It was yet another ability Mia heard of people doing that she hadn't experienced herself. Although this one she heard several others say they could do. She couldn't help but be more interested in what those two were doing than in the interrogation at hand. In an attempt to focus, she queued back into the conversation.
"No man, there isn't any warning. It just sort of springs on you. And there's nothing you can do about it. I met a couple people who have the same problem. But as for if he prefers, well I guess technically, it, but the voice I heard in my head was a he, a specific body I have no idea. I don't know of anybody who has to deal with him more often than anyone else. But then I don't think I've met everybody."
That did not sound like good news to Mia. If this being didn't prefer one body over all the others it was going to be harder to catch. Since this thing didn't seem to take much in order to travel it would be hard for them to track all of the bodies it inhabited fast enough. There had to be another way as far as Mia was concerned.
Mia listened on and off but this guy didn't give any truly new information. Mia could tell the others were disappointed. To Mia, at least, it appeared Carter and Deuce were stalling while Gwen searched for what she was needed. Barrett left the room already and now it all came down to Gwen. After a while it was almost as if Mia saw the other woman fall back into her body.
Gwen suddenly undulated, similar to a snake, and took a gasping breath. The noise was so sudden it startled the man sitting in the chair. He jumped and looked behind the chair. All Gwen did was smile before leaving the room. Viking brushed past Mia and headed for the door. As soon as he opened it Mia could see Gwen on the other side.
"Did you get it?"
Gwen shook her head. "Not exactly. I was able to track down the rest of the web. I have an approximation of where all the other people are that this being hitches rides on. There are seven more total. If we can give talismans to at least six of those and all the ones we have here today we should be good. Or at least have it cornered. My only fear is how strong it will be if it's only cornered in one person."
Viking stood in silence a moment as if debating his options. "All right, Raider," Viking looked over his shoulder. "Go with Gwen. Map out the locations of all these people. As soon as the MPs can create these talisman I want enough for all of them, as well as the ones we have here and Mia. I also want an extra few to be safe. We’re going to divvy up the Warriors to each of the locations you two get. We're going to track these people down one by one. We'll give them this protective thing, whatever it ends up being. The last person will be where we corner this being. Whoever that poor soul maybe."
Jerking his head in the affirmative Raider brushed past them out into the hall. He and Gwen started off in the direction of the lounge. Viking let the door shut behind them.
"That sounded hopeful. That sounded like we've made a good stride, or good progress. Am I right?" Mia asked as she watched Viking's back.
He turned around to look at her with a small smile on his face. "Well, it's definitely progress. But not necessarily how we'll ultimately beat it. We have to find a way to get it to that last body. I still have to talk to the MPs about whether they can do some kind of spell to corner the being into that one body, or into one building. And we just have to hope Gwen can control it."
Mia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You could use me as bait. Pick one person ahead of time that way you can control where the being will be centered. We will make it seem like I'm interested in joining them. That should get the being's attention right?"
"Absolutely not." Viking snapped.
Anger flashed through his whole body as she watched. Mia felt herself soften at the thought that he cared enough to want to protect her. Steeling herself she stood her ground. There was shuffling behind her but Mia didn't turn.
"If we are there to watch her, it could be a good plan." It was Poet. His tone surprisingly serious.
"I said no." Viking enunciated every syllable.
Reaching out to touch his arm Mia regained his attention. She tried to ignore the little tingled touching him caused. "If you are nearby I should be perfectly safe. Just not close enough for the being to sense you're there. But close enough to intervene if something happens. If we warn the person ahead of time what we're doing then maybe we can come up with some kind of plan. I think it could work but only if we all do it together and we're careful."
Mia watched the war on Viking's face. He didn't bother to hide any of the emotions from her. She watched as part of him registered it was a good idea. But at the same time he didn't want to endanger his mate any more than she already was. After what was probably only a minute or two but seemed much longer he finally opened his mouth.
"Let me discuss it with the Raider, the MPs, and Gwen. If they can all do their part to make you as safe as possible then it could be doable. But I'm not going to endanger you if anyone has a better idea. And I don't want you endangering yourself unnecessarily."
She didn't know how but Mia and knew there was an unsaid comment in there. That he appreciated her mentioning the plan to him instead of following through with it without consulting him. That led Mia to believe that exact thing probably happened more often than not with Gwen. In that moment she wasn't sure if she still liked the other woman. If Gwen caused grief to Viking over the years Mia wasn't sure she could stand by and watch that kind of thing continue.
"Okay, go discuss it with your team of experts. And get back to me on your course of action."
Viking watched her, longing plain on his face.
Finally, he frowned. "I think perhaps you should be there for this discussion. So you know what the outcome is. And you can also argue the merits of your case. And hear the counter arguments. Otherwise I might try to dissuade the others from going with this plan for purely selfish reasons."
Mia was a little bit surprised and touched she was actually going to be involved in negotiations. But since she wasn't sure if it was entirely appropriate to mention that out loud she simply nodded.
Viking tapped his earpiece to speak to the men in the other room. "We may have a plan. Continue questioning him. Anything you think might be helpful, let me know if there is anything useful. Craig and Poet will still be listening."
Both men simply nodded in response, they didn't even look at the glass. Since he seemed to have gotten an answer Viking opened the door quickly and walked out. Mia followed on his heels.
As soon as the door shut he turned and before she knew it he was directly in front of her. His arms wrapped around her and his chin rested on the top of her head.
"I do not think I can handle you endangering yourself. I am not just saying that because you are my mate. You are a beautiful, sexy, funny, caring woman that I am lucky to have. I can't lose you. It would kill me."
Silence stretched between them before Mia wrapped her arms around his waist. "It will be alright. It has to be."
She didn't have any other response to give him. She was falling for him too. But she couldn't appease him with another plan. There did not seem to be one.
Mia squeezed before letting go. Viking waited another second before doing the same. Grabbing her hand again he turned and continued down the hall.
Mia figured Viking would be going from room to room to hunt people down. She was surprised when they entered the lounge and all four people he would've been looking for were present. Though Gwen and Rader were at one table and the MPs at another. Both sets concentrating on whatever they had in front of them. However, when Viking in Mia entered the room they all looked up.
"Everyone, Mia approached me with an idea. I would appreciate if we did not do it. So I'm looking to you to find a different idea."
Gwen looked at Mia with a slightly surprised expression before looking back down at the table in front of her. It was as if she did not want to Viking to see her face.
"Her plan is that we work with one of the people we know is in contact with this being. We set it up so Mia and this pers
on are in the same place at the same time. We make it seem as if Mia tracked them down and wants to work with the being. As she does this we give the medallions Barrett and Marco are coming up with to everyone else. So the being has no choice but to inhabit the person Mia is bargaining with. She is thinking the combination of those two things would make it so we could corner this being. Then we could trap it from there. Either by Gwen vanquishing it or the MPs trapping it. I don't know which but I think we should be prepared for both. What are your thoughts?"
The room was quiet. Mia watched the MPs glanced at each other as if unsure whether they should respond or not. Finally, Barrett turned to face Viking.
"Well, if we know for sure the building or home we are trying to trap this thing in Marco and I can set a sort of trap on the building so it can come in but not leave. That would trap it. Mia's idea is sound in the sense it would anchor the being to a specific place. Give it an incentive to go to that person. But we don't know whether this thing stays in limbo when it's not with people or if it has to be in a person. If it has to be in a person then it won't matter if she's there or not. If it can be in limbo then she would have to be there because otherwise there's no incentive for the being to go anywhere. I think it would be better if Mia approached the person before we started handing out the medallions. That way it didn't sense the trap. As for how to vanquish the thing. Neither Barrett nor I, nor Lucia for that matter, know how to do that. It would take a good chunk of research to see if there is an MP that could. It would have to be Gwen."
With the MPs words everyone looked to Gwen. The woman stared down at the map in front of her for a beat longer before speaking. "I don't really know for sure if I can vanquish it or not. I don't usually know until the being is in front of me. I cannot say definitely one way or the other. I wish I could. But if the MPs can trap it in a building that is not regularly used, keep it there until we think of something. That might help"
Mia could tell no one in the room like that idea. Not that she blamed them. It did not seem safe to have a being this strong sitting around waiting in hopes they found a way to get rid of it. But maybe it was overkill. Maybe Gwen would be able to vanquish it.
"We could simply wait until it has taken over a whole bunch of Sensitives and then kill them all." Marco added.
When everyone in the room turned and frowned at him, he shrugged.
"What? He wanted a different idea. So I gave him a different idea. He didn't say anything about it being better."
Mia heard Viking give long-suffering sigh. "Do we have the locations of the others this being is in control of?"
Nodding, Raider spread his hands across the map. "Yes, we were able to narrow it down. Gwen was able to memorize what their domiciles looked like. So we should be able to hit all of them at home, if they are home. I would suggest sending three Night Worlders to each house.
"Which means we’re looking at rounding up at least twenty one willing people. Which might be tough considering I'm not even sure if any of the Weres know what's going on. I'm sure Carter and Craig each told their seconds, maybe even their thirds. But beyond that I don't know. We have seven Warriors here. All of which would be willing to go. I'm sure no one would have to convince Deuce, Native, Chinook, and Siberian. We could easily get them to help with this. The question becomes: can we find enough Weres to fill in the other half?"
Nodding, Viking looked determined. "Raider, check in with the Weres and see if they can come up with another ten people. If they can't, try calling on some of the other Warriors we have in the area. We've got to be able to scrounge up that many Night Worlders." Then he turned to the MPs. "Have you figured out the medallions yet? How long will it take you to come up with enough? I figure we should have a minimum of fifteen, just to be safe."
Marco lifted up one of the small coins they had scattered on the table in front of them. Now that Mia looked at it, it looked almost like a token a kid would use it Chuck E. Cheese. Completely harmless.
"We have it all figured out. We simply have to get the supplies together. We have enough in our travel supply bag to cover us for the moment. But we'll be charging you a restocking fee, as this is going to deplete a lot of the stuff we have. I think we will have them ready in about forty five minutes. Since we have to make sure we have each and every one completely working."
Viking folded his arms and straightened. Mia couldn't exactly see much of his face since she stood beside him. She could tell he wasn't thrilled with the plan at hand.
"Fine. Raider, tell everyone we will be rolling out in about an hour. And by ‘we’, I mean those of us with Mia. I expect everyone else to be at those locations as soon as possible. They are to each check in with you; letting you know they are there. Once they have all checked in, let me know and we'll move on with Mia's part of the plan. Let me know when you have everyone and you have divvied out their assignments." He finally turned to look at Mia.
Even though she was worried, her heart couldn't help but soften a little when his expression warmed as he looked at her.
"While they do all that. We will go see if our friend in the interrogation room is willing to play ball with us." He motioned for her to exit the room.
As she did he moved in step behind her, placing a comforting hand on her back. Mia wasn't sure who he was trying to comfort more, her or himself.
֍
Mia let out a sound of frustration. She couldn't help it. She couldn't remember the last time her meditative breathing didn't work. Currently, she sat in Viking's car, alone.
He had gotten out with the three Werewolves who followed in the car behind them. All she remembered about them was each of them were high in Carter's pack. Part of her felt bad for not registering their names. But she just didn't have it in her to concentrate.
The guy in the interrogation room, whose name Mia also never caught, agreed to help them with their plan. He had been almost excited at the prospect ridding himself of this being. It turned out they had gotten lucky. This guy only worked part time at the coffee shop as a favor to his cousin who owned it. His day job was as a real estate agent. So they sat about two blocks away from a half-empty commercial building.
They already had Mia call the other man making it sound as if she wanted to meet with him. Setting the story she heard about the interviews and had come to the realization this thing was so powerful she didn't think she could work against it. So she snuck out to meet him without the Warriors knowing. Since they had not known if the being could be listening or not they wanted to cover their bases. So now the real estate agent waited in the office building for Mia to show up.
It seemed like a long shot to Mia, now that the plan was in motion. She had been assured that the wards on the building Viking and the others lived in were strong enough that the being would not have heard their planning. But Mia couldn't help the small feeling that they had overlooked something. She knew it wasn't the time to second guess but she couldn't help it.
Mia waited for Viking to get back to her and give her the okay. He told her he would meet with the three Werewolves so they could all take different points around the building to watch and make sure no one came to give the being backup. There was a third car, a sedan of some kind with Gwen and both MPs parked behind the Werewolves. They were there in the hope that everything went according to plan.
Mia borrowed one of Gwen's hoodies. Luckily the thing had been very loose on Gwen so it fit Mia's longer torso. She had her hands in the front pocket rubbing the medallion the MPs gave her. She didn't know if she trusted this magical protection. Though she had seen it work before with Charlie. It almost seemed too good to be true that this little plastic coin would protect her from this big bad being.
The door opened and interrupted her thoughts. She was almost positive when Viking stuck his head into the car that she looked like a deer in headlights. That being said her heart sputtered a bit when he smiled at her.
"Everyone is in place. If you need another minute, by all means take it. I
don't want you rushing into this."
He put his hand out towards her, palm up. In it was a small earpiece like the one she had seen him wear. "Take this. It's dark enough outside no one should notice it. This way we'll know if you're in trouble. If you are in trouble but you don't want to be suspicious the code is book club. All four of us will know that means for us to converge on the building. And don't let the fact that there are only four of us fool you. All four of us can take on a lot of people. So one guy and one being is almost chump change. The four of us is overkill for that. Just remember, all you have to do is stall him for about fifteen minutes once you know the being is there. In that time all the medallions will be handed out and he will be trapped. Then the seven of us storm the building. Simply keep telling yourself, it is only fifteen minutes."
He gave her what she assumed was supposed to be a reassuring smile. But she could tell from his eyes he still worried.
Mia clutched the medallion so tight in her right hand she could feel the ridges pressing into her palm. Mia nodded, taking the earpiece and sliding it into her left ear. It was not as uncomfortable as she thought it would be.
When she stood outside she took a deep breath of night air. Even though it was dark out, there were enough streetlights on that she could see pretty well. Viking moved in front of her, so she would look up at him. He did not say anything. Simply slide both hands on either side of her face, stroking with his thumbs.
Mia found it comforting and sweet. She could see the same caring for him reflected in Vikings eyes. If they got through this she was counting herself lucky. Viking was an amazing man.
She decided her best course of action was not to look back. Instead she set her sight on the building three blocks down. She took a step back from Viking, moved passed him and bee-lined for it. Not looking around as she walked down the quiet street. She decide the sooner she could get this over with the sooner her life, wouldn't be getting back to normal, but it wouldn't be so dire.
Viking Sensitivity (Night World Series Book 2) Page 21