Darkness Divides (Sensor #3) (16 page)

“I didn’t.” He grinned, revealing blackened teeth. “The first blast knocked me inta the cauldron so that’s where I was when the next one went off. It saved me life!”

“How so?” I was fairly certain I’d rather be killed by a blast than end up in a waste-filled chamber pot.

“It was spelled. The only reason I got hurt at all was cuz parts of me house fell on top.” He scratched at the cut on his arm again. It looked infected, though it was hard to be sure with all the dirt and crust coating it.

“Right, so tell me what you saw and did before the blast.”

He glanced nervously at the druid. “Do I have ta?”

“Yes.” Nienna gave him a hard look.

“Well, for most of the mornin’ I was out lookin’ for a spot ta hide me treasure. Then I buried it afore comin’ home ta use the chamber pot.” Wonderful. I was dealing with a goblin pirate. I was going to need a lot more coffee if everyone I questioned was going to be like this.

“Where did you bury it?” I asked.

His eyes widened. “I can’t tell ya that. 'Tis a secret!”

I ground my teeth. Couldn’t they ever just answer the damned question?

“Just give us the general vicinity of where you went to look and where you buried it.”

When he didn’t say anything right way, Nienna whacked his ear with her staff.

“TALK!” she ordered.

His eyes watered. I made a mental note to go for the ears if I ever had to fight a goblin.

“It was close to the shield,” he admitted. “I walked along it for over an hour lookin’ for jus’ the right spot.”

I leaned forward. “What was the treasure?”

He glanced at Nienna. “Some pretty stones I stole.”

“Did they have magic in them?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said sullenly.

“Who’d you take them from?”

“From Leech.” His face hardened. “He’s dead now from the blast, but I ain’t sorry for it. He owed me money.”

I jotted some more notes down. “Are the stones still where you buried them?”

He shook his head. “They was gone when I went back for them later.”

“No sign of them at all?”

“Nothin’. Guess Leech had the last laugh after all.” The goblin looked away.

“If they’re gone, why were you so worried about telling us where you buried them?”

“Cuz no matter how much I look for a better spot, I always use the same one,” he said, still not looking at me.

“Where exactly did you bury them, Gator?”

When he didn’t answer, Nienna bashed his ear with her staff again. He still didn’t say anything. It was only after she’d hit him enough times to make him bleed that he relented.

“It was at the same place where the blast hit the dome!” he screamed out.

“Was there anything special about these stones? Do you think they had anything to do with the blast?”

“I don’t know,” he grumbled, holding his ear. “I jus’ stole 'em and buried them. If there was anything wrong with 'em, I didn’t know about it.”

Nienna stepped out of the room and came back with Elros. “Take this one to the elders for further questioning.”

The male druid came over and grabbed Gator, guiding the troll out.

I didn’t argue. If there was anything special about the stones, I wouldn’t even know what questions to ask. That was beyond my area of expertise, especially since he’d been telling the truth that they were gone. I’d sensed no magic when I’d walked through the site. Whatever had been there had been destroyed.

“We’ll move on to the next person,” Nienna said.

I nodded. This was going to be a long day.

Chapter Sixteen

“How is the questioning going?” Felisha asked.

She was sitting next to me in the tavern where we’d arranged to meet. The curious looks the fairy had been giving me all evening told me she was going to ask sooner or later. At least she’d had the decency to wait until I’d finished my dinner and drank two pints of watered-down ale—the waitress thought I was human and couldn’t handle their stouter stuff.

I’d been stuck in that stuffy room at the palace questioning Feidlimid’s slummiest residents for days. Every one of them had to make things difficult, adding time to what should have been short and simple interviews. There were still a few more on the list before I could move on to the next group, but I was already worn out. It had been a long time since I’d done so many back-to-back interrogations. I’d arrived at Feidlimid stressed out and it wasn’t getting any better.

I finished off my latest mug of ale before answering Felisha. “It’s been three days and all I’ve got so far is some possible magic rocks that no longer exist.”

“Magic rocks?” Nik lifted his brows. He was sitting on the other side of me pretending not to pay any attention to Felisha. I wasn’t fooled, but I’d play along.

“Long story.” I waved my hand. “Let’s just say that after three days I know a lot more about this city’s dirty underbelly than I ever wanted to know. I’m going to send my psychiatric counseling bills to the fae after this is over.”

Derrick, who was sitting across the table, frowned at me. “In other words, you’ve got nothing,”

“Nothing concrete. Somebody definitely knows something. It’s just a matter of putting all the clues together to figure it out.”

Nik patted me on the back. “If anyone can do it, you can.”

I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing he had such faith in me or if it just added more pressure. The one thing I did know was that I’d do everything possible to find out who’d attacked the city. If for no other reason than they’d hurt people I cared about in the process.

“So what have you all been up to?” I asked after flagging down the waitress to order another pint.

It was so much harder to get a buzz when you were immortal. I really wished I could ask for the stronger stuff without people getting suspicious.

“Derrick and I have been helping construct the new perimeter for the shields,” Nik said, frowning at me as I drank. “In a few more days we should be able to activate them.”

It was a good thing I’d looked over the blast site before they’d started work on it. I’d been basing most of my questions off of what I’d seen that first day after I arrived at the city.

“How many sups does it take to power up the shield?”

Derrick snorted. “As many as they can get. They’re calling them in from all over the country to help.”

I got that tingling sensation on the back of my neck. The one that tells you someone is watching you. I looked across the dimly lit tavern toward the bar to find a man with short white-blond hair staring at me. Vampire. This one was about fourteen hundred years old. He raised his drink in a salute when he caught me looking at him.

I nudged Nik in the shoulder. “Who’s that over there?”

His gaze slid to the direction I indicated. As soon as he saw the older vampire, he stood up. “I’d wondered if he’d come.”

“Okay, but who is it?” I asked.

“That’s Theirn. The master vampire of New Orleans,” he answered. Before I could ask anything more he took off toward the bar.

I watched the two men greet each other with firm handshakes and noticed another man being included in the reunion. A very strong werewolf and definitely an alpha. Not as strong as Derrick, but this one came in second as the most powerful werewolf I’d ever seen.

He had to be Matt’s father. His hair was darker than his son’s and his build stockier, but they carried themselves in the same way and had similar facial features. That brought back painful memories from when I’d first arrived in Fairbanks.

Matt had been a human serving in the U.S. Army who I’d met while searching for Aniya. Because of his werewolf father, he’d been aware of the supernatural population and wanted to help—despite my trying to discourage him. It had got him killed and I still felt guilty about that. I’d had to watch him die a painful death and couldn’t do anything to stop it. Meeting his father wasn’t exactly at the top of my list of things to do in the next...century or so.

It didn’t look like I could escape it now. Nik was bringing both men back to our corner table in the tavern. Did the alpha have any idea of my role in his son’s death? I’d have to pray that word hadn’t reached him. We’d killed most of the witnesses, but Emily’s mother was still out there and she could have said something.

All of us stood when the men reached us. Derrick shook Theirn’s hand, greeting him respectfully before turning to Matt’s father. The two werewolves did one of those manly back-slapping hugs that I never understood.

“Really good to see you, Gabe,” Derrick said after he stepped back.

“Same goes for you, brother wolf,” the New Orleans alpha replied, with a big grin.

After pulling up a couple of extra chairs, everyone sat back down. Felisha and I exchanged awkward looks until we were introduced.

“So you’re the one who caught Lucas’ attention,” Theirn said. He gave me a calculated look. “There has been much talk about you, but no one was quite sure where you were located.”

There was a hint of suspicion in his voice as he said the last part. At least that verified the protection spell concealing my location was working.

“I’ve been trying to keep a low profile.”

The master vampire lifted a brow. “If you’re ever looking to relocate outside of Alaska, consider New Orleans. I could use someone like you.”

In other words, he knew exactly what I was and wanted to use my abilities for himself. Matt had said Theirn wanted a sensor badly. For what, I had no idea.

“I’m finding the cold suits me quite well.” I took a swig from my mug.

The corners of his lips lifted. “The offer still stands.”

“Don’t think you can steal her away, Theirn,” Nik interjected. “It’s already bad enough the fae dragged her into this mess.” The master vampire spoke lightly, but there was an undercurrent of warning in his tone.

“Fair enough.” Theirn sat back in his seat, appearing as if the exchange meant nothing to him. He was keeping his emotions in check tightly enough I couldn’t pick up on anything.

Gabe narrowed his eyes at me. “How long have you been living in Fairbanks?”

I kept my face impassive. “Almost two years now.”

“You didn’t happen to meet my son Matt when you first arrived, did you?” He looked like he already knew the answer to that.

Theirn put a hand on the alpha’s shoulder. “Not now, Gabe.”

He shook the hand off. “It’s a simple enough question.”

“I met him. He was a nice guy,” I replied carefully.

“He’s dead, you know. A bitch killed him and another one led him to his death,” he growled out.

I barely held back a flinch.

When Gabe started to stand up, Theirn shoved him back down. “This is neither the time nor place. Variola killed your son and she’s the one you should hold responsible. You can’t blame Melena for that woman’s twisted games.”

“She shouldn’t have involved my son in the first place.” The werewolf’s eyes flashed. “He’d been doing fine until this one showed up and dragged him into that mess.”

I’d been trying to let the master vampire calm things down, but I couldn’t stay silent any longer. “Look, Gabe…I’m sorry about your son. More than you can possibly know. I repeatedly asked him not to get involved and I had no idea he was going to confront Variola until it was too late. If I could have stopped him, I would have.”

“Your kind brings nothing but death wherever they go.” He let his gaze run around the table. “Lucas marked you but where is he now? Where is his brother? You’re dangerous to anyone who gets close to you and my son was just one of your many victims.”

Theirn dragged the werewolf up. “My apologies, but I think it’s time we departed for the evening. It was good to see all of you.”

With a nod he left, taking the alpha with him. Gabe struggled at first, but the master vampire managed to haul him out of the tavern without too much trouble. A short distance away I caught the gazes of my druid guards. They’d kept a respectful distance so that I could relax with my dinner companions and have some privacy, but their postures were alert now.

“Sorry about that, Mel.” Nik squeezed my shoulder. “I hadn’t realized he’d hold you accountable for his son’s death. Theirn will keep him in line—not to worry.”

I finished off my drink. “I think I’m going to head out. Got another early morning.”

Everyone gave me sympathetic looks as I left the table, but I didn’t want their pity. It was definitely time to get out of there. I joined up with my guards and headed back to the palace. I’d hoped to find out what was going on between Nik and Felisha, but that would have to wait for another time.

Chapter Seventeen

Elros led in a young blonde girl with a pert nose and bright green eyes. She was a cute little pixie and one of the few children in her neighborhood who’d survived the blast. Most of them had been caught outside when the attack began and didn’t get to safety in time. She was the only one who I could question because the handful of others who remained were too young. Even she was only six years old.

I moved closer to Nienna and whispered in her ear. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is to question children?”

I really hated to bother the girl at all, but the fae elders had insisted.

“Why?” Nienna’s brows lifted.

“Because children are easily manipulated and will believe anything. It makes it tough to get at the truth. Not just what they think is true.” This wasn’t the first time I’d dealt with children, though it was the first under this set of circumstances.

I once asked a kid if Santa Claus was real and when he said yes, my senses told me he spoke the truth. Another kid once told me he could fly and he believed that too. Questioning adults was one thing. Children were another.

“Just do the best you can,” she said, moving over to her corner.