Darkness Shatters: Book 5 (Sensor Series) (29 page)

He was only halfway speaking the truth, but I let that go.

“Is his father okay?” I could sense Rob on my radar, but he’d been in bad shape the last time I saw him.

“Recovering, though he’s understandably upset about his son,” Lucas answered.

“Poor guy. They hadn’t been getting along until they got sick.”

“That’s the interesting thing about death.” Lucas stared up at the ceiling. “It rarely bothers to warn you when you’re about to lose a loved one so that you might make things right with them.”

He said that as if he spoke from experience.

“Who was it for you?” I asked, doubting I’d get an answer. He hated talking about his past.

Lucas didn’t move. He kept staring at the ceiling as if it had all the answers. Who knows? Maybe it did in some strange way.

“My mother,” he said after a few minutes. “I was young when she passed, but I regret not getting to know her better. Over the centuries I’ve thought of countless questions I would love to ask, given the chance.”

It warmed me, hearing him say something so personal.

I took his hand. “What would be the first thing you’d ask?”

“What she was thinking when she chose my father.” He shook himself. “No, I wouldn’t come out that strong. I’d ask about her family instead.”

“You didn’t meet them?” I’d never thought about him having a family other from Micah. It sort of seemed like he’d just popped into existence.

Tension filled the room. “No, but I learned during my last stay in Purgatory that my mother’s family may have come from a line of sensors. That the only nephilim the archangels haven’t executed are those who carry the gene for it.”

I didn’t know what to say. For most of Lucas’ life, he’d hated my kind and then he found out last year he was a descendent of them? I couldn’t even get mad he hadn’t told me sooner. He’d probably needed time to process that sort of news.

“That must have been difficult to take,” I said.

He rubbed a hand down my arm. “It would have been worse if I hadn’t already cared for a sensor. That took some of the sting out of it.”

“Glad I could be of service.”

A knock sounded at the door. My senses told me Paula was on the other side.

“I’ve got it.” Lucas took his arm from around me and stood up.

While he went to answer it, I dug out some clean socks from the bag I kept in the room and put them on my feet. My tennis shoes were under the cot. I tugged them onto my feet as Paula came into the room.

“I’m going to take a wild guess on how Emily is recovering so quickly.” She gave me a stern look. “Will there be ramifications for this?”

I stood. “The archangels have got their hands full at the moment. Getting mad at me for saving a dying girl should be low on their priority list.”

The gold in Lucas’ eyes darkened. “I don’t believe that is entirely what she meant. We have no idea what your blood might do to her.”

“What was I supposed to do? Hunter was dead and Emily was close to it. I couldn’t handle losing them both.” Not to mention I’d been half-delirious from my injuries and hadn’t been thinking clearly.

Lucas rubbed his face. “We will simply have to hope for the best. Your immortality is new enough your blood may not affect her very much. Her recovery is already taking longer than if it had been me who saved her.”

“That’s what I was thinking.” I looked at Paula. “Is she still contagious?”

“She was when I first tested her this morning, but I’m waiting on another culture now. I suspect I’ll see quite a bit of improvement with that one. The black marks on her skin have nearly faded and the fever is gone.”

“Can I see her?”

She clasped her hands. “Of course, but until Emily is back to full health I ask that you continue following the procedures we’ve set in place for her quarantine. We can’t afford to take any risks.”

“I understand.”

Lucas followed me as I headed out of the room and down the hallway. I sensed Kerbasi sitting with Emily and was glad she wasn’t alone. Her mood told me she didn’t know Hunter was gone yet. She felt upbeat and positive. Together Lucas and I stripped off our clothes in the outer room and donned the annoying white suits Paula insisted we wear.

Emily smiled as soon as we entered. Her skin had cleared up dramatically and she sat up in bed. She’d even brushed her hair. Hearing Paula say she was recovering was one thing, seeing it for myself was another.

“Hey, Mel,” she said, sounding stronger. “Glad you’re looking better.”

She must have seen me before I was taken away.

“Was I that bad?” I pretended to look worried—anything to keep the mood light as long as possible.

She rolled her eyes. “Uh, yeah. You were covered in blood and your clothes had holes all over them.”

If I’d been in a clearer state of mind, I might have thought to pass out elsewhere. She must have had quite the shock when she woke up.

“How did I get moved?” I asked.

“I cleaned you up and carried you to the other room,” Lucas said, giving me a disapproving look that didn’t match his actual mood.

I pulled some of my hair behind my ear, noting that he’d left it loose after washing me. It had been in a ponytail last I remembered.

“I’m surprised I didn’t notice.”

“It was rather pleasant seeing you quiet and amenable,” Kerbasi remarked. “If only it was that way all the time.”

“Don’t make me shoot you, guardian,” I warned.

He grunted. “Exactly my point. I much prefer seeing you riddled with bullets.”

That came out as a lie. I must have grown on the guardian recently.

“So where’s Hunter?” Emily gazed around us.

The tension in the room grew thick.

I went and sat on the bed next to Emily. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“What?” She swallowed.

It was rather hard for her to not miss the emotions coming from the rest of us.

“When the humans attacked the clinic this morning it got bad. There weren’t enough of us to fend them off. Rob got shot a bunch of times and Hunter saw it.” I was explaining this the wrong way, but I couldn’t bring myself to say the words that would tear her world apart.

“Okay,” she said slowly. “But his dad is here. Why isn’t he?”

I took her hands. “When his father went down, Hunter ran for him. I told him to stay back, but he didn’t listen or couldn’t hear me through all the gunfire. There were too many humans…I stopped one guy from getting to him, but he wrestled with another man. There was a shot and he was hit in the head—”

“No!” She shook her head in denial. “He’s a werewolf. A couple shots can’t kill him.”

I cupped her cheeks with my hands. “Hunter was still recovering from the plague and he was only turned a couple years ago. He wasn’t strong enough to take an injury like that.”

“But he can’t die. We’re supposed to be together forever.” Tears ran down her face and she grasped the opal necklace he’d given her last week.

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry.” I pulled her into a hug. “I tried to save him. I swear I did.”

“Mel, what am I supposed to do? Everyone around me keeps dying.” She buried her face in my shoulder. Her body shook as she choked on her tears.

“Not all of us can die,” I whispered in her ear. “You’ve still got me and Lucas.”

“And me,” Kerbasi added.

“But I want Hunter.” Her voice came out muffled.

I rubbed her back. “I know.”

She jerked away from me. “I want to see his body.”

There hadn’t even been time for me to see it. Where had they put him?

“That’s not a good idea,” Lucas said.

She scooted around me and hopped off the bed, still wearing a hospital gown. Her expression was determined as she looked up at the nephilim.

“I. Don’t. Care.” She balled her fists. “You have to let me see him.”

Lucas glanced at me. “It is up to you.”

Emily gave me a pleading look. I wanted to save her the horrific pain of seeing her boyfriend like that—it would stay with her forever—but I also knew she needed closure. For some people being told their loved one was dead wasn’t enough until they saw the body.

“Ask Paula how we can work this. Emily has the right to see him.”

Lucas nodded and left the room. Emily paced the floor in her bare feet and bit at her nails. The tears had stopped now that she had a goal in mind, but for how long? Hunter had been with her through so many difficult times since last spring. Whenever I couldn’t get through to her, he could.

It was one of the reasons I had let her date the werewolf. He’d been the most patient and caring guy I could have hoped for her to have. His only problem had been how to get her attention in the beginning, but he’d come a long way since then.

Twenty minutes passed before the screech of a gurney came down the hall. Lucas and Paula were wheeling it toward us. There was no way they’d bring it all the way inside, though. I looked at Kerbasi.

“Can you get Emily one of those suits from outside, please? And a mask, gloves and hair cap, too?”

He glanced at the girl in question, sympathy in his eyes. “Of course.”

There was some discussion outside before he came back in with the requested items. Emily was silent as I helped her don everything. We stepped into the outer room and Paula held a hand up when we went to the next door.

“That’s as far as she can go,” the doctor said.

I took Emily’s arm. “Wait.”

Paula stepped back and Lucas pulled the sheet from over the body. A quarter of his head was gone. Someone had cleaned the worst of the blood off what was left of his face, but it was still a horrible sight to see. His remaining eye was closed. Despite the damage done to him, there was no mistaking him for anyone else.

Emily screamed.

I wrapped my arms around her as she pounded on the glass window.

“No, no, no, no, no. Why did it have to be him? Why?” Her legs collapsed from under her.

I pulled her around and pressed her head into my chest. She sobbed and pounded her fists into me. Her emotions overwhelmed my senses and tore me apart. The grief pouring from her was a tidal wave of pain, loss, and despair.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m so sorry,” I murmured over and over again.

As soon as they started to wheel the gurney away she jerked from my hold.

“Wait!” She pushed up against the door.

Lucas and Paula paused.

“You have to save him. There has to be a way!”

Aniya showed up then. Her expression was a strange mixture of determination and sadness. She brushed past the gurney and came toward us. Emily stepped back when she came through the door.

She pulled the teenager into her arms. “There’s no saving him, Em, but you’re going to get through this.”

“I…I can’t,” Emily said, trembling.

Aniya pulled back a little and brushed the tears from the girl’s cheeks. “Yes, you can. Hunter wouldn’t want to see you like this any more than my mother would have wanted to see the wreck I became after her death. I’m going to help you, okay?”

Emily didn’t look entirely convinced, but she did let the vampire draw her back into the room. Kerbasi and I followed.

Chapter Thirty

We were watching the latest breaking news. Paula had sedated Emily so I felt comfortable enough to leave her for a while—with Aniya. Since we’d told her about Hunter’s death earlier in the evening, the vampire had proved useful in helping her with her grief. Emily responded better to her, but I suspected that was because she blamed me for failing to save him.

Lucas, Kerbasi, and I stood in front of the television in the break room observing the latest developments. Angels were appearing in places across the world and not hiding their presence.

I glanced at Kerbasi. “What are your buddies up to?”

“I’m not entirely certain.” He frowned.

Though a few had been caught on camera apprehending sups who were causing trouble, most were holding crystal rocks and chanting. Their whispered words were in a language I couldn’t understand. If I could get close to one of them I could figure out what they were doing through the type of magic they used, but none had showed up in Fairbanks yet.

“Well, what are they saying?” I asked.

“It is an ancient language from long before my time. I understand very little of it.” He shifted on his feet. “I believe the word ‘harmony’ is in there, though.”

“It seems to be doing little good,” Lucas said, dryly.

The guardian shook his head. “That is the part that baffles me the most.”

On the screen a female angel chanted over her stone while rioters in the distance set a condemned building on fire. According to the reporter, there were suspected vampires inside. They were attempting to flush them out during the day. I had to hope there were no human vagrants inside.

A cell phone rang. Lucas dug his from his pocket and glared at the screen.