“Thank you.” Seth moved to stand nearly nose-to-nose with Cliff, catching and holding his burning gaze. “Bastien, Melanie, and the others are being held in a military facility defended by mercenaries. We’re about to descend upon it en force. General Lane believes the alarm will trigger fail-safes or booby traps installed in the base to prevent anyone who succeeds in infiltrating it from leaving alive. I need you to help us pinpoint those fail-safes before we trigger them so we won’t lose anyone.”
Cliff loved to play the same complex military and action-adventure video games that Darnell and Ami did. And Seth had heard Darnell and Ami both complain about the booby traps they encountered in such. Since he had no idea what to look for himself, Seth figured Cliff might be able to spot something he wouldn’t.
Cliff nodded. “I won’t let you down.”
Emma’s face creased with alarm. Drawing Cliff aside, she began to whisper to him urgently.
Seth turned to Zach and David. “Come with me.” Clasping David’s shoulder, he teleported away.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The room they appeared in was one Seth had never thought to visit again. It was beautifully crafted from wood and stone. Semicircular in design, it boasted high ceilings, three fireplaces large enough for Seth to stand up in, and a number of sofas, chairs, and coffee tables.
Almost a dozen men—all Seth’s height of six foot eight or taller and bearing black hair and dark wings—stood in the center of the room, shouting at each other, their eyes glowing golden.
When Seth, David, and Zach appeared, the group spun to face them. Shock rippled across their faces. Silence fell.
Zach turned to Seth. “Really? You wanted to come here?”
Seth released David and strode toward the men Zach sometimes referred to as their cousins. Though they weren’t technically kin, all boasted similar origins, so Seth supposed they were family of a sort. These men were all as ancient as he. But none boasted his immense power. Seth had spent thousands of years building and increasing his power to keep these very men from killing him or his Immortal Guardians because none of them—none of these Others, as he referred to them for lack of a better word—had ever questioned the path they had chosen. That path being to refrain from any and all contact with humanity so they would not influence mankind’s destiny in any way. Such influence had wrought cataclysmic results in the past.
Long ago, Seth had shared their beliefs, as had Zach and Jared. Then Seth had fallen in love with a human woman and abandoned that path. He had risked everything to be with his wife. Now he would risk everything to be with Leah.
Zach spoke in Seth’s head. Why the hell are we here?
They have something we need.
More headaches? Zach retorted with a scowl.
Seth shook his head. More power.
Realization lit Zach’s features, almost bringing a smile to his lips.
Teman strode toward them, his brows drawn down in a deep scowl. “Do you see what you’ve done?” he snarled furiously. “Do you see what you’ve wrought?”
Seth darted forward and grabbed the Other by the throat.
Teman had not expected a direct attack and was so taken aback that Seth managed to restrain him with little effort and instantly began to drain his energy. Power surged into him via his hold, so much that it burned Seth’s insides like a brand. But difficult tasks lay ahead, and he couldn’t afford to let those tasks drain his own energy before his confrontation with Gershom.
He would not fuck up again.
Protests erupted from the other men.
When Simon leapt forward, Zach grabbed him and followed Seth’s example with a bit more difficulty since he couldn’t drain power as quickly as Seth could.
“It’s time to choose a side, gentlemen,” Seth informed the rest. “Live or die? Support me and you may live. Try to stop me—something that will only empower Gershom—and Jared’s vision will come to fruition.”
Gideon’s frown deepened. “What vision?”
“Before he defected and joined my Immortal Guardians, Jared foresaw Gershom succeeding. He saw Armageddon unfold and everyone—every human, gifted one, vampire, immortal, and Other—died.”
Teman sagged in Seth’s arms.
Gideon’s expression darkened as he moved toward them.
David stepped into his path with more speed than any of them anticipated and grabbed Gideon by the throat.
Gideon raised his hands in surrender. “Easy. Teman is depleted. I only wish to offer Seth my own energy if he requires more.”
David sent Seth a questioning look.
Seth nodded. “You take it, David.”
David’s hand began to glow. Then his forearm did, too, as he borrowed Gideon’s power.
Jaden cautiously moved forward and retrieved Teman’s limp form. After settling the unconscious Other on a nearby sofa, he turned back to Seth. “Do you wish my skills in battle or my power? I’ve no wish to see Gershom succeed.”
“Your power,” Seth said. There was too much at stake to toss someone he wasn’t certain he could trust into the mix.
When Jaden extended a hand, Seth gripped the man’s forearm and swiftly drained his power.
David released Gideon and stumbled back a step. Gideon reached out and steadied him as David leaned forward and braced his hands on his knees, then closed his eyes. His dark-as-midnight skin seemed brighter, as though someone had infused him with light. Seth could actually see the veins in his arms glowing.
David? he asked.
So much power, he responded on their private mental pathway.
Too much?
Almost.
Seth understood. His own skin acquired a golden glow as the power he took from Jaden seared him like flames dancing just beneath his skin.
When Jaden reached out to grip Seth’s shoulder in a struggle to remain upright, Seth stopped.
Asher approached and looped Jaden’s arm over his shoulder to prop him up.
Zach released Simon, letting him drop to the floor.
Seth eyed the Others. “Be ready. This ends tonight. I will defeat Gershom.”
Gripping David’s shoulder, he teleported back to Chris’s boardroom.
Immortals—all geared up for battle—once more crowded the space. But they gave the far corner, in which Emma spoke with Cliff, a wide berth.
Chris and General Lane both jumped at Seth, David, and Zach’s abrupt return, then stared at Seth.
The general swallowed. “Are you… glowing?”
Seth glanced down at his hands. “Yes, I am.” He turned to Chris. “Are we ready?”
“Yeah.”
Seth looked over at Catherine. “Any word from Yuri?”
She shook her head.
Cliff started to move toward him.
Emma caught his arm, then drew him close for a last desperate kiss. Tears glistened in her eyes as she stared up at him. “I love you.”
Seth didn’t have to read her thoughts to know she thought she would never see Cliff again, that tonight would be his last.
“I love you, too,” Cliff said, cupping her face. “Thank you. For everything.”
She bit her lip to hold back a sob when he moved to stand with the Immortal Guardians.
“Everyone grab a shoulder,” Seth instructed. “We strike fast and we strike hard.”
A unanimous battle cry filled the room.
Seth teleported everyone but Zach and Jared to the airplane hangar behind network headquarters. Dozens of human soldiers sporting black fatigues, helmets, automatic weapons, and bulletproof vests faced him. Tanks and Sisu XA-180 military transport vehicles loomed behind them.
Seth raised his hands, silently demanding everyone’s attention. “Here we go.”
Using the energy that still blazed inside him, Seth teleported everyone in sight, along with the military vehicles, to the classified military base in Texas. It was an incredible exhibition of power, sapping half of what he had siphoned from the Others. Even Zach could not
have teleported so many or so much without touching it.
A split second after they appeared outside the base, Seth teleported David, the other immortals, and Cliff inside.
Gunfire erupted outside the building as Chris’s special-ops team started taking out the mercenary guards and securing the perimeter.
Seth and the immortals now stood in a wide hallway that ended in a security checkpoint.
Six guards manning the checkpoint gaped at them.
Immortal Guardians surged forward to take out the guards before they could sound an alarm.
Yuri appeared in front of Seth. “Gershom is still here.”
“Where?”
“The other side of the building. Follow me.”
Seth raced after him, bursting through the first checkpoint. More guards waited at a second.
Immortals surged forward around Seth to take them out and clear his path.
Yuri vanished and reappeared at the end of the hallway, pointing the way. Each time he saw Seth follow, he vanished and reappeared at the next checkpoint or hallway intersection to mark the path.
An alarm blared as they approached the third security checkpoint.
As immortals surged forward, multiple blades suddenly shot out of the walls and impaled them.
Seth threw out his hands to halt the others.
Mattheus clenched his teeth and yanked one of the blades out of his chest. It looked like a dagger without a hilt, the sleek, arrow-shaped metal perhaps five inches long.
Zach cursed. “The fail-safes have been triggered.”
“So we bypass them,” Jared said and teleported to the other end of the hallway.
If Seth teleported all of them through the base until he reached Gershom, he would expend too much energy. And each time they cleared a hallway, Seth needed two immortals to remain behind and ensure those hallways remained clear while the others checked the rooms.
Cliff shouldered his way through the immortals and stood at Seth’s side. He studied the floor, then the walls of the hallway. “I don’t see anything in the floor that looks pressure sensitive, so there must be motion-activated sensors in the walls that trip them.”
He darted forward at preternatural speed, then stopped with a grunt when two blades struck him. Cursing, he yanked them out. “These weren’t designed to stop humans. They were designed to stop us, or at least to slow us down.”
“How do you know?”
“Watch.” Turning, Cliff slowly walked up the hallway.
No more blades struck him.
“Shit,” Zach murmured beside Seth. “They are for us.”
“Gershom must have had them modified.” Seth spoke to the others telepathically so Gershom wouldn’t hear him. We’re going to teleport ahead. Follow as quickly as you can at mortal speeds, but leave every hallway guarded and search every room. We’re going after Gershom.
They nodded.
Seth gripped David’s shoulder and teleported to Cliff and Yuri’s side. He caught and held Cliff’s gaze. Guide them.
Cliff nodded. I’ll get them through safely. You won’t lose a single immortal tonight.
Seth didn’t want to see the valiant young vampire come to harm, but a quick scan of his thoughts confirmed that Cliff was dangerously close to yielding to the madness that permeated him and wanted this to be the way he went out—the death of a hero, a saver of lives.
Yuri pointed. “Quickly, Seth. He’s on the move.” He disappeared.
Seth teleported after him, taking David with him. Zach kept pace while Jared remained behind to keep an eye on the immortals as Cliff guided them through the next set of booby traps. When mercenaries appeared and fired their weapons, Seth ignored them and left them to the immortals. Though every impulse urged him to find Leah, Ami, and the children first, he resolutely forged onward, intent on taking Gershom out once and for all.
Thanks to Yuri, they traversed the base in less than a minute. In a moment that felt almost surreal, Seth suddenly found himself standing face-to-face with Gershom… who was shielded by a shitload of human mercenaries.
“Coward,” Seth bit out.
Garbed in black leather pants, his wings spread, Gershom crossed his arms over his bare chest and smiled.
The mercenaries opened fire.
Tired of playing by the rules, Seth reached toward the soldiers, curled his hand into a fist, and yanked. Every weapon flew over his head to land with a clatter behind him.
Undeterred, their minds controlled by the powerful being they protected, the humans drew tactical knives and raced forward.
David swept past Seth, knocking them all down in swift succession like a bowling ball toppling pins.
“I see you brought the little one,” Gershom commented with apparent unconcern. But fury brightened the eyes he turned on David, who had inflicted so much damage while fighting him that Gershom’s arms and torso bore thick ugly scars from it. “Three against one?” he taunted. “Which of us is the true coward here?”
Seth shook his head. “They aren’t here to help me kill you.” He began to subtly leech Gershom’s power as he had when he’d sparred with Zach. “They’re here to hold me back.”
A flash of uncertainty entered the Other’s eyes before he snarled and teleported away. But his energy never left the room.
Swearing, Seth spun.
Gershom appeared behind David just as David dropped the last soldier. Grabbing a fistful of dreadlocks, Gershom yanked David’s head back and drew a dagger across his throat, cutting so deeply he nearly severed David’s head. “Just evening the odds,” he said with a malicious smile.
But David was so full of the energy he had borrowed from Gideon that the wound sealed itself almost as quickly as Gershom inflicted it.
David vanished.
Gershom’s eyes widened.
Reappearing right behind him, David grabbed Gershom’s wings and twisted, then twisted them again. Bones snapped and feathers flew as Gershom’s face contorted with agony.
“Surprise,” David snarled. “Not so little now, am I?”
Roaring in pain and rage, Gershom stumbled forward.
Seth drew two swords and swung.
Swords appeared in Gershom’s hands just in time to block the blows. Seth steadily siphoned more power from Gershom as he hammered him with strike after strike, keeping him on the defensive.
When Zach started to enter the fray, Seth shook his head. “I’ve got this.”
Boots echoed up the hallway as guards approached. Gunfire erupted. Bullets buzzed past like bees.
Zach left Seth’s peripheral vision. Seconds later, men screamed and the gunshots ceased.
David lingered nearby, never taking his bright amber eyes off Gershom.
Gershom huffed out pained breaths as he fought, his damaged wings dragging on the floor behind him. “You’re too late,” he growled between bloody lips. “It took you too long to find me. I already fucked your woman.”
Seth’s heart stopped.
“And your daughter,” he added with a dark, triumphant smile. “I made those bitches scream.”
Despair and fury nearly blinded Seth. Was it true? Had he—?
“He’s lying, Seth!” Yuri called over the noise of battle.
David spoke calmly in Seth’s head despite the fury Seth read in his features. Listen to Yuri, he counseled. Don’t let Gershom get in your head.
Can you reach them telepathically? Seth asked. He couldn’t do it himself while he was focusing so hard on draining Gershom.
No. He must have drugged them.
Or killed them. What if he had done what he’d said? What if he’d—?
“I’ve never understood your fascination with human women,” Gershom sneered, “your attraction to them. But I admit their struggles and cries of agony fired my lust.”
The ground beneath Seth’s feet began to shake as his control began to slip.
Seth, David cautioned.
The abundance of power fueling him made it more difficult for
Seth to keep his fury in check. He clenched his teeth, struggling to block out Gershom’s words as he continued to hammer away at him.
An explosion rocked the building. A fail-safe triggered by Cliff? Or were network soldiers forcing their way inside?
Seth’s strength and energy surged as Gershom began to weaken, unaware that Seth was steadily draining him.
Gershom attempted to telepathically hurl a dagger at David in an attempt to distract Seth, but it just tumbled to the floor. He frowned, alarm entering his glowing golden eyes. He again tried to use telekinesis—this time to yank Seth’s weapons away—but couldn’t.
“What’s happening?” He tried to teleport away and failed. “What’s happening?” he bellowed.
Seth swept one of Gershom’s swords from his hands. “You’re losing,” he announced and relieved Gershom of the other sword. Vanishing, Seth reappeared behind him, grabbed a fistful of Gershom’s dark hair, and yanked the Other’s head back. “Shall I take a page from your book?” When Seth dropped his sword, Zach tossed him a dagger.
Gershom struggled in his grip but had grown so weak he moved like a mortal. “Even if you kill me, you won’t win,” he snarled.
Seth slowly drew the blade across Gershom’s throat, cutting as deeply as Gershom had when he’d done the same to Ami and David, drawing out the pain as long as he could until the blade broke free of his flesh. Stepping back, he released Gershom’s hair and gave his head a shove.
Gershom staggered forward, clamping his hands around his neck. Because his energy was so depleted, his wound did not stop bleeding and seal itself the way David’s had. Gershom dropped to his knees, his face full of fear and horror. He tried to speak but couldn’t.
Pitching forward, he hit the floor hard, squirmed as though trying to get away, then fell still. His eyes closed. But a heart still beat faintly inside that body.
Zach moved to stand over the bastard, then looked at Seth. “Well done.”
Only partly relieved, Seth nodded. “Take him to the Others. Make sure they bury him so deep he’ll never see the light of day again.”
Nodding, Zach reached down and grabbed one of Gershom’s mangled wings. Seconds later, he teleported away.
Death of Darkness Page 44