Child of Mercy

by Lisa Olsen

  “Then you remember everything?”

  “I remember it all. The late night cravings for chili fries, the back rubs, that awful movie with the hairy couple, everything that matters. I remember every bit of awesome.”

  “Oh, you do, do you?” I settled my arms around his neck, matching his smile. “I’m sorry things haven’t been so awesome between us these past few weeks. It’s just been crazy trying to settle back in and taking care of Bunny and…”

  “No, I know, I get it.” He let me off the hook, fingers tugging at the belt loops of my jeans to pull me closer. “There’s no reason why they can’t be awesome between us now though, is there?”

  “You mean now, now?” I pressed my body against the length of his, a teasing smile on my lips as I kissed him. I could feel just how ready he was to take things to the next level between us.

  “You’re not gonna make me wait any longer, are you?”

  I was tired of waiting. There was nothing to stand between us and I wanted nothing more than to take that final step with Parker. “How long ago did you put Bunny down for a nap?” I whispered at his ear, catching hold of the delicate lobe between my teeth for a little love bite. The effect was electrifying. Parker pulled me in for a possessive kiss, his hands roaming freely over my body. Not to be left out, I responded in kind, tugging his shirt free to slip my hands underneath, exploring the strong planes of his back.

  “About twenty minutes ago, she should be good for a couple of hours,” he managed to get out between kisses as he tugged my shirt up and over my head. No sooner had he said the words than Bunny proved him a liar. For such a little thing, she sure had a piercing cry. Parker let out a little whimper of his own, his head resting against mine. “Perfect timing.”

  “It’s okay, there’s no rush. We have the rest of our lives together.” Of course there was still a huge chance I’d outlive him by eternity, but I didn’t want to think about that for the moment. “I’ll go see what our Mistress wants and I’ll come right back to you.” I gave him a brief kiss, trying to untangle my shirt enough to get it back on.

  “No, you leave that off,” Parker shook his head with a grin. “I’ll go get her settled back down and I’ll meet you in the bedroom.”

  “Are you sure?” I already had my arms in anyway.

  “Yeah, I’m sure, I got this.” He stole another quick kiss. “Give me ten minutes, tops.”

  But he didn’t move another muscle. Not a single one. It took me a few seconds to realize he was completely frozen in place. “Parker?” I patted his unresponsive cheek. That’s when I noticed the baby had gone silent. “Oh, sweet Jesus…” My feet barely touched the floor as I zoomed up the stairs, my heart pounding a mile a minute as I burst into the nursery to see Bunny gurgling happily in Adam’s arms.

  “What the… Adam! What is wrong with you? Don’t do that!” I tugged my shirt the rest of the way on with short, angry movements.

  “What?” he blinked innocently. “You said I could visit her whenever I wanted. She missed me, see? Didn’t you, baby Bunny…” he added in a ridiculously saccharine tone. Bunny cooed happily at the attention, and I started to wonder if he’d woken her up deliberately.

  “Yeah, you can visit her, but you can’t pop in whenever you want like you own the place. And you sure as hell can’t freeze Parker like that. You almost gave me a freaking heart attack.”

  “Oh right, sorry. I didn’t want to have to hear you getting busy with him. Today’s the big day, huh?”

  I pressed my lips tightly to keep from letting out a scream of frustration. It took a few seconds, but when I opened my mouth again, I could maintain a civil tone. “If you’d knocked at the door you wouldn’t have had to hear any of it,” I pointed out.

  “I didn’t think he’d let me in without you here. You know I’m starting to think he doesn’t like me,” he feigned surprise. “Especially now.”

  Then he’d been there for some time… All at once I clued in to the reason for his visit. “That was you who fixed his memory, wasn’t it?” I’d thought Gabriel went out of his way to make things right, but it was Adam all along. “Why would you do that?” I knew he didn’t approve of my relationship with Parker, he could have used the missing memories as a wedge to drive between us.

  “Call it an early wedding present.”

  “We’re not engaged to be married.”

  “It’s not hard to see where this is headed,” he shrugged, rocking Bunny gently in his arms. “As much as I hate to say it, it’s not the worst idea ever, the two of you together. And Bunny seems to like him.”

  Was he really the same man who said he’d love me more than any other? Or maybe he finally figured out what that meant. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you for doing this, Adam.”

  “You’re welcome, Mama.” He waved Bunny’s little fist. “She helped, didn’t you, sweetheart.”

  I didn’t want to think how he’d managed to accomplish that. “Please don’t use our daughter’s Grace, we don’t know what that’ll do to her.”

  “Oh relax, it didn’t hurt her. She had a good time, didn’t you, Bunbun?”

  “Ugh, don’t call her that. Can’t you be serious for two seconds?” Why did everything have to be a big joke to him?

  “I’d never hurt her,” Adam said seriously, holding the baby to his cheek for long seconds before putting her back down in the crib.

  “I know you wouldn’t.” Not on purpose anyway. “Look, do you want to stay for dinner or something?”

  “No thanks, I don’t think I’m invited for what Parker has planned on the menu. I’d better take off.”

  I didn’t know how long he’d be gone this time. Maybe I’d never know. Maybe my life would be full of impromptu visits from Adam whenever he felt like it; freezing Parker, dropping in unannounced. That didn’t sound like the worst thing in the world. “Thanks again, I owe you one.”

  “You still owe me a striptease, you know,” he winked. “You could pay me back with that anytime.”

  “Someday, maybe,” I smiled.

  “Someday,” he nodded thoughtfully, already halfway through the window. “I’ll take it, for now.”

  The future held endless possibilities.

  Feedback is Love,

  If you enjoyed this book, please leave a review today!

  Read on for a preview of Lisa Olsen’s novel, Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down, available now!

  Books by Lisa Olsen:

  The Touch

  Pretty Witches All in a Row

  Moonsong

  Nine Steps to Sara

  The Fallen Series:

  Angel of Mercy

  Mercy for the Wicked

  Mercy for the Damned

  Child of Mercy

  Forged Bloodlines Series:

  Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down

  Meet Me When the Sun Goes Down

  Find Me When the Sun Goes Down (Spring 2013)

  For more information, visit the author’s website at http://www.lisaolsen.net

  Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down

  Chapter One

  I couldn’t move.

  I wasn’t strapped to the table, or in a straight jacket, though one might have been a good idea in hindsight; I just couldn’t make my limbs obey me. It felt like my entire body was weighed down, as if I’d been mountain climbing all day (not that I’ve ever done such a thing in my lifetime). I couldn’t even turn my head, which was disconcerting, especially since the hard surface at my back didn’t feel at all like my Serta mattress.

  My other senses were in overdrive though. Something strong and astringent in the air made the back of my throat tingle unpleasantly. Was my roommate up cleaning the bathroom with a bucket of bleach? No, that didn’t seem quite right. It had a different chemical smell I couldn’t quite place, along with an underlying scent that smelled good. Like the spicy aroma of Chinese food that lingers long after the last egg roll is gone. Besides, I couldn’t picture a world in which Bridget would be up cleaning in th
e middle of the night.

  My skin felt itchy all over, irritated by the rough material pressed up against it. Where were my warm, cuddly pajamas? A sheet was pulled all the way up over my head, as if I’d been trying to hide in my sleep. I noticed my feet were bare, which was really odd. I always slept with at least one pair of socks on, so my feet wouldn’t freeze. They didn’t feel cold at the time though. I didn’t feel hot or cold, just… normal, apart from the fact that I couldn’t move. I took some small comfort in the fact that I wasn’t completely paralyzed with no feeling in my body whatsoever. A muffled but steady thump reached my ears, and in my foggy state I lay there trying to figure out what it was.

  That’s when I realized… I wasn’t alone.

  There was someone else in the room with me, I could hear him breathing. For two seconds I forgot to breathe myself, fear paralyzing what was left of my moving body. Who was in my bedroom? Was I even in my bedroom? Suddenly it seemed less like a weird dream and more like a dangerous situation to be in, especially when I found I couldn’t open my eyes.

  A swishing sound hit my ears, like a swinging door being pushed open, footsteps echoing in its wake. “Hey, I’m here to pick up an Anja Evans?”

  That’s me! Only the guy mispronounced my name, with a hard “j” instead of the softer “y” sound of Ahnyah it’s supposed to sound like, so obviously I didn’t know the guy. Also his shoes squeaked, so we definitely weren’t in my bedroom, not that I really thought I was anymore.

  “Evans… Evans… I don’t have an Evans, how long has she been here?” a different man answered, sounding bored as he flipped through papers.

  “I don’t know, some time tonight. Are you sure you don’t have her? Maybe she’s not updated in the computer yet. Blonde hair, blue eyes, about average height, wearing some kind of costume?”

  That sounded like me alright, but costume? My hands moved a tiny bit, sliding across the heavy fabric that felt nothing like my pj’s. Why would I be dressed up in a costume?

  “Oh, Jane Doe number six. Sure, we’ve got her over here.” The steps got louder as they walked in my direction.

  “You’ve had six unidentified females today? Are they that common here?” He sounded almost as surprised as I was. If they didn’t know who I was, that meant they hadn’t called my family or anyone yet. I was completely on my own.

  “No, they’re really not. That’s why she’s only number six, ever.”

  I’m over here, I’m awake… I tried to speak, but I couldn’t make any sound, and my eyes still wouldn’t budge no matter how hard I tried to force them open. My fingers started to respond sluggishly, but the men must not have noticed under the sheet.

  All at once, I realized I must be in the hospital. That would explain the uncomfortable bed, the vague disinterest about me and the smell of disinfectant. I drew some comfort from that, because if I was drugged out or paralyzed, at least I was under a doctor’s care. That was my assumption anyway…

  “Are you sure you have the right one? I’ll catch hell if I bring back the wrong body. How did she die?”

  Die? I couldn’t be dead! I could still hear, smell, and feel everything. On the plus side, my tongue started to loosen, and I could open and close my teeth. If I could move, I couldn’t possibly be dead, but something was definitely wrong. I swallowed uncomfortably past the lump that rose in my throat.

  What had happened to me? All too soon, the comfort of finding myself in the hospital turned to despair, and I could feel a silent tear slip from the corner of my eye. It went unnoticed by the men in the room thanks to the sheet pulled up over my head.

  “Ah… looks like traumatic blood loss. Tissue damage to the neck, died in transit to the hospital, that’s all I’ve got here. But you’re welcome to take a look before you take her.”

  A millisecond before the sheet came off, my eyes popped open and a high, keening cry leaked out of me like the air out of a balloon; my only available version of a scream, I suppose. The effect was electrifying. Both men screamed, and like a switch was flipped, I felt the energy rush back into my limbs. Filling my lungs with air, I screamed right back at them, and we stared at each other, all of us screaming for a good ten seconds before the room got really quiet.

  “You’re… you’re…” The guy dropped his clipboard as he backed up a few feet. The other man, the one who came to get me I assumed, continued to stare at me like I had just risen from the dead, which was understandable.

  “W-where am I?” My voice sounded shrill to my ears and I couldn’t help but wince, doing my best to swallow back my fear. I felt… wrong somehow, but I couldn’t quite identify why. Finding myself in such strange surroundings was too distracting.

  “Shoreline Memorial Hospital in San Francisco. You’re, um… you’re supposed to be dead.”

  “I’m sorry…” slipped out reflexively, though what I had to be sorry about, I couldn’t imagine. Shoreline was the same hospital Bridget worked at, and I wondered if she knew I was there. I was tired of lying down and I might have said something to that effect as I pushed myself up to a seated position, but I was too busy looking at my surroundings to be sure if I’d spoken out loud. It wasn’t a hospital room as I’d assumed, but what looked like a morgue, based on my experience with TV and movies.

  I was still half lying on a gurney, but a large stainless steel table stood in the center of the room, with holes drilled through it for drainage of various… ugh, I didn’t want to go there. “I feel…” dizzy, confused, itchy, nauseous, sore, tired…wrong… “…different.” My tongue finally supplied, and I again marveled at the sound of my own voice. Was it my ears or the timbre of my voice that had changed? It was impossible to tell.

  “That’s understandable, you’ve been dead for over an hour,” the morgue attendant replied distractedly, bending to pick up the clipboard.

  “Oh come on, Dave, there’s obviously been a mistake. She’s no more dead than you or me. I know some folks that are going to be glad to see you up and walking around.” The other guy gave me an encouraging smile.

  Walking around didn’t sound like too bad of an option. More than anything I wanted out of the morgue with its strange smells and disturbing tables. Despite the dizziness, I launched myself to my feet, throwing myself off balance as my muscles propelled me farther than I had intended. I careened into the icky metal table, sending a tray of tools crashing to the ground. The sound was deafening, and I clamped my hands over my ears as I waited for it to end.

  “Whoa, are you sure you should be up and around?” Smiley guy reached out to steady me, catching hold of my elbows.

  That’s when I noticed the front of my dress had been cut and gaped open, showing more of my natural assets than I cared to, outside of a beach. When I say my dress, I don’t mean my dress. I’d never seen the thing before in my life. No wonder they reported I’d been wearing a costume, I would have made the same assumption. The underdress was made from a scratchy, coarse linen, the color of marigolds. The outer layer was a heavier, indigo wool, held up just below the shoulders by two round metal broaches adorned with three running horses, their legs intertwined.

  It was hard for me to gauge the whole effect in looking down. Wherever it came from, they’d never get the deposit back. Besides the long cut down the chest, it was also soaked through with blood on the left side of my body.

  “I don’t belong here,” I murmured, pulling myself free from his grasp and doing my best to hold the dress closed. Overcorrecting, I nearly fell over the other way. Trying to muster a modicum of dignity, I swallowed again, clearing my throat in search of my normal tone of voice. “Can either of you tell me what’s going on?”

  “I’m not sure, this almost never happens,” Dave replied, losing some of the stunned look from his face. I saw his eyes dip to my chest and I shot him a look.

  “But it does sometimes?” That was disturbing to hear on many levels.

  Dave’s face flushed when he saw that I noticed him looking and he turned away, coughing into h
is hand as he approached a desk set in the far corner of the room. “Well no, not down here. Usually they catch that sort of thing up on the main floors. Um, let’s see what I can find out here.” He tapped on the computer and the other man followed to look over his shoulder. “You were brought in a little over an hour ago… and died enroute to the hospital. They tried to revive you, but…”

  He’d already said that before, but it was like it had happened to someone else. “I don’t remember any of this.” I shook my head miserably, it was starting to pound something fierce.

  Smiley guy took pity on me, fixing me with that same reassuring smile. “You’ve been through quite a trauma, ma’am. Maybe you should sit down?” Nodding, I avoided the creepy tables and slid into a plastic molded chair by the swinging door. “I’m Mike Turley, I work for the medical examiner’s office with SFPD, and I’m glad to find you alive and breathing.”

  “Anja Evans.” I stuck out my hand by force of habit and after a moment’s hesitation, he shook it. I was struck by how warm his hand was, but I didn’t feel uncomfortably cold. Any difference in temperature was probably from my lying in the chilly morgue for an hour without my socks on.

  “Nice to meet you, Anja.” He pronounced my name correctly that time. “Sit tight, I’m sure there are a lot of people who want to talk to you.” Straightening, he turned back to where Dave sat at the computer. “I’m going to need to make some calls and my signal’s for shit. Do you have a phone I can use?”

  “Oh yeah, there’s never any signal down here. Feel free to use this line here, dial nine to get out. I should really get a doctor down here to examine her, or I wonder if I should take her up to the ED myself…”

  A lot of people who wanted to talk to me. Cool beans. And lots of doctors poking and prodding me as well. Even better. My eyes flicked to the swinging door beside me, the urge to flee growing stronger and stronger, until I lurched out of the chair and out the door with a soft rush of air. Once I was on the move, it seemed a simple thing to keep going. Objects in motion are easier to stay in motion, or something like that. I’ve never been particularly good at physics, no matter what you may have heard.