Night Unbound(137)

“Where are we?” he asked curiously.
“Neutral territory,” Seth responded, eyeing the hills.
An odd choice of words. Why would they need neutral territory?
Then Zach felt it. First, a tingle. Then a genuine jolt of alarm as he detected the presence of the Others.
He looked at Seth in furious disbelief. “You sold me out?”
The last time Seth had taken him to an isolated place and summoned the Others, Zach had been carted away and tortured. If they got their hands on him now . . .
He would never escape. Never see Lisette again.
Seth turned to him, his face inscrutable. “If I asked you to trust me, would you?”
Hell no, Zach wanted to say. This was too reminiscent of the last time. But, damn it, Zach had never been one to kick a man when he was down.
And Seth was about as far down as a man could go.
“Yes,” he muttered, and was oddly pleased when the corners of Seth’s lips twitched.
A flash of insight struck as Zach remembered something he had forgotten over the many years: He and Seth had once been friends. Long ago. Before Seth’s defection.
“Hurt a little bit to say that, did it?” Seth prodded, the barest twinkle of amusement entering his dark eyes.
“Fuck you.”
Seth shook his head.
One by one, the Others descended from the sky, tucking their wings in close as their feet touched the ground. Not all of them had come. According to Zach’s quick count, they numbered only eight as they approached and took up what were supposed to be intimidating stances across from the two renegades.
When the breeze carried their individual scents to Zach, he did not find the scent he had detected on the mercenary.
Seth arched a brow. “Some of you appear to be missing.”
“They elected not to come,” Jared said. “They’re too busy evaluating the shitstorm you and your little immortal superheroes just stirred up at the mercenary compound. Besides . . .” He cast Zach a sneering look. “We don’t need them to bring him in.”
“Are you sure?” Seth taunted. “He did escape you, after all, while under guard and being tortured.”
The Others’ eyes began to glow.
“It won’t happen again.”
“No,” Seth said, “it won’t. Because you won’t be taking him with you when you leave.”
The surprise and affront spawned by that comment was damned near comical.
Or would’ve been if Zach didn’t fear this was going to end with him hanging in a dark cavern again . . . or worse. Seth was not in peak condition. Zach wasn’t entirely confident he and Seth could keep these powerful men from taking him.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jared demanded.
“I didn’t summon you here to reclaim Zach and keep him in check. I summoned you here to inform you that one of your own is responsible for the shitstorm about which you just complained.”
All eyes went to Zach.
“Not Zach,” Seth corrected. “Someone else amongst your ranks.”
“That’s preposterous.”
Seth’s eyes flashed a brilliant gold as rage darkened his features. “No, what’s preposterous is that, while you were getting your jollies off torturing Zach, one of you was a very busy little bee, buzzing in the ears of mercenaries, telling them all about vampires and immortals and the truckloads of money they could make if they followed in Donald’s and Nelson’s footsteps and used the virus to build an army of supersoldiers.” Seth took a step forward. “One of you was stealing a sedative from my human network and handing it over to mercenaries along with detailed instructions on how to make it more effective, how to use it to successfully take down an Immortal Guardian.”
“Bullshit.”
“Whoever it was knew enough about the Others to try to make me believe it was Zach.”
“It was Zach,” Jared countered.
“He was in your custody, jackass, when the mercenaries miraculously gained their knowledge and began their quest!”
“Then you missed something the last time you fought mercenaries—”
Seth shot forward and gripped Jared by the throat.
When his brethren tensed, readying for a fight, Jared threw a hand out to halt them.
“I didn’t miss shit,” Seth informed him. “We killed everyone . You are the one who missed something. You were so busy sitting on your asses doing nothing that you didn’t notice that one of you had lost his fucking mind and decided to do something. Something that could easily bring about all of the dire repercussions you fear so much.”
“Zach—”
“It wasn’t Zach!” Seth bellowed. Reaching into an inner pocket of his coat, he withdrew . . .
Zach frowned. What was that? A piece of cloth in a plastic bag?