Death of Darkness

by Dianne Duvall

  Richart grunted. “At least I’m finally getting to spend some time with my sister.”

  Richart d’Alençon and his wife Jenna dined at the table, too, as did his twin Étienne and his wife Krysta. Both women were now Immortal Guardians who spent their nights hunting with their husbands.

  Much to David’s surprise, antisocial immortal Roland Warbrook and his wife Sarah were present as well. Both had been spending more time at David’s home since they had adopted Michael, Roland’s orphaned descendant, who currently played downstairs with Adira under Sheldon and Tracy’s supervision while Marcus and Ami trained.

  “I miss my wife, damn it,” Zach grumbled.

  Lisette smiled and rested a hand on his arm.

  “If we didn’t both possess preternatural speed,” he continued, “I wouldn’t even have time to make love with her.”

  Lisette sent him a flirtatious smile. “You make me burn at any speed, darling.”

  “Damn it, Zach.” Étienne groused. “She’s my sister. Don’t put those images in my head. That’s way too much information.”

  Richart grunted. “At least you didn’t teleport in and catch Lisette giving him a blow job.”

  Jenna flushed, having accompanied her husband on that particular occasion.

  Lisette’s eyes flashed bright amber. “I told you never to mention that again!”

  Amusement trickled through David when Zach’s lips turned up in a slight smile, his spirits visibly lightening.

  Even Roland fought a smile.

  Jared and Seth abruptly appeared in the kitchen. Both were speckled with blood. Both bore heavy scowls.

  The hidden devices in the younger immortals’ pockets all beeped.

  Seth looked at David. “All is well?”

  “All is well,” David assured him.

  Nodding, Seth left the kitchen and strode through the dining room and adjoining living room. “I’m going to have a quick shower.”

  David watched him shrug off his coat as he entered the hallway that led to his bedroom. Seth’s shoulders slumped with weariness. His footsteps dragged.

  Our plan isn’t working. Zach spoke in David’s head as he met his gaze across the table.

  David nodded. He had managed to coax Seth into diverting two-thirds of his emergency calls to Zach and Jared. But Seth clearly wasn’t sleeping. Nor was he using the extra time allotted him to go see Leah as David had hoped. Instead, he simply dogged Jared’s footsteps, claiming he wanted to see how well Jared would handle his new responsibilities.

  Seth’s bedroom door closed.

  Jared strolled out of the kitchen, still frowning. When he opened his mouth to speak, David held up a hand, giving Seth another moment to close his bathroom door and start his shower.

  Though every bedroom in the house was soundproofed now, Seth was powerful enough to still hear faintly what happened outside his door if he listened carefully. Once he was sealed inside his bathroom and the shower came on, however, he could not.

  Lowering his hand, David nodded to Jared.

  “How long is it going to take Seth to trust me enough to stop shadowing me every time I take a call from one of his Immortal Guardians?” the Other demanded. “Haven’t I proven myself yet?”

  “Give him time,” David responded placidly, knowing trust wasn’t the issue. “Delegating isn’t easy after thousands of years of being in charge.”

  “He delegates to you.”

  “And has done so for several millennia. He just started delegating to you a week ago.”

  Jared snagged a napkin from the table and used it to wipe the blood from his sword. “I risked the wrath of the Others many times to aid him,” he grumbled. “I think I have more than proven myself trustworthy.”

  Zach’s eyes flashed golden with fury for a moment before they darkened to brown once more.

  It was probably unwise for Jared to mention the wrath of the Others since he had doled out some of that wrath himself in the past at Zach’s expense. “Just give him time,” he counseled again.

  Seth was clearly growing restless. David knew the powerful Immortal Guardians’ leader sought any excuse he could not to sleep or relax simply because such moments left him time to think about Leah. But David maintained the hope that Seth would eventually cave and seek her out once more.

  Jared’s phone chirped in his pocket. Sheathing his sword, he answered. “Yes?”

  “I just tranqed six vamps,” Colben, an immortal stationed in Saskatoon, said. “Do you want to read their minds and see if they know anything about Gershom’s immortals?”

  “Yes,” Jared told him. “I’m on my way.”

  Zach held up a hand. “Just a moment.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin, then dropped it on the table and rose. “Before you go, I want to give you something.”

  Jared nodded. “Hurry up. I want to leave before Seth gets out of the shower.”

  Nodding, Zach swiftly drew back his arm and slammed his fist into Jared’s face.

  Jared flew backward, hit a sofa, and knocked it over as he tumbled to the floor behind it. “Son of a bitch!”

  Roland and the French twins laughed heartily while their wives gaped.

  Lisette sighed and rolled her eyes.

  Zach shook his hand, flexed his fingers, then returned to his seat and dug into his dinner once more.

  David sighed. “Damn it, Zach. How long is this going to continue?” Such had become a common occurrence.

  Zach shrugged. “The bastard tortured me. I’ll stop once his debt is paid.”

  Groaning, Jared climbed to his feet. Blood poured down his chin from his broken nose. “You don’t know how much I regret that.”

  Zach’s lips twitched. “Yes, I do.”

  Gingerly touching his damaged nose, Jared looked around for his phone.

  David saw it on the floor nearby and used telekinesis to fling it toward him. “Catch.”

  “Thank you.” The bones in Jared’s face started to shift back into position as he teleported away.

  Conversation resumed, the French siblings bantering and laughing.

  A tinny version of “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” interrupted them. Zach retrieved his phone. “Yes?”

  “Kedron here,” David heard an Immortal Guardian stationed in the UK say. “Tobey and I just tranqed five vampires. There were over a dozen in all. We had to slay the rest. None resembled the missing immortals. But you might like to peruse the thoughts of these blackguards and see what you can find before we destroy them.”

  Many such calls had come in since word had spread that Gershom had kidnapped and transformed a dozen gifted ones. All were hoping they’d come across a vampire who happened to know something since Gershom had worked with vampires in the past.

  “I shall be there shortly,” Zach said. After ending the call, he finished his dinner as quickly as he could.

  Lisette smiled and rubbed his arm. “Poor baby. You should’ve eaten earlier.”

  Zach shook his head and rose. “Losing myself in your beautiful body was more fun.” Bending, he brushed a kiss across her lips. “I’ll see you later.”

  She smiled and stroked his cheek. “Be careful.”

  “You, too.” He sent Richart a sharp look. “If anything happens to her, you’re dead.”

  Lisette would be hunting with Richart and Jenna tonight since Zach was otherwise occupied.

  Richart nodded. “I’m aware.”

  Zach kissed Lisette again.

  The sound of an approaching vehicle carried to David’s hypersensitive ears. When it reached the gate at the entrance to his long, long driveway, it halted.

  Zach straightened and met David’s gaze when no one typed a security code into the keypad by the gate. Instead, the driver just sat there with the engine idling.

  It couldn’t be an Immortal Guardian or one of their Seconds. They all knew the code and would already be on their way up to the house. As would Chris Reordon if he were visiting.

  So who was it? />
  When David delved into the driver’s mind, shock struck.

  Zach sucked in a breath. His eyes widened. He must have read the driver’s thoughts, too.

  Leah waited outside the gate, questioning the wisdom of coming while she stared at the call button on the keypad.

  Chapter Six

  David leapt to his feet. “Everyone out!” he shouted.

  The younger immortals all gaped up at him.

  “What?” Sarah asked.

  “Everyone out!” he ordered again. “Now! Use the escape tunnels in the basement so you won’t be seen.”

  Zach blurred. Dishes clanked together as he began to clear the table at preternatural speeds.

  Roland scowled. “Why?”

  “Do not question me, Roland,” David warned, “just do as I say. And hurry. Make sure none of you are seen.”

  Roland turned his head toward the window, finally noticing the sound of a car engine. Swearing, he rose and drew his sword. “Who is that? Who’s coming?”

  Zach finished clearing the table, then rapidly loaded the dishwasher so there would be no mess if Seth invited Leah in.

  “Someone’s coming?” Krysta leapt to her feet.

  The other immortals all did the same and drew their swords, so distracted by David’s orders that they didn’t notice Zach or question why he was tidying up if an enemy was about to strike.

  “Who is it?” Richart asked. “Is it Gershom?”

  “No,” David said, urgency driving him. He needed to get rid of them before Leah changed her mind and drove away. “Put those away, damn it!” he ordered, motioning to their weapons.

  Roland shook his head. “Not until you tell us who’s out there. The last time you ordered us to get the hell out, Zach hurled a couple of vampires through the front window, then dove in and knocked us all on our arses.”

  They had thought Zach the enemy at the time.

  “We aren’t being attacked,” David insisted and swore when he heard Leah shift her car into reverse. Zipping over to the panel by the door, he pressed a button.

  The gate began to swing open.

  After a moment, she shifted back into drive and guided her car forward.

  Turning back to the group by the table, he found them all staring at him in confusion.

  “If we aren’t under attack,” Roland said, doubt written all over his ready-for-battle face, “then why do you want us to leave?”

  Zach spoke in David’s mind. You’re going to have to tell them.

  David sighed. “Seth has a caller.”

  They all exchanged puzzled glances.

  “A what?” Richart asked.

  “A caller,” David repeated. “Seth has a caller.” And probably wouldn’t appreciate them knowing about it.

  Étienne’s brow puckered. “Like a…” He looked at his brother, his sister, then David. “Like a woman?” he asked uncertainly.

  “Yes!” David declared with a hefty dose of exasperation.

  Zach laughed in the kitchen.

  The Immortal Guardians all viewed the much older and immensely powerful Seth as a father figure. Discovering that daddy might have a date seemed to have thrown them even more than the belief that Gershom might be attacking had.

  Eyes widening, Roland sheathed his sword, then swept through the living room, righting the sofa and tidying up.

  David didn’t know why that surprised him, but it did.

  Lisette’s face brightened as it finally sank in. “Seth has a caller?” Clapping her hands, she practically danced in place with excitement. “Finally! Who is it? Do we know her? What’s she like? Can I—?”

  David pointed an imperious finger at her. “Don’t do it.” He looked at Étienne. “You either.”

  “Don’t do what?” Lisette asked, all innocence.

  “Don’t read her thoughts,” he said. “I forbid it. And do not linger once you leave and try to get a look at her or listen in.”

  Her expression turned disgruntled.

  Zach entered. “You heard him,” he told them all. “Get your asses out of here.” He kissed Lisette one more time. “And be safe tonight.”

  “You, too, darling,” she said, her smile returning.

  Zach vanished.

  Richart drew Jenna close, then touched Lisette’s shoulder and teleported the three of them away.

  Étienne took Krysta’s hand. Then the two of them shot off in a blur, racing down to their basement bedroom and the hidden escape tunnel that would allow them to leave the house unseen.

  Roland clasped Sarah’s hand. Hope lit the antisocial immortal’s usually dour face. “If there’s anything I can do…”

  David smiled, understanding. Roland wouldn’t be sharing eternity with the woman he loved if it weren’t for Seth. “I know. Thank you. Now go.”

  The couple dashed away at preternatural speeds.

  Seth bent his head and braced his hands on the shower wall, letting hot water pound the tight muscles in his shoulders and upper back. As always, exhaustion pulled at him. His eyes burned with the need for sleep. But every time he closed them, he saw Leah… smiling up at him… winking… teasing and caressing him… rubbing up against him as she danced.

  He cursed as desire flooded him and he grew hard. He hadn’t had this much difficulty controlling his body in millennia. If he could just stay busy, his priorities would realign themselves and life would go back to the same old, same old. He’d aid his Immortal Guardians and battle vampires round the clock, look for the missing gifted ones…

  He swore. The missing immortals.

  And try to find and bury Gershom, ending this once and for all.

  Seth watched water sluice down the long curtain of his hair and rain on the tile at his feet, rinsing the last of the soapsuds down the drain.

  David had been watching him a little too closely of late. He clearly sensed something was troubling Seth. Something more than the usual. And for some reason, he believed giving Seth more downtime would help him sort it out.

  Seth shook his head. When had that ever helped him? The only thing less work did was give painful memories time to resurface, along with the loneliness that had plagued him for so long.

  And now thoughts of Leah bombarded him as well.

  Seth, David murmured in his head.

  Yes?

  You’re needed in the living room. We have a situation.

  Is it Gershom?

  No, but get here as quickly as you can.

  Normally, such a request would make Seth sigh. But today he welcomed the interruption. Turning off the water, he stepped out and dried off at preternatural speeds. It took a little longer to drag a comb through his long wet hair, making him consider cutting it short like Roland’s. Less than a minute later, he tugged a black T-shirt down over his chest as he left his bedroom. The hem settled over the waist of the black cargo pants he’d donned. His feet were already complaining over being stuffed into his boots again so soon.

  Striding down the hallway, he tugged his hair out of his T-shirt and let if fall loosely down his back, dampening the cotton material. He hoped this wasn’t about Zach’s tendency to hit Jared whenever the latter least expected it. One of these days, Jared was going to get tired of it and hit back. Breaking up that altercation would be a pain in Seth’s ass. But for now guilt still compelled Jared to take it.

  David waited near the front door, his eyes bright with… mirth?

  Seth glanced toward the dining room, surprised to find it empty and the table cleared. “Where is everyone?”

  “I sent them away.”

  “Let me guess. Zach and Jared were squabbling again.” He looked around. “At least they didn’t break anything this time.” The furniture appeared remarkably unscathed. In fact… “Is it me, or is it neater in here than when I arrived?”

  David nodded. “Zach and Roland tidied up a bit.”

  Those two? Really? “Why?”

  “Someone is coming.”

  Seth heard the approach of an auto
mobile but felt no alarm. David wouldn’t be so relaxed if danger lurked outside. “Who is it?” If it was Chris Reordon bringing them bad news, he didn’t want to know, so he refrained from reading the driver’s thoughts.

  David’s lips stretched in a smile. “You have a caller.”

  Seth stopped short. He must not have heard him right. “What?”

  “You have a caller.”

  Certain he was still misunderstanding, Seth reached into his back pocket and drew out his cell phone to check messages.

  David chuckled. “Not a call. A caller. Leah is here.”

  Seth’s heartbeat picked up, something he wished he could hide. “Leah from Little Gifts?”

  “Yes.”

  His heartbeat quickened even more. “Why is she here?” She sure as hell wasn’t there to call on him as David had suggested.

  “To see you.”

  After living for thousands of years, very little surprised Seth. But that completely flabbergasted him. “You read her mind?”

  “Yes.”

  “She came to see me?”

  “Well, she has another reason for coming but is merely using it as an excuse to see you again. She’s hoping you’ll be here.”

  Seth had no idea how to respond to that. “Why does she want to see me?”

  David’s deep brown eyes danced with suppressed laughter. “Perhaps because she likes your big hands.”

  Seth groaned. If David had plucked that particular memory from Leah’s mind, then he most likely had seen them dancing together as well.

  Chuckling, David closed the distance between them and clapped him on the shoulder. “She enjoys your company, and you enjoy hers. There’s nothing wrong with that.” His expression grew solemn. “But she’s troubled tonight, Seth, and could use a diversion. I think she’s hoping that diversion will be you.”

  So Leah really had come to see him? “How did she even know where to find me?”

  “Gershom certainly didn’t tell her, if that’s why you’re frowning.”

  “It is.” Yet his scowl remained. Leah wanted him to be a diversion? “What kind of diversion?”