Night Unbound by Dianne Duvall Page A

little compartments and pockets that are good for organizing crap , Tracy had said when asked about it. They even have pockets that will keep blood cool if I have to bring you some.
    â€œSo?” Lisette asked as the minutes stretched and Ethan continued to rummage through the bag.
    â€œSo,” he responded, “it belatedly occurs to me that I don’t know what half of this shit is for.”
    She groaned. “You’ve never had to patch up a Second?”
    He shook his head. “I’ve only had three. The first retired without ever having suffered a major injury. The second bled to death before I could reach him. And Ed is tough as nails. Any time he’s injured he just stoically sews himself up.”
    â€œYou don’t help him?”
    He glanced up at her, his expression sheepish. “I’m a little squeamish around needles.”
    She stared at him. “Seriously?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œYou slice and dice and decapitate vampires every night.”
    â€œAnd you’ll notice that I don’t try to sew them back together again afterward.” He set the bag aside and rose.
    It appeared she was back to square one. “What should I do?”
    He took in the patient once more and pursed his lips. “I think you’re going to have to call in the big guns.”
    â€œI told you, Seth doesn’t like him. If he—”
    â€œNot Seth. Seth isn’t the big guns. Seth is the fucking hydrogen bomb.”
    â€œEthan.”
    â€œBastien. I meant Bastien.”
    She blinked. “Bastien is the big guns?”
    â€œYeah,” he said with a distinct Duh inflection. “The man raised and commanded an army of psychotic vampires. Not one or two or ten. An army of them. He actually lived with the crazy bastards and kept them in line. Mostly. Can you imagine the kind of balls that must have taken?”
    She didn’t have to. She had peeked into Bastien’s thoughts enough to know just how much power and authority he had wielded. Even though Bastien was young for an immortal—roughly her own age—he really could be deemed the big guns.
    â€œYou’re right. But what’s to stop Seth from seeing this in Bastien’s thoughts?”
    â€œI don’t think Seth spends much time in Bastien’s head these days. One, Seth is too busy worrying about Ami. And two, Melanie is keeping Bastien in line, so Seth no longer has to.”
    â€œHmm.” Retrieving her cell phone, Lisette dialed Bastien’s number.
    â€œWhat?” he answered, his deep voice curt and unwelcoming.
    â€œBastien, it’s Lisette.”
    â€œOh.”
    Awkward silence.
    Yeah. Bastien wasn’t exactly a people person.
    â€œAre you busy?” she asked hesitantly. She hadn’t realized until that moment just how rarely she had spoken with him since Seth had brought him into the fold.
    â€œNot really. Why?”
    â€œI have a . . . situation that I could use your help with.”
    â€œOkay.”
    Ethan’s eyebrows rose.
    She gave Bastien her address, then ended the call.
    â€œI didn’t think it would be that easy,” Ethan said.
    â€œI didn’t either.”
    When the British immortal arrived, Lisette met him at the front door and led him down to her bedroom.
    Bastien nodded to Ethan, then stared down at Zach. After a few moments, he looked around. “Where’s the shovel?”
    Ethan coughed to cover a laugh.
    â€œI didn’t kill him!” Lisette nearly shouted.
    Bastien shifted his gaze to Ethan.
    Ethan held up his hands. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t kill him.”
    â€œHe isn’t dead,” Lisette snapped. “And I’m not into rough sex!”
    Bastien stared at her. “Ooookay.”
    She frowned. “Isn’t that what you thought had happened? That I had killed him during sex?”
    â€œNo. I just assumed he had pissed you off.”
    â€œOh.” Her face heated