Shadows Strike

by Dianne Duvall

  Such contentment suffused her that she damned near fell asleep herself.

  It was nice, having him curled up against her. She cursed her mind for leaping forward and wondering how nice it would be to have him curled up against her in bed. Naked. All of that fabulous strength pressing down on her.

  He’s immortal. You’re human. She frowned. Or a gifted one.

  That was going to take some getting used to.

  She had super-advanced DNA. How bizarre was that?

  “That feels nice,” Ethan muttered.

  Heather jumped. “I thought you were asleep.”

  “I was.” He sighed and tightened his hold on her hip as if he didn’t want to let her go. “What time is it?”

  “Eight thirty.”

  “At night?” he asked, sounding more alert.

  “Yes.”

  Raising his head, he squinted at the windows. “Has the sun set?”

  “Barely.”

  Groaning, he sat up, lowered his feet to the floor, and slumped against the cushions beside her. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to sleep so long.”

  She fought a smile as she eyed him curiously. Several strands of hair stood up on one side of his head. “I’m a little surprised you slept so deeply,” she commented. “I would’ve thought a vampire—or rather an immortal—would wake at the slightest sound.”

  Grimacing, he combed his fingers through his hair and tamed the rebellious strands. “Normally, I do. But when I suffer severe enough wounds, I tend to slip into a healing sleep and rest much more deeply, especially when . . .”

  “When what?”

  He offered her an apologetic shrug. “When I need blood.”

  She swallowed. “You need blood?”

  “Yes. My wounds may have healed, but I won’t be at full strength until I get an infusion.”

  She considered his words. Infusion sounded almost clinical. “So you don’t . . . bite people or drink blood?”

  “I only bite people when I’m desperate and don’t have a ready supply of blood. Immortals have our own blood banks to which members of the human network routinely contribute. And no, I don’t drink the blood. My fangs siphon the blood directly into my veins.”

  She studied him. “Are you desperate?” Because she was the only blood supply present.

  “No,” he assured her with a smile. “Even if I were, I wouldn’t bite you.”

  “Well,” she huffed in feigned offense. “I guess my blood isn’t good enough for you.”

  He chuckled. “I’m sure your blood would perk me right up.” His eyes said as would other things. “But I won’t risk exposing you to the virus.”

  “Is it that pervasive?” she asked. “Would one bite turn me into an immortal?”

  “Only if I drained you nearly to the point of death, then returned your blood to you infected with the virus. Otherwise, I would have to bite you several times before the virus would gain a strong enough hold on your immune system to conquer it and transform you.”

  “Oh.” She didn’t know what else to say to that.

  He motioned to the windows. “Did it rain while I slept?”

  “No.” She nodded to the television. “But according to the big blob of red on the radar, it will within the next half hour.”

  As though to punctuate her words, thunder rumbled outside.

  Ethan didn’t seem particularly thrilled by her announcement.

  “What’s wrong? I thought you said rain would wash away the scent of our battle with the vampires and prevent any more from tracking us here.”

  He offered her a sheepish smile. “It will. I guess I was just hoping I’d have an excuse to stay with you a little longer.”

  Her pulse did a funny little fluttery thing. “You can’t babysit me forever, Ethan.”

  “I’m not babysitting you. I’m watching over you.” His lips quirked up. “When I’m not sleeping, that is. Should I check my reflection in the mirror to see if you’ve drawn me a dapper mustache and bushy eyebrows?”

  She grinned. “I couldn’t find a permanent marker.”

  As he laughed, his cell phone rang.

  Ethan retrieved his phone and took the call. “Yeah?”

  “It’s Ed. Just checking to make sure you’re still among the living.”

  “I am.”

  “And are you still with the woman?”

  Ethan sighed at Ed’s hopeful tone. “Yes.”

  “Good for you,” he praised with annoying enthusiasm, then went all business. “Seth has called a meeting. He wants everyone at David’s place in an hour.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  “You want me to bring you anything?”

  “A change of clothes would be nice.” David kept a ready supply of clothing at his home for Immortal Guardians and their Seconds to plunder, but why raid it if it wasn’t necessary?

  “Got it. See you there.”

  Ethan tucked his phone away in a back pocket.

  Lightning flashed beyond the curtains, followed by the grumble of thunder as the first drops of rain struck the ground outside with a tentative pitter-patter.

  There went his excuse to linger.

  “Everything okay?” Heather asked.

  He nodded. “May I use your bathroom?”

  “Of course.”

  Rising, he crossed to his duffel bag and dug around in it until he found the toothbrush and minty toothpaste he always carried with him. Battling vampires could get ugly. He had, on more than one occasion, had to use his teeth to rend flesh or give himself a quick infusion when wounded severely. And unlike some of the other immortals, he had never developed a fondness for the taste of blood.

  Not that he would tell Heather any of that.

  She arched a brow and smiled. “What don’t you carry in that bag?”

  “An umbrella,” he retorted with a grin.

  She laughed. “Bad luck there.”

  Ethan availed himself of her bathroom. When he returned to the living room, he found Heather standing at the window with the curtains open, staring out into the darkness.

  Lightning flashed, brightening her features momentarily.

  The rain pummeled the ground in earnest now.

  “It’s really coming down out there,” Ethan commented, tucking the toothbrush and toothpaste away and zipping his duffel bag closed.

  “Yes.”

  He crossed to his coat and withdrew her 9mm from an inside pocket. “Here. I’m sorry I had to take it from you.”

  Accepting the weapon, she stared up at him. “I’m sorry I probably would’ve shot you with it if you hadn’t.”

  Damn, he hated to leave her.

  Spying a pen and a pile of mail on the coffee table, Ethan picked up an envelope, turned it over, and wrote on the back of it. He handed it to her. “My number. If you need anything”—or just want to talk, he added mentally—“please don’t hesitate to call me.”

  She took it and stared down at it.

  Ethan forced himself to don his coat and retrieved his duffel bag. His boots thudding across the wooden floor sounded loud in the silence.

  Heather followed him to the door.

  “I’ll check the area to ensure no vampires made it this far before the rain began to fall,” he told her.

  She nodded.

  Opening the door, he stepped out into darkness and dropped his duffel on the front porch. “I’ll be right back.”

  A quick search of the surrounding forest and meadowland confirmed no vampires had come looking for their deceased comrades. Already the scent of blood in the clearing had been washed away by the downpour, as had Ethan’s and Heather’s scents.

  Ethan returned to the porch, his hair and coat dripping.

  Heather waited for him in the doorway, the 9mm clutched in one hand.

  “All clear,” he told her, wanting so badly to kiss her again.

  She nodded. “It still feels like I’ve known you for a year,” she murmured.

  “Oddly, it feels the same
for me.” Stepping closer, he cupped her face in cool, rain-slick hands. He heard her heartbeat pick up its pace even as his own did the same.

  Lowering his lips to hers, Ethan delivered a slow, gentle kiss, memorizing her taste, the feel of her soft cheeks beneath his palms. He raised his head, saw the amber glow of his eyes reflected in hers. “Be safe, Heather.”

  She nodded. “You, too.”

  He lingered a moment longer. Then, stepping back, he picked up his duffel bag, strode to his car, and drove out of Heather’s life.

  David was the second eldest and second most powerful Immortal Guardian on the planet. Or at least he had been until Zach had grudgingly joined their ranks. Nevertheless, David remained Seth’s second in command, having helped him guide and corral the Immortal Guardian group for thousands of years.

  David also treated all immortals, their Seconds, and members of the human network like family. He opened his homes to them all. Did everything he could to provide a family-like atmosphere and dispel the loneliness that crept up on them from time to time. And provided the warmth and stability so many of them needed to keep plodding along in this existence.

  For some time now, David had made North Carolina his primary home. A fortunate thing for Ethan, because David’s home here—in recent years—had abounded with activity. All meetings were held there. Most of the immortals in the area spent their downtime there. And Ami, the young mortal from another planet whom Seth and David both loved like a daughter, lived there with her husband Marcus and their beautiful, miraculous baby girl.

  Even before Ami had become the first mortal to give birth to an immortal’s baby, she had won the hearts of all the Immortal Guardians. She had been tortured by one of their mercenary enemies for months and had emerged from it changed. She feared all strangers now. Was almost painfully shy. Yet she was one of the fiercest fighters any of them had ever seen.

  When Ami had again been targeted by mercenaries, all immortals in the area had felt the need to watch over her and protect her, so David’s large house had become a home away from home for most of them, many even sleeping there during the day now to provide added security.

  As they apparently had today.

  Several cars already lined the long, curved drive when Ethan arrived. For once, when he headed up the walk and heard the bustle of activity inside, he didn’t smile or feel relieved that the loneliness that afflicted him would soon be dispelled, at least for a time.

  Heather weighed heavily on his mind. He hadn’t liked saying good-bye to her. Had wanted to find some excuse—any excuse—to delay his departure. It puzzled him.

  He had saved other mortal women in the past. Granted, they had all been drugged by vampires’ bites. But it hadn’t bothered him in the least that they wouldn’t remember him or that he would never see them again.

  He knew, without a doubt, that Heather would not be so quick to leave his thoughts.

  No, Heather would linger a long time.

  Chatter and laughter washed over him as he opened the front door and entered.

  It looked as though he was one of the last to arrive. The dozen or so other immortals in the area and their Seconds all filled the huge living room, sprawled in the many chairs and love seats and sofas the room boasted.

  Several called a greeting to him.

  Ethan waved and closed the door behind him. As he shrugged off his coat and hung it beside the many others that adorned the hooks beside the door, he saw all eyes return to a tiny figure in the center of the room.

  Adira, Marcus and Ami’s baby girl, tottered from warrior to warrior, her little hands curling over black-clad knees to help maintain her balance as she grinned up at them. Every warrior smiled with indulgent affection and patted her little back or drew a large hand over her bright orange curls while offering words of encouragement.

  How they all adored her.

  One of the cats that had found a home with David slunk over to rub up against Ethan’s legs. Adira’s pretty green eyes latched onto it and lit up as she began to make her way forward.

  She had almost made it to them when she lost her balance and sat back onto her bottom.

  Ethan scooped her up and smiled at her, his somber thoughts fleeing. “Hello, princess.”

  She grinned up at him, revealing four teeth. Her little chin slick with drool, she curled her fingers into his shirt.

  Ethan had been utterly terrified the first time Marcus had let him hold her. He hadn’t been around children since he had been a child himself. Hell, almost a year later, she still felt far too fragile to Ethan. Even with all of her adorable rolls of fat. The child was built like the Michelin Man. Either that or an NFL linebacker.

  The door opened behind Ethan.

  Adira’s face lit up. “Wo! Wo!” Kicking her little legs in excitement, she stretched her arms out to the latest arrival.

  Ethan didn’t even have to look to know who it was. Turning, he shook his head as the most antisocial immortal on the planet smiled down at Adira.

  “Hello, poppet,” Roland said, his deep voice warm with affection. As far as Ethan knew, Roland was the only immortal in the room who had fathered children—a son and a daughter—before his transformation. Unlike Ethan and the others, Roland had been comfortable caring for the babe from the get-go and clearly adored his best friend’s child.

  Beside Roland, his petite wife Sarah grinned up at Ethan, then waved at the baby. Sarah, too, had found a home in the hearts of all immortals. She had been the first gifted one in history to ask to be transformed so she could spend eternity with Roland.

  “Wo! Wo!” Adira repeated.

  “Hi, cutie,” Sarah said with a smile.

  “Hi, yourself,” Ethan retorted and winked.

  Sarah laughed.

  “Wo! Wo! Wo!” Adira damned near hurled her little body out of Ethan’s arms in an attempt to get to Roland.

  “Let Uncle Roland doff his coat first, sweetling.” Roland removed his coat in a blur of motion, helped his wife remove hers, then hung them up and held out his arms. “There’s my girl.”

  Ethan obligingly transferred the squirming toddler to her favorite uncle’s arms.

  Sarah shook her head and smiled up at Ethan. “She adores this man.”

  Ethan remarked in a loud whisper, “I don’t see the appeal.”

  “I heard that,” Roland grumbled.

  Sarah and Ethan shared a laugh.

  As the three of them headed into the living room, Roland held Adira high above his head, then bent his arms so she’d dangle upside down behind his back, then straightened his arms and lowered her in front of him, then lifted her high and dangled her down his back again, all the while making what Ethan guessed were supposed to be airplane sounds.

  Judging by the expressions of the others in the room, all felt as Ethan did: It was damned odd to see the dour immortal’s face wreathed in such a wide smile, to see him so playful and affectionate.

  Adira shrieked and giggled and drooled down Roland’s neck. And chest. On his shoulder. Apparently toddlers did that a lot while they were teething.

  Roland didn’t seem to care. Sarah and Adira had fostered so many changes in him. Not that Roland wasn’t still one of the most ruthless warriors among them. As Krysta had once confided, Roland looked like he could kill a man, prop his feet on the body, and eat a sandwich. He just had a serious soft spot for these two ladies.

  As Roland and Sarah sat on the sofa across from Marcus and Ami, Ed sidled up to Ethan.

  “So?” his Second asked, raising his eyebrows.

  “So?” Ethan repeated. No way in hell was he going to discuss Heather in a room full of preternaturally sensitive ears.

  Ed had been with Ethan long enough to guess his train of thought and didn’t push for details. “So I brought you a change of clothes. You look like you could use some blood.”

  “I could, actually,” Ethan admitted and followed Ed into the spacious kitchen.

  Sheldon, Richart’s young Second, passed them o
n his way out, a gargantuan sandwich on the plate he carried. “Hey, man. How’s it goin’?”

  “Same old same old,” Ethan lied.

  “I hear ya.”

  Ed retrieved a couple of bags of blood from one of two refrigerators the kitchen boasted. (Large warriors tended to consume large quantities of food.)

  Ethan sank his teeth into the first bag and let his fangs siphon the blood into his greedy veins. Strength flowed into him alongside it. He swiftly drained a second bag. Much better.

  He heard the front door open and close, heralding more arrivals.

  “Okay, guys,” Darnell said in the living room, “let’s do this.”

  Ethan and Ed headed into the dining room and sat at the long table that dominated it.

  Marcus and Ami sat beside each other on the side opposite Ethan, near one end of the table. Sarah and Roland, who still carried Adira, took the chairs beside them.

  Lisette appeared at Ethan’s elbow and settled herself in the chair beside him. Zach took the chair on her other side. Lisette’s brother Richart seated his wife, Jenna, next to Sarah, then claimed the seat beside her. Richart’s Second Sheldon and Lisette’s Second Tracy sat across from Ethan, beside Richart.

  Ethan studied those two. Rumors abounded that Tracy and Sheldon might be sleeping together. What an odd pairing. Sheldon, the “kid brother” everyone razzed, the youngest Second in their midst. Tracy, a good nine years older and—from what Ethan had observed over the years—usually attracted to rugged bad boys. (Hell, he had even seen her flirt with Ed a time or two.) What about Sheldon would attract her?

  Ethan’s stomach growled as he transferred his attention to Sheldon’s sandwich.

  “You want half?” Sheldon asked, following Ethan’s gaze.

  Nodding, Ethan accepted the tasty offering with a smile. “Thanks. I forgot to eat earlier.” Maybe Sheldon tempted her with his sandwiches, he thought after his first bite. Damn, it was good.

  While Ethan swiftly devoured the sandwich, Richart’s twin Étienne, his wife Krysta, and their Second Cam, along with the German immortal Alleck (Ethan didn’t really know him) and the network doctor Linda, took all but one of the remaining chairs on the opposite side of the table. Bastien seated Melanie and himself beside Zach. Their Second Tanner took one of the last two chairs on that end.