Mercy for the Wicked
| Mercy for the Wicked | |
| Lisa Olsen | |
| Amazon Digital Services, Inc. (2011) | |
| Tags: | Romance, Sff, angels and demons Romancettt Sffttt angels and demonsttt |
Mercy for the Wicked
gets off to a running start, as we pick up right where the last book left off with Mercy finally filling in dependable boyfriend Detective Ben Gates on her trouble with angels. Of course she glosses over the fact that she's still secretly lusting over sexy, fallen angel Adam and we can count on Adam not to stay away for too long, despite his best intentions for keeping her safe. It's encouraging to see Mercy take more of an active role in her plight, no longer the damsel in distress.
Mercy for the Wicked
introduces a cast of new characters including fallen angel Azazael who wants to use Mercy to escape his dark prison, and a host of demons who kidnap Mercy for their own agenda. We find answers to many lingering questions left by
Angel of Mercy
, but just as many new ones surface for an eagerly awaited sequel.
Product Description
"How do you tell a guy you're being stalked by demons without sounding like a fruitcake? Even if he really cares about you, there's bound to be that moment when he looks at you like you're a total nutbar, right?"
Mercy is back, and in a world of trouble as factions from above and below vie for her attention, pulling her from the carefully constructed 'normalcy' of her life. After confessing all to boyfriend Ben, Mercy is counting on fallen angel Samael to help protect her while she deals with the sting of Adam's abandonment. But self control has never been Adam's strong suit. When Mercy is pursued from all sides, will Adam be able to resist playing the hero? Or will Mercy get tired of waiting and save herself? In the end, Mercy must decide, is the enemy of her enemy her friend? Or just a worse enemy?
contents
Mercy for the Wicked
Fallen [2]
Lisa Olsen
(2011)
Rating: ★★★★☆
Tags: angels and demons
angels and demonsttt
Mercy for the Wicked
gets off to a running start, as we pick up right where the last book left off with Mercy finally filling in dependable boyfriend Detective Ben Gates on her trouble with angels. Of course she glosses over the fact that she’s still secretly lusting over sexy, fallen angel Adam and we can count on Adam not to stay away for too long, despite his best intentions for keeping her safe. It’s encouraging to see Mercy take more of an active role in her plight, no longer the damsel in distress.
Mercy for the Wicked
introduces a cast of new characters including fallen angel Azazael who wants to use Mercy to escape his dark prison, and a host of demons who kidnap Mercy for their own agenda. We find answers to many lingering questions left by
Angel of Mercy
, but just as many new ones surface for an eagerly awaited sequel.
Product Description
“How do you tell a guy you’re being stalked by demons without sounding like a fruitcake? Even if he really cares about you, there’s bound to be that moment when he looks at you like you’re a total nutbar, right?”
Mercy is back, and in a world of trouble as factions from above and below vie for her attention, pulling her from the carefully constructed ‘normalcy’ of her life. After confessing all to boyfriend Ben, Mercy is counting on fallen angel Samael to help protect her while she deals with the sting of Adam’s abandonment. But self control has never been Adam’s strong suit. When Mercy is pursued from all sides, will Adam be able to resist playing the hero? Or will Mercy get tired of waiting and save herself? In the end, Mercy must decide, is the enemy of her enemy her friend? Or just a worse enemy?
Mercy for the Wicked
By
Lisa Olsen
Copyright © 2011 Lisa Olsen, all rights reserved.
This book is sold subject to the conditions that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, copied, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any other format or changed in any way, including the author’s name and title, and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The use of any real person, company or product names are for literary effect only and used without permission. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.
Visit the author’s website at
http://www.lisaolsen.net
Acknowledgements
Thanks to my family for being supportive in this new endeavor, you make it much easier to devote so much time to the creative process. Especially Emily, who powered through the proofreading in one night! Thanks to the ladies of Havensport for their feedback and support. Thanks to Randi Pandi for kickin’ it from P-Town like it’s old school style. And to my husband James, my dove, my sweet, my dulcet darling… thanks for such great cover art as usual, for designing a whole new one when I changed my mind, and for not complaining (too much) when I went back to his original design.
Chapter One
How do you tell a guy you’re being stalked by demons without sounding like a fruitcake? Even if he really cares about you, there’s bound to be that moment when he looks at you like you’re a total nutbar, right?
Don’t get me wrong, Ben was great, which is why I was so hesitant to drag him into all of my drama. I’d fought long and hard to restore a bit of normalcy into my life, not all that easy to do when you’re not exactly human anymore. Not that I’m some kind of monster or freak, or a vampire… No, this story is about angels and demons, and I fall somewhere in between them for the most part.
My name is Merceline Renault, though everybody calls me Mercy (except my mother). When I’m not wrapped up in all things supernatural I’m a bartender at a little club named Eden in downtown Seattle. I don’t look particularly angelic, unlike my best friend Daphne, who is the epitome of innocent beauty with her perfect, long, blonde curls and bright blue eyes. Well, I do have the blue eyes now. Ever since I picked up the angelic Grace, it transformed my dark brown eyes to a luminous, cerulean blue; a startling contrast against my dark hair. It took a little while to get used to in the mirror, but most people assumed I wore color contacts, so it wasn’t all that difficult to explain the change.
Ben was completely in the dark about it all, not an easy feat considering the fact that he’s a cop, one of the nosiest professions in the universe. I often wondered, was Ben a cop because he was nosy, or was he nosy because he was a cop? There was no time to get into a chicken/egg debate with myself. Not when Ben stared expectantly at me in the club, since I’d uttered the magic words, ‘we have to talk’.
“Okay, let’s talk,” he nodded equably, and I was remarkably impressed by his restraint. Sam had just left after delivering particularly disturbing news and I knew Sam wasn’t on Ben’s list of favorite people. It probably had to do with the fact that he thought Sam was a criminal. Technically that was true. Does it count as being a criminal when the laws you break are at God’s behest? Sam didn’t seem to think he was subject to human laws, don’t get me started about that.
“Not here,” I replied, my eyes traveling to where our friends gathered. Daphne shot me a smile with a little shrug, thankfully giving me the space to handle it, even though I knew she must have been dying of curiosity once she’d seen Sam leave.
“Alright, where then?”
“Let’s go back to my place. It’ll be better if we can talk in private, and this… could take a while.” I tugged on his hand, leaving the bar behind and leading him to the door.
“Hey, where are you guys going? The party’s just getting started!” Parker called out, sounding disappointed to see us go. The Halloween party at Eden was kicking into full swing, and it was way too early for us to leave.
I made my voice light, belying the anxiety roiling inside since Sam’s visit knocked me for a loop. “Sorry boss! Something came up I have to deal with, we’ll try to come back later.” I know, that was a total lie. I knew in my heart we wouldn’t be coming back that night, but he did look somewhat relieved at hearing it.
“Is everything alright, Mercy?” Daphne appeared at my elbow, and I gave her a strained smile.
“I don’t know yet,” I whispered, “I’ll call you later, okay?”
She leaned closer. “You’re going to tell him everything?”
Great job Daph, he’s standing right there
… What if I wasn’t about to tell him everything? “Yep, that’s the plan. We’ve gotta go though.”
Daphne nodded, laying a hand on Ben’s arm. “Go easy on her.”
“Uh… yeah, sure,” Ben blinked, not quite sure how to take her remark, and I urged him towards the door before it could get any more uncomfortable. “Mercy, what is this about?” he asked as soon as we stepped into the cool night air. My eyes tried to look everywhere at once, a bit of paranoia setting in, despite Sam’s assurance I wasn’t in
that
grave of danger.
“Wait ‘til we get to my apartment,” I replied in a tone that brooked no argument. “Follow me over, alright?” I wanted to have my car available in case the conversation didn’t go over very well. Luckily, Ben didn’t argue, instead he gave me one of those long suffering sighs that let me know he was trying to be patient.
The whole drive over I wasn’t sure whether to keep my eyes on the skies or every shadowy corner on the ground. Given the fact that it was late October in full darkness, there were shadows a plenty. After I nearly missed a red light, I decided I was being ridiculous. Nothing was going to come bounding out at me from the darkness. No, the new threat was much more subtle if Sam was to be believed. Otherwise, I think he would have stuck around, whether Adam wanted him to or not.
Adam.
The name alone still had the power to rile me up, and depending on the day, it could be either in a good way or a bad way. On a bad day, he made me so frustrated, I hoped I’d never see his smirking face again. But on a good day… On a good day I could still feel the warmth of his breath on my neck, the rasp of his cheek against me, the feel of his lips chasing after mine, and the rush of pleasure mingled with pain as I felt him say goodbye.
A honk of the horn drew me out of my reverie, a flush of guilt creeping over me as I sat in the car daydreaming about another guy while my boyfriend waited patiently for me to move through the green light. Best to forget about Adam for the time being, and focus on the problem at hand.
On the street outside my apartment building, I waited for Ben to get out of his car before I got out of mine, wanting his comforting presence before I risked the darkened stairs on my own. My four story apartment building wasn’t big enough to have an elevator and most of the time the stairwell didn’t bother me, but since my imagination had been kicked into overdrive, I wasn’t taking any chances. My cat, Mimsy, came running to greet us with one of her squeaky meows, and Ben leaned down to give her a pat while I hung up my purse and coat.
“Would you like something to drink?” I offered, a little nervous now that we were alone.
“No, I’m good.” He shook his head, handing over his coat.
“Are you hungry? I know you were expecting food at the party…”
“Mercy…” His one word spoke volumes, and I knew
he
knew I was stalling.