Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall

Nicole looked up at Sean. “I hope Tessa’s okay.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Me, too.”



Seth stood beside Jared, an unrelenting downpour assaulting them. “This was the last place you saw her?”

Jared nodded. “You’re sure she isn’t dead?”

“I’m sure. Calm yourself.” Resting a hand on Jared’s shoulder, Seth infused him with peace. “You need your wits about you.” He had never seen Jared so rattled.

“The rain had not yet begun.” Some of the anxiety left the Other’s voice. “The campus was quiet, with few out and about. She said she was going to Sean’s place. I offered to teleport her, but she wanted to run. It soothes her the same way it does the vampires. And I thought she would enjoy the freedom of it. She hasn’t been alone since joining us, always watched or escorted by others, but…” His eyes flashed golden with regret. “I should have insisted.”

Seth patted his shoulder. “Your eyes are glowing.” While Jared closed his eyes and struggled to keep his emotions in check enough to reduce their luminescence, Seth studied the buildings and light posts around them. The campus was darker than usual, the heavy rains defeating the many lights that usually brightened it. He had been here so often that Seth knew the locations of most of the security cameras. “You searched the campus?”

“Yes. North to south and east to west.”

“Any signs of a scuffle?”

“If there was one,” he said with a despondent shake of his head, “the rain washed away any evidence of it.”

Imhotep, Seth called telepathically.

Yes?

I could use your postcognitive abilities.

As you will.

I’m on my way. Seth stepped into the security cameras’ blind spot and teleported to Imhotep’s home in Egypt.

Sun blazed through the windows, a startling contrast to the darkness Seth had left behind.

Imhotep awaited him, having swiftly donned his hunting togs. His Second, Amun, stood beside him.

Seth nodded to Amun. “I shall return him shortly.” Resting a hand on Imhotep’s shoulder, he teleported him to Duke. “Tessa is missing.”

Imhotep’s brow furrowed. He had guarded Tessa a time or two when she first joined them and had spoken highly of her.

Seth led him to Jared’s side. “Jared last saw her here a few hours ago. The rain is keeping most students and employees inside, so I’m hoping you’ll pick up something.” Postcognitive abilities could be tricky. Using them to view the past was similar to collecting forensic evidence. If events had just transpired and no one else had crossed the scene, Imhotep could see what happened as clearly as if he were watching a video he’d just rewound. But the more time passed and the more traffic disrupted the scene, the muddier the view became. It was easier, for example, to identify the footprints of a killer in a deserted area than to do the same on ground that hundreds of people had since trodden upon.

Imhotep stared at the sidewalk for a long moment. “I see her.” He walked along the path, his gaze focused in front of him as if he were following someone. Stopping at a bench, he nodded at it. “She sat there for a time until it began to rain.” He stepped back as if he wished to give her room to rise and move past him.

A moment later, he jogged away at mortal speeds, conscious of the cameras.

When Jared would’ve followed him, Seth threw an arm out to halt him. “The less we move about, the less we’ll disturb the scene.”

Jared regarded him with dismay. “I ran all over campus, looking for her.”

That would likely make Imhotep’s work more difficult. “You didn’t know.”

Tense silence fell.

Thunder roared. Lightning flashed.

“Where were you when I summoned you?” Jared asked.

“At the facility where they took the woman on the airplane.” He didn’t elaborate, knowing the immortal grapevine would’ve informed everyone in the area of the day’s events.

“Do you know if this is related?”

“Tessa disappearing?”

“Yes.”

“I heard no mention of it.”

Jared fidgeted. “How can you be so calm?”

“I’m not calm.” Worry gnawed at Seth. “I’ve just been here before.” Tessa wasn’t the first Immortal Guardian to go missing. Such had happened too many times to count over the millennia. It was why he had started assigning every Immortal Guardian a Second. Before the invention of telegraphs, ham radios, phones, and finally cell phones, Seth often hadn’t known until weeks or months after the fact if an immortal went missing unless a telepathic immortal contacted him. And younger telepaths had a shorter range, so they would have to relay that message from immortal to immortal until it reached Seth.

If those who were missing had Seconds, the Seconds could narrow down the last known locations of the immortals and launch their own searches until Seth arrived.

Jared cast him a penitent look. “I wish I had defected when you did.”

He’d had strong reason not to. “You’re here now. That’s all that matters.” Seth refused to dwell on the many lives that could’ve been saved if Jared and the rest of the Others had joined him and watched over his Immortal Guardians. Doing so would not alter the past.