“Don’t even think about it,” Seth warned. “If you kill him, Lisette will never forgive you. And, as I said, there’s no reason to be jealous. It’s clear to me that her heart belongs to you.”
Zach forced his fingers to uncurl, his muscles to relax. “They were friends with benefits?”
Seth glanced at him, eyebrows rising. “I’m surprised you even know that term.”
“Roland explained it to me.”
Seth’s look turned speculative. “I’ve been dying to ask you for some time now. . . . Why did you let them capture you that night? Why let Roland, Sarah, and Lisette interrogate you?”
“Why do you think?”
“Lisette?”
Zach nodded. “I had never been close to her before she crept up behind me that night and tried to tranq me.” It seemed so long ago. Years rather than months. “Letting them take me gave me a chance to spend time with her, to speak to her.”
“You love her.” The simple statement conveyed both surprise and conviction.
“Yes, I do.”
Seth faced the sun once more.
A bird alighted upon the edge of the roof. Two men with wings must have been a confusing sight for the little creature. Twittering a good-bye, it fluttered down to one of the bird feeders Lisette hung on the front porch and treated itself to a crunchy breakfast.
Zach wondered idly if any of the immortals, aside from David, had ever seen Seth’s wings.
Seth sighed. “It wasn’t you, was it?”
Again with the vampire army?
Oddly, it didn’t upset Zach this time. Perhaps the weariness in Seth’s voice took some of the sting out, because Zach actually found himself feeling a bit sorry for him. “No,” he denied one last time. “It wasn’t me. I didn’t raise the new vampire army. And I didn’t restore Donald’s and Nelson’s memories.”
Seth rubbed his eyes. “I realize that now. I’m sorry I drove a dagger into your chest and led the Others to you.”
Ahhh, there it was: the anger and resentment over the months of suffering he had endured because of this man. Without turning his head, Zach drove his fist straight out to the side and slammed it into Seth’s jaw.
Head snapping sideways, Seth grunted as bone cracked.
Zach let a grim smile tilt his lips.
Seth laughed and spat blood. “Feel better?”
“A little.”
“Good.”
Zach studied him.
Seth’s broken jaw didn’t heal as swiftly as it should have, yet another indication that he desperately needed rest.
Zach heard Lisette roll over in bed, feel the sheets for him, then settle back into sleep.
Again he looked at Seth and mentally muttered every swear word he knew. Such continued for quite a while. Then he loosed a sigh of defeat. “What do you want me to do?” he asked with no enthusiasm whatsoever.
Seth spat blood again, then drew a bright white handkerchief from one pocket and dabbed at his lips and chin. “What do you mean?”
“You need sleep. You’re off your game. And, with this new threat, you need all of your wits about you to figure out who the hell you’re battling. David can hold down the fort here in North Carolina and in surrounding states. What do you need me to do elsewhere to free up some time for you to take your ass to bed and get your shit together?”
Seth stared at him as if Zach had suddenly sprouted a second head. “Seriously?”
“Yes. I can hunt with Lisette at night, then do whatever it is you need me to do during the day.”
“Well . . .” Seth’s brow furrowed as if he were trying to decide if this were a joke. “You could read the minds of the shape-shifters and their Seconds for me. Without them knowing you’re doing it and without harming them, that is.”
“No nosebleeds?”
“No nosebleeds.”
“Fine. What else?”
The utter disbelief in Seth’s gaze began to grate a little. “You could go back and read the minds of the telepaths and teleporters to ensure I didn’t miss anything. Their Seconds, too.”
“Done. Just get me a list of who and where. What else?”
“Help David?” Seth suggested, features uncertain. “He can’t stray too far from Ami so, if an emergency arises elsewhere—and one always does—”
“Give me your phone,” Zach interrupted and held out a hand.
Seth stared at him. “Let me read your thoughts.”
Zach arched a brow. “Let me read yours.”
Stalemate.
After a moment’s indecision, Seth handed over his phone.
He must really be exhausted. As in dangerously near collapse, something his Immortal Guardians would never dream could happen.
Zach pocketed the phone. “I’ll be you for the next two days.”
Seth frowned. “You don’t mean you’ll appear as me, do you?”
Zach snorted. “Like I want to look like you. Hell no.” He sent Seth a dark smile. “I’ll simply tell them I’m your long-lost cousin recently welcomed back into the fold.”
Seth smiled, the lines of fatigue beneath his eyes becoming deep creases. “Just be patient with them.”
“Would I be anything else?”
That prompted a laugh. “I think we both know you would.”
“Fine. No spankings if they misbehave.”
Seth shook his head. “Why would you do this for me after I let the Others torture you?”
“I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it for Lisette,” Zach told him. “I nearly lost her, Seth. Those bastards nearly killed her. I’ll befriend whomever I fucking have to, to discover who set those dogs on her. I’ll do whatever I have to do to ensure they never come near her again. And”—he grimaced—“if spending the rest of eternity with her means I have to play nice with you and your precious immortals, then I’ll damned well play nice.”
“If the sun weren’t up”—Lisette spoke in her bedroom in the basement—“I would race up there and cover you with sloppy kisses.”
Both men grinned.
Zach hadn’t realized she had awoken. “Go to sleep, love.”
“Okay, but hurry back,” she urged sweetly.
Soon her breathing deepened.
Seth shook his head. “You really do love her.”
“Yes,” Zach confirmed again.
“Is it all you thought it would be?”
Zach faced the sun once more and shook his head. “I didn’t even know what love was until I met Lisette. And I never could have imagined anything like this. It is so much more than I ever guessed.” He locked eyes with Seth. “I would have died inside if that damned drug had destroyed her.”
Seth nodded. “It was the same with my wife.”
Another bird joined the one at the feeder, the two chirping hellos to each other.
“Do you still miss her?” Zach asked.
Seth looked away into the sun. “Every damn day.”
Zach frowned at the golden ball as a vulture with a truly impressive wingspan swept through its rays.
Seth glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “Now what’s wrong. You’re scowling again.”
“I don’t know,” Zach said, puzzled. “For a moment I just felt this peculiar . . . I don’t know . . . non-murderous connection to you or something.”
“It’s called kinship, asshole.”
“Ah.”
In the basement, Lisette laughed.
“I thought you were asleep,” Zach said, his whole being lightening at the sound.
“Who can sleep with you two chatterboxes up there yakking away?” she retorted. “Come inside, and I’ll fix us all something to eat.”
Zach looked at Seth. “The woman is always hungry.”
“I heard that,” she said.
Laughing, Zach and Seth rose.
Lisette donned a nightgown and robe and met them in the kitchen. Her heart swelled as the two men entered, Seth tugging on a T-shirt.
What a sight. Seth, standing six feet
eight inches tall. Zach, standing six feet ten inches. Both with shoulders as broad as the doorway. Bodies slender, but ripped with muscle. Chiseled faces more handsome than any she had ever seen. Jaws unshaven and bearing a deliciously rough, dark stubble that, in Zach’s case, would have left marks on her skin from their torrid lovemaking had she been human. Eyes so dark and full of history and pain and power, framed by amusingly feminine, long lashes.
They made a swoon-worthy pair.
Seth seated himself at her table. Zach did, too, after catching her hips in his hands and pulling her to him for a brief kiss.
“Do you want something hot or cold?” she asked as she crossed to the refrigerator.
“Cold,” both said.
Though autumn had replaced summer, temperatures had been a trifle warm of late.
Lisette opted for cold sandwiches and went to work.
A trebly version of “Down With The Sickness” filled the room.
Zach retrieved Seth’s phone and, brushing Seth’s outstretched hand aside, answered. “Seth’s phone.”
An uncertain pause followed. “Seth?” a male voice Lisette didn’t recognize asked.
She hadn’t realized until then how alike the two elders sounded.
“Seth isn’t available,” Zach said. “I’m filling in for him. What do you need?”
“Who the hell is this?”
Zach opened his mouth.
Lisette waited for a blistering response.
He looked at Seth, then sighed and droned, “His long-lost cousin recently welcomed back into the fold.”
She laughed.
Seth rolled his eyes. “This isn’t going to work.”
“Was that Seth?” the male asked.
“Yes,” Seth responded without raising his voice or taking the phone. “I have some business I must attend to, so Zach will be handling my calls for a couple of days, Lucius.”
“Oh. Is he a healer?”
Zach scowled. “He can answer for himself. Yes, I am.”
“Then I could use your help.”
Zach vanished.
Lisette stared. “Where did he go?”
“To heal Lucius, I imagine.”
“He can follow the cell signal or whatever it is you follow? He’s that powerful?” Richart could only do that with her and Étienne, she assumed because they were siblings.
“Apparently.”
“You don’t look too happy about that.”
“Because I still find his new position as an ally . . .”
“Too good to be true?”
“Yes.”
“After my history with men,” she said, assembling sandwiches, “I fear he’s too good to be true myself at times. I just refuse to let that interfere with the happiness he brings me. Do you want jalapeños on yours? I know you usually like your meals spicy.”
“Yes, please.”
Zach reappeared, his right hand wet with blood. “Done.” Striding over to the sink, he washed away the red and dried his hands on the towel Lisette offered.
She motioned for him to reclaim his seat at the table and finished building the sandwiches.
Seth grinned when she set his on a plate before him. The thing was massive, so crammed with vegetables and organic meats that it would be a struggle for him to fit it in his mouth.
Zach received one of the same proportions.
Lisette carried a pitcher of tea and three glasses to the table, then joined them with her own gargantuan sandwich. “What?” she asked when the two males shared a look full of amusement.
Seth shook his head. “I just love a woman with a healthy appetite.”
Zach nodded. “As do I.”
Lisette shrugged. “Fighting vampires burns a lot of calories.” She cast Zach a sly glance. “As do certain other activities.”
He winked.
Each of them took a big bite and chewed in happy silence.
This is nice, Lisette thought to them.
Both nodded, mouths full, though there remained some reticence between them.
“Down With The Sickness” filled the kitchen once more.
Frowning, Zach retrieved the phone and answered. “What?”
Lisette stared. This time, he had altered his voice so that it had sounded exactly like Seth’s.
“My Second is down,” a distraught immortal male said. “He’ll bleed out before I can get him to the network.”
Zach dropped his sandwich and vanished.
“I admit,” Seth mentioned, “that I thought at one point you and Tanner might get together.”
Tanner had been Bastien’s Second since his vampire leader days and had warmed up to Lisette faster than he had to the others when he and Bastien had joined their ranks.
She shook her head. “Tanner and I are just friends. We both love sports and . . .” She shrugged. “We flirt and tease, but Tanner’s a wounded soul. I don’t think he’s ready to allow himself to be happy again.”
Seth nodded. “He thinks, because he was unable to save his son from the horrible end he met, that he doesn’t deserve to be happy.”
“And, after my own past, I just couldn’t let myself fall in love with a human.”
“I understand.”
They ate in silence for a few minutes.
“Would you like to sleep here, Seth?” Lisette asked, feeling closer to him than she ever had. Ironic, considering she had feared he might kill her not so long ago.
“I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“You wouldn’t be. Tracy is still staying at David’s. Zach and I will be gone most of the time. And we can be extra quiet while we’re here.”
“I suspect, once I close my eyes, I’ll be dead to the world and won’t hear a thing anyway,” he replied with a wry smile.
“Then do it. I know you’ll worry if you aren’t nearby. And you won’t get any rest at David’s.”
After a moment, he nodded. “Thank you. I think I will.”
“Good.”
He took another bite of his sandwich.
He looked so damned weary it broke Lisette’s heart. “Do you need blood?”
“No, thank you. I’ll be fine with a little rest.”
She took a bite of her sandwich and studied him while she chewed. It just wasn’t normal for an immortal to evince so many symptoms of fatigue.
Krysta had mentioned once that Seth’s aura didn’t look like theirs. Instead of being a swirling mixture of white and purple, she said his was just blindingly white.
“Do you ever need blood?” Lisette asked before she could stop herself.
His chewing slowed. “I’m an immortal. What do you think?”
“I think I’ve never seen you infuse yourself before. I’ve never seen you infuse anyone else either. And I’ve never known an elder immortal to . . .”
“To what?”
“To look so tired,” she finished apologetically. “Blood and the virus usually keep us from showing signs of weariness.”
“I look that bad, do I?”
“Not bad,” she answered honestly. “Just in need of sleep.”
Zach reappeared, both hands bloody. Crossing to the sink, he washed his arms up to the elbows, then returned to the table and sank into his chair. He eyed the two of them as he took a big bite. Chewed. Swallowed. “Why so serious? What did I miss?”
Lisette produced a smile. “Me asking questions that Seth can’t answer.”
Zach looked at Seth. “I hate keeping things from her.”
“But you understand the necessity of it.”
Zach nodded.
“I do, too,” Lisette said with a sigh. Half a sandwich later, she asked Seth, “Is there anything you can tell me about Zach?”
Mischief entered her leader’s eyes. “I can tell you that Zach isn’t short for Zachary. It’s short for Zachariah.”
Zach grimaced. “I didn’t like the name when it was popular, and I don’t like it now.”
“It’s not that bad,” Lisette teased with a grin. Lean
ing toward him, she said in low, sultry tones, “Kiss me, Zachariah. I need you, Zachariah. I want you, Zachariah.” Wrinkling her nose, she straightened. “I see your point. Doesn’t really work, does it?”
“I don’t know,” Zach responded, his eyes glowing faintly. “I kinda like it now.”
Seth laughed.
“Down With The Sickness” sounded once more.
“Seriously?” Zach demanded, retrieving the phone and taking the call. “What?”
“Zach,” Darnell said on the other end, “what the hell are you doing with Seth’s phone? Why are you taking his calls?”
Seth smiled. “I have business I must attend to, Darnell,” he said, raising his voice so the mortal could hear him. “Zach has offered to field my calls for a couple of days.”
“Oh.” Lisette suspected Darnell knew exactly what Seth’s business entailed. “Is there anything I can do? Do you want me to screen your calls? Chris and I can handle the nuisance calls, and I can forward the emergencies to Zach.”
“Aren’t they all nuisance calls?” Zach drawled.
Lisette kicked him under the table.
“I would appreciate that, Darnell,” Seth said. “Thank you.”
“Great. I’ll get right on it.”
Zach set the phone on the table.
Lisette arched a brow. “Nuisance calls?”
Seth smiled sheepishly. “A term Darnell has coined, not I.”
“And those entail . . . ?”
Zach arched a brow. “Brothers bitching about their sister being accused of something she didn’t do?”
Seth laughed. “More like Seconds complaining that their immortals keep trying to protect them instead of vice versa. Or an immortal wanting to be assigned a new Second because his Second snores and keeps him awake all day. Or a newbie immortal bitching about having to change his diet and go organic because his favorite foods don’t taste the same now that his senses are heightened.”
Lisette laughed. “I’ve heard Melanie complain about that. Makes me glad I was transformed when organic foods were all that was available. I didn’t have to change a thing diet-wise.”
“Down With The Sickness” filled the kitchen.
Zach scowled. “I’m already beginning to hate that song. What?”
Night Unbound Page 23
