Darkness Shatters: Book 5 (Sensor Series) (6 page)

Lucas swore under his breath. Couldn’t the daimoun have taken a little longer?

“He can wait.”

Lucas trailed a finger down her bare arm.

“No, he can’t.” She turned around and looked up at him. “We need to discuss my father and how to take him down.”

The tiny freckles on her cheeks stood out against her pale skin. She’d spent too much time in Alaska and had lost all signs of a tan. Once he found his brother he planned to take her places—ones with plenty of sun and warmth. He’d also enjoy seeing her in a bathing suit.

“Very well, we shall speak with him,” Lucas replied, stepping away.

“You go talk to him. I’ll meet you guys down there in a minute after I get dressed.”

“Is that an order?” Lucas lifted a brow.

She gave him an imperious look. “Yes.”

Melena was the only woman on this Earth who could give him an order and he’d consider obeying it.

“Very well.”

He ripped the towel off of her and took it with him as he left the bathroom. He couldn’t allow her to believe there weren’t consequences to ordering him around. She might think he’d gone soft.

“Lucas!” she squealed.

He flashed away before she could attempt to take it from him. A naked Melena wrestling him for a towel would tax even his mighty discipline. If Lucas got hold of her Yerik would have a long wait before seeing them.

He reappeared in the living room a moment later and tossed the towel onto the back of a chair. Yerik gave him a questioning glance, but didn’t ask. The daimoun wasn’t wearing his kilt anymore and had changed into jeans and a black t-shirt. He’d even shaved.

“You didn’t travel to Scotland, did you?” Lucas asked.

That was where Yerik’s mate lived and it would require little of the daimoun’s power to go there—though it would nearly sap Lucas dry to do the same from Alaska.

“Hardly,” the daimoun replied, stretching an arm across the couch. “Paula insisted I wash up and let her sterilize my garments, which required me to find something else to wear. She fears the worst with that disease going around.”

Lucas took a seat on the coffee-colored leather sofa across from Yerik. “Does she have any idea what the ailment might be?”

His expression darkened. “The plague.”

“Is she certain?”

Yerik shrugged. “Not yet, but all the symptoms point to it. She’s running tests to be sure.”

Lucas wished once again his brother was here. He would be more familiar with the disease. Most immortals didn’t bother to study such things since nothing could affect them, but Micah enjoyed those sorts of pursuits. He damned Zoe for the thousandth time. If only the bitch could have left well enough alone and not taken Micah. He’d love to give her the plague if it were possible.

“Is there a cure for it?” Lucas asked.

“She says there is medicine for humans that works most of the time if caught soon enough, but this is a more virulent form. It’s too early to tell if antibiotics will help.” He looked out the window. “We can’t afford for this to be happening right now.”

Lucas was rather certain it was never a good time for the plague. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing.” Yerik shook his head. “Ignore the meanderings of an old man.”

One who looked no older than Lucas, but he understood the point.

“What about a vaccination?” He might not keep up with human ailments much, but he knew the plague still occurred in the world. One would think the humans would have come up something to prevent it by now.

“There are a couple options out there, but the results have been mixed. Between this being a different strain and supernatural immune systems working differently Paula doubts the available immunizations will do any good. We’re going to have to make our own and that will take time.”

“How long?” Lucas asked.

“Possibly years.”

He turned at the sound of footsteps approaching.

“Oh, good. You changed out of that kilt,” Melena said, coming into the room. “Every time I see you it feels like I just stepped into a Highland romance novel.”

“A what?” Yerik glanced at Lucas.

He shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“Never mind.” She waved a dismissive hand. “So is there nothing else Paula can do?”

It was easy to forget Melena had heightened hearing now. She would have heard every word they said from upstairs. He liked her being stronger and more capable, but it would take time to get used to it.

“There’s not much more she can do at the moment,” Yerik replied, “but I’m checking into it. In one of my journals I’d written briefly about a previous instance. There was some talk back in the 1300s of a plague spreading among the supernatural races in Europe and parts of Asia, but I was away at the time and missed it.”

Melena looked at Lucas. “Do you remember anything?”

“I slept through most of that century,” he replied, truthfully.

She cracked a smile. He could almost see the old immortal jokes running through her mind. Lucas gave her a look that dared her to say any of them. She moved over to sit next to him on the sofa and patted his knee.

“It’s good to know you sleep sometimes. I imagine at your age you need a lot of naps.”

He took hold of her chin and tilted it toward him. “Keep it up, sensor, and we’ll see who has the greater endurance.”

Yerik cleared his throat. “As much as I’d love to watch this play out, we do have more important things to discuss.”

Of course. It was easy for Lucas to get distracted around her. He never would have admitted it a few years ago, but she’d always done that to him—stolen all his attention to the exclusion of everything else. Even when he’d believed he hated her.

“So where is my father’s hideout?” Melena asked, looking to the daimoun.

“He’s leased a handful of warehouses in a suburb near Indianapolis. The property has a fence around it with a gate, but that should be easy enough to break past. Only his group is using the facilities so we shouldn’t have to worry about any humans coming to harm as long as we keep the battle contained.”

“Good.” She drummed her fingers on Lucas’ leg. “Is there any chance we can get photos of the place? Maybe a layout? It would help with planning our strategy.”

“Let me worry about that. I’ll tell you when it comes time to attack.”

Melena stiffened. “No. I need to be the one planning this. It’s my father’s group and there’s no way I’m risking something going wrong.”

Lucas should have known she’d want to take control. Not that it mattered. He couldn’t imagine Yerik ever letting someone as young and inexperienced as Melena strategize an attack of this importance. Lucas wasn’t sure he’d let her do it if it were his decision. She wasn’t the only one seeking revenge against the group.

“I’ll help him coordinate the plans.” He took her hand and squeezed it. “You can be sure we won’t let anything go wrong.”

She jerked her hand away and stood up. “Forget it. I’m handling this one and you guys can follow. That’s the only way it’s going to happen.”

He stood up as well and glowered at her.

“You can’t expect men who’ve lived for thousands of years and fought numerous battles to bend to your will.”

Sparks practically shot from her eyes. “Don’t give me that crap, Lucas. This isn’t my first battle or even my tenth. I’ve fought against humans, supernaturals, and even my own race. This is my father we’re talking about and I want control over how we take him down.”

“It’s out of the question.” Yerik shook his head.

She spun to face him. “Is it?”

Melena and the daimoun exchanged looks. Lucas couldn’t interpret what was going on between them, but he was rather certain he was missing something. There was a hidden message in her eyes. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she had some sort of influence over Yerik, but that wasn’t possible. She hardly knew him. They’d only met once at the ball in New Orleans.

“You’re lucky I am even allowing you to participate in this operation.” Yerik stepped toward her. “I’m certainly not letting you take charge of it.”

She balled her fists. “Wanna bet?”

They stared at each other in what could only be described as a silent battle of wills, glowing vermillion eyes to glowing blue. The animosity between his mate and the daimoun didn’t sit right with him. Lucas understood Yerik’s side of things, but why was Melena fighting so hard for this? She’d never insisted on leading a battle before and this was hardly the time to push for it now. Was there something he was missing? Had her hatred for her father pushed her to irrationality?

Lucas began to pull her back, but then Yerik spoke.

“If I give you control, you will owe me. Do you understand?”

She cast a quick glance up at Lucas. There was the slightest bit of remorse in her eyes, but she looked away before he could examine it further.

“Yes,” she said in a tight voice.

Lucas wasn’t sure he liked Melena owing Yerik a favor. The daimoun could ask for anything, though he’d like to think his former mentor wouldn’t ask for something too dangerous. Yet it still bothered him. The idea that there must be more to this than he knew.

“Perhaps you should consider what you’re asking for first,” Lucas suggested.

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m sure.”

The daimoun’s shoulders relaxed a fraction. “Very well. You shall have control, but you will run all your plans by me.”

Lucas stared at his friend in shock. Had he truly just given Melena command over an operation of this importance? He’d been certain she was wasting her time challenging him for it. Not even owing Yerik a favor should have been enough to sway him.

“Wait a minute…” Lucas held up a hand.

“Fine,” she said, ignoring him. “And I want the Department of Homeland Security involved in this. We can’t kill all the sensors since there are most likely families there, but we can’t let them go again like last time either. DHS is better equipped to hold them long-term than we are and would probably appreciate the opportunity anyway.”

“You want to involve humans?” Lucas asked. Now she’d really gone too far.

“Yeah, actually.” Melena glanced at him. “They know too much about the supernatural world already and there’s no fixing that. We might as well use them to our advantage.”

“It’s risky,” Yerik said, rubbing his chin.

She crossed her arms. “Do you have a better idea? They most likely have women and children at their hideout. If Jerome has kept the group intact—or even grown it—there could be fifty or sixty of them when we go in there. You guys are used to using brute force and magic, but that won’t work well this time. A DHS commando team with bomb-sniffing dogs will be better equipped to handle it and they can keep cops and civilians out of the way.”

Bomb-sniffing dogs. That was an interesting thought. Werewolves could serve the same purpose, but if Jerome had samples of the plague virus it’d be too risky to bring them. And among the supernatural races, only animal shape-shifters had a heightened enough sense of smell to detect explosives.

It was too bad none of them had been at Charlie’s house—the former shaman of Fairbanks—before Jerome’s group blew it up. They could have sniffed out the bombs then. Trained dogs might be their only option if they wished to consider the safety of everyone involved. With Melena participating in the raid, he certainly wanted anything that could help protect her. They still didn’t know if she could survive an explosion with her new immortality and he didn’t want to find out the answer.

“You’ve been thinking about this for some time,” Lucas observed.

She glanced at him and once again a flash of guilt flashed in her eyes. “Yeah, I have.”

“What are you not telling me?”

“Nothing.” She put her hands in her jeans pockets. “It’s just that while you’ve been searching for your brother I’ve been trying to find my father so I can take him down. This is my chance—if we do it right.”

He searched her gaze and decided he could believe that much. Even if there seemed to be more to the story than she was willing to tell. She’d mentioned her father more than once when he’d visited during recent months. Perhaps she’d been trying to tell him what she wanted all along and he’d been too focused elsewhere to pay attention.

“And you believe you can handle this?” he asked.

She set her jaw. “Yes.”

Lucas hated to give her credit on this one, but she had made a few good points about their battle strategy already. He might have once wished to wipe her race out, but his thinking had somewhat changed since then. After seeing Melena held against her will by Jerome and his group he knew there could be others like her. Ones who were innocent in all this and would be caught in the middle of a raid.

“This is a lot to take on,” Lucas warned.

“I know, but you’ve got to trust me to do it.” She gave him a look that said if he showed anything more than a little doubt he might not sleep in her bed for the next year.

Lucas used to laugh at men who allowed women to manipulate them in such ways. He still did, but only because he knew Melena could only hold out for a short period herself. It just wouldn’t be easy to live with her until she forgave him.