Dianne Duvall: Darkness Rises

“I’ll kill him,” Seth growled furiously.

“Kill whom?” Lisette asked, lowering her feet to the floor and sitting up straight.

“Not important,” Seth lied and forced the fury down. He rose and headed for the door. “I must go.”

Lisette hurried after him. “Seth, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

He stopped short and turned around. “You didn’t. To answer your question, there is a delicate balance that must be maintained in this world.”

“I don’t—”

“Vampires have an unfair advantage when they prey upon innocent, unsuspecting humans. The humans can’t compete with their speed and strength. We hunt vampires to correct that imbalance. When we fight humans ourselves and battle the mercenaries, there must be a balance to it. We have speed and strength. They have deadly weapons. If I exercised my powers to their full extent and killed all of the humans with a thought, we would become the equivalent of the hunter sitting up in the hunting blind, firing upon the defenseless deer that grazed below. The balance would be lost. And the consequences would be apocalyptic.”

She chewed her lower lip. “I don’t know what you mean about the consequences, but I see your point about maintaining a balance.”

He reached for the doorknob, but didn’t turn it. “Lisette,” he said, pausing to face her once more.

“Yes?” she asked, her pretty face troubled.

“You have labored long beneath the guilt of transforming your brothers.”

She looked away, unhappy with the change of subject, ever unwilling to discuss it.

“But both Richart and Étienne have now found happiness. It is time for you to let go and allow yourself to seek your own.”

Her slender throat moved with a swallow. “I don’t know how to,” she whispered.

He shook his head. At himself, not at her. “Nor do I.”

Making sure no sunlight would touch her, he opened the door and slipped outside.

Krysta stood beside her brother, the two siblings staring into the large bathroom mirror. “It’s weird, isn’t it?” she asked.

Their reflections gazed back, eyes glowing a vibrant amber.

Sean nodded. “Beyond weird.”

She grinned, flashing a very fine pair of gleaming fangs, inspiring Sean to do the same.

“Did you ever think you would see this?” he asked, snarling and making monster faces.

“No. I feared I would see this. My worst nightmare was that things would get out of control one night while I was out hunting and we would both end up being turned.” She crossed her glowing eyes and made a goofy face.

Sean laughed.

“What about you?” she asked curiously.

He shrugged. “Honestly, that first year you hunted vampires, when I envisioned the future, I thought I would be dead by now.”

Sobering, she turned to him. “I’m sorry, Sean. For all of the pain I’ve caused you over the years. For risking your life so many times in my pursuit of . . . justice or revenge. I don’t know anymore which motivated me.”

“And I’m sorry for secretly resenting not being the one who went out every night and did the hunting.”

“Well, you’ll get to hunt now. Has Chris found you a Second?”

He nodded. “He said there are three at network headquarters who just completed their training.”

“Three? So you get to have your pick?”

“Apparently so. He wants me to go over there tomorrow night and meet with them, hang out for a while, see which one I feel the most comfortable with.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay here with us? Cam can serve as your Second, too.” Not that she had asked him.

“Cam’s already pulling double duty as your Second. And, honestly, it’s time I had a place of my own.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I guess I can understand that. How do you feel about having a stranger move in with you?”

Living with Cam had taken some getting used to when she and Sean had moved in. Étienne, on the other hand, had been a comfortable fit from day one.

Sean shrugged. “If we’re going to live together, I assume we won’t be strangers for long.” He gave her a boyish smile. “Did I mention that one of my potential Seconds is a woman?”

Her interest spiked. “Really? Is she cute?”

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen her. Chris said she’s been ready to serve as a Second for a while now, but he’s had a hard time placing her.”

She frowned. “Is she difficult? Because the last thing you need after living with me all this time is to be stuck with a bitchy woman.”

He laughed. “You aren’t bitchy. You’re stubborn.”

“I’ll second that,” Étienne said from their bedroom down the hall. Apparently he had been following their conversation.

Krysta blew him a raspberry, then grinned when he chuckled.

“She isn’t difficult,” Sean said. “Male immortals just don’t like having female Seconds because they’re old-fashioned and can’t bear the idea of a woman dying while protecting them.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“I’m good with it,” he said, straight-faced, then laughed when she hit him. “Just kidding. I don’t like the idea either, but Chris thought that—after living with you for the past six years—I might be more amenable to fighting alongside a woman. And , since I’m a healer . . .”

“You can heal any wounds she incurs on your behalf. Cool. I say go for it. Especially if she’s hot.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

Not really. She just wanted him to find the same happiness she had.

Étienne appeared in the doorway. “How do I look?”

Krysta froze. Holy crap.

She had only ever seen him naked, in sweatpants, or in his hunting clothes. This . . .

She gave him a long, leisurely look from his neatly combed hair to his feet, encased in shiny shoes that probably cost more than a semester of Sean’s college tuition had.

His tall, broad-shouldered form was beautifully garbed in a black three-piece suit with silver pin stripes. A bright white shirt stood out starkly against his naturally tan, clean-shaven jaw. As she stared, he lifted his chin a bit and reached up to adjust a black and silver tie.

Daaaaaamn, he looked good.

“You’re drooling,” Sean drawled.

She nodded, never taking her gaze from Étienne. “Daaaaaamn, you look good.”

He grinned. “I do?”

“ Really good. Like . . . edible good. In fact, Sean, if you wouldn’t mind giving us a few minutes alone . . .”

Étienne’s brown eyes flashed amber.

Sean sighed. “No offense, but this is one of the reasons I want my own place.”

She smiled, still drinking in her fiancé. “You look hot .”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

“It is for me,” she professed, looking him up and down again.

“I’m not overdressed, am I?”

Probably, but she wasn’t going to say anything. She wanted to spend the rest of the night, as Sean said, drooling over him. She’d just go put on something dressy herself to even things out.

“No. I haven’t changed yet. I’ll be ready in a couple of minutes.” As she moved to squeeze past him in the doorway, she rose onto her toes, looped her arms around his neck, and took his lips in a long, passionate, I-wish-I-could-strip-you-naked-and-have-my-way-with-you-right-here-right-now kiss.

He groaned when she pulled away.

“I mussed your hair,” she murmured and left him gazing after her with glowing eyes full of desire.

And adorably mussed hair.

Forty minutes later, his hair was once more tamed, she was squeezed into a little black dress and heels, and Sean wore slacks and a dress shirt. Together, the three strode up the sidewalk in front of a modest middle-class home parked on a nice-sized plot of land in the country outside of Carrboro.