Sacrifice of Mercy

by Shannon Dermott

  He shook his head. “I don’t know how. I just always know where you are.”

  We stared at each other for the longest time before he broke it.

  “You know, you sound like my Mercy, but your eyes are doing that McKayla thing.”

  I blinked, wanting to reach out and touch him before his words connected in my head. “McKayla’s me.” His eyes widened. “It’s not what you think. She’s me, I’m her, we’re one or so Luke tells me. Can you find a door?” I asked, stupidly changing the subject.

  “I’m kind of scaling the fortress wall right now. Rock climbing came in handy.” He gave me his super watt smile, dazzling me. It was my turn to be amazed. He shook his head. “Don’t go punching another hole, or I’ll lose my footing. I heard the part about me not having nine lives, and that kind of sucks.”

  I couldn’t stop the laugh. “That’s not funny.”

  “That’s what she said.”

  “I’m serious.”

  “She said that too.”

  “Flynn.”

  “Mercy.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  I hadn’t expected him to say it back. So I stood gaping at him. He saw my surprise and graced me with the truth.

  “I’m tired of fighting it Mercy, so close your mouth. The flies down her are lethal.”

  I bit my lip. “What about—”

  “We’ll figure it out. You need to save him first. He’s my brother. He’s mine as much as yours.” He laughed. “Don’t look at me like that. None of us asked for this crazy shit. I’m not going to let another day go by pretending I’m not in love with my best friend’s girl, and she’s not in love with me. And… I’m not going to be mad at my best friend for falling in love with my girl. You wouldn’t be special if someone else couldn’t see it.”

  “So we’re going to be a mated trio.”

  It was a dumb statement that I let escape my lips, but I couldn’t imagine not having either one of them.

  Flynn’s mouth pursed like he bit into a lime. “No.” Then, he smiled for a second before he sobered. “I can’t share you, either.”

  “But—”

  “We’ll figure it out. It’s not important now if we don’t get out of here. But when we do, none of us will walk away hating the other; that I can promise you.”

  I nodded, trusting him. I had no idea how it would work out, but he was right. There was so much other stuff going on, so many other crises that needed solving.

  “Did you hear the part about my Mom?”

  His lips pursed as he turned somber. “I can’t imagine what my Dad was thinking. It must have been an accident. He’s probably messed up over this. I need to talk to him.”

  “At least you’ll still have him. I’m going to lose my Mom, and I’ve been such a bad daughter.”

  “You haven’t Mercy. You have to stop blaming yourself. Not everything that’s happened has been because of you.”

  “In spite of me.”

  “Didn’t you hear Belial? He set this all into motion.”

  He reminded me of something else.

  “You need to go. You can’t die here. I can’t bear it and neither could David.”

  “And what about you, butterfly?”

  “I’ll get Sebastian to get me out of here.”

  His eyes narrowed. “How? You won’t be with him to do it. That is a non-starter, Mercy.”

  My jawed dropped. “What? You’ve had sex with God knows how many girls to survive.”

  “That’s right. To survive.” I raised my arms up to my sides. “And what am I doing?” That shut him up. “You need to go. I don’t know when they’ll be back.”

  His eyes softened and pleaded with me. “Promise me you won’t be with Sebastian, Mercy.”

  “I’ll promise I won’t unless I have no other choice in order to keep you or anyone else safe.”

  He sighed in resignation. “The portal is on the ground floor almost beneath this room. There is a door there and nowhere else. So keep going down until you reach it. I’ll have Tristrom open a portal every fifteen minutes.”

  “Give me an hour to get Luke first. Then check every fifteen minutes.”

  He nodded.

  “Mercy.”

  “What?” I asked scared of his next words.

  “I do love you.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Then his head disappeared. I tried to poke my own through the hole and it couldn’t quite fit. I pulled back and sat on the bed. I tried to find a convincing sad face. I couldn’t let Sebastian or Belial know Flynn was alive. I searched for more strength inside me just in case.

  There was a long enough wait for me to practice my distraught face until Sebastian showed up. He was alone, thankfully.

  “I can take you to him.”

  He held out a hand, and I stood up. I kept my game face on. I just remembered what it was like when I thought Luke and Flynn were dead. That was enough to keep the emotion of loss and hurt on my face.

  When he took my hand, for a second, I thought the old Sebastian was back, someone I could rationalize with. I glanced up to meet his eyes, and they were more than the vacant ice chips they’d been before. He looked at me as though he didn’t recognize me.

  Then the disorienting feeling came over me. We re-emerged in a room with not much going for it except several glowing figures. I stepped over to the closest one and saw a guy a little older than me dressed in ancient Greek-like warrior clothes, caught in a band of red outlining his form. His eyes were closed, and he seemed at peace.

  The red glow reminded me of the encapsulated souls I encountered the other time I’d been to hell. Only the difference was that these figures could be seen. The others had been faceless beings bellowing their sorrows.

  “What is this?” I asked.

  Sebastian came next to me and studied the guy. “They are prisoners of war. As I said, they aren’t being harmed, not yet at least.”

  His words jolted me out of my interest in what I was seeing. I remembered my purpose for being there in the first place. I began to turn, scanning the room until I spotted him. I moved, shoving Sebastian out of my way as I reached out.

  Sebastian, lightning fast, grabbed my hand.

  “Don’t, or you’ll be caught, and I won’t be able to free you. Not without help.”

  “Is this why you were gone so long? Did you put them in this…” I waved a hand at a loss for words, “stasis to stop me from saving them?”

  He laughed. “You can hardly save yourself. And no, I was at the gathering preparing for the ceremony.”

  I gaped at him. “Ceremony?”

  “Don’t back down now. You made a promise.”

  I spun around and made quick search of the room for something I could use or a even way out. But no, I was once again in a room only Sebastian and Belial could get in and out of.

  Desperation choked me when I realized I wouldn’t make it back to Flynn. I would be forced into some sort of bond with Sebastian. Then again, Flynn wasn’t dead. What would happen to me when they found out?

  “Mercy,” Sebastian warned dangerously.

  “I keep my promises.”

  His eyes roamed over me predatorily, giving me a shiver. I didn’t like it, and I didn’t like how different he was. He looked the same, for the most part, yet the boy who’d told me on more than one occasion that he’d been the one to save me was now the one that was going to cause me harm.

  “I hope you’re not shy.”

  I had no idea where that statement was coming from. “Why?”

  “You will be laid bare before the gathering, so they can witness our joining.”

  My jaw dropped.

  “Nothing to be ashamed about. Every demon there would have seen it all before. Nothing new. Your father and your grandfather will witness it too.”

  I don’t think my mouth could have opened any wider. “That’s just gross.”

  He shrugged. “Trust me; no one will see you really
. You’re just skin over a shell anyone of them can create. Our joining will be the first step in Lucifer’s plan for the future. And if you bear fruit from this ceremony, we will be treated like a King and Queen.”

  He’d been brainwashed too many times, and it was partly my fault.

  “I won’t do it,” I declared, promises be damned.

  His hand clamped around my throat, and I was slammed into a wall. I saw stars, or maybe they were moons. Planets filled my vision with brilliant light.

  “You will not humiliate me again. Father was right. I’ve coddled you too long. I let you be with him.” He pointed at Luke frozen in time, looking young and innocent. “And he’s not worthy of you. You feel it don’t you, the bond to me? A promise was made that sealed our fates. You can’t deny it. Your demon nature is attracted to me and me alone.”

  He was wrong about that. McKayla… me… had always felt an attraction to Flynn as well.

  “Maybe it’s time we separate you from your soul so you will be at peace with what you know is right.”

  His raised his hand to the level of my chest, and his hand began to glow. I’d seen that particular magic trick more times than I wanted. If he ripped my soul from me, I had no idea if I would still be me. And I couldn’t trust him and his father to keep their promise to set Luke free or leave my mom alone. Then again, I couldn’t be trusted because I had no plans to end up in some kind of weird ceremony.

  “You will bleed for me on that dais,” he growled.

  Suddenly, everything shifted into freaky slow motion after I glanced at Luke. He said I had the power of heaven and hell in me. I had to remember that. I reached for whatever that was and let out the fury I felt for being in this situation.

  Only, in hell, the power of heaven was slower coming to me. I gathered what I could, and combined it with what hell freely gave to me. I channeled all that I’d collected as his hand slowly came forward. Then I pushed it out. It burst out of me in a wave sending Sebastian flying through a wall. Several fissures were created all over the room, but the wall behind me collapsed, and I was sent stumbling backward.

  Before time snapped back, I saw the red glow fade and eyes among the captives open. Luke moved like the Nephilim he was and stopped me before I crashed to the ground.

  “Mercy,” he rasped.

  Only, I spotted another captive. She was someone I could never forget.

  “Nina,” I said and pointed.

  Luke turned. The glow around her faded, but her eyes hadn’t open. She began to teeter before she fell flat on her face. Not too far behind her, there was movement.

  “Sebastian’s coming. We need to go.”

  Luke gestured with a hand to the others, and suddenly we were running. I had no idea where we were going, but I searched for a way down. Large cracks that lined the wall showed how nearly I’d brought the fortress down. When we came up to a hole in the floor, I pointed at it.

  Luke nodded and pulled me close. The hole wasn’t that large. However, he stepped off sending us to free fall to the level below. I’d been pressed so tight against his chest; I smelled his clean soapy scent before we landed. We moved back to let the other soldiers with Luke come through.

  “Our ticket out of here is on the ground floor near a door according to Flynn.”

  I could see the questions on Luke’s face, but there was no time to discuss. The floor we stood on didn’t have a hole, but it had wide cracks. Apparently, the location had been a weak spot in the structure. He moved towards it and crouched down. He punched a fist through what had to be rock as hard as steel made to hold up the fortress. Then again, I’d punched a hole in the side of the place. I glanced at my hand, and it was fine.

  He continued to ram his hand down, and his comrades came over and assisted. I was about to help when I felt rather than saw Sebastian. His grim face held a mask of rage. Yet, he didn’t run. Somehow I knew he assumed we were trapped like rats and wanted us to expend our energy.

  “He’s coming,” I said.

  The hole opened, and we dropped down another level. It didn’t take a lot of time, but it was time we didn’t have. Sebastian or Belial could materialize in front of us at any moment. Our escape so far had been too easy. I kept waiting for us to be caught.

  At the next level, I hit the rock floor to help and my knuckles split. Luke stopped to heal me. Whatever power of strength stored in me had been expended. I had to watch while the others did. A few floors later, Luke punched but no hole was created.

  “We’re at bottom,” he said, looking up at me.

  I glanced around searching for a door. In the chaos, I had no idea where we were in relation to the stasis room Luke had been held in. We’d run down several corridors before we dropped down the first level.

  “We needed to find the outer wall for a door.”

  Luke nodded, and we ran down one corridor and another. I tried to remember what direction we’d gone when we came out of that room. I tried to backtrack, and it worked. Yards ahead, a door was laid into stone. Near it was a slow closing orb.

  “Wait,” I called out.

  Sebastian materialized in front of our portal. His eyes went flame hot, and his hands became balls of fire.

  Luke tried to get in front of me, but I wouldn’t let him. Sebastian wouldn’t hurt me or so I thought. I had to try to use that as our ace in the hole. I ran towards Sebastian making a calculating move. Everywhere he threw a ball of flame, I moved in that direction, closing the distance. I had no idea what we would do once he got close enough. But I knew I couldn’t let him touch me, so he could dematerialize me away.

  I was stopped by an arm around my waist. In a fluid movement, Luke spun me, so I ended up behind him and in the arms of one of the soldiers I’d rescued. Bright light shot from Luke’s hand and a sword of pure light appeared. Sebastian took Luke’s lead and created a sword of blue flame. When their swords collided, the walls shook. Luke took the advantage and advanced. He shoved Sebastian back clearing a path towards the slowly closing portal.

  The soldiers must have communicated with Luke on some level I wasn’t able to hear or understand because the guy that held me lifted me up and ran towards the portal. As I neared Luke and Sebastian, I heard why Luke had the advantage. My ears began to ring at first before pain jolted through me. It could have been worse. Luke was speaking in his Angel tongue. He had to be whispering it, which was why Sebastian wasn’t overcome but merely losing a step.

  “Luke,” I called a second before the soldiers tried to hurtle me into the portal. I used the guy’s momentum to switch our positions as the soldiers were sucked through. I watched the portal close with me still locked in hell as the battle between Luke and Sebastian continued on.

  Luke, not knowing I was still there, spoke freely. I had to cover my ears as the pain sent me to the ground. We wouldn’t make it out of here even if Luke won the fight.

  And I remembered the Elven Queen. If I’d used my mate bond to heal Flynn, then maybe I still had some of the queen’s power within me. And she had the power to create realm opening portals. I held out a hand and sought that spark within me. I felt empty until somewhere deep a shimmer of something came forth. My hand flickered before a fissure of light ripped a hole in the space before me.

  “Luke,” I called again.

  My head was pressed against one shoulder as my free hand covered my other ear. I had a sideways view of their battle. Luke, surprised to see me, took a glancing blow on the shoulder. Then he shouted archaic words, and my world began to darken around the edges. I tried to hold it together as my eyes rolled to the back of my head. On some level, I felt lifted before moonlight broke through the darkness.

  I fluttered my lids open, and Flynn was covering his ears as Luke slammed through as the portal shut.

  The soldiers were dusting themselves off and giving a hand to Luke to get to his feet. Flynn touched my face. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded. My ears still rang, but it was better than it was. I stared at my hand as Tri
strom watched me. “How’d you do that?”

  I shrugged, aching all over and feeling vaguely sick to my stomach. “I think it was a gift from your mother.”

  Tristrom nodded. No one else questioned it.

  The guy who tried to bring me through rolled to his feet and moved over to his fellow warriors.

  “Sebastian can still appear,” I called out, waiting for him to materialize.

  “It’s dark. He wouldn’t know where we were. He has to know his destination to get there,” Luke said.

  Flynn helped me to my feet. My dress has seen better days. My hair probably resembled a bird’s nest.

  Maggie threw herself at me. “Jesus Mercy, I thought…”

  “I’m okay,” I said hugging her tight.

  With the last of my reserves, I pulled away and marched over to where Luke stood with a band of soldiers. I poked him in his chest to the bewilderment of the guys who stood near him.

  “I had it. I didn’t need you to play hero and get yourself killed…AGAIN. And if you had any brains, you would have known Sebastian needed me. He wouldn’t have hurt me. And don’t forget that I was the one that freed you.”

  Luke looked a little hurt as I swayed on my feet. He made a move to steady me, but stopped himself. I counted to three and opened my eyes to find myself still standing by my own power.

  “I know you can take care of yourself. You’ve been doing it all along. You have to know as your Guardian, I can’t help but protect you.”

  His eyes held more emotions in them than it had in days.

  With some regret at my outburst, I stepped into him and leaned against his chest. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I just can’t watch you die a second time.”

  His arms were slow to come around me. Then he moved them to my shoulders and pushed me a little distance away so he could look me in the eye.

  “You are my priority. Your life means more to me, than my own.”

  Flynn walked towards us, and I glanced in his direction. His eyes weren’t on me. So I stepped back and gave him room to stand in front of Luke.

  “It’s good to see you’re alive, man.”

  His words lightened me. They hadn’t had peace for some time. He held out a hand that Luke stared at a second before he clasped it. Then he did the man hug thing, pulling each other in a bear hug with a clasped hand between them. A couple of solid thumps of each other’s backs followed.