Waiting for Mercy (Cambions) (21 page)

My body braced for the impact and grappling for what was to come next, but instead Sebastian materialized in front of me and tossed the incoming wolf to the ground with a hard thud.

To say my demon was not pleased is an understatement.  The thing wanted to play.  “I had it under control,” the demon said through my mouth.  Shock overcame me for a second.  It wasn’t often she was vocal.

  Sebastian looked at me with amusement at first.  Then, he must have noticed my demon had the reigns.  It would be hard to mistake with my eyes being large pools of black.  A cry from behind had him turn then disappear.  My face turned taking the carnage in from an upright position.  My body stood and was about to move forward when like dominos the fighting ended all around me.  The shifters seem to retreat.  Luke came rushing to my side. 

“Are you,” he began.  But he too noticed that I was no longer in control.  He wrapped me in his embrace.  I’d caught the blood spatter on him that now would be on me. 

Sebastian materialized again behind Luke.  Flynn ran up and stood behind them.  Sebastian smiled at my demon.  I could tell the sly look was not for me.  Flynn’s eyes widened.

“Sebastian, humans,” Luke commanded.  Sebastian didn’t even hesitate. He dissipated and reappeared several feet to the left of me near a human who had unwittingly come across the minor war that happened on the front lawn.

“Flynn, make sure no one else leaves the party just yet,” Luke warned.

Flynn looked at me again and when a smile formed on my face without my control, he smiled back before leaving.

I stared through my eyes like a periscope.  The broken bodies that lay on the ground would be too obvious to the neighbors.  I wondered what we would do for clean up.

Luke didn’t say anything.  He just held me.  Interestingly, the lust demon didn’t wrap herself around him like I thought she might.  Instead, she slowly relinquished control over to me.  Maybe she and I were coming to an unspoken truce.

For some reason, we ended up going back to the party after Luke explained to me what happened.  Mike hadn’t come alone.  He’d brought back up and a fight broke out on the lawn.  No one died and we won was the gist of it.  Mike and his band of followers tucked tail and ran.  Tamera ended up siding with Mike and also left.  Flynn didn’t appear torn up about it.  So I guessed nothing serious was going on between them.

For the party to be over, we had to get everyone to leave.  And that took more than yelling “everybody leave.”  Luke dusted me off and I’d cleaned off the dirt and blood on him that based on his lack of wounds hadn’t come from him. Everyone else in the fight must have cleaned up too, because we all looked pretty normal sitting around waiting for the party to end. Honestly, I think Flynn was determined not to let the few spoil things for the many.

The group of us were pretty sloshed when the party ended.  The humans were oblivious to the fight that had taken place earlier thanks to Sebastian and a great party.  Only Amber and I hadn’t been drinking.  I was surprised by Maggie and added drinking to my list of things we needed to talk about.  It appears that Brent was a bad influence.  By this time Amber was sitting in Paul’s lap and looked extremely pleased.  He on the other hand looked absolutely drunk.   

Luke, who also had a few too many drinks, pulled on my arm for us to go.  Behind the closed door of my room he kissed me with urgency.  I made my move.  I pulled the rest of the money out of his pocket before breaking our kiss.  “I can’t believe you bet on me,” I said. “Was this all an act for the bet?”

He snatched the money out of my hand.  With nimble fingers, he slipped them in my shirt and bra before I could speak, pulling the other money out. “I didn’t ask for the bet. I don’t need the money. You can keep it,” he said not sounding the least bit drunk.  His words were a bit harsh. He pulled out another wad of money from his front pocket and flung it on the bed. “I wasn’t playing to win, I just want you,” he said.

He paced away from me with his hands in his hair. Feeling foolish for not trusting him even a little bit, I put my hands around his waist and pressed my cheek to his back. I could tell by his anger that he meant it.  It hadn’t been an act.  Clearly, I knew he wasn’t broke and didn’t need the money.

“I’m sorry, but I had to ask,” I said.

He pulled my hands free and spun me around. I pulled him back towards the bed and I fell backwards on it as he towered over me still standing.  He sat on the bed before lying back next to me.  With an arm behind his head, we both stared silently at the ceiling.

With the room so quiet, we heard when the music came to an end downstairs.

“I guess the party’s over,” I said.

He huffed a little laugh. “Yeah, Flynn’s going to have to call a cleaning crew,” he said.

I laughed too. “Yeah, because I am not cleaning after you guys,” I said.

“You believe me about the bet right?” he said, sounding serious now.

“Yeah,” I said maybe a little too quickly.

He turned his head, but I didn’t meet his eyes. “I don’t want any misunderstandings between us like last time,” he added.

I nodded still not looking in his eyes.

“You don’t believe me do you?” he asked.

“It’s not that,” I began. “God knows you don’t need the cash.  I guess I’m curious how you were so sure I would take you back.”

From the corner of my eye, I could see that he’d turned to face the ceiling again. “I wasn’t,” he replied. “It was that same faith and hope that had us ice skating this morning.  I couldn’t let your admires think they had a chance, could I?”

“Admirers?” I questioned.

His hand found mine and he entwined our fingers before speaking. “You and I both know who I’m speaking about.”

I didn’t speak.  Could he be talking about each of the guys that had given me a rose?  More worrisome, did he know of Flynn’s intentions? He gave my hand a little squeeze.  “But now they know,” he stated.

Taking my hand, he pulled me back into a standing position.  “Come, I want to show you something,” he said.

Curious, I complied.  When he stepped up on my window seat and pulled me to stand next to him, my stomach dropped.  He opened the window and I felt way too close to the edge.  Normally with my feet planted on the ground, looking out the window wasn’t a problem.  But standing on the seat with the window wide open, my fear of heights kicked in.

“What are you doing?” I asked clutching at his arm.

He looked down at me with a quirky little smile on his face. “Are you scared?” he asked.

I nodded pressing my face in his chest clutching him ever so tighter.  I heard the rumble of laughter in his chest and said, “It’s not funny.”

His hand took my chin and lifted my face so we were eye to eye. “I would never let anything happen to you,” he breathed.  I nodded because I believed him.

He didn’t give me time to wonder and what he was about to do, he simply stepped out and pulled me with him.  My mind could not comprehend what happened.  He twirled me out the window and back in his arms, never letting go of my hand.  A flourish and a dip and the knowledge that we were dancing mid air struck, has me open my mouth to scream.  But his mouth was there to capture the noise.

Snaking a firm arm around my waist, he said, “Don’t be afraid.”

It didn’t matter that I was part demon, I was raised human with human instincts. “How?” I managed to say.

Twirling me again as my eye grew wider, he didn’t answer me.  Hesitantly, I looked down at the air wondering how it was solid against our feet.  Finally, a small cry escaped my throat.  I tucked myself against his body again with my eyes shut tight.  I heard the rumble in his chest.  He was laughing at me
again
.

When I felt the uneven ground underneath my feet, I opened my eyes again. He had brought us down.  But we weren’t as close to the house as I’d expected.  We were closer to the pool.  The lights in the basement were out and I had to wonder how Flynn had now gotten everyone to leave so quickly.  But that question was for later.

“So you can fly?” I asked staring into his gorgeous blue eyes.  He chuckled again.  “Why are you laughing at me?” I asked halfway angry he was mocking me.

“It’s just a wonder how little you know,” he said, trying to hold back more laugher.

“Really,” I said sarcastically.  Now I was getting mad.   “I mean, you know I know nothing.”

Trying to tug away, he pulled me tight against him and nuzzled my hair.  Giving into the warmth of him, I wrapped my arms around him.  He knelt to the ground and pulled me to sit with my back against his chest.

“We don’t fly Mercy,” he said sounding more serious this time.  I relaxed against him believing he was going to give me answers to questions I hadn’t thought about until now.

“So what do you call that little demonstration?” I asked.  But before he could answer I threw another question at him. “Do you have wings? Can I see them?”

Sighing so loud, it was almost as if he was wielding patience to a small child with a gazillion questions.  Is that how I sounded?

“It’s all hard to explain,” he began.

“Try me,” I said, looking out at the calm water of the pool. “Do you have wings or not?”

“Not really,” he said.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

He stood and pulled his shirt off.  “We don’t have wings, but” he began. 

“So why are you taking off your shirt?”

“Mercy, humans have been conditioned over the years to assume we have wings.  The human mind can’t accept something it can’t explain.  So if I show you, you will see what your mind wants you to see.”

His skin seemed to glow in the moonlight.  His chest muscles all defined.  When he cleared his throat my eyes raised from his abs and all the defined muscles of it, back to his amusing face. “I took off my shirt because it will make the visual confusing with it on.  I didn’t mean to mesmerize you,” he added teasingly.  I smiled back because I had been mesmerized.

“Okay, let’s see then,” I said, eyes a little brighter.

My heart stopped when wings of pure golden sunlight appeared at his back.  I had no breath to speak for a few moments.  They radiated through the darkness making me think of heaven while I gazed upon him.  Suddenly, I truly didn’t feel worthy of him.

“If they aren’t wings what am I seeing? What are they?” I asked, in awe of the vision before me.

“They are not what they appear,” he said.  I stood on my feet and began to move towards him.  “I have,” he stopped speaking when I reached him and held my hand out.  “All of my kind has a connection to the one who created us all.”  There was a long pause where I didn’t breathe.  “This connection allows us to perform minor miracles.”

Not touching him yet, I waited for him to give me confirmation it would be okay to do so. “Like walking on air?” I asked, still waiting for his ok.

He nodded and my hand brushed over something I can’t describe.  It wasn’t a feathery touch I expected.  It was like energy that vibrated the air.

His hand reached out to caress my face and it brushed against my hair. “Yeah, or like walking on water,” he said.  And the unspoken reference was there.  I wasn’t religious but I’d heard the story sometime in my childhood. “Or like healing,” he said.

Turning my eyes away from whatever I was seeing, I looked at him.  Dropping my hand, the world around us seemed to fade.  He became my focal point. “You can heal people?” I asked.

The way he looked at me, I could tell he was pondering his next words.  Lucky for him, he spoke, otherwise I was about to accuse him of holding back on me again.

“I healed your ankle at the lake house,” he said, holding my gaze.  I guess he wondered what I was going to say next.

In answer I turned around.  “I guess I’m the stupid one then,” I muttered, because I had been.  The signs had been all there, Luke coming in with his angel light.  His warm hand on my ankle and then it felt better.  Boy was I foolish.

“You’re not stupid,” he said.

“Gullible then,” I retorted.

“Neither,” he said. “It was a crazy night with Bernadette trying to kill you. Sebastian trying to take you from me.”  His voice had grown deeper with menace. “I was hoping with all the distractions you wouldn’t notice.”