Phantom Shadows Read Online Free PDF Page A

ranks.”
    Hmm. Would that be such a bad thing? Hadn’t Bastien decided just a few weeks earlier that something would have to change? That the whole Immortal Guardian thing wasn’t working out for him? Maybe it was time for him to move on and. . .
    Well, he didn’t know what. For the first couple hundred years or so of his immortal existence, he had been driven to seek revenge for his sister’s murder. Once he had found his quarry, he had spent another two decades or so planning that revenge and raising his vampire army.
    “Don’t let him do it, man,” Cliff said, his exceptional hearing allowing him to listen to the phone conversation.
    “Don’t let him do what?” Bastien asked.
    “Don’t let Reordon get you kicked out of the Immortal Guardians. You’re the only one of them who gives a damn about us—about vampires. Without you fighting for us . . . what hope do we have?”
    Hell.
    Bastien met Melanie’s gaze, saw the pleading in it.
    “Don’t let Mr. Reordon’s prejudice keep you from taking your rightful place among the Immortal Guardians,” she pleaded. “The immortals need you more than they think they do. Cliff and Joe need you, too.”
    Again: Hell.
    Bastien sighed. “All right,” he told Tanner. “Thanks for the heads-up. I’m on my way.”
    “Good.”
    “It’ll take me a while because I’m on foot, but—”
    “I’ll drive you,” Melanie interrupted.
    “No,” Bastien countered. “No, thank you,” he amended. She had already come to his defense once by keeping Reordon from chaining him up. The last thing he wanted was for her to be associated with him even more. Too much unpleasantness would be directed her way.
    “Yes,” she retorted, raising her chin stubbornly. “I’m your doctor. You just regained consciousness and need to be monitored for the next few hours as the drug continues to wear off. You aren’t going anywhere without me.”
    “He may not be going anywhere anyway,” Cliff mentioned. “How is he going to leave the building? I doubt Reordon gave his men orders to let Bastien go.”
    Melanie frowned.
    “Don’t worry about that,” Tanner said. “I’ll take care of it.”
    Before Bastien could ask him what he meant, he hung up.
     
     
    Melanie bit her lip as Bastien lowered his phone and ended the call. “If you’re thinking of fighting your way out, you may want to reconsider.”
    Fighting his way in the night they had met had resulted in him being wrapped like a mummy in chains. She didn’t want to see that happen again.
    Bastien frowned. “Tanner said I wouldn’t have to, but I don’t see how—”
    A clunk sounded as the door unlocked, then opened, pushed by Todd.
    The soldier did not look happy. “I just got a call from David.”
    The elder immortal was warm and friendly, treating all immortals and members of the network like family, yet—at the same time—was nearly as powerful and formidable as Seth.
    Todd looked at Bastien. “You’re free to leave whenever you want to.”
    Bastien met Melanie’s gaze for a moment, then eyed Todd suspiciously as if he were trying to discern if this were some sort of trick. “I am?”
    Todd nodded and opened the door wide. “Mr. Reordon won’t be happy about it, but . . .”
    No one gainsays David , went unspoken.
    Bastien shrugged. “So be it.”
    Melanie headed for the door. “I’ll just get my keys, then we can go.”
    Todd scowled as she approached. “You’re not going with him, are you?”
    “She has to,” Cliff blurted before Melanie or Bastien could say anything. “Bastien’s still groggy from the drug.”
    Was he trying to convince Todd or Bastien, who still looked as though he wanted to protest? Melanie knew Cliff worried about his former leader.
    “I’ll have one of my men take him wherever he wants to go,” Todd said. As Melanie passed him in the doorway, he added in a lower voice, “You shouldn’t be alone with him, Dr. Lipton. It isn’t safe.”
    Melanie glanced back in time to see