Seth shook his head. “Do you really think I don’t know you as well as you know me? Do you really think I don’t know all of you as well as you know me? I’ve watched over you all since your births. I watched over you when you were gifted ones and then I took you under my wing after you transformed and became immortals. I made you part of my family. Brought you into my world. Did every fucking thing I could think of to help you find happiness or at least some contentment in this existence. I know you, Aidan!”
“Then you know that wasn’t me in any of the vampires’ memories,” Aidan repeated, frustration rising. How could Seth possibly believe otherwise?
“You think I’m mistaken?”
“I know you are.”
Seth faced him. “Then let’s see who’s right, shall we?” His eyes flashed brighter.
Pain struck, as sharp as a knife stabbing Aidan in the eye, cutting through his skull and tearing its way through his mind.
Crying out, he released Cliff and gripped his head.
Cliff leapt forward with a snarl.
Someone swept past in a blur as Aidan staggered beneath the agony of Seth forcibly toppling his mental barriers and tearing though his memories.
Heather bumped into him as she dragged a struggling Cliff backward to the porch.
Something wet tickled Aidan’s upper lip as he sank to his knees. His hearing wavered as blood filled his ears, then spilled out. The world around him went red as blood stung his eyes.
“Stop it!” Dana shouted. “You’re killing him!”
Seth wasn’t killing him. But any hope Aidan had held on to that this wasn’t Seth—that it was Gershom instead—died a swift death as the pain peaked.
Gershom wouldn’t have bothered to search Aidan’s memories for something that would prove his innocence. But Seth would. Seth would explore every option, gather every piece of evidence he could before condemning Aidan.
The pain stopped abruptly.
Shaken, Aidan braced his hands on the grass and fought to catch his breath.
The sound of blades slipping from sheaths met his ears.
Wiping blood from his eyes, Aidan climbed to his feet and straightened.
Seth strode toward him, swords in hand, more menacing and terrifying than Aidan had ever seen him. “How could you betray me like this?” he roared in anguish.
Fear sliced through Aidan. Seth had read his thoughts and still thought him guilty?
He must have seen something. Must have found memories even Aidan couldn’t access. Which meant Gershom had mind-controlled him. And Aidan had done the things he’d found in the vampires’ memories. He had done them under Gershom’s compulsion and just couldn’t remember them. Aidan had sent those vampires to attack Dana in her home.
And those vampires would’ve killed her had her vision not forewarned them.
He staggered again, this time from shock.
How had Gershom mind-controlled him without Aidan knowing?
And how had he left so little trace of his influence that Seth believed Aidan the villain, not a victim? Was Gershom truly that powerful?
Seth blurred.
Aidan barely had time to drawn his own swords before Seth struck. Still thrown by the revelation that he had actually committed the crimes Seth thought him guilty of, Aidan incurred several wounds before he got his shit together and began to defend himself in earnest.
He had been sparring with Seth for nearly three thousand years. Seth had even told him that Aidan was one of only a handful of immortals who could still afford him a challenge. So once Aidan shook off the shock, he actually began to inflict a wound or two of his own.
The thoughts of everyone else present—excluding Ethan—clamored in his head. He couldn’t focus on keeping Seth from killing him and shut off his telepathy.
Cliff wanted to kill Seth for hurting Aidan.
Heather was torn, wanting to defend Aidan but not wanting to betray Seth.
Dana was terrified, weeping as Ethan held her back.
Then Cliff broke loose. In the next instant, the young vampire appeared at Aidan’s side. With astounding agility, he filched two blades from Aidan’s coat and struck at Seth.
Shite!
Distracted, Aidan failed to fend off Seth’s latest blow. Agony flashed through him as Seth’s blade drove through his side. Stumbling backward, Aidan watched in horror as a furious Seth turned on Cliff, carving a path across the vamp’s chest with his other blade. When Cliff didn’t go down, Seth backhanded him so hard Aidan heard bone shatter.
Cliff flew through the air and crashed into a tree trunk, then fell thirty feet to land in a heap in the grass.
“No!” Aidan leapt forward and struck Seth once more.
“That’s not Seth!” Ethan shouted abruptly. “That’s not Seth! It’s Gershom!”
Before Aidan could ask if he was sure, all hell broke loose.
Heather and Ethan leapt into the fray, blades gleaming.
Cliff lurched to his feet, reclaimed the weapons he’d dropped, then rejoined the battle.
Aidan didn’t know where Dana was while the four of them fought Seth—or rather Gershom—but worried she, too, would enter to fight.
Seth! he bellowed mentally, losing strength and speed as he racked up wounds.
If he, Ethan, Heather, and Cliff could just hold Gershom until—
Seth appeared a few feet away.
Relief suffused Aidan, easing some of the pain. Despite Ethan’s claim, Aidan hadn’t been sure until then that the man they all fought really wasn’t Seth.
Zach appeared beside Seth.
Seth’s eyes flashed bright gold. Lightning streaked across the sky and struck a nearby tree.
Still bearing Seth’s appearance, Gershom laughed, then vanished.
Caught midswing, Aidan, Ethan, Heather, and Cliff nearly fell on their asses.
“Zach!” Seth hissed, striding forward.
Zach vanished.
Breathing hard, Aidan shook his head as his leader approached. “You don’t know how fucking glad I am that wasn’t you.”
Cliff bellowed in frustration when his prey disappeared. When he turned and noted Seth’s presence, his lips curled up in a chilling smile as he lunged forward.
Seth held up a hand.
Cliff stopped short, held in place by telekinesis.
While the vampire struggled to free himself from the unseen force, Seth moved forward and touched his shoulder.
Cliff’s struggles ceased. The anger and bloodlust fueling the fire in his eyes drained away as lucidity returned. His wounds and blistering skin healed.
“It wasn’t me,” Seth said, forcing calm tones despite the fury Aidan could feel riding him. “That was Gershom.”
Cliff nodded.
A weight struck Aidan in the back, pushing him forward a startled step.
Dana hugged him with all her might, unintentionally doubling the pain of his wounds.
Dropping his weapons, Aidan reached behind him and shifted her around to his front. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m okay.”
His words did little to soothe her as she sobbed against his chest.
Seth gently touched her arm. “Step back a moment, please, and let me heal him.”
Nodding, Dana allowed Seth to disentangle her from Aidan and stood staring up at them with tear-filled eyes.
Seth placed a hand on Aidan’s chest. Healing energy swept through him, mending his wounds and erasing his pain.
“You didn’t know he wasn’t me?” Seth asked quietly.
“No. He was very convincing.”
Seth turned to Heather and touched her shoulder, healing her wounds.
Guilt wormed its way through Aidan when he noticed the red splotches on her clothing as well as Ethan’s. They had incurred those wounds trying to protect him.