by A. M. Hardin
"I'm not a hundred percent sure, but she should be able to control that impulse, that urge to destroy and kill. She can still feel the darkness inside her, but it's obviously not enough to turn her back to rogue or she would have gone rogue again by now.
"We just have to make sure no one can get through her barriers and control her like that again. Since she didn't become a rogue the natural way, it should be simple to avoid. It's also another factor in why that ritual worked. She wasn't completely rogue. At least, not by choice. It most likely means that she'll be able to harness that darkness inside her and use it, but only if she practices and doesn't get overtaken by that darkness."
"She's already going to be in overload from learning what we all need to teach her about our own abilities when they manifest in her," War says.
"She's going to need to learn, or there is a chance that we will lose her again," Kai says, voice sullen. "For good." Everyone exchanges troubled looks.
I sigh. "Darkness aside, who's abilities has she shown already?"
"Mine," Talon and Parker say at the same time.
"Mine as well," War says, eyes focused on the table.
I look at him. "What do you mean?"
War smirks as he meets my eyes. "You guys haven't noticed?"
"Noticed what?" Parker asks, brow furrowed.
"It was subtle at first, but it's grown to more than a full-demon's strength now. She has a succubus allure. She obviously can't have incubus, because, well, she doesn't have a dick. I've noticed it, watching her around Parker's people that have stayed here after she and Torn attacked the first time. The men are drawn to her." He looks around the table an eyebrow raised. "All of them. Even those that have taken a mate."
"Are you serious?" Parker asks. War nods. "But your allure doesn't work on vamps."
"Normally, it wouldn't. I don't know exactly, but the allure in her is stronger than even my own. The next time any others are around, watch how they react to her. The women want to kill her or be her. The men stop what they're doing and stare, some are even pulled in enough to start walking toward her before they realize they're even doing it."
"How did we not realize this?" I ask, looking around the group.
War laughs. "Because we were all already attracted to her. She's ours already. Everyone around here knows it and won't even try to fight any of us for her. She was a force of nature before she came back and had plenty of the vamps enthralled by her, but not to this extent. Everyone just brushed it off and hasn’t paid any attention to it, because it really wasn't anything new. She was already a kick-ass gorgeous female before this shit happened. Now she's even more so."
I rub my hand over my face. He's not wrong. No matter where we went before Mercy always seemed to attract attention. I just hadn't noticed that the attention had increased.
"Kai? Has she shown any of yours?" I ask.
"Not that I've noticed, as of right now. I have a strong feeling that it'll change." He looks at me, meeting my gaze. "She'll most likely get something of yours too, Hunter," he points out. "You're stronger than all of us so she'll need even more help with your powers."
"You're the strongest witch that we know of, Kai," Parker adds.
"Yes the strongest male witch, but that doesn't mean that she'll struggle with my power as much as she would with Hunter's."
Parker tilts his head, conceding that.
"Anything else?" I ask the group. Everyone shakes their heads. "Alright, I have something I need to do. I'll catch up with all of you later."
"Where you goin'?" War asks, an eyebrow raised.
"Just going to have a chat."
War snorts as he shakes his head. "Just don't kill them. Mercy won't forgive you for that."
"Never said I was going to kill them."
I don't wait for a response before turning away from them and leaving the library.
I enter the family room and see Xena and Lilly sitting with Vivian on the floor playing while Roderick and Byrne sit on the couch talking quietly amongst themselves.
“Xena, take Lilly and Vivian into another room, please,” I send the thought straight to Xena. She looks up and meets my eyes, frowning.
“Why? Is everything okay?”
“No. Go find Mercy, check on her. Make sure she’s okay.”
Xena nods and looks to Lilly and Vivan. “Why don’t we go find something to do outside,” she suggests.
Lilly looks up, notices me, and nods as she stands up with Xena and Vivan. “Sure, let’s go, honey,” she says softly, holding her hand out to Vivian.
Vivian takes her hand and follows Lilly and Xena out of the room. Roderick and Byrne, noticing that they are leaving, frown at me. Once they’re gone Roderick raises his eyebrow and Byrne blanks his face.
“What was the meaning of sending my wife and the girls out of the room?” Byrne asks, tone dry.
“I wanted to ask what the fuck was going through your minds when you decided to tell Mercy that you didn’t believe she would beat back any rogue left inside her,” I snap, not bothering to hide the anger in my tone.
Understanding dawns on their faces and Byrne looks a little crestfallen. Roderick shakes his head as he snorts. “She didn’t tell you until now that we said that. Of course she didn’t. I honestly was expecting this to come a lot sooner.”
“Why?” I bite out. “Why make her think she’s not fucking good enough? What did you hope to gain by making her question herself on her own ability to fight it back?”
Roderick frowns. Byrne flinches as if I had just slapped him.
“What do you mean ‘she’s questioning herself’?” Roderick asks, demanding an answer. “My niece has never questioned herself or her decisions in her fucking life.”
“Yeah? Well, she is now. All because the two people she fucking looked up to her entire life both told her that they didn’t believe in her. Why should she believe differently?”
“That wasn’t our intention,” Byrne admits quietly. “We just wanted to explain why we were being so distant. We figured being honest was better than lying.”
“How about instead of being distant and preparing for the fucking worst, you hope for the best?” I snap. “Be there with your fucking daughter and niece for the time that you have left with her as she is now, if you truly believe she’ll go rogue again. You each have a second chance with her. Hell, Byrne, this is your third chance to get to know your daughter. Do you really want to lose that?”
“No,” Byrne whispers, his jaw clenched.
“Fix this shit,” I demand in a lethal voice. “Fix it, soon.”
“Uh, guys,” Xena says in my head. I’m guessing in everyone else’s too. “We have visitors.”
Chapter 13
Kai
I flinch when I walk into the entryway of Parker's home with the others. Mercy said she would be on her way in a bit.
Oh, fuck my life.
"Wanna run?" War asks me in my head, making me fight a smile.
"They'd just fucking find me anyway," I point out.
I meet the eyes of the two women standing in front of me and smile weakly. "Mom. Azura," I greet.
My mom and sister both glare at me. "Where is it?" Mom snaps. "I know you were the only one to have been in my home besides Azura when the damn dagger and amulet were stolen. It also makes sense with these stories I'm hearing about a fucking half-demon being brought back from rogue status."
I sigh and scratch the side of my neck. "Yeah, ma. I have them. They're locked in the vault here."
"I want them brought to me within the hour," mom demands.
“Parker?” I look at him and he nods.
After a brief moment of silence he catches my mom’s attention. “It’ll be brought here shortly, Pearl.”
“It fucking better be,” she snaps. Her expression softens again when her eyes land on me. She holds her arms out wide. “Doesn’t your mama get a hug?”
I snort a laugh and walk to her, arms out. She wraps her arms around my neck, h
ugging me tightly, swaying back and forth. “Oh, baby boy. I’ve missed you.”
I snicker and exchange an exasperated look with my sister. “I’ve missed you too, ma.”
“What about me, shithead?” My sister snipes with a grin on her face as my mom lets me go.
I laugh and pull my sister in for a hug too.
Footsteps echo down the hall and I instantly know that it’s Mercy, since she’s the only one who isn’t in here and the fact that I can sense my magic on her now for the first time since she’s come back. It’s faint, but it’s there.
I pull back from my sister and see Mercy enter the room as she studies my mom and sister. My sister and I look just enough alike for there to be no confusion about who she is so I’m not too worried about the confusion on her face.
“We’ll give you all some privacy,” Hunter says with a small smile on his face. As a group the others, including Xena, Vivian, Mercy’s parents, and uncle all leave the room.
“Baby,” I say, my voice softening as I gesture for Mercy to come to me. “This is my mom and my sister, Azura.”
My sister eyes Mercy warily, but my mom smiles warmly at her. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mercy.”
Mercy blinks, frowning. “Uh, yeah. You too?” She says it like a question, making me laugh.
I walk over to her side and tug her into my side. I kiss her temple and explain, “My family isn’t too terribly suspicious or wary of half-demons. My sister’s wary, but that’s just because she doesn’t like people. A little like you.” Mercy flips me off as she rolls her eyes.
“Bite me, fucker,” Azura snaps, her cheeks turning a slight shade of pink. She waves awkwardly at Mercy. “Hi.”
Mercy’s mouth curves into an amused smile. “Hey.” Mercy looks up at me. “I didn’t know your family was coming.”
“I didn’t either,” I admit.
“We’re here to get the things my son stole from me,” my mom says, amusement clear in her tone. She’s probably figured out that we used them to bring back Mercy. And she’d be right. I wouldn’t fucking use dark magic on just anyone.
Mercy frowns. “Stole from you?” Her eyes dart from me to my mom and back again.
I wince. “Yeah, the things we needed for that uh, ritual, I kinda stole from my mom.”
Mercy’s eyes go wide as she realizes what I’m talking about. “Oh.”
Yeah. Oh.
“I honestly couldn’t believe my son would be that stupid, but now meeting you, I can see why,” my mom says warmly.
Mercy frowns again. I’m seriously wondering if her face will stick like that. “You don’t even know me. Not really.”
Mom and Azura both smile. “We can both see into the kind of person you are,” mom informs her. “That little trick missed Kai, though.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, I’m aware I’m not a special unicorn, mom.”
Mercy snorts as my mom and Azura chuckle. “Maybe not,” mom says, still grinning, “but you’re still a very powerful witch and a wonderful son. Even though you have a nasty habit of sneaking into my vault and stealing my shit,” she scolds.
I shrug. “I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m really not. I’m sorry I didn’t bring it back sooner though. It’s been kinda busy here.”
Mom and Azura snicker. Mom opens her mouth to retort but is interrupted by a throat clearing.
I turn to see one of Parker’s vampires standing there, holding the artifacts that my mom asked for inside the cloth I had stored them in.
“Lord Parker sent me to fetch this for you, Mistress Pearl,” he says, bowing his head.
Mom grins and walks to him, taking the artifacts from him. “Yes. Thank you so much.”
The vamp clears his throat and bows at the waist before excusing himself. Guy must be old as shit because I don’t know of many people that bow anymore. He leaves the room quickly and mom turns back to Mercy and me.
“Well, we need to get back home. Some things are happening that we need to take care of,” she says, her expression torn. She doesn’t want to go, but she knows she has things that need to be done at home.
I smile at her and Azura. “I’ll keep in touch, ma. Don’t worry about it.”
Mom gives me a long hug then turns to Mercy and gives her a hug as well. I can tell by Mercy’s expression that my mom just shocked the hell out of her and it makes a smile appear on my face. When mom’s done she backs up towards the door and gives us a final wave before disappearing around the house, heading towards the driveway.
I frown when I see the indecision on Azura’s face as she hesitates to follow mom. “You okay?” I ask as I give her a quick hug.
She nods, her lips pursed. “Yeah, it’s fine. I just wanted to tell you something that’s been giving me a bad feeling.”
“Alright. What is it? What’s going on?” I study my sister’s face a shiver of unease flowing through me.
She bites her bottom lip and shakes her head, her auburn hair flying around her. “It’s most likely nothing. It doesn’t matter.” She gives me a forced smile.
“Are you sure?” I ask, giving her another chance to tell me what’s going on.
“Yeah, it’s fine. I’ll figure it out. I’ll see you later, big brother,” she says with a fake cheerfulness to her tone. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why she’s faking and all of a sudden changing her mind about something that was clearly important to talk to me about.
“Alright. Call me if you need me.” She nods with a small smile. “I mean it, Azura,” I tell her, voice hard. “Call me as soon as you need me and we’ll come.”
She grins, not faking the smile this time. “I know you will, Kai. I love you.”
“Yeah, love you too,” I respond as she walks out of Parker’s place, following the path mom went.
“Everything okay?” Mercy asks, pulling my attention to her. She studies me, a cute as hell frown on her face.
I grin. “Yeah, Baby. It’s fine.” All I can do at this point is hope like hell that mom or Azura call when they need help, instead of trying to handle things on their own.
Mercy intertwines her hand with mine, squeezing my fingers gently. “Let’s go find the others,” she suggests.
“In a second,” I mutter, hauling her closer to me. She grins at me. I run a finger down her cheek, looking in those beautiful violet eyes that I love so much. “I love you, Mercy.”
She beams. “And I love you, Kai,” she murmurs. Those words mixed with the softness in her expression break through the very small control I have. Without wasting a second I cup the back of her head and slam my mouth over hers, devouring her. Savoring the sweet taste of her. She makes a small noise in the back of her throat, encouraging me.
Instead of allowing all of my control to break, I break the kiss and smirk down at her.
She narrows her eyes at me, playfully. “Don’t be so smug.”
“I’m not smug,” I correct her, placing a gentle, chaste kiss on her lips that she tries to take over and make it into more. I don’t let her. “I’m happy, Baby. There’s a difference.”
Chapter 14
Mercy
A scream tears from my throat as I bolt upright in bed, sweat dripping down my skin.
“Mimi,” War mutters as he sits up, from beside me, drawing my attention. Shit. I woke him up.
I turn to him. He takes in the expression on my face and immediately plucks me from my side of the bed and puts me on his lap, cuddling me close.
“It was a dream,” he murmurs above my head, one hand rubbing up and down my spine, the other brushing my hair from my face. “That’s all it was.”
Tears pour down my face as I remember what I dreamed. I’ve been having nightmares of my time as a rogue since the guys brought me back, but they are usually sporadic and happen maybe once every week or every other week. This is the third night in a row I’ve had a nightmare of what I’ve done.
My stomach rolls as the image of me killing Parker’s mom flashes in my head. I scramble off W
ar’s lap, out of the bed and to the bathroom, barely making it in time to get sick in the toilet. Hands pull my hair back and War whispers soothingly beside me.
Tears are still cascading down my cheeks when my stomach is finally empty. I move War’s hands from my hair and sit with my back against the tub, doing my best to ignore the tears on my face and the panic that I could actually be capable of the shit that I had clearly done over the last six months.
“Why didn’t you just kill me?” I ask quietly, my eyes on the floor, not ready to look up at War with the memories of killing my other lover’s mother fresh in my mind.
“Mercy,” War groans, sounding like he’s in pain. “We couldn’t leave you like that. We had to at least try.”
I sniffle and meet his eyes as a fresh wave of tears fall down my cheeks. “How can he stand to look at me? Let alone be with me?” I ask, my voice breaking.
Realization dawns on his face, quickly followed by a pained expression. “Mercy,” War whispers, “Parker knows that you weren’t you when you killed his parents. So does Farrah. They don’t blame you.”
I bury my face in my hands. “They should. It was still my fault,” I sob. “Everything that goes wrong, it’s always my fault. I don’t know what to do, Warwick. I don’t know how to fix everything I’ve done.”
War’s quiet for several heartbeats as I curl into a ball, my knees pressed to my chest, my elbows on my knees and my arms covering my head as I cry and break apart.
“Mercy,” War says softly, “I don’t think that there is a way to fix everything that happened while you were rogue.” Well, at least he’s being honest. “But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t regret what happened. Even though it technically wasn’t your fault, you’ll always carry it with you because it was done by your hands. We still love you, Mercy. No matter what you’ve done in your past. Especially when you had no control of it whatsoever.”
“But, Parker -”
“He still loves you, too,” War whispers, voice gentle. “He did his grieving while you were gone.” He pauses. “He didn’t only grieve his parents though.”
I frown and peek up at him. “What do you mean?” I ask, voice muffled.
