“It isn’t. Why do you think I keep trying to impress your father?”
Joy and hope rose. “Really?”
He nodded, his face lightening with a grin. “He called me your boyfriend tonight. I think he may actually be starting to like me.”
She grinned. “How could he not?”
Ethan preened. “I am irresistible, am I not?”
Laughing, Heather shoved him.
Ethan settled back beside her. “Look, our relationship didn’t have a conventional beginning. We didn’t start off dating. Didn’t go through the usual rigmarole of only showing each other our best sides or offering our wittiest conversation to make a good impression. We bared it all from the start . . . figuratively speaking. There was no pretense. We spoke frankly. We liked what we heard. Liked what we saw,” he added with a leer that made her chuckle. “We didn’t play games. And we got to know each other faster as a result.”
“Plus, the whole life-threatening situation thing drew us closer.”
He nodded. “You can learn a lot about a person from the way he or she faces death.”
A groan escaped her. “I don’t even want to know what you learned about me.” She had shaken in her boots during every skirmish.
“Are you kidding? I learned that you’re brave as hell. A true warrior who—”
She snorted. “I babbled like a maniac the night we met and tried to convince myself I was still asleep.”
“Hell, that’s better than screaming and running away or crapping your pants.”
Another burst of laughter escaped her.
“You could have done either or both . . . as many humans have in the past, I might add. Instead, you stayed when the vampires struck and helped me defeat them. You allowed me to explain who and what I am. You cared for my wounds. And you haven’t backed down from a fight since. Do you really not know how much I admire you for that?”
She opened her mouth to protest.
“Although we need to do something about your determination to place yourself between me and danger. Seriously, you have to cut that shit out now, Heather. I want to see where this will go, see if we can make it to that best-case scenario. I can’t do that if you die.”
She wanted to see if they could reach that best-case scenario, too. “I’ll try.”
He smiled. “So you aren’t worried that things are progressing too quickly for us? I don’t want to scare you off, but I haven’t done this before and am sort of flying blind and just going on gut instinct.”
“It is happening fast,” she admitted. “But you’ve been in my dreams and my head for a year now, Ethan. And considering the fact that Gershom has targeted me for who knows what purpose and could kill either one of us at any moment, I’m okay with not taking things slowly.”
He waggled his eyebrows. “Think of everything we would’ve missed if we had.”
Heather laughed.
Ethan’s corresponding laugh turned into a yawn. Poor guy.
“Still tired from the battle?” she asked, combing her fingers through his mussed hair.
“Yeah. I need to get a few more hours of healing sleep. Think you can join me?”
She nodded. All the worry of the past few days had caught up with her, leaving her as tired as though she had fought in the battle herself.
Scooting down in bed, they drew the covers up and snuggled together. Then, after sharing a tender kiss, they let sleep reclaim them.
Chapter Nineteen
Chris Reordon called a meeting at David’s place shortly after sunset.
Holding Heather’s hand, Ethan found his seat along with the others.
“There will be no hunting tonight,” David announced as soon as everyone was settled.
Eyebrows raised.
“Why?” Ethan asked.
Chris answered. “Because every Second present called me and expressed concern about his or her immortal’s safety. They know how distracted you are and worry that it may lead you to make costly mistakes if you hunt vampires as usual.”
Ethan looked at Ed.
Ed shrugged, offering no denial.
“What about the vampires?” Krysta asked. “I don’t feel right about letting them roam unchecked.”
“Nor do I,” Chris told her. “So I called in my special ops teams and have stationed snipers on the college campuses, since vampires tend to flock there. All of my men are armed with both tranq guns and automatic weapons.”
“I thought humans weren’t allowed to hunt vampires,” Krysta countered with some confusion.
Ethan knew she had been told as much before her transformation.
“It isn’t an ideal solution,” David responded. “But Immortal Guardians are the world’s most effective weapon against the vampire menace. We must, on occasion, break the rules in order to protect you.”
Silence fell, heavy with unspoken concern.
“Has there been no word?” Sarah asked, voice hushed.
David shook his head. “Not since Zach contacted us this afternoon.”
Aidan frowned. “Just how powerful is Gershom?”
Roland grunted. “Clearly more powerful than we suspected if he has been able to elude Seth for this long.” He looked to Chris. “Isn’t there anything your techno geeks can do to help Seth and Zach locate him?”
Chris shook his head. “Gershom lives completely off the grid. If he used a cell phone or the Internet or even had a damned bank account, we would have someplace to begin. But . . .”
Sheldon fidgeted. “How long can they keep this up?”
Both Seth and Zach had fought vampires at the military base and had lost quite a bit of blood before beginning the pursuit. Gershom had likely been fresh and at full strength.
“I don’t know,” David admitted.
Richart’s brow furrowed. “I can’t believe they’ve kept it up this long. Teleportation takes an enormous amount of energy. I would’ve fallen flat on my face after only an hour.”
Aidan nodded. “I’m damned near three thousand years old and couldn’t have kept it up nearly this long.”
Sarah bit her lip. “It just feels like we should be doing something. Like we should be helping them in some way.”
David sighed. “At this point—”
Seth and Zach appeared near David’s chair. Zach leaned heavily against Seth, his arm draped across Seth’s shoulder.
Gasps rippled through the room.
Lisette lunged to her feet.
The two eldest immortals stumbled forward a step, then sank to their knees.
David leapt up and reached Seth just as the Immortal Guardians’ leader started to fall backward. Taking Seth by the shoulders, David eased him down onto his back.
Lisette did the same for Zach. “Zach?”
Ethan, Heather, and the others all crowded around.
Both warriors appeared to be in about the same shape wound-wise as they had been the last time Ethan had seen them. So they must have expended so much energy chasing Gershom that their wounds couldn’t heal.
Both also appeared to be losing consciousness.
David placed a hand on Seth’s chest.
Seth’s eyes flew open as he drew in a sharp breath. As color returned to his pallid face, he gave his second in command a grateful look. “Thank you.”
David nodded. “Aidan?”
Aidan shouldered his way through the crowd and knelt beside David. “Yes?”
David looked to Lisette. “Release Zach and sit back.”
She did as ordered.
David gripped Aidan’s wrist, then touched Zach’s chest. A moment later, Zach gasped, his eyes opening as color returned to his face.
When David withdrew his hand and released Aidan’s wrist, the Celt sagged to one side.
His Second, Brodie, caught him and braced him to keep him upright.
“Sorry,” David said with a faint smile. “They were low on energy and that was the fastest way I could replenish them both.”
Ethan thought David lo
oked ready to keel over now, too.
Aidan nodded, his head sagging a bit as if he barely had the strength to hold it up. “You’ll have to show me how to do that one day.”
“Me, too,” Roland added.
Adira began to whimper and squirm in her mother’s arms.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Ami murmured. “Seth is okay. He’s just resting.”
Seth held a hand up to Ethan.
Ethan grasped it and tugged until Seth was sitting upright.
Seth nodded his thanks. “Let her come to me, Ami.” He even sounded tired.
Ami lowered Adira to the floor.
The powerful immortals and their Seconds all parted to let the tiny toddler make her way through them to Seth.
A weary smile touched Seth’s lips as she climbed onto his lap and wrapped her chubby little arms around him. “Well,” he addressed the throng as he smoothed a large hand over Adira’s soft curls, “he got away from us.”
Ethan had no idea how to respond to that. Nor did anyone else, judging by the quiet that blanketed the room. Seth was . . . undefeatable. Seth had always been undefeatable. How could Gershom possibly be more powerful than him?
Zach sat up with Lisette’s aid. “Stop panicking,” he drawled. “You’re all worrying that Gershom is more powerful than your illustrious leader. Well, he isn’t.”
Seth nodded. “Gershom knew his destination every time he teleported. We didn’t. Whenever we reached a place he had been, we had to mentally trace the tendrils of energy he left behind to determine his next destination, then teleport after him. That took time.”
“So he managed to get a little farther ahead of us with each teleport,” Zach finished. “The farther ahead of us he got, the more time his energy trail had to fade before we encountered it and the longer it took us to trace it.”
Richart studied them both, his face grim. “He must be incredibly strong to teleport so many times and for so many hours.”
Zach’s lip curled. “He’s not as strong as you think.”
Seth grunted. “When we followed him to the Himalayas, we found one of the Others down on the ground. Gershom had sensed Teman’s presence and popped in behind him. Before Teman knew Gershom was there, Gershom did what you just saw David do. He sucked the energy out of Teman, bolstered his own, then resumed his flight.”
David swore. “The Others were supposed to be helping you. Teman was supposed to leap into the fray and hold Gershom until you had time to catch up to him.”
“Well, Ami was right. It would seem Gershom has become as adept at shielding his presence as Zach has,” Seth told them. “Teman said he didn’t have any inkling at all that he was no longer alone until Gershom touched him.”
“Then how the hell are we going to catch him?” Roland asked.
Lisette wrapped her arm around Zach and helped him rise. “We’ll have to answer that question another day. Right now these two need rest.”
Ethan helped Seth stand.
Darnell did the same for David. Brodie helped Aidan.
Ami moved forward to take Adira from Seth.
Lisette caught her brother’s gaze. “Can you take Seth and Zach to our place? They’ll rest better there.”
Richart nodded.
The fact that neither elder teleported there himself, allowing the younger immortal to do it for them, spoke volumes about their current physical state.
Richart teleported Zach and Lisette first.
Ethan kept a hand at Seth’s back to steady him. He found it unsettling to see two such immensely powerful warriors look so exhausted.
And to know that they might not be able to stop whatever Gershom planned.
Ethan reached for Heather’s hand and linked his fingers through hers.
A plan that might still, in some way, involve Heather.
A few nights later, Chris circled David’s large dining table, handing every man and woman a folder.
Once more, every Immortal Guardian and Second was present.
Appearing fully recovered, Seth sat at one end of the table, David at the other.
“General Lane was able to give us a lead on the vampires who attacked the second military base,” Seth informed them.
Opening his folder, Ethan glanced at Heather’s father, who had joined them for the meeting. “How’s the cover-up going? Is our story holding up?”
He nodded. “Hundreds of hackers try to break into classified government files and systems every day. It was only a matter of time, they’re saying, until one succeeded and did some real damage. Those who have been pushing for more funding to combat cyberattacks are having a field day with this.”
“Which fall guy did you end up going with?” Ethan asked curiously. “Terrorists or the hacker who did it to prove the weakness existed?”
“Officially, the latter. The powers that be thought it would cause less of a panic if the story ever went public. Thus far, the military has managed to keep both attacks under wraps. But should any media outlets ever get wind of it . . .”
Ethan nodded. “And unofficially?”
“Terrorists. There was simply no way to convince them that the attacks on the two bases were unrelated.”
Beside Ethan, Ed frowned. “How exactly have you kept this from going public? Even if our military manages to keep it under wraps, other countries would’ve seen it with their satellites, wouldn’t they?”
“You can thank the network for that,” Seth told them. “Network contacts worldwide disrupted the feed of the satellites trained on that location and erased all images that were captured before they could do so.”
Damn, Ethan thought. Where the hell would the Immortal Guardians be without the humans who aided them?
Chris motioned to a large image he had propped on an easel. It depicted a satellite image of a string of islands and what appeared to be a large ship several miles offshore. “Thanks to General Lane’s intel, we learned that the vampires hitched a ride on this freighter, then ditched it and swam to shore here.” He pointed to the island with one of his trusty number two pencils.
Zach frowned. “Did the freighter know what they were carrying?”
“No,” Seth responded. “They don’t even remember why they swung by the island. The crew’s memories of that night have been erased.”
“Erased? Not buried?” Étienne asked.
“Erased,” Seth confirmed.
“Did the vampires kill anyone onboard?” Lisette asked.
“No. And none of the humans exhibited the symptoms of substantial blood loss that would’ve indicated the vamps had fed upon them.”
“Isn’t that . . . odd?” Heather asked, glancing up at Ethan, then at the men and women around the table. “I mean, I didn’t think vampires were known for their restraint.”
“I assume they were ordered to keep their fangs to themselves,” Seth surmised, “so no alarm would be sounded that might alert the base to their approach.”
Roland frowned. “They all must have been newly turned to show such restraint.”
Ethan agreed.
Chris removed the image of the islands and revealed a satellite image of Asia behind it. “It took some doing—I had to bring damned near every European and Asian network and their contacts into play—but we were able to backtrack the vampires’ movements and locate their base or lair.”
Ethan frowned. “Why didn’t Gershom just teleport them all to the island? Judging by the chase he led Seth and Zach on earlier, he’s clearly powerful enough to do so. Why risk the vampires leaving a trail we could follow?”
“I’m wondering the same thing,” Chris said, “and worry this may be a trap.”
Zach leaned forward, bracing his elbows on the table. “Not necessarily. This is Gershom’s first—at least as far as we know it—interaction with vampires. It may be something as simple as him getting off on seeing others jump to do his bidding.”
Seth nodded. “We have no idea what has driven him to tamper in mortal affairs in such a way, why h
e seems hell-bent on watching the world burn.”
“Maybe he’s fucking crazy,” Sheldon suggested.
Seth shrugged. “Or perhaps he has developed a god complex and wants to rule over whoever rises from the ashes of the next world war.”
“Like I said,” Sheldon muttered, “crazy.”
Zach glanced at Seth. “The god complex thing may not be too far off, if that is his particular insanity. He has watched you rule over thousands of immortals and hundreds of thousands of network humans for millennia. Perhaps he thinks it’s time he carved out his own piece of the pie.”
Seth’s brow furrowed. “I wouldn’t say I rule over them.”
Sheldon nodded, his face somber. “Of course not, Your Highness.”
Laughter erupted.
Even Seth cracked a smile before he returned his attention to Zach. “Do you really think he’s jealous? Of me?”
Zach shrugged. “He does seem to be targeting you, at least in part. He has already fucked with your head once, trying to pit you against your Immortal Guardians. And his actions resulted in the deaths of two immortals. After watching you for all these years, he had to have known what a blow that would be.”
A heavy silence fell.
To say that Seth had taken the losses hard would be a gross understatement. Even now, a year later, pain flashed in his eyes, adding a faint golden glow as he looked away.
“Now he’s fucking with Heather and Ethan,” Zach continued, “for reasons we’ve yet to discern. He could’ve sparked an apocalypse in a hundred different ways without involving you and your Immortal Guardians. I think it’s safe to assume you’re part of his stratagem.”
Shit. Ethan had been so busy worrying over what Gershom’s plans for Heather were that he hadn’t considered what the bastard’s plans for Seth might be.
Aidan shifted. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
Nor did any of the others, Ethan guessed by their expressions.
“We can’t afford to lose you, Seth,” Aidan continued.
“You won’t,” Seth announced, then turned to Chris. “Tell them what you’ve found.”
It seemed to take Chris a moment to redirect his thoughts. Knowing how assiduously the network head protected the Immortal Guardians, Ethan guessed Chris had already begun to turn his attention toward protecting Seth.
Shadows Strike Page 31
