The Brethren Of Tavish [Vampire Coven Book 1] (20 page)

Mercy wasn’t showing yet, but Tavish loved to
settle his hand on her belly and listen to their child’s heartbeat. Tate was
the doting uncle already. His newfound freedom was met with eager excitement
and a good dose of humility. Mercy was teaching him to read; the other vampires
tested his strength. The women were a bit wary around him until he showed them
the same courtesy he had when he was human.

A noise in the treetop caught Mercy’s attention
and she giggled. Before long a dark finger was playing with the strands in her
hair. Mercy stopped reading and a hard grunt sounded from above, urging her to
continue.

“I’ll keep reading, if you mind your manners,
Lucile,” she said.

The answering grunt made her chuckle and soon
the great ape was seated pressed close to her side. A gentle, large finger traced
her belly with exquisite tenderness. Mercy knew the great ape was aware she was
carrying. Tavish told her Lucile could hear the heartbeat. The beast was very
careful around her and at first Mercy had been wary when Lucile had climbed the
wall to join her while she read; she soon realized she had nothing to fear.
Lucile was curious and doting. She gazed at Mercy with the same adoring eyes
she gazed at Tavish with.

Mercy picked up her story. Before long, a sound
to her right caught her attention. It was Druid. Mercy didn’t know how Tavish
would feel about Druid being so close. This was the closest he had come yet.
Mercy eyed him with some unease. He huffed out a few breaths; he kept his eyes
their normal color and his fangs hadn’t grown longer.

“You may stay as long as you keep your eyes
their natural scary yellow, but not white.” The tiger growled low in his throat
then stretched himself out.

Once again Mercy started reading. Next
came
Lovel. His panting breath ruffled Mercy’s hair and she
shoved him away and told him to sit. Rhino was snuffling in the bush and didn’t
bother with her. That was fine with Mercy, the boar was less sociable. She knew
the Anivamps just liked to listen to the stories she read aloud. Mercy felt
they understood what she was reading to an extent. When everyone was settled,
Mercy began again.

Mercy’s light voice went on and on as she
became engrossed in the story. Druid’s head was on his paws listening with rapt
attention. Lovel had cocked his head. Lucile made short, groaning grunts. At a
particularly intriguing spot, Mercy’s voice rose. It grew in pitch as the scene
escalated. Her hand settled against her breast, her eyes widened. Lovel was on
his feet, his head now lowered in his wary hunting stance. Lucile pounded with
one fist on her chest, squirming in anticipation. Her other great arm scooped
Mercy closer to her side. Rhino ran round and round in tight circles.

“Oh my, it gets worse,” Mercy whispered, and
paused for dramatic effect, right before she yelled out a few words from the
story for effect.

Druid roared, Lovel howled. Rhino stopped and
snorted and pawed the ground. A bellowing, unearthly yell made Mercy scream in
sheer terror. Her book fell to the ground when Lucile grabbed her and took to
the treetops. They were moving like lightning. Mercy clung to Lucile for dear
life, terrified. She slammed her eyes closed when they went high. Lucile
finally stopped. She felt the great ape stiffen in panic. That alone almost
made Mercy’s heart stop. Who or what on Earth could scare a great ape vampire?
She
peeked
her eyes open and screamed again when a
vampire was before them, white-eyed and fangs glistening. He looked enraged.
Mercy started crying.

“Tavish, you scared me half to death.”

“Give her to me,” Tavish growled. Mercy had
never heard him sound so menacing.

Lucile handed her over like she would a baby.
With a series of grunts, “Ooh, Oohs” followed. The ape ducked her head in deference
and slowly descended. Tavish crushed Mercy to his chest. Within moments they
were on the ground surrounded by vampires. Tavish’s chest was heaving. He
refused to set Mercy on her feet. He looked white. Tate looked even whiter. He
was running a hand through his hair and bouncing from foot to foot.

“Is she all right?” Caine asked.

“I think so,” Tavish replied.

“Tavish, what’s wrong?” Mercy asked. She wiped
at her eyes.

“I heard Tate yell for me. The last time he
called me so fearfully, he had been trapped in a tree and fallen and gotten
stuck in a branch. He was eight years old. I knew it had something to do with
you when he called this time. I’m sorry, Mercy, the Anivamps should never have
climbed the wall. I don’t know what got into them. You must have been
terrified. Why didn’t you call to me?”

Mercy struggled from his arms. “Tavish, I was
reading to them,” Mercy complained. “Not scared speechless.”

She could see all four of the creatures with
their backs pressed to the fence wall cowering from the enraged vampire coven.
Mercy went to Lucile and hugged her.
When Mercy turned, every
vampire that had come when Tavish had were now standing mouths agape.
Mercy ruffled up Lovel’s fur and even patted Druid on his high back. Rhino
tossed his head and she scratched gently under his chin.

“Reading to them?” Tavish said.

Mercy felt sorry for him. From the look on his
face, she just knew if he could he would have had a heart attack. She walked
back over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She looked up at him
and was glad he was wearing his blue eyes now.

“You won’t let me read to the humans. The
animals are enjoying
Macbeth
as much
as I am. Please don’t be mad. I never sent them away. I didn’t see any harm,”
Mercy said.

“I thought
they
—”

“You said it yourself; this fence doesn’t keep
them out. Maybe they’re lonely.”

“I’ll have to think about that,” Tavish said.
“The other humans are terrified of them.”

“I’m not. Please let me read to them. They
always go back over the wall when I’m done.”

“Never a dull moment,” Laken said and flew off.

Tavish handed her the book, but he wouldn’t
leave them alone. Both he and Tate sat quietly while everyone settled themselves
and Mercy read the story.

Later that night, after dinner, Tavish laid
Mercy back in the sheets. When their lips met, it was sweet and tender.

“I love you so much, Mercy. I can’t stand the
thought of losing you.”

“You won’t lose me,” she said. She lifted her
hand to gently brush hair from his eyes. “I love you too much to ever be away
from you.”

“You mean that?”

Mercy cocked her head at him. There was
something he wasn’t telling her. He smiled and ignored her curious gaze. Tavish
lazily searched the insides of her mouth with his tongue. He then kissed her
cheeks, her chin,
her
throat. Mercy’s loincloth
dropped to the floor. She was eager for him and when he entered her heat, she
moved with him. His hips rolled against hers as he made sweet love to her.
Afterwards Mercy fell asleep in his arms.

* * * *

Less than four days later Mercy was walking to
her favorite spot under the shady tree with a new story when she was intercepted
by Tanya. She didn’t particularly care for the women. She was bossy and rude
and prone to theatrics. Since Tate had been turned, he didn’t want anything to
do with her. He no longer needed to breed with a woman, so he chose women he
liked. Tanya wasn’t one of them. Mercy wasn’t fond of swear words, but this
woman was bitchy.

“How are you feeling?” Tanya asked Mercy.

Mercy could almost smell the jealousy oozing
from the woman. “I’m fine thank you,” Mercy replied politely wishing she would
go away.

“You come out here often,” Tanya said.

“Yes.”

“Habits make tracking a person easy.”

Annoyed and now confused Mercy stopped just
under the tree. “Is there a point to this conversation? I’d like to read now.”
She waved the book in Tanya’s face and resisted the urge to smack her upside
the head with it. Mercy was surprised at her thought. Then she remembered Caine
said her hormones would be off for a while. It was why vampires didn’t bleed a
pregnant woman. Way too much wild unpredictable hormone cell memory spiked at
high levels.

“You think you’re so much smarter than the rest
of us. Well you’re not. That baby should have been mine,” Tanya snapped. “He
even killed a man over you. You think he’ll do anything for you. Well, you
won’t get rid of me so easily. Even Tavish wouldn’t kill a woman of childbearing
years no matter what she does.
Even destroying his precious
Mercy.”

Mercy was ready to call to Tavish but she was
grabbed from behind. A large hand went over her mouth. Her book dropped to the
ground with a thump. She struggled wildly but all she could do was turn her
head slightly. The vampire who had her wasn’t one of Tavish’s men. Mercy
whimpered; she knew it must be Remo. A loud growl was heard from the treetop
and Tanya, looking terrified, opened her mouth in a large O, yet no sound
emerged. Lucile landed in front of them so hard the ground shook. She pounded a
warning on her chest. Lovel howled from behind them. When Druid appeared, Tanya
ran. She was grabbed by another vampire, a woman.

“What the hell, you bitch?” The vampire
snarled. “You said she was alone out here.”

“Anivamps,” Tanya whispered. “They’re not
allowed over the wall.” Tanya found her voice and screamed when Druid roared.

“Silence her,” Remo hissed through his fangs.

The other vampire snapped Tanya’s neck. Mercy
screamed under Remo’s hand. It was apparent Tanya had been following her but
didn’t hear about how the Anivamps loved to listen to her read. Somehow Remo
must have had cajoled her into getting the information. Mercy knew he was after
payback. Mercy hadn’t realized the extent to which Tanya hated her. But looking
at her broken body, Mercy realized these vampires thought they had nothing to
lose.

Druid jumped and attacked the vampire who had
killed Tanya. Murdering a woman of childbearing years was treason—even the
Anivamps knew that,
it was law
. Rhino
clamped his jaws on the vampire’s leg and bit down hard. The vampire was soon
screaming as she was ripped to shreds. Remo howled in anguish as the other
vampire was mauled.

“Let her go,” Tavish yelled.

Mercy sobbed in relief.

“She dies,” Remo yelled back. “You damned
bastard you took my family, I’m taking yours.”

“If you kill her the Anivamps will attack
immediately. The only reason they haven’t is because she still lives.”

“I hear your brat in her, Tavish,” Remo said.
His words sounded vile and made Mercy’s blood run cold. He sounded like he had
nothing to live for.
“Part vampire?
This should prove
entertaining.”

Remo backed up farther, watching as the other
vampires gathered. Mercy heard him scream. She was spun around. Ursus was there.
She had tracked Remo back to the coven. The bear roared in fury and Mercy knew
she smelled the baby. There was no stopping her. A male was attacking not only
a female, but a female with a cub.

Remo took to the sky, but Ursus clamped down on
his leg and attacked with a vengeance. Tavish was trying to get to her, but
Mercy was stuck in the middle. Ursus was slashing her paws at Remo. Remo was a
large man and the bear was careful not to touch Mercy. Hers was a controlled
hysteria. They moved so quickly, Mercy was out of breath. Remo had no choice
but to release her mouth to defend himself.

“Tavish, the baby,” she cried.

“Yes, Tavish, the baby,” Remo snarled.

Mercy gasped then howled again for Tavish. Her
back was in agony, she couldn’t breathe. A ragged groan tore from her agonized
lips. Remo had shoved his claws up into her spine. Mercy was paralyzed. Her
mouth opened but no more sound came out. Her head dropped when Ursus grabbed
Remo by the throat. Mercy slipped lower. She saw Ursus rip open Remo’s chest
and crush his heart between her massive jaws. No one stopped her. Not even a
vampire wanted to get between the enraged polar bear and her kill.

Mercy could feel herself being lifted gently
then settled onto the ground. She heard Tavish’s words laced with horror. He
was yelling for Caine to do something. Mercy’s eyes remained wide, she couldn’t
blink. Her surrounding was surreal. She was dying. Her family life was dying.

“Tavish she’s paralyzed, her spine has been
severed,” she heard Caine say. “She’s bleeding out. I can’t fix her. Only you
can save her.”

“No, no,” Tavish wept.

“You need to make a decision. She’s dying.
Tavish, if you turn her I don’t know what will happen to the baby. It could
continue to live inside her forever. She would hear the heartbeat, forever.”
Caine’s words rang in her ears.

Hear her little one but
never touch?
Sentence
herself
to the life she once had? Never feel its first
kick, or see its first smile. Never nurse from her breasts. The irony of the
fates was too much of a blow. Tavish had said she had been privy to two hard
and extreme worlds. The weight was crushing her.