You mean we might actually recruit some vampires tonight? Unbelievable. Only you could make me recruit instead of kill.

Actually only Seth could.

I’m not a Second, so I’m not officially part of the group yet. I’m doing this for you.

You’re determined to distract me, aren’t you?

Yes.

His lips twitched. Why?

Because I had an intriguingly racy dream about you this morning and have been distracted picturing you naked and imagining your hands on me ever since.

His eyes flashed amber.

Her pulse picked up. Were you there? As you, I mean? You said you could do that.

Unfortunately, no.

Disappointing. She had been sleeping in Lisette’s room each night, but that dream had almost driven her to cross the hall. Well, I only thought it fair that you share a little of the pain.

He lowered his gaze to her lips. So you were serious when you suggested we make out on the roof?

Pretty much.

You do realize I’m now going to have to fight the vampires with a raging erection, right?

Her gaze dropped to his groin. Wow. He wasn’t kidding.

No, I wasn’t.

Oops. She must have been broadcasting again. I thought you guys had tremendous control over your bodies. Can’t you just . . . think it away? What a waste. Damned vampires.

Lips twitching, he closed his eyes. I’ll try.

Since his eyes were closed, she didn’t bother to avert her own. That was quite a bulge. Even more impressive than the one he had sported in her dream as he had torn off her shirt and tongued her breasts.

Damn it! Close your mind to me!

Oh. Sorry. What was the opposite of sexy and seductive? What was so not sexy that, if she pictured it, it would be the equivalent of a bucket of ice water dousing him?

Hmm. Sean’s nasty-ass meat loaf might do it.

Or the girl from The Exorcist projectile vomiting.

A skinny, saggy, one-hundred-year-old man dancing around naked.

He grimaced. Where the hell did you see a one-hundred-year-old man naked?

In a movie I really wish I hadn’t watched.

Well, thank you. I guess. It worked.

She grinned.

What the hell was the brown and green lump you showed me first?

Sean’s meat loaf.

He shuddered. Okay, sober up. They’re about to come around the corner.

She could hear the vampires herself now. They weren’t exactly trying to keep their movements or boasts unobtrusive. As Etienne had said, three of the vamps seemed to be doing most of the talking.

The group strutted into view.

Krysta did a quick head count and came up with eleven.

They halted at the sight of her and Etienne.

“Gentlemen,” Etienne greeted them.

“Well, well, well,” one vampire said, his glowing blue eyes fastening on Krysta. Blood soaked his shirt and pants down to the knees.

What the hell had he done to his victim?

Another stepped up beside him, a sleazy smile shaping his thin lips. “Looks like tonight’s fun isn’t over.”

Etienne snapped his fingers. “Over here, gentlemen.”

They frowned at him.

“Apparently it has escaped your notice that I’m an Immortal Guardian.”

The eyes of all the vampires lit like lamps, glowing in varying shades of blue and green and amber. Almost as one, they drew weapons. Mostly bowie knives and machetes.

Krysta drew her shoto swords.

Etienne’s weapons remained sheathed. “I have a proposition for you.”

“I have a proposition for you, too,” one of the other vamps sneered. “I propose we kick your ass.”

“Yeah,” another said. “An Immortal Guardian killed Mac and Keith.”

“And Eddie.”

Etienne shrugged. “I suppose it could have been me, but that’s neither here nor there.”

“Fu—”

“A new enemy has arisen. One that poses a threat to both vampires and immortals.”

“Horseshit!”

“Humans are hunting us,” Etienne continued, unperturbed by the swears and slurs and shifting movements of the vamps. “More specifically, mercenaries are hunting us. They want to catch one of us, dissect us, and use the virus for economic gain.”

“Then I say we hand you over to them,” the first vampire jeered.

“That would be monumentally stupid.”

“You’re stupid!” a vamp in the back shouted.

“Great comeback,” Krysta muttered.

They turned their attention to her.

“Ah-ah-ah,” Etienne reprimanded. “Over here.”

They looked to him once more.

“As I was saying, turning me over to the mercenaries would be monumentally stupid. Whatever they learn about the virus and our physiology from dissecting me could be used against you. And vice versa. Which, by the way, is the only reason any of you are still standing.”

“We’re still standing because we outnumber you, jackwad.”

“I’m two hundred years older than you. Two hundred years stronger than you. Were your numbers twice what they are now, I could still defeat you.”

Really? Krysta asked mentally. That was damned impressive.

No. I’m bluffing. One of the elder immortals could, though.

More curses and denials and posturing. The blood-covered vamps and a few of the others were getting pretty amped up.

Krysta tightened her grip on the shoto swords, watching their auras carefully for any hint of impending attack.

“Though they’re human,” Etienne stubbornly persevered, “the mercenaries pose a serious threat. They’ve developed a new weapon to use against us. A tranquilizer—”

“Drugs don’t work on us,” a vamp snorted.

“This one does. It takes several darts to incapacitate an immortal. But a single dart will drop one of you in your tracks instantly and land you on the dissection table.”

Krysta nodded. “I’ve seen the darts in action. He isn’t bullshitting you. These guys could take out every one of you without even getting near you.”

“They’re just fucking with us!” a bloody vamp snapped.

“No, we’re not,” Etienne said, never raising his voice. “We’re proposing an alliance.”

“Vampires working with immortals?” another scoffed. “My ass!”

Etienne raised an eyebrow. “Your ass will be tortured if you’re caught. I suggest you work with us and—”

“Fuck this shit! Fuck him up!” the vamp with the saturated shirt shouted.

His orange aura shot toward Etienne a second before the vamp did. Half a dozen more did the same. The others darted toward Krysta.

She swung her swords, striking flesh as they closed in on her. Two fell back with howls of rage and pain. Then a third.

A blade cut across her hamstring.

Hissing in pain, she spun and sliced.

The vamp behind her bent forward, clutching his middle.

Yelps and hisses and gurgles of pain filled the night as Etienne tore into his opponents and Krysta continued to hold her own.

The tip of a blade pierced her side.

Gritting her teeth, Krysta swiveled and stabbed the vamp attacking on her left.

Pain exploded in her head.

She staggered. Shit! A vamp must have punched her. Her knees weakened as little sparkly bits of glitter flirted with her vision.

Brilliant purple and white swept in a circle around her, laying out all of the vampires swarming around her as he had once before.

Etienne paused in front of her, his face close to hers. “Are you all right?”

A vamp came at his back.

“Behind you!”

He spun around, swinging his sword, and swept the vampire’s head from his body.

The vampire beside him gaped and lowered his weapon, wide eyes latching onto Etienne. “Oh, shit!” He took a step back, then jerked and danced as holes opened in his chest and blood sprayed.

Two more vampires fell, their torsos peppered with bullets.

Krysta jerked as a bullet pierced her shoulder. Another filled her arm with fire.

Her hand went numb. Her sword fell to the ground.

Swearing, Etienne dropped a katana and swept Krysta behind him, holding her there with one arm as he backed up against the nearest wall.

A dart pierced a vampire’s neck. He collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Another vamp fell to a dart.

The remaining vampires froze, then raced for the opposite building, flattening themselves against the wall. There were only . . . five vampires left, those not killed by mercenaries having been taken out by Etienne or Krysta.

A vampire directly across from them stared at Etienne with wide eyes. “That shit was true?” he cried, voice high with fear. “What do we do?”

The others all waited in fearful silence.

Krysta, call Cam. Don’t use names. The mercenaries may be listening.

She sheathed her other shoto sword and yanked out her cell phone. As soon as he answered, she whispered, “Mercenaries are attacking us!”

While she gave their location, Etienne ordered two vamps to cross the alley and join them.

They must have been too afraid to do anything but obey, because they only hesitated a second before they streaked across and hit the wall beside them.

A flurry of bullets whizzed past, missing them and ricocheting off the pavement with little sprays of asphalt and dirt.

“Protect the woman,” Etienne commanded.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Krysta demanded shrilly, stuffing the phone back in her pocket.

I’m going to sweep around and come up behind the soldiers , he said.

You can’t take them out alone!

I don’t intend to.

Before Krysta could ask him what he meant, he continued. The mercenaries are on foot.

The vamps all gasped and gaped at Etienne.

Was he talking to them telepathically, too?

“Dude,” the vampire beside her said, “how’d you do that?” A former Tar Heel hunting his old stomping grounds, according to his T-shirt.

It doesn’t matter. As I said, the mercenaries are on foot and are closing in on us. The bulk of the group will strike from the east. The rest plan to circle around and attack us from the west, essentially boxing us in here.

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