“How did you know?” she asked finally.
“Cliff is my friend,” he told her. “I sleep at the network during the day and have spent a lot of time with him since transferring to North Carolina.” How could he put this delicately? “You know that immortals and vampires have heightened senses.”
She nodded.
“Well, I couldn’t help but notice that, on the nights Bastien takes Cliff hunting with him and lets him roam alone for a few hours, Cliff always returns carrying a woman’s scent.”
Her lashes lowered as she looked down at her small bare feet.
“I catch the same scent each time I pass your office at the network. And even if I didn’t, I’m telepathic and see you in his thoughts.”
A muscle twitched in her jaw. “If you’re here to tell me not to see him anymore, you can—”
“That’s not why I’m here,” he interrupted, cutting her off before she could tell him to go fuck himself. Cliff had chosen well. This woman would fight long and hard to remain by his side. “Because I’m telepathic, I also know that Cliff is always in better shape mentally after spending time with you. He’s calmer. More at peace.” Aidan shrugged. “I’m his friend. I wouldn’t take that away from him.”
She lowered her arms, all defensiveness fleeing. “He says I quiet the voices.”
“You do.” Damn, he hated to be the bearer of bad news. “But Cliff is struggling, Emma.”
Her throat worked in a swallow. “He’s been struggling for a long time now.”
Aidan shook his head. “Yesterday was different.”
Fear and dread returned to her brown eyes. “What happened? He didn’t come by last night. Did he have another break?”
“No,” Aidan told her. “But the voices clamoring in his head were so loud that they woke me from a sound sleep. And when I went to him…” He really hated to tell her this. “He was contemplating ending it.”
All strength seemed to leave her legs.
Aidan hastily grasped her upper arms to keep her from sinking to the floor.
Emma gripped his forearms with desperate hands, fingers twisting the material of his sleeves. Moisture welled in her eyes. “Is he…? Did he ask Bastien to…?”
“No,” Aidan hastened to assure her. Cliff must have told her about Vincent.
When Vince’s madness had progressed enough that he had flown into a rage and hurt several network employees, he had asked Bastien to end it before he lost himself altogether and hurt anyone else.
Though it had torn him up inside, Bastien had broken into network headquarters, fought his way to Vince’s side, and decapitated his friend.
Bastien still relived that horrid moment in his dreams.
“Cliff is alive,” Aidan told her.
Tears spilled over her lashes as her chest rose and fell with harsh breaths taken to hold back sobs. “I thought you were going to tell me…” Shaking her head, she swallowed hard. “He’s okay then?”
Aidan guided her over to a sofa. “Let’s sit down, shall we?”
She nodded. Releasing him, she sank down on the soft cushions and swiped at her tears.
Aidan retrieved a wingback chair from one corner and plunked it down across from her so he could face her. Seating himself, he leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees. “I tried something new yesterday that I hoped would help him. I teleported him to a sunny meadow on my estate in Scotland.”
Her eyes flew wide. “You hurt him?” she demanded furiously. “How could you? He’s been helping you—”
Aidan held up a palm. “I didn’t hurt him. I’m a powerful healer and kept my hand on his shoulder the entire time, healing the damage the sun wrought so quickly that he didn’t feel it.”
Her brow furrowed. “You can do that?”
“Yes. I tried it first on Ethan, an immortal who is only a century old and can tolerate very little sun exposure, to confirm it would work.”
She still looked skeptical. “So Cliff was able to stand in sunlight without it hurting him?”
Aidan smiled. “Yes. And we discovered that sunlight silences the voices as effectively as you do.”
Hope brightened her features. “So he’s better now?”
“He’s better,” Aidan confirmed.
She smiled. Reaching out, she took one of his hands. “Thank you.”
“I was happy to do it.”
“Do you think—if it gets bad again—that maybe you could do it again?”
Aidan patted her hand. “I’ve already told Cliff I’ll take him into the sunlight every day he continues to fight.”
Her eyes filled with hope. “Really? You would do that for him?”
“Of course.” He had taken him into the sunlight a second time today. “He’s my friend.”
“But doesn’t it hurt?” she asked, face pensive. “I thought immortals healed others by absorbing the damage into their own bodies.”
Aidan shrugged. “I told Cliff it’s a mild discomfort at most.”
She smiled wryly. “It hurt like hell, didn’t it?”
He laughed. “Yes. The longer we stood in the sunlight, the worse the pain grew. But I can tolerate it for Cliff. He’s a good man, well worth saving.”
Her lips turned up in a sad smile. “I wouldn’t love him if he weren’t.”
Cliff had chosen well indeed.
“Did you know he saved my life?” she asked.
Surprised, Aidan shook his head. “No.”
Her smile grew. “I work the day shift now but used to work nights at the network. And I was there when mercenaries bombed the original network headquarters just before dawn.”
That had happened before Aidan had come to North Carolina. Apparently a mercenary group had learned of the virus that infected vampires and immortals and had decided to use it to create an army of supersoldiers they could hire out to the highest bidder. When they realized that vampires always descend into madness, they ferreted out the location of network headquarters and proceeded to bomb the hell out of it in an attempt to get their hands on an Immortal Guardian so they could find out why immortals don’t.
The damage done had been so catastrophic that Reordon had had to abandon the site entirely and move all operations to a new building.
“I worked on Sublevel 1,” she continued. “Part of the ground floor collapsed before I could evacuate. Something hit me on the head and knocked me unconscious. And when I woke up, I was buried beneath the rubble and couldn’t move.” She shook her head. “I didn’t even have a chance to call for help before the concrete and whatever else above me began to shift and groan as someone lifted it away. The next thing I knew, Cliff was staring down at me, his eyes glowing bright amber while he told me not to be afraid, that he was there to help me.”
“Did you know he was a vampire?” Aidan asked curiously.
“Not with certainty. But I had heard that one of the vampires housed on Sublevel 5 was a brother. And I figured he wouldn’t keep telling me not to be afraid if he were an immortal.”
Aidan peeked into her memories and saw Cliff repeatedly telling her not to be afraid, raising his voice so she could hear him over the barrage of explosions while he checked her for injuries. With preternatural speed, Cliff tore a strip of cloth from his shirt and tied it around her arm where it bled profusely. He then secured the broken arm with a makeshift sling and gently lifted her into his arms.
As Cliff sped over to the elevator shaft, preparing to leap down and take her to the doctors and the evacuation tunnel on Sublevel 5, Emma peered over his shoulder and saw mercenaries entering the building through one of the holes in the ceiling.
“I wouldn’t have made it out of the building alive if Cliff hadn’t saved me,” she finished.
Those mercenaries had been merciless. If they had found her before Cliff had, they would have taken her, tortured her for information, then killed her.
“So that’s how you two met.” For some reason, he had thought the couple had met in the cafeteria at the net
work.
She grinned. “Yes, but he doesn’t remember it. I was pretty unrecognizable when he found me.”
And according to what Aidan had heard, Cliff had been captured by the mercenaries shortly thereafter and tortured badly enough to trigger his first psychotic break. Cliff had very little memory of that night or the days that followed.
Aidan drew a piece of paper from his front pocket and handed it to her along with a small box.
“What’s this?” she asked as she took them.
“Cliff asked me to speak with you.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“He’s worried he’s going to hurt you.”
“He won’t,” she countered. “I’ve already told him he won’t hurt me. I’m sure of it. But he—”
Aidan held up a hand. “You didn’t see him yesterday, Emma. You didn’t hear his thoughts. And you’ve never seen a vampire who has completely succumbed to the madness and lost all knowledge of right and wrong.”
She shook her head. “Dr. Lipton told me that—even during psychotic breaks—the other vampires have never attacked her or Dr. Machen.”
“Melanie knows about you?”
“Yes. Bastien told her Cliff and I were lovers. And she came to see me, afraid I might not understand the consequences of getting pregnant by him or that I might not understand fully what the virus will do to him.”
“Did she try to talk you out of seeing him?”
“No. She loves Cliff and wants him to find whatever happiness he can. She just wanted me to be prepared.”
Aidan sighed. “Well, Vince asked Bastien to end his life before the damage progressed too far, so we don’t really know if he would’ve attacked Melanie eventually. Cliff has held out far longer than the others and, despite his valiant efforts, is beginning to lose the battle. His greatest fear now is that he may hurt you.”
“He won’t,” she insisted.
Aidan pointed to the piece of paper she held. “That’s my cell phone number.” He pointed to the box. “And that is one of those cell phone wristwatch gadgets with voice activation. If you want to continue seeing Cliff, program my number into it and keep that watch on you at all times. And I mean all times. When the two of you are making love. When you take a shower. Never take it off.”
Her brow crinkled. “Is it waterproof?”
“Yes. And if you have even the slightest fear that Cliff is about to have a break or that he may hurt you, call me immediately. I’m a teleporter, so I can be here in half a second to protect you and help Cliff.”
Clearly she wasn’t happy about it. “He’ll stop coming here if I don’t agree to this, won’t he?”
“Yes. He loves you, Emma. If you love him as much as you appear to, then do this for him and ease his fears. He doesn’t need those on top of everything else he’s facing.”
Nodding, she opened the box and fastened the watch to her wrist. It took a while and several consultations of the instruction manual for them to figure out how to add his number and achieve voice recognition. But they succeeded.
“Call Aidan,” she said.
Aidan’s cell phone chirped in his pocket.
Both grinned.
“Now,” Aidan said, sobering, “here is something Cliff doesn’t know about.” Reaching into his coat, he withdrew two tranquilizer guns.
“Uh-uh,” she said, eyeing them with belligerence. “No way. I am not going to shoot Cliff.”
“These are tranquilizer guns, already armed with darts that can sedate Cliff should the need arise.”
Shaking her head, she held up her wrist. “I don’t need those. I have this.”
“You need to have a defensive measure that Cliff doesn’t know about, Emma. Once the brain damage progresses to a certain point, psychotic breaks can occur without warning. If Cliff flies into a rage and rips the watch off your arm, you’ll have to go for one of these. They’ve been specially designed for vampire hunting by the network’s weapons experts, so each can fire up to five darts. A single dart should calm him. Two will knock him out. Three will kill him. Avoid the last if at all possible.” He placed the guns beside her on the sofa. “Hide these where they will be handy in an emergency but where Cliff won’t accidentally happen upon them.”
She eyed them with dread.
“If Cliff hurts you, Emma, it will kill him. He will end it himself in a heartbeat, even if the wound is so minor you shrug it off. If you want to hold on to him, you need to ensure he can’t hurt you.”
She nodded, disconsolate. “He said I quiet the voices,” she murmured again.
Aidan nodded. “You do. But the voices are getting louder. And soon you will only dampen them a little.” Returning his chair to the corner, he headed for the front door. As he reached for the doorknob, she spoke.
“Aidan?”
He turned.
She closed the distance between them. Rising onto her toes, she kissed his cheek, then hugged him hard. “Thank you for giving Cliff the sun again.”
Aidan hugged her back. “Thank you for loving him and bringing him happiness.”
She moved away.
“Are you going to see him tonight?” he asked.
“Yes. He’s supposed to come over after he and Bastien finish hunting.”
Aidan smiled. “Then you should shower and wash my scent off you. We don’t want to tempt fate.”
She laughed. “I’ll go do it now.”
Stepping outside, Aidan closed the door and waited for Emma to lock it. Seconds later, he heard a faucet squeak and water spray tiles as she turned on the shower.
As he strode down the front walk, a figure stepped from the shadows. Aidan halted as Bastien joined him.
“Thank you,” the British immortal said. “Both for what you did yesterday and for this.” He looked toward the house.
Aidan nodded. “Cliff is my friend. If all Melanie and the others need to save his sanity and his life is more time to understand the virus, I want to give them all we can.”
Sighing wearily, Bastien rubbed his eyes. “I know I should’ve told Cliff not to see her, but…”
“She makes him happy.”
Bastien nodded. “I love him like a brother. I can’t take that away from him.”
“You don’t need to.” He titled his head toward the house. “She’s strong. A fighter. She knows what’s coming and understands how rough things will get. But she loves Cliff and wants to have every moment—good or bad—that she can with him.”
Bastien’s Adam’s apple rose and fell.
“Does Seth know?” Aidan asked curiously.
Bastien snorted and rolled his eyes. “I’m sure he does. That bastard knows everything.”
Aidan laughed. Then an unsettling thought intruded.
In her vision, Dana had seen Seth and Aidan engaged in furious battle. It wouldn’t be because of Cliff, would it?
Maybe Seth didn’t know.
The Immortal Guardians’ leader had a hell of a lot on his plate right now, trying to hunt down and destroy Gershom before he could trigger fucking Armageddon. Aidan would think it quite plausible that something like Cliff taking a lover could escape Seth’s notice.
“What?” Bastien asked.
Aidan shook his head. If he told Bastien about Dana’s vision, Seth might see it in Bastien’s thoughts. “You should probably remove the weapons from Cliff’s apartment.”
The younger immortal stilled. “What weapons?”
Aidan arched a brow. “The large cache of hunting weapons you purchased for him and let him keep there.”
He grimaced. “You know about that?”
“Of course I do. I know you gave them to him as a gift, but removing them will give the voices in his head less to blather on about. You’d be doing Cliff a favor. Just tell him Reordon found out and insisted they be removed. If he were well, Cliff would understand and forgive you the lie.”
Bastien nodded.
Aidan tucked his hand in his pocket and drew out a pocket watch. “I have t
o go.” Tucking the watch away, he smiled. “I have a date.” And was damned eager for it to start.
Bastien’s eyebrows flew up. “You do?”
“Yes. With a very lovely psychic. Any advice you’d care to offer?”
“Hell no. The closest thing to a date Melanie and I ever had was her going vampire hunting with me. And that nearly got her killed. I still don’t know why she loves me.”
Laughing, Aidan clapped him on the back. “The important thing is—she does.”
He grinned. “I know. I’m a lucky bastard.”
“That you are.”
“You should ask Richart about dating. Judging by the nauseatingly sweet phone calls I overheard while we hunted together, he courted Jenna for quite some time before vampires outed him.”
Unfortunately, Aidan didn’t know the French immortal as well as he did Bastien. “I’ll consider it. Good hunting tonight.”
Bastien saluted him. “Enjoy your date.”
Chapter Five
Aidan jerked awake when his phone rang. Glancing at the clock, he groaned.
He had been seeing Dana for two weeks. And after yet another fantastic date, he had hunted until dawn, then stumbled back to his apartment at network headquarters just as the sun peeked over the horizon. Cliff had been wandering the halls, unable to sleep, so Aidan had teleported him to Auckland, New Zealand, and taken him hunting. When hours of that hadn’t helped, he’d taken Cliff into the sun again, then returned to the network and finally gone to bed. Two hours ago.
He fumbled for the phone. “Yes?” he answered, his voice gravelly from sleep.
“It’s Seth. I’m in Chris’s office and need to speak with you.”
“Okay. Do you want me to come now?”
“Yes.” The voice of the Immortal Guardians’ leader lent Aidan no clue to his mood.
“All right. I’m on my way.”
Aidan took a minute to shower and dress, then pocketed his phone and headed upstairs.
Kate, Chris Reordon’s assistant, looked up when he entered the reception room outside his office. She nodded to the door. “They’re waiting for you.”
“Thank you.”
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