Darkness Divides (Sensor #3) (4 page)

He shook his head. At least, as much as he could with my hand still around his throat. “No, I wouldn’t do that to her. I get why you’re hiding it from everyone and it makes sense.”

“If you’re lying, I will kill you.”

His brows furrowed. “Don’t you have the ability to tell if I’m lying?”

My fingers tightened on him. This kid was a little too smart for his own good. I could normally tell if someone was lying, but the blast had knocked out all my inborn abilities. It was a lot like being blind.

“Melena,” Derrick said, grabbing my shoulder again. “This isn’t the place for this.”

He was right. People were starting to stare at us and I’d been too upset to pay any attention to it. I let go of Hunter’s throat, but leaned in close to his ear.

“We’ll finish this conversation later, but don’t even think of talking to anyone else about Emily,” I warned.

If other people put all the pieces together like he did, they might come to the same conclusion. I didn’t see any other supernaturals near us, so at least there weren’t any witnesses to handle. Once Micah came back, I’d have him compel Hunter not to talk. He couldn’t make him forget what he knew—that was only possible with humans—but he could make him keep quiet about it.

“I won’t tell anyone. I swear.” Even without my abilities, I was fairly certain he spoke the truth. The look in his eyes said he meant it and I had a lot of experience reading people’s expressions.

I relaxed in my seat and closed my eyes. Now that my rage had passed, the side effects from my head injury came back in full force. My body felt drained. Maybe I’d expended a little too much energy threatening Hunter.

Over an hour passed as we sat there waiting for news. My head continued to throb, but some of my senses started to return. Just a small trickle, giving me a faint vibe from the werewolves sitting next to me.

At least that was a positive sign. I was glad to discover they weren’t gone for good, but worry for Emily kept me from celebrating. How long would this surgery take? It was already the middle of the afternoon and no one had come out to give us an update yet.

“I’m going to take a walk,” I announced, standing up slowly. Only a slight wave of dizziness hit me this time. “I’ll be back in a little bit.”

“Melena, be careful,” Derrick warned. A trace of his concern reached me—another one of my abilities coming back. Good.

I gave him a weak smile. “We’re in a hospital. If I start to feel worse, I won’t have far to go for help.”

He studied me for a moment before nodding.

Trusting Derrick to keep an eye on Hunter, I wandered down the hall. I wanted to go somewhere quiet and away from people. My body was still weak, but as long as I kept a hand on the walls I managed to keep myself upright. It wasn’t long before I stumbled across the hospital chapel. A peek inside and I discovered it was empty. Perfect.

Despite my experiences—which included meeting an archangel—I wasn’t really a religious person. So many bad things had happened to me that it was hard to keep any kind of faith. If a higher power could allow an evil person like Zoe to roam free after only one year of imprisonment, yet keep Lucas for six decades, how could I take it seriously? They knew she wanted to kill me and they still let her out of Purgatory. The whole deal was crap.

The farther I wandered into the chapel, though, the more weighed down I felt by everything that had happened. Worry for Emily. Worry for the future. Worry about everything in my life. Without thinking about it, I found myself sinking to a kneeling position at the front of the room.

I bowed my head and let myself take in the silence. It was peaceful. The pain in my head eased, allowing me to focus my thoughts. Maybe a small prayer wouldn’t hurt. At this point I had to try something and there weren’t exactly a lot of options left.

“Please, God…let her live,” I whispered out.

It wasn’t much of a prayer, but it was all I could manage.

The door behind me creaked. “Sensor, tell me you’ve not been reduced to this in my absence. I fear the next time I come back you’ll have become a nun.”

That voice.

I swung around so fast I ended up sprawled on my ass. Two imposing men stood at the chapel entrance—an archangel and a nephilim. Only one of them sent my heart racing. His golden hair had grown out over the last ten months and his body had thinned, but there was no mistaking him for anyone else.

“Lucas.”

He gave me an ironic smile. “Melena.”

If I’d known prayer would be this effective, I might have used it sooner.

Chapter Three

My legs shook as I stood up. A fresh wave of dizziness made my vision swim, but I gritted my teeth and worked through it. By the time my eyes could focus again, Lucas and the archangel stood directly in front of me. Damn, they moved fast. I rubbed my head.

“A nun would certainly be an improvement,” Remiel said, studying me closely, “but I doubt she has the disposition for it.”

Anyone else looking at Remiel would see an unassuming middle-aged man with a receding hairline. I could see through the glamour to the giant archangel with dark red hair and golden skin. To say we didn’t see eye to eye would be an understatement—both literally and figuratively. He was just above Lucas’ height, which was about a foot taller than my 5’6”. It’s hard to look intimidating when you have to look up. Even more so when you can barely remain standing.

I crossed my arms and scowled at him. “If you waive the rest of Lucas’ sentence, I’ll become a nun for the same period of time he owes. Vows of chastity and everything.”

“Melena, don’t even think about it,” Lucas growled out.

I ignored him. This was my only chance to work out a new deal. I wasn’t passing it up and would do whatever it took to get him out of Purgatory.

Remiel’s lips twitched. Was that humor I saw in his eyes? “Tempting as that proposition may be, it would leave your nephilim loose in the world without your influence. You are the only reason his sentence was not more extreme. The influence you wield is also why we’re allowing you to become immortal.”

“Then tell me what I can do. I don’t care what it is if it gets him out sooner,” I pleaded.

At this point I could feel Lucas’ eyes drilling holes in my head. He started to say something, but the archangel waved a hand and silenced him with his power.

“There is nothing.” Remiel shook his head. “Everything is as it should be.”

I waved my arms around us. “Have you taken a look around? This whole region is a mess after what happened this morning. Is that as it should be, too?”

“Would you prefer we come back another time?” he asked, his face now blank.

The last time the archangel had brought Lucas was in June on my birthday. Something told me he’d brought him now because of the explosion. I had to give him credit for his timing. If I’d had a choice for when to see Lucas before he resumed the rest of his sentence in Purgatory, this would be it.

I took a deep breath and released it. Yelling at the archangel would get me nowhere.

“I don’t suppose you can do anything to help Emily?” I asked in a calmer voice.

“My abilities will not work on her.” Regret flashed briefly in his eyes.

Normally, I’d be glad angels had their limits with sensors, but it worked against me now.

“Can Lucas give her his blood? I’ll forfeit my dose if he can feed it to her instead.”

That’s what they were here for. Lucas wanted to strengthen my ability to protect myself in his absence. The tricky part was that it wasn’t a fast process. I had to drink his blood three times before it would fully change me over. The second dose was in June, and it had taken all the months in between to adjust to the changes in my body. It’s why they’d waited almost a year to return.

Even with my weakened senses, I could feel Lucas’ temper rising. When he started to move toward me, Remiel froze him in place. I flinched. One look in his golden eyes and all I could see was ice. None of the warmth that had been there the last time we met was there.

The daily torture in Purgatory had taken its toll on him, mentally and physically. Micah had warned me Lucas wouldn’t be the same when he came back and to not hold it against him. It was still hard to witness. He looked a lot more like the man who used to want me dead.

Of course, that had never stopped me from arguing with him before.

“I know what you want to say,” I said, meeting his hard gaze, “but Emily needs your help more than me. I’m already stronger and faster than before. It’ll have to be enough.”

Lucas didn’t blink, but I could feel his frustration rising. My senses were definitely starting to come back at close range.

I turned to Remiel. “Can you release him, please?”

The archangel dropped his hold.

“No, it won’t.” Lucas moved forward, gripping my arms with his cold hands. “The only way you’ll be able to protect her and yourself is if you’re fully immortal. Anything less and you won’t survive when Zoe comes for you.”

He failed to consider that I couldn’t kill the female nephilim. Only an archangel could do that. I still didn’t have any idea what to do if she showed up. A woman who’d lived for over three thousand years would be hard to fight no matter how much I practiced or how strong I got.

“Emily is being operated on right now and could die in there at any moment. I can’t just stand by and do nothing if there’s a way to save her.” I gave him an imploring look.

Lucas tightened his grip. Indecision ran across his face as he looked at me.

“Emily is too young for nephilim blood,” Remiel said, stepping closer. Now I had two giants hovering over me. I felt like an ant about to be squashed. “Her body has not matured enough to handle it without repercussions.”

I gritted my teeth. “We don’t even know if she’ll survive this surgery and it will be hours before a vampire can get here to give her some of their blood. I need to do something. What if she doesn’t make it?”

Sympathy reflected in Remiel’s gaze. “My abilities with your kind are limited, but I can assure you that she will live through this.”

Relief swept over me. My ability to detect the truth had returned.

“I appreciate knowing that much, but would you at least allow Lucas to stay here until she’s out of surgery? She’ll be upset if she finds out he was here and she didn’t get to see him.” I had to at least get some sort of concession out of the archangel. Lucas and I had less than an hour together last time and that was with us pushing our limits.

“I will allow it, but you must take the final dose of blood now.” He put a hand on my head, rubbing gently where it hurt the most—the same spot where they were operating on Emily. Remiel wasn’t using magic, but the pain seemed to ease a little. “It is clear you were injured by the incident as well. There’s no need for you to suffer any longer if it can be remedied.”

He surprised me with his concern. We’d been at odds since the first time we met. Yet when he moved his hand away I almost wanted to put it back. His touch had calmed me and given me a measure of peace I hadn’t felt in a long time—maybe ever.

“Okay, but where do we do it?” I nodded at the chapel entrance. “Someone could walk in here at any time.”

When they’d come before, we’d had the privacy of my house. Remiel and Emily had waited outside discussing her werewolf problem—the same werewolf who’d brought her to the hospital. Lucas and I had taken full advantage of our being alone. He’d done a lot more than just give me a little blood, but now wasn’t the time to be thinking about sex. We were standing in a chapel and doctors were operating on Emily’s brain.

Remiel arched a brow. “You think I can’t keep humans out?”

“Well, if you want to be the one to keep worshipers from entering a holy place, be my guest. At least that sin won’t be on me.”

He narrowed his eyes. “It won’t take long.”

“Melena, stop delaying the inevitable.” Lucas took my arm and guided me over to a nearby seat. “As much as you antagonizing the archangel amuses me, now is not the time.”

I couldn’t help feeling a bit awkward as we settled close to each other. It had been almost a year since I’d last seen him—not counting the nightmares. He wasn’t suffering at the moment, but he’d been through sheer hell. How was I supposed to take his blood after all that? It didn’t help that he kept his face in a stoic mask and I couldn’t sense any emotion coming from him. How much did he still care? Would his stay in Purgatory destroy our relationship by the time he got out?

I stiffened as he pulled me closer to him. His eyes turned to golden flames that would terrify the most hardened man. Lucas might not be at his strongest, but only a fool would underestimate him. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. It was just hard to be near him while he was like this.

He bowed his head, never dropping his gaze from mine. When he opened his mouth, fangs protruded—the same ones that had once bitten me, bonding us together. That was the only other time I’d seen them. Nephilim didn’t need to use them the way vampires did.

Breaking his gaze from mine, he rolled up one of his sleeves. The hard look was back on his face. I flinched when he bit into his forearm above the manacles he wore. I tried to ignore the shiny silver metal on his wrists, binding his powers. They not only prevented him from using his magic, but weakened him physically. There was no way he could escape the archangel with those on.

“Drink,” Lucas ordered.

Normally, a wound like the one he’d created would have begun to heal right away. This time it didn’t. Too much time in Purgatory had weakened him to the point his regenerative abilities didn’t work as fast. It made me angry to think of what he must have gone through to sink to this level.

I forced myself to take his arm. Was I any better than the others? In my dreams, he was tortured in ways that left half his blood on the floor. He would have died a thousand times over if he’d been mortal. Guilt swamped me as I tasted him on my lips and tongue. The only thing that got me through drinking from him was my resolve to find a way to save him. He would not spend sixty years in that hellhole if I could help it. I’d already started searching for a way to get him free of Purgatory. I wouldn’t stop until I’d found one. It had to be possible no matter what anyone said.