Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall

Before Titan’s finger could tighten on the trigger, Seth swept forward, knocked everyone except Benford unconscious, and returned to his original position beside David.

The old man started violently and gawked as his henchman and the mercenaries he’d hired to protect him all collapsed to the floor and lay motionless. His face blanched. His heart pounded in his doughy chest. And his blood pressure spiked as he returned wide eyes to Seth and began to tremble. A true coward, he didn’t lunge for a gun to fight back. Lulled by decades of bullying and intimidating others with financial threats and hired muscle, he remained too frozen in place by utter terror to move.

Disgust filled Seth as he perused the man’s thoughts. This man bore no honor at all.

There was, however, hope for his grandson, whom Benford thought of as a worthless “do-gooder” who had been the only member of the family with the balls to question his grandfather’s ethics. Seth made a mental note to ensure that Benford’s will would leave all of his business holdings to the grandson he had formerly omitted from it.

“Wh-Who are you?” Benford stuttered.

Seth offered him a smile that bore no warmth. “You may consider me a protector of the young woman you hunted like an animal.”

Confusion entered the man’s pale eyes. “Rebecca Dorman?”

“Yes. Tessa, as well.”

“You’re Nick Belanger?” Benford studied him.

“Oh, no. I’m not Nick. I’m far more powerful than he is.”

David stepped up beside him. “And far more deadly.”

Benford nearly wet himself.

Seth walked a slow circle around the scoundrel. “You’ve terrorized these women and the vampires you purchased in a blatant search for immortality.”

Benford neither acknowledged nor denied it, perhaps unsure which would condemn him more.

Stopping in front of him, Seth stood only a foot away. “Well, now you’ve found it.” He rested a hand on the man’s shoulder. Warmth flowed from him into the old man, healing some of the damage wrought by age and decades of excess and self-indulgence.

Benford sucked in a breath. His posture straightened. Wonder filled his features as his aches and pains vanished, erasing all the fear. “What is that?” he whispered.

“A taste of what you seek.” Seth infused him with a temporary surge in strength that would make him feel thirty years old again. Once done, he backed away to stand beside David.

Benford stared down at his body in amazement. After clenching and unclenching hands that no longer ached with arthritis, he jumped up and down experimentally. A jubilant laugh burst from his lips. “This is amazing.” He touched his hair, which was a little thicker now, then did several jumping jacks. When he didn’t lose his breath or grow weary after only a few, he stopped and stared at Seth with awe. “Am I immortal now?”

Seth and David looked at each other, then burst out laughing.

“Hell no,” Seth said.

His face full of excitement, Benford took a step toward them. “Make me immortal. I’ll pay you anything.”

Seth shook his head. Men like this would never understand that some things were more valuable than wealth. “Money means little to us.”

Feigning consideration, David tilted his head to one side. “What would you do with immortality if we granted it to you?”

The man’s mind instantly filled with how he would wield the power immortality would give him, the many ways he would abuse it and use it for his own gain.

David sighed as he met Seth’s gaze. “It always saddens me to see how little progress humanity has made.”

Seth nodded.

Benford’s face twisted into a scowl. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means,” Seth told him, “that we’ve lived for thousands of years and are tired of seeing men of your ilk hold humanity back. You’ve done enough damage as a mortal. Nothing you offer could coax us into helping you live forever.”

“That’s bullshit. Everyone has a price.”

David shook his head. “Only if they’ve no care for the greater good.”

Benford had the temerity to sneer at him. “The greater good? You sound like my loser grandson.”

“Who will no doubt do far greater things with your fortune than you have,” David replied calmly.

The man frowned. “What?”

Seth smiled. “Your life, I’m afraid, ends tonight. And thanks to us, your lawyer will find a notarized last will bearing your signature that leaves everything to young Vernon.” Ironically, Vernon’s parents had hoped that naming him after the powerful family patriarch—Augustus Vernon Benford—would ensure themselves a larger portion of the inheritance pie.

Instead, he was the only member of Benford’s family—which included three children and six other grandchildren—worthy of the payoff and the responsibility that accompanied it.

“You’re lying,” the man blurted.

“I’m afraid not,” Seth said.

Fury getting the better of him, Benford swung a clumsy fist.

Seth caught it easily. “You fool. You only feel immortal.”

As soon as Seth released him, Benford lunged for Titan’s abandoned 9mm.

Seth caught him by the throat with one hand before he could reach it. Ever so slowly, he applied enough upward pressure that Benford had to rise onto his toes to keep from choking. “You showed Becca, Tessa, and the vampires no mercy. So we will show you none.”