WELCOME TO WONDERLAND

A Written Creative Work submitted to the faculty of San Francisco State University In partial fulfillment of AS the requirements for ✓ the Degree X o \\ Master of Fine Arts In V*2 Creative Writing

by Lenisha Brown San Francisco, California January 2017 Copyright by Lenisha Brown 2017 145

Like most bars Mythique was quiet during the day. Only the milky eyed bartender was in attendance this afternoon, compulsively washing circles in the already spotless surface of the bar. He jerked upright when they walked in as though pulled by some invisible strings, and turned his head stiffly in their direction. “Drink?” he inquired, when they hesitated, his voice somewhere between a croak and a moan. “Um.. .no.” Alice replied, still creeped out by the zombie bartender even after all this time “We’re here to see Z” The creature pointed a skeletal finger towards a door at the end of the bar that Elijah was certain hadn’t been there when they walked in. Alice, past being surprised by spontaneously appearing doors, nodded her thanks and entered. The room beyond the door was nothing Alice had seen before. It was a dark, cavernous thing, lit only by flames that burst forth from a pit in the center of the room. The figure on the other side was cast in shadows, but for her scarred face, which seemed to twist into in grotesque shapes in the light. After a moment Alice recognized the face, and her initial fear was overcome by concern for her friend and mentor. “Z” she cried stepping forward, arms outstretched. The face behind the fire smiled, and for a moment she was once again the charming older woman that Alice had come to know. “Come child” Z’s voice called, and Alice stepped forward without thought, only realizing she’d somehow crossed the pit of fire after Z turned her around to face it and Elijah, still standing on the other side. 146

“Now winged one” Z spoke, her voice seeming to come from the fire itself “you will introduce yourself and state your purpose or you will not leave this room” Elijah’s serene facade was entirely gone, his face reflecting a slowly dawning horror, gaze fixed over Alice’s shoulder. Alice stood frozen in front of Z, somehow sensing that whatever form she’d taken to scare the angel, was not one she meant for Alice to see. A name flitted through her mind, one the boys had mentioned before, Erzulie Dantor, the bringer of justice. Alice let out a slow breath, and tried to look confident instead of terrified that she’d somehow ended up emissary to such a powerful being. Elijah meanwhile had obviously decided to error on the side of supplication. The angel had fallen to his knees and bowed his head low before replying. “I am Elijah, my lady.” He replied, his tone respectful. “Elijah?” Erzulie repeated slowly, sounding less than pleased “In some stories Elijah is the harbinger of the end days” The angel’s face registered alarm. “No my lady” he said quickly “I mean no harm to you and yours.” “Meaning harm and doing harm are often very different things, winged one.” Elijah glanced up from the floor, his eyes meeting Alice’s across the fire. His image seemed to shimmer and shift before her eyes like a mirage, but his gaze was clearly pleading. 147

“I- he- seemed perfectly nice to me” Alice piped in, a bit afraid of what would happen to the creature if she didn’t. After all she’d brought him here, she’d feel terrible if she’d brought him to his death. Tinkling laughter sounded in her head, both amused and exasperated. “Ah, Alice” the voice, Z’s voice, said “You’ve a soft heart, ma cher.” “Well he did” she whispered. “My emissary speaks for you winged one” Z said aloud “You are in her debt. You will obey her in all things for your time here, and we will trust her good heart to keep you in line.” “Yes, my lady” Elijah said, his voice plainly relieved. “If you should hurt her...or ANYONE under my protection....” The sentence hung in the air, nearly a tangible thing, promising punishments that were equally tangible, and perhaps more unspeakable.

Both Alice and Elijah accepted a drink from the putrid bartender upon leaving the room. Elijah with the air of a man who’d just seen his life flash before his eyes; and Alice with the air of someone who had just realized the gravity of her responsibility. “Where are you staying?” Alice asked, her voice hoarse after downing the fiery shot of, whatever the hell the bartender had given her. “At the convent” was Elijah’s equally gasped response. 148

“I wonder if you should stay with me” she mused “So I can.. .1 don’t know, keep an eye on you” The gaze the angel slid in her direction was decidedly shifty. “That’s not necessary.” he replied into his second drink. Alice frowned. “I insist”

“So let me get this straight” Jason said, the barely past puberty sound of his voice at odds with the irony in his tone “Z turned all fire and brimstone on some creature you brought to her, and you thought it was a good idea to invite him to stay at your house?” They were sitting outside of a coffee shop on the residential side of Deactur Street. As usual, Jason had chosen one of the farthest tables from the door, one that allowed him to sit in the shadows, as the bright florescent lights inside tended to make him look less human than normal. Not that anyone would have noticed either way. Jason was by no means the only deathly pale, sunken eyed creature on this end of Decatur. It had been the hang out spot for goths and gutterpunks since before the Ann Rice days, and while the hipsters were starting to invade even this enclave of New Orleans grunge, for the moment the seedier side of the city still held sway. “I wanted to keep an eye on him” Alice replied, by way of explanation. “So what, you intend to not sleep?” the vampire replied, incredulously “What if he decides to murder you in your bed?” 149

“If you had seen how scary Z was yesterday you wouldn’t be so worried. Trust me.” she replied with a small smile “I suspect he intends to treat me like a Queen, considering what his alternative was before I spoke up.” Jason still looked dubious. “Maybe Coyote and I should stay with you too” he posited, glancing at his friend for confirmation. Coyote was far more interested in the rapidly disappearing selection of pastries that Alice had brought to the table, than he was with the conversation, though he did glance up at the sound of his name. “I think we should at least come by and check him out, don’t you think so Coyote?” Jason inquired, noticing his friend’s sudden attentiveness. Coyote frowned down as his half eaten eclair and as usual gave voice to the question that they had all been thinking. “If he’s so dangerous, why didn’t Z just ask Mercy to take care of him?” “Maybe the situation called for more a more diplomatic approach” Alice replied, trying not to feel defensive. Sure, she wasn’t some heavy hitting supernatural powerhouse that set things on fire with her mind when she was angry, but still. She thought she’d done pretty well on her first day out as lone emissary. “Besides, I really don’t think it’s that serious, guys. He’s an angel for goodness sake! How evil can he be?” This time, Coyote did look up from the plate in front of him, one dark eyebrow arched in an expression that told her the boy had been hanging out with Mercy more than 150

she and Jason had expected. “Just because he has wings, doesn’t mean he’s really an angel” the boy said, his deep rumbling voice adding gravity to the words. “Exactly” Jason piped in “Plenty of nasty things have wings too. For that matter what do you really know about angels anyway?” With a sigh, Alice gave in. “Fine. Fine.” she said, throwing her hands up in exasperation “Come on by tomorrow night and we’ll all have dinner or something” “We could have dinner now” Coyote replied eagerly. “Seriously?” Jason replied, casting a pointed look at the assorted empty dishes that littered the table “I really don’t understand why you’re not the size of a house by now” “Mercy says I have a freakishly high metabolism” Coyote responded cheerfully. “’Mercy says’” was Jason’s grumbled reply. The vampire was still not pleased that Z’s usual emissary had taken such an interest in his friend. Alice was never quite sure if it was because he begrudged sharing Coyote’s attention, or because Mercy hadn’t seemed to take to him nearly as well. Jason didn’t seem nearly as opposed to Alice’s presence, but then it was a rare thing that she saw one boy without the other; whereas Mercy had clearly taken a special interest in Coyote alone. She couldn’t really blame the vampire for his reticence. Mercy was a mysterious character at best, and they all knew he could be dangerous. Then again, the same could be said for Coyote, she supposed. It made a sort of sense that the two were so drawn to each 151

other. Besides, they seemed to be good for each other. In the last few months she’d watched Coyote become slowly less shy and feral; and Mercy seemed to be slowly relaxing into something resembling, if not exactly human, then at least a bit more personable. “Let’s do this,” Alice said, that thought in mind “Why don’t you all come over for dinner? I assume Coyote knows how to get in touch with Mercy. We’ll invite him too and see what Mr. Omnipotent has to say about my new guest.” Jason looked a bit disgruntled that his nemesis had been invited along, but they all knew that if anyone could make a statement as to the wisdom of having Elijah in her home, it would be Mercy. Aggravating as it was, the man did seem to know everything about.. .well everything. “I still think we should get to meet him first” Jason grumbled. Alice reached over and placed her hand over the boy’s stiff, pale one, and smiled gently. “I will take your opinion in as much consideration as I will Mercy’s” she promised “You know I will.” Jason looked up and gave her a little half smile “It’s not so much my opinion as Coyote’s” he replied “He’s got an amazing instinct with people. He nicknamed you ‘the nice lady’ way before we’d actually met you.” Alice grinned at Coyote, a little surprised, and more than a little flattered. Her smile turned mischievous, as she glanced back at Jason. “Well he’s not totally infallible” she teased “He likes Mercy too, after all” 152

Alice leaned back in her chair as they shared a laugh, reflecting on how she seemed to have somehow gained a family in the process of searching for the one she’d lost.

Mercy dreamt of falling. The horrifying sensation of weightlessness. His limbs scrabbling frantically in the air, searching for purchase, but finding none. The mind numbing explosion of pain, as his body hit what felt like a solid surface, fragile bones shattering. He went to scream then, his body attempting to expel the pain and fear and betrayal in a primal explosion of sound. Instead, as he tried to take a breath, his lungs filled with some thick, noxious tasting fluid. Water. Mercy jerked awake, choking and gasping for air. He sat up abruptly, his whole body trembling with reaction. He gripped the edges of the pallet on which he slept with both hands and tried to take calming breath. A voice in the darkness sent his pulse back into overdrive. “You were dreaming” Coyote’s familiar growling voice observed. Mercy bit back a caustic remark and turned his head towards the sound. As usual he couldn’t see the boy, who had taken up residence in the shadowy corners of his home- slash-laboratory, until he reached over with a still shaking hand to turn on the lights. 153

He was startlingly close, having apparently moved in the darkness so that he now crouched directly next to Mercy’s pallet. Tentatively, as though unsure of the motion, Coyote reached out and laid his long fingered brown hand over Mercy’s pale clenched one. Jerking away from the touch was reflexive, but Mercy immediately regretted the action. “Sorry” he whispered “I.. .can’t” Coyote nodded in understanding, his yellow eyes unreasonably wise. “Does it hurt?” he asked. Hurt wasn’t exactly the right word. The feel of the boy’s hand on his conveyed warmth, solidity. The simple action containing such steady, simple caring that it made Mercy’s eyes burn. “It’s fine” he replied, by way of answer; and threw his legs over the side of the mattress. “What’s up?” Coyote was a remarkable hand at letting things go, it was one of the boy’s more charming qualities, at least to Mercy’s mind. “Alice wants you to come to dinner tonight” he replied, with no indication that he cared in the least, about the abrupt change of subject. Indeed, his tone was suddenly excited. Mercy scowled, his ill humor increasing unreasonably at the mention of the woman’s name. Or rather at the little spurt of feeling it caused in the vicinity of his chest. “You came all this way for that?” he grumbled. 154

“She says it’s important” Coyote insisted “She wants you to meet someone” That changed even Mercy’s mood immediately. First to curiosity, and then another bubble of feeling as he thought of who Alice might be excited to introduce around to her acquaintances here. “Did she find him?” Mercy asked, too excited for her, to keep the sound of it from his voice. There was no need to explain who ‘him’ referred to. At this point all of the second world knew that ‘Ms. Alice’ was searching for her lost brother, who had undoubtedly been kidnapped by one of their own. This was due in large part to his own efforts to find the man, though he was fairly sure she didn’t know that. But the sober shake of Coyote’s head dashed that hope. Whomever Alice was eager for him to meet, it wasn’t the person she’d come here to find. Mercy didn’t wish to examine the feelings the boy’s response evoked. Though he was interested to note that relief was among them. “Well who is it then?” he demanded, his familiar ill humor returning in a rush. “She’s not sure yet. She wants you to come and check him out.” It was a typical cryptic Coyote response. The boy had never learned the art of plain speaking. Mercy gave him a disgruntled look and stood up. “Fine” he said “Just let me get myself together” “Hurry” Coyote responded “She’s making gumbo.” Mercy bit back a smile at the boy’s enthusiasm; which was undoubtedly more for the food, than for the mysterious visitor; and moved as fast as his throbbing leg would allow.

There was a curious warmth to the house on Royal Street that Mercy was sure had not been there before Alice. From the outside it looked exactly the same: a hundred or more year old mint green Victorian, with the usual iron latticework on the balcony. When you got close enough, you could see the golden glow in the windows, muted by the gauzy ivory curtains that had been there a century or more. Nothing new, nothing particularly special. Until you opened the door. Mercy paused a moment on the front step, momentarily overwhelmed by the almost palpable good cheer that spilled forth. The new light bulbs Alice had installed gave off a glow that was brighter than candles, and yet somehow managed to appear soft and homey, rather than giving off the usual glare of fluorescents. Classic New Orleans jazz drifted happily around the room from some hidden speakers, mixing perfectly with the sound of laughter from the kitchen in back. And the smell. Behind him, Coyote made a noise that sounded something like ‘ahmmgahfooood’ and all but shoved Mercy out of the way in his haste to follow the admittedly mouth­ 156

watering aroma that filled the house. Mercy swallowed a smile, and paused for a moment on the threshold of the house, as was his custom. After so much time alone, the kind of welcome Alice’s house exuded was nearly a palpable thing. Irresistible, and yet equally terrifying. Taking a deep breath, he entered, shutting the door behind him. As per usual, the kitchen was the main gathering space. The living room having been abandoned, partially because of Coyote’s wish to be closer to the source of Alice’s amazing cooking; and partially to give the resident ghost a room of her own. Today, however, it seemed that even the ghost was more interested in the happenings in the kitchen. All of the room’s chairs had been arranged in an arc around the kitchen door; facing it like seats to a theater performance. Mercy squeezed past the chairs, resisting the urge to excuse himself to unseen persons and pushed open the doors to the kitchen. “There you are!” Alice called, smiling brilliantly in his direction, from her position at the stove. She was stirring a massive pot of something wonderful. As per usual, Coyote had positioned himself at her elbow, and was staring into the pot as though waiting for it to tell his future. She was wearing jeans, a Saints t-shirt, and a raggedy old robe that looked almost as old as the house. Her wild cloud of hair was piled up in a curly poof on the top of her head. Nothing fancy, she wasn’t even wearing shoes; and yet Mercy found himself looking away abruptly, somehow profoundly uncomfortable with her state of dishabille. 157

His eyes instead found the stranger in the room. Something close to horror flooded him and he reflexively recoiled from the thing, landing rather unceremoniously in a chair that had somehow pushed its way through the open door from the living room. A stunned silence filled the room, broken only by the now incongruous sound of cheerful jazz music, and disembodied laughter from the living room. “Hello” Elijah said calmly, which only served to deepen the expression of horror on Mercy’s face. “Mercy?” Alice said, a definite question in both her voice and her eyes as she looked warily between her two guests. With some difficulty Mercy took a slow, calming breath, and gathered his tattered dignity. “Yes” he replied, his voice sounding significantly steadier than he felt. He stood, slowly, careful to keep his cane gripped in his fist, rather than resting on the floor. A move that made even Coyote tear his attention away from dinner. “Are you-“ Alice began “Is everything ok?” He glanced at her briefly, face grim, one eyebrow arched in an expression that clearly stated that things were far from ok. “This is my guest.. .Elijah.” she said slowly “Z asked me to keep an eye on him, show him around town a bit. Like you did for me.” Silence. 158

Alice noted that while Mercy was staring hard at Elijah, as though watching for some hidden signal; Elijah seemed to be doing his level best to keep from meeting Mercy’s eyes. She wasn’t sure if this was to keep from further agitating the man, or if there was some other significance. Since she knew full well that Mercy didn’t look terribly dangerous on sight, she suspected that it was the later. Unless, of course, Elijah knew something Alice didn’t. Which wasn’t at all unfeasible. “Elijah?” Mercy said finally. It was a question directed mostly at himself, as though the name was somehow familiar to him. “Do you know each other?” Alice asked. “No” Elijah replied quickly “We have never met” This answer seemed even more startling to Mercy, who abruptly put his cane to the floor and tilted his head slightly to finally peer fully into the angel’s face. Whatever he saw there made him scowl fiercely. But since this was Mercy’s habitual expression, it somehow seemed to break the tension in the room all the same. “Are we EVER going to eat?” Coyote wailed, as though he hadn’t eat just a few hours before. “I think so” Alice replied, tossing Mercy a pointed look. With a grunt, he limped towards the table and deliberately took the seat directly across from Elijah. Alice knew it was deliberate because it was the seat next to hers, a seat Mercy generally seemed to avoid. He also accepted a plate of food without comment or complaint, choosing instead to scowl across the table at her guest. 159

Jason’s cheerful voice broke the silence “You should come to dinner more often Eli” the vampire said, tossing the angel a grin “You seem to have the magical ability to keep Mercy from making snide comments in my direction” “Jason!” Alice admonished, choking back startled laugher. Elijah tilted his head slightly towards the vampire, to send him a discreet smile. To his surprise the boy flushed violently when their eyes met. Curious, he’d never thought of vampires as the blushing sort. Filing away the information for later, he returned his gaze to the table. Mercy was an unexpected hitch in his plan, one of the very few eventualities he hadn’t planned for. True, the creature that called himself ‘Mercy’ didn’t actually know who he was or what his mission was. He most likely wouldn’t be a threat even if he did. Still, the presence of even one being that could identify him put his whole plan in jeopardy. Particularly if he was someone who had the respect of so many here. “You have a problem with our young friend, Mr. Mercy?” Elijah asked softly, careful to keep only the slightest hint of censure in his voice. Mercy, startled to be addressed so directly, scoffed after a moment. “I have a problem with vampires” he replied “They are generally up to no good and looking out only for themselves.” Jason opened his mouth to protest, it was an old argument between them it seemed, but Elijah smoothly interjected. “Those who struggle must often be selfish just to 160

survive” he said, chidingly “And I was under the impression that he was Coyote’s guardian...” Coyote looked up at the sound of his name, and Elijah met the other boy’s gaze with another small smile. “Or vice versa” he added “As the case may be.” “We look after each other” Coyote replied; and though his tone was friendly enough, Elijah could see the warning in the young man’s eyes. Clearly, he included more than just Jason in that statement. Elijah nodded his understanding. He had no wish to make an enemy of Coyote, or indeed anyone present. Though with Mercy, he wasn’t so sure he had a choice. “As you should.” Elijah said. “I’ve found it’s always best to give others the benefit of the doubt” “A good way to get yourself killed” Mercy quipped. “Perhaps” said Elijah “And yet I have to believe that others are doing the best they can. The alternative is too awful to contemplate.” “I agree” Alice said “The thought that everyone but me is cutthroat and out for themselves is a rather frightening thought”. “No doubt your willingness to take people as they are is what gamers you so much loyalty, Miss Alice”, the angel said, lifting his glass in salute. Mercy’s scowl deepened. “A pretty sentiment,” he replied, sounding like his usual slightly haughty self “but experience says otherwise. When lives are on the line people look out for themselves and only themselves, no matter how much loyalty they profess to have.” 161

“Perhaps, you’ve put your faith in the wrong people Mr. Mercy”. It was a statement, rather than a question, and one that seemed to further infuriate Mercy. “Do you mean to imply that_yow are someone worthy of faith?” he demanded with a humorless laugh. “I know what you are Elijah, and what you’re not. I know that your kind are not to be trusted.” “One could say the same of yours.” Mercy reared back, as if slapped. “That’s enough” Alice interjected, before he could respond “I didn’t ask you two here to see an epic row over gumbo.” “Presumably, you asked me here to assess whether or not your guest was dangerous.” Mercy spat “And he is.” “I mean you no harm.” Elijah protested “None of you. Truly.” “Enough!” Alice interjected, before Mercy could retort “Elijah says he means no harm and I believe him. Not another word about it. Eat your gumbo.” Mercy narrowed his eyes at the creature across the table, but did as he was told. As usual, the woman was horribly naive, overly trusting and no doubt about to get herself involved in another fiasco out of her depth. Unfortunately, Mercy thought, this time, it was highly possible it was also out of his depth as well. For some reason he chose not to examine to closely, the idea of her being harmed was... unsettling, to say the least. 162

With the addition of their winged guest, the two bedroom house on Royal Street was filled to capacity, particularly since no one was brave enough to sleep downstairs. It was decided that Jason would keep his usual ‘room’, a windowless walk-in closet in the second bedroom; while Coyote would give up his bed to the visitor and go home with Mercy. Despite his obvious dislike of her visitor, Mercy seemed reluctant to leave. “This is a terrible idea” he said, making not the slightest effort to keep his voice down. “You worry too much” Alice replied “he’s been here for three days already, and he’s been a perfect gentleman thus far. Plus I’ll still have Jason here.” “Somehow having a vampire in your closet doesn’t seem like much safety” he drawled “Besides, Jason can’t do a damn thing for you if he decides to attack you in the daytime. He probably wouldn’t even hear you scream.” “There will be no screaming to be heard” she assured him “Z made it quite clear that harming me would be severely frowned upon.” Mercy pursed his lips in disapproval but said nothing. Alice had already learned that Z seemed to be the only creature alive that was safe from Mercy’s sarcasm. “Just be careful.” He said instead. “Very, very, careful. He’s not at all what you think he is” “You mean he’s not an angel?” “There are no angels.” He replied “Not the way you think of them at any rate” 163

Alice made a sound of frustration “’The way I think of them’, you always say things like that. How do you know what I think of angels?” “For once in your life don’t argue with me.” he said, his voice unusually earnest. Alice sighed, his obvious concern for her calming her frustration a bit. “I will be careful” she promised “But I’m sure you’re over-reacting. He’s said several times that he means us no harm” “That might be true,” Mercy conceded, “but no good can come of him being here. Trust me on this.” The comment echoed in her head long after Mercy and Coyote left the house. It was disturbingly close to what Z had said upon meeting the creature, that his very presence was dangerous, whether or not he meant harm himself. Perhaps Jason was right to question her intelligence in bringing him into her home. Then again, Jason seemed to be enjoying their guest’s company immensely now. The two were still in the kitchen, ostensibly washing dishes, but she could hear their laughter all the way outside in the courtyard. Like his smile, Elijah’s laughter had a wicked, almost seductive, quality to it. Had she not seen him with her own eyes, she would never believe that the laughter currently coming from her kitchen belonged to a creature who looked so serene and angelic. And maybe that had been Mercy’s point. 164

Feeling thoughtful, Alice strolled back into the house through the back door. The two young men were standing close together at the sink, one washing, the other drying the dishes from dinner. To her surprise, it was Jason who jumped guiltily at the sound of the door closing behind her, where Elijah greeted her with a genuine, if naughty looking smile. “I’m sorry to be such a bother,” he stated, his voice reflecting his expression “but thank you for sticking up for me. Truly, you can’t know what it means to me.” “Of course” Alice replied “I don’t believe in judging people unnecessarily.” Elijah’s expression turned solemn. “So I’ve heard.” He replied “Jason has told me how kind you’ve been to him and his friend. How you stood up for them, and took them in.” He took a breath and turned fully to face her. “I think you should know. Your friend Mercy is correct,” he stated “there is some danger in having me here. Not from me, of course, but.. .I’m here on very important business that could become unsafe for those around me. Perhaps it would be best if I go back to the convent.” “You can’t go back there if you’re in danger!” Jason exclaimed “Anything could happen to you and no one would even know, much less be able to help.” Elijah smiled at the vampire’s concern, clearly the night had changed his mind about her mysterious visitor. “There’s not much any of you would be able to do.” He said “Though, I thank you for your concern.” 165

Jason frowned, clearly not pleased with this answer or his thoughts about it. “As much as I hate to say it” he began “maybe we should work on getting Mercy to like you. He’s the only one I can think of that might be able to help you in a pinch.” Elijah snorted at this suggestion “I assure you that will not happen.” He said “Neither the getting him to like me, nor the getting him to help. If the worst happens, he’s no doubt in just as much danger as I.” “OK.” Alice insisted, pulling a chair from the table and sitting in it “You’re going to tell me what’s going on with you. No more of this cryptic stuff.” Elijah hesitated. “I can’t tell you everything.” he said slowly “It’s a secret mission of sorts, but I can tell you that it is potentially dangerous. I have a meeting in a few days, and there are quite a few parties that would like to keep it from happening. There’s a good chance I’m being hunted, by some rather powerful beings. Much more powerful than your friends.” Both Alice and Jason were silent as they contemplated the idea of creatures more powerful than Z and Mercy. “So what do we do?” Jason asked, “Other than just hang you out to dry that is.” Elijah shrugged. “Pray?” 166

Chapter Seven

It would come as no surprise to most New Orleans residents that the portal that opened into hell was located on Bourbon Street. In the darkest comer of Lafitte’s Blacksmith’s Shop, just to the left of the bathrooms, a shadowy figure emerged, preceded by the smell of smoke and sulfur. It was an unintentional consequence of the portal, but a lucky one nonetheless, as it tended to keep most tourists from falling through it, no matter how many hurricanes in they were. And if one unlucky pirate had lost his notorious fortune in that very spot hundreds of years ago.. .well, it was a small price to pay really. Isra stepped forward and took a deep breath. She knew that the humans often complained of the smell in this particular area of their dimension, but to her it smelled of life; food and merriment; unwashed bodies, and excrement; of all the things that humans made and many more that they had no knowledge of, co-existing in one terrible and marvelous space. Sadly, if all went well, she wouldn’t have much time to enjoy it. She was there on business after all, not for pleasure, and the quicker this particular business was done the better. If their intelligence was correct, she only had until All Souls Day to find and capture the half-kin. After that the portal that he sought would close and while killing him 167

would be a satisfactory outcome, the Council preferred that she also learn the location of the portal that he sought. That left at least 5 days to enjoy their time with the humans. And there were oh so many ways to enjoy them. There was a particularly tasty looking specimen eyeing her from across the dark room. He was sitting alone, with several glasses in front of him, and had the glazed look of one who’d had a few to many. Isra smiled at him slowly and made her way across the bar.

First thing in the morning Mercy woke Coyote and brought him down to Mythique to raid Z’s weapons room. Halfway through the process of filling both his and Coyote’s pockets with everything that could possibly make a difference should the worst come to pass, Z appeared. She regarded them silently for a moment, before coming to stand on Mercy’s right side. “Do not worry so, my child. She can handle herself better than you think.” She said softly “It is you that I am concerned about.” “There’s nothing to be done for me” Mercy replied, not looking up from his task of sorting through weaponry “They’ll either come for me or they won’t.” “You could leave town, ma cher” 168

He looked up at that. “And leave them unprotected?” he demanded, struggling to keep his tone respectful. “She is far from unprotected” Z responded, and for a moment her face transformed into something thunderous and wild. Mercy couldn’t contain a small smile “Are you saying you’d protect her but not me?” “She would protect you” Z replied. Mercy stared at her incredulously. “We are talking about the same ‘she’ aren’t we? The blood?” Z clucked her tongue disapprovingly “You underestimate the woman” she replied, her tone firm “She is more powerful than you give her credit for. Look at yourself.” Mercy paused and did as directed, taking inventory. He had barely slept for worry. He had sent Coyote to patrol the house on Royal Street, at the first sight of sunlight, before heading immediately to the bar. His coat was heavy with weapons, as were Coyote’s, who he had directed to carry anything that would cause undo damage to his person. As usual, Z was correct. He was panicking. Taking a deep breath he returned the sword he’d been holding to its original casing and turned to give Z his full attention. “What would you have me do, yeyeT he asked, still struggling to keep the exasperation from his voice. “Trust her.” Z replied “Trust her to care for you as you do for her.” 169

“You make our relationship sound like much more than it is” he replied. “Do I?” she asked, her smile soft and knowing. “Yes” Mercy replied firmly “We’re barely friends.” “And yet here you are, at first light, searching for ways to keep her safe” “Not just her!” Mercy insisted “Coyote and Jason as well.” Z gave him a speaking glance. “Don’t lie to yourself, child.” She replied “It is her you are worried about. Her you see as most vulnerable. But you are wrong, the most vulnerable of your little family is you, yourself.” Mercy flinched at her statement, and turned abruptly away. “They are hardly my family.” He snapped, finally loosing hold of his temper “I barely know them at all! I can hardly stand the vampire, and the woman.. .well. Besides you know how I feel about this silly human notion offamily, and feelings, and unnecessary attachments-44 He paused, mid-sentence as a movement to his left caught his eye. Coyote was kneeling in front of an old, rotting wooden chest in the corner, his eyes unfocused; head cocked, as though listening for a far off noise. Both of the boy’s hands reached for the chest, almost absently, his hands fumbling with the lock, as though of their own volition. Mercy leaped across the room without a thought, his heart pounding. “No!” he said, his fear sending the box skittering across the room, at the same time that his hands closed around Coyote’s thin arms, yanking him back. They landed on the floor in a heap. For a moment, the haunting, melodic sound of women’s voices echoed in Mercy’s head. It stopped suddenly when he realized he was hugging the boy to him and dropped his arms. “Pesky Sirens” Z huffed, shoving the box through a doorway in the comer that had not been there before with her foot. “I swear, they get louder every year. Been meaning to send them back to Greece for centuries. Are you ok, my dear?” The question was directed at Coyote, who looked a bit dazzled; though whether it was the box of sirens or Z that he found dazzling was unclear. “Yes, ma’am” he mumbled, falling back into that familiar hunched posture he often had around strangers. Mercy put a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder, before he could think better of it. In an instant he saw Z through Coyote’s eyes; a dazzling golden column of light, with only the slightest human form floating within it. The boy’s mind was wide open, Mercy realized, without even the most basic human mechanism for organizing things into terms that they could understand. Coyote was that rare creature who saw things exactly as they were. Mercy couldn’t help but wonder what the boy saw when he looked at him. “It’s ok” he said to Coyote, in as soothing a tone as he could muster “She’s just an old lady... My mother, of a fashion.” “Your grandmother!” Z piped in cheerfully, ignoring the frown the statement elicited from Mercy. 171

“She’s not going to hurt you is what I mean.” Mercy clarified. The boy’s expression clearly stated that he thought they were both a little crazy, but he nodded his understanding, and relaxed his nervous posture. That was the thing about Coyote. Once he trusted you, he took your every word as absolute truth. Mercy wasn’t at all sure he deserved such devotion, and he was damn sure Jason didn’t. As for the only other person that seemed to have garnered Coyote’s trust... well...

Halloween was by no means a one day event in New Orleans. Much like Mardi Gras it tended to be a weeklong affair, if not longer. It was also, Jason announced, totally true that the veil to the other side was thinner this time of year, and so they were sure to see at least a few ghosts if they wandered around the Quarter long enough. Coyote countered that he saw quite enough ghosts on the nights he stayed at Alice’s house and insisted on staying in the crowded, well-lit parts of town. It wasn’t like Coyote at all, who generally avoided loud crowded areas on principle. Yet somehow, they were heading straight onto Bourbon Street, the loudest, brightest, most crowded spot in town. 172

Most likely Mercy had impressed upon Coyote the general shadiness of the third party in their trio tonight. Elijah had been stubbornly close mouthed about why it was that Mercy disliked him so much. However, having been on the wrong side of Mercy’s cynicism himself for the last few months Jason wasn’t terribly concerned. It could be a parking ticket for all he knew. Or, more likely, Mercy just didn’t like angels for some reason, the same way he just didn’t like vampires. Either way, Jason wasn’t about to let it ruin his good time. If ever there was a time to hang out on Bourbon Street, Halloween was it. The sheer amount of people crowding the street and sidewalk was in itself a kind of spectacle. The creativity and attention to detail on some of the costumes made the whole experience that much better. And if a few of the streets inhabitants, like Jason, weren’t in costume at all? Well, that just made the night even more entertaining in his opinion. He doffed his hat dramatically to a fellow vampire, just in case; and smiled at her when one of her fake fangs fell out. “Dammit” she muttered “These things keep falling out. Yours are much cooler.” “Thank you” Jason replied with a grin, continuing past her down the road. “You’re doing pretty good tonight” Coyote remarked. Jason didn’t respond. He hadn’t mentioned to his friend that he’s been spending most nights with Leon, learning how to control his urges and to hunt more discreetly. Coyote wasn’t the only one who had found himself a mentor. 173

Instead of responding he turned to smile at Elijah. “What do you think?” he asked the angel, who had also chosen to go dressed as himself tonight. The angel turned slightly to keep his wings from crashing into a crew of pirates that were weaving drunkenly past him, and grinned in Jason’s direction. “An interesting custom.” He replied. “This city is the absolute best for Halloween” Jason insisted “There are some seriously dedicated costumes here. Check out the fairies - to your left.” “Are they real?” Coyote inquired, craning his neck to look. He had a bit of a thing for fairy women, Jason noticed. “Don’t think so.” He replied “But those wings are pretty dammed impressive” “So are those” Coyote replied, pointing down a side street. “Check it out Eli, some of your family members.” Jason chimed in, smiling sunnily at the newcomers. Elijah glanced down the street towards the trio of angels who stood watching the crowd go by and the smile suddenly dropped from his face. “We need to go” he said quickly, turning his back to the alley “Before they-“ “Too late” Coyote replied. The three angels in the alley had spotted them and were none to gently pushing their way through the crowd in their direction. “Do you know them?” Jason asked, Elijah didn’t respond. Instead he stepped back, spreading his wings as if to take flight. The surrounding crowd reared back, staring at him in equal parts envy and horror, not all of them convinced that his wings were just a very advanced costume. “You can’t” Jason hissed, grabbing Elijah’s arm. “Not here in front of everyone. You’ll give us all away.” For a split second something grotesque and feral flashed across Elijah’s face, not just an expression, but a momentary shift in the very structure of his face. Then it was gone and Jason found himself stumbling through the costumed crowd, one hand trapped in the strong grip of a rampaging angel. “Coyote!” he called, glancing behind him, but the boy had been swallowed by the crowd. He wasn’t frightened precisely. Jason had no doubt in his mind that Coyote would find him, was no doubt hot on his heels at this very moment. He wasn’t even really concerned that Elijah was a danger, the creature’s grip on his hand was firm, but not painful. Desperate, rather than threatening. The three winged creatures following them, however were another matter entirely. Jason had learned that there were many things about which he had no knowledge, and if there was one thing his new mentor had taught him in their short time together, it was the importance of knowledge. Jason took a deep breath to calm his nerves and called out in the most commanding voice he could muster “Elijah” he said, his sounding voice surprisingly calm “You have to tell me what we’re running from or I can’t help you.” 175

The creature glanced back at him, the image of his face wavering like the air above hot asphalt. “Angels,” he replied. After a moment’s pause, he turned his face away and added “real ones.” half under his breath. Somehow Jason refrained from asking the obvious next question. It hardly seemed the right time for a game of ‘what are you’. Instead he pointed to his right, towards the entrance to someone’s driveway. “Through there.” He said “We can get onto the roof through the courtyard.” “I can get onto the roof now” Elijah replied and before Jason could formulate a response he was off of his feet, flying upwards towards the roof in powerful surges. Flying was nothing like climbing to the roof. It wasn’t even like the incredible acrobatic leaps Coyote sometimes made. It was a rush of pure exhilaration, the closest to magic Jason had come since before he became a vampire. Impossibly, he wanted to laugh. Despite the danger of being seen my humans, despite being chased by ‘real’ angels who were clearly not very fond of his companion, despite hovering in midair three stories high, suspended by nothing more than the grip of a panicked.. .whatever Eli was he couldn’t keep the grin from his face. Perhaps more impossibly Eli smiled back. “You are completely insane!” Jason said, well aware the comment sounded more like a compliment than an admonishment. “So I’ve been told” the creature replied. 176

A sudden streak of light lit up the sky like a low flying comet. It clipped one of Elijah’s wings sending the two of them crashing into the roof of the nearby building, breaking their fragile hold on each other. The impact with the roof was hard enough that Jason registered pain, but not so hard that he missed grabbing a handhold on the angular rooftop to keep from tumbling over the side. Elijah, angel or no, was clearly made of less stem stuff Jason lunged forward as his friends body slid limply over the side of the building towards the forty foot drop into the courtyard, both is arms wrenching as he stopped Elijah’s fall with a one armed grip on a window that protruded from the roof. The creature he caught hold of, however, bore little resemblance to the angelic one who’d lifted him off of his feet just seconds ago. Leathery batlike wings, one with a bloody chuck missing, arched out from his vaguely humanoid upper body. His lower body was covered in hair and ended in what looked like hoofs. The rounded angelic lines of his face where now knife sharp and distorted. Even his hair was different, darker, with curved gray horns curling back from the crown of his head. If Elijah hadn’t woken up at just that moment, Jason would have dropped him from shock. The eyes that regarded him from that alien face were exactly the same. Silvery gray from comer to comer, the pupil dilated with fear and pain. “Jason” he said, and his voice was also the same, deep and melodic as usual. He didn’t have to add the ‘please’, it was written across his face, just as clearly as shock was no doubt written across Jason’s. 177

It was a moot point either way. Another flash of light shot fire along Jason’s arm and both tumbled downward towards the cobblestones. Elijah extended his wings, but they did little more than slow the duo’s descent. The two of them crash landed in the courtyard, just as painfully as they had on the roof. The angels however landed gracefully, fluttering to the ground with almost no sound. They were almost painfully beautiful, dressed in skin tight white and silver suits, their skin and wings lighting up the courtyard with some unseen inner light. One of them carried a tall silver staff that looked vaguely familiar to Jason. He thought about trying to escape, trying to talk his way out of the situation, trying to protect his friend from these creatures who clearly meant him harm, but his body throbbed from the impact and it took him precious seconds to get his feet under him. Two shots rang out in the meantime and with them two angels, including the one with the staff fell to the ground in screaming agony. “Come on” Coyote’s familiar voice growled in Jason’s ear. He was dragged unceremoniously backward by the neck of his shirt, only just managing to grab hold of Elijah’s arm and pull him along before darkness surrounded the three of them.

“Oh no you don’t. You are not bringing that thing in here.” “He’s a vampire Isbeth” Coyote’s voice said in the darkness “You’ve seen plenty of vampires before” 178

“I’m not talking about the vampire.” The voice said “I’m talking about that!” A light flared in the darkness and Jason flinched back from it instinctually. He needn’t have bothered, as the fairy’s light didn’t hurt in the slightest. He was more concerned about Elijah, who was still unconscious, and still looking decidedly un- angelic. Coyote, bless him, didn’t bat an eye. “It’s unconscious” he replied reasonably “and Jason brought it in. I’m sure it’s fine.” “You don’t even know what that is!” Isbeth exclaimed darkly “It’s a halfkin. Half Fallen angel, half outlander, and it’s probably got the whole of the lower dimension out searching for it” “Actually,” Jason croaked “I think it was angels that shot at us. Real ones apparently.” “That’s even worse!!” “We need a room” Jason said, finally taking the time to examine the unconscious ‘halfkin’, as the fairy had called him, beside him. Elijah did not look well at all, his skin had taken on a grayish cast, and his wing was still bleeding. “And some medical supplies” he added, though the fairy looked scandalized at the very notion. “Erzulie will hear about this!” the fairy threatened, and wasn’t it interesting, Jason thought, that he’d chosen that particular person as a threat. “Z won’t hurt us.” Coyote replied. Jason wished he was as confident of her reaction as Coyote sounded. 179

The disgruntled fairy led them to a bedroom as instructed and then promptly abandoned them, muttering about millennia old wars and the difficulty of his job the entire way. “What do we do now?” Coyote asked, after the two of them wrestled the inordinately heavy, still unconscious monster onto the bed. “What do you mean?” Jason asked. Coyote gave him a speaking glance in lieu of an answer. “I’m not turning my friend over to the bad guys!” Jason exclaimed. “Are you sure they’re the bad guys?” was Coyote’s reply. Jason wasn’t sure, but he definitely wasn’t ready to admit it either. “They shot me!” he said instead, gesturing to the tattered remnants of his sleeve. Coyote examined Jason’s arm with genuine concern. There was still a deep angry furrow in his flesh, and enough blood to make Jason turn his face away. He was still a young enough vampire for his blood to look fairly normal, normal enough to trigger the hunger. Leon had assured him that as he aged and the virus that was vampirism took over his body more fully, his blood would slowly turn thinner and loose its vivid red color. The oldest vampires were said to have clear blood, though even Leon wasn’t old enough for that. 180

“Wow” Coyote remarked, sounding impressed by the lingering damage. He’d seen Jason recover with lightning speed, from a wide variety of scrapes and injuries over the years. A lingering cut like this was rare. “What the hell did they hit you with?” “I have no idea.” Jason replied, distracted from the conversation by a movement on the bed. Elijah was sitting up, holding his head in two clawed hands. He started as Jason approached. “Easy” the vampire said “It’s just us. You’re safe. Coyote rescued us.” The wariness on Coyote’s face softened when Elijah turned and gave him a lopsided smile. “Thanks” he said, his voice sounding as angelic as ever. “Jason got hurt” Coyote nearly growled in response, but Jason quickly jumped in to reassure everyone. “No worries” he said “Just a scratch. Plus you’re missing a chunk yourself Eli” Elijah turned to examine his wing and an expression of almost comical horror crossed his face when he saw that it was not the fluffy white feathers of his disguise. For a moment his image flickered back and forth between angelic and not, before he finally gave in clutching his head in his hands as though in pain. “To late for that” Coyote quipped. Jason glared at his friend. He was spending way too much time with Mercy. The older man’s snark was definitely starting to wear off on him. 181

“I didn’t meant to deceive you” Elijah said quickly “I was only trying to look less alarming. I know what people on this plain think of outlanders. Demons, you call them. And someone like me...well I thought it best to blend in.” “And you thought looking like a seven foot tall angel was your best bet for blending in?” Jason replied incredulously. “Humans respect angels.” Elijah said softly, and while the truth of that was certainly debatable, Jason knew enough about trying to be something that he wasn’t to have some sympathy. “You need to tell us the whole story” he insisted “Beginning to end. Starting with why the ‘real’ angels are chasing you.” Elijah sighed and sat up in the bed, wincing from the pain of various minor injuries. “When the Fallen first came to our lands they immediately took over. They declared themselves the rightful rulers, overthrew cities, burned down villages and destroyed anyone who opposed them.” “Most of the survivors, especially those who looked less angelic, fled to the outlands, hence the name. But some stayed on as servants.. .or as concubines.” He shuddered faintly, and Jason wondered which category he had fallen into. “We used to travel freely between our world and yours” he said, with a sad smile “But the Fallen put a stop to that. They convinced humans that we were evil, demons bent on stealing their souls, or eating their children. They took away even that avenue of escape from their tyranny.” 182

“But I have found a way to strike back” he said quietly, “There’s a portal somewhere near here. It leads to their own dimension... to heaven. If I can find it...I can lead an army through it.” Both boys were wide eyed now, their attention so thoroughly caught by the creature on the bed that they were completely unaware of the new inhabitant of the room until she spoke. “You are not the first to try that trick, ma chere, and you will not be the last” Z said from the doorway and all three young men jumped rather guiltily. “You make it sound as though all the Fallen are evil.” She continued, moving towards the three young men in a slow elegant glide. Eli didn’t reply, though his expression seemed to say that he thought that a fair enough assessment. “The same things have happened here many, many times. With consequences more dire and complex than even you can imagine.” she continued, laying one chocolate colored hand on Coyote’s head as she passed. “Does this make all humans evil then? Are we all condemned to be judged by the worst of our sins?” “They are evil.” the demon hissed suddenly, his anger overtaking his fear of Z “And they need to be stopped!” “And how will you stop them?” Z asked, sitting on the bed beside him “By taking innocent lives on another plane of existence? Or leading the angels in an assault against the fallen in your own home? How many lives will be lost then? How many of your people’s lives?” 183

Eli turned his face away, his sharp jaw set in a mulish line, but Z was not finished. “And what of those you care for here?” she demanded, her voice growing much less pleasant and understanding “These two have risked their lives for you today. Are they too to die for your cause?” Elijah glanced furtively at Jason, but looked away as soon as their gazes touched. His face had taken on a troubled expression, but was still set in determination. Z made a disgusted sound. “Come children” she said and suddenly Jason and Coyote found themselves in a long hallway flanked by many doors. “You must stay away from him” Z was saying, and though she had one hand on each of them, her gaze was only for Jason “That boy has death on him and it is not yet your time to go.” Jason shook his head unable to speak. “You’ve made a prior commitment.” Z’s voice said, though whether she was speaking aloud or directly into his mind Jason couldn’t say “And our mutual friend here is not yet ready to do without you.” Coyote leaned against Jason’s shoulder in that strange cat-like manner he had and Jason felt tears bum the backs of his eyes. He felt as though he were making some momentous decision here in the dark halls of Mythique, agreeing to something that might change the course of history. “Do you understand?” Z asked. 184

He didn’t, at least not consciously, but he nodded anyway and manfully blinked moisture from his eyes. Erzulie’s face filled his vision. She was smiling at him gently, her amber eyes glowing with compassion. “Brave boy” she said, taking his face between her warm, soft hands “There’s a gift waiting for you when this is all over.” With a soft kiss to his forehead she was gone. 185

Chapter Eight

In the days before the bible, when humans came across the beautifully glowing winged creatures from the upper dimensions they supposed they were just another race of fairies. Certainly they were larger than the fairies they were used to, the same size and often taller than the humans of the time; and they didn’t seem to be associated with any particular natural feature as the fairies of the wood or water. Still, they had enough in common to make a sound connection, the wings, their fantastical beauty...and their reactions to cold iron.

Aurelian watched the twisting agony of his first in command and tried not to smile.

The creature that had fired on their leader and his lieutenant had either been a terrible shot, or had been trying to spare their lives. If it had been the later, it was clear the thing was quite ignorant of the ways of angels. The bullet had been filled with cold iron, turning a disarming shot to the arm into a slow agonizing death, as the material slowly seeped into their systems.

Aurelian was pleased, for he was the next in line of command.

Tearing his gaze from the sight of his writhing compatriots he turned instead to study the creature that stood in the doorway of the room they’d been given. 186

She had dark skin and hollowed out eyes. Her thin form wrapped in diaphanous red robes. She spoke not with her mouth, for she had no tongue, instead her voice flooded directly into his mind with the force of a raging river overflowing its banks.

“Your friends are dying” she stated flatly.

Aurelian tried not to flinch and bowed deeply to the Goddess. “We thank my lady for the use of her rooms.” He said gallantly “It means much that they may do so in relative comfort.”

Deep frown lines appeared between the Goddess’ brows. “They are in pain” she replied “I can help them on their journey.”

“No” Aurelian replied smoothly “That will not be necessary. However, you may help me find their attackers and bring them to justice. It seemed to me that they came in a similar portal.”

“You know that this is neutral ground” she replied calmly.

“Indeed” Aurelian replied curtly “But I thought you might help me to - “

“I will not.”

Aurelian felt the pressure rising in his chest, the rage that was always just below the surface. How dare she deny him! How dare she offer sanctuary to those that would 187

endanger the safety of his home! But he knew enough not to start a battle with a Goddess in her own territory and so took a deep breath.

“My lady” he said, with a nod of his head and the most dismissive tone he could muster. But the woman was not done with him yet.

“You will not harm the child that fired these shots” she said and her voice so loud and commanding though her mouth did not move. “You will not harm anyone under my protection Aurelian, son of Azrael or you will die by fire.”

“Fire!” Aurelian scoffed, forgetting his commitment to watching his words “You cannot kill a son of Azrael with fire.”

She was directly in front of him then, her face an inch from his. Aurelian tried to step back, but found a wall blocking his path. This close he could see that her eyes were not mearly dark shadows, but had actually be gouged out, her mouth gaped and the wrongness of her lack of tongue assaulted him. He tried to turn away, but found his whole body frozen with terror.

“No” Erzulie Dantor agreed, her voice echoed by the sound of a thousand unseen wings “7 cannot.” 188

The old factory that stood on the borderline between the Bywater and the Lower 9th ward neighborhoods looked abandoned from the outside. Several windows on the lower floor were broken and those on the top floor were tinted so dark that they may as well have been painted black. The pavement surrounding it was cracked and overgrown with weeds and the huge double doors that had once served as an entrance for trucks hung askew. Alice knew better than to try to open it on her own. Instead she pressed a button on the rickety looking intercom on the wall beside the doors and spoke into the speaker. “It’s Alice” she said, adding “Is Coyote with you?” for good measure, not at all sure she’d be invited in without a good excuse. “No” Mercy answered, his dry tone sounding even gruffer through the speaker “I thought he was at your place.” “He’s not with me.” Alice replied “I haven’t seen him or Jason since last night. Can you let me in so I don’t look like a crazy person out here talking to myself?” Mercy muttered something under his breath through the intercom moments before the image of the rickety double doors flickered and then disappeared. Beneath the holographic image was a thick metal door that rolled to one side on silent rails set into the floor. Alice took three steps into a dark cavernous room before Mercy called “Stop!” his voice echoing strangely from somewhere above her head. “Give me a second. Don’t move.” 189

The clicking of various levers and switches resounded for a moment, followed by a subtle hiss like a balloon slowly loosing air. Bright light suddenly flooded the space, temporarily blinding her. When her vision cleared she could see a square depression in the floor, inches away from her feet. She couldn’t make out what it was attached to, and wasn’t quite sure she really wanted to know. Glancing around, Alice saw that she was in a courtyard of sorts that may have once opened to the sky. Now a beautiful multicolored glass dome, that had been invisible from the street, arched above her head several stories up. The ground floor where she stood seemed to serve as a garage. Mercy’s battered yellow cab shared space with a dark colored van and an ancient looking enclosed carriage, similar to those that ferried tourists around the French Quarter. The floors above her had beautifully carved wooden railings that encircling the courtyard space, at odds with the glass and metal feel of the rest of the place. Mercy regarded her from his position leaning on the railing of the second floor. “When was the last time you saw him?” he asked, his voice sounding much more normal now. “He and Jason took Elijah to check out the costumes last night.” she said “They said they’d be back by midnight, but I haven’t seen any of them since.” Mercy frowned and stood, pressing a spot on the railing that sent the section he’d been leaning on tumbling down to her level. Alice gasped and took a step back, but when 190

the wood piece hit the floor she saw that what had seemed like an end over end fall, was actually the rapid unfolding of a set of stairs that led up to the second level. Alice eyed first the stairway and then the man standing at the top of it. “Did you make all of this yourself?” she asked, someone incredulously. “Of course not” Mercy snorted in response “Why build a whole new building when you can make small modifications to an existing structure?” “Small modifications, huh?” she muttered, heading up the surprisingly sturdy flight of stairs. The second floor was even more surprising. The railing had hidden from view a startling array of machines, computer screens and even what looked like an operating table. Flashing lights and the quiet whir of fans were everywhere, but nothing that looked even remotely homey. “Do you actually live here?” she asked “I mean...where do you sleep?” “Over there” he replied, indicating a flat metal surface that looked more like a mortuary slab than a bed “Not that it’s any of your business. You didn’t come here to talk about me.” For a moment Alice just looked around the cold sterile space with a frown. No wonder the man was always so grumpy, she thought. She didn’t think she’d ever been in a place so devoid of softness or comfort. She knew full well, however, that he would despise any sign that she felt sorry for him. So instead of commenting she turned back to face him and went directly to the 191

situation at hand. “They left last night around 8” she said “They weren’t planning to leave the Quarter as far as I know and they certainly should be back by now.” "They haven't been here" Mercy replied, frowning to himself "Coyote would know better than to bring either of them here." "I don't think they have any other friends." Alice replied anxiously "I mean, Jason's been hanging out with Leon and the other vampires a bit, but I don't think he'd bring Coyote there." "I should hope not!" Mercy exclaimed, moving towards a machine that looked like it may have begun its life as a copy machine. He pressed some keys on a small attached screen and a shimmering blue 3-D image erupted from the glass. Alice stepped closer and studied the image. It was a map of the city, every street and building laid out in translucent blue light. "That's odd" Mercy said from beside her. "It's more than odd" Alice replied "How the hell did you get a copy machine to do that?" Mercy raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't reply. "Coyote has a transmitter on him that should show up on this map as a flashing red light." he said instead "I thought it a good idea to keeps tabs on him after that last debacle you got him into." Alice scowled at him, but didn't respond. She watched in silence as he turned the image this way and that, contracting it with a flick of his hand to show larger and larger areas of the city and then the state. 192

No red dot appeared. "That's not good" he muttered. "Are you telling me he's not in the state anymore?" Alice demanded, panic lacing her voice. "He may still be at Z's" Mercy replied. "Mythique always messes with my equipment. I suspect that's intentional on Z's part." "OK, so let's go check at Mythique" Alice said, glancing around the cluttered space until she found a blank wall suitable for opening the portal to Erzulie's bar. "Don't you dare!" Mercy snapped, grabbing her arm to stop her from moving towards the space. Alice blinked first at his horrified expression and then at his hand on her arm. He'd never willingly touched her on his own before. Seeming to notice this, Mercy dropped his hand and looked away. "Portals go both ways" he said "If you open a portal from here it makes it that much easier for someone to open a portal in the opposite direction. I've done far too much work to make this place safe to let you mess it up now." Instead of returning his snide comment in kind Alice stared at him and shook her head in exasperation. "Why do you have to be so prickly all the damn time?" she asked, frustrated "I didn't know, ok? It's not like I'm intentionally trying to let hordes of vampires or whatever it is you're worried about, into your house." Mercy stood silently for a moment, arms crossed, jaw set, not meeting her eyes. 193

"I'm not going anywhere until you help me find the boys." Alice declared "For that matter I'm not leaving this city until I find my brother. You don't have to like me, but since we have all the same friends, you might as well resign yourself to dealing with me, ignorant human that I am." He turned to her then, no doubt about to make some caustic comment, but Alice jumped into the silence before he could. "Honestly, I wish we could be friends too Mercy." she said almost wistfully “Can’t we just.. .try?” Mercy sighed, his head full of Z's comments. She didn’t understand, neither of them did. Alice made him irrational, a state he hated with a passion. Still, the woman was right, they did have to find a way to deal with each other amicably. Especially now. "Maybe..." he replied quietly, after a moment of silence "Maybe we could." He took a deep breath and continued, trying for once to explain himself. "It's just that...you make me so..." Mercy paused looking for the word. "Uncomfortable." Alice chuckled and shook her head. “Yes well, the feeling is mutual,” she replied “but can we call a truce anyway? We’ll look for the boys together and try not to make each other to crazy in the process. Deal?” She held out a hand for him to shake, and though he eyed it suspiciously for a moment he eventually capitulated, grasping her hand loosely, as though afraid she would break. 194

All at once Alice was overcome by the strongest feeling of deja vu she’d ever experienced, so strong it edged into memory. Her hand held lightly in his, his quick abbreviated bow of acknowledgement. He’d said something to her then, a greeting? An acknowledgment of some kind? The memory slipped away and she was left staring at him strangely. Mercy’s expression was equally as shell shocked. “What did you call me?” “I.. .didn’t say anything.” Alice replied haltingly “Did I? I just had the weirdest feeling that-” Mercy turned away abruptly, interrupting her explanation. “We should go.” He said “Coyote might be in trouble.” Nothing could have distracted Alice from her strange experience like the mention of Coyote or Jason, her boys as she’d come to think of them, in some kind of trouble. “Ok” was her only reply.

Jonathan, she’d called him. It had been centuries since Mercy had used that name. He’d had quite a few over his time here, but that one... Mercy blew out a quick breath and turned his attention to the reunion happening in front of him. As he’d suspected, all three youngsters were hiding out in Mythique. Z having, wisely as always, forbidden them to leave unescorted. 195

Alice’s happy cry upon seeing Jason and Coyote sitting in a booth in the back of the bar had done strange things to Mercy’s insides. She was now alternating between chastising them for not contacting her and squeezing them so hard even the vampire squirmed with discomfort. She hadn’t yet noticed that the trio that had left her house the night before was now just the usual duo.

“Where’s Elijah?” Mercy interjected.

He didn’t miss the loaded look the boys gave each other at the question.

“He’s here.” Jason replied, his voice full of false cheer “He’s just...in one of the back rooms.”

“Is that so?” Mercy replied, frowning at the dissemblance.

“He got hurt.” Coyote offered.

Mercy raised an eyebrow and Jason shot his friend a murderous look before adding quickly “It’s nothing serious.”

“How did he get hurt?” Alice asked, catching on to the tone of the conversation going on around her. 196

“He fell off a roof’ Jason replied quickly, shooting another quelling look at Coyote. “It’s nothing serious. Really. He should be fine in a few days. Z said he could stay here until then.”

Mercy stared hard at Coyote. His gaze was unusually shifty eyed and his posture hunched. “Both of you are terrible liars.” He said aloud.

“We’re not lying.” Jason insisted, though his comment seemed directed at Coyote rather than at Mercy or Alice. “Eli is in the backroom. He did fall off of a roof and hit his head. Didn’t he Coyote?”

“He did.” Coyote repeated slowly.

Mercy made a disgusted noise. “I repeat.” he said “Terrible liars.” He made a gesture to Coyote, fully intending to separate the boys and get to the bottom of what had really happened, but Jason lunged for his friend snagging his arm to keep him from rising out of his seat.

“What is it with you?” Jason demanded, “You’ve made it pretty clear that you resent the lot of us, so why are you always interfering? Why don’t you just leave us alone?”

“Trust me” Mercy replied, his tone chill and haughty “if I thought you’d survive the week without me I’d be happy to leave you alone.” 197

“We’ve been surviving just fine without you for years!” the young vampire shot back. “You’ve just attached yourself to Coyote for no reason. Or worse! You’re taking advantage of him- just like that Ender guy was trying to do.”

“Jason” Coyote said softly, leaning his shoulder against his friend in that strangely affectionate way he had “It’s ok.”

Alice reached out to the boy too, ruffling his white blond hair affectionately. His eyes were suspiciously watery and his body trembled with what was probably more fear than rage. Something upsetting had happened to them for sure, whether either of the boys wanted to admit it.

“I don’t think Mercy means any harm.” Alice said reassuringly “I think he’s just a grumpy old...whatever he is.”

The vampire gave her a wobbly smile for a moment and then turned back to Mercy with an even more ferocious scowl. “You’re even mean to Alice!” he accused “Everybody likes Alice!”

Mercy’s response was interrupted by the appearance of a delicate crystal goblet, filled with sparkling gold liquid and floating for no discemable reason directly in front of his face. They all stared at it for a moment before Isbeth’s strange voice sounded out from its vicinity. 198

“Hey Mercy!” the fairy asked “You gonna take this drink or what?”

Mercy reached out just as the glass dropped, only barely managing to keep it from crashing to the floor.

Isbeth appeared in the air where the glass had manifested pointing a long fingered hand towards the bar. “You’ve got an admirer.”

Mercy glanced in the direction Isbeth pointed, where a beautiful woman, dressed all in black toasted him from the bar with her own goblet of golden liquid.

She was striking to say the least. Her pale skin was almost unnaturally flawless, her hair a luminous gold. With a small smile and the slightest raise of one golden eyebrow she conveyed her messaged quite clearly, ‘I’m waiting’.

Alice disliked her instantly.

“Do you know her?” she asked Mercy.

“Take the boys in the back to Z” was his only reply before heading towards the woman. The tension in his voice conveying quite clearly that this was no social call.

For once she did as he asked without question, hustling the two young men out of the booth and towards the back rooms with as much nonchalance as she could manage. 199

Coyote, however wouldn’t cooperate.

“Something’s wrong” he said quietly, in his usual understated way. His eyes tracking Mercy’s limping gait across the room.

“I know,” Alice replied “But there’s not much we can do-“

The boy was too polite to say it out loud, but the quick glance he shot her said quite clearly that he could do plenty. It was she who was all but useless.

Alice frowned for a moment before nodding curtly. “Be careful” she said, dragging Jason with her before the vampire could argue.

“Alice.”

They had barely made it into the hallway behind the bar at Mythique before Z intercepted them, an urgency in her voice Alice had never heard before.

“I must speak with you immediately” she said, and Alice noticed for the first time that she seemed younger and much sterner today. Her hair was shorter, her face sharper. Had this happened before? Alice wondered, for a moment she had a vague recollection...

But Z was shooing Jason into a separate room and hustling her down the hallway. She paused at a seemingly random door, and gestured for Alice to go ahead of her. 200

The room was empty, save for a few haphazardly placed candelabras and a single wooden chair draped in a pure white sheet. It smelled of smoke and dried herbs, the scent of which Alice couldn’t quite identify.

The sense of deja vu she’d had earlier was back with a vengeance. She felt as though she’d been in this room before, hundreds of times, thousands. Though of course that was impossible.

“Sit.” Z ordered.

Alice hesitated, but eventually sat in silence, instinctively gathering the white cloth into her lap rather than sit on top of it. From her seated position she could see what her standing position had obscured. There was a mirror a few feet in front of her, indeed, it seemed the room was filled with mirrors. The surface in front of her showed her image multiplied into hundreds of different angles and directions. Some of them clear and familiar, others distorted into a strange haze or grotesque images.

Startled, Alice glanced around, but outside of the mirror the room seemed empty and dimly lit.

Panic rose as she turned back to the mirror before her and realized that not all of the reflections she saw moved with her. 201

“Best not to think about it too hard just yet” Z’s voice came to her from the gloom, though Alice’s breath came quicker when she realized that she couldn’t see the other woman in the mirror either. “One must take these things in a little at a time.”

Alice felt the sheet being removed from her clenched hands. Heard the snap of the cloth as it was flung upwards and unfurled to its full size. It settled over her like a fog, cool and slightly damp. There was something comforting about being under the sheet as well, like pulling the covers over her head as a child whenever she saw a ghost.

“Alice Callahan, there are no such thing as ghosts!”

It was her grandfather’s voice. Loud, clear and startlingly close.

“Grandad?” Alice stood abruptly, clawing at the sheet over her head, trying to clear her vision. But the sheet seemed to have become fog in truth, an insubstantial, but no less blinding haze across her vision.

“Grandad!” she called again. But there was no response.

Gradually she became aware that she was walking, her feet falling not on the hard wooden floors of Mythique ’s back rooms, but on soft, muddy earth. The fog cleared gradually as she found herself in a clearing on the edge of a slow moving body of water. Cyprus trees, dripping with Spanish moss surrounded the clearing and a bright full moon hung overhead. 202

At the water’s edge stood a young woman dressed all in white, her hair wrapped up in an elaborate white and gold turban. She seemed familiar somehow and it took Alice a moment to realize that it was because the woman looked so similar to herself.

“Bonsoir” the woman said cheerfully, dipping down in an abbreviated curtsy “Or rather, good evening.”

Alice gaped. “Who are you?” she blurted.

The stranger gave her a look of disapproval. “A relative” she replied.

“My relative?” Alice replied inanely.

“Evideminent”r

Alice thought that it wasn’t at all obvious necessarily, but figured smarting off to one’s long lost, and potentially long dead, relative wasn’t quite the thing. “Not one I’ve met before though” she said instead, and couldn’t quite keep from glancing around the clearing hoping for a glimpse of her grandfather.

“No.” the strange woman responded, her voice gentle, as though she knew the direction of Alice’s thoughts. “My name is... was Fanchone. I was around long before you were even thought of. Long before your grandfather was thought of, come to that. We’re related on your father’s side.” 203

Alice nodded politely. She didn’t remember her father, she barely remembered her mother. The entirety of her family had been just her grandparents and Luke since she’d been very little. She couldn’t imagine why this ancestor, of all people, would be the one to come to her.

Can’t you? A voice inside her head asked. Isn ’t this the side of yourself you most need to reconnect with?

“Your father’s people, myself included, have been here sincethe land belonged to France.” Fanchone was saying, the small smile on her face leaving Alice to wonder if the woman could hear her thoughts.

“Here?” Alice repeated “As in New Orleans?”

“Ow/” Fanchone nodded enthusiastically “And a long line of Houngans and Mambos before even then. Or so I’m told.”

“Mambos?”

“You might say.. .a priest?”

“A priest?” Alice exclaimed “You’re telling me my father was a priest?”

“Of a fashion” the woman replied “As are you.” 204

Alice shook her head in denial, but Fanchone only smiled and reached out both hands to her. “ Viens” she said “I will show you.”

Her hands were icy cold and somehow insubstantial, though her grip was firm. She pulled Alice inexorably towards the waters’ edge. Unlike the woman holding her, the bayou seemed all too real. The chill of the water soaked through her jeans, making the material heavy and still her ‘relative’ pulled her forward.

“Erzulie has your head” Fanchone was saying “so you have a special way with fresh water. It will answer if you call to it. It will bend to your will...”

“What do you mean?” Alice asked. And just like that the ground disappeared from beneath her feet, water rushing up over her head in an instant.

She tried to pull back, out of the other woman’s grip, but she was held fast. With one arm trapped there was no way to even tread water to keep herself afloat. Alice thrashed for a moment, desperately trying to free her hand and return to the surface, when a memory came to her. Her hands desperately grasping another hand, the dead weight of the other person’s body pulling her down, sweeping her away with the current.

UP! She had thought, though it was more a command than a request Push us up!

Alice took a great gulp of air as her head broke the surface of the water. She found herself suspended half out of the river, held up by a sudden unnatural buoyancy. 205

Fanchone had made her way to the surface as well, though she somehow managed to look completely dry while floating in the middle of the river. She was smiling brilliantly at Alice, as though immensely pleased by her near drowning. “Well done!” the woman said, shaking Alice’s still captured wrist emphatically.

“Let me go this instant!” Alice nearly screamed in response “You almost killed me!”

“You can’t die here” her relative said with an easy smile “You’re already in the in between. The worst that could happen is getting stuck, but you’re pretty well tethered to your body at the moment.”

“I want to go back to my body” Alice demanded “I don’t even know why you’ve brought me here.”

“I didn’t bring you here” the other woman replied “Erzulie. You’re here to learn to use your abilities. At least enough to keep you safe for now.”

“I was safe enough before you almost drowned me.” Alice muttered as they made their way back onto solid ground. Fanchone, she noticed, looked as pristine and dry as she had before their little swim. Alice, however had not faired nearly as well.

“You will get better with time.” Fanchone assured her “And practice. For now I must show you one more thing.” 206

The woman moved behind her, once more grasping Alice’s wrist, this time holding her right arm directly out from her body. “Erzulie is also the bringer of justice.” Fanchone said, her voice raising the hairs on the back of Alice’s neck. “The protector of women and children. The keeper of the souls of those who die betrayed, abused or murdered by those who claim to care for them.”

A darkness was growing in the palm of Alice’s hand. A writhing shadowy mass, she was too afraid to look directly at.

“You must always call them with your right hand.” Fanchone continued “So that they will come to work for you, not against you. Lost souls like these can be unpredictable, you must take care to always be respectful and call them only with the purest of intentions. To protect yourself or those you love.”

The dark mass was the size of a soccer ball now. It was feather light, but hot enough to bum Alice’s hand, but she couldn’t pull away, Fanchone’s grip once again keeping her firmly in place. Faces and limbs occasionally pressed against the surface of the mass, laughing, screaming or reaching out for a moment, only to be swallowed up by the shadowy whole once more.

“They cannot kill for you.” Fanchone continued “They’re only spirits after all, but you can imagine the damage a thousand tortured souls could do to a mind if applied properly.” 207

Alice instinctively made a throwing motion with her hand, as soon as Fanchone released her wrist. She watched as the shadowy ball flew forward, then broke apart into countless ghostly figures. All of which eventually disappeared with a disconcerting flapping sound like bat wings or tattered clothing blowing in a fierce wind.

Alice shuttered uncomfortably and turned to face the woman in white. “You can call them with your fear.” She was saying, her voice gone soft and sad. “Desperation will bring them to you, quickly. But take care which hand you reach for them with.”

Alice nodded, rubbing her still burning hand against the dampness of her shirt. “I don’t know that I’ll remember any of this if the time comes.” She confessed.

“You’ll remember” Fanchone replied “It’s often easier under pressure. You’ll be amazed.”

Alice nodded absently, not feeling at all convinced.

Her ancestor gave her an understanding smile. “I have only one more thing to show you,” she said “A responsibility to pass on, if you’ll take it.”

Alice eyed her warily, “What kind of responsibility?”

“The memory you saw in the water,” Fanchone said “my memory.” 208

At this statement, the memory came over Alice again. She was in the river, her hands frantically grasping another hand, pulling against the dead weight of the unconscious body in her grip. If not for her command of the water they’d have surely both drowned; instead she managed to pull him to shore.

Him.. .a man. He was naked and deathly pale in the moonlight, his skin wet and cold to the touch. He was unnaturally light for his size and had deep, open gashes down the length of his back. For a moment, she was sure he was dead, but he coughed when she laid him on the ground; retching up river water and gasping for air.

She spoke to him in French, brushing back tendrils of his dark wet hair. She told him he was safe, that she would take care of him, he was going to be alright.

With a final, gasping cough he glanced up at her with startlingly blue eyes, his freshly scarred face familiar enough to jerk Alice from the memory.

“What?” she yelped “What?!”

The memory was gone, the moonlit swamp before her was bare, except for the swiftly thickening fog.

“I made him a vow.” Fanchon’s voice came to her, even as the fog obscured her figure. “I promised I’d keep him safe. Will you keep my promise?” 209

“Oh, he’ll just love that.” Alice muttered under her breath.

“Please! Tell me you’ll keep my promise.”

The desperation in the other woman’s voice made Alice frown. There was clearly more to that particular story than a random vow made under duress. The very thought made her irritable.

“Of course!” she snapped into the darkness “Of course I’ll keep him safe. I’d never let anyone hurt-”

Alice broke off abruptly. She was yelling at her own reflection in the mirror.

Swathed in the white sheet, with only her face showing, the resemblance between her and the mysterious ‘Fanchone’ was uncanny. Had she been talking to herself this whole time?

“Best not to think about it too hard just yet” Z’s voice came from the darkness, echoing her earlier statement. “Though you did make a promise and promises should always be kept. Whether to the ancestors or to ones-self.”

Alice, didn’t turn towards Z’s voice. Instead, she watched her reflection, marveling at the expression of fierceness that crossed her face at the thought of someone 210

hurting her boys. Any of her boys. She wasn’t quite sure when or how it had happened, but one thing was for certain: Mercy was most definitely hers.

“I’ll keep my promise” said the fierce looking warrior woman in the mirror.

“I knew you would” Z replied.

“I presume you’re looking for me.”

It was a statement, rather than a question. One Mercy had been about to utter himself. Hearing it from the demon’s mouth took him off guard, but he recovered quickly, well aware that the outcome of this conversation could well mean the difference between life and death.

“Not necessarily.” he replied, lifting the glass she’d sent him in a small toast “Though one should never ignore a gift from a beautiful woman.”

The smile she gave him then was meant to be seductive, as was the way she’d leaned forward towards him; her elbow on the bar, her cleavage on full display.

It gave Mercy the creeps. He’d heard enough about the seductive qualities of the fallen as a child to be wary. 211

“If you’re not here to help me,” she asked, reaching out to grasp the front of his shirt and draw him closer “What are you doing on this plane?”

It took Mercy a moment to answer, it was taking all of his concentration not to jerk back from her touch. It would be a disastrous move, the fallen were known for flaunting the rules of the society from which they’d come. They were more at ease with their physicality; affection and even blatant sexuality were prized rather than avoided. Rejecting her touch would give away in an instant that he wasn’t actually one of her brethren, but somehow he’d never gotten used to physical contact, even with all of the time he’d spent around drunk humans.

“Just visiting” he replied after a pause, taking a seat on the stool next to her to subtly break the contact. Thank heaven she hadn’t touched his bare skin, the last thing he needed right now was the distraction of her thoughts in his head.

In an instant he could tell that all his restraint hadn’t fooled her. Or else he’d said something wrong. Though her smile never slipped, small lines appeared between her brows, as though she we holding back a frown.

“On vacation are we?” she asked, her voice light and cheerful.

Inwardly Mercy cursed. “Not exactly” he replied. 212

She made a noncommittal noise and gestured to the drink he’d set on the bar. “Aren’t you going to try some?” she asked. “It’s fairy wine. Guaranteed to make just about any creature tipsy.”

Both her smile and her eyes grew sharp as she added. “I hear its hell on shape changers though, makes it hard to concentrate.”

Ironically the comment, which was no doubt supposed to be threatening, made him feel infinitely better. She wasn’t here for him after all. With any luck she’d be too busy searching for her shape shifter to give his awkwardness much thought.

With another toast in her direction, Mercy downed the drink. It tasted clean, like slightly sweet raindrops with a strong earthy aftertaste.

It was a mistake.

He knew it from the expression on the fallen angel’s face, when he lowered the glass. Her eyes were wide, one hand lifted halfway to her mouth, a slight smile on her face. He knew it from the way all of the colors in the room seemed to brighten, almost to the point of sparkling, until everything looked covered in a layer of multi-colored glass. He knew it by the way he almost fell off the chair when he tried to stand.

“Shit” The fallen angel did laugh then, great guffaws of laughter that had the whole bar turning to look at them. It was difficult not to smile back, particularly not with the effects of the wine washing over him.

“You’re supposed to sip it” She said with a final chuckle. “Have you never had fairy wine before?”

He shook his head, then hurriedly gripped the bar as the world spun around him.

She laughed again and held out her hand. “I am Isra” she said.

“I’d take your hand” he lied, “But I’m afraid this bar is the only thing keeping me upright at the moment.”

She smiled and dropped her hand. “And you are?”

“My apologies.” Mercy replied, his voice sounding strange in his own ears “I am Azrelius.”

“Azrelius!” she repeated, awe in her voice “Son of Azriel?”

Mercy nodded carefully and wondered at the last time he’d heard his given name spoken aloud. He couldn’t repress a shutter when the memory finally came to him. The cold, the humiliation. 214

The pain.

“I had heard that the eldest son of Azriel had fallen.” Isra was saying. “Everyone heard. Though I don’t remember seeing you at Council, or anywhere else for that matter. I’d assumed it was a rumor.”

“I have no use for Council” he spat, his drifting mind still on the one that had condemned him to exile. He hadn’t know that the fallen had their own Council, though he still had the presence of mind not to ask.

“So you’ve spent most of you time here then?” she asked with a smile “Slumming with the humans?”

“I don’t have much use for humans either” he muttered, though that wasn’t exactly true, was it?

He glanced around the bar, his eyes unconsciously searching for the one human he seemed to always have time for, even against his better judgement. Instead his eyes met Coyote’s from across the room. The boy was staring at him intently, his body tense, clearly ready to leap across the room to his rescue at the first sign of trouble.

Mercy couldn’t help but smile. He knew for sure there’d never been a time when he’d had someone else so willing to protect him. 215

Then again, perhaps that wasn’t exactly true either.

“You’re looking for a shape-shifter?” he said aloud, before the fallen angel’s eyes could follow his gaze.

“An Outlander, who can change his shape” she replied “Have you seen him?”

“I believe I have.” Mercy replied, toying with his now empty glass on the bar “Rumor has it he’s been hiding out in the convent on St. Ann.”

Isra narrowed her eyes at him, her smile slipping for the first time into a significantly less inviting expression. “You knew there was an Outlander here and you made no move to intervene?” she demanded.

Mercy studied her expression. Shock? Maybe anger? He was terrible with emotions, and the fairy wine was less than helpful. “I’ve no use for Outlanders either.” He replied, deciding to brazen out whatever fallen angel faux pas he’d unwittingly committed. “In general I like to remain neutral in these things.”

Her expression smoothed over abruptly. With a sinuous movement that reminded Mercy of a water moccasin he’d once seen, she slid from her stool and crossed the small distance he’d put between them. With a rough shove of his knees she insinuated herself between his legs, pressing her body full length against his. Mercy couldn’t help but tense uncomfortably at the contact. 216

“A rebel” she said breathed softly into his ear. “I do like that.”

“But not” she added, her voice hardening, sharp nails sinking deep into the flesh of his thighs “When they’re hiding Outlanders.”

Mercy gripped her arms and shook her, trying to dislodge her hands. He couldn’t seem to keep his emotions in check, anger and embarrassment, pain and arousal all coiled into a hot ball in his chest.

Somewhere in the room a light fixture popped and the shadows in the bar lengthened. He could see a blue glow erupting from hands, burning through the fabric of her cloths where he held her. It had to hurt, and yet she looked more excited than afraid.

“Don’t threaten me.” He said to her in the lyrical language of the fallen.

A buzzing sounded around their heads before she could reply. “I don’t know if this is foreplay or a fight” Isbeth said “But either way, you need to take it outside.”

With a smile Isra removed her nails from his skin one by one, but Mercy wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of flinching. It would have been redundant anyway, since Coyote had appeared over his shoulder growling low in warning.

Isra glanced at the boy and smiled. “I’m staying at the Bourbon Orleans if you have.. .need of me” she said, her eyes sliding over Coyote in a glance that clearly 217

included him in the invitation “Or if you have more information about the Outlander, of course.”

After placing a surprisingly gentle kiss on his lips she was gone.

Mercy took a shuddering breath as soon as she was out of sight, struggling to bring his emotions back under control.

“What was that about?” Coyote asked.

“Elijah.”

It was a chilly night for New Orleans and a light misty rain fell softly on the costumed revelers that swarmed the streets. For a moment Mercy stood on the sidewalk outside of the portal to Mythique and let the cool cleansing rain wash over him. He didn’t feel dirty exactly, just over-stimulated and not a little bit embarrassed. Idly he wondered if he’d ever get used to the feel of someone else’s hands on him.

Almost in answer, Coyote braced an arm across his back to keep him from toppling over as he tilted his head back to receive the rain. Mercy couldn’t help but smile in answer. Maybe it wasn’t touch in general that was the problem, maybe he’d only 218

gotten used to touch that hurt. After Isra’s dubious affection, Coyote’s steadying hand was a welcome change.

Mercy glanced over to find the boy grinning at him. "You're drunk" he said, in a voice that clearly stated how amusing he found the condition.

Mercy found himself smiling back. "A bit." He replied, before resuming their walk.

“Did she...hurt you?” Coyote asked, his voice suddenly grave.

Their eyes met and Mercy understood that the boy had some knowledge of what he was going through. That perhaps he too knew what it was like to expect all touch to hurt. To be somewhat grateful for the contact, even if it did cause pain.

Mercy shook his head. “I’m fine.” He replied, knowing the boy would understand that answer as well.

He was unprepared for Coyote’s signature shoulder bump of affection. The motion nearly sent him sprawling into the street. Even so, he was laughing when he regained his footing.

Laughing.

He really needed to stay away from fairy wine, it sent his control into a tailspin. 219

Coyote wasn’t laughing when Mercy looked him at him though, his attention caught by something across the street. A figure in a hooded white cloak turned abruptly away when Mercy followed the boy’s gaze, disappearing swiftly into the crowd.

“What is it?” he asked.

"Come on" Coyote said by way of answer, pulling Mercy into motion with a yank of his arm "We need to get inside."

The combination of wine and the warmth of Alice’s house was nearly too much. Mercy’s face ached from smiling, his muscles clearly unused to the expression, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.

He bowed low to her when she opened the door, nearly falling on top of her with a startled laugh. Her hands came up reflexively, but instead of pushing him away she gripped his shoulders firmly, steadying him. Dark eyes searched his face, her expression caught somewhere between worry and amusement.

“Good evening” he said softly and her face settled on amusement, eyes crinkling slightly at the corners as she smiled back.

“He’s drunk!” Coyote piped in from behind him. 220

“I can see that.” Alice replied, taking Mercy’s elbow to help maneuver him into the house, and more importantly into a chair. “How did you get drunk?” she asked “It hasn’t been that long since I left you guys, has it?”

“Fairy wine” he replied, noting the hesitation in her question, but Coyote was talking over him.

“He drank that drink the woman sent him.” The boy was saying, his head already buried in the refrigerator as usual. “Probably so she could kiss him.”

Alice stiffened at this news, the smile abruptly dropping from her face. “She kissed you?”

Mercy was fascinated by the reaction. Was she worried? Disgusted? “Yes, well, she also took a good chunk of flesh out of my legs.” he added, watching Alice’s face closely “It wasn’t exactly a romantic interlude.”

The expression that followed this announcement was much easier to read: Outrage.

“She hurt you?” Alice demanded, eyes blazing.

Mercy smiled. “Its fine” he assured her “I’m fine.” 221

She didn’t look like she believed him. In fact she looked like she was trying to figure out a way to assess the damage that had been done to him without stripping off his clothes in the middle of the kitchen.

The idea was surprisingly appealing.

"Where are Jason and Elijah?" Mercy asked, more to distract himself than to distract her.

"They’re still at Mythique” she replied.

"Elijah needs to stay there," he replied. "The woman at the bar was looking for him. I don’t want him anywhere near you or the boys while she’s around. She’s dangerous."

To his surprise, Alice didn’t argue. Instead she nodded and sank into a seat across from him at the table. “I think you’re right” she said with a sigh, “I’ll ask Z if he can stay there until this all blows over. It’s probably safer for him there anyway.” “Jason won’t like that.” Coyote added, joining them at the table with a plate overflowing with food. “I know,” Alice said, absently brushing the boy’s hair back from his face, the easy affection causing something in Mercy’s chest to tighten “but it’s for everyone’s safety. Hopefully he’ll understand that.” 222

She glanced at Mercy speculatively for a bit before adding. “Actually, Mercy. I wonder if I could persuade you to stay with us for a while as well.” “To make sure we’re safe!” Coyote added enthusiastically. He and Alice shared a suspicious looking glance before turning nearly identically innocent smiles in his direction. He didn’t believe them for a moment. It was clear that they were more worried about his safety than their own. On any other night he would have bristled at the idea that he couldn’t take care of himself, even now he returned their smiles with an ironic look that said he wasn’t falling for it. Realistically it was only slightly safer to have him in the house instead of Elijah. But the fairy wine and the easy comradery in the kitchen made him pause. Between the ghost, Z’s protection and his own discreetly placed booby traps, Alice’s place was as safe as any. He couldn’t get a much better back up than Coyote should the worst happen, and Alice... Mercy frowned. If he thought too hard about Alice he’d talk himself right out of staying. Taking his frown as a sign he was about to refuse Alice reached forward and caught the sleeve of his coat. “Please.” she said softly, her eyes full of some emotion he couldn’t identify “We could really use your help.” Mercy looked down at her hand on his sleeve and quickly caught her wrist when she went to pull away. Her skin was warm and startlingly soft in his palm. Even without 223

meeting her eyes he could feel her emotions seeping into him. The worry was there, but so was something else; a flutter in her stomach, a quickening of her breath, a warmth that spread out from her center infusing every limb. It was a terrifyingly familiar feeling, this unnamed emotion. Mercy pulled back, but much slower than usual, his body warring with his mind at the break in contact. “I’ll stay in the living room” he said gruffly, hesitant to meet her eyes. When he finally glanced up at her through his lashes he wondered why he’d bothered. Her smile was the best thing he’d seen all night.

Jason’s eyes trailed Elijah as he paced back and forth across the floor of the cramped back room at Mythique where he’d been since the attack. Z had returned briefly a few moments ago and made it clear that the Outlander would not be allowed back in the bar once he’d left. Though Jason was pretty sure it was the Goddess’ attempt to keep him in the bar, and thus safe, Elijah didn’t seem to see it that way at all. “He’s turned them all against me...” The demon was muttering, more to the room than to Jason. The tone of his voice was somewhere between fear and fury. “Anyone who could have helped me, anyone who would give me sanctuary...” “He who?” Jason asked. “The Fallen.” Elijah snapped, as though it should be obvious. “The one you call Mercy. //'that’s even his real name, which I doubt.” 224

Jason frowned. Mercy wasn’t his favorite person, but it didn’t seem his style to do what Elijah was suggesting. “I don’t know,” he replied cautiously “Mercy’s much more likely to just off you if he wanted you gone.” “You don’t understand the Fallen ones” Elijah replied “They thrive on fear and manipulation-” “I’m not sure Mercy is one of your Fallen.” Jason protested “He’s been here for years, hundreds of them, since before Leon even.” The statement seemed to stop Elijah in his tracks, slowly he turned to regard the vampire with his characteristic head tilt. With only Jason around to see, he’d decided to stay in his natural non-angelic form. The expression, which had looked so bird-like when coupled with fluffy white wings and golden curls, looked much more threatening when paired with his sharp face and horns. “How did he get here I wonder?” Elijah was saying, talking a pensive step towards Jason’s chair. “I-” Jason hesitated, not liking the look on his friend’s face at all. “I don’t know.” “It’s almost unheard of for one of them to remain in this dimension for so long” He continued, his voice growing excited “And I don’t recall ever seeing him in Council or anywhere for that matter.” “Like I said,” Jason replied “I don’t think he is one of your Fallen. I don’t think he’s been there at all.” 225

“Oh he’s one of the Fallen alright.” Elijah assured him. “There’s no mistaking those iridescent eyes. But you may be right to say he’s been here since he fell.” The demon smiled. It was that slow grin that had looked so out of place in his angelic disguise, broad, toothy and at the moment, just a little bit maniacal. “Which means that he’s the one I’ve been looking for.” He finished “The one who knows the location of the portal to heaven.” Jason shook his head. “Even if you’re right.” He said “Mercy would never just tell you something like that. He’s cagey as hell, and doesn’t trust either one of us. Most especially not you.” Elijah’s smile disappeared, leaving in its place a stubborn determination. “He’ll tell me what I want to know.” He assured Jason. “I’ll make him tell me.”

Mercy had been expecting to wake up with the mother of all hangovers. He'd been almost looking forward to it actually, from a scientific standpoint, it would have been his first. Instead, it was his twisted left leg that was the agony of the morning. A too small living room couch was clearly not the smartest place for a man with a badly healed multiple fracture to sleep, but as Coyote had flatly refused to give up his bed, the only other options had been the couch or Alice's room. He'd at least been sober enough to realize the folly of that idea. Though, waking up to see her hovering over him wasn't much better. 226

"Are you ok?" She was asking, brushing the hair out of his face with gentle hands, her brows pinched with worry. He was in too much pain to bother batting her hand away, or at least that was what he told himself. Instead he muttered something about his leg and struggled into a sitting position. "Stubborn man" she said, though there was a small smile on her face "I told you, you should have taken my bed. You're lucky the ghost didn't smother you in your sleep." "Minna wouldn't smother me." He replied, distracted by her hands, which had now moved down to his leg. The gentle pressure they exerted on his cramped muscles was both exquisite and excruciating. "Minna?" She repeated, pausing her massage. "You know my ghost by name?" "Of course" Mercy replied, tom between removing himself from her grasp and urging her to continue "I used to live here." The massage stopped entirely then and Mercy looked up to see Alice staring at him incredulously. "What?" He asked "It was a long time ago. A really long time ago. Technically I lived in the stables, above what is now your driveway, not in the house itself." Alice crossed her arms and stared at him. "And you were planning to tell me this when?" "Probably never." He replied, quietly. "It wasn't relevant. It was more than 200 years ago." 227

Alice glared at him for a moment longer and then abruptly her expression softened. "Something happened to her." She said aloud, as though someone had whispered it in her ear. "Something bad." Mercy cleared his throat to try and remove the sudden tightness there. "She was a nice lady." He said, his voice hoarse "They all were." "All?" "Minnetta was the maid, but also the cousin to, Fanchone, the lady of the house." Mercy explained, eyes downcast. "Fanchone's mother lived here as well." He missed the visible jolt that went through Alice at the mention of Fanchone. "Fanchone was a devotee of Z." he continue "She took me in after..." "After Fanchone died?" Alice prompted. Mercy opened his mouth as though to add something else, but then seemed to think better of it. "Yes" he replied, "I've been working with Z ever since." Alice waited, but he didn't seem inclined to say more. Frankly, she was rather surprised that he'd opened up to her this much. She'd been bracing herself for the return of the old foul tempered Mercy, but it seemed that they'd finally reached a truce of sorts. "How's your leg feeling?" She asked, letting him off the hook. "Like it hates me" he replied with a grimace, swinging both legs off of the couch and onto the floor with visible effort. "You're sleeping in my room from now on and that's final." Alice insisted giving him a stern look. 228

"Do you hear that Minna?" She announced to the empty room "You're not to let him sleep comfortably on this couch anymore. He'll hurt himself." A loud thump reverberated through the room, seemingly in answer. With a nod of satisfaction, Alice stood and offered Mercy her hand. "Come. Sit in the kitchen with me while I make breakfast." Mercy eyed her hand for a moment, but reached for it with much less hesitation than usual. Something like triumph rushed through her at this long awaited show of trust and Mercy glanced at her sharply as though he could sense the shift in her mood. Alice gave him what she hopped was a benign smile and handed him his cane. "Come along." she said loftily, walking a bit ahead of him, but sticking close enough to intervene should he stumble. She chose not to think too hard about why a simple thing like his acceptance of her help made her want to grin. Having safely seated him at the kitchen table and set a pot to boiling on the stove Alice strove for a casual tone when she asked "So, tell me more about this Fanchone. You said she was mistress of the house when you were here?" Mercy's spine went instantly stiff and Alice wished she could take back the question. They'd been so friendly thus far. "She was," he replied, his tone clipped and forbidding. Alice sighed. "I only ask because I'm curious about..." Her, she thought. Your relationship to her. My relationship to her. "The tradition" she finished aloud instead. 229

Mercy's shoulders visibly relaxed. "I don't actually know that much about it." He replied, turning toward her curiously. "It's all pretty secretive. You'd do better to ask Z." Alice concentrated on peeling shrimp for the shrimp and grits. She was showing off her cooking skills she realized abruptly. She could almost hear her grandmother's voice in her head, If you ever take a fancy to a man, you make sure to cook your best dishes for him. She's scoffed at the advice at the time. Argued, rather vehemently, that she wasn't going to be the type of woman who had nothing better to do than bustle around the kitchen all day. She’d hurt her grandmother’s feelings that day, she knew. She’d never been quite the granddaughter Nana had expected. Yet here she was, making breakfast for a man who only barely noticed her when she could just as easily have poured them both a bowl of cereal. Alice smiled faintly, Nana would be tickled. “Your water’s boiling over” Mercy stated, calmly reaching across her to turn down the fire. He’d come across the room without her even noticing and now stood just within arm’s reach, though he didn’t actually touch her. Still, it was a marked improvement, as was the way he was studying her face with an expression that was almost concern. “What are you thinking about?” he asked, sounding genuinely interested. “Ancestors” Alice replied with a wry smile. Tossing down the shrimp in her hand she wiped her hands on a dish towel and turned fully towards him. “It’s come to my attention that I’ve inherited some...gifts from some of them.” 230

“Gifts?” Mercy prompted “Gifts like a house?” Alice paused, she actually hadn’t thought about the ramifications of her house having belonged to Fanchone. “Gifts like magical gifts.” She replied. Mercy raised his eyebrows. “Magical gifts?” he repeated, his expression thoughtful. “That’s not so much an inherited thing.. .or a tradition thing for that matter. Magic is more about force of will. Anyone with enough willpower can do magic.” Alice gave him a skeptical look and went back to peeling shrimp. “Really?” she tossed over her shoulder “So anyone can summon the souls of the betrayed if they put their mind to it?” The look of surprise on Mercy’s face was gratifying. “No” he replied slowly “That’s a very specific and highly advanced skill. Particularly for someone who’s shown not the slightest inclination towards magic thus far.” Alice shrugged at the unspoken question. “Maybe it’s genetic.” She replied. If anything, her statement seemed to make the confusion on Mercy’s face even more pronounced. “Why would you think so?” he asked after a moment. Alice struggled with her answer, she was reluctant to mention Fanchone again considering his reaction. “Z and I had a... ceremony of sorts.” She said finally “She introduced me to an ancestor of mine, who showed me the powers.” Once the words were out she felt ridiculous. Despite all that had happened to her in her time here, all that she’d seen, the idea that she somehow possessed some kind of 231

magical powers seemed ludicrous. She could almost hear her brother, Luke, laughing at her, telling her how silly and irrational her childhood belief in ghosts and magic were. Mercy’s skeptical expression seemed an echo of that past ridicule. Well, there was one easy way to fix that once and for all. Clenching her fist, Alice took a deep breath, channeling her feelings of embarrassment and frustration into her left hand. As before, dark shadows seemed to gather around it, writhing and swirling, though this time in a noticeably more erratic fashion than it had when she’d been with Fanchone. Mercy lunged for her when he noticed, grasping her wrist in a panic. “Not your left-“ he said, but it was too late. The swirling shadow broke free of her fist, roiling along the ceiling like a storm cloud before pausing and rushing back towards her. Mercy cursed under his breath and shoved her to the floor, covering her body with his. The shadow enveloped them with a sound like a thousand children screaming in agony. Images bombarded her mind, sightless eyes, dismembered limbs and mutilated bodies. The scent of burning flesh and rotting skin filled her nostrils and within the cacophony of sound came a hissing refrain: You did this. You did this. You are responsible. “I didn’t!” Alice screamed, flailing her arms uselessly at the shadows “I didn’t do anything!” You owe us! You will be one of us! 232

Without conscious thought Alice lunged upward, out of the shelter of Mercy’s arms, her hands searching the kitchen counter for something, anything, to make the awful refrain stop. The voices in her head rose to a fever pitch as her hands closed around a butcher knife. Do it. They cried. Do it. You owe us! But the knife was knocked from her hands almost as soon as she had a hold of it. Her body forcefully wrestled back to the cool linoleum floor. A familiar voice broke through the cacophony of screams in her head. “Alice” it said “Alice, you’re ok. I’ve got you.” “Get them off!” she screamed in desperation, scratching at her own face in an attempt to dislodge the shadows “Get them off me!” “I am.” Mercy replied, catching her hands against his chest “Here-“ he said softly, moments before pouring what felt like acid in her face. Alice screamed, her body arching in pain, but he had her mostly immobilized between the floor and his body. Her feet kicking uselessly against the wooden cabinets for a moment, her nails sinking into his skin where he’d pressed them against his body. Still his voice remained calm. “Shh...” he said, the improbable blue of his eyes breaking through the fog across her vision. “You’re ok. You’re ok. I have you.” Alice took a shaky, sobbing breath and studied the face hovering over hers. Mercy had not escaped from the assault unscathed either, it seemed. His face was paler than 233

normal, skin and eyes luminous in the morning sun, glowing with a shifting multicolored light. He was breathing heavily and his hands shook slightly where they still pressed her arms against his torso. “Are you ok?” she asked. The look he gave her in response was equal parts exasperation and amusement. One side of his mouth kicked up in the ghost of a smile and he shook his head at her. “Am I ok?” he replied “You’re the one who nearly stabbed herself in the eye with a butcher knife.” “What did you splash me with?” Alice asked, wiping moisture from her face and struggling to sit up. “Holy water” was Mercy’s reply. “Which of course you just happen to have handy first thing in the morning.”

“It’s in the cane.” Mercy replied with a groan, disentangling himself from her with obvious difficulty.

“Did I hurt you?” she asked, noting the way he gripped his left leg. He had rolled onto his back beside her, close enough to touch, seeming in no hurry to maintain their usual distance.

“I’m fine” he replied, in that curt tone that let her know he was lying. His voice softened when he added “What about you?” 234

Alice nodded, she couldn’t bring herself to say much more with the echo of tortured screams still drifting through her mind.

Mercy seemed to understand. They lay next to each other on the floor for a moment in silence. Slowly, Alice pressed her hand against the linoleum, spreading her fingers until the edge of her pinky pressed against the side of his hand. His hand jumped reflexively, but he didn't pull away from her.

“I’m a bit frightened to find out what other new tricks you’ve learned.” He said, sounding like his old grumpy self.

Alice smiled faintly, “I can manipulate water” she replied.

Mercy turned his head toward her. The expression on his face was his usual scowl, but for the first time she noticed something much softer in his eyes. “Wonderful” he said, his voice dripping sarcasm. “Let’s just keep the demonstrations to a minimum until we get somewhere safe shall we?”

"So you're admitting that you want a demonstration." Alice replied, echoing his long ago insistence that she needed his help back when they'd first met.

The expression on his face changed instantly into something that was almost, but not quite, a smile. 235

They'd spent a surprisingly companionable day together, stopping first at the French Market for 'lunch supplies' as Alice called them, before heading towards the levy to practice. She seemed to know every vendor and shopkeeper along the way by name and they rewarded her good memory and sunny smile with free food and special deals. The reactions to Mercy's presence beside her ranged from speculative curiosity to outright suspicion; though to be fair next to Alice's sparkling good cheer he probably looked like a looming shadow creature.

Afternoon meal secured, they headed down to the Bywater near Mercy's place. He led her to a relatively private spot he knew by the river where Alice could practice her abilities, subtly altering the tide of the river below them, unobserved. It was there, in the dwindling light of dusk that Coyote found them. It was immediately clear that something was wrong from the way the boy rushed at them, breathing hard.

"Jason-" he gasped, shoving something into Mercy's hands as soon as he reached them. "Something's wrong-"

"Easy" Alice said soothingly "Take a breath."

But Coyote was much too agitated to comply. "Something's happened to Jason." He gasped "Elijah said to bring you this." Mercy looked down at the letter in his hand. It was written in the old language, beautiful swirling glyphs like the letters of ancient Aramaic. It had been centuries since he'd seen the language, but he read the words clear enough:

'Show me the place where you fell and I will let the vampire live.'

It was terrible, but Mercy's first instinct was relief. It could just as easily have been Coyote that had been captured. Or Alice. Jason was a vampire and nearly immortal. Surely he could take care of himself. He'd gotten himself into this mess after all, surely he could get himself out. If he even wanted out, Mercy was pretty sure that Jason’s attachment to Elijah was more than just friendship, at least on the vampire’s end.

But one glance at the two anxious faces around him sent tension flooding back into his body. There was no way either Coyote or Alice would stay out of a confrontation if they felt that Jason was in danger, and there was no way he could let them go into danger alone. His stomach clenched painfully at the thought. It was exactly as Z had said.. .he cared for them, had come to think of them as his to protect. Truth be told, he even felt a pang for the damn vampire, irritating though he was.

With a sigh, Mercy shoved the letter into his pocket. "Do you have a way to get in touch with Elijah?" He asked Coyote. 237

"He said to leave a message at the convent." The boy replied.

"I'll go with you" Mercy insisted. "You're not to leave my sight unless I tell you to. Either of you."

“What’s happened?” Alice demanded, following him away from the river, back towards his warehouse.

“I’m not certain” Mercy replied “But it looks like Elijah has taken Jason hostage.”

There was surprisingly little pain involved in being staked. After the initial trauma, which was as much emotional as physical, the pain subsided leaving behind a growing hunger that slowly blotted out everything but the urge to feed.

Jason felt at once numb and hyper alert. He could hear the chirping of every cricket, the nearly imperceptible swish of ducks swimming nearby and the rustle of nighttime creatures going about their routines; yet somehow had trouble locating his own limbs. He was outside, clearly, but had little memory of how he'd gotten there.

There was a strange haze over his thoughts and memories; the initial flash of pain as the length of wood had been driven into his chest, Elijah's face melting into something 238

soft and worried as it hovered over him and then darkness. The one thing that was clear, the only feeling left in his body, was a frantic gnawing hunger.

"How are you feeling?" Elijah's voice, full of calm concern, broke through the hunger and ignited another feeling.

Rage.

"What have you done?" Jason demanded, his voice raspy and unnatural. There was a strange wet gurgling in his throat and the sharp taste of metal in his mouth. It would have alarmed him if he hadn't been so angry.

Elijah's face appeared before him, looking perversely angelic, except for the worried crease in his forehead. "I had to." The demon replied simply. "I made sure not to hit your heart. I only wanted to bleed you out a bit and make it all look convincing for when the Fallen gets here. You'd have never come with me otherwise."

"Of course not!" Jason bellowed "You're trying to hurt my friends!"

"The Fallen is not your friend." Elijah snapped back, incensed. "I would never hurt Coyote or Alice, you know that. They were kind to me."

"If you think Coyote's not coming for you right now you haven't been paying attention." Was the vampire's ominous reply. 239

Elijah gave him that beatific smile. "Coyote won't hurt me." He replied, laying a hand on Jason's cheek "He'd never hurt anyone you care for. And you care for me...don't you?"

Jason snarled in response. He couldn't move far, secured as he was to a sturdy oak tree by a shaft of wood through his rib cage, but he was fast enough to sink his fangs into the creature's arm and tear a bloody gash before Elijah was able to free himself. Anger was a safe emotion, fury was preferable to the despair that welled up in Jason's stomach as he watched the tenderness seep from Elijah's eyes.

"That wasn't very smart" the demon snapped, examining his now bleeding forearm. "I have no idea what drinking my blood will do to you"

"Seems like the least of my worries at the moment." Jason replied, licking his lips. His mouth burned strangely for a moment and he could feel his heart begin to race as the sensation faded. He was definitely having some reaction to the demon's blood, all he could do was hope it would either help him escape or kill him quickly.

"You should stay still." Elijah said, calmly wrapping his hand in a cloth he'd produced from somewhere in his voluminous white robes. "You'll lose blood slower if you don't struggle." 240

Jason leaned his head back against the tree and complied. "He's not coming you know" Jason said wearily, he could feel his ability to form words slowly seeping away under the hunger "Mercy couldn't care less what happens to me". "He's already on his way." Elijah replied calmly "You just rest. It will all be over soon enough."

"I'm going with you." "Absolutely not!" Mercy replied, attempting to block Alice's exit from the cab with his body. "You're staying in the cab until we come back for you. You'll just get in the way." "I'm not helpless" Alice replied, standing anyway, crowding him with her much smaller frame. As she'd expected Mercy retreated hastily rather than let her touch him. "I can help." She insisted "I can at least guard your backs." "No." She paused in her reply to glance around. The shadows of oak trees and Spanish moss in City Park at night seemed ominous, the shadows like arms reaching towards them in the darkness. "Where's Coyote?" Alice asked, noting the open rear passenger door of the cab. Mercy's muttered curse sent a flash of heat through the chilly night air as he turned an limped his way into the darkness. 241

Alice glanced into the interior of the cab's backseat where Coyote had been a silent tense shadow looming behind them on the ride over. He'd clearly taken off in a hurry, leaving behind a gun that Alice didn't remember him having before. Tucking the weapon into her pocket, Alice closed both doors as quietly as she could and followed Mercy into the night. She paused at the tree line, keeping to the shadows as Mercy continued on into a familiar looking clearing near the swamp. It was the clearing where she had met Fanchone, the clearing where her ancestor had pulled a half drowned, badly mutilated man out of the river. The same enigmatic man who was currently limping his way alone into danger. There was absolutely no way she was letting Mercy do this alone, no matter what he said.

This was where it all began, Mercy thought as he entered the moonlit clearing where he’d fallen to ground, or rather to water, several human lifetimes ago. He hadn’t been to the exact spot in centuries, something about it always made him uncomfortable. His memories of the night were hazy at best, but still potent enough to trigger a host of overwhelming emotions...fear, sadness, love.

He tried instead to focus on the now, Elijah’s nervous gait as he paced impatiently back and forth in front of his captive; Jason’s gaunt, hungry look. 242

The vampire didn’t look good at all in fact. All traces of the brash, angry boy he’d been vanished beneath a dark predatory look. His eyes were tracking some movement beyond the tree line, Mercy noticed. He could only hope it was Coyote, who was nowhere to be seen at the moment, rather than Alice, who had most certainly not listened to his order to stay in the cab.

He didn’t want to hurt either of them if he didn’t have to, certainly not with an audience. Judging from Elijah’s anxious glances in Jason’s direction he wasn’t the only one. Best to follow Alice’s usual MO then and try a little diplomacy.

And wouldn’t she be amused to know he was thinking of her at a time like this? Almost, he suspected as surprised as he was.

“So” he called loudly, taking silent enjoyment from the way Elijah jumped at the sound of his voice “I’m here now. What’s the plan?”

“It’s simple” the demon called back. “You show me where the portal is or the vampire dies.”

Jason, Mercy was interested to notice, still had enough control of himself to turn toward the demon and snarl at this pronouncement. The reaction seemed to make Elijah wave for a moment, but he recovered quickly. “I hope it’s here.” He continued “I doubt Jason will survive another trip.” 243

“Oh it’s here” Mercy replied, limping closer “Though I’m not quite clear on what you plan to do with it once you know exactly where. It’s not like they’re going to give you a hero’s welcome or anything. You’ll be lucky to last the night.”

“They’ll never even know I’m there.” Elijah replied. “I’ve imitated the Fallen for ages on end, with no one being the wiser. I can do the same to the angels.”

Mercy shook his head. “It won’t work.” He said, more gently than he realized. “Your eyes will give you away in an instant. You’d do better to stay here.”

For a moment Elijah hesitated, his eyes straying to Jason’s bloodied form.

“I could help you.” Mercy added, stepping tentatively closer. “As you seem to have guessed, I know a thing or two about hiding out here.”

The offer seemed to bring Elijah back to himself. “You wouldn’t help me” scoffed “The Fallen do not help the Outlanders. It’s not done. Certainly not for free.”

“I don’t know if you can really consider me one of the Fallen.” Mercy replied “After all I’ve technically never been to hell. Besides, if you decided to stay and I didn’t help you, Alice would have my head.”

Something about the comment worked magic, the demon visibly relaxed. “You care for her” he said, though why this was important, Mercy couldn’t fathom at all. 244

“She’s a friend” he replied quickly, conscious of the woman in question’s presence somewhere in the darkness behind him.

Elijah laughed at this and shook his head. “You Fallen are a sorry lot” he scoffed, though his voice had lost much of its menace “You wouldn’t know love if it bit you.”

A movement from the comer of his eye drew Mercy's attention back to Jason. Coyote, silent as always had materialized unnoticed from the surrounding darkness sometime during their conversation and was currently working to free the vampire from the stake, seemingly unaware of the danger a feral vampire posed.

"Coyote don't-" Mercy called, turning his back on Elijah and the conversation and lurching towards the duo reflexively.

It was to late, the vampire had sunk his fangs into Coyote's neck almost before the stake through his chest slid free. To Mercy's horror, the boy didn't even fight the sudden onslaught, instead throwing his arms out to break the inevitable fall from the impact of Jason's body against his. He lay passively beneath the other boy, trusting his friend implicitly, even as the color slowly leached from his face.

From across the clearing Mercy saw Alice break from the trees at a run heading towards them. Heart pounding with some unnamed emotion, Mercy unthinkingly sent a blinding flash of light in the boys' direction. It had the desired effect of causing the 245

vampire to release Coyote, instinctively shrinking back away from the light, but the action also left an open wound in Coyote's neck, sending crimson fountain of blood upward into the air.

Both Alice and Mercy fell to their knees on either side of him, their instantly bloodied hands slipping over each other's in the attempt to stop the bleeding. The sharp tingling sensation Mercy always experienced when touched barely registered over the pounding of his heart.

"Hold the wound closed." Mercy said, sliding her smaller fingers beneath his and pinching them tight around the deep puncture wounds "Tightly."

Panic made his hands clumsy, wasting precious seconds as he located the cell regenerator hidden in one of the many chambers of his cane. A human could die in minutes from a wound like that and there was no telling if the regenerator would even work on Coyote, considering he hadn’t the faintest idea what kind of creature the boy actually was. Finally locating the small metallic syringe he slid the needle into the flesh clasped between Alice fingers, glancing nervously upwards towards the tree line where Jason had disappeared. Guarding her back in case of an attack.

He’d forgotten about Elijah entirely in the ensuing panic, until the demon’s dismembered head rolled up alongside him. Alice made a distressed noise at the sight and Mercy immediately met her eyes, silently willing her to be calm and escape when he gave 246

her an opportunity. She swallowed hard and tilted her head down slightly in silent acknowledgement just as the cool edge of a sword slid across his neck.

“What’s wrong?” Isra’s voice purred in his ear “You don’t like my gift?”

“I prefer roses.” Mercy quipped, careful to keep his voice as even and unaffected as possible.

Isra laughed, low and throaty “So traditional.” She replied, laying her cheek against his while simultaneously pressing the sharp edge of the blade further into his neck, restricting his ability to flinch away from her touch. “I tend to be a more.. .inventive lover.”

“Not in front of the humans.” Mercy replied tightly, switching to his Native language. Across Coyote’s semi-conscious body he saw Alice’s eyes widen at the sound. Intensely tonal, the language of the angels was often confused for music by humans.

“Oh I don’t know” came Isra’s reply, still in English “I think having an audience could be fun.”

As if to demonstrate, she slid her free hand across Mercy’s shoulder and down over his chest towards his abdomen. He grabbed her arm to stop the movement, remembering all to clearly the sharpness of her nails when last they met, but she seemed only half aware of his movement. He couldn’t see her face, but if Alice’s narrow eyed 247

expression was any indication, the two women had locked eyes and were in the midst of sizing each other up.

“Let. Him. Go.” Alice enunciated, her voice cool and precise. There was power in the sound, not just that of a woman with newly discovered powers, but a confidence built through centuries of knowledge. Not the sound of Alice alone, but the sound of all those who had come before her speaking through her voice.

“Let them go and I’ll show you the location of the portal.” Mercy said hurriedly, certain he did not want to be present for a showdown between these two women, especially with Alice so new to her abilities. “That’s what you want isn’t it?”

“I want...so many things.” The Fallen angel breathed into his ear, and though her tone was seductive he was fairly certain her methods would not be.

Even so he locked eyes with Alice again. “Take Coyote to Z as fast as you can get him there.” He told her, and when she would have protested added “He’ll die if you stay delay any longer.”

It was the only thing he could think of that might sway her. He could see the struggle on her face, her care for Coyote warring with her concern for him. His chest tightened at her obvious difficulty with the choice, at the idea that the two of them were of equal importance in her mind. 248

“If you harm him in any way,” Alice said finally, that deep well of power still in her voice, lending it the sound of a pronouncement from on high. “I will find you. And I will make you regret it.”

"I look forward to it." Isra replied.

With one last conflicted look at Mercy, Alice leaned down to Coyote's limp form. She spoke to him softly, coaxing the boy's arm across her shoulders before hauling him upward to his feet. It was clear that Coyote was barely conscious, held up mostly by the stubborn determination of the woman at his side. Their journey across the small clearing was slow but steady, punctuated by the occasional near collapse of both of them.

But they didn't look back.

"Alone at last." The Fallen angel breathed in his ear before scouring her nails across his chest.

Mercy didn't make a sound, he'd been through worse pain and knew better than to offer any encouragement to her sadism. "Indeed" he replied, trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible. "I take it you've been following me since we met the other night?"

"I've been following the Outlander" she replied "He was right where you said he would be. To bad I heard you offer to aid him, I might have let you live." 249

"Somehow I doubt that."

Isra laughed lightly before pressing the sword deeper into his throat, drawing blood. "Now. Where is the portal?"

"Near the water." Mercy replied "You'll have to let me up to show you. You can't see it from here,"

She removed the sword with almost no hesitation, leaving a thin burning line of pain across his neck where it had been and trailing her fingers across his shoulder as she circled to face him.

Mercy glanced up at her in wary surprise and his gaze was met with a lazy smile. "What?" She asked "You think I need a weapon to control you?"

Sensation spread out from her fingertips where they rested against his neck. What began as an intense pleasure that shivered down his spine and quickened his breath, swiftly intensified until he could barely breathe at all. His heart pounded until his chest ached from the force of it. His lungs gasped desperately for air. The sight of Isra's smiling face blurred as he slowly began to lose consciousness.

She eased back to keep even that release from him. "Where is the portal" she demanded, her breathy excited voice coming to him as if from the end of a tunnel. 250

Mercy rolled away from her, normal body function rushing back in a disorienting rush when he broke contact with her hands. "Above...the water..." He gasped before forcing a halfhearted laugh. "You've...killed...the only one...who could get to it."

The declaration finally wiped the smug little smile from her face.

Drawing the sword again, from a scabbard on her hip, Isra kept her narrowed eyes on Mercy and moved slowly towards the water's edge. He knew what she saw when she glanced up, a nearly invisible oval of shimmering light, hovering some 100 feet above the tree line to high to reach without wings.

A commodity both of them were no longer possessed.

"I would have warned you before you killed him," Mercy quipped, struggling to his feet "had you asked first."

"Liar!" She accused, her face flushed with anger now. "You betray your own kind. Fraternizing with humans and outlanders! Turning your back on what you really are."

"What I really am, remains to be seen." He replied, sending a blast of energy towards her from his cane. 251

Isra managed to deflect a bit of the blow with the flat of her sword, but the impact still sent her sprawling half in and half out of the water. She came up with a shriek, sending the weapon flying back in his direction, turning end over end aimed with deadly accuracy at his chest.

Mercy only just managed to get out of it's way, but the swift leftward movement put to much of his weight on his bad leg which crumpled beneath him.

"Pathetic" Isra hissed. She stretched an arm out towards him and managed to wrench the cane from his hand with an impressive display of magic. "The great Azriel's eldest son a sniveling cripple, hiding amongst the humans."

She was on him in an instant, before he could gather up enough anger to show her just what Azriel's eldest was capable of. Her touch sending his heart and lungs into frantic, painful overdrive.

The attack lasted only a second before she jerked away from him screaming. It took a moment for Mercy's confused brain to make sense of what he saw. A shadowy figure seemed to be riding her back, clinging to the curve of her neck in a violent frenzy that only seemed to grow worse beneath her crippling touch.

Jason's white blond hair, now matted in places with dark blood, glinted in the moonlight. Isra used her powers to force him away, but his surprise attack left a gaping 252

wound in her neck and shoulder. For a moment she stumbled, grasping the wound in pain and horror.

In that moment Mercy took a slow breath, focusing his own powers. It had been so long since he'd used them intentionally, since before he'd fallen in this place. Letting all the conflicting emotions of the last hours flood him, the throbbing pain in his leg and body, the embarrassment of Isra's words, the lingering fear for Alice and Coyote and his certainty that he was no doubt going to have to hurt Jason as well before this night was over. He channeled it all into his hands until a ghostly blue flame leaped from them, shooting across the space between him and Isra.

She turned towards as her body caught flame, her eyes widening as they met his. Her expression, in that moment before she crumpled into a pillar of ash, was somewhere between shock and ecstasy. Pain, it seemed, was something that didn't trouble Isra, even to the end.

With a shaky breath, Mercy climbed to his feet, keeping a wary eye on the vampire who still crouched nearby. The boy still looked feral, his eyes wide and hypnotic, face sunken and fangs fully extended, but he didn't attack, only tracked Mercy's movements with hungry eyes.

"Easy" Mercy said, easing closer, fingering the button in his cane that would produce a UV light strong enough to incinerate any vampire. 253

Still, Jason didn't move.

He was crouched in front of the tree where he'd been staked, Mercy noticed. Hovering almost protectively over the indent made by Coyote's body, still damp with the young man's blood.

Mercy paused in his forward movement. Feral vampires were a dangerous lot, he knew this from centuries of personal experience. Once the blood lust took over they generally lost what little human feeling and sensibility they had, like starving wild animals with superhuman strength and powers. He'd never seen a vampire retain much more than the urge and ability to kill in that state. The damage he had endured had clearly left Jason in that base feral state...

And yet.

"Easy" Mercy said again, removing a small vial from his cane and rolling rolling it across the small span of grass that separated him from the vampire.

He knew the moment the scent of it reached the boy's nose. He lunged for the vial, uncorking it clumsily and gulping down it's contents.

"Better?" Mercy asked. 254

"What-" Jason began, but speech seemed to be to much for him at the moment and he shook his head as if to clear it instead of continuing.

"It's concentrated plasma" Mercy explained "Just something I've been experimenting with. Once it's finished I'm hoping it might be a way for vampires to feed their virus without killing anyone. What do you think?"

Jason sat in silence for a moment, running his hands along the wet indent in the grass. "I killed him didn't I?" The boy asked, not bothering to hide the tears in his voice.

"Shall we go find out?" Mercy asked, reaching out a tentative hand.

Instead of accepting the gesture, a rather big deal as far as Mercy was concerned, the boy shook his head and melted back into the darkness beyond the tree line.

Alice had opened a portal into Mythique as soon as she'd judged she and Coyote were far enough into the shadows to be relatively safe. Despite the danger, she felt eerily calm. Particularly for a human woman with only the barest control of any supernatural powers, a stark contrast to the last time she and the boy had been in a situation like this.

Logically she knew it was an irrational feeling, that should the demon have back­ up waiting for them beyond the tree line there was very little she could do to fend off an 255 )

attack. Yet, she couldn't shake the feeling of abject confidence. It was as though an invisible army marched at her back.

Z was waiting for them on the other side of the portal, along with a strikingly handsome dark haired man.

"Give the boy to Doc." Z ordered and Alice gladly relinquished the Coyote's weight to the stranger. If Z thought he could help, that was good enough for her.

Alice turned back almost immediately, ready to head back to the clearing and do what she could to help Mercy, but found only a blank wall behind her.

"No!" She gasped, slamming her hands against the wall. "I need to go back. She's going to kill him. I need to

"There's nothing you can do for him now" Z's soothing voice said. "He will take care of himself, or he will not."

"You don't understand" Alice said, desperately. "I promised-"

"I know what you promised, child." Z interrupted "Don't be so eager for that time. It will happen soon enough."

Bewildered by the cryptic comment, Alice turned towards the sound of Z's voice and found the older woman standing much farther away than she sounded. She was 256

holding open a old white door, a little further down the seemingly endless hallway and gesturing for Alice to enter it.

With a shaky sigh Alice complied without comment. She barely noticed the beautifully appointed bedroom done up all in pink, white and gold. Opting instead to pace back and forth across the expensive looking rug in front of an ornate wooden fireplace.

Z observed her quietly for a moment, a small smile on her face. "You've grown quite attached to them." She said after a moment.

Alice paused in her pacing and smiled tearfully, "It seems so." She responded.

Z nodded. "I will send him to you as soon as he returns." She said before vanishing back into the dark of the hallway.

Alice resumed her pacing, trying hard not to let her emotions overtake her, but it was impossible. How many times could she endure losing the people she loved? First her mother, then her grandparents and Luke; now it seemed the boys and Mercy would be taken from her too.

When the door to the bedroom open Alice all but lunged for the dark haired silhouette in the doorway. Something about the way he moved stopped her. He was to graceful and fluid of movement, not at all like Mercy's awkward limping gait. Still, when 257

we moved out of the shadowy hallway enough for her to see his face, it was still a welcome one.

"Doctor?" She greeted him anxiously, still moving forward, but with a bit less urgency now. "How is Coyote?"

The doctor stared at her for a moment, looking a bit dazed, before shaking himself and replying, his voice tinged with an accent that sounded almost French. "He's hanging in there." Doc replied "He lost a lot of blood, but I was a bit hesitant to do a transfusion, considering I have no idea what would be a match."

Alice nodded, unconsciously wrapping her arms around herself for comfort, trying to keep the tears at Bay.

"There now" the doctor said, stepping forward and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Don't cry, cher. I'll do my best for him. You have my word on that."

Alice, nodded again, words seemed beyond her at the moment. The fear of losing more people close to her a palpable thing.

"I'll come get you as soon as he comes to." Doc promised, leading her slowly towards the bed. "In the meantime you should wrap up and get some rest. We don't want you going into shock." 258

Alice strongly doubted she could sleep, but obligingly pulled off her boots and got into the bed under the doctor's watchful eye. To her surprise the softness of the bed and the warmth of the blanket Doc pulled over her had her eyes drifting shut.

"You'll wake me if he needs me?" She asked, her voice laced with equal parts sleep and anxiety.

"'Course, I will. Close your eyes now."

Alice woke to a strange sensation on her face, like a gentle finger tracing the shape of her eyebrow. Irritated and half asleep, she attempted to bat the strange feeling away, only to have her hand collide with someone else's.

She opened her eyes slowly, disoriented by the unfamiliar bedroom, her eyes adjusting to the low light of candles. It took a moment to recognize the figure perched on the side of the bed next to her, but when she did she came instantly awake.

"Mercy!" She exclaimed, launching herself into his arms without thought and promptly bursting into tears. 259

"Woah!" He replied, attempting to move away. But Alice's arms had gone around him immediately, her warm face, wet with tears, buried against his neck. "OK. OK. Enough of that."

But Alice couldn't seem to stop. "I thought...you were dead." She gasped "I thought you were all dead."

"All who?" He asked, awkwardly patting her back with one hand.

"You and Coyote and Jason and my brother...every one I've ever loved. Just...gone."

He paused for a moment, as if arrested by her statement. Then slowly, hesitantly, his arms came around her. "So dramatic." he muttered directly into her soft curly hair "No one's dead. Coyote is down the hall talking about food in his sleep and Jason is most likely at Leon's murdering some poor innocent human. I'm just fine, as you can see. Just a little bruised and tired."

She took a shuttering breath and squeezed him tighter.

"Such a strange creature" he continued, "One minute you're fearlessly threatening to do bodily harm to demons and then next you're bawling your eyes out." 260

"I was worried for you!" Alice snapped indignantly, trying to pull out of his embrace. Uncharacteristically, he refused to let her go.

"Worried for meT He asked "I would think you'd be glad to be rid of me, bastard that I am."

"You are a bastard." Alice retorted, glaring up at him.

But he was smiling that lopsided smile, his eyes twinkling down at her. "However did I end up on the list of 'everyone you've ever loved'?"

"Clearly I need my head examined." She replied, though the expression on his face cooled some of her anger.

"Clearly" he replied, cupping her damp face in one hand and pressing his cheek gently against hers. He knew she didn't understand the significance of the gesture, humans were so much more demonstrative than angels. Back home such an action was the equivalent of the most passionate of human kisses.

She seemed to understand somewhat though, relaxing back into his arms until her head rested on his shoulder and she was all but in his lap. "You saw Coyote?" She asked, her breath warm against his neck. 261

Mercy suppressed a shiver at the sensation and nodded. "Doc says he's lost a lot of blood, but hopefully will be ok with a few days rest and some iron supplements. I'm going to go home and see what I can do about synthesizing some blood for a transfusion if it comes to that."

"Don't." Alice said, wrapping her arms around his waist as if to prevent him from escaping. "Please don't leave yet. He'll be ok for one night won't he?"

With an exaggerated sigh, Mercy pulled her the rest of the way into his lap, careful of his bad leg. He tried not to enjoy the feel of her in his arms to much, but it was difficult. "I can't stay the night." He told her "What about your reputation?"

"My- what?" She asked. There was amusement in her voice and when he looked down at her she was smiling.

"Women don't care about their reputations anymore?"

That got him outright laughter. "Not the way you mean." She replied with a smile, resting her head back on his shoulder. "Besides, who's going to tell on us? Z?"

He had to admit that she had a point. Knowing Z, she'd probably orchestrated the whole thing.

"Ok." He said slowly. "I'll stay." 262

The smile she gave him in response was brilliant. She was out of his lap, under the covers and expectantly patting the space beside her in an instant.

Mercy cleared his throat. "Is that...appropriate?"

"Don't worry," She responded, still amused at him for some reason. "I'll try very hard not to molest you in my sleep."

Mercy wasn't quite sure if he was relieved or disappointed by that announcement, but decided to keep the thought to himself for the moment. Instead he dutifully removed his shoes and jacket and slid, otherwise fully clothed, into the bed beside her.

He both felt and heard her soft chuckle as she wedged herself between his arm and torso. "It's torturous, I know." She whispered, resting her head on his shoulder "I'm afraid you'll just have to endure it for tonight."

Surprisingly enough, he found that he didn't really mind at all.

It was nearly dawn by the time Jason made it to Leon's house in the Garden District. The sanity he'd gained from Mercy's synthetic plasma had cleared his mind just enough to remind him of what a monster he was. An abomination, a monster who had just murdered the only person who'd ever accepted him just as he was. 263

He hesitated on the doorstep of the giant antebellum house. Leon would certainly take him in, though he'd no doubt demand Jason's fealty for the favor. He'd known the moment he'd returned to the elder vampire's lair that Leon was only biding his time teaching him, waiting for exactly this moment... the moment when what he was won out over who he was. When he had nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to. Even if Mercy was correct and Coyote had survived the attack, he would probably never want to see Jason again.

There was another way of course. He could just sit down on the steps and wait for the daylight. Leon's henchmen would surley clean the steps of whatever was left of him when night fell again. With Coyote gone, it wasn't like anyone would miss him.

Are you planning to stand out there being emo all night? Leon's voice sounded in his head as loud as if the man was standing directly beside him.

It was part of his so called 'training'; Leon projected thoughts into Jason's head and he was supposed to respond in kind. Thus far the practice only served to give Jason a headache, but he dutifully conjured the most emo song he could think of and held it in his head alongside an image of Leon.

He was barely trying really, his heart wasn't in it at all, which made the force with which the door before him opened even more startling. Leon himself stood there, rather than the ancient butler, his expression thunderous. After a wary glance around the yard 264

the older vampire grabbed Jason by the front of the shirt and fairly dragged him across the threshold of the house.

"What?" Jason asked, startled.

"What indeed" Leon replied. "Last I saw you you're human friend could block thoughts better than you. Now you're sending thoughts loud enough to wake the house. What happened?"

Jason shrugged, confused. "I don't know..." He replied. "I was staked. I was in a fight. I-" his voice caught on sadness "I might have killed my best friend."

"Your best friend?" Leon repeated, looking more thoughtful than empathetic. "The assassin?"

"The-what?!"

Leon continued, talking mostly to himself, ignoring Jason's horrified response "But he didn't have any abilities in that direction. Not as far as I know. Did you bite anyone else?"

"Coyote is not an assassin!" Jason cried, indignant "He's just a kid."

"One does not necessarily preclude the other" the elder vampire said, "but that's neither here nor there. What other blood did you drink tonight?" 265

"I told you, I was injured" Jason replied, his voice loud and exasperated. "I barely know!"

"Think." Leon commanded and it was like a compulsion. The chaos of the night rushed back to him in a horrifying kaleidoscope of memory. Elijah, sinking a stake through his chest, the thick flood of Coyote's blood filling his mouth, the sound of the blond woman's screams in his ear as he tore and her face and throat.

"Elijah" he said finally "I bit Elijah. And there was a woman...a blonde. I think she was like Elijah. A demon or fallen angel or something. I'm not really sure."

Leon have him a skeptical glance." You attacked a fallen angel and lived to tell about it?"

Jason frowned at him. "I'm not completely helpless you know!" he retorted "I was helping Mercy. She was attacking him."

"A fallen angel was attacking Mercy?" Leon repeated, his voice suddenly soft and speculative. "How interesting. I assume you succeeded?"

"He's still alive, if that's what you mean. I'm not-" Jason swallowed "I'm not sure about Coyote." 266

Leon nodded and gestured for the stairs. "We'll find out in the evening, shall we?" he said, not unkindly "In the meantime you will stay with me. I insist."

Mercy didn't want to think about how hard it had been to leave Alice sleeping in the bed at Mythique. How comforting, not to mention arousing, it had been to hold her soft warm form against his side all night long. To feel her breath on his neck as she slept. Her hair had smelled like coconuts. He'd hardly slept at all.

Reluctantly, he'd untangled himself from her just after dawn with plans to stop in to see Coyote before heading back to his place to see what he could do about synthesizing blood for the boy. But first, he'd stood at the side of the bed staring down at Alice for much longer than he should. She'd made a grumbling noise of protest in her sleep as he'd moved away, as though she were equally as reluctant to let the moment pass as he'd been.

The very thought was horribly distracting.

Mercy shook himself and forced his attention back to the problem at hand. He had neither the time nor the inclination to get involved in any kind of human relationship thing. From what he'd seen they were messy, confusing and irrational. Not at all the kind of thing he was interested in. 267

Still, some rebellious comer of his mind couldn't help but wonder if irrationality might be a fair enough trade for having someone reluctant to let you go in the mornings.

With all of the thoughts crowding his mind it took Mercy a moment to notice the sudden silence of the room. The low mechanical hum that inevitably filled any room crowded with technological equipment had suddenly ceased, filling the room with an oppressive silence. The greenish glow of computer old screens and flashing red lights of various buttons had all gone dark. Even the multiple backup generators he had available in the warehouse were silent. It was as though someone had extinguished the electricity as swiftly and silently as blowing out a candle.

Knowing only one thing that could do that, Mercy lunged for his cane, the only weapon he had available that might not be affected by a localized EMP bomb.

As he'd suspected it was too late. An invisible wall of force slammed into him before he could reach the weapon, knocking him flat on his back. From his new position on the floor he could see what he'd missed in his reverie about Alice, a large shadowy form hovering close to the ceiling. Slowly, the winged shadow lowered itself into the weak shaft of light coming in from the window above. Mercy tried not to flinch, as the shaft of light illuminated the angel's face.

"Brother" Mercy said, in his native language, keeping his tone as formal as possible. 268

"You're no brother of mine, demon." Aurelian replied, haughtily, still hovering just above the floor. "The eldest son of Azrelius is dead."

Mercy lifted an eyebrow. "Interesting, how everyone who kept you from being the head of the family died so conveniently."

"It's a failing of the genes" Aurelien replied. "One I've endeavored to rectify with proper behavior of my own."

Mercy scoffed. It was an automatic reaction, bom of hundreds of years of being the most dangerous creature in any room. In this instance however, it was a mistake.

An invisible force that had knocked him to the ground bore down on his chest with crashing force. Every breath bringing him closer to being unable to expand his lungs at all. A rib cracked and dark spots began to fill his vision. He was going to die here., .squashed like a bug on the floor of his own warehouse.

He should have kissed Alice while he'd had the chance.

Out of desperation Mercy channeled his sudden feeling of regret into a burst of blue fire. It had no effect, other than Aurelian's faint smile. 269

"Has it been so long, brother?" The angel asked, the taunting quality to his voice clear even as he struggled to hid it "Have you forgotten that the fire father gifted you with can't be used against your family?"

Before he could fully lose consciousness the weight was removed from his chest, leaving Mercy sucking in painful gasps of air.

"I'm not going to kill you just yet, demon." Aurelian's voice came again "The Fallen don't deserve quick, dignified deaths."

Alice woke on a scream, sitting bolt upright in the unfamiliar bed.

The room was pitch black, though she was certain that it must be morning. The bed beside her was empty, but the pillow still held the imprint of Mercy's head. For some reason the sight send her pulse into overdrive.

He was probably just down the hall, checking in on Coyote, she told herself. No need to panic.

A strange fluttering sound echoed suddenly through the room. It was one she had heard before, like flapping wings or tattered clothing blowing in the wind. Alice hunched 270

her shoulders defensively, but the only strange shadow she saw in the darkness of the room was that of a woman.

"Tu aspromis" a voice came from the darkness "You promised me."

"He's fine." Alice replied, trying to convince herself as much as Fanchone's shadowy form. "He's probably just down the hall-"

Pain slammed into her chest, stealing the rest of her words. Her arms strained, wrists burning as fire lanced up her spine.

"He is not fine." Fanchone insisted.

"Where?" Alice croaked, once the pain subsided.

An image appeared in her mind, an answer as clear as a photograph. A beautiful but dilapidated old church. The ceiling was blackened and partially caved in, it's windows broken and gate slightly askew. Alice had never seen it before.

"I'll go get him." She said anyway.

"We'll help you" was the reply, which echoed in Alice's ears as though spoken by many female voices in tandem. 271

Instead of opening into the hallway as it had when she'd entered, Alice found that the bedroom's door now opened into a large cavernous room she'd never seen before.

In the center a mannequin was dressed all in white, from the cloth tied turban style around it's head, to white sneakers on the floor where it's feet would be. Yellow beads hung around the mannequin's neck and the strap of an elaborately decorated holster of some sort was slung across its chest and waist.

Z stood to one side of the mannequin, looking as Alice had never seen her before. Her head was shaved, her face sunken, dark empty sockets where her eyes should have been. She looked younger, but fiercer and it occurred to Alice suddenly that she had done this before, changed her shape according to what was going on around her.

Alice nodded solemnly to the Goddess, but said nothing. She received a nod in return and a gesture towards the mannequin. Clearly, this was to be her rescue uniform.

Dutifully, Alice stripped down to her underwear before reaching for the clothing. First the pants, then the shirt, then fumbling awkwardly with the scarf around her hair before reaching for the necklaces. Z's gentle touch on her hand stopped her.

I give you these as a gift, the Goddess' voice sounded clearly in Alice's head, though her mouth did not move, because you will need me with you tonight. But they are not for the uninitiated. You will return to me on the next full moon... to earn them properly.

Alice held still as Z took the necklaces from the mannequin and placed them around her neck. It was the first time that Z had touched her that she could remember, in fact, it was the first time she'd seen Z touch anyone. Comforted by the thought and by Z's confidence that she would return from this ordeal ready for some sort of initiation, Alice removed the last items from the mannequin.

The holster she had seen was actually two pieces: a gun belt, accented with red and black beads and a similarly decorated back scabbard that held a double sided axe, the handle of which was completely covered in beading. Alice strapped both pieces to her body and took a deep breath. She felt surprisingly calm, considering the circumstances.

The door will take you where you need to go, Z said, indicating a door that had appeared at the back of the room.

Alice gave one last determined nod and headed off on her mission.

Mercy was dying. 273

Or at least he wished he was. Pain reverberated through his body from every conceivable angle. His leg throbbed, the damaged muscle twisting painfully under the weight of his body and his position on his knees. The iron shackles on his arms burned into the flesh of his wrists.

And then there was the machine.

His whole body arched as a sensation like a thousand red hot knives sliced through his body, stealing his breath. He'd decided when he'd awoken here, that he wouldn't scream, wouldn't give his sadistic younger brother the satisfaction, but the machine took the choice from him. The pain stealing his breath, until the only sound he could manage was a strangled moan of agony.

"It works well, don't you think?" Aurelian said, sounding disturbingly breathless in Mercy's ear. "I was concerned it wouldn't work as well here, and that would have been a shame."

A shame, Mercy thought, though he didn't have enough breath even for sarcasm. The pain had paused for the moment, the better for his brother to expound on his genius no doubt. He tried to martial his thoughts, to figure a way to escape, but the all- encompassing pain drained his energy, making it hard to focus on anything but the overwhelming urge for peace. 274

Another jolt of pain shot through him, this one more intense than the last. "It's a very simple design really," His brother was saying "It simply taps into the body's pain receptors and turns them on to my specifications. I suppose it could produce overwhelming sensations of pleasure too...but where's the use in that?"

Aurelian moved into Mercy's in of vision as the pain receded. "Either way, it's better than anything you ever invented...don't you think?"

Mercy didn’t answer. His attention was caught instead by a movement at the entrance to the church. A figured, swathed all in white was emerging from gloom beyond the broken doorway. She moved slowly down the aisle towards them, her eyes wide and unfocused, her brown skin a luminous gold against the white of her clothing.

For a wild moment, Mercy was certain it was Fanchon. Perhaps he had died after all. If so, it made a strange kind of sense that his dear friend would be the one who came for him. Surely, there was no one else who would care so much.

But as the figure stepped closer, her features coming more into focus, panic began to course through Mercy's body, drowning out even the excruciating pain.

"Alice-" 275

Her name was a strangled whisper he regretted the moment it left his lips as it immediately drew Aurelian’s attention.

"Well, now." The angel said, the barest hint of amusement coloring his voice as he turned to watch Alice's progress towards the altar. "What have we here? The cavalry?"

"Don't-" Mercy began, unsure himself whether the word was meant for Aurelien or Alice. It didn't matter really, both the word and the thoughts behind them were wiped from his mind as an excruciating jolt from the machine ripped through him, turning the word into an agonized cry.

Alice paused in the aisle at the sound, her eyes still distant, though her brows drew together sharply on her forehead as if in concentration. For a moment she stood stock still, as if in a trance, before abruptly thrusting her hands towards the altar palms out.

Drowning the room in water.

It wasn't really a conscious choice.

Alice entered the church, still feeling the imprint of Z's hand on her, her head full of indistinct whispers. The sight of Mercy, his arms chained, and spread out on either side 276

of him like some ancient sacrifice filled her with a rage she couldn't explain. As he cried out, his body arching, face twisting with some invisible pain Alice's focus crystalized. She could feel every drop of rain falling from the sky outside, the sluggish flow of the river and the waiting pressure inside the building's rusting copper pipes.

She spread her finders wide, thinking briefly of the fleeting brush of Mercy's fingers against hers on her dining room floor, and unleashed it all with a wave of her arms. Pipes burst, parts of the ceiling fell in and water swirled around her ankles, gathering together into a wave that rolled up onto the altar dousing Mercy and knocking the creature next to him off of its feet.

"How dare you!" The thing intoned, raising from the dais with a single flap of its blinding white wings.

Alice refused to think of it as an angel. Angels were beings of light and goodness, or so her grandmother had believed. The winged creature before her was cold and sneering, devoid of even the most basic of human emotion. More importantly, it had harmed someone she loved.

"How darejKow!" She replied and her voice was the sound of a thousand women who had never failed to protect those they loved. "This man belongs to the Goddess of the River. You will let him go or you will face the consequences." 277

Aurelien laughed. "The Goddess of the river?" He replied "More like an upstart little witch who doesn't know her place!"

He attacked her then, gesturing in her direction with the staff in his hand, sending a brilliant beam of light in her direction. Alice threw up her hands instinctively, the water pooling around her feet leaping up into a wall of water that hissed and steamed as the beam hit it.

The creature nearly growled with frustration, sending out another blast that caught the edge of her shield, sending her spinning into the pews beside her.

"Alice!" Mercy called.

Aurelian turned on him with a snarl. "Filthy demon!" He hissed, activating the machine "We'll add consorting with witches to your list of sins."

Mercy braced for the soul searing pain, but instead his muscles merely twitched uncomfortably as a shower of sparks erupted from the machine. The iron manacles encasing his wrists peeled painfully away from his burned skin as they opened automatically leaving him to collapse in a heap onto the altar floor.

He heard his younger brother make a furious noise of frustration at his sudden freedom and braced for an attack that never came. Instead, Mercy turned just in time to see a writhing cloud of darkness engulf Aurelian’s head. 278

The angel screamed, plummeting to the floor in a panic. He arms flailing in a vain attempt to dislodge the tormenting souls.

Mercy glanced back down the aisle, where Alice was slowly making her way towards him, concern in her eyes. "Careful-" he began, but it was too late.

Aurelian lashed out in his madness, sending an invisible wall of force across the room. It caught Alice directly, lifting her off of her feet and sending her flying through the air to land with a crash against the pews.

"No!" Mercy yelled.

The altar around him burst into flame. The tendrils radiating out from his hands on the wooden floor and rapidly climbing the walls and statuary. Mercy watched dispassionately, noting how easily the fire spread, leaping from place to place, igniting everything that hadn't been soaked by Alice's rescue. Soon the whole place would be in flames.

Alice dreamt of Luke. 279

He was running towards her down a long, brightly lit hallway. Two men, in what looked like military uniforms were chasing him. One of the men had what looked like a rifle strapped across his chest and was struggling to release it from its holster.

"Alice!" Luke called, reaching out for her, his dark eyes wide with disbelief. "Help me. I need

Reality came back to her in a flash. She was surrounded by flames. Standing among the broken remnants of the pews she'd crashed into, one arm outstretched towards the altar.

She watched in dazed awe as Z's axe, apparently loosed by her own hand, flew end over end through the air and embedding itself in Aurelian’s chest. Had she thrown that? She wondered, as the angel hovered above her for a moment, his head still surrounded by shadows. The axe itself seemed to let loose a lightning bolt that exploded deafeningly as it made contact with the sky.

The angel arched, his mouth wide, eyes white with horror, as he burst into flames.

Alice swayed on her feet glancing around the burning church. "Mercy!" She screamed, catching sight of him, also engulfed in flames on the altar. She ran towards 280

him, trying desperately to call enough water forth to douse the flames around him, though it seemed to make no difference.

Even so, he levered himself up on his hands at her approach. His whole body was alight with eerie blue flame, giving him the impression of wings of fire arching out from behind his back.

Desperate Alice cloaked herself in water from the rain and pipes still spouting around her and flung both it and herself up onto the altar.

He caught her in a desperate grasp, his skin cool and unblemished against her hands. Before she could even formulate the questions in her mind Mercy framed her face with his hands and kissed her.

For a moment she surrendered, tangling her hands in his feather soft hair and kissing him back with all of the worry and fear she'd felt since she noticed him missing from her bed.

A loud crack broke through their moment and Alice turned to watch as a flaming section of the ceiling crashed down into the pews below. Though the eerie blue flame on the altar itself had dissipated, the walls, statues and now ceiling were still burning rapidly. The high ceilings, still largely open to the sky, was the only thing that kept them both from smoke inhalation. 281

"Jesus, Mercy!" She gasped "This isn't exactly the best time to put the moves on."

The smile he gave her was sad. "I can't move my leg." He said softly "You have to leave me."

Alice cast him a baleful look. "You must have hit your head" she replied "I surely didn't go through all of this trouble just to leave you here to bum to death."

Placing her hand flat on the warping wooden boards beneath them she called up an image of Mythique in her mind and whispered the password Z had taught her.

"lie" she said, using the Yoruba word for home.

The portal opened slowly beneath them, pulling them down into the darkness with all the gentleness of a mother cradling her child.

It surprised no one that Mercy was an awful patient.

He tried to stand at least once a day, despite the doctor’s orders and lashed out with vicious wit at anyone who would listen when his leg inevitably disobeyed him. He refused any and all potions, poultices or medications, though he was in visible agony and all the more irritating because of it. Eventually, when Doc threatened to douse him with 282

animal tranquilizer for the remainder of his convalescence, he consented to a much lesser dose of a sedative.

Alice found that he was a complete angel while high on pain killers.

Coyote's condition on the other hand, was more worrying. He lay silent and still on his bed, his face turned to the wall for days after Doc said he should be feeling better. He only ate or drank to please Alice and even then she had to spoon food directly into his mouth like a child. A low rumble, like a purr, emanated from his chest when she stroked his dark hair back from his face or spoke to him softly, but he remained otherwise silent as to what was wrong.

Hearing this Mercy commandeered a pair of crutches and made his painful way to the boy's bedside, head full of medication.

"He's not dead you know." He told the boy. "Only I think he scared himself. He nearly killed his best friend."

Coyote turned to look at him alertly, grasping the older man's wrist in a strong grip. "Where is he?" He asked, his voice low and rough with disuse.

"Probably at Leon's" Mercy replied. "Though I'd caution you against going there looking for him. Especially in your condition." 283

But Coyote was already struggling to a sitting position, moving to throw his long legs over the side of the bed.

Mercy stopped him with a gentle hand on his chest. "Coyote." He said softly "I don't think he wants to see you right now. He needs more time."

To his horror the boy burst into tears. "You don't understand." He said sorrowfully "Jason is all I have."

"You have me," Mercy replied quietly. "And Alice. You have a whole family Coyote, Jason is a part of it yes, but he's not all of it."

Ruefully, Mercy realized that the same could be said about himself.

"Rest now," He continued, pushing the boy back down to the bed and tucking the covers up around him. "Work on getting stronger and I'll take you down to Leon's personally when we're both doing better, ok? I promise."

The boy nodded and Mercy struggled to his feet. The medicine was wearing off and pain was starting to creep around the edges of his consciousness again. He almost didn't hear Coyote's whispered words over the thumping of his crutches.

"I've never had a real family before." 284

Mercy paused in the doorway and looked back at him. "You and me both, kid." He replied with a small smile. "Guess we'll figure it out together, huh?"