Mercy Temple Chronicles Box Set 2

by Ciara Graves

  “We have to go.”

  “Ten more minutes.”

  “You said that an hour ago.” He ran his hand down my back, kissing the top of my head.

  “Yeah, and?”

  “That’s probably Bowen who’s called three times. If we don’t go over there, he’s going to come looking for us.”

  I grumbled more and shrugged. “And?”

  When he started to get up from the bed, I rolled him onto his back and pinned him there. He growled as I kissed him, distracting him.

  Rafael’s cell rang somewhere in the apartment. He pushed me out of bed, ordering me to get a shower.

  A half hour later, I stepped out of a steaming hot shower and Rafael slipped into the bathroom, his face set, but a smile in his eyes.

  “What’s so amusing?”

  “Bowen’s here. Said he was worried about us.”

  I stifled a laugh. “Oops.”

  I dressed quickly, and was putting my hair up with chopsticks as I walked to the living room.

  Bowen stood near the front door shaking his head.

  I rolled my eyes at him then searched for my boots. “Do we have any weapons left? Mine were taken.”

  “My safe’s been cleaned out,” Rafael replied.

  “Thankfully, mine wasn’t. You can arm yourself once we reach my home,” Bowen informed me, studying my face. “You do look rested.”

  “I feel rested. Actually, I feel damned good,” I said. Then I felt confused as I realized something was off. I held my hands in front of me, waiting for a rush of dark magic or to feel the beast trying to come alive inside. Neither occurred. “Huh, maybe rest was what I needed.”

  “Yes, well, I’m glad to see your strength returned. You might need it.”

  “I thought Gigi and her coven were doing all the magic heavy lifting?” Rafael asked as we joined Bowen at the door.

  “They are, but there’s always a chance we might need Mercy’s magic as a backup.”

  “You sure you’re up to this?” Rafael asked me as Bowen opened the front door.

  “I’ll be fine. I’ll have you there with me. Everything’s going to be fine.”

  Once we reached Bowen’s mansion, a half hour later, my confidence was replaced by gnawing worry. Something was wrong. We weren’t going to easily make it out tonight.

  Rafael asked me several times if I was alright and each time I lied and said I was. He saw through my lies, but neither of us wanted to talk about it.

  Bowen’s mansion appeared out of the trees lining the gravel drive.

  The two-story, dark red, brick home had large bay windows by the front door, a large, dark wood stained balcony on the second, and three chimneys jutting up from the roof. It was covered with trees, probably to help shade it during the day so he didn’t have to skulk around in complete darkness all the time.

  Around the back I knew was a garden, because as much as the tough vampire might not like to admit it, he had a damned good green thumb. And he had a thing for lilies. I hadn’t known that about him until this mess started, and it had changed my perspective of him. He had a softer side. I just wished there’d be a chance for him to show it more.

  I’d been at the mansion before, of course. Each time I walked through those heavy wooden front doors all I could do was look in awe.

  This time was only different because Gigi rushed to greet me and there were forty other witches milling around the main floor.

  “You made it.” Gigi squeezed me in a hug. “Bowen was worried about you, but I had a feeling.”

  “Oh, yeah well, when it’s probably the end of the world, you know?”

  “I do. Most of the coven is here, and we’re almost set up. Going to be in the basement. It has the most open space here, plus it is easily warded. We should be good. Yeah, we should be just fine.” She fiddled with her skirt.

  I caught her hands.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Gigi, should we be worried about whatever you guys are doing?”

  “No, I mean there’s always a chance it can backfire. But, no.”

  “No one’s going to get past the defenses of this place. If they do, they’ll have to deal with us. It’s not like Shuval even knows where we are.” I hugged her. “By tomorrow morning, we’ll be celebrating our tiny victory, then finishing our plan to kill Shuval without the fear of the Blood Moon."

  Gigi worried her bottom lip until someone called her name. She told us she’d see us downstairs and hurried off.

  I couldn’t take a second to admire Bowen’s home, the hardwood floors and wood trim, the wooden beams of the ceiling and the dark rustic browns and greens that covered every wall.

  I turned to face Rafael. He hadn’t moved since we came in and his brow was heavily furrowed.

  “Rafael?”

  “You feel it, too.”

  I scrunched my face, but sighed and nodded. “We’re going to get through this ceremony. They’ll destroy the artifacts, and that’s it.”

  “Where’s Bowen’s weapon stash?”

  I led Rafael through the main floor to what was quite an armory. The metal door silently opened inward.

  Rafael whistled as he stepped in behind me.

  Bowen blurred into the room a second later, waving his hands. “Take your pick.”

  Rafael’s eyes lit up with excitement. He and Bowen discussed what weapon was best for killing which type or race of supernatural being.

  I slowly walked the perimeter of the room, searching for what I wanted to arm myself with tonight.

  Hanging above the weapons were tapestries with family crests on them, as well as what I assumed were scenes from battles. Vampires fighting against dragons and witches, throughout the ages. They were beautiful in a slightly morbid way.

  When I reached the back wall, I found more swords like the ones Rufus had given me. There were at least five here. I wondered if my original one had come from Bowen and not Rufus. I picked one out and easily extended the blade like it was a part of my hand. The weight was good in my palm. I went through a few moves, then picked up a second.

  I sensed eyes on me after a while. Rafael watched me from across the room, lips curled in a slight smile. Bowen was already gone.

  “What?”

  Rafael sheathed his own blade at his back. “You always look good with a sword in your hand.”

  He came toward me slowly as I collapsed the blades. He cupped my cheek gently, but then something inside him seemed to break. His eyes darkened, and he crushed me to him, kissing me as I dropped the swords and wrapped my arms around his neck.

  I drove him back into the wall, knocking several sheathed daggers loose from their pegs. I fisted my hands in his t-shirt.

  He growled against my neck and a warmth shot through me.

  “Definitely moving away after this is over,” he promised. “A break would be good for us.”

  “What? You don’t like having to kill something every other day? Or save my ass?”

  A loud cough came from the doorway.

  Rafael set me on my feet, chuckling.

  It wasn’t Bowen, but Wesley, standing there, leaning on a hooked cane.

  “Should we postpone the ceremony for you?” he asked sternly, but there was an amused glint in his eyes.

  “No, we’re coming. Horace with you?”

  “No, but Todd’s watching over him,” he said sadly. “Are you certain you should be here?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  Rafael picked up my two new swords and found a belt to sheath them in while I gathered the daggers we’d knocked from the wall. I held onto two of them, tucking them into my boots.

  Once I was armed, we left the room.

  Wesley walked slowly, his age showing.

  If I attempted to get him to leave, he’d get mad at me. I let it go, but when we reached the basement, I spotted Shep and scowled at him.

  Yellow eyes glowing, he shrugged as if saying he tried to make the old gryphon stay behind.

  The basement
wasn’t a typical concrete floor and walls of the foundation. It was a setting straight out of a medieval castle.

  Torches and braziers surrounded the completely open area. The floor was stone, a bit damp, and the walls were of red brick. There was furniture down here, a living room set and what not, for the days Bowen didn’t want to worry about the sunlight at all. Or if he had guests.

  That’s what he told me, but I’d never seen any vampires here other than him and his guards. They were already stationed around the mansion and the grounds.

  The furniture had been shoved to the side, and the coven had set up a strange design on the floor with candles and chalk. There were bundles of herbs scattered around. Strong smelling ones, but nothing I recognized. The witches all wore the same flowing white blouses and skirts, hair loose around their shoulders. The male witches wore white cotton pants and shirts. The witches ranged part from Gigi’s age all the way to those bearing white hair and wrinkles.

  Bowen came toward us. “I’m going to take my post upstairs. Rafael, you want to guard the stairs coming down?”

  Rafael nodded.

  “I’ll stay with the witches,” I told them. “They have the artifacts already?”

  “In the vault on the far end of the room. Gigi just has to open it and bring them out when it’s time.” Bowen’s eyes narrowed, giving away how worried he was. He blurred up the stairs and out of sight.

  Rafael’s demeanor changed to guard mode. He took his place at the bottom of the stairs.

  Wesley stayed close by my side.

  “You sure you don’t want to find a better place to be? Just in case?” I asked.

  Shep nodded in agreement.

  “Five artifacts as old as I am, if not older, are about to be wiped from the face of this earth to stop an evil dragon from using them,” Wesley said. “If it must be done, I will be here to watch it.”

  “Wesley,” I tried again.

  He knocked his cane into the stones.

  “Fine. Stubborn damned gryphon.”

  His lips twitched, but he didn’t give me a full smile.

  The candles on the floor were being lit.

  Gigi waited until the last one had a flame, then she walked to the vault. The door of the massive metal safe took up half the wall. It was three feet thick of solid metal, warded, and had several different alarms within it, all set to severely wound anyone who managed to get it open.

  She typed in the code. The beeping sounds were so out of place in this setting. She stepped back.

  The door swung outward, revealing the contents within. There wasn’t much, aside from framed paintings, a very old looking sword, a crown I hadn’t dared ask Bowen about, and a table holding a small travel bag.

  Inside the bag were the five artifacts we’d managed to get our hands on before Shuval could.

  Carefully, Gigi carried the bag to the center of the swirling design on the floor. Once she passed over that last line of candles, the witches closed in ranks and held hands. The burst of white magic made my hands twitch and the hairs on my arms stand up.

  An uneasiness grew in my gut. I removed my swords from the sheath but didn’t extend the blades yet.

  One by one, Gigi removed the artifacts.

  The Dagger of Truth was first. A flash of Envy’s furious green eyes appeared in front of me. I tensed, a growl fighting to break free. I swallowed it down though Wesley eyed me.

  Next came the Specter Scroll, the Bloody Talisman, the Doombringer bow, and lastly, the scrap that remained from the Hide of the Fallen. Or, at least, it once had been a scrap.

  As Gigi removed it, I noticed it had somehow regenerated itself and was almost a full cloak once again.

  With all five artifacts laid out, Gigi stood and stepped back to join the ranks of her coven. I expected them to douse the items in gas and set them on fire, something along those lines anyway. Instead, the witches closed their eyes. A hum filled the room.

  The uneasiness grew within my stomach, as did the sickening sensation of something trying to move inside me. To come alive. The humming grew louder, and the artifacts shook as the flames from the candles reached higher.

  My knuckles turned white from gripping the swords so hard. The influx of white magic rubbed the evil inside me raw until I was biting back the urge to scream from the unbearable feeling of being pricked and prodded by a thousand needles.

  “Mercy?” Rafael stepped to me.

  I shrugged away from him. “I’m fine. Get back to the stairs.”

  “You’re not fine. You shouldn’t be down here.”

  I opened my mouth, and a growl came out. I clamped my lips shut.

  His eyes narrowed. “Go upstairs, now. This is too much for you.”

  The witches’ humming turned to chanting and the artifacts on the floor rose, hovering a few feet up.

  I shook my head again. “I can handle it.”

  Rafael pursed his lips and stayed by my side.

  The flames from the candles that had been so small at first, now rose into the air almost to the ceiling. They had a strange shimmer around them. One by one, the flames curved and moved around the witches, washing over their bodies without hurting them. They swayed and shifted until they became one, forming a fiery version of the chalked-out design on the floor.

  Just as the flames surrounded the artifacts, creating a cage of pure white fire and magic, a blast sounded outside. It was muffled, but it was an explosion, all the same.

  “Rafael,” I whispered.

  “Stay here.” He drew his sword and slowly walked to the bottom of the stairs.

  A second explosion made dust fall from the ceiling and a low rumbling sound, as if a thunderstorm had been unleashed above the mansion.

  I extended both swords, shoved aside any worries that I was about to lose it, and focused only on protecting the coven. They needed to complete the ceremony to destroy the artifacts.

  I thought I heard shouting and a strange whooshing sound. Whoever had come for the artifacts had needed to break through the warding around the mansion. That must have been what caused the explosions.

  Suddenly, it was silent, except for the humming of the coven.

  Rafael hesitated for a second, then climbed the steps. I stayed right where I was, straining to hear anything of what was going on upstairs or out on the grounds.

  Rafael left my line of sight and the urge to follow him made me approach the bottom of the stairs.

  A sudden shout followed by several thuds caused me to jump.

  “Mercy?” Gigi yelled.

  “Keep going,” I ordered. “Don’t stop, just keep go—”

  Rafael’s yell cut through my words.

  The ceiling caved in.

  I dove to the side, dodging debris and the fight that must’ve started out on the grounds, then infiltrated the mansion. I coughed through the dust, the humming of the coven still going as the fires sputtered for a second, then regained their strength. We should’ve let the Hunters come here to help us, but I’d been too stubborn and too much of an idiot to accept their help.

  I hadn’t trusted them, and now we were under attack.

  A vampire blurred into the basement through the new hole in the ceiling. He was heading for the artifacts.

  I raised my sword and relieved him of his head. Not a hybrid.

  Several more fell into the basement.

  I twirled the swords, itching for a good fight.

  I yelled as I charged forward, taking down vampire after vampire, shifters, mages, whatever came at me.

  Bodies littered the floor in a circle within minutes.

  Shep shifted into his massive wolf form and killed those who made it past my blades.

  Wesley took point beside the coven, his cane clutched in his hands like a baseball bat.

  Why did I think tonight was going to go well? That Shuval didn’t know this was where the artifacts were hidden, or that she wouldn’t throw everything she had to get them?

  Overhead, Rafael’s snarl tur
ned into a shout of pain.

  “Rafael!” I looked up through the hole, waiting for him to call back to me.

  But it wasn’t his face that appeared over the edge of the hole.

  Envy’s green eyes glowed, face set in hatred. He stepped over the edge and landed lightly on his feet. Half his face was burned.

  When he turned, I noticed what little remained of his left arm.

  Damian had done that to him. I couldn’t help but smirk.

  “Does this amuse you?” he asked as three more figures jumped into the hole after him. Hybrids—judging from the power they gave off—and mages like Envy.

  “You walking around with one arm? Oh, yeah, definitely does. How’s your face? Looks painful.” I wanted his head for what he did to Damian. I wanted to chop it off, put it on a spike, and march it back to Shuval to show her what was coming for her.

  He stalked closer, not even giving an eye twitch to show I got to him. His eyes shifted to a point over my shoulder. “Get them.”

  The three hybrids charged.

  I readied to attack when a sharp pain in my gut made me double over. My blades hit the stones. Claws sprouted from my hands, digging into the mortar.

  “You should have let her finish the ritual,” Envy murmured, holding my chin.

  “Don’t you touch me,” I snarled and tried to back away.

  Then his hand was around my throat. He hefted me off my feet as I writhed in pain.

  “Too much dark magic has entered your body, and now it has no outlet. Between the curse and your dragon coming to life, you don’t have long. I would say I look forward to seeing you on the battlefield, but alas, I don’t think you’ll make it that far. Pity.”

  I swiped at his face with my claws, fury overriding my pain. Blood spurted from his burned flesh. He yelped and dropped me to the floor.

  Screams came from behind me.

  I whirled around then sprinted forward as the hybrids chased off the witches. Several lay dead on the stones, blood pooling beneath their bodies.

  I scrambled to reach them, but a whip of green fire snatched me around my neck.

  One yank and I was torn off my feet and landed on my back, knocking the air from my lungs.

  Rafael and Bowen yelled from overhead, but there were more voices than just theirs.

  Was that Hilfer?