Mercy for the Damned

  contents

  Copyright

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Books by Lisa Olsen:

  Excerpt from Pretty Witches all in a Row

  Mercy for the Damned

  Fallen [3]

  Lisa Olsen

  (2012)

  *

  Rating: ★★★★☆

  Tags: angels and demons

  angels and demonsttt

  Mercy’s trouble with angels continues in the third installment of The Fallen series. Mercy for the Damned finds Mercy determined to break Adam and Ben out of their demon prison no matter what it takes, and this time her friends are family are along for the ride. There are a lot of plot twists in this one, blending new characters and some we love to hate seamlessly into Mercy’s world, while still taking the time to deepen the existing relationships in a satisfying way. As expected, the story didn’t end with saving Adam, far from it, and there’s a lesson to be learned in there somewhere about being careful what you wish for.

  Product Description

  “You’d think having an angel come to visit you would be a good thing. So why did I feel like everything was about to get ten times worse as one knelt before me?”

  Mercy’s saga continues with Mercy for the Damned, Book III of The Fallen. When a new prophecy predicts a great evil if a fallen angel is allowed to remain in Midian, Mercy will move heaven and earth to free Adam from his deal with Raum. The trouble is, it’s far easier to get into Midian than it is to get out, and Adam is perfectly happy to serve out the remainder of his sentence if it keeps Mercy safe from harm. Throw in some pressure from the police who suspect Sam and Mercy of eliminating Ben, and the race is on to rescue both of them before it’s too late.

  Mercy for the Damned

  By

  Lisa Olsen

  Copyright © 2012 Lisa Olsen, all rights reserved.

  Cover Image licensed by Depositphotos.com/Vaeenma

  This book is sold subject to the conditions that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, copied, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any other format or changed in any way, including the author’s name and title, and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The use of any real person, company or product names are for literary effect only and used without permission. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.

  Visit the author’s website at http://www.lisaolsen.net

  Acknowledgements

  Thanks to everyone who voted on the cover art; I love hearing people weigh in with their opinions and suggestions. Thanks to my mom (who is nothing like Mercy’s mom, just for the record), for always putting your family first, even when you’ve got a lot on your plate. My daughter Brynna, thanks for talking me out of killing off Nelo, he lives to clean another day! Thanks to Emily for another great job at proofreading, (I’m getting better though, right?). Thanks to Randi Pandi for letting me bounce ideas off of you, you are made of awesomeness! And to my husband James, my one and only love… thanks for being so patient with me when I insisted you show me how to do all the formatting and cover art just in case you’re ever hit by a bus. Now I can truly appreciate all the work you put into it!

  Chapter One

  You’d think having an angel come to visit you would be a good thing. So why did I feel like everything was about to get ten times worse as one knelt before me?

  I looked up helplessly from Raziel’s earnest face, giving my friends and family a sheepish smile. Considering the fact that angels were supposed to keep themselves hidden from humans, he didn’t seem to care much that he’d barged in on Thanksgiving dinner. For their part, no one in the living room thought twice about the fact that the man had entered from the third floor balcony of my apartment, kneeling before me like I was a queen and he my loyal subject. That probably had to do with the fact that I’d just told them we had to figure out a way to break my fallen angel boyfriend and possessed ex out of a demon dimension. As holidays went, it was about par for the course for the year I was having.

  “We have to talk?” I repeated. “Well, pull up a chair, that’s all we’ve been doing for the past half hour. Would you like some coffee?”

  “Thank you, no, my lady. I have no need of refreshment.” Raziel rose with fluid grace to his full height, looking impossibly elegant in his gray suit. His dark flowing hair and trimmed beard made him look like one of those Middle Eastern princes that had more money than sense.

  “Just Mercy, okay?” I reminded him. My lady, Mistress; I wasn’t much for any of those titles considering my job as a bartender, and only my mother called me Merceline. “What’s this about?”

  “Perhaps we might speak privately…” His dark eyes swept over the other inhabitants of the room, who all watched us with rapt attention. I knew I’d end up repeating anything he said anyway, so I waved the suggestion away.

  “No, it’s alright, you can talk freely here. I have no secrets from my family.” Maybe I did, but that was beside the point. For the time being, I was preaching full disclosure, having come clean about the supernatural happenings in my life to my brother Matty, my best friend Daphne and my boss Parker. Sam, being a fallen angel himself, was already up to speed on the ins and outs of my celestial abilities.

  Raziel looked less than convinced, but he plunged ahead anyway. “As you say,” he nodded. “I have been sent to discuss a certain prophecy with you, one that concerns you and your friends.”

  “We are well aware of the prophecy,” Sam cut him off, none too thrilled about Raziel’s presence in my home. Daphne immediately looped her arm through Sam’s and I could see the soothing effect that contact gave him.

  “It’s okay, Sammy. The sooner he gives us his news, the sooner he can be on his way,” she smiled up at him supportively.

  “Am I missing something? I thought we already knew about the prophecy,” Matty frowned. “Wasn’t that what you just told us about?”

  I felt bad for Raziel, the odd one out in the room, but he was the one with the bad rep to overcome. ‘Angel of Death’ doesn’t exactly spell warm and fuzzies for most people. “What about the prophecy?” I steered the conversation back. “We’re doing everything we can to keep Azazael from getting to me.”

  “You misunderstand me. I do not speak of the prophecy that foretells of your Grace and Azazael’s rebirth, but a darker text that has come to light.”

  “A new prophecy?” He had us now. Bad feelings aside, even Sam hung on Raziel’s every word.

  “Indeed. This text speaks of a fallen angel in the land between the living and the dead, and the great evil that will
come should he be allowed to remain there.”

  “Adam…” The word slipped from my lips as the strength went out of my legs, and I sank onto the edge of the couch.

  “Hey, I’m sure it’ll be fine, Mercy.” Daphne left Sam’s side to wrap her arm around my shoulders. “We’re going to get him out, remember?”

  “This is all my fault. I’m the reason he made the deal with Raum and went to Midian in the first place, he wanted to keep me safe.”

  “Your safety is of paramount concern to me as well.” Raziel approached, but Sam blocked his path.

  “You’ve delivered your news, you’d best be on your way, brother.” The last was delivered with a flat, unfriendly stare.

  “My place is here where I can be of most use. I have been given a special dispensation to remain here until we resolve the situation. Gabriel was most specific in his instructions.”

  “As if I gave a flying f…”

  “Sam!” I cut him off before I had to try and un-hear the sound of an angel swearing for the first time. “I love you, but you’re not helping right now. We need the information Raziel has to save Adam.”

  “You’re choosing him over me?” Sam blinked, and I felt about an inch high for putting that slapped puppy dog look on his face.

  “It’s not about that,” I tried to explain, hating the fact that we had to rely on someone not only Sam but more importantly Adam hated more than any other person in the universe.

  Parker, who had remained silent through the entire exchange, climbed to his feet, drawing our attention. “So, let me get this straight. In addition to Mercy being an angel…”

  “I’m not an angel, maybe just part…” I corrected him.

  “The good parts then,” he winked at me. “And trying to deal with demons and shit coming after her, now we’ve got to step up our timetable for breaking her boyfriend out of demon prison or bad shit is about to hit the fan. Am I missing anything?”

  “That about sums it up, yes,” Raziel nodded.

  “And besides the fact that Sam here looks like he wants to tear your arms off and stuff them down your throat, you’re on our side. We both want the same thing, right?”

  “Correct again.”

  “Then I’m with Mercy, pull up a chair and let’s figure this mother out,” Parker shrugged, not understanding the objection, but Sam wasn’t so willing to let it go.

  “You don’t know what he’s done…”

  “No, I got it. I just don’t care,” Parker cut him off. “We need all the help we can get to dig ourselves out of this hole, am I right?” He held his hand out to Raziel and the angel took it, his smile dazzling as he clasped it in friendship.

  “Do none of you see the folly in accepting Raziel into the fold?” Sam tried a last time.

  “I’m with him,” Matty shrugged, in favor of Parker. “What do you like on your pizza?”

  I flashed Parker a grateful smile, all the while hoping Sam could get over his hurt feelings, because we really did need him too. Everyone chatted, deciding on what pizza to order. Daphne pulled Sam into the corner of the room, whispering soothing words into his ear, fingers threading through his. I wondered when they’d gotten that close, that he didn’t object to the invasion of his personal space? I could remember when a hug made him freeze like a deer in the headlights. Raziel didn’t sit, leaning against the breakfast bar, he watched the proceedings with avid interest. Who knew what he thought of our motley crew of saints and sinners, but I couldn’t have asked for a more loyal bunch.

  *

  “So, what do we do now?” Parker asked, sitting beside me as everyone dug into their pizza. I couldn’t eat. Still full of turkey dinner, the smell of the pizza made me slightly nauseous. Maybe it was nerves, it felt like I had squirrels wrestling over a walnut inside my belly.

  “I think it’s pretty obvious we need to get Adam out of Midian as soon as possible.” I just had no idea how to go about it.

  “Don’t forget about Ben,” Daphne piped up, and I added that to my list of insurmountable obstacles, feeling a little guilty for not sparing much thought to his fate in my worry for Adam. The last time I’d seen Ben he’d been trussed up over Adam’s shoulder with a bullet in his stomach. I only hoped he was still alive.

  “That brings up a good question. Even if we can sneak into Midian, break not only Adam, but Ben free and somehow sneak past Naberios – who I still owe a favor to by the way, what do we do with Ben once we’ve got him here? We can’t keep him bound up forever. His family, the police… they’re going to keep looking for him. If it gets out we’re keeping a cop hostage, we could be in some serious trouble,” I pointed out and Matty let out a low whistle.

  “Let’s kill one bird at a time, sweetheart,” Parker patted me on the knee. “First off, can you do anything to get us into Midian?” he asked Raziel.

  “Sadly, no.” A shake of the head was given.

  “Then you don’t actually have a plan on how to keep your prophecy from happening?”

  “It isn’t my prophecy, and no… no guidelines were given in my task to set things right.”

  My heart sank a little, and I wondered if I hadn’t hurt Sam’s feelings for nothing. Maybe we didn’t need Raziel’s help after all? “We know the guard does take favors, I wonder if he’d be interested in anything we have to offer?”

  Daphne offered a suggestion with her tongue firmly in cheek. “He’s been at the gate for a long time, what about chocolate?”

  “Forget chocolate, if he’s always stuck at the gate we need to get him a girl,” Matty snickered, as he and Parker shared a knuckle bump.

  “No, you can’t go anywhere near Midian or Naberios, your innocence would be like a beacon to them.” Sam’s tone brooked no argument and I gave him a reassuring smile.

  “It’ll be fine, Daphne won’t need to go anywhere near Midian, none of you will.” That particular danger I reserved for myself.

  “Somebody needs to go, I’m thinking a neutral, third party negotiator might be a good idea,” Parker volunteered. I shot him down before he picked up too much steam behind that idea.

  “No way.”

  “Why not? You said innocence was like crack to them, right? I think we can all agree I’m hardly a babe in the woods,” Parker smirked, but I refused to let his considerable charm get to me.

  “No offense, but you’d be defenseless there. Unless, maybe you feel like spending eternity down there playing slaveboy to depraved demons?” I laid it on thick, not wishing that fate for any of them. “If anything I’ll take Raziel with me.” Raziel perked up over that, even as Sam practically glowered in his corner. “But from what I understand, it’s especially dangerous for anyone with Grace to go down there, so I’d understand if you didn’t want to go.”

  “I stand ready to accompany you into the deepest pits of hell, my lady,” Raziel bowed deeply, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes over the theatrics. He’d obviously never been to Midian.

  “Maybe we can think of a way to get Raum to meet us on neutral territory to arrange for their release? I don’t know, we have a lot to think about.” I glanced at the clock on the DVD player. “Why don’t we call it a night and think things over? We can meet up tomorrow morning and come up with a plan of attack.”

  Matty approached as the others rose to their feet, a hopeful look on his face. “Do you have those leftovers wrapped up for me?”

  I didn’t begrudge giving my brother the lion’s share of the leftover turkey, I knew it’d feed him for the rest of the week. “They’re in the fridge, hold on a sec.” I turned to retrieve them, and by the time I was done digging in the refrigerator, I saw Sam and Daphne had already gone.

  “You sure know how to throw a mean party, sis,” Matty grinned, taking the Tupperware out of my hands. “Let me know if you need me to drive the getaway car on this caper,” his eyes flashed playfully and I kissed his cheek noisily before he left.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Matt.”

  “I will take my leave of
you as well, my lady,” Raziel came to stand before me, taking both of my hands in his.

  “Please, just call me Mercy, okay?”

  “As you wish, Mercy,” he smiled, lifting my hands to kiss the air over each of my wrists before he disappeared out the patio door.

  “Weird guy,” Parker snorted, picking up the empty pizza boxes and stuffing them into a garbage bag. “How come Sam’s got his panties in a bunch over him again?”

  “Here, I’ll wash, you dry.” I tossed a dishtowel over his shoulder as I tackled the holiday dishes while I filled him in on Raziel’s connection to both Sam and Adam. We fell into an easy rhythm in the small kitchen, much the same as we did at work, although in my apartment, I was the boss. To his credit, Parker didn’t balk at being asked to help out, he even seemed to enjoy the domestic tasks as we set the apartment to rights.

  “You should have told me about this before,” he chastised me lightly, draping the dishtowel over the drying rack when we were done.

  “I didn’t know Raziel was gonna crash the party,” I shrugged, drying my hands off on my jeans.

  “No, not about him, about you.”

  “What? That I’m part angel?”

  “All of it. If I’d known what you were dealing with, I might not have come down on you so hard.”

  “It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault.” He’d only really yelled at me about Sharona anyway, for the rest of it he’d been pretty great. “Go home and get some sleep, we’ll talk tomorrow, alright?” Parker lifted my hands like Raziel had, kissing the air over my wrists in the same oddly formal gesture and we giggled at each other before I gave him a real hug, kissing his raspy cheek on the way back down. “Happy Thanksgiving.”