Blood-Mother/The Date

Mercy made her way down the stairs into the kitchen. Crystal stood at the stove cooking breakfast.

"Good Morning Love" Crystal said with a smile as bacon and eggs sizzled in the pan.

"Morning Mom" Mercy replied, watching her mom cook for a minute as a large smile crossed her face, "Dang woman, look at you looking all domesticated".

Crystal looked back with a arched eyebrow and a devious smile, "Oh, I see someone is feeling feisty today. I would think you should be groveling to get on my good side. The big party is tonight isn't it?"

Mercy looked shocked, "How did you..." suddenly her eyes went wide, "Did you read my Diary?"

"Of course I did." Crystal scoffed as if she had just been asked the dumbest question in history

"Your not supposed to read that!" Mercy shouted more shocked and amused than angry

"Your the one that decided to compile all your secrets into a single location...it was also poorly hidden." Crystal replied with a smile

"Oh, so what, you "accidentally" found it when you were putting away clothes?" Mercy asked suspiciously

"Pftt, me doing Laundry, that's funny..." Crystal replied with a laugh, "...and for the record, I "accidentally" found it went I went into your room and rummaged through your possessions to find it."

Mercy let out a unintentional laugh, then sat at the counter pouting, "You really are a villain."

Crystals face brightened, "See? Now *that* is good groveling!"

Mercy smiled looking as innocent as possible, "Does that mean I can go to the party?"

"Well, that depends on you." Crystal took the pan off the heat, shutting down the stove. She moved slowly, taking her time to put everything in place while Mercy waited in anticipation. When she was done, Crystal turned around facing Mercy, her fingers bridged and eyes narrowed in full Villainess mode, staring daggers through the girl. Crystal moved closer to Mercy, leaning in uncomfortably close, "Who.is.Trent?"

Mercy felt panicked and also stupid. Crystal admitted to reading the diary, so of course she read about him. Of course she was going to ask about him. STUPID!

"He's my boyfriend, and I know you don't trust anybody, but I don't want to live like that, and he really cares about me, and I really like him, so be mad at me if you want, but we're going to be dating...so...." She blurted in a massive panicked run on sentence

Crystal looked unmoved...at all. She glared at Mercy for a moment before her facial expression lightened, "Fine, you can go to the party."

Mercy let out a squeal of joy and ran over hugging Crystal, "Your the best mom EVER....other than reading my diary, and...y'know...everything else about you." she said laughing

"Yes fine, release me child like creature. Eat your breakfast, complete your menial house labor, and perhaps you'll live long enough to go to the party" Crystal replied with mock disgust but still hugging her daughter with a smile.

Crystal arrived at the party. She stood outside the house, she could hear the music, and voices inside. She allowed Mercy to come here, but that didn't mean she was going to be alone. Crystal had used her magic to track Mercy's location, a necessary trick when raising a daughter with the power to open portals between any two points. Crystal was a being capable of sculpting her crystalline body into any appearance she chose. As an artist with centuries of experience in her craft, she was able to make herself appear quite literally flawless. She learned that that level of beauty tends to draw far too much attention. She normally gave herself dark hair to match Mercy, and aged herself as Mercy's mom, although more on the side of older sister. Tonight was going to be an exception.

Tonight she went back to her "natural" green eyes and red hair. She made herself around Mercy's age, but far more voluptuous and with straight up super-model level beauty. she entered the party, homing in on Mercy's location figuring that "Trent" would be nearby. Many heads turned as she moved through the house in her nice, overly-trampy clothes that she had picked out for just this occasion, but she ignored them all, moving like a torpedo locked on to it's target. As she turned the corner she saw Mercy and "Trent" sitting on the couch. Crystal smiled and approached, suddenly acting as bubbly and ditzy as possible, she walked right up to the couch, her eyes focused directly on "Trent".

"Hiyyee" Crystal said with a perky smile, being sure to bounce as she waved to get the girls jiggling properly, "I'm like totally lost, I'm trying to find where the drinks are?"

Trent was visibly shocked before composing himself, "Uh yea, the drinks are over that way" he said with a point before continuing, "I don't think we've met, I'm Trent."

"Of course you are..." Crystal said, her voice deep and quiet for a moment, barely able to contain her disdain before returning to her bubbly act, "Oh my God, it's like, so nice to meet you, I'm Crystal."

Mercy had thought there was something familiar about this girl, but as soon as she heard the name, her eyes went wide. She opened her mouth to say something but was instantly silenced by the look she received back from Crystal. When you are living with and being raised by an immortal earth spirit that is the living embodiment of all the violence and death on the planet, you get real good at reading the room. Mercy knew this look. It was "Don't you dare open your fucking mouth". Mercy stayed quiet, letting it play out.

"Your really cute" Crystal said with a smile, before purposefully turning and looking at Mercy. A look of shock and embarrassment crossed Crystal's face as she turned back to Trent, "Oh my God, I am SO SORRY. I'm so freaking rude. Here you are, with your girlfriend, and I come over throwing myself at you like some hussie."

"Oh no it's fine..." Trent replied reassuring her, "...we're just friends."

Shock and anger crossed Mercy's face, "Excuse me? I'm sorry, we're just what?"

"I mean, we're not serious or anything, y'know?" Trent said, every word more weasley than the last

"Are you fucking serious right now?" Mercy said, her anger boiling over

Before another response could be given, Crystal's hand shot out snatching Trent by the neck. He grip was so tight, that even though his mouth opened, not even a gasp escaped his lips. She picked him up off the couch, lifting him until his feet were no longer touching the floor. The crowd started to notice the commotion, but it didn't matter anymore. A large blood-crystal blade protruded from Crystal's other hand, before she slammed the blade through his stomach, the tip popping out through his back. He spit up blood as tears ran down his face. Crystal pulled the blade from his stomach, the jagged edges of the crystal blade pulling out his intestines as the blade was ripped out. Panic erupted, people screaming and running in ever direction. Crystal dropped Trent back on the couch, holding up her large bloody blade menacingly.

"You fucked with the wrong fucking family, "Trent"!" She said as she drove the blade through his skull

Trent screamed, grasping at his chest. There was no wound. He was alive. Still sitting on the couch, at the party. Everything felt so real, he felt the pain, smelled the blood. Trent's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of laughter. He looked up, Crystal and Mercy were standing in front of him, the crowd pointing at him laughing. He looked down and realized that he was sitting in a pool of his own urine and feces. He stood up, crying and embarrassed, as he ran upstairs.

Crystal smiled at Mercy, "Enjoy the rest of the party" she said as she turned and headed for the door.

Crystal was halfway down the driveway of the party house, having already reverted her form back to Mercy's mom. Mercy followed her out into the driveway, obviously angry.

"Did you enjoy that?!" Mercy shouted as she followed Crystal down the driveway

"Of course I did." Crystal said without shame or remorse

"You took that way too far! I mean, yea, he was slime, but it wasn't all his fault." Mercy replied

Crystal stopped in her tracks, spinning around to face her daughter, "I'm sorry, did I miss something? How exactly was that not all his fault?"

Well, I mean, you came in there looking like a freakin' super-model, and I'm just..."

Mercy's sentence was interrupted by a hard slap across her face. She was stunned as she looked back at her mom.

"You are every bit as beautiful as me, or any other woman on this planet! Don't you dare say otherwise, ever! Don't you dare let scum like "Trent" convince you otherwise, ever! Do you understand me? Crystal replied angrily.

Mercy stared back at Crystal, tears were in her eyes. She was scared, and hurt. Crystal took a breath, calming herself down. She moved closer to Mercy, putting her hands gently on Mercy's shoulders.

"Mercy, look at me." Crystal said, her voice was soft and warm, "If you were to ask me if I remember what it was like to be part of the Earth Mother, I would tell you, that I don't remember. For me, it's like waking from a dream. I can't quite remember what the dream was, but I remember that it was pure, and warm, and beautiful. The thing that drew me to you when we first met all those years ago, was that you reminded me of that dream. You were pure, and happy, and innocent in a place where those things didn't exist. Mercy, there are people in this world that will take advantage of that goodness, and that innocence. Everytime they do, you'll lose a little piece of that joy, that purity, that innocence...until there nothing left. When the "Trents" of the world have used up all the good you have to offer, all you'll be left with is cynicism and emptiness." Crystal placed her hands on Mercy's cheeks, looking her in the eyes, "Mercy...I will burn this entire world to ashes, before I let that happen to you." she said as she wiped away the tears.

Mercy hugged her mom tight, her face pressed into Crystal's body. She cried for about a minute, and then just mumbled, "mehh..we're just friends..." mocking Trent.

Crystal smiled hugging her daughter, "I want you to find Love, and Happiness, but "Trent" isn't it". Crystal joked before they started walking home

"No more "Trents", Mercy replied, "or "Brents"

"Also no Johns, James, Michaels..." Crystal stated rattling of some of the most common names ever.

"Okay....now your not making any sense, your just saying random words now. TOASTER...FLAPJACKS...see, I can do it too!"

"Just open the damn portal already..." Crystal replied, "...We're missing Storage Wars."