89. Endless Cruelty

[Alaric]

"Mercy, are you sure?" I asked Mercy, furrowing my brows in confusion as I watched her. The thing that troubled me most wasn't the affirmation in her eyes. It was the complete absence of concern. Even after everything we'd just found out; she seemed entirely unbothered by it.

"I'm sure." Mercy said with a nod and a reassuring smile before looking up at Amber, searching her face for a few moments before saying anything more. "You are going to answer all questions we have before I'll let you see her. That's the deal."

"That's such a wonderful deal. I answer all of your questions, then die. Wow, I love it!" Amber exclaimed, feigning thrill with a sarcastic laugh before rolling her eyes at Mercy, then cried out as Sinclair slammed her head into the table, then lifted her by the back of her neck, raising an eyebrow as she turned to look at him.

"Care to try again?" Sinclair whispered gently, then pulled his lips back into a terrifying construct of a smirk as he grinned at Amber.

"I forgot how scary you could be," Maeve mumbled, her light green eyes darting from Sinclair to Amber, restlessly shifting in her chair when she saw the blood running down Amber's throat.

"Maeve," Rafferty said as he cleared his throat and stood, offering his right arm to Maeve as he watched Sinclair, his upper lip shuddering in disgust as he led Maeve out of the house without another word.

"You act like you're going to get nothing out of the deal, Amber. You get to meet the woman that you say you've been searching for your entire life. As for the dying part? Well, that's on you." Mercy said after waiting for the sound of Rafferty and Maeve's heartbeats to fade, knowing that they'd already left.

"I concur. Anything Sinclair and Hanna choose to do to you, you've brought it on yourself." Damien agreed before looking over at Azeneth and Ciaran, offering his hand to them. "You still wish to stay downstairs?"

"We have to, daddy. It's time for us to be a part of this, rather than listening when you think we aren't." Azeneth said with a nod as she took Damien's hand, squeezing it reassuringly with a nod of acknowledgment.

"Why aren't you reacting more... Well, more in the way we'd expect a recreant to?" Samantha asked Amber.

"What's the point? Sinclair's got my brainstem literally in the palm of his hand, and if I make one move he doesn't like, I'm dead. May as well try to get what I want before he kills me." Amber responded with a shrug, then winced from pain as Sinclair dug his nails further into the back of her neck.

"That's why you're holding her like that? I thought you just grabbed the first part of her you could reach." Ciaran gasped, then gave Sinclair a nod of respect.

"Rarely does Sinclair do something out of ease. Nearly everything he does holds a purpose, as you will come to learn." I responded with a small laugh, then turned my attention back to Amber, waiting for what she'd say.

"Fine, what are your questions?" Amber whimpered out, biting her lip as Sinclair tightened his grip on the back of her neck, snickering at her pain in ways that only Sinclair could.

*'He believes he can simply leave this part of his life behind? He relishes inducing suffering and devastation more than any man I've ever met. Will he honestly be able to stop himself from doing what certainly brings him tremendous delight in life? Then again, I've never seen him genuinely happy until Maeve came into his life, or back into it, I should say. It seems to be a matter of what he wants about more, where the definite winner of that is Maeve and their soon to be child.'*

"You said you're the daughter of Nancy and that she tossed you in the gutter? Explain." Mercy said, pushing her plate to the side with a growl.

"I didn't know until after I found Edward. I didn't turn into a recreant. I was born this way, almost a century ago. I honestly don't remember my childhood or growing up at all. The first thing I remember is waking up and being like this, a recreant." Amber said, motioning around the room with a shrug.

"How did you find Edward?" Sam asked her after a few moments of thought, looking around the table to see if anyone else would ask a question first.

"You know. Busted a few dozen heads, ripped out a few dozen throats. A lot of pain and death ensued while I was looking for him, and it took me over thirty years to get anywhere close. In the end, I didn't find him. He found me."

"He found you? Why?" Kerr cut in, then smiled in apology to Damien, who'd just started to ask the same question.

"I guess he heard that I'd been looking for him, and news of a random recreant who seemed hell-bent on finding him, it piqued his interest." Amber groaned, then raised an eyebrow as she looked around the table, examining each of us for a few moments, waiting to see if anyone would speak before saying anything more. "He approached me, asked me why I'd concentrated so hard on finding him, and then offered me a deal. Go where he wants me to go, tell him what I found out, and when it was all over with, he'd tell me where to find Nancy."

"How did you know to look for Edward?" Hanna asked, speaking for the first time since Amber had begun her story.

"I'd heard that Edward was experimenting with recreants, trying to create hybrids. It was something I only heard whispers of once, but it was the only viable lead I had. I couldn't just ignore something like that, especially when I had no memory of life prior, and I did not know where I'd come from."

"Is that so?" Mercy said thoughtfully, biting her lip as she watched Amber curiously, then turned in her seat to look up at me, motioning with her head in the foyer's direction.

"Are you alright?" I asked her as I stood and followed her into the foyer, then took her arm, running her down to the end of the driveway and out of earshot from the rest of the group.

"Yeah, I'm okay, I just..." Mercy trailed off, looking back towards the house, taking a deep breath before looking up at me, shaking her head softly. "I feel like it should upset me, seeing as how she's a traitor and all, but after her explanation? I don't know, but I- I understand why she did what she did, Alaric."

"I agree with you, Mercy. While Amber was talking, all I could think was that she did what she thought she had to, to find out where she came from."

"Yeah, exactly. I don't know what would have happened to me if my mother thought I was dead and tossed me to the curbside. Amber told the truth about not having any memories, and I could tell she was honest about it. But, I genuinely think I would have followed the same path and made the same decisions that she did if I were in her shoes."

"Hmm, yes, that's likely. It's out of our hands now, Mercy. What happens to Amber depends entirely on what Sinclair and Hanna decide to do with her. I couldn't tell what Sinclair thought of it, and needless to say, Hanna is more than slightly biased on the situation." I responded with a sigh, running my tongue along the length of my fang as I looked towards the house, then looked down at Mercy, searching her beautiful golden eyes.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Mercy gasped softly, doing a visible double-take as she watched me, then took a step back as if that would somehow stop my gaze from affecting her.

"Because, my wife, you are beautiful," I whispered, grinning as I watched a furious blush growing through her cheeks, drawing her into my arms.

"You're so corny," Mercy breathed as she pushed her face into my chest, taking a deep breath as she wrapped her arms around my waist, leaning back so that she could look up at me.

"Yes, but you love it, nearly as much as you love me," I responded with a smile, kissing the top of her head as I rubbed her back, closing my eyes as I inhaled in her scent.

"Hmm, that's still up for debate." She giggled softly, then shook her head as she looked back towards the house. "I don't think we should kill her. Tricking Hanna the way she did was wrong, yes, but I still think she was doing what she thought was best. I don't think any of us can say that we wouldn't have done the same thing in her situation."

"Yes, I believe so. We can tell Hanna and Sinclair what we think, but I'm not sure that it would change anything. Not unless they believe it themselves."

"Hey, where did Maeve and Rafferty go?" Mercy asked as she pulled back, looking around the yard curiously.

"I'm not sure. I don't smell or hear either Maeve or Rafferty." I said, scoffing when I realized I didn't know the answer to her question, despite my best efforts to locate them.

"Well, neither of them was very comfortable with what Sinclair was doing, which isn't surprising seeing as how they're two angels, literally." Mercy snorted softly, then took my hand as we started walking back up the driveway, biting her lip as she narrowed her eyes in thought. "It's weird, knowing that we all came from angels, by one way or another."

"Yes, but Rafferty is an angel, not made of one. Maeve, well, I guess she's an angel too. One who was born and not made like Rafferty. Not to mention, she's pregnant with a little angel as well. I don't think it would be far-fetched to say that the baby could affect her."

"Do you think the baby can be like the twins, in how it can make her do things that it believes are for the best?"

"What are you thinking?" I asked her as I pulled her to a stop, scanning the sky to see if I could find Rafferty, but to no avail, as there didn't seem to be anything to find.

"Rafferty says that Sinclair is close to the next step of his evolution, but he is still Sinclair. He takes great pleasure in causing pain, as we all know too well. After knowing what the twins did to him, forcing him into going after me, I'm just worried that he might be too far gone to be redeemed. I know that probably sounds insane, but the fact that we can't find Maeve and Rafferty only makes me feel like I'm right."

"You think they left? No, I don't think Maeve would do that!" I gasped, trying to act as if I didn't believe it was possible, while in reality, I felt my gut twisting at the very mention of it. *'Is it possible? Of course, it is, but I don't want to believe it. Maeve wouldn't just up and leave without Sinclair, would she?'*

"I knew it. You think it's just as plausible as I do. You saw the way she reacted to what Sinclair was doing, and as we both know, she's an angel. She hates seeing people in pain, especially when she's not allowed to help them. The way Rafferty was looking at Sinclair when they left doesn't inspire hope either.-" Mercy said, looking up at me curiously as I clasped a hand over her mouth, forcing her to stop talking.

"Mercy, stop." I gasped, taking her arm as I pulled her a few feet back, sucking in air through my teeth as I waited to see if he'd heard us. "Recreant hearing, we must remember how strong Sinclair's senses are." I reminded her, narrowing my eyes as I stared at the kitchen window, waiting to see if Sinclair would move from where he sat.

"I don't think he heard us, babe. Either way, it's not our place to question where they've gone, so we should stop and focus on the matter at hand." Mercy said with a sigh of relief, then took my hand, pulling me back towards the house.

"I pray we are wrong, and they've just taken a walk," I whispered in the lowest voice I could, then scoffed as we walked back into the house and turned the corner to look into the kitchen, both of us taking a step back when we saw the way Sinclair was scowling up at us.

"They may have enhanced you, Elder, but your senses are not stronger than mine. I heard every word the two of you spoke, so do not try to deceive me. I am not in the mood for dishonesties." Sinclair snapped, his golden eyes darkened into an amber shade as he looked back and forth between Mercy and I, searching our faces for a few moments before looking away.

*'So, he also heard Mercy say that she thinks he's too far gone to be redeemed? Jesus, we need to remember how strong Sinclair's hearing is before we talk about him like that. Well, it's not like we were trying to insult him, but it is what it is, I guess.'*

"You heard what we said, but you didn't go to look for them?" Mercy asked once Sinclair's gaze fell back to the table, recoiling when he whipped his head up to glower at her once more.

"It is a matter of trust, Mercy. I trust Maeve, and so I will not react in all the ways that I wish to." Sinclair grumbled, his lip twitching in exasperation as he motioned with his free hand for Mercy and I to take our seats at the table. "Speak of it no more if you know what is good for you." He spat, cutting Mercy off before she could get a word out.

*'He wants to act like he doesn't believe what we said, but it's clear he does. His girlfriend has disappeared, and we don't know where she's gone, or even if she's going to return.'*

"You heard what we said, so you know what we think about Amber, then?" I said, clearing my throat as I took Mercy's hand and led her to the table, pulling out her chair, keeping a close eye on Sinclair as I did so.

"Yes. I am tempted to agree, should Amber remain truthful as she has been. Hanna is the one you need to convince, however." Sinclair said with a nod, then narrowed his eyes at Amber, searching her face for a moment before pulling his nails out of the back of her neck, wiping the blood on her shirt with a grumble of disgust.

"What do they need to convince me of?" Hanna asked as she leaned back, looking past Sinclair at the back of Amber's neck, watching as the wounds continued to bleed, much to everyone's surprise. "It's not healing?"

"I've noticed that when Sinclair inflicts injury on someone, it doesn't heal the way it should. I think it's because of his evolution." Samantha said as she licked her index finger and ran it along the back of Amber's neck, but to no great use, as it did nothing to heal the wounds.

"When did you notice this?" Damien asked her, furrowing his brows in confusion as he looked from Amber to Sinclair before his electric blue eyes finally landed on Samantha.

"When the whole thing with Edward went down, and he thought Maeve was dead. A recreant tried to pull him away, and Sinclair slashed his arm. Even after a few days, the wound hadn't healed, even with Maeve's blood in his system." Samantha responded with a shake of her head, sighing softly before leaning back in her seat.

"I overlooked that. You think it is because of what Sinclair is becoming?" Sam asked as he draped an arm over her shoulder, pulling her against him.

"It's the only thing I can think of that makes sense, yeah. I haven't seen Maeve or Rafferty hurt anyone to prove that theory, so I don't know."

"Is that so?" Sinclair said, then shrugged it off with a sigh before looking up at Mercy, watching her for a moment before speaking. "Have you any more questions for her?"

"No, none that I can think. Does anyone else?" Mercy responded, looking around the table, waiting for everyone else's response before nodding and looking over at Amber. "Let's go see our mother, then."

"She's here?" Amber gasped, her golden eyes widening in shock as she started to stand, but thought better of it and looked to her left at Sinclair, biting her lip as she waited for his permission.

"Yes, come on." Mercy said with a nod as she stood and motioned with her head towards the foyer, waiting for Amber to walk around the table before sighing, looking up at me. "Will you come with us?"

"You couldn't keep me away if you tried." I scoffed, a bit offended by the fact that she felt the need to ask such an outrageous question, as if I wouldn't have gone with her without her asking.

"Can we go? We promise we'll stay in the back, and we won't say anything." Ciaran said as he stood and straightened his tie before holding his hand out to Azeneth, helping her to her feet.

"Only if Mercy says yes, and if she tells you to leave, you do so immediately," Bast said, raising an eyebrow as Azeneth started to argue.

"Yes, mommy, we promise," Azeneth said after a moment of hesitance, giving a reluctant nod before walking into the foyer, waiting.

"As interested as we are in what happens, I don't want to see him, not yet. We're going to set up camp, hunt, and we've got a few calls to make." Octavia said, clearing her throat as she and Kerr stood, running her hand along her protruding stomach with a smile.

"I know you're likely going to argue with me, but please don't set up camp on the property. We've enough guest bedrooms for everyone to sleep under the same roof. Since everyone will say our goodbyes in the morning, the least we could do is not separate from our last night." Damien said, motioning towards the hallway underneath the stairs, grinning when he saw the look on Kerr's face. "One night in a vampire's house will not be the death of you, Kerr."

"No, but one night in this house might," Kerr responded with a laugh, then gave Damien a reluctant nod after looking back at Octavia. "Very well. But we are going to hunt first. The babies are getting bigger, and she needs a fresh kill daily at this point."

"Um, would you possibly be able to catch something for us? We're starving!" Ciaran gasped hopefully, looking from Octavia to Kerr as he waited for their response.

"You said it had been five days since you've fed, right? Yeah, we'll catch something for you. Is there something specific you need, or just anything we catch?" Octavia responded as she took off her jacket and set it on the coat rack, rotating her right shoulder with a small groan.

"Anything you catch is fine. We aren't picky, but we do like rabbits a bit more than anything else we've tried." Azeneth responded with a grin, then bit her lip as she looked up at Bast and Damien. "We're sorry for not telling you before."

"It is in the past, Azeneth. I suppose I could try to switch to hunting animals as well?" Damien suggested, his lip curling back in disgust at the very thought.

"In that case, I'll catch you an extra juicy rabbit, vampire king." Kerr taunted with a wink, laughing out as Damien picked up the nearest item he could reach and hurtled it at Kerr's head. "Fine, you got me. Two extra juicy rabbits for the vampire king!"

"Don't forget that you will sleep in my house tonight, mimic!" Damien yelled after Kerr as he ran out of the front door, slamming it closed behind him, the sound of his laughter ringing out through my ears as he and Octavia ran towards the forest.

"We are going to go with them. It's not fair to expect the mimics to provide all of our sustenance. Will you record what happens when you go into the basement? We want to hear everything." Samantha asked, grinning happily as Bast nodded and went upstairs, returning a few moments later with a digital recorder that she showed to Sam and Samantha.

"Are we to hunt animals or humans?" Sam asked, waiting for the responses from Damien, Sinclair, then me before nodding and leading Samantha out of the front door, following Octavia and Kerr into the woods.

"Feeding on animals? I may as well. If my children and the mimics can do it, as can I." Damien muttered but didn't seem all too happy about the idea.

"You aren't allowed to turn uncle Kerr into a wolf-skin rug, daddy. Octavia would never forgive you." Azeneth giggled, wrinkling her nose at the notion.

Damien didn't respond but grumbled his agreement with a nod, then turned to look at Mercy and Amber, motioning towards the basement door. "Let's go."

"Before we go, is there anything else you two need to tell us about what you overheard?" Mercy asked me, then looked past me at Sinclair, who was typing out a message on his phone, then groaned and erased whatever he'd typed, the pained look in his eyes telling me he was arguing with himself over what he wanted to do.

*'He must be trying to decide if he wants to send a message to Maeve or if he wants to give her space. I can't really blame him, as I'm not sure what I would do in his situation. That's a hell of a choice to make, without knowing whether she's left or just gone on a walk as we thought. She and Rafferty have been gone for about an hour now, so if they went on a walk, they should return sometime soon.'* I thought as I watched him, then took a step forward, holding out my hand for his phone.

"What?" Sinclair asked me but handed me his phone, stepping behind me to read over my shoulder as I typed out a message to Maeve.

'I'm sorry if my actions upset you. Are you alright?' I typed out, showing it to Sinclair before pressing send, unable to stop myself from getting restless as I waited to see her response. *'Who would have thought I'd honestly care about this man? I didn't, that's for sure. Though, I can't be surprised that I care. It wasn't his fault, the way he felt for Mercy, and even with the way he felt, he still didn't do what he wished to do. I wonder, did the twins have to do something about Maeve's memory in order to override his feelings for Mercy? Now that I think about it, when the spell was reversed, Sinclair lost all feeling for Mercy. That would mean that without the spells, he wouldn't have cared for her at all.'*

'Aye. I went home to pack my things, to get ready to go. We'll be back soon.' Was her response, allowing me to release a breath I wasn't aware I'd been holding, smiling as I gave Sinclair his phone back.

"I'm surprised, Alaric. It's almost as if you care." Sinclair responded, trying and failing to hide the smile peeking at the corners of his mouth, as he was just as relieved as I was.

"Almost, but no dice," I responded with a roll of my eyes before looking back at the rest of the group, who was watching Sinclair and I curiously. I shook my head to tell them not to worry about it, then looked down at Mercy with a smile. "No, we told you all that we heard. We might have heard more if it weren't for Leena coming in and interrupting us."

"Okay, let's go." Mercy said with a nod, taking my hand as Damien unlocked the basement door, stepping to the side to allow Mercy and I to go downstairs first, everyone else following closely behind us.

"So, you've finally come to see us?" Edward sneered when he saw us, his blood-red eyes widening in horror when he saw Amber, his eyes darting from Mercy to Amber in disbelief.

"For a man that's ruled the underground for centuries, you aren't very good at hiding what you think, are you?" Damien snorted under his breath as he led the twins to stand against the back wall where they could still see and hear what was going on without being in the way of anyone else.

"Who is that?" Nancy asked, looking from Edward to Amber curiously. "Wait," She breathed out, her eyes widening in shock and confusion as she looked back and forth between Amber and Mercy, the horror in her eyes growing when she saw the similarities.

"I'm your daughter, Amberlynn, the result of your experiments gone awry," Amber responded, panting as she took a few steps closer to Nancy's cage, her golden eyes wild with hatred as she glared at Nancy.

"No, that's impossible! Mercy was the only one-" Nancy said, but cut herself off with a gasp as she turned to gawk at Edward, petrified. "How many of the children survived, Edward? How many of my kids did you throw into the streets after telling me they'd perished?"

"I suppose there's no point in misleading anymore, is there?" Edward answered with a dispassionate shrug as he sat down on his cot, crossing his arms over his chest as he sneered at Amber. "You thought you were special, Amberlynn? I don't know how many are alive to this day, but there were four survivors. You, Mercy, and two others.”