Shadows Strike(56)

He glanced around, wondering what had startled him awake.

A sound he would not have heard had he been mortal drew his attention to the door and the doorknob that slowly turned.

Ethan reached for the dagger he had placed on the bedside table.

The door swung inward on silent hinges.

Lisette stood silhouetted in the doorway.

Returning the dagger to the table, Ethan disentangled himself from Heather as carefully as he could and slipped naked from the bed. He snagged a pair of boxer shorts from the chair in the corner and slipped them on as he crossed to the doorway. “What’s up?” he whispered.

Lisette entered and closed the door behind her. She wore a satiny robe, belted at the waist. Her neatly combed hair indicated that she hadn’t slept.

As Ethan drew nearer, he noticed tears glistening in her eyes. “Oh shit. What happened? Is it Zach?”

Her lips turned up in a tremulous smile even as moisture spilled over her lashes and down her cheeks. “He’s okay,” she said, her voice choked. “They both are.”

“Are they back?”

She shook her head. “No.” Then she burst into tears, sobbing as if her heart were breaking.

Ethan wrapped his arms around her and gathered her close. “Shh. It’s okay.” He had never seen Lisette cry before. Not even from the pain of severe wounds. He wasn’t sure what to do or say. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay.”

Lisette buried her face in his chest, sobbing so hard she couldn’t speak.

Ethan drew his hands up and down her back and kept making soft shushing noises that seemed ridiculously inadequate.

“Ethan?” Heather asked.

Maneuvering them around so Lisette’s back was to the bed, he peered over her head at Heather.

Heather sat up with a frown and reached for the T-shirt he had discarded earlier. As she hastily drew it over her head and pulled it down to cover her bare body, her gaze flitted from him to Lisette and back again.

Ethan stopped rubbing Lisette’s back long enough to hold his arms out, palms facing the ceiling, and mouth, What do I do?

She motioned him over to the bed.

“Why don’t we sit down for a bit?” he murmured, guiding Lisette over to the bed and sitting beside her on the edge.

“What happened?” Heather whispered, edging forward on her knees and reaching out to touch Lisette’s back.

“She must have heard something from Zach. I think he and Seth are both okay.”

Lisette nodded and eased away from him, wiping her eyes.

Heather jumped out of bed and hurried to the bathroom. A second later, she returned with a roll of toilet paper. “I couldn’t find any Kleenex.”

Ethan shrugged. “We never catch colds and don’t have allergies.”

“Lucky you.” Folding up some tissue, she handed it to Lisette. “Here.”

Thanking her, Lisette dried her eyes and wiped her red nose. “I’m sorry,” she said, the words ending on a hiccupped sob. “I’ve just been so w-worried.” Her French accent thickened.

Heather sat on the other side of Lisette and touched her shoulder. “You don’t have to apologize. We understand.”

Ethan nodded.

“It’s just . . .” Lisette shook her head. “Zach’s life was so l-lacking in warmth and affection before we met. He said n-now that he’s gotten a taste for it, he craves it c-constantly.”

Heather nodded and offered Ethan a smile. “I can understand that.”

Ethan returned the smile, falling a little more in love with her.

“I don’t know w-when it started,” Lisette continued, “but Zach gradually became a constant presence in my mind. N-Not necessarily listening to my thoughts, just . . . I don’t know . . . being with me.”

Ethan couldn’t imagine that kind of closeness. To have the person you loved most always with you. To always feel their presence inside you. If his mind weren’t wired so differently, preventing others from reading his thoughts, he could have had that with Heather.

“I didn’t realize how much a part of me he had become until he v-vanished last night,” Lisette said, tears welling once more, “and I couldn’t feel him anymore. I thought . . . I was afraid it meant . . .”

Heather eased closer and wrapped an arm around her. “But you said he’s okay, right?”

Ethan continued to caress Lisette’s back in soothing strokes, relieved when she seemed to draw comfort from them both.

Lisette nodded. “He finally spoke to me. Telepathically,” she added. “He said he and Seth are chasing Gershom. Apparently, Gershom is doing what Seth told Aidan to do. As soon as he arrives in one place, he teleports to another. He’s been at it for hours, and it’s taking all their concentration to track him. That’s why Zach vanished from my mind.”

The fact that the Other was powerful enough to outrun the two eldest immortals this long astounded Ethan. “Do they need blood?” Teleportation took a lot of energy.

Lowering her gaze, Lisette shook her head. “No time. They can’t stop long enough for an infusion.”

But Ethan sensed there was more to it than that. When Zach had been tortured last year, Lisette had refused to give him blood, believing he might be something more than a gifted one infected with the vampiric virus. That he might be an angel. Or a fallen angel. Or something along those lines, thanks to his wings.

She hadn’t been right, had she?

“Seth knew everyone would be worried,” Lisette told them, her breathing finally beginning to calm as the sobs retreated, “and it was distracting him, so he ordered Zach to stop and contact me, let me know they’re both okay. Zach was going to contact David, too, then teleport to Seth’s latest location and rejoin the hunt.”

Ethan considered her words. “Do you think Aidan could help them?”

“No. Even as old as he is, I don’t think Aidan could keep up.”

“What about the Others?” Heather asked with a frown. “Didn’t Seth say the oldest immortals—those like him and Zach—are supposed to be hunting this guy, too? Why are they AWOL during all of this?”

Ethan looked to Lisette. “That’s a damned good question. Did Zach mention the Others joining the hunt?”

Lisette shook her head. “No.”

“Then let’s see if David can’t send Seth and Zach reinforcements.”





David raced through the forest until he was out of earshot of the Immortal Guardians resting in his home. He would have to travel a good five miles to keep Chaahk and Imhotep from hearing him, since those two remained awake and watchful.

The sun’s brilliant rays blanketed the evergreens that thrived on his vast property, bouncing from leaf to leaf and winding down to dapple him with light. He felt no pain, though. David could stand outside for hours in the afternoon, particularly if trees like these partially shaded him, before discomfort would make its initial strike.

Closing his eyes, he sent out a summons.

“A little louder next time, perhaps?” a voice drawled.

David opened his eyes and watched Jared, one of the Others, step from the trees across from him. He was garbed as Zach often was: in leather pants and boots and nothing else, leaving his large, dark wings the freedom to carry him wherever he wished.

“Seth and Zach ran into Gershom last night,” David said, not bothering with a greeting, “while the latter was busy attempting to start World War Three. They’re hunting him as we speak, but he’s leading them on quite the chase. Why are you not helping them?”

“We are . . . in our own way,” Jared responded, all sarcasm gone.

“And how is that? By sitting on your asses and observing the way you usually do?”

Jared’s lips tightened. “Tread carefully with me, David.”

“I suggest you do the same. I’m a greater threat to you than you know,” David advised. “Are you going to help Seth and Zach?” he pressed. “You do still wish to avert an apocalypse, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Jared gritted. He paced away, the wings folded in at his back swishing against the leaves and grass they brushed. “We knew the moment the hunt began. That much energy being expended is impossible to miss.” He turned to face David once more. “The simple truth is . . . we can’t keep up.”

David frowned. “Gershom is that much more powerful than you?”

“Yes.”

“Can he match Seth?” David’s concern increased tenfold when Jared hesitated.

“Possibly. We aren’t sure. But we believe he can at least match Zach.”

David shook his head. “Is there nothing you can do to help them?” Hell, no wonder the Others had had no luck capturing the renegade over the past year.

“We’ve spread ourselves out around the globe and are following the progression of the energy flow,” Jared answered. “Hopefully, the hunt will stay close enough for one of us to jump in and hold Gershom until Seth and Zach can arrive and capture him. If one of us does manage to latch onto him, he will summon the rest of us and we can all converge upon Gershom together.”

“That’s a pretty big if,” David said.

“Yes. But I’m afraid it’s the best we can do right now.”

Unable to warn Seth of Gershom’s strength without distracting him, David hoped Jared’s plan would work.