Viking Sensitivity (Night World Series Book 2) (26 page)

It was almost as if Viking could hear her thoughts again. "We don't need to be here. Rain told the cops it was simply the three of them there. So we should leave before the EMTs show up. Gwen and the MPs are already on their way back."

Mia didn't have a response so she didn't acknowledge Viking’s words. He didn't seem to mind though which she appreciated. The ride back to the shop was completely silent. Her brain wasn't even functioning enough to come up with thoughts. She almost felt numb. When they parked at the building, in the back, Viking turned to her before opening his door.

"I'm going to make sure you get into my apartment. And into bed. Then I'm going to go tie up some loose ends. Once I've done that I'll be up to join you."

Mia just nodded and opened the door. When they met around the front of the car he put his arm around her again. Mia was simply too tired to be touched by the gesture. Intellectually she knew this was the sort of thing she should be enjoying. But she just didn't have it in her.

He unlocked the back door and opened it for her. Stepping back with the door so she could go in first. She walked inside and blinked at the fluorescent lighting. She felt the headache to end all headaches pounding in her head. It was horrible. The fluorescent lights did not help any. As Viking closed the door behind her she turned to him.

"I don't know whether it's the stress, the adrenaline, or the switching from the night to bright lights but I've got a migraine brewing. Do you have anything for that?"

Viking looked at her with worry. "I don't, Warriors don't get headaches. But Gwen does. I'll let you into the apartment and go get something from hers and come back down. That way you can take it before lying down."

Mia smiled. And it was genuine. "Thank you."

He smiled back at her before putting his arm on the small of her back, guiding her towards the stairs. They went up the stairs slowly and steadily. Mia didn't have it in her to go a normal or hurried pace.

When they reached his floor Viking walked in front of her so that he could open the door for her. When she stepped inside he motioned for her to stay put and shut the door behind her. She heard it lock and heard him walk away from the door. When they first arrived he had her drop off her duffel bag in the front room. She walked towards it now and picked it up before heading down the hallway.

She headed for the master bedroom because she knew Viking would have it no other way. While she waited, she changed into a pair of shorts with cartoons on them and a long tank top. She sat on the edge of the bed in the dark when she heard the front door open and Viking call from the front room.

"Mia? Where are you?"

"I'm in the bedroom." Mia shouted.

There was some rustling and she heard water running then footsteps coming towards her. She watched as the hall light turned on. While there was no happy feeling she did appreciate that he left the light in the room off. She saw him fill the doorway. A cup in one hand something in the palm of the other.

"Here, take these and drink the whole glass."

Mia did as she was told as fast as possible. Gulping down the water. She handed him the glass and he set it on the night table next to where she sat.

"This way, if you need more water you already have a glass. You can get it from the bathroom sink. Now go ahead and lie down before I head out."

Sleep sounded like a wonderful idea. Mia ripped back the roughly made covers and swung her legs into the bed. Viking stood next her, pulling the blankets over her. She registered that she should find the gesture endearing but the emotion just didn't pop up. He bent down and kissed her forehead.

"Good night Mia. Hopefully you will be asleep by the time I come back up here."

She forced herself to give a soft smile as a reply. Then she watched him turn and leave the room. Turning off the light in the hallway as he went.

It wasn't long before Mia felt herself drifting off to sleep.

Chapter 18

Viking told Raider to order all their people out in the field to guard the Sensitives. In the end, as it turned out, there was a pair of Night Worlders per sensitive. The other seven people had come back to the shop to try and figure out a new course of action.

When he entered the lounge there were already ten people waiting for him. None of them looked pleased. Not even Poet cracked a joke as he walked through the door.

"Does anybody have an idea about how this thing escaped? How it knew Mia had that medallion? And how we can catch it?"

Barrett stretched from where he and Marco sat at one of the tables. "I can tell you how he escaped. We didn't have time to put full wards on the building. To put wards on the building that prevents the being from breaking the glass and escaping through it, essentially keeping it in the building, would've taken hours. We didn't even have one.

"As for how it sensed the medallion: that I'm not sure. Marco and I have talked about it and it shouldn't have noticed it. The only thing I can guess is that it noticed itself being cut off from the others and realized we had set it up. As for tracking it. It isn't as if it leaves a slime trail for us to follow. We either have to wait until it strikes again or take the medallions away from the people he's connected to and hope he circles back to one of them. But good luck getting those medallions back from some of them."

It wasn't exactly what Viking wanted to hear. They needed a way to defeat this thing. Even if it wasn't part of the rebellion it could still cause them problems if it got an army of Sensitives together. They couldn't risk it. They had to find it somehow.

He turned to Gwen. There was a flash of pain when he looked at her. His sister's descendant. All this time Viking had family alive. And he hadn't known it. Now that he was passed the Maddening, those feelings were creeping in. The understanding that his strong connection to Gwen wasn’t simply because of their time spent together but some deep familial connection.

On top of that, his nephew was alive. He wanted all of this to be over as soon as possible so he could book a plane ticket to see his nephew. To see his nephew as a grown man and to meet his wife. For his nephew to meet Mia.

He mentally pushed all those thoughts aside, parting them like a curtain. Dwelling on that would not help him now. He needed to concentrate on saving Mia. On saving all of the Sensitives. It made him angry that this being chose his mate as its target.

"Can you track it somehow?"

Gwen's eyes narrowed slightly and she pursed her lips. She just stared at him for several seconds. He could almost see the wheels in her head turning.

"Maybe." She said hesitantly. "Just not in the traditional sense. I know enough about its energy I might be able to ask around about it and see if anybody knows where it might be. But that's the best I'll be able to do. If it has fled the area or if it's not from the area and nobody knows it, we might be stuck. I'll see what I can do. I'll start as soon as this meeting breaks up."

Hope sprung up and Viking tried hard not to count on it. While it would be great if Gwen could find this being so they could track it down, he didn't want to rely too heavily on it.

"Does anyone else have any ideas?" Viking looked around the room.

No one responded. Only shuffling glances between everybody.

"Has anyone suggested to kill all the Sensitives yet?" Deuce asked smiling.

Marco scoffed. "Yeah I did, didn't go over well. Pretty sure we're not going with that one."

Deuce snorted then leaned back in his chair and put his hat over his face.

Viking wanted them to be serious. But he understood even though the other men kidded around they would've suggested serious ideas if they had one. Though with Deuce's history, he might have been at least partially serious.

This didn't bode well. He didn't like the idea of waiting for this being to attack Mia in order for them to do something. It brought on flashbacks of the early years with Gwen. Viking always preferred to be on the offense and then the defenses. He felt as if there was something they could be doing to prepare themselves.

"Okay, well if no one has anything else constructive let's break this up. Raider, check in with the groups will you? Everyone else tell your individual groups they need to be on the lookout for this kind of thing. While no one will be able to identify it, at least we can be looking out for weird behavior. Gwen, go ahead and start looking. Let me know if you find anything. I'm going to call King and let him know where we stand."

There were various murmurs as people departed. Viking didn't stay to see if anyone had questions for him. Normally he would have stayed and babysat Gwen. But in this particular instance he had to call Cesar. He would rely on Poet to look out for her. He knew the other man would protect Gwen with his life.

Viking walked down the hallway and into the small office. He shut the door behind him and locked it so no one else could walk in on the conversation before dialing Cesar's direct line. The other man picked up after two rings.

"It is quite late, Viking. And I still have not heard from my wife that she is going to bed. This cannot be a good sign."

Viking relay the events since he last spoke to Cesar, keeping his tone as plain as possible. He knew the king was not going to like his news. Viking hadn't even finished when Cesar started cursing.

"There truly is no other way to screw this up. Do I need to come out there? Or Roman? Or Apollo?"

Viking shook his head before answering. Even though Cesar couldn't see him. "No there's nothing any of you could do if you were here. We would still be in the same boat just with more power."

"So Gwen is searching for this being as we speak?" He didn't sound entirely happy with that idea.

"Correct. I believe Poet is with her. So hopefully she does not endanger herself too much. Once I'm off the phone with you I am going to check on Mia then go down and sit with Gwen while she searches. Even though she won't be able to communicate with me easily she should still be able to do some mentally. Hopefully we can find this thing and Gwen will be able to banish it to the Spirit World and we will be done with it."

There was a pause as if Cesar was weighing his words. "You do not sound as if you believe this is a likely outcome."

Viking sighed. The last few days were wearing on him. "I don't know how likely it is. It seems a bit like a longshot. She wasn't able to do it before. So the likelihood she would be able to accomplish it now seems slim. But we don't really have other options. If you can think of something Cesar, by all means, let me know. But right now it's almost as if our only course of action is to sit and wait. Which I hate about as much is you do."

The pause was longer this time. "I am afraid my friend I do not have an alternate course of action for you. I wish that I did. If Gwen cannot find this thing or get some sort of lead, the only thing I can think of is querying the MPs in the kingdom and seeing if any of them know some way of tracking something like this. I will send out Warriors now to different MPs we know are of a certain level of strength. That way they get to them first thing in the morning. If any of them has an idea I want it as soon as possible. I will be in touch with you late morning tomorrow if we get any information."

Viking said his goodbye to Cesar before they hung up. Viking stood in the office for several moments. He couldn't decide whether he hoped Gwen found the being first or if he hoped an MP would have some miraculous way of beating it. Both seemed like a longshot. He didn't like their odds. Cracking his neck, he opened the door and headed for the staircase. If he could even just look at Mia even as she slept it would help him.

He felt guilty. His world endangered Mia. Although his association with her is not what put her in danger he couldn't help but feel guilty. She was a kind, funny woman who deserved better than to be afraid of some being hunting her down. He didn't think he could ever give her the picket fence and all that. Though he wasn't even sure if that was what she wanted.

He opened the door to his apartment and before his mind even registered it his senses told him something was wrong. His power reached out to her almost automatically and found the apartment empty.

Panic and anger sliced through him as he ran to the back of the apartment. The bedroom was empty. He searched every room and the balcony. She was nowhere to be found.

Before panic totally took him he had a moment's thought that this must've been how Cesar felt when Gwen had gone on non-corporeal.

He did the only thing he could think of. He shouted down to Gwen. "
Gwen, I need you to track down Mia. She's gone from the apartment. I don't know whether she left of her own free will or not. Although I don't know how someone could have broken in here.
"

It took a second but then he felt Gwen's connection before she responded. "
I'm out searching give me a second to get myself closer.
"

Viking waited impatiently before he finally decided he couldn't stand around the apartment and do nothing. He ran downstairs into the lounge. When he didn't see Gwen or Poet he ran up to the top floor and let himself into her apartment. When he walked in he saw Poet reading a book in the living room. The other man gave him a curious look. Before he could make a snide remark Viking spoke over him.

"Mia is missing."

Poet snapped his book shut and stood up. "I assume you're here to speak to Gwen then. Scratch that. I'm assuming you are here because you have already spoken to Gwen."

Viking only nodded as he walked past the man to Gwen's bedroom. Both men stood in the doorway and watched Gwen's prone form. She lay on the bed under the blankets. To all the world looking as if she was sleeping. But Viking knew better. He was only there a second or two before he heard Gwen.

"
All right I'm starting from the beginning. I see you with Poet in the doorway. I'm going to search the building.
" There was a long pause it felt too long for Viking's comfort but he knew he couldn't rush this.

"
She's not in the building. I am going to start circling. Each circle will be wider and wider until I come across her
."

The pause was longer this time. He knew it was bad when there were several curses before she acknowledged him.

"
This is bad Viking. Very bad. She's a mile south. Moving fast. She stole one of the shop vehicles. I'm not sure how she found the key. She's not speeding. You can still catch her. But you need to take at least two people with you. That thing. That thing we’re so worried about catching, ironically, is with her. It's in her. Don't ask me how. But it's there. I can see it hovering around her like a shell. If you can bring her back here. And we get her in the interrogation room. We can work on trying to get it out of her.
"

Viking sprinted for the door. He was touching the knob when he yelled at Poet over his shoulder "Stay here with Gwen. Make sure she stays okay." Then he dashed downstairs.

He ran back in to the lounge. Where he'd last seen Raider. He got lucky and both MPs were there as well. It looked like they were about to leave.

He pointed at all three of them. "You're coming with me. That thing has Mia and she's driving south. I have no idea where she's going. We are going to catch her to drag her back here so Gwen can remove that thing from her. So help me if that thing hurts her because that medallion didn't work I'm going to have both your hides." He left the room without waiting for a response. Assuming the other men would follow him.

Sure enough when he reached the car and unlocked the doors both MPs got in the back as Raider hopped in the passenger seat. Viking was frustrated his mate connection was not strong enough for him to be able to track her himself.

He reached out to Gwen as he turned on the car and pulled out of the parking lot. "
Where is she now?"

"
Still south. But she's moved parallel to the freeway. She's not getting on four-o-five. Which seems counterproductive. She's about six miles south now. She's started driving recklessly. I am not sure where she's headed. But it looks like it might be in Renton. I'll let you know if that changes."

Viking dodged in and out of traffic. He hopped on the freeway. It was a gamble but he figured if she was headed to Renton he might be able to make up some time if he could drive faster than her.

Then Viking had an idea. “She’s in one of the company vehicles. Raider, call Poet and have them track it. We have GPS on those things. He should be up to tell us exactly where it is."

"I can do one better. I downloaded the app to track them on my phone on a whim two weeks ago. Let me log on and I can track her."

Out of the corner of his eye Viking could see Raider pulling out his phone and tapping the screen. After a minute or two of silence he made a celebratory noise.

"Got her. She's headed south. It looks like she's getting on the freeway. You might catch up with her. She's getting on two entrances south of us. Although I'm not sure if the freeway is the best time to pull her over. It might be best to watch and see where she's going."

Viking growled. He agreed, but at the same time he didn't like the idea of that thing being in his mate any longer than possible.