Blade of Darkness

by Dianne Duvall

  Ethan, Heather, Brodie, and Ed all gaped at Dana, who aimed a tranquilizer gun in Aidan and Roland’s direction.

  “Roland!” Sarah cried and started forward.

  Dana fired the tranq gun again.

  Sarah stumbled to a halt, then sank to the ground, unconscious.

  Aidan stared. “What the hell are you doing, woman?” he called loud enough for Dana to hear him. “Why did you tranq Roland?”

  “It looked like he was going to stab you!” she called back.

  Since she didn’t have the preternaturally sharp vision of Ethan, Sarah, and Heather, he supposed it could have.

  “He was apologizing,” he called with exasperation, “and wanted to shake my hand!”

  “Oh!” she yelled. “My bad!”

  Her companions burst into laughter.

  Shaking his head in amusement, Aidan tossed Roland over one shoulder and rejoined the others. “Why did you tranq Sarah?”

  Dana shrugged. “I thought she was going to rush over there and try to finish what Roland had started.”

  Ethan knelt beside Sarah and gently lifted her into his arms. “Ed, do we have any of the antidote on hand?”

  “Yeah.” Ed headed inside. “I’ll get it.”

  Aidan nodded toward the open front door. “Let’s go.”

  Dana chewed her lower lip as Ethan carried Sarah inside. The unconscious immortal’s long brown hair flowed over his biceps, dancing with every movement.

  Aidan followed with Roland draped over one shoulder, the surly immortal’s arms dangling down his back and swaying back and forth.

  “Will they be okay?” she asked anxiously. She really had thought Roland was going to hurt Aidan. Sarah, too. It had just been so dark. Unable to see them clearly, she had caught the quick movement and figured better safe than sorry.

  “They’ll be fine,” Aidan assured her.

  “Fine, but pissed,” Heather corrected with a wry smile as she followed them inside and closed the door.

  Ethan lowered Sarah to the sofa.

  Aidan seated Roland beside her and stepped back.

  The couple looked as though they had fallen asleep while watching television, shoulders brushing, heads lolling back against the cushions.

  Dana, Aidan, Ethan, and Heather stood in a semicircle, staring down at them as they waited for Ed and Brodie to reappear.

  “I can’t believe he said that,” Heather whispered, her eyes on Roland.

  “Which part?” her husband asked.

  “All of it.”

  Dana looked at Heather and the others. “What did he say?” They seemed stunned, as if whatever Roland had told Aidan had made them completely rethink everything they knew about him.

  “I feel sort of bad now,” Heather admitted in lieu of answering. “I really did think of him as being kind of…”

  “Cold and heartless?” her husband offered.

  “Well, not heartless,” she qualified. “No one who has seen how he is with Sarah and Adira can call him heartless.”

  Aidan and Ethan nodded their agreement.

  “But cold?” Heather went on. “Yeah. I mean, he’s always so—I don’t know—unapproachable. So closed off to the rest of us. But now? After this? After what he said to Aidan? And the emotion I heard in his voice?” She shook her head. “I gotta admit, I teared up a little.”

  Dana looked up at Aidan. “What did he say?”

  Aidan shifted his weight from one foot to the other, unease creeping into his handsome features. “He apologized.”

  Dana waited for him to say more, but he opted not to elaborate.

  Heather frowned up at him. “There was a little more to it than that, Aidan. You should tell her. Or, better yet, show her. All of it. You can do that, right?”

  Dana looked to Aidan. Show her? How?

  “Yes,” he admitted with obvious reluctance.

  “Then you should,” Heather urged him. “Let her see it all. Because it sounds like Roland intends to stick around. And the last thing Dana needs on top of everything else is to worry about him attacking you again or not being fully on your side.”

  Dana turned a doubtful gaze on Roland.

  “See?” Heather pointed to her. “She doesn’t believe he can be trusted.”

  All eyes turned to Dana.

  She shrugged. “Of course I don’t. He tried to kill Aidan.”

  And still Aidan looked reluctant to comply. But he did, nevertheless.

  Turning toward her, he touched the tip of one finger to her temple.

  The living room around her vanished, replaced by Ethan and Heather’s front yard. Aidan’s stroll with Roland and the words they spoke played out before her as clearly as a movie on a big-screen, hi-def television. Except Dana was in the movie, seeing everything from Aidan’s point of view.

  Soooo cool.

  And she didn’t just hear the words and see the images. She felt what Aidan had felt, because all of that was part of the memory he retained.

  Her breath caught.

  Aidan withdrew his touch.

  The memory dissolved.

  Ed and Brodie entered the living room.

  Dana barely noticed as she stared up at Aidan, her heart beating faster.

  Aidan met her gaze, his handsome face somber, his brown eyes unreadable.

  Again she heard Roland’s voice in his memory. When Seth told me he believes you had no role in Veronica’s disappearance and that I had just outed you in front of the mortal woman you love… I felt sick.

  Ed leaned over Roland.

  “No.” Ethan stopped him. “Wake Sarah first. Roland may not blame Dana for tranqing him, but if he sees she tranqed Sarah, too, he’ll be pissed.”

  Nodding, Ed moved to stand over Sarah and leaned down.

  Dana is here with you now, Roland had said. Does that mean she hasn’t turned away from you?

  She’s here because Seth mandated it, Aidan had responded, so much emotion buffeting him.

  Did he really believe that? That she wouldn’t be with him tonight if Seth hadn’t forced her hand?

  Ed pressed an EpiPen-like thing against Sarah’s neck.

  Sarah’s hazel eyes opened, then flared bright green as she sat up straight and looked around for her husband, almost bumping heads with Ed.

  Dana didn’t hear whatever Ethan and the others told her. Didn’t really care, truth be told.

  She seems to be accepting it all. Accepting me. I just don’t know if she’s willing to…

  Accept it all—and you—on a permanent basis?

  Aye.

  Aidan loved her.

  Deeply.

  He wanted to spend the rest of eternity with her. And—even after the amazing day they had just spent together making love—feared she either didn’t or couldn’t feel the same way.

  “Aidan,” she whispered.

  Face somber, he cupped her face in one hand. “You still have choice,” he murmured, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

  Because he would always place her needs and desires above his own. No matter how much he dreaded the centuries of loneliness and regret he believed would follow if she walked away, he wouldn’t press her.

  Tears welled in her eyes. Emotion suffusing her, she moved forward, buried her face in his chest, and hugged him tight.

  Aidan said nothing, just closed his arms around her and rested his chin atop her head.

  “Roland?” Sarah said.

  “What the hell happened?” the British immortal replied groggily.

  “Dana tranqed you,” his wife told him. “She couldn’t see clearly in the dark. So when you went to shake Aidan’s hand, she thought you were trying to stab him and tranqed you to protect him.”

  Dana couldn’t help but notice that Sarah didn’t mention being tranqed herself.

  “She did?” Roland asked, his voice lightening with amusement. “First she Tasers me, then she tranqs me.” He chuckled. “I like her. She reminds me of you.”

  Laughter filled the room.
>
  A chuckle rumbled through Aidan’s chest beneath Dana’s ear. Tilting her head back, she smiled up at him, and his answering smile bore a hesitance that twisted her heart. She lifted her lips, inviting a kiss.

  Smile broadening, he started to lower his head to comply but stopped just short of making contact. He frowned, then turned to look at the front door.

  Releasing her, he drew his swords.

  The other immortals all followed suit as Aidan stepped around Dana and placed himself between her and the door.

  Ed and Brodie both drew what appeared to be 9mms.

  “What is it?” Dana asked, wondering if the tranq gun she’d tucked back in her pants still held any darts.

  Aidan answered telepathically. Someone just teleported onto the front porch.

  All shared an intense look, so Dana assumed he had told everyone, not just her.

  Hell. Was it Seth? The other vision wasn’t about to come true, was it? Had Seth returned to kill Aidan?

  The doorbell rang.

  Heather’s eyebrows rose. “Really?” She took a step toward the door.

  Ethan blurred and got there first.

  Heather frowned as she moved to stand beside him.

  Unperturbed, Ethan opened the door.

  Dana’s jaw dropped.

  The tallest man she had ever seen in person—even taller than Seth—stood on the front porch beside an absolutely gorgeous woman. The male was only an inch or two shy of seven feet, the woman about five foot six. Both had black hair. The man’s fell below his shoulders. The woman’s was pulled back in a long braid. Both also wore the clothing Dana was coming to associate with just about everyone in the Immortal Guardians world: black pants, black shirts, black boots, and long black coats.

  Did the black clothing help them blend into the night better? Or did they wear it to conceal the bloodstains they accrued on their nightly hunts?

  She suspected the latter and found the idea unsettling.

  Ethan smiled as everyone sheathed and holstered their weapons. “Zach. Lisette. What are you two doing here?”

  “Defying Seth’s orders,” Zach muttered with what sounded like a British accent.

  Lisette elbowed him, never losing her smile. “There was a game on earlier.” Her voice carried a lilting French accent. “I was hoping Ed recorded it so we could watch it together.”

  Ethan laughed. “Bullshit. You’re here to check up on me.”

  Her smile turned sheepish. “Mmmmaybe I was a little worried after hearing what happened last night.”

  Ethan motioned for them to enter and closed the door behind them. “Dana, this is Lisette and her husband Zach. Both are immortal.”

  Lisette strode forward with a big smile, offering her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dana.”

  Returning her smile, Dana shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, too.” At least she hoped it was. Lisette seemed friendly. But Zach gave off kind of a scary don’t-fuck-with-me-or-I’ll-kill-you vibe and seemed to exude almost as much power as Seth.

  Patting their clasped hands, Lisette slid Zach a glance. “I know some find my husband intimidating because of his dark and brooding nature, but I assure you, he’s as gentle as a kitten.”

  Everyone snorted in disagreement, even her husband.

  Lisette frowned. “He is.”

  Zach’s lips curled up in a sardonic smile. “I don’t think that one’s going to fly, love. They know me too well.”

  Lisette started to reply, then paused and turned a frown on Aidan. “I wasn’t.”

  “Yes, you were.” Aidan’s brows lowered. “Don’t do it again.”

  Dana glanced at Zach, expecting the warning in Aidan’s voice to anger him.

  But Zach merely chuckled. “Looks like he caught you.”

  Lisette wrinkled her nose as she released Dana’s hand. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

  “Do what again?” Dana asked, wondering what she’d missed.

  Aidan curled an arm around her shoulders. “Read your thoughts.”

  Dana looked at Lisette, anger rising over the intrusion. “You’re a telepath?”

  “Yes,” the woman confirmed. “And I’m sorry. I won’t read your thoughts again unless a dire emergency compels me to. I just did it this time—”

  “Because you’re nosy?” Ethan suggested with a grin.

  She laughed. “Sometimes, yes,” she admitted, then turned back to Dana. “But I really just wanted to know how you were faring.” Her smile gentled as she reached out to touch Aidan’s arm. “Aidan is precious to us.”

  Dana glanced up.

  Aidan seemed surprised by the pronouncement.

  “He gave me a very special gift,” Lisette continued.

  “I did?” Aidan asked.

  Lisette’s smile widened. “You told how to me how to strengthen my mental barriers so I can know all of Zach’s secrets without you and the others ferreting them out.”

  Aidan smiled. “So I did. And it’s working, by the way. Your mental barriers are already so much stronger that I couldn’t breach them. I just assumed you were reading Dana’s thoughts.”

  Lisette laughed. “You assumed correctly.” She turned back to Dana. “As I said, he’s precious to us. And you’re clearly precious to him. So I wanted to take a little peek and see if you were finding our world too overwhelming.” Stepping back, she grinned up at her husband. “Clearly not, because she Tasered Roland and tranqed him.”

  Zach laughed. “The other immortals are going to love her.”

  Even Roland laughed at that.

  Then all levity died as the immortals looked toward the front of the house. Again.

  “Seriously?” Heather blurted in disbelief.

  Dana consulted Aidan. “What is it?”

  “Marcus, Ami, and their daughter Adira.”

  Roland swore.

  As did Zach. “Seth will be furious.”

  Nodding, Heather turned to her Second. “Hey, Ed?”

  “Yeah?”

  “It looks like we’re going to need a bigger house. You can tack on a few extra rooms, right?”

  He laughed. “That’s a little outside my job description.”

  The crunch of gravel under tires intruded upon the night, accompanied by the low rumble of a well-tuned engine.

  Seconds later, both sounds ended. Doors opened and closed. Then the doorbell rang.

  Ethan opened the door.

  A man and a woman stood on the porch.

  Dana recognized the woman. Ami was the redhead she had seen in her vision. The one with the Chuck Taylor high-top sneakers. Although tonight she wore heavy boots.

  Marcus, the man at her side, held a beautiful redheaded toddler in his arms and had a large bag looped over one shoulder. Like all of the other males present, he bore black hair and brown eyes. But his hair fell a few inches below his shoulders like Zach’s.

  Both newcomers wore all black like their brethren, so Dana assumed they were immortal.

  Although maybe not. They did have a baby.

  She frowned. Could immortals have children? She hadn’t thought to ask Aidan.

  Ethan shook his head at the couple. “Seth is going to be furious.”

  Ami thrust her chin out stubbornly but didn’t deny it as she stepped inside. Marcus followed.

  The baby grinned when she saw the gathering and bounced in her daddy’s arms. “Unca Wowand! Unca Wowand!”

  As Ethan closed the door, Marcus bent and lowered the little girl’s feet to the floor.

  “Dana,” Aidan said, “this is Marcus and his wife Ami.”

  The little girl beelined over to Roland, who bent and scooped her up into his arms, giving her an affectionate grin and a peck on the cheek.

  “And that’s their daughter Adira.”

  Seth abruptly appeared just inside the front door. When his gaze alighted upon the large group in the living room, his eyes lit with golden fire.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Seriously?” Seth roa
red.

  The world beyond the windows brightened for an instant with a flash of lightning.

  Thunder followed, so loud that Dana felt the vibrations in her chest.

  Everyone quieted.

  “Was I unclear in my instructions?” Seth demanded. “When I said I wanted Aidan and Dana to stay with Ethan and Heather instead of at David’s place so Dana wouldn’t have to bump into powerful immortals every time she turned around and perhaps might have an easier time adjusting, did I muddle my words or speak in a language you failed to comprehend?”

  Seth had wanted them to stay away so she could have some time and space to come to terms with all this?

  That was kind of nice. And really didn’t gel with Dana’s knowledge that Seth would soon want Aidan dead.

  Roland stepped forward, Adira cradled in his arms. “I screwed up, Seth, and wanted to make amends. I’m the reason Dana has to deal with all of this at once. I pretty much threw it in her face.”

  Sarah nodded. “We wanted to see if there was anything we could do to mitigate the damage and—if not—thought the least we could do was guard Aidan and Dana and keep them safe.”

  The fury that blazed in Seth’s eyes didn’t dim when he turned his gaze upon Ami.

  Thunder rumbled again at the same time lightning brightened the windows.

  “I told you I didn’t want you in the same home as Aidan and Dana,” Seth bit out. “It’s too dangerous. We believe the vampire attack last night confirms Gershom’s interest in Dana and—as I said earlier—I believe the chance of getting you, Adira, and Dana all in one fell swoop might prove a great enough lure for him to risk anything.”

  Ami looked both defiant and nervous.

  Hell, they all looked nervous. Except for Zach. Seth was emitting so much power that the hair on Dana’s arms stood up. And Dana was pretty sure Seth was responsible for the sudden storm brewing overhead. The skies had been clear when she, Aidan, and the others had been outside.

  “Seth,” Ami said, “I would know it if Gershom were nearby. I would feel it. You know I would. And as soon as I did, I would call you.”

  Seth vanished and reappeared in front of Ami, the long fingers of one hand wrapped around her throat.

  Dana gasped.

  Marcus emitted a shout of protest and lunged forward, then stopped short about the same time Dana realized the powerful immortal leader was exerting no pressure with his hold.