Dark Paradise

chapter four

'do i at least get a weapon?'

"Are you serious?" The raven-haired teen asks, half laughing as she stands with her hands on her hips. She wore black yoga pants and a deep blue tank top to match. She wore running shoes on her feet instead of her usual black knee-high boots. She stood in front of Demetri, staring up at the man. He was a good half a foot taller than her. She glanced around him at the group of lower guard members he had asked her to fight merely seconds before. "Them? You're not going to challenge me?"

"You're a human." The man simply stated. "They should be challenge enough." A part of him told them they really wouldn't be though. "I thought you were both feet in?"

The girl rolls her at the vampire and steps around him. Demetri turned to watch her, hands behind his back and his head held high. "Try not to harm her, you wouldn't want to make master Aro mad." He spoke to the lower guard members.

"Do I at least get a weapon?" Mercy calls over her shoulder, her only reply is a simple shake of the head. "Damn." She preferred training with weapons but figured she could use a little more hand to hand practice. "Right, let's get this party started."

Mercy was standing in the middle of four Vampires. They all stared at her as if they hadn't eaten in days, which would explain the darker red eyes. Only one was female and the tall red-headed woman looked at her with what seemed to be hatred as her crimson eyes racked over the teen's figure. She hit the tall man next to her in the chest after catching the way his eyes roamed the curvy figure of the eighteen year old.

"Do I need to make the first move or?" The woman growls, cutting off Mercy before lunging at her. The girl simply sidestepped, walking into the man to her left, who was about Demetri's height and dark skinned. He was a lot smaller in muscle mass than Demetri, more toned than anything. His hard, cold arms wrapped around the girl's torso and the man who had been staring at her rushed forward. Mercy kicked up, lifting her legs off the ground to wrap around the blonde's neck and with a small twitch of her feet the mans neck had cracks running around it. In a more complicated movement, the girl reaches up and wraps her arms around the neck of the man holding her, not letting go of the one in front of her.

In the next moment, the blonde man is headless and his body drops to the ground after she kicks off of it, her body flying over the shoulder of the man holding her. She noted in that millisecond that although he was dark skinned, he was very pale and his crimson eyes seemed to be vibrant against his skin tone, it was almost beautiful to her. She landed on her feet, using the momentum to throw the man. His body sails clear across the room, hitting a wall before slumping to the ground. She drops his head to the floor and turns to meet the red head, hand wrapping around her shoulder and arm as the woman rushes her. Mercy does a sudden twist and the woman flips through the air before landing face first on the blue sparring mat, missing her arm and shoulder. Mercy stands over top of her, looking towards the fourth Vampire. He looked to be only fourteen and terrified.

"Nope." The boy says, using his enhanced speed to run away.

Mercy places her hands on her hips and turns to face Demetri. The older Vampire looked at her with wide eyes and his mouth agape. "I thought they were a challenge?" The altercation had taken less than a minute, surprising everyone.

"Yes, well.." He tried to think up of some excuse. Mercy only raised an eyebrow at him. "You're dismissed for the day. I need to get them to the infirmary." Mercy shrugs and runs off back to Alec's room. Demetri doesn't move until she's gone, suddenly scared as he looks down at the pile of body parts that had taken her merely seconds to create.

"What was that?" Felix asked, looking up from where he was sparring with a new Volturi member. Demetri could only shake his head in answer.

Mercy made it quite quickly to Alec's room, having remembered the way from it when he showed her to the training room. She hated sharing a room with the boy, but would have to put up with it only for a few more days while Aro was having a room prepared for her.

She didn't bother with knocking and just barged right in. Both people froze in surprise, Alec's eyes widening as Mercy just looked at him, c*****g her head as she took in his body. He was more toned than muscled, she noted, a swimmer's body, she would say. She had caught him in the act of getting dressed, his hair was dripping as if he had just showered.

"You know Romeo,"She starts, a laugh building up inside of her as she moves into the room, letting the door slam behind her. "I never pictured you as a boxer guy." Just to make him squirm she strips off her tank top in front of him, laughing as he closes his eyes and turns away instantly, headed for his closet. "You act as if you've never seen a girl in her bra before." She knew he came from a time when women weren't all too ..sexy? yeah, and the men were too gentleman like. She loved teasing him about it. "You have.. haven't you?"

His reply was muffled but she couldn't help the grin on her face as she pulled on a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans. "Of course I have!" She had offended him just a smidge, she gathered from the higher pitched tone. She chuckles as she pulls on her boots, grabbing one of her favorite weapons out of her second bag for a moment before putting it back. They wanted her to fight with her hands. "You won't live for over a thousand years and not have i*********e!" He steps out of the closet, fully clothed this time.

"I mean, it's a possibility." Mercy, countered, flopping down on the couch. She was bored. Completely bored and it was starting to bug her, but that's what making fun of Alec was for.

"It's really not," Alec states. "Although I think it's been about that long since Marcus had sex."

"That would explain many things about that man." Mercy said, glancing up at the boy. His hair was still wet and he sat with his eyes closed and head back. He looked ..peaceful almost and at that moment she couldn't help but find him attractive and, without realizing she was doing it, her hand was running through his hair, tugging on it lightly.

Alec emits a slight throaty moan at the contact, leaning into her hand before he realizes what was happening. His eyes snap open and he stands quickly, so quickly that he trips over the coffee table.

"What the hell was that?" Mercy cackles in laughter as the vampire lands on his face with a thud. Mercy didn't mention his moan at her touch or the fact that she had some weird satisfaction that she had even been able to do that. "Oh my god!" She couldn't breath with how hard she was laughing, she had never seen anything so funny in her life.

Alec stands and glares at her, rubbing the spot where his nose had cracked. Her shoulders were shaking in silent laughter and he had to admit he found her cherry red face rather hilarious and broke into laughter himself.

The sound of Alec laughing caught Mercy's attention. It was a deep but slightly musical sound and she couldn't help but like hearing it. His nose scrunched up and his head was slightly thrown back, it was an adorable face and she almost let out an 'aw'. "What are you laughing at?!" She asks, incredulous.

Alec points at her. "Your face!" He laughs again at the face she made. "Oh god- I've never seen a person's face do that before!"

Mercy gave him a pointed look. "I've never seen a person trip over a table like that but you don't see me laughing about it." Her arms are crossed over her chest and she sits straight up. Alec stops laughing instantly.

"You were laughing!" He grins, pointing at her again.

"Yes, but I'm not now!" Is her argument. Alec gives an exasperated sigh and shakes his head before walking into the bathroom to fix his hair.

Many hours later, Mercy is curled up on the couch, lightly breathing. She had hardly slept at all in the near week she'd been there and the exhaustion of the night before was wearing her down. She found herself using his leg as a pillow, feeling oddly relaxed in his presence. Alec hadn't objected to it and found himself absentmindedly messing with her hair as he read a book, his feet propped up on the coffee table.

She'd been asleep for a while and he found himself thinking about what had happened earlier when she was messing with his hair. He hadn't meant to make that noise and he had meant to pull away as soon as she touched him, but when her fingers coursed through his hair he felt this odd sense of calmness was over him, like he could just sit there for hours and let her do that. And then she tugged on it and he just couldn't hold back the moan that rose in his throat. It was embarrassing. He'd never done that before with a woman that wasn't trying to sleep with him.

He was always doing stupid s**t like that when she was around. Something about this girl had a weird affect on him, her scent alone was enough to drive him nuts. He found himself drinking fresh blood every day since she'd been in the castle, for if he didn't, he feared he would hurt her. A part of him, though didn't want to drink her blood no matter how divine it smelled, no matter how badly it made his mouth water. He wanted to protect her, not harm her. It was a weird thing to feel that about a female that wasn't Jane.

Jane.

He hadn't spoken to her in almost four days, she was surely angry with him. Although she hadn't even tried speaking to him, maybe it ought to be him who was upset.

His attention is drawn away from his thoughts when the girl using him as a pillow starts shaking violently. At first he thought that maybe she was cold. Mercy was only wearing one of his t-shirts and a pair of yoga shorts. She had forgotten her pajamas at the villa. He didn't mind though, he quite liked the way she looked in his clothes. He was about to get up and start a fire when she grabbed onto his thigh, gripping it tightly. He realized that she was shaking in fear, but fear of what?

He could see her eyes darting back and forth behind her closed eyelids and her lips were moving, saying something without any sound. He was frozen, unsure of what to do. She was having a nightmare from the looks of it. He turned toward her slightly and put a cool hand over her shoulder. The spot he placed his hand on on the back of her right shoulder was hot to the touch and he let out a soft hiss in pain before quickly retracting the hand. He hadn't felt pain like that in centuries and wondered what had done it. He glanced at her face, slowly inching his hand back towards her shoulder, and just as his cool fingers brushed the spot where the neckline of his shirt lay, she shot upwards with her eyes open.

Alec recoiled immediately, they weren't her usual shade of clear blue but a light purple instead. It was so striking against her vampire-like pale skin that the color almost seemed to be glowing. But that wasn't possible ..right?

No. He knew what he saw ...what he felt.

Mercy looked at him with fear-filled eyes, blinking slowly. They were back to their normal blue by that point. She looked terrified. "Mercy?" He asks, softly, moving towards her slowly. "Are you okay?"

Mercy doesn't' say anything but turns so that she's facing the fireplace, bringing her knees to her chest. Alec understood what it meant.

No, I am not okay.