Darkness Rises(58)

Is that really necessary? Étienne asked him.
Darnell met Étienne’s gaze. Yes. We can’t risk them recording anything they see or hear. Chris also wants me to go over them with a metal detector.
Hell. Isn’t the fact that the mercenaries didn’t attack us at my place or at Sean’s job proof enough that they aren’t being tracked?
Not in Chris’s mind.
Paranoid bastard.
That paranoid bastard brought you reinforcements today.
I know, damn it. I’m just tired.
Darnell’s lips twitched as he stepped outside with them and held out his hand.
Krysta and Sean dropped their phones into it, their irritation obvious.
Darnell checked the phones to ensure they were turned off, then pocketed them. “I’ll return them to you when you leave.” He reached behind him and pulled a handheld metal detector from his back pocket.
Étienne sighed. “I apologize for this.”
Krysta did not look pleased. “So you expect me to trust you, even though you clearly don’t trust me?”
“I trust you,” Étienne assured her. He really did.
“If Étienne weren’t attracted to you, the rest of us would, too,” Darnell said, earning Étienne’s wrath. “But smitten immortals have trusted the wrong humans often enough in the past to make us wary under such circumstances.”
A frown creasing her brow, she held out her arms. “Smitten, huh?”
Étienne didn’t deny it.
Sean eyed the two with disapproval.
Darnell passed the wand over Krysta’s head and chest, then down one arm. It beeped.
Pursing her lips, Krysta rolled back the sleeve of the black shirt she had borrowed from Lisette and revealed a small, sheathed dagger she had strapped to her wrist.
Darnell moved on to the other arm without removing the weapon. Another beep. A dagger graced her other wrist as well. Two more beeps revealed more tucked into the waist of her pants.
Étienne raised a brow.
“Well,” she declared defensively, “what did you expect? Total trust? I haven’t known you for that long and am going on faith that you all are what you say you are and aren’t vampires.”
More beeps on her ankles. More weapons.
Darnell found the same on Sean. Étienne wasn’t sure why that surprised him. Krysta had said Sean had skills and Étienne had witnessed as much in her dream.
Darnell pocketed the wand. “Okay. We’re good.”
Krysta stared at him. “What?”
Sean looked at Étienne, then Darnell. “Aren’t you going to confiscate our weapons?”
“No,” they said simultaneously.
Étienne wanted them to feel safe and knew the weapons would lend them a sense of security.
The siblings shared a glance.
“Why not?” Krysta asked.
Darnell shrugged. “Immortals are stronger and faster than vampires. Your weapons are useless against the men and women here tonight.”
And there went the sense of security.
Really? Étienne asked him. You couldn’t have said you were letting them keep them as a gesture of faith or friendship?
No. I appreciated honesty when I stumbled into this world and assumed they would, too.
Étienne grunted, knowing he was right, but not wanting to admit it.
Krysta swallowed. “If you don’t care that we’re carrying weapons, what were you looking for with the metal detector?”
She was sharp. Étienne loved that.
Darnell shrugged. “More cell phones. Voice or video recorders. Anything you might use to capture the meeting digitally.”
And tracking devices. An overlooked tracking device had cost them lives in the past. They wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
Darnell entered the house and gestured for them to follow. “Welcome. And thank you for your cooperation.”
David’s home was large and spacious and tastefully decorated with modern furniture. Étienne had always felt at home here.
“Wow,” Krysta whispered to Sean. “This place is huge. Our whole house wouldn’t even fill this living room.”
David maintained an open-door policy, inviting all immortals, Seconds, and other members of the network to come and go as they pleased. Like Seth, he worked hard to create a family atmosphere. So his home saw a lot of traffic and needed to be big enough to handle it.
Several sofas graced the living room on the right, which bled into a dining room on the left. Étienne turned his attention there and saw that everyone else had already arrived. Everyone save Seth and David.
He guided Krysta toward a table that now seated twenty-eight. A leaf had been added to extend the table and accommodate the Immortal Guardians’ growing numbers.
Conversation ceased as all eyes watched their approach.