Darkness Divides (Sensor #3) (19 page)

Probably because he didn’t want to get on Lucas’ and Nik’s bad sides. If my near-death bothered him at all, it was because he had ulterior motives. We hadn’t known each other long enough for him to actually care. What my senses picked up from the master vampire was coldness and calculation.

“Don’t punish Gabe.” I straightened up a little more. “Someone took advantage of his hatred for me and fueled it with black magic. It’s not his fault that he wasn’t in his right mind.” I had to be the bigger person this time. If for no other reason than I owed Matt and letting his father be punished would be a betrayal to his memory.

I was far more worried about who had set Gabe up as my assassin. Someone out there wanted me out of the way, but used methods that would have kept them from suspicion if they’d worked. He didn’t come in with that trinket on him—I would have sensed it—but someone had slipped it to him after I’d left.

They’d been waiting for a chance to take me down, but I had no idea who it could be. There were a lot of fae in this city and the press of them all on my mind made it too difficult to notice if any particular ones were following me. It was a lot easier to track that sort of thing in the human world where sups were less numerous.

Nik came up and kneeled on the other side of me. Derrick must have gotten past his rage since he’d stop trying to kill Gabe. They’d found the trinket and crushed it on the ground. I couldn’t feel its power anymore.

“I still want to know how you’re alive,” Nik said.

“And apparently healing.” Theirn lifted my arm where it had been sliced. The wound had started to knit closed.

“Nik, I need your blood to speed this up.” There was no way to lie my way out of this, but I might as well get him to fix me first.

The thought sort of made me feel guilty. A short while ago I’d been annoyed over his need to take blood from humans and now I was using him for similar purposes. Life used to be so much easier when I could distinguish right from wrong and never doubt myself.

“Very well, but you will be explaining yourself. The knife was in your heart. No mortal could have survived that.” He gave me an accusing look.

Nienna and Elros came rushing up, catching the last of Nik’s words. Whatever the druids had been discussing must have been serious to have missed all of this. They gaped at me as they took the scene in.

Great, now I couldn’t even keep this from the fae. The druids would have to tell their bosses what had happened. I’d hoped to heal enough before they returned to minimize the damage, but that didn’t look possible anymore.

Theirn’s face turned contemplative. “There’s only one way I can think of that she could have survived this and still have her abilities.”

“Don’t,” I said, giving him a warning look.

Light dawned in Nik’s eyes. “Lucas fed her his blood…but it’s forbidden.”

I glared at him. “Will you just leave it alone?”

“
Did
he feed you his blood?” he asked.

I looked away.

“That’s answer enough. Here.” He cut his arm with his fangs and held it out to me. “Drink.”

I didn’t hesitate to grab Nik’s arm and suck on his blood until my heart started beating again. It only took a few swallows.

“Have the angels found out yet?” He asked after I pushed his arm away.

“Why do you think Lucas isn’t here?” I grumbled.

Realization dawned in everyone’s eyes. I was sort of relieved that I didn’t have to hide the big secret anymore. The spell keeping Emily and me hidden would be gone now, but there was nothing I could do about that. My enemies would be looking for me more than her so she was probably safe—especially with me far away.

Nik tensed. “What have they done with Lucas?”

“This isn’t really the place for this conversation.” I nodded at some fae heading in our direction. They weren’t close enough to have heard anything yet, but they would be soon.

“Come.” Nik helped me to my feet. “We’ll go to my place to sort all this out. It’s not far.”

My legs wobbled as I stood, but I managed not to fall. Even with Nik’s blood, it would take a little while longer to fully heal from my injuries. I’d lost a lot of blood and my body needed time to regenerate it.

Chapter Twenty

Derrick and Nik flanked me as we made our way over to his house with Theirn following close behind us. Nienna and Elros took up the rear, unwilling to miss the coming conversation or fail in their guard duties again. Gabe had woken just before we left, but Theirn had ordered him to go back to their place. At least I wouldn’t have to look at my would-be assassin while I explained things. It wasn’t really his fault, but I still didn’t want to be around him.

We climbed the steps to a small but well-maintained house just a couple blocks from the palace. As soon as we entered, Nik asked Derrick to get me a wet washcloth and clean shirt. By the time everyone else had settled in the living room, he’d returned with them.

Taking the cloth and shirt, I looked at Nik. “Don’t suppose I could do this in the bathroom.”

“You’re not delaying your explanation any longer.” He gave me a suggestive smile. “You’ll just have to get over your prudishness.”

“Fine.” I pulled off my ruined shirt and threw it at him.

“That’s my girl.” Nik grinned, taking a whiff of it—the pervert. Then he narrowed his eyes at me.

“When did you get a tattoo?” He stepped closer, reaching out to touch my stomach. I grabbed his hand to stop him.

A glance down at myself revealed the snake head sticking out from the top of my jeans. Damn. As if I didn’t have enough to explain already.

“Cori finished putting it on me the morning of the explosion,” I said. He knew who the tattoo artist was since he used to flirt with her when he came by my shop—back when it got dark a lot earlier. She’d yet to respond to him with any interest, but she found him amusing.

“You should let us see the rest of it. The pants need to come off anyway.” Nik reached out his other hand. I grabbed it too and glared at him.

“Uh, no. They’re staying on.” The jeans didn’t have much blood on them and I’d be showering when I got back to my room anyway. We just needed to make me semi-presentable before I returned to the palace. At least they were a dark enough shade of blue that people might not notice the stains on them.

Nik sighed and backed off. “If you insist.”

“I do,” I said, putting more distance between us.

Once it was clear he wouldn’t try anything further, I took the wet cloth and started cleaning my chest and arms. Derrick stood close by and offered to rinse it out after it got too bloody. At least he had the decency not to stare at me like a juicy piece of steak.

“Tell us how this new and improved Melena came about,” Nik said, reclining in the seat across from me. He wasn’t going to let me finish washing up before making me talk. Of course a little blood wouldn’t faze a vampire.

I sighed and gave in to the inevitable. “You know how Micah and I haven’t talked much about the demon battle in Juneau?”

Everyone leaned forward in their seats. I’d just gained myself a captive audience.

“I have wondered about that,” Nik mused.

“Well, we lost. Big time. You know Aeson got killed, but what you don’t know is that I died, too. Temporarily.”

Nik’s brows knitted. “How?”

“The demon prince, Stolas, tossed me into a tree.” I had mentioned the prince to Nik before because I’d wanted to find out more about him after the battle. “My internal injuries were too much for my body to handle. Needless to say, I died pretty quickly. Micah had to use a combination of Lucas’ blood and CPR to bring me back. While they were doing that, an archangel showed up to take the demon out.”

Derrick whistled. “Damn. I would have loved to have seen that.”

“Easy for you to say when you weren’t there. A lot of good people died in that battle.” I shot him a dirty look.

His expression turned stricken. “Point noted. I feel the same way when anyone brings up the civil war. It wasn’t nearly as glorious as everyone makes it out to be.”

“I take it the archangel won?” Theirn asked. He was standing across the room, leaning against the wall.

“He did.” I nodded. “Apparently his sword and a burst of angel power through the blade was enough to send the prince back to hell. Everyone had hoped I could do it, but I couldn’t figure out how in time.”

I still felt guilty about that. If I’d just found something, I could have saved a lot of lives.

Nik patted my hand. “I’ve checked over all my books since then. There’s nothing in them that explains how to send a demon prince back. It’s not your fault.”

I handed the wet washcloth back to Derrick, having finished cleaning myself as much as possible for now. I pulled the giant shirt he’d given me over my head and tried to ignore the outdoorsy scent surrounding me. My nose had never picked it up this strongly before.

“Anyway, the archangel came to us after it was over. He wanted to execute Lucas right then for what he’d done, but I managed to talk him out of it.” I purposely omitted details about Lucas’ obligation to protect me. That wasn’t my story to tell.

Nienna’s eyes rounded. “You argued with an archangel.”

“That’s our sensor for ya,” Derrick said, grinning. “She’d argue with the devil himself if she thought it was worth it.”

“I’m surprised he didn’t want to execute you as well,” Theirn mused.

I shrugged. “He pardoned Micah and me because of the extenuating circumstances. I’d pointed out that we’d been fighting a battle against a demon we’d had no chance of beating. The archangel should have been the one to stop it in the first place, but he hadn’t bothered to show up until it was almost too late.”

“So what happened after that?” Nik asked.

“He took Lucas away to stand trial. Apparently because of his past he couldn’t be forgiven as easily.” I stared at my hands. There was still dried blood under my fingernails.

“We just saw him last week. What sort of punishment did they give him that he could return here?” This came from Derrick.

The alpha was probably wishing Lucas never came back.

“He’s being imprisoned for sixty years.” I purposely left out the part about Purgatory since I wasn’t sure how far I could go with my explanations without getting in more trouble with the archangels. “Somehow, he worked out a deal to make me immortal. Don’t ask me how he did it because he refuses to say. I just know they had to let him come back to give me additional doses for it to work. It’s a complicated process and not one I recommend.”

I wasn’t going to give them too many specific details. It was better if they didn’t know how it worked since it was too dangerous for anyone else to try.

“I assume his appearance at the hospital was the final time since you’re clearly immortal now?” Nik asked.

“Yeah, it was,” I admitted.

Derrick crossed his arms. “That explains a lot. Why the effects of the blast didn’t hit you as hard as Emily and how you seemed better after the nephilim’s arrival. I’d wondered about that.”

I’d noticed his confusion, but every time he looked like he was going to ask about it I redirected him with discussions of other things.

Nik cocked his head. “Lucas looked rather good for having been imprisoned all this time.”

I shook my head. “The archangel put glamour on him. You couldn’t see how bad he really looked but trust me, he’s in horrible shape. All those nightmares I’ve been having lately—that’s me experiencing his torture with him through our mating bond.”

“Damn,” Derrick said, slumping his shoulders. “I’m startin’ to feel bad for attacking him the last time he was here.”

“You should,” I said, shooting him a nasty look. “How many men would spend six decades in a prison where guards torture them every day just to save the woman they loved?”

“He won’t be back again until his sentence is up?” Nienna asked. There was sympathy in her eyes.

“Not unless I find a way to get him out.” Call it love. Call it survivor’s guilt. I had to find a way to get him back and the sooner the better.

“Where is this prison?” Nik asked.

I was hoping no one would ask that.

Giving a shrug, I said the first thing that came to mind. “No idea. He could be down in Antarctica for all I know. My dreams just show a really cold and miserable place.”

I always tried to mix my lies with truth. Made it easier to remember that way.

“Wouldn’t put it past 'em to put a prison down there,” Derrick said, shaking his head.

The two druids exchanged looks. I had no idea what that was about.

“The archangels must have some interest in you to allow you to become immortal,” Theirn observed. “Have they asked anything of you in return?”

I shook my head. “Nothing other than I had to keep my immortality a secret for as long as possible. They haven’t asked for anything else.”

“So they just let Lucas come back on his own to feed you his blood and he willingly returned to wherever this prison is after that?” Theirn asked.

His suspicion was definitely rising.

“Of course not.” I pushed my hair out of my face. “The archangel brought him there and escorted him back. Plus Lucas had manacles on his wrists to bind his powers, though the glamour hid those from everyone but me.”

Derrick stood up. “You mean there was an archangel in the hospital and you didn’t warn us?”

I should have known someone would get irate over that.

“He wasn’t going to kill you,” I reassured the werewolf. “None of you had done anything wrong—though he was forced to put a lot of effort into calming you down when you tried to attack Lucas.”

“He what?” Derrick’s eyes rounded.

“How did we not notice an archangel nearby?” Nik asked at the same time.

Suddenly everyone in the room exploded with questions. I rubbed my head. This was going to be a long night.

“Okay, let me start at the beginning,” I said, raising my voice to be heard above the others.

It took a full five minutes before I got everyone to shut up and listen.