“Chase them down bare-ass naked and give the human guards an eyeful.”
“I don’t know about you,” one of the new vamps said in his room, “but I’m pretty sure even total mind-fuck madness wouldn’t make me risk that guy chasing me down and tackling me while he’s naked and has a hard-on.”
Bastien and Seth both laughed.
“What?” Chris asked, unable to hear the vamps.
Bastien rose. “Nothing. Forget I mentioned it.” At least the banter had given him a moment to get his body under control. He looked to Seth. “Ready?”
Seth nodded.
Bastien pulled the file away from his wife’s red face and leaned down to brush her lips with a kiss. “I’ll see you later.”
She nodded. “Be careful.”
Picking up the duffel bag beside his chair, he followed Seth across the hall to Cliff’s apartment.
Reordon headed back to the elevator.
Bastien gave the door a perfunctory knock, then waited for Seth to wave a hand over the key-code pad.
A clunk sounded.
Seth pushed the door—as thick and heavy as that of a bank vault—open and motioned for Bastien to step inside.
Cliff slid off a bar stool, leaving behind a plate with sandwich crumbs, and smiled as Bastien entered. “Melanie is so going to kick your ass when you get home tonight.”
He chuckled. “Not if I’m busy kissing hers.”
“Damn it, Bastien!” she said from across the hallway.
Cliff laughed . . . until he saw Seth enter the apartment behind Bastien.
All of the vampires were uneasy around the powerful immortal leader, but Cliff, who had been infected the longest, was the most uncomfortable. Bastien suspected it stemmed from Cliff’s knowing Seth could look into his mind and see every manic thought Cliff fought to hold at bay as the brain damage the virus spawned progressed.
“Hey,” he greeted Seth.
Seth nodded. “Good evening, Cliff. How are you?”
“Fine, I guess.” His brown eyes met Bastien’s. “What’s up?”
“Feel like taking a trip?”
He swallowed. “Now?”
Bastien nodded.
“Aren’t you on guard duty?”
“Sean is on his way over to take my place. He’ll be here in a few.”
“Oh. Okay.” Cliff’s dreadlocks slid forward and hid his features as he bent down, retrieved a pair of sneakers from beneath the sofa, and donned them. Straightening, he wiped his palms on his jeans. “Can I say good-bye to Melanie first?”
“Bye, Cliff!” Melanie called merrily.
Cliff said nothing. He just stood there, looking as if he were about to walk the plank.
“Shall we?” Seth asked. Touching their shoulders, he teleported the three of them to the field that had once supported Bastien’s vampire lair.
No structure remained. Only lumpy, uneven ground covered by grasses and weeds that swayed and rustled in the breeze.
As Cliff looked around, his expression lightened. “I never thought I’d see this place again.” He drew in a deep breath. “Or smell it. Damn, it smells good out here.”
Guilt pricked Bastien. Cliff had been cooped up at the network for so long. Perhaps if Bastien had worked harder to integrate himself into the Immortal Guardian family, he could have earned Seth’s trust and done this sooner.
Cliff stared at the ground upon which Bastien’s home had rested. “The old place is gone, huh?”
“Yes, as are the caverns we constructed beneath it.”
“Wow. All that work . . .”
“I know.” Smiling, Bastien tossed him the duffel bag. “This is for you.”
Cliff caught it easily and unzipped it.
Inside lay hunting clothes and a nice assortment of weapons. Bastien had taken great care when he had chosen them, wanting his friend to have only the best. Cliff had been with him a long time. He was the last survivor of Bastien’s vampire army. While three had surrendered during the final battle they had fought against the immortals, the other two had succumbed to the madness and . . .
Bastien mentally shook his head. He didn’t want to think about that right now. Or about the fact that the young man before him would soon meet the same fate.
Cliff looked from the contents of the bag to Bastien. “What’s this?”
Bastien clapped him on the back. “You’re going hunting with me tonight.” He had thought the young vampire would be as excited by the news as a child presented with a huge pile of presents on Christmas morning, but the smile Bastien expected never arose. “I thought you’d be pleased.”
“He thinks we’ve brought him here to execute him,” Seth said softly.
Bastien lost his smile. “What?” He waited for Cliff to deny it.
Cliff just stared at him, his hands clenched tightly in the material of the bag.