A heartbeat woke Mercy up. That in itself was not weird. A vampire was supposed to be on the brink of death, beats so slow that it was easy to forget that there was a heart inside of her chest. But this one was rhythmic, beating every so often that it rang in her ear. And–oh her ear was warm as she put her hand to it. In fact, her cheek was too. But the heartbeat, it was irritating and the more she heard it, the faster it seemed to go. But then this pit in her stomach formed. This gaping pit that was not there before, yelling at her, growling like a wolf protecting its kin. It was like her bloodlust but worse. So much worse.
Mercy threw off the sheets and searched for Adrienne’s supply of blood bags but her fangs, they were not sprouting out and she didn’t think too much of it. No, she needed to fill this fit, feed it with something that wasn’t blood. She wanted food. Bacon. Eggs. Tostada. Her stomach was crying out for her mother’s tostada smothered in olive oil and topped with crushed tomato and ham. She raced down to the kitchen, startling the poor cooks inside, a frenzied woman whose face was red from the blood coursing through her veins and demanding a breakfast platter. It didn’t matter what was on the plate, she just wanted food. Immediately, a basket with a baguette was placed in front of her, paired with an array of jams and a small saucer of butter. Coffee, croissants, pain au chocolat. Of course, this was Gabriel’s staff. It was a French breakfast, but Mercy started devouring it nonetheless, a ravenous monster grabbing whatever she could put in her mouth.
“Honey,” she said, the piece of croissant in her hand dropping to the table with crumbs falling everywhere. “I need honey.” The sweet nectar was a treat that had been lost to time for her. The taste buds on her tongue after she turned never finding the sweet taste of the golden syrup the same as she did when she was a human, being replaced but the richness of blood. No, now she craved it. If she could taste the sweet tartness of a strawberry jam, Mercy could finally have her honey again. She didn’t even bother to use a piece of bread, sticking her finger directly into the small jar and putting it straight in her mouth. The floral taste was not lost of Mercy as she enjoyed her treat for the first time in decades. She didn’t even want to question why she could taste it again, but only to keep savoring the liquid gold.