Darkness Divides (Sensor #3) (6 page)

I winced. This had to look bad from her perspective. If I didn’t find a way to get Lucas out of Purgatory sometime soon, I could look forward to decades of making excuses for his absence. Not to mention being lonely without him.

“He does have to go again, but at least he’s here now.” I put a hand on her arm. “It will be okay.”

Before she could reply, Micah walked into the room. Lucas, Derrick, and Remiel followed close behind him. I tried to read Micah’s face for any sign of how things went.

“Emily’s surgery went fine,” he announced. “She’s in recovery now. You can’t see her yet, but once she wakes up I’ll let you know.”

I let out a sigh of relief.

“Will she be okay?” I looked around to make sure no humans were nearby. They didn’t pop up on my radar the same way supernaturals did. “I mean, once we get the vampire blood in her will she fully recover?”

He gave me a sympathetic look. “I can’t answer that. The brain is far more complicated than any other part of the body and doesn’t always heal the way it should. With her being a sensor and having additional working components, it makes it even harder to predict. We will need to take it slow and only give her small doses of vampire blood. Anything too fast could cause more harm than good. You need to expect she’s going to have some difficulties with her senses and memory in the beginning, but with time most of the problems should clear up.”

I shifted my gaze to Remiel. “Is there anything we can do to help her?”

“The nephilim is correct.” He gave Micah a respectful nod. “You should follow his advice and not rush her recovery. It will take time, but you must have faith that all will work out as it should.”

Well, that would help me sleep at night. I was getting tired of the faith angle.

“Okay, but will she make a full recovery?” I didn’t want to think that she might have permanent damage from this.

The archangel averted his gaze. “I cannot say.”

He was hiding something and I feared what that might be.

Chapter Four

We all moved back to the waiting room. I couldn’t sit still and paced for awhile until Lucas grabbed me. He pulled me next to him where he stood against the wall and put his arm around my shoulder. If Felisha and Derrick wanted to cast us disapproving looks, that was their problem. I’d savor my time with him while it lasted.

“She’s going to be fine,” he murmured in my ear.

I wished I could believe him, but my senses told me even he doubted his own words. None of us knew how things would turn out. Before going back to check on Emily, Micah had told us the small doses of vampire blood we’d administer should reduce her recovery time to no more than a couple of weeks. The exception being if there was any permanent damage—that was the one thing we couldn’t predict. Only time would give us answers.

“I hope so,” I said, letting out a shaky breath. “She’s been through enough in her life without adding more problems to it.”

Lucas didn’t show it visibly, but I could sense his frustration. He was a man of action and didn’t like being stuck on the sidelines. All he had was a few hours with us and that wasn’t enough. I avoided looking at Remiel. It would just make me want to say something that I wouldn’t regret, but probably should. Didn’t he understand taking Lucas away was punishing us as much as him?

I wished I knew what had happened at the court hearing, but even Micah wouldn’t tell me anything. There were a lot of details I was missing, but sixty years of imprisonment and torture still seemed rather harsh. Maybe I should have been grateful he hadn’t gotten executed. The archangel had threatened it before he took Lucas away, but it was hard to be appreciative of it when his sentence would keep him from me for so long.

The local shaman, Charlie, joined our group. He looked to be in his fifties, black hair mixed with gray and signs of aging in his weathered face, but he was actually about two centuries older than that. More often than not he annoyed me with vague prophecies and less than helpful advice, but I appreciated that he always looked out for Emily and me.

After getting an update from Derrick, he wandered off and returned with Hunter. The poor werewolf kid had taken one look at Lucas earlier and decided waiting outside the hospital would be the wiser move. I’d sensed him out there pacing. The shaman liked to stir things up occasionally, and now Hunter was the recipient of that. He shoved the poor teenager right at us.

The kid avoided Lucas’ gaze and barely met my eyes.

“Any news?” he asked, shoving his hands in his jeans pockets.

I nodded. “She’s out of surgery and recovering. She’ll live, but we don’t know how well she’ll heal.”

He rubbed a hand over his head. “You’re going to give her vamp blood, right? Shouldn’t that fix her?”

“We can’t be sure.” A lump formed in my throat. “Her circumstances make her case different than most.”

He looked down at his feet. “It’s my fault. I saw her falling down the stairs, but I couldn’t catch her in time.”

“It wasn’t the fall, Hunter,” I reassured him. “Everyone thinks that was an earthquake, but it wasn’t. It was something even worse—that’s what really hurt her.”

He lifted his head. “Are you sure?”

I nodded.

“Then why weren’t you hurt as badly?” he asked.

Lucas stiffened next to me and I gave him a warning look.

“She’s younger and her body is still developing. It just hit her a lot harder than me.”

“Hey, guys,” Felisha said, holding up her cell phone. “News reports are coming in about the earthquake. It looks like they’re having trouble pinpointing the epicenter. Their readings are all off, but they’ve narrowed it down enough to know it must have originated in the Yukon Territory in Canada.”

Everyone gathered close to hover over her phone. There was a map with a large portion of the territory highlighted. It was probably hundreds of square miles that were affected.

“That makes sense,” I said. “Just before it hit I felt it coming from that direction.”

Felisha’s brows furrowed. “What did it feel like?”

“A magical explosion rocking the earth. Definitely not natural and it traveled really fast. Someone’s going to have fun covering that one up.” I looked at Remiel, who narrowed his eyes at me. “If the scientists figure out the source, there could be big problems.”

Though by the bad data in the news report, it looked like someone had already been tampering with the seismographs to throw the experts off.

“The fae city is within the area they’re looking at,” Lucas said. “There’s a strong possibility it could have originated from there with magic that powerful.”

Felisha gasped, panicking as she looked at her phone again. “You’re right. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of that.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s, um…I have to go.” She stood up, pulling her purse over her shoulder. “Tell Emily when she wakes that I’ll be back soon to see her. I need to check on my family and make sure they’re okay.”

Felisha rushed out of the hospital before we could tell her goodbye. Whatever her suspicions, they were clearly not good. The expression on Remiel’s face confirmed it. He was trading looks with Charlie, which made me think both of them knew more than they were saying.

“Don’t you have more important things you should be doing right now?” I asked the archangel.

He flicked his hand, putting up some kind of spell that prevented most people around us from hearing our conversation. Since the magic wasn’t directed at me specifically, I assumed it would work.

“Not as long as he is here with you,” Remiel replied.

“He’s not going to try escaping right now.” Good grief, talk about a paranoid archangel. “Can’t you just check your crystal ball and see for yourself that he won’t go anywhere if you leave for a few hours to do whatever it is you need to do?”

Remiel’s eyes traveled back and forth between Lucas and me. I could tell he wanted to go check on that magical explosion and didn’t really want to sit around babysitting. He didn’t have anything to worry about. Even if I had the resources and a solid plan in place, I couldn’t help Lucas escape right now. We had to stay here for Emily.

Charlie stepped up and whispered something in Remiel’s ear. It was low enough that I couldn’t catch it, but the shaman winked at me after finishing. Maybe he’d done something useful for once.

“Very well,” the archangel said after considering whatever Charlie had told him. “I’ll allow him to stay for now, but when I return Lucas must leave with me without a fight.”

“Fine. Go do what you need to do.” I did a shooing motion with my hands. “We promise not to stage a coup while you’re gone.”

Remiel gave us one last warning look before flashing away in a brilliant burst of light. It was even brighter than when Lucas did it. I relaxed as soon as he disappeared off my radar. At least we wouldn’t have him hovering over us for a little while.

“He tolerates you well, sensor,” Lucas said, pulling me back into his chest.

He stroked his fingers through my hair methodically, as if he didn’t even know he was doing it. I tried to pretend everything was okay. That his body wasn’t ice cold against my back and that he didn’t feel thinner than normal. That there wasn’t anger and rage coming from him in waves. Even the way he held me was more possessive than comforting. I was beginning to wonder if I’d imagined the passionate way he’d behaved the last time I’d seen him.

I tilted my head to the side to look up at him. “I’ve had practice dealing with difficult men in recent years. The archangel’s got nothing on you.”

His fingers tightened in my hair. Not enough to hurt, but enough to let me know he caught my sarcasm. When all else failed, banter always worked between us.

“I’m not difficult,” he said.

“Right. And rocks aren’t hard.”

He took my chin and tipped my face up to his. “You do realize I’ll have a very long time to consider how to respond to your little insults, don’t you?”

I smiled. “So long as it involves us being naked, I’ll look forward to it.”

A flicker of heat lit in his eyes. Not as strong as it had been before going off to Purgatory, but enough to give me hope. That’s all I needed for now.

“Could you two save this conversation for another time?” Derrick growled out.

He was only a few feet away, but I’d forgotten he was even there. It was a good thing we hadn’t said anything too revealing since Remiel wasn’t here anymore to block our conversation.

“Good point. I think it’s time for another run to the vending machines.”

Lucas had finished off my Coke, plus a bag of chips I’d insisted on getting him before we came back to the waiting area. It wasn’t exactly the healthiest food, but I was going to feed him as much as possible before he left. A couple of candy bars would still be far better than him getting nothing while he was here. Every calorie I got in him before he returned to Kerbasi’s torture chamber in Purgatory was a victory in my eyes.

***

I’d blown almost ten bucks in the vending machines by the time Micah came back and announced Emily had awakened. He said she was still pretty out of it and that we could only go in two at a time. While that was probably the normal procedure, I was glad he enforced it since Emily was most likely going to be too drugged up to censor her words. We didn’t need Derrick or Hunter there if she slipped and said something about Lucas that she shouldn’t.

Nothing could prepare me for entering her room, though. It took all my control to hold back the tears that threatened to spill. She lay there on the hospital bed with a bandage on her head. Her brown hair was pulled back out of the way and her face was swollen and bruised. So many lines and tubes ran from her to various machines that she looked more like a cyborg than human.

This should have never happened. She should be fine and healthy right now. Not lying there as if she was a breath away from dying.

I glanced out the window and saw the sun sinking in the sky. It probably wouldn’t be more than an hour before Nik got here and gave her the first dose of vamp blood. For now, we’d have to wait. I moved next to the bed and took Emily’s hand in mine. Lucas stood next to me, silent but present.

Emily opened her blue eyes. The right one was swollen more than the left. My heart ached at seeing her glazed-over expression.

“Mel,” she said, her voice coming out scratchy.

“Shhh, you don’t have to talk yet. We just want you to know we’re here.”

Her lids drooped for a moment before she fought to lift them back up. “How…how did Lucas get here?”

“Remiel brought him,” I answered, hating to see her so weak.

Soon. Nik would be here soon. Then she wouldn’t have to feel so bad anymore.

“What…” She paused to lick her dry lips. “What happened?”

I rubbed her hand with my thumb. “We don’t know, but we’ll find out. All I know for now is you and I got blasted with a lot of magic. It messed us both up, but you got hurt a lot worse.”

Her eyes moved from me to Lucas. “Missed you.”

His expression didn’t change much beyond the smallest hint of softening, but I felt a crack in his emotions. Hints of regret and sadness seeped out of him and intensified as Emily continued to stare at him.

“I’ve missed you too, Emily.” He bowed his head.

“Did you…do it?” she asked.

Micah said she’d probably have some short-term memory loss, but that her long term memory should be fine. She’d known for almost a year that Lucas would come back one more time to make me immortal. I had to believe that was a good sign if she remembered.

“It is done,” he answered her.

“Good.” She barely got the word out before her eyes closed and her head slumped down.

“We should probably let her sleep,” I said, backing away. I hated this feeling of helplessness.

“That would probably be for the best.”

Lucas took my hand and we headed for the door. Micah was waiting for us when we came out into the hallway. Unlike his brother, his concern was written all over his face.