One of the new breed of vampires is with them, Lisette thought to the others.
Richart took Jenna’s hand.
Lisette, Zach spoke in her mind, does Seth intend to awaken tonight?
She glanced up at him. Tonight or tomorrow.
Zach’s eyes narrowed as he watched the vamps.
Why?
Because I want to try something.
Apprehension pricked her. Zach—
Remain here, he said. This time she could tell he directed the command at all three of them.
Richart held up a hand. Seth said not to engage any of the new vampires.
Seth told you not to engage the new vampires, Zach corrected. Not me. Have you a tranquilizer gun with you?
Lisette, Richart, and Jenna each drew one and held it up.
Lisette’s had just been delivered by the network that morning. Usually she only carried EpiPen-like auto-injectors full of the sedative.
Only use them if you have to, Zach ordered.
Zach! Lisette protested, afraid he intended to do something reckless.
Dipping his head, he brushed a light kiss across her lips. I’ll be fine. Stay here.
He vanished, then reappeared only a few feet in front of the pack.
Lisette raised the tranquilizer gun and aimed it at the big vamp.
The vampires shuffled to a halt.
“Who the fuck are you?” one demanded, either too insane or too stupid to be afraid.
Zach smiled. “It doesn’t really matter. You won’t live long enough to tell anyone.” Drawing katanas, he shot forward.
Lisette gasped as he tore through the vampires like a tornado.
Holy shit, he’s fast! Richart thought and took a step forward, his fascinated gaze glued to the tempest below.
It didn’t take long.
Zach stilled in the center of the pack, knees bent, blades dripping, face marbled with blood. Seven vampires sank lifelessly to the ground, their bodies spread around him like the petals of a flower, as the virus went to work and they began to shrivel up like mummies.
The newbie vampire, eyes wide, swiftly raised a tranquilizer gun nearly identical to the one Lisette carried and aimed it at Zach’s chest.
Zach straightened and lowered his arms to his sides, hands loosely clasping the hilts of his swords. Face impassive, he arched a brow. “Well?”
What the hell is he doing? Richart demanded.
Lisette’s heart began to pound. I don’t know.
The vamp pulled the trigger.
Lisette expected Zach to leap aside and dodge the dart, or drop a sword and catch the dart between two fingers. He certainly possessed the speed required to do so.
Instead, he just stood there.
The dart lodged itself in Zach’s chest.
She bit back a cry.
Zach stared at the vampire and shifted his shoulders a bit. Tilting his head, he pursed his lips. “Sort of tickles.”
The vamp’s eyes widened. He pulled the trigger again.
Zach’s face darkened in a blink, twisting into a snarl of rage that caught even Lisette off guard. He dropped a sword, caught the dart, and let it fall harmlessly to the pavement. Before the vamp could get off another shot, Zach zipped forward. Wrapping the fingers of his free hand around the vampire’s neck, he shoved him up against the nearest building.
The vampire struggled at first, swinging a meaty fist that connected with Zach’s jaw, then went still.
Dangling in Zach’s hold as though paralyzed, he stared at Zach with eyes full of terror. His mouth opened in a silent cry as his face contorted with pain. Blood began to trickle from one nostril. The trickle became a streaming rivulet.
Lisette lowered her gun. Striding forward, she stepped off the roof.
Richart and Jenna appeared beside her.
“I told you to stay on the roof,” Zach snapped.
None of them moved.
Blood emerged from one of the vamp’s ears and slipped down to soak his collar. His other ear began to bleed, too. Then his eyes.
Zach’s hand at the vampire’s throat began to glow.
Lisette could only stare.
Veins soon stood out on the vamp’s temples and forehead as his face mottled. The cords of his neck stood out as he snapped his teeth together and ground them with a moan. Blood oozed from his mouth.
Zach, as far as Lisette could tell, didn’t breathe. Not until he opened his fingers and let the vamp fall to the ground.
The vampire’s body instantly began to shrivel up as the virus went to work. Soon he would be as the other vampires: no more than a pile of clothing.
Air rushed from Zach’s lungs in a whoosh. His chest rose and fell as though he had been running.
Lisette took a cautious step toward him. “Zach?”
Face set in harsh lines, he turned to them. “The next time I tell you to stay on the roof, you’d better stay on the fucking roof!”
Jenna nodded swiftly, Richart more slowly.
“The battle was over,” Lisette said. And she had wanted to get a closer look at what Zach was doing, wanted to see for herself that he was okay after being tranqed.
“There could have been more of them lingering downwind,” Zach said.
True. She had been so distracted she hadn’t thought of that.
Face taut with anger, he surveyed their surroundings. “We have to get out of here.”
He blurred, moving past her like a breeze, sweeping up the vampires’ clothing as he went. Lisette heard a Dumpster lid clang off to their right. Then Zach returned and tucked the vampire’s tranquilizer gun in the back of his pants.
He looked to Richart. “Go home. Now.”
Richart touched Jenna’s back and teleported the two away.
Zach took Lisette’s arm, his hold less than gentle.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“The Others will have felt the power I just wielded and will be here momentarily.” Bending, he picked up the dart he had dropped.
The campus around them dissolved into darkness, and Lisette found herself in David’s home. More specifically in David’s study.
Talking on the phone, David took one look at them and told whomever he spoke with that he would call them back. “What happened?”
Zach released Lisette and handed the dart to David. “Courtesy of one of the new breed of vampires. A full dose for Dr. Lipton to study.”
David took the dart. “Do I even want to know how you got this?”
“I caught it before it could hit me.” Reaching back, Zach retrieved the tranquilizer gun and placed it on the desk. “There should be more in here.”
David ignored the gun and lowered his gaze to the dart still poking out of Zach’s chest. “And that one?”
“Didn’t affect me. So it won’t affect Seth.” Yanking it out, Zach tossed it in the wastebasket. “It is, however, strong enough that it will likely affect you.”
“Good to know.” David set the dart down on his desk between the gun and yet another thick medical tome. “Will it knock me out or just leave me groggy?”
“Groggy.”
“Groggy’s not a problem. I don’t suppose you were able to tag him with a tracking device.”
“By the time I finished with him, there was nothing left to tag.”
“You destroyed him?”
“Yes.”
“Could you maybe not destroy the next one?”
Zach responded with a terse nod.
David studied him. “So, how are you otherwise? You’re looking a little . . . tense.”
One hell of an understatement. Lisette thought that, if Seth’s phone were to ring in that instant, Zach’s head would explode.
“I told them to stay on the roof,” he gritted.
“Them meaning . . . ?”
“Lisette, Richart, and Jenna. I told them to stay on the roof, and they didn’t fucking stay on the roof.”
David nodded. “Welcome to our world.” He looked at Lisette.
“Next time stay on the roof.”
“I will.”
“See that you do. And impress upon your brother how displeased I will be if he and Jenna don’t do the same.”
She nodded. One did not gainsay David anymore than one did Seth.
David met Zach’s gaze. “Are we good?”
At last, Zach’s shoulders relaxed a little. “Yes, we’re good.”
David smiled. “Go get cleaned up and relax for a bit. You can use one of the quiet rooms below. I’ll have Darnell redirect Seth’s calls to me for the next couple of hours.”
“Thank you,” Zach said, much to Lisette’s surprise. “Let me know if you need me to teleport you.”
“I will.”
Capturing one of Lisette’s hands in his own, Zach led her from the room and headed down to the basement.
Lisette didn’t say a word. She almost wished she could peek into his thoughts so she could better read him, but wasn’t sure she would like what she found up there at the moment.
Sheldon passed them in the hallway, Tracy’s scent all over him.
Interesting. Lisette made a mental note to remind Tracy of Immortal Guardians’ heightened sense of smell.
Zach took them unerringly to an empty quiet room.
Lisette didn’t know if Zach had just made a lucky guess—most of the quiet rooms had been occupied of late—or if he was so powerful that he could hear what the others couldn’t and had known no one slept within.
Into the large bedroom he guided her, then closed the door behind them.
Butterflies fluttered in Lisette’s belly. This was the first time Zach had truly been angry with her. She wasn’t sure how to deal with it.
“Zach—”
She only managed to get the one word out before he backed her into the door, slipped a hand around to cup the nape of her neck, and brought his lips down on hers in a ferocious kiss.
Fire flashed through her, igniting her blood and shortening her breath. She parted her lips, her insides melting at the first stroke of his tongue. Rising onto her toes, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him.
“Zach,” she whispered.
He bent his knees and locked an arm around her. When he straightened, he took her with him, her feet rising to dangle a good foot or more above the floor.
Abandoning her nape, he lowered his hand to her ass and urged her to wrap her legs around him.
Lisette did so eagerly, already wet and aching for him as she rubbed against the hard bulge of his arousal.
Zach’s lips left hers. His eyes shone a vibrant gold as he stared down at her, the emotion they contained a mystery. “Don’t ever . . . ever . . . ever defy me again,” he ordered, voice hoarse.
She frowned. “Zach—”
“I’m not saying it to be a hard-ass. I’m saying it because . . .” He buried his face in her neck and squeezed her tighter against him. “You don’t know what it did to me to see you fall that night. To not be able to awaken you. To reach into your thoughts and find nothing but silence. Darkness.” His grip tightened to the point of pain as he swallowed hard. “To hear that same silence, day after day after day and not know if there would ever be anything else. To not know if you would ever again open your eyes. Say my name. Wrap your arms around me and dispel the cold.”
Moisture blurred her vision as his agonized voice rumbled in her ear.
“You can’t let yourself be tranqed again, Lisette. You can’t.”
“I won’t,” she vowed.
He shook her slightly. “Don’t make promises you won’t keep. If I tell you to stay on the roof, then stay on the fucking roof. If I tell you to run, then run,” he commanded, his torment carrying to her loud and clear. “We have no way of knowing if they’ll up the dosage again. If they increase it even a little bit and you’re hit with a dart, we may not be able to bring you back.”
Chilled by the thought, she nodded. “I will. I’ll do as you say.” She would rather duck and run for the first time in her immortal life and let Zach fight her battles for her than end up lost forever in a dark mental void. Or destroyed. Particularly since the drug didn’t affect him.
“I don’t want to be left with nothing but a pile of your clothing, Lisette,” he murmured. “I don’t think I could handle it.” He fisted a hand in the back of her shirt. “I think I would lay waste to the world if I lost you.”
Tears burned her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she wheezed, chest constricted by his words as much as his tight hold.
Giving a little start, he relaxed his grip and raised his head to peer down at her with furrowed brow. “I’m sorry. Was I hurting you?”
She smiled. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not okay. I don’t ever want to hurt you.”
“Zach, you were just cutting off my air a little. Don’t worry about it.” When he opened his mouth to protest, Lisette stole a quick kiss. “I’m sorry I didn’t take greater care earlier. I should have listened to you and not let my curiosity get the better of me.”
“Curiosity?”
“I wanted to see what you were doing to the vampire.”
“I was turning his brain to mush, searching for answers.”
She wrinkled her nose. Then a disquieting thought arose. “Wait. You didn’t do that to the telepath you gave a nosebleed, did you? You didn’t turn his brain to mush?”
“Of course not.”
Whew! “Just checking.”
He smiled. Easily supporting her weight with one hand, he raised the other and drew gentle fingers down her cheek. “I really do love you, you know.”
Her heart swelled in her chest. “I know. I love you, too.”
“I would’ve thought that, after waiting thousands of years, it would take longer.”
“What would?”
“Falling in love.” He brushed a tender kiss across her lips.
“Surrendering my heart.” Another kiss. “My body.”
She nipped his chin. “Having your first blow job interrupted by your lover’s brother?”
He laughed. “That’s going to be a tough one to forget.”
Yes, it was, damn it. But she’d worry about that later.
Lisette sent him a flirtatious smile and arched against him.
He groaned as desire leapt to life once more in his luminous eyes.
“We could pick up where we left off earlier,” she suggested. She was eager to taste him again. To see the ecstasy ripple across his handsome face as she tongued him and teased him and—
“I need to feel you under me first.”
Sounded good to her. All of that delicious weight pressing down on her, muscles bunching as he drove into her again and again, urging her toward a climax. His wings, when he released them, hovering above them and filling the room with the scent of rain and snow and sunshine all at once.
“Then what are you waiting for?” she demanded, not bothering to hide her need.
He hesitated.
“What?” she asked, wishing they were already naked.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” he began.
Uh-oh. “Okay.”
“When I’m inside you, driving into you and tasting every inch of your soft, soft skin . . .”
Her gaze dropped to his lips. She could almost feel them on her now. “Uh-huh?”
“I want to smell you, not the vampires we killed tonight.”
Lisette laughed. “Yeah. We do sort of reek, don’t we?” And her skin, beneath her clothing, was probably streaked with vampire blood. As was his. “Okay. Why don’t we . . . play with each other in the shower until we’re both clean and mindless with lust? Then, once we make it to the bed and you have me under you, you can do anything you want to me.”
His eyes flashed brighter. “Anything?”
She drew her tongue across his lips. “Anything.”
Their clothes fell away as he turned and crossed to the bathroom.
“How did you do that?” Lisette asked. His hands hadn’t moved.
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“Telekinesis.”
Lisette decided she loved that ability. With their clothing strewn across the floor behind them, his long, hard erection now teased the heart of her, sending sparks of pleasure dancing through her with every step. “Hurry,” she pleaded.
He responded with a wicked chuckle that made her shiver. “I don’t think so. David gave us two hours.” Entering the bathroom, he turned on the shower with a thought. “And I intend to spend every last minute of them worshipping your lovely body.”
Chapter Fourteen
When Lisette and Zach teleported to her home two hours later, sated and relaxed, they found Seth in the kitchen, sipping tea from a huge Looney Tunes mug.
Lisette stared.
He wore only a pair of black pants that rode low on slender hips. No shoes. No socks. (It felt oddly intimate to see his big feet uncovered.) Just bare muscled chest, rippling washboard abs . . . and wings nearly identical to Zach’s.
Folded in against his back, Seth’s were a little bit darker. But then his skin was too, always appearing sun-kissed and naturally tanned. Like Zach’s, the feathers of Seth’s wings were the same color as his skin at their base and darkened to black at their tips. Seth’s long hair, pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck with a leather tie, was still damp from a shower and nearly disappeared amidst the dark, silky wings.
Zach touched the tip of an index finger to the bottom of Lisette’s chin and applied gentle pressure, closing the mouth she hadn’t even realized had fallen open.
A quick look up, and she saw disapproval into those deep brown eyes.
“What?” she asked in her defense. “I’m just not used to seeing him this way.”
Seth turned to face them.
“And wish you were?” came Zach’s caustic reply.
She gave his shoulder a shove. “Oh, please. Wipe that jealous look off your pretty face. You know you’re the only man I want to lick from head to toe.”
Golden flames dispelled the darkness in his eyes. During their two-hour interlude, she had done just that until he had shouted her name in climax.
Seth set his mug on the counter and reached for a black T-shirt that lay over the back of a chair. “Forgive me. I didn’t expect you home so soon.”
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