Mercy for the Fallen (39 page)

I shook her hand, the wariness dissipating as I remembered what it was like to be a normal human being again.  “Hi, nice to meet you.  I’m Jennifer Thompson,” I said, using my alias.  “And this is Ginny.” 

“Well, hello,” Corinne waved to Eve in the car.  “I’m sorry to interrupt, I could come back some other time if you have your hands full.”

What would a normal person do?
  “Oh, no, it’s no biggie.  We’re just getting home from school is all.”  I pulled open the car door, unstrapping Eve from the booster seat.  “Do you, ah, want to come in for a cup of coffee or something?”

“That would be lovely,” she smiled, standing back as I got her out of the car and dug out my keys.  “It’s nice to see a family in this house again, it was vacant for some time.”

“How long have you lived in the neighborhood?” I asked, unlocking the deadbolt and ushering her inside.  It wasn’t too crazy in there, a few scattered toys, but not too bad.  Still, she looked out of place in our modest home, as if she belonged in a house straight off the pages of
Better Homes and Gardens
. 

“A few years now,” she replied, taking a seat on the edge of the sofa when I motioned her in.  “I’m from the east coast originally, but I enjoy the slower pace out here.”

“May I have some juice, please?” Eve asked, affecting the perfect performance of a little lady without even being asked.  Maybe it was a habit she’d picked up in Githa, because I’d certainly never been such a stickler for manners. 

“Of course.  Miss Maxwell, would you prefer tea or coffee?”

“Oh please, call me Corinne.  I’ll have whatever’s easiest.  Don’t trouble yourself on my account,” she smiled. 

“Alright, I’ll go put the kettle on,” I smiled back, crossing into the kitchen where I could still keep an eye on them through the arch.  The whole thing felt like we were playing at a grown up tea party.  All of us playing a role, not saying anything of consequence. 

I came back into the room with a tray of tea, juice and a small plate of cookies.  Eve and Corinne had their heads bent together, speaking quietly.  It bothered me to see Eve so close to the stranger, even if she seemed perfectly harmless, but I didn’t feel like I could say anything without attracting attention.  Instead I lured her away with juice and cookies and the promise of a movie upstairs in her room. 

“Oh, I don’t mind her staying around.” Corinne looked disappointed when I sent Eve away, a cookie in each pocket and the cup carefully balanced in her hands. 

“She needs some time to unwind after school or she’ll talk your ears off.” I waved her away, busying myself with the tea and playing hostess. 

“She’s quite a little charmer, isn’t she?”

“We think so.”

“We?”  Her brows came up, the mug of tea halfway to her lips.  “Are you married?”  She looked down to my naked finger.

“It’s complicated,” I said shortly, not wanting to jump into a lie without talking to Adam first.  These were going to be our neighbors for a while, I wanted to have our story straight.   

Right on cue, Adam strolled in, looking good as usual in his black t-shirt and jeans.  “Hey, who’s this?” he asked with a friendly smile.

“Corinne Maxwell, pleased to meet you.”  She rose to her feet, taking a breath when he shook her hand.  “Adamiel… your reputation precedes you.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, and neither did he.  “I wish I could say the same.  What is it you think you know about me exactly?”

“Actually, I know a great deal about you,” she smiled.  “We’ve been following your exploits for hundreds of years.  We didn’t know you were actively with the child at this time.”

“Who has?”  A furrow appeared on his brow.

“And what do you mean you didn’t know he was with the child?  Just who the hell are you?” I demanded. 

Corinne didn’t lose an ounce of cool, turning a controlled smile in my direction.  “Miss Renault, I represent a small offshoot of the Catholic church who deals in the mysteries of faith.”

“There’s nothing mysterious going on here,” Adam said with a scowl, and she leveled a cool stare at him.

“I think we all know you’re wrong about that.” 

“The church?”  I gasped.  I had no idea they even knew who we were let alone kept tabs on us.  “How did you know where to find us?”  Daphne would’ve called if they’d stopped by to ask her questions.  And the house, everything else, was under assumed names. 

“We’re not without our resources.  We’ve been tracking all references to the three of you in the new bible for some time now.   Most of the prophecies are more general than specific, but they’ve helped clue us in to this region for some time, especially with the help of the Church of New Faith up in Seattle.”

“The Church of New Faith?  Never heard of it,” Adam said with a shake of the head.

“I believe you’ve met the founder.  He calls himself Archbishop Steve?”

“That crackpot?” I snorted.  “You can’t seriously believe anything he has to say.”

“Oh, his testimony is only one piece of the puzzle we’ve assembled.  We monitor all news services for reports of the unusual… like a beheaded man who dissolves from view,” she said with a pointed look to Adam.  “But in this instance, the prophet was very specific.  His vision described your home here very specifically.”

“What did he say?” I asked, even as Adam tried to distract me from it.

“Mercy, you can’t put any stock in it.”

“What did he say?” I pressed.

“He said there would be a struggle between the light and the dark.  And the darkness would fall before the Bringer of Life with the help of her consort and the Archangel Michael.”  She said it like we were talking about the menu for the PTA fundraiser, not the crazed battle that had destroyed my living room. 

“Consort?  I’m more than a consort,” Adam grumbled. 

Corinne ignored him, looking to me.  “Unless I’m mistaken, that’s already come to pass, hasn’t it?”

I met her gaze squarely.  “I’m sorry, I’m not sure what it is you want to talk to us about.”

“I’m here to investigate the claim that you’re the Bringer of Life.”

“I’m not claiming to be anything.”

“May I see your daughter again?”

“I think it’s time for you to leave,” Adam said coldly.

Again, she ignored him, focusing her plea on me.  “What are you trying to hide?  If your daughter truly is this new race of man, she deserves to be studied carefully, exalted.”

“Yep, time for you to go.”  I went to the front door and pulled it open.  Corinne took a deep breath, her heels clicking on the hardwood as she slowly made her way to the door.  Once she was right in front of me, she gave it another try.

“Miss Renault, I can understand your instinct to protect your child, and that’s admirable.  That’s all we want too, to protect her.  If she truly is the new messiah…”

“I never said she was the messiah, and neither did the new bible.  Whatever she is, she’s my daughter, and I want you to leave her alone.”

“Miss Renault…”

“You should probably keep in mind that I beat down the devil without breaking a sweat.  I wouldn’t push it, lady.” 

“I see.”  She gave me a tight smile.  “Well, it was lovely to have met you both, and I hope we’ll speak again under better circumstances.” 

“Don’t count on it,” Adam scowled, slamming the door behind her.  I stayed at the peephole, watching until she got in her car and drove away. 

“Bunny, are you okay up there?” I called out, suddenly wondering how far they’d go to
study
my daughter.

“Yes, Momma.  I’m watching Animal Planet!”

“Okay, have fun.”  At least she’d been unaffected by the visit.  Adam less so.  He sat on the edge of the coffee table, staring off into space.  “Well, that can’t be good.  What are we supposed to do about this?  We can’t stay here with them looking over our shoulders all the time.” 

“We leave,” he said, slapping his hands on his thighs and standing.  “We’ll grab a few things and go.”

“Are you kidding me?” I blinked.  I’d been expecting him to tell me I was making a big deal out of nothing, the way he always did.  “Demons you don’t have a problem with, but a visit from one woman sends you packing?”

“You don’t want to fuck with these guys, believers are more dangerous than they look.”

“But what about the house?”  We’d just moved in and now he wanted to pick up and leave?

“What do you want me to say, Mercy?  You asked for my opinion, I’m giving it to you.  If they’ve gotten it into their heads to take Evie into custody for the good of humanity, they won’t stop until they have her.”

“Where will we go?”

“Someplace… not here.  I’ll figure it out along the way.  We’ll have to be more careful next time.  Cut off all ties from your old life.”

“That’s not how she found us.  She said one of their people had a vision or something.  How are we supposed to hide from that?”

Adam took me into his arms, wrapping me up in soothing warmth.  “Yeah, but it took them eight years to pinpoint her.  It’ll be okay, Mercy, I promise.”

I never should have believed him.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

We didn’t bother to look into buying a house after that, it was strictly rentals for us.  First we went to Denver, but there were too many demons in town, and they all seemed drawn to Eve’s Grace.  I don’t know how they managed to sniff her out.  It was like one of those zombie movies where they always knew what deserted warehouse the humans were holed up in. 

I started to appreciate the streets of Seattle and Raum’s presence there keeping the demons at bay.  But we couldn’t go back there, not with Corinne and her believers knowing our ties to the city.  Next we tried Carson City, and that seemed like a good choice, until the day she was spotted and we had to leave town in a hurry after Adam gutted a demon like a trout in the parking lot of the Dairy Queen. 

Springfield, Oregon seemed like a safe bet.  Nelo didn’t sense any demons for miles around.  We settled into a tentative calm, even enrolling Eve in school again, until the night I woke to hear Nelo calling for me, followed by her terrified screams. 

I ran down the hall at super speeds, careening into the wall as I burst into her room to find a demon frozen in place, not two feet from her bed.  Adam shot in seconds later, having come from downstairs, his jaw dropping at the sight of the paralyzed demon.  Eve ran into his arms, burying her head against his chest, sobs wracking her petite body. 

“Is she okay?  Did he hurt her?” I asked, trying to get a look at her face, but she wouldn’t budge from his chest. 

“She’s just scared.  How did you do that, Mercy?” Adam nodded his head to the paralyzed demon.

“I didn’t.  She must have.  I didn’t think we could freeze demons.”  I knew Lucifer could, but I assumed that was from whatever dark magic he had access to.

“Nelo!” I yelled at the top of my lungs when I couldn’t find him anywhere.  He stepped out of the shadows at the foot of the bed, hanging his head in shame. 

“I called for you, Mistress.  I called, but then I was scared.”

“Come here,” I said, opening my arms to him.  “It’s okay, you did the right thing.  You called us and you got yourself safe.”  I held back tears as I met Adam’s gaze over the top of Nelo’s head.  We couldn’t keep this up, not anymore. 

An hour and a cup of hot chocolate later, I had both Nelo and Eve tucked into our bed, fast asleep, but I couldn’t even think about sleeping there for even one more night.  Adam showed up not too long after, the dark spatter of demon blood on his shirt letting me know he’d found more of them outside. 

“We’re all clear out there.  They won’t be bothering us again.”  Adam kept his voice pitched low to keep the kids from waking. 

“He was in our house,” I said dully, fancying I saw movement in the shadows outside, even though he’d declared it safe. 

“I’ll have to start watching over her while you sleep.  I’ll handle it.”

“Will you?  Will you attach yourself to her twenty-four seven?  What happens when she gets older?  What happens when she doesn’t want you glued to her side at all times?” 

“Tough, she doesn’t get a choice.”

If only it were that simple.  I dragged my gaze away from the window to find him staring down at the sleeping pair on the bed.  “And what about you and me?  What kind of a life is this for us?  Watching over her like a hawk.  When do we get any time for ourselves?”

“It won’t always be like this.  We’ll find a place…”

“
I don’t know if I can keep doing this.  It seems like we’re barely in a place for a week and we’re spotted.  What are we supposed to do, find a lonely mountaintop?”

“It’ll be okay, I promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“I’m not.”  Adam’s jaw tightened, but he kept his voice low.  “I said I’d do whatever it takes, and I meant it.”

“I just… I don’t know if I can live like this.  I’d almost rather take her back to Ma’on.”

“I thought we agreed that was no kind of life for her.”

“She’d be safe, at least.  Oh… but you couldn’t be with her.  I’m sorry, I forgot you couldn’t go there.”

“It’s okay.  That’s not important right now.”

“Of course it’s important.  She’s your daughter.  I know we haven’t come right out and had the talk with her, but she deserves to grow up knowing you.  And if we go up there and you stay here… who knows how many years will go by on Earth until you can see us again.”

Adam stripped off the spattered shirt and sat on the corner of the bed.  “There’s another alternative.”

“I’m not taking her to a hell dimension,” I hissed, but his hand came up to cut me off.

“That’s not it.  We could bind her Grace again.”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s why I went to see Oriana, remember?  There’s another way.”

“How could I have forgotten about that!” I gasped, hands covering my mouth as I got excited for the first time in weeks.  “Why didn’t you mention it before?”