Alliance With Shadows

Chapter 10

“Sissy. Sissy. Sissy! Wake up!” A young girl’s voice pierced through Mercy's dreams.

            Mercy mumbled, “Yeah yeah.” Then if finally registered in her brain, oh s**t her sister was in her house. Oh damn, how was could she explain a dog and man in her house. She suddenly shot out of bed, “Hey sis um how did you get in the house?”

            “Dad duh! Sis, I need to talk to you. I need to tell you something before I tell mom and dad.” Cadence jumped on her bed.

            “Oh okay, but this couldn’t have waited until I came over to visit today?” How the hell was she going to get her out of the house? She couldn’t just say hey I have company because she was sort of a loner and didn’t have many friends. She certainly didn’t need her younger sister knowing a guy was living with her and then tell mom and dad that was just one conversation she didn’t need with her parents.

            “No! It can’t wait!”

            “Alright alright. How about we go downstairs and get breakfast then?” Mercy just had to hope that Luc wouldn’t come out of his room. She made her way down the stairs and poured herself a bowl of cereal in the kitchen and sat down at the dining table. Alright, let’s get this done, “Alright what do you need to talk about?” Mercy mumbled out. Cadence was beaming with happiness and was giggling nonstop. “I don’t speak giggle sis.”

            “Sorry, I'm just so excited!” Cadence screeched out. Realizing she hurt Mercy's ears by her sudden wince she quickly settled down. “Sorry, sis.” Mercy waved her to continue. “Ok, so there’s this guy.” She drew out the word 'guy' for what seemed like forever.

            Ah, damn a guy, like she had room to advise about guys, “Well I can’t read your mind, continue.”

            “I met him at school and guess what!” She giggled out.

            “What?”

            “He's an elemental like mom! Well not exactly like mom, mom's Mother Nature for crying out loud. But anyways he controls fire, and you know how like everyone thinks people that are in charge of fire are always mean and tempered? He's not!” Cadence jumped off the chair in pure excitement.

            “Ok contain a little excitement their girl,” Mercy laughed, “I don’t need you breaking my chairs. So what’s this boy like?” Mercy thought it was cute that her little sister had a boyfriend.

            Cadence giggled again, “He's so nice to me. He has the most beautiful earthy green eyes I have ever seen! And he has reddish-brown hair and its cut kind of like a...um...like the skateboarders still have.”

            “That look is still in?” Mercy shook her head and laughed, you would think by 2090 they would pick a different look. Guess the look was making its way back around.

            “Yes, the look is still in. But he's not a skateboarder but it looks so good on him! Anyways he rocks at space ball.”

            “Which is? You know I don't watch any other sport unless it's football.” It's the only sport they didn't change over the decades. She wasn’t into sports, to begin with, but football was the one game she could understand and loved to watch the husky sexy guys in uniform play.

            “It's like baseball; the only difference now is they go into a field that’s gravitation free. So it’s like playing in space.”

            “Oh...I guess that makes sense. Continue.” Not really, why call it space ball if it’s not in space?

            “Oh he's seventeen, he goes to Elemental High School, he's five foot six right now, but I’m thinking he's going to get taller though. And I think that’s about it.”

            “So this boy doesn't have a name? I should just call him Elemental Man?” Mercy grinned.

            “No! Oh My Gosh! I forgot to tell you his name. I can't believe I forgot!” Cadence smacked herself in the forehead. “His name is Jason.”

            “The boy doesn't have a last name?”

            “Oh, it's Jason Brand. All the elementals have the last name that has to do with the element they control. Did you know that?”

            “Yeah. It helps the rulers of that element and the Dark and Light know what element they control. Although I believe it is slowly starting to change because of marriage.”

            “That’s cool.” Cadence shot up at the sound of the doorbell ring, then looked at Mercy with nervous eyes. She couldn’t handle any more visitors, and with the doorbell that would have woken Luc and Teague for sure.

            “I’ll get it for you!” Cadence stormed off to the door.

            Do not worry Darling we will stay upstairs.

            “What?!” Did she just hear a voice in her head?

            “What sis I didn’t say anything,” Cadence entered the kitchen.

            “Oh, I thought I heard something. Anyways who was at the door?”

            “I was.” Xander entered the kitchen.

            “Wow, I’m surprised you didn’t call so you could make a portal.” Mercy laughed, her family never used the front door the way it was intended. Portals were the only way to get somewhere with her family.

            “Well, I figured I would just go old fashion.” Xander smiled.

            “So what’s up? My wings are healed.”

            “What, I can only come over when you’re hurt?” Xander sucked in air and grasped his chest as if he was hurt by the comment and smiled.

            “Well, it’s the only time you’re over here.” Mercy laughed.

            “I just came over because I was on my way home and mom called me to pick up Cadence. Also to tell you that dinner was canceled tonight because dad has to talk to the Priestess about something.”

            “Oh alright, well your welcome to take her anytime considering she ruined my sleep.” Mercy smiled.

            “Hey, I had important news!” Cadence stood and pouted.

            “And what news is that squirt?” Xander ruffled Cadences' hair.

            “Um…I well…” Cadence blushed.

            “Seems our little sister has found a boyfriend, she wanted to tell me the news.”

            “What you have a boyfriend,” Xander screamed.

            “Damn bro there is this thing called an indoor voice. You don’t have to shatter my eardrums! It’s not that big of a deal.” Mercy rolled her eyes; of course, he would make a huge deal about this.

            “Says the woman that…”Xander was interrupted by an apple suddenly shoved in his mouth.

            “Do not talk anymore.” Mercy was now pissed. He had no room to talk about her, and it was her business to tell if she chooses to.

            “What’s up sis,” Cadence asked in pure curiosity, she had never seen her sister this mad at Xander before.

            Xander took a bit out of the apple, “Nothing Cadence let’s head over to mom and dad’s to drop you off.” He had been pissed about the whole situation, to begin with for the last few days, but he couldn’t blame her for not knowing that she was now mated with the damn darkling. Her aura was now even brighter which could only mean one thing, s*x. It was only a matter of time before the bond would be unbreakable. Mates were not common, so the two of them wouldn’t even know what was happening to them. Xander sighed, “Its adult stuff.”

            Cadence sighed, “I hate adult stuff.”

            Xander smiled at her and then looked back at Mercy and smiled, “Me too. Talk to you later.” He walked right out the door and didn’t even wait for Mercy’s reply.

            Mercy stared at the closed door, “What the hell was that about?!”

            May we come down now?

            “Who the f**k is talking in my head?! This isn’t funny!” Mercy screamed looking around her. She heard the door to Luc’s room open.

            “It seems my dear that I am now able to communicate with you just with a thought.”

            “Luc? That was you in my mind?” She was now very confused. How was this possible?

            “Seems so. I could feel your nervousness about your sister finding out I was here so I simply thought ‘Do not worry we will stay up here’ and then I heard you ask who talked. I did not know that you would be able to hear me. So when I heard the door close I decided to test the theory and asked if we could come down, It seems you heard me that time too.” Luc wanted to approach this situation delicately, this was a situation he had never heard of and he certainly didn’t want to scare off the only woman he liked being with. But knowing that he could talk to her anytime with just a simple thought would scare anyone; it was scaring him to think she could do the same to him.

            “Well…um I’m assuming you have never been able to do this before considering the I-am-scared-out-of-my-f*****g-mind look you are giving me.” Mercy laughed, she couldn’t help it the man had bulging eyes.

            “You seem a bit calmer than I thought you would be.”

            “Well, my life is changing a bit faster the last week than I expected so I’m in the ‘let’s just roll with it’ attitude right now. So let’s see if we can come up with a reason this could happen. Should I see if I can do it to you? If it’s just one-sided maybe you have powers that you never knew you had.” She was hoping it was the latter. She may be putting off ‘we are just partners’ for his sake and hers and even for her brother, but if it was what she was thinking it was, they were both screwed.

            “Alright, I suppose we should try.”

            Mercy decided that she would keep the protective barrier around her mind as he told her to do the first day they met. She didn’t want him to hear her thoughts by mistake instead of what she wanted him to hear. Alright, here we go… I am so hoping you can’t hear this right now because if you do I may freak out. She projected that simple statement to him and saw his eyes bulge. f**k.

            I could hear that can you hear me now

            Sadly yes, I can hear it as clearly as if you said it out loud.

            “What does this mean?” Luc was thrown off with this discovery.

            “Well, I suppose when we do battle it will be easier to communicate.” Mercy smiled. She often played dumb when it came to medical things around her brother but she knew exactly what this meant, and if she knew that would explain her brothers' behavior. She was destined to be mated to a Darkling, which in itself would start a war. There were five phases in mating; auras match, the need to be with each other, glow during s*x, communication through thought, and last life bond. She assumed their auras matched the day they met; the need to be with each other was automatic, she always wanted to be near him; she glowed during s*x with him; they were now communicating to each other just with a thought. They only had one thing left before they were permanently bonded, permanently mated. A life bond was serious; it meant that if one mate died the other died as well. They were already too far in anyways, which meant she couldn’t kill him without killing herself as well. She wouldn’t die immediately but she would die weeks or months later.

            “Hey, Mercy you okay? You seem to be thinking hard.” Luc was getting worried; she was just sitting there with a serious look on her face and wasn’t speaking at all.

            “Well, I know why we can talk to each other with just a thought.” Mercy tried to smile, she didn’t want to worry him too much but this was a major bomb to blow up in someone’s face. Especially someone you just met a week ago. Mates were automatic and for life, love wasn’t slow, which was probably why she was so attracted to him so fast.

            “Well come on and tell me you are making me worry with all the faces you are making.”

            “How about we sit on the couch,” She automatically made her way from the kitchen they were standing in, to the couch in her living room. This was news you had to sit down for.

            “Well that’s reassuring, news I have to sit down for. This isn’t some kind of curse I’m going to die from?” Luc laughed hoping it would lighten the mood a bit, Mercy seemed a bit too tense and way too worried about what she was about to say.

            “No it’s not a curse and you’re not going to die,” Mercy laughed “I have good news and bad news which would you like first?”

            “Well I’m usually a pessimist so let’s go with the optimistic view and go with good news.” Luc grabbed her hands holding them tight.

            Mercy smiled at the gesture, “The good news is I will not be killing you at all.”

            Luc raised an eyebrow, “Okay, well what’s the bad news then?”

            Mercy sighed, “We are going to start a war.”

            Luc laughed, “Well I already knew that we are working together and…wait you said start a war. We are going to be finishing a war not starting a war.”

            Mercy looked down at her hands, “We are going to start another war. We have done something forbidden.”

            Luc shook his head, “No we haven’t, relations between light and dark are fine as long as there is no child and I took precautions’ and you took precautions’.” He was so confused how were they going to start a war by just having s*x once?

            “Relations are fine, mating is not.” Mercy held her breath, yep that was the bomb and she wished she wasn’t here the boom.

            “Mating? What do you mean mating?” Luc placed a figure under her chin and raised her head, “There haven’t been any mates for over a thousand years.”

            “Mates are very rare, yes, but that doesn’t mean they don’t happen. Only a few people know about mating and the signs of mates. Only medics can see mates, they are trained to see auras of people.”

            “Your brother…” Luc couldn’t believe it her brother was a Medic, which means if they were mates he knew.

            “Yes, this would explain his odd behavior lately around me. Luc, there are five stages in mating.” She took a deep breath, “We are at stage four.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “First stage; auras match. Two people have the same aura no matter what, but that does not mean those two people end up together. Second stage; need. The two people if close to each other will have the constant need to be next to each other, to be constantly touching. It is very hard to fight this urge. Some people can fight it and ignore it. The third stage; glow. When the two individuals have s*x one or both will glow due to the overpowering pleasure. Forth stage; thought communication. The two individuals can communicate with each other through thought never having to speak a word out loud. And lastly the fifth stage; life bond. The two individuals will become life bound, which means if one of the individuals dies then the other will die immediately after.”

            “So that’s why you said you wouldn’t kill me, because it would kill you immediately?” Luc was disturbed by the thought, if he died in battle she would die no matter where she was.

            “We have not made it to the fifth stage because it is a consent type of bound, both individuals must agree to be bound to each other. But since we are so far along in the stages already it would not matter if I killed you it would be a sort of suicide, I would be riddled with pain by the bond we have already created suddenly broken. A person must have a strong will to live but after that not many people do. I would live for maybe a few weeks to a few months, not many mates live beyond a year.”

            “So, in other words, I have to watch my ass to make sure I’m not killed so I don’t kill you.”

            Mercy smiled, “And I have to watch mine to make sure I don’t kill you.” She wanted to leave out the part that if she were killed in the stage that they were in right now, he would not die. A male has to be life bound to the female for them to die. It was a safety mechanism built into the male design. A male has to live on to produce many children, and a female is just there to help. It’s a very archaic idea but that was how things were run. It was why many males did not life bond to the female, few choose to life bond like her parents. She just hoped that he wouldn’t find out the whole truth about this, although the only people who know would assume that she had told him everything. Jerked out of her thoughts by a sudden laugh.

            “Is it bad that I’m not at all upset at the thought that you are my mate? That I am bound to you for the rest of my life? Although the dyeing if I die is a bit upsetting. Are you bothered by being bound to me for the rest of your life?”

            Mercy touched his cheek and smiled, “Not at all.” She leaned forward and kissed him softly. She just had to hope that he wouldn’t do anything reckless, at this point in the bond if he got hurt she would feel it. A life bond can strengthen your mate or weaken them, it all depended on the situation.

            Luc pulled away and laughed louder, “See woman I knew you were going to be the death of me! Guess we are going to have our hands full now.”

            “Well that’s not very nice; I didn’t mean to be the death of you. How are our hands going to be full?” Mercy pouted, she didn’t know that they were going to be mates.

            Luc pulled her closer so their noses were touching, “Well instead of fighting one war now we will be fighting two. And sweetheart I would choose death by you any day, you would be the sweetest death a man could ask for. I would die with a smile.” Luc smiled and took her lips in his, no need to fight his need for her now, she was now HIS.

***

            “Lord Halcyon, how do you wish to proceed?”

            Halcyon smiled, his plan was working perfectly. His worthless and pathetic son was turning out to be one of his best paws ever, and now he has completed his best weapon yet. “Please put the dark mist into two vials, it will be the perfect way to kill this thorn in my side.”

            “Thorn sir?”

            “That damn Death Angel. I want her dead. She seems too serious about her job of keeping the darklings at bay if she is out of the way it will make it a lot easier to get all the souls I want.”

            “Spies have consulted with me Lord and it seems your son has taken a liking to her.”

            Halcyon laughed, “This is perfect! I will destroy her and destroy my son's hold on his demon by doing so. He will become the best killing machine a father could ask for.”

            “I am not following you, sire.”

            “I killed his mother and he went on a rampage and killed his best friend. Imagine the destruction if I killed the woman he loves? Ah love the strongest of many emotions; it’s a beautiful thing to take away. I will not have to even lift a finger he will do all the destruction for me, he will start the war I am aching to start.”

            “How would you like us to implement this plan sire?”

            “It seems the b***h has a weakness for Snakes so let’s send four, take the vials with you. Once she is battered and broken you will only have to pour the contents on her and it will do the rest. It will be hard to mess up so do not disappoint me.”

            “Yes, sir. If I may ask what will this do to her?”

            “Ah curiosity, it will destroy her from the inside out. One of my wonderful demons will infect her with a virus; the only way to kill the demon is to kill me. I’m sure my disturbing son will try to do but even if he succeeds the virus will remain. I will kill her no matter what,” he laughed loud and hard, “And my plan has come into play! A fathers’ greatest creation and I won’t be there to see it.”

            “What do you mean Lord?”

            “My son will be fully possessed by his demon and will become an uncontrollable rage. He will kill everything and everyone, and the only people who can control him will be dead. The b***h will be dead and if I’m going down,” he smiled, “so will the Realms.”