by A. M. Hardin
Mom rolls her eyes as my dad and uncle laugh outright. "It was your grandmother's name, Mercy. It's a very beautiful name. Not something that you should be ashamed of."
I cover my face with my hands and groan as my guys join my dad and uncle in their little laughing fit.
"It's an old lady name," I practically whine.
"At least you're not stuck with my middle name," Xena points out from where she's sitting on the large table beside us.
"And what middle name would that be?" Farrah asks, a wicked smile spreading across her face.
"That would be, none of your damned business," Xena states, matter-of-factly.
"Oh, come on, you gotta tell us now," Farrah begs.
"If I tell you, then I have to kill you," Xena deadpans.
I burst out laughing. "You wouldn't kill us for knowing your middle name. Hell, I already know it and you never killed me for it," I point out.
"Well, then, enlighten us, Mimi," War says, clearly trying to start shit.
I grin at Xena as she glares at me. "Don't you fucking think about it, Mercy," Xena growls.
"Aw, come on. It's not really that bad," I try.
Xena's face is completely straight as she answers, "You know damn well that it is that bad."
"Okay, it's bad, but it's good too. It's kinda funny," I say, shrugging as well as I can while my shoulders shake from repressed laughter.
"We're not going to stop bugging you until you tell us," Farrah says, examining her nails.
Xena groans as her face turns beet red. "Izfozie," she mumbles so quietly while slurring her words together so it all comes out as gibberish.
"What was that?" Hunter asks, failing at hiding the laugh in his voice.
Xena doesn't repeat it. I laugh. "Her middle name is Flossie."
The entire room bursts out laughing as Xena covers her red face in her hands. "Bitch," she grumbles.
I shrug. "You still love me."
She shakes her head but smiles. "Yeah, I do."
"Have you guys decided what you're going to do with that demon dude sitting in our dungeon?" Farrah asks once everyone has calmed down.
I look at Hunter and raise an eyebrow because I had no clue what he had planned.
"I have a few questions for him," Hunter admits then he looks between me, my dad, and my uncle. "Then, I figured I'd let the three of you have him once he's told us all he knows."
I grin wickedly, really liking this idea. "How about we just torture the answers out of him? You know he's not going to tell you jack shit without a little motivation."
Hunter, War, and my uncle chuckle. My dad, however, frowns at me. Oh. Right. He doesn't know that I've had to do that more than once in my life already.
"What?" I finally ask him when his expression hasn't changed after several minutes and he's still watching me.
"When did you start torturing people?" He asks, causing the room to fall quiet and all eyes move to me.
I peek over at my mom and uncle. My uncle just nods his head, where as my mom is fidgeting her fingers and nibbling on her bottom lip.
Meeting my dad's gaze I answer honestly, "I was thirteen years old when I tortured a demon for the first time. Sixteen when I tortured a human for the first time. And various ages for any other being stupid enough to come after me or those I cared about."
Xena straightens slightly. "Why did you torture humans?" She asks carefully, almost as if she knows the answer.
I meet her eyes. "To find you." I’m not going to lie to her. I would have told her eventually, I was just hoping it would be in the future. Way, way in the future.
Xena's head tilts to the side as she gets a faraway look on her face before focusing on me again. "Was it my parents?"
"They were some of them," I admit, scared shitless about what her reaction will be to hearing that I tortured her parents.
Xena laughs softly. "I should have known," she mutters. "I tried looking for them after you guys rescued me. I found them, but as soon as I mentioned who I was on the phone my mother screamed and my dad told me not to call again."
I shrug. "Yeah, I kinda left a lasting impression on them."
"But you didn't kill them?" Kai asks.
I shake my head. "Nah. They had their own shit going on. I made them pay for what they did to Xena and that was enough for me. Although, I would have killed them if I knew that they hadn't just given you up to be raised by someone else and instead let you be abused in the fucking prison."
Xena smiles warmly at me. "I know. Love you, Mercy."
"Love you too," I say with a small grin, happy as hell that she's not pissed at me.
Chapter 11
Mercy
I raise my hand and flip off Talon, my jackass boyfriend who's currently standing over me, clearly enjoying my torture.
Okay, maybe enjoying is going a bit too far, but he's definitely fucking laughing at me.
"Quit laughing," I groan from the ground where I have decided that I'll just lay here and wait for death.
"You barely managed to flip me off," he says through his laughter. "How are you that tired already?" He reaches a hand out to help me stand. I briefly consider ignoring it and getting up on my own, but my body hurts too damn much to even toy with the idea.
I glare at him as he helps me stand. "We've been at this for hours and it still hurts like a bitch every fucking time," I answer, my voice flat.
It's been a few days since we got Jerome and found out that I could shift into a panther and also had some vampire tendencies. I'm pretty sure I have something from all of them, but so far, those were the only two that have showed up. Talon has been working with me on shifting, helping me through the pain. Parker has been working on building up my tolerance for blood, since we're all pretty damn sure that I lost my shit the other night because of the smell of blood.
Which has me thinking. . .
"Why didn't I react to the blood that was covering me when I first woke up?" I ask Talon, catching him off guard.
Talon's brows push together as he thinks about it. "It could be that it took some time for the side effects to really have any kind of reaction," he suggests. "There's a whole lot about that spell that we don't know about."
I run a hand through my hair and push out a breath. "I think I get it now. Mercy's weird."
He snorts and puts his hand on the back of my neck, squeezing gently as he pulls me to him. He brushes his lips against mine. I try to take the kiss farther but he pulls back with a small chuckle. "Yeah, you're weird."
"Dick," I spit at him, trying to stop my grin from forming on my face and failing miserably.
"But we like your weird. It has a certain charm to it."
I laugh. "That was one of the cheesiest things I've ever heard, Talon. I never pegged you as a romantic."
He grins, his expression soft as he skims his thumb against my bottom lip. "It made you laugh, though, didn't it?"
I smile up at him. "Yeah, it did." I reach up and wrap my arms around his neck. His hands fall to my hips as I pull him down for another kiss. This one longer and more thorough than the chaste one he gave me just moments before.
After a few minutes in his arms, just enjoying the feel of his lips and body against mine he pulls back slightly and studies my face for a moment before meeting my eyes.
"How're you doing with everything?" He asks, keeping his tone gentle.
I frown, a little annoyed that he's cutting our little make-out session short to ask how I'm doing but at the same time happy as hell that he gives a shit. "I'm doing alright, Talon," I answer with a half-truth.
One eyebrow goes up as he watches me. "Now what about the whole truth?"
I narrow my eyes at him. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I know you think you're doing alright with a majority of what's happened, but I know that's not the case for all of it." He doesn't push for me to answer after that, just waits patiently for me to get my head out of my ass.
I look at his chest, not wanti
ng to look in his eyes so he can see how much pain I'm in. "For the most part I'm alright," I admit before letting my arms fall to my sides and taking a step back, giving myself a little space.
"What about the other part, Sweetheart?"
I laugh bitterly. "I'm mad as hell." I finally look into his eyes and see no judgement there, just understanding. "But I'm not mad at you guys for helping me, or for not giving up on me. I'm mad that my own family doesn't think that it'll stick."
I turn my attention to the lake and watch the water. "My father and uncle won't even fucking talk to me because they want to be prepared to kill me if I go rogue again. I don’t think they trust you guys to do it," I whisper. "What does that say about me? My own family doesn't believe that I can fight the darkness that I can still feel swirling inside me."
I feel Talon tense beside me. "When did they say that?" He asks carefully.
"Right before you and War found me with the hellhound puppy," I mutter, still not looking at him.
"That's why you were hurting that day," he says, his tone understanding as he puts the pieces together. "We didn't want you to tell us what had upset you until you were ready," he admits. "I don't think any of us expected for them to be willing to. . ."
"Kill me?" I snort. "I know. I sure as hell wasn't. I mean, I wasn't really expecting much of a loving reunion from those two but that was the farthest thing from my mind when I asked them why they were doing their best to avoid me."
Talon kisses my temple. "They love you, Mercy."
My eyes burn as I nod my head, unable to say anything.
“The guys need to know, Mercy,” he says softly. “I’ll tell them if you want.”
I sigh but nod, not ready to talk yet.
After several minutes of quiet, where I was able to get my emotions under control, Talon says, "Why don't we go for a swim? Just relax for a bit before we go see the others." He gestures to the lake.
"Alright." I'm already naked because of my shifting back and forth for the past few hours so I head toward the water, stopping a few feet away to turn and watch as Talon removes his shirt. My eyes run across his broad shoulders, his chest, his abs, and down to the V that disappears into his jeans.
He looks up, catching me in the act of checking him out. He chuckles as I take a few steps backward while he takes his pants, boxers, shoes, and socks off. I grin as I get my full view of his amazing body, licking my suddenly dry lips.
I crook my finger at him and he stalks toward me. I continue backing up until the water is licking at my feet.
"Have you ever gone skinny dipping before?" Talon asks, a small grin on his face as he finally gets out of 'teacher mode' and lets his eyes run over my body.
I shake my head. "Nope. There's a first time for everything, though."
He laughs as he gets within touching distance. "That there is."
A squeak leaves my lips as I find myself cradled in his arms a split second before he tosses me farther out into the water. I gasp as the cold water rushes over me. I stand up, my head and shoulders out of the water as I laugh. "You shit! That's cheating!"
He shrugs as he wades deeper in the water, coming closer.
"How do you know that I won't retaliate?" I ask, watching him suspiciously.
He smirks. "I have no doubt that you will. Eventually."
"Eventually?"
"Yeah, eventually. You'll be too preoccupied to do anything about it right now."
He grins suggestively at me, making my heart race. "What do you mean?" I ask, even though I'm about ninety-eight percent sure I know exactly what he means.
His arm wraps around my waist, the warmth of his skin in the cold water makes a shiver run down my spine. His body presses firmly against mine as he slants his mouth over mine, taking over my mouth completely. I moan encouragingly, running my hands across his chest and down his abs tracing the lines of muscles there.
I continue to dip a hand further and take his hard cock in my hand, stroking the length and making him groan. His hands cup my ass and pull me in closer against him, effectively stopping me from my own play. Using the hands on my ass he lifts me against his body. I wrap my legs around his waist as he starts wading in the water. To where, I don't know. I'm too lost in his kisses and his touch to give a damn where he's taking me.
Talon stops walking and the next thing I know, he's setting me down on something hard. I break the kiss frowning a little until I notice that he's set me on the edge of one of the docks.
Talon kisses a trail from my mouth to my jaw, then down my neck. "Fuck, Mercy. You drive me crazy."
"Feeling is totally mutual," I mutter, breathing heavily as his mouth and hands tease and play with my breasts before moving lower. "Oh god," I gasp when he buries his head between my thighs and wastes no time in devouring my pussy until I completely shatter beneath him. My breath is coming in pants and my legs are shaking as he licks every last drop of arousal he coaxed out of me.
He straightens and presses his cock against my pussy and I can't stop the smile spreading on my face. He put me on one of the lower docks and we happen to line up perfectly this way. He pauses, gauging my reaction. I give him a nod and wrap my legs around his waist pulling him closer, the tip of his cock pushing inside me.
"Fuck me, Talon," I whisper, my voice husky with desire.
"With pleasure," he growls, capturing my mouth with his as he surges inside, giving me just what I asked for.
He fucks me, hard and fast on the dock. The sound of skin slapping skin and water slapping skin echoes around us. My moans and cries of pleasure mix, filling the air as my nails scrape down his back.
His pace quickens as he slips a hand between us and strums at my clit while he moves his head to the crook of my neck. He licks the flesh in the curve of my neck and shoulder before biting down hard, causing me to scream my release while he comes deep inside me with a final thrust.
We stay like that, embraced in each others arms for several minutes before he pulls back and studies my face. "You okay?"
I grin lazily. "I'm better than okay," I answer honestly before yawning. "Just a little tired now though." Between all the shifting I did, then the sex, I'm more than ready for a nap.
He laughs and presses a light kiss to my lips. "Let's get you inside so you can rest. I have a feeling that it'll be a long few weeks ahead of us all while we figure out what abilities you gained from us."
I glare at him. "Yeah, not looking forward to that personal hell. I barely have control over my own damn abilities, now I've got all five of yours on top of it."
He chuckles and pats my ass as well as he can while I'm sitting on the dock. "You'll be fine."
Chapter 12
Hunter
Talon, with his wet hair and looking more relaxed than I'd ever seen him before, enters the library where the entire team is congregated and leans against the back of one of the couches.
"Where's Mercy?" I ask, a little shocked that she didn't come in with him.
"All the shifting wore her out. She said she was going to take a bath and probably a nap."
"Shifting is really that hard?" Parker asks curiously.
"She's still new at it and spent several hours shifting back and forth from panther to human. From what she's said before she's never been able to even shift fully into her demon form without it hurting like a bitch. I'd imagine she still has the same problem with her cat," Talon explains.
"Why would it be the same?" Kai asks, looking up from the magical book of spells and rituals in his hands.
"Half-demons aren't meant to shift. At all," War announces, studying the map in the middle of the table.
"The fact that Mercy can even partially shift into her demon form is incredibly miraculous," I admit.
"She said she's shifted into her demon form completely before though, didn't she?" Kai frowns, looking confused.
"Yeah, but she said that it was a forced shift," Parker reminds him.
"Oh yeah."
"And from how
much pain she was still in during the last shift before the end of the session, I'm guessing for her it's still pretty excruciating," Talon says quietly. "The pain lessened the more she did it, but only by a small fraction."
Curses fly out of everyone's mouths.
"I don't like the idea of her being in that much pain," Parker mutters, frowning as he spins a pen on the table.
"None of us do," I tell him.
"On another subject," Talon says before I can say anything else, "I found out why Mercy was so upset before we found her with Fury.”
We all look at him waiting for him to elaborate.
Talon sighs. "She confronted Byrne and Roderick about the distance they've been putting between them and her. They told her they didn't believe she'd stay normal. They fully believe that she will go rogue again and don't intend on getting too close for the simple reason that they don't trust us to kill her if she goes rogue again."
A red haze fills my vision as the others all curse loudly. "You're sure?" I ask, not bothering to hide the rage in my voice.
He nods. "Yeah. I'm sure." Talon falls quiet for just a moment before he meets my eyes, then goes around the room, meeting everyone's gaze. "There's something else. The spell worked, that much we know but. . ." He pauses, almost seeming reluctant to finish his thought.
"Spit it out, Talon," War snaps.
"Mercy mentioned something that I didn't focus on earlier because I was more worried about her hurting from what her uncle and dad said. She said that she can still feel that darkness swirling inside of her."
The room goes silent as we all absorb the information he just gave us.
"Shit," Kai whispers. "I was worried about that." Our attention immediately turns to him.
"Explain," I bite out.
"The reason the others failed, was because they weren't able to successfully purge the rogue or the 'darkness' from the half-demon. There was still too much darkness in their system so they went back to being rogue and had to be put down. When Mercy lasted for far longer than the others I didn't think she had any left in her."
"So, what does that mean for Mercy?" Parker asks.
