Darkness Rises (Immortal Guardians) by Dianne Duvall Read Free Book Online

am so going to kick his ass,” she growled.
    Sean’s eyebrows rose. “The purple and white vamp?”
    She had told him about Étienne’s aura. “Yes.”
    “What makes you think you’ll see him again?”
    “Oh, I’ll see him again. He left me alive for a reason. And I’m going to kick his ass until he tells me what it is.”
    His frown returned. “Just don’t go looking for him, Krys. Seriously. I have a bad feeling about this.”
    “I won’t,” she was able to say with complete honesty.
    If he stayed true to his recent pattern, Étienne would come looking for her. And when he did . . .
    She smiled grimly.
    He was going to regret messing with her head.

Chapter 3
    Étienne glanced at his twin as they arrived in David’s large living room. “Are you the smart-ass who changed my ringtone?”
    “Someone changed your ringtone?” Richart asked. “To what?”
    “Never mind.”
    Darnell approached, a tiny kitten in each hand. “Okay, which one do you want?”
    Étienne reached for the little gray and white one. “We’re really doing this?”
    “Yes.”
    A faint, high-pitched scream came from Étienne’s pocket, accompanied by a drumbeat. “There are squirrels in my pants!” a girl cried as Phineas and Ferb’s “Squirrels in My Pants” song began blaring from his phone.
    Every immortal in the room turned to look at him.
    Étienne scowled at his brother.
    Laughing, Richart closed his cell phone and put it away. “I didn’t change it. I just wanted to know what it was.”
    “Asshole.” He took the ridiculously small bottle of milk Darnell handed him. “As I was saying, we’re really doing this?”
    “Every two hours.”
    He groaned. He could still be chatting up Krysta if he didn’t have to play feline nursemaid.
    “How much has David done for you over the centuries?” Darnell retorted, his shaved, brown head gleaming in the overhead light.
    “A hell of a lot,” Étienne answered without hesitation. David was like Seth. He gave everything he had to the Immortal Guardians and those who aided them.
    “And what has he asked in return?” Darnell continued.
    “Not a damned thing.”
    “Exactly. So feed the kitten.”
    Étienne cuddled the mewling little bundle of fur to his chest. “Done.”
    Richart took the orange and white kitten and did the same.
    “Every two hours, guys,” Darnell reminded them again as they crossed the room and sank down beside Lisette on one of the sofas.
    Roland and Sarah fed two kittens on another sofa.
    Roland was quite possibly the most aggravating, antisocial immortal on the planet. Seeing him cuddle and nurture a black and white kitten that could fit in the palm of his hand was nothing short of bizarre.
    Grunts and thumps floated up from downstairs, where Seconds sparred in the training room.
    Ami entered, carrying Slim. That scrawny little feline didn’t look fully grown either, though it had long since reached adulthood. It also bore several bare patches, scars, and cuts from its most recent fights with whatever woodland creature it had felt ventured too close to Slim’s new territory: David’s property.
    “Hi, Ami,” Sarah called with a smile.
    “Hi.”
    The men all echoed the greeting.
    Every male Immortal Guardian in North Carolina adored the two women. They loved Sarah for being the first gifted one in history to ask to be infected so she could spend eternity with Roland’s antisocial ass. They loved Ami for . . . well . . . being Ami.
    She was so sweet and shy. And fucking ferocious on the battlefield. A mere week after being named Marcus’s Second, she had helped him stand against and defeat thirty-four vampires. Thirty-four. No mortal had ever attempted such a feat. Hell, no immortal had either until then. Except, perhaps, for Seth or David. Those two had lived thousands of years. Étienne didn’t know half of what they had done.
    “Where’s Marcus?” Sarah asked.
    “Out hunting.”
    “How did he get out of kitten duty?” Roland asked