"Mercy," Torn's voice whispers through my mind. "Come to me."

"Go choke on a dick," I send back before slamming my mental shields back up. They've been slipping more and more lately, and I can't figure out why.

It's been three days since I've been trapped in this stupid cell. Two days since that weird visit from Parker's dad. Whatever Ethan did to make me forget what happened, he did to Dax too

The door to the basement opens and closes. Footsteps echo down the stairs and out steps Ethan. Again.

Think of the devil, and he may appear.

I don't move from my spot on the bed, I simply narrow my eyes at him.

"Why so glum-looking?" He asks, a smarmy smile firmly in place.

"Why so fucking chipper?" I ask, not in the mood to deal with his shit.

His smile widens. "No reason, whatsoever." His eyes cut to Dax and narrows. Without any other warning he advances on Dax, punching him square in the jaw, knocking him out in no time.

I stand from the cot. "What the hell are you doing?"

He unlocks my cell door and moves to come inside. "Well, you're about to find out. Not that you'll remember it. Or care when you wake up."

I frown. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You'll see." So fast, I barely see him move, he strikes out and I feel a painful prick in my neck. A sudden sense of déjà vu flares through me as darkness bleeds around the edges of my consciousness.

"You'll die for this," I slur before my body goes limp and darkness reigns.

* * *

I'm getting really sick of blacking out.

A moan slips out of my mouth as I move to my side, willing the nausea that's currently running through my system to take a fucking chill pill.

My eyes flutter open, and I frown when I see Ethan sitting in the lone chair beside the bed.

"What are you doing here?"

He smiles. "You're awake. Good."

"What's going on?" I ask as I rub my eyes with a shaking hand. God, why am I so shaky lately? "Why do I feel like I'm going puke?"

"Hmm, you know, I'm not entirely sure. It could be that your body's just not reacting well to the, uh, medicine I gave you."

"You gave me medicine? Why?"

Ethan smirks and moves so that he's looking directly into my eyes. His silver eyes glowing he says in a soft, soothing, and compelling voice, "Give me a kiss."

I inwardly scream and curse at him as my body moves forward of its own accord and kisses the jackass across from me.

Ethan breaks away with an evil chuckle. “I can’t believe it worked.”

I snap out of it and have control over my body again. Wiping off his saliva from my lips I glower at him. “You’d better be fucking glad that I don’t have any fucking weapons in here.”

“Hunter, Parker’s-”

“No, no, no. No calling for help,” he tsks in that same tone, taking control over me again before I finish what I was telling Hunter.

“Mercy? Parker’s what?” Hunter’s telepathic voice answers back. I try to reach out to him again but unfortunately, fuck face still has control over me, so I can’t fucking respond.

“Hold on a moment, would you, dear?” Ethan asks, sounding so sugar sweet, he’s giving me a toothache. Pulling away from me, he digs his hand in his pocket, producing a cell phone. He presses a few buttons and then holds his phone to his ear. “Hello. Yes, it worked. She’s ready for you.”

I narrow my eyes at him and stand up from the bed quickly, ignoring the wave of dizziness that flashes over me. “Who did you just call?”

Before the last word even left my mouth, I back up into another body and freeze.

“Hello, Mercy,” Torn says, his mouth against my ear as he wraps his arms around me tightly. A shiver of apprehension rolls down my spine. “Thank you for giving Mercy her medication, Ethan. You’ve been such a great help in bringing my Mercy back to me.”

I open my mouth to snap at those words, but Torn’s hand comes up and covers my mouth. I bite into his hand hard enough to taste blood, but he still doesn’t move his hand. Ick.

“You said you’d give me what I asked for,” Ethan says.

Torn snickers in my ear. “Do you know what it was that he asked for, Mercy?”

I say nothing.

“He asked to have you to himself for a night.” My stomach rolls as Torn drops his face to my neck and brushes his lips against it. He drops his voice down to a whisper, so only I can hear, “However, I have a feeling that you’ll be too much for him to handle, my dear.” His hand runs gently down my arm and I muffle a gasp when I feel him press the hilt of a blade into my palm. “Kill him,” he murmurs into my ear, and my mind fogs over, even as I’m aware of all that I’m doing. I have no control over my own body whatsoever.

It feels like I’m a ghost, watching from the sidelines as I take the blade firmly in my grasp. No matter how hard I fight it, I just can’t get myself to stop. Without any preamble I use it to stab Ethan in the heart, twisting the blade in a circle before withdrawing it. Bringing the knife up, I cut into Ethan’s neck until his head is no longer attached to his body.

“Such a good girl,” Torn purrs from behind me. “Shall we go have fun with some more of the vampire’s here?”

It wasn’t a question, I knew. I also know that he’s going to make me kill more of the people in this house, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do to stop it.