Cruel Mercy (Book 2)

by Lola StVil

  “How’s that?” I ask.

  “Well if he wasn’t so hot I wouldn’t be interested.”

  “Right,” I say.

  “Damaged is in.”

  “That’s some twisted logic right there.”

  Milo shrugs.

  “Best I’ve got. And it’s not like I can just avoid him, is it?”

  I cringe. No, it’s not like he can avoid RJ. Because he wants to be there for me. Another thing for me to worry about.

  “And I guess me dragging you over there isn’t helping,” I say, feeling a little guilty.

  He lets out a little laugh.

  “I know you like to think everything in the world is somehow your fault, Sunny, but trust me, if you hadn’t given me an excuse to come over, I’d have found my own.”

  I don’t know whether that makes me feel better or worse.

  Do I really like to make everything my problem? I don’t think I do, but taking on the world has always been kind of my thing. Even when I was human. But as leader, it kind of feels like everything is my problem.

  I do feel better that Milo is happy to be coming over rather than nervous about it though.

  “Just be careful,” I warn him.

  “I know, I know. I’m setting myself up to get shot down. But with everything that happened with Sabrina, he’s so wounded. And wounded is so sexy.”

  “MILO!!”

  He stares off into space, a goofy smile on his face. Oh, he’s into RJ alright.

  “Look, deep down I know it’s not going to happen. But a bit of window shopping never hurt anyone, and if I choose to do that in three-hundred-dollar jeans, well that’s just to make me feel better. Okay?”

  It’s not okay. Not really, but Milo crushing on RJ is the least of my worries right now.

  “I get it, Milo. Just be careful, okay? It’s soul destroying wanting someone you can’t have. I should know.”

  “It’s not like I’m in love with him or anything,” Milo starts.

  We start walking slowly in silence.

  “You mean like I’m in love with Lucas?”

  “Sunny…”

  “Maybe I was just kidding myself.”

  “You weren’t though,” he says softly.

  “Nicole has everything. She’s pretty, smart, kind—from what I hear she’s never made anyone not like her. Shit, I kind of like her.”

  “You have those things too, Summit.”

  “And she has Lucas. I mean, they are married.”

  “It’s kind of a tough situation. She’s fragile after everything. She thought she would come back and he would be waiting for her with open arms. He was so relieved she was okay that he doesn’t realize he’s hurting you,” he says with understanding.

  “Milo, what if he never tells her?”

  He grabs my arm, stopping us dead in our tracks, and when he turns to face me, his face is stern and his voice certain.

  “He will, he can’t live without you.”

  I look over his shoulder. He can see the fear written all over my face.

  “Look out!” I shout, tackling Milo, and we tumble to the ground. I land beside him with a loud thud as a fireball the size of a football shoots through the air where his head would have been.

  He blinks.

  “What the Hell?” he says.

  He quickly makes it back to his feet and extends his hand. I grab it, allowing him to pull me up.

  We look around to find we are surrounded by a group of cloaked figures…

  The cloaked figures surround us. There’s no way past them. I consider flying up into the air, but there are too many of them and I know they’d stop me. The thought of them blasting off one of my wings is enough to keep me grounded.

  My eyes dart wildly around me, taking them in. There’s twelve of them. They step forward at the same time, tightening the circle they have us trapped in. Their hoods hide their faces, and somehow, this makes me more nervous than I would be if I knew who we are up against.

  If it comes to it, we’ll have to fight six of them each. I don’t know if we can take them, but it looks like I’ll be finding out soon enough.

  I love Milo, but I find myself wishing Lucas or Nix were here. They are trained fighters, and when it comes to a battle, we just get each other. A glance between me and either of them says a thousand words, and we would have attacked by now.

  I know Milo will fight alongside me, but I don’t know how to communicate any sort of strategy with him. And I don’t know if he can take enough of them for us to win, let alone escape.

  One of the hooded figures steps forward, pushing the hood back, exposing her face. I’m shocked to see it’s a woman. She looks at Milo.

  “We have no fight with you. Leave now,” she says, steady and stern.

  Just like an unspoken command, two of the figures fall back, leaving a gap in the circle large enough for Milo to leave.

  In that moment, I know two things. One, this is Shadow and Serpent. Two, I’m going to die here, and I’m not taking Milo down with me.

  I open my mouth to tell him to run, but before I can utter a word, he snorts out a laugh.

  “Leave? Not a chance.”

  A large garden gnome, complete with a fishing rod, whips through the air right into her head.

  The group gets Milo’s message loud and clear as all hell breaks loose.

  I turn away from Milo, hoping he will follow my lead and fight back-to-back with me.

  I leap into the air as another giant fireball comes for me. I just clear it, and as I land, I fire off a blast of my own. It catches one of the figures in the shoulder, and he roars with rage and pain.

  A red laser comes at me, and as it flies through the air, it widens out, taking on the shape of a dragon. From its mouth comes an intense burst of flame. I fire into it, pushing it back. It takes a couple of hits, but it blasts into pieces.

  I can feel the adrenaline pumping through my body. The people we’re fighting are by no means amateurs. Their powers are strong and it’s clear there’s no reasoning with them.

  The dragon guy has distracted me enough that a small hooded figure has managed to creep in towards my side, and I swing to face them. As I do, they leap into the air, launching at me full force. I feel the body connect with me, and I fly backwards through the air. I land on my back, but that doesn’t slow my attacker down, as they jump on top of me.

  I push up with all my strength, throwing my weight into it, and we roll in a twisted mass of limbs. When we come to a stop, I have the upper hand, I am on top. The figure’s hood has slipped back enough for me to make out twisted face. I whirl back around and see four more figures advancing towards me. I can hear Milo battle behind me. Powers fly, as do random objects Milo throws at them. There is a lot of grunting and groaning, and all I can do is hope that Milo is holding his own with them.

  When I turn to look, I see that Milo has made a makeshift shield using the items around him. They whir at tornado-like speeds, blocking anyone from getting too close as items fly out and hit their targets. I smile despite the battle going on.

  Maybe I was wrong about Milo, maybe he can handle his own.

  Another fireball cuts through the air to my right, narrowly missing me. I throw a purple laser in the direction it came from, then another. I am rewarded by seeing the S & S member who threw it evaporate into nothingness. That’s going to be a big help. Those fireballs were a serious pain in the ass.

  The other figures hang back a bit now. I fire at them, but they easily deflect my shots. I take a step closer to them, and they take a step back.

  I’m not naïve enough to think this is over, but I feel a momentary wave of triumph. They thought I would be an easy target, but now they see they were wrong.

  I consider trying to talk to them while I have them reasonably subdued. I can explain to them that I’m not the bad guy here. I didn’t ask for any of this, yet I am still willing to fight whatever great evil is coming. And now they’ve seen me in action, they know I not
only stand a chance, but won’t quit until they’re dead or they kill me.

  I can hopefully make them see that together, we are stronger. I get what they’re doing. They want me dead because they fear what is to come. But that’s not the answer. The answer is to stand together in the face of greater evil, and I won’t stop until I’ve won.

  We stand, a couple of yards apart, me firing off warning shots to holding them back, them retaliating with warning shots of their own telling me they aren’t surrendering.

  I try to picture how I can slow them down or hold them back long enough to get the hell out of here.

  Just as I decide my move, I hear Milo’s voice, raised to a scream of pain.

  That does it. Coming after me is one thing. They claim to be the defenders of the innocent, yet what is Milo’s crime? Defending his friend?

  Well screw that. Now, they’ve pissed me off, and they will pay.

  The warning shots I’ve been firing come to a complete stop. I feel the powers tingling in my arms, then spreading up my shoulders, down my back, and through my legs. I am now a one-woman army with only one goal: KILL SHADOW AND SERPENT. I run towards them. My shots are cold, calculated, and well planned. My aim is dead-on. I fire beam after beam from each palm. I am blind with rage. I continue on through the crowd, cutting down the figures that stand before me.

  How dare they hurt Milo? How dare they?

  One of them goes down almost instantly, and I see the other two take a step towards me, their powers meeting my own and causing colored sparks to fly everywhere.

  An orange-hued power gets past my defenses and lands solidly on the side of my body. I feel a searing agony as it lands and I think I hear a rib crack. It hits me with the force of a tank, or at least it feels like it does. My adrenaline is pumping so hard I don’t even see the silver blood oozing down my side, I just keep charging at the figures. I want to press my hands to it, I want to scream and rage, but I don’t. I can’t. Because to do so would mean certain death. Not just for me, but for Milo as well.

  I keep my composure and advance on the hooded figures. The adrenaline kicks into overtime. I know I’ll feel this later, if I’m still alive.

  I leap as I reach them, flying over their heads, using my “Trap” power, causing the figures to stumble around, momentarily deaf and blind.

  I land behind them and whirl to face them as they stagger towards me. A beam of blue light flies towards me so fast I almost don’t see it. I manage to rebound it, but not before it’s grazed across my chest, causing an intense burning feeling.

  I bite my lip to keep from crying out, hard enough that I taste my own blood.

  I glance over the top of the two hooded figures before me and see Milo outnumbered five to one, and fighting what looks like a losing battle. They don’t seem to be trying to kill him. They are tormenting him, playing with him. Firing small balls of power at him.

  Enough to hurt him and keep him back, but none of them delivering a kill shot. He tries desperately to fight them off, raining down a constant stream of branches, boulders, and anything else he can grab. I even spot a kid’s tractor raining down on his cloaked adversaries.

  It barely slows them down. I have to get over there and help him.

  Anger burns inside of me at the way they torment Milo.

  “C’mon, chubby. Is that all you got?” I hear one mumble, giggling.

  THAT DOES IT! Their bullying demeanor lends me the extra strength I need.

  I let out a primal scream deep in my body in a voice I hardly recognize, a voice that is savage and animalistic. I fire from both of my hands, aiming one beam at each of the hooded figures who have regained their senses enough to be advancing on me again.

  I hold the purple beams in one strong, continuous blast. I feel like my head will explode as the power bursts forth, but it’s worth the strain when I am rewarded with the sight of two of them enveloped in purple. The beam makes its way through the original two, then into the next and the next, until it has made its way through all seven of the remaining figures. They fall to their knees as my power takes their hearing and then their sight. I push harder as my nose starts to bleed, my beams grow brighter than they ever have, and the figures start to writhe and gasp. angels may not breathe, but Quos do. I give one final push, and they disintegrate in an underwhelming shower of sparks, blood, and carnage.

  My hands drop to my sides and I run to Milo. His group of attackers is gone. I’m pleased that he managed to finish a few of them off, even though he was outnumbered.

  I see the woman who spoke to Milo, the woman I believe is in charge. She stands off to the side, seething. She raises her hands and a stream of yellow springs out of them. She is creating a shield.

  I know I won’t be able to go through it. I fire at it, knowing even before I do what will happen.

  I am right. My ball of white energy fizzles out as it hits the shield, not even close to penetrating it.

  I glance at Milo, trying desperately to make him understand what I need him to do. I don’t know if he understands or not, but he gives me a small, curt nod, and he looks around, leaping into the air to look behind the last woman we face.

  I need him to find something on her side of the shield and use his power to launch it at her so she can’t maintain the shield. It’s our only chance.

  Milo flies up into the air and stays there for a second. I watch with bated breath as he raises his hand. I hear a laugh from the woman as she knows what we are trying to do.

  If Milo does what I need him to do, if he’s understood what my eyes wanted to tell him, or if he’s worked it out himself, then she won’t be laughing for long.

  Milo nods down to me, telling me to be ready. I stop firing into the shield and tense myself, ready to launch myself at the woman and finish the job.

  I watch as Milo rips a small tree out by the roots behind the shield and poses, ready to throw it. The woman hears the tearing sound and glances behind her, but she’s too late to avoid being hit.

  I almost laugh at her comically wide eyes as the shock of being outwitted by us overcomes her. She manages to step aside slightly, so instead of killing her, the tree just knocks her to the ground. I hear the audible cracking sound as the tree trunk makes contact with her torso, and I wince at the broken ribs she no doubt has.

  The shield crackles and the color pales. It flickers in and out before solidifying again, and I watch, my face frozen in shock as the woman presses something, a cuff, on her wrist and a portal opens behind her. With a cry of pain, she pulls herself to her feet.

  A group of cloaked figures makes their way through the portal, and aids the woman on the ground.

  She shakes her head, gesturing towards us, but they stay huddled around her.

  “Kill her and bring me her body,” she says as she winces slightly from the pain before crawling through the portal herself. It closes, leaving no trace of it ever having existed.

  Milo and I exchange a look. The shield gone, I take my chance and fire. I score a direct hit and take down a cloaked figure.

  We can do this. We can actually beat them and get out of this alive.

  The new figures come at us, firing all the time. We fire back, and there’s a colorful display of sparking powers as they meet midair and cancel each other out.

  One of the figures stalks towards Milo, the other two towards me. It’s a bad time for us to get split up, but it happens as the enemy drive us apart by firing down our center.

  I manage to hit one of the two figures advancing on me square on the chest, but he just keeps coming.

  That’s when I know. With an indescribable feeling of terror and inevitability, I realize I’ve overused my powers. I have no more energy left to produce the beams that I have been counting on this whole time, and I need a couple of minutes to recharge myself. But how?

  There aren’t a couple of minutes left. Not even seconds.

  This is how I will die.

  I leap over a ball of power, but as I land, another
one hits me in the knees. I feel my legs go numb. I can’t feel them, can’t move them. I tumble to the ground, where I lie, my feet twitching uselessly as I try to move.

  The power that hit me was a paralysis power. I will be unable to move my legs for the next few minutes.

  I press with my hands, raising my head slightly. I’m met with the sight of a shoe. I feel it connect with my cheek, and I see stars. I breathe deeply, forcing myself to stay conscious.

  I just need another couple of minutes and my power will be back. I feel myself grabbed roughly by the shoulders and flipped onto my back. The foot lands again, hitting me in my already cracked ribs, and this time the adrenaline is gone. I feel the full extent of that pain.

  I can hear my ears ringing, that awful sound that makes me dizzy and nauseous. I can feel my mouth filling with a warm liquid, and for a moment, I am completely dazed. I don’t even know who I am, let alone where I am.

  My vision clears and the ringing in my ears fades slightly. I force myself to breath, short, shallow breaths that don’t disturb my ribs. My senses come back to me, and I remember I am screwed.

  The hooded figure who kicked me straddles me. I raise my hand, trying to force my power back, but it’s too soon, and every time I try too early, I make it take longer for my powers to come back.

  I can see the other one advancing over his shoulder. He walks slowly, like he has all the time in the world. I have to hope their arrogance and the fact they enjoy dragging these things out works against them and my power comes back in time, but I know it’s too late for me.

  I hope Milo gets away. That’s the best outcome I can realistically hope for now. I twist my head to the side and spot Milo. He’s engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a large figure, their powers all but forgotten as punches fly.

  I turn my head back to my own problem.

  “At least let me look you in the eye as you kill me, you coward,” I challenge the figure that still straddles me.

  I don’t know why I’m taunting him, I’m only going to make it worse for myself, but I feel so angry, and I have to let that anger out somehow.