“Eme,” she said softly, looking at me for a second before her eyes returned to the road.
“Yeah,” I answered, confused by the ominous tone in her voice.
“I, uh, stopped at the shopping center down the road from your house,” she began. “I ran out of my favorite lip gloss.”
Squinting my eyes, I peered over at her as she fidgeted her hands on the steering wheel. “Out with it,” I said.
“I really hate to tell you this because it’s probably nothing.”
“Maggs, just tell me,” I said, dread filling me.
“I saw Luke’s car. He wasn’t alone.”
Dead silence. Oh, the radio was going on in the background, but I felt heat claw up my throat. “That blonde chick from school was in the car with him.”
She continued to speak, but I didn’t hear a thing. It was all white noise blended into the background. The problem was he’d told me that he trusted me, so I should trust him. I had faith in my Luke, but not this new version.
Maggie went on and on about how much she knew he loved me, but the scream or the tears clamoring to get out kept me quiet for fear I would explode. By the time we’d gotten to the party, I’d riled myself up. And that is how the trouble began.
To say the party got out of hand was an understatement. The sights and sounds were coalescing all around me into one jumble of swirls. I felt light and heavy all at the same time. Coolness met the belly of my skin and then it was gone until another cool sensation returned.
A breath of words entered my ear. “You want to get out of here?”
Turning my head, I was face to face with pools of golden brown. They were the kind of eyes you could trust. My mind was quickly invaded by thoughts of summer blue eyes and the boy who owned them. The reminder of blonde hair and what Maggie told me, had me answer in the affirmative. “Yes.”
The guy who was by far one of the most attractive I’d seen tonight, lifted me from the counter. He held my hand to tug me along. But it wasn’t a hand that I was familiar with. Hesitating, I struggled to remember why that wasn’t a good idea. The space was tight with people. And just like any party, the music was turned up to deafening levels. Being much taller, he leaned down to speak in my ear. “Did you change your mind?”
He pulled back enough that I was lost in his eyes again. They were like warm honey. His lips were so close and I had the urge to get closer to him. “I don’t even know your name.”
With a megawatt smile, he answered, “Keller. Yours?”
“Mercy,” I said, feeling like we were meant to coexist in the same space. He began to lead me again when I passed Maggie.
“Eme, what the hell.” Although my eyes had been opened, it was Maggie’s voice that broke through the haze.
“Get you grubby hands off her,” she yelled, pulling my arm from the guy’s. Out of his hold, everything spun around my head like a child’s mobile. I felt like I stepped off a tilt-a-whirl. With another yank, I moved in the opposite direction. Well, kind of.
I turned to see the guy’s eyes still on me. I couldn’t look away. The pull was so strong. “Maggs,” I whispered, with slow enunciation. If she didn’t break the spell, I was bound to go to him as soon as she let go. I blinked a few times trying to get my bearings. My legs were wobbly and the room was still spinning.
Either she didn’t hear me or she didn’t care. She pulled me with purpose through the party that was going on all around me. I finally lost sight of him.
Coming to a sudden stop, I looked up to see Liam standing in front of Maggie. They were talking but I was trying to keep myself from falling over. Soon, we were moving again. I wanted to continue to look up, but movement in that way made my dizziness worse. So I ambled my way through, guided by Maggie.
The frozen air hit me like a wall and woke some of my senses. I wasn’t wearing a coat and with my barely there clothes, I didn’t have much to keep me warm. Still, it felt better out here. My wits were coming back to me at an alarming rate. I sat in the nearest plastic chair with a thump and breathed deep to somehow get it together.
“What the hell, Eme? Where were you going with that guy? Luke is going to freak. Yeah that guy was hot, but still?”
My eyes opened to new depths at her words. “Luke doesn’t care. And he won’t find out anyway,” I said, daring her to spill that bit of information.
“You are so dense. Luke is gaga for you.” Then a sheepish expression covered her face. “Plus, I kind of texted Flynn to see if you’d gone home. I couldn’t find you.”
“You what?” I asked, nearly shrieking the words.
“You’d been gone for a while. And I didn’t find you anywhere in the house. I looked in the kitchen before checking upstairs. I thought maybe you left and went home.”
Covering my face with my hands, I asked, “What did you tell him?”
“Nothing,” she exclaimed. I felt marginally relieved. “Honest, nothing…. I just texted him that I found you and they are on their way.”
“They?” I asked.
“Um,” she said, and I knew what was coming. “Luke was with him. So they’re both headed here.”
I didn’t look at her. It wasn’t her fault, but I was angry, though more at myself. However, I was afraid I might say something wrong. I wasn’t ready to see Luke. There was an ache deep in my heart at the thought of him with Blondie.
Patting my arm while she stood above me, she said, “He loves you Eme, don’t doubt that. I wish I had a guy with the kind of devotion he has for you.” Maggie had her mind made up, but she hadn’t seen Luke when he wasn’t himself. “Stay here. I’ll go get you a bottle of water.”
Stay wasn’t in my vocabulary. My stomach began to revolt. A guy, who had been sitting on the far end on the porch steps, walked over to me. For a second it looked like his blurry twin stood next to him. But ever so slowly, they came together as one. How much had I drunk?
“You need this more than me,” the guy said with a soft lisp as he handed me an unopened bottle of water. I reached for it, my hand missing it by a mile. The action sent me hanging my head over the side of the railing vomiting green beer like the exorcist chick. The guy with the water bottle held my hair like Maggie would have done if she’d been there.
When it was over, I plopped back down in the plastic chair. I truly felt the extent of the cold for the first time despite the warm body sitting companionably in the chair next to me. Although I had emptied the contents of my stomach, I still didn’t feel one hundred percent. My damp skin had frozen over, yet I didn’t want to go back inside. It was crowded in there. With the weather unseasonably cold, it kept everyone else inside. Even Maggie hadn’t yet returned.
The pounding music that seeped through the walls sent me up on wobbly legs away from the house. Needing space, I didn’t intend to go far. I heard the guy’s soft protests that I should sit down and drink the water but the yielding hand disappeared at the sudden spike of music and the voice that yelled out, “Dude, are you Tanner? Some guy is looking for you.” There was a pause. Then the voice added, “He said he’s ready to go.”
I walked out past the open gate and into the trees that bordered the backyards of fraternity row.
Chapter Twenty Six
Not knowing where I was going was foolish enough. Given the reality that I had many enemies hell bent on killing me was just plain suicidal. That didn’t stop me from heading far into the wooded area. When I could no long make out which way was back home, I leaned my back against a tree with my hands tucked behind me.
I couldn’t even make out the moon with thee trees choking out any light. I stared at the ground and felt my shame. The things I’d done tonight hadn’t felt like me, but my demon hadn’t come out at all. Was I becoming what I was meant to be all along?
A noise, an unnatural one, had my head snapping up. I pushed away from the tree and strained to hear another sound. A crackle somewhere out in front of me made my body tense. It wasn’t that any sound couldn’t be made in the woods. Ho
wever, it was unlikely any animal that lived in these woods could make a sharp sound like metal on metal. Something bigger was out here.
From somewhere deep within me a smile was born, one that was spoiling for a fight. I called to that place because I still wasn’t feeling one hundred percent and said, I know you’re there. If you want to survive, I need your skills. And with a resolute breath I added, McKayla. I felt the entity within me uncoil and spring free like a Jack-in-a-box. She was there, but I hadn’t quiet given up control. Not yet.
She urged me like a puppeteer to look around. My sight sharpened, penetrating the darkness like I wore night goggles. The last traces of alcohol felt purged from my system. Then I saw them. Three targets splayed out in a wide arc came at me from all sides. And with a tilt of my head to the side, I let go, falling away as my demon took over only to look through my eyes like portholes.
“Hello, is anybody there?” my voice called out. McKayla had me sounding like a scared child.
When the three stepped free at my ten, twelve, and two o’clock positions with me dead center, McKayla spoke through my mouth again, “Oh, thank god. I got lost.”
The girl at my two o’clock spoke. “Really, you can be more original than that.”
Surveying the other two, I saw that they weren’t hulking guys. One was about my height and ebony skinned with a crew cut and the other a little taller with wavy long hair. They were built like swimmers, lean in the torso. I could try to get a hold of Flynn, but I knew he would act first and ask questions later. Sebastian, well, he would just kill them, no questions asked. I sent this message to McKayla urging her not to use lethal force. These were just humans, I figured. We could handle this on our own.
After assessing that the boys weren’t buying my innocent act either, McKayla said through my voice, “Bring it then.”
Crouching, I had the vague sense that we looked like something out of a kung fu movie. The self-defense art and some of the moves I’d learned had in fact been grounded in the techniques of karate. This was my chance to prove to everyone that I could take care of myself. Maybe not demon foes, I wasn’t so sure of myself in that arena, but human enemies I could handle. Even fending off all three of them at the same time, with McKayla’s help I thought I was able to neutralize the threat. With a nod, one of them signaled to the girl who came at me with a faint guttural noise.
She charged with her sword held like she wanted to poke my eye out. Using Mckayla’s inert fighting skills, I dodged then plucked the weapon from the girl and dropped it to the ground. The girl, still moving from her momentum, spun and came at me with fists.
Blocking her blows, my body was relaxed as if I was bored. All the moves McKayla used I’d learned but she applied them with expert precision. First my forearms moved fast to come together as a wall to block head and center body shots. Then my arm swung out to the right in an arc to deflect an upper cut. My other arm lanced out at the same time to connect with the girl’s face, snapping her head backwards. The poor girl only seemed more determined. My body spun then tucked low as the girl’s fist connected with the tree. My leg kicked out, bending the girl’s knee backward in the wrong direction. As the girl cried out, my upward movement and elbow connected with her chin for lights out. The girl landed in an unmoving heap but breathing.
My vision narrowed as the two stunned boys looked at me for a second before attacking. I moved out of the way of the unconscious girl. The last thing I needed was to trip over her when I now had two attackers. Lining them up, I moved to keep both in front of me. Dodging and moving left and right wasn’t easy. I had to try and keep them from sandwiching me in the middle. They didn’t fight like girls. The guy that I battled was more effective with his shots. Thankfully, he didn’t have a sword or I would have been done for sure. On the defensive, I was losing ground and we weren’t in the middle of a field. Every backwards step could slam me up against a tree and I would be vulnerable if I didn’t keep moving.
The silent plea McKayla sent to me to loosen my decision of lethal force stunned and elated me. Did I still maintain control even though it felt like I didn’t have it? A body shot to my side radiated through me and I internally told my demon to go ahead and do what was necessary to protect us without killing if that was possible.
As soon as that thought escaped me, she made a bold offensive move and ran headlong toward the crew cut guy we’d been battling. Surprise gave us the advantage. My leg kicked out and landed a groin shot, and my other foot connected with his nose. I tumbled head under and over to land on my feet. A smile played at my lips when we saw Crew Cut down, but my demon had made a mistake. And I felt it in my back.
Air escaped my lungs as a fiery pain dug deep. An arm clamped around me as the point of something sharp penetrated straight out my front.
“Demon, go to hell.” The guy twisted the blade causing me to feel hot searing pain ten times worse than what I’d just experienced.
A scream penetrated the air that apparently had come from me. Crew Cut was struggling to his feet. “What’s going on? Shouldn’t it be gone?”
“Maybe it takes a little longer,” the guy at my back said shoving the lance deeper into my gut and wrenching out another scream from me as he twisted again.
Crew Cut stood still cupping his sore muscle stepping towards me. “It could still be dangerous,” the Long Hair warned.
“It could be human. What if we’d just killed a human?” Crew Cut blessed himself with the gesture of a cross symbol over his chest.
“Did you see how it moved? It’s not human,” the guy that held me captive said.
“What if it’s just possessed?” Crew Cut asked stepping right up to me. And that was all McKayla needed. Our lips parted but the guy didn’t know what was coming. His lips opened and vapor escaped heading right for my mouth.
“Jesus,” Long Hair said. He pushed me away and wrenched the long bladed knife from me. We saw as we stumbled breaking our connection that the blade was coated in our blood. We moved with inhuman speed and rammed our cupped hand into the long haired guy’s Adam’s apple. He went down choking and gasping for air. We turned to see crew cut still standing where we left him. So we bent down and pressed our lips to Long Hair, our attacker. He was not attractive but McKayla craved to do things the old fashion way. His lips were warm and the jolt of innocents that filled us was intoxicating. It should always be this way, she thought. She knew that this soul was pure in its intentions and it tasted good.
We whispered in its ears. Its eyes were transfixed by our power. She loved it. And we stood while blood still poured from us. We took Crew Cut in our embrace and filled ourselves with his sweet life force. Another innocent. Our blood radiated to life. All of a sudden, every touch was broadcast to our senses like our nerves had multiplied by the billions. Crew Cut also grew hungry from our kiss. His desire was as evident as McKayla’s.
Need filled us and we roughly pulled at his shirt and placed a hand on his abs and headed south.
“Mercy,” a familiar voice rang out. We turned and saw Flynn. Whispering to Crew Cut, we stepped away and right to Flynn. His eyes looked down. She liked that he had a one track mind. “You’re bleeding.” We didn’t care. We captured his gaze. “Innocence is wonderful. Let me share.” Our hands clasped his cheeks and pressed our lips to his. We pushed some of our new found energy to him. His hand shot to our waist, not to grip us but to push us away. My eyes opened and found his, paralyzing him. She was not happy at this rejection. Shoving our tongue in his mouth, she was determined to show him the error of his ways.
“Mercy.” I heard my name for the second time. Luke. I tried to get free, but I was shoved down as though McKayla had a hand on my head. I couldn’t emerge.
Flynn’s hands shot up as if to say this wasn’t his fault. “McKayla,” Luke said sounding menacing. She didn’t falter or cower this time. “Let him go.”
She pulled back, but not out of fear. Flynn looked stunned that he still wasn’t able to move. “I don’t th
ink he wants me to,” she said.
I heard the words she wanted to say and I fought with her not to say them. I clawed at my control because there would be no going back if she said them. Licking her lips, she said, “Ah well, for the good of my host.”
As she let go control, gravity took control. I fell to the ground. Now that she was gone, it was clear the only thing holding us up after that spear through our back was her demon will.
“Fuck,” Flynn said falling to his knees.
Luke quick steps landed him on my other side. “Mercy.”
Pain held my words back. I managed just a cough and a sputter.
Maggie burst through. “Eme,” she cried out.
Luke said, “Flynn, clean up.”
Flynn nodded and got to his feet. Luke looked pained, then waved Maggie back. Lifting my shirt, I glanced down at myself unable to see anything. It was almost comical how my boobs blocked my view. But the movement caused more pain and I coughed a spray of blood. With a determined look, Luke lay warm hands on my skin and with dread in my heart, I watched as he tried to heal me.
Chapter Twenty Seven
With small amounts of success, Luke managed to dull the pain in my gut. But I felt tired and wanted to go to sleep. “Mercy, stay with me.” My eyes fluttered, letting me know I’d begun to give into the abyss. Warm lips met mine in a soft kiss. My eyes opened again. The pain in his face said that he hadn’t been able to completely heal me. A stab of pain in my back told me so too. “That’s the best I can do.”
His face held regret, remorse and a whole lot more. “It’s okay,” I managed to say through more coughs and gasps.
“Luke,” Maggie called out. Turning, a wave of nausea came over me. Luke shook his head. A tear fell from Maggie’s eye. “What are we going to do?”
Even though turning would bring on another feeling of vertigo, I watched a look pass between them as they spoke. “Flynn,” Luke called out in a strangled voice.
Angel Of Mercy (Cambions #3) Page 13
