The Devil's Mercy

Chapter2

The sandwich was like all the other foods that had been delivered to him. Dust in his mouth. He ate automatically. A need to be filled so he could continue. Nothing more.

Watching her breathe softly and evenly. A nightgown of light blue covering her to her elbows. The lace around the collar made her skin look ashen even after two days of fluids and the tube. Malnourished, healing from other abuses prior to that night. She was fighting for her life and all he could do was watch. Watch and pray that her spirit was stronger than her body. That her mind was set on remaining on this plane.

The door opened as he pushed the last piece of sustenance into his mouth. "Sir. We have all the information on her and her sister you asked for." Roy whispered from the doorway. It was both fear and respect that kept him rooted.

The first night, the nurse hired to help with Mrs. Cagney and the little girl had come in unannounced to check on Mercia. Oskar had nearly slit her throat. Now, no one ventured into the room unless Oskar knew they were coming.

"And?" Oskar asked setting the paper plate next to him on the bed. Unable or unwilling to tear his eyes from the sleeping girl.

"We are ready when you are, sir." Roy answered cautiously. "Six seemed a good round number. One van."

"You don't need me." Oskar snarled. He wouldn't leave her. Not even to exact revenge on those who had done this to her. He couldn't. Holding her hand was the only thing keeping him from burning the whole city of Chicago to the ground.

Roy had been anticipating this. "No, but you do, sir. Alice will sit with her while we are gone. Looking into the eyes of those who did this to her will assuage that rage."

Oskar's head snapped up to turn and look at his second over his shoulder. "What do you know of this rage?"

Roy's head c****d to the side with a knowing grimace. Until six years ago he had been married to a woman he thought had loved him. Until she started having kids every year. Daughters he couldn't father. Three beautiful little girls that had his eyes. His brother's eyes.

Being the honorable man and still in love with his wife and adored his children. He had come home to be husband and father. Until his wife had told him that she never loved him. That it had always been his brother. Yes, he understood the rage that Oskar was feeling. A different reason, but it was the same for any man.

Rage of injustice and heartbreak.

Oskar returned his gaze to the creature in the bed. His free hand tucked a tendril of hair out of her face. So soft and thick. His finger brushed her cheek tenderly on it's path back.

"Alice will alert me to any changes." He ordered pushing his heavy frame off the bed. Glancing to his pallet on the floor next to the bed. He hadn't left the converted dining room on the ground floor of the ten bedroom home he had Roy look for.

Much better conditions for Mercia to heal in than the abandoned warehouse that Draugar had originally purchased for it's delivery of justice in The Devil's seven year crusade. That had ended, in its place was a new one. Avenging the abuse and torture of one chestnut haired Sleeping Beauty.

The rubber on his boots made no sound on the marble flooring of the beautiful room. The skylights and windows allowed natural light in during the day. At night the dark sky and few stars could be seen. He had caught himself wondering as he had tried to go to sleep, exhausted from keeping his vigil over her, could she feel the moonlight? The sunlight? Did it warm her skin or give her comfort?

The nurse traded him spots in the hallway, salt and peppered bun on her down turned head. "Return safely, Mr. Underwood." She ventured as she rushed passed to take his place on the bed. The only furniture in the room aside from the IV pole and feeding tube.

Bright green eyes scrutinized Oskar at Roy closed the door to the room. "We are leaving in twenty. Enough time for you change and arm up."

"The targets?" Oskar asked, feeling like the tangible chain connecting him to Mercia had been broken. Something in him screamed at him to go back in that room. The bloodthirsty side of him told him to prepare for war.

"Accounted for according to the last check in two minutes ago." Roy answered stepping up the narrow hallway that led to the kitchen and second dining room. Forcing Oskar to follow him. Over twenty years of working together both in the military and as partners. Roy knew how to get Oskar motivated. "Hope and Melanie are sleeping. Ten are on guard. No word yet from Victor Porcceli, though he has returned to Chicago. Alone."

"What about Robert?" Oskar asked every step away from the room and the young woman allowing his true nature to come through. The side that had been trained for this since he was born. The side that didn't feel anything. Whatever tenderness he felt in that room was left there.

Roy paused to cast a grim smile his way. "He is waiting for you. I told him we would be here for a month at least. Jace is estimating six to eight weeks for Ms. James to fully heal enough to be on her own."

Probably not comforting words for the soldier-turned-police detective. Oskar let that roll off his shoulders as the pair continued to the stair leading up to the bedrooms. "Which room did you put Hope?"

"She is used to sleeping in the same room with Melanie. They are bunked together. If you wish to see her, the last room of the left corridor." Roy replied without rancor. He could see the change in his commander. Not a subtle shift that happened in most men. But Oskar wasn't a man for moderation. His entire life had been extreme. Making him a strong commander, a fearless soldier, and a cold businessman.

Oskar caught the look on Roy's face, "I haven't gone soft." He muttered.

"You are thirty five, Oskar. No one would see it as weakness if you decided to have a family. We would rejoice in it as we have for others." Roy responded in a hushed tone. "Fifteen minutes, major."

There wasn't time to check on the little girl. He would after this was over. After his need for revenge for... He had never indulged like this. Go in, remove the problem, move on. From the moment he had seen the depth of her abuse, something in him had shifted.

He had asked Jace's opinion on a few of the scars that looked older. Deep cuts that had healed badly and scarred. No care taken for the injury. Jace had been hesitant to answer at first. Oskar had pointed to one just below the swell of one of her ass cheeks. The answer had fueled rage that was coursing through him.

"She's eighteen, that one is at least twelve to fifteen years old." Jace had answered softly.

Oskar pulled his hand back fast. Horror on his face. The cold flame of murder in his grey eyes. She had been turned out at three-years-old. To be abused and mistreated. While she was still a virgin in the classic sense. There was evidence of other s****l abuse.

Oskar had asked for the exam on her just in case. With everything she had been through the night he had found her, miscarriage was a real possibility. A terrifying possibility in her current condition. It could finish what was started in that room.

His room was the first room to the right of the stairs. Pushing away everything else, he entered it to change into his tactical. Black pants, boots, tank, t-shirt over that, and his belt with his knives. Adding his G17. He hated guns, but had found a necessity for it if he lost a knife during a fight. It had only happened once and he had walked into an ambush. Fifteen on three.

Scanning the room that had been furnished for him, he touched the comforter on the bed before leaving. Soft and heavy. A vision of him holding Mercia under those black covers. His body wrapped protectively around hers. Their hearts and breathing slowing after he made her his. His because he would be her first, and his because he wasn't sure if he could let her go.

He would have to. The idea added fuel to the rage. He couldn't keep her and her sister. What awaited him when he returned to New York wasn't something that she or her sister needed. Not after this. They needed peace and happiness. Light and sunshine. Freedom.

With a growl of anger he crossed the room to the door and yanked it open. Feed the bloodlust and return to her after a shower. Return to her soft even breaths. Her soft honey skin. Return to the guilt of not knowing she had been there. Too reminiscent of Olivia. He had been deployed at the time. Unawares and unable to do anything if he had known. Half a world away.

Not her. Don't take this one from me, too. He thought silently to whatever Gods answered those types of prayers.

Roy and the others were waiting in the grand entrance of the large house when he galloped down the stairs. Roy held up a thick folder for him. "Get up to speed, I'll drive."