Sentinel Lost (Mind Sweeper Series Book 5) (25 page)

“What are you doing here?” I barked.

His wide eyes narrowed with suspicion. “I called the office, and Dolly said you were on a call. She told me where to find you. I thought maybe it was about our case.”

“It’s not.”

Dalton crossed his arms. “Funny thing happened when I got here. I told Trevor and Sandy that I was with the BSR, and they explained what happened. When I asked them why they didn’t just make the woman downstairs forget with their thrall, they looked at me like I was a serial killer. Explained what thrall really was and how it worked. It was quite enlightening.”

“I bet.”

“Plus, they told me you were taking care of the issue. So are you going to tell me the truth, McKinley? What did you just do to that little girl?”

“I made the monsters go away.” I sighed. “I’ll explain, but let’s get out of here before someone sees us.” I locked the door and retaped the key to the mat before we headed down the stairs. As we walked into the alley, he glanced over at me and frowned before grabbing me by the arms.

“What?”

“You have a nosebleed.”

Damn.
This was happening a lot more often lately.

He guided me over to his SUV, opened the passenger door, and helped me inside like I was about to fall over.

“I’m fine.”

He opened the glove box and pulled out a handful of napkins. “Lean forward just a little bit. Now pinch your nostrils.”

“I know the drill,” I said, my voice muffled by the napkin. Déjà vu swamped me. Dalton had taken care of me the first time I had a nosebleed.

We sat in silence until the bleeding stopped. I leaned back and turned to him. He was staring at me like I was a puzzle. It was as if his cop brain was chugging away behind his turquoise eyes, trying to determine what exactly to make of me.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. The nosebleed is a side effect of what I can do. I work with the BSR because I have the ability to manipulate memories.”

“How?”

“I don’t know exactly. I can create a memory in my mind and insert it into someone else’s brain. I use it with humans to cover up supernatural exposure. I erased Hannah and her mother’s memory of seeing Sandy’s fangs.”

“So you were the one who erased David Heller’s memories of the museum events, not Jean Luc.”

It didn’t take him long to make that leap. “Yes.”

A hard rap on the window made us both jump. Jean Luc and Talia were looking in. Dalton rolled down his window.

“Everything okay, Kyle?” Jean Luc’s nostrils flared slightly, and he looked at the wadded-up, bloody napkins.

“Had another nosebleed. The case is contained. I erased the norms’ memories.”

Jean Luc’s eyebrows lifted in response.

Dalton unlocked the car doors. “Why don’t you two get in? I think we need to discuss a few things.”

They climbed into the backseat, and we sat in silence for a moment, the tension thick like fog in the air.

“I know the truth about her power now. Why the lie about your thrall?” Dalton asked, getting right to the point.

Jean Luc answered. “Because Kyle’s gift is unique. And I will do anything to protect her. Last year, she was stalked by someone who wanted to abuse her power. We will not allow it to happen again.”

“Are you worried what I would do with the knowledge?”

“I have been alive for more than four hundred years, Detective. I have seen what governments do in the pursuit of power. While I think you are a man of honor, you work for the government. I will not let Kyle become a victim of their avarice.”

I smiled at Jean Luc. It took a lot to get him worked up, but when he was, it was spectacular.

I spoke quickly when it seemed like Dalton was going to protest. “Please don’t take it personally. Nine out of ten humans who know about my power have tried to use me.”

He stared at me. “Well, count me as the one out of ten who won’t.”

I nodded. I had no doubt the old Dalton would never have used me. But this new Dalton was a wild card. I wanted more than anything to believe him, but I wasn’t sure if his drive to solve this case would overshadow everything else.

Chapter 31

I watched Dalton on the monitor. He prowled the hotel room, making sure the camera Misha had set up worked correctly.

“Can you hear me?” he asked.

I spoke through the open door between the adjoining hotel rooms. “You come through loud and clear. We should be set now.”

We were in a hotel one street away from Sylvia’s motel. A neutral place to talk to her. Dalton followed me into the room with the monitor and shut the door just as my phone rang.

I clicked on the speaker button. “Yeah, Jean Luc?”

“Misha and Talia are on their way with Sylvia.”

“They didn’t have any trouble?”

“No, they picked her up as she left the motel. There were no confrontations with any of the demons. Jason, Matthew, and I are going to keep watching the motel.”

“Okay, talk to you later.”

I hung up and checked the monitor and recording equipment one last time. Silence descended, choking the air out of me. Dalton had been all business since he found out about my powers. And while awkwardness had buzzed around us in the past like a worrisome gnat, it had now morphed into a flock of crows, dive-bombing us and squawking incessantly.

Did he think I was a freak?

After a few more minutes of choking silence, I cleared my throat. “I hope Sylvia can give us something to work with.”

Dalton nodded, his expression tight. “We’re getting closer, McKinley.”

Closer to when he left again after we solved this case.

The negative mental path I’d been stumbling down the past few minutes was waylaid by the sound of the hotel room door opening. We watched the monitor as Misha, Talia, and Sylvia entered the room.

Sylvia was small, but she had the presence of a larger person. Her silver hair was long and in a braid that hung down the middle of her back. She wore a loose sage green jumpsuit that must have been made of natural fibers…probably great for the environment, but hopelessly wrinkled within five minutes of putting it on.

Talia gestured to the loveseat, but Sylvia stood in the middle of the room with her arms crossed.

“Why don’t you tell me who you are and why I’m here?” she asked.

Misha answered her. “We told you, we’re with the police and need to speak with you.”

“I heard what you told me, and the shiny badges are a neat trick, but I need the truth now. The only reason I didn’t yell my head off at the motel was because I didn’t want my tenants to get pulled into whatever this is. Now, I will have no problem at all screaming.”

Misha and Talia exchanged a look while Sylvia plowed on. “I’ve been arrested more than once in my life. First time was at a peace rally when I was seventeen. You two aren’t normal cops.”

I chuckled. “This old broad is smart.”

“We’re from the BSR.” Misha answered. “The Bureau—”

“I know what the BSR is. Supernatural Fuzz.”

Misha smiled at her. “I haven’t heard that term in a while, Sylvia.”

“Don’t try to charm me with those icy blue eyes, demon.”

Misha’s icy blue eyes widened. “How did you know I’m a demon?”

“I can see auras. Yours is bright green with flecks of gold. Screams demon.” She nodded in Talia’s direction. “Just as the deep purple aura for your lady friend here tells me she’s a vampire.”

Talia grinned. “Very impressive.”

“I’m not here to impress anyone.” Sylvia held up her hands, wrists together. “If you’re going to arrest me, then get it over with.”

Misha shook his head. “We’re not going to arrest you, Sylvia. We want to talk to you about the demons you help cross over from the realm.”

Sylvia blew out a hard breath and glared at both Misha and Talia. “Who ratted me out?”

Talia answered. “Your name came up as part of our investigation.”

“Let me guess.” Sylvia sat on the loveseat. “You’re trying to stop the crossovers, right? Typical government, going about this the wrong way.”

Misha sat in the chair across from her. “You don’t know what our plan is.”

Sylvia snorted. “Don’t I? You want to stop all of these
hardened criminals
from coming to earth. Ask yourself this, Mr. Demon. Is it fair to incarcerate demons for millennia? To stop their children and grandchildren—who had nothing to do with their parents’ decisions—from living on earth?”

Sylvia lifted her chin and glared at Misha. “Most of the demons I’ve helped want nothing more than to live on earth and blend into society. And I teach them how to live here. Some are so screwed up that they have a hard time forming their human side when they first arrive. Do you know their realm is like living in the dark ages? No electricity. No modern conveniences.”

“I’ve never been to the realm.”

“Of course you haven’t. But you still judge them and tell them they can’t live here among us.” She shook her head in disgust. “It always comes down to us and them. I’ve heard their stories. Talk to me when you’ve experienced their world.”

The tough old hippie had a point. I walked across the room and reached for the door.

“What are you doing?” Dalton hissed.

“Giving her what she wants.” I opened the door and walked into the room. “I’ve been to the realm. Are you willing to talk to me?”

Sylvia squinted at me, looking me over from head to toe. “Good Lord, girl. You’re like a walking glow stick.”

I blinked at her, since words escaped me. That was not the reaction I’d been expecting.

“What are you?” she asked.

“Human.”

Sylvia’s mouth quirked up and she studied me some more, like I was a science experiment. “Whatever you say, kiddo. You’ve been to the realm, huh?”

“Yep. And the in-between. You’re right. They don’t have much of anything there. The border patrol lives the same way.”

“You’ve met the patrol?” She sighed. “I almost feel worse for them. They’ve been programmed to stop demons from coming to earth, giving up their own freedom in the process. All subterfuge.”

She plowed on before I could speak. “Ask yourself this. How exactly were the more powerful demons forced from earth by the less powerful ones? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Maybe they were defeated by sheer numbers. There are twelve clans here on earth and five in the realm,” I argued.

“Maybe. Or maybe someone helped tip the scales. And if so, why?”

“I don’t have the answer to that, Sylvia.”

“Well, it’s what you
should
be investigating. Not how to send demons back to the hellhole they’ve been living in for millennia.”

Okay…I had to bring her back to the crux of the issue. “I’m not here to argue whether the realm demons should be allowed on earth. If most of these demons are living on earth minding their own business, then I don’t have a problem with them. But when one comes here, breaks into the museum, steals something, and kills a guard, then we need to deal with the ramifications.”

Misha opened the folder on the coffee table and put the composite picture on the side table next to Sylvia. She looked at it, and her eyes widened slightly before she could hide it.

“You know him?” I asked.

“What makes you think he broke into the museum?” she asked, which pretty much meant she did know him.

“I saw him run out of the museum, and a witness saw him kill the guard.”

Sylvia stared hard at the picture without looking up at me.

“He snapped the guard’s neck. Carl Willis was married with two kids.”

Sylvia flinched slightly. “I didn’t acclimate him to earth. But I’ve seen him before. When he showed up at the motel, he told me someone tried to rob him. He’d been shot in the shoulder.”

My heart sped up. “I shot him when he tried to hurt me using his telekinesis. So you’ve seen him in the past couple of days?”

Sylvia finally met my eye. “I helped dig the bullet out of his shoulder.”

“Do you know where he is now?”

She shook her head. “No. He took off shortly after I cleaned him up.”

“We’re also looking for twin demons, heads shaved with arm tattoos.”

Misha pulled the drawing out of the folder, and Sylvia waved her hand like she didn’t need to see it.

She scowled. “I know exactly who you’re talking about. I kicked those two out months ago. Troublemakers, both of them.”

“Do you have any idea where they hang out now?”

“No. The demons who stay with me try to steer clear of them.”

“Do you think you could ask around a bit and see if you can find out about the three of them?” I asked. “Nothing too risky, maybe a couple of feelers?”

Sylvia looked between the three of us. “So you aren’t going to shut my business down?”

I smiled. “Not right now. Especially if you’ll help us out.”

She opened her mouth as if she was going to disagree, so I decided she could use some added incentive.