Free Phantom Shadows by Dianne Duvall

them if you will, and have them spread the word to other vampires themselves.”
    “I still don’t like it,” Roland said.
    Many of the others nodded.
    Melanie cleared her throat. “With all due respect, the only ones at this table who are qualified to make this decision are Seth, David, and Bastien.”
    Bastien’s head snapped around. His hand tightened on her arm.
    The others all stared at her as if she had just shouted, “Peacocks like Pumpernickel!”
    “I beg your pardon?” Richart said finally.
    Étienne nodded. “Seth and David I could understand. But what makes Bastien so special?”
    More than they knew, but she didn’t say that. “Seth, David, and Bastien are the only ones who regularly visit and interact with the vampires at the network.”
    Bastien looked at Seth and David with surprise. “You visit Cliff and Joe?”
    Seth inclined his head. “Yes.”
    “Vincent, too, when he still lived,” David added.
    “Why?” Bastien asked.
    The other immortals seemed interested in knowing the answer to that one, too.
    “Because they asked for our help,” Seth said simply, “and, by doing so, joined our cause.”
    “We take care of our own,” David said, “regardless of their origins.”
    Seth nodded. “We also hoped to extend the vampires’ lucid moments by trying to heal the brain damage the virus has wrought.” Both elders were extremely powerful healers, powerful enough to reattach severed limbs, if necessary.
    Bastien returned his attention to Melanie. “Is it working?”
    “Not as well as we had hoped,” she admitted with some reluctance. She suspected Seth and David knew as much. As long as they had lived, they must have tried such before. “The vampires do remain lucid for longer periods after Seth and David’s visits. But the healings only slow the progression of the virus, they don’t cure it or reverse the damage done.”
    “David,” Seth said, eyeing the immortal at the other end of the long table, “what are your thoughts on Bastien’s proposed alliance?”
    Silence reigned as everyone waited to hear what the immortal would say.
    “Most of the immortals at this table are too young to remember times in the past when humans have banded together to hunt us,” David began. “Roland, you have an inkling of what such is like thanks to your fiancée’s deception a few hundred years ago.”
    Roland’s countenance darkened. “I do.”
    “Bitch,” Sarah muttered.
    Roland barked out a laugh, then wrapped an arm around his wife and pressed a kiss to her hair.
    Every person in the room stared. Even after two years, it was still a shock to see him smile and express affection.
    “Vampires in the past may not have had the Internet vampires today adore so much,” David continued, “but word still managed to spread throughout the countryside that both vamps and immortals were being hunted by humans. And, as Dr. Lipton said, what the vampires learned when they were lucid lingered somewhere in the backs of their minds, so that even when the madness struck they exhibited more caution.”
    Melanie nodded. “I think the fact that even the maddest vampires continue to use blades instead of guns when they fight immortals or hunt their prey is an indication that anything concerning their safety tends to linger when everything else falls away. They know they shouldn’t attract undue attention and take measures to avoid doing so, whether they do it consciously or not.”
    David nodded. “Which is why I think Bastien may be right. I think we should find a way to turn this in our favor. These are new times with new troubles and, perhaps, new opportunities. The rules have changed. We should change accordingly.” He looked at Bastien. “Lie to the vampires. Let them believe Emrys is the real reason the vampire king and his followers fell. That he’s an even greater threat to vampires than we are.”
    Seth drew Bastien’s gaze. “Find those who want our aid and offer it to them.”
    “And