Her eyes widened. “You’ve lived thousands of years?”
“Yes. Millennia ago, the Others decided to withdraw from humanity. They decided they would not interact with mortals or do anything that would alter the natural progression or fate of humanity.”
“Why?” Dana asked. “I don’t understand. I’ve seen the wondrous things Aidan can do. And he said you can do even more. Why would you withhold that? Why would you not use those gifts to aid humanity and advance our society?”
“We had good reason,” Seth answered, “to believe that if we tampered with humanity, if we altered mankind’s fate in any way, if we interfered in any way, Armageddon would unfold.”
Dana turned to Aidan. “Seriously?”
Aidan nodded. He didn’t know what “good reason” Seth and the Others possessed, but he trusted Seth’s judgment. “I’ve heard David compare it to the hypotheses that are often put forth in time-travel movies in which the men and women who go back in time are told that if they alter anything, if they so much as kill a butterfly or step on a bug, they could change the present in disastrous ways.”
“Who is David?” she asked.
Seth answered. “My second-in-command.”
Confusion clouded Dana’s pretty features as she turned back to Seth. “But you’re here. How is that not interference? Doesn’t that contradict what you’re telling me?”
Seth nodded. “I’m here now because I defected from the Others a long time ago. I deviated from the path. The Others did not. They steadfastly clung to it, believed in it, and—for several years after I left their ranks—wanted to kill me for abandoning it.”
She shook her head. “If you really had reason to think tampering with mortals would spark Armageddon, why did you deviate from the path?”
Seth gave her a faint smile. “Because I fell in love with a mortal. A human woman. And I gladly risked everything to be with her. To this day I do not regret it.”
Aidan could relate. He would risk anything to be with Dana.
Seth lowered his gaze for a moment. “After I lost my wife…”
Dana glanced up at Aidan. Because she was human?
He caught the thought clearly. Yes.
A human whose daughter had trusted the wrong person with their secret. Seth’s wife and both his children had been slain as a result. But Aidan wouldn’t tell Dana as much unless Seth wished it. That was Seth’s story to share, not his own.
“I needed a new path,” Seth finished his thought. “I needed something to…” He hesitated, then shook his head. “I needed a new path.” He met Dana’s gaze once more. “So I took it upon myself to lead the Immortal Guardians. To guide them. I was older, wiser, had seen more of the world, had learned from past mistakes. And when vampires began to prey upon humans and roamed unchecked, I believed that pitting the Immortal Guardians against them would balance the scales, not tip them. The Others objected. But, unbeknownst to them, I had begun building and increasing my power, so they could not stop me. I took the risk. And, thus far, it has paid off.
“The Others still tread the same path they always have. They watch. They do not participate. They do not interfere. And they disapprove of my own interference. Zach was also an Other. He is an ancient like myself. He steadfastly clung to the path of the Others until he met and fell in love with Lisette a couple of years ago. Then he, too, defected, which caused some upheaval.”
A bit of an understatement.
“But we soon discovered that Zach was not the only Other to abandon the path. Gershom deviated as well. But Gershom did not deviate for the same reason Zach and I did. There is no love in Gershom. Quite the contrary. We believe he has slowly, without the Others realizing it, been descending into madness, much like the vampires Aidan and the Immortal Guardians hunt.”
Dana scowled. “Well, that’s just great. A madman who is as powerful as you are running around out there?”
Aidan nodded. “I’m afraid so.”
Seth leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “Gershom apparently wants to kick-start Armageddon. He wants to watch the world burn and delights in sparking chaos.”
“Wonderful,” Dana muttered.
Aidan squeezed her hand. “But we’re doing everything we can to stop him.”
Seth nodded. “In his first attempt, Gershom did his damnedest to sow dissent amongst our ranks and did succeed for a time. Much to my regret, I briefly believed Aidan was working against us.”
Dana cut Aidan a look. Was the vision I saw of Seth trying to kill you showing me the past?
Again, he heard the thought clearly. No.
Damn. She frowned at Seth. “How could you believe Aidan would betray you? Why would you believe it? Aren’t you friends?”
Aidan saw guilt enter his leader’s countenance and sought to erase it. “We are,” he told Dana. “But there was compelling evidence. Had Seth and I not been as close as we are, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”
She didn’t seem to like that.
Seth sighed. “We weren’t able to defeat Gershom. And we have not been able capture him. Although we did manage to foil his attempt to start a third World War last year.”
Dana’s mouth fell open. “What?”
“But Gershom has not abandoned his quest,” Seth went on. “And he is once more attempting to sow dissent amongst us.”
A short laugh containing no mirth escaped Dana. “Well, he seems to be succeeding.”
Seth nodded. “Whatever new plan he has hatched is more complex than the last. He knows Immortal Guardians and the vast network of humans that aid us watch over gifted ones. We have been watching over you, Dana, since your birth, as we do all others.”
Her brow furrowed. “That’s kind of creepy.”
Seth smiled. “Not really. We do it so that—if your advanced DNA should ever be discovered or come to the attention of those who may want to hurt you or exploit you for your differences or even dissect you to seek their source—we can protect you.”
Her frown deepened. “Okay. That’s even creepier.”
Again, Seth nodded. “It seems that someone has begun abducting gifted ones in North Carolina. Six women and three men have gone missing thus far.”
“Are they still alive?” she asked.
“We don’t know… in part because of the circumstances surrounding some of the abductions.”
Aidan shifted, uneasiness rising.
Dana noticed and gave his thigh another affectionate squeeze. “Now you look really nervous.”
“I am,” Aidan admitted.
“Dana,” Seth said, reclaiming her attention, “the six female gifted ones all went missing after having contact with Aidan.”
She narrowed her eyes at Aidan. “What kind of contact?”
“Casual,” he hastened to clarify. “I bumped into two at the grocery store. Changed a flat tire for another. Or for a couple. Ah, hell.” He rubbed his forehead. “Truth be told, I stole a list of gifted ones from the network and arranged to bump into them so I could strike up a conversation with them and see if, perhaps…”
She cocked a brow. “You might hit it off with one of them?”
“Yes.”
“Only gifted ones?”
“Yes.”
“Was I on that list?” she asked, a distinct edge entering her voice.
“Yes. But none of the others interested me,” he vowed. “Only you. I stopped looking once I met you.”
When Dana opened her mouth to say Aidan-didn’t-know-what, Seth interrupted.
“If you think about it, Dana, it wasn’t that different from trying an online dating service or letting a friend set you up with a blind date. Aidan did what most men and women do. He narrowed the field to gifted ones in hopes of finding someone he had something in common with, someone who was more likely to understand his differences, and instead of dying in a few decades and leaving him alone again would eventually trans—”
Aidan shook his head quickly. He did not want any of hi
s brethren to start pressuring Dana into transforming for him.
Seth clamped his lips shut. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I’m helping this situation very much. So, back to the problem at hand.”
Dana looked from Seth to Aidan and back again with suspicion.
“It appears as though Aidan was the last person to see the missing women,” Seth informed her. “And three of those encounters were caught on video by security cameras that showed the women getting into vehicles with Aidan. They have not been seen since.”
Dana eyed Aidan with concern. “Were you trying to help them? Taking them to a safe house or something?”
That her mind would go there first and not jump to the conclusion that he was the villain who had abducted them made Aidan rejoice inside. “The man in the video wasn’t me,” he explained. “I didn’t know six gifted ones I’d spoken with were missing. I knew one woman was missing, but thought Gershom had taken her because of her connections to the network. I didn’t learn that five others I’d spoken with had also gone missing until last night. As soon as I did, I panicked and raced to your place to ensure you were safe.”
Seth shifted, drawing Dana’s confused gaze. “We believe the man in the video abducted those women. But we don’t think that man was Aidan. We believe it was Gershom.”
She shot Aidan a glance. “Gershom looks like you? I mean, all of you Immortal Guardians seem to look so much alike that you could be brothers, but does Gershom look enough like you to actually pass as you?”
“No,” Aidan corrected. “Gershom doesn’t resemble me. But he can shape-shift and make himself look like my twin.”
She stared at him a long moment. “Really?”
He didn’t blame her for her skepticism. None of the gifts she had witnessed thus far had altered one’s physical traits aside from healing wounds.
He looked to Seth. “A demonstration, please?”
Dana followed his gaze.
Seth’s form abruptly shrank. His long dark hair shortened, curled, and turned red. His masculine features softened into a pretty feminine face. His broad shoulders narrowed. Then Ami sat where Seth had previously been.
“Hooooooooooly crap!” Dana exclaimed.
Ami morphed into Seth once more.
“Holy crap!” Dana repeated. Her head snapped around. Wide hazel eyes met Aidan’s. “Can you do that?”
“No.”
“Most shape-shifting immortals,” Seth told her, “can only shift into the shapes of animals. Generic creatures, large or small. Changing one’s appearance to mimic that of a specific person requires enormous power and concentration. It’s very difficult because of the many unique nuances that must be perfected. Posture. Movement. Mannerisms. Tiny changes in facial expressions. I can do it. Zach can, too. But for the Others, it poses a greater challenge because they have kept their distance from humanity for so long that mastering all those little nuances… Well, I had not thought any of them capable of it until recently. And Gershom appears to have mastered it.”
She frowned. “So you’re telling me that there is an immortal out there who is as old and powerful as you are, can make himself look exactly like Aidan, and is abducting gifted ones? Is that why vampires attacked us at my home? Did Gershom send them to abduct me?”
“Yes,” Seth answered. “I believe so.”
“And I somehow fit in with whatever wild plan he’s hatched to end the world?”
“Essentially.”
Swiveling to face Aidan, she threw up her hands. “Well, shit. I kind of understated it when I said we couldn’t catch a break. This is bad, Aidan. This is really, really bad.”
He grinned, so damned relieved he wanted to throw his head back and laugh.
Dana eyed him with disbelief. “What the hell are you smiling about? This is not good news.”
“I’m smiling because you don’t believe I’m guilty.”
“Well, of course I don’t think you’re guilty, honey. Why would I?”
Aidan hugged her tight.
“Wait.” Dana drew back and looked at both men. “Do the other immortals know about this? Do Ethan and Heather and Roland and the rest know that someone is mimicking Aidan’s appearance to make him look guilty?”
“Yes,” Seth answered.
“And they trust Aidan so much that even if their eyes tell them he’s guilty, they know he’s innocent?”
“Yes,” Seth replied again. “Well, except for Roland. One of the missing women is his descendant, so he didn’t wait around long enough to hear us dispute the evidence, but he’s come around now. And Chris Reordon, the head of the East Coast division of the network, has some doubts. That’s why I’ve told Ethan not to let Aidan out of his sight. Ethan has what he likes to call a photographic memory raised to the nth power and notices all the little details that tend to escape the rest of us. He has viewed the video footage and is convinced that the man in the video was not Aidan. So if he keeps Aidan close and another gifted one should go missing, then Ethan will be able to confirm without a doubt that Aidan was not responsible and lay Reordon’s suspicions to rest.”
Nodding, Dana seemed to mull over Seth’s words for a moment. “So is it the old divide-and-conquer thing? Is Gershom trying to pit you guys against each other so he can defeat you more easily or do whatever he intends to do while you’re distracted, fighting each other?”
“In part,” Seth agreed. “But Gershom also bears a hell of a lot of animosity toward me. I’m still not sure why. But he knows how precious my Immortal Guardians are to me and knows he can strike at me through them.”
“And through Ami and her daughter?” Dana added.
Seth’s brows drew down in a frown. “How did you know that?”
Dana shrugged. “They clearly mean a lot to you.”
Seth sighed. “Ami is like a daughter to me, her child like a granddaughter. I love them both dearly and fear they have also become targets of Gershom.”
“This Gershom sounds like a real asshole.”
Aidan laughed.
Seth did, too. “An insane one, apparently. Anyway, I’d rather not have a repeat performance, so after tonight I’d like you both to stay at David’s place. David is nearly as old and powerful as I am and opens his homes to all immortals and the mortals who aid us. He is, in large part, the reason we’ve become such a close family.”
Aidan frowned. “I don’t want to place Ami and Adira in danger.”
Dana shook her head. “I don’t either.”
Seth smiled. “I appreciate that, but my immortals seem to be leaving me little choice in the matter.” He smiled wryly. “If you omit Zach and Bastien, Immortal Guardians very rarely defy me. The job I have assigned myself is to keep them all safe, so when they make that harder for me to do, I tend to not react well.”
Aidan snorted. “A bit of an understatement. Unlike the youngsters, I’ve seen you fully unleash your anger.” Which was another reason he hoped like hell that Dana’s vision of Seth wanting him dead wouldn’t come to pass.
“So their defiance tonight,” Seth continued, “was quite telling.”
Dana patted Aidan’s thigh. “If defying Seth is such a big deal, they must really love you.” Almost as much as I do.
His breath caught.
Had she meant to send him that thought?
Skillet’s “Monster” began to play.
Seth drew out his cell phone and glanced at it. His lips quirked up as he answered. “Yes, David?”
“Everyone still alive and breathing over there?” Aidan heard the elder immortal ask.
Seth’s smile widened. “Yes.”
“No injuries?”
“Aside from Dana trying to tranq me twice? None.”
David’s startled laughter floated over the line.
Aidan glanced down at Dana.
“I’m going to be hearing about that a lot, aren’t I?” she mumbled.
“Yes.” Laughing, he gave her shoulders a squeeze. “They’ll cheer you for tranqing Roland an
d revere you for trying to tranq Seth.” And his heart did a little leap, because it sounded like she didn’t mind sticking around.
“I’m going to stay for an hour or two and let Ethan and Heather get some sleep,” Seth continued. “Can you and Darnell field my calls?”
“Of course,” David promised.
“After tonight, Aidan and Dana will stay at your place until all is resolved.”
“I’ll have a room ready for them when they arrive. I thought I would also have Richart fetch Imhotep and Chaak for added protection.”
“Good idea.”
Seth pocketed his phone, then frowned. “I guess you can’t really have a date night with me hanging around. But if you need an alibi, Chris would never doubt my word, so I shall remain here until Ethan has gotten some rest. ”
Dana sent Aidan an apologetic smile. “I don’t think I’m up for a date night anyway. I may not be a morning person, but I do usually go to bed before midnight and get up early for my clients. So the abrupt change to the night shift is taking its toll.”
Aidan didn’t think lack of sleep was the only thing taking its toll. Throw in several adrenaline rushes, a few brushes with death, and the reality of his world being dumped on her, and he was surprised she still had enough energy to stand, let alone stand up to Seth.
Seth gave her a kind smile. “Why don’t you two get some sleep as well? I’ll wake Ethan and Heather before I leave.”
Nodding, Aidan rose and crossed to Seth. When he offered Seth his hand, Seth stood and clasped it.
“We can’t let Gershom come between us, Seth,” Aidan said again. “We’ve been friends… family… for too long to let that bastard win.”
Seth dipped his chin in a nod. “He won’t.” Pulling him into a man-hug, Seth clapped him hard on the back, then released him. “Go get some rest.”
Chapter Fourteen
Seth let the younger immortals sleep for a couple of hours before waking them so he could teleport to David’s study.
David sat behind his desk, speaking to an Australian immortal on the phone.
Darnell was seated at Ami’s desk, fielding the calls Seth received that bore no urgency.
Both men nodded at Seth’s appearance, then ended their conversations.
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