“They’re gifted ones?” Lisette exclaimed with glee.
“Yes,” David said, then addressed Krysta. “And no, Étienne isn’t messing with your head. You have totally captivated him.”
“Damn,” Sheldon said. “This is better than a soap opera. Maybe we should start an Immortal Guardians reality show and air it on theimmortalguardians.com.”
David ignored him. “Won’t you please join us in the dining room?”
Darnell and Cam had already seated themselves, Darnell taking the seat closest to this end and Cam the one next to him. Sean sat next to Cam. Étienne held the chair next to his for Krysta until she was seated, then claimed the one between her and Lisette.
David took the seat catty-corner to Darnell at this end of the table.
Darnell retrieved his cell phone and dialed. Étienne heard Seth answer.
“Yes?”
“All set.”
Darnell ended the call and put away his phone.
Seth appeared at the opposite end of the table.
Sean and Krysta jumped, startled by his sudden appearance.
“Thank you all for coming. Krysta and Sean, we appreciate your joining us. I’m Seth, the leader of the Immortal Guardians.”
“Nice to meet you,” they murmured.
He took his seat. “Étienne, would you formally introduce our guests?”
Chapter 10
Krysta listened carefully and tried to memorize every name and face as Étienne introduced her and Sean to the group. It was a relief to see other humans present. Or gifted ones. She wasn’t sure how to tell those apart. But she could tell by their auras that there were almost as many mortals present as there were immortals.
Her gaze slid to Seth, whose aura glowed that brilliant white, then to David, whose aura did the same, but had a tiny sliver of purple mixed in. The other immortals had a pretty equal mix of white and purple.
She looked at the small redhead—Ami?—who sat beside Seth. Her aura was unlike anyone else’s. It contained the same color variations of humans and gifted ones, but had little sparkly things in it, as if the stars in the night sky were peeking through a rainbow. It was beautiful and very peculiar. What was she?
Seth and David’s auras were different because . . .
Actually, she wasn’t sure. Was it because they were so old? Or were there other supernatural beings? Étienne seemed sure they were immortals, yet . . .
Those auras.
“Let’s begin,” Seth said when the roll call of names ended.
Chris cleared his throat. “Before we get started, there’s an issue we need to discuss.”
Seth motioned for Chris to continue. “What’s on your mind, Chris?”
Chris’s gaze circled the table. “My goal is the same as the network’s: To protect you. It’s why I scrutinize so carefully every member of the network before hiring him or her. It’s why every Second is handpicked. If even one person leaks the truth to the media, in this information age in particular, it is hell to clean up and counter. Every year, with every new gadget and fucking cell phone with apps that can realign the damned planets, it gets harder. We can’t afford to make a single mistake.”
“What’s your point?” Ethan asked.
“My point is I can’t protect you if you keep hiding your girlfriends from me.”
Every eye swung toward Krysta.
She glanced around. “Why is everyone looking at me?”
Silence.
“Oh. Oh, no. I’m not Étienne’s girlfriend. We just . . . hunt together . . . sort of. It’s not like we’re dating or . . . We haven’t slept together or anything . . . I mean we slept together . . . twice, actually . . . but we didn’t—”
“You aren’t helping,” Étienne murmured.
She clamped her lips shut. What a time to find out she babbled when she was nervous.
“He has a point,” Roland spoke. “Étienne hid this woman from us—”
“The woman has a name,” Krysta interjected.
“—and Richart hid both Jenna and her son from us. Every mortal is a potential threat.”
Chris frowned. “Says the immortal who threatened to kill me if I went anywhere near Sarah when you two got together.”
“That was different.”
“How?”
“You’ve all said it a thousand times. I’m an untrusting, antisocial bastard.”
“No, you aren’t,” Sarah protested and glared at the others. “Stop saying that.”
Roland continued. “Anyone who can win my trust deserves it. Besides, she saved my ass. Twice.”
“Technically,” Krysta said, “I saved Étienne’s ass.”
“After I risked it to save you.”
“That’s true. I thanked you for that, right?”