Shadows Strike(69)

“Until?” Ethan gritted.

Jared met Heather’s gaze. “Until you sacrificed yourself for Ethan in the second battle you fought together.”

Ethan dropped his arm from around Heather and took a furious step forward. “You son of a bitch! She nearly died that night! And you sent those vampires to her home, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

Zach and Seth swore.

“Why?” Heather asked.

“I knew Ethan was going to drop by that night to court you and wanted to give him added incentive to keep you close so that when your father called you in, Seth and his Immortal Guardians would learn that vampires had attacked the first base. Time was running out. I needed to get the ball rolling. I didn’t know until after I implanted the impulse to attack in some local vampires that Ethan would be slain.”

“I wasn’t slain, asshole!” Ethan bellowed. “She was. Or she would’ve been if Seth hadn’t reached her soon enough!”

Jared looked at each of them in turn. “And that was the confirmation I needed. That was the first time I knew absolutely that we can change the future. That it doesn’t have to unfold as it did in my visions. Once I planted the impulse to attack in those vampires’ feeble brains, I began having visions of the battle you two would fight. In every single one of them, Ethan was decapitated, then Seth teleported in and saved Heather.”

Heather felt sick. Had she not thrown herself between Ethan and the vampire’s blade that night, they really would have lost him. She would have lost him.

She looked up at Ethan, so thankful she had been forewarned.

Ethan didn’t look thankful at all. He looked furious. “If you knew I was going to be destroyed, why the hell did you show Heather what would happen in her dreams?”

Jared shrugged. “I thought it best that she be prepared for battle and didn’t realize she would throw herself between you and that blade. I sure as hell didn’t want her to die that night. Seth and his immortals needed the connections she’d bring too much.” He sent Seth a frown. “This tampering with mortal affairs thing can be trickier that I presumed.”

“Welcome to my world.”

“What about the other dreams?” Heather asked.

Jared frowned. “What other dreams?”

Ethan frowned, too. “You had other dreams? You didn’t mention that.”

Heather hesitated. She really would rather not say this in front of all of them.

“The sex dreams,” Zach said.

“Damn it! Stop reading my thoughts!” Heather snapped, then turned back to Jared with a sigh. “Yes. What he said. The sex dreams. About Ethan.” Her face heated with what no doubt was a flaming blush.

Ethan nudged her shoulder, his lips curling up in a smile. “You had sex dreams about me?”

“Yes. It’s one of the reasons I felt like I’d known you for a long time when we first met.”

Jared’s eyebrows flew up. “I planted no such dreams in your mind.”

Heather stared at him. “What do you mean? You must have. I had them for months before I met Ethan.”

Seth cleared his throat. “If you dreamed of fighting vampires with Ethan every night, then thought about him during the day, it’s natural that your subconscious mind would eventually begin to fabricate dreams of him on its own.”

“Oh.” So she had embarrassed herself for nothing. Lovely. She caught Jared’s eye. “Well . . . thank you. For bringing Ethan into my life and for showing me what would happen in my dreams so I could keep the vampires from killing him.”

Jared glanced at Seth and Zach, then back at Heather. “You’re welcome?”

Amusement stealing away some of her embarrassment, she nodded.

Seth’s expression remained grim. “Tell me again why you pretended to be Marcus and were with Adira tonight.”

Heather gasped.

Ethan swore. “He what?”

Jared sighed. “You know Gershom wants to spark Armageddon. You know he wants to watch the world burn. But he also seems to bear a hell of a lot of malice toward you, Seth.”

“Why?” Seth asked, his tone baffled.

“I think he resents the fact that, while the rest of us obeyed the rules and restricted ourselves to merely observing life, you have been living it all this time. I think he sees what you have, what you’ve done and experienced, and is bitter over having missed out on experiencing the same himself.”

“Then why the hell didn’t he just do what Zach did: Tell the rest of you to fuck off and join me?”

Jared shook his head. “I believe, much like the vampires you seek to exterminate, Gershom has been slowly descending into madness. It just took him thousands of years to reach the breaking point.”

“And so he’s targeting me?” Seth asked.

“Yes. I think he relished pitting you against your immortals last year. I think he liked manipulating one of the employees of your trusted human network into working against you. And clearly he has no desire to stop at either of those, because tonight he succeeded in dividing you.”

“Divide and conquer,” Zach murmured.

“Yes. He lured Seth away, then sent masses of vampires to attack both David’s home and network headquarters.” He stared at Seth. “We aren’t stupid, you know. Every one of us is well aware of what the alien woman means to you. Every one of us knows you love her as much as you did the son and daughter you lost. What better way to strike at you than through her baby?”

Everyone present, including Heather, swore.

“Particularly,” Jared added, “since you nearly kick-started Armageddon yourself when your wife, son, and daughter were slain all those years ago.”

Seth had been married? And his wife and children had been killed?

Heather’s heart went out to him.

“I was observing David’s place when vampires attacked it,” Jared continued. “Like you, I suspected Gershom might have left a trail to lure you to Russia so he could make mischief in North Carolina. When Adira was taken to the network, I followed, but concealed my presence.”

“Why?” Seth asked.

“Because, as I said, the Others are watching you like a hawk. I didn’t want them to see me at David’s, then at the network, and drag me away, assuming I was pulling a Zach.”

Heather glanced at Zach and thought the fury on his face was a little frightening.

“Shortly after the baby arrived at the network, Gershom put in an appearance and vampires attacked it. The moment Gershom heard Adira begin to cry, he went straight to the room in which she was being sheltered. The immortal Celt teleported her away—”

“Did Gershom pursue him?” Seth asked, lips tight.

“No. The moment the Celt left with the baby, I let Gershom sense my presence. He hesitated, then teleported away, taking a different path. I followed the Celt, thinking it a ruse by Gershom, that he might catch up with the two at another location. But he didn’t. When the Celt returned the baby to David’s home . . .” Again Jared shrugged. “I did what I felt I had to do. I pretended to be her father so I would be there to protect her and to throw Gershom off should he eventually follow her there to . . . do whatever he thought might hurt you most.”

Seth’s face paled. His throat moved in a swallow. “Did Gershom show himself at David’s?”

“I didn’t see him while I was there.”

“Can you sense him when he’s not in your sight?”

“No. I don’t know he’s there until he shows himself. But, unlike Gershom, I’d know him if I saw him even if he tried to camouflage his appearance.”

“Can he camouflage his appearance in such a way? I know he can shift into animal forms, but alternate human forms and their personalities are more difficult to assume. Can Gershom pass himself off as one of my immortals?”

Heather held her breath, awaiting the answer.

“I don’t know,” Jared confessed.

Seth eyed Zach.

“I believe him,” Zach said, his brow furrowed.

Seth returned his attention to Jared. “If Gershom wants to strike at me through my family, through Ami and Adira, how can I protect them?”

“By doing what you already are. Keep them close so you, Zach, or I—if you’ll allow me join you—will always be on hand to guard them. David, too. Your second in command may not be as strong as you are, but he can give the rest of us a run for our money.”

Zach’s eyebrows flew up. “Really? You think David could best one of us in battle?”

Seth smirked. “Did he not warn you as much himself?”

“Yes.” Zach looked thoughtful. “Perhaps I should have taken him more seriously.”

“I sure as hell do,” Ethan put in with a wry smile.

“Yes, but you’re just a pup,” Zach pointed out.

Jared cleared his throat. “So . . . where do we go from here?”

Heather slipped her hand into Ethan’s.

Looking down, he gave her hand a squeeze.

“Lower your mental barriers,” Seth commanded. “Let me read your thoughts.”

Jared scowled and looked to Zach. “Did you have to do that to win his trust?”

“No. I refused.”

Seth spoke before Jared could. “Zach was in love with one of my immortals, so he had a vested interest in keeping her—and the rest of my Immortal Guardians—safe. I didn’t need to read his thoughts to know he wouldn’t betray us.”