And they were young. College aged. The lot of them could easily pass for students of the university if one failed to notice the blood that stained their clothing.
“Fuckers,” Heather muttered, her hands tightening on the hilts of her weapons. Her jaw tightened. Her eyes flashed bright amber.
Dana caught her attention and tapped a temple. Are you reading their thoughts? she asked, trying to think the thought loudly, whatever that meant.
Yes, Heather replied. And they made those girls scream.
The group of vampires halted.
Words passed between the vampires and immortals.
“Oh, shit,” Heather whispered.
“What?” Dana asked.
Heather looked stunned. Or maybe scared. Or worried?
Dana didn’t have time to ask before Aidan and Ethan drew swords and leapt forward.
The vampires’ eyes flashed as bright as Christmas lights—blue, green, silver, amber—as they drew weapons and blurred.
Over the faint booming of a party raging elsewhere on campus, Dana heard the clash of weapons and the spewing of vile epithets.
Once more, she didn’t think. She just reacted. As soon as a vampire slowed down enough for her to be sure she wouldn’t hit Aidan or Ethan, Dana drew her tranq gun and fired three darts.
Three vampires sank, unconscious, to the ground.
“Wait!” Heather stopped Dana before she could tranq another vamp.
“Why?”
Heather shook her head, her gaze on the tempest below as she prevented Dana from raising her weapon once more.
The fighting took place at such speeds that Dana had difficulty following it. Aidan and Ethan seemed to remain in constant motion as bodies fell around them.
Dana swallowed hard. It was different from the last time she had seen Aidan kill vampires. If Heather hadn’t told her the vampires had made their victims scream, Dana would’ve found it a lot harder to watch.
When the last vampire fell, Aidan and Ethan stood back-to-back, bodies scattered at their feet. All but three of the vampires began to shrivel up.
Though blood splattered their faces and dampened their clothing, the immortal males didn’t appear to be breathing hard. Both warriors, however, looked grim rather than triumphant.
Chapter Fifteen
Heather sheathed her weapons, then turned and lifted Dana into her arms as though Dana were as light as an infant. “Hold on tight.”
Dana barely had time to wrap her arms around Heather before the woman stepped off the roof. Fear whipped Dana alongside the wind as she tightened her hold.
Heather landed nimbly on her feet and lowered Dana to the ground.
Dana swayed a little. Not from dizziness but from shock. She had not expected that.
When Heather strode toward the men with urgency and concern, Dana hurried after her.
“I’m sorry,” Heather blurted. “I didn’t know she was going to tranq them. After reading their thoughts, I would’ve stopped her sooner, but…”
His brow furrowed, Aidan sheathed his weapons and moved forward to block Dana’s view of the carnage. “Dana—”
She shook her head and stepped around him.
Seeing blood and guts in a movie was a hell of a lot different from seeing and smelling it in person.
Dana wanted to look away but refused to let herself. If she transformed and became immortal so she could be with Aidan, she would see this every night for the rest of her life. She needed to know if she would be able to handle it.
“I’m sorry,” Heather said again, her voice tormented.
“It’s okay,” Aidan murmured.
“No, it isn’t,” Heather exclaimed, so agitated she couldn’t seem to stand still and constantly shifted her weight. “I read their thoughts. What are we going to do?”
“What was in their thoughts?” Ethan asked while Dana continued to stare at the bodies.
“I was,” Aidan told him. “The vampires believe I’m leading them.”
“That’s bullshit!” Ethan sputtered.
Heather bit her lip. “But Seth and Chris may not think so. Not after Seth reads the unconscious vamps’ thoughts.”
Aidan nodded. “The vampires’ thoughts indicate that I’ve been coming to them during my afternoons with Cliff. And Chris and Seth have both already shot Cliff down as an alibi.”
Understanding began to dawn as Dana listened. Dragging her gaze away from the bloody, deteriorating corpses, she looked at Aidan. “Seth will think you’re guilty when he reads the vampires’ minds? He’ll think you’ve turned against him? Against your immortal family?”
No one answered her.
Horror filled her. “What have I done?” She had been trying to help Aidan but instead had pretty much ensured her vision of Seth attacking him would come true and signed his death warrant.
“Nothing,” Aidan said, wiping his hands on his coat before he moved forward to grip her arms. “You’ve done nothing, Dana. This isn’t your fault.”
“Bullshit!” she said, echoing Ethan. “I tranqed the damned vampires, and now their thoughts will implicate you!”
“I say we kill them,” Ethan said, his hands tightening on the hilts of his swords.
Aidan stayed him. “It will do no good. Seth will still read the truth in Heather’s thoughts the next time he sees her.”
Dismay and regret filled the other woman’s features as tears welled in her eyes. “Aidan, I’m so sorry. I wish now that I hadn’t read their thoughts.”
Ethan sheathed his weapons. “Seth didn’t believe you were guilty before. We can—”
“When Seth reads the vampires’ minds,” Aidan interrupted, “he will see me instructing them to turn more humans and to continue to increase their numbers. He’ll see me order them to travel in packs and attack Immortal Guardians in large groups, to attack us and Dana again and again until Dana believes that the only way she can survive is to transform for me. And in return, they believe I will reward them with more gifted ones.”
Silence fell, disturbed only by that distant booming music.
“Aidan,” Dana said but could find no other words.
“That was not me, Dana,” he told her earnestly “I vow it. I am not the man leading the vampires or abducting the gifted ones.”
“I know. But my vision. Seth is going to try to kill you when he hears this.”
Ethan took a step forward. “You saw Seth trying to kill Aidan in a vision?”
“Yes.”
He and Heather both swore.
“Erase my memory,” Heather blurted.
Aidan immediately refused. “No.”
Heather shook her head. “If you erase my memory and slay the vampires, Seth won’t—”
“He’ll see the same thing in the mind of any vampire the other immortals capture. And if he fights vampires himself here in North Carolina, he’ll see the same thing Lisette and étienne will see in the vampires’ minds: Me leading them. Me guiding them. Me promising them the gifted ones who rebuffed me. Erasing your memory and slaying these vampires will only delay the inevitable.”