Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall

Sheldon muttered, “Unless the hunter is a sucky shot.”

Seth’s lips twitched. “We immortals must never set ourselves up as the hunter in the blind.”

Becca glanced around the table. “What exactly do you think will happen if you do?”

“Armageddon,” Zach supplied.

She blinked. “Seriously?”

The immortals in the room—all of whom already knew this—nodded.

Seth gave her a gentle smile. “It’s why we take pains to even the field when we engage in battle. Our exceptional speed and strength, coupled with our gifts, give us an unfair advantage over humans. When we fought mercenaries or blitzed their bases, they always dramatically outnumbered us. And though the network’s human special ops soldiers matched the mercenaries in weaponry and machinery, we immortals only carried our swords and blades. They had greater numbers. We had greater speed. They had automatic and semiautomatic weapons and grenades. We had incredible strength and regenerative capabilities.”

He turned to Jared. “If we just barge in there and fell everyone with our gifts as Jared here desires, there will be no balance.”

Jared’s jaw jutted forward. “You forced information from the mercenary minds when you and your immortals attacked their bases.”

“I didn’t get anything out of them that torture wouldn’t have also elicited. And that was different. Their actions—had they succeeded—would’ve put all of humanity in danger.”

“And this won’t?” Jared countered.

“No. The purpose of this is to make Benford wealthier.”

“And enable him and his richest cronies to live forever,” Jared pointed out disparagingly.

“Something we can remedy with our blades if it comes to that,” Seth reminded him. “But Benford doesn’t plan to share immortality with the masses. This won’t launch wars or kick-start Armageddon. Again, these aren’t mercenaries intent on developing an army of supersoldiers they can hire out to the highest bidder. They’re doctors. Medical researchers. We don’t need to kill everyone to keep them from telling tales, because most of them don’t know what is transpiring in those soundproof rooms.”

Jared glowered. “And those who do?”

Seth shrugged. “Those who do and who harm Tessa to achieve their end are fair game.”

“They’re mine,” Jared growled.

“As long as you abide by the plan,” Seth granted. “If you don’t, I’ll summon the Others to restrain you until we’re finished. We must maintain a balance, Jared. You know that. It’s why you hunted me for years after I defected. It’s why you tortured Zach. We have to meet humans on their terms as much as possible, especially after what happened the night we defeated Gershom. That was an immense exhibition of power. Now more than ever, we must do nothing that may spark repercussions.”

Jared couldn’t deny it and did not look happy. “This all sounds as if it will take days to accomplish. Days of Tessa being at those people’s mercy.”

“Actually,” David inserted, “we need to get it all done in a matter of hours. The jet that carried Tessa to Texas was refueling when I left and will head back to North Carolina later tonight. In the morning, two new pilots will fly Benford to Texas. No doubt he wishes to see the immortal firsthand and light a fire under the researchers’ asses. He would’ve gone tonight, but he’d chartered the other jet to a friend who left for Alaska this morning.”

Chris turned to Henderson. “Where are your men on finding a doctor to impersonate?”

Scott messaged someone on his phone, which buzzed with a response a second later. “They’re narrowing it down now. They should have a name and address any minute. But we still need to get our hands on the fingerprints.”

“Really?” Sean asked. “Shape-shifters can’t produce the right fingerprints?”

Aidan shook his head. “Those details are incredibly hard to replicate. Even after all the time I’ve spent with Becca this past week, I couldn’t replicate her fingerprints or signature if I tried.”

“So.” Seth swept them all with a glance. “Who will perform the impersonation?”

“I will,” Jared blurted.

Seth scowled. “Hell no. You’re too hot-headed and keep wanting to toss out the rules.”

“Shall I do it, then?” Aidan asked.

He shook his head. “The task will include erasing knowledge of vampires from the minds of the doctors while doing as little damage as possible.” Seth turned to Zach. “You’re particularly adept at that and have mind-controlled others in the past without remorse,” he added dryly. “If you do it, do you think you could rein in your violent tendencies and not kill everyone?”

Zach looked at his wife.

Smiling up at him, she nudged him with her shoulder and nodded.

He turned back to Seth. “Yyyyes?”

Sean and Nicole laughed, as did several others.

“Well,” Seth said, “that doesn’t inspire confidence.”

“Shall I do it?” Roland asked.

“Absolutely not,” Seth objected and grimaced. “You once suggested we mind-control the doctors at the base that held Dana and convince them they were proctologists who could find the answers to all of life’s mysteries up each other’s asses.”