guard. Seven vampires live across the hallway. What are you going to do if a couple of them have psychotic breaks and try to escape while you two are having a quickie?”
“Chase them down bare-ass naked and give the human guards an eyeful.”
That was one hell of an incentive not to escape.
“I don’t know about you,” one of the new vamps said in his apartment down the hallway, “but I’m pretty sure even total mind-fuck madness wouldn’t make me risk that guy chasing me down and tackling me while he’s naked and has a hard-on.”
Every vampire and immortal laughed.
“What?” Chris asked, unable to hear the vamps.
“Nothing,” Bastien said. “Forget I mentioned it.”
Cliff doubted that. Reordon never forgot anything, especially if it pertained to Bastien.
“Ready?” Bastien asked, then his voice softened with affection the way it often did when he spoke to Melanie. “I’ll see you later.”
“Be careful,” she said.
Good. Maybe now Cliff could hit the treadmill and—
A perfunctory knock sounded on his door.
He stuffed the last bite of sandwich into his mouth, leaving only a few crumbs behind.
A clunk sounded. Then his heavy door swung open, revealing Bastien.
Swallowing, Cliff slid off the barstool and smiled as his friend entered. “Melanie is so going to kick your ass when you get home tonight.”
He chuckled. “Not if I’m busy kissing hers.”
“Damn it, Bastien!” she said from across the hallway.
Cliff laughed. All amusement died away, however, when Seth entered the apartment behind Bastien. Shit. Cliff immediately banished all thoughts of Emma.
The moment he did, the damned voices inundated him, calling for violence.
He ground his teeth.
Seth was a good man. Or immortal. A good immortal. He was the reason Cliff was still alive today. He had even healed Cliff on multiple occasions in an attempt to stave off the madness and repair some of the progressive brain damage the virus caused. Then Joe had begun to accuse Seth of stealing his thoughts. And Cliff had met…
Don’t think of her. Just kill them all.
Kill them all.
Nearly growling in frustration, he beat the voices back.
Bastien had ultimately told Seth he simply made the vampires too uneasy and increased their agitation, so Seth had stopped coming.
Cliff wasn’t the only vampire housed here who felt uncomfortable around the Immortal Guardian leader. They all did. But Cliff had been infected the longest. He struggled the most with the oncoming madness. And he hated that Seth could see the ugliness that now writhed inside him.
This is not who I am, he told himself again as he forced a smile and greeted Seth. “Hey.”
Seth nodded. “Good evening, Cliff. How are you?”
“Fine, I guess.” Was the ancient immortal even now scouring his thoughts and seeing the horror he fought so hard to suppress? Why was he even here? Did he know about—?
Don’t think about it. Think about something else.
Yes. Think about killing them. Kill them all! Fuck them up!
No, damn it! Shut the fuck up! Cliff looked at Bastien. “What’s up?”
“Feel like taking a trip?” his friend asked.
A trip? As in… leave network headquarters? With Bastien and Seth?
Alarm bells rang. He swallowed. “Now?”
Bastien nodded.
He knows, the damned voices announced with glee. Seth knows. He’s in your head right now. He knows and wants to put you down. He knows everything. Every loathsome thing you’ve imagined doing. Every grisly act you’ve envisioned, painting your hands and the network with blood. The monstrous impulses. The sickening—
Shut up! Fuck you! That isn’t me! That isn’t who I am! This is not who I am!
Fighting down a surge of panic, Cliff asked, “Aren’t you on guard duty?”
Bastien shook his head. “Sean is on his way over to take my place. He’ll be here in a few.”
Shit. Bastien was always on guard duty this time of night. Were the voices right? Was… was this it? Though he tried to hide it, everyone knew Cliff struggled. Even now he had to fight to remain still and had been counting the minutes until he could hop on the treadmill and run until he was too physically exhausted to act on the violent urges rising within him.
“Oh. Okay.”
Had Seth and Bastien come to… put him down?
That’s right, the voices hissed. They’re here to put you down like a rabid dog.
I’m not a rabid dog, he growled.
But isn’t that what you’re destined to become? A mindless killer?
Yes, damn it. Had he reached the point that they’d begun to fear he might hurt Melanie? Or had they merely decided the kindest thing they could do was kill him now, before his mental