

  “You going to help me or not? Sycamore’s going to be here in two days.”

  “Why are you doing this? Is this some form of payback or something?”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  The room crackled with the tension between us.

  She sighed then laughed. It was far from a happy sound. “Oh, I get it. You’re a piece of work.”

  I blinked furiously, not shifting on my feet. “I’m not the one risking her life, again.”

  “So what?”

  The rage I felt when Morris had gotten too close downstairs threatened to come rushing back. I turned my back on her as I gnashed my teeth, fighting for control. She acted like her life was worthless, like people wouldn’t miss her if she was to get herself killed. Like I wouldn’t miss her.

  “You really need to make up your mind.” Mercy was glaring when I met her gaze.

  “About what?”

  “About this because you’re going to drive me insane. I can’t deal with your shit on top of everything else so figure it out and just let me know.” She sat down on the edge of the bed and shrugged out of her coat, tossed it aside carelessly, followed by her boots. “People always bitch about how women can’t make up their damned minds. Then there’s you, brooding and being indecisive. Can’t even answer a damned question with a straight answer.”

  “What question are you talking about?”

  She crawled up the bed, dragged back the blankets and burrowed beneath them.

  “Mercy?” I tugged on them hard, revealing her face.

  “Go away. I’m getting some sleep before we have to go play nice with these assholes.” She yanked the blankets back up over her face.

  I nearly tore them away again but drew my hand away. I picked up her coat and draped it over the back of the chair, set her boots beneath it, then went to take a steaming hot shower to try and clear my very confused head. I knew damned well what question she referred too, even though I acted like I didn’t. Did I love her? Why couldn’t there be an easy answer to that question?

  Since I found out what she was, I decided I couldn’t be with her. It was impossible. Now I wasn’t sure I’d ever get over Mercy. Let alone be able to stop loving her. Because I did. There was no changing that fact.

  I checked on her once I was out of the shower. She was sound asleep. She’d kicked off the blankets, and I gently tucked her back in. Without even thinking, I kissed her forehead, lingering there as she breathed steadily in sleep.

  “What am I going to do with you?” I whispered then backed away from the bed.

  After I slipped my amulet on, I left her a note saying I’d be downstairs in case she woke up, then headed out the door. It was too early for most of the conference attendees to be awake, but I hoped to bump into Morris all the same. I didn’t expect to find breakfast laid out yet.

  When I reached the main floor, there was a sign announcing it was set up in the dining hall, in case anyone was awake. There were a few others there, but no one I recognized. I snagged a cup of coffee but wasn’t in the mood to eat so grabbed a table with a good view of the doors. The conversations around me were too quiet to pick up on anything, so I fiddled with my cell, trying to act like I was doing something instead of staking out the room.

  When I finished my first cup, I refilled it, left the hall and the lobby, moving outside to the courtyard. The place was deserted, so I took a chance and called Nor. It went straight to voicemail, no ringing. I didn’t say anything, but tried Damian next. No answer there either. I even tried Bowen, but again there was nothing. I wasn’t sure what my plan was, beyond finding someone else to convince Mercy this plan of hers was insane. Not that she even had a plan. Shuval being here should’ve been enough to get her to leave and instead she stayed. Her resolve was impressive, but it was going to get her killed one day. Giving up on the others, I called Sycamore.

  “Rafael,” he said after picking up on the first ring. “I wondered if you’d be calling me.”

  “Not like I have anyone else to call.”

  “Mercy said the same. From the tone of voice, I’d say it didn’t go over well? Mercy filling you in?”

  “What do you think?” I yelled. I looked around quickly, but I was alone. “Did she tell you her magic hasn’t been working as well as it could be? Not that it’s ever that great, to begin with.”

  “She did, but I have faith in her abilities. As should you.”

  “I’ve also seen her after she uses too much magic. It drains her. Rescuing all these people could kill her. You realize that, right? The bad guys might not even get their chance at her because she’ll kill herself for them.”

  “It’s her choice.”

  I wanted to rant and rage against those words. Her choice to die? I was not about to let that happen. “How is one mage going to make a difference?”

  “This mage is coming with an arsenal. Though I can’t say that this will succeed for certain.”

  “Then why agree to it at all?”

  “Because nothing is ever certain, Rafael. Surely, you’ve figured that out by now? And with the darkness brewing on the horizon, we’re going to need all the help we can get. If Mercy rescues these people, she’ll have them on her side when the time comes.”

  As far as I knew, Sycamore had no idea Mercy was part dragonborn. He only mentioned her father, so I said nothing about the real reason I was worked up. Shuval was the enemy we hadn’t even seen face-to-face, and she was the one pulling the strings. She would be the reason the war started if we failed to stop her in time. And she was here, somewhere in this very hotel. The second she learned of Mercy’s pre
sence, we’d be on the run. We’d have to rescue the prisoners and sneak them all out of the hotel without getting caught. It was impossible, and I said as much to Sycamore.

  “Once I get there, we’ll come up with a plan you’re satisfied with. But tell me, honestly, you think you can stop Mercy from doing this?”

  “Not unless I knock her out and I don’t want to deal with the fallout of that.”

  “Then I suggest you hang tight until I can get there. See you in two days.” He hung up.

  I sat down hard on a stone bench, sipping my coffee, and watching the wind rustle the leaves of a nearby oak tree. Why could nothing be easy? Ever?

  Chapter 10

  Rafael

  “Here, what about this?” Mercy slid the itinerary across the table for me to see. “Third from the bottom.”

  I picked up the paper and read over the event. “This?”

  “It takes place in one of the conference rooms, the largest one. I guarantee everyone will be there to see it.”

  “Why do you assume that, exactly?” My head throbbed, and I was stressed out from waiting for Sycamore to arrive. He was supposed to be here first thing in the morning. Waiting for him had been beyond terrible.

  Mercy had wanted to go back to the cages, but I refused, telling her she’d been lucky the first time. Doing it again was pushing it.

  “Says there’s going to be a special guest. Who do you think that’s going to be?”

  “You really think Shuval is going to reveal herself to the covens? Just like that?”

  “Maybe not as herself, but she’s the ally they’ve been talking about. You and I both know it.” Mercy slunk back in her chair, picking at the fries on her plate.

  We’d ordered room service today, mostly so I could keep an eye on her and because I hadn’t seen Morris at all. It was probably nothing, but it bothered me how he practically sought out Mercy those first two days. Then he just up and disappeared.

  “It’s going to be her,” Mercy mused again.

  “Alright so everyone goes to this event. Then what?”