Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall

Jared rested a hand on her shoulder, his touch almost tentative.

Sean took Nicole’s arm and clapped a hand on Jared’s shoulder.

Duke University’s campus fell away, replaced by darkness. A peculiar feeling of weightlessness engulfed Tessa, making her stomach feel uncomfortably buoyant, as it sometimes did in an elevator. In the next instant, the brightly lit infirmary on sublevel five surrounded them.

The large room bustled with activity while Tessa’s eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. Anxiety hung heavily in the air. Dr. Melanie Lipton and her husband, Bastien, leaned over an exam bed upon which Becca now rested. The other two victims occupied beds nearby.

Three techs rushed toward them with bags of blood and IV paraphernalia. The handful of vampires who lived on sublevel five had all gathered to see what the fuss was about and huddled on the other side of the room.

Seth promptly appeared amidst the controlled chaos, his hands on the shoulders of Kayla and her husband, Nick. The younger immortals’ eyes glowed bright amber with concern.

Kayla glanced around, a panicked look on her face, then spotted her daughter. Crying out, she dashed over to the bed in a blur. “Becca? Honey?”

Melanie started setting up the IV. “She’s okay. She just needs a transfusion.”

Nick looked murderous. “What happened?”

Sean and Nicole filled him in.

Tessa waited in anxious silence for them to condemn her for letting the vampire get away, but Nicole opted not to mention the conversation with Reed.

Had Tessa been wrong? Should she not have tried to sway Reed to their side?

Her gaze slid to Becca’s still form. What if he had lied and only told her what he thought she wanted to hear? What if he’d intended to kill Becca?

Chris Reordon entered. “What happened?” Though he was human, Chris commanded thousands of network employees and was the mortal equivalent of Seth. He wielded so much authority that even immortals obeyed his rules.

Well, most of them did.

Sean and Nicole again recounted events for Chris.

“Okay. I’m on it,” he declared.

On what? Tessa wondered. Searching for the vampire? How? He knew nothing about the man. Not his name. Not his face.

But she did. Her stomach roiled with nerves. “I knew him,” she blurted.

Silence fell as all eyes focused on her.

“What?” Chris asked, his gaze piercing.

Fear and apprehension escalated until she wrung her hands. Would they believe she’d let him get away on purpose? Would they think her complicit?

A large hand touched Tessa’s upper back, a welcome warmth against her shoulder blades. The anxiety that plagued her swiftly melted away, replaced by calm.

She glanced up at the man who towered beside her.

Jared dipped his chin in a nod, his dark eyes full of kindness and encouragement.

Straightening her shoulders, Tessa faced the others. “I knew the vampire who bit Becca.” She described her brief conversation with him.

Nick scowled. “I thought we wiped out Gershom’s entire army.”

Seth’s brow furrowed. “I did, too. When we blitzed his home base on Roanoke, the only survivors were the immortals we rescued. And no one survived our attack on the military base.”

Gershom’s home base had been on Roanoke Island?

Chris frowned. “Well, no vampires returned to Roanoke after you cleaned it out. There’s been no sign of any at the remains of the military base, either. My guys had surveillance cameras set up at both locations before the dust had even settled.”

“Without Gershom, vampires can’t return to home base,” Tessa reminded them. “He never told us where it was. Gershom always teleported us there. He didn’t want any Immortal Guardians to find its location in our thoughts.” And she had known nothing about the military base until after the immortals defeated Gershom.

Chris drew a small notepad and stubby pencil from his front shirt pocket. “You said the vampire’s name is Reed?”

“Yes. He disappeared right before Seth captured me. He said he’s been trying to text Gershom ever since.”

“Do you know his last name?”

“No,” she said apologetically. “I only hunted with him once.”

Seth frowned. “Gershom didn’t have a cell phone on him when I defeated him.”

Chris scribbled something in the notebook. “Well, if he dropped it while you were fighting, it was destroyed in the blast.” He looked at Tessa. “Can you draw me a picture of Reed?”

She grimaced. “No. I’m sorry. When it comes to drawing people, smiley faces and stick figures are the best I can do.”

Seth approached her. “If you’ll allow me to access your memories of tonight’s skirmish, I can draw him. Then Chris’s contacts can use their agencies’ facial recognition databases to learn his identity.”

Anxiety returned with a vengeance. Tessa’s heart pounded despite Jared’s calming touch. Seth had been inordinately kind to her, considering she had nearly killed Sean and Nicole, then tried to kidnap Leah, whom Seth had married shortly thereafter. She trusted him and knew Seth was a good guy. And yet Tessa couldn’t help but cringe at the idea of him wandering around inside her head. It actually made her panic a little inside. Not because she had anything nefarious to hide, but because…