Mercy for the Fallen (31 page)

“This way, Mistress,” Nelo called out, half of his body disappearing into a nearby shadow. 

“Ah, Nelo, you are a genius,” I beamed, rushing over to take his hand.  Only I couldn’t fit into the shadow.  I mean, my hand passed into the shadow alright, but it didn’t disappear into it. I just had a shadow across my hand. 

“She blocked me in here,” I growled, mad enough to split the end table, but all I ended up with was a sore fist.  Apparently my strength wasn’t up to par yet. 

Nelo’s head poked out of the shadow.  “I can’t pull you with me.”

“You’ll have to go without me then.” 

“I can’t leave you, Mistress.”  His head shook violently.

“You can if it’s the only way to get me out of here.” 

“You can call Adam and he will come to you, always.”

“There’s no way of knowing if he can even hear me down here.  Her magic might be blocking that too.  Besides, he needs to know what he’s stepping into before he gets here.  No, the only way to do this is if you go find him yourself and tell him what’s going on.  Tell him Raum’s witch has harnessed my Grace and now she’s much more dangerous than she was before.”

“But…”

“Please, Nelo.  I’m counting on you to find him.”  I could see the indecision warring within him until he slowly nodded.   

“Yes, Mistress.  But what if she harms you before I return?”

“She won’t kill the golden goose.  Dahlia needs me for the moment.” 
If only for her next meal
, I thought, but didn’t say it out loud.  “I’ll be fine, you go ahead.”  

“As you wish.”  Nelo disappeared from view, only to pop up across the room.  “That’s odd,” he muttered, sinking into the shadow again.  Twice more he popped up out of different shadows in the room.  He might have gone on doing it like a demented gopher before I stopped him.

“Wait, it’s no use.  She has you trapped in here too.”  He could hide in the shadows fine, but not teleport outside of the room.  “This is just perfect.  Ugh, he’s going to kill me,” I sighed, flopping back against the bed.  “Adamiel!”

Chapter Thirty

At first I thought Adam was letting me sweat it out down there as some kind of a lesson.  But as one hour turned into two, I started to wonder if Dahlia’s magic
was
keeping my call from reaching him.  My voice had grown hoarse from calling him, the Grace slow to heal it, and I started to feel drowsy again, my eyes drifting closed.  Every now and again I’d rouse myself enough to call him, but I’d started to lose faith that he’d come. 

So you can understand why it scared the crap out of me when he landed on the balcony, dark wings spread wide to block out most of the mauve sun.  “Adam!” I gasped, more relieved than I could say.  “Stay right there!”

“Why do I have the weirdest feeling of deja vu?”  He leaned against a stone column, negligently picking at a fingernail.  “Oh right, because I’ve had to save your ass from this exact same spot before,” he scowled, tucking the wings away in a flash as he stalked toward me.

“No wait…”  I rushed forward, but he stepped through the unseen barrier, effectively trapping him inside with us.  “Ugh, dammit!  Why didn’t you listen to me!”

Adam’s brows drew together into a single dark line.  “I’m sorry… Did you not just call me here to the rescue?”

“No… I mean yes, but not like this.  Now you’re trapped with us.”

“We are all of us trapped,” Nelo said with a sad smile.

Adam reached out to feel the barrier, rubbing his fingers together afterwards.  “Interesting.  But I don’t see that as a problem.  We’ll go through the front door.”

“There are guards out there.  Sure we can maybe take out a few, but how long do you think it’ll be before Raum sends every single one of his demons after us like last time?”

“You do get yourself into the most interesting situations.” He shook his head, sitting on the bed.  “Do you want to tell me what you’re doing trapped down here in the first place?” he said, patting the space next to him. 

I didn’t want to sit anymore.  While I didn’t feel up to regular strength, there was a nervous energy coursing through me, following the surge of adrenaline at seeing him again.  “I needed Dahlia’s help to hide Eve’s Grace.”

Adam’s brows rose.  “Did it work?”

“I think so.  I won’t know for sure until I see her.  But it sapped a lot of my strength and Dahlia took advantage of that weakness to lock me in here.”

“No biggie.”  Adam slapped his hands on his thighs and pushed himself to his feet.  “I’ll just lop off her head, and we’ll be out of here in time for dinner.”

I reached out to catch his arm.  “No, we can’t do anything to her directly.  We don’t know what it’ll do.”

“I’m pretty sure it’ll destroy this barrier.”

“And it could break the spell binding Eve’s Grace as well.”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take to get out of here.” 

“Wait, there’s something else.”  I pulled the neckline of my top to the side, showing him the new tattoo. 

“She marked you?”  Adam’s voice sounded hollow, his lips going slack.

“It was the only way.  We don’t know if it’ll hurt me if you hurt her.  She said we’re linked.”

Adam’s hand cupped over my heart, his Grace flaring, but apart from a tingle, there was no change to the mark.  “I’m gonna kill that bitch if it’s the last thing I do,” he growled.

I laid my hand over his.  “Let’s focus on getting out of here and leave the revenge for another day.”

Adam looked at me, really looked at me, the furrow on his brow growing deeper.  “What did she do to you?” he murmured. 

“She took some of my Grace.  It’ll get better.”

“I can help with that.”  The hand over my heart flared, and I felt the warmth of his Grace coursing through me.  I breathed in his light, losing the fatigue and feeling very, very tingly when I opened my eyes to find his face close to mine.

“Better?”

“Much,” I nodded, aware of how much closer the movement brought me to his lips.  “I feel…”

“Yes?”  His deep voice rumbled through me, one arm curving around my waist, his other hand sliding against my skin in a gentle caress from my heart to cup my breast.   

“I…”  What did I feel?  I hardly knew anymore.  

“Mistress, Raum comes!” Nelo hissed, promptly vanishing into the nearest shadow.  I jumped away from Adam as if I’d been burned, my cheeks flaming hot as Raum entered alone. 

“Hello, children,” he called out brightly.  “So nice to see you again.” 

Adam shifted, putting his body between me and the Demon Lord.  “I know you’re not even going to think about keeping us here.”

“No, of course not.  In fact, I’m here to help you on your merry way,” he replied, shocking us all.  Nelo even peeped his head out again. 

“You are?” I asked, more than a little skeptical by the declaration. 

“Yes, of course.  I’m afraid you’ve rather overstayed your welcome.”

“What did we do?  You’re the one who locked us in here in the first place,” I scowled.

“Hey, don’t argue with the guy, Merce,” Adam murmured.  “He’s here to let us go.”

“Yes, the sooner, the better.”  Raum rubbed his hands together.  If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think he was afraid of something.  With my Grace backing her, had Dahlia managed to tip the scales of power?

“Does Dahlia know you’re down here?” I asked.  Sure enough, his shoulders bunched as if someone had stuck a dagger between them.

“Hush now.  Do you want to leave or don’t you?”  Raum’s smile looked decidedly forced as he waved us toward the door.  “Come now, hold hands everyone.”  He beckoned with his fingers, and I took his hand, Adam behind me and Nelo bringing up the rear. 

“Here we go, walkies…” Raum said in a sing song voice, leading us through the door.  The two guards flanking the door didn’t so much as glance at us as we passed by.  Could they even see us?  Deciding that wasn’t my problem, I kept my mouth shut as he led us to the open air court, which was deserted for the moment. 

“Off you go then.”  Raum let go of my hand as soon as we were well away from the corridors.  “I trust it will be some time before you return?”

“I’m starting to think you don’t like my company,” Adam said, his brow still bunched in puzzlement over Raum’s inexplicable behavior, but I was starting to figure it out. 

“You bet, next time I’ll write,” I said with a tight smile.  I picked up Nelo, handing him into Adam’s arms before he said anything stupid.  “We’d better be going.  Thanks for the help, Raum.” 

“Lovely to see you, as always.”  Raum caught my hand before I could take off, licking the back of it like a dog.  “Perhaps when circumstances have changed, we’ll meet again.”

I suppressed the shudder of revulsion at the touch, managing a faint nod as I launched myself into the sky without further delay.  Adam was beside me in the blink of an eye, his face still pinched.

“I don’t get what happened down there,” he said after we put some distance between us and the palace. 

“I think my Grace made Dahlia a little too big for her britches.  Raum wanted to cut off her meal ticket before she turned him into a slave in his own court.”

“That makes sense.”

I didn’t say anything about the link between me and the witch.   If Dahlia had been telling the truth about being able to feed from me whenever she wanted to, it could make things very unpleasant for Raum, not to mention me. 

The flight to the caves was hard.  I was sweaty and out of breath by the time I got there, and I needed a minute to recover.  Even with Nelo hopping us from shadow to shadow, I was ready for a hot shower and a nap by the time we reached the gate.  To my surprise, Naberios didn’t do a thing to stop us, and I think Adam was secretly disappointed he wouldn’t have to do any bargaining to get us out of there.  

The next thing I knew, we stood under the night sky outside the strip club, being pelted by rain.  Nelo gave a whoop for joy, scrambling out of Adam’s arms and into the nearest shadow, sort of puddle jumping from place to place in celebration. 

“Are you okay?”  Adam searched my face after pulling me under the overhang for a noodle house. 

“Yes, I’m just tired.  That spell took a lot out of me.”

“I could give you another burst of Grace.”

It was tempting.  So tempting, I knew it had to be a bad idea.  “No, I’ll be fine.  I’ll feel better after I get to Bunny’s side.”  I just had no idea how I’d manage the flight up there with as worn out as I was.  Maybe I should take another burst of his Grace?  Or was I looking for excuses to let him get close to me again? 

“Hey,” he said, voice softening as he brushed his thumb across the top of my cheek.  “You know time goes by a lot slower up there.  She’s probably barely missed you the whole time you’ve been down here.  Maybe you should have a few hours of sleep under your belt before you go get her?”

“Maybe you’re right, but I can’t help but feel like I need to check up on her, to make sure the spell went through as it should’ve.  Otherwise, all of this was for nothing.”

“You realize a few hours one way or the other won’t make much difference, right?”

“It will to me.”

“Alright, I’ll take you up there,” Adam sighed.

“But… you can’t go with me.” 

“I can get you to the gate.” 

“You don’t have to do that, I’m pretty sure I can find my way back there again.”

“Oh?  And how am I supposed to feel when you plummet back to Earth in a fireball because you’re too tired to make the whole trip?  We’re not completely immortal, you know.  We can still die.”

“I remember,” I mumbled.  It was hard to shake the memory of an angel dying.  Sometimes I could still see the way Raziel’s body had broken up into chunks of glowing embers as the last of his Grace burned out. 

“Or if you don’t have the strength to resist the escalator all the way to the top floor.  I might never get you back.”

“You feel that too?”

“Of course I do.  Only I can’t go any higher, not any more.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Adam shrugged.  “Now come on, if we’re going to do this I’d rather get it over with.” 

“Why, do you have a date later?”

“Something like that,” he smirked. 

An emotion very like jealousy reared its ugly head at his response, but I kept myself from letting anything slip.  I couldn’t exactly tell him not to date anyone when I’d said I wasn’t ready to start anything up with him again.  “I’ll try not to keep you for too long then,” I managed to get out.

The smirk remained fixed as Adam turned to look for Nelo, who was still playing with the shadows.  “Nelo, stop farting around and go on home.  Remember what we talked about before, right?  Plan B.”

“Yes, Master Adam,” Nelo said quickly.  “You will bring Bunny home for good?”

“That’s the idea,” I smiled, giving him a quick hug goodbye.  “What’s Plan B?” I remembered to ask as soon as he was gone. 

Adam wrapped his arm around my waist as his dark wings unfurled.  “Let’s hope you never have to find out.”

* * *

Adam held me close as we rocketed through the sky, bound for Heaven.  As much as I hated to admit it, he was right about me conserving my strength.  I’d need it to get from the gate to Michael’s tree house.  It felt good to be in his arms, relying upon him to take charge for a while.  I think in a way he preferred it like this.  It chapped at his ego whenever it became obvious I was stronger than him.  This way he got to play the hero – the hero who got to hold me close – which I also could admit, didn’t suck.

All too quickly we were there, the radiant light all around us, making his eyes especially brilliant.   I could see the urge to fly higher mirrored in his face, and saw the sorrow there that it was forever blocked to him. 

“I’ll wait for you,” he pledged, letting me go as I extended my wings. 

I hadn’t expected that.  Who knew how long of a wait it’d be for him between the time difference.  Was there even much of a divergence between Ma’on and the space outside of it?  “I don’t know how long I’ll be.”

Adam’s lips curved into an enigmatic smile.  “I’ll wait for as long as it takes.”