Seth shook his head. “I don’t know. Even I can’t command someone to sleep without touching them. He must have been working on building that particular skill for years.” He returned his attention to Imhotep. “Ami succumbed to sleep, too?” Ami’s regenerative capabilities exceeded even David’s. Seth wouldn’t have thought it possible for Gershom to mind-control her in such a way.
“Yes,” Imhotep confirmed.
And yet Adira hadn’t, another indication that the combination of Ami’s alien DNA and Marcus’s gifted one DNA had given the child extraordinary abilities.
“Ethan grabbed the children while David fought Gershom,” Imhotep continued, sending David a look of respect. “Even as wounded as he was, David tore that bastard up and came damned close to killing him before Gershom finally managed to land a blow that would knock David out. Ethan bound the children to his chest and took David’s Tomahawk. Gershom teleported away with those who are missing, then returned here and followed Ethan.”
And he had done it all so swiftly that Seth could not sense a lingering energy trail to follow. “Can you show me where he went when he chased Ethan?”
Imhotep nodded. “This way.” Blurring, he shot away.
Seth looked at the younger immortals. “Teleport the injured to network headquarters. I’ll summon you if I need you.” Without another word, he raced after Imhotep with Zach and David at his side.
It was a long journey. David’s Tomahawk had enabled Ethan to cover a lot of ground before Gershom had caught up with him.
Imhotep stopped on a dark country road. “Gershom confronted him here.”
Seth looked around. David’s motorcycle had crashed in the middle of the road, leaving a long debris trail. Blood streaks on the pavement beyond made his stomach clench. “The children?” he forced himself to ask hoarsely. If they had been bound to Ethan when he’d crashed how much of that blood was theirs?
“They survived the crash intact. Ethan took all the damage and sent them into the trees.”
Though the heartbeats he detected all sounded like those of animals, Seth immediately faced the forest. “Adira! Michael!”
“Come to Baba, babies!” David called, taking a step toward the forest. “Come to Abaye!”
Imhotep touched David’s arm. “They aren’t there. Even as injured as he was, Ethan tried to fight Gershom, but Gershom won.”
“Did he kill Ethan?” Seth asked.
“No. Ethan still lives, but he barely escaped losing a limb. Gershom dragged the children from their hiding place in the trees, collected Ethan, and teleported away.”
“Do you know where he went?”
“No,” Imhotep admitted with regret.
The children must have been terrified. What would Gershom do to them? What would he do to all of them? To Leah? To Ami? To Seth’s immortal family? How far would Gershom take this hatred of his, this quest to make Seth suffer as the world crumbled around them? “Where was he when he teleported?”
Imhotep guided him to the spot, and though Seth tried, he could find no lingering energy trail to follow.
“Zach?” Perhaps his head wounds had dampened his senses.
Zach walked around the area, his brows drawn down in a deep V. “There’s nothing.”
Storm clouds gathered overhead. Gershom had Leah, Ami, and Adira. He had Michael. He had so many beloved immortals. Seth had vowed to protect them all. He’d sworn to keep them safe. And they were now at Gershom’s mercy.
David shook his head, his face a mask of regret as moisture glimmered in his glowing amber eyes. “I didn’t hold him. The head wounds dulled my gifts, so I couldn’t—”
Swallowing hard, Seth drew him into a hug. “This is not your fault, David. It is mine. Yet again, I underestimated him.” Releasing him, he palmed his phone and dialed Chris.
“Reordon.”
“Can you trace cell phones and pinpoint where the missing Immortal Guardians are located?”
“Yes. Whose phone do you want me to trace?”
“All of them. Every immortal stationed locally except for David and Imhotep.”
Stunned silence carried over the line. “Shit. Okay. I’m on it. They’re all still missing? I was hoping they were off chasing Gershom or something.”
“They’re still missing.”
“Okay. Give me a minute.”
Seth paced restively.
Zach did the same, his bright golden eyes reflecting the maelstrom of emotion that buffeted him.
Foul epithets carried across the line. “The phones all appear to be located at David’s place,” Chris announced.
Seth met Zach’s gaze.
Then they had nothing to tell them where to begin their search.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Leah frowned.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Encapsulated in darkness, she clenched her teeth.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
She didn’t know what the hell that sound was, but pain shot through her head every damned time it broke the silence.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Why were chains rattling between the thunks?
She tried to open her eyes, but agony erupted in her head when bright light struck. A moan welled up in her throat and worked its way past the teeth she ground together.
“Easy,” a male voice said. It sounded familiar.
“Is it working?” That voice belonged to Lisette, the French immortal.
“I think so,” the male replied. Roland. She thought it was Roland.
Fingers touched her forehead. Heat bloomed there.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Grunts and curses accompanied the loud sounds.
The pain in Leah’s head receded a little. As it did, she became aware of other things. Her skin was cold, her fingers and toes nearly numb with it. She lay on a hard, chilly surface, her head tilted at an odd angle. She started to straighten it.
“Don’t move.” Roland’s voice sounded strained.
“Honey,” Sarah said uncertainly, “are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Roland responded.
“You’re bleeding,” his wife murmured with concern.
“I’m okay,” he insisted. “I’m almost done.” He didn’t sound okay. He sounded like he was in a great deal of pain.
Leah again tried to open her eyes. This time the bright light didn’t feel so much like ice picks piercing her brain.
She blinked, striving to process the sight that met her eyes. She lay in a large room. Plain gray concrete walls. Concrete floor. Concrete ceiling. No windows. One door that was down a short concrete hallway. No window in the door.
Almost all of the Immortal Guardians she had recently met were shackled to the walls around her. Thick manacles encircled every wrist. Heavy chains linked their wrists to thick rings in the concrete above their heads. Some of the immortals were seated. Others stood and were yanking on the chains with all their strength.
She turned her head.
Roland Warbrook was chained next to her, his wife Sarah on his other side. He leaned toward Leah as far as the chains would allow and just managed to brush his fingers across her forehead.
The warmth in her head… He was healing her.
A tapping sound drew her gaze to the floor between them. Blood was drip-drip-dripping from his wrist as he strained to reach her.
“What happened?” she asked, her thoughts sluggish. Where were they? How had they come to be here?
Roland’s lips tightened. “Gershom happened. Our best guess is he mind-controlled us, sending us to sleep so he could transport us here without a fight. But you aren’t immortal. The mental push caused brain damage and you lapsed into a coma.” A muscle in his jaw twitched.
Her gaze again went to the growing crimson stain on the floor. “You’re bleeding.”
“It’s difficult to reach you.”
Behind him, Sarah bit her lip.
Leah started to reach and gentl
y push his hand away but couldn’t move her arm. Frowning, she looked down. Heavy shackles encased her wrists, the chains attached to them so heavy that—lacking the preternatural strength of the others—she could barely move them. “I’m okay. You can stop healing me.”
“One more minute,” he insisted. Blood began to trickle from his nose.
“Sweetie,” Sarah protested softly, her brow furrowed.
A moment later, Roland withdrew his hand and slumped back against the wall beside her.
Leah stared at him. “Why are you bleeding?”
He motioned to his nose as Sarah gently drew her fingers across the skin above his upper lip, removing the blood. “My nose is bleeding because I’m weakened. If I heal others when I’m not at full strength, the wounds tend to open up on me.”
The heavy chain barely impeding her movements, Sarah wiped his blood on her shirt, then cupped his face with that hand and stared into his eyes. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. Turning his head, he pressed a kiss to her palm.
Leah’s gaze dropped to Roland’s wrist where it rested in his lap. “And your wrist?” she asked as she sat up.
Roland turned his hand palm-up and shifted his arm so his fingers pointed toward her. “These aren’t ordinary manacles that just fasten around your wrists like a cuff.” He bent his hand back a bit to give her a better look at the place where the manacle touched his wrist. “There’s a metal rod that passes through our wrists to the other side. So if we pull too hard, we’ll fuck up our hands.”
Horror filled her as she stared at his wrist. Blood trailed from the point where the rod pierced his skin. He’d had to stretch to reach her and had torn his own flesh to do it. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head.
She glanced down at the shackles on her own wrists. They chafed and felt heavy as hell but didn’t hurt. Were there metal rods piercing her wrists, too? She didn’t see any blood, but—
Roland shook his head. “You aren’t immortal, so it looks like they gave you the regular shackles. I would’ve sensed wrist wounds when I healed you otherwise.”
“Thank you for healing me.”
He dipped his chin in a nod.
Leah glanced around. The men who yanked furiously on their chains in an attempt to pull them out of the wall each gripped the chain they held in a fist to alleviate the pressure on their wrists. Nevertheless, blood speckled the floor beneath them.
She took a quick head count. Roland and Sarah. Bastien and Melanie. Étienne and Krysta. Richart and Jenna. Aidan and Dana. Ethan and Heather. Lisette and Stanislav. Marcus and Ami.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Leah glanced at Ami, who sat not far away on her other side. “The children?” she asked, fear and dread filling her when she realized they weren’t in the room with them.
Moisture glimmered in Ami’s eyes. “They’re here in the building, but they’re being held somewhere else.” Her throat moved in a hard swallow. “They’re so afraid.”
Leah had come to realize that although Ami wasn’t immortal, she bore special gifts like the others. She hadn’t had time to ask Seth why. Nor was she certain exactly what gifts Ami possessed. Perhaps she shared a mental connection with her daughter that allowed her to see or feel Adira’s fear?
Beside Ami, Marcus stood with his booted feet planted as he yanked at one of his chains. His muscles flexed and strained. The cords in his neck stood out.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Leah hadn’t noticed until then that everyone’s coats and boots had been removed, leaving most in pants and a T-shirt.
Something about the struggles of Marcus and the other men seemed off. It took her a moment to figure out what. They all only used one hand and only tugged at the chain connected to it. None of them used both hands.
She frowned.
Marcus yanked and pulled and even sat down to prop both feet on the wall, using them to gain more leverage, muscles bulging under the strain. But the chain links held true. Leah looked at his other wrist—the one closest to Ami—and gasped.
Ami followed her gaze, then nodded. Her wrist on that side shared the same manacle as Marcus’s, the rod going through his wrist before it passed through Ami’s. “Every male here shares a manacle with a woman. Gershom knew the men would risk losing their own hands to escape but wouldn’t risk costing us ours.”
A glance around confirmed it. Leah was the only female present who wasn’t shackled to a male immortal. The married couples present were all manacled to each other. Lisette was manacled to Stanislav. Aidan and Dana worked together to yank on their shared chain with all their might. Leah knew from Seth that both were very powerful. Though tiny cracks formed in the concrete wall above them, the ring to which the chain was attached didn’t move.
Leah felt sick.
Marcus’s tugs grew more frantic. Desperation and despair painted his handsome features.
“Marcus,” Ami said softly, her voice choked with tears. “Please stop. You’re hurting yourself, honey. If you lose your hand without Seth here to heal you, you’ll lose it permanently.”
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
“Adira is just on the other side of this wall,” he ground out.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
A tear rolled down one stubbled cheek. “I can hear her crying, Ami.”
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
“She’s calling to us.”
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
“I can hear her calling us.” He paused a moment, breath coming in gasps, and gripped his wrist. Blood coursed steadily down his arm.
“Marcus, please,” Ami whispered. Raising the hand manacled to his, she gripped his T-shirt and pulled him down until he rested wearily on his knees beside her.
“I can hear her crying,” he choked out, his eyes glowing bright amber.
“I know.” Reaching up with her other hand, she curled her fingers around his neck and drew him close. “I know.”
Marcus lowered his forehead to her shoulder, then turned his face into her neck and sagged against her.
Leah felt her own eyes burn with tears. She couldn’t hear the toddler, so Marcus’s preternaturally sharp senses must be carrying his daughter’s voice to his ears. How horrible must it be to hear his baby crying and know he couldn’t reach her?
Roland stood on Leah’s other side. “Okay. Let’s try again.”
Sarah rose beside him. Together, they gripped the chain attached to the manacle that bound them and began to yank.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Leah turned back to Ami and met her gaze over Marcus’s bent head. “What about Seth?” Did he know they were gone? That they had been taken? Where they were?
A tear slipped down Ami’s cheek. “I can’t reach him telepathically. None of us can. Gershom is doing something to block us. We think that while we were unconscious, he injected us all with a drug to keep us weak and tired and mess with our gifts.”
Leah looked at Roland. “I don’t understand. You healed my head wound.”
He sighed. “I was only able to heal some of the damage, just enough to enable you to wake from the coma. I’m sorry. Seth will have to heal the rest.”
Then Seth was still alive. Relief left her light-headed. Or maybe it was the head wound. She didn’t know. But Seth must be frantic, trying to find them.
“He’ll come for us,” Ami said as she stroked her husband’s hair. Leah could detect no doubt in her voice. “Seth will come for us.”
Leah nodded. He would. One way or another, Seth would find out where they were and would come for them. But she felt as much anxiety over that as she did over their incarceration. Seth had told her more than once that he would give his life to protect his surrogate family.
Glancing around, she struggled to keep fear at bay.
Leah didn’t want him to deliver on that promise.
The network’s infirmary bustled with activity. The wounded mortals Gershom had left behind at David�
�s now occupied every bed. Medical personnel hurried back and forth in a kind of ordered chaos as they made the patients comfortable, ran scans, and rendered aid.
Seth lifted his hand from Darnell’s forehead and moved on to the next bed. Lowering his palm to Susan’s forehead, he began to painstakingly heal the damage Gershom’s powerful command had wrought.
Zach healed Tracy. Jared healed Sheldon. The other immortal healers Chris had summoned at Seth’s command healed Cam, Alexei, and the rest of the Seconds.
Seth had insisted David rest. He had been unable to reverse all of the brain damage David had suffered, but David was old enough that the virus coupled with the blood infusions he had received should heal him completely.
Seth glanced at Zach.
His expression tormented, Zach seemed to barely be holding it together.
Seth knew he would see the same anguish in his own countenance if he looked in a mirror.
Yuri and Cat appeared across the room. The couple stood, holding hands as they craned their necks, trying to find—
Dr. Linda Machen walked through them on her way to check on Tanner, one of the fallen Seconds. She and Alleck, a German immortal, had been consulting doctors in Cuba in their attempts to help Cliff and the other vampires but had returned as soon as they heard what had happened.
Cat and Yuri both grimaced as their forms dissipated like smoke then re-formed.
When Cat caught sight of Seth, she pointed. The couple started forward, seeming to walk at a regular pace, but crossing the distance in half the time they should in that odd way spirits could.
Yuri spoke. “Meet us in Chris’s boardroom as quickly as you can. Bring David, Zach, and Jared.”
Before Seth could question them, they vanished. Hope rose. They wouldn’t insist on talking in the soundproof boardroom unless they had discovered something they didn’t want Gershom to overhear if the bastard lurked nearby.
As soon as he finished healing Sheldon, Seth looked over at David, where he rested. “David, come with me to Chris’s boardroom. Zach, you and Jared come, too.” He raced upstairs with the others on his heels. The guards already knew they were on the premises and moving with preternatural speeds as they aided the medical workers, so it didn’t alarm them too much.
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