Mercy's All That You Need

Shifting from foot to foot, Mercedes waited patiently in the foyer with the girls and an agitated M. Shadows. She could only wish Matt could be as calm (or act like it, at least) in such a situation. It wasn't even close to getting dark out; apparently not even the sun could slow the girls down from their shopping, as they'd knocked on her door over an hour go just to remind her that they were going out today.

As if she could forget. Mercy had been looking forward to this ever since the plans were even brought up.

Vaguely, she also remembered when the guys came to her house several weeks ago to bring her here. They'd gone out in the sunlight then, so Mercy guessed that it was somewhat 'okay'. In moderation, of course. She promised herself she'd ask someone about it as soon as the time was right.

The only dip in the road so far however, was Synyster Gates. Or his unpunctuality, rather. He was supposed to meet everyone in the foyer at a quarter to four, and it was then half-past. That was what had provoked Matt into his small fit of rage. For some reason, he hadn't been in a good mood in the first place so his change in mood wasn't too shocking. Not even for Mercedes, who seemed to finally be getting used to his constantly-flaring temper.

“Where the fuck is he,” Matt huffed, redialing Synyster's number into his phone, Mercy had lost track as to how many times he had done so. “He can't even listen to me just this fucking once, can he?”

No one answered his scathing question, but Val did tighten her grip on his free hand, a silent urge for him to at least try and calm down.

Mercedes scanned each of the girls' faces carefully, and was thankful to learn that none of them seemed bothered at all by having to wait for Brian, but that didn't stop her from feeling bad about it. It was all for her, and not really Syn's fault. If she didn't supposedly need protection, they could have left long ago.

And while she would have liked to entertain the idea of being able to stand up for herself when situations called for it, it was obvious to everyone involved that she didn't even have a fair chance with a human, let alone the vampires that would—more than likely, as Synyster had previously demonstrated—enjoy killing her.

Or at the very least, confuse the shit out of her as he'd also come to make a habit out of.

“Are you excited for today?” Johnny's girlfriend, Lacey, asked Mercedes with a friendly smile while she playfully nudged her side.

Out of all the girls, Mercy had figured out right away that Lacey was the quietest. She didn't talk much, so when she did Mercedes always made an effort to carry the conversation on her own part. “Yeah,” She began, her voice just as soft as the taller girl's. “I just hope Matt doesn't blow a gasket in the meantime.”

Lacey laughed, pushing her dark brown hair back from her face with a nod. “We'll get out of here soon, and then it's gonna be a blast.”
Just after she finished her sentence, Synyster turned up next to Matt, looking bleary-eyed. Mercy blinked in surprise, and she was sure she even saw Matt flinch when he began talking. “I'm here,” He paused to yawn. “Now quit your bitching.”

Matt merely stared at him with an unimpressed expression, crossing his arms as he glared at Syn. “Are you prepared?”

At Syn's appearance, the girls started talking quietly to themselves, getting more excited now that they could leave. Unfortunately, Mercedes couldn't take part in their chatter because she watched, with wide eyes as—with a roll of his eyes, of course—Brian pulled up the pant of his dark wash jeans to reveal a menacing, sheathed knife running up his calf in a holster.

Matt nodded in approval, then to top it all off, Brian reached behind his back and took a handgun out from the waist of his jeans, having previously been hidden by his black, sleeveless shirt. Mercedes shrunk as soon as it was brought into view, and he seemed to notice this. Smirking, he took the magazine out, which was clearly filled with bullets, and showed it to Matt before he put it back and the gun disappeared behind his back once again.

How was she supposed to even think about relaxing today when the person who was supposed to protect her was heavily armed? Normally that may have been a good thing, but this was the first time Mercedes would be alone with him since when he'd apparently tried to bite her. Although he may have sort of... simmered, in the past few days (except for the fit he threw with Shadows the night before), he seemed like a bit of a basket case to Mercy.

He wasn't ever really friendly with her, anyway. When he stood up for Mercedes when he accused Matt of sheltering her, he could have just been doing it for the sake of arguing with Matt and nothing more.

It was surprising that Mercy was still even doubting his sanity, as she'd thought about and forgiven him already. But could she really trust him with weapons, and could Matt really trust him with the task of protecting his little sister?

With a small sigh to herself in defeat, she finally reasoned with herself that if her brother trusted Gates, then so could she.

Finally, Matt gave one last nod of approval. “Wake the fuck up, would you? I need you sharp, Gates.” He snapped, and that seemed to wake Syn up a little, but definitely not in a good way. The slightly shorter man rolled his eyes and stalked toward the front door, muttering obscenities as he slammed the door shut.

Still, the girls payed no attention to Syn's antics, and followed after him. Val kissed Matthew on the cheek before leaving, and he reminded Mercedes once again to be careful. She only nodded in response, forcing a smile. Her mind was still occupied with Synyster Gates, and how he had even more of an advantage over her than before.

Since she still wasn't quite used to the Southern California weather, Mercy had spent a long time this morning while everyone was sleeping trying to figure out what exactly she was going to wear. She wanted to take advantage of the hopefully warm weather for once, and dressed in a light t-shirt and a pair of jean shorts, topping it off with her favorite bag and a pair of flip-flops. It turned out that the girls had done the same, just in a slightly more fashionable way.

Mercedes noticed that as soon as the sun hit everyone's skin, they squinted slightly in the sunlight before pulling out their own pair of sunglasses. She was glad she didn't have the problem yet.

After some arguing, Val declared that she was driving the Suburban and Leana had immediately called shotgun. Despite Synyster's grumbling, Mercy couldn't help but smile at the girls. The all seemed to genuinely enjoy each other's company, and hoped that one day she would share the same bond with them.

Brian glared, seemingly straight at Mercy, after she was safely buckled into the middle seat. He'd let her go first in a sort of gentlemanly way, but the stare really put her off and made her that much more scared when he sat beside her, looking as if he really didn't want to be there.

In the passenger seat, Leana paused, a concentrated look taking over her features before she turned around and set her sights on Brian. In that moment, as small as she was, Leana looked a whole lot more intimidating. “If you scare Mercy like you did last week, Gates, I'll be doing Jimbo a favor by cutting off the ball he missed.”

A fit of giggles erupted from the back seat where Gena and Lacey were seated, and Val cracked a smile at Leana's half-serious threat. Mercedes, as per usual, was slightly horrified, yet somehow found the joke funny, too. In Oregon with Ariel she'd never been allowed to joke about things in such a way, and it was refreshing to finally be able to then.

But she really didn't want to know the back story on that joke or why Rev would even want to do something like that. Syn paled almost, his brown eyes flashing menacingly with anger. It would be in everyone's best interest if the girls didn't push him any further, especially Mercy's.

“And if you just so happen to conveniently disappear, I'll be sure to give Matt a call and report on what a shitty job you're doing as Mercedes' body guard,” Val said, holding eye contact with Brian through the rear-view mirror. Unlike Leana, she was completely serious about this threat. “He even asked me to, anyway.”

Sick of the way the girls were treating him, Syn huffed and glared at Val's headrest. “Fuck off. Shads asked me to watch her and that's exactly what I'm going to do.” Because he was so close sitting next to her, Mercy watched as his biceps seemed to grow twice in size with the way he crossed his arms over his chest.

Fitness-wise, Matt couldn't have picked a better protector for Mercy.

None of this is a big deal, Mercedes told herself as Val started the car and pulled out of the driveway, heading down the long, paved road toward civilization. It was just a simple trip to the mall, something done practically every day for most people. It wasn't as if they were heading into a war zone, they were just going to buy some clothes, have some fun, and that was it. Brian wasn't even going to need that gun or knife or whatever other concealed weapon he may have been carrying.

The drive to the mall was thankfully a short one, and as soon as Val found a parking space the girls were scrambling to get out of the car. Before Mercy could do the same, Brian stretched his hand across so he was holding onto the passenger seat, thoroughly blocking her from following the girls.

“If I'm expected to do my job right,” He began in a low, intimidating voice, this time really glaring at her. “Then I expect you to cooperate, too. So fucking stay by my side and don't leave it, kid.”

Mercedes swallowed past the lump of fear that had built up in her throat, and leaned away from Syn a little when she realized exactly how close he'd gotten. So much for not scaring her. “Yeah—yeah, sure, Brian. I don't mind.”

“And don't fucking call me that here. To the public I'm Synyster Gates.” He added, seemingly angrier when she called him by his first name. All she could do was give a frantic nod in response, and he then he finally let her out of the SUV. As he'd requested, she stayed by his side and would make sure she did for the entire duration of their trip to the mall.

If there was one thing she didn't want, was a pissed off Synyster Gates heckling her throughout the one day she got out of the house. That, and he was just plain scary when he was in such a mood.