Lisette twisted slightly in Zach’s arms to see Alexei, Stanislav’s Second, limping toward them.
His face, pinched with worry, bore such a heavy coating of soot he almost looked as though he had smeared it with boot black. Speckles of blood dotted his neck and chin. More splattered his shirt and saturated his left pant leg.
All waited silently as he plodded toward them, half-dragging his leg behind him. He stopped a few feet away and regarded them all with what appeared to be fear. His throat moved in a swallow. Moisture welled in the eyes he turned on Seth. He started to speak, but couldn’t seem to find his voice.
Seth reached out and rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “What is it, Alexei?”
Again he swallowed, and a tear spilled over his lashes. “I can’t find Stan,” he choked out.
Lisette tensed. She did a quick survey of the faces around her, only then realizing that Stanislav wasn’t with them.
“I think . . .” Alexei rasped. “I think the explosion may have taken him.”
Seth’s hand tightened on Alexei’s shoulder. Was he reading the Second’s memories?
“He saw them. . . . He saw Yuri fall and took off toward him,” Alexei said. “Then the building exploded, and all hell broke loose. I can’t find him.”
Releasing Alexei, Seth looked toward the remains of the armory, then turned his distressed gaze on the immortals. “Have any of you seen Stanislav since the explosion?”
Lisette held her breath, hoping someone would say that they had, that he had just needed some time alone.
But no one spoke.
Shaking his head, Seth stumbled back a pace.
This would kill him, she thought, losing two immortals in one day.
Swinging around, Seth strode through the smoke toward the armory.
Tears blurred her vision and obscured his form.
Dmitry crossed to Alexei and drew him into a rough embrace. Both men wept for the friends—the brothers—they had lost.
“Have your men help him search,” Zach murmured to Chris over Lisette’s head. “If the explosion killed Stanislav, there won’t be anything left of the body.” The virus would have seen to that.
Lisette’s breath hitched in a sob.
Zach tightened his hold. “So look for his weapons,” he instructed. “Pieces of the Kevlar suit he wore. Anything that can give Seth the proof and closure he’ll need.”
Chris didn’t just pass the orders along to his men. He went with them and helped them begin to comb through the still smoldering rubble surrounding the armory.
Thank you, Lisette told Zach, her throat too tight to speak.
Zach rested his cheek on her hair and rocked her gently from side to side. I’m so sorry, sweetheart.
Closing her eyes, Lisette let her tears fall.
Everyone bunked at David’s place that night. All seemed to need to be near one another, though none knew what to say.
Lisette didn’t think she had ever heard such painful silence in the large home. Even the baby seemed subdued, resting in Ami’s arms and peering out at them with somber eyes until Ami and Marcus retired, taking her with them.
Lisette didn’t sleep. (She wondered if anyone did.) She and Zach just held each other.
And when tears would occasionally slip quietly down her cheeks, Zach would cuddle her closer and make soothing sounds.
No one knew where Seth was. He had disappeared after Chris and his men had found a piece of Stanislav’s mask and one of his swords, the blade having been broken in the blast.
While such had convinced the rest of them that Stanislav had perished in the explosion, Seth seemed steeped in denial. Buried by grief. Unable to accept two losses in one day.
Lisette didn’t know how to help him.
David strode through dense trees and brush, letting the night sounds envelop him.
He couldn’t seem to still his thoughts. Felt pulled in too many directions.
The immortals back home wandered aimlessly from room to room like lost children. For some, this was the first time they had had to cope with the death of an immortal friend.
Not so for David. He had lost many over the millennia.
It never got easier.
For Seth . . . David thought each loss was harder than the last, as if Seth believed he should have found some way by then to lend the Immortal Guardians true immortality.
Stepping out of the forest, David crossed a road and passed through what remained of a metal gate that creaked as the wind pushed it an inch this way and that on damaged hinges. The pungent scent of blood and death still hung in the air as though even the breeze could not usher it away.
David walked past decimated buildings and scorched earth.
Chris had already taken care of the cover-up. Large propane tanks had been moved in, the electric central heaters and stoves replaced with gas. Then the tanks had been ignited with grenades and incendiary rounds.
Disgruntled employees had been blamed for the death and destruction. Among the mercenaries’ ranks, Chris had discovered nine men who had been facing criminal charges for actions taken overseas. All had repeatedly voiced their fury over Shadow River’s distancing itself from them instead of defending them. So they had become the patsies.
Several of Chris’s Special Ops men had posed as survivors who had seen the whole thing.
Since gunfire had been a norm on the isolated compound, explosions a little less so, authorities had not been alerted by those who had heard the battle, and Chris had had plenty of time to coordinate things. And little had remained for police and emergency crews to sort through.
David felt only mild relief upon sighting the tall figure standing in the center of the slab of blackened cement that marked the place where the armory had once stood.
Head bowed, Seth stared down at the charred foundation.
“Seth.”
The eldest immortal didn’t raise his head. “Why didn’t I feel it?” he whispered, the words filled with baffled despair.
David stared at him helplessly. Seth had always felt internally the death of an immortal, no matter how far away it happened. “When Lisette, Richart, Étienne, and Bastien were transformed, you couldn’t feel Bastien’s pain because it was lost amongst that of the other three. Perhaps it was the same with Stanislav’s death. Perhaps it followed Yuri’s too closely for you to feel it separately.”
Seth shook his head.
“Seth—”
He held up a hand. “Where’s Zach?”
“My place.”
“Where’s Aidan?”
David sighed. “They’re all at my place.”
A full minute passed. “You know what I intend to do?”
“Yes.”
“And you support me?”
“Always.”
The word didn’t seem to reassure him. “Send Aidan to me.”
David had known Seth long enough to recognize when he needed to work something through on his own.
Nodding, David turned and headed back the way he had come.
“She’s beautiful,” Lisette praised.
Smiling with motherly pride, Ami nodded. “Yes, she is.” Her gaze shifted to the large immortal sprawled beside Lisette. “Thank you, Zach.”
The three of them lounged on the cushioned floor of the training room while Marcus and Roland did their best to kick each other’s asses. Both warriors grieved for their lost brethren. And, unlike Lisette, neither had felt comfortable expressing it through tears. So they worked their fury and hurt out as they always had: through battle.
“For what?” Zach asked, reaching over to tickle the baby’s tiny feet.
“I know you helped Seth and David get me through childbirth and kept me from slipping away.” She cast Marcus a worried glance. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t.”
Marcus had already lost one woman he had loved. None of them believed he would recover if he were to lose Ami, too.
“I couldn’t let you go,�
� Zach replied with a smile. “You’re the only one who gives me lollipops.”
The women laughed.
“Have you chosen a name for her yet?” Lisette asked.
Ami nodded. “Adira.”
“I like it,” Zach said. “It suits her.”
Ami’s smile broadened. “Since she has both alien and gifted one DNA, we wanted a name that would represent both of her parents’ worlds.” She toyed with the baby’s tiny toes. “On my planet, Adira is a shortened form of my mother’s name: Adiransia. And, on this planet, Adira means strong, powerful.”
Zach smiled as the baby grabbed his index finger and tugged. “She is that.”
Lisette agreed. In more ways than one. Precognition was just one of the gifts they suspected little Adira possessed. “It’s perfect.”
Ami drew a hand over the baby’s soft hair. “We thought so, too.”
“Zach.”
Lisette looked to the doorway and felt a rush of relief.
Seth.
None of them had seen him since the battle two days ago.
“Yes?”
“A moment.”
Zach gave the baby’s foot one last stroke, then rose. “I’ll be back.”
Lisette nodded. “Take your time.”
She thought David and Zach were probably the only ones who could reach Seth just then.
As soon as Zach drew even with him, Seth reached out, touched his shoulder, and teleported him away.
Lisette looked at Ami, who shrugged as Aidan strode through the empty doorway.
Zach contemplated his surroundings.
The earth around them curved upward on all sides into rolling hills as if he and Seth stood in the center of a large, grassy bowl. No trees rose from the ground to block the light beaming down upon them from a full moon. Not until one’s gaze reached the tops of the hills. There, trees erupted into forest so dense that even Zach’s sharp eyes couldn’t penetrate it.
A light breeze combed through his hair. The knee-high grasses around them rippled like ocean waves, the swishing sounds they made reminiscent of the sounds water made as it lapped at the shore.
“Where are we?” he asked curiously.
“Neutral territory,” Seth responded, eyeing the hills.
An odd choice of words. Why would they need neutral territory?
Then Zach felt it. First, a tingle. Then a genuine jolt of alarm as he detected the presence of the Others.
He looked at Seth in furious disbelief. “You sold me out?”
The last time Seth had taken him to an isolated place and summoned the Others, Zach had been carted away and tortured. If they got their hands on him now . . .
He would never escape. Never see Lisette again.
Seth turned to him, his face inscrutable. “If I asked you to trust me, would you?”
Hell no, Zach wanted to say. This was too reminiscent of the last time. But, damn it, Zach had never been one to kick a man when he was down.
And Seth was about as far down as a man could go.
“Yes,” he muttered, and was oddly pleased when the corners of Seth’s lips twitched.
A flash of insight struck as Zach remembered something he had forgotten over the many years: He and Seth had once been friends. Long ago. Before Seth’s defection.
“Hurt a little bit to say that, did it?” Seth prodded, the barest twinkle of amusement entering his dark eyes.
“Fuck you.”
Seth shook his head.
One by one, the Others descended from the sky, tucking their wings in close as their feet touched the ground. Not all of them had come. According to Zach’s quick count, they numbered only eight as they approached and took up what were supposed to be intimidating stances across from the two renegades.
When the breeze carried their individual scents to Zach, he did not find the scent he had detected on the mercenary.
Seth arched a brow. “Some of you appear to be missing.”
“They elected not to come,” Jared said. “They’re too busy evaluating the shitstorm you and your little immortal superheroes just stirred up at the mercenary compound. Besides . . .” He cast Zach a sneering look. “We don’t need them to bring him in.”
“Are you sure?” Seth taunted. “He did escape you, after all, while under guard and being tortured.”
The Others’ eyes began to glow.
“It won’t happen again.”
“No,” Seth said, “it won’t. Because you won’t be taking him with you when you leave.”
The surprise and affront spawned by that comment was damned near comical.
Or would’ve been if Zach didn’t fear this was going to end with him hanging in a dark cavern again . . . or worse. Seth was not in peak condition. Zach wasn’t entirely confident he and Seth could keep these powerful men from taking him.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jared demanded.
“I didn’t summon you here to reclaim Zach and keep him in check. I summoned you here to inform you that one of your own is responsible for the shitstorm about which you just complained.”
All eyes went to Zach.
“Not Zach,” Seth corrected. “Someone else amongst your ranks.”
“That’s preposterous.”
Seth’s eyes flashed a brilliant gold as rage darkened his features. “No, what’s preposterous is that, while you were getting your jollies off torturing Zach, one of you was a very busy little bee, buzzing in the ears of mercenaries, telling them all about vampires and immortals and the truckloads of money they could make if they followed in Donald’s and Nelson’s footsteps and used the virus to build an army of supersoldiers.” Seth took a step forward. “One of you was stealing a sedative from my human network and handing it over to mercenaries along with detailed instructions on how to make it more effective, how to use it to successfully take down an Immortal Guardian.”
“Bullshit.”
“Whoever it was knew enough about the Others to try to make me believe it was Zach.”
“It was Zach,” Jared countered.
“He was in your custody, jackass, when the mercenaries miraculously gained their knowledge and began their quest!”
“Then you missed something the last time you fought mercenaries—”
Seth shot forward and gripped Jared by the throat.
When his brethren tensed, readying for a fight, Jared threw a hand out to halt them.
“I didn’t miss shit,” Seth informed him. “We killed everyone . You are the one who missed something. You were so busy sitting on your asses doing nothing that you didn’t notice that one of you had lost his fucking mind and decided to do something. Something that could easily bring about all of the dire repercussions you fear so much.”
“Zach—”
“It wasn’t Zach!” Seth bellowed. Reaching into an inner pocket of his coat, he withdrew . . .
Zach frowned. What was that? A piece of cloth in a plastic bag?
Opening the bag with a thought, Seth shoved it in Jared’s face.
Jared tried to jerk his head back, but couldn’t with Seth’s hand squeezing his throat. “What the hell are you—?”
“Smell it!” Seth ordered.
“What is it?”
“The shirt one of the mercenary leaders wore when he met with whoever has been feeding him information and egging him on.”
Jared’s struggles ceased. After a moment, he slowly poked his nose into the bag and drew in a breath. His gaze shot to Seth’s.
“Smell familiar?” Seth asked.
“Yes.”
Seth released him and stepped back. “Now smell Zach.”
Jared looked at his brethren, then crossed to Zach. Leaning in close, Jared drew in another deep breath. Frowned. Moved closer, his nose touching Zach’s neck.
“I won’t lie to you,” Zach uttered. “This is making me a little uncomfortable.” He really wasn’t accustomed to being touched. Not by anyone other than Lisette.
Jared straightened.
Seth arched his brows.
“It isn’t Zach,” Jared announced, expression grim.
Mutters erupted among the Others.
“Do you know who it is?” Seth asked.
“None of us here.”
“I already knew that,” Seth retorted.
Jared shook his head. “The possibilities are few. We’ll discover the malefactor’s identity—”
“And nip this shit in the bud,” Seth interrupted. “I lost two Immortal Guardians because of this asshole and nearly lost a third. I want him taken care of.”
“We’ll take care of him.” Jared motioned to the bag. “Give it to the others. Let them get his scent.”
Seth handed over the bag. “When you catch him,” he said with a meaningful look as the bag was passed around, “do to him what was done in the past to those who transgressed similarly.”
Zach looked at Jared.
He didn’t seem happy about it, but must have agreed. “We will.”
“I mean it,” Seth said, deadly serious. “I want him buried so deep he’ll never see the light of day again.”
Jared nodded. “It’ll be done.” Reaching out, he grabbed Zach’s arm and tried to start back toward the Others.
Zach didn’t budge. No way in hell was he going to let them take him without a fight.
Seth held up a hand. “I was serious. Zach stays with me. He’s one of us now.”
Jared’s face tightened. “We let you slide thousands of years ago and have watched as the catastrophes you and your immortals foment continue to snowball. You just blew up a four-thousand-acre compound to cover up what happened when a second of our kind transgressed. Letting a third follow your example is unthinkable. Zach comes with us.”
Seth took a step toward Jared, eyes still glowing gold. “No, he doesn’t.”
“I fail to see how you alone can stop us.”
A slow smile curled Seth’s lips. “Me alone? I don’t know. I think I could give you a run for your money. But . . . I don’t happen to be alone.” He raised one arm and waved it in a circle.
The trees and foliage that formed a circle around them began to whisper with movement. Zach’s mouth fell open as men and women with glowing amber eyes stepped from the shadows and moved forward to stand atop the hills. Hundreds of Immortal Guardians, hands curled around weapons that glinted in the moonlight. All of them ready to battle ancient immortals to the death, if necessary, so Zach could remain among them.
Night Unbound Page 37
