by Ciara Graves
I had no idea how she was even standing.
“Mercy?”
I turned to see who’d called her name.
Through the mess of bodies struggling to get back to their feet came Gigi. She ran into Mercy, and they embraced as the doors behind us burst open to reveal two faces I had not expected to see, followed by all those trapped in the cages.
Bowen and Rufus marched toward us, looking pissed off. They glared at Mercy, pointedly ignoring me.
“Nice timing,” Mercy said.
Bowen hissed.
She gave him a look. “What? Don’t give me that shit right now, alright? Just don’t.”
“You’re going to tell me why the hell you decided to attack the dark covens?”
“I didn’t. I came to get Gigi. So back off. Or I’ll make you.”
Any other day, I’d like to see her go a round with Bowen and beat him, but she was hardly able to stand.
Bowen’s red gaze flickered to Gigi at Mercy’s side, and his lips thinned. “We are going to have a very long talk if we get out of here,” he informed Mercy.
“Bite me,” she snapped in reply.
He bared his fangs.
I made ready to intervene if necessary.
“Perhaps I will.”
I stepped in to stop him, if he so much as raised a hand to her, but he never got the chance.
“Can we do this later? More are coming, and those guys aren’t going to stay down for long.” Todd’s ghost shimmered into view beside us. “Let’s go. Get everyone moving, or you all are going to be joining me.”
The room flooded with people that were bursting through several sets of doors. So many people who’d been trapped.
Sycamore appeared among them, walking with Wesley.
I caught hold of his arm. “What did you do?”
“Bit of old magic,” he said with a wink. “Mercy helped. Get them to that far wall and tell them to keep running. It’ll give.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant, but Bowen blurred to it, and the wall did disappear, revealing a set of stairs. The stairs Mercy and I hadn’t been able to find on the blueprints.
The longer explanation of what Sycamore did and how Bowen, Rufus, and Todd came to be here would have to wait.
Now, we had to run.
Every single cage had been emptied, and those trapped for too damned long charged out of the room and into the hidden stairwell.
Mercy clung to my side amid the chaos.
Bowen had hold of Gigi, with Rufus bringing up the rear.
Envy wouldn’t stay down for long, and once again, we weren’t going to be able to kill him. One day, he’d end up dead. One day.
As one, we charged up the stairs and burst into the lobby of the hotel.
Screams and panic ensued immediately.
I was concerned we were going to be stopped when an explosion erupted behind us. A bright flash of white light filled the lobby.
Mercy urged me to move faster.
“What the hell is that?”
“Rufus,” she replied simply. “Bastard always has explosives on him these days.”
A second explosion sent everyone streaming out the doors, but our group stayed huddled as close together as we could. We sprinted for the transport, leaving the burning hotel behind as witches and warlocks stood around on the street in confusion, watching us retreat.
A few started to follow, but Rufus pulled another bomb from his pocket and threw it, covering our escape.
Mercy staggered. I hoisted her back up, not letting her slow down for anything.
We hadn’t seen Shuval, but that meant nothing. An army of hybrids led by her could come charging after us, and no one here would try to stop her.
Reaching the transport, Bowen directed as many as he could into it, sending them all to Sector 21.
I asked him for his cell. He shot me a pissed off look but handed it over. Mine had fallen back in the room with the cage.
“Who are you calling?” Mercy asked, her voice weak from blood loss and her power flaring.
“Help. Trust me.”
She mumbled something I didn’t understand, then leaned into my side.
Iris answered on the third ring, asking who was calling.
“Shut up for five seconds and listen,” I said roughly. “Get everyone you can to the transport off Third Street. And I mean everyone.”
“Rafael? What’s going on?”
“I’ll explain when I get there. Just do it, Iris.” I hung up, not waiting for her to answer, and handed Bowen his cell back. “Mercy?” I gave her a little shake when she didn’t react right away, and she grunted. “Stay awake, alright?”
“I’m good. I need to check on Gigi.”
She needed to stop moving, but instead, she pulled away from my side and pushed her way over to Gigi.
They held each other up, the witch I heard them call Val when we were escaping, stayed nearby.
Something was odd about her, but I let it go. Now wasn’t the time or place to start an argument.
I helped usher everyone through the transport, offering to be the last one through.
Mercy step inside with Gigi, Val, Bowen, and Rufus.
Sycamore and Todd’s ghost hung back with me.
When I looked at Mercy’s face, the look she gave me ripped a hole through me.
Then they were gone, and I was left feeling so cold and hollow as I never had before.
Chapter 14
Mercy
Bowen stayed with the those we rescued from the cages. He yelled at me to get Gigi’s ass back home and take care of myself. To say he was pissed would be an understatement. Rufus wasn’t much better, growling at me every few seconds and shaking his head like I disappointed him somehow. Even Todd had disappeared from sight after shooting me an annoyed look that said I’d be getting a lecture from him later.
Wasn’t sure what they were all pissed about. We made it out of Sector 13 alive, and with between fifty and a hundred saved captives, including the kids, who would’ve been killed by Shuval at one point or another.
Rafael stood near the transport, quietly talking with Bowen, who he held up a very weak Wesley. We needed to talk, alone, but I had to get Gigi back to her place. And Val. I almost forgot about Val. Gigi had agreed to take her in. I’d introduced them once we’d gotten through the transport.
Val hardly had to tell Gigi much about her story when Gigi hugged her close and said she’d be more than happy to bring out the white magic within her. They sat on a curb nearby conversing in low tones.
It was the middle of the night, and the place should’ve been packed.
I spotted Iris at the end of the street, being followed by more Feds. SUVs drove slowly alongside them. They’d blocked off the street, allowing those we saved not to become a spectacle.
Iris went straight to Rafael and started yelling at him. That was my cue to leave. Without trying to get his attention, I went to Gigi and helped her unsteadily back to her feet.
“Ready to go home?” I placed her arm over my shoulders as Val stood at her other side, just in case. Gigi’s wounds needed to be patched up, but I worried more about her mental state. “Gigi?”
“What? You didn’t like my home away from home?” She winked as she said it, but her voice was weak. “You know, for a couple of days there, I was worried you weren’t going to find me.”
I held her up the best I could, not about to let her falter. “Ye of little faith.”
“What? Not like I was able to call you or anything.” She stopped short and nearly toppled us all over as she looked at me, confused. “How did you know where I was?”
“Your friend, Onyx. She was worried about you.”
“What? Where is she?”
I glanced over my shoulder and spotted her with the others being talked to by the Feds. They’d found her in one of the cages. I’d noticed her among the group rushing out with Sycamore. Someone had picked up on her strange behavior these last few days and thrown her do
wn there. “She made it out. She’s safe. Everyone is. Now can we please get you home? And then we can talk about how you should never take a page from my book ever again?”
She chuckled as she replied, “Yeah, remind me never to do that.”
The rest of the walk to Gigi’s home passed in silence. I opened her door slowly, and she let out a stream of curses at the place.
“Sorry, Rafael and I picked it up the best we could but think you might’ve lost a lot of supplies.”
“It’s fine,” she muttered darkly. “It can all be replaced.”
I didn’t let her sit until we were in the back room and at her bed.
Val stayed in the front room at my request, and I pulled the door closed so I could have some privacy with Gigi. She was already up and moving toward her closet until I scolded her to sit back down so I could get fresh clothes for her. She sighed, giving in, and sank back to the bed with a grunt.
“Think I’m going to sleep for a week.”
“Just a week?” I pulled out one of her favorite pink t-shirts and comfy sleep pants and tossed them onto the bed. I rummaged around for any healing salves that hadn’t been ruined when her placed was ravaged, and let out a triumphant yelp when I found them. “Wrists.” I motioned for her to hold them out.
She finished changing then held them out to me. They’d been bruised and cut by the manacles she’d worn inside the cage. She winced when I dabbed the salve on, but then seemed to relax. I propped her feet up on the bed next and did the same to her ankles. She had a couple of cuts on her upper arms and cheeks, but thankfully nothing needed stitches. I was terrible at stitching. Once most of the salve was gone, and all her wounds had been checked over, I helped her get comfortable and dragged a chair over to her bedside. I said nothing, not entirely sure what she’d gone through while trapped in that cage, and wasn’t about to push it. I rubbed at the blood on my hands. My jacket was torn to shreds, and after a while, I finally took it off, balled it up, and chucked it into the trash can across the room.
“Shit, Mercy,” Gigi gasped. “Your arm.”
“I’ll live.” My arm was slashed up, courtesy of the shifter, as was my right side, my leg. The cuts on my face were starting to sting now that the adrenaline was wearing off. Dried blood, mine and that of those I’d killed tonight covered me from my boots to my hair.
Gigi hauled herself off her bed and started puttering around.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking care of your wounds before they get infected and don’t tell me you’ll take care of them later. You and I both know you won’t.”
“I have bandages at home.”
The look she shot me said I’d better shut up, so I did, and let her do what she does best. What she was comfortable doing. Helping people. Gigi was damned good at defending herself but going undercover with the dark witches had taken its toll. She seemed older, and not just exhausted, but also beaten down. Mentally wounded in a way that she wouldn’t easily recover from. I didn’t make a sound of protest as she moved from one injury to the next.
She sniffed hard, and then tears streamed down her cheeks. A second later and I was on the floor with her as she finally fell apart. I held her as she cried, mumbling incoherently about hybrids and assholes, about being treated like an animal.
“They made me fight,” she whispered when she lifted her head, face streaked with tears. “I killed, Mercy. They’d been tortured and twisted, but they were innocent captives all the same. I killed them so I could stay alive. Who does that? What kind of witch am I?”
“You did what you had to do.”
“No, I should’ve let them kill me.”
I grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at me. “Don’t you ever say that you hear me? You did not ask to put in that situation. You can do more good for this world alive and helping me defeat Shuval. You think that’s the only underground fighting ring she has?”
“Oh goddess, I never even thought of that.”
“This fight is far from over, and I need you by my side. I need a friend I can trust, a powerful witch who’s willing to risk her life to save others.” I gave her a firm shake. “You are not to blame yourself for anything that happened.”
She hung her head, and her cheeks reddened. She had yet to tell me how she’d been captured in the first place and I’d honestly been too scared for the truth to ask.
“Gigi, tell me how they got you. Talk to me.”
She swiped at her face and rested against her bed. We stayed on the floor, not wanting to distract her as her eyes took on a faraway look. “I let him get to me.”
“Morris?”
She laughed bitterly, picking at the rug. “Here I was teaching you how to seduce men, and I went and got myself seduced. We, uh—well you know—stuff happened. I thought I had him. I thought he was going to give me everything. Goddess, I was an idiot. I should’ve known something was wrong when he didn’t show that night, then turned up here the night I came home.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“No, thank the goddess no,” she said, and I sighed in relief. “He cast a binding spell on me when I fought him to get away. He said he had something to show me. Ended up in a cage that night.”
“Who did you see?”
“No one I recognized. All hybrids though, from the look of them.” She shuddered, and I held her hand. “They gave me the creeps. The one with green eyes, he questioned me the most.”
“Envy?”
She shrugged.
“Did you see Shuval at all? Was she there?” I couldn’t say for certain yet if she’d been there or not. One hooded figure on a stage was not enough evidence for me to believe she had attended the conference.
“They said her name, once,” Gigi told me, screwing her face up in thought. “But I never saw her. Not that I know what she looks like, but the dragonborn there were all hybrids and mages.” She held up her hand when I cursed. “But there was one figure that came through the cages. Hooded. Never said a word. Envy bowed, acted like he was sucking up to whoever it was. That might’ve been her.”
If I’d gotten there sooner, I might’ve caught her. Or if I’d gone by myself and hadn’t let Rafael try to take control of the rescue mission. Even as I thought it, I knew I was stupid for doing so. If I’d gone in alone, I would be trapped in one of those cages with Gigi. Or worse, I’d be dead, and no one would even know. I helped Gigi off the floor and let her finish fussing over me. Whatever made her feel better. Once my arm and leg were bandaged, and salve added to the cuts on my face, not the side with my scar, she fell back into bed exhausted, and I pulled over my chair again.
“It wasn’t all a waste,” she said after a long while of silence. “Getting my ass captured, I mean.”
“Not sure I’d agree with you.”
“You will. Shuval’s working with the reapers.”
“What do you mean? How?”
“I didn’t get everything, but I overheard Morris talking to the hybrids before I was taken. The new ally the witches were talking about? Pretty sure it’s Shuval, but not just her. She’s bringing the reapers with her.” Gigi grabbed my hands frantically. “Mercy, she’s recruiting them to join her. Where do you think she got those sacrifices for the rituals?”
I wasn’t sure what she was getting at until it hit me. “Donors. Damn it.”
“They didn’t say it outright, but they mentioned a new shipment coming in, and they were going to be divided.”
“How?”
She gulped then whispered, “Between fighters for the cage and those to be sacrificed.”
We were running out of time quickly.
“You have to find a way to stop the reapers from helping her.”
“It’s not that easy.”
I pushed out of the chair and walked slowly around the room waiting for some genius plan to hit me in the head. But none came. It’s not like we could just walk right back into Sector 13 after the stunt we pulled tonight, knock on the reapers’ front do
or, and ask them nicely to not help Shuval start a war to end all wars. Why could nothing be easy? I sure as hell couldn’t do it alone, unless I had about twelve of those bombs Rufus used to blow up Liam’s mansion. Which, come to think of it, might be the only way to stop them. Reapers were a pain in the ass to kill since they were pretty much dead already.
“Mercy, you’ve got that look on your face.”
“What look? I don’t have a look.”
“The look that says you just got out of one stupid mess and you’re ready to throw yourself back into another one. Don’t do that.”
“Don’t have a choice. If we can stop the reapers, we might be able to hold off Shuval’s plans, slow her down.” I would have to talk to Bowen and Rufus about making plans. If they were even willing to talk to me again. I wouldn’t drag Rafael into this. I’d told him once we saved Gigi, I’d leave him alone and I meant it. Did I like it? Hell no, but until he made up his mind, he was nothing, but a distraction.
Facing down the reapers without him left me anxious. Rafael and I worked well together no matter what he seemed to think about my heritage.
“You do have a choice.” She was eyeing me funny when I turned back to face her. “You were with Rafael.”
“Yeah and?”
“And last you texted me, he pulled a gun on you for learning the truth.”
“Then you went and got yourself captured.”
She waved away my words. “We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you. He was with you at the conference. Care to fill me in on what occurred between him trying to kill you and him saving your ass and mine?”
There was too much that I did not want to get into tonight. “I told him I needed help.”
“And he just said he would?”
“Not exactly, but then yeah, he came through. It’s not a big deal. I’m sure I won’t be seeing him again.”
She rolled her eyes and shifted her pillows around. “You’re a dumbass.”
“Wow, really? I just saved your dumb ass if you recall.”
“I never said you were a dumbass when it comes to fighting, but damn, Mercy, you really think he would’ve risked his life for me? You know that’s not why he went along.”
