Darkness Rises ig-4

by Dianne Duvall

  Cam nodded. “You’ve seen the movies. Being bitten is always . . . incredibly erotic.”

  Krysta nodded. “Orgasmic.”

  Sean swallowed. “Umm . . . Okay. Wait.” He actually began to sweat.

  Krysta burst out laughing.

  Unable to keep a straight face any longer, Étienne did, too. Then Cam.

  Realizing he’d been punked, Sean swore and gave Cam a hard shove. “You asshole!”

  Cam staggered. “You should have seen your face!”

  “Uncool, man.” He turned to Krysta. “And you!” Locking an arm around her neck, he drew her down and ruffled the hell out of her hair.

  She laughed all the while, letting him do it even though she was strong enough to toss Sean through the roof if she wanted to.

  When he released her, Sean smiled wryly up at Étienne. “So you’ll transform me?”

  “With Seth’s permission, yes.”

  “And there won’t be anything sexual?”

  “No.”

  Krysta shook her head, still smiling. “The bite actually hurts like hell. You won’t be having any warm and fuzzy feelings for him. Trust me.”

  “Good.” He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “You guys are so wrong.”

  “I wanna be a cowboy,” a man began to sing to an eighties beat. “And you can be my cowgirl.”

  Scowling, Étienne glanced around, then realized it was his cell phone. Damn it. He really needed to figure out who kept changing his . . . ringtone. He looked at Cam, whose mirth was unmistakable. “You?” he demanded incredulously. Cam was as staid and stolid as they came.

  Or he had been until five minutes ago.

  Laughing, Cam shrugged.

  “You’ve been my Second for seven years now and haven’t once cracked a joke until tonight.”

  “Because you were always so somber,” Cam said. “I thought you were a stick in the mud like the last immortal I served. Damn, Petrus was boring. I practically begged Chris for a transfer, then you ended up being the same. But you started loosening up after you encountered Krysta.” He shrugged. “So I did, too.”

  Étienne narrowed his eyes. “Remind me to kick your ass later.” He answered the call. “Yes?”

  “It’s me,” Lisette said. “I just talked to Chris. We’re striking the mercenaries’ compound tonight. Come loaded for bear.”

  Krysta sat at David’s dining room table, Étienne on one side of her, Sean on the other, and marveled over how dramatically her life had changed. Two months ago, she and Sean had been struggling to make ends meet and risking their lives every night as they tackled the vampire threat on their own. Exhausted. Lonely. Their futures uncertain.

  Tonight she was immortal, even stronger and faster than the vampires she hunted. She fought alongside a powerful immortal warrior she loved and who had asked her to marry him earlier this evening with charming uncertainty. Her brother, still studying medicine, would soon be immortal himself and free of the threat of death if he had to heal her. And the three of them sat at a table, surrounded by more than a dozen other immortals and their Seconds, all of whom would fight to the death if necessary to defend each other and her like family.

  Yes, the task before them—besieging the mercenary compound—was daunting and made her stomach flutter with nerves. But the future was bright. And, for the first time in years, Krysta was happy.

  At least, that was, until she glanced down the table and found Roland staring at her. Again. He had been watching her and studying her ever since she had arrived and it was seriously starting to aggravate her.

  Seth and Chris had not yet arrived. Everyone else chatted and joked and wondered aloud if this battle would be as volatile as the last big battle with mercenaries had been.

  Krysta hoped not. Étienne had told her about it and about the attack that had inspired it. And it had sounded like something out of a freaking Michael Bay movie.

  Beneath the table, Étienne took her hand and rested their entwined fingers on his thigh.

  They had decided not to tell anyone they were engaged tonight, since—

  Across the table, Lisette sucked in a breath. “You’re engaged?”

  All conversation stopped as heads whipped around and gazes honed in on her and Étienne.

  Krysta stared back, eyes wide.

  Crap. She must have been reading my thoughts. “I—”

  “Yes,” Étienne announced.

  Lisette whooped and circled the table so fast she blurred, drawing Krysta into a hug, then squeezing the stuffing out of her brother. “I’m so happy for the two of you.”

  Richart rose and approached more slowly with a broad grin. He, too, hugged them both, as did Jenna.

  When Sheldon rose and tried to hug Krysta, Étienne shoved him aside with a roll of his eyes.

  Congratulations and well wishes abounded.

  Even the quiet giant, David, sitting at the head of the table on the other side of Sean, wished them happiness and expressed his pleasure over the union.

  All retook their seats.

  And still Roland stared.

  “Okay,” Krysta said when she couldn’t take it any longer. “Why do you keep staring at me?”

  Étienne glanced down at her, then followed her gaze to Roland. “He’s staring at you?”

  “Yes, ever since we arrived.”

  Étienne frowned. “If you’re still pissed because I asked you to transform her—”

  “That isn’t it. I was trying to recall where we had first met.”

  “You and me?” Krysta asked with a frown of her own. “Here at David’s place the night the mercenaries tore up my house.”

  Roland shook his head. “No. We met before that. I just couldn’t remember where until a few moments ago.”

  “I’m pretty sure I would remember it if I had met you before.”

  “Not if you had just been bitten by a vampire.”

  Her blood chilled. She had only been bitten by a vampire once . . . the night she and Michael had been attacked. “You were there?”

  “Yes. I’m the reason the vampires didn’t kill you. I intervened when the scent of blood led me to you.”

  She gripped Étienne’s hand like a lifeline. “No. I remember the attack. The chemical—whatever it is—that affects memory when humans are bitten doesn’t affect me. The vampires grabbed us, dragged us away from campus, tortured Michael, and fed on me. Then I blacked out from blood loss.”

  Roland shook his head. “Vampires don’t leave witnesses. Particularly female witnesses. Did you never wonder why they let you live?”

  She had. Every day.

  Why had they let her live and killed Michael?

  That single question had spawned a nearly suffocating guilt that had never left her.

  “Yes,” she said. “But, I don’t remember you being there.”

  David leaned forward, drawing her gaze. “Do you want to remember? All of it?”

  All these years she had thought she had remembered it. “Yes.”

  He reached past Sean and touched the tip of his middle finger to her temple.

  Nothing happened at first. Then images flooded her mind. Memories buried by either the concussion the vamps had given her in their initial attack or the drug the vamp’s bite had released into her system.

  A drug against which she had believed she was impervious.

  She saw it all at lightning speed. Strolling hand in hand with Michael. The vampires confronting them and dragging them away. The pleasure they took in cutting and biting and torturing Michael while they made her watch. One of the vamps turning his attention on her and thrusting his fangs into her throat. Then . . .

  Roland arrived, striking with a ferocity that was as frightening as the vampires, his white and purple aura contrasting with the bright orange of theirs. He tore the vampires apart, as vicious as an animal, then turned to her. The vampire feeding from her bolted. Krysta let her gaze stray to Michael, saw his chest rising and falling in pained pants.

&nbs
p; Roland took out his phone and called for a cleanup, then started after the vampire.

  Krysta caught his pant leg as he passed, clutching it with a hand that shook. “P-Please.”

  He knelt beside her, brushed her hair back with gentle fingers.

  “H-help him,” she begged, looking at Michael, too weak to point. “S-save him.”

  Roland shook his head, his strong face full of compassion. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “One of them tried to turn him. If he lives, he will become a monster like them. Dying is far more merciful.”

  Darkness threatened.

  David withdrew his touch.

  Krysta stared at Roland through eyes full of moisture. “You were there.”

  He nodded. “I arrived too late to save him. He had been infected on too large a scale and, as a human, would have turned vampire. Had he lived, he would have long since lost his sanity by now.”

  She blinked, knowing he spoke the truth. Tears trailed down her cheeks.

  Beside her, Étienne released her hand and wrapped a comforting arm around her.

  “Thank you for saving me,” she said.

  He dipped his head in acknowledgment and looked from her to Étienne. “I am doubly glad now that I was able to do so.”

  The front door opened and Chris entered, the strap of a bulging soft leather briefcase looped over one shoulder. Securing the door behind him, he headed for the table and took one of the two unclaimed chairs, leaving the chair at the opposite end of the table from David empty.

  Greetings flowed around the room as Darnell took out his phone and dialed, but the call went to Seth’s voice mail.

  He met David’s gaze as he put away the phone.

  David turned his head to one side, as though listening, and closed his eyes. “Seth.”

  Everyone exchanged glances.

  “Yes.” David opened his eyes and faced them. “He shall be here shortly.”

  Sheldon stared. “Where is he?”

  “Anchorage.”

  “Alaska?”

  “Yes.”

  “And he could hear you?”

  “Yes.”

  Lisette met Étienne and Richart’s gazes. “That’s amazing. I have to at least be in the same state to hear my brothers.”

  Krysta looked up at Étienne as he nodded.

  David shrugged. “I’m older. It requires a great deal of power.”

  “That’s awesome,” Sheldon said. “Can you contact any immortal that way?”

  “Yes.”

  “Would you tell Oscar in California that I want the hundred bucks he owes me? He isn’t answering his phone.”

  David stared at him.

  Sheldon swallowed. “You aren’t telling him, are you?”

  “No.”

  Krysta’s tears dried as amusement sifted through her.

  Seth appeared just inside the front door, katanas in hand, his face and clothing blood-splattered. “One moment,” he told them, then vanished.

  Krysta heard a faucet turn on down in the basement. Rustling. The water shut off.

  Seth reappeared, face and hands clean, fresh clothing adorning his tall form, weapons sheathed. He took his seat. “Sean,” he said, “I understand you wish to be transformed.”

  Every eye turned to Sean. “Yes, sir.”

  “You have my permission. Étienne may transform you at any time of your choosing after tonight.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Tonight I would like you to remain here and offer what aid you can in the infirmary in case any of the wounded come here instead of going to the network. A staff is already on hand, ready to be of service, and have been informed of your ability.”

  “I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

  “Do not push yourself too far healing or you may not live long enough to be transformed.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Chris?”

  Chris rose and, opening his briefcase, began to hand out file folders. “Seth and David inspected the compound this afternoon. These are the schematics they drew. Since the tracking devices could be discovered at any moment, we need to strike tonight.”

  Étienne took the folder offered to him. “How do you know they haven’t already been discovered?”

  “My men have been surveilling the place all day. There has been no increase in activity. Although we do believe the commander arrived just before sunset with two other men. The mercenaries all saluted him and treated him with deference and respect.”

  Krysta took a folder, feeling a sense of pride that she was now one of them and treated as such. Even Sean was given a folder.

  Chris handed David one and rounded the table.

  Marcus took a folder. “Do you know who the commander is yet?”

  “No. My men had to keep their distance to avoid compromising their mission and couldn’t get a good look at his face.”

  Krysta studied the map. A large main building. Two hangars that shielded who knew what. Helicopters.

  Marcus scowled. “This is nearly identical to the last compound we conquered.”

  Seth leaned back in his chair. “Yes, it is. There’s no denying anymore that there is a connection. We just don’t know what it is.”

  Ami bit her lip and met Seth’s gaze, worry shadowing her pretty green eyes.

  Seth spoke softly to her. “Ami, I want you to sit this battle out. Stay here with Darnell and help him coordinate the other Seconds. And help Sean with the wounded if you can.”

  Ami looked up at Marcus and nodded. “All right.”

  “Jenna,” Seth added. “I’d like you to remain here, too. You haven’t completed your training and aren’t prepared to face the opposition you would if you accompanied us.”

  Beside Richart, Jenna nodded. “If you find yourself in need of an extra pair of hands . . .”

  He smiled. “Richart or I will come for you.”

  David leaned forward and clasped his hands on the table. “Since it worked well for us before, we’re going to employ the same strategy we used the last time. The immortals will strike first, catching them off guard and clearing a path. Then the Seconds and network guards will sweep in behind us.”

  Chris nodded. “I have Black Hawks, two Sisu XA-180 armored personnel carriers, and two Humvees full of men standing by a few miles from the compound. The Seconds here will accompany me to the rendezvous point in a van.”

  “A majority of the mercenaries will likely be in the main structure,” Seth said. “David, Roland, Sarah, Marcus, Lisette, and I will tackle that. Bastien, Melanie, Étienne, and Krysta, take the barracks. Richart, Ethan, and Edward, handle the guards on the grounds, but beware of land mines and other traps. Yuri and Stanislov, take the hangers.”

  Chris held up a finger. “Once more I’d like to request that you keep the vehicles intact, if possible, so that we can use them ourselves in the future.”

  Yuri and Stanislov both sighed with disappointment.

  “You are forever spoiling our fun, Reordon,” Stanislov complained.

  Seth smiled. “Immortals, make sure you have several doses of the antidote on you stowed in different pockets, so if a bullet destroys one you will have another available.”

  “Elder immortals,” David said, “Keep an eye on the younger immortals and lend them assistance when needed. Sarah and Melanie, because you possess the speed and strength of elder immortals, I include you in that category.”

  The two women nodded.

  Melanie winked at Bastien. “I get to keep my eye on you.”

  He grinned. “You always do. My ass, that is.”

  “Because your ass is hot.”

  “I know.”

  Roland sighed loudly.

  Chuckles erupted.

  “Any questions?” Seth asked.

  No one spoke.

  “Okay. Let’s book.”

  Krysta rose and started to follow the others toward the door.

  Sean caught her elbow and pulled her into a hug. “Be careful.”


  “You, too. Like Seth said, don’t overdo it.”

  “I won’t.”

  She saw Sarah tug on Roland’s hand as they walked past. “Why couldn’t we have had siblings like that?”

  “I don’t know. We got screwed.”

  Sean laughed.

  Smiling, Krysta took Étienne’s hand and followed the others out into the night.

  Chapter 19

  Krysta stood with Étienne and her immortal brethren (it felt so weird to think of them that way) in the shadows of tall, fragrant evergreens. The moon was new, something that should work to their advantage. Unless the compound bore ultrabright stadium lights, there should be plenty of shadows from which immortals could strike.

  Étienne tightened his grip on her hand. Keep your mind open to me.

  You look nervous, she said, peering up at him. She was a little nervous herself. Are you planning to propose to me again? she teased.

  He smiled. Not if your answer will change.

  Krysta shook her head. It will always be yes.

  He stole a quick kiss.

  Feel better? she asked.

  Yes.

  You were worrying about me getting hurt, weren’t you?

  You know me well.

  She liked to think she did. We’ve fought mercenaries and won before.

  There were far fewer to fight and you still ended up getting shot.

  I’m immortal now. Bullets won’t kill me.

  But they hurt like hell and, as I’ve said before, I don’t like seeing you hurt.

  I am so in love with you, she professed.

  I love you, too, he said, eyes acquiring an amber glow.

  I know. Don’t let that distract you tonight. I don’t want you worrying about me. I can kick ass like the rest of them.

  He raised her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. As you wish.

  You’re totally lying and are going to worry about me anyway, aren’t you?

  Again, you know me well.

  Seth appeared in their midst. Chris and the Seconds are in place. Time to go to work.

  Stay sharp, David advised.