Heather opened her eyes. “Can’t you just talk to him?” she pleaded.
“We would have to erase the memory of it from his mind, if we did,” Seth explained. Which, because of the strong mental barriers General Lane possessed, would cause as much damage as simply reading his mind would.
“He won’t tell anyone,” she promised.
“I’m afraid we can’t take that chance,” David said. “Ethan told you of our recent troubles with Shadow River.”
“My dad isn’t like that,” she vowed. “He isn’t greedy. He isn’t a warmonger. And he knows how to keep a secret, knows the importance of keeping one. He’s kept mine for twenty-nine years, and kept my mother’s even after she died. If he were like those Shadow River guys, don’t you think he would’ve used our telepathy for his own gain? Don’t you think it occurred to him once in all these years that maybe the military could benefit from our abilities?”
“The military does benefit from your ability,” Zach pointed out.
“Not as much as they would if they knew what my ability actually was,” she protested. “He told them I read facial expressions, not minds. You don’t think he knows the kind of career boost he could get by bringing the government an honest-to-goodness telepath who can read the thoughts of every prisoner, every political opponent, every other nation’s leader?”
Ethan glanced at Chris. “Can’t your contacts get us the location of the base?”
Chris shook his head. “Too much attention is focused on it at the moment. The military would know instantly if someone hacked into classified files. But my contacts may be able to tell us who else would likely know the information we need. Then Seth or Zach could read that person’s mind instead of Heather’s father’s.”
Sounded good to Ethan.
“What about Mac?” Heather blurted.
Zach turned to her. “The other man in the room with you and the general?”
“Yes. Or maybe the soldier monitoring all the equipment?”
“Neither knows the location of the base. I checked.”
“Oh.” The hope in Heather’s face died a swift death.
“Well, someone else must know,” Chris said. “I’ll see if my guys can’t give us some names.”
Seth nodded. “Do it.”
Heather released a weary sigh and leaned into Ethan’s side.
Wrapping his arms around her, Ethan drew her close and hoped like hell Chris’s contacts would let General Lane off the hook.
Heather stared at the powerful men and women seated around David’s long dining room table. All of the immortals stationed in North Carolina were present, as were their mortal Seconds. And everyone had greeted Heather with friendly smiles, as though she were one of them.
Well, everyone except Roland. But Ethan had told her not to take that one’s stony expression to heart. They all considered Roland the most antisocial of their ilk.
Heather could see why. Roland was quiet and didn’t participate much in the conversation flowing around him. He did stick close to his wife, though, and always seemed to be touching her. If he wasn’t holding her hand, he wrapped an arm around her or rested a hand on her thigh or leaned down to kiss her neck. Heather thought it sweet, how much the surly immortal adored Sarah. And thought it even sweeter when his dour face broke into a wide, affectionate grin when Ami’s baby held her arms out to him and called, “Wo! Wo!”
Even now, the little one sat in Roland’s lap, toying with the buttons on his shirt while he whispered something in her ear.
Heather felt honored to sit at a table with such powerful immortal warriors. It seemed so surreal, like sitting down to chat with a bunch of superheroes, only these guys—and gals—didn’t wear colorful tights. They wore black to conceal the blood they would spill later in the night when they hunted.
A sobering thought.
The relaxed, family-like atmosphere evaporated once Seth and Chris arrived and related the day’s events. All eyes shifted to Heather, who tried not to squirm beneath the attention.
Curses flowed freely.
Ethan took Heather’s hand beneath the table and, linking their fingers, rested it on his thigh. “Did your contacts come up with any names for you, Chris? Anyone who might be privy to the same information General Lane has?”
Chris drew a single sheet of paper from his briefcase. “Yes.” He handed it to Seth. “They seem to think these are your best bets. The first list is of helicopter pilots they believe might have been the ones who evacuated Nick Altomari and transported in some of the army personnel who cleaned up the base and collected the dead. The second list is of army and army intelligence officers who, like Heather’s father, may be in the loop. But . . . I’ve been thinking.”
Seth took the paper and examined it. “What’s on your mind?”
“It may be worth the risk to try to recruit General Lane.”
“What?” Heather and Ethan exclaimed simultaneously.
“Are you out of your mind?” Roland demanded.
Other murmured protests floated around the table.
Chris shook his head. “Heather said he understands the importance of keeping a secret, and—after all the digging I’ve done during the last few hours—I’m inclined to agree. If he were a man driven by greed or a lust for power or even fame, he would have long since sold out his wife and daughter. But he’s a smart man and knew what would happen to them if their abilities ever came to light.” He turned his head and met Heather’s gaze. “Did your father encourage you when you told him you were going to pass yourself off as a FACS specialist and see if you could earn a living helping others with your telepathy without actually revealing it?”
“No,” she said. “We actually had a falling-out over it. He was afraid I would slip and say or do something that would reveal I can read minds. Things were pretty tense between us for a couple of years until I proved to him that I could keep my true ability hidden.”
Chris motioned to her as he addressed the others. “Clearly the man’s priorities are where they should be.”
“She’s his daughter,” Marcus pointed out, helping Adira as she scrambled from Roland’s lap over onto his own. “Of course he wants to protect her. We, on the other hand, are strangers who all wield even more power than the vampires who just destroyed one of his military bases. If we tell him the soldier who survived isn’t insane and—to prove it—flash our fangs, how eager do you think he will be to keep our secret? What reason would he have to believe we’re any different from the monsters who slaughtered the soldiers who manned that base?”
“You want a reason?” Chris asked. “I’ll give you two of them. We saved his daughter’s life. Twice. Ethan saved it once during the first skirmish they fought with vampires. Seth saved it the second time when she was fatally wounded. You’re a father, Marcus. You were, too, Roland. Don’t you think that would mean something to him?”
Roland and Marcus silently consulted each other.
Neither denied Chris’s words.
David cleared his throat. “There’s a third reason.”
All eyes turned to him.
“I think it’s safe to assume that Gershom is behind this new vampire army, since he was behind Shadow River. The fact that he was forcing Whetsman to smuggle out more of the sedative seems adequate confirmation, as far as I’m concerned. And I know of no one else who would be either bold enough or stupid enough to send an army of vampires to attack an American military installation, knowing full well the response it would provoke.”
Seth nodded. “It would be one hell of a way to kick-start an apocalypse. Not only would knowledge of vampires go public, it would force one of the world’s largest superpowers to retaliate.”
Dread seized Heather. “If Gershom directs the blame at another country . . .”
“It would mean war,” Seth finished for her.
Zach leaned forward and braced his elbows on the table. “And if the American military believes another country has raised an army of vampires who are capable of su
ch destruction, they will do everything they can to acquire the virus themselves and begin to infect troops here to raise their own.”
Seth nodded. “Once that happens, countries hostile to America will find out and want to do the same, as will America’s allies. No one wants the other guy to have the more powerful army.”
More curses all around.
Heather turned to David. “Is that the third reason?”
“Third reason for what?” Sheldon asked.
“The third reason my dad would have for believing you aren’t like the vampires? Because you’ll warn him what will happen if the military gains knowledge of the virus?”
David shook his head. “Your father is an intelligent man. He’ll draw that conclusion on his own. No, the third reason is you. Your safety is and always has been his top priority. When we tell him . . . when you tell him . . . that you’ve become a target of the leader of this new vampire army, a leader who has no qualms about sacrificing your life to achieve his goals and who may not be through with you yet, I think your father will be swayed to our side. I think his desire to protect you will force him to work with us even if doubts linger.”
A tense and somber silence ensued.
Roland broke it. “I still think it’s too risky. I think Seth should just read the minds of the men on Chris’s list and leave General Lane alone.”
“And if Seth and David find no clues at the destroyed base?” Chris asked. “If they find nothing that can help us figure out where the hell this new vampire army is forming, then what? I’ve notified the other network heads around the globe of the attack and they’ll tell the immortals in their area to keep a sharper eye out for any unusual vampire activity. But if nothing has shown up on the radar so far, I don’t think we can count on the vampires giving anything away in the near future. Not unless their next attack is more public. Then all bets will be off.”
“Your point?” Roland drawled.
“The military is doing everything they can to find out what country or organization fostered this attack. Right now they’re combing through every source of intel they have. General Lane can feed us that information and help us narrow down our search.”
Heather saw the reason in it, but hoped like hell the Immortal Guardians’ leader would find something at the base so all of this would be moot.
“Heather,” Seth addressed her.
Her heart trip-hammered in her chest. “Yes?”
“You’ve not told us what you think on the matter.”
Nervous butterflies filled her stomach. “I didn’t know I had a voice in this.”
“You do,” Seth informed her.
“Well . . .” She rubbed her free hand up and down her thigh as her palms began to sweat. Hopefully Ethan wouldn’t mind her other palm sweating, because no way in hell was she going to let go of his hand. “The downside of telling him is you’d have to erase the memory of it afterward if he didn’t cooperate, and that would hurt him. Do I have that right?”
“Yes.”
“Will it kill him?”
“No, but it will be immensely painful.”
“He’ll recover, though, like Ethan did when you read his mind, right?”
Seth hesitated. “Ethan is immortal and has greater healing capabilities. Your father is human and may not fare so well.”
Her stomach churned. “Are you saying he could end up with brain damage?”
“It’s a possibility.”
“Irreparable brain damage?”
“Yes.”
She swallowed hard. “That’s a huge downside.” One for which she would never forgive herself if it were to come to pass. Nor would she forgive herself if he agreed to work for the network and came to harm as a result. Ethan had told her that Chris’s last group of contacts had been tortured and killed. What if that happened to her father?
“Look,” Zach spoke into the leaden silence, “everyone thinks I’m an asshole.”
When no one protested, Lisette shot everyone around the table a glare.
“I don’t know if this will prove it or disprove it,” Zach continued. “But I don’t think it’s fair to ask Heather to make this decision. We’re essentially asking her to weigh her father’s life against the welfare of the entire world. If we talk to him and he chooses not to work with us, he’ll end up brain damaged and will suffer for the rest of his life. If he does work with us, he could end up like Chris’s last group of contacts and die a torturous death.”
His words reflected her thoughts so precisely that Heather wondered if the elder had been reading her mind.
“And,” he went on, “if she should ask us not to enlist her father’s aid and it takes us too long to locate this new vampire army—the world is a big fucking place, people—then she will know she facilitated Armageddon.”
“Dude,” Sheldon said, his face somber, “that sucks.”
Zach reached over and took one of Lisette’s hands. “The Others believe any contact with humans will bring about the world’s destruction. When I fell in love with Lisette, I made the conscious decision to risk it. I chose Lisette over the rest of the world and would do so again. Yet there are some of you at this table who would condemn Heather for putting her father’s welfare first.”
Again, no protests.
Zach looked to Seth. “I applaud you for wanting to be fair and to let Heather have a say. But I think you should be the one who ultimately decides. We all trust your judgment, and it may very well spare Heather a lifetime of guilt.”
Heather held her breath and fought the urge to cry in shame, because part of her wanted Seth to take this decision away from her.
“So be it,” Seth intoned.
She squeezed Ethan’s hand tighter until her nails dug into his flesh, terrified of Seth’s next words.
“Aidan, you and I will go to the men on this list,” he held up the piece of paper Chris had given him, “and see if any of them know the location of the base, while Zach and David keep an eye on things here. Zach, I want you to field my calls for the next few hours so there will be no interruptions.”
Zach nodded.
“Once we know the base’s location, David and I will teleport there and see what we can learn from the scene.”
Heather nearly sagged with relief.
Then Seth snagged her gaze. “Heather, I shall leave your father out of this as long as I can. If we are left with no other option but to attempt to recruit him, I will tell you so that you may accompany us.”
To help them gain his cooperation? Or to say good-bye in case things didn’t go well? She had no idea how extensive the brain damage would be, so she supposed there was a chance her father wouldn’t even know her or be able to speak to her again afterward.
Family is everything to me, Seth spoke in her mind. I will do all I can to spare you that.
The lump that rose in her throat was too big to speak past, so she answered him telepathically. Thank you.
“Anything else?” Seth addressed the table at large.
David nodded. “In light of these events, I want all immortals, even the elders, to hunt in pairs. And do not leave home without several of the autoinjectors that contain the sedative’s antidote in your possession. Until further notice, I want you all to take the same precautionary measures when battling vampires that you did after Lisette was nearly slain last year.”
Nods all around.
“Very well,” Seth said. “Safe hunting to you all.”
Chapter Thirteen
The scents of death permeated the balmy air.
Seth studied the picturesque beach on which he and David stood. Sunlight sparkled on water so clear he could see the pale sand on the ocean floor. Colorful fish flitted about beneath the surface, finding goodies to eat within the coral reef that blossomed like an underwater flower garden.
No drink stands, chairs, or umbrellas marred the beach’s beauty. No tourists bathed in the sun’s harsh beams while they fiddled with their cell phones or tablets and did eve
rything they could, it seemed to him, to avoid conversing with one another.
All was quiet. Serene. Yielding no sign of the violence that had taken place there two weeks earlier . . . if one discounted the wide band of foliage at the beach’s edge that looked as if it had been flattened by bulldozers.
David grunted. “These were young vampires. Newly turned.”
Seth agreed. “And still high on their own strength.”
Senses searching, they strolled into the deep green tropical forest.
Seth had wanted Zach to accompany them, but had felt uneasy leaving David’s home unguarded by someone who could defeat Gershom, should he make an appearance. Heather and Ethan remained in David’s home and, for all anyone knew, could be putting everyone else there at risk. None were certain yet if Gershom would attempt to use her again.
Aidan guarded David’s home as well and would cover for Zach when the latter answered emergency calls that normally would have gone to Seth. Just to be safe, Seth had teleported in Chaahk and Imhotep, Aidan’s equals in power and gifts. Those three all seemed tragically excited to face a new challenge.
Guilt pressed down upon Seth. Doing the same old same old night after night for thousands of years had worn on Aidan, Chaahk, and Imhotep. Seth had always tried to dispel the loneliness of immortals by assigning them Seconds, but an immortal could go through a lot of Seconds in a few thousand years. That was a lot of friends to lose.
And a long time to go without love.
As leader of the Immortal Guardians, Seth was kept too busy to dwell on the loneliness he experienced himself. Most days.
Hell, he might—on occasion—bitch about never having any downtime, but going days and nights without sleep could sometimes be a good thing. It prevented him from having to lie in bed alone, remembering what he had once had and missing it with a desperation that made him wish his damned phone would ring again.
“What troubles you?” David asked as they stepped over downed trees and continued forward, following the trail of destruction the vamps had left behind them. David knew Seth better than anyone did.
Seth gave a weary shrug. “Things I cannot change.”
Shadows Strike Page 20
