Night Unbound by Dianne Duvall

. . this is real?” His eyes met Bastien’s with a first flare of excitement. “You’re really taking me hunting with you?”
    Bastien forced a smile. “Yes.”
    Cliff glanced at Seth. “And you’re okay with this?”
    Seth nodded. “You’ve proven yourself to be a valuable member of our family. We could use another good hunter.”
    Cliff’s face lit with a grin. “This is so cool!”
    Seth smiled. “I’ll leave you to it then. Enjoy your hunt.”
    As soon as the Immortal Guardians’ leader vanished, Cliff stripped down to his skivvies and donned the traditional black hunting garb of Seconds and immortals. Black pants. Black shirt. Black coat outfitted with numerous pockets and sheaths.
    â€œWill the coat be a hindrance to you?” Bastien asked. “You aren’t accustomed to fighting in one.”
    Cliff picked up a couple of daggers and flipped them end over end, catching them with a flourish, then performed several experimental swings, kicks, twirls, and thrusts at preternatural speed. “No. I’m good with it.”
    He was also very good with weapons. The human members of the network would probably crap their pants if they knew Bastien hadn’t just been sitting on his ass, playing video games when he visited Cliff. He had been training him. Cliff was almost as good a fighter as Bastien was. Had he possessed Bastien’s age and the added strength and speed that came with it, he would’ve been capable of defeating immortals as young as Ethan.
    â€œShall we go then?”
    Cliff nodded eagerly. “Where to?”
    â€œI thought we would see what’s happening at UNCG tonight.” The campus was nearer network headquarters than the others. Seth had thought it best that they stick pretty close to home . . . at least on their initial forays.
    â€œWanna race?” Cliff asked.
    Bastien shook his head. “Let’s save that for the end of the night if you still have the energy. I’ve got a car parked through there.”
    Cliff followed him through the trees to the Chevy Volt and folded his thin frame into the passenger seat. He smiled. “It smells like Melanie in here.”
    Bastien nodded. “It’s her car.” Since he and Melanie were rarely apart, he hadn’t seen a need to procure one of his own.
    Cliff raised an eyebrow. “It also smells like sex.”
    His acute sense of smell would pick that up. “Yyyyeah. Melanie and I sometimes . . .”
    â€œGo at it like teenagers?”
    Bastien laughed. “Yes. Just don’t tell her I told you that.”
    The drive was short. Cliff peered through the windshield, eagerly devouring the sight of the countryside he hadn’t seen for so long. “I’m glad you two found each other,” he commented as Bastien parked the car.
    â€œMe too.” Bastien kept his eyes and ears peeled for vampire activity as they strolled onto the quiet campus.
    â€œDo you still feel like you don’t deserve her?”
    â€œAll the time.” And he had admitted as much often in the early days of their relationship.
    â€œWell, you do,” Cliff said. “Deserve her, I mean. You’re a good guy, Bastien. I wish you could see that.”
    Bastien looked at him askance. “You aren’t going to get maudlin on me, are you?”
    Cliff laughed. “No, I just wanted to put that out there in case I don’t have a chance to say it later. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me. You’ve been a good friend.”
    It almost sounded like a good-bye. Alarm bells rang. Bastien stopped. “Cliff, if you’re thinking of running, I’ve been ordered to—”
    â€œI’m not,” Cliff assured him. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. I don’t want to torture and kill innocents the way other vampires do.”
    â€œJoe didn’t either when he surrendered and sought the