Darkness Rises

Chapter 9

Though he needed a good healing sleep, Étienne found rest elusive.

Chris hadn’t skimped on the security detail. A dozen men stood sentry along the house’s exterior. Three dozen more patrolled the grounds and manned the perimeter.

Étienne had made sure his home rested on enough private land that he wouldn’t be able to hear his neighbors’ thoughts and they wouldn’t be able to see him return home covered with bloodstains, so it was a rather large perimeter.

All the guards were very focused and spoke little, but Étienne’s sharp ears still picked up their movements, murmured comments, and periodic radio checks.

And then there was Krysta.

He hadn’t lied when he had told her no one had ever tempted him more.

He had once told Sarah that he loved strong women.

Krysta was very strong.

Krysta was amazing. Krysta hunted vampires and had killed two men to protect him.

Krysta set his body on fire.

It had been hard as hell to back away from her and leave her to seek sleep in Lisette’s room. But she didn’t trust him fully. Asking him if he had brainwashed her had been ample proof of that. And she had been through hell during the past twenty-four hours.

Étienne regretted that the mercenaries, whoever the hell they were, had destroyed her home, and fully intended to make them pay. But he was very happy to have her here in his home and to have this chance to win her trust.

Was this how Richart had felt about Jenna? Why he had pursued her even when he thought a happy ending impossible for the two of them?

The door across the hallway opened.

Étienne’s heart ceased beating for several long moments, then began to slam against his ribs.

Was Krysta coming to him?

He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t hoped she would.

Alas, no. Nearly silent footsteps took her down the hallway and up the stairs.

Tossing back the covers, he rose and donned the sweatpants he’d laid out in case Krysta needed him for anything. (Somehow he didn’t think creeping up behind her naked would send the right message.) Then he opened his door and went in search of her.

He found her in the living room.

Why was it, he wondered as he paused in the doorway to admire her, that pajamas made men look geeky, yet made women look incredibly alluring?

The pajamas Krysta wore were made of some silky burgundy material. Having been raised in far different times, Lisette sometimes complained about constantly having to dress like a man. To compensate, she wore feminine things like this when she wasn’t hunting.

Her back to him, Krysta leaned forward over a chair to peer through the window, out into bright sunlight.

Étienne, too, had been born in a different time. He wasn’t like men today. He didn’t need to see a woman’s breasts shoved up to her neck in a push-up bra and spilling out of her blouse to take notice. He didn’t need skirts so short the women who wore them couldn’t bend over without showing their underwear or exposing their vaginas. He didn’t need pants cut so low that thongs and butt cracks peeked out at him.

If it was out there, it was out there. No surprises. No anticipation. No fun.

Étienne was more titillated by what he couldn’t see. He liked being kept guessing. He liked imagining what that silky material might conceal, how it would feel to peel each layer back and reveal what no one else could see. What no one else had even glimpsed.

The pajama pants covered Krysta from hips to ankles. Her feet, smaller than he had imagined, were bare. The long sleeves of the top had been rolled back almost to her elbows. Her hair was loose and rumpled.

Utterly delicious.

“What are you looking at?” he asked softly.

Gasping, she spun around. “You startled me.”

“Forgive me. I didn’t intend to.”

“I was just looking at the guards. They seem very formidable.”

“They take their job very seriously and will give their lives to protect us, should such become necessary.”

“They’re that devoted to you?”

He strolled into the room, uncomfortable with the question. It made the guards seem subservient. “I wouldn’t put it that way. It’s more that we’re brothers in arms. Soldiers all fighting a common enemy. It bonds us, even if we don’t know each other.”

She glanced back at the window. “You don’t know those guys?”

He stopped beside her and, avoiding the golden rays of sunshine that poured through the filmy curtains, peered outside.

“Careful,” she said, touching his arm and nudging him farther away from the light.

He smiled, warmed by her concern. “It’s all right. I won’t burst into flames. I’ll just sunburn in record time.”

“Will sunlight kill vampires?”

“Yes. Vampires can’t tolerate any level of sunlight. Immortals have greater tolerance to it because of our advanced DNA, but younger ones like me are still vulnerable.”

“Oh.”

He studied the faces of as many guards as he could see from this perspective. “I believe I’ve seen one or two of these men before, but have never spoken with them.”

“And yet they would die for you.”

He nodded. “It isn’t a one-way street. They know we risk our lives every night, hunting and destroying vampires who would prey upon them. There was a night not long ago when Richart, Lisette, and I, along with the other immortals you will meet later, risked our lives battling not vampires, but humans who would have killed or tortured every man you see out there.” He drew back from the window. “Couldn’t you sleep?”

She shook her head. “I always have trouble sleeping in a new place.”

“And the past few hours have been difficult.”

“Yes. So much has happened.” She shrugged. “I’m still having trouble processing it all. My mind is racing. And I keep obsessing over the stupidest things. Like how Sean and I are going to explain the crater in the living room floor and the bullet holes Sheldon said riddled every wall to our landlord.”

“Don’t worry about that. We’ll take care of it. We’re very good at cleaning up our messes.” He touched her shoulder, the silky material cool beneath his fingers, and guided her toward the sofa. “What you need right now is something that will take your mind off of everything so you can relax.” She sat down at his urging, the V-neck of her shirt giving him the briefest glimpse of shadowy cleavage. “And what I need is something to take my mind off of you in those pajamas.”

She smiled and fingered the neckline. “They really aren’t my style. I’m more of a sleep-shirt kind of girl.”

He groaned and sank onto his haunches to examine the DVDs lining the shelves beneath the large flat-screen TV. “Don’t put that image in my head.”

Krysta stared at his broad, muscled back and narrow waist, bare and totally drool-worthy, as was his chest when he faced her. “Tit for tat. I lost my ability to concentrate as soon as I turned and saw you wearing nothing but those sweatpants.”

Surely, he had heard her heart’s crazy antics.

He laughed.

She liked his laugh. Smooth and deep.

He chose a DVD and slipped it into the player. Rising, he grabbed the remote and joined her on the sofa.

And he didn’t leave any space between them. His hip pressed against hers as he draped his arm across the back cushion. “I keep telling myself to keep my distance, but . . .”

She nodded, leaning into his side. “I’m too tired to worry about it right now.” She smiled at the television. Monk?

He nodded. “It’s smart. It’s funny. And it advocates true love.”

“It’s a tragic love, though. His wife is dead.”

“Don’t most love affairs end tragically?” he asked, frowning at the screen.

“I don’t know. Your brother seems pretty happy.”

His face lightened. “Yes, he does. I didn’t see that coming.”

“If you tell me you’re psychic, too—”

He laughed. “I’m not.” Still smiling, he glanced down at her. “I didn’t see you coming either.”

Manic butterflies invaded her stomach as she licked lips suddenly gone dry.

The amber glow returned to his eyes as he followed the motion with his gaze.

The TV brightened with the menu for Monk.

He looked toward it.

Krysta sighed. She had been sure he was going to kiss her.

“I thought I would be pushing my luck if I did,” he murmured.

“Oh.” She didn’t even care that he was reading her thoughts again.

“I also thought you might need a little distance.”

She fought the urge to laugh. Their sides were glued together and his arm now rested across her shoulders, his fingers toying with her hair.

His lips twitched as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “Note I said I thought you needed some distance. Tonight I find myself needing the opposite, so this was my compromise.”

She smiled. “I’ll take it.”

The show began.

“You didn’t say why you were up,” she mentioned. “Couldn’t you sleep?”

“No. Too many bodies nearby, moving and murmuring. I’m used to it only being Cam and I and sometimes my siblings.”

“Ah.”

A moment passed.

“And,” he continued, “I found myself obsessing over a thought.”

“What thought?”

“That, had I not arrived when I did last night, you likely would have died.”

“At Duke?”

“Yes.”

She didn’t refute it. He was right. Even had the mercenaries not shown up with guns blazing, she couldn’t have defeated that many vampires on her own.

“Doesn’t it bother you?” he asked.

“That I could have died?” she countered. “Of course. A lot. But I know every time I go out hunting that my death is a possible outcome.”

“Then why the hell do you do it?”

She thought a moment. “Because it needs to be done. Because it’s worth the risk. Because I promised myself a long time ago that I would kill every vampire on the planet or die trying.”

“It’s personal.”

“Yes.”

He said nothing, just returned his gaze to the screen.

“You aren’t going to call me a fool or demand I stop?”

“You aren’t a fool. I understand a need for vengeance.”

“And the other?” she asked.

“I believe I already tried to convince you to stop hunting. I don’t have the energy tonight to bang my head against a brick wall.”

She laughed. “To be continued, then?”

He smiled. “To be continued.”

She tore her gaze away from his handsome profile and stared at the screen. “Have you seen this episode?”

He nodded. “It’s one of my favorites.”

“I saw it once a few years ago, but can’t remember how the husband did it. Don’t tell me.”

He curled his hand over her shoulder and drew her a little closer. “I won’t.”

Resting her head in the crook of his shoulder, she drew her legs up onto the sofa and relaxed against him.

Étienne heard the front door open and close and didn’t bother to open his eyes. Cam had been coming and going throughout the afternoon, as quietly as a mortal could, so as not to disturb the duo slumbering on the sofa.

Krysta would have to watch the Monk episode they had begun another time. She had fallen asleep only fifteen minutes into it.

Unwinding at last himself, Étienne had lain back on the sofa, drawn his legs up, and managed to spoon his body around her without landing them both on the floor.

Damn, it felt good. Even better than holding her hand had as they had slept beside each other at her house.

He had really needed this. The more he thought about what had happened at Duke, the more panicked he felt. That many vampires would have defeated her and ended her reign as North Carolina’s—if not the world’s—most successful mortal vampire hunter. And, if by some miracle they hadn’t, the mercenaries who had come later would have likely thought her an immortal and tranqed her with a dose that would’ve been lethal to her.

Either way, she would have died.

Tightening his hold, he buried his face in her hair and breathed in her scent.

Something sharp pricked his neck just beneath his chin.

He stilled, opened his eyes.

Sean stood over them, his face set in stone, with one of Étienne’s own daggers in his hand, angled to slit Étienne’s throat.

Easy, Étienne spoke into his mind.

Sean’s eyes widened. “How did you do that?”

I’m telepathic. Speak softly so you won’t wake her. She had difficulty falling asleep.

“And you thought feeling her up would help?”

He sighed. If we’re going to do the keep-your-hands-off-my-sister thing, let me put her to bed first. Her bed, he stressed before Sean could suggest otherwise.

Sean withdrew the blade.

In one fluid motion, Etienne rose with Krysta in his arms. She stirred, but didn’t awaken.

Sean frowned. “What did you do to her? She’s usually a light sleeper.”

“Nothing. She’s just exhausted. Too little sleep and too many adrenaline rushes.”

Frowning, Sean followed him down to Lisette’s room, where Étienne laid Krysta on the bed and drew the covers up to her chin.

He turned to her brother and abandoned all hopes of getting any sleep today. “Let’s return to the living room, and I’ll bring you up to speed.”

Krysta was a nervous wreck on the ride to the meeting.

Cam drove while Sean sat in the passenger seat, scowling out the window.

Her brother wasn’t taking this very well. He was worried about her, afraid Étienne was screwing with her head (even more so now that he knew Étienne was a telepath), afraid the whole immortal versus vampire thing was bullshit, even though the concept of both being caused by a virus intrigued the medicine lover in him.

Krysta didn’t blame him. He had only had twenty-four hours to try to figure this out while she had known, or suspected, for two weeks now that Étienne was different.

And there was also the whole attraction thing that softened her toward Étienne.

Or blinded her to the truth, as Sean feared.

But Krysta didn’t think so. Vampires were insane. They were mentally off, and anyone who spent two minutes in their company knew it. Not once, all day, had any of the immortals she had met done anything to suggest they weren’t completely lucid. Not once had she felt threatened by them.

Nervous? Yes. Confused? Yes. In danger of being harmed by them? No.

“Who is David?” she asked as dark arboreal shadows in monstrous proportions whizzed past outside the window. The meeting to which they had all been summoned would be held at the home of someone named David, who seemed to live way out in the middle of nowhere.

Seated beside her, Étienne said, “David is the second eldest, most powerful immortal in existence.”

“How old is he?”

“I don’t know exactly and suspect he ceased counting centuries ago. Suffice it to say, he is old enough to have witnessed biblical events.”

Her neck popped as her head snapped in his direction. “What?”

Sean turned to look at them over his shoulder. “Are you saying he’s thousands of years old?”

“Yes.”

“Do vampires live that long?” Sean asked, mimicking her own thoughts.

“No. Vampires rarely live a century because of the madness that claims them. Either they kill each other in fits of rage, are hunted and killed by immortals, or grow careless and inadvertently bring about their own destruction.”

Krysta couldn’t even imagine living that long. She had suspected vampires didn’t live as long as movies and books often claimed they did. But immortals . . .

Living thousands of years? What was that like?

“You said second eldest,” she murmured. “Is the tall one I met earlier older?”

“Yes. And he’s only about an inch taller than David.”

Sean frowned at her. “You met another one?”

She nodded. “He must have been six foot seven or eight, and he positively oozed power.”

Sean shifted his gaze to Étienne. “Just what are these elders’ gifts?”

“Don’t answer that,” Cam said, catching Étienne’s gaze in the rearview mirror.

Krysta waited for Étienne to respond.

He remained silent, disappointing her, but she couldn’t fault him for it. Sean wasn’t exactly cooperating. Or he was, but had put up quite the verbal fight in an attempt to avoid this meeting. The idea of being sequestered in a home with over a dozen immortals was very unnerving.

So Krysta could see why Étienne might be reluctant to share more secrets without first securing Sean’s favor.

“We’re here,” Cam announced, turning onto a secluded drive and following it to a tall security gate. Heavy silence filled the car as he rolled down his window, reached out, and entered a security code she couldn’t see from her vantage point.

The majestic gates swung open on well-oiled hinges.

Dark trees towered over them, blocking out the moon, as the car crawled forward along a winding road that ended in a circular drive full of . . . hybrids and electric cars?

Sean peered through the window as Cam parked behind a shiny black Prius. “Are you guys, like, environmentalists or something?”

“All of our senses are heightened,” Étienne said, “not just our vision. Our sense of smell is more acute than a polar bear’s or an arctic fox’s. The pollution you barely notice that makes the air smell a little stale to you makes it smell to us as though we’re living downwind of a garbage dump on a hot summer’s day.”

Krysta grimaced. “That sucks.”

He nodded. “Particularly since most of us have lived long enough to remember what the world smelled like before the industrial revolution.”

Cam exited the car and pocketed the keys.

Étienne opened his door, stepped out, and circled around to open Krysta’s before she could reach for the handle.

She took the hand he gallantly offered and let him help her from the car.

Did she need the help?

Of course not.

Did she leap at the excuse to touch him?

Absolutely.

Sean joined them and slammed his door shut out of habit.

Étienne motioned toward the house. “Shall we?”

The door swung open at their approach.

Étienne nodded to Darnell, who greeted them all with a smile.

“Hi. You must be Krysta and Sean. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Darnell, David’s Second.”

Krysta and Sean each shook his hand.

“So you’re human?” Sean asked.

“Actually, I’m a gifted one like you two.”

That was news to Étienne. He had thought Darnell human.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to let me hold on to your cell phones while you’re here.”

Is that really necessary? Étienne asked him.

Darnell met Étienne’s gaze. Yes. We can’t risk them recording anything they see or hear. Chris also wants me to go over them with a metal detector.

Hell. Isn’t the fact that the mercenaries didn’t attack us at my place or at Sean’s job proof enough that they aren’t being tracked?

Not in Chris’s mind.

Paranoid bastard.

That paranoid bastard brought you reinforcements today.

I know, damn it. I’m just tired.

Darnell’s lips twitched as he stepped outside with them and held out his hand.

Krysta and Sean dropped their phones into it, their irritation obvious.

Darnell checked the phones to ensure they were turned off, then pocketed them. “I’ll return them to you when you leave.” He reached behind him and pulled a handheld metal detector from his back pocket.

Étienne sighed. “I apologize for this.”

Krysta did not look pleased. “So you expect me to trust you, even though you clearly don’t trust me?”

“I trust you,” Étienne assured her. He really did.

“If Étienne weren’t attracted to you, the rest of us would, too,” Darnell said, earning Étienne’s wrath. “But smitten immortals have trusted the wrong humans often enough in the past to make us wary under such circumstances.”

A frown creasing her brow, she held out her arms. “Smitten, huh?”

Étienne didn’t deny it.

Sean eyed the two with disapproval.

Darnell passed the wand over Krysta’s head and chest, then down one arm. It beeped.

Pursing her lips, Krysta rolled back the sleeve of the black shirt she had borrowed from Lisette and revealed a small, sheathed dagger she had strapped to her wrist.

Darnell moved on to the other arm without removing the weapon. Another beep. A dagger graced her other wrist as well. Two more beeps revealed more tucked into the waist of her pants.

Étienne raised a brow.

“Well,” she declared defensively, “what did you expect? Total trust? I haven’t known you for that long and am going on faith that you all are what you say you are and aren’t vampires.”

More beeps on her ankles. More weapons.

Darnell found the same on Sean. Étienne wasn’t sure why that surprised him. Krysta had said Sean had skills and Étienne had witnessed as much in her dream.

Darnell pocketed the wand. “Okay. We’re good.”

Krysta stared at him. “What?”

Sean looked at Étienne, then Darnell. “Aren’t you going to confiscate our weapons?”

“No,” they said simultaneously.

Étienne wanted them to feel safe and knew the weapons would lend them a sense of security.

The siblings shared a glance.

“Why not?” Krysta asked.

Darnell shrugged. “Immortals are stronger and faster than vampires. Your weapons are useless against the men and women here tonight.”

And there went the sense of security.

Really? Étienne asked him. You couldn’t have said you were letting them keep them as a gesture of faith or friendship?

No. I appreciated honesty when I stumbled into this world and assumed they would, too.

Étienne grunted, knowing he was right, but not wanting to admit it.

Krysta swallowed. “If you don’t care that we’re carrying weapons, what were you looking for with the metal detector?”

She was sharp. Étienne loved that.

Darnell shrugged. “More cell phones. Voice or video recorders. Anything you might use to capture the meeting digitally.”

And tracking devices. An overlooked tracking device had cost them lives in the past. They wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

Darnell entered the house and gestured for them to follow. “Welcome. And thank you for your cooperation.”

David’s home was large and spacious and tastefully decorated with modern furniture. Étienne had always felt at home here.

“Wow,” Krysta whispered to Sean. “This place is huge. Our whole house wouldn’t even fill this living room.”

David maintained an open-door policy, inviting all immortals, Seconds, and other members of the network to come and go as they pleased. Like Seth, he worked hard to create a family atmosphere. So his home saw a lot of traffic and needed to be big enough to handle it.

Several sofas graced the living room on the right, which bled into a dining room on the left. Étienne turned his attention there and saw that everyone else had already arrived. Everyone save Seth and David.

He guided Krysta toward a table that now seated twenty-eight. A leaf had been added to extend the table and accommodate the Immortal Guardians’ growing numbers.

Conversation ceased as all eyes watched their approach.

The chairs at the head and foot of the table were vacant, reserved for the eldest immortals. At the far end, Ami sat beside her eight-century-old husband Marcus. Ami looked rather pallid tonight. She must have heard about the mercenary attack and, having been the primary target of the last one, was understandably distressed by the news that the threat had resumed.

Roland, the notoriously antisocial, nine-hundred-plus-year-old immortal, sat beside Marcus. The two Brits had known each other for eight centuries and were like brothers. Roland’s wife Sarah, transformed only a couple of years earlier, occupied the seat beside him and leaned into his side.

Next came Yuri and Stanislov and their Seconds. They were fairly new to the area, and Étienne hadn’t had a chance to get to know them very well. Ethan, an American and formerly the youngest immortal in their midst at a hundred years, lounged beside the Russians. Then Edward, another Brit. Their Seconds.

A scowling Chris Reordon occupied the chair across from Ami. Beside him were Dr. Melanie Lipton, only recently transformed, and her husband Bastien, the black sheep of the immortal family who was still pretty widely hated. Next was Bastien’s Second, Tanner. Sheldon, who actually seemed to like Bastien now. Richart. Jenna. Tracy, who was Lisette’s Second. Lisette, who studied Krysta intently.

I like her, Lisette declared in his head.

You don’t even know her, he countered.

She’s a mortal who strode into a house full of immortals with her head held high and her body loaded down with weapons. And she’s smart enough to be attracted to you.

Can you read her mind? he asked curiously. He didn’t like the idea of his sister intruding upon Krysta’s thoughts, but wanted to see if he were the only one who couldn’t (most of the time).

She frowned. No, I can’t. Can you?

No. Not really. Not at will.

A sly smile slid across her pretty features. Perfect.

He didn’t dispute it. It was hard to pursue a relationship with someone when you could hear her every thought, including the ugly ones that slipped through when she was cranky or the occasional dark one that made even her think, Where the hell did that come from?

The soft sound of boots hitting bamboo drew his attention to the hallway that led from the living room to the back of the house and basement.

David entered, garbed in the black hunting clothes everyone else wore. His dreadlocks had been pulled back from his face and framed his hips as he strode toward them.

Étienne glanced at Krysta and saw her mouth fall open.

Wow.

He frowned. That thought had come through loud and clear.

She gazed up at the elder immortal as though he were the most gorgeous thing she had ever beheld. He knew women found David’s hair, height, muscles, and dark-as-midnight skin attractive, but Krysta looked as though she were about to begin drooling.

Don’t get your shorts in a bunch, Lisette admonished. She isn’t drooling. Your jealousy is making her response seem more than it is.

David stopped before them and smiled. “Krysta, Sean, welcome to my home. I’m David.” Taking Krysta’s hand, he raised it to his lips.

Étienne listened carefully to Krysta’s heartbeat and relaxed a little when it didn’t speed up at the attention.

“Nice to meet you,” Krysta offered.

He shook Sean’s hand. “I’m glad you’re both safe and have decided to join us tonight. The events of the past twenty-four hours have caught us off guard. You, too, I understand. But we’ll sort it all out together.”

The sister and brother shared a look.

“Okay,” Krysta said.

David turned to Sean. “No, we aren’t vampires. Étienne told you the truth. We’re immortals and I’m sure Dr. Lipton would be happy to discuss all of the medical intricacies of our differences with you.” He looked at Krysta. “Yes, I’m reading your thoughts. The safety of everyone under my roof is my responsibility and I wish to ensure you mean them no harm. And, no, Étienne was not lying when he said he couldn’t read your mind. You have very strong natural defenses, but I’m older and more powerful, so they proved minor obstacles for me.”

Is she attracted to me? Étienne asked before he could stop himself. It was odd, not being able to freely access her thoughts and he was eager to confirm what the little glimpses he had managed thus far had told him.

“Yes,” David answered aloud, “she’s attracted to you.”

Krysta frowned at Étienne and popped him on the arm. “That’s not fair.”

David turned to Sean. “No, Étienne isn’t brainwashing her. And this isn’t a total clusterfuck. Chris Reordon has already taken steps to purchase the home you rent so the two of you won’t have to worry about the landlord giving you grief. Our cleanup crews are salvaging all of your possessions that they can and are packing them up for you so you can move into a new place—a safe house of your choice—once we’ve squelched this latest threat. I know it will take some time to earn your trust, but whether you wish it to be true or not, you’re one of us. We were all gifted ones like you before we were transformed. And we take care of our own.”

“They’re gifted ones?” Lisette exclaimed with glee.

“Yes,” David said, then addressed Krysta. “And no, Étienne isn’t messing with your head. You have totally captivated him.”

“Damn,” Sheldon said. “This is better than a soap opera. Maybe we should start an Immortal Guardians reality show and air it on theimmortalguardians.com.”

David ignored him. “Won’t you please join us in the dining room?”

Darnell and Cam had already seated themselves, Darnell taking the seat closest to this end and Cam the one next to him. Sean sat next to Cam. Étienne held the chair next to his for Krysta until she was seated, then claimed the one between her and Lisette.

David took the seat catty-corner to Darnell at this end of the table.

Darnell retrieved his cell phone and dialed. Étienne heard Seth answer.

“Yes?”

“All set.”

Darnell ended the call and put away his phone.

Seth appeared at the opposite end of the table.

Sean and Krysta jumped, startled by his sudden appearance.

“Thank you all for coming. Krysta and Sean, we appreciate your joining us. I’m Seth, the leader of the Immortal Guardians.”

“Nice to meet you,” they murmured.

He took his seat. “Étienne, would you formally introduce our guests?”