“Dead.”
“Alive. Pulse thready. Pupils blown.”
“Same with this one.”
Chris sighed heavily.
“What?” Étienne asked, beginning to feel defensive. “What does that mean?”
“It means you hit them too hard.”
“Well, I’m not used to fighting humans.”
“You spar with Cameron all the time.”
“No, I don’t. I spar with immortals. Cam spars with other Seconds.”
“But you’ve fought humans in the past. Hell, we just fought a minor war with them.”
“And we fought to kill. Vampires can take a punch. I can fight to wound them, crack their skulls, and they’ll recover. How the hell would I know how hard I can hit a human?”
Chris was silent for a moment. “Okay, I see this is going to be a problem.”
“Dead,” another guard called.
“Dead. Sheesh. What the hell did you do to this guy?”
Étienne winced.
Richart approached—tugging off his own shades, head covering, and gloves—and stood next to Étienne. He was pretty blood-splattered. Had he run into the same problem?
“Did you get anything from their thoughts?” Richart asked.
Étienne shook his head, frowning as Richart weaved on his feet. “Are you wounded?”
“Huh?” He glanced down. “I don’t think so. Maybe. A couple of gunshots. Why?”
Sheldon walked up, looking as though he had rolled in a puddle of mud. Reaching up, he yanked a tranquilizer dart from Richart’s upper back. “Dude, are you okay?”
Chris reached into one of the pockets on his thigh and drew out an autoinjector full of the antidote. Flicking off the lid, he jabbed it into Richart’s neck.
Étienne took his brother’s arm and steadied him until it kicked in. He gave Sheldon a once-over. “What the hell happened to you?”
“Some asshole shot the hot water tank. The water spilled down into the crawl space and muddied the shallow end. I had to take cover there after they figured out someone was shooting from the house.”
Richart straightened.
“Better?” Étienne asked.
He nodded.
“Did you leave any men alive?” Chris asked.
Richart sent him a sheepish look. “Yes, but your men seem to think I scrambled their brains.”
Grumbling, Chris took out his cell phone and dialed. “Seth? Chris. You have a minute?”
The leader of the Immortal Guardians appeared beside Étienne, pocketing his cell phone. “What’s . . . up?” He glanced around and swore. “Mercenaries?”
“Yes,” Étienne, Richart, Sheldon, and Chris responded.
Seth studied the house, the grounds, the bodies. He returned his attention to the younger immortals. “Go home. Rest. And be at David’s an hour after sunset tonight.”
Étienne looked at his brother. “Don’t you want us to stay and tell you—?”
“I know what happened. Go home. And, Étienne, when you come to the meeting tonight, bring the woman.”
Merde. Had he read Étienne’s thoughts and seen Krysta? Seth was so powerful that he could do so without Étienne even knowing it.
“What about the brother?” Chris asked. “What do you want us to do with him?”
Seth eyed Étienne. “Will you be going home or staying with Richart today?”
Étienne consulted Richart. “Can you teleport us to my place?”
“Yes.”
He turned back to Seth. “Home.”
Seth nodded and told Chris, “When her brother gets off work, provided no one comes looking for him before then, take him to Étienne’s home. Ensure you aren’t followed and can’t be tracked. Station guards outside the home and around the property’s perimeter.”
“Is that really necessary?” Étienne asked.
“Which part?”
“The guards.”
“Yes.”
He didn’t like it, but said nothing. One didn’t argue with Seth.
Frowning, Seth looked up at the helicopter, made a brief motion with his hand, and stopped the music. “Show’s over.”
Chris motioned for the helo to land.
“Go home,” Seth instructed the d’Alençons.
“Should I bring the brother to the meeting?” Étienne asked.
“Yes,” Chris answered, monitoring the cleanup.
Étienne looked to Seth.
Seth nodded.
Richart touched Étienne’s shoulder.
Krysta listened with amazement as Jenna described her recent courtship with Richart, which had been a bizarre combination of conventional and unconventional.
The tale helped calm Krysta’s nerves. As well as her fears. Jenna seemed so human. So normal. She’d been a single mom, struggling to put a son she’d had way too young through college, when she had met Richart. Her concerns seemed so not paranormal. And her love for Richart so sweet. Still fresh and new.
Krysta actually found herself envying the woman.
Very unsettling.
Richart and Étienne suddenly appeared a few feet away.
Heart slamming against her ribs—and not just because it startled her—Krysta leapt to her feet.
Jenna did, too. Hurrying over to her husband, she hugged him hard despite the blood that stained him. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, sweetheart. I just need some blood.”
Krysta had the odd impulse to do the same to Étienne, to run to him and hug him tight and tell him how glad she was to see he was okay. Or mostly okay. She couldn’t tell if any of the blood staining his weird suit was his.
She settled for crossing to stand in front of him. “Are you okay?”
He nodded.
Two more men suddenly materialized before the brothers. Krysta noticed absently that Sheldon looked as though he had been wallowing in mud. The other man . . .
She gawked. Damn. He was hot. As hot as Étienne and Richart, but several inches taller with wavy, black hair that fell past his waist. He positively oozed power. And his aura . . .
She had never seen anything like it. It was an almost blindingly bright white with none of the swirling purple that flowed through Étienne, Richart, and Jenna’s auras.
“Thanks,” Sheldon said.
The man nodded and disappeared.
Krysta returned her gaze to Étienne, whose face had darkened with a scowl. “Who was that?”
“Seth, the leader of the Immortal Guardians. The eldest and most powerful among us.”
“What is he?”
“As I said, he’s our leader.”
“No, I mean, he isn’t a vampire or an immortal. So what is he?”
“He’s an immortal.”
Krysta eyed Étienne’s aura. “He is?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand any of this.”
“I know. I’ll explain everything when we get home.”
“My home?”
“Nnnnnno. Your home is . . .”
“Shot to shit,” Sheldon supplied for him.
Richart popped the young man on the back of the head.
“Dude, I’m wearing a helmet. I didn’t even—”
Richart popped him on the head again with enough force to send him stumbling several steps away.
“Okay. That I felt.”
Étienne consulted his brother. “Can you take us both at once?”
“Let me get some blood first.”
Richart headed into the kitchen, Jenna at his side, clinging to his hand and leaning into him.
Sheldon gave Krysta a sheepish look. “Sorry about your house.”
She nodded, not knowing what else to do.
Sheldon unfastened the chin strap of his helmet and tugged it off. “See you guys at the meeting tonight. I’m gonna go take a shower.” Spinning on his heels, he trudged down the hallway and out of sight.
“What meeting?” Krysta asked.
“Seth has called a mee
ting to discuss what has happened and how to identify and deal with the new threat.”
“I can’t go home, can I?”
“No.”
“Great. I guess I could stay in a hotel.” It would have to be the cheapest one she could find.
“You can stay with me,” Étienne suggested. “You’ll be accompanying me to the meeting tonight anyway.”
She raised her eyebrows. “I will?”
He grimaced. “I’m afraid so. Seth has asked that you be there. And no one gainsays Seth.”
“Is he that much more powerful than the rest of you?”
“Absolutely. I’m a babe compared to him.”
Yes, he was a babe. A total babe. But not the way he meant it.
He grinned.
Krysta frowned. “Damn it! Stop reading my thoughts!”
Étienne shrugged. “I was just peeking to see how you were taking all of this.”
“Not well,” she admitted.
“Would you take it better if I told you I think you’re a total babe, too?”
“A little bit.”
He laughed and, wrapping an arm around her, drew her close for a hug.
Krysta looped her arms around his waist, surprised by how natural it felt despite the rubber suit.
“Every day you amaze me more,” he murmured. And she could have sworn he brushed a kiss across the top of her head.
“Every day you confuse me more,” she countered.
“It will all become clear soon.”
His earlier words squeezed past the confusion and concern for her brother, as well as the worry over where the hell they were going to live and how they would pay for everything. “Wait. Who is going to be at this meeting?”
“Most likely all of the Immortal Guardians in the area, as well as their Seconds.”
“What’s a Second again?”
“The human guard or assistant of an immortal. We all have one.”
“Like a Renfield?”
“I suppose so.”
“And how many Immortal Guardians are we talking?”
“Fourteen or fifteen.”
Krysta inadvertently tightened her grip on him as fear returned.
“We won’t hurt you, Krysta. I know it seems like we’ve been doing a piss-poor job of it, but we’re here to help you and protect you.”
She nodded. She supposed she would just have to trust them. Go with gut instinct. Blind hope. Because what other choice did she have?
Richart and Jenna returned.
Rather than leap away from her as Krysta expected, Étienne kept one arm around her and shifted her to his side. As if they were a couple.
“Ready?” Richart asked. “I’d like to go and get back so I can rest for a few hours before the meeting.”
Étienne nodded. “See that he does rest,” he implored Jenna. “He was tranqed earlier.”
Jenna frowned up at her husband. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“I didn’t want to worry you. Besides, Chris gave me the antidote.”
She nodded at Étienne. “He’ll rest.”
“Thank you.”
Richart stepped away from his wife and touched Étienne’s shoulder.
Blackness engulfed them. A second later, the room brightened. Only it was a different room.
Krysta glanced around.
In a different house.
“See you at the meeting tonight,” Richart said.
“I’m serious about you getting some rest,” Étienne said.
Richart’s lips quirked. “As soon as I finish what you so rudely interrupted earlier.”
An instant later he vanished.
“Seriously?” Krysta said. “After being shot and hunting whoever the hell that was at my house and being tranqed, he’s going to go home and make love to his wife?”
“They’re newlyweds,” Étienne said with a shrug. “That’s actually why I wanted to spend the day here instead of there. Their relationship is still new enough that they haven’t had a chance to soundproof the walls of their bedroom, so spending the day there can be awkward.”
“I would think so. With your ears, you can probably hear everything.”
He nodded. He and Lisette had learned very quickly that, although they were always welcome at Richart’s home (the three of them had always been close and routinely slept at each others’ houses to stave off loneliness), Richart wasn’t going to let their presence dampen his amorous pursuits of his wife.
Actually, Richart was so besotted that Étienne wasn’t sure it had even occurred to him that his brother and sister could hear him making love with Jenna. This situation was new to them. Lisette was the only one of them who had ever been married, and that had been before her transformation.
Cam entered, his hair mussed from sleep. He wore his usual sleeping garb: a T-shirt and sweatpants. When he had first been named Étienne’s Second, he had slept in the buff, which Étienne had nixed when he had arrived home one night battered enough to require immediate aid. Then had come boxers, which had been replaced by the sweats and a T-shirt after Lisette and Richart had made several surprise visits.
The pants were for Lisette’s benefit. Cam couldn’t care less about either of the men catching him in his drawers.
“Came home after all?” Cam said, eyeing Krysta curiously.
“Yes. Cam, this is Krysta. She saved my life tonight and lost her home as a result. Krysta, this is Cameron, my Second.”
Cam strode forward and offered his hand. “Good to meet you. Sorry about your house.”
Krysta shook his hand. “Thanks. Étienne seems to think it would be best if I bunk here for the day. I hope you don’t mind.”
“As long as you’re on our side, you’re welcome.”
“She is,” Étienne stated.
Cam nodded. “First things first. Are you wounded?” he asked Étienne.
“Yes.”
“Let me get you some blood.” He left, then returned with two bags of blood Étienne swiftly drew into his parched veins. “The men you fought were mercenaries?”
“Yes.”
Cam slid a glance Krysta’s way. “You’re sure she isn’t one of them?”
Krysta answered before Étienne could. “Would they have tried to kill me if I were?”
“Yes. The mercenaries we fought in the past considered each other expendable.”
“Cam,” Étienne warned, “don’t press her. She isn’t one of them.”
“You’ve read her thoughts?”
Étienne shifted. “Some of them. I can’t read her at will the way I can you and most other mortals.”
Cam stared at Krysta. “Damn. Lucky you.”
Much to Étienne’s relief, Krysta sent his protective Second a wry smile. “Not when the thoughts he can read are the inappropriate ones.”
Cam laughed. “I’m guessing you’re the reason he’s been so distracted these last few weeks.”
Krysta smiled as she met Étienne’s gaze.
He sighed. Was everyone he knew going to say that when they met her? “This is getting embarrassing.”
She laughed.
“You could have told me it was a woman,” Cam continued. “I’ve given you an earful about Laura.”
“Do we really have to talk about this now? In front of Krysta?”
“Yes. I’m pissed about you keeping me out of the fight. And, instead of pouting, I’ve decided to irritate you.”
Étienne shook his head. “You’ve been spending too much time with Sheldon.”
“Not by choice. Do you two want something to eat before you turn in?”
“No, thank you,” Krysta said.
Étienne agreed. “Seth has called for a meeting at David’s tonight, an hour after sunset. I want to get some rest before I face the inquisition.”
Cam nodded. “I’ll keep a sharp eye out in case any of the mercenaries show up on our doorstep.”
Krysta raised her eyebrows. “I don’t see how they could. Richart teleported us.” Her
face scrunched up. “It feels so weird to say that.”
Cam laughed. “Like in a B-movie, right?”
She grinned. “Yes. But he did. So I don’t see how anyone could track us here.”
Cam held up a finger. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Étienne watched him head up the hallway to the room they affectionately called the armory.
A moment later he returned, carrying a handheld metal detector. “Disarm.”
Étienne removed his weapons one by one and set them on the scarred coffee table nearby. That’s new, he spoke in Cam’s mind. A metal detector?
Yes. Chris sent it over when we were dealing with Emrys.
Krysta examined the blades piling up on the table.
Cam crossed to stand in front of Étienne. “Now. Let’s see if you’ve got any shrapnel I need to dig out.”
Shrapnel, my ass, Étienne drawled.
If you’ve got shrapnel in your ass, it’s going to stay there, Cam responded with twitching lips. I’m looking for tracking devices the mercenaries may have tagged you with and didn’t want your girlfriend to know.
She isn’t my girlfriend.
Yet.
“Is that a metal detector?” she asked, abandoning the weapons to watch Cam and Étienne.
“Yes,” Cam said, sweeping it up and down Étienne’s limbs. “Usually, the bullets will be pushed out during the healing process, but little pieces that break off can take longer. He’ll heal faster if I dig them out.”
Her brow furrowed with concern. “Oh.”
You could have told her the truth, Étienne said, uncomfortable with the lie.
No, I couldn’t. Not until we’re one hundred percent sure she’s on our side. I assumed you wouldn’t want to lie to her yourself, so I did it for you.
Thank you, Étienne said grudgingly.
Cam shook his head. You really have it bad for her, don’t you?
Yes, damn it. But keep that to yourself.
Will do. “All clear,” Cam announced.
Krysta sighed with relief.
“Can I do anything for the two of you before you turn in?”
“No, thank you,” Krysta said again.
“Reordon is going to have some men escort Krysta’s brother Sean here when he gets off work,” Étienne informed him. “They’re well trained and shouldn’t be followed, but that’s when it will happen if it does.”
Cam nodded. “Is the brother on our side?”
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