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A blond--just under six feet tall--issued orders with hand signals, sending half the troops to Richart’s side of the house, then leading the rest to Etienne

And still thecrouch, tranquilizer guns loaded with the human dose of the tranquilizer aimed and ready to fire, network soldiers nodded to Etienne as they flowed past him

Mercenaries dropped like flies as tranquilizer darts found vulnerable throats

Shaded by the trees, Etienne tugged off his protective shades, head covering, and gloves, and smiled as the blond strolled toward him "You do like to rinned "May as well have fun with it Besides, it will help hbors make to nine-one-one will be intercepted and they’ll be told we’re filed "If it does, uys will steer them away"

The walkie-talkie on his shoulder squawked "Location secure," a tinny voice declared "Targets down"

Chris reached up and pressed a button "Set up a periht’s performance, they’ll have a second teaan to check the downed men and call out their conditions

"Dead"

"Dead"

"Dead"

"Dead"

Chris frowned at Etienne

Etienne pursed his lips He thought he had left some alive

"Dead"

"Alive Pulse thready Pupils blown"

"Sahed heavily

"What?" Etienne asked, beginning to feel defensive "What does that mean?"

"It hting humans"

"You spar with Cameron all the time"

"No, I don’t I spar with iht huht a ht to kill Vaht to wound them, crack their skulls, and they’ll recover How the hell would I kno hard I can hit a huoing to be a probleuard called

"Dead Sheesh What the hell did you do to this guy?"

Etienne winced

Richart approached--tugging off his own shades, head covering, and gloves--and stood next to Etienne He was pretty blood-splattered Had he run into the sahts?" Richart asked

Etienne shook his head, frowning as Richart weaved on his feet "Are you wounded?"

"Huh?" He glanced down "I don’t think so Maybe A couple of gunshots Why?"

Sheldon walked up, looking as though he had rolled in a puddle ofup, he yanked a tranquilizer dart from Richart’s upper back "Dude, are you okay?"

Chris reached into one of the pockets on his thigh and drew out an autoinjector full of the antidote Flicking off the lid, he jabbed it into Richart’s neck

Etienne took his brother’s arave Sheldon a once-over "What the hell happened to you?"

"Some asshole shot the hot water tank The water spilled down into the crawl space and muddied the shallow end I had to take cover there after they figured out sohtened

"Better?" Etienne asked

He nodded

"Did you leave any men alive?" Chris asked

Richart sent him a sheepish look "Yes, but your , Chris took out his cell phone and dialed "Seth? Chris You have a minute?"

The leader of the I his cell phone "What’sup?" He glanced around and swore "Mercenaries?"

"Yes," Etienne, Richart, Sheldon, and Chris responded

Seth studied the house, the grounds, the bodies He returned his attention to the younger immortals "Go hoht"

Etienne looked at his brother "Don’t you want us to stay and tell you--?"

"I knohat happened Go ho the wohts and seen Krysta? Seth was so powerful that he could do so without Etienne even knowing it

"What about the brother?" Chris asked "What do you want us to do with hi with Richart today?"

Etienne consulted Richart "Can you teleport us to my place?"

"Yes"

He turned back to Seth "Hoets off work, provided no one co for him before then, take him to Etienne’s houards outside the home and around the property’s perimeter"

"Is that really necessary?" Etienne asked

"Which part?"

"The guards"

"Yes"