Lisette and Ethan shared a somber look.
“Here.” Chris pushed several pieces of paper that had been stapled together toward her, then offered her a pen. “Print your name in the space provided, then sign and date it. Initial it in the places I’ve highlighted. Feel free to read it first. We’re just asking you to guarantee your silence regarding all knowledge of gifted ones, immortals, vampires, and the virus that infects the latter. Both the knowledge you possess now and that which you will learn throughout your association with us.”
Heather flipped through it. “What happens if I violate the agreement?”
“Since you’re a gifted one, I’ll just have Seth bury your memories of all of this.”
“And if I weren’t a gifted one?” she couldn’t help but ask.
Silence was his answer.
Chapter Five
Bastien.
Bastien’s eyes flew open. Beside him, Melanie slumbered peacefully, her soft body curled up against his. Seth?
No. Zach.
Bastien frowned. Where are you?
In your living room.
Anger rose. He did not like unexpected visitors invading his home.
I mean you and Dr. Lipton no harm, Zach said in his head.
Though the other immortals remained leery of Zach, still accepting his presence in their midst with caution and wariness, Bastien had come to view him as something of a kindred spirit. Both men had begun their association with the Immortal Guardians as the immortals’ enemies. And both could’ve easily walked away were it not for the women they loved.
Or at least that used to be the case. Much to his surprise, Bastien had actually begun to form bonds with some of the other immortals.
Nevertheless, Bastien did not like Zach rambling around in his head. Stay out of my head, elder, he groused. Carefully untangling his limbs from his wife’s, he slipped from the bed.
Melanie smoothed a hand over the sheets, reaching for him. “Where are you going?”
“Zach is here,” he told her softly as he donned a pair of pants.
Raising her head, she frowned up at him through the tangles of her long, brown hair. “What? Why?”
“I don’t know. He’s waiting for me in the living room.”
Throwing back the covers, she rose. “I’m going with you.”
Bastien bit back a groan as she crossed to the wardrobe and pulled a robe on over her beautiful bare body. He wanted to tell her to stay in bed so he could hurry back and spend the next few hours exploring those lovely curves, but knew Zach didn’t pay surprise visits unless something was wrong.
Melanie dragged her fingers through her hair a few times, then gave him a nod.
Taking her hand, Bastien headed for the living room.
Zach waited for them in darkness.
Bastien flicked on the overhead light, wincing at the brightness of it.
For once, the mysterious elder immortal’s upper body was covered in a black shirt, his wings tucked away in whatever magical way he had of making them disappear. His shirt was far from pristine, however. It bore numerous bullet holes and glistened with blood. Zach’s expression, as he nodded a greeting to them, was grim.
Though Bastien was over six feet tall, he still had to look up at the elder. “What’s up?”
“There’s been an incident at the network.”
Bastien stiffened. Dread coursed through him.
Melanie’s hand tightened around his.
“Cliff had a psychotic break,” Zach informed them.
Bastien swore. “When?”
“Around dawn.”
It must have happened shortly after Bastien and Melanie had left. “How bad was it?”
“Bad. Several humans were injured. The network is on lockdown. And the tension level there is about a fifty on a scale of one to ten.”
“Is Cliff okay?” Melanie asked, the same fear Bastien felt in her voice.
Cliff was the last remaining member of the vampire army Bastien had raised to take down the Immortal Guardians several years ago. Cliff and two others had wisely surrendered during the last big battle in which Bastien had been captured. The other two, Vince and Joe, had long since succumbed to the madness spawned by the virus that infected them. Cliff continued to fight it, however, and was like a brother to Bastien. To Melanie, too, since she’d been working with Cliff at the network, looking for a way to either prevent or cure the madness vampires suffered.
Hell, Seth had even given Bastien permission to take Cliff hunting with him, so Cliff would have an outlet for the rage and violent impulses that bombarded him.
“Cliff was shot multiple times,” Zach said. “And it took twice the usual dose of the sedative to knock him out.”
“But he’s alive?” Melanie pressed. “He wasn’t . . . ?”
“He’s alive,” Zach confirmed. “Just unconscious.” He shifted, a hint of awkwardness stealing into his posture. “I thought the two of you would want to know. If you want to see him, I can teleport you to him so you won’t have to wait until the sun sets.”
Bastien nodded. “Thank you. I would appreciate that.”
“Yes,” Melanie added. “Thank you, Zach.”
Bastien motioned to Zach’s bloody shirt. “Were you there when it happened?”
Zach shook his head. “I made the mistake of teleporting to network headquarters without calling ahead first. Everyone is on edge, and the guards all have itchy trigger fingers.”
“Do you need blood?” Bastien asked.
“No, I’m fine.”
“Then give us a minute to dress and we’ll be ready to go.” Bastien offered him his hand. “Again, thank you, Zach.”
Zach shook it. “You came to my aid,” he said, referring to the time Bastien had bandaged his wounds after Zach had been tortured by the Others. “Now I come to yours.”
Bastien nodded. Zach was a powerful ally to have . . . and was a hell of a lot more likable than some of the other immortals.
Zach smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Shaking his head, Bastien wrapped an arm around Melanie and headed back to their bedroom to dress. “Stay out of my head, elder.”
Zach stood in the same spot in which Bastien and Melanie had left him when the couple returned to the living room, holding hands like teenagers. Now that Zach had found Lisette, he could understand the need immortal couples had to constantly touch each other.
Bastien wore the traditional hunting garb of an immortal: black pants and a black shirt that wouldn’t show bloodstains as easily as other colors, heavy black combat boots, and a long, black coat that likely concealed numerous blades. Melanie wore snug-fitting blue jeans, a pale blue TAR HEELS T-shirt, and black-and-white Chuck Taylor canvas high-top sneakers.
Zach drew his cell phone from a back pocket and dialed.
“Yes?” a male voice answered.
“Todd, it’s Zach.”
“What can I do for you, sir?” Todd asked.
Zach wasn’t sure where exactly Todd fell in network security’s grand scheme of things, but knew Todd was the highest-ranking human guard on the fifth subterranean floor at network headquarters. Sublevel five could only be accessed by those with the highest levels of security clearance. On it, one would find the lab in which Melanie and her colleagues studied the virus, Melanie’s office, the infirmary, a break room, several apartments that housed vampires, and a few holding rooms.
“I’m about to teleport Bastien and Dr. Lipton in. Tell your men to take their fingers off the triggers.”
“Yes, sir. Where can we expect you to appear?”
“Just in front of the elevators.”
“One moment.” Todd’s voice quieted as though he pressed the phone to his chest to speak to the human guards around him. “Stand down. We have three immortals incoming.”
“Which ones?” someone asked.
“Zach, Dr. Lipton, and Bastien.”
Curses erupted over the last name.
Bastien’s lips twisted in a dark smile.
Frowning up at him, Melanie elbowed him in the side. “Behave.”
Amusement filtered through Zach.
Bastien had few friends at the network. None could forget the violence the immortal black sheep had spawned there—not to mention the broken bones—on some of his earlier visits.
“Okay,” Todd said into the phone. “We’re ready.”
Zach pocketed his cell. “Shall we go?”
Faces full of dread, both nodded.
Zach touched their shoulders.
The room around them darkened and fell away, replaced by the bright white hallway in sublevel five.
Zach lowered his hands.
At least two dozen guards congregated around the desk near the elevators. All were heavily armed with automatic weapons. A handful also carried tranquilizer guns that could loose darts filled with the only sedative that would affect a vampire or an immortal.
More guards lined the hallway.
“Where is he?” Melanie blurted, her face full of worry. “The infirmary?”
“No, ma’am.” Todd started down the long hallway with them. “We thought it would be safer all around to chain him up in one of the holding rooms.”
Bastien swore.
“But Zach said he’s been sedated,” Melanie protested. “Surely the infirmary—”
“You didn’t see him, Doc.” Both Todd’s face and voice carried regret. “He was . . . crazed. Like Joe used to be toward the end.”
Melanie bit her lip.