Shadows Strike(40)

Seth laughed.

When the men turned to glance over their shoulders, the movement allowed Adira to catch a glimpse of Seth.

Squealing with glee, she crawled forward and used Imhotep’s knee to help her stand.

The big warrior immediately held his dark hands out to either side of her, ready to catch her if she fell. “What do I do? Am I doing this right?”

“You’re doing fine,” Seth said, circling the sofa.

Adira toddled toward Seth, touching each man’s knee on the way.

Seth bent and scooped her into his arms, kissing her cheek, then blowing raspberries in her chubby neck rolls. Giggles filled the air as she squirmed against him, leaning back and clutching him tighter all at the same time.

How he loved this baby girl.

“I don’t know about you,” Chaahk said, “but I’m feeling a little rebuffed.”

“Why,” Seth asked with a laugh, “because I didn’t blow raspberries in your neck?”

Aidan and Imhotep laughed.

Shaking his head, Chaahk motioned to Adira. “Why doesn’t she smile at us like that?”

Seth shrugged. “I’m prettier.”

A masculine chuckle sounded behind Seth. Turning, he found Marcus striding toward them from the kitchen. In one hand, he carried a plate with a massive sandwich stacked upon it.

Seth settled Adira on his hip. “I wondered what she was doing up here alone with these three. Having a midday snack?”

Marcus shook his head. “It’s for Ami. Nursing Adira leaves her perpetually hungry.”

Seth nodded. It had been the same for his wife.

“What are you doing here?” Marcus asked. “I thought you and David were checking out the base.”

“I came to pick up Heather. She knows more about military bases than I do and, hopefully, can tell us if anything seems off. We’ll also drop by Chris’s office and pick up one of the vets who work for the network.”

Adira tugged at the leather tie holding Seth’s long hair back from his face.

“I assume you’re taking Ethan, too?”

“I hadn’t planned on it.”

Marcus looked over Seth’s shoulder toward the hallway. “Does he know that?”

Seth glanced around.

Heather strode toward them, wearing the black garb and weapons of a Second. She shrugged when the men stared at her. “Ethan insisted.”

“Do you know how to use those?” Aidan asked, eyeing the holstered 9mms.

“Yeah,” she said with a bit of a duh inflection. “My dad’s military.”

Behind her, Ethan followed, his tall body encased in one of the suits the network had designed to protect immortals from sunlight when they had to venture out during the day. It reminded Seth of a scuba-diving suit, but bore an almost automobile tirelike texture that always made the immortals grumble and complain.

Fortunately, Seth had no need of such himself. “Where are you going?” he asked Ethan.

When Adira gave the leather tie another hard tug, Seth felt the leather loosen and release his hair.

“With you,” Ethan responded.

Marcus held his free arm out to Seth.

“No, you’re not.” Seth transferred Adira to her father and took the leather tie from her plump fingers. “You’ll be a distraction and we’ll be in the sun.” Reaching back, he gathered his hair at the nape of his neck and again secured it.

“That’s why I’m wearing the suit,” Ethan said, and held up the mask he intended to don.

“You aren’t going,” Seth reiterated. “You have no reason to go beyond your concern for Heather. And David and I are perfectly capable of seeing to her safety ourselves.”

Ethan opened his mouth.

Seth raised a hand. “You’re staying here. I want no distractions. For her or for us.”

The muscle that jumped in Ethan’s jaw as he clamped his lips closed said much about what he thought of the dictate. Turning Heather toward him, he lowered his head and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “Be safe. I’ll see you when you get back.”

She nodded, then delivered a kiss of her own.

“Lucky bastard,” Aidan muttered, his face full of envy.

The other two elders nodded.

Seth met Heather’s gaze and raised his eyebrows. “Ready?”

She nodded.

Seth touched her shoulder and took her to Chris Reordon’s office.

Chris and a man garbed much like Heather waited for them.

Chris motioned to Seth. “Adam, this is Seth, leader of the Immortal Guardians. Seth, Adam Quinly.”

Adam thrust out a hand. “It’s an honor to meet you, sir.”

Seth smiled and shook his hand. “The honor is mine. This is Heather Lane. She will be accompanying us today.”

Adam offered his hand to Heather. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am. I’ve met your father. He’s a good man.”

Heather smiled. “Thank you.”

Adam stepped back. “Does he, uh, . . . does he know about all of this?” he asked with hesitant curiosity.

“No,” Seth told him. “Has Chris informed you what we will be doing this afternoon?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Have you ever teleported before?”

“No, sir.”

Heather thought he seemed a bit nervous, so she smiled. “It’s awesome. You’re going to love it.”

Relaxing, the soldier grinned.





A light breeze that carried the scent of the ocean buffeted Heather as she, Seth, and Adam appeared in a tropical jungle. David waited for them in the shade. Like Seth, he wore no protective suit, so he must be old enough to not need one. She wished Ethan didn’t either.

Heather glanced around while Seth introduced the two men.

“Any movement?” Seth asked David.

“None.”

When Seth and David strolled through the trees, Heather and Adam followed and soon stepped out into bright sunshine.

“I thought immortals couldn’t stand exposure to sunlight,” Adam whispered to her.

“Apparently, the older the immortal is,” she whispered back, “the more he or she can tolerate.”

“Ah. Thanks.”

Her first glimpse of the base shocked her.

A single road led up to the gates. A wide swath of thick sand surrounded the base like a moat. Judging by the craters blown in it, she guessed the sand concealed buried land mines. The chain-link fences, interwoven with razor wire, that bordered the moat had been reduced to a mangled mess of modern art.

Seth bent and scooped Heather up into his arms. “Follow my footsteps precisely,” he ordered the others, then strode forward into the sand.

Heather couldn’t help but tense. One step in the wrong place . . .

Seth didn’t slow his pace at all. Didn’t appear to search for signs that a mine might lay hidden in their path. He just marched forward with a few zigs and zags until he lowered her safely to her feet inside the base’s tall cement wall.

David followed with as little care.

Adam took his time, carefully bringing each foot down in the large boot prints left behind by Seth and David. Sweat—spawned by nerves rather than the heat, Heather thought—beaded on his forehead and formed damp patches on his shirt. When he reached the other side, he blew out a tense breath of relief.

The eerie quiet that suffused the war-torn base as they ventured forward gave Heather the willies. It almost felt as though the place were manned by ghosts.

Ghosts who watched their every movement and did not appreciate the intruders’ presence.

“A helluva fight went down here,” Adam muttered, looking around.

Heather nodded. The vampires seemed to have smashed everything they could smash, like the dumbass juvenile delinquents she occasionally heard about on the news who tore up their schools for shits and giggles. Every light. Every surveillance camera. Every window of every structure. Every vehicle. Everything had been broken or crushed or otherwise disabled.

All four guard towers had been toppled. Trucks had been overturned, Humvees crashed.

The bodies of the slain soldiers had been taken away, but bloodstains remained where they had fallen. Many, many bloodstains. So many it sickened her.

The foursome approached the double doors to the largest building and found them locked and chained.

Seth waved a hand. The padlocks popped open. The chains unwound themselves and slithered to the ground like snakes. Another clunk sounded, and the doors swung open.

Adam stared up at the Immortal Guardians, who stood a good eight inches or so above his own six feet. “You immortals really could conquer the world, couldn’t you?”

“Yes, we could,” Seth confirmed.

“Easily,” David added.

“Well, thank you for not conquering it. It’s a damned shame people can’t know about all of the good you do.”

Seth stepped inside. “That you and the other members of the network appreciate it and work so hard to help us achieve it is all that matters.”

Seeing the aftermath of the vampires’ attack affected Heather far more than she had expected. The vampires who had done this had not swept through, making clean kills. They had toyed with their victims. Tortured their victims. The evidence of it lay all around her. Bullet holes in every surface. Blood splatter on the walls and ceilings. Large circles of it on the floor, interspersed with smears left behind by boots and hands that had slipped and slid and skidded through it while soldiers struggled and clawed for purchase, trying to get away.