Bodies began to clutter the ground around them as Ethan slew another vampire, then another.
Aidan took out a vampire that tried to attack Ethan from behind, then stood with his back to the younger immortal’s, guarding him and slaying vampires at the same time.
As Aidan’s last opponent fell, he turned to help Ethan. Ethan spun at the same time.
They met each other’s gaze, then looked around.
No vampires remained standing.
“Are you okay?” Aidan asked, unable to tell if any of the blood that stained Ethan’s shirt was his own.
Ethan nodded, breathing heavily. “Just a few flesh wounds. You?”
“I’m good.” He had only incurred a few nicks, and those had already begun to heal. He glanced at the sedated vampires sprawled on the sidewalk a few yards away. “Let’s—”
Pain struck, so intense it felt as though someone had pressed a power drill to his right temple and was doing his damnedest to bore a hole clear through to the other side.
Crying out, Aidan dropped his weapons and clutched his head.
Dana released a sigh of relief as the last vampire fell to the ground. The battle was over, and Aidan and Ethan had emerged the victors. They also appeared unscathed. Good.
She backed away from the edge.
Heather smiled at her. “See, I told you they’d be fine.”
“I know. I just—”
Aidan cried out.
Dana’s head whipped around. Easing back to the edge, she peered below.
Aidan bent forward, gripping his head. Ethan did the same.
Aidan staggered.
Ethan sank to his knees. Blood began to trail from his eyes and ears.
“Oh shit,” Heather breathed and reached inside her coat.
A loud crack split the night, like the sound of a large rock hitting a tree.
Heather’s head jerked.
Dana jumped as warm wet liquid slapped the side of her face.
Then Heather slumped forward.
Lunging toward her with a cry, Dana grabbed the back of her coat as Heather tumbled off the roof.
Heather’s weight yanked Dana down to her knees, then onto her stomach. Dana shoved her free hand against the curb at the roof’s edge to keep from going over herself. So close.
Heart pounding, she drew a knee up and braced it against the edge, too. “Heather!” she screamed. Muscles straining, she tried to lift Heather, but just holding on to her was a struggle.
The fabric in Dana’s grasp was wet with blood that had sprayed from whatever wound Heather had suffered and began to slip from Dana’s grasp. More blood gushed from the back of Heather’s head.
“No,” Dana gritted, breathing hard as the immortal’s weight pulled at her, luring her farther over the edge. One shoulder and part of Dana’s chest dangled over open air. “Heather!” Her muscles trembled. The fabric slipped a little more. “Please,” she sobbed.
Then Heather slid from her grasp.
Dana’s horrified gaze clung to the other woman as Heather fell eight stories to land with a sickening thud on the ground.
Tears blurring her vision, Dana scrambled to her knees and looked at Aidan.
He writhed on the ground now, blood painting the skin below his nose, eyes, and ears.
Beside him, Ethan convulsed.
Her breath coming in panicked gasps, Dana stood and—with shaking hands—dragged her cell phone out of her pocket.
Before she could call Seth, the phone leapt from her grasp and disappeared behind her.
She spun around.
Her heart stopped.
A man as tall as Seth stood behind her, his chest bare. Long black hair moved with the breeze and blended with the huge dark wings spread behind him.
Clutching her cell phone in one hand, he smiled. “Hello, bait.”
Aidan jerked awake. Bright light blinded him. Panic rose, kicking his heartbeat into a gallop. “Dana!” He lunged upward.
Hands clutched his shoulders and tried to restrain him.
“Hold him down! Hold him down!” a male with a British accent shouted.
Aidan fought them with all his might until faces swam into view.
Familiar faces.
He slowed, breathing hard, and surveyed his surroundings. Or tried to.
A sea of black encircled him, the clothing of his concerned brethren.
Bastien and Melanie. Roland and Sarah. Marcus. David. And Brodie.
Again he tried to rise. “Where’s Dana? And Ethan and Heather?”
“Easy,” David said, resting a hand on his shoulder.
Aidan’s rapid heartbeat slowed. His choppy breaths lengthened and became less ragged. But his panic did not recede. He couldn’t see Dana. Where was she? Where was he?
He glanced down. He sat on what appeared to be a gurney. Blood seeped from the bend of his arm where he had inadvertently yanked out an IV tube. But the ceiling above him, the lights and the walls he caught glimpses of when his friends shifted, did not look like the network’s medical facilities. Nor did they resemble those in the infirmary at David’s home.
“Lie back and let me finish,” David coaxed.
Finish what? Aidan shook his head. “Where’s Dana?”
“Do as I say and let me finish healing you,” David commanded. Though he spoke softly, his tone advised Aidan not to refuse.
Worry pounding him even more than the pain in his head, Aidan lay back.
David cupped Aidan’s head and closed his eyes. Warmth blossomed in those large hands, transferring itself to Aidan and diminishing the throbbing in his temples.
Minutes passed, feeling more like hours.
Aidan fidgeted anxiously, his mind racing. What exactly had happened? Everything seemed fuzzy. He had been… fighting vampires with Ethan. And they had defeated them all, hadn’t they?
It took a frustratingly long time to recall that yes, they had defeated the vampires. Then… he remembered nothing but pain.
Had they not defeated the vampires after all? Had one snuck up behind him and gotten in a lucky strike?
What about Dana? Was she all right? Was she safe?
David opened his eyes. His hands cooled. He sighed as he stepped back. “All right. The damage was extensive, but I believe I’ve healed it all. How do you feel?”
Aidan sat up. “Where’s Dana?”
The immortals encircling him shared a grim look.
Brodie cleared his throat. “We believe Gershom took her.”
Icy fear clawed at him. “And Heather? Ethan? Are they okay?”
Bodies shifted, parting like double doors swinging open. And Aidan discovered with a great deal of surprise that he was in Chris Reordon’s boardroom at network headquarters.
Several Seconds sat at the long table, the laptop computers in front of them casting a bluish tint to their features. On the other side of the table, two more gurneys similar to Aidan’s bore Ethan and Heather.
Seth leaned over Ethan, his eyes closed, his hands bearing a golden glow as they cupped Ethan’s head. Lisette stood beside them, nose red, nibbling her thumbnail as tears streamed down her cheeks. An IV hanging beside her fed blood into Ethan’s veins.
Zach leaned over Heather much like Seth, his eyes closed, brow furrowed in concentration. His hands also bore an unearthly golden glow where they clasped Heather’s head.