Night Unbound(8)

“You’d be okay with that?” Lisette asked curiously.
“Sure. You know I’d follow you anywhere. And, when you weren’t hunting vampires, you could introduce me to some hot European men.”
She smiled. “I believe your true motivation has come to light.”
“You know it.” Though Tracy grinned, her eyes remained watchful. She handed Lisette a pair of shoto swords. “Just think about it. And, if the wild and wicked dreams I keep having about the guy with all the tattoos at the home-improvement store get to be too much for you, don’t hesitate to boot me out.” She winked. “If I dream about him at David’s, maybe I’ll accidentally suck Étienne into the dream and give him an eyeful.”
Lisette laughed.
Maybe it was time for a change, she thought later as she walked the pathways of a quiet UNCG campus. Perhaps she only obsessed over Zach because she was lonely.
She snorted.
Hell, she had been lonely for decades. She was used to it. Resigned to it. Had thought it simply the way it would always be and accepted it . . . until her brother Richart had fallen in love with Jenna. And Étienne had fallen in love with Krysta.
Both brothers’ finding happiness after so many years of the solitary, violent existence to which she had surrendered them had lifted a weight from her shoulders. Finally, the recriminations to which she had subjected herself nightly had faded to whispers.
But their marriages had rendered her the fifth wheel, enhancing the emptiness within her.
Kidneythieves’ “Before I’m Dead” broke the night’s silence.
Pulling her cell phone from her back pocket, Lisette glanced down to see who was calling and shook her head. Speak of the devil.
Or rather one of them.
“Oui?” she answered.
Richart appeared beside her.
Six foot one with broad shoulders, a leanly muscled body, short dark hair, and piercing brown eyes, he had always been a handsome rascal. Mortal women had never ceased fawning over him and striving to gain his favor. The fact that he had an identical twin had only titillated them more. But now . . .
Lisette had to admit happiness agreed with him. He looked good; his lips often curled up in a smile. She envied him. And felt petty and small for doing so.
He smiled down at her and raised his eyebrows.
Grinning, she shook her head. “You look just like you used to when you were a boy about to embark upon some mischief or other that would end with Étienne’s being punished for your misdeed.”
He laughed. “I’m very fortunate to have such a forgiving brother.”
“Yes, you are,” she agreed wryly. “So what has led you to grace me with your presence tonight? Shouldn’t you be home, begging Jenna to make love with you or something?”
His eyes sparkled with amusement. “I don’t have to beg. And she’s with Ami tonight.”
Lisette frowned. “Is Ami all right?”
Her brother nodded. “There was a brief scare this afternoon. Ami began to have contractions, but Melanie and Dr. Kimiko said the baby’s lungs aren’t developed enough yet for her to be safely born, so Seth and David had to stop Ami’s labor.”
“Are you sure she’s all right?”
“Seth, David, and Melanie all insist she is.”
“And Marcus?”
“He’s fine whenever he’s around Ami and a wreck otherwise.”
She nodded, knowing there was nothing they could do for him.
“And you?” Richart asked suddenly.
She arched a brow. “Me?”
“You haven’t been visiting David’s very often of late. You used to haunt it nearly nightly. Now . . . pfft . . . we almost never see you. Even Seth and David have remarked upon it.”
An unnerving thought, the last. She offered a nonchalant shrug. “The place is packed. It makes it difficult to sleep.” Not a lie. Just not the reason she had been spending more time at home.#p#分页标题#e#
Thinking of Zach.
Inwardly, she sighed. Which was why she couldn’t be around Seth and David. They’d read it in her thoughts. And if they believed even for a moment that Zach had come to her in a dream . . .
“Are you sure that’s all it is?” he asked.
“What else would it be?”
Richart shrugged and perused the campus around them in a blatant attempt to avoid her gaze.
Lisette rolled her eyes. She had known him for almost two and a half centuries. Did he really think he could hide something from her?
In true sibling form, she didn’t bother to ask his permission before she mentally barged in and listened to his thoughts, but all she could hear was him singing a nineteenth-century tavern song.
“You’re hiding something from me,” she said.