Viking Sensitivity (Night World Series Book 2) (22 page)

"Well, on that uninspiring note. I will get back to the interviews." Deuce turned and walked back out of the room.

Viking didn't bother to push off from the wall. He knew this was going to take a while.

The lion leaned against the wall next to him with his hands in his pockets. "The Night World is a dangerous place in general but if you're a high man on the totem pole, you do not have much to worry about. This however is beginning to concern me. What exactly should I be expecting for my people?”

Viking asked Cesar the same question. He thought a second, taking a deep. "I think you should be on the lookout. I think these beings are serious. Beyond that, I just don't know."

The two of them stood in silence and didn't speak for the rest of the interviews.

Chapter 17

Mia didn't know how long she had been doing inventory. It had been almost refreshing to do something from of her normal routine. The longer she set book after book on the shelves, the calmer she became. This was exactly what she needed right now. It was almost as if she was meditating or something.

It had to have been at least an hour when Gwen strode up to her. Putting the last book of chakras back in order, Mia turned to give Gwen her full attention. The other woman did not look thrilled. In fact, she looked a little concerned. That expression alone began to trickle through Mia's zen like water through cracks in cement.

"I have an idea. You are not going to like it. But I'm going to run it by you anyway. The being disconnected itself from all the people we currently have in the shop. I've tried to trace it back but all I'm getting are wisps. It's similar to when somebody erases with one of those big pink erasers on paper. There are still markings there but you can't quite make everything out. Which is nothing I have ever come across. I don't understand how this being is able to do it.

"It looks like there may be one guy this thing is still connected to. Carter has gone to track him down. Hopefully he comes back with him soon so we will know for sure. My idea is this: I think I can track the general vicinity of where this being might be, based on all the lines in the other room. I can't track it down to a specific place. It might be a two or three block radius. My thought is to track it down and we drop you off. Before you freak out,"

The panic must have risen from inside Mia's chest and appeared on her face because the other woman had her hands out in a stopping motion.

"We will be nearby you the whole time. But I'm guessing this being won't be able to pass up the opportunity to be close by you. So my thought is that we dangle you like bait. Then when it comes for you with whatever person it's inhabiting we can trap that person and go from there. This however doesn't put you in the most comfortable of situations. But I wanted to run it by you first. If you agree to it, then combined you and I will convince Viking. If it would make you too uncomfortable or nervous or scared we can always hope Carter finds this other guy." Gwen watched her expectantly.

Adrenaline pumped Mia's blood a mile a second. Her brain raced around in circles. She did not want to be anywhere near that being. She did not want anything to do with it.

It did seem as though this plan might be a viable idea. Provided the cavalry came in time. The last thing she needed was for this thing to scratch her. She didn't want to do it. She wanted there to be another way. She wanted to go back to her normal everyday life.

Shaking that last thought from her head, she focused on Gwen. "This is happening very fast. Let's give Carter twenty-four hours to find this guy. If he hasn't found him by tomorrow night then we can revisit this plan and discuss it with Viking, Raider and Poet. I don't want to go off halfcocked without consulting them. Plus, we would have to talk to the MPs because we don't know if they can keep that thing from jumping to somebody far away once it realizes it's a trap." Mia congratulated herself on keeping her voice level the entire time.

Gwen gave her a funny look. It was almost as if Gwen expected her to jump at the chance to put yourself in harm’s way. Part of Mia was frustrated and part of her was almost embarrassed with herself. It was clear what Gwen would've done it if situations were reversed. But Mia was a more careful thought out person. While she had a wacky sense of humor and enjoyed doing things on the fly, anything that required serious thought got serious thought.

Gwen finally nodded. "All right, in twenty-four hours we'll revisit this. It'll probably be less than twenty-four hours. That way we can have everything planned out at the twenty-four hour mark." With that she walked away.

Mia had a sneaking suspicion Viking knew nothing about this plan. There was no way the Viking she knew would've signed off on something like this. It made her wonder exactly how things ran around here.

Mia went back to stocking books. But the zen it brought her before seem to allude her now. She had a sense of warning. As if her subconscious was trying to tell her something not so great was coming. It wasn't like the worry she felt earlier. It was almost as if something shifted and now was different.

Taking a deep breath she stopped stacking the books and closed her eyes. She concentrated on that feeling, trying to center on it and find out where it came from. Her aunt walked her through how to do this maybe a dozen times. If she could concentrate well enough, zoom in her attention enough, she could usually get a better sense of what caused the feeling of dread. She focused on nothing except her breathing. Counting out her breaths so her inhaling and exhaling were even. Once she felt the sense of calm washing over her she concentrated on that little graying of negativity. She zoomed in on it as if with a magnifying glass. The closer she got, the bigger it felt. Then she began to see a flicker of images.

They were weak, as usual. She could just barely make out what was going on. As she watched, she saw herself. She wasn't inside her own body. Not as such. She watched as she walked over to Viking, Raider, and a Warrior she didn't recognize. Viking greeted, her arms outstretched, and she felt a little pang of affection in her chest. As she watched, the other her held a dagger behind her back. It looked wicked and sharp with writing scrolled on it that Mia couldn't read. When her body was close enough to Viking the blade slashed out across his throat. She watched as the other ‘her’ backed up out of range of his arms.

The look of shock on his face hurt Mia. The other ‘her’ quickly slashed at the other two Warriors while they were still surprised. Before running.

Mia stayed floating behind, watching the Warriors grab at their throats. She couldn't really hear what they said but the one part she did catch was something about not healing like they should. Then Raider mentioned symbols on the dagger.

Mia quickly put two and two together. Whatever was on that dagger must've been some kind of spell that made it possible to actually injure Warriors. As she watched, they continued to bleed out. From what she understood they should've been able to heal.

But their bodies couldn't seem to overpower the magic. She watched in horror as the man she was coming to care for died in front of her. She began to reach out to him knowing she wouldn't be able to touch him when she felt something rip her back from the vision.

She shrieked and jumped. As she spun around she saw Viking standing behind her. Not the Viking from the dream but the actual man. Her heart raced so fast she panted. She watched as the smile on his face disappeared, worry and confusion replaced it.

"What? What is it? What happened?"

Mia couldn't seem to form words. She reached out and grabbed his upper arms to study of herself. She tried to concentrate on simply breathing normally. Even though she could hear her heartbeat in her ears.

It took her several tries before her vocal cords seemed to work again. "I just, I just watched you die."

She didn't know a way around it. He needed to know what she had seen. The only way, the only hope, she had of changing it was to warn him.

The look that flashed across his face seemed close to disbelief. But then he seemed to take her more seriously when he saw how shaken she was. His face settled on a worried expression and he grabbed her arms as well. Creating a circuit, as if trying to comfort her and keep her at arms like at the same time.

"What do you mean, you just watched me die?" It was spoken very slowly and very deliberately. As if he was weighing out each word before saying it.

Mia used all of her energy in an effort to keep her voice level. "Sometimes I see things. I have to put effort into seeing them. They usually start out as a sense of an emotion whether that be joy, surprise, fear, anger. This time it was a sense of foreboding. So I concentrated on it until I could see what caused it."

Viking's grip on her arms tightened ever so slightly. "Wait, you can see the future? You are that strong of a sensitive?"

Mia shook her head. Impatient at the interruption. "No, the future is never definite. I only see a possibility. I take it as, this will happen unless you change it. I'm hoping by me telling you, it qualifies as me changing it." She watched him for a moment to see if he would interrupt again.

His hands began caressing her arms rather than grabbing them. "You and I have a lot to talk about as far as this is concerned. I might be able to help you harness, control, and grew your gifts if you wish. My mother could do something very similar to what you're talking about. And if I could help ease this for you, I would appreciate if you would let me. However, I know there are bigger problems at hand. So we will table this for later. Please continue with what you saw."

Mia wasn't entirely sure how she felt about almost being dismissed. Not dismissed exactly, but having him decide she could continue. She set that feeling aside. It was not pertinent at this moment.

"When I concentrated I watched myself walk up to you, Raider, and a Warrior I do not know. I walked up to you and you were happy to see me. The ‘me’ I saw used that opportunity, that vulnerability, to take out a dagger with symbols on it and slash you across your neck. She did this to both Raider and the other Warrior as well. Then she ran away.

"I stayed and watched as none of you healed. In fact, the other guy made a comment about how you should be healing. But you weren’t. Then you startled me as I watched the three of you bleeding out." There were so many emotions swirling inside Mia she couldn't pick just one. Part of her wanted to cry, part of her was angry, part of her just wanted to be held and told everything would be okay.

Viking stared just over her shoulder for what seemed like three or four minutes. Finally, he drew his gaze back to her. "Would you be able to describe this other Warrior?"

Shaking her head Mia apologized. "I'm sorry. But no. It wasn't quite clear enough. It’s simply because I know what you and Raider look like that I was able to register they were you."

"All right, go back over the entire thing. But I don't want you to talk about the major points. Describe to me what clothes you see, what scenery, and any details that might pinpoint this exact event. And just so you don't panic, you didn't actually see us bleed out. For all you know an MP could've saved us."

She knew it was an empty comfort. That he only said those words to make her feel better. That he didn't believe them. But she appreciated the effort.

She then closed her eyes and repeated back to him every detail she could think up. It seemed to be night. They were outside on the street in a residential area she didn't know. She tried to remember every detail she could from the picture. As she concentrated on it, she felt it fading, like it always did if she thought too hard on it. Once she got all the details she thought she'd be able, to she opened her eyes and looked at him again.

Grabbing her tight into a hug, Viking began to stroke her back. At first he started speaking in a language she didn't know.

But after a few words he switched over to English. "Everything is going to be fine. I'm assuming this is supposed to happen soon because you did not describe us as looking any different. Or describe yourself as looking any older. Not that you would age very much now that we’re mated."

Mia could almost hear the frown but didn't comment.

There was a sigh above her head, she felt some of her hair move in the slight breeze it created.

"Also, from my understanding of when Warriors mate, by the time the first stage of meeting is through, which is about the first year, the Warrior and his mate are so connected I would be able to tell if you were not, how do I say this, yourself. So this event is supposed to happen within the next year. That gives us a timeline. That is something to work with." His voice was so calming Mia could tell he had years of practice.

Though he had a point. Only part of her found it comforting. She didn't want to be on alert for the next year just in case something happened.

They stood like that for several minutes. Before Mia remembered what happened before Viking approached her.

She didn't feel like moving from the comfort of Viking’s chest so instead she spoke from where she was. "Is there any news on Carter finding the coffee shop guy?"

When he stiffened she knew it was something she said. A split second before he spoke she realized, as far as he was concerned, she didn't know anything about Carter going to find the missing sensitive.

"Did Gwen tell you that?"

Mia simply nodded, afraid to respond any more than that.

All of the muscles in his chest against her face seemed to relax again. "All I've heard is he wasn't at work. But Carter did get a home address. So there is hope he might find this guy tonight. He also got a name, Douglas Masters."

Mia felt her whole body relax with that news. If they could find this guy. Get him to talk to them. Then there would be no need for Gwen's backup plan.

The arms around her loosened and began to push her back a little so Viking could look her in the face. "There is nothing more we can do at this moment. How about you and I go up to my apartment and settle in for the night by watching a movie. I'm sure we can find at least one you wouldn't be opposed to watching. Perhaps we'll get lucky and just as we’re settling in Carter will tell us he's headed our way."