“But he has Dana,” she sobbed. “And Ethan is…”
Aidan hugged her tight and murmured soothing sounds he thought woefully inadequate. “Ethan is a fighter. And Seth is the most powerful healer on the planet. Let’s wait and see what the two of them can do before we jump ahead to grieving. Okay?”
She nodded. But he could feel her fear in the trembling of her body and could hear all the terrifying what-ifs that swirled around and around in her mind.
Seth swore foully. Stepping back, he dropped his hands. His eyes glowed a vibrant gold when he opened them. A muscle twitched in his jaw.
Aidan stared. Seth was furious.
“Heather,” the Immortal Guardian leader ground out.
Her hold on Aidan tightened momentarily before she released him and turned to face their leader. “Yes?”
“Come talk to Ethan. Touch him. Speak to him. Let him catch your scent.”
Heather hurried forward. “Is he okay?” She took one of Ethan’s hands in hers and brought it to her lips.
Seth gave his head an abrupt shake. “About the only thing Gershom didn’t damage in Ethan’s brain was his memories. Ethan saw you fall from the roof.” Seth’s nostrils flared as he clenched his teeth. “And Gershom planted the conviction that you’re dead. Ethan believes he has nothing to live for.”
Zach’s brows dipped down. “He mind-controlled Ethan?”
“Yes,” Seth growled.
Aidan had thought Ethan impervious to mind control. Hadn’t Seth expressed the belief that someone even attempting to mind control Ethan would kill him?
As if answering Aidan’s unspoken question, he said, “Gershom only managed to plant two words—She’s dead—but that was enough.”
Noting Ethan’s pallor and the tension that tightened Seth’s shoulders, Aidan wondered just how close to death Ethan had been when Chris’s cleanup crew had found him.
Heather leaned over her husband and stroked his face. “Ethan? Please wake up.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek, his lips. “I know you think I’m gone, but I’m not, honey. I just bumped my head.” She kissed his forehead, combed her fingers through his hair. “You know how hard my head is,” she choked out with forced cheer. “Zach healed me, and I’m fine now. But I need you to wake up, honey. I need you to be okay.”
Aidan watched Ethan, searching for even the slightest movement that would indicate he heard Heather as she implored him to live.
“Please, Ethan,” she whispered. “We made it to that best-case scenario you confessed to me. I transformed so I could spend eternity with you. Please don’t leave me.”
A low rumbling arose as the floor beneath Aidan’s feet began to vibrate. Laptops began to shiver and migrate across the table. Water spilled over the rims of quaking glasses.
David stepped forward and placed a hand on Seth’s shoulder.
Yeah. Seth was furious.
The rumbling gradually faded. The vibrations ceased.
Aidan moved to stand beside Heather. “Gershom is fucking with your head, Ethan,” he announced, his tone no-nonsense, “just like he fucked with mine. He tried to convince me he was Seth. And he’s trying to convince you Heather is dead. But she isn’t.”
“I’m right here, honey,” Heather said, her voice stronger.
“You know I wouldn’t lie to you,” Aidan continued. “You know I’m right. You recognize her touch. You recognize her scent. The feel of her lips on yours. So do whatever you can to help Seth save your ass so you can help me kick Gershom’s. He’s taken Dana. And I want you at my side when I go to get her back.”
1
In the original manuscript, this took place at the beginning of the book, right after Seth came to Sean’s aid and telepathically told Étienne to stop talking dirty to Krysta while Sean is around.
Sean motioned to what was left of the vampires at their feet. “I take it none of these were immortals? I thought the one in the green shirt kinda looked like one of the missing gifted ones. And he had brown eyes that glowed amber.” Almost all immortals did.
“No. And thank you for calling me. I would still like to capture rather than kill the immortals under Gershom’s control.” The bastard had kidnapped and transformed a dozen gifted ones. Seth could only assume the worst—that he intended to pit them against Seth’s Immortal Guardians and inflict as much damage as possible before he used them to launch Armageddon. Gershom wanted to watch the world burn and was doing everything he could think of to make that happen. But he harbored a baffling hatred toward Seth and had struck some heavy blows each time he’d enacted a new plan.
Sean began to collect the vampires’ fallen weapons. “I don’t have Ethan’s picture-perfect recall. So if I see even the slightest resemblance, I figure I should call you.”
Ethan was an immortal who possessed an astonishing memory. He remembered every minute of every day he had lived. Every sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.
Seth studied Sean thoughtfully.
“What?”
“Nothing. You just gave me an idea.” Perhaps Ethan could identify the woman in Seth’s dream for him.
“Oh.” Sean smiled. “Okay. Great.”
Seth motioned to the empty clothing at their feet. “Can you clean this up on your own?”
“Sure.”
Seth started to reach out to Ethan telepathically, then stopped. Ethan’s brain was wired differently. Seth could send thoughts to him but—even as powerful as Seth was—often couldn’t hear whatever Ethan thought back to him. Ethan’s wife, Heather, was telepathic. Seth could reach out to her, but decided not to. Reaching out to any of the married immortal females in nonemergency situations wasn’t a good idea. Zach had given him an earful the last time Seth had spoken to Lisette telepathically without warning. I was making love to her! Do you think I want your voice in her head when I’m inside her?
He drew out his phone and dialed Ethan’s number.
“Yeah?” Ethan answered. The sounds of metal striking metal filled the background.
“Are you busy?”
“No,” Heather stated, her voice softer with distance. But Seth’s incredibly acute hearing allowed him to hear her easily. “He’s ogling me while I kick vampire ass.”
Ethan laughed. “What she said.”
Seth smiled. “I shall be there shortly.”
“Okay.”
Ending the call, Seth nodded to Sean, then teleported to the study in David’s home.
Darnell sat at David’s desk, typing on a laptop. A beep sounded in his pocket. “Hi, Seth,” he said without looking up.
Seth’s amusement died. Chris’s techno geeks at the network had come up with a device all immortals and their Seconds could carry in their pockets that would beep once whenever Seth was near them. Chris had said the alarms were linked in some way to a coin-sized object Chris had asked Seth to always carry with him. No other copies of the coin existed. And the developer who had created the coin had allowed Seth to erase the knowledge from his memory so Gershom couldn’t duplicate it.
Since Gershom could shape-shift and had impersonated Seth in the past, it was the only way most of them could tell Seth was himself when he appeared and not Gershom.