Mercy for the Fallen (35 page)

“Where?”

“The rooftop of your friends’ apartments.  Don’t keep me waiting, and don’t try any misguided heroics.  It’d be a shame for me to mark her, she’s such a pretty thing,” he chuckled and I closed my eyes against Daphne’s uncomfortable squeal. 

“I’ll be there, don’t do anything stupid.” 

“I might say the same to you,” he said mildly, disconnecting the call. 

I stood in the middle of the hallway, indecision freezing me in place for long seconds.  What could I do?  I couldn’t bring Eve to him, it was out of the question, but I couldn’t let him kill off Daphne or Sam either.  My fingers hit the button for Adam’s cell, scowling as it went straight to voicemail. 

“Adamiel!” I called out, running down the stairs to keep from waking Eve.  I could feel him out there, but far away, much farther than he should be if he was in Las Vegas.  “Adamiel!” I tried, not bothering to keep the note of panic from my voice.  After ten minutes, I couldn’t wait any longer for a response. 

There didn’t seem to be a point in avoiding calling Matty’s cell directly since Lucifer already had access to my number.  At first I thought it might be too early for him, but he picked up after the fourth ring. 

“Hlo?” he slurred, his voice thick with sleep.

“Matty!  Is Adam there?  I really need to talk to him.”

“Adam?  No… he was here last night, but he left.”

“Where did he go?”

“I, um… I thought he was going home.”

“Thanks, Matty.  Sorry to have woken you.”

“Mercy, is everything…”

I hung up on him.  The clock was ticking away far too quickly for me to explain anything.  How could Adam be gone when I needed him yet again?  My options were running out, and then it came to me.  “Michael!” I yelled, stepping out onto the back porch to get some good volume going.  Maybe it would piss off the neighbors, but I didn’t have much of a choice.  I wasn’t sure how closely he kept an eye on us these days, if at all.  “Michael!” I repeated his name over and over again in a normal voice, my eyes on the sky. 

Nothing.

I had to risk going back to Seattle empty handed and trust Eve to stay safe on her own until one of us came back for her.  I went back inside to scribble a note for her in case she should wake up and find us all gone, telling her to stay put.  My hands fumbled with the laces as I shoved my feet into my boots, cold and stiff from the morning air and the nerves that had me forcing my body to move faster than it was ready to. 

“Didst thou call?”

I looked up to see Michael standing in the frame of the back door, and nearly wept with relief.  “I need you to watch over Bunny.  I have to go meet Luce, he’s holding Daphne hostage.  There’s no time, just keep her safe, please!”  The words tumbled out one on top of the other.  I paused long enough to catch his startled nod before I was out the door, launching myself into the sky.  I could care less if people spotted me in the air, I had to divert all of my energy to getting to Seattle fast enough to make it on time for my meeting. 

The rooftop was deserted when I got there, and I took a few moments to gulp in a few deep breaths and shake away the disorientation from flying so fast.  It was set up as an entertaining space with upscale patio furniture, and a fairly well equipped outdoor kitchen for barbecues. 

“You came alone.”

I whirled to find the man himself, impeccably dressed as always, not a hair out of place.  Daphne stood beside him, her blue eyes red rimmed and her cheeks stained with tears.  He had no visible weapons, and wasn’t standing in a particularly menacing manner.  If not for the hand pressed against her swelling abdomen, I might not have found him threatening in the least. 

“I couldn’t get her here fast enough.  All I could think to do was come here and bargain with you in person.”

“There is nothing to bargain for.  You will bring her to me or you will have to live with the consequences.”

“No, I get it, you have all the power,” I said quickly, taking a step closer.  “I will absolutely bring her to you, it’ll just take longer than a half an hour.”  I couldn’t think of anything else to say to make him let go of her. 

“Do not think to trick me,” he smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.  “I’m not the one with something to lose.”

“You’re right.  I’m the sucky loser,” I nodded, taking another step.  “Where’s Sam, is he safe?”

“I took care of him for the moment.”

“He was bleeding from his ears,” Daphne sobbed. 
Visions of how Charles Weatie died came back to me, but I couldn’t dwell on that.  I had to get him away from her and try to somehow lure him into dropping his guard.  

“It’ll be okay, I’ll fix him, I swear,” I promised Daphne, meaning every word of it.  “This is a pretty good plan.  A fucked up one, but pretty good all the same.”  I pretended to be impressed. 
“How did you get my phone number anyway?  Daphne didn’t have it.”

Lucifer smiled wide under my praise.  “
That man of Adam’s is very good.  It took me quite a while to break him.  Unfortunately for him, he didn’t know your place of address.  Please give my condolences to Adam, he’ll be hard to replace.”

“Do you mean Finch?” I gasped, remembering the last time I was in his office.  He was kind of a lowlife, but a good guy over all.  And now he was dead, just like that.  “You killed him just because he didn’t know where we were?”

“I couldn’t have him warning you, now could I?  Now then, you have precisely ten seconds to tell me where I can find your daughter or your friend here will never know what it is to hold her child in her arms.”  His hand tightened over Daphne’s belly and she gave a whimper. 

“Okay, I’ll tell you, but only if you take me with you, like we talked about before.”

“That deal is no longer on the table after you rejected it so ungraciously,” he said, drawing himself up stiffly.

Why was I not surprised to find out a guy like Lucifer held a grudge?  “I’m sorry about what happened before, but I get it now.  There’s nowhere we can run that you can’t get to us.  Just… let me go with her and I’ll lead you right to where she is.”

“You have five seconds left to divulge her location.”

“Okay!  She’s…”  The mark over my heart flared with heat, driving me to my knees as white hot agony ripped through my body.  Why was she taking more Grace now when I had so little to spare?  “No… not now…” I whimpered as my entire body throbbed.

Lucifer’s placid expression gave way to puzzled suspicion.  “If you think to trick me in any way…”

All at once the pain stopped, like someone had flipped a switch and I was flooded with Grace in one burst.  My entire body thrummed with energy and light, and I gasped at the pure rapture of it.  I felt strong enough to take on the universe.  Looking down at my chest, the brand was gone, my skin healthy and pink as if I’d never been marked.  “What the hell?”

“Mercy, are you alright?” Daphne asked in a small voice, and I drew in a deep breath, my body tingling with good health.

“Yeah, I feel… I feel great.”  All at once I understood where Adam had slipped off to, and why he hadn’t come when I’d called.  “Oh, no…”

Lucifer’s head snapped up, his head canting to one side as if listening for a pitch too high for us to hear. “Thank you,” he said with a dazzling smile.  “That should do very nicely.”  Without another word he let go of Daphne, disappearing in a flutter of white wings. 

“Daphne, are you alright?” I asked, scrambling to my feet.

“Yes, I think so.  He didn’t actually hurt me, but I think I peed a little.”

“I have to go.  I have a bad feeling he’s on Eve’s trail.”

Daphne caught onto my arm, clinging tight.  “Wait, what about Sam?  You said you’d fix him.”

Indecision rooted me to the spot, the obligation to restore Sam warring with my duty to my child.  With Lucifer in pursuit there was no telling how much time we had until he caught her, but if something happened to Sam because of me I’d never forgive myself.  In the end, I had to trust that Michael could keep her safe for at least a few minutes until I got there. 

“Where is he?”  

Daphne led me down to their apartment where Sam lay in a crumpled heap on the kitchen floor, bleeding from the nose and ears.  Barely taking the time to ground myself, I placed my hands over his heart, sending him healing energy.  My Grace responded quickly and with plenty of juice, the power thrumming under my hands.  After a few seconds, he drew in a deep breath, his eyes opening in surprise. 

“Shhh, lie still,” I cautioned him, sending him more energy until I was sure he was out of danger. 

“Mercy, you came after all,” he smiled faintly after I was finished.  Daphne kissed him in teary relief, and I pushed myself to my feet, wishing I had time to visit but knowing time was against me. 

“I’m so sorry about this, but I’m going to take care of it.  I’ll make sure Lucifer doesn’t ever bother you again.  I love you guys,” I said with a broken smile, knowing that this might very well be the last time I saw them for a long, long time. 

“We love you too,” Daphne called back, helping Sam up to a sitting position.  “And Mercy?”

“Yes?” I hesitated, my toes tapping to get out there.

“Kick his ass.”

I gave them one last answering grin before I was out the glass slider, taking to the early morning sky.  This time I knew I didn’t have to worry about keeping myself hidden from human eyes.  I was back to full strength but Lucifer was tricky.  He had access to dark magics I couldn’t defend against.  I had to think of a plan, and think of it fast. 

Chapter Thirty-Four

Whatever beginnings of a plan I managed to cobble together on the brief flight home fell right out of my head at the sight of the angel sized crater on the hood of my rental car.  Good thing I sprung for the optional insurance, huh?   The shower of glass on the front porch and shattered picture window gave a good clue as to how the car had gotten damaged, and another crash from inside let me know someone was still putting up a hell of a fight. 

I took it as a good sign.  Fighting meant the two archangels were still present and duking it out.  Silence would’ve been much, much worse.  I could sense Eve’s Grace inside, and that was the most important thing of all.  Taking care not to draw too much attention to myself, I slipped in through the front door, intent on picking up my daughter and getting the hell out of there.

Only I couldn’t find her.

After catching a glimpse of Michael and Lucifer destroying my kitchen in the process of trying to kill each other, I snuck up to her room, thinking that would be the most likely place to find her.  But she wasn’t anywhere up there, or in the basement either.  I could still feel her in the house, but she was nowhere to be seen. 

A chair splintered into jagged pieces not a foot from my head, returning my attention to the fight raging between the men.   Both had their swords in hand, but had drawn most of the objects in the room into the scuffle.  I’d never seen such a savage fight before; the skirmish in Eden was nothing compared to this one.  It was as if they’d both completely forgotten about Eve and wanted nothing more than to tear each other limb from limb.  Meanwhile my house was getting thrashed, but I could care less if only I could find Eve and get her out of there. 

Lucifer dropped his sword, crashing into Michael and lifting him bodily to slam him through the kitchen table to the floor.  Seeing the opening, I drew my sword and charged for his exposed back.  Lucifer heard me at the last moment and rolled away.  My momentum carried me forward, skewering Michael through the shoulder. 

“Sorry!” I gasped, immediately letting go so the sword would disappear.   A bright spot of blood stained Michael’s white robes, but he barely winced, his attention still focused on Lucifer.  I hopped out of the way barely in time to avoid the charge as he crashed into Lucifer, weapons forgotten.  I stood there watching them roll around, unable to jump in without possibly stabbing the wrong guy. 

Strength-wise they were pretty evenly matched, but Lucifer’s mixed fighting technique kept tripping Michael up.  After flipping Michael again, Lucifer picked up his head and smashed it against the ground, hard enough to crack the tile floor. 

“Stop it!”  I yelled, hitting Lucifer with a blast of Grace.  It was the only way I knew how to slow him down, but instead of knocking him back, Lucifer absorbed the blast.  A smile stretched across his face as he rolled his shoulders.

“Thank you, that was just what I needed,” he said.

Had he just fed off of it like a demon?  What the hell?

“Stop helping,” Michael growled, grabbing a table leg and smashing it upside Lucifer’s head.  The angels rolled away from each other, each taking up a cautious stance.  “Thou hast no chance of defeating me, Lucifer.  Be gone now or I will have no choice but to dispatch thee once and for all.”

“Brave words considering I’ve shed more of your blood this time.  Truth be told, I think you’re getting a trifle rusty, old man,” Lucifer teased.  “You might consider picking another battle before I decide to play dirty.”

“I fear thee not.”  Michael’s lip curled in scorn.  “Thy dark magics have no effect on my kind.”       

Lucifer nodded, the smile still playing over his lips.  “
You’re right. I can’t use my magic on you directly, but that doesn’t leave me entirely without options.”  With a dramatic wave of the hand, Lucifer sent a shower of hot coals from the fireplace into Michael’s face.  Michael let out a horrible shriek, hands coming up to shield his eyes, but it was too late, the damage had been done.  While I stood there blinking stupidly, Lucifer stepped forward and deftly sliced him across the throat.