Mercy for the Fallen
Read Mercy for the Fallen Online
Authors: Lisa Olsen
| Mercy for the Fallen | |
| Lisa Olsen | |
| (2013) | |
| Tags: | ttt |
contents
Excerpt from The Company of Shadows
Mercy for the Fallen
Lisa Olsen
(2013)
Tags:
ttt
Mercy for the Fallen
By
Lisa Olsen
Copyright © 2013 Lisa Olsen, all rights reserved.
Cover Image licensed by Depositphotos.com/Discovod
This book is sold subject to the conditions that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, copied, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any other format or changed in any way, including the author’s name and title, and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The use of any real person, company or product names are for literary effect only and used without permission. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.
Visit the author’s website at
http://www.lisaolsen.net
Acknowledgements
Thanks to my dynamite editing team – Randi Pandi, Beckie Pimentel, and my sweet James who tore right through this sucker in record time! Thanks to my superfans for helping me settle on the right cover image – Tidal, Kristen, Emily, Randi, Beckie, and Angie. And big thanks to all my readers for supporting this series, and for being so patient in waiting on the latest chapter in Mercy’s story.
Chapter One
“I’m farting with my mouth!”
Ah, the joys of motherhood.
A series of squishing noises followed as Eve did her best impression of a fart machine. Not the most refined behavior for the morning meal, but what do you expect from three year old humor?
“Yes, you are, sweetie,” I said, barely sparing her a glance as I searched high and low for the coffee filters. Where the hell had Parker put them? The charming sound effects escalated until I turned around and gave her the attention she craved. “That’s super gross, Bunny.” My face twisted in disgust and she giggled, swinging her feet in delight.
That particular sound caught my undivided attention, and I couldn’t resist a quick tickle under her chin, producing more of the giggles. Sitting at the breakfast bar in footie pajamas, she was almost too cute for words. The long, chestnut hair, stuffed under a plastic Viking helmet she’d inherited from me. Her bright blue eyes reminded me entirely too much of her father.
“Bunny, eat your Cream of Wheat before it gets cold and gloppy. We have to leave soon for preschool.”
“Do bunnies eat creamy wheat?” she asked, stirring, stirring… none of it getting any closer to her mouth.
“No, they eat wheat of wheat.”
“I like it cold and gloppy,” she declared, scooping up a big spoonful and letting it fall with a plop into the bowl. “Bunnies don’t got warm mush in the ground.”
“Bunnies don’t get to play on the slide either. If you take too long you’ll miss morning yard time, so stop playing with your food and eat it.”
I’d officially become my mother.
Yikes
. Determined not to follow down that path, I stopped searching for the filters and settled for instant coffee so I could sit down with my girl and spend some time together.
“So… Halloween is coming up.”
Excited with the new topic, Eve chattered on and on about it, while I tried to get her to slip in a bite or two. “So, what do you want to be then?” I asked, when she discarded all of the existing options from her costume arsenal.
“Pincefip!”
I loved my daughter, but she wasn’t always easy to understand. Sometimes it sounded like she was talking around a mouth full of marbles. It took about five minutes of close questioning to figure out she meant Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty. I wasn’t a fan of cartoons that encouraged girls to marry total strangers in general, but I convinced myself it was a passing phase. Most likely there would be way worse things to object to by the time she got to marriageable age.
“Don’t you want to be Princess Aurora? You already have the pink dress,” I pointed out.
“I don’t have yellow hair.” This was said in that voice that made it clear she thought I should be a little quicker. I thought about pointing out that she didn’t have something
else
Prince Phillip did either, but in the end, I dropped it.
“Okay sure, why not?” We talked about what she had in mind for the costume and I was fairly certain I could come up with something that would keep her fairly warm and comfortable.
Her breakfast mostly eaten, Eve slipped off the chair, bowl in hand as she headed for the basement door.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“To give Nelo my smush.”
“You’re going to make him fat.” I shook my head, but didn’t stop her. “Let Mimsy out too, okay?”
“Okay, Momma.”
There wasn’t
too
much trouble they could get into down there, but the fresh burst of giggles made me divert half my attention toward the basement door as I cleaned up after breakfast and started searching for the coffee filters in earnest. I finally found them in the freezer of all places, and started a fresh pot of coffee for Parker. His hours at the club kept him up quite a bit later, and we were lucky to see him before we left in the morning.
Mimsy darted through the open door, frantic to escape the noise as the giggles started up the basement stairs. I opened the kitchen door to let her flee as Nelo burst forth into the room, and I saw the bulk of the giggles were coming from him. His amber eyes darted around the room in desperation before he dove under the dining table, drawing the chair in after him. If you know anything about shadow demons, you’ll know he was only half-assing the game of hide and go seek. If he’d
truly
decided to hide from Evie, she never would’ve found him in a zillion years.
Eve’s steps were heavy on the stairs as she followed at a much slower pace.
“It’s time to get dressed.” I tried to deflect her as soon as she came into sight, but she ignored me, spotting Nelo under the table right away. Nelo gave a squeak and darted out, sprinting for the stairs.
“Come back and let me kiss you awake!” Evie demanded, knees pumping as she chased after the little demon at a dead run.
“Time to go get dressed!” I called after them, gratified to hear the clop of feet on stairs as the chase continued up to her bedroom. We’d already had the discussion with Eve that Nelo was our family secret. I hoped she didn’t blab to anyone who would listen about having a demon in the house, but Parker and I decided they’d probably blame her active imagination for any slip ups. After all, we didn’t have a purple dragon living in the backyard either.
The giggling and screeching continued, followed by a loud thump, and I started to think maybe I should head up there and help steer Eve back on course. But Parker appeared in the kitchen with a look on his face that seemed to say –
really?
“Hey there, sleepyhead,” I smiled sheepishly, guilt seeping in at seeing how worn out he looked. “Did we wake you?”
“No, I always like to get up at the buttcrack of dawn after only getting four hours of sleep,” he deadpanned. His usually clear, green eyes were red rimmed and tired, dark blonde hair matted to one side of his head. The morning stubble was still appealing though, and I approached him with a conciliatory cup of coffee and a morning kiss.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
Parker took the cup in one hand and pulled me close for a hug, resting his chin on my shoulder. “S’okay. You can’t keep a hurricane in a bottle or it’ll explode.” Right on cue, there was another loud thud, but before I could take two steps in the direction of the stairs, Nelo’s voice came floating down.
“It’s alright, Mistress. Nothing’s broken.”
I considered calling up to see what was going on up there, but decided Nelo would tell me if there was something to worry about.
Seeing as how Parker was up, I popped a bagel into the toaster for him as he slid into Eve’s vacant seat at the breakfast bar. “Don’t forget, I have that class this afternoon.”
“I know. Don’t worry, I won’t forget to pick up the rabbit,” he said, setting the coffee mug down. “Listen, I want to talk to you about something.”
That made me stop. “Uh oh, am I in trouble?”
“Maybe,” he grinned. “But seriously, it feels like we haven’t had much alone time together lately and there’s something we should discuss.”
He was right. Our schedules were completely opposite. He worked at the club until late, and most nights I was too tired to wait up for him, having to get up early with Evie each morning. “I know, I’m sorry. But I’m almost done with school and Bunny’s in preschool now, so that should free up more time for us during the day. I’m sorry things haven’t been so…
awesome
lately.”
“That wasn’t what I was going for, but now that you mention it, we could both use a bit of awesome.” His lips curved into that smile that made me flush down to my toes. “Hey, since I’m up anyway, maybe we should…”
The clump of feet on the stairs derailed that particular train of thought. It was one thing to sneak off for some private adult time when Eve was down for a nap, but quite another when she was up and about. Besides, I had to get her off to preschool soon.
Leaning in for a quick kiss, I touched my forehead to his. “Later, I promise.” My voice dropped to a whisper. “I’ll take a nap tonight and then wait up for you to get home. Then we can
talk
all you want.” I sent a subtle burst of soothing Grace into him with my words, relieving the aches and pains from too little sleep, and some of the pinched look eased from around his eyes.
“I’m gonna hold you to that,” he rumbled, pulling me closer.
“I hope that’s not all you hold…”
“Up, up, up!” Eve hopped up and down, her hands smacking against Parker’s hip.
“Good morning, sweetheart.” Parker let go of me to scoop her into his arms, dropping a noisy kiss onto her cheek. “How’s my favorite girl in the world?”
Eve squirmed in his arms, trying to avoid the rasp of his unshaven cheeks. “You’re all tickly,” she giggled. “I got dressed for school all by myself, Daddy.”
“You are getting so big…” He made a show of staggering under her weight. “I’m not going to be able to carry you for much longer.”
“Then I’ll carry you!”
I watched for a few moments as Parker lost the last vestiges of his serious mood, utterly captivated by our charmer of a daughter. While he kept Evie distracted, I brushed her hair, thereby avoiding the threat of tears when the snarl of tangles almost defeated me. Checking the clock, I ran the brush through my hair as well, pulling it up into a high ponytail to get it out of the way.
I almost missed the heavy fur-lined boots Eve had on until Parker set her down. She must have dug them out of the back of her closet. They didn’t exactly go with the pretty sundress I’d picked out for her. “Bunny, go and change into your mary janes, I put them by the end of your bed.”