Chapter Chapter Twenty Three
Mercy was pacing back and forth when she saw Carver and Eir come up to their side of the door. She could tell that they were nervous but trying not to show it. Their heartbeats though told her otherwise. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Have you decided to do as I have asked and hand the girl over?” She demanded.
“We’re not handing her over.” Carver said. His eyes glowed blue. “Now leave before we force you to.”
Hearing water moving behind her, Mercy turned around. She saw a large wave coming out of the lake. She sighed and turned back to the two. “I shouldn’t really be surprised.” She said. “After all, you reek of the Guardian’s energy.” She tilted her head a little. “Let me guess, you’re the next Guardian after Nichallo.”
Eir and Carver looked at each other. They had not planned for a conversation like this one. They turned back to Mercy.
“We’re not handing Molly over to you so I guess that we’re at a stalemate.” Eir said. “She’s just a child. She doesn’t deserve any of this.” After spending so much time with Molly, Eir didn’t want anything bad to happen to the girl and regretted letting Jupiter lock the girl up in a cage.
Mercy smiled. “You all can’t stay in there for the rest of your lives.” She told them. “Even if one of you is immortal. Sooner or later, you’ll run out of supplies. The minute you open any of these doors, I will come through and get the girl. I won’t hesitate in killing any of you to get her.”
Eir drew her sword and Carver made a trident appear in his hand. They both aimed their weapons at Mercy.
“Harm a hair on any of our heads and it’ll be the last thing you do.” Eir warned Mercy. “We are willing to do whatever it takes to protect the Silver Child and Golden Child.”
Mercy frowned. “The Golden Child is here as well?” She asked. “Funny, Tempest never asked for her. Just the Silver Child.”
Carver looked at Eir in disbelief. “We don’t have the Golden Child here.” He told her. “Tempest already has her in his clutches.” He had no idea what Eir was thinking by calling Tora the Golden Child.
“Sure we do.” Eir said in what sounded like a forced voice. “Her mother is out of the picture so she immediately takes on the mantle of the Golden Child and her golden aura.”
Mercy shook her head. “I have no idea what is going on here but please just make up your mind about who has the Golden Child or not. I was just released from my prison a few hours ago and I really don’t want to spend my first day listening to you two bickering like an old married couple.” She had not sighed up for that.
“Eir, she has no idea she’s the Golden Child.” Carver reminded Eir. “She only knows about her mother being the Golden Child.” The last thing he wanted was for Tora to freak out about having magical powers that she didn’t understand.
Eir looked at Carver and rolled her eyes. She did a subtle nod toward Mercy, hoping that Carver got what she was trying to do. She knew that Tora didn’t have the magical powers yet of a Golden Child but she knew that Mercy wouldn’t hurt them if she thought that the Golden Child was there.
“So you do have the Golden Child.” Mercy said before she smiled, baring her fangs. “Hand them both over and you two can live.” She knew that Tempest would want both children in his custody.
Upstairs in the guest room, Tora and Molly were hiding in the closet. The secret door was opened in case they needed to run. They weren’t sure how long they would be able to stay out of the vampire’s clutches if the vampire was fast but they were willing to try to outrun her. They were both terrified. They could hear the three talking downstairs.
“How long do you think they’ll be able to hold her off?” Tora asked in a quiet voice. She couldn’t believe that Eir thought she was the Golden Child. She couldn’t be. She didn’t have any magical powers. That was her mother. Her mom was the Golden Child. She looked at Molly. She noticed that Molly looked as pale as a ghost. “What is it?” Tora asked. Something was scaring Molly and it wasn’t just the vampire at the door.
Molly looked at Tora. “Tempest.” She said. “I know that name.”
“Yeah, several of the Powerful Ones mentioned him at that crazy motel.” Tora said. She wasn’t sure why Molly was suddenly scared of that name.
“But that wasn’t the first time I had heard that name.” Molly told Tora as a memory came to her. “I heard that name for the first time a few years ago, right after I had my blackout when Carver’s wife had been murdered.” She stumbled back a little. “He was one of the priests my other had come to our apartment to try to get the devil out of me.” She couldn’t believe that she had forgotten that. The man had scared her so much during his visit. The way he looked seemed creepy, almost like the French friar from the one movie.
Tora wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She knew that Carver and Eir would want to know that. “If we’re right and he had the Old Ones kill Carver’s wife, it would make sense that he already suspected you of being the next Silver Child.” She said. That still left them with questions but it would help them figure things out sooner.
“Assuming Carver and Eir can defeat Mercy.” Molly said in a small voice.
Back at the door, Carver, Eir and Mercy were still at a stalemate. None of them were moving from their spots. Carver and Eir still had their weapons pointed at Mercy. Mercy was just standing on her side of the door looking at the two.
“Are you going to blink at all?” Mercy asked. “Your eyes have been glowing this entire time.” She wondered if the trident would disappear if Carver’s eyes stopped glowing. She knew that weapons made by one’s aura would vanish if the person stopped using their aura. Carver’s weapon must have been made from his aura.
Eir was about to say something when she saw Mercy suddenly fall to the ground before she was dragged back to the lake. Eir watched as the water formed a cocoon around the vampire. She looked at Carver. She noticed that he was muttering something. She turned back to Mercy as she heard the vampire scream. To her surprise, there was steam coming from the water cocoon. It looked like the water was burning the vampire.
Mercy screamed as she exploded into dust, causing the water to fall back down into the lake.
Eir looked back at Carver. “Did you do that?” She asked.
Carver’s eyes stopped glowing and his trident vanished. “Son of Neptune.” He reminded Eir. “I simply used the water and a binding chant to keep her locked in there.”
“Okay, how do you explain the steam and her exploding into dust?” Eir asked.
Carver smiled. “I simply used every religious prayer I could think of and sprinkled the words into the binding chant. Killed her with two chants at the same time.” He explained.
The two looked back at the lake.
“Next time, just start with that.” Eir said.
“To be honest, I wasn’t even sure it would work.” Carver replied. Sensing the disbelief from Eir, he turned to the stairs. “We should get the kids and let them know they’re safe.” He said.