Night Unbound (3 page)

Tossing the empty bag in the trash, she returned to her bed.

But she found no more sleep that day.

 

 

Zach struggled to hold on to the image of Lisette—racing to his side, swords drawn, ready to defend him from his attackers. He saw again her drop those swords and, face stricken, hold out her arms to catch him as he fell.

He could have felt those slender arms wrap around him, hold him close, then ease him down to the ground . . . as he had once done for her.

But the pain had finally gotten the better of him.

Too many blows to count had sealed his left eye shut. Sweat and blood stung his right eye as he cracked it open and peered around the dimly lit cavern. So cliché.

“Decided to join us again, have you?” a voice drawled.

“I told you he couldn't block us forever,” another murmured.

If only . . .
Zach thought bitterly.

“Resume,” the first voice commanded.

Agony sliced through Zach as another bone in his right wing snapped. Though he made no sound, he jerked involuntarily. The thick chains that cut into his wrists and dangled him from the cavern's ceiling jingled as he swung slightly. Needles pricked every inch of his arms. Or at least, that was what it felt like. He had been hanging thusly for a very long time, his arms supporting all of his weight.

More feathers fluttered down from his broken wings, disappearing into the darkness that consumed the floor far beneath him. A whip opened his flesh again. And again. Blood seeped from wounds and trailed down his body in tiny tributaries that merged at his ankles before slithering down to cascade over his toes.

He had long since lost all track of time. Lisette had said she hadn't seen him in four months. His confrontation with Seth had transpired shortly after Zach's last encounter with her. Had he really been here that long? Or had those few seconds with Lisette merely been a fantasy?

“Where do you go when you do that?”

Zach ignored the question. Just as he had ignored all of those that had preceded it.

Another bone in his wing broke.

Bastards
.

“He doesn't go anywhere.”

“Are you so sure? He doesn't respond. Doesn't seem to feel pain. Mentally he seems to be elsewhere. Do you not think we should know where?”

Zach snorted before he could stop himself. They could do whatever they wished to him. He would never lead them to Lisette. He might be broken physically, but his mind remained sharp. His mental barriers held strong. And his fantasies . . .

Well, those enabled him to endure this.

Another bone broke.

Fuckers
.

“Where do you go?” Lamech demanded.

“I've not left this cavern,” Zach responded just to irritate them, “as you well know, since you guard me twenty-four-seven.”

He supposed it should please him that they felt the need to.

They did, of course. Need to guard him, that was. Ever since Seth had first mentioned growing his powers a couple of years ago, Zach had been working to strengthen his own.

“He doesn't go anywhere. He meditates, like that guy in
Tribes,
” Jared said.

Zach had always thought it odd that Jared was such a film and television hound. Zach and the rest of the Others paid little attention to the stories concocted by Hollywood. After all, what could possibly top what they had seen in the thousands of years they had lived? Mankind would freak if they knew some of the things that hadn't made it into the history books.

“The better question,” Jared added, “is whom does he imagine he's with?”

Zach wasn't so sure he had imagined this last encounter with Lisette. Usually, when he fantasized about her, he controlled her every action, determined what she would say . . .

This time had been different. He hadn't chosen
where
they had met,
how
they had met, or
what
they had said. Had it been real? Or as real as it could be with his physical body trapped in this damned cavern? Had he managed to tap into her dreams?

He struggled to keep his heart from beating faster at the notion.

“Were you with Seth?” Lamech asked.

That
rat bastard?
Hell no.

“Why did you meet with Seth in the Arctic?” Jared demanded, taking the whip.

“Coincidence,” Zach replied through cracked lips.

The whip tore into Zach's chest.

“What is your interest in Seth?” Lamech asked.

“What's yours?” Zach countered.

“What it has always been,” Jared said. “If we don't keep Seth and his little Immortal Guardians in check—”

Zach laughed, then nearly wept at the pain it inspired. “When have we
ever
kept them in check?”

Another crack of the whip.

More feathers fluttered down into the void.

Lisette. Just think of Lisette.

If he had infiltrated her dream, then he must finally be regaining strength.

Not physically. Physically he had never been weaker.

But perhaps all of those fantasies he had been weaving around the fierce female immortal had accomplished two goals: distracting him from the pain
and
strengthening his mental gifts.

Mind over matter.

He found a smile.

Who would've thought that shit actually worked?

 

 

The dream haunted Lisette for the next two weeks. She had seen no sign of Zach since, neither awake nor when ensconced in slumber.

Each night she doggedly continued to hunt and slay vampires too insane to recruit.

Honestly, she didn't know why they weren't just killing them all. Humans infected with the virus had no hope. They would become vampire. They would lose themselves to madness. And they would prey upon humans, killing and often ruthlessly torturing them. Melanie had found no cure for the virus. Nor had she and the other researchers at the network found a treatment that would prevent or reverse the progressive brain damage the virus caused in humans.

Wasn't simply killing them the kindest thing immortals could do? Spare them those painful moments of realizing they had suffered a psychotic break and done something unspeakable? Spare them that slow descent into insanity? Spare them those last few lucid moments when they knew they were losing everything they once had been and were becoming monsters?

Yet, Seth had ordered them to continue to keep an eye out for vampires who weren't too far gone.

Lisette sighed. At least she didn't have to converse with the vamps the way other Immortal Guardians did. She could hear every depraved thought in the vampires' heads. Which also made it easier to kill them.

Every damned night without fail.

Then, as dawn approached, she would return home and seek her bed with an eagerness that disgusted her, hoping she would once more encounter Zach in Morpheus's realm.

Why was she so obsessed with the mysterious elder?

Why were he and Seth at odds?

Hell, if Bastien—who had thought himself vampire, loathed the Immortal Guardians for two hundred years, and pitted a vampire army against them—could turn around and join the Immortal Guardians, what the hell held Zach back? What bad blood existed between him and Seth? And how bad
was
it?

Lisette trusted Seth implicitly. Always had. So why should she doubt his judgment now? Because Zach had saved her life?

Well, that
had
been pretty big. The mercenaries who had cornered her and drugged her would have captured her and dissected her if Zach hadn't killed them. He could have just let her fall. Why save her instead if he were such a bad guy?

She released a sigh full of frustration.

And
why
could she not stop thinking about him? Had she not learned her lesson? Had she not already suffered at the hands of a so-called
bad boy?
She was immortal today because she had fallen in love with a man who had skated the edge. A rake. A reprobate. A charming, yet evil scoundrel who had nearly killed her by trying to turn her against her will.

How stupid would she be to make the same damned mistake twice?

“You look pissed,” Tracy commented.

Lisette tried to erase her frown as she took the weapons her Second offered and prepared for the night's hunt. “I haven't been sleeping well.”

A moment of silence passed.

“Do you want me to stay at David's for a couple of days?” Tracy asked.

Lisette smiled. “No. It isn't you. Or your dreams. It's . . .” She shook her head. If she told Tracy she was pining for a man who appeared to be Seth's enemy, Tracy would be unable to keep the knowledge from Étienne, David, and Seth should they read her thoughts. “It's nothing.”

“Bullshit. You've been restless and moody for weeks. Months, actually.”

Lisette hadn't realized Tracy was that attuned to her.

“Is it time to move on?” her Second asked.

“Move on?”

“Ask Seth for a transfer? Things have quieted down around here. I don't think he'd refuse, if you told him you were homesick and wanted to spend some time in France or that you needed a change and wanted to go . . . I don't know . . . anywhere but here.”

“You'd be okay with that?” Lisette asked curiously.

“Sure. You know I'd follow you anywhere. And, when you weren't hunting vampires, you could introduce me to some hot European men.”

She smiled. “I believe your true motivation has come to light.”

“You know it.” Though Tracy grinned, her eyes remained watchful. She handed Lisette a pair of shoto swords. “Just think about it. And, if the wild and wicked dreams I keep having about the guy with all the tattoos at the home-improvement store get to be too much for you, don't hesitate to boot me out.” She winked. “If I dream about him at David's, maybe I'll accidentally suck Étienne into the dream and give him an eyeful.”

Lisette laughed.

Maybe it
was
time for a change, she thought later as she walked the pathways of a quiet UNCG campus. Perhaps she only obsessed over Zach because she was lonely.

She snorted.

Hell, she had been lonely for decades. She was used to it. Resigned to it. Had thought it simply the way it would always be and accepted it . . . until her brother Richart had fallen in love with Jenna. And Étienne had fallen in love with Krysta.

Both brothers' finding happiness after so many years of the solitary, violent existence to which she had surrendered them had lifted a weight from her shoulders. Finally, the recriminations to which she had subjected herself nightly had faded to whispers.

But their marriages had rendered her the fifth wheel, enhancing the emptiness within her.

Kidneythieves' “Before I'm Dead” broke the night's silence.

Pulling her cell phone from her back pocket, Lisette glanced down to see who was calling and shook her head. Speak of the devil.

Or rather one of them.

“Oui?”
she answered.

Richart appeared beside her.

Six foot one with broad shoulders, a leanly muscled body, short dark hair, and piercing brown eyes, he had always been a handsome rascal. Mortal women had never ceased fawning over him and striving to gain his favor. The fact that he had an identical twin had only titillated them more. But now . . .

Lisette had to admit happiness agreed with him. He looked good; his lips often curled up in a smile. She envied him. And felt petty and small for doing so.

He smiled down at her and raised his eyebrows.

Grinning, she shook her head. “You look just like you used to when you were a boy about to embark upon some mischief or other that would end with Étienne's being punished for your misdeed.”

He laughed. “I'm very fortunate to have such a forgiving brother.”

“Yes, you are,” she agreed wryly. “So what has led you to grace me with your presence tonight? Shouldn't you be home, begging Jenna to make love with you or something?”

His eyes sparkled with amusement. “I don't have to beg. And she's with Ami tonight.”

Lisette frowned. “Is Ami all right?”

Her brother nodded. “There was a brief scare this afternoon. Ami began to have contractions, but Melanie and Dr. Kimiko said the baby's lungs aren't developed enough yet for her to be safely born, so Seth and David had to stop Ami's labor.”

“Are you sure she's all right?”

“Seth, David, and Melanie all insist she is.”

“And Marcus?”

“He's fine whenever he's around Ami and a wreck otherwise.”

She nodded, knowing there was nothing they could do for him.

“And you?” Richart asked suddenly.

She arched a brow. “Me?”

“You haven't been visiting David's very often of late. You used to haunt it nearly nightly. Now . . .
pfft
. . . we almost never see you. Even Seth and David have remarked upon it.”

An unnerving thought, the last. She offered a nonchalant shrug. “The place is packed. It makes it difficult to sleep.” Not a lie. Just not the reason she had been spending more time at home.

Thinking of Zach.

Inwardly, she sighed. Which was why she couldn't be around Seth and David. They'd read it in her thoughts. And if they believed even for a moment that Zach had come to her in a dream . . .

“Are you sure that's all it is?” he asked.

“What else would it be?”

Richart shrugged and perused the campus around them in a blatant attempt to avoid her gaze.

Lisette rolled her eyes. She had known him for almost two and a half centuries. Did he really think he could hide something from her?

In true sibling form, she didn't bother to ask his permission before she mentally barged in and listened to his thoughts, but all she could hear was him singing a nineteenth-century tavern song.