Chapter Twenty Five

The pounding finally stopped and Mehrcy took a sigh of relieve. His body had gone through excruciating pain the moment his hands and teeth returned to normal and this was the first let up he received throughout the night.

Things had been ugly when the Brothers returned to the mansion. All Mehrcy could remember were the males doing their best to pull out the arrows they received from the male who was with Ahnger. Before the pain began, the last thing Mehrcy saw was Victoria being sent with Jane to attend to her injuries and Vishous was right behind them. It didn't take a genius to know the Brother who was the least injured would watch her since it seemed Wrath didn't want to take his chance with another of her escape attempts. Her attack on Ahnger and attempt to flee appeared to be last straw the king was willing to take with her.

Mehrcy never got the time to speak to Victoria. She was already gone and the suffering began. No one had a solution on what was causing him pain. Every word spoke sounded like someone was yelling at the top of their lungs, any light around him felt like he was looking straight at the sun, a tiny gust of wind against his skin was like being brushed with a million razor blades and scents ten times stronger than the ones before nearly knocked him out. Mehrcy was just lucky that he hadn't tasted anything or else he didn't know what would've happened with his sense of taste. Manny had suggested a small amount of morphine but failed instantly once it was in his system. The only solution was for Mehrcy to go through it and see if the pain would pass.

Being given this one time of freedom, Mehrcy did his best to regain control over his senses. On the verge of lowering his hearing, things seemed to be turning in Mehrcy's favor when the pain returned and he was back in pain. He had been lucky that someone had moved him back to his room while he had been slightly conscious because Mehrcy clutched his head and drew himself into a tight ball in the center of the bed. Just feeling his clothes rub against his skin was agonizing.

When the pain intensified, there was only one thing Mehrcy could think of and it was something he desperately wanted to know. He wanted to know why Victoria tried to kill Ahnger and leave. Her actions were so unlike her that he wanted to hear Victoria's side of the story before Wrath and the Brothers asked her. The only problem was that he couldn't so much as sit up without being in pain. Dearest Scribe Virgin, he wanted the pain to stop.

All of a sudden, the pain was gone.

Mehrcy opened his eyes to find himself staring up at a ceiling in the dark. When the lights turned on, he blinked a couple of times before looking to his side to see Lassiter closing the door behind him. It wasn't Mehrcy who sat up and leaned against the wall next to the bed. Just like those other times, he was seeing through Victoria's eyes.

"Sitting in the dark is really not your thing," joked the angel.

Victoria rolled her eyes and went back to staring at the ceiling while avoiding the light.

"I don't need any lecturing from you."

"And yet I'm the first person you've talked to you since you haven't said a single word to the Brothers. Didn't V try to get some info out of you before taking his seat by the door? I'm pretty sure Tohr was down here as well trying the same thing. Now you're being chatty all of a sudden."

"It's because I can't get a scent off of you," Victoria yawned. "I can smell that someone else is in the room with me but I can't get a bead off of you. Getting nothing off of you is less stressful to deal with than the others."

Lassiter laughed a bit and took a seat on a rolling chair. He spun around on the seat and kicked himself back and forth with his heels before stopping. Placing his elbows on his knees, he rested his chin in his palms and looked at Victoria. Victoria's eyes wondered off the ceiling and found their way to the angel.

"He's not doing so good," spoke Lassiter as if Victoria knew who he was talking about. His eyes scanned her body and sighed. Under the shirt she was wearing were bandages wrapped around her shoulder to her waist that covered stitches. "And neither are you. Your wounds turned out to be more severe than the Brothers, especially the one you took to the stomach."

"I can live with these."

"And Mehrcy? I may be no expert but I would think you're the only who can help him in this situation. You know, considering the fact that you and the darkness have that bond to help one another. Mehrcy is still new at using the light's power. Hearing him using it for the first time in battle sounded pretty reckless unless he didn't mean to do it. But we can talk about that later. Right now you need to help him through this."

"Did any of the Brothers put you up to this?" she asked. There was a hint of warning in her voice.

Lassiter answered her with the same tone. "No. I'm here on my own."

There was a sign of hesitation in Victoria before looking away. While looking through her eyes, Mehrcy could feel what she was feeling. Victoria was tired both physically and emotionally. The mention of his name seemed to add more weight to her and her sigh sounded as if it took too much out of her.

"I don't want to see him."

Her words were cold and hollow. What she said was true and yet she didn't feel it in her heart. Mehrcy felt Victoria close in on herself when she said that to Lassiter. She believed in her words while her heart ached for something totally opposite. Lassiter must've sensed it too because he shook his head in disappointment.

"Says the alcoholic when receiving a drink." He held up his hand and looked up at the ceiling for a second. "Okay, bad example. But you get my point. You're just telling yourself the same shit you've probably told yourself all your life and believe it. But things are different know that you've met Mehrcy. He's in your life and you don't know what to do. So you—wait! Is that why you went to kill Ahnger? Did you go after his son so he would hate you?"

There were the questions Mehrcy had been thinking a second ago. He was temporarily pissed that the angel to ask her before him but he would have to be pissed later. If this was the only way how to get his answers so be it. He would listen to what she had to say in case she decided to change the story when he asked her.

Victoria sighed again and pinched her eyes. For an instant, it felt like she aged a hundred years. Then she spoke without even looking at the angel.

"Hypothetically, did I do a good job?"

"If your target was Mehrcy, you failed, hypothetically. But you pissed off Sohrrow when he found out you nearly killed his twin. So you succeeded in getting one family member against you."

"He wasn't my target."

"Hypothetically?"

"Yeah."

"Well, if you wanted Mehrcy to hate you, you could've gone after one of his sons here. That really would've killed him."

That wasn't the answer Mehrcy was waiting for. Victoria intentionally went after Ahnger in hopes of him hating her? Why would she do that? Mehrcy remembered the time when Victoria had been talking with Gabrielle and how some sacrifices had to be made. Was one of those sacrifices to try to destroy whatever trust he managed to gain with her? One would think she going after the son he's been fighting close to a century would make him furious. But for some reason, Mehrcy couldn't find a single shred of anger in his body. That or his body was still under siege by the pain he was experiencing.

As for Lassiter's suggestion, that was interesting. Mehrcy surely would've been downright enraged. His sons had a live and families they loved so deeply. Taking out Nightmahre, Sohrrow, Ehnvy or Phride would've torn him up him and hate her more than ever. But Victoria must've figured that killing Ahnger would've caused the same reaction. Mehrcy wanted to hear what her answer was. He truly hoped she hadn't considered the idea.

"Why would I do that?" she asked.

"Huh?" replied Lassiter.

There was a small hint of rage in Victoria that Mehrcy mentally flinched. It seemed Lassiter's suggestion sparked something in her tired body and Mehrcy could feel the darkness stir. To him, it felt like the darkness had been resting and awakened to Lassiter's words. It growled at the angel before going back to sleep. The darkness in a way was too tired to play along. It would leave Victoria to make the choices since it didn't want anything to do with the conversation.

"I have no quarrel with Nightmahre or his siblings. Ahnger's a different story. Even though I never met the male until recently, I already knew he was a dick. Meeting him in person proved he was more than just a dick. He's a fucking prick. Besides, consider it a good deed towards Mehrcy if I had taken him out. His whole hunting thing would've ended."

"So…you did this out of the kindness of your heart or to get him to hate you until the day you died?"

"Just shut the fuck up!"

This time it wasn't only Mehrcy who reacted. Lassiter accidently kicked the chair back and the darkness backed away. The angel probably went over the line from Victoria's reaction because she was glaring at him as if she intended to kill him. Her fury was the only thing beating her tiredness but it wouldn't be long before it died out, leaving her back in her current state. However, it seemed as if that fury would last a while because her glare intensified by the second. Lassiter really did have some common sense because he eased himself off of the chair and walked backwards towards the door.

"Fine," he said. "Do what you want. Just remember that you're the only one who can help Mehrcy now that he's using the light."

Once Lassiter closed the door behind him, Victoria rolled back on her back and stared up at the ceiling. She was still furious but it was slowly dying down. Maybe in an hour or so would she cool down and try to forget what the angel told her. And Mehrcy could sense that she wouldn't tell him what happened. She didn't know he was looking through her eyes and there was a sense of hope I her that the angel would keep his mouth shut.

Returning back to his body, the pain had ceased for some time where Mehrcy could feel he hadn't had an attack for a while. Taking the time of peace, he rolled up to a sitting position. Some hair fell over Mehrcy's eyes that he had to brush it behind his ears to see clearly. His skin wasn't as sensitive like before and his sight had darkened a bit so he could see without being blinded.

Mehrcy wondered how much longer it would take him until his senses were back to normal. The sooner they were back to normal the sooner he could talk to Victoria. He wasn't exactly satisfied with the answer she gave to Lassiter, especially the outburst she used to get him to leave. Again he thought about when she mentioned sacrifices and Lassiter saying something about her trying to get him to hate her. Mehrcy wanted to hear why she had tried to get him to turn on her.

He had a feeling it had to do with the life she had before she met him. Living with the darkness all her life must've done something to her where she saw getting Mehrcy to be against her would help her in a way. There were still some secrets to Victoria and Mehrcy was starting to get tired of it. He could see those secrets were hurting her in ways no physical pain could inflict. Thinking of her hurt helped add to the determination to beat the pain Mehrcy was in so he could see Victoria. He would beat whatever was going on with him and get the real reason from her no matter what. Perhaps after he got his answer would he finally understand her all the way and help her so she would no longer see it best for her to be alone.