Phantom Shadows Part 28

"I mean, did it ever occur to any of you that there might be a reason for that? That maybe Bastien killed Ewen in self-defense? That maybe Ewen mistook Bastien for a vampire and attacked him, leaving him no choice but to fight to the death?"

"How did you know that?" Bastien demanded and looked at Seth. "Did you tell her that? I told you to stay out of my head."

"I didn't tell her."

Again Bastien asked Melanie, "How did you know that?"

She shrugged. "What other reason would you have to kill him?"

"Because Bastien's a p.r.i.c.k?" Roland suggested.

Melanie rolled her eyes. "You're biased."

"And you aren't?" he posed.

etienne's eyes widened. "Merde. It's true. Ewen attacked him."

Marcus straightened. "Bastien must have given him reason."

"He was draining a woman," Lisette said.

"Stay out of my head," Bastien growled at the French siblings.

"Then Ewen was in the right," Marcus proclaimed.

Chris nodded. "He can't be trusted."

"Bulls.h.i.t!" Tanner blurted. "Bastien doesn't kill anyone who doesn't deserve it."

"His vampire followers did," Chris said.

"Vince, Cliff, and Joe didn't," Melanie denied.

Tanner nodded. "And Bastien had no way of knowing about the ones who did."

"If he couldn't control them, he should have killed them."

"You're just p.i.s.sed because he managed to get past you and all of your men and kidnap Sarah, taking her right out from under your noses."

Heavy silence took the room.

Really? Was that it? Was that the bug, so to speak?

Melanie studied Chris's reddening face and decided, yes, that was definitely the bug.

"Actually," Bastien said slowly, "he's p.i.s.sed because, while I stole Sarah right out from under his nose, I broke that nose and shattered several bones in his face, knocking him unconscious before he could get off a single shot or give a shout out to warn the rest of his men."

Ooh. That was . . . That was not good.

Chris's face turned positively purple.

Sarah cleared her throat. "If it helps, I didn't see Bastien coming either."

Darnell grinned. "Yeah, but you managed to shoot him twice and stab him in the a.s.s."

Laughter erupted.

Seth held his hands up. "All right. All right. Settle down. We're all glad Sarah stabbed Bastien in the a.s.s."

More chuckles.

"Chris," Seth commanded, "you're just going to have to get over Bastien hitting you in the face, because it's interfering in your work. Follow Sarah's example and move on. As for the network . . . tell your men to give Bastien some s.p.a.ce and he'll stop kicking their a.s.ses. I want Cliff and Joe to continue to have access to him. They're doing us a favor and pretty much voluntarily incarcerated themselves to do it. They need the break and whatever happiness and contentment he can bring them."

Though that didn't go over well, Chris made no objections.

It was Seth. How could one oppose his edicts?

Seth turned to Bastien. "Bastien, I need you to do your part as well. Stop antagonizing everyone and show a little more patience if you run into interference at the network. Instead of injuring the men who work there and who help us, pick up your phone and give me or David a call. If you can't reach us, call Richart. He wisely teleported you out of there tonight before the situation could escalate. If necessary, he can do so again."

Bastien nodded.

"David, have you anything to add?"

David said nothing for a moment, his handsome ebony face thoughtful. Melanie had never encountered anyone with such dark skin before. It was beautiful. As flawless as a supermodel's. Yet somehow remained masculine.

"Everyone here must be mindful of the situation that brought us here tonight," he said in his deep, honeyed voice. "Though Richart, Bastien, and Dr. Lipton were at UNC for quite some time, they were unaware of the soldiers' presence until those soldiers made their presence known. I wonder, Chris, if the network might provide the immortals and their Seconds with some kind of thermal imaging binoculars or scopes that would allow them to see the heat signatures of soldiers who may otherwise escape their notice upon initial inspection."

Chris reached into his jacket and drew out one of his ever-present notebooks and a short, stubby pencil. "Done."

Melanie had seen him scribbling in similar notebooks so often she wondered if he didn't have a roomful of them somewhere.

As Chris made notes on the memo pad, he raised his eyes and met Bastien's. "Would that have helped you tonight?"

Melanie held her breath.

Chris could have asked Richart instead and avoided conversing with his nemesis. Was this a sort of peace offering?

"Before tonight I wouldn't have thought such necessary," Bastien replied slowly, "but, yes. Thermal imaging would have revealed at least a few of them. Those who were concealed by shadows and foliage even our eyes couldn't penetrate."

Richart nodded. "When I returned to UNC, I was surprised to see just how many had escaped our attention."

"Good." Chris made a few more notes. "Something else to have in our a.r.s.enal then. I'll have them in the hands of every immortal and every Second in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia by nightfall tomorrow. We don't know how much territory these guys are covering."

Maybe this was a truce. That would be such a relief.

Melanie patted Bastien's knee under the table.

Bastien caught her hand and held it against his thigh.

"Stay alert," Seth commanded. "This is the second time they've managed to surprise us. Let us ensure it doesn't happen again."

Chapter 10.

As the meeting concluded, Bastien released Melanie's hand and rose.

Beside them, Richart vanished as Melanie scooted her chair back and stood.

Tanner circled the table. "Do you want me to accompany you tomorrow night when you meet with the vamp?"

"No. I'd rather you stay here." Where it was safe. And where he could rub elbows with David and Darnell. Those two could befriend a badger. If they liked Tanner, they would do their d.a.m.nedest to ensure everyone else did, too.

Just look how they were constantly pushing Bastien on the others.

"Only if you call me before and after your meeting."

"Of course."

Tanner clapped him on the shoulder, then headed into the kitchen.

As the other attendees left the table and milled around, some dropping onto the living room sofas and others venturing downstairs, Sheldon sidled up to Bastien. "So." He cleared his throat and looked around furtively. "I thought I'd hang around here today. See what's doin'."

Bastien glanced at Melanie, who shrugged. "And you're telling me this . . . why?"

He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Richart's going to spend the day with you-know-who, so I thought you might like to have the house to yourselves." Dangling a set of keys in front of Bastien, Sheldon looked from Melanie to Bastien and waggled his eyebrows.

Bastien took the keys. "You do realize everyone in this house just heard you."

Oops written all over his face, Sheldon turned around and jumped when he saw everyone staring at him.

Lisette raised one eyebrow.

"What I meant to say was . . . Richart needs his car back. Gas it up before you drop it off."

Bastien sighed. "Smooth. Don't worry, everyone, I'm just going to give Dr. Lipton a ride back to the network."

All returned to their conversations.

Melanie waved good-bye and followed him out to the car.

Bastien opened the pa.s.senger's door for her, waited for her to get settled, then closed it and strode around to the driver's side. Neither spoke as he started the engine and left David's estate behind them.

Minutes pa.s.sed.

Melanie leaned closer and glanced at the instrument panel, then shifted back to her side.

A few minutes later, she did the same.

"Checking my speed?" he asked, wondering what drew her interest.

She shook her head. "Watching the odometer. We're about six miles away from David's, right?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now we can talk without any of them hearing us. Are you really taking me to the network?"

He had intended to but . . . "Do you want me to take you to the network?"

"No." Short. Simple. Sweet.

And just what he wanted to hear. "Do you want me to take you home?"

"I don't know. Sheldon did go to all the trouble of coming up with that grrreat cover story so we could have Richart's house to ourselves."

Bastien smiled. "Sorry about that. Sheldon has shown me the benefits of thinking before one speaks."

She laughed. "And yet I like him."

"Yeah. I can see why Richart hasn't killed him yet."

"If you'd like, we could go to my place. I should warn you, though, that I'm not the tidiest person in the world. At the office? Yes. At home? No."

We. Bastien's attention zoomed in on the word. "I think I'll head to Richart's house, if that's okay with you. After the night we've had, I'd prefer the added security it offers."

"True. Richart's it is."

Melanie was a little surprised when Bastien capitulated so easily. She had expected him to embark upon yet another verbal dissertation on the many hazards of dating him.

Her eyes narrowed. He didn't intend for them to go their separate ways at Richart's, did he?

She wouldn't put it past him. He seemed determined not to cast a pall over her with his presence. She didn't think he had even realized that some of the immortals-definitely Richart, possibly his siblings-were starting to soften toward him.

At least, she thought they were.

The ride to Richart's home was a comfortable one. Instead of worrying about what would or wouldn't happen once they reached it, Melanie asked Bastien what exactly had happened on the night he had kidnapped Sarah and ended up laughing herself silly when he told the tale.

She was sure it hadn't been funny at the time, but Sarah really had done her darnedest to thwart him and escape. Bastien had been so shocked and baffled by her actions. Melanie had to applaud him for his patience. And for not holding a grudge. He made the whole kidnapping sound like a Three Stooges skit.

They were both still chuckling when he parked in Richart's driveway, got out, and guided her up to the front door.

Upon stepping inside, Melanie was surprised to find Richart waiting for them.

"Finally!" he said. "I forgot to give you the code for the alarm system and your phone is off."