Child of Mercy (10 page)

“Yes, ma’am.  You save me a dance for later though, y’hear?”  He winked at my mom, his drawl lazy as he sauntered away.  It probably gave him some kind of sick thrill to tick me off, but I resisted the urge to call him on it.  He was doing me a favor after all. 

“Who’s Raum?”  My mother asked as soon as she stopped undressing Remy with her eyes.

“He’s Oriana’s ex,” I lied glibly.  “He didn’t take it too well when she left him and it’d be just like him to show up and cause a nasty scene.”  Instantly sympathetic, she asked me for a description of him, and I went ahead and gave her one.  The more eyes on the look out for Raum as a creep the better, as far as I was concerned. 

The party stretched on through the afternoon and I stuck by my mom’s side, waving away offers to dance.  Not that I needed to stick to her like glue.  The party wasn’t so big I couldn’t keep an eye on her, but to tell the truth, my heart wasn’t in it.  Maybe the pregnancy had me a little down, but I didn’t feel like smiling and chatting with people, pretending my own wedding was right around the corner whenever someone spotted my engagement ring.  So instead, I listened to my mom, or rather I let her talk at me for the most part, not thinking much of it until she gave me a teary hug. 

“I had so much fun visiting with you today, Merceline.  It’s been too long since we really spent a lot of time together.”

“I know, Mom, and I’m sorry.”  I hugged her back, teary myself.  “I get so wrapped up in things.  Maybe we can…” 

“My two favorite girls!”  Vic’s voice boomed from behind us and I felt my mother freeze as he wrapped his arms around our shoulders.  “This is so great, all of us together again, just like old times.”

“Yep, just like old times.”  I shrugged out of his clumsy embrace, drawing my mother up against my side.  “I think maybe it’s time to wrap things up though, it’s getting late.”  Only about half of the guests remained at the party.  Matty and Oriana had already left about a half hour before on their honeymoon to Las Vegas.  Daphne had slipped away a while ago with Sam and I was sticking it out until the end, on clean up duty along with my mom.   

“I’ll tell you when the party’sh over, girl,” Vic slurred.  “I need another drink.”

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” my mother replied, her face pinched with worry.

“Don’t tell me my businessh, woman!”  His hand came up… I don’t know if it was just to wave in the air, or if he actually intended to hit her, but my mother flinched away regardless, and my hand shot up to catch his fist, halting the motion stone cold.  My fingers flexed over his as I fought the urge to bring him to the ground.

My instinct was to make him suffer the way he made us suffer.  I was stronger than he was, thanks to my Grace, not to mention all the other advantages I had on my side.  I wanted to make him feel scared and alone, to feel like a victim the way he’d victimized us over the years.  It would be so easy.  His eyes widened as I saw he knew it too. 

It would be so easy.

In that same instant, I realized that would make me no better than him.  What had Oriana said?  There wasn’t anything I could do to him worse than what he’d already done to his life.  In fact… why waste my time on him at all?  I let go of his hand, and he clutched it to his chest, stumbling as he backed away from me.

“Come on, Mom, let’s get the leftovers packed up and I’ll drive you home.”  I smiled, completely ignoring him. 

My mother flashed him an uncertain look, but nodded, trying to recover her smile when he didn’t offer another word.  Feeling much lighter, I turned to clean up duty, glad to find plenty of volunteers once we started.  There was no sign of Remiel anywhere.  I’d seen him chatting up a blonde earlier and assumed he’d found other company.  I didn’t mind so much, I wasn’t in the mood for his horrible attempts at flirting anyway.  Luz, on the other hand, cornered me by the potato salad to ask me a few not-so-subtle questions about the fallen angel.

“I thought you were still going out with Parker?” I asked as she helped me carry an armload to the dumpsters. 

“I am.”  She gave a half shrug, her dark hair spilling over one shoulder at the movement.  “But it’s not serious.” 

I knew the reason it wasn’t serious was because she thought Parker was in love with me.  After I’d turned down his marriage proposal he’d gone right back to acting like normal Parker, so I wasn’t so convinced of that.  “I guess you’re free to see who you like as long as you’re both on the same page,” I said carefully.  I’d never been one to play the field, but I knew Parker did. 

“
Exactamente
,” she nodded, heaving the bags into the dumpster for me.  “I thought I might be not serious with Remy for a while if he’s in town.  Unless you’re borrowing him for a while.”

“Me?  No,” I snorted.  “He’s not my type.”

“He’s every woman’s type.”  Her eyebrows waggled playfully.  “Trust me, he’s good to cure what ails you, and I don’t mean with his Grace.”

I didn’t think so, but I gave her a little smile.  Not that I didn’t think he’d be good in bed, the guy had to have skills after so many years of chasing women, but I couldn’t think about anyone in those terms except for Adam.  It didn’t help that I didn’t feel particularly sexy lugging garbage in the late afternoon sun. 

“Are you alright?”

“Hmmm?”  I realized I’d been zoning out again.  “Oh, sorry.  I’m just tired, it’s been a long day.  I’m glad the party’s over.”

“Your morning sickness is getting better, yes?”

“It still comes and goes, and not always in the morning.  Thanks for that tea, by the way, it’s been an absolute miracle.  I don’t know what I’d have done without it.”  It was the only way I could get through a shift at work sometimes when the smell of alcohol made me want to retch. 

“It was my pleasure.”  Luz waved away my thanks.  “Have you been to see the doctor yet?”

“No… I’ve been sort of avoiding that.”  The less attention I got from the medical profession, the better. 

“You can’t put it off for too long.  Sooner or later you’ll want to make an appointment, to make sure all is as it should be with the
bebe
. 

Part of me didn’t want to know.  The Nephilim were described as monstrous in the bible… what if the doctor turned up something awful?  As long as I stayed in the dark I could cling to the illusion of a perfect baby growing inside me.  “I’m going with later,” I said firmly. 

“Okay, well, let me know if you need a recommendation, I have a good doctor.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,” I smiled, fully intending to forget about it as soon as she dropped it.

Chapter Eight

Balancing a bowl of ice cream on my bulging belly, I picked up the remote to start the DVD player for a little quality time with Ryan Reynolds.  Absorbed in the movie and my chocolate explosion, I didn’t notice anything wrong right away.  Then I saw the melted ice cream in the bottom of the bowl pooling on one side more than the other.  As I watched, the pool shifted as my stomach moved.  No biggie, there’s a baby in there… easy to explain the reason for the movement, until the bowl toppled to the floor after a violent shift that left me gasping in surprise.

While I watched, my stomach grew bigger and bigger, like a balloon slowly inflating – a balloon filled with hands and feet that pushed against my stretching skin like an alien trying to break free.  Strangely enough, it didn’t hurt, but watching the baby’s open mouthed scream from inside made my blood run cold.  Something else slithered and moved in there, and I froze. 

I had to get it out of me. 

I screamed for Adam, but he didn’t come, of course he didn’t come.  Sam’s name was the next on my lips and he appeared out of thin air with an audible pop. 

“I need you to take me to the hospital. I need to get the baby out.” 

“No need for a hospital.” His sword materialized in hand, and he approached, a perfectly innocent look on his face.

“Are you nuts?” I backed away from him on all fours.  “No, no swords.  Hospital, with nice numbing drugs.”

“Drugs are bad.” Sam wagged his finger at me.  “Hold her down, please.”

Who was he talking to?  Bert and Hubie appeared on either side of me, grasping hold of my arms to keep me still. 

“I do hope it’s a boy,” Hubie grinned, showing a mouthful of rotten teeth.

“Or a girl,” Bert nodded enthusiastically. 

“Otherwise, it gets messy and I’ve just had me jacket pressed,” Hubie preened.

Where was my super strength?  I should be able to break free of a couple of minor demons, shouldn’t I?  “Hold on a minute here, guys.  Don’t do anything crazy.  Sam… do you know what you’re doing?  You might hurt the baby.”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it, Mercy.  I’ve seen Shogun six times,” he beamed.  

I swear I heard a keening wail as my belly distended even further.  I had to do something before it burst its way out on its own.  With a deft flick of his wrist, Sam’s sword flashed out, neatly slicing my belly open from end to end. 

It didn’t hurt… why didn’t it hurt?  What was going on?  Have you ever watched the learning channel when they’re performing a c-section?  It was nothing like that.  There was no blood, only a slimy ooze as the baby pushed its way out of the womb. 

No, not a baby. 

As I stared in revulsion, Azazael’s head appeared on a fat, scaly body, a barbed tail whipping back and forth angrily. 

“Hello, my love.” He smiled up at me, and I screamed and screamed…

“Mistress, what ails you?”

Hair plastered to my face with sweat, I thrashed away from the voice in the dark, taking a moment to process Nelo’s amber eyes as friend rather than foe.  My throat sore from yelling, I swallowed; a bitter, metallic taste on my tongue.  “What?”

“Are you unwell?  Is it the child?”  Nelo’s eyes loomed large in his face, scared to death, and only in the face of his fear did I find the ability to conquer some of mine. 

“No.”  My voice sounded raspy to my own ears.  “I’m… I’m okay, I had a bad dream.”  My arms still clutched my belly protectively. 

My flat belly. 

Well, not super flat, I’ve never been model thin or anything, but flatter than the bulging tummy in my nightmare. 

Normal. 

Falling back against the pillows, I took a deep calming breath, and noticed the faint glow of my Grace growing fainter as the terror faded. 

“Would you like some hot chocolate?” he asked hesitantly, and I reached out to pat his hand with a grateful smile. 

“Yes, I would like that very much, Nelo, thanks.”

There would be no more sleep for me that night.

As soon as I could reasonably make the call without waking up the whole household, my fingers sought out my phone.  “Hello, Luz?  About that recommendation for a good doctor…?”

* * *

“Thanks for coming with me for moral support, I really appreciate it.”  Luz and I sat in the waiting room of her OB/GYN’s office.  I’d already picked up and discarded three magazines with smiling babies on the cover.  Somehow I couldn’t dig up enough interest in ads for breast pumps and Diaper Genies. 

“
No te preocupas
, I don’t mind.  My sisters don’t live near here and it’s been a while since I was in your shoes.  It’s nice to share this experience again.  Think about it, Mercy, you will get to hear the baby’s heartbeat today,” she beamed.  I tried to rustle up the appropriate level of enthusiasm, but after my dream all I could think about was - would it be okay to ask the doctor to check for a tail? 

We waited for another fifteen minutes, and then another twenty in the examination room, before the doctor joined us.  Dr. Hathaway bustled in, making notes on a metal clipboard before looking up with a friendly grin.  Tall and gangly, his aura was a bright yellow with orange highlights, which sorta went with his silver-streaked, blonde hair and sunny disposition.

“Which one of you is the expectant mother?  Or should I say, which one is the biological one?”

“She is, I’m just here for moral support,” Luz volunteered, taking a half step backwards. 

“Good, good… nothing wrong with morals,” he nodded, scribbling something else down.  “Why don’t you hop up on the table here and we’ll get some vitals on you?”  What followed was a series of rapid fire questions about my body and past history while he scribbled notes on the clipboard and punctuated my responses with, “Good, good…”

“Is there a reason why you’re requesting an ultrasound so early?”

“Um… yeah, my family has a history of miscarriages, so I want to make sure everything’s where it should be,” I lied easily enough.  Actually, I don’t think my mother ever had any issues with her pregnancies, she always said we were big, healthy babies.

“Alrighty, let’s take a look then, shall we?” 

I had to crane my head up to view the ultrasound monitor and even then I had no idea what I was looking at.  Without asking, Luz grabbed a pillow down off a shelf and propped it under my head.  It felt strange not to have Daphne by my side for the milestone, but at the same time, she had her own problems to worry about, and I didn’t want to add to her load. 

The doc seemed to know what to look for, taking several still pictures, whistling to the tune of
Three Times a Lady
as far as I could make out.  “Okey dokey,” he said finally, “head… check, heart… beating strong, eyes… one, two, three…LMAO.”  He gave me a goofy grin and I tried to hide the breath of relief.  For a second there, I’d been worried. 
Can you get hats for babies to hide a third eye?
  “Listen, if you follow me on Facebook I post regular articles on pregnancy and childbirth.  I go by Hathababydoc - cute, huh?  You can find me on Twitter too.” 

“How does it look, does it look normal?”  I ignored the babble about liking his status and tried to keep the unreasoning panic out of my voice as I stared at the blob on the monitor.