Angel Of Mercy (Cambions #3)

by Dermott, Shannon

  With no other option, I straddled his legs and ignored his comment. The faint beat pulsed through my ear as I lay my head against his chest. Then I raised my head up and looked into his eye but they were closed now. I tapped the side of his head with my palm trying to rouse his shadowed eyes. “What,” he said. “Just give me a minute and I’m sure I can get it—”

  “Flynn, when was the last time you fed?” I asked when his eyes opened. I hoped I cut off the rest of his sentence. I didn’t want to hear it.

  Looking bewildered, he blinked his eyes several times before saying, “I was with Sara tonight.”

  Blondie. She said she was like me. Was she a succubus? Without thinking about the consequences, I pressed my lips to Flynn’s which felt very much like last time. Instead of taking, which my DNA was programmed for, I gave. I pushed what I had into him.

  It didn’t take long for his arms to circle me and his mouth to part giving me entrance. I pushed once more giving him a jolt of what I had before I rolled off him panting. His embrace lack strength. It had been too easy for me to get away.

  “If you wanted to kiss me, all you had to do was ask,” Flynn said, bringing my attention back in his direction.

  Chapter Twenty One

  With dark pools of color under his eyes, I knew he wasn’t out of the woods. “Can you get up?” I asked while pushing myself up. It was harder than I expected. I’d given him a lot of me. I hadn’t feed, so it wasn’t like I had much more than my human side to offer.

  On my feet, I watched him as he rolled and push up with his forearms. His muscles corded and tightened as he gathered his feet under him. Damn if he still wasn’t a beautiful sight in a vulnerable state, probably more so.

  When he stood, a weight fell away from me. He wasn’t on the verge of death any longer. But when he took a stumbling step, I knew I would have to do more. Opening the door to Flynn’s room, I ushered him inside. Over to his bed, I dropped him off like a sack of potatoes. “Wait here,” I commanded and ducked out of the room before he could protest.

  With Luke out of the country, courtesy of a private plane, I knew my call wouldn’t connect but I dialed his number anyway, even if only to talk to his voicemail. I left him a message detailing what I’d found, done and was about to do.

  Once inside my own room, I headed straight for the bathroom and assessed myself. Brief blooms of dark sprang under my eyes. I understood a part of myself I hadn’t before. Damn my mom for her lack of training. I felt tired, the exhaustion building up steadily. I was low on energy from giving all I had to Flynn.

  The look of bruising had been so pronounced under his eyes, you’d have thought he’d been knocked around a few times by a heavy weight champ. It was clear Flynn was suffering from lack of feeding. Guilt was like a mirror, following me with a mocking glare. Something was wrong and no one was doing anything about it. I’d ignored it, wanted to keep my distance. I needed to make sure Luke knew even if he might not get my voicemail in time. Flynn would die if I didn’t do something.

  Brushing sleep tangles out of my hair, I thought about the harsh reality of how far was I willing to go to save his life.

  After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I added some shimmer to my lips with my going out gloss. Then I pulled my hair up in a slick ponytail, the quickest solution. It was late, but I needed to look decent for what I had planned.

  Shrugging out of my shirt, I hooked on a bra on and took off my pale blue Juicy pants. I was bent over sliding one leg into a pair of skinny jeans when Flynn walked in unannounced with my bottom pointed up in the air in invitation.

  Frozen, neither of us were willing to speak. I grumbled searching for the right epithet to hurl at him. I didn’t let another second pass before I swiveled around, teetered over and landed my backside on the floor. “Don’t you know what a closed door means?” I asked still pondering the best word to confuse him.

  “Don’t you know how to lock a door if you don’t want someone to enter?” he said sounding a lot better but barely keeping his eyes on my face before they blazed a trail down my body. “White.”

  His clarification of the color of my underwear, as if I didn’t know, made mortification bloom in my cheeks. “Get out,” I yelled.

  “Where are you going?” he asked. His eyes narrowed and his consternation was evident. Frown marked were etched on his face. I looked to see his hands were balled in fist.

  “Nowhere, if you don’t get out of my room.” Only when his gaze strayed south of my face and north of my stomach did I remember, I only wore a bra. I covered my chest immediately.

  “Too late for that love,” he said softy, still focused on my chest. Love? I realized I’d only managed to put the girls more on display. Spinning, I turned my back on him and pulled out the first shirt I could reach. Over my head and through my arms, I turned around to see him still there.

  “I’m not your love,” I said, pushing my other leg in my pants and hobbled to my feet, pulling up my jeans at the same time.

  “Yeah, don’t I know,” he muttered.

  As I hopped around from foot to foot pulling on skin tight jeans, I fell on my back forced to use leverage to pull them over my non-existent hips. My jeans begged to differ on that point.

  “Need help?”

  Buttoning the top after zipping, I got to my feet and glared at him. No thank you. Folding my arms still remembering his burning eyes on me, I said, “Can you please leave so I can finish getting ready?” My tone was pleasant because threats hadn’t worked.

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  Drawing a deep breath, I said, “We are going to Georgetown.”

  His hand grabbed the door frame as he swayed on his feet. Knowing my words hadn’t elicited that response, I moved forward a bit before fierce blue storms stilled my feet. At least show no weakness was back in his eyes. His helpless look from before had nearly torn my heart apart.

  “Why?” he asked, breathing hard. His eyes closed as his energy waned. What I’d been able to give him was wearing off entirely too quickly.

  There were many things I could say to cut his ego to lows he’d never experienced before. However, I wasn’t that mean. “I need to power up and I can’t go out alone.” He’d know why my energy was low, but he wouldn’t figure that I was trolling for prey so he could get energy too. I knew it would take more than one human to clear the murky color under his eyes that stared at me like an ugly stain. It only reminded me again that I was the cause of so much strife to those around me.

  His pride wouldn’t allow him to tell me he was too weak to babysit me. Even if he was well enough to protest that, I was doing this for him. The way his white knuckled hand clung to the doorframe like a life line was enough of an indicator that he was barely holding himself up. “What if I say no?”

  “Then I’ll go by myself,” I lied. Reaching in my drawer, I searched for one of the few shirts that I owned that didn’t totally cover me up. Finding a blood red top, I grabbed it and tried not to think about the comparison to vampires and my kind. I headed to the bathroom because I wasn’t going to ask a drained Flynn to leave one more time.

  “Wait,” Flynn uttered. I turned to meet his cool blue stare. We stood there for lingering moment in a stare down contest. He was vulnerable and I planned to get him what he so desperately needed.

  Silently, I entered my bathroom with a heavy heart. Leaning against the door, I swallowed my fears from seeing him like that. Need was weighing him down. I had no idea how this night would end up, but I wouldn’t let him suffer. How could I?

  Chapter Twenty Two

  It was odd for me to be in the driver’s seat of Flynn’s Hummer with him next to me. His pale face leaned on the window with his eyes closed. Turning on tunes didn’t help either. It only served to fill the space of silence between us.

  Thank goodness for GPS, otherwise I would have gotten lost. Although Washington, DC was driving distance, I didn’t often come downtown. We ended up on Massachusetts Avenue, in the hear
t of Georgetown. The place was crawling with traffic and pedestrians. Turning down a street that led to the waterside, I lucked out in finding a spot not too far down. Parallel parking this monstrosity was a pain.

  “Let me do it,” Flynn said, exasperated. But his eyes looked sleepy making me fear for him more.

  “I got this,” I said with a smile. Five tries and I had the mammoth thing in the spot without nicking the cars in front or behind me.

  The sidewalks were empty here. Just a few people walking back up to the main drag. Flynn was in no condition to walk. “Stay here,” I told him.

  “No,” he said forcing himself to sit up straight. “You can’t go out alone.”

  Just when I was about to say something like I can handle myself, a lone guy stopped to light a cigarette several yards down the hill. “Wait,” I said looking back at Flynn.

  It didn’t take a genius to know what I was about to do. He didn’t say a word. Taking a deep breath, I looked down at my cleavage and hoped the guy was attracted to girls. Leaving the keys in the ignition even though I’d turned the car off, I hoped out before Flynn could say another word.

  The guy was leaning on the stone wall of a small bridge. As I neared, I licked my lips wishing my demon would help me. I spoke silently, but she wasn’t responding. Fine, I could do this, I told myself.

  My approach was quiet and it wasn’t until I was in his personal space that the guy looked up at me. Up was relative. He was closer to eye level than any of the other guys I dealt with. It didn’t matter. I had him. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. So I just tried to maintain eye contact.

  “Hey,” he said. His voice was gravelly like he had a mouth full of rocks.

  “Hey,” I repeated, with no practice at being a seductress. He should have just been mine like a puppet waiting for me to pull his strings once I captured his gaze, however that wasn’t what transpired.

  His eyes left my face and went straight for my chest, I knew I had him but not the way I needed him. I cleared my throat to gain his attention where I needed it.

  His head snapped up with a crooked grin. “What’s a pretty little thing like you want?”

  A chipped front tooth had me staring at his mouth instead of his eyes. He reached out and snagged an arm around my waist. I got a lung full of cigarette smoke. My gag reflex was on full alert.

  I heard a car door open and slam, but I was pressed to the stranger as he made a move. I opened my mouth in protest when it happened. My eyes opened to the size of tea saucers wondering if I should knee him when mist left his lips and seeped into my parted ones. I was halfway dipped because I’d been leaning away. Now we held there in some odd snapshot in time as his life left him in favor of me. Bursts of starlight filled my vision as the pleasure of his giving filled a hidden place in me.

  Utterly lost, I was into it until I was yanked away from behind. My lips had never touched the guys, but the drink of his life nectar was sweet. And I hated that it stirred a hidden desire to feed more inside me and filled my face with a sick smile. The guy on the other hand, looked dazed. He struggled to focus on Flynn who looked ready to murder someone.

  “Dude, that’s my girl.” Flynn’s words sounded genuine.

  The guy raised his hands in surrender. “Look, she came onto me.”

  Flynn caught his stare. “Just forget it and keep moving.” The guy nodded and walked quickly away. Flynn sagged and leaned against the wall barely able to remain upright as if he used his last bit of energy to compel the guy. I wanted nothing more than to take his arm and help him up. But pride was written on his face like a soliloquy.

  Without touching him, I stood in front and parted my lips a bit. His lips were closed firm in a hard line; he wasn’t the least bit pleased with what I was up to. So I rolled up to the balls of my feet to get closer to him. My movement surprised him enough that his mouth opened. And I pushed. I pushed what I’d gathered into him. Still not sure what I was doing, I was only operating on instinct.

  His hands came onto my shoulders and gently pressed me back flat on my feet. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked. But he sounded stronger. I still felt pretty good, so I hadn’t given him it all.

  “Saving you,” I said.

  There was no thank you formed on his lips. Not even a curt nod, instead he spouted, “I don’t need you to save me.” He used his arms on my shoulders to put more distance between us.

  “Really, you were about to fall over at the house. Your heart was barely functioning when you were lying on the hallway floor.” My anger was at a fever pitch. I was doing this for him. I hadn’t wanted to throw it in his face. He deserved better. But his denial of need irritated me.

  Pointing at himself then at me, he dropped his hand and said, “This isn’t helping.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, truly confused.

  His finger raised and bounced between us in a fast repetitive motion. “The more we do this...” he said. His voice trailed off like there was more he wanted to say while his finger fell away again. I was still trying to figure out the end of his sentence when he added, “And you can’t handle that. Hell, I can’t. And I know Luke won’t.”

  Softening my face by releasing the tension in my body, I said, “Flynn. This isn’t a declaration of love. This isn’t you and me getting together. But I can tell by the shadows around your eyes, you aren’t getting what you need.”

  Running a hand through his hair, which remained in its sexy perfection no matter what he did, he said, “I know, but we can’t Mercy.”

  “We can,” I said, stepping forward wanting to give him more of my spoils from the first encounter of the night.

  Holding me back again by my shoulders, he kept a gap between us further than just the distance. He was drawing his line in the sand. “Fine,” I said, moving away. Looking around, I didn’t notice anyone until I saw a guy stumble out of a bar located closer to the main road across the street from where we stood. Giving him no choice, I darted into the road. A car honked its horn and slammed to a stop just before hitting me head on. “Mercy,” Flynn called out, but I ignored him.

  Using my momentum, I ran into the guy as a couple of other people staggered out of the bar and only barely glanced as my new prey held me up from falling. He was an older guy. The kind that was probably not too much younger than my mother. “Hello darlin’.” His southern accent was cute and made me grin.

  “Thanks for catching me,” I said. And our gazes locked. His mouth opened in a silent O and I had him. His life force wasn’t as smooth as the previous guy’s, whether from age or something else; I didn’t feel the extreme high. Then again, maybe I didn’t need as much and it was like eating when you weren’t totally hungry.

  When the guys hand dropped from my waist, I lost contact and stumbled back only to be caught from behind. The man looked horrified. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t of.”

  Then he took off. Flynn held me now. He marched me back down the road on the opposite side from where we parked. In a dark spot, far from prying eyes, he stopped and said, “Are you crazy? Luke is going to kill us both. You have to stop this.”

  “I can’t watch you die,” I said, revealing the truth like an exposed wound.

  “Mercy,” he said, swallowing. He really looked at me. And I blinked because he was trying to compel me.

  Shoving him away, I said, “You jerk. How could you?”

  But he caught me and snatched me close. “Because you can’t remember this.” And he kissed me in a bone deep, earth shattering kind way. Then we were moving as one until a firm surface met my back. My eyes were closed. This can’t happen. I wouldn’t do this. But we were like magnets and the pull was so strong there was no separating us. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t do this. I looked up at him.

  Blinking several times, I met bitter blue eyes. Flynn still held my arm. We were back in the middle of the sidewalk like we were in a lover’s quarrel. At least that’s what it would have looked like to anyone who passed by. Yet I didn’
t remember moving from the wall. That’s when I saw it, a flash of guilt.

  “Did you just kiss me?” I asked, because I thought I remembered being trapped by him against something solid.

  He frowned and dropped his hand away. “No,” he said through gritted teeth.

  I folded my arms across my body. “You did, and wiped my mind again,” I protested.

  “Do you think I have enough juice for that?” he asked, looking sincere.

  Tossing my folded hands to my sides, I said, “You compelled the other guy.” I pointed across the street for a reminder.

  “I didn’t, okay. Don’t blame your fantasies on me.”

  Storming away, I recklessly crossed the street again this time avoiding mortal peril. Getting to the car, I realized it was locked. Flynn had the keys. I turned around and watched him saunter across the street with a self-satisfied grin on his face.

  Dangling the keys in front of my face, like a fish I reached for the hook only for him to capture it in his hand. “We are going home. Now.”

  “Fine,” I said, putting my hand out palm up. He dropped his keys in my hand and rounded the car in time to open the door when I popped the locks. It took me several tries to get out of the parking spot only to take a wrong turn and have the GPS on my phone bark at me to make the next U-turn when we were at a dead end.

  Slamming my fist on the steering wheel, I was beyond frustrated for having to back track. Flynn said, “Don’t abuse my baby. She’s never done anything to you.”

  I glared at him and his offensive shirt dreaming up dozens of ways to curse him, but muted myself. I wouldn’t get caught up in his bullcrap. We’d come all the way to Georgetown and I hadn’t even enjoyed the experience. It wasn’t like we made a trip into the city every week. It was quite far from where we lived. And once I made it to the beltway, I still had about a forty-five minute drive home at least.