“Thank you,” she said, sensing he wouldn’t stay until help arrived.
He nodded. Bending his knees, he leapt up into the air and brought those powerful wings down, shooting into the sky like a missile and disappearing from sight.
Lisette didn’t know what to think. Of him. Of what he had done.
Seth appeared several yards away, his back to her. “What?” he growled. “I don’t appreciate being summoned so . . .” He trailed off.
Lisette felt as anxious facing Seth now as she had the first time she had realized just how much power he wielded.
Would he view her interaction with Zach as a betrayal?
He took in the dead mercenaries and turned around. “Lisette!” In a heartbeat, he knelt beside her and touched her shoulder. “Are you all right?”
She nodded. “Just weak. I’ve lost a lot of blood.”
A couple of humans strolled in their direction, not yet in sight of the carnage.
Seth waved a hand in their direction, mentally guiding them away. “I was summoned here by another,” he said, studying her closely.
She swallowed. “Zach was here.”
No visible reaction. “Did he hurt you?”
“No. He saved me.”
A long pause followed, during which she fought the urge to squirm.
Was he reading her thoughts, surfing through them and replaying what had happened?
He drew out his phone and dialed. “Chris? Seth. Send a cleanup crew to UNCG. A couple of dozen mercenaries attacked Lisette and are dead. One fled bearing a tracking device.”
He had definitely read her thoughts. Lisette just hoped he hadn’t noticed the fascination and, yes, attraction she felt for the other elder.
“They did? Excellent. Keep me posted.” He pocketed his phone. “Étienne and Krysta also engaged mercenaries tonight, over at UNC Chapel Hill, and succeeded in planting a tracking device on one. Chris is already tracking him.”
“Good.”
“Can you hold out until the cleanup crew arrives, or shall I take you home or to David’s for blood now?”
“I can wait.” For blood. She couldn’t wait for a verdict on her encounter with Zach. “Are you angry?” she asked tentatively.
“With you? No.”
“With Zach?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“Who is he, Seth?”
He looked at the bodies around them again. “I’m not sure anymore.”
“He said he’s your cousin,” she pressed.
“Did he?”
A human approached, accompanied by staticky walkie-talkie speech.
Lisette’s heart skipped. More mercenaries?
Seth covered her hand with his. “Campus security.” He looked in the direction from which the sounds came.
The human’s footsteps stopped, then carried him away.
Disturbed’s “Down With the Sickness” swelled from Seth’s pocket. Retrieving his phone, he answered, “Yes?” He met Lisette’s gaze and smiled. “Word travels fast. Yes, she’s here. She’s fine. Her phone was just destroyed.” He held out the phone. “It’s Tracy.” Don’t mention Zach.
Lisette took the phone, aware that Seth had neither confirmed nor denied that Zach was his cousin.
“Two mercenaries tagged,” he murmured as she assured Tracy she was fine and glossed over what had happened, leaving out Zach. “It’s been an interesting night.”
Once the immortals and Seconds staying at David’s had bedded down for the day, Seth and David retreated to David’s study.
Seth told him what had happened with Zach and Lisette.
David’s brow furrowed. “He helped her?”
Seth nodded, still unsure what to make of it.
“How did he kill the mercenaries? I didn’t think he carried a weapon.”
“He told Lisette he gave them all ruptured aneurysms.”
“That takes both power and precision.”
“He must be practicing.”
“On whom? And why?”
“I don’t know.”
Perhaps when Seth had warned Zach months ago that the Others couldn’t best him because Seth had been exercising and growing his powers, it had struck a nerve.
“How did he even know Lisette was in trouble?” David asked.
“I suspect he was following her.”
“Why would he do that?”
“She, Roland, and Sarah captured him a couple of weeks ago and interrogated him.”
David’s eyebrows nearly met his hairline. “I assume he let them.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Not yet.”
“What did they ask him?”
“He’s been seeing Ami. They wanted to know why.”
David’s face filled with pure menace. “By seeing her . . .”
“He’s been meeting with her on your roof.”
Utter disbelief mingled with the menace. “How did I not sense his presence?”
Seth shook his head. “He’s learned to mask it in some way. I didn’t even sense it myself. Had I not read Lisette’s thoughts, I would not have known anything about it.”
Judging by his expression, the idea that Zach could come and go without their knowledge unsettled David as much as it did Seth.
“Apparently,” Seth went on, “Ami can detect his presence and joins him up on the roof whenever he pulls gargoyle duty up there.”
“In her condition?” David said with disapproval.
Seth snorted. “She’s as sure-footed as a cat and has exhibited no dizziness thus far. I don’t think we have any worries there.”
David grunted. “So he can mask his presence, but not his energy signature.”
“Yes.”
“What is Ami’s interest in him?”
“I don’t know,” Seth admitted. He seemed to be saying that a lot lately. “I think that’s the biggest puzzle of all.”
David frowned. “You don’t think it’s romantic, do you?”
“No. Ami sees no one but Marcus in that light.”
“I agree.” David pondered the mystery for some time. “Perhaps he reminds her of you.”
Seth grimaced. “I hope not.”
The sound of a car turning onto the long drive caught his ear. He looked toward the front of the house the same time David did.
A window rolled down so the driver could lean out and punch in the security code.
The music of Miles Davis floated to their ears.
“Chris,” they said in unison.
Reordon always played Miles when he was stressed.
The car seemed to crawl up the lane so slowly Seth thought Chris could have walked and reached the house faster. The engine stopped. His car door opened and closed.
“Does Chris ever sleep?” David asked as they followed his progress up the walk and through the front door.
“Not much. Not enough. But he refuses to delegate.”
Footsteps approached from the hallway.
“You ever been to his place?” Seth asked.
David nodded. “Looked like a typhoon hit it.”
“Come on, guys,” Chris complained, entering. “I’m right here.”
“We know,” they said.
He dropped a briefcase on the floor and flopped down in the chair next to Seth, across the desk from David.
“How did the tracking go?” Seth asked.
“Very well.” He opened the briefcase, drew out a folded piece of paper, then leaned forward and spread a map out on the desk. “Both mercenaries headed for the same rendezvous point here.” He pointed to an area on the outskirts of Chapel Hill. “They remained there until daybreak, presumably to ensure they weren’t followed by immortals or vampires, then headed here on wheels they must have stashed somewhere because they moved much more quickly.” He pointed to an isolated area between Mebane and Saxapahaw. “Again, they waited, then were probably taken blindfolded by someone they met there—if the mercenaries stayed true to what they did before—to what I believe is the PMC’s base here near Burlington.”