Viking Sensitivity (Night World Series Book 2) (9 page)

Chapter 9

The morning began like any other. Well not exactly like any other. Mia spent the morning thinking about the visitor she had the night before. She woke up from the dream an hour before her alarm went off and had not been able to get back to sleep. All she had done was lay in bed and think about all the information Poet dumped in her lap. Every time she tried to convince herself it was all a dream and none of it was real, her subconscious would point out she knew he was in her dream and he was real. That sent her in a spiral all over again. When her alarm rang Mia pulled herself out of bed and went about her morning routine.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened as she parked her car outside the shop and made her way to the coffee shop diagonally across the shopping center from her store. There was a line, just like every other morning, there were people milling about in the store as always. But one person tugged at Mia's consciousness. The warning bells went off before she even looked at him. It was hard to explain. It almost felt like he was trying to get her attention without actually doing anything. After she ordered her coffee she finally glanced over at him.

He sat at one of the small circular tables. He had short platinum blonde, spiked hair and a leather jacket fitting snugly over his shoulders. That was all Mia could see other than the fact that his dark brown eyes were boring into her. The smile on his face looked as if it was filled with venom.

Mia immediately looked away. The last thing she needed was the attention of a crazy person. She had to open the shop and Amanda wouldn't be in for another half hour. That meant she would be alone in the shop. The last thing she needed was some crazy guy following her to work. She did her best to ignore him as she waited for her drink. She kept hoping he would lose interest in her but she could feel him still watching.

She grabbed her drink and made bee-lined out of the store. She was about a third of the way across the parking lot when she knew he followed her. She began to panic. Her breathing became shallow and she tried to concentrate. She knew she had pepper spray in the bottom of her purse. Shifting her coffee to her right hand she took her left and unzipped the bag trying her best not to be obvious as she reached her hand in and began searching for the thin cylinder.

"What's your hurry?" The man said.

Mia found the pepper spray. Her fingers curled around the cylinder as she pulled it out of her purse. She curled her hand so the pepper spray was in line with her chest. She flipped the switch to open it.

Then she responded. "Go away I'm not interested in anything you are selling." With that she sped up.

"Now, now that wasn't polite. Your fear not only smells wonderful, but gives you away. I told you we'd be seeing each other again. Did you doubt me? I wasn't able to pay you a visit last night. You threw me off with that spell of yours. It appears I underestimated your resources. Don't worry it won't happen again. I'll just have to take to visiting you in person. But don't worry it won't be suspicious to anyone. No one will know. It will be our little secret." His steps came faster.

She was breathing so hard she was worried she might pass out but she pushed her body to start to jog across the remainder of the parking lot. If she could just get into the shop she could lock the door behind her and call the cops.

His words set off warning bells in her head. They were screaming like sirens. She didn't know how. She didn't know why but she was positive the man behind her was the being from her dreams two nights ago. Adrenaline was shooting through her system, being chased around by fear at those thoughts. She didn't know how he could've found her but he had. She hadn't known he was a human. She had thought he was something else.

As she hopped up on the curb she ripped her keys from her pocket, spilling a little bit of the burning coffee on her hand. She didn't have time to do more than cringe at the burn she felt. She shoved her key into the lock and opened the door. She practically threw herself into the shop before shutting and locking the door behind. She was panting from the sprint across the last part. She had known taking out her key would eat up some time and running was the only option she could think of.

As she threw everything on the counter but the pepper spray she could hear nothing but blood pumping in her ears. Her system so high on adrenaline she couldn't breathe normally. She watched as the man came up to the door. He stood about a foot away from it and smiled at her. It was menacing. Without looking away she blindly threw her free hand over the counter. Moving it around searching for the cordless phone. It was a glass door so she could easily hear him chuckling on the other side.

"I found you, did I not? Do you really think something so small and glass could stop me? You are naïve little girl."

Mia's hand finally hit the back of the phone sitting behind the counter. She only looked down long enough to dial nine-one-one. She watched the man make a fist and throw it towards the door. Before she could hit the last one she was surprised when his fist stopped not an inch from the glass. There was a flash of light from the door that surrounded his fist. The man howled, curling his fist into his chest. Before he could cover it with his other hand Mia could see it was burned.

The man looked at his hand before taking a step back. "You little witch. You may think you're clever putting wards around the building. But you have to leave some time. Then I'll be waiting. And you will not be expecting me. Because I'll have a different face next time." He glared at her for a moment more before growling, spinning on his heels and heading back across the parking lot.

Mia heard sobbing before she even registered she had started to cry. She quickly pressed the last one and waited as the phone rang.

When an operator came over the line she repeated the whole story. Leaving out the dream. She also left out that the glass burned his hand. The dispatcher said she was sending a car over to the shop now. Officers would be there to take her statement shortly. The dispatcher also mentioned they would have patrol cars go through the parking lot regularly to make sure he didn't come back. It took about three tries before Mia could convince the dispatcher that she would be okay to hang up.

Once she succeeded she immediately called her aunt. Mia could feel her aunt tense through the phone as she started to relay what just happened. As soon as she finished, her aunt informed her that she was on her way to the shop. She would be calling Charlie as soon as they hung up. Both women would be there within the next half hour. She also told Mia to keep the closed sign on and the door locked until the cops arrived. She told her to type up a sign saying due to a family emergency the shop would be closed today. Then told her to inform her employees. Mia couldn't bring herself to argue. There were no events scheduled for the day that would need to be canceled.

So instead when she hung up with her aunt she called each of her employees and told them not to bother coming into work today. They’d both questioned her, asking if things were okay. Mia merely went over the same set of events she related to the dispatcher. Both wanted to come in and be with her but she was able to convince them not to.

Once off the phone she made the sign and waited. She sat on the stool behind the counter staring out the windows that made up the front of the shop. Though she was breathing normally again her heart still hadn't slowed down to a normal beat. She checked the clock behind the counter on the wall to her right. It was almost ten-twenty. She had expected the police to show up before then. She began fiddling with things behind the counter to keep herself occupied but she kept looking at the clock. Finally at almost ten-forty a black SUV and a cop car pulled into the parking spots next to her Prius.

Two cops in uniform got out of the cop car. One male one female; neither looked older than thirty-five. They stood at the front of the cop car and waited for whoever was in the SUV. A moment later the SUV door opened and a man of average height with dark brown hair stepped out of the car. He walked over to the two officers and Mia could see the hand gestures he was making but she couldn't make out most of the words. He seemed to be telling them to canvas the shopping area. Once both officers nodded and headed off down the strip the man from the SUV came walking up to her door.

When he was a foot from the glass he pulled his badge out of his jacket pocket. He put it up against the glass and spoke loud enough for her to hear him. "Mia Jones? My name is Lieutenant Carter Tuckman. I've got my badge up to the door so you can see my badge number. If you would like, feel free to call dispatch and have them check my number and reference it with my name so you'll know I'm legitimate." The whole time he spoke there was no inflection or expression on his face. As if he was trying the best he could to stay calm and nonthreatening.

Mia grabbed the phone and walked to the door. She did exactly what he suggested and checked his badge number. While most of her trusted him because he wanted her to check, a part of her wasn't sure she should be trusting strangers at all. When it checked out and the dispatcher told her he was indeed the officer coming to the scene she thanked the woman hung up before unlocking the door.

As he walked in he gave her a gentle smile. "Good morning, Miss. Jones. I would like to start by letting you know that I am friends with Viking and Gwen. I say this not to alarm you but just to let you know about what is happening.

"I was actually on my way here to speak to you when I heard over the radio about your call. Gwen mentioned to me you might be in danger and asked if I would mind checking out the area where your shop is located just in case. She wasn't expecting anything. She just wanted me to be familiar with the area. And familiar with you. She also mentioned she would appreciate it if I could send patrol cars by every once in a while to check on you. She mentioned that you were going to be at her shop this morning so imagine my surprise when your call came in. So unless you have any questions, why don't you tell me exactly what happened?"

Mia almost felt herself slip back into shock. She was so surprised by the Lieutenant's confession that she just stared at him a moment. How had Gwen known she would be in trouble? It didn't make any sense. She had so many questions but she knew the man in front of her wouldn't be able to give her answers. She could only get them from Gwen later today. How had so much landed on her plate in the course of one day.

"Lieutenant, How do I know what should and should not be on the record?" She couldn't believe what she was saying. Mia had never been one to think about lying to a cop.

Carter smiled. "Don't worry about that. That's my job. You tell me what actually happened and I'll put in the report what the police should think happened. Nothing can endanger you. But it is best if I know what we are really up against."

Mia let out a deep breath and proceeded to let out the whole story starting with the dreams than skipping ahead to the man in the parking lot. It sounded like she never took a breath the entire time she explained the story. She could feel her heart racing again just talking about.

Carter sat quietly nodding the entire time she spoke. He had a comforting presence about him which helped her maintain control. When she finished he seemed to be waiting, as if making sure.

"Do you know what he meant by different face?" It was the only question he seemed to have.

Mia just shook her head.

Carter looked over his shoulder with a puzzled frown. Then he took out a notebook and started scribbling.

Mia couldn't quite read what the Lieutenant wrote. He had terrible handwriting.

Once he seemed to be done he looked up at her again. "So this MP friend of yours" he looked down his notepad and flipped the page before looking back up again. "Charlie, put wards around the building and that is what you think stopped him from coming into the shop?"

Mia nodded again. "Yes, that is the only thing I can think of that would've stopped him. Since he didn't seem to have an aversion to glass before that."

Nodding he tapped the pencil he was using against the pad of paper. "Either Gwen or I will need to talk to Charlie. Someone's going to need to know what spell she was using so we know how it worked and why. Then we will have a better idea about what we are dealing with."

"That won't be a problem. Charlie and I are supposed to be at Gwen's shop at eleven."

Mia took the opportunity to look at the clock. There was no way she was going to make it up to Gwen's store by eleven. It would take thirty minutes in good traffic and here it was ten till.

Mia looked out the front window in time to see both Charlie and her aunt pulling in one after the other. Her aunt jumped out of the car first and didn't wait for Charlie. Instead she ran towards the door to the shop and opened it. Not losing any momentum until she had her arms around Mia.

Charlie moved at a much more sedate pace. When Mia looked at her over her aunt's shoulder she could see Charlie was watching the Lieutenant warily. She made her way into the shop and stood a few feet from Mia and her aunt.

"This is certainly an interesting turn of events."

Mia wasn't sure why, but she knew Charlie wasn't talking about her attack. Charlie was talking about Lieutenant Tuckman. Mia knew she was missing something but at that moment she didn't particularly care.

The Lieutenant stood up and nodded to Charlie. "If you wouldn't mind I'd like to speak to you in private please." He moved across the store.