Chapter Fourteen
Seth let the younger immortals sleep for a couple of hours before waking them so he could teleport to David’s study.
David sat behind his desk, speaking to an Australian immortal on the phone.
Darnell was seated at Ami’s desk, fielding the calls Seth received that bore no urgency.
Both men nodded at Seth’s appearance, then ended their conversations.
“Have Zach and Lisette returned from their hunt?” Seth asked.
Both nodded.
Zach? Seth called telepathically.
Yes? Zach responded from the bedroom he and Lisette shared below.
Join me in David’s study. There’s something I’d like to discuss.
I’m on my way.
Darnell grinned. “Did Dana really shoot you with a tranquilizer dart?”
“Twice,” Seth replied, amused despite his worries.
Darnell shook his head. “That was gutsy as hell. I can’t wait to meet her.”
“Well, they’ll be here by morning, so you’ll have your chance then.”
Zach entered, clad only in black pants and black boots. He had worn a shirt to Ethan’s home in deference to Dana. But tonight his chest was bare, and large dark wings graced his back. “What’s up?”
David rose, circling the desk to join them by the door.
Seth looked to Darnell. “Can you field my calls for a little while longer? Reordon can help you if you need him.”
“Sure.”
Without another word, Seth touched David’s shoulder and teleported away.
A moonlit meadow replaced David’s study. Long grasses and weeds swayed in a gentle breeze and brushed their knees.
The ground around them gradually sloped upward on all sides, as though he and David stood in the bottom of a massive salad bowl. At the top, verdant grasses gave way to a forest so dark and dense that even Seth’s eyes couldn’t penetrate it.
Stars winked above them in a cloudless sky.
Zach appeared beside them.
“We have a problem,” Seth announced without preamble.
David’s brow furrowed. “Aside from the missing gifted ones, the gathering vampires, our waiting to see if Aidan is being mind-controlled, and several immortals going astray?”
“Not to mention Chris Reordon’s vendetta,” Zach mumbled.
“Yes,” Seth responded.
Zach grunted. “What now?”
Seth recalled his search of Dana’s mind. “You know the woman Aidan is seeing is psychic.”
“I assume,” David said, “her gift is stronger than that of most other gifted ones of her generation, since she is able to earn a living with it.”
Most gifted ones born in recent decades had gifts so mild that they weren’t even aware of them. Melanie was psychic, too, but her gifts had been so dampened by centuries of human DNA winding its way through her family tree that she only got what she called feelings now. She might know the phone was about to ring. Or if something bad were about to happen she might feel a sense of foreboding.
“Dana’s gift is surprisingly strong,” Seth confirmed. “Even stronger when it comes to Aidan. I don’t know if it’s because he’s a gifted one, too, or perhaps a result of the bond growing between them, but she’s been seeing his future in brief, vivid visions since the day they met.”
“And you saw her visions when you read her mind,” David guessed.
“Not the first time, when Roland attacked Aidan and brought her to my attention. Her thoughts were too chaotic and time was short. The same held true at her home after the vampires struck.”
Zach frowned. “Wait. If she saw Aidan’s future in visions, how did she not know what he is?”
“Most of her visions were of an intimate nature.” Seth smiled. “There have been more of those than Aidan knows about.”
David’s lips twitched. “Good for him.”
Zach laughed. “Clearly those need no explanation. And I see no problem with that.”
“Nor do I,” Seth agreed. “But I performed a more thorough search of Dana’s mind after you”—Seth scowled at Zach—“and the others left a few hours ago and was able to access more of her visions.”
“What did she see?” David asked curiosity lighting his dark features.
“Roland doing his damnedest to kill Aidan. She foresaw the battle that outed Aidan as an immortal.”
Zach grunted. “And she didn’t think that odd?”
“She did,” Seth said, “but Aidan told her he was a member of a reenactment group.”
“Smart thinking,” David said. “What else did you see?”
“Me, doing the same.”
Zach frowned. “She foresaw you trying to kill Aidan?”
Seth nodded. “Or maim him at the very least. We were both wielding swords with sharpened blades, and I looked furious. That’s why she tried to tranq me earlier. She thought the vision was about to come true, that I was there to kill Aidan.”
Zach sighed. “That’s a damned shame. I had actually begun to like Aidan.”
David looked at Zach in surprise. “Really?”
Seth did, too. He hadn’t realized Zach liked any of the other immortals aside from Bastien. He had thought Zach just tolerated them all for Lisette’s benefit.
Zach shrugged. “When I thought he was in league with the men who had nearly killed Lisette, I kicked Aidan’s ass. I mean, I really beat the shit out of him. And Aidan has never held it against me. Nor did he hold Seth’s actions against him. Kind of hard to dislike the poor bastard when he’s been so understanding.” He looked to Seth. “If you’re going to want to kill him, I guess that means Reordon was right. Aidan really did abduct those women. Gershom must be mind-controlling him.”
“Not necessarily,” David said. “If Ethan is right, it could’ve been Gershom posing as Aidan in the visions.”
Zach shook his head. “If Dana was seeing Aidan’s future, the Aidan in the vision would have to have been him, not someone posing as him.”
“True,” Seth said.
“Then perhaps,” David inserted, “Gershom is using mind control to have Aidan do his bidding. Has Aidan let you read his thoughts yet?”
“I haven’t asked him,” Seth admitted. “But I doubt he will agree, because he probably doesn’t want me to see Dana’s vision.”
Zach grunted. “Can’t really blame him there.”
“There’s another option,” David pointed out.
Seth nodded. “We know Gershom has assumed your appearance in the past, Zach. If he is assuming Aidan’s as well, then there’s no reason for us to believe he can’t assume mine, too. What if the Seth in Dana’s vision isn’t me?”
Both men swore.
Seth himself had mixed reactions to the notion. On the one hand, it would be a relief to know that he wouldn’t want to kill Aidan in the future. But the idea that Gershom might be moving about the immortals’ ranks, pretending to be Seth, was disturbing as hell.
Zach’s brow furrowed with doubt. “You had no difficulty determining that the man who met with the mercenaries two years ago wasn’t me, that it was one of the Others. If the man in Dana’s vision wasn’t you, I would think you’d be able to tell.”
“Not,” David interjected, “if Gershom has been practicing and honing his shape-shifting skills.”
“Such is my fear,” Seth told them. “So I’ve called in a little backup.”
Zach frowned suddenly and tilted his head as though listening to something.
Jared, one of the Others, abruptly appeared a few yards away.
Like Zach, he wore no shirt. Just black leather pants and boots. He was less lean and more muscled than he had been when Seth had last seen him. Seth guessed the Other was strengthening himself for battle now that visions of Armageddon had scared the hell out of him.
Huge wings spread behind Jared, the semitranslucent feathers that graced them the same tan of his skin at their base and darkening to black at their tips. Folding the wings in against his back, he strolled over to join them.
Seth smiled. “Just in time.”
Zach drew back an arm and slammed his fist into Jared’s face.
Bone cracked and blood spurted from Jared’s nose as he flew backward and landed with a thud several yards away.
“Damn it!” Seth, David, and Jared all ground out.
Zach managed to look both innocent and wickedly satisfied at the same time. “What? The bastard tortured me.”
Jared’s eyes glowed golden as he sat up. Cupping his nose, he glowered at Zach. “How long are you going to keep punishing me for that?”
Zach’s features hardened. “Until I’ve repaid you wound for wound.”
Seth wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he kind of sided with Zach on that.
Rising, Jared strode toward them, eyes still glowing golden from either pain or anger as the bones in his nose and face slipped back into place and healed. “Why did you summon me?” he asked Seth.
“Have you been posing as Immortal Guardians and tampering in their affairs again?” Seth didn’t think he had, but thought it worth asking.
Jared’s face lit with surprise. “No. I’ve been toeing the line and staying on the straight and narrow so the Others won’t realize I’ve defected.”
Instead of following Zach’s lead and fully joining the ranks of the Immortal Guardians, Jared had become something of a double agent, living life as usual with the Others to avoid suspicion while helping Seth and feeding him information.
Jared studied them. “Why? What’s going on?”
Seth smiled. “I’d like to conduct a little experiment.”
Aidan opened his eyes. He lay on his back, Dana’s head on his shoulder, her arm resting upon his chest, her thigh draped across his groin.
No sun shone behind the curtains, so it must still be night.
He sighed. While he had slept a deep healing sleep at Dana’s, now that he was at full strength, he was having little luck getting any rest. He hadn’t slept beside a woman since his days as a mortal and—much to his dismay—woke at Dana’s every movement, no matter how slight. Dana sometimes talked in her sleep (mostly incoherent mumbles he found amusing), and that woke him as well.
With a mental shrug, he cuddled her closer. It was worth it. He didn’t mind being a little tired if losing sleep enabled him to enjoy her warm body nestled up against his.
She shifted, tightening her hold on him. Tilting her head back, she raised her eyelids to half-mast and offered him a sleepy smile. “Hi, handsome.”
“Hi, yourself,” he returned with a grin. He loved seeing her like this. One cheek pink from resting on his shoulder. Her hair mussed and tangled.
She squinted at the window. “Did we sleep all day again?”
“No. We only slept three or four hours.”
“Hmm.” She shifted again, her smooth thigh teasing his erection. Her smile grew. “Ooh. Is that for me?”
“Hell yes, if you want it.”
Chuckling, she shook her head. “If I want it, he says.” Rising onto an elbow, she slid her lower body over on top of his, then sat up.
Aidan hissed in pleasure as she straddled him, her core settling atop his arousal. Clamping his hands on her hips, he arched against her.
Dana moaned as her head dropped back. “I just woke up and I’m already wet for you. How do you do that?”
He slid his hands up her thighs, his thumbs stopping just short of the dark curls at their juncture. He had enjoyed learning her body yesterday. How and where she liked to be touched. What drew the most gasps from her. What made her moan and writhe and beg for more.
When he slid his hands back down to her knees, she moaned a protest. “Tease.”
Smiling, he repeated the caress, coming just a bit closer to the heart of her, then withdrew. Again he smoothed his hands up her thighs, retreating without giving her what she wanted.
“Aidan,” she said, her voice hoarse.
“You want my touch?” he asked innocently.
She met his gaze. “I want your touch.”
Aidan caressed his way up her thighs again, this time giving her a light brush of his thumbs.
Dana hissed in pleasure.
Another light touch, just enough to tease and tantalize.
“More,” she pleaded.
Aidan obeyed, stroking her until she moaned and rocked against him, sliding along his shaft.
Lust hit him hard as he watched her slip a hand up her side and cup her breast.
She met his gaze as she toyed with her nipple. “Your eyes are really bright,” she whispered before another moan escaped her.
“They always will be with you,” he told her gruffly. Leaning up, he closed his lips over the other taut peak, took it between his teeth and teased it with his tongue.
Dana buried her hands in his hair, urging him closer, still rocking against him.
Heat flooded him. He would never get enough of her. Sliding his arms around her, he rose onto his knees, then pressed her back onto the bed.
She smiled up at him as he leaned over her. “I love feeling your weight on me. All that delicious muscle.” She practically purred with anticipation as she reached for him.
Aidan gave her a sensual smile. “Not yet.” Grasping her ankles, he eased her legs farther apart.
Her heartbeat picked up as her breathing quickened.
Sliding his arms beneath her knees, Aidan lowered his head and took her with his mouth.
Dana moaned, fisting her hands in Aidan’s hair.
He found her clit with his tongue, stealing her breath with licks and flicks and undulations.
So good.
He slid a finger inside her slick entrance, then added another. Curling them upward, he stroked her while applying more pressure with his tongue.
She bucked against him, crying out as she came hard, her inner walls clenching and unclenching around his fingers.
Aidan lunged up over her.
Her heart jackhammering in her chest, she met his intense, glowing gaze. How she loved seeing him like this, so hungry for her.
She slipped a hand down between them and curled it around his erection.
He groaned as she gave him a squeeze and teased the tip with her thumb. “You’re killing me, sweetheart,” he said, voice gravelly with need.
Grinning unrepentantly, she guided him to her entrance and arched up to embrace him.
He was so big, stretching her and sparking new heat as he sank deep inside her.
He lowered his lips to hers, took her mouth in a devouring kiss as he withdrew almost to the crown and thrust again. He slid a hand up to her breast. His touch grew rough as he drove inside her again and again, but she voiced no complaint. She liked it. Wanted more. Loved that she could make him lose control like this. So the rougher he got, pounding into her, the more she moaned and urged him on.
Aidan gladly delivered, quickly driving her to another climax but holding back his own.
Sparks of pleasure still dancing through her, Dana reared up suddenly and shoved him off her and onto his back.
He stared up at her in surprise, his erection jutting toward her.
Dana swiftly straddled him, curling a hand around his cock and taking him inside her again.
Groaning, he clamped his hands on her hips and arched up against her as she rode him.
Resting her hands on his chest, she gave his nipples a hard pinch as she circled her hips.
He groaned.
“You’re mine,” she told him.
He smoothed his hands up her sides to tease her breasts. “And you’re mine.”
Again she rotated her hips in a way that made him groan and sent sharp darts of pleasure through her. “No one else’s,” she breathed, her body on fire.
“No one else’s,” he rasped, tweaking her nipples.
Dana cried out as a third orgasm rocked her.
As her inner muscles clamped down around him, Aidan growled her name and stiffened as he finally allowed himself to climax and came inside her.
Breathless, Dana slumped down on top of him.
Aidan closed his arms around her, his heart pounding a rapid beat beneath her ear.
“Damn, you’re good,” she mumbled. No man had ever pleased her more.
Aidan laughed, rolling them onto their sides.
Settling her head on the pillow beside his, Dana smiled as she tried to catch her breath.
His own smile tender, Aidan brushed her tangled hair back from her face and pressed a lingering kiss to her lips. “I love you.”
Her heart skipped a beat.
“You don’t have to say it back,” he said softly. “I just wanted you to know. Because I do. I love you, Dana.”
She touched a hand to his stubbled cheek. “I love you, too.”
A shiver shook her as her passion-warmed skin began to cool beneath the gentle breeze of the air conditioner.
Aidan released her long enough to draw the sheet up over them both, then slid his arms around her beneath it. “I’m sorry our courtship was interrupted. I’m sorry I couldn’t spend months wooing you as an ordinary man.”
Amusement sifted through her. “But you aren’t an ordinary man, Aidan. Even if you hadn’t been born a gifted one, you still wouldn’t have been an ordinary man.”
Silence enfolded them.
Dana would’ve thought sleep would claim her pretty quickly after their fabulous lovemaking. But it didn’t.
Aidan arched a brow.
She grinned. “I don’t know about you, but I’m wide-awake now.”
He laughed. “Me, too.”
“Do you want to watch a movie or something?”
“As much as I would love to…,” he murmured with regret.
Her smile faded. “What?”
“With vampire numbers increasing the way they are, I don’t feel right about not hunting tonight.”
She frowned. “I thought Seth told you to take the night off.”
“He only said that as a kindness. He’s trying to limit your exposure to the harsher aspects of our reality. But vampires are amassing again, which means they’re preying upon more humans every night.”
Sitting up, Dana tucked the sheet beneath her arms. “And you don’t like the idea of staying home and watching a movie when you could be out there, protecting innocents.”
“Yes,” he reluctantly confessed. He said it as though he expected it to upset her.
“That’s a good thing, Aidan,” she said. “A noble thing. Why do you look so grim?”
“Because if I hunt tonight, you’ll have to accompany me.”
She had thought as much. “And?” Did he think she would hinder him in some way?
He sat up, the sheet falling to his lap and leaving his muscled chest bare. “Ethan and Heather would accompany us, so we’d have safety in numbers.”
She had assumed that as well. “What aren’t you saying?”
He ran his fingers through his mussed hair. “Knowing I hunt vampires and seeing me hunt vampires are two very different things.”
And he looked as though he thought the latter would drive her away from him. “I’ve seen you kill vampires before,” she reminded him. “You killed one right in front of me at my place.”
“That was different,” he said with a shake of his head. “They attacked us. You haven’t seen me hunt and kill vampires who haven’t attacked us.”
She studied him. “And you think I’ll leave you once I do.”
“I hope like hell you won’t,” he admitted. “But you do have choice, Dana. And I love you enough to want you to know everything about my life before you make that choice.”
Taking his hand, she raised it to her lips and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “Which just makes me love you even more.”
An amber glow entered his eyes. “I don’t like the idea of exposing you to more violence after you’ve seen so much in the past couple of nights.”
“But more humans may die if you don’t hunt tonight,” she finished for him.
“Yes.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “Are you up for it? Will you go hunting with me?”
She smiled. “Yes.”
He brought her palm to his lips for a kiss. “Is there anything you won’t do for me?” he whispered.
Schooling her features into a somber mask, she nodded. “Yes.”
His brow furrowed.
Leaning in close, Dana held his worried gaze. “I will never,” she intoned, “wear thong underwear for you.”
He laughed, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “I’d rather you not wear any at all,” he said with a wink. Tossing back the sheet, he rose. “Let’s take a quick shower, then I’ll let Ethan and Heather know our plans and find you some hunting clothes.”
Had Dana not been so deliciously sated, she would’ve wanted to spend more time in the shower with Aidan. She had learned yesterday that one of the perks of Aidan’s being immortal was that he didn’t need to recharge after having an orgasm. He could go again immediately and have as many orgasms as she did.
Dana had also learned, much to Aidan’s amusement, that multiple orgasms left her too tired to move. So they rushed through their shower and donned hunting togs.
Heather’s clothes ended up fitting Dana just fine, though the boots were a little snug. Judging by the faint glow in Aidan’s eyes, he liked seeing her in the black cargo pants, long-sleeved black shirt, and boots.
Ethan, Heather, Brodie, and Ed all smiled when she and Aidan joined them in the living room.
Brodie crossed to Dana. “I don’t know how much you know about Seconds, but our job is to arm and protect the immortals we serve. In this instance, that job extends to protecting you, so if you don’t mind?” He held up a shoulder holster and weapons.
“Oh.” She had thought she would just be observing. “Okay.” While she held out her arms, Brodie fitted her for a shoulder holster he packed with 9mms.
Aidan’s brows drew down as he watched them.
“Is he not supposed to arm me?” she asked. “You look a little pissed.”
Heather laughed. “He just doesn’t like Brodie touching you.”
When Aidan didn’t dispute it, Dana smiled at him. “It’s not like he’s trying to feel me up or anything.”
Aidan’s frown deepened. “He’d lose a hand if he did.”
His Second laughed, unperturbed by the threat.
When Brodie reached both arms around Dana to secure a belt with a thigh holster around her waist, Aidan strode forward and elbowed him aside. “Let me do that,” he grumbled, taking the belt.
Brodie stepped back with a good-natured grin. “Yes, sir.”
Dana watched Aidan as he buckled the belt around her waist, then knelt and went to work, tying the bottom of the holster around her thigh.
He was jealous and didn’t like that he was jealous. Dana didn’t need be telepathic to glean that or to suspect that that was why he wouldn’t meet her eyes.
When at last he did, she grinned. “You are too adorable.”
His soft lips turned up in a sheepish smile. “Sorry about that. Jealousy is new to me. I vow I’ll work on it.”
Dana combed her fingers through his soft, thick, wavy hair. “I don’t mind. I think it’s cute.”
Tucking a tranquilizer gun into the thigh holster, Aidan started to fill her pockets with extra ammo and darts.
Dana toyed with his silky hair.
The room around them changed, transforming from a living room into what looked like a huge walk-in closet. A his and hers closet with masculine black clothes on one side and feminine black clothes on the other. Long black coats hung beside each other on the wall behind him, one small, one large. Weapons and ammo adorned another wall.
In the vision, Aidan knelt before her, tying a thigh holster. When he smiled up at her, Dana saw her reflection in his deep brown eyes and sucked in a breath.
Her eyes glowed amber.
“How is that?” Aidan asked, dispelling the vision and plunking her back down in Ethan and Heather’s living room. “Too heavy?”
Her heart hammered against her rib cage as he rose.
Concern entering his dark brown eyes, he stroked her arms. “Dana? What is it?”
She shook her head. “Just nerves, I guess.”
It wasn’t entirely a lie. She had just foreseen herself arming up as an Immortal Guardian. How could that not fray her nerves a bit? As Aidan had pointed out, knowing she might one day become immortal and seeing it were two very different things.
“We can stay home if you’d prefer.”
“No.” She produced a smile. “I’m fine. It was just a momentary aberration.” Rising onto her toes, she gave him a quick kiss, then stepped back and accepted the long coat Brodie offered her. It, too, fit her well, the hem falling to her knees.
“Ready?” Aidan asked, his face still registering doubt.
She nodded. “Let’s go hunt some vampires,” she proclaimed cheerfully, then grimaced and shook her head. “I can’t believe those words just came out of my mouth.”
Heather laughed. “I know. It’s weird, right?”
“Definitely.”
But hunt vampires they did.
They didn’t take a car. Aidan just touched their shoulders and teleported them to their hunting destination.
Dana examined their surroundings with some confusion. They were on the roof of a building. Beyond it lay what appeared to be a college campus. “Where are we?”
“Duke,” Aidan replied, resting a hand on her lower back.
Music pulsed somewhere in the distance.
Dana wasn’t familiar with Duke University’s campus, but the buildings around her did kind of scream money. “And we’re here because…?”
“College campuses are prime vampire hunting grounds,” he explained.
Heather grinned. “It’s Friday night. Do you have any idea how many students are getting high or drunk off their asses tonight?”
Ethan nodded. “Easy pickings for vampires.”
Dana looked up at Aidan.
He shrugged. “Vampires are lazy that way. And too, vampires who have fully lost their sanity tend to migrate toward places that were familiar to them in their mortal life.”
“Like zombies in a horror movie?” That was a little freaky.
Heather pointed at her. “Exactly. We can almost always find vampires hunting on campuses like this.”
Dana supposed so, because not more than fifteen minutes passed before Aidan and Heather suddenly looked toward the west. Both inhaled deeply.
“How many?” Aidan asked softly.
Heather drew in another deep breath. “Twelve.”
“Thirteen,” Aidan corrected.
Heather swore.
He smiled. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re getting more accurate every day. This time you didn’t let the scents of their victims distract you.”
Ethan nodded and touched Heather’s back. “I can’t even smell them yet.” He grimaced. “Wait. Yes, I can. I see they’ve already been hunting.”
Dana saw nothing at all. Nor did she smell anything. How far away were the vampires?
And how cool was it that the immortals could scent them on the breeze like wolves?
“Heather,” Aidan murmured, “I’d like you to remain here on the roof with Dana while Ethan and I take care of the vampires.”
Heather’s face darkened with a belligerent frown. “Are you ordering me to stay here because I’m a girl?”
Aidan’s eyebrows flew up. “No,” he responded with obvious surprise. “I want you to stay here and guard Dana because you match me in strength and speed. She’ll be safer with you.”
Ethan nodded. “And I need to keep Aidan in my sight during the battle so Chris can’t say Aidan teleported away while I was distracted.”
“Oh.” Heather sent Aidan an apologetic smile. “Sorry. Force of habit. I have to deal with a lot of good ol’ boys in law enforcement agencies and that run along and play, little girl, while the men take care of business attitude has gotten old.”
Ethan grinned. “I keep trying to tell you, honey, immortal males aren’t stupid. We love strong women.”
Aidan smiled at Dana. “We really do.” And the affection that accompanied his words as he stared down at her made warmth unfurl inside her.
“All right, all right,” Heather said, waving her hands at Aidan. “Don’t get all goo-goo eyed. You boys have work to do. Get moving.”
Laughing, Aidan leaned down and brushed a quick kiss against Dana’s lips. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Turning away, he joined Ethan at the edge of the roof. Then the two just stepped off and dropped out of sight.
Gasping, Dana hurried forward and cautiously peered over the edge.
Down below, Ethan and Aidan strolled away as casually as if they had just jumped off a front porch instead of a three-story building.
Heather joined Dana, a smile gracing her pretty features. “That’s nothing,” she whispered. “I jumped off a ten-story building once.”
Dana stared at her in wonder.
“I know, right? Being immortal is so cool. I can even lift and throw a car.”
Seriously? Heather was Dana’s size. Had transforming given her that much strength?
Dana returned her attention to the men. The powerful immortals’ smooth gait revealed nothing of their purpose. Anyone who saw them and didn’t know better would think they were just out for a stroll and shooting the breeze instead of preparing to slay over a dozen psychotic vampires. Their shoulders were relaxed, their hands nowhere near the weapons that lined the interior of their coats. Dana even caught the sound of them chuckling on the breeze.
A couple of male students, young and staggeringly drunk, stumbled onto the sidewalk, their laughter loud and obnoxious.
Aidan made a slight motion with his hand.
Without missing a step, the college boys turned and stumbled back the way they had come.
“Aidan guided them away,” Heather whispered.
“Telepathically?”
She nodded, drawing two short swords.
Dana strained to make out the words of the men she couldn’t see but failed. Thirteen figures entered her view, no longer cloaked by the trees that lined the path. As she studied them, Dana couldn’t find anything remarkable about their appearance. Their eyes didn’t glow like those of the vampires who had attacked her home. Their lips weren’t peeled back to expose glinting fangs. Their features didn’t contort with malevolent smiles.
And they were young. College aged. The lot of them could easily pass for students of the university if one failed to notice the blood that stained their clothing.
“Fuckers,” Heather muttered, her hands tightening on the hilts of her weapons. Her jaw tightened. Her eyes flashed bright amber.
Dana caught her attention and tapped a temple. Are you reading their thoughts? she asked, trying to think the thought loudly, whatever that meant.
Yes, Heather replied. And they made those girls scream.
The group of vampires halted.
Words passed between the vampires and immortals.
“Oh, shit,” Heather whispered.
“What?” Dana asked.
Heather looked stunned. Or maybe scared. Or worried?
Dana didn’t have time to ask before Aidan and Ethan drew swords and leapt forward.
The vampires’ eyes flashed as bright as Christmas lights—blue, green, silver, amber—as they drew weapons and blurred.
Over the faint booming of a party raging elsewhere on campus, Dana heard the clash of weapons and the spewing of vile epithets.
Once more, she didn’t think. She just reacted. As soon as a vampire slowed down enough for her to be sure she wouldn’t hit Aidan or Ethan, Dana drew her tranq gun and fired three darts.
Three vampires sank, unconscious, to the ground.
“Wait!” Heather stopped Dana before she could tranq another vamp.
“Why?”
Heather shook her head, her gaze on the tempest below as she prevented Dana from raising her weapon once more.
The fighting took place at such speeds that Dana had difficulty following it. Aidan and Ethan seemed to remain in constant motion as bodies fell around them.
Dana swallowed hard. It was different from the last time she had seen Aidan kill vampires. If Heather hadn’t told her the vampires had made their victims scream, Dana would’ve found it a lot harder to watch.
When the last vampire fell, Aidan and Ethan stood back-to-back, bodies scattered at their feet. All but three of the vampires began to shrivel up.
Though blood splattered their faces and dampened their clothing, the immortal males didn’t appear to be breathing hard. Both warriors, however, looked grim rather than triumphant.