Chapter One

 

 

Nick Belanger strode down the deserted sidewalk, the buildings that composed the University of Houston rising up around him. The night sky above bore thick clouds that hid a crescent moon, deepening the darkness that lurked wherever campus lights didn’t reach.

No students walked the path tonight, having been chased to their dorm rooms or their homes off campus by the heavy rains that had fallen earlier. A few puddles here and there reflected the lights along the sidewalk, their surfaces rippling as drops that collected on the trees above slid off leaves and plunged to the ground.

“It’s weird.”

Nick glanced at the woman beside him. Like him, she wore black cargo pants, a black shirt, and a long black coat that concealed the many blades she carried. About a foot shorter than Nick, she barely reached five foot one with boots on. That, combined with her slender form, lent her a delicate and vulnerable appearance that was mightily deceiving. Eliana was one of the fiercest warriors he’d had the pleasure of hunting with over the centuries.

“What is?” he murmured.

“It’s been so quiet of late.” She glanced around, her long black braid sliding across her back. “We just defeated Gershom. I would think we’d be facing the fallout for quite some time.” That fallout being the dramatically increased vampire population left behind after Gershom’s machinations.

As usual, just the thought of the bastard made anger slither through Nick and curled his hands into fists. The Immortal Guardians had never in his lifetime—hell, never in anyone’s lifetime—faced such a powerful adversary. Both the immortals and the human network that aided them had suffered serious casualties in their quest to identify and defeat their nemesis.

Eliana likely wouldn’t be by his side right now if they hadn’t. She’d been stationed in New York for decades with a number of other immortals, hunting and slaying the psychotic vampires who thrived in the busy city. Then Gershom had started wreaking fucking havoc in North Carolina, setting a plan into motion that had come damned close to launching Armageddon. Twice. Seth, the immensely powerful leader of the Immortal Guardians, had transferred two of Eliana’s closest immortal friends to North Carolina temporarily. Then shit had gone really wrong and… the two had never returned to New York.

Eliana had needed a change after that, so Seth transferred her to Houston. Under Gershom’s leadership, vampires had stopped killing their victims and instead started transforming them. Vampire populations around the globe had swollen to insane numbers. And instead of encountering two or three vampires in a night, Nick and his fellow immortals found themselves battling a dozen or more in one sitting.

He glanced around. Only a couple of weeks or so had passed since they’d defeated Gershom. Like Eliana, he’d thought it would take longer for the vampire population to dwindle. “Maybe the rain chased them away.”

She snorted. “Wusses. When did vampires get to be so damn sensitive?”

He laughed. “I don’t know. But I don’t mind if it gives us a quiet night or two.”

“I suppose.”

“Where’s Rafe tonight?” The immortal male usually hunted in Houston and sometimes partnered with Eliana.

“Puttering around Austin, I think.” The last big battle with Gershom had taken place at a military base not far from the state’s capital.

Nick frowned. “I thought the network tied up all the loose ends there.”

“They did. I think he’s just bored.”

Quiet fell. Or as much quiet as there could be in a city the size of Houston.

“So…” Eliana slid him a look from the corner of her eye.

He arched a brow. “So?”

“How’s the missus?”

He shook his head. The world of the Immortal Guardians could be a dark one, so many of them liked to razz each other to lighten things up a bit.

As Eliana was doing now.

The missus to whom she referred was Nick’s next-door neighbor, Kayla Dorman. Eliana knew he was besotted with the lovely single mother and liked to tease him about it.

But Kayla had gone through a messy divorce a few years earlier and—based on the conversations Nick’s preternatural hearing had allowed him to overhear—had no interest in ever marrying again. No interest in dating either. Throw a teenaged daughter who’d once had a crush on Nick into the mix and… yeah. There was no way he could pursue anything romantic with Kayla.

“She misses Becca.”

Eliana nodded. “Becca started at Duke University this semester, right?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t you say Kayla homeschooled her?”

“Yes. Kindergarten through twelfth grade.”

“Kudos to her. That must have been hard as hell after the divorce.”

He nodded.

Her brow puckered. “After spending so much extra time together, I would think it would be difficult for them to be apart now.”

He thought of the phone calls and Facetime chats he’d overheard. “It is. Kayla thought it would only be hard for her, but… Becca misses her, too.” Anger rose. “She called Kayla every night at first, but the other students started fucking with her about it, calling her a baby for missing her mommy and shit like that.”

Eliana frowned. “What are they—seven years old?”

“Mentally? Yes, apparently.”

Eliana made a sound of disgust. “Everyone is so eager to be ugly to each other today, so quick to pounce on every little opportunity to say something snide or just plain fucked up. I’m sick of it.”

“Me, too.” They turned down another path. A breeze ruffled Nick’s hair as his lips twitched. “Becca managed to shut some of the kids up though by feigning sympathy and telling them how sorry she was that their moms sucked ass so much that they didn’t want to speak to them.”

Eliana burst out laughing. “Way to go, Becca!”

He smiled. “Yeah. She’s strong like her mother. But the shit still gets to her. I can hear it in her voice.”

Eliana snorted. “It’s getting to me, and I’m not even the one having to deal with it.”

“Becca’s dorm mate is the worst. She seems to grab every chance she gets to make Becca feel bad. I admit I almost called Rafe and asked him to teleport me to Duke so I could give the little snot a firm talking-to.”

Eliana’s face lit up. “Ooh! Let me do it! Let me do it!” Clasping her hands together under her chin, she jumped up and down. “Please, please, please? Becca is such a sweet kid. She doesn’t deserve that crap. Let me put that mean girl in her place.”

“You can’t. Becca would recognize you and wonder why the hell you’re there.”

“Oh. True.”

When Nick had begun to suspect Becca was developing a crush on him, he’d asked Eliana to come by his place several times. Though he had never actually referred to Eliana as his girlfriend, Becca had drawn the expected conclusion and the problem had been solved.

“Ooh!” Eliana exclaimed. “I know. Get Lisette to do it. She’s a telepath, so she could read the little snot’s mind and threaten to expose all her most embarrassing secrets if she doesn’t start playing nice.”

He stared at her. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea. I’ll think about it and…” A foul stench reached him.

Eliana grimaced. “Ugh. Why is personal hygiene the first thing vampires abandon when insanity starts to kick in?”

Humans who were infected with the vampiric virus suffered progressive brain damage that rapidly eroded their impulse control and drove them insane. Fortunately, Nick and Eliana had escaped such a fate. Both had been born gifted ones with advanced DNA that granted them special gifts and protected them from the more corrosive aspects of the virus. Since they hadn’t descended into insanity when they were infected, they spent their nights hunting and slaying psychotic vampires to protect humans. And unlike the vampires, they actually enjoyed taking showers.

The stench that floated on the breeze mingled with a subtler aroma: perfume.

He shared a look with Eliana. She nodded her head in the direction of the building to their right. A security camera perched on one corner.

He whispered a curse.

Winking up at him, she stepped closer and slipped her small hand into his as they picked up their pace.

It was a ploy they had used often when hunting together on college campuses. He smiled.

The first time she had taken his hand, she had burst out laughing at the surprised look on his face. “Relax,” she’d said. “It’s just for show. If they think we’re a couple, they won’t freak out over the way we’re dressed.”

An unfortunate number of the mass shooters in the United States had garbed themselves all in black. So instead of thinking him a Goth or some guy trying to look cool or tough, people now often viewed Nick with suspicion… particularly on college campuses. But vampires tended to be creatures of habit and often preyed upon students who were too drunk or distracted to pay attention to the dangers that lurked in the shadows.

Hunting on U of H’s campus could be tricky. There were somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,400 security cameras scattered about. The last thing immortals or vampires needed was to be caught on camera. An overwhelming majority of humanity remained oblivious to the existence of both preternatural beings, thanks to the network of humans and gifted ones Seth had built over the years. Vampires might be crazy—or well on their way there—but most remained lucid enough to understand that any humans who found out about them would hunt the vampires as vigorously as the Immortal Guardians did. And it was far easier to evade one enemy than it was to evade two.

Immortals and gifted ones also understood the dangers discovery would unleash because most had already been subjected to the consequences at one time or another. Whenever humans got a whiff of gifted ones, the advanced DNA they possessed, and the gifts that DNA bestowed upon them, the humans hunted the gifted ones mercilessly, either wishing to kill them for the supposed threat they posed or to use them for their own personal gain.

In recent years, the few outside the loop who had learned about immortals and vampires had tried to capture them and use them to create a race of supersoldiers they could hire out to the highest bidder. Such had resulted in some pretty catastrophic battles with mercenary outfits. Nick still didn’t know how the hell the network had managed to cover it all up.

The stench on the breeze thickened.

“Damn, they stink,” Eliana muttered.

They really did. Humans might not detect it, but Nick’s enhanced sense of smell was picking up body odor, old blood from multiple victims, and more.

As soon as they reached a portion of campus that lacked cameras, he released Eliana’s hand and the two shot forward at preternatural speeds the human eye couldn’t follow. They could run right past a human and the human would only feel a breeze. At most, he or she might see an indistinct blur. But most humans walked with their heads down, staring at their phones, so they remained oblivious.

He and Eliana stopped in the shadow of a building across campus, then peered around the corner.

Three female students walked along a path, heads bowed over their phones. Bright screens cast blue light upon their faces, flickering as the young women scrolled through whatever held their interest. All three wore skinny jeans. One wore a tank top, her bare arms beaded with chill bumps in the cooler autumn air. The other two wore long-sleeved sweaters that left their stomachs exposed. One of the latter wore sneakers. The others wore boots with chunky high heels.

All three were totally oblivious to the vampires stalking them.

The women reached an intersection of three wide sidewalks and absently turned up one.

Four vampires, whom most onlookers would mistake for students, strode up one path behind them. Four more strolled up another.

The pack—all male—merged at the intersection and followed the women without a word. One or two looked as though they had made at least some effort with their appearance, so they might be recently turned and not yet mad. The rest were slovenly, greasy-haired, and wore clothing that bore dark stains consisting largely of blood from previous victims.

The women never once looked back.

Eliana shook her head. “Aren’t they old enough to know they should pay some damn attention to their surroundings?” she whispered, her voice preternaturally soft so it wouldn’t carry to the vampires.

Yes. But he’d seen older women and men do the same.

She nudged his arm. “Let’s go.”

The two of them left the shadows and crossed to the sidewalk. Eliana again slipped her hand into his as they strolled toward the women.

The one in sneakers glanced up, then looked at her friends. “Who are they supposed to be,” she muttered sarcastically, “Neo and Trinity?”

The blonde beside her didn’t even look up.

The other one glanced at Nick and Eliana, then returned her attention to her phone. “Who the hell are Neo and Trinity?”

Sneakers rolled her eyes. “From The Matrix?”

“What’s The Matrix?”

“Don’t you watch any of the movies your parents mention?”

“No. I figure if they like it, it must be lame.”

Sneakers sighed and shook her head.

Nick prepared to smile and nod at the students as they came abreast of them, but none even looked up. He sighed. Where the hell was the Southern hospitality he’d heard so much about before coming here?

The students continued along the path behind him, occasionally muttering about posts and he didn’t know what else. Now Nick and Eliana faced the pack of vampires who continued to trail the women, no doubt waiting for them to reach an area with no cameras.

Eliana squeezed his hand, warning him she was about to begin.

He fought a smile. Eliana had the most unorthodox approach to vampire hunting he’d ever seen. Usually he and his fellow Immortal Guardians just dove in and attacked when they encountered vampires. If any seemed newly turned, he and his colleagues would sometimes try to talk to them and determine whether they were worth trying to save. So far they had found… maybe a dozen who were and who wanted to be saved. Most vampires, however, were so drunk on the new speed and strength they’d acquired after transforming that they had no interest in searching for a cure or treatment. They enjoyed scaring and hurting others too much.

The vampires slowed as they shifted their gazes from the students to Nick.

Vampires in general weren’t the brightest bulbs, so it usually took them a moment to conclude—based on his clothing, coloring, and mannerisms—that Nick was an Immortal Guardian. Then they would either flee or attack. In these numbers, they always attacked.

But Eliana could pass for a college student. She was small and wore a crop top with her black pants that exposed a strip of pale bare flesh on her flat stomach. The neckline dipped low enough to provide a glimpse of cleavage. The long black coat wasn’t typical of Houstonians—Houston so rarely saw anything approaching winter temperatures now that he often encountered students wearing shorts in December. But even if the coat roused suspicion among vampires, that tended to vanish once she opened her mouth.

Eliana stopped short and stared at the vampires. Her eyes widened as a smile lit her pretty features. “Jason?” she cried with surprise.

The vampires slowed to a halt a few yards away and glanced at each other.

“Oh my gosh! It is you! I can’t believe it!” Releasing Nick’s hand, she skipped forward and threw herself into the arms of a tall, blond vamp in front.

Eyes widening, the vampire closed his arms around her while his comrades looked on with What the hell? stamped on their faces.

Nick struggled not to laugh.

Eliana released the vamp and stepped back. “I haven’t seen you in like two years!” She glanced at a blond vampire standing behind him. “Wait. Is that your cousin? The one who got you into the fraternity? What was his name? Bill, I think?”

The vampire in question glanced at his buddies, then smirked. “Sure. You can call me Bill.”

Nick didn’t have to be a telepath to read the dark thoughts that entered each man’s mind. All assumed Eliana would make an easy victim. And she was lovely enough to inspire lust for her body as well as her blood.

Immortal males dramatically outnumbered immortal females for a reason: few female gifted ones who were attacked survived the vampires’ brutality long enough to complete the transformation. Were Eliana a human, her fate would’ve been sealed as soon as she greeted these vampires.

But she wasn’t human. She was immortal.

Eliana smiled up at Bill. “Great to finally meet you.” She waved Nick forward. “This is Nick. We’re on our way back from a party with a Matrix theme. Nick, this is Jason and Bill.”

The vampires shared a gleeful look as Nick went from possible Immortal Guardian to nerdy second victim in the space of a heartbeat.

“Are these your frat buddies?” Eliana asked.

Jason nodded. “Yeah. If y’all aren’t ready to go home, we can take you to another party. We’re on our way there now.”

Eliana looked up at Nick.

He shrugged. “I’m up for it.”

“Excellent!” Grinning, she turned back to Jason. “Let’s go.”

The vampires closed in around them and resumed their stroll. Some grinned and nudged each other as Eliana embarked upon a steady stream of mindless conversation. Those who had been infected with the vampiric virus the longest practically salivated in anticipation.

The vampires led Nick and Eliana to a camera-free zone on a less traveled path by one of the auxiliary buildings, then stopped and fanned out, facing them.

Nick and Eliana positioned themselves so that the vampires were between them and the building.

Nick tilted his head. “Where’s the party?”

Jason smirked. “It’s right here, you just don’t know it yet.”

A few of his friends snickered.

Eliana looked up at Nick, her smile shifting into a look of exasperation. “I mean, really. That was way too easy. They don’t have a single clue.”

He shook his head. “None at all. Like taking candy from a baby.”

“Exactly! Where’s the fun in that?”

Some of the vampires lost their smug expressions.

Jason frowned. “What?”

Nick ignored him. “You have to admit though, it does make our job easier.” There had been times when he’d been unable to herd the vampires he fought to a camera-free zone before they attacked. Messes like that necessitated a call to network headquarters. Camera footage had to be erased. The minds of security guards had to be altered, as did the minds of any students or professors who happened upon the scene. Anything uploaded to the internet had to either be scrubbed or debunked. It was a real pain in the ass.

“True,” she admitted, then wrinkled her nose. “But it kinda makes it harder for me to kill them. They’re like lambs who led themselves to the slaughter, you know?”

Jason began to lose patience. “What the hell are you talking about?”

She sighed. “We’re Immortal Guardians, moron. Look how we’re dressed.”

Several vampires’ eyes flared, an involuntary response to spikes in emotion… like anger or alarm.

Bill scowled. “You said you were coming from some geek’s Matrix party.”

“I lied,” she explained patiently. “Seriously, didn’t your parents warn you about talking to strangers?”

Nick nodded. “Particularly those who try to lure you closer with a promise of candy?”

Eliana motioned to her body. “I’m the candy.”

“And when she dangled herself in front of you, you pretty much leapt into our windowless van without a backward glance, sealing your doom.”

She shook her head. “How gullible can you get? You’re adults, for Pete’s sake! You should know better.”

Jason stiffened. Fury contorted his features as his eyes flashed a brilliant blue. “You’re the ones who are doomed!”

“Thaaaaat’s it,” Eliana coaxed as she drew two shoto swords. “Get angry.”

“Or,” Nick added, “you could always surrender. Other vampires have, and we’re doing everything we can to help them.” Not all humans infected with the virus welcomed the insanity. A precious few recognized the monsters they were destined to become and put themselves in the Immortal Guardians’ hands, trusting them to keep them from hurting innocents while the network researched a cure.

“Only pussies surrender!” Jason snarled as he drew a bowie knife.

Bill nodded. “And we outnumber you.”

A particularly sleazy vampire stepped forward, a blade in each hand. “You think you can take all eight of us?”

“Easily,” Eliana countered.

Jason’s eyes glinted with the madness that was slowly taking control of him. “Bitch. Let’s see if you’re still saying that that after we kill your boy here and take turns fucking you.”

The sleazy vamp growled, “Yeah. We’re going to tear you up.”

Eliana’s brown eyes flashed amber. “Now you had to go and make it gross. I’m going to kick your ass for that, you fucked-up fuck.” She shot forward in a blur.

Nick drew his own shoto swords and leapt after her.

Chaos erupted as the other vampires drew blades and dove into the fight.

Nick and Eliana were indeed outnumbered, but he didn’t fear the outcome. The vampires they fought had spent most of their time sitting on their asses, either in class or playing video games at home. Their weapons might be sharp but were of the poor quality one would find in superstores and online. And they swung them with little proficiency.

He and Eliana, on the other hand, had endured months of vigorous daily training after their transformations. Master swordsmen, who had been schooled in battle by the best warriors hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago, had drilled them until they, too, became master swordsmen and -women. Their weapons—everything from swords to daggers to throwing stars—were of the finest quality, crafted by swordsmiths who followed in Masamune’s tradition.

There wasn’t a vampire here who could match them.

Most of the vampires converged upon Eliana, believing her the easier target because she was so much smaller. And female. Vampires always underestimated female fighters, the weaselly bastards.

Nick ducked the swing of the first vampire who ran at him. Swiveling, he swung his shoto swords and liberated the vamp’s head from his shoulders. The second vampire’s eyes widened in shock. Then his face contorted with fury as he swung two long bowies at Nick.

Nick blocked both blows, fended off more, and swept the first blade from the vampire’s fingers.

The vampire howled in rage, too far gone mentally to feel the fear he should.

Nick ran the vamp through, then decapitated him. He spun to face Eliana, who had already taken down the sleazy vampire and Jason. The other vampires hovered close, awaiting their opportunity to strike.

Bill circled around and came up behind her, wielding tactical knives. Face twisting in a sneer, he swung at her.

Nick blocked the asshole’s swing and positioned himself at Eliana’s back. “Coward!”

Shicks and tings split the night as he fought off Bill’s blades.

Someone cried out behind him before another vampire Eliana felled collapsed to the ground.

Nick’s blades flashed, fending off Bill’s and drawing blood as he opened the vampire’s carotid artery.

Eyes wide, Bill stumbled backward and fell to the ground.

Another vampire took his place.

Nick cut and thrust relentlessly, opening a brachial artery, a femoral artery, and lopping off a head.

The vampires dropped to the ground.

As soon as the vamps breathed their last breath, they began to shrivel up as the peculiar symbiotic virus that infected them devoured them from the inside out in a desperate bid to continue living. By the time it finished, there would be nothing left of them but clothing, jewelry, and dental fillings.

He spun to see how Eliana fared.

Her last vampire foe fell to the ground like a discarded rag doll.

Eliana turned to check on him, then glanced down. Blood painted the exposed skin of her stomach, chest, and neck. It also liberally speckled her face. “Well, crap,” she muttered in disgust.

He laughed, prompting her to shoot him a dirty look.

Leaning down, he tore a piece off a vampire’s shirt and used it to wipe his blades clean before sheathing them. “Any injuries I should know about?”

“No. How about you?”

“I’m good.” Reaching into his back pocket, he withdrew a pristine white handkerchief and held it out to her.

“Thank you.” She wiped blood from her forehead, cheeks, and chin. “How do you always manage to avoid getting blood on your face and neck?”

“I don’t. Tonight I lucked out. But I think height might be a factor. You’re shorter than most of the men you battle, so your face is more apt to be sprayed when you open their arteries.”

“Great.” She wiped her neck, then some of her chest before the handkerchief grew too stained to be of help. “Got another one?”

Grinning, he took the first from her and stuffed it into his pocket, then handed her a second. “I’m going to call Henderson.”

“Okay.”

Palming his cell phone, he dialed the head of the Midwest division of the human network that aided Immortal Guardians.

“Henderson,” Scott answered absently.

“It’s Nick. Eliana and I just took out eight vampires at U of H. No witnesses as far as I can tell. And I think we managed to avoid getting caught on camera. But you might want to double-check that. We also need a cleanup crew to come rinse the blood off the pavement and retrieve the vamps’ belongings.” When vampires had roamed alone or in pairs, the network hadn’t had to do much in the way of covering up their disappearances after Immortal Guardians killed them, particularly in a city this size that boasted so much crime. But eight males going missing on the same night might draw notice. Having their personal belongings would help Henderson and his crew identify them and concoct a reasonable explanation for each one’s absence.

“Okay,” Henderson said. “I can have someone there in five.”

“Great. Thanks.” He pocketed his phone. “Did you hear that?”

Nodding, Eliana cleaned her shoto swords and sheathed them. “Too bad it isn’t still raining. That would’ve at least gotten rid of the blood for us.” Again she grimaced. “And rinsed the stench off me. I shouldn’t have hugged that guy. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t bathed in weeks.”

Nick silently agreed. Eliana reeked. “Do you want to head home for a shower? I can stay here and take care of this.”

“Actually, I was hoping we could hang out for a while. Max is out of town, visiting family. So the house is too quiet.”

He smiled. “I think a lot of the Seconds are taking vacations. After the past few years, they deserve it.”

The Seconds, or human guards, assigned to live with Immortal Guardians sacrificed much for them. They conducted business for them during the day since most immortals could only tolerate limited sun exposure. They lent an appearance of normalcy for nosy neighbors. (Boy, he’d had some nosy neighbors in the past!) They also protected their immortals, providing backup when they needed it. And immortals had needed a hell of a lot of that in recent years.

Every Immortal Guardian was required to have a Second. Except for Roland Warbrook. That antisocial immortal didn’t trust anyone who lived with him not to kill him. Or at least he hadn’t until a few years ago. Nick still couldn’t believe a female gifted one had fallen in love with the cantankerous male and asked him to transform her so they could spend the rest of eternity together.

And every Immortal Guardian appreciated his or her Second.

Nick was no different. “Mine’s in Cabo.”

“Oliver isn’t home?”

He shook his head. Nick had insisted he take some time off. “You want to stay at my place tonight?”

“Sure.” She smiled. “Although I worry it might give the missus the wrong idea.”

Laughing, he bent and began to collect the fallen vampires’ weapons. “Your worry is unfounded. Kayla isn’t interested in me.”