Mercy's All That You Need

A week had passed since that night by the pool. A surprisingly uneventful one at that.

Mercedes was sat on the end of her bed, contemplating whether she should venture out to the main part of the house or just stay in her room. It was a nice, warm evening and she hoped to get outside—by herself, if Matt didn't have a canary about it—and stargaze like she used to do practically every night. It would certainly give her a sense of normalcy again; a sense she really did need at that point.

Over the past week, Mercy didn't see much of Synyster at all really. He seemed to be in and out of the house a lot; she was, however, still very careful to stay out of his way. No one in their right mind would even want to chance another encounter with him.

While she'd grown semi-comfortable with everyone else, she wasn't really close with them like she hoped she would be. Perhaps it was still too soon, but Mercedes had fleetingly hoped she would just fit in with these vampires right off the bat. Unfortunately, that was just not the case.

It wasn't that no one liked her; although they were supposed to all be vampires in this house, but Mercedes felt more human than ever. Like the line that separated them from her was their species.

She was bored, Mercy told herself. She didn't have a purpose, and everyone else in the house, all the guys and girls, had a sole purpose. Their soul-mates. And they seemed perfectly content with just that, as if they really could do the cliche and spend the rest eternity with their other half.

Before she'd come there, school had been Mercedes' purpose. And for having gone over a week without it, she was actually fairing pretty well, albeit more than a little bored. She was however, already feeling the pressure. If she didn't have something to occupy herself with soon, she would crack.

Mercedes had done a lot of observing. Call it creepy, but she desperately wanted to get a feel of how life was supposed to be for the people, the vampires, who had mates. Because one day she was apparently going to need one herself. In a nutshell, they spent a whole lot of time with their significant other, both off by themselves and with everyone else, as a group.

There was one exception, though. Synyster Gates. His mate was seemingly non-existent. Mercy figured that was why he was out a lot, or, like her, he would have felt like the third wheel. She couldn't help but wonder what happened to her—or if he'd ever even had one at all. But that seemed like one of the big rules that applied the entire vampiric population (however big that was, Mercy was still unsure of). Syn couldn't possibly bend that one.

With a small, frustrated sigh, Mercedes stood from her bed and trained her eyes on the door. Usually, Matt or someone else came and invited her out with everyone before she could have the chance to wander off by herself. But it had been a week. And while she probably wasn't allowed to leave the premises still, Mercy was willing to bet that she was at the very least allowed to leave her room by herself. If she wasn't, well... it was about to change.

After opening it, Mercy peeked out into the hallway, looking both ways as if something would jump out and attack her. Because she was almost never alone aside from when she was in her room—which had become a safe haven for her—she never really had to worry about her safety. And she wasn't really even then, but as always it was better to be safe than sorry.

Still with Synyster Gates on the brain, Mercedes hummed quietly to herself as she made her way down the hallway. It was only just after dusk, so she didn't know if any of her vampire housemates were awake yet. They were capable of 'sleeping in', too.

She wondered if Brian actually did have a mate, and just didn't want her. It seemed like something he would do, take the rebellious route and refuse a mate. Actually, she was nearly counting on that assumption being true. He probably liked his single life-style, and didn't want to be tied down with a mate. Yes, that definitely seemed like something he was capable of doing, and Mercy found herself actually feeling sorry for Syn's would-be mate, and she didn't even know who that was.

Quickly, she stopped herself, almost physically halting in the living room herself. Not only was she passing judgement on someone when, aside from the fact that he seemed to be crazy, she didn't even really know anything about him—she was thinking about someone who had previously pinned her up against the very wall she was standing across from.

Simply put, that was off limits. Completely and utterly off limits. Thinking of such things was the result of spending far too much time cooped up in her room, she reasoned.

For the most part someone was always in the living room—either by themselves, with their mate, or everyone was together. Tonight it was vacant, leading Mercedes to believe that everyone was still in bed like she'd previously thought.

Then, she heard a quiet murmur of voices trickle out from past the kitchen, more than likely in the dining room. Mercedes could easily recognize Matt's voice and she smiled in hope; even though her mother made Matthew out to be the bad guy, and he did have a bit of a temper, he really did feel like family to her. That wasn't a very hard thing to accomplish with Mercedes anyway; she didn't hold grudges. Not even to the people who she thought had kidnapped her.

Heck, if Syn was around a little more often she could probably even learn to trust him, too.

Having never even considered doing so with anyone before, not even with Ariel, Mercedes entertained the thought of inviting her new-found brother out with her to look at the sky. If he was with Val, she wouldn't bring it up as Matt was busy enough as it was, and spending an hour or so with Mercedes alone would seriously cut out on the quality time the two would spend together.

Yes, it seemed like a good idea to try and 'bond' further with Matt, but she doubted he would be up for it anyway. He didn't seem exactly like the type to enjoy sitting back and just staring up at the sky. He'd probably enjoy something with a little more action.

Mercedes stopped in the kitchen when she heard Matt's rumbling voice a little more clearly. Because he sounded angry, she was about ready to turn around and head back to her room. He'd been nice to her the entire time, but it was in everyone's best interest if you did your best to avoid him while he was in such a state.

Just as she turned around in an attempt to get the hell out of Dodge, Mercedes heard a voice, one she definitely did not recognize. It was deep and high-pitched at the same time, almost like thunder and nails-on-a-chalkboard put together, and she didn't know how she kept herself from cringing. Not just from the sound of it, but the tone. It was daunting, arrogant. Mercy could see why Matt would get annoyed from the man's voice alone.

“You didn't tell me you had guests, Matthew. You should know from experience I immensely enjoy their company, and you shouldn't keep them away from me. I always end up finding them.” He chortled, his laugh just as pretentious as she thought it would be.

Mercedes swallowed, remaining in place. The last thing she wanted to do at that moment was turn around, because she knew that in the arch way would be the man that managed to piss her brother off. She knew better than to run away, however; this man, in all probability, was a vampire. And he didn't sound like one of the nice ones Jimmy had spoken to her about.

She could feel his eyes on her, but when Mercy worked up enough courage to turn around, she came face to face—or face to back, maybe—with her brother. He was standing so close to her, in fact, that she had to stumble back a little to avoid bumping into him. Due to his size, Mercy couldn't see around him and for that she would be eternally grateful.

If it were any other time, say, a week ago, Mercedes would have been surprised by Matt's agility.
“It's none of your business. And I believe you were just leaving.” Matt hissed, reaching back to take hold of Mercy's forearm. This time she flinched, as his grip wasn't exactly gentle.

Obviously, she'd walked in on something she wasn't supposed to. Again.

When Mercy twisted away from Matt, she found Jimmy and Zacky on either side of her, both casting worried looks down at her. Whatever was going on, was serious. She knew not to try and free herself from Matt's grip, that he more than likely was only doing it with her best interest in mind.

Not seeing Brian or Johnny, her best guess was they were in front of Matt, whose back was taut with tension.

“A feeder?” The man suggested, and being unable to see him was beginning to eat away at Mercy. He sounded bored at the notion, and seemed to ignore what Matt just said.

Matt simply nodded, and her heart stuttered in her chest the moment he agreed. As far as she knew, a 'feeder' was something (often alive) given to an animal of prey as a source of food.

Why on earth would he agree to something like that?

“Whose, then? I don't know why you try to keep them alive for so long, Matthew,” Mercedes' eyebrows rose at the man calling Matt by his real name. She'd thought the whole purpose of having names like Shadows and The Rev were so no one would know their real names, to keep themselves and their loved ones safe. “It never works.”

After Matt faltered, a new voice spoke up, but this was one Mercy knew all too well. “Mine,” Synyster spoke, sounding hesitant but determined. Her mouth went slack at his deceleration. Alright, they just had to be playing a prank on her then.

“That's... that's very interesting, Gates... for obvious reasons. May I—”

“She's mine.” Brian nearly snarled when he repeated his earlier statement.

In the blink of an eye, Brian had himself wedged between Matt and Mercedes. She gasped, having never been nearly as close to him since their last incident, and went completely rigid when his arm snaked around her waist, bringing her even closer to him. In sparing a look up at him, Mercy found herself wanting to run away from him, not from the mystery man who was apparently still having a standoff with Matt. It was a look that said 'go along with it', or else she wouldn't live.

Mercy supposed that at that point, she had no other choice. Even so, when he leaned forward and into her neck, she couldn't help but at least try to pull away. All she could think about was that the last time he'd done that, he'd been intent on biting her and drinking her blood.

His arm around her waist was a whole lot tighter than Matt's grip on her arm was, however, so there was no use in hoping to move—even a little. “I hope you don't make the same mistake you did with the last one, Synyster. As you know the consequences will be serious.”

“Like I give a fuck.” Brian snapped in reply, his arm tightening even more around her waist. Whoever this guy was, it seemed that Syn hated him even more than Matt. And he must have been a pretty bad guy for neither of the two not to like him.

“I'm sorry you feel that way,” Was the person's reply, in a sickly sweet tone. For Mercedes still not to know his name or even what he looked like seemed rather silly, at least to her. At that moment, the only thing she was worried about was Synyster's lips, brushing against her neck as he spoke. She knew it wouldn't take much more of an effort to sink his teeth into her skin. “But at least let me get a good look at the thing you're willing to risk it all for—again.”

Just a week ago Brian tried to kill her. Now he was protecting her?

“If you take one more step towards me I swear I'll snap your goddamned neck, you fucking fossil.” Synyster didn't wait for the apparently older man too test his threat out, and with the use of his other arm he hoisted Mercy up and into his arms in one swift movement.

In an effort not to fall, Mercy practically clung to Brian and coiled her arms tightly around his neck, giving him another wide-eyed look. Although when he spoke his voice was full of raw emotion, he was stony-faced and looked as if he were forcing himself to do this. In short, Mercy didn't understand any of what was going on.

As quickly as he appeared in front of her, Brian had both himself and Mercedes past the living room and halfway down the main hallway. Immediately afterwards, she felt disoriented and as if she were going to throw up from such a quick movement. The pissed off man carrying her seemed not to notice or even care, and he made his way toward her room at an almost normal pace.

“Who was that?” Mercy mumbled and leaned her chin forward to rest on his shoulder, a little too incoherent to wonder if either of those actions were a good idea, especially when he was so irate.

“That, Mercedes, was the face of fucking evil.” However out of it she may have been at that moment, she still picked up on Syn calling her by her name. She believed it was the very first time he had ever done so, and thankfully it didn't sound too bad coming out of his mouth. Quickly, she reasoned he must have been too enraged to realize what he'd said.

Too bad she had no idea what the supposed face of evil looked like, though.

Without any warning whatsoever, Brian removed his arms from around her upper half; since her arms had since gone limp around his neck, she was unceremoniously dropped to the ground. Now that was the Brian she knew.

“This time stay in your room, and don't fucking come out til' your dear brother says you can, got it?” He said haughtily, and after barely even waiting for her to pick herself up he pushed her forcibly into her room, closing the door in her face. “Lock it the door, too.”

Shakily, Mercy twisted the door handle until it clicked and leaned against the door for support, still feeling a little dizzy. She couldn't even begin to comprehend what had happened just moments ago.

Synyster had touched her, and she was still alive to tell the tale. That fact alone gave her enough to think about to keep her occupied for the entire night. And she couldn't even begin to guess who that man was, or why, aside from the fact that he was more than likely one of the 'bad' vampires, no one wanted him to even look at Mercedes.

Mercy found that she didn't mind waiting for Matt to come back, after all. She was almost afraid of the answers she might get.