“You stay away from my baby,” I said and shoved past her.
It wasn’t lost on me that Mercy felt cold when my shoulder made contact with her. No living person should have felt that cold.
Meri ran behind me as I sprinted for the car. Well, in my mind I was sprinting with everything I had, but I’d just had a baby. Not only was I not moving as fast as I wanted, but I was so winded that I nearly puked when I reached the car.
I practically threw myself into the driver’s seat, and Meri jumped into my lap, as Mercy took plodding steps down the front stairs. She almost looked like a marionette doll being controlled by a hyper child.
“What do I do?” I asked.
“Get out of here,” Meri said.
I hit the home button on my car, and it began the process of turning around. All the while, Mercy was coming down the steps and making her way across the space between the porch and my car.
Instead of doing a three-point turn, the car executed a big arc that took us within inches of Mercy. She reached out and tried to grab on, but instead stumbled forward and fell to her knees.
She still appeared to be trying to right herself again as my car turned and drove off down the road. About halfway back to the highway, Thorn’s cruiser approached.
He slowed to a stop, and so did I. “You have to be careful,” I said. “She’s not dead, but there’s something… wrong with her.”
“Go home,” Thorn said. “Backup is coming, but you get out of here. I love you.”
He rolled up his window and sped off. I couldn’t go home, though. I was too frazzled, and I needed to think, or talk, through what had just happened. None of it made any sense.
So, I headed to Lilith’s.
When I got there, Mom, Dad, and Lilith were seated around her breakfast table having tea and raspberry scones. It was an incredibly normal scene that made me think for a moment that I was dreaming the whole time.
“Lilith?” I asked as I put Meri down on the floor. I’d carried him inside in my bag since I had Laney’s sling on. The baby was on one side and Meri in my purse on the other.
“Stop looking at me like that,” she demanded, and I felt the knot of tension in my chest I’d been living with the last couple of days release.
“What is going on?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Mom said. “A little while ago, she just… returned to us.”
“Really?” I asked Lilith. “You’re okay?”
“I’m fine, dear, but I’m not going to be if you keep on with that worried expression on your face. You’re going to give yourself wrinkles,” she said. “When you finally come to your senses and divorce that boring do-gooder, you’re going to need to look as young as possible. That shmexy vampire, who I cannot for the life of me figure out why you dumped, is going to look young forever.”
Lilith was back.
“Auntie Lilith, he tried to have me killed,” I said, and I almost laughed with relief.
She waved me off. “Have a scone, darling.”
“Who made them?” I was suspicious even though my father had just taken a huge bite of one of the pastries.
“I did,” Mom said. “Don’t worry.”
“I have to know what happened to you, Lilith,” I said. “How did you end up like that? Do you remember anything about the night Samara died? Why were you on my street with a knife?”
“Whoa,” Dad said. “Slow down, sweetie. Please sit down and at least have some coffee or tea. You look like you’ve been through some things yourself.”
He was right, but I’d completely forgotten about the incident with Mercy at Samara’s house as soon as I saw Lilith. “I went out to Samara’s house to look again, and Mercy Cullen was dead on her front porch,” I said as I sat down at the table and Lilith poured me a cup of tea. “Except she wasn’t. She got up looking all… weird… and came after me.”
“She didn’t go after you,” Meri said.
“You’re right. She actually wanted to go after the baby,” I said. “She acted like she wanted Laney.”
“You’re leaving something important out,” Meri said.
“Do you want to tell the story?” I asked.
“Nope,” he said and jumped into Lilith’s lap. “Just want to make sure you get all the important bits.”
So, I told them about how less than an hour before I’d discovered Mercy, I’d been at her work talking to her. My folks and Lilith thought it was unusual that I’d been speaking with a spirit and not known it, but it wasn’t completely unheard of either.
Chapter Ten
Ultimately, nobody knew what happened with Lilith, and for the time being, they were just glad to have her back. I stayed long enough to have a cup of tea and a scone, but I was exhausted.
Thorn hadn’t really wanted me to be home alone, but what could I do? I wasn’t up to hanging around with my family even though they were all in good spirits. As soon as it got out that Lilith was feeling better, Amelda had all the Aunties coming over for an impromptu party.
Mom whispered to me that no one would think badly of me if I took Laney home so we could both get some rest. Lilith promised to drop by with Mom in the next couple of days to spend some quiet time with the baby.
So, I went home. When I pulled into the driveway, Meri insisted that I sit in the car with the doors locked while he swept the perimeter. He even said it that way.
“I’m going to do a perimeter sweep,” he said as he pawed at my driver’s door. That was his way of telling me to open it.
“You’ve been watching too many action movies,” I said with a chuckle.
“You want me to do the perimeter sweep or not?” he
