by Susan Illene
“There are animals like that here?” Tormod asked, excitement lighting his eyes.
“No.” Micah shook his head. “Those are what we call dinosaurs, and they died off on this planet a long time ago.”
Tormod’s face fell. “Oh.”
“Anyway,” Yerik continued. “We’d only been on the planet two days and hadn’t seen them before. I didn’t even have a sword to fight the damn thing with, so we flashed away.”
Kerbasi’s brows drew together. “What happened to the bird you were preparing?”
“Oh, I threw that at the dinosaur to keep him busy,” Yerik said.
“That poor bird.” The guardian sighed. Kerbasi might have a love for food, but he also loved birds. He wouldn’t eat them and made a big deal of it whenever we did.
“What did you do next?” Tormod asked, staring at his father in awe.
“Well, it appeared the farther inland we went, the more kinds of dinosaurs we found. The nasty buggers were everywhere. We found a cave and hid there until I could fashion some weapons to fight them.”
Zoe huffed. “I helped with that.”
“Aye, you did,” he acknowledged. “I found that net you made particularly useful. It trapped that Triceratops for about three seconds. I barely got one of my spears in it before it broke loose.”
Zoe flipped her strawberry blond hair over her shoulder, which could have used a good scrubbing. “That was just my first attempt. It’s not like you did much better with your weak little spears.”
“It wasn’t easy to cut and carve wood without proper tools,” Yerik confided to the nerou. “I hadn’t had to resort to such measures in many centuries. Be glad you came to Earth in this day and age.”
Lucas spoke up, “Perhaps we should save the rest of these stories for another time. I’m certain our guests would like to get cleaned up after their difficult…journey.”
“Excellent idea.” Zoe stood up and gave him an approving look. “It is good to see you again, Lucas.”
I considered gouging her eyes out. If only they wouldn’t grow back so quickly.
“Just one more story and we’ll finish for the night,” Yerik said, drawing everyone’s attention back to him.
“Brother, if I could speak to you for a moment,” Micah said, coming toward us.
I gestured at Emily and Patrick to follow, and we headed outside. No one spoke until we were out of earshot from the dining facility. Micah stopped us around the corner next to one of the dorms. He glanced at me with concern in his eyes before address everyone.
“Remiel gave us explicit instructions before he left,” Micah said in a grave tone. “The first is that Zoe and Yerik will stay here for the next week so that they might spend time with their offspring. After that, each of them will be assigned to other nerou compounds where they’ll stay until the program is finished.”
“Which ones?” Lucas asked.
“Zoe will go to the European facility in Ireland and Yerik is going to Russia.”
I frowned. “What about their kids?”
Micah ran a hand through his hair. “Tormod and Rebecca will stay here. Their parents will be allowed to come back once a month to visit.”
“Will there be other restrictions?” Lucas asked, crossing his arms. I’d wondered the same thing.
“Yes,” Micah replied with a sigh. “Though they won’t have ankle cuffs restricting their movements until they leave here, they are under a much more stringent probation period than us. If they harm any humans or sensors for the next ten years, they’ll immediately be sent back to the planet they just left. Under no circumstances are they allowed to cause trouble on Earth—Remiel was very specific about that.”
On Earth? I glanced at Lucas. “You know what that means.”
“I do.” His expression hardened. “The archangel has more or less given us permission to rescue Ariel, and removed any obstacles that may have prevented us from doing so.”
Micah glanced down at his feet. “I’m not certain if it was done on purpose, but Remiel has not put the ankle cuff back on me yet, either.”
“But you weren’t thinking of going too, were you?” I asked, surprised.
Micah gave me a sardonic look. “If you go, my brother will follow. Do you really think I’m going to let you two invade Hell without me?”
I shifted on my feet. “Well, I hadn’t decided whether or not to go yet, and we still need Yerik to agree.”
“Melena, you can vacillate all you want, but no one doubts what your ultimate decision will be, and I’m certain Yerik will not need much convincing.” Micah glanced at his brother, who gave him a nod. “We’re family. We aren’t going to let you go without us.
“I would go too if I could,” Patrick said, his offer genuine.
I stared at him in stunned amazement. “Why?”
“The other day…” He swallowed. “You didn’t hesitate to take those bullets for me. I don’t know if you realized it at the time, but I’d be dead if you hadn’t. Harvey was aiming for me. I’m only alive because of you.”
Emily took his hand. “I’m glad she saved you, Dad.”
He smiled at his daughter before returning his gaze to me. “I’ve been talking to people while you were gone. It’s obvious that this facility wouldn’t exist if not for you. Maybe the angels haven’t said it out loud, but even they’ve proven they have faith in you. I know my opinion might not count for much. Most of you still don’t trust me, but if ever there was someone worth supporting—it’s you.”
My chest tightened. It was strange how the words of a man I hardly knew could have such an impact. Since my last speech to Patrick, he’d made a real effort to prove himself. Sure, I hadn’t lost all my skepticism, but I felt fairly confident he could become a useful ally and good father to Emily.
“Thank you,” I said, dipping my chin. As Patrick and I looked at each other, a sort of understanding came between us. We weren’t quite on opposing sides anymore.
“Derrick’s coming,” Emily said, her gaze jerking toward the entrance of the compound. I sensed it, too—the alpha had just entered the edge of our radar.
“Did someone call him?” I asked, glancing at everyone.
“No.” Micah’s lips thinned. “I thought it best to put off the news until tomorrow.”
We relocated to the parking lot to await Derrick’s arrival. At this time of the evening, there was no reason for him to come out here, which didn’t bode well. His truck came zooming in at a speed that said he was in a hurry. If he didn’t know about Zoe, this couldn’t be good.
He drove straight for us, slamming on the brakes at the last moment. I could sense a rising feeling of doom welling up inside of me. As he got out of the truck and strutted toward us, the turbulent emotions coming from him thickened. There was too much pain and sorrow mixed with his anger for this to have anything to do with Zoe.
Derrick met my gaze. “Aniya’s been kidnapped.”
“What? How?” As far as I knew, she usually stayed at the alpha’s house where no one could have reached her.
“She was over at Cage’s place for the day. Sometime in the early afternoon while they were restin’, several men broke into the house. They shot them up good, threw Aniya in a body bag, and took her away. Cage was injured badly enough he didn’t have the strength to call me until two hours ago.”
My knees grew weak, and I grabbed Lucas’ arm. “What would they want with her?”
If it was possible, the alpha’s expression turned darker. He dug into his jean’s pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “They left a note.”
Lucas took it before I could. Micah and I sidled closer to him, so we could read it at the same time. It didn’t say much, but the message was clear:
Dear Melena,
If you value your friend’s life, you will cease targeting my group. Should another one of my members be arrested or killed due to your interference, Aniya will meet the sun. She’s a pretty little thing. I’d hate for it to come to that.
Grant
“That fucking bastard,” I cursed. Grant was going to die. I didn’t know where or how, but I’d track him to the ends of the Earth if I had to and blow his head off.
Lucas handed the note to Patrick next. He and Emily read it together while I paced around in circles. I’d never considered Grant might go after Aniya, but since she usually stayed at Derrick’s, I hadn’t thought I needed to worry about her. Besides, Emily was the bigger target. Maybe Grant had only gone after one of my friends because he couldn’t touch the other people close to me. We’d been staying on high alert ever since the first attack on my house.
“We will find her,” Lucas said, pulling me close.
He was trying to keep his emotions under control for my sake, but I could sense his own feelings of impotence and rage. Grant had stolen one of our friends right out from underneath us. We’d been off enjoying our mini-honeymoon while Aniya was being shot and dragged from her boyfriend’s home in broad daylight. They’d purposely struck when vampires were at their weakest.
“Is there anything I can do?” Patrick asked.
I pulled away from Lucas. “Call O’Connell and let him know. We need a forensic team to go over Cage’s house in case they left any evidence we can use. It’s almost dark, so it will be safe soon enough for him to let them inside.”
“I’ll show you where the phone is.” Emily gestured toward the lecture hall where the nephilim trainers kept their office.
Derrick grunted. “I need to talk to the agent as well. I want my vampire back and the bastards who took her dead.”
“We all do,” Lucas said, a thread of steel in his voice.
The alpha started to follow Emily and Patrick, but as they passed the dining facility, the door swung open. Zoe and her daughter came walking out—because, really, why shouldn’t matters get worse? The alpha stopped in his tracks and stared at them, then turned toward me with a furious expression.
“What is she doing here?” he growled.
I’d really hoped to put this conversation off a little longer. Zoe and her minions had murdered Derrick’s wife and children back in the late 1860s—though he didn’t find out the female nephilim was behind it until recently. He’d been hunting for the killers for all that time. It must have eaten at him that he was falling for Rebecca, but he’d probably hoped Zoe wouldn’t be around to influence her daughter for a long time to come.
“Remiel just dropped Yerik and Zoe off tonight. I was as surprised as you,” I explained. He would eventually figure out that it was kind of my fault, but there was no need to go into further detail now.
Derrick stalked toward Zoe and Rebecca, looking like an enraged bull. “You will leave this place now!”
“I will do no such thing,” Zoe replied, surprisingly haughty for someone wearing dirty, ripped up clothing.
He pointed a finger at her chest. “I will not let your daughter be corrupted by you.”
A slow smile spread across Zoe’s face. “So my little plan worked. You’re falling for her, aren’t you?”
“What are you talking about?” Rebecca asked, taking a step away from her mother.
Zoe put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “Even while you were in that dreadful place, I was planning your future for you. I wanted you to have someone of your very own when you finally did come to Earth.”
Derrick was seething. “What do you mean?”
Zoe lifted a brow at him. “You haven’t figured it out by now? Before you were even born, I’d already chosen you. With a little help from a witch, I made certain that the moment you laid eyes on my daughter, you would fall for her, and she would fall for you.”
“I haven’t heard of that spell being done in centuries,” Micah said in a disbelieving voice. “It’s the worst kind of black magic and requires human sacrifices.”
“Zoe would have had to get a lock of her daughter’s hair to pull it off,” Lucas added, sounding disgusted.
I was stunned. “You mean when Rebecca was only a baby, Zoe was already planning this?”
“It appears that way,” Micah replied.
I watched with sadness as Derrick and Rebecca looked at each other. They could no longer trust their own feelings, and yet that didn’t make their attraction go away. Even knowing magic had started it, their love had developed into something real. The spell had been very subtle, laced into Derrick’s very genetic makeup for me to not notice it. Most likely, it sat dormant inside him for decades before it flared to life in that moment when he and Rebecca met.
Maybe if I’d been paying closer attention to them when it happened, I might have caught it, but that night had been chaotic. Hundreds of nerou had been surrounding me, nephilim parents wanted help finding their children, and various magic spells were being cast. I’d barely been able to cope with it all.
Sensing the pain coming from Derrick now was almost unbearable. Rebecca had tears running down her cheeks. The couple stared at each other with a longing and desperation I understood. Then Rebecca straightened her shoulders and turned to her mother. Everyone held their collective breaths as she stared at Zoe with hatred in her eyes.
“As far as I’m concerned, you are not my mother nor are you a person I want to know. Leave me and don’t ever come back,” she said, her body shaking with rage. “I mean it—what you’ve done is unforgivable.”
Zoe’s face reflected shock. “But I did it for you.”
“You killed innocent people and meddled with my life when you had no right. Get it through your head—I don’t want anything from you!” Rebecca screamed.
“Let me make it up to you,” Zoe said, reaching a hand out.
Rebecca slapped it away. “You want to make it up to me? Leave here now. Do not visit me or try contacting me. When and if I ever decide I want to see you again, I’ll let you know.”
Zoe’s lips trembled. “You’re my daughter. How can you ask me to stay away after we’ve been apart for so long?”
“You make me sick.” Rebecca slowly shook her head. “You can’t even see what you did is wrong.”
“I’ll try. I swear I will,” Zoe said desperately.
Rebecca moved next to Derrick’s side and took his hand. “You got what you wanted. We will be together, but you aren’t going to be around to see it.”
Zoe stuck her chin out. “You can’t make me leave.”
A bright flash of light appeared next to Zoe. When my vision cleared, I found Remiel standing there. While I was glad to see him jump into this little drama, I was rather annoyed he’d caused it in the first place. Why couldn’t he have just left Zoe on that planet?
“They can’t make you leave, but I can.” He snapped a wrist cuff on the female nephilim and then addressed Rebecca. “We suspected she wouldn’t be welcome, but we thought it best to let you decide for yourself before sending her to Russia. Unless you choose otherwise, she won’t be bothering you anymore.”
“No, you can’t…” Zoe began, but then Remiel flashed them both away.
I exhaled a breath. “One problem down, only a hundred more to go.”
Lucas grunted. “We do seem to collect them.”
“That was like a drive-by archangel sighting,” Emily said.
“Too bad he didn’t stick around long enough to tell us where Aniya might be,” I added, returning my attention to my missing best friend. She was my next priority. Somehow, I would find her.
“Remiel wouldn’t want to be that helpful,” Lucas replied, giving me a consoling look. “Where do you wish to start the search?”
“Cage’s place. Maybe he saw or heard something that could help us.”
Chapter Thirty-two
Melena
Police were all over Cage’s house, gathering evidence. The male vampire had cleaned himself up before we arrived and his wounds had mostly healed, but he was far too pale and probably needed to feed again. Derrick had brought a human with him when he came over earlier in the evening, but with injuries lik
e Cage’s, one person wouldn’t be enough without draining them. The vampire kept running his hands through his blond hair and pacing around the living room as investigators asked him questions. He was agitated and hurt but doing his best to stay under control.
“You were shot how many times?” one officer asked, holding a pen and pad.
Cage paused his pacing. “Five times in the chest and twice in the head.”
The other cops nearby stopped what they were doing and jerked their gazes toward him. One female officer ran her gaze all over him with particular interest. “I know you’re a vampire, but how are you still standing?”
“I wasn’t earlier,” he replied, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets. “Until a few hours ago, I was passed out in a pool of my own blood, but I’ve been healing.”
The female officer walked slowly toward him and took a closer look. One of the bullets had hit him directly in his forehead. The skin was still puckered and pink where it was in the last stages of the healing process. On the side of his head, there was a missing patch of hair where another bullet had grazed him. He lifted his shirt so she could see the numerous wounds healing there. They’d closed, but they were still raw and red.
“Are you in pain?” she asked.
“Yes,” Cage gritted out, “but it will pass.”
She gazed at him in awe. “That’s amazing. My job would be so much easier if I didn’t have to worry about dying from being shot.”
I sensed the spike of annoyance in Cage and decided to intervene. “It might seem that way, but would you really want to be trapped inside all day when the sun is out?”
“Oh, right,” she said, frowning. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
Cage gave me a grateful look.
I nodded at him. The forensic team was wrapping up their part of the investigation and leaving, so I wandered toward the back of the house. Bullet holes riddled the hallway. I stepped around several drying pools of blood and peeked into the bedroom. It appeared even worse. The white sheets were stained with dark splotches of red, the headboard was pockmarked with holes, and the bedside lamp was knocked onto the floor.
