by A. M. Hardin
It takes a few minutes to get the go ahead. As soon as we do Kai puts his nifty little light out and opens the door, which was weirdly not padlocked, just locked from the inside of the tunnel.
The inside of the area we’re at looks like it’s a hospital. Not somewhere you’d expect the humans to keep supernatural beings against their will.
Most of the supernaturals that the humans have had in custody hadn’t done anything wrong besides be alive and in the wrong place at the wrong time. Humans were scared and, in most areas, if they encountered supernaturals they found a way to immobilize them long enough to get them in places similar to this.
Cold.
Vacant.
Trapped.
I’ve always been curious to find out how the humans were able to immobilize us but that’s a mystery for another day.
I pause behind Kai when he stops at a fork in the hallway.
Fucking hell. This isn’t on those maps.
“Uh, did we maybe take a wrong turn?” I ask Kai. He subtly shakes his head before getting a slightly vacant look on his face. I’m assuming he’s telling Parker or Hunter what’s going on.
“Parker’s trying to get into the system to make it easier but he isn’t having any luck yet.” Kai informs me after several minutes of silence.
“What do we do in the meantime? We’re kind of sitting ducks right here Kai,” I point out gently.
“Yeah, I-” Kai cuts off that thought as we hear footsteps sounding from behind us.
Fuck. I bite my lip, looking around for somewhere for us to hide while whoever this is goes past.
“Be quiet and don’t move.”
It’s the only warning I get before Kai grabs me around the waist, pulling my body close and shuffles our bodies to a corner hidden in the shadows.
“What are we doing?”
Kai meets my eyes, his whiskey colored eyes pinning me in place. “I’ve got an invisibility spell wrapped around us. It’ll only work so long as we’re silent and not shuffling around.”
Um, yeah that won’t be an easy feat to accomplish with Kai’s front pressed completely against mine.
Holy shit he feels good. If that heated look in his eyes and his hardness pressing against my center is anything to go by, he’s just as affected by our closeness as I am.
My cheeks burn and my heartbeat picks up as I move my eyes away from his probing gaze.
I bite the inside of my cheek to stop the thoughts going through my head. I don’t know this guy and the last thing that’s needed is me getting involved in one way or another with any of the guys on this team. That’s just asking for trouble.
Especially when they may be nice but they still don’t see me as anything but a filthy half-breed.
I don’t blame them. My kind has a pretty shitty rep for starting shit with everyone around us after going rogue.
The footsteps come closer, almost right on top of us, pulling me from my thoughts. I instinctively tense, preparing for us to be found.
“Yes, doctor, I’m aware of the risks to the child. If we can even call her that, since she’s clearly not human,” a man’s whining voice breaks through the silence. He’s silent for a moment before speaking again. “I don’t care. We’ve got that execution tomorrow and I want tests done on this other being that was brought in earlier tonight started in the morning.”
Tests? What tests? Are they doing testing on supernaturals in these places? I bite my lip, not liking the sound of that.
His voice disappears as he goes down one of the hallways. I can’t tell which one he went down with Kai blocking my view of the rest of the room.
Kai waits a few long heartbeats before backing away from me. The fire in his eyes dissipating until it’s completely back to business.
“Parker got back to me while we were… waiting for that guy to leave, said he couldn’t get into the system. I’m going to try something to see if we can track her that way. I don’t have anything of hers or it’d make it a hell of a lot easier and for sure work.”
I give him a nod a moment before his eyes close and he’s muttering under his breath. I can’t understand what he’s saying or even hear what he’s saying but I sure as hell can feel the surge of magic in the air.
6
Chapter Six
Mercy
I follow Kai down the hallway his magic is leading us down. Both of us quiet and alert since this whole area wasn’t in the plan.
When we get to where there are rooms and windows facing inside - one-sided mirror maybe? - Kai and I pause at the sound of a female crying out in pain.
I don’t breathe as Kai’s magic - another of those orb things - leads to the room the cry just came from.
“Fuck. Kai, we can’t wait. We need to do this now and take care of whoever’s in there with her.”
Kai runs a hand through his carefully messy auburn hair. “We don’t know that it’s her, Mercy. My magic could be wrong.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I’m not chancing it. Come or don’t. If you choose not to, then just make sure you stay out of my way.”
“God damn it Mercy!” Kai curses a second before I start to pick the lock on the door.
It opens quickly and I open the door as another cry echoes through the air.
Moving swiftly through the large room I stop in shock, trying to register what I’m seeing.
There wasn’t a picture or name given to us about the seer we were supposed to be pulling out of here, just a prisoner number. The platinum blonde hair of the seer, similar to my own color just a shade or two off, is damp with sweat and dried blood while a large man proceeds to beat the hell out of her. She’s naked and chained to the wall by her arms, dried blood, cuts and bruises cover her body.
I know that hair. I know that fucking seer.
Red hot rage slashes its way through me.
“You sick son of a bitch,” I growl. Xena lets out a soft gasp of surprise when I speak, her swollen eyes open as best as they can to look towards me.
The man in front of Xena who turned when I walked into the room looks startled. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“I’m officially your worst fucking nightmare. By the time I’m halfway done with you, you’ll be begging for death,” I inform him with a wicked smile on my face. I flick my eyes briefly to Xena before turning back to the sick fuck in front of me. “Xena, you good?”
“M-M-Mercy? Y-you’re here? H-how?” She stutters. Her voice coming out gargled, like it hurt her to talk.
“Mercy, you know her?” Kai asks, walking casually in the room to stand beside me.
“She’s my best friend. She disappeared a few years ago, her parents claimed to have no idea what happened to her.” I pause. “She’s also our seer that we’re looking for.”
Kai looks at me but I refuse to take my eyes off the shaking man in front of me.
“Go get Xena a robe or something and get her out of those fucking chains,” I tell him, shaking in rage. It takes him a moment to do as I ask.
He leaves the room quickly since there isn’t anything for Xena to wear in here, just a wall and a bucket for her to use the bathroom set off next to her.
“Did they touch you Xena?” I ask, softening my voice despite the anger running through my veins. She flinches and that gives me all the answer I need. I grab the man by his button up shirt and push him into the wall next to Xena. “Did you touch her? Keep in mind that if you lie to me I’ll make your death a thousand times worse. If you didn’t touch her, I’ll make you hurt for a bit then kill you. However, if you did touch her I’ll have a lot of fucking fun with you.”
I vaguely register Kai had walked back into the room while I was talking but I, otherwise, ignore him.
“Did. You. Touch. Her!” I shout at the guy in my grip after he doesn’t respond.
He whimpers. “N-no. I never touched her that way.”
I turn my head to Xena who shakes her head. “He g-got off on m-my pain.”
“Mercy!
Do not touch the human!” Hunter’s voice shouts in my head. Since he knows what I’m about to do I can only assume that Kai told him what was going on.
“Sorry, Hunter.” Not really sorry but I am sorry I’m going to piss him off and disobey a direct order. “He needs to pay.”
I slam my mental blocks up, keeping Hunter and the others out of my mind so they can’t try to talk me out of it. I speak to Kai while looking in the soon-to-be-dead man’s eyes. “Get Xena out of here. I’ll be out right behind you.”
“Mercy,” Kai starts but I cut him off.
“No. He needs to pay, they all need to pay for what they did to her but I’ve only got this son of a bitch in front of me and he’s going to fucking pay for what they all did to my friend. Nothing will come back on your precious group but this is something I need to do.” I turn my head to face Kai as he nods his head in understanding and quickly gets to work on Xena’s chains.
I turn to my captive ignoring Kai’s reassuring words and trying to block out Xena’s whimpers of pain as he helps her. “Now then, you get off on beating on girls do you?” He opens his mouth but I put a finger over his lips, quieting him. “Don’t forget the penalty for lying to me.”
“Y-yes,” he stutters, his fear coming off of him in waves.
“Sick fucking bastard,” I growl a second before grabbing my dagger from my hip and jamming it into his thigh, avoiding his artery so he won’t bleed out.
He bellows in pain and falls to the floor. He sobs and tries to scoot away from me. The stupid human traps himself into a corner.
“M-Mercy,” Xena calls out to me, making me look back at her wrapped in a sheet in Kai’s arms. “Make it h-hurt.”
I smile reassuringly at her. “You got it babe.” I move my gaze to Kai and see he’s looking from me to the man on the ground whimpering while he huddles his leg close to his body. “Get her out of here. I’ll be there soon.”
“Make it quick,” Kai says with a pointed look before disappearing out of the room with Xena.
I turn back to the sniveling fool on the floor. “Now you’ll learn what happens to people who fuck with my friends and family.”
7
Chapter Seven
Kai
The human’s whimpers follow Xena and I out of the room she was trapped in. Before the door closes I hear Mercy say, “Now you’ll learn what happens to people who fuck with my friends and family,” a split second before the man screams in pain, begging her to let him go.
“Jesus,” I mutter as I walk back the way we came.
“N-not very merciful is s-she?” Xena’s quiet voice makes me glance down at her.
“Doesn’t seem to be,” I say.
“I-it’s ironic.” She pauses and takes a deep breathe, probably trying to get the stutter under control. “Her name is Mercy but if you fuck with her or hers she’s anything but merciful. She doesn’t hold back. From anything.” Her blue eyes seem to be searing my skin while she watches me meaningfully.
I pause at the tunnel entrance. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you and your entire team needs to know this, so make sure you tell them what I’m saying. She doesn’t trust easily, hell, she doesn’t even like people easily, but as soon as she lets you in, she’s this beautiful creature who will move heaven and hell for you. She’s had it rough growing up. You don’t live through the things she did and not come out scarred from it,” she adds quietly.
I walk with her through the tunnel, leaving the door unlocked for Mercy. “What do you mean she had it rough growing up? So did plenty of other people.”
“Not like her. It took a long time for her to tell me what happened. She only told me because I wouldn’t stop asking about her scars.”
“Scars?” I press.
“I saw them a few times when we were younger and never asked but eventually I got curious and kept asking. She usually wears clothes that hide them, but it’s hard to hide them all without being completely covered up.”
What the hell could have happened to her that she has scars like that?
I shake my head from my internal question and ask it out loud.
Xena shakes her head slowly. “It’s not my story to tell. She will tell you all. One day. Just try not to push her for it. She will need all of us for what’s to come,” Xena says, her voice fading at the end as she passes out in my arms.
What the hell did that mean? Sometimes I hate seers.
“Kai, status?” Hunter asks as I exit the tunnel slowly, making sure there aren’t any guards around before I run with Xena to the wall.
“About to come over the wall with the seer.”
“And Mercy? She’s got shields up so I can’t talk to her right now.”
I pause, not knowing if I should just get it over with and tell him that she stayed behind to torture a human or just wait. My hesitation gave it away before I could say a word.
“God damn it. What the fuck did you let her stay behind for?” Hunter’s words vibrate with anger throughout my head.
While I use my powers to levitate us over the wall I reply, “She wouldn’t leave. Said it was something she needed to do. She said she’d be right behind me but I don’t see her yet.”
“You know as well as I do that she’s going to kill that human,” Hunter scolds.
Jumping with Xena down to the ground, I start walking towards the van. “Dude, you’re a fucking demon, you can’t tell me you’ve never killed a human.”
“That is not the point, Kai. We’re on a mission. This mission is more important than a personal vendetta.”
I snort. “Yeah, good luck convincing her of that. The seer is her friend and was being abused by them.”
“Jesus fucking Christ. Just get to the damn van. Talon, War and I will keep an eye out for her.”
“Yes, sir.”
When I get to the van the back door opens and Parker sticks his head out. “Hey, everything go oka- Hey, where’s Mercy? And why is she covered in blood?”
I sigh. “For the most part it went fine. She’s covered in blood because they’ve been beating her. From what I can see it’s all old blood though,” I say, avoiding his question about Mercy. Parker gives me a look, expecting me to answer where Mercy is. “Fine. She’s still in the prison.”
His eyes widen. “What? Why? What went wrong?”
“Nothing went wrong, per se.” I climb into the back with Xena and lay her down on the bench while Parker closes the door behind us. “She knew the seer. Guess they were friends.”
“No shit?”
I chuckle humorlessly. “No shit. Apparently some shit went down with Xena, the seer, and Mercy wasn’t okay with that. There was a human in there with her when we got there. Beating the shit out of her. Mercy had him screaming when we left the room. She said she’d be right behind me.”
Parker’s quiet for several long minutes as he just blinks at me. “She stayed behind to torture and kill the human?”
“From what I understand, yeah.”
“Don’t judge her,” Xena’s weak voice breaks through our conversation, making us turn to look at the blonde attempting to sit up and keep the sheet around her naked, beaten body. Parker goes to help, placing his hands on her shoulders so she can hold the sheet up while he slowly moves her to an upright position.
“What do you mean ‘don’t judge her?’” I ask when she’s situated.
“Just what I said. You’re judging her for being a demon who doesn’t stand for her loved ones to be hurt. Most demons don’t need a reason to torture or to kill. Mercy doesn’t do those things without provocation. Has she done them in the past? Yes, of course. Does she enjoy it? Not particularly. The only times I’ve known when she enjoys hurting someone is if they deserve it. That man that was in the room with us is one such being. She’s also doing as I asked and making it hurt. She’s getting revenge for me.”
Parker and I exchange a guilty look. I hadn’t exactly thought of it that way. If Parker’s expression is anyth
ing to go by, neither did he.
8
Chapter Eight
Mercy
Walking back to the van about a half hour after Kai left with Xena I tense when I sense Hunter, Warwick, and Talon coming close.
I was honestly expecting them to leave me behind so I’m a little shocked when they step out in front of me, stopping me from going any further.
I can feel the anger radiating off of Hunter, Talon looks annoyed and even Warwick lost his easy smile and is just frowning at me.
“What? Are we all walking back to the van together?” I ask with attitude, not in the mood to deal with a lecture. I start stalking past the men standing in my way, but I don’t make it far before Hunter grabs my arm and whirls me to face them. “Don’t manhandle me, Hunter,” I snarl.
He ignores me. “What the fuck were you thinking? Disobeying a direct order? Then slamming up a gods damn mental shield so I can’t get through to make sure you’re at least alive?” He’s not shouting but the anger in his tone and his red eyes are enough to make me tense and a shiver rolls down my back.
“You weren’t there, you don’t get to tell me what the correct course of action would have been. I did what I had to do.” I snap my arm out of his hand and step away from the group they make.
“You deliberately tortured a human, when killing him quickly would have been just fine,” Hunter sneers.
I narrow my gaze at the three of them, my eyes bouncing from each before finally settling on Hunter. “Have you ever been tortured Hunter?”
He blinks. “What? Why would you ask that?”
“Unless you’ve lived through that you can’t understand how it feels to have it happen when you’re helpless. Each of you are judging me based on the fact that I tortured some poor human that had been torturing one of us. I know demons that are just like that fucking human and they deserve the same fucking treatment. I don’t do it to get enjoyment out of it or to get off on it. And unless you can tell me you’ve never tortured someone for any reason, you don’t get to judge me,” I hiss.
