Darkness Divides (Sensor #3) (25 page)

“Well, she didn’t seem that prepared when I didn’t die like she planned,” I said.

Might as well get this revelation out of the way while we were discussing recent events.

Emily gave me a shocked look. “Mel, what happened?”

“Zoe had one of her supporters arrange to have me assassinated. When I didn’t die from a knife through the heart, it sort of gave me away as not being mortal anymore.” I nodded at Nik and Derrick. “They know what Lucas did now.”

“I knew that secret wasn’t going to keep long,” Charlie said, slapping his thigh.

I ignored him.

“Wait,” Lisette put her teacup down. “You’re immortal now? How’d that happen?”

The pixie had changed her hair color to white and cut it a bit shorter since I last saw her. The new look worked well on her. “It’s a long story.”

“We’ve got time.” She sat back in her seat.

I took in a deep breath and relayed the same story I’d told Nik and Derrick back in Feidlimid. Other than those who already knew about it, everyone looked surprised.

“You’re like…part angel now,” Hunter observed.

“That’s so not funny,” I replied.

Nik cleared his throat. “What we need to be thinking about now is how to take the city back. This won’t be the same as when we fought Variola. Zoe is far more powerful and brought a stronger force with her.”

“We also need to find the device she stole.” I swept my gaze across the room. “The fae told me it’s powerful and if it gets in the wrong hands bad things can happen.”

Nik nodded. “I agree we should get the device back. The elders emphasized to me its importance and I can understand their concern—even if everyone seems to be murky on the details of what it does. The first thing we need to do, though, is find out exactly what we’re up against and rebuild our forces.”

Everyone in the room nodded their agreement. I had no choice but to follow along for now.

It wasn’t that I disagreed with Nik, but his plans weren’t going to stop me from looking for a way to get the device from Zoe as soon as possible. If we could get Lucas back, it would give our side a desperately needed boost of power and he’d have a better chance of finding his brother.

As it stood now, we had no one who could stand against the female nephilim and survive. I just couldn’t explain that without divulging details about Purgatory and the nature of the device. This was one mission I’d have to work on without his support.

Chapter Twenty-eight

I crept down the hallway. Everyone had gone to bed shortly before dawn after a long night of discussing the Zoe problem. I’d set my cell phone alarm to wake me up six hours later, though it had been cut short by Nik and Josslyn going at it in the next room. Only the coming of dawn finally slowed them down.

That was another one of those examples where having empathic abilities made it uncomfortable to be in close quarters with other people. Charlie had half a dozen guest rooms upstairs, but most of us had to double up. Emily shared a room with me. It had taken some serious tiptoeing to make it out without waking her.

Sable was napping on one of the sofas when I came down to the living room. As soon as she noticed me, she came over to rub her head against my leg. I nearly fell over since she was in a larger form than usual. Emily had mentioned the shape-shifter kitty showing up the day after they’d arrived at Charlie’s house. Bred by the fae, she was a smart animal and had found her way over without help. At the moment, she’d chosen to be a mountain lion. That wouldn’t work if I wanted to take her with me.

“Sable, I need you to change back into a lynx. You’re going for a ride with me,” I told her.

She stretched out her body and black fur sprouted over the gold. In a matter of seconds, she shrank into the smaller feline form. Driving around with a cat might be weird, but a lion in the car would really draw attention.

Sable had been trained to accept commands from whoever she bonded with—which in this case was me. I didn’t always get her to do what I wanted since the cat part of her had to show some random acts of defiance, but she was smart enough to understand the need for caution when around humans. She was surprisingly intuitive.

I went into the kitchen and gulped down some orange juice. There was no time for a real breakfast. I tossed Sable a few slices of lunch meat I found in the fridge. It would have to tide her over until I could pick up some proper food for her. If she got enough variety of things she liked, she was less likely to hunt and kill for her food. That would make Derrick happy.

Emily was moving in her room. Before I could make it to the front door she was halfway down the stairs. There was no hiding from another sensor. Her brown hair was in wild disarray—except the shaved part where hints of fuzz were starting to come in—and she wore a tank top and pajama bottoms. She gave me an inquiring look.

“Where you going, Mel?” She spoke in a hushed voice.

I paused with my hand on the doorknob. “To check on some things.”

“You’re going out on a recon, aren’t you?” she asked, putting a hand on her hip.

Emily had been watching too many movies lately. I preferred to call it gathering intelligence against enemy forces. Okay, so technically it was a recon.

“Go back to bed.” I made a shooing motion with my hands. We were both still speaking in low tones.

She shook her head. “No way. I want to come with you.”

“Stay here. I need to be able to move around quickly.”

“But Mel—“ she gave me a pleading look.

I grabbed her arm and led her to the back of the house where people were less likely to overhear. My senses didn’t detect anyone awake, but that could always change.

“Listen,” I whispered, leaning close. “The device that Zoe took from the fae opens a portal into Purgatory. This could be our chance to get Lucas back, but I have to find it and see if there’s a way to steal it from her. I can’t do that if I’m worrying about you.”

Her eyes lit up. “Do you really think you can get him out? What if that archangel comes for him?”

“Yes, I think I can. As for the archangel, we’ll think of something to keep him from taking Lucas back. It’s just a matter of forcing Remiel to listen.”

She looked down. “It could be dangerous, Mel.”

“Of course it’s going to be dangerous, but I don’t die so easily now. Lucas made me stronger and now I’ve got to do something to help him. Just don’t tell anyone what I’m really up to. No one but Charlie knows what the device does and it has to stay that way.”

“Okay, but be careful,” she said, concern in her eyes.

“I will.” I smiled reassuringly.

With a huff of breath, she went back up the stairs. I slipped outside with Sable following close behind me and closed the heavy door as lightly as I could. We were on the road before anyone else stirred. It would take close to forty-five minutes to reach Fairbanks. Charlie lived out in the middle of nowhere and it took a couple miles of bumping along a rutted dirt road before I made it onto the highway.

I kept driving in a southerly direction for a while, continuing to skirt the wide stretch of land Charlie held for himself. A family of trolls popped up on my radar at one point—including Bambi. I hadn’t realized she lived on the edges of his land, but was glad to see she was safe and outside the hot zone. No other sups—familiar or otherwise—came up on my radar until about a mile from the outskirts of Fairbanks. I immediately pulled the Jeep off to the side of the road. There was a male sensor, a werewolf, and a witch holding in place up ahead.

Taking the map out of my glove compartment, I looked over other routes to get into the city. It took until mid-afternoon to confirm every one of them had guards in place. There would be no getting into town via the roads without getting caught.

Charlie hadn’t been kidding when he said a large group of sensors had come to town. From what my so-called father had told me, they had about fifty in their group. The majority of which were men. Fairbanks was approximately thirty-seven square miles, and it would have taken most of those guys to cover all the entry points. Even if he’d recruited a few more to the cause over the last year, it wouldn’t have helped much.

There had to be gaps between the roads. I’d have to go in on foot to find them, but I wanted to see if there was any way into the city where I could avoid getting on another sensor’s radar. We needed to find out what had happened to the rest of Nik’s people too, other than the small group being held at his house.

Getting as many of them back as possible would be key to retaking the city and hopefully finding Micah, though I doubted Zoe would have brought him here. At least if we could capture her we could find out.

I parked the Jeep on a little-used dirt road on the north side of the city. Sable hopped out with me and we began trekking. It was only a two-mile walk before we hit civilization again. I ordered Sable to stay at the edge of the trees and keep watch.

She’d be my marker for where to return since I wasn’t familiar with this area. The plethora of tall trees pretty much looked the same to me and I didn’t have time to memorize all the houses along my route. It would be easier to head straight back to her regardless of which direction I returned from.

There were no sensors nearby, so I made my way onto regular streets without fear of drawing attention. All the humans I saw acted normal. It was a nice day for May and people were out taking advantage of the warm weather.

Some of the homes were still damaged from the blast. Repair crews were outside a few, working on them. For the most part though, things had been cleaned up during my absence at the fae city. Humans were moving on with their lives not knowing a new crisis had hit.

I made it less than a mile before another sensor came up on my radar. This one was a female. I scrambled back and headed for the Jeep as fast as possible. If she was stationed inside the city, it was to make sure I couldn’t move around without Zoe’s forces finding out. They must have suspected I might try to get into town—or that one of Nik’s sups might attempt to break through the line.

Several werewolves came up on my senses as I rushed along the street. Still a half-mile out but traveling fast and in straight lines, they had to be in a vehicle. I gave up any pretense of casual movement and took off at a sprint. A few people hanging out in their yards looked at me strangely, but I ignored them. I had several blocks to go before I’d hit the dense forest at the edge of the city.

The werewolves closed the distance.

Sticking to the streets wasn’t working, they were two blocks away. When I glanced back, I saw them run a stop sign. Staying to fight wasn’t an option. I couldn’t shoot them out in the open with so many innocent bystanders nearby and they’d probably called for back-up as soon as they’d started to pursue me. There were only so many sups I could feasibly take on all at once.

I ran around the side of a house and hopped the fence into the backyard. Once inside it, I raced across and jumped another fence. As a mortal it wouldn’t have been easy, but with my new strength and speed it didn’t require more than a thought. If someone saw me, I’d just have to hope they thought I was training for the Olympics. My jumps weren’t impossible—only improbable for average humans.

Over and over I went through backyards, parks and anywhere the werewolves couldn’t drive. The female sensor wasn’t with them, which helped prevent their pinpointing me. I didn’t slow down even after the distance between us stretched. Eventually I hit the woods and ran toward Sable’s position. She was a little west of my entry point.

“We gotta get back to the Jeep now, girl,” I said once I reached her.

She must have understood the urgency in my voice because she didn’t hesitate to lead the way. I was so turned around at this point I was glad to have her guide me back. We moved faster than humanly possible now that no witnesses were around to see us. The werewolves had made it to the edge of the woods, but within minutes they fell off my radar.

I didn’t know if they’d bother to continue tracking me or not. They couldn’t shift into wolves until nighttime, but their sense of smell in human form was still strong enough they might be able to pick me up if they tried. I had no desire to find out what they’d do.

We were almost to the Jeep when a brilliant flash of light sparked up ahead. I came to a stumbling halt when I realized what it was, though it took Sable a bit longer to do the same. By the time she slowed down, she’d almost reached the female archangel who had appeared. The shape-shifter kitty dug her claws into the ground and twisted her body around, just missing the intruder. Then she raced back to stand next to me.

Sable had met an archangel before and wasn’t any keener on them than me. She growled low in her throat. Such a good kitty.

I glanced back, still worried about the werewolves. Dammit. I couldn’t go back the way I came or toward my jeep. She’d timed her appearance well.

“They’ve given up their search, if that’s what you’re worried about,” the archangel said.

She spoke the truth, so I didn’t bother to question it.

“What do you want?” I asked.

She straightened her billowing white robe. It was fitted to her upper body, but flowed loose at the bottom. Her flashing here had kicked up some wind. It was like traveling through a vortex when they flashed—or at least when Lucas did it—and the longer distances caused a bigger disturbance. She must have come all the way from heaven to disturb the air that much.

“I am Ariel, and I’ve come to offer my assistance,” she said regally.

This was the part where I wanted to ask if she was joking, but I knew she wasn’t. That didn’t mean I wasn’t suspicious.

“Why?”

Her almost translucent wings fluttered behind her—they’d be hidden from human sight. “Let’s just say Lucas won me over during his trial. I am sorry for the two of you being kept apart and wish to do what I can to remedy it.”