Mercy for the Damned (21 page)

Luz barely spared him a glance, her heels clicking against the hard floor as she pointed to a dark smudge on the wood.  “This is demon’s blood, no?” 

“Ah, actually yes, it is.”  How could she possibly tell that?

“We need the entire area to be completely free of all negative influences if you don’t want to wind up in deeper shit than you’re already in.” 

“That leaves me out,” Azazael muttered from his corner of the room and Luz clicked over to study him carefully.

“Oh no, honey, you gonna be right up close and personal to the main attraction,” her lips curved into a sweet smile. 

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not,” he shifted his seat a little, craning his neck to look up at her.  “My God, but you’re stunning… I don’t suppose you’d fancy a change of sides?  We could have a good time together, you and I.”  Azazael’s charming smile was slightly marred by the growing bruise on the side of his borrowed face.   

“Sorry, I don’t do cowards who steal other’s bodies to do their dirty work.  I only like one man inside of me at a time,” her lips twisted into a wry grin.  “Don’t worry, we gonna take good care of you, keep you safe for a long, long time.”  Luz patted his cheek firmly.

“Isn’t she something?” Parker whispered by my side, and I realized I’d almost forgotten he was there. 

“Yeah, I’m glad she’s on our side,” I agreed wholeheartedly.  “So, um… back to the binding ritual.  Isn’t there some way to purify the room?  We have some time, right?  The solstice isn’t for two days.”

“No,
mira
, it would take too much time for something like that.  It’s not as simple as scrubbing the room down with bleach and burning some sage.  We’ll have to work to purify any room we use, it’s better if we can start with less evil seeped into the bones.”

“What about the club?” Parker offered.  “I’ve got plenty of space, and I can shut it down for one night, no big deal.”

“That’s really sweet of you to offer, but I don’t think that’s the best idea.  It’s kinda public, and if something goes wrong…” I shook my head.  “Besides, we need a place not too far from here.  We’ll need to transport Ben wherever it is, and not only the cops are looking for him, but Raum’s thugs too.”

“I can handle the transport, no one will see a thing,” Adam replied confidently.  “She’s right though, somewhere a little more private would be best.  What about your place?”

“My place,” I repeated, not entirely happy with the notion, but it made sense.  “We can do that.  How much room do you need?”

“Enough to form a circle, and we’ll want cleared floor space just in case.”

I didn’t like the sound of that ‘just in case’, but I was well familiar with it lately.  “Alright, how about we go back to my place then and you can check it out, see if it’ll work for your purposes, and if not, we’ll have to think of somewhere else.  Adam, are you okay to stay here with… him?” I jerked my thumb towards Ben/Azazael. 

“Yeah, I’m good.  There are a few things I wanted to check on, so I’ll keep myself out of trouble.”

I considered asking him what he was looking through Sam’s old books for, but I had the feeling he might not tell me, and I didn’t want to risk that embarrassment in front of Parker and Luz.  “I’ll call you later then and let you know where we’re having it for sure.”

“Remember, you owe me a striptease later,” his eyes flashed playfully.

“How could I forget?”

Chapter Sixteen

I have always considered myself to be a fairly open minded individual.  Still, if you’d told me a year before that I’d be entertaining a room full of witches, I’d probably have laughed my ass off.  Parker and Daphne were on hand to help move furniture out of the way and generally help me keep my nerves under control as they arrived. 

Sam was conspicuously absent, he wanted nothing to do with the ‘dark arts’, as expected.  Nelo stayed tucked away out of sight as well, even though it was full on dark outside, not wanting to make himself known to so many humans with power.   

In preparation, Luz had been burning sage to help purify the room, and drew an intricate circle on the floor using knotted string, with a smaller circle inside of it, large enough for one person.  She could have drawn it with chalk if I didn’t have carpet, she explained, but the protection circle was necessary to keep Azazael trapped when they forced him out of Ben.  My breakfast bar looked like a curio shop exploded all over it, literally covered with little bottles and jars of herbs and oils, candles, and incongruously, a pink plastic jewelry case. 

There were seven witches in all, including Luz, obviously friendly with each other for the most part and I had to wonder if they were part of a witchy club.  Did they regularly meet for potions and cookies?  Was it business as usual for them, or was my fallen angel problem a rarity in the supernatural community?

I recognized the blonde from the pagan shop Daphne and I visited.  What was her name…?  Summer.  Feeling a little guilty for having frozen her in the shop that day, I avoided all eye contact with her, and she seemed inclined to ignore me as well, looking away the one time our eyes inadvertently met.  Daphne was less restrained, chatting easily with a few of them while Parker flirted with Luz. 

I don’t think I’d ever felt more uncomfortable in my own apartment.  Even Mimsy disappeared for parts unknown, possibly hiding under the bed, or in the closet for all I knew.  For a brief moment, I wished I could join them until it was all over.  All we needed was the guest of honor, but Adam hadn’t shown up with Ben yet. 

A knock sounded at the door, and I let out a long sigh of relief when it immediately opened, expecting to see Adam with Ben slung over his shoulder.  Instead, a familiar voice turned my insides to ice.  “Hello?  Merceline?  I’m here, baby.”

“Mom?”  It couldn’t be her… my luck wasn’t
that
bad, was it?  My mother hadn’t set foot into my apartment in… I couldn’t remember the last time she’d come to visit.  It was always Matty and I taking the long drive down to see her.  “What are you doing here?” I asked, finally breaking free from my paralysis to scoot past the room full of staring witches before she got too far into the apartment. 

“That’s a fine greeting.  You’re going to make these people think you’re not happy to see me.  Are you having a party?”  She looked around with interest and the witches moved as one to block the view of the circles.  

“Um… sort of.  You know you really should have called, I could have come to pick you up at the airport.” 

“I told your brother I was coming.” She tried to look past me, obviously more than a little interested in what all those people were doing there and I could tell the ‘party’ premise was wearing a little thin.  No one had drinks in their hands, there wasn’t any music playing, and there was only one guy present.  “Didn’t he tell you I was arriving today?”

I swore under my breath in every language I could think of, including a few nonsense words for good measure.  The next time I saw Matt I was going to flay him alive.  “Mama, Matty isn’t here…”

“You invited me to come up for the holiday, didn’t you?”

“Thanksgiving was
last
month, Mom,” I reminded her gently, but she was unfazed. 

“I know, but I didn’t want to intrude when you’re so busy.”

“We would have been happy to have you here.”  Typical, she used that excuse more times than I could count and I suspected her no-show for Thanksgiving was less about her not wanting to intrude and more about her having other plans.

“It couldn’t be helped, Marie was useless in the kitchen without me.  You know how she is with a house full of people.  Oh honey, look at your eyes!  Why would you want to cover them up with fake lenses when you have such beautiful big brown eyes?  Go and take those ridiculous things off,” she waved me away and I blinked at her, absorbing the criticism.  Luckily, her mind moved on to something else just as quickly.  “This is a surprise party for Matty then?” she eagerly looked around me. 

“Hi, Mrs. Renault,” Daphne came forward with a ready smile, and I was glad to have the back-up.  “It’s nice to see you again.  Did you have a nice flight?” 

I pounced on the opening, anything to get her out of there.  “Yes, you must be tired from the trip.  How about I take you down there to rest for a bit and we can have a nice visit tomorrow?”

“Don’t be silly, I’m staying here with you.”

“With me?” my face fell.

“Of course, I can’t stay with your brother, not now.”

Not now… There was a disconnect somewhere, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.  “When did you talk to Matty, Mama?”

“Just the other day.  I was so excited to hear about the wedding!  I can’t wait to hear all about the girl that won my baby’s heart.  Tell me, have you met her?  Of course you have, the two of you were always so close,” she gushed, and I stood there, my mental process painfully slow. 

“Wedding?  Matty’s told you he’s
marrying
her?”  I had to have heard that wrong.  It made no sense, he hardly knew Oriana. 

“Of course, that’s why I came right up.  I had to meet my new daughter-in-law.  Is she here?” She craned her head again, looking at the other women in the room with interest.  When no one stepped forward, her gaze fell to Parker.  “Is this your beau, Merceline?” She brushed past me to offer her hand to him.  “You’re a very handsome boy, but don’t think I condone you living in sin with my daughter.  When are the two of you going to get married?”

Parker’s smile froze even as he accepted her hand, and I think she managed to stun him out of a response. 

Everything was spiraling out of control and all of a sudden I couldn’t take it any more and I lost it.  “Mom, that’s enough!” I froze her in place, putting an end to the uncomfortable string of questions and giving me some much needed time to think.  Unfortunately for Parker, he got sucked into the effect, maybe because they were shaking hands.  For whatever reason, he froze in that same instant, leaving the rest of us to gape at them. 

“That!  That’s what you did to me!” Summer exclaimed, pointing at the still figures, and I briefly considered doing it to her again to get her to shut up.

“I’m sorry, it’s like an instinctive response.  It’s totally harmless, it’ll wear off in a few minutes.  Well, you already know that,” I shrugged. 

“I’m not doing this, Luz.  I can’t believe you talked me into coming here in the first place,” Summer muttered, looking for her bag and slinging it over her shoulder with short, angry movements.

“Wait, what’s going on?  What’s the problem?” My brows drew together in confusion.  When did I become the bad guy?  

“
Calmate
,” Luz’s hands came up in a supplicating gesture.  “You know this is the right thing we are doing here.  You can’t leave now, we won’t be able to bind him without your strength.”

Summer hesitated, and I stepped up with what I hoped was a contrite look on my face.  “Hey, look I’m sorry if I freaked you out.  I tried to tell you I wasn’t making fun of you in the store.  You’re the one who flew off the handle, I was just looking for some help.”

“That doesn’t give you the right to override people’s bodies whenever you want to,” she insisted, holding tight to her grudge.

“We have the right to do whatever we want, we’re divine beings,” Adam called out from the hallway, joining the conversation without skipping a beat.  I was torn between relief that he’d shown with Ben in tow and wishing he’d kept his mouth shut as Summer immediately bristled, but at least two other witches looked happy to see him.  Would I never escape his exes?  “Hello, ladies,” he grinned, striding past my mother and Parker to deposit Ben on the couch tucked into the corner of the room.  “I see I’m in time for the festivities.”  He rubbed his hands together briskly, eyes lighting on my mother.  “What did I miss?”

“Little bit of a hiccup, my mom decided to drop in for Matty’s
wedding
,” I replied evenly and he didn’t skip a beat. 

“Yeah?  Remind me to buy him an ugly blender or something.  Let’s get this show on the road.”

“We need to get rid of my mother first, I can’t have her waking up in the middle of it all.”  Did he really not see that? 

“I can take her out of here when she wakes up,” Daphne offered.  “Maybe on the excuse that we need to go to Matty’s for something for the party?”

“Thanks, Daph, that’s a great idea,” I smiled, grateful for the help.  “Parker can go with you since she thinks he’s my boyfriend.”  I noticed Luz’s lips curve at that statement, but I didn’t have time to explain to his current girlfriend why that was preferable to her meeting Adam with him standing right there. 

“Again with Parker posing as your guy.  You know, I’m gonna end up with a complex over this,” Adam frowned, but I ignored his upset too. 

“Adam, you take Ben to my bedroom, stay out of sight until she wakes up.  I don’t want her freaking out with new people suddenly in the room.”

“You still intend to go through with this?” Summer frowned, and I could tell she’d been hoping for an excuse to get out of it.

“Absolutely we are.  We only get one shot at this, am I right?” I looked to Luz for confirmation and she nodded somberly.  “Tonight’s the night.  Even if I have to keep my mother tied up in the closet, we’re gonna get Azazael out of Ben before it’s too late.”  I inched closer to the witch.  “I know you’re not particularly fond of me, and you can give me a plague of boils later if it makes you feel better.  But we really, really need your help to get this binding done.  Will you do it?”

There was a long, pregnant pause as we all waited for her to reply.  Finally, she dropped her bag back on the floor with a dramatic sigh.  “Fine, I’ll do it.  But I’m not doing it for you,” she scowled, but I didn’t care, as long as she agreed to help with the binding. 

“Adam, can you please take him?” I gestured to Ben who still sat slumped on the couch.  It had escaped my attention until then that he was either unconscious or sleeping very deeply, but I didn’t ask why at the time. I could guess it had something to do with Azazael’s mouth.