Night Unbound

by Dianne Duvall

  Except for Ethan, who didn’t like that Lisette was yet again absent. He hadn’t seen her in days and couldn’t help worrying, even though Tracy frequently touched base with her and claimed all was well.

  Yuri and Stanislav returned with two platters piled high with fruits and breads and cheeses.

  Immortals and mortals alike pounced.

  Hell, even Ethan couldn’t resist that temptation and snatched some snacks before sinking into his favorite chair again.

  Mmmm. Good food. Good company. Good conversation.

  He smiled at a joke Darnell cracked, then grinned when Ami’s baby began to hiccup in the womb. It was odd, being able to hear the babe’s movements. Even odder to imagine an unborn baby getting the hiccups. Yet Jenna, Melanie, and Dr. Kimiko insisted it was normal.

  Marcus rubbed a hand over Ami’s big belly and gave her a tender smile.

  Seth and David both watched with affectionate indulgence, then abruptly turned their heads toward the front of the house, all levity in their faces draining away. Seth’s eyes flashed a bright gold milliseconds before he closed them. When he lifted his lashes, his eyes were brown once more.

  Had Ethan not been staring right at him, he would’ve missed it.

  What the hell?

  Seth shared a look with David, then turned a smile on Ami. “Marcus, Ami has spent too many days and nights cooped up inside. Why don’t the two of you go for a ride? Roll down the windows. Get some fresh air. Enjoy the night.”

  Ami’s face lit up.

  Marcus eyed Seth (long enough that Ethan suspected Seth had just told him to get Ami the hell out of there) and forced a smile. “Sounds good to me. Are you up to it, sweetling?”

  “Absolutely!”

  David tossed Marcus his keys. “Take my car. More room for you both to stretch your legs.”

  Everyone called cheerful good-byes as the couple left through the back door.

  It didn’t take long for the others to catch on that something was wrong.

  Silence fell. Tension gripped the room as all eyes went to Seth and David.

  Outside, David’s car started and tore off down the drive, accompanied by Ami’s fading laughter.

  The two elders rose as one. Their faces turned to stone.

  “Everyone out,” Seth ordered.

  “What’s going on?” Roland asked, rising.

  Ethan rose, too.

  Everyone rose.

  But none left. All sensed what Ethan did, that something was coming. And they would be damned if they were going to leave and let Seth and David face it—whatever the hell it was—alone.

  The air began to crackle with static electricity.

  The hair on Ethan’s arms and the back of his neck rose.

  Thunder rumbled on the night.

  Seth shook his head, his eyes beginning to glow. “No time. Just go.”

  “Use the escape tunnels in the basement,” David instructed from beside him, his eyes glowing a vibrant amber. Ethan had not seen that very often. “Don’t return until we summon you.”

  “Fuck that!” Bastien said, echoing Ethan’s thoughts. “I don’t know what the hell is coming, but we aren’t going to leave you to face it alone!”

  “Just go!” Seth snapped. “Get the Seconds out while you can. They—”

  The large bay window facing the front of the house exploded inward. Shards of glass rocketed through the living room, finding purchase in mortal and immortal flesh, as a body catapulted inside as though it had been shot from a cannon.

  Sheldon tackled Tracy as Immortal Guardians flung themselves out of the way, the married men all placing their bodies between their wives and the threat.

  A coffee table splintered as the bloody body struck it. The unconscious male hit the floor and rolled twice before coming to a halt, lips parted to reveal fangs. A second body flew bonelessly through the bay window, knocking more shards free as it went and widening the hole in the window. It hit the floor just beyond the first. Another vampire. Unconscious. His face and form shredded and bloody.

  “There!” a voice bellowed outside as wind whipped the curtains.

  As though the one word shook them all from their shocked paralysis, everyone present lunged for the weapons they had removed and braced themselves for a fight.

  Everyone except Seth and David, who glared daggers into the night through the broken window.

  Lightning flashed across the sky, momentarily illuminating the figure who strode toward the house, still yards away, a black construction paper cutout with wings spread, carrying something or someone in his arms.

  “There’s your fucking proof!” he shouted.

  Ethan’s eyes widened. Holy shit!

  The male, standing six foot ten, leapt through the gaping hole and faced them with furious defiance. Little bits of feather, sliced away by the fragments of glass that remained in the window frame, floated on the breeze and settled quietly on the floor.

  Zach. Eyes glowing golden like Seth’s. Face full of pure, animalistic rage. Lisette’s limp form cradled in his arms.

  “What the hell?” Étienne shouted and leapt forward, swords flashing.

  Zach looked at the French immortal.

  Étienne seemed to hit an invisible wall, then flew backward.

  Richart vanished and reappeared behind Zach, daggers raised.

  Without even turning around, Zach sent him flying, too. “She tried to warn you it wasn’t me!” he snarled at Seth.

  “She tried to tell you I couldn’t have raised the new vampire army because I was too busy being fucking tortured!”

  Roland, Yuri, and Stanislav leapt forward.

  A wave of power rippled through the room like the blast wave of an A-bomb, Zach at its epicenter.

  Ethan swore as he and every mortal and immortal present, save Seth and David, were swept off their feet.

  “I didn’t . . . fucking . . . do it!” Zach roared. “And, because you wouldn’t believe us, because you couldn’t believe one of your precious Immortal Guardians would betray you, the new vampire army I didn’t fucking raise grew unchecked! Well, there’s your proof!” He nodded at the vampires. “Read their minds! Unbury their memories! You won’t find me in any of them!”

  All waited with bated breath.

  Seth held out a hand, palm facing out in a just stay calm motion, and slowly backed toward the vampires. Kneeling, he placed a hand on the first vamp’s blood-soaked head.

  Minutes ticked past. Seth touched the other, every second he took to scan them seeming an hour, then rose.

  “You see?” Zach demanded, the two words filled with wrath.

  Seth shared another look with David. “What have you done to Lisette, Zach?”

  “Watched over her. Tried to protect her when you wouldn’t.”

  That arrow hits its mark.

  David’s eyes lost their glow.

  Seth’s dimmed. “What happened tonight?”

  “Lisette and I went hunting together.”

  Seth opened his mouth.

  “That’s right! Together!” Zach bellowed before Seth could speak. “Did you think I was going to leave her unprotected while you pissed away your time and let the vampire army grow in strength and numbers? Let them get their shit together? Let them nearly capture her?”

  All Ethan could do was watch with wide eyes and think, Shit!

  “The two of you were hunting,” David said, his voice so full of calm it made Ethan feel better just to hear it. “What happened next?”

  “We took on a dozen of the new breed of vampires. I thought with me at her back she would be safe. But . . .”

  “You can defeat a dozen vampires without lifting a weapon,” Seth pointed out.

  “Killing one or two with a thought wouldn’t draw any notice. But the kind of power it would take to kill a dozen would have alerted the Others to my location. If they found out about her, learned what she means to me—”

  “You just exerted more power than that here.”

 
“They’ll assume it was you.”

  “Fuck this,” Ethan blurted when he could stand it no longer, and clambered to his feet. “We don’t have time for if-I-woulda-coulda-shouldas. What’s wrong with Lisette?”

  Zach swallowed, nostrils flaring, moisture rising in his eyes. “I can’t wake her.” He clutched Lisette closer, rubbed his chin across her hair. “Her presence in my mind vanished, and when I turned around . . . she was falling.”

  Seth took a step forward. “Give her to me.”

  “Fuck you! I’m not letting you anywhere near her! Not after that little conversation you had with her.” His gaze circled the room. “Do your Immortal Guardians all know you accused her of collaborating with the vampires?”

  Richart’s and Étienne’s heads snapped toward Seth. “What?” they both demanded.

  Ethan stared at Seth.

  Seth’s face remained impassive. “If you don’t want me near her, why did you bring her to me?”

  “I didn’t.” Zach looked at Melanie. “I came here for you.” His gaze shifted to Bastien. “And for you.”

  Melanie glanced at Seth and David, waiting for their approval before she moved.

  Bastien didn’t wait. He just sheathed his weapons and strode forward, broken glass crunching beneath his boots.

  Ethan thought him either the ballsiest or stupidest immortal on the planet.

  Melanie approached Zach with caution and felt Lisette’s pulse. Peeling Lisette’s eyelid back, Melanie then looked for whatever the hell it was doctors looked for in eyes. Pupillary response? Lack of response? Dilation? He didn’t know. “Any major arteries severed?” She began checking them herself even as she asked.

  “No.”

  “So not a lot of blood loss?”

  “No. Most of the blood that coats her is vampire.”

  Seth took a step forward. “You didn’t give her your blood, did you?”

  Zach glared daggers at him. “Of course not. I’m not an idiot.”

  What the hell did that mean?

  More calmly, Zach told Melanie, “We were holding our own against them very nicely before she collapsed. She suffered no major injuries as far as I could see, hear, or smell.”

  Melanie glanced around at the debris-covered room, then motioned down the hallway. “Could I get you to place her on a bed in the infirmary so I can examine her more thoroughly?”

  Zach’s arms tightened around Lisette as his eyes flashed brighter.

  Melanie raised a hand. “Okay. It’s okay. I’ll just . . . see what I can learn here for now so you can have another minute to . . .” She floundered. “So you can have another minute.”

  Ethan wouldn’t know what to say either. Zach looked pretty feral. How the hell was Melanie going to get Lisette away from him?

  Bastien seemed to be dividing his attention between helping his wife check for injuries and keeping an eye on Zach to make sure he didn’t threaten Melanie in any way.

  Ethan glanced around.

  The downed immortals had all risen to their feet. Mortals rose more slowly and with the aid of their immortals. Or, in Tracy’s case, with the aid of Sheldon, another Second.

  Richart and Étienne looked as if their heads were about to explode.

  Ethan had to admit he was pretty pissed, too. How could Seth have thought Lisette capable of such treachery? Had he discovered she had slept with Zach? Because clearly the two were lovers now. And that chafed a hell of a lot. But big fucking deal. Bad judgment in lovers wasn’t tantamount to betraying everyone you know and love.

  Seth kept his gaze trained on Zach, Lisette, and the two immortals now examining her.

  David glowered at everyone else, effectively shutting down any tirade they might wish to launch. David didn’t blow his stack often, but when he did—Whew!—it was best not to be around.

  Melanie tried to examine Lisette as best she could under the circumstances. She ran her fingers over Lisette’s arms and legs, across her abdomen, applying pressure here and there along the way. When her fingers slipped between Lisette and Zach’s chest, she gasped and jerked her hand back.

  Bastien stiffened. “What?”

  A bead of blood formed on the tip of one finger. Frowning, Melanie slowly felt along the same path, then drew her hand back.

  Dread curled in Ethan’s stomach when she held up a tranquilizer dart.

  It couldn’t be.

  Melanie listed to one side, eyelids drooping.

  Bastien hastily wrapped his arms around her, his face darkening with concern. “Melanie? Sweetheart?”

  She squeezed her eyes closed and shook her head. “I’m okay,” she said, but slurred her words as though drunk. Unsteady on her feet, she clung to the arms Bastien wrapped around her. “I just . . . I just pripped . . . pricked my finger.”

  A pinprick had done that? Shit! How much sedative had been in that thing?

  “They must’ve . . . must’ve upped the dosage again,” she continued.

  Utter silence took the room. Men and women turned to mannequins, shocked into stillness. They, meaning the mercenaries who were all supposed to be dead, had upped the dosage again? The last time they had done that, it had taken double the usual dose of the antidote to enable immortals to rouse and function again. And they hadn’t functioned normally. They had functioned, at least briefly, as if they were high on coke or something. Juiced up. Heart racing. Not thinking clearly before they acted.

  Seth strode forward. “That isn’t possible.”

  “Stay back!” Zach barked.

  “Fuck off!” Seth took the tranquilizer dart from Melanie’s limp fingers and brought it to his nose. He drew in a deep breath. His eyes flashed gold again, and thunder rumbled outside. “How the fuck can this be?” he growled with a fury and disbelief Ethan suspected they all felt. “We didn’t even bother to bury memories this time. We killed fucking everyone!”

  “It doesn’t matter how it happened.” Bastien spoke, the only calm voice and clear head present, it would seem, aside from David’s. “Not right now. We need to get Melanie a small dose of the antidote and see what, if anything, we can do to revive Lisette.”

  If anything. The words hung like a pall over the room.

  Keeping one arm around his wife, Bastien shifted to stand at Zach’s side. He reached around and touched Zach’s back beneath his wings, giving him a sympathetic pat. “Come on. The infirmary is just down this hallway. Let’s make Lisette comfortable and see if we can’t help her.”

  Ethan had only ever heard Bastien speak so compassionately to Melanie and Ami.

  The immortal black sheep had to give Zach a gentle push to get him moving.

  Stiffly at first, as though his feet had grown roots and didn’t want to leave the floor in front of the bay window, Zach allowed Bastien to lead him from the room.

  Seth followed.

  A raindrop hit the grass outside with a swish. Another followed. Then more, racing each other to their doom until the sky opened up and pummeled the land with liquid fists.

  David eyed them sternly. “Not one word.”

  Étienne glowered at him. “David—”

  “Not. One. Word,” the elder repeated. “Your grievances will be heard at a more appropriate time. For now . . .” He motioned to the vampires. “Richart, take these two to the network and place them in separate holding rooms. Bring Chris back with you when you return. He needs to know what’s going on. And ask him to send someone out here to replace my window. The rest of you, see to your wounds, then clean up this mess.”

  He turned without another word and headed down the hall, disappearing through the infirmary’s doorway.

  Darnell and Tracy followed, closing the door behind them.

  Ethan looked at the others.

  Everyone seemed as shell-shocked as he felt, and he knew a hell of a lot more about what was going on than they did. They didn’t even know who Zach was.

  “You heard him,” Roland said. Turning to his wife, he began to brush the glass from her clothi
ng, cutting up his hands—Ethan was sure—in the process. “Now isn’t the time for questions.” He speared the d’Alençon brothers with a warning glare. “Or for recriminations. Now is the time to circle our wagons. We don’t know who or what might come through that window next.”

  Stanislav nodded. “We should post guards in case another of his ilk should follow.”

  Not a bad idea, Ethan thought, since Zach had mentioned that the Others were searching for him, whoever the hell they were.

  Roland nodded. “As the strongest present, Sarah and I will patrol the grounds. Stanislav, you and Yuri go below and keep your ears open. Ensure no one enters through the escape tunnels.”

  The two nodded and zipped down to the basement.

  “Étienne and Richart, I know you’re concerned about Lisette, but do not go into that infirmary unless you can keep your shit to yourself. Am I understood?”

  Jaws clenching, the brothers nodded.

  “Richart, take care of the vampires as David instructed first.”

  Richart crossed to the vampires, hoisted them over his shoulder, and vanished.

  “Jenna and Krysta, stay here and stay sharp. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for anything that might indicate an intruder got past us. Your husbands are distracted and may not notice a sound or a shadow that doesn’t belong.”

  They nodded.

  “Edward, you stay with them.”

  Edward nodded.

  “What about me?” Sean asked. He was the newest inductee into the Immortal Guardians’ ranks, having been turned at his request shortly after his sister Krysta had transformed.

  “Arm yourself heavily, then track down Marcus and Ami. Make sure they’re safe and guide them to network headquarters. If anything has happened to them, anything, call me immediately.” He rattled off his cell phone number.

  “What should I tell them?” Sean asked.

  No one knew what would happen if Ami were upset. For all they knew, it could cause her to go into labor again, and Seth and David needed to be able to focus their attentions on Lisette.

  And Zach.

  Roland looked to the others. “Any ideas?”

  Ethan thought furiously. “Some of us were sparring,” he suggested. “Bets started flying. Things got a little out of hand. And Seth and David want her to hang at the network until the mess is cleaned up.”