Chloe Whitlock
Mercer struggles against his chains and as a newbie those chains must feel like sandpaper against his skin. Noticing us all entering his large holding cell. He grunts like a rabid dog trying one last time to break his chains off. Nothing.
We all stand in front of Mercer making a semi circle around him. Morgans stands a bit further back than the rest of us with a completely blank face aside from her eyes- a glimpse into something dark and unforgiving.
"Try his head again." I say to Dane.
He tries to get inside of Mercers head but immediately grabs at his own head in pain. "Strong spell."
"As I said, I'm not letting you see anything." Mercer growls. His shaky breaths and slight trembles challenge his attempt at appearing stable and strong. The hunger ravaging his body, burning and tormenting him with the knowledge that just a little bit of blood would relieve him of those afflictions. Except it never is just a little bit, is it?
"Alright now that we've done that can I have my fun now?" Grayson asks excitedly.
"Go ahead." Dane holds his hand out in Mercers direction as he steps back.
"I'm not telling you anything you're going to have to kill me." Mercer shouts.
Grayson smiles as he takes the blood bag he was holding behind his back bringing it in view. The sight of which has his heart beating rapidly. Mercers eyes follow the bag the whole time as Grayson waves it around, laughing as his eyes trace the path of the bag- completely entranced by it.
He stalks over to him, shaking the blood bag out in front of him. "Newly turned vampire? That cravings gotta be awful. Right?" Grayson sticks a blood bag in his face. "You want it?"
"No." He says as he grinds his teeth.
"Your red eyes, say otherwise." He holds up the tiny mirror I gave him to Mercer's face so he could see his brand new eyes. All the color left his face, I heard his heart skip a beat. He looks like he could cry. I almost feel bad. Emphasis on almost. Mercer and his people have terrorized all of us for a while, this is a long time coming. I normally feel terrible about hurting or killing people but some of the things he's done I wouldn't even think of doing even at my darkest. I lost all feeling towards him the second he targeted a building filled with vampires, lycans, witches, and humans- children, adults, everyone. He had 114 people killed that day, without even a hint of remorse. All to get back at my eldest brother Vaughn for killing one of his higher ranking men.
Graysons dangles the blood bag in front of him just out of his reach. "All you have to do is ask."
"What's the problem Mercer? You look a bit frazzled." Victoria snarks.
"Kill me." He says keeping an intense stare on the bag.
"Come on, you don't want a drink first? Or maybe you just wanna talk? Trade insults? Give me something here." Grayson shakes the blood bag in his face
He stays silent continuing to stare at the blood bag, as sweat begins to form at his hairline. "Suddenly you have nothing to say?" Morgan speaks out from behind all of us staring daggers into him as if she's hoping one of them will land and end him just from a look.
"Yeah, look who's quiet all of a sudden." Victoria tilts her head menacingly.
He's completely zoned us out, he's so hyper focused on the blood I don't think he can even hear us. Grayson pulls it away so it's next to his own face, bringing Mercers attention to him. "Please." Mercer exclaims, trying to lunge forward in his steel chair after the blood. Promptly realizing what he just said and did, he looks down at the ground in disgust. Newly turned vampires have almost zero control over themselves in the first few days, similar to Morgan.
Grayson chuckles. "Please what?" He asks. Mercer begins breathing shallowly. "Please. What?" Grayson leans closer to him.
Victoria walks around Mercer, grabbing the back of his hair she yanks his head up, forcing him to look at Grayson and the blood bag. "Answer him or I will get violent." She threatens.
I cross my arms somewhat perplexed at this scene. Mercers shallow breathing, the sweating, his eyes remaining red. He's all too pale, ghostly at this point. This is all stuff that could happen while you're new but not this early on and all at once. It's been what? 10 minutes since he woke up from fully completing his transition?
"Please, I need it." His breath hitches.
"You need what?" Grayson antagonizes further.
Mercer sighs as he wheezes. "Please."
"Say it." Victoria pushes.
"Say 'I need blood' like the monster you now are." Grayson holds a sinister stare on him.
"I..." His voice cuts off as he chokes on his own air. "I need blood." The second he says those three words a vicious smile tugs at Morgan's lips.
Grayson laughs. "Look at how quickly your coveted morals flew out the window. How many minutes was that Victoria?"
Victoria releases her grip on the back of his hair and pulls out her phone from her back pocket to check the time. "About 3. You disappointed me Mercer, I bet Dane on the way here you'd last at least 10 after seeing the bag." Dane shakes his head feigning disappointment.
"Please." He pants.
"I'll let you have it just tell me what witch or what coven is spelling all of you." Grayson says.
He's shaking, vibrating and I hear his heart beating erratically- fast and skipping beats every now and then. "No!" He yells.
"Wait guys." I walk up to Mercer and place my hand on the side of his face. He's burning. The gray that suddenly coat his skin makes me think that death is either nearby or already here. "Somethings wrong." Just as I say that he starts coughing dryly.
I step back from him and soon enough blood comes up with his coughs. He pauses, his anxious state turns malevolent in a blink of an eye. He starts laughing hysterically through his periodic coughs. "I thought the bitch was lying."
"What?" I say.
He turns his attention to Grayson, looking him up and down with a pained smile on his face. "She wasn't lying."
"What are you on about?" Grayson crosses his arms.
"You're fucked." He continues cackling, getting cut off by him coughing up even more blood.
Grayson stomps closer to him and wraps his hand around his throat. "Explain."
"Neph-." He goes into a coughing fit that slowly turns back to him laughing. "Nephilim. Blood." He maniacally laughs. Grayson lets go of his throat and takes a step back.
The energy in the room shifts. The celebratory triumphant feelings moments before, now replaced by a charged silence. "That's not possible." Dane is the first to speak.
"It is." He smiles with blood stained teeth. "My abilities-." He coughs, wheezing on every word and every breath. "Nephilim." He begins laughing again.
Victoria walks around in front of him grabbing his throat and commanding his attention. "How many of you?"
Mercer continues laughing in her face. I don't have to see Victorias face to know she's seething. She shoved him backwards letting go of his neck. Now, seeing her face- she's seething.
Grayson holds out his hand towards Victoria. "Give me the knife."
The rims of Mercers eyes turn an unnatural red. It's blood. Blood pools in the rims of his eyes. We all stand silently in horror as Victoria hands him the obsidian knife from her inside jacket pocket. He grabs Mercers throat lifting his head so he's face to face with Grayson. He says nothing, he just stares him down. Which for Grayson is enough. When he wants it to be, his stare could crush a person with the sheer weight of it.
He plunges the obsidian knife into his heart, not letting Mercers head drop or his eyes look away. He stares at him until he knows for sure he's dead. When his heart stops beating and the life in his eyes is gone he rips the knife from his chest.
He turns to face all of us, his rage dissipating in a flash to his trademark smirk. "It's gonna be fine. I'm a lycan too." He says handing the knife back to Victoria then goes past all of us. Strolling out of the door without a visible care.
I look around the uncomfortably silent room. Dane stands with nerves piling up behind his eyes, Morgan who really doesn't have any idea what's going on looks around for someone to provide answers, and Victoria is uncharacteristically quiet. With haste I leave to follow Grayson.
Outside, Grayson's several yards ahead of me "Grayson." I call out to him. He ignores me and continues walking off in the direction of the main house. "Grayson. Hello?" I shout once more quickening my pace. Following him through the darkness of the compound to get to the distant light coming from the main house. "Grayson?" I say once I head into the house where he entered moments prior.
"What?" He finally responds. I find him in the kitchen making himself a drink, pouring the whiskey with a heavy hand.
"We'll figure something out." I say nearing him.
"There's nothing to figure out. I'll be fine." He takes a sip of his drink.
Morgan and the others enter the kitchen as well. "I'll contact some people see if there's anything-." Victoria starts.
"Guys, I'll be fine." He defends.
"We don't know that." I say as calm as possible while my insides shake.
"When Nephilim tried to poison lycans with their blood it made them stronger." He mentions. "It didn't kill them."
"True but you're also a vampire." Dane points out. "And the lycans— it made their hearts give out."
Grayson swirls the remaining whiskey in his glass. "After several doses or it was immediate but," he puts a hand over his heart, "clearly, all good here. And this seems like a one time deal don't you think?" He shrugs with a half smile on his face. "I think it will all cancel out."
"We don't know that for sure." I say beginning to panic, looking around the room. "We don't know any cures. Do we?"
"Being a lycan would be one." Grayson remarks.
"Victoria is there anything?" I ask her ignoring Graysons comment.
She shakes her head. "Not that I know of. I can try to find something but I'll have to go New York."
"Do we have time for that?"
"From what I've heard- yes. It's not something that's instant. I mean obviously since it's been hours."
"You can't call whoever it is?" Morgan suggests.
"The contacts I would have to go to- don't own phones. I'll call with anything I hear." Victoria says quickly exiting the house.
Please find something.
Grayson chuckles. "You guys are freaking out over nothing. Nephilim blood kills vampires yes-."
"Which you are." Dane states once again.
"I will be fine." Grayson repeats. "Let's not waste any more time on this. Look Morgan's here, she's probably struggling with something. Why don't you all go help her." He finishes his drink and Morgan's eyebrows knit together in offense. Placing the glass on the counter, he grabs the bottle and walks off passing Kellan who looks at him revolted as he does so.
"He won't actually die will he?" Morgan finally asks, her eyes filled with worry.
"Who's dying?" Kellan asks.
"Mercers abilities came from Nephilim blood." Dane says. "Grayson turned him, drained him of his blood."
Kellans face drops. "That's not- that's not possible. I've drank from other hunters before."
"I think it was just him." I say, thinking back to all the times I fought these hunters, comparing fighting others vs the one previous time I've ever physically fought Mercer a few months ago. Like the coward he was he got other hunters to attack, distracting me so he had time to flee. "He healed much quicker than the others. Felt stronger too."
"With his ego, it'd make sense he'd want to be the strongest out of his people." Dane says. I nod in agreement. Mercer was loyal only as long as he was in charge and seen as the best or superior.
"But how the fuck did he get Nephilim blood?" Kellan raises a point of concern.
"I'd assume whatever witch or witches are spelling these hunters." I answer.
"Just casually has Nephilim blood hanging around?" He holds out his hands, his palms exposed.
"It's not like any Nephilim exist anymore." Dane says. "It's possible someone may have collected blood and kept it around."
"For over 1300 years?" Kellan says in an accusatory tone.
"I don't know." Dane says raising his hands at a loss.
"Are you guys sure these things don't exist?" Morgan cuts in.
We all turn to her. "They were wiped out with the Celestials. Targeted more than Celestials themselves if anything." I say.
"Because of their blood?"
"Nephilim were usually killed before they were born because they were volatile. Celestials weren't allowed to breed with humans- but during the war between us and them they made an exception." Dane begins to explain. "Figured they could be of use to them. Eventually they found that Nephilim blood can kill a vampire, including us. Not a Fallen directly, but it can harm them enough to leave them weak and vulnerable. So if you could imagine the Fallen especially wanted them dead."
I watch Morgan look around the room as she thinks and processes this. "If their blood made lycans stronger though, maybe Graysons right it'll like PEMDAS and cancel out."
"I hope so." I trail off. "Dane, do you know how long until symptoms would show?"
"I don't really know. I mean he drained him so maybe a couple more hours. Maybe less." Dane responds and the words hit me like a punch to the gut.
My heart rate picks up exponentially now knowing I only have maybe a couple of hours before I know whether or not Grayson will live or die.