Étienne breathed deeply, collecting and sorting through the scents riding the wind. Tilting his head slightly, he caught snippets of conversation.
“There could be as many as a dozen. Three are fresh from a kill and boasting of it to the others.” He shook his head. “They relished every scream they elicited from their victim. Those three are beyond help. The others aren’t as vocal, so we’ll have to see if any are salvable enough to be swayed to our side.”
She grimaced. “It seems so useless, asking them to join us. Not one we’ve encountered so far has responded with anything other than disbelief and psychotic rage.”
“I know. But Seth and David want us to keep trying.”
“It still feels weird to take orders from someone else.”
“You’ll get used to it,” he said. They all had. And it helped that the ones giving the orders were exceedingly wise and fair.
He refocused on the smells and sounds of the vampire troupe. “With numbers that large, herding them into an alley might be tricky, restricting our movements.”
“True.”
“Let’s do this my way and just confront them head-on.”
“Will that give you enough time to read their minds and gauge their levels of madness?”
“Not as much as using you as bait would. But I want you by my side when the battle begins so I can watch your back.”
“Just don’t endanger yourself by trying to keep an eye on me constantly, okay? I don’t want you to get hurt.”
He refused to make that promise. Think your thoughts to me from this point on. They’re getting close enough to hear us.
Okay. And don’t think I didn’t notice that you failed to agree.
I said you could hunt with me. I didn’t say you could tell me what to do or that I wouldn’t watch over you in battle. He scooped her up into his arms.
Stubborn.
And you aren’t?
She looped her arms around his neck.
Ready?
She nodded. As I’ll ever be.
Bending his head, he touched his lips to hers. Hold on tight. Étienne stepped off the roof.
Her silky hair whipped his face as they dropped eight stories. He landed smoothly on the balls of his feet, the impact pulling her lips from his.
That is so cool.
Smiling, he lowered her feet to the grass. Fun, too. I admit, when I was younger, I went through a phase in which I repeatedly tested the limits of my abilities by jumping off higher and higher buildings.
She stepped back. What happened?
I found out it isn’t fun to reach one’s limits. He had broken a lot of bones that night. And that doing stupid shit pisses Seth off.
She smiled.
Silently, they wound their way up sidewalks and between buildings. Étienne used his senses to estimate the vampires’ route, then decided to confront them where Bastien had once ended a bloody rampage: in the narrow parking alley—empty this time of night—between Peabody and Sitterson Hall.
Here they come, he warned.
Chapter 13
Krysta stood beside Étienne, nerves jumping. Anything more from their thoughts?
I think some of the group are fairly recently transformed. They’re uncomfortable with the bloody trio’s boasts.
You mean we might actually recruit some vampires tonight? Unbelievable. Only you could make me recruit instead of kill.
Actually only Seth could.
I’m not a Second, so I’m not officially part of the group yet. I’m doing this for you.
You’re determined to distract me, aren’t you?
Yes.
His lips twitched. Why?
Because I had an intriguingly racy dream about you this morning and have been distracted picturing you naked and imagining your hands on me ever since.
His eyes flashed amber.
Her pulse picked up. Were you there? As you, I mean? You said you could do that.
Unfortunately, no.
Disappointing. She had been sleeping in Lisette’s room each night, but that dream had almost driven her to cross the hall. Well, I only thought it fair that you share a little of the pain.
He lowered his gaze to her lips. So you were serious when you suggested we make out on the roof?
Pretty much.
You do realize I’m now going to have to fight the vampires with a raging erection, right?
Her gaze dropped to his groin. Wow. He wasn’t kidding.
No, I wasn’t.
Oops. She must have been broadcasting again. I thought you guys had tremendous control over your bodies. Can’t you just . . . think it away? What a waste. Damned vampires.
Lips twitching, he closed his eyes. I’ll try.
Since his eyes were closed, she didn’t bother to avert her own. That was quite a bulge. Even more impressive than the one he had sported in her dream as he had torn off her shirt and tongued her breasts.
Damn it! Close your mind to me!
Oh. Sorry. What was the opposite of sexy and seductive? What was so not sexy that, if she pictured it, it would be the equivalent of a bucket of ice water dousing him?
Hmm. Sean’s nasty-ass meat loaf might do it.
Or the girl from The Exorcist projectile vomiting.
A skinny, saggy, one-hundred-year-old man dancing around naked.
He grimaced. Where the hell did you see a one-hundred-year-old man naked?
In a movie I really wish I hadn’t watched.
Well, thank you. I guess. It worked.
She grinned.
What the hell was the brown and green lump you showed me first?
Sean’s meat loaf.
He shuddered. Okay, sober up. They’re about to come around the corner.
She could hear the vampires herself now. They weren’t exactly trying to keep their movements or boasts unobtrusive. As Étienne had said, three of the vamps seemed to be doing most of the talking.
The group strutted into view.
Krysta did a quick head count and came up with eleven.
They halted at the sight of her and Étienne.
“Gentlemen,” Étienne greeted them.
“Well, well, well,” one vampire said, his glowing blue eyes fastening on Krysta. Blood soaked his shirt and pants down to the knees.
What the hell had he done to his victim?
Another stepped up beside him, a sleazy smile shaping his thin lips. “Looks like tonight’s fun isn’t over.”
Étienne snapped his fingers. “Over here, gentlemen.”
They frowned at him.
“Apparently it has escaped your notice that I’m an Immortal Guardian.”
The eyes of all the vampires lit like lamps, glowing in varying shades of blue and green and amber. Almost as one, they drew weapons. Mostly bowie knives and machetes.
Krysta drew her shoto swords.
Étienne’s weapons remained sheathed. “I have a proposition for you.”
“I have a proposition for you, too,” one of the other vamps sneered. “I propose we kick your ass.”
“Yeah,” another said. “An Immortal Guardian killed Mac and Keith.”