Darkness Divides (Sensor #3) (27 page)

He grabbed my shoulders. “It’s suicide to go in alone. At least two people should join you at the hotel.”

“That takes away from the force going to your house.” I pulled his arms off of me, proving I was stronger than I looked. Nik was more powerful, but he needed to see I wasn’t as weak as I used to be. “Look, I’ll take every precaution possible to reduce the risk of them catching me, but I have to do this alone. It’s the best way.”

“I don’t like that your plan sets the attack for daytime, either. It leaves my other vampires and myself out of the attack. You’re reducing our forces with this sort of timing,” he argued.

I shook my head. “Not really. Only you and two other vamps have enough strength and experience to fight. Zoe’s side has dozens. By going in the daytime we’ll increase our odds of success. Zoe’s counting on the fact you won’t let your people fight without you and we need to take advantage of that weakness.”

That wasn’t the only reason I wanted to do this during the daytime, but I couldn’t tell him my other reasons.

“And how do we rescue any of the vampires in the house if it’s daylight?” he asked.

“Body bags. I was thinking of calling Fallon, Lucas’ vamp, anyway. We could use his support and he could bring some with him from Juneau. If the team going to your house takes a van and parks it close enough it should be safe to move them a short distance.” I’d thought this out carefully.

“That could work,” he conceded. “But what happens if you run into Zoe at the hotel? She could kill you. Micah seemed very concerned about that before he left so I assume he knew that was a possibility.”

“I said I’d disguise myself and avoid Zoe if she’s there.” Which she wouldn’t be. “My senses will be working just fine so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Melena, I’m not against you going. I’m only against you going alone and without more information.”

I had to go by myself. My plan hinged on them not realizing I was heading straight for Purgatory afterward. I couldn’t afford to have others around that might try to stop me.

“Look, you’re right that it’s risky to go alone. I’m not denying that. The problem is they’ll have werewolves in there who can sniff out any of our guys and recognize them. I still smell human. That makes me the best candidate to get in and out without getting caught.” At least, Derrick said I still smelled human and that’s why he hadn’t noticed the change in me until my attempted murder.

“I don’t like this.” He was slowly weakening.

“You don’t have to like this, but it’s the way it has to be done.”

“You’ll come straight back here afterward?” He gave me a look that brooked no argument.

“Absolutely,” I lied.

Emily was standing by the stairs. She didn’t do anything more than blink, though she had to have caught the lack of truth in my reply.

Nik looked up at the ceiling. “Very well, we’ll do it your way, but there are conditions.”

“What conditions?”

“We must get more intelligence on their side first.” He looked at Derrick. “Set up a plan to capture one of Zoe’s werewolves. One of them would be the easiest source to break with your help.”

Chapter Thirty

“A target is headed your way,” I informed Nik, who’d just answered my call. “You should see him coming toward you in a minute.”

I had my Jeep parked along a little-used trail about a quarter mile from where Nik and Derrick were located. For this operation, they were keeping me as far from the action as possible, but as long as I got my way with the hotel portion of the plan I didn’t care.

For the past few hours the only group of Zoe’s men who had ventured outside Fairbanks was a sensor and two vamps. They’d been patrolling. She was probably sending them out in an effort to catch more of us—or at least figure out where we were hiding.

We’d been hoping a werewolf would come along—particularly one without a sensor riding with him. If everything went according to plan, Zoe would never know he’d been missing.

“Got him,” Nik replied. “I’ll see you soon.”

I hung up and shut off the cell phone. We were hoping if we kept communications short and used burner phones there’d be less chance of Zoe’s people catching us. I started my Jeep and pulled it onto the road. My destination was only a few miles north, but I wanted to get there first so I wouldn’t miss anything. I turned on my headlights once I hit the highway. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust after sitting in the dark for so long. Heightened night vision was great, but it had its drawbacks.

The cabin where we were meeting had seen better days. There was a hole in the roof and two of the three windows had been broken out. It wasn’t very big either, but then again, it didn’t need to be. As soon as I reached the place, I veered around back to park behind the place. Part of the cabin was visible from the nearby highway and we didn’t want anyone knowing we were here.

I didn’t bother bringing a flashlight when I hopped out of my vehicle. None of us needed the extra illumination and this had to be kept as low-key as possible. The front door resisted when I pulled on the knob, but gave way when I put a little more force into it.

We’d been inside earlier setting things up. In the bedroom at the back of the place we had a sturdy metal chair and chains ready to go. Failing that, there was also a rusted bed frame in the corner, but I wasn’t sure it would hold this particular werewolf if we chained him to it. He’d registered on my senses as being in his mid-forties and very strong. Not quite an alpha, but a close second.

I did a quick scan of the rest of the place to make sure nothing had been tampered with in our absence. The same mess that had been in the front was still there. Most of the kitchen was gutted out, though it had a rickety table against the wall. The bathroom just had a hole in the floor and a cracked basin. I doubted there’d ever been running water.

As soon as the guys pulled up, I dragged the front door open for them. Derrick had hold of our prisoner. His hands were bound and his head was covered with a black hood. We’d gone full cloak and dagger for this operation. I shut the door behind them and followed them as they moved into the bedroom.

Derrick pushed the werewolf into the chair and Nik began wrapping the chains around him. I grabbed the extra set for the legs and helped. We needed to work fast. As soon as I backed away, Derrick pulled the hood off. The werewolf’s eyes were lit up with anger.

“I need you both to leave,” Derrick said. “I’ll let you know when you can return.”

“What? Why?” I gave him an incredulous look.

Nik grabbed my arm. “He has to use pack magic and we can’t be present for it.”

I’d always wanted to see how pack magic worked, but Derrick had always been careful not to use it when I was near him. All the werewolves kept quiet about it. Thanks to their sense of smell and heightened hearing, I couldn’t even sneak up and watch. Not that I’d tried that—more than once, anyway.

“Fine.” I let Nik lead me out of the room.

We left the cabin and walked partway into the woods before stopping. The master vampire had once come from a family of sensors—twelve hundred years ago—so he knew the capabilities of my race and that I could pick up the magic if he’d let me stand a little closer. He hadn’t inherited the gene himself, but knew a lot. He even had some ancient texts written by sensors that detailed their abilities and how to deal with various supernaturals. Sometimes he translated parts of them for me to read, but I hadn’t had the motivation to deal with them lately.

“You’re no fun, you know,” I told him. “I bet you would love to watch how Derrick does it too.”

“It’s important to allow the weres to keep their secrets. I respect that and you should as well,” he admonished me.

“Hey, I should be considered an honorary member of their race after having one bite me last New Year’s. I had to fight like hell to keep that virus from taking over.”

He looked at me in surprise. “That was what that was all about? It explains why Micah wouldn’t let me heal you.”

“There was nothing you could have done. It was my battle to fight.” It had been almost as miserable as becoming immortal. I’d nearly died while it moved through my system and came into opposition with the nephilim blood.

“I’ve never heard of a mortal being able to fight it off,” he mused.

“Yeah, well, I’d already had two doses of Lucas’ blood back then. It was just enough to save me.”

He said nothing to that—probably bothered by my keeping another secret from him.

We paced around for about half an hour before Derrick stepped out of the cabin and let us know we could come back. I was ready to see how this pack magic worked. The guy had come in here fully loyal to Zoe, but somehow that was supposed to change.

The chains were off of him when we came into the room. He was sitting against the wall and shaking like a crack addict who hadn’t had their fix. It was almost sad to see. What had the alpha done to the poor guy to reduce him to such a state? He’d looked like a tough guy when he’d arrived.

“I’ll do whatever you want, alpha. Please don’t send me back,” he begged.

“So, uh, was he compelled or did he work voluntarily?” I asked.

Derrick looked down at the guy with a hard expression. “I can’t be certain, but if there was anything forcin’ him to obey Zoe’s orders I’ve cleared it out. It’ll be up to you to see how much he’s done for her willingly. I can only push his mind so far in one night.”

I hadn’t even realized an alpha could break compulsion put on weaker werewolves until now. That was definitely an advantage. Most of the time if a sup got compelled they just had to ride it out until it wore off—sometimes months later—unless a stronger vampire or nephilim came along to override it. In this case Derrick must have overrode Zoe’s work, which I hadn’t thought possible.

“What’s his name?” I asked, kneeling next to the guy.

He’d calmed down a little, but he was still a nervous wreck. Using his name would help me reach him easier. There was no use interrogating a guy who was a slobbering mess and couldn’t think for himself. Much less answer questions.

“He goes by Beck.” Derrick kneeled next to me and rubbed his hand calmingly over the man’s head.

I could sense the alpha becoming protective. He’d just brought this guy into the pack—that much magic still stirred in the air even if I didn’t know how it was done. It was Derrick’s job to look out for the werewolf until he was strong enough to stand on his own. He had, after all, been the one to weaken him.

“Okay, Beck. I’ve got some questions for you, but I need you to sit up and look at me first.” I spoke in a soothing tone.

The werewolf turned his head my way. “I’m sorry for helpin’ Mistress Zoe. I ain’t never met ya’ll and don’t have nothin’ against ya, but that nephilim don’t give us much choice. If we don’t agree to cooperate when she comes for us, she takes our families. I ain’t seen mine in almost two months.”

I glanced between Nik and Derrick, giving them a nod so they knew the werewolf spoke the truth. If I hadn’t hated Zoe before, I did now.

“You can go back to your family after we’ve dealt with her,” Nik said. “For now we need you to answer our questions.”

“Do you have any idea what she wants?” I asked Beck.

He shook his head. “She don’t tell anyone much, except those closest to her, but that ain’t me. All I know is that we had to take over Fairbanks and guard it while she looked for somethin’.”

“Where does she spend most of her time?” Might as well confirm what the archangel had told me.

“The Holiday Inn. She’s got the whole fourth floor to herself where she and her inner circle are stayin’.” Beck was becoming more confident as he spoke.

“How many sensors are at the hotel?”

His eyes rounded. “How’d ya know ‘bout them?”

“Just answer the question.” I didn’t want to waste time with explanations or give him any more information than he needed to cooperate with us.

“You’re her! The one Mistress Zoe’s been lookin’ for. Name’s Melena, right?” He was getting excited as he put it all together.

Wonderful.

“Who I am doesn’t matter. Just tell me how many sensors came with you and which ones are staying at the hotel,” I demanded.

“Okay, but I’m just sayin’ to watch out. She wants us to capture you bad—and him too.” He nodded at Nik.

I narrowed my eyes. “How many, Beck?”

“There’s at least thirty of them total near as I can tell. She’s got most of 'em spread out over the city, plus a couple up at the master vampire’s house.” He indicated Nik with his chin again. “There’s just two female sensors who stay at the hotel, but they rotate out at noon and midnight so one’s always out in the city screenin’ the main roads.”

If that was the same area where I’d sensed her before, then it was a couple miles from the hotel, leaving no overlap. It would be useful for planning my route into Fairbanks.

“What about Zoe?” Nik asked. “What is her schedule?”

The werewolf looked troubled for a moment. “Well, I don’t know much about that. We just have to be extra vigilant in the afternoons and early evenings cuz that’s when she’s most likely to come check on us. Rumor has it she’s always out of the hotel from somewhere between four in the afternoon ‘til nine or ten at night.”

At least she was a creature of habit.

Derrick, Nik, and I ran some more questions by Beck before breaking the news that he had to go back. Over an hour had passed since we’d taken him and we couldn’t risk dragging our interrogation out any longer. The last thing we needed was for Zoe to change the way she did things and throw off our plans.

“Please don’t make me go back,” Beck said desperately.

Derrick pulled the werewolf to a standing position and got close up to his face. “You’re going to go back and tell anyone who asks that you did a full patrol of the area, but didn’t see anything. Do not give any indication you saw us or talked to us. Avoid your previous alpha as much as possible, but if he notices his bond with you is broken you must run from him and hide near where we took you. We’ll pick you up when we can.”