Night Unbound(98)

Bastien shot Cliff a warning glare.
“I did it myself,” Cliff said. “On my own. Bastien didn’t know about it.”
Leaden silence.
“If you did it on your own,” Seth said, “how did you get your hands on a tracking device?”
“I gave it to him,” Bastien answered.
“No, he didn’t,” Cliff denied. “I stole it.”
“He’s lying to protect me,” Bastien continued. “He knows I went against your orders—that we had agreed not to do it—and doesn’t want to see me punished.”
Seth looked to Cliff. “Is that true?”
“No, sir, it isn’t. You can read my thoughts if you don’t believe me.”
Bastien turned on Cliff. “Would you shut the hell up?”
“No! I’m not going to let you take the fall for this, Bastien, not after everything you’ve done for me!”
Bastien swore.
Cliff turned back to Seth. “And after all the Immortal Guardians have done for me, I wanted to help. I wanted . . . no, I needed . . . to do one fucking good thing in my life before I lose my mind and have to be put down like a rabid dog.”
“I’ve been in your thoughts,” Seth said, more calm than Zach would’ve expected when faced with such insubordination. “You’ve done many good things, Cliff, both as a mortal and as a vampire. You have already helped the Immortal Guardians in countless ways for which we can never fully repay you. Humans, too.”
Lisette nodded. “The night the mercenaries attacked network headquarters you saved dozens of human lives and put yourself in harm’s way to do it. You’re a hero, Cliff. Even mortals at the network, who are leery of vampires, think so.”
He shook his head. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s true. We immortals couldn’t have fought the mercenaries and saved the network’s employees. Most wouldn’t have made it out alive if you hadn’t rescued them and helped them evacuate.”
Zach’s heart went out to the young man, who so badly wanted to be known and remembered for something good rather than the bad they all knew lurked just over the horizon.
“Anyone would have done that,” Cliff murmured.
“Joe didn’t,” Bastien said. “Joe ran.”
Silence.
“Where did you get the tracking device you planted?” Seth repeated.
“At the network,” Cliff admitted with a miserable glance at Bastien. “They don’t keep them guarded and locked away the way they do the sedative and antidote. It was actually pretty easy to sneak one out.”
Seth sighed. “Chris is going to freak.”
“Then don’t tell him,” Bastien came close to pleading.
Seth shook his head. “The rules are there for a reason, Bastien. After all Chris does for us, I won’t undermine his authority by lying about a security breech.”
Again Bastien swore.
“Don’t panic. I’ll suggest leniency this time.” He gave Cliff a stern look. “But you’re on notice, Cliff. No more bullshit. No more following Bastien’s example and breaking the rules. No more putting yourself at risk because you think you have nothing to lose. You’ll follow protocol and abide by our decisions, or I will revoke your hunting privileges.”
Cliff nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Now tell us what happened.”
“I found a group of vampires over by the Morrisville Walmart.”
There weren’t that many places open twenty-four hours a day in North Carolina. Those that were, like a select few Walmarts, tended to be vampires’ second-favorite hunting grounds. College campuses being their first.
“There were half a dozen nutcases who were really far gone and three huge guys I could tell had only recently been turned. All three of the big vamps carried tranquilizer guns and looked like friggin’ marines, so I knew they were the new breed. While the crazy ones were running their mouths the way they do, I sidled up to the other three and asked if they were all together.”
Bastien grumbled something indecipherable.
Cliff ignored him. “They said they had just met the crazy ones and figured they should band together for safety’s sake. Hunt in larger numbers, you know? A couple of the crazy vamps started fighting. I pretended to try to break it up and let them push me out of the way. I stumbled into one of the stoic vamps, planted the device on his tranquilizer gun, told them they might want to think twice about hooking up with the psychos, then got my ass out of there.”
“Did any of the vampires follow you?” Zach asked.
“No. The older ones were too busy scrapping. The younger ones must have thought they would have a better chance of running into an Immortal Guardian if they hung out with vampires guaranteed to go on a killing spree.”