Darkness Divides (Sensor #3) (31 page)

Another guard was stationed just past the shimmering barrier. My senses detected it was specially designed to only allow certain individuals through and would electrocute anyone who wasn’t on the list. A little bit of my blood would have taken it down, but I held off on that idea.

For one, it would give the guard inside more time to prepare himself. For two, it would give away that someone had taken it down and alert more of the island’s denizens to my presence. They might also work to put it back up while I was away. There was no point in cutting myself open yet if it would be a wasted effort. The barrier wouldn’t stop me anyway and I could take it down later when I returned with Lucas.

The shimmering effect did prevent me from seeing the guard to shoot him before crossing through. I was going to have to get to the other side first, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be smart about it. I crept along the side of the mountain to avoid being seen—in case the barrier didn’t impede his vision—and waited until the last moment to move into sight.

The barrier gave my mind a good sizzle as I passed through it. I had to blink a few times afterward to clear my vision. The interior of the tunnel was even darker than I expected. I also noted the temperature dropped at least forty degrees. The barrier must have had the natural side effect of keeping warmth from getting inside.

I found the guard about twenty feet farther into the tunnel. His eyes were rounded as he stared at me in shock. I could only assume not many sensors came bursting into his sentry point. It took him a moment to gather himself before he came barreling toward me. His wings were well-hidden so there was no going for them.

He shouted something in a language I couldn’t understand.

I raised my Sig and pointed the barrel at his right eye, letting him get close enough to ensure I wouldn’t miss. Oxygen deprivation had my hands shaking or I wouldn’t have waited until he was only a few feet away. I fired and winced when the sound echoed through the tunnel.

The round went straight into the guard’s eye with similar results as the last guy. He fell to the ground, knocked out cold. A last-minute thought occurred to me and I pulled one of my throwing knives from my wrist band. I hadn’t been sure if they’d be useful, but I’d packed some anyway just in case.

Taking one of the thin blades, I shoved it straight into the guard’s heart. Even if his brain did manage to heal itself before I returned, that would keep him down for awhile longer. I next looked for a place to stick his body in the hopes that someone would think he’d just left his post if they discovered him missing.

The tunnel was unlike any others I’d ever seen before. Water seeped from cracks in the walls and flowed freely out of some of the larger crevices. It formed puddles in a few places and light running streams billowed with steam in others. Loose rocks and boulders also dotted the stone floor. At least four men could walk abreast without touching each other, making it rather spacious.

I found a grouping of boulders with a little space behind them to hide the guard. Between the low lighting and his dark robe, hopefully no one would notice him back there if they did get close enough. It was the best I could do if I was to keep moving.

After hiding him as best I could, I moved down the tunnel. It twisted and turned in a seemingly never-ending fashion. I could sense a few more guards dotted nearby, but they’d often be above or below me. It was impossible to be sure if I’d come across any of them or not.

Just then one rounded the bend up ahead.

I was already reaching for a grenade from my pack when he saw me. He didn’t have to be quite as close as the last guy, so I tossed it once he was about ten meters away then ducked behind a boulder. The blast rang loudly in my ears. Damn. I’d forgotten how loud they got and the tunnels made the sound worse.

Peeking around the boulder, I saw the guard was sprawled on the ground. He was moaning rather loudly as he clutched at one of his many wounds. This one must not have experienced much pain in his life. I could even see his eyes watering as he lay there. My senses told me he wasn’t more than a century old, so it was entirely possible he’d never run into real trouble.

“Sorry I gotta do this to you,” I said, aiming my gun. Then I shot him in the eye just like the last guard.

He jerked once before going unconscious. It was probably a blessing. The grenade wounds would heal before his brain so he wouldn’t be in quite as much pain when he woke up. Except that I stuck another one of my throwing knives through his heart. Usually younger immortals took longer to heal, but I couldn’t take any chances.

After dragging his body over to another set of boulders I found, I moved on. The constant water flowing through the tunnel would take care of any blood residue. A couple more guards came up minutes later. I tossed another grenade, incapacitating them in the same method as I’d done to the other guys.

No more of them came up on my radar so at least there wasn’t anyone to hear the latest racket I’d made taking these guards out. Most likely because they didn’t get many break-in attempts and hadn’t felt the need to beef up security. I did sense a nephilim somewhere close, though it wasn’t Lucas. That had to mean I was headed in the right direction.

I kept following the main tunnel as Ariel had instructed and eventually found the cavern she’d described. There was a row of tiny cells on either side that could barely fit a person in each of them. Only one was occupied. The nephilim I’d been sensing sat cramped and naked inside it.

He was covered in dried blood with faint streaks running through it where the water dripping inches above his head landed and slid off. His brown hair fell past his shoulders damp and matted to his skin. Despite his strength being at an extremely low level for a man who was eighteen hundred years old, they’d left him shackled.

There should have been a strong level of misery emanating from him, but I sensed nothing. He felt like nothing more than a living shell. The man had to be freezing, in pain, and hungry. Especially with how emaciated he appeared—which was unnatural for a nephilim male. Even Lucas had looked far better than this when I’d seen him. But the man just sat there staring at the wall and didn’t even bother looking at me when I kneeled in front of the bars of his cage.

“Do you speak English?” I asked.

He slowly turned his head toward me. I had to restrain a gasp. Half of his face had been melted and permanently frozen that way. How was that even possible for a nephilim? Lucas had once been burned to a complete crisp and recovered from it a few days later without any sign of the damage. There were no traces of magic on the man before me, but that was the only way such disfigurement could remain.

At least both of his golden eyes seemed to be in working order as they studied me.

“I do,” he answered in a scratchy voice.

“Where is Lucas?” I asked.

He blinked at me. “Who are you?”

“You can call me Melena,” I said.

Then I dug through one of the pockets in my pack to get a couple of protein bars out and a bottle of water. I’d had Fallon pack as much as he could in there. Shoving them through the bars, I handed them to the nephilim.

“Take these. I know it’s not much, but it’ll help.”

He angled his body to grasp my offerings with his fettered hands. “Name’s Bartol. What are you doing here?”

“Busting Lucas out.”

Bartol used his shaky fingers to rip open the packaging on one of the protein bars.

“I haven’t had one of these since Lucas was training for the big fight,” he said before taking a bite and closing his eyes as he tasted it.

“What big fight?” I’d never heard anything about it.

Bartol’s face turned to one of consternation. Well, sort of. It was almost like he was out of practice with expressing any emotion.

“He didn’t tell you? Well, it’s not my place to say.” He finished off the protein bar in record time, keeping his mouth stuffed full as he chewed.

It seemed no one was going to tell me what Lucas had been up to while he was here. I’d just have to drag it out of him later once he was free.

“Fine. Just tell me where he is so I can get him out of here.”

I wished I could take this guy too, but now I was beginning to understand why Ariel had made me promise not to free anyone else. She’d known I’d get tempted after seeing the conditions of this place and finding another prisoner inside. This guy had clearly suffered as much as Lucas had—probably more.

Bartol finished off the second protein bar. “Kerbasi has him down in the dungeon.”

“Okay, where’s the dungeon?” I asked.

He gave me a skeptical look. “You can’t really think you’ll get him free of this place?”

“I got this far, didn’t I?”

“Perhaps, but you still have Kerbasi to contend with and he’s more powerful than the guards you must have run into on the way here.” His voice was coming in clearer now that he’d eaten and began guzzling the water I’d given him. Even his strength had increased a few notches. Amazing what a little nourishment could do.

I slapped the side of my pack. “Trust me. I’ve got some nice, modern weaponry here with Kerbasi’s name on it.”

Bartol narrowed his eyes on my gear. “What do you have that could possibly harm a true immortal?”

“Explosives.” I smiled.

He looked confused for a moment until light dawned in his eyes. “Ah, that might work. I remember seeing such things before I came here.”

The fact he barely recalled explosives had me confused. They’d been around in some form or another for centuries.

“How long have you been here?” I asked.

He closed his eyes, but not before I saw a glimmer of desolation in them. “Over ninety-nine years.”

Dear God. How he’d survived this place for so long I had no idea. No wonder he looked as bad as he did.

“What did you do to land in here?” It had to have been something major to get that kind of sentence.

Bartol lifted his lids and went back to staring at the stone wall in front of him. “I seduced a female angel and caused her to fall from grace.”

Well that explained it, though at least it wasn’t something truly horrible. He was half-angel himself, but I supposed the folks up in heaven wouldn’t find such an act amusing.

“Look. I’d love to stay and chat, but I’ve got to get going if I want to make it out of this place. Can you tell me how to get to the dungeon? I can’t sense Lucas or Kerbasi from here.”

Light dawned in his eyes. “Ah, that’s who you are. I thought the name sounded familiar, but I’ve gotten to where I ignore Kerbasi when he gets to taunting us. He especially loves bringing you up to Lucas when he’s bored.”

Well, that was just nice to hear. Now I was really going to do a number on the guardian when I found him.

“Just tell me the directions,” I insisted, looking over my shoulder. There were a couple of guards moving in this direction and with the winding tunnels it was difficult to know how close they really were to arriving.

“Follow that tunnel there.” He nodded in the opposite direction as I’d come. “Stay straight on it until you reach an intersection with a large boulder set in the middle. Turn right and keep going down that to the end. You’ll find his dungeon on the other side of the door—if it’s open. Otherwise you’ll have to wait for him to unlock it.”

“Thanks,” I said, standing up.

The guards were almost here, so I grabbed another one of my grenades—there were only two left. I moved away from Bartol’s cell and positioned myself just out of sight. As soon as they got close enough I tossed one down the tunnel. The men screamed as it blew up on them.

“You did come prepared.” Bartol’s voice floated over to me.

I could just make out part of his cell from where I stood. “Told you.”

Then I made quick work of the three men who lay half-unconscious in the tunnel. I didn’t bother hiding their bodies like I’d done with the others. There was no time to waste and at this point it didn’t seem worth the trouble.

“See you on the way back,” I said over my shoulder.

“Give them Hell, sensor.” He let out the faintest chuckle.

Nice to know I gave him something to be amused about. He’d need it to get through the rest of his time here. However long that might be.

Chapter Thirty-five

Soon after leaving Bartol, I picked up another guard on my radar. I didn’t actually get close to him until I came to the tunnel intersection and he was coming from the left. Crouching just out of sight, I waited until he was just about to come around the corner. I popped out, aimed my gun, and shot him dead in the eye.

This one was a little stronger than the other ones I faced, but he still went down. I was out of throwing knives and had to use the fixed-blade one sheathed at my ankle. There’d be some restocking to do when I got back. All the ones I had left were ones I carried on me often.

I debated whether to leave his body out or not. Kerbasi and Lucas were close enough for me to pick up now, but there were also a handful of others at the edge of my range that were in a couple of different directions. If they came through here it could raise a bigger alarm than I could handle. I decided to move the guard’s body to a dark alcove I’d passed after leaving Bartol. It’d have to do.

I looked down at myself afterward and realized I was covered in blood stains. Damn. Guess I wouldn’t be looking my best when Lucas saw me again. He probably wouldn’t care anyway.

No more guards impeded my progress. It only took a few minutes to reach the end of the tunnel where the torture chamber was located. The door was shut—and locked. I clenched my fists. This wasn’t happening. I would not stand around waiting for that bastard to finish with Lucas. Even from outside the room I could sense his intense pain.

The door was made of some sort of solid iron-like material and looked heavy. I couldn’t hear anything on the other side, which made me wonder if it was soundproof. It wouldn’t surprise me. I considered trying to blow the thing up, but there was a protection spell on it. If I laced one of the RPG warheads with blood it might get through, but then it might also collapse the tunnel. It wasn’t worth the risk.