Angel Of Mercy (Cambions #3) (13 page)

It was odd for me to be in the driver’s seat of Flynn’s Hummer with him next to me. His pale face leaned on the window with his eyes closed. Turning on tunes didn’t help either. It only served to fill the space of silence between us.

Thank goodness for GPS, otherwise I would have gotten lost. Although Washington, DC was driving distance, I didn’t often come downtown. We ended up on Massachusetts Avenue, in the heart of Georgetown. The place was crawling with traffic and pedestrians. Turning down a street that led to the waterside, I lucked out in finding a spot not too far down. Parallel parking this monstrosity was a pain.

“Let me do it,” Flynn said, exasperated. But his eyes looked sleepy making me fear for him more.

“I got this,” I said with a smile. Five tries and I had the mammoth thing in the spot without nicking the cars in front or behind me.

The sidewalks were empty here. Just a few people walking back up to the main drag. Flynn was in no condition to walk. “Stay here,” I told him.

“No,” he said forcing himself to sit up straight. “You can’t go out alone.”

Just when I was about to say something like
I can handle myself
, a lone guy stopped to light a cigarette several yards down the hill. “Wait,” I said looking back at Flynn.

It didn’t take a genius to know what I was about to do. He didn’t say a word. Taking a deep breath, I looked down at my cleavage and hoped the guy was attracted to girls. Leaving the keys in the ignition even though I’d turned the car off, I hoped out before Flynn could say another word.

The guy was leaning on the stone wall of a small bridge. As I neared, I licked my lips wishing my demon would help me. I spoke silently, but she wasn’t responding. Fine, I could do this, I told myself.

My approach was quiet and it wasn’t until I was in his personal space that the guy looked up at me. Up was relative. He was closer to eye level than any of the other guys I dealt with. It didn’t matter. I had him. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. So I just tried to maintain eye contact.

“Hey,” he said. His voice was gravelly like he had a mouth full of rocks.

“Hey,” I repeated, with no practice at being a seductress. He should have just been mine like a puppet waiting for me to pull his strings once I captured his gaze, however that wasn’t what transpired.

His eyes left my face and went straight for my chest, I knew I had him but not the way I needed him. I cleared my throat to gain his attention where I needed it.

His head snapped up with a crooked grin. “What’s a pretty little thing like you want?”

A chipped front tooth had me staring at his mouth instead of his eyes. He reached out and snagged an arm around my waist. I got a lung full of cigarette smoke. My gag reflex was on full alert.

I heard a car door open and slam, but I was pressed to the stranger as he made a move. I opened my mouth in protest when it happened. My eyes opened to the size of tea saucers wondering if I should knee him when mist left his lips and seeped into my parted ones. I was halfway dipped because I’d been leaning away. Now we held there in some odd snapshot in time as his life left him in favor of me. Bursts of starlight filled my vision as the pleasure of his giving filled a hidden place in me.

Utterly lost, I was into it until I was yanked away from behind. My lips had never touched the guys, but the drink of his life nectar was sweet. And I hated that it stirred a hidden desire to feed more inside me and filled my face with a sick smile. The guy on the other hand, looked dazed. He struggled to focus on Flynn who looked ready to murder someone.

“Dude, that’s my girl.” Flynn’s words sounded genuine.

The guy raised his hands in surrender. “Look, she came onto me.”

Flynn caught his stare. “Just forget it and keep moving.” The guy nodded and walked quickly away. Flynn sagged and leaned against the wall barely able to remain upright as if he used his last bit of energy to compel the guy. I wanted nothing more than to take his arm and help him up. But pride was written on his face like a soliloquy. 

Without touching him, I stood in front and parted my lips a bit. His lips were closed firm in a hard line; he wasn’t the least bit pleased with what I was up to. So I rolled up to the balls of my feet to get closer to him. My movement surprised him enough that his mouth opened. And I pushed. I pushed what I’d gathered into him. Still not sure what I was doing, I was only operating on instinct.

His hands came onto my shoulders and gently pressed me back flat on my feet. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked. But he sounded stronger. I still felt pretty good, so I hadn’t given him it all.

“Saving you,” I said.

There was no thank you formed on his lips. Not even a curt nod, instead he spouted, “I don’t need you to save me.” He used his arms on my shoulders to put more distance between us.

“Really, you were about to fall over at the house. Your heart was barely functioning when you were lying on the hallway floor.” My anger was at a fever pitch. I was doing this for him. I hadn’t wanted to throw it in his face. He deserved better. But his denial of need irritated me.

Pointing at himself then at me, he dropped his hand and said, “This isn’t helping.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, truly confused.

His finger raised and bounced between us in a fast repetitive motion. “The more we do this...” he said. His voice trailed off like there was more he wanted to say while his finger fell away again. I was still trying to figure out the end of his sentence when he added, “And you can’t handle that. Hell, I can’t. And I know Luke won’t.”

Softening my face by releasing the tension in my body, I said, “Flynn. This isn’t a declaration of love. This isn’t you and me getting together. But I can tell by the shadows around your eyes, you aren’t getting what you need.”

Running a hand through his hair, which remained in its sexy perfection no matter what he did, he said, “I know, but we can’t Mercy.”

“We can,” I said, stepping forward wanting to give him more of my spoils from the first encounter of the night.

Holding me back again by my shoulders, he kept a gap between us further than just the distance. He was drawing his line in the sand. “Fine,” I said, moving away. Looking around, I didn’t notice anyone until I saw a guy stumble out of a bar located closer to the main road across the street from where we stood. Giving him no choice, I darted into the road. A car honked its horn and slammed to a stop just before hitting me head on. “Mercy,” Flynn called out, but I ignored him.

Using my momentum, I ran into the guy as a couple of other people staggered out of the bar and only barely glanced as my new prey held me up from falling. He was an older guy. The kind that was probably not too much younger than my mother. “Hello darlin’.” His southern accent was cute and made me grin.

“Thanks for catching me,” I said. And our gazes locked. His mouth opened in a silent O and I had him. His life force wasn’t as smooth as the previous guy’s, whether from age or something else; I didn’t feel the extreme high. Then again, maybe I didn’t need as much and it was like eating when you weren’t totally hungry.

When the guys hand dropped from my waist, I lost contact and stumbled back only to be caught from behind. The man looked horrified. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t of.”

Then he took off. Flynn held me now. He marched me back down the road on the opposite side from where we parked. In a dark spot, far from prying eyes, he stopped and said, “Are you crazy? Luke is going to kill us both. You have to stop this.”

“I can’t watch you die,” I said, revealing the truth like an exposed wound.

“Mercy,” he said, swallowing. He really looked at me. And I blinked because he was trying to compel me.

Shoving him away, I said, “You jerk. How could you?”

But he caught me and snatched me close. “Because you can’t remember this.” And he kissed me in a bone deep, earth shattering kind way. Then we were moving as one until a firm surface met my back. My eyes were closed. This can’t happen. I wouldn’t do this. But we were like magnets and the pull was so strong there was no separating us. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t do this. I looked up at him.

Blinking several times, I met bitter blue eyes. Flynn still held my arm. We were back in the middle of the sidewalk like we were in a lover’s quarrel. At least that’s what it would have looked like to anyone who passed by. Yet I didn’t remember moving from the wall. That’s when I saw it, a flash of guilt.

“Did you just kiss me?” I asked, because I thought I remembered being trapped by him against something solid.

He frowned and dropped his hand away. “No,” he said through gritted teeth.

I folded my arms across my body. “You did, and wiped my mind again,” I protested.

“Do you think I have enough juice for that?” he asked, looking sincere.

Tossing my folded hands to my sides, I said, “You compelled the other guy.” I pointed across the street for a reminder.

“I didn’t, okay. Don’t blame your fantasies on me.”

Storming away, I recklessly crossed the street again this time avoiding mortal peril. Getting to the car, I realized it was locked. Flynn had the keys. I turned around and watched him saunter across the street with a self-satisfied grin on his face.

Dangling the keys in front of my face, like a fish I reached for the hook only for him to capture it in his hand. “We are going home.
Now
.”

“Fine,” I said, putting my hand out palm up. He dropped his keys in my hand and rounded the car in time to open the door when I popped the locks. It took me several tries to get out of the parking spot only to take a wrong turn and have the GPS on my phone bark at me to make the next U-turn when we were at a dead end.

Slamming my fist on the steering wheel, I was beyond frustrated for having to back track. Flynn said, “Don’t abuse my baby. She’s never done anything to you.”

I glared at him and his offensive shirt dreaming up dozens of ways to curse him, but muted myself. I wouldn’t get caught up in his bullcrap. We’d come all the way to Georgetown and I hadn’t even enjoyed the experience. It wasn’t like we made a trip into the city every week. It was quite far from where we lived. And once I made it to the beltway, I still had about a forty-five minute drive home at least.

When I pulled into the drive and parked Flynn’s baby, I recalled the purpose of this whole experience. It was after three in the morning. Flynn had fallen asleep and hadn’t awakened when I stopped the car.

Getting out of my seat beat, I crawled over to him. His head was back and he looked so young. His mouth was open. Without touching him, I moved as close as possible. Leaning over with my hands pressed on the seat, I gave him the breath of life. I gave him what he needed without him even noticing. Then I felt McKayla who’d been silent all night begin to stir.

Being thrown out of the driver’s seat, it felt like I was yanked back by the shoulder. My vision slipped into a vortex of sight through another’s eyes. I felt before I saw that she pressed her mouth to his. The connection was instantly hypnotic.

Our lips melded against his. I could feel the exchange. We were doing all the giving and he was doing all the receiving. Flynn’s eyes popped opened. His hand clamped on our arms. But she pushed more of us into him. Our tongue under her instruction snaked across his lips before he joined the dance that bewitched us both.

I struggled for purchase in the mist trying to right myself as I continued to feel like I was pulled down into quicksand faster than possible. His hands slid down our arm and to the small of our back. My intentions to help him, to heal him had been thwarted by my demon. Not in control of my body, I knew my eyes blazed black. Yet, Flynn, who had to have seen, did nothing to stop this.

My demon was right. Flynn was her best hope at achieving her goals.

~McKayla~

Biding my time had been well worth it. With him, we could be stronger. Pulling back a little, I said, “Aren’t you lovely.”

He grinned. His eyes flashed neon blue. Kindred demons, we were more than connected. “And you are the prettiest of them all.” With his hands on my hips, he pushed me away. “Mercy, that is.”

I frowned. Frosty waves of contempt filled me. “Can she hear me?” he asked.

Those words built up anticipation. Would he, could he, if he knew she wouldn’t. “No, she’s out of the picture. No one has to know what we do here.”

Leaning forward, I made my move. Pressing my mouth back to his, the bond strengthened between us.

I waited for him to take my lead. But cupping my face, he broke the connection. “That’s the thing, I’ll know.”

He closed his eyes as if he was in pain. Grinding my teeth, I said what needed to be said. “You’d die for her.” It was true; his demon was starving inside. It was only a matter of time.

“That’s the thing about love. You’d do anything for the people you care about,” he said, solemnly.

“As if they care about you. They can never be. You and I both know it. Your sacrifice will be for not.” He had to see reason. He and I could be great together. Sex with him would be legendary. I moved to touch him.

He clasped my wrist. For someone so weak, he was strong with determination. “Don’t,” he gritted out.

Snatching my hands from his grasp, tongue in cheek, I pulled one final move. Seizing the hem of the shirt I wore, I pulled it over my head. The force of it spilled my hair from the ponytail. It fell over my shoulders. I took control of his hands while his mouth whispered an ‘Oh Shit’. I gave him a hand full of my chest. “Isn’t this what you’ve wanted to do since seeing us?”

He pulled his hands away, puzzling me more. He was rejecting me? Opening the door, he snarled, “Look, if you couldn’t get Sebastian or Luke to do what you wanted, why do you think I would.”

Humans, I thought. His wounded expression told me he was disappointed in me. “Fine, Go. I’ll find someone.”

Leaning over in a move worthy of vampire speed, he snagged the car keys from the ignition. Rolling my eyes, I pulled out Mercy’s phone. “I’m sure there is someone here—” But he took that from me too.

“You will not do this to her,” he commanded.

Biting my tongue, I said, “Well, then you’ll just have to give me what I want because I have legs. And you don’t have enough strength to chase me all night.”

Closing his eyes on a sigh, and gripping the keys rattling them in the process, he said, “What do you want?”

“Take me to bed,” I said, watching him stiffen as if he didn’t expect me to say that. “Or I’ll let someone else do the honors.”

My smile was broad but toothless. I knew I won when I saw defeat hunker down on his face. “Fine.” Then pointing at my shirt, he added, “Put that back on.”

Pouting, I said, “Why?” And I flashed him a wicked grin.

“Because if your mom is up, she’ll kill us both.”

Though Julie wasn’t
my
mother, I saw his point. I pulled the shirt back over my head and scooted closer. He yanked me out of the car none to pleasantly. Then I was up and over his shoulder.

“Hey, you brute,” I protested, but it was kind of hot.

Not answering me, his combat boots clomped on the driveway until we were inside the house. The chain on his belt loop jangled around. “The chain is—” my words trailed off when he stepped on the stair. The movement dislodged his shirt. Skin. Peeking below the waist band of his jeans I caught ink. “You have a tattoo.”

Still not speaking to me, I checked out other parts of him. “Your ass is perfect. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“Yes,” he said, flatly. I grinned; vanity might be the key to this puzzle.

“As one not easily impressed with men, you were well created. But then your father is a masterpiece himself.”

Before I knew it, I was tossed on the bed. My head swam. That was an odd sensation. My human body was withering under Mercy’s control. “Hey,” I said, thinking Mercy would have protested if she had been man handled. I angled to be more like her if that would help his conscience. Then my hands

 were caught at the wrist. The brute’s denim clad legs scissored around mine, holding me in place. “Look, don’t you think spooning would be a better preamble?”

“Spooning is for wusses.”

“Why? That’s what Luke does to Mercy,” I said, turning my head to him, wondering when we’d get down to things. 

Huffing out the barest of laughs, he said, “More power to him. Personally, I don’t want a mouthful of hair. The only winner in that is the girl. If you knew anything about me, you’d know that I’m all about me.”

“Well, I hoping that would be the case.”

Producing a phone one handed, he made a call instead of pressing my buttons. “Luke, you need to come here now.” His words dashed my hopes. I’d gone about this all wrong. Next time, I would choose a complete stranger.

In a matter of moments, two figures materialized a small distance from the bed. There he stood. My body stiffened at the sight of those blue eyes, dark and powerful. The seductive lips turned ever so slightly at the recognition of me.
Sebastian.
Behind that muscular frame stood the blonde goody two-shoes, Luke.

Bucking, I tried to leverage myself out of Flynn’s grip.

“What the F—” Luke started to say until I met his blue eyes with equal disdain.

“This is like the exorcist. Get your girl before her head starts spinning,” Flynn blathered, still trying to restrain me.

“McKayla,” came the dark sultry voice. Immediately, I went still. My will attuned to his voice.

“Sebastian.”

Flynn and Luke stared at him as the fight left me. I had no choice but to listen.

“You can let her go,” Sebastian told Flynn.

He untangled himself from me and scooted away like I was radioactive. All my systems were go but there was no one to turn me on. Spitting, I said, “Bastards.” That was all I could do.

“How did you get loose?” Sebastian asked.

Letting my eyes roll to the back of our head, unable to stop myself, I huffed out, “The lack of sleep. She was too tired to hold me back.”

“Free her,” Sebastian commanded dispassionately.

“No,” I said even though the cord that held her bound was loosening. “You can’t stop me forever.” I eyed them each one by one. Their disgust fueled my words. “That’s okay. Flynn, did you get off having your hands on me?” And I shook my breast at him and watched as Luke turned purple.