Darkness Rises (Immortal Guardians #4)

“He will be,” Krysta said, uncertainty in her voice. “Once he understands that Etienne isn’t a vampire, I’m sure Sean will come around.”

Cam frowned. “He thinks you’re a vampire?”

“Yes.”

“Then why is he being brought here?”

“To be with Krysta. He’ll be won over faster if he sees firsthand that I’ve no wish to harm her. Don’t worry, though. Chris is sending a contingent of guards to watch the house and grounds. Seth’s orders.”

The rumble of approaching vehicles swelled outside, accompanied by the muffled conversations of network guards.

“That’s them now.”

Cam nodded. “I’ll take care of everything. You say the meeting is scheduled for an hour after sunset?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be ready. You two see if you can’t get some sleep.” Cam placed the metal detector on the coffee table beside Etienne’s weapons and strode over to the front door. Opening it, he called a greeting and stepped outside to deal with their new security detail.

Silence fell. Krysta stared up at Etienne.

Awkward.

He smiled. “Not really.”

“You’re doing it again.”

“You projected that one.”

“I don’t know how that works and am too tired to try to figure it out.” Fatigue clawed at her, leaving her weary enough not to put up any more of a fight if he read her thoughts.

Etienne closed the distance between them. “Let’s try to get some sleep.” Resting a hand on her lower back, he guided her into a hallway. “You can have my sister Lisette’s room. I never know when she’ll drop in, so I always keep it ready for her.”

She nodded, full of ambivalence.

On the one hand, she was relieved that he hadn’t asked her to sleep with him. She may have known him, in a manner of speaking, for a couple of weeks, but she didn’t know him. Not really.

Nor did she fully trust him yet.

On the other hand, it had been nice, falling asleep beside him earlier. And this had been a hell of a day. Or night. Or whatever. Not only had her beliefs concerning the paranormal world and its inhabitants been rocked off of its foundations, she had killed two men. And she had nearly been killed herself by a whole host of others. Men not vampires.

And she had lost everything. From the sounds of things, the little house she and Sean rented had been completely trashed. The contents destroyed along with it. How were they going to bounce back from this? They lived paycheck to paycheck.

And what would happen to her when she went before all those immortals at the big meeting ahead of them? What would they do to her?

Etienne paused before an open door that led down into a basement. “After you.”

“This is so surreal,” she muttered as she tromped down the stairs.

It wasn’t what she expected. She had thought it would be cold and dark and damp. Instead, the basement looked remarkably like the first floor, just without windows.

Again, Etienne placed a hand at her back and guided her to the first door on the right. “You and Lisette are of a similar size, so please feel free to delve into her closet and borrow whatever you will.”

“Thank you.” When he reached in and turned on the light, she studied the room.

It was pretty. Expensive hotel room pretty. She would have thought anyone two hundred years old would furnish their home with big, bulky antiques. But this room, and the rest of the house, was quite modern. Clean. Almost minimalist, with none of the froufrou stuff that professionally designed rooms featured in magazines all seemed to boast.

“Is it to your liking?” Etienne asked, brow furrowed. He actually seemed worried that it may not appeal to her.

“It’s the nicest place I’ve ever stayed,” she admitted.

He smiled. “I hope you’ll be comfortable. I’ll be across the hall if you should need anything.”

She nodded, suddenly feeling lost. “Thank you.”

Etienne took her hand and drew her into a hug, one she very much needed in that moment. “Don’t lie awake all day, trying to figure everything out. There will be time enough for that tonight.”

Easier said than done, but she’d try.

He drew back. Reaching up, he curled his hand into a loose fist and stroked her face with the backs of his fingers.

“Are you messing with my head, Etienne?” she asked.

“No.”

“You aren’t brainwashing me and tricking me into believing you’re a good guy?”

“I’m not powerful enough to brainwash you. I can search others’ thoughts. I can catch yours every once in awhile. But I can’t alter them. The elders can, but not I.”

“Then why do I feel like I’ve known you for a lot longer than I have?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. But I feel the same way.” Lowering his head, he touched his lips to hers.

Her heartbeat picked up, surely drawing his notice. It really sucked that he knew how much he affected her while she was left in the dark.

He captured one of her hands and pressed it to his chest.

Beneath the rubber and all of that hard muscle, his heart raced as swiftly as her own.

When he raised his head, his brown eyes bore a faint amber glow. “This has all been as much of a surprise to me as it has been to you.”

She nodded, incapable of doing anything else.

“No one has ever tempted me more.”

She swallowed.

“Right across the hall,” he murmured, backing away from her.

“Good night,” she said, surprised she could sound so normal when such upheaval teemed within her. “Or rather day.”

“Sleep well.”

Passing through the darkened doorway across the hall, he flicked on the light and closed the door.

Chapter 9

Though he needed a good healing sleep, Etienne found rest elusive.

Chris hadn’t skimped on the security detail. A dozen men stood sentry along the house’s exterior. Three dozen more patrolled the grounds and manned the perimeter.

Etienne had made sure his home rested on enough private land that he wouldn’t be able to hear his neighbors’ thoughts and they wouldn’t be able to see him return home covered with bloodstains, so it was a rather large perimeter.

All the guards were very focused and spoke little, but Etienne’s sharp ears still picked up their movements, murmured comments, and periodic radio checks.

And then there was Krysta.

He hadn’t lied when he had told her no one had ever tempted him more.

He had once told Sarah that he loved strong women.

Krysta was very strong.

Krysta was amazing. Krysta hunted vampires and had killed two men to protect him.

Krysta set his body on fire.

It had been hard as hell to back away from her and leave her to seek sleep in Lisette’s room. But she didn’t trust him fully. Asking him if he had brainwashed her had been ample proof of that. And she had been through hell during the past twenty-four hours.

Etienne regretted that the mercenaries, whoever the hell they were, had destroyed her home, and fully intended to make them pay. But he was very happy to have her here in his home and to have this chance to win her trust.

Was this how Richart had felt about Jenna? Why he had pursued her even when he thought a happy ending impossible for the two of them?

The door across the hallway opened.

Etienne’s heart ceased beating for several long moments, then began to slam against his ribs.

Was Krysta coming to him?

He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t hoped she would.

Alas, no. Nearly silent footsteps took her down the hallway and up the stairs.

Tossing back the covers, he rose and donned the sweatpants he’d laid out in case Krysta needed him for anything. (Somehow he didn’t think creeping up behind her naked would send the right message.) Then he opened his door and went in search of her.

He found her in the living room.

Why was it, he wondered as he paused in the doorway to admire her, that pajamas made men look geeky, yet made women look incredibly alluring?

The pajamas Krysta wore were made of some silky burgundy material. Having been raised in far different times, Lisette sometimes complained about constantly having to dress like a man. To compensate, she wore feminine things like this when she wasn’t hunting.

Her back to him, Krysta leaned forward over a chair to peer through the window, out into bright sunlight.

Etienne, too, had been born in a different time. He wasn’t like men today. He didn’t need to see a woman’s breasts shoved up to her neck in a push-up bra and spilling out of her blouse to take notice. He didn’t need skirts so short the women who wore them couldn’t bend over without showing their underwear or exposing their vaginas. He didn’t need pants cut so low that thongs and butt cracks peeked out at him.

If it was out there, it was out there. No surprises. No anticipation. No fun.

Etienne was more titillated by what he couldn’t see. He liked being kept guessing. He liked imagining what that silky material might conceal, how it would feel to peel each layer back and reveal what no one else could see. What no one else had even glimpsed.

The pajama pants covered Krysta from hips to ankles. Her feet, smaller than he had imagined, were bare. The long sleeves of the top had been rolled back almost to her elbows. Her hair was loose and rumpled.

Utterly delicious.

“What are you looking at?” he asked softly.

Gasping, she spun around. “You startled me.”

“Forgive me. I didn’t intend to.”

“I was just looking at the guards. They seem very formidable.”

“They take their job very seriously and will give their lives to protect us, should such become necessary.”

“They’re that devoted to you?”

He strolled into the room, uncomfortable with the question. It made the guards seem subservient. “I wouldn’t put it that way. It’s more that we’re brothers in arms. Soldiers all fighting a common enemy. It bonds us, even if we don’t know each other.”