Nine

Strong Language

They decided to stay in Mittenwald for a couple of days before the more on to Greece. Gustavo it seemed was a fountain of information, and had a knack for sparking interesting and riveting conversations. Mercy grew to like him quickly, which was unusual for her as she rarely actively showed that she had feelings of any kind to anyone. Since arriving in the human realm, her actions and behaviour patterns had changed whether she was conscious of them or not was another matter. It was like looking through a kaleidoscope, at a person that didn’t realize they were being watched, or watching as a flower bloomed, a butterfly emerged or the hatching of birds. Mercy was changing her humanity, her feelings, bottled away for so long were finally emerging, she was still tough, ruthless, vindictive, and just a tad evil but now she had this other side, this side where she would smile secretly, banter humorously with others, and look at Sam in a way that she could no longer hide.

That’s right, she found she could no longer hide the feelings she had for Sam and they were feelings. They gave her those ridiculous butterflies in her stomach, made her want to protect him, growl when Valencia got too close, and show him sides to her that she’d keep hidden for far too long. When this change came about she didn’t know but she was fighting it at every step, for as much as she hated her brother, he had conditioned her from a very early stage, trained her, and forced her to believe in his ways. So her mind was in turmoil, on one side she longed for the feelings of love, devotion and happiness that everyone around her seemed to have but then on the other side her brain was shouting at her that feeling this way was wrong, that she was weak, and that the best thing to do would be to kill Sam and end the weakness. She’d never felt the feeling of truly battling with herself until now, and she was on a track where she currently didn’t know which side would win.

‘You’re thinking pretty hard there’ said Valencia, joining Mercy on the porch, the others had gone into town – showing Sam the sights.

‘There are too many things to think about’ replied Mercy.

Valencia sighed, ‘Look, I know you don’t like me but can I give you some advice?’

‘You will regardless of my consent’ replied Mercy.

‘You’re right but I wanted to be polite’ said Valencia.

‘So what is your advice?’ asked Mercy.

‘Act on your feelings, don’t push them away. Don’t interrupt please, I see you warring with yourself. It’s not your fault, you were a victim of the upbringing that your brother bestowed upon you. That is neither here nor there now, you are free from your brother’s influence. I know the way you work, I’ve seen it, it’s all about the hunt, the game and the capture but that didn’t happen with Sam. I know you said you turned him because it was convenient but you have never turned anyone before and you know the concequenses of turning a human when you come from royalty. You did it with a particular intent in mind, you don’t have to tell me that intent because I can see it as clear as day, as can everyone else but don’t keep hiding your feelings away because you’ll only lose your window and that would be a great shame for both of you’.

‘Why did you try to seduce him?’ asked Mercy.

‘Your brother or Sam?’

‘Both’.

Valencia sighed again, that’s all she seemed to be doing recently, ‘With your brother I’ll admit a part of me wanted to be Queen, the fame, the lifestyle, it appealed to me. I like to be a lady of leisure and being Queen is the ultimate version of that but there was another part. Foolishly I thought I could change him, help the Kingdom if we were to wed, you saw how he was with me, there was less violence, less arrests, and less death. It was like I had a power over him, and I grew too cocky, I loved the power, loved to be on top and that was my downfall’ she said.

‘No, your downfall was your selfishness. You may have began to think that your presence was a good thing because he briefly stopped his violence but ultimately it was your need for power and control that drove you to seduce him. You may know my ttorment with emotions but I know you period. I know your strengths and weaknesses, I know your methods and forms of attack. I know what you like best and what you hate, you cannot hid that part f yourself from me. Do you not remember your attitude towards me, what was it you said, ah yes ‘when I’m Queen you’ll be the first to go’. I will always be more superior to you, I am the heir of the Kingdom, I will overthrow my brother, and I will be Queen and it will be people like you that will have to watch out, I won’t take this sort of behavior from anyone’.

Valencia sneered, ‘I don’t know why I bother to pull the wool over your eyes, you see through everything. I don’t like you, never will but I hate Thayer and will stay with you until he is dead, but not expect me to be around after that. Oh and about Sam, I want him but it seems I cannot have him, but don’t feel a sense of pride over that, I will get what I want as you well know’.

‘Oh really, are you Queen then? Oh wait, no, you just got banished and publically humiliated, seems you don’t always get what you want’ replied Mercy.

They glared at each other for a moment longer before going their separate ways, Mercy to find Anya for she had a potion in mind for her to create and Valencia to cause trouble elsewhere.

Meanwhile while visiting the actual town of Mittenwald, Gustavo was revealing his thoughts on life to Grifel and Sam. Laurence with his high and mighty ways was kept out of the conversation, not that it mattered as he was enthralled in a conversation that Anya had started between him and Margret.

Gustavo was telling Grifel and Sam about the bitten vampires.

‘It is just not feasible to believe that we can win solely on the numbers that Mercy is recruiting. We all have our own talents but we lack the force of numbers’.

‘What do you suggest?’ asked Grifel.

‘To include the bitten vampires in our plight’ he replied.

‘I thought the bitten vampires were not to be trusted’ said Sam.

‘No, some I believe can be trusted while others cannot’ said Grifel.

‘I believe I have a solution for telling the trusted from the not so trusted’ said Gustavo.

‘Go on’ replied Grifel.

‘Well I know of a spell that could show who had the right intent and who didn’t. I am sure that there are many bitten vampires who long for a place where they can be accepted and not hunted by other humans – plus for those who are angry at being bitten, what better way to divert their anger but by letting them fight the vampire who condemned them in the first place, e.g. by letting vampires into the human realm via banishment’.

‘And the other extreme?’ asked Sam.

‘The ones of the wrong intent, those who would see the uprising as an opportunity to seize control of our Kingdom. Those who think they are powerful and invincible will rise up and try to overtake our command. Those are the sort who would pose a threat, and who shouldn’t be allowed to join us, they are the true condemned. The humans who were turned but already had a darkness in their heart, and not the type of darkness that Mercy has but a deep powerful darkness, the kind that appears on the humans news channels’.

‘You mean those that cause death, destruction, violence, and those sorts of things’ said Sam.

‘That exactly, those humans turned vampires are most vicious as they never had humanity to begin with, they never had the part of the brain that told them what they were doing was wrong and as a result are unable to stop themselves even now. They feel no guilt and have no resort and they tend to rip their victims to shreds’.

‘You believe that Mercy will go for this idea?’ asked Grifel.

‘I believe she will go for any idea that furthers her plan, her goal after all is to get rid of Thayer at any cost’.

‘At least she is not reckless’ said Grifel.

‘Why would she be reckless?’ asked Sam.

‘She has nothing to lose, and that can cause recklessness in people’ said Grifel seriously.

‘I wouldn’t say she has nothing to lose anymore’ said Gustavo slyly.

Grifel looked at him, his expression indicating that he knew what Gustavo was referring to. They continued to walk together in silence, the village of Mittenwald producing pleasant scene of nature and beauty that needed no accompaniment by words. The girls were still chatting avidly to each other with a rather sullen looking Laurence between them clearly bored.

‘Oh dear, here comes trouble’ said Grifel.

Gustavo looked at him in question but Grifel merely turned to look at something behind them. Gustavo and Sam followed Grifel’s lead and were greeted to the very angry and determined face of Mercy as she strode towards them.

‘I wonder why she’s so angry’ commented Gustavo.

‘I would guess the cause of her anger is Valencia’ said Sam.

‘Of course, stupid girl. She’s not going to last long the way she behaves’.

‘Here comes Laurence perhaps we should leave the ladies alone for a while’ said Grifel.

‘Anya I need you to make a potion for me’ said Mercy.

‘Whatever for?’ questioned Anya.

‘To stop manipulation and lies. I know you can make it, I’ve seen you do it before!’

‘Mercy a potion like that won’t work on your brother’ she said.

‘Who said it was for my brother’ growled Mercy.

Anya looked at her a moment, ‘I’ll make it’ she said.

‘Good, make it now then we can leave’ said Mercy seriously before walking towards Sam.

‘Sam can I have a word?’ she asked.

‘Urh sure’ he replied, allowing he to move them away from the others, ‘what did you want to say?’ he asked.

‘Stay away from Valencia’ she replied.

‘Didn’t we already have this conversation?’ he questioned.

‘I’m serious, stay away from her as much as you can and if you find yourself alone with her; run’ she said to which Sam nodded.

‘When are we leaving?’ he asked.

‘As soon as Anya has finished the potion I asked her to make’ she replied.

‘What potion?’ he asked.

‘Doesn’t matter, go back to the hut Sam, I have to feed’ she said.

Sam left and Mercy felt up for a game. It was a small village but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have some fun and she knew for a fact that there were several hiking groups out today. Once again she was lost in her need for blood, the excitement of the hunt and catching of her prey. Her emotions – her weakness – had taken a lot out of her, so she took a lot out of them. Killing three instantly, it was the fourth that she took her time with. Sucking the life from him slowly while enjoying the screams and whimpers he let out. Once she had finished feeding, a quick snap of the neck and she didn’t have to worry about witnesses. She licked the corner of her mouth where a blood drop lay forgotten, smiling as the taste hit her tongue.

Then as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, she left the forest and made her way back to the cottage. They were all waiting for her, each taking up a certain space in the room but as usual it was Valencia that made Mercy angry, she was standing too close to Sam and smiling almost mockingly as she did so.

Mercy saw Anya standing with the potion in her hand, with a nod of her head Mercy took the potion and stormed over to Valencia.

‘Drink this’ she said thrusting the potion towards Valencia.

‘Urh no’ replied Valencia sarcastically.

‘Drink it’ replied Mercy.

‘You can’t make me!’ cried Valencia.

‘You signed a contract!’ shouted Mercy, trapping Valencia under her.

‘I won’t drink it’ said Valencia struggling under the weight of Mercy.

Mercy’s eyes turned black with rage, ‘drink the fucking potion or you will suffer at my hand’ Mercy growled quietly.

Terrified that Mercy’s eyes were pitch black, Valencia gave up struggling and drank the potion. Immediately she felt a change, ‘what did you do?’ she asked.

‘Simple really, you forced my hand so I dealt with you. I bound the side that allows for you to place commands and manipulation over others and I took away your choice to lie, now you can only tell the truth. You’re a difficult vampire Valencia but not the worst. I will not have people on my side that I do not trust. Now I can be confident that you won’t do something to jeopardize things. Now that the rest of you have finished gawping, we’ll head out. Anya lead the way if you please’ commanded Mercy with authority.

Everyone fell in line following Anya with Mercy bringing up the rear.

To say the journey across to Greece was uncomfortable would be a half truth. It was downright awkward and everyone had their own opinion on how Mercy had acted. Mercy wasn’t talking to anyone but no one was talking anyway so it didn’t matter. Mercy didn’t need people to see thinks her way before she did them. She did them regardless, other people’s consciences be damned.

After many days of straight running, Anya stopped dead in her tracks.

‘Why have we stopped?’ asked Mercy.

‘This is the end of the line. I followed the trace all the way here but the trace ends here. I know she is here somewhere but I cannot tell where’ said Anya seriously.

‘Great’ muttered Mercy walking away, Sam followed.

‘Are you ok?’ he asked.

‘Absolutely fabulous Sam’ she began sarcastically only to be stopped by Sam’s face and hand.

‘I’m serious, no bullshit or lying, are you ok?’ he asked again his hand lightly brushing against hers.

‘I’m fine’ she replied acutely aware of how close they were.

‘Awh young love!’ came an unknown voice, followed by sarcastic clapping.

Quick as a switch Mercy maneuvered herself in front of Sam, crouched down in a defensive position, fangs exposed and growled.

The unknown person spoke again, ‘hey y’all walked into my territory’ she said.

‘Show some respect’ growled Grifel.

‘Why?’ mocked the woman, ‘you’re on my turf now’.

‘And you’re now in danger of offending the future vampire Queen’ growled Gustavo.

‘Oh damn’ replied the woman.