Mercy for the Damned (13 page)

“I think you look beautiful,” he smiled, brushing the hair away from my forehead.   “God, I missed you.”  Adam leaned down to kiss me tenderly, almost reverently.

“You said that before,” I murmured, between kisses.

“I meant it.”

“I missed you too.”

“I missed you more.”

“How do you know that’s possible?” I smiled against his lips as I felt him walking me back towards my bedroom.

“More time went by for me, remember?”

“Oh right, I guess you did miss me more.  How much time did go by for you, Adam?”  What had he endured?  How many times had Raum fed from him?  Or worse?  A wave of sadness washed over me, bringing the sting of tears to my eyes, even though he stood there whole and healthy in my arms.

“Shh, it doesn’t matter now,” he frowned, catching a tear with the edge of his thumb.  “All that matters is we’re together and we’ll never be apart again.”

“Do you really believe that?”  It seemed almost too much to hope for.  We’d spent far more time apart than together. 

“I told you, Mercy.  No man will ever love you more than I do.  I wouldn’t have left you in the first place if I wasn’t trying to keep you safe.  Now that we’re both here, I won’t let anything come between us again.  I’ve already done my time in hell, even I deserve a little happiness now, don’t I?”

Instead of his usual smirk, I saw a trace of vulnerability there, as if he couldn’t quite bring himself to believe the words, even though he’d spoken them.

“Yes.  Yes, I do think you deserve happiness.  We both do.  Whatever prophecy comes our way, whatever His plan is,” my eyes rose skyward for a moment, “we can handle it, as long as we’re together.”

“Good.  ‘Cause I think I’d like to spend the next week in bed.”  To illustrate his point, he scooped me up and deposited me on the bed, immediately covering my body with his. 

“Wait, what about Nelo?” I pulled my lips from his, realizing the bedroom door stood wide open.  I wasn’t sure if the little guy had disappeared for the night or if he might come wandering out at any moment. 

“He’s fine.”

“Yeah, but… the door,” I nodded, refusing to let his hands get any further until he guaranteed at least a modicum of privacy.  

“Fine.”  Adam rolled off of me, not only shutting the door, but locking it before kicking off his shoes and rejoining me on the bed.  “You know, in my dreams you’re wearing way less clothes by this point.”  To rectify that, his fingers were already busy working on removing the outer layer of my clothes. 

“I guess that’s the difference between dreams and reality.  In my dreams you never left in the first place.  If you stop and think about it, all we’ve had is dreams.  We’ve never actually been together in the real world.”  The Ether wasn’t the same, was it? 

“Then we’ll have to make this count, this being our first time and all.” His eyes flashed playfully, sending a thrill of anticipation through me.  

Had I said I felt tired?  Any fatigue faded away as his mouth descended over mine, my body reacting instantly to his touch.  Absently, I longed for the Ether, where I could will away his clothes with a single thought.  But the slow revelation of his skin had its own delights, providing a languid exploration that let the tension build between us as our Grace started to glow faintly. 

One memory persisted as he kissed me hungrily, forcing its way into the forefront of my thoughts.  “What was that you said before about not falling for it this time, when I showed up in Midian?  Are you talking about a dream you had, or did Raum send you a copy of me?”

“Do you really want to talk about that right now?” he murmured, hands busy.

“Well…a little.” Though it got harder and harder to remember the question when he touched me like that. 

“There’s nothing to worry about.  I saw right through it, but that’s why I was extra wary when you showed up.  That’s all.” 

I didn’t like the sound of that, but decided jealousy had no place in a room where he devoted so much attention to my needs.  I quickly learned that Adam wanting to “make this count” meant to drive me insane with pleasure.  With knowing hands that kept a single coherent thought from forming until I was a ball of need, he literally made me a slave to his attentions, incapable of doing more than gasping for air, my body clamoring for more.  Just when I thought I couldn’t stand it any longer, he repeated the same lazy exploration, that time with his mouth, and I came apart in his arms, his name on my lips in a hoarse cry of delight as he showed me what I’d been missing.   

When I could open my eyes again, I found him watching me intently, inordinately pleased with himself.  “My turn,” I smiled back, determined to wipe that smirk off his face and give him just as much pleasure as he’d given me.  Pushing at his shoulders, I straddled him, hair spilling over my shoulders like a dark cloud.  Adam’s hands immediately went to my hips, attempting to guide me where he wanted me the most, but I resisted.  “Ah, ah, ah… none of that.”  Pulling his hands away by the wrists, I pinned them over his head, fully aware that he was strong enough to resist me at any moment.  “I told you, it’s my turn.”

“By all means,” he nodded earnestly, resting his hands behind his head to wait and see what I would do next.

I shifted a little lower, taking a moment to look my fill of his magnificent body. 
Mine…
echoed through my mind.  A little possessive growl left my throat as I laid worship to him with my hands and mouth, every moan of pleasure I wrung from him sending a thrill straight to my core.  Everything about him was hard and velvety smooth, but softly yielding to the touch.  Weeks of pent up longing lent an urgency to my movements, I wanted to touch him everywhere at once. 

“You’re killing me,” he bit out through clenched teeth, fingers tangling in my hair.

“You can dish it out, but you can’t take it, huh?” I smiled against his skin, letting him catch his breath.  In a heartbeat our positions were reversed, with Adam looming over me.  “I’ll be the one doing the taking,” he growled as my legs parted to accept him, wrapping around him lithely.  “Wait… wait, wait, wait…” He went rigid, and my eyes clouded with worry.

“You don’t want to…?”

“No, I do, it’s just… we’re in the real world now, we have to be careful.”

“Oh, right.”  I don’t know what I was thinking, usually I’m a safety first kind of girl.  I guess the answer was, I didn’t think in general when it came to Adam, and I was glad he had the presence of mind to slow things down, especially given his stance on unwanted pregnancy.  “Top drawer, on the left.”

In the space of a few heartbeats, he was back, and it was like we’d never been apart.  Gone was the playful teasing, his face intent as he covered my body with his.  “Missed you,” he murmured into my hair, taking me in one swift movement that stole the breath from my body. 

“Missed you so much,” I whispered back, nails digging little crescent moons into the strong planes of his back as he rocked us higher and higher.  My body already ultra-sensitive, it didn’t take long before I hit that elusive peak, my cries of satisfaction mingling with his as the Grace flared in recognition, flooding my body with white hot pleasure as our souls touched. 

Adam rolled over with a groan, and I tumbled after him, collapsing against his chest as I fought to regain my breath.  For long moments we lay there, nothing but the beat of our hearts and the gentle fall of rain outside penetrating the sweet haze of contentment. 

“This…” Adam pressed a kiss to my shoulder, “this is what I missed the most.”

“So, you just love me for my body then?” I teased, fingers tracing invisible patterns over his skin. 

“No, I mean this, being with you, being home like this with you, knowing you’re mine, this feeling of… peace.  Actually, I take that back.  We’ve never done this in the world before, just in the Ether. I think on some level I knew that.  This is much better.”

“I have to say I agree, having you in my actual bed definitely doesn’t suck,” I sighed happily, snuggling deeper into his side.  “I started to think I’d never get you here.”

“That’s being dramatic, don’t you think?  You knew my plan was for us to be together eventually.”

“A year apart is cause for a little bit of drama.” 

“I forget sometimes you’ve only lived for like a quarter of a century.  Live a little longer, it falls into perspective.  Besides, I was already through what, three quarters of the sentence?  You could have left well enough alone and I would have been back to you before you knew it.”

I knew time moved differently in Midian, but I couldn’t help but sit up at that.  “You mean you were there for months and months already?”

“I told you it wasn’t that big of a deal, but you didn’t listen.”

“Then… Raziel made that arrangement for nothing… he’s there for another year and a day, isn’t he?  Not just the rest of your sentence?”  Not that I’d wanted Adam to be stuck down there at all, but… if we’d waited a couple more weeks he might have gotten out without Raziel’s sacrifice.  

“Yeah well, I didn’t ask you to come and bust me out, did I?  In fact, I seem to remember saying the complete opposite of that.”

“Poor Raziel…”  Talk about a buzzkill…  

Adam sat up against the headboard, watching me intently.  “Tell me the truth, do you have a thing for Raziel?”

“What?  No,” I scoffed.  “I told you, he came down to help me break you out.  There’s absolutely nothing going on between us.”

“What about you and Parker?”

“Are you always like this?”  I’d known he was a little possessive, but where was this coming from?  I knew Parker had a harmless crush on me, but he couldn’t possibly know about that.  Besides, it had nothing to do with my feelings for Adam.   

“It’s okay.  I told you I’d understand if you didn’t think you could wait for me, I just said I’d fight for you once I got back.”

“Those demons must have leached out part of your brains with their torture.  Did they drop you on your head?  I love
you
, genius.  Why do you think I came to Midian in the first place, to get you out.”

“So… I don’t need to have a little man to man with your boss?”

Oh God, that was all I needed.
  “No, you really don’t.  I’m not saying he’s not a little dazzled by the Grace, you know how that affects people, but Parker knows how much I love you.  And besides, he’s into the witch who’s gonna help us get Azazael out of Ben and bound away where he won’t hurt anyone else ever again.”

“About that, are you sure you can trust those witches?”

“Of course,” I responded automatically, until I started to wonder what concerned him in the first place.  “Why wouldn’t we be able to?”

“They’re helping you out of the kindness of their hearts?”  His tone spoke volumes, and I couldn’t help but frown. 

“Why not?  Putting Azazael away is for the common good.”

“It’s just that witches tend to have their own agenda and it’s usually contrary to what the heavenly host has in mind.  But, seeing as how our own agenda is a little skewed from the Big Guy’s plan, I wouldn’t worry too much about it, it’s probably fine,” he kissed the back of my hand before pulling me near again. 

I let myself be tugged closer, laying my head against his chest, but instead of drifting off to sleep, I couldn’t help but wonder.  Did they have their own agenda?  We hadn’t discussed anything by way of payment. I suppose I’d thought the idea of binding a dangerous fallen angel was reason enough for them to help, but was I being naïve?  Adam was right, not everyone else was altruistic.  In fact, most people weren’t.  I drifted off thinking about witches and demons, resolving to find Luz for a little heart to heart before work the next day.

Chapter Eleven

As tempting as the sight of Adam in my bed the next morning was, I forced myself to get up and back into my regular schedule.  We hadn’t established any kind of routine together, apart from spending time in the Ether.  We’d never talked about whether or not he’d be staying with me, or if he had another place in town (I assumed he did, of course, though I’d never seen it).  Our relationship so far had been so… abnormal, it felt strange to think about whether or not to clear out some space for him in the closet, or how he liked to drink his coffee.  There was so much I didn’t know about him…

Adam was gone when I got out of the shower, a hastily scribbled note on my pillow telling me he’d be back in a bit.  I took care of some mundane chores I’d put off like paying the bills, taking out the trash, all the little things that hadn’t seemed so important in the face of breaking Adam out of Midian.    

For once coffee didn’t sound like a good idea, and I cuddled up with a mug of blackberry tea on the couch to write a long overdue email to my mother. 

“Uh oh, are you sure you’re my Mercy?  Where’s your usual cup of java?” Adam grinned, emerging from my bedroom in nothing but a pair of jeans and a smile.  Had he gone out in public like that?  I suppose it might not matter if he kept himself hidden.  On the other hand, maybe he just didn’t care?

The joke hit a little too close to home, but I offered him a brief smile.  “I decided to take it easy on my stomach after such a night.  I can make you some coffee if you want.  Are you hungry?” 

“Only for you.” He leaned down to steal a kiss and I forgot what we were talking about when he straightened up.  “What’s on the agenda for today?  Are you up for a walk in the park?” His gaze went to the overcast sky outside.  “Or more in the mood for a movie marathon?  Or should I drag you back to bed?” 

“All those things sound really good,” I couldn’t keep the longing from my voice.  “But actually, I have to go to work in a little bit.  I thought about what you said about the witches, and I think I’d like to talk to Luz some more about what they have planned, so there aren’t any surprises once we get Ben back.  I’m gonna ask Parker if he can get her to stop by.” 

“You want me to come with?” He plopped down on the sofa beside me. 

“To work?” 

“Sure, why not?  For once I don’t have anything better to do.”