83. Co-Lieutenants

[Alaric]

"Oh my god, I'm a lieutenant?" Mercy gasped, her golden eyes widening in a mixture of shock and disbelief before finally landing on giddy happiness as she grinned up at me, nearly vibrating from excitement.

"I had considered telling you that I was trying to get approval, but I didn't want to get your hopes up. I planned on telling you on our first official day, but the identification system let the cat out of the bag." I responded with a smile, taking her hand in mine, running my thumb lovingly over the back of her hand before looking up at the two women who were trying very hard not to look at Mercy and me.

"You know, now that Mercy is a full-fledged lieutenant, I can-" Samantha began to say but was cut off as I growled at her, implying that I would not let her finish what she was going to say.

"Samantha, no. I have taken you both as my lieutenants, and so you will both remain as such. You may believe that being co-seconds would be confusing or counter-productive, but we all believe it will be the exact opposite. Lucifer, Alastair, and I all spoke about this at length, and we came to a mutual agreement that was training the two of you side by side will only allow you to grow in your positions."

"Of course, Sam knew." Samantha snorted under her breath, trying and failing to hide the anger and disappointment that darkened her facial features, then disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"I'm sure Alaric told him not to tell you, Sammy." Mercy said as she took Samantha's hand and yanked her, forcing Samantha into a hug that it was clear she didn't want to be in. "I will fight you," Mercy warned, then laughed as Samantha threw her arms around Mercy and squeezed, much harder than any human could have endured.

"Hmm, that's a pleasant sound." Mariah groaned, wincing as she heard multiple bones being snapped from the embrace the two girls were sharing.

"Isn't it?" I laughed out in response, watching as Samantha and Mercy turned their attention to the outside, gazing at the beautiful lake before them. "So, Mariah, you've been in the field before?"

"A couple of times, yes. I usually take up the role of the person in the van. You know the one who tells you the reports, researches anything you've found, and things of that nature." Mariah agreed with a nod, then followed us out of the elevator and to the car, where Samantha held the door open for her.

"So, these are the kind of things we're going to be doing? Tracking down people like this?" Mercy asked as she buckled herself in, looking up at me curiously as I backed out of the garage and followed Mariah's instructions on where to go.

"There are cases like this, yes, but this is not all we will be doing. We will take care of this report because it's a small and easy one, unlike most of what we'll be doing full-time. You two will need to get comfortable with staying in contact with other elders and lieutenants because more often than not, we will be crossing into their jurisdiction to catch runners who need to answer to their crimes."

"How often will we actually be at the office? I have the feeling that we are going to be away from home a lot." Samantha asked.

"I cannot speak for America, but in Europe, I was home maybe once a month when I first started. As lieutenants, it is your job to handle the calls we receive, while I would usually maintain a leadership role from the office. Because you are both untrained, and this is a new continent, we will work on cases as a trio until we learn the lay of the land."

"So, once we learn our job duties, we aren't going to spend very much time together?" Mercy asked, her golden eyes darkening into an amber shade as she tried and failed to hide the sadness in her eyes.

*'No, kitten, don't be so upset.'* I thought as I took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, shaking my head no. "Mercy, you do understand that this will take years, yes? I estimate that I will step back and give you jobs to complete on your own within the next decade."

"Vampires don't run on human time, that much I know for a fact," Mariah added, then leaned forward as she pointed out the bank to our left, pulling out a file from the top of the stack between her and Samantha. "That's the bank he robbed. In the middle of the day, too. Those poor people are going to be scarred for life."

"Hmm, very likely, until they convince themselves that it was nothing but a mask." I agreed with a snort of amusement as I pulled along the front steps to the building, holding up a hand as Samantha started to jump out of the car. "Mariah, did you procure identification?"

"I did, yes," Mariah said as she began rooting through her purse, pulling out three identical black wallets and handing them forward to me. "There you are."

"Alright, so, I know you two are curious how we investigate matters, seeing as how we are not government officials, correct?" I asked as I turned sideways in my seat, looking from Mercy to Samantha as they both nodded their agreement. "Well, because of how broad our scope is, we rarely get to the scene before the human officials do, and sometimes they retrieve items that we cannot allow to fall into human hands. That is why we have these." I said as I flipped open one of the wallets, showing them the badge and identification card, smiling as both of their jaws dropped. "Congratulations, you are special agents Roberts and Stone."

"So, we commit multiple felonies to do our jobs? That's kind of awesome." Samantha gasped as she took her badge and inspected it curiously, her light brown eyes widening in awe and excitement.

"No, I think we are agents, Sammy. Oh my god, how high up in the government are vampires?" Mercy asked as she took her badge, shaking her head as she scanned over the identification.

"Very, and she is correct, Samantha. Those are not fake." I said before pushing my door open and walking around to the passenger side. I opened Mercy's door, then Samantha's, straightening my tie as I watched the human officials scurrying about inside of the bank.

"I don't have identification, so I'll stay outside," Mariah said as she closed the back door and crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned back against the car, looking in through the windows of the bank as I was.

"Follow my lead," I said as I smiled down at Mercy, wishing I could take her in my arms, but I knew I couldn't, no matter how badly I wanted to. *'Get yourself together, Alaric. You need to focus.'* I told myself as we walked into the bank, flashing my badge to the officer who tried to stop us, then walked straight to the man in charge, casting a glance to my right at the three mutilated bodies of what used to be security guards. "Special agent Vincent, you in charge here?" I asked the man, hiding my disgust at his cheap and rancid smelling suit, trying my best to ignore the way he was gawking at the three of us.

"Special agents, huh? What about you, doll, you a special agent?" The short and skinny man grinned lazily at Samantha, his dull blue eyes lighting up in pleasure when he saw Samantha, then did a visible double-take when he looked over at Mercy. "Those real?" He asked, motioning to his eyes as he watched her, then shrugged. "Ain't you two too young to be special agents?"

"You got a snowball's chance in hell, detective. How about you make yourself useful for once in your inadequate and incompetent life and tell us what happened here?" Samantha retorted with a sneer as she laughed off the man's words before turning to look at the three bodies on the ground, her breath quickening when she saw the blood on the floor.

Mercy cleared her throat as she stepped next to Samantha, then wrapped her hand around Samantha's arm, sinking her nails in, successfully snapping Samantha out of her blood-thirsty trance and back to the matter at hand.

"Pretty slack dress code in your department, agents?" A woman snorted when she saw how the women at my sides were dressed, in comparison to her own too tight in all of the wrong spots and very unappealing pale pink pantsuit. As if the puke-inducing color of the pantsuit weren't enough, it was much too ill-fitting to her body shape, as if it were a hand-down and hadn't been adjusted to her form.

*'She acts as if they are wearing cheerleading outfits,'* I thought with a snort as I looked over what Mercy and Samantha were wearing but found no issue with it. Mercy was wearing a pair of black jeans with calf-high black combat boots and a black cardigan, while Samantha was wearing a pair of dark-wash jeans and a navy blue silk blouse. *'They may not be wearing overly formal suits, but what they are wearing is suited precisely towards fieldwork. Hmm, now I cannot stop picking Mercy in a cheerleading outfit, damn it.'*

"Jealousy isn't a good look on you, sweetheart." Mercy retorted with a roll of her eyes, then looked back at me, widening her eyes as she exhaled deeply. *'Now you see what I've been dealing with for the last few decades? Yet you wonder why I disliked humans before meeting you. Then again, you turned out to not be a human, so I suppose there is no human that I can stand.'*

"We got the security footage over at the desk, and I gotta say, I ain't seen nothing like this." The detective responded, his dull and glassy blue eyes shrouded in disgust and horror as he came to stand next to me, putting his hands in his pants pockets with a sigh before looking up at me. "You agents don't look too surprised by this sight. You saw something like this before?"

"You can say that," I agreed with a nod as I took the pen out of the man's front pocket and crouched down, using the pen to lift the hand of one of the corpses. "I will need to see the footage."

"Yeah, of course, it's right over here." The man said, clearing his throat as he walked past Mercy and Samantha, the terror in his eyes evident as he locked gazes with Mercy, the golden color of her eyes striking fear into the man that not even he could understand. "Have at it, agents."

"What evidence do you have?" Mercy asked him as she tapped the space bar, playing the security footage. We watched as a man halfway into his mimic walked into the bank, armed with a 9mm Glock and two wolves following close behind him. The Wolves wasted no time in attacking the security guards, ripping them to shreds before tossing them into a pile and guarding the doors as the man robbed the tellers, then the vault.

"There ain't evidence here to tell us who that man is, or how the hell he trained wolves like that. Not a single fingerprint or paw print. We are looking into people who can make masks like that, but so far, no luck."

"Agents, perhaps you should take a second look at the bodies, see if there is anything we may have missed?" I asked Samantha and Mercy, watching them as I waited for them to understand what I wanted them to do. *'As vampires, we have senses and abilities that humans do not. You will learn very quickly why elders are so in control over our senses, as compared to other vampires.'*

Though I could tell they didn't understand why I wanted them to inspect the bodies, they nodded and did as I asked. They both took a pair of gloves out of a nearby cop's bag and put them on before crouching next to the bloodied mass before them. *'There it is,'* I thought when I saw both of the women smirk softly, then bent forward, acting as if they were inspecting the bodies, while in reality, they were inhaling the scent of the wolves.

"No, I don't see anything," Samantha said as she tore herself away from the scent of blood and stood, throwing off her gloves into the nearest trashcan and walked out of the bank as quickly as she could, panting softly as she bit back her almost over-whelming desire to feed.

"I will keep you up to date on our findings, detective, thank you," I said as I shook the man's hand with a nod, then followed Mercy out of the bank and back to the car where Samantha had her hands on the hood, her eyes closed as she took slow and calculated breaths to calm herself. "Samantha, if I would have known there would be this much blood, I would not have brought you. I apologize."

"No, no need to apologize. Sorry if I blew it in there, but I was trying." Samantha breathed out with a small laugh as she shook her head.

"Are you kidding me? I can't believe you could be in a room with that many humans and all of that blood. I was only worried once. Seriously, your control is insane." Mercy gasped before looking back at me as I took my jacket off and hung it on the hook in the backseat, straightening my vest before looking back up at the women.

"Did you catch the scent?" I asked them as I turned my head towards the sky, narrowing my eyes as I smelled at the air. "It appears they left on foot. Their scent is too strong to be carried in a vehicle."

"Yeah. I only smelled two, though." Mercy said as she sat in the passenger seat, looking over her shoulder as Mariah and Samantha got into the backseat.

"That is not surprising. The man wore a lot of cologne to cover his scent. That is the one you need to focus on. Over time, you'll learn to hone into your senses much better." I said as I started the car and rolled down all of the windows, using the wind to direct me towards the perpetrators.

"I definitely smelled all of the cologne. What's the point in doing that if the wolves didn't do the same?" Samantha asked as she smelled the air, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"There can be many points, one of which I believe to be the right reason. Yes, I am indeed correct." I said as I pulled down a dirt road to our left, pointing to the two dead wolves to our right. "To make it harder to track him, without the scent of his two colleagues. They should have known the moment they smelled that rancid perfume that he was not planning on leaving them alive." I added with a snort as I shifted the vehicle into park, stepping out of the car to catch the direction of the last man's scent.

"That's cold-blooded," Mercy said with a small laugh when she saw the carcasses, then watched me as I got back into the car and backed off of the road we were on, heading to the east where the scent was the strongest. "I imagine if a lot of our cases are like this, then we'll be on foot a lot?"

"No, quite the contrary. As Mariah said, this is an easy case. We don't catch very many of those, especially not in this day and age where humans can be more grotesque and sinister than even the worst of creatures in our world. I cannot tell you without a doubt the percent, but some of our cases will require a fair share of investigation."

"Since it's a mimic who did it, what can we do, being vampires? There's no true leadership for the mimics, right?" Samantha asked as she leaned forward between the two front seats, looking back and forth between Mercy and me.

"You are correct, in a sense. They have no elected officials, so as we have done for centuries, we find out what pack the man was born into or from. There are lone wolves, but they were born from a pack or a member of a pack no matter what. Whether it be that his great-grandfather was a member or not, we leave them in the hands of the closest they have to a leader."

"Why don't the vampire officials elect Octavia as their recognized leader of mimics and run all mimic related cases through her?" Mercy asked with a shrug, then narrowed her eyes when she saw the confusion on my face. "I'm only saying. Mimics won't elect one, and since vampires have to deal with what they do, why can't the vampires just elect Octavia as the mimic leader? If someone else wants to challenge that, they can challenge Octavia, who we all know would wipe those suckers the fuck out."

"I- Mercy, that's ingenious!" I grinned with a shake of my head as I looked back at the road ahead of us, chuckling softly, as the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. "We announce that we recognize Octavia as the leader of mimics, and because of the grip we have on the world, announcing it would make it damn near concrete. Of course, that is something that she and her pack would need to agree to. If there isn't already a target painted on their backs, there would definitely be one if she agrees."

"We all know that Octavia is going to jump at the chance. You and your sisters are basically the last remaining royalty, after Edward. It makes sense that you become the official royalty. Oh, wait, so what about elementals?" Samantha asked Mercy curiously.

"From what I understand, the elementals end with my sisters and me," Mercy said, leaning forward as we pulled into the driveway where the man's scent was the strongest, wrinkling her nose as she drank in the sight of the decrepit house before us.

"Mariah, stay in the car," I said as I stepped out, listening to the heartbeats inside, concentrating on placing them throughout the house, but found that they were all atop one another. "Mercy, how many?" I asked as the three of us walked up the driveway and towards the front door.

"Four?" Mercy asked after a moment of thought; her golden eyes narrowed in concentration as I knocked on the front door, listening to the sounds of scurrying as the people inside rushed around to try and hide.

"Very well, then," I said with a sigh as I took a step back, then kicked the door handle, causing the door and nearly all of the frame to go crashing through the front room. "Find them and bring them here."

"Okay," Mercy and Samantha said with a nod as they both ran forward, chasing down the heartbeats throughout the house, Mercy being the first to return with a screaming woman, and the man we'd seen on the video at the bank, then set them on the couch to my right, standing in front of them as she crossed her arms over her chest, glaring down at them as she dared them to make a move.

Samantha returned a few moments later, carrying three little mimic children, setting them carefully on the crouch across from their parents, before taking a step back to stand next to me.

"I heard that vampires and recreants were working together, but I didn't believe it!" The woman gasped out, her heart thumping loudly in her chest as she whimpered at the sight of Mercy.

I ignored the whining woman as I looked over the three children, all of which appeared to be between the ages of ten and three, dirty from head to toe, their bones showing through their ratted and torn clothes. "You robbed a bank and killed your accomplices. Did you think there would be no repercussions?" I asked the man, raising an eyebrow as I watched him stumble over his words, unable to look away from Mercy.

"I had to kill them! They were trying to kill me! I robbed the bank to feed my wife and children, elder, please, you must understand!"

"Where is it?" Samantha asked as she looked around the room, then ran back to where she'd retrieved the kids, coming back a moment later with a duffle bag full of cash, tossing it down on the coffee table with a growl. "Care to explain that?" She asked the man, pointing to the hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bag.

"I didn't want to have to struggle every month to feed my kids. I figured if I could get enough, just the once, we'd be able to build our lives!" The man replied as he sat forward on the couch, shrinking away from Mercy as he looked past her to me; his brown eyes widened in a plea.

"These are not your children, mimic. Do you believe me a fool?" I roared as I grabbed the man's throat and pinned him back against the couch, baring my fangs at him with a growl. "Those children share no blood with you, nor the woman next to you. If these are your children, explain to me how you could allow them to go so long without sustenance! These woods are bountiful with prey. As mimics, you can provide for your family solely off of the land. Do not spew your lies to me!"

"Okay, okay!" The woman gasped as she jumped forward and tried to pry my hand off of the man's throat, sobbing through her tears as she spoke. "They aren't our kids, but we were going to give them a cut of the money, I swear!"

"You were going to give little children, who can't mimic themselves, money? When? After they died of malnutrition?" Mercy snapped at the woman, her eyes now burning with hellfire as she glared hatefully at the woman beneath her.

I could tell it was taking every ounce of self-control she could muster to stop herself from lunging at the woman, as I was having issues with the same control. I did not release the man's throat but looked behind me at the three boys who were huddled together, holding each other tightly as they waited for the death they were sure was to come.

"Samantha, take the kids outside." Mercy forced out from behind gritted teeth, her eyes quickly turning black as she glared down at the woman. Much to my surprise, Mercy waited until she heard Samantha reaching the end of the driveway with the kids before she lunged forward and wrapped her fangs around the woman's throat, ripping it out without a second of hesitation.

I watched Mercy as she spat out the woman's esophagus, spitting out her blood in disgust as she shuddered with a groan from the taste of the mimics blood. I chuckled when I saw this and tightened my hand around the man's throat, crushing it before he could have a chance to cry out, then wiped my hand on his shirt. "Mimic blood is far from appetizing, as you now see."

"Ugh, I was not expecting it to be so... bitter and sour." Mercy groaned with an exaggerated gag as she used a napkin to wipe the blood off of her lips and chin, then motioned to the bag on the table as she spoke. "What are we doing with that? Returning it to the bank?"

"Returning it to the bank?" I repeated with a chuckle as I gathered the money that had fallen out, tossing it into the bag before zipping it closed, motioning for Mercy to follow me out of the house. "We will figure it out. The more pressing concern is to find who these children were stolen from, and getting the poor things something to eat."

"Hmm, yeah. We won't all fit in the car, though." Mercy said as she sat in the passenger seat, then motioned for the youngest kid to sit on her lap before carefully buckling them in, putting an arm around the young boy's waist to secure him against her. After making sure the child was okay, she pulled out her phone and dialed a number, sighing as the longer it rang, the more worried she was getting.

I helped the two older boys into the center of the back seat, pulling the belt over both of them and checking it to make sure it was secure before motioning for Samantha and Mariah to sit on either side of the boys. "Are you calling Octavia?" I asked Mercy as I sat in the driver's seat and backed out of the driveway, watching Mercy as she nodded her answer.

"Hey, Mercy, what's up?" Octavia's voice came from the other side of the call, the distinct sound of construction being performed in the background. *'She is wasting no time in her town enhancements. Good for her.'*

"So, we just found three little mimics who look like they haven't eaten a meal in weeks. I don't really know what we're supposed to do with them and not to mention what to feed them. Do they need a fresh kill or human food?"

"There are only three reasons why a mimic would ever require a fresh kill, and hunger is not one of them. They can eat fresh kill, but I'm sure human food would make them feel a lot better. That's weird. I was going to reach out to Damien because it looks like stealing mimic children is a huge thing right now. Thankfully, no one has stolen a kid from my town, but I've heard from a few recent members that kids have been kidnapped left and right these last few weeks." Octavia responded with a sound of shock and disbelief, then took a deep breath before saying anything more. "I promised Kerr I wouldn't keep running all over the place, but he's going to come and get the kids, okay?"

"Wait, Kerr's gonna come and get them?" Samantha gasped from the backseat, causing Octavia to let out a small laugh.

"Hey, Sammy, and yes. At least one of my new recruits may know who they belong to. They could even be the children of one of my new recruits. Mimics have been coming from far and wide because I have a protected town. Just since I got back here, there are over a hundred new members, and it's not slowing down. I have to immediately put everyone to work, building houses, as our inn is already packed. Shit, I've had to start renting out entire floors of the hotel a little while away."

"Shit," I mumbled with a shake of my head, then motioned for Mercy to hand me her phone so that I could talk to Octavia. "The couple we got the kids from, they robbed a bank earlier today. I'm not sure how much it is, but it's at least half a million. I'll send it with Kerr when he comes to get them."

"Really? Shit, okay. I can't say no to it." Octavia laughed softly, then pulled the phone away from her ear as I heard Kerr asking her what was going on. After explaining to him what happened and asking him to make his way out to us, she put the phone back to her ear. "I know you already heard him."

"Yes, he will be at Lucifer's in a couple of hours. Thank you, Octavia." I said before ending the call, looking over my shoulder at the two kids sitting between Samantha and Mariah. "What would you like to eat?"

"Us?" The older of the two boys gasped, his brown eyes widening in shock as if he couldn't believe that we would do something so crazy as to feed him and his brothers.

"Yes, you. We have a very nice mimic man coming to take you to a town full of others like you and your brothers. The woman who runs the town, she's pretty confident that she can find your family."

"Oh, okay!" The boy beamed happily, shooting me a mostly toothless grin as he hugged his little brother ecstatically before leaning forward to check on the small toddler who'd fallen asleep in Mercy's arms.

"Babe, we don't know how long it's been since they've eaten. It could really hurt them if we just let them eat whatever they want. I think we should start with something soft." Mercy said with a shake of her head as she pulled a napkin out of the glovebox and began wiping at the toddler's dirtied face; her eyes filled with sadness when she saw how sunken the child's face was. *'The creatures in our world are capable of horrendous things. Even to creatures of their own species.'*

"So, something like oatmeal?" Samantha asked.

"Hmm? Yeah, maybe. Do you think I should call Sinclair and ask him to meet us at Damien's? Maeve could see if there's anything internally that needs to be healed."

I hesitated for a moment before responding, as I wasn't sure if I should agree or disagree. *'Sinclair and Maeve had things they wanted to do before they came for dinner, and it looked like there was something they wanted to tell the rest of us, so I do not want to interrupt them. But on the other hand, Maeve would be able to heal the kids of things that we could not see.'* I thought, weighing the options for a few moments before responding. "Yes. Please call Sinclair. Explain to him what's happened."

________

[Sinclair]

"Sinclair?" Maeve called as she and Rafferty walked through the front door, coming in after another sparring session.

"Yes, I'm here. Are you alright?" I asked her as I walked out of the library where I was reorganizing the shelves, as books had been put out of place, which irked me entirely too much to ignore.

"Mhm! Ready for lunch, though." Maeve said with a grin, taking the collar of my shirt to pull me down, kissing my cheek before walking into the kitchen, where she pulled out bread, lunch meat, cheese, and lettuce.

"How are you fairing, Rafferty?" I asked him as I helped Maeve with making sandwiches, pulling chips out of the cupboard, and placing a handful on each plate.

"I am learning, but it seems as though every time I begin to understand her style, she switches it."

"As I taught her to do," I responded with a laugh as I put two of the sandwiches on his plate and handed it to him before tossing him two bottles of water from the fridge.

"Is that so? I would suggest the three of us spar, but I know you will not raise a sword to Maeve, especially since she is carrying your child." Rafferty responded after taking a bite of his sandwich, sounding his approval as he tried one of the chips. "The food of this day and age is quite pleasant, more so than it was when I walked this earth."

"Yes, many things have improved for the better, the food being one of them."

"I mean no offense when I ask this, Sinclair, but has your food improved as well? It seems as though with all of the chemicals that mortals ingest nowadays, that their blood would be affected as well."

"You are correct; blood has changed as the world has, but not in ways that I could explain," I said, cocking my head to the side as I thought about it for a few moments. "I do not think I could explain the differences if I tried to."

"It's quite alright, Sinclair. I'm not much interested in the intricate details of how blood tastes to you. I was only curious if it did change, and you've answered that." Rafferty responded with a small laugh before taking another bite of his sandwich, watching Maeve as she played with her chips, rather than eating them. "You are eating for two, Maeve."

"Aye, I know. I am curious, though, how did you know?" Maeve asked him as she pushed a chip around her plate absentmindedly.

"I can see the second light growing within you. I suppose that wasn't very helpful, though. You have a light, as a fallen, and that light changes based on what power you are harnessing. Your offspring, however, has one light that I've seen so far."

"Does that mean that our child is of a light nature?" I asked Rafferty curiously, a small flicker of hope coming to life at his words, as I'd found myself unable to stop thinking about what Maeve said the night before.

"An angel will always be born an angel, Sinclair. If you were a new recreant or just a vampire, I'm sure the child would not be an angel, but it appears you are even closer to your next evolution than I could have imagined." Rafferty responded from between bites of his sandwich, raising an eyebrow when he saw the looks of shock on our faces. "You do not seem pleased to know that your child will be the very embodiment of all that is good and pure?"

"Well, aye, that's good and all, but are you going to skip over the part about Sinclair's evolution bit?"

"His evolution will only make him more suited for a fallen as yourself, Maeve. I cannot tell you what will happen or what needs to happen to push the evolution, but I will tell you that it will be a great step."

"You cannot, or you will not?" I challenged with a snort, shaking my head as I stood to put my plate on the counter before sitting back down next to Maeve, looking down at her untouched plate, then back up at her. "You said you were hungry, Maeve. Why aren't you eating?"

"I thought I was hungry, but I have no appetite. It's fine; I'll eat later." She said as she stood and tossed her food in the trashcan, setting her plate on top of mine before taking my phone off of the counter and handing it to me.

"Why did you-" I started to ask as I looked down at the phone in my hand, but cut myself off as the phone started ringing, Mercy's name popping up on the caller ID at almost precisely the same moment Maeve handed me the phone. "How the hell? Yes, Mercy?"

"Hey, Sinclair, we just found three little mimic kids who look like they haven't eaten in weeks. Would it be possible for you and Maeve to come to Damien's house a few hours early?"

"We will be there shortly," I responded with a nod before ending the call and setting the phone on the table as I stood and looked down at Rafferty just as he was finishing his second sandwich. "We need to go to Lucifer's house earlier than planned."

"What's happened?" Maeve asked as she unloaded the dishwasher, then put the new plates in before turning around to look at me curiously.

"Mercy says they've found three mimic children who look as if they haven't eaten in weeks. I did not think a further explanation would be needed."

"Aye, none needed. What do we need to gather before we go?" Maeve asked as she looked around the kitchen for a moment, then walked into the library where I could hear her grabbing her phone off of the table.

"I do not believe we need anything more," I said, stepping to the side to allow Rafferty and Maeve to walk out of the front door before I closed it and followed them to the garage.

"Hey, Raffey, if our kid is going to be an angel, what does that mean for us?" Maeve asked him after we'd all gotten in the car and began our drive to Damien's house.

"It means you will give birth to an angel, Maeve. I'm sorry, I do not understand the point in asking a question to which you already know the answer. The child will be like no other angel, as it will be raised by and around demons, but an angel nonetheless." Rafferty responded with a shrug, watching out of the window as cars flew past us, chuckling softly to himself.

"She is asking, does that mean it will be born with wings? How fast will it age? If angels are immortal, at what age does it stop aging? We don't have any idea what our kid will be like, but you seem to be pretty sure of it."

"Ah, I see. Yes, the child would be born with wings. They will stop aging once the brain has been fully developed, which would be in their mid to late twenties. I believe the child should age about as quickly as those twins do, but it could be a bit slower."

"Will be born with wings, so I'll be giving birth to fucking cupid?" Maeve gasped, horrified, then started giggling softly. "I wonder if that's where cupid came from?"

"I do not know what this cupid is that you speak of, but no, the child's wings would not be drawn when they are born, but they will begin to develop a few hours after birth."

"How do you know so much about born angels? I thought that you angels were made?" I asked after giving myself a moment to soak in what he'd just said. *'My child will be born the very epitome of all that is pure in this world, while I am a blood-sucking demon. I have never doubted myself more than I do now that I know my child will be an angel. I suppose I was correct when I said that its light nature would override its dark. It does not look as if our child will have dark nature at all, except for having a blood-sucking father. My god, what have I done?'*

"I have learned many a thing while building my connection to the celestial force. The creation of natural-born angels being one of those things. It is very possible that your child could be born as a fallen, but because of the amount of light in Maeve, I truly believe it will be an angel."

"Sinclair?" Maeve suddenly whispered, biting her lip as she hesitantly brought her gaze to meet mine, watching me for a moment in silence before saying anything more. "I'm scared."