And he tried to keep the peace, Lisette knew, for her sake, not out of any love for Seth.
Beside David, Darnell drew out his cell phone.
David halted him before Darnell could dial and addressed those present. “No accusations or recriminations will be spoken this night. Am I clear? No one here is without fault. Seth does a million things right every day and has done so for thousands of years, far longer than any of you can imagine. Not one of you would exist today, were it not for the things he has done right. Denouncing him for making a single mistake is nonsensical. So get your shit together before he arrives. And marshal your thoughts.”
Lisette watched her brothers for their reaction.
David raised a brow. “Richart? Étienne?”
“We’ll apologize for giving him a hard time,” Richart vowed.
Étienne nodded. “We’ll apologize.”
David nodded to Darnell.
As Darnell dialed, David turned to Zach and spoke softly. “I’m surprised you joined us tonight.”
Zach’s lips turned up in a wry smile. “As I said, I’m an enigma.”
Lisette grinned . . . until she caught Marcus scowling at Zach. “What?” she asked.
Marcus directed his response to Zach. “Do you have something against shirts?” His eyes dropped to Zach’s bare chest.
“Yes,” Zach retorted.
Tracy laughed. “I can live with that.”
“Me too,” Sean’s Second, Nichole, said with a smile.
And the mood, at last, lightened. Stress flowed from the room. Shoulders relaxed.
Good. Lisette loved Seth and knew what a hard time he was having with everything. He had always been quick to try to alleviate their suffering. What had they done to alleviate his? If ever there were a time for them to give more to Seth than they took from him, it was now.
Thank you, David spoke in her head.
She smiled.
Plump snowflakes fluttered to the ground. Some didn’t quite make it, landing instead upon Seth’s broad shoulders or alighting upon his thick eyelashes.
Swaying where he stood, he rubbed gritty, no doubt bloodshot eyes.
Fatigue clawed at him, doing its damnedest to drag him down. Little sparkly things kept flickering at the edges of his vision. A first, for him. He couldn’t remember that ever having happened before. Yet he couldn’t rest until he discovered who waged this new war.
Lisette could have perished. The heavier tranquilizer dose had nearly destroyed her. Had she been younger, Ethan’s age or Krysta’s, perhaps it would have destroyed her. They had no way of knowing. Just as they had no way of countering it on the battlefield.
Seth contemplated the snowy landscape around him. So tranquil and quiet.
Even this could not bring him peace. Not while such danger loomed.
He spent both his days and nights checking in with every telepath in the world. Sometimes they greeted him with a smile when he appeared, chatting and laughing with him while he secretly combed their thoughts for anything that would indicate they had been the ones who had erased those vampires’ memories. Sometimes they had no idea he had even visited, either sleeping through it or carrying on with their hunt or whatever they were doing while he watched and waited and sought the tiniest fragment of guilt from the shadows.
Younger telepaths, like Lisette and Étienne, were fairly easy to read, willing or nay. Older telepaths often had much stronger barriers that he couldn’t always breech without them knowing. Seth wasn’t sure if he wanted to go there yet, if he wanted to confront them, force down their barriers, and sift through their thoughts. Once he did, once he took that step, word would spread like wildfire that he suspected an Immortal Guardian of treachery. The many who weren’t guilty would likely react as those in North Carolina had. They’d be shocked, disturbed, pissed, and wonder if he suspected them. The immortal or immortals who were guilty, if they got the news before he could identify them, would hunker down or, worse, do something rash that might result in deaths.
How had it come to this? To one of his own rising up against him?
Sighing, he dragged his hands down his face, fingers rasping on the heavy stubble that coated his cheeks and chin. He hadn’t shaved in days. Too damned tired.
Disturb’s “Down With The Sickness” violated nature’s hush.
Too late. No time to shave now. That would be Darnell, calling to let him know they were ready to start the meeting.
“Yes?” he answered.
“We’re ready,” Darnell said.
“I shall be there shortly.” Seth tucked away his phone.
How he dreaded this. Seeing the accusation and condemnation on all of their faces.
Bracing himself as best he could, he teleported to David’s dining room.