Dana toyed with his silky hair.
The room around them changed, transforming from a living room into what looked like a huge walk-in closet. A his and hers closet with masculine black clothes on one side and feminine black clothes on the other. Long black coats hung beside each other on the wall behind him, one small, one large. Weapons and ammo adorned another wall.
In the vision, Aidan knelt before her, tying a thigh holster. When he smiled up at her, Dana saw her reflection in his deep brown eyes and sucked in a breath.
Her eyes glowed amber.
“How is that?” Aidan asked, dispelling the vision and plunking her back down in Ethan and Heather’s living room. “Too heavy?”
Her heart hammered against her rib cage as he rose.
Concern entering his dark brown eyes, he stroked her arms. “Dana? What is it?”
She shook her head. “Just nerves, I guess.”
It wasn’t entirely a lie. She had just foreseen herself arming up as an Immortal Guardian. How could that not fray her nerves a bit? As Aidan had pointed out, knowing she might one day become immortal and seeing it were two very different things.
“We can stay home if you’d prefer.”
“No.” She produced a smile. “I’m fine. It was just a momentary aberration.” Rising onto her toes, she gave him a quick kiss, then stepped back and accepted the long coat Brodie offered her. It, too, fit her well, the hem falling to her knees.
“Ready?” Aidan asked, his face still registering doubt.
She nodded. “Let’s go hunt some vampires,” she proclaimed cheerfully, then grimaced and shook her head. “I can’t believe those words just came out of my mouth.”
Heather laughed. “I know. It’s weird, right?”
“Definitely.”
But hunt vampires they did.
They didn’t take a car. Aidan just touched their shoulders and teleported them to their hunting destination.
Dana examined their surroundings with some confusion. They were on the roof of a building. Beyond it lay what appeared to be a college campus. “Where are we?”
“Duke,” Aidan replied, resting a hand on her lower back.
Music pulsed somewhere in the distance.
Dana wasn’t familiar with Duke University’s campus, but the buildings around her did kind of scream money. “And we’re here because…?”
“College campuses are prime vampire hunting grounds,” he explained.
Heather grinned. “It’s Friday night. Do you have any idea how many students are getting high or drunk off their asses tonight?”
Ethan nodded. “Easy pickings for vampires.”
Dana looked up at Aidan.
He shrugged. “Vampires are lazy that way. And too, vampires who have fully lost their sanity tend to migrate toward places that were familiar to them in their mortal life.”
“Like zombies in a horror movie?” That was a little freaky.
Heather pointed at her. “Exactly. We can almost always find vampires hunting on campuses like this.”
Dana supposed so, because not more than fifteen minutes passed before Aidan and Heather suddenly looked toward the west. Both inhaled deeply.
“How many?” Aidan asked softly.
Heather drew in another deep breath. “Twelve.”
“Thirteen,” Aidan corrected.
Heather swore.
He smiled. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re getting more accurate every day. This time you didn’t let the scents of their victims distract you.”
Ethan nodded and touched Heather’s back. “I can’t even smell them yet.” He grimaced. “Wait. Yes, I can. I see they’ve already been hunting.”
Dana saw nothing at all. Nor did she smell anything. How far away were the vampires?
And how cool was it that the immortals could scent them on the breeze like wolves?
“Heather,” Aidan murmured, “I’d like you to remain here on the roof with Dana while Ethan and I take care of the vampires.”
Heather’s face darkened with a belligerent frown. “Are you ordering me to stay here because I’m a girl?”
Aidan’s eyebrows flew up. “No,” he responded with obvious surprise. “I want you to stay here and guard Dana because you match me in strength and speed. She’ll be safer with you.”
Ethan nodded. “And I need to keep Aidan in my sight during the battle so Chris can’t say Aidan teleported away while I was distracted.”
“Oh.” Heather sent Aidan an apologetic smile. “Sorry. Force of habit. I have to deal with a lot of good ol’ boys in law enforcement agencies and that run along and play, little girl, while the men take care of business attitude has gotten old.”
Ethan grinned. “I keep trying to tell you, honey, immortal males aren’t stupid. We love strong women.”
Aidan smiled at Dana. “We really do.” And the affection that accompanied his words as he stared down at her made warmth unfurl inside her.
“All right, all right,” Heather said, waving her hands at Aidan. “Don’t get all goo-goo eyed. You boys have work to do. Get moving.”
Laughing, Aidan leaned down and brushed a quick kiss against Dana’s lips. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Turning away, he joined Ethan at the edge of the roof. Then the two just stepped off and dropped out of sight.
Gasping, Dana hurried forward and cautiously peered over the edge.
Down below, Ethan and Aidan strolled away as casually as if they had just jumped off a front porch instead of a three-story building.
Heather joined Dana, a smile gracing her pretty features. “That’s nothing,” she whispered. “I jumped off a ten-story building once.”
Dana stared at her in wonder.
“I know, right? Being immortal is so cool. I can even lift and throw a car.”
Seriously? Heather was Dana’s size. Had transforming given her that much strength?
Dana returned her attention to the men. The powerful immortals’ smooth gait revealed nothing of their purpose. Anyone who saw them and didn’t know better would think they were just out for a stroll and shooting the breeze instead of preparing to slay over a dozen psychotic vampires. Their shoulders were relaxed, their hands nowhere near the weapons that lined the interior of their coats. Dana even caught the sound of them chuckling on the breeze.
A couple of male students, young and staggeringly drunk, stumbled onto the sidewalk, their laughter loud and obnoxious.
Aidan made a slight motion with his hand.
Without missing a step, the college boys turned and stumbled back the way they had come.
“Aidan guided them away,” Heather whispered.
“Telepathically?”
She nodded, drawing two short swords.
Dana strained to make out the words of the men she couldn’t see but failed. Thirteen figures entered her view, no longer cloaked by the trees that lined the path. As she studied them, Dana couldn’t find anything remarkable about their appearance. Their eyes didn’t glow like those of the vampires who had attacked her home. Their lips weren’t peeled back to expose glinting fangs. Their features didn’t contort with malevolent smiles.