by Dale Mayer
"Or she might not be able to answer it," David added, his voice grim. Tucking his cell phone back into the pocket of his jeans, he looked across the brightly lit yard. "Did Mom have anything good to say?"
"No. No sign of Tessa or Cody and Ian."
Father and son exchanged grim looks.
"Time to go back," David said. "Has she heard from the team? Shouldn't they be here by now?"
"They called for more detailed directions half an hour ago. She's expecting them any time."
Goran walked up beside them and studied the light. "If vampires took Tessa, they couldn't have gone out there any more than I could."
"No. But in the time you two were arguing about what to do, they could've driven miles away – if they had transportation."
Both elders glared at him yet again. David hadn't meant to play the blame game, but he was fed up and beyond worried about Tessa. His phone vibrated. Hurriedly, he snagged it free and checked the display again.
"Hey, it's a text from Tessa!" He couldn't keep the excitement from his voice.
The others crowded around trying to read the small screen. David read her message aloud, "Help. Snow everywhere. Escaped. No place to go."
"Shit. Snow?" David said. The three looked at each other, then looked out the door at the surrounding greenery. He swallowed. "Where could she be?"
"How could they have gotten her so far so fast?" Goran asked, his clipped tone revealing his shock.
Serus stilled.
David turned to face him. "What are you thinking, Dad?"
"I'm thinking we're at the base of a mountain that's full of surprises. Tessa might have escaped above the snow line."
"That would mean they had done miles of development inside the mountain. How feasible is that?" David couldn't imagine the scope of an operation like this staying hidden for so long. What kind of inducements would it have taken for the staff to stay silent?
"Don't forget this whole area was once a mine. They could have taken over some of the tunnels for easy transport. That way, they would attract a minimum of attention. And the complex is underground, so daylight isn't an issue. If they used the mining infrastructure, then the cost would be minimal. It's a big operation. We didn't see any collection points, coolers, storage, or a morgue. Nothing like that. What if they have several warehouses like this one? We found no surface entrance, either. How do they handle the blood? How do they transport it out? How do they get supplies in? I know the garage floor moves up and down, but that's a cumbersome method more suitable for moving heavy equipment. Probably part of the original construction."
The three of them continued to study the rising column of trees behind the outbuildings.
"But snow?" David asked. "Does that mean she is up really high?"
"Or on the other side of the mountain. The north face is much colder. So…higher and colder. To see white all around doesn't mean she isn't close to the tree line where the snow stops, though. Ask her."
Several texts later, they were no closer to knowing. Tessa had jumped to the roof of the entrance to realize she couldn't see anything but trees and snow. She now planned to jump her way down, hoping to hit warmer temperatures fast. She'd taken off as of her last text.
David couldn't help looking up into the trees in the hopes of seeing her. "Shouldn't we go after her?"
"Sure, if it was later in the day. She can survive fine in the sun. I can't."
"Goran, isn't there any way you can cover up and still fly?" David hated the thought of his little sister running for her life to get away from these assholes and maybe disappearing into a dense wilderness where they would never find her. He didn't know if fliers were out looking for her, either. That thought made his blood race. "There has to be something we can do to meet up with her."
"In a few hours, when the sun goes down, we can go."
A grinding noise came from a road to the south. Goran grinned. "Good. The team is arriving. Maybe now we can get some answers."
David wasn't done yet. "Dad, are there other fliers like Tessa? Ones that can fly in daylight?"
"I don't think so. Tessa is unique. You know that."
"I do, and that's another reason I don't want these assholes to catch her. Imagine if they have a chance to check out her blood. They might try to keep her as a lab rat until they figure her out."
"Enough of that kind of talk." His dad glowered at him. "She's free now, and is working to stay that way. We'll tear down this institution of theirs before we're done."
David nodded, but couldn't stop worrying about his sister.
***
Rhia shoved Jared into a chair, and he sat there uncomfortably. He hadn't meant to insult her, but finding out his girlfriend was a vampire had been a major reality check. He'd never kissed Tessa, and now he couldn't quite get the image of a vampire sucking on his neck out of his mind. A hickey was one thing. The scary thing was – it didn't exactly turn him off, either. Honestly, maybe the drugs had affected his brain. He should be running for freedom instead of trusting this woman.
He stole a glance her way. Now that he knew she was Tessa's mother he could see the resemblance between them. They had the same flowing, glossy black hair – a shade of black he'd only ever seen in a tube of paint. Fine high cheekbones, and luscious mouths. He shuddered. Tessa was already great looking, and apparently she would mature into an unbelievably gorgeous female. Sweet.
Rhia appeared before him again without any warning. Did she even walk? Or did vampires glide? He slipped a quick look down at her feet, surprised to see she wore black boots with a substantial heel. How could she move so quietly?
"The team has arrived. My husband's search party is on their way back down, and they have made contact with Tessa." A grin spread across her face. "She's managed to escape. We're not just sure where she is yet, but for the moment she's free and safe."
"I'm so glad to hear she's fine." Jared smiled as relief washed over him. "Knowing she'd gotten away safely kept me sane during my captivity. And now..."
"I won't rest until she's back here with me." Rhia's striking face pinched with worry. "She's too young for this horrible mess."
"She might be young, but she's very capable," Jared said, unable to stop defending Tessa. She could do so much with so little. Did her parents even understand how smart she was? Or were all vampires that smart? That idea made his face twist. Tessa's braininess had long been an issue with the guys, but now he wondered if she was that brilliant because of her vampire genes.
Not that it made a difference. The guys found her constantly high ninety-percent exam marks challenging. Some of them considered her a geek, and others thought her odd due to her size. Secretly, however, they all thought she was hot. Jared had to agree.
He swallowed. That wasn't exactly something he could say to her mother, now was it?
"How does she get along with the others in school?" Rhia asked. "I always worry about her."
"Every mother worries about that. Tessa has lots of friends and seems to enjoy school." The disparaging note in his own voice brought the woman's narrow-eyed gaze to his face. He flushed and muttered, "Going to class isn't my favorite activity."
The concern on her face melted with understanding. "One of Tessa's brothers didn't think much of school either, but he's the one who ended up moving on to a second degree."
Tessa had brothers, as in more than one? Jared wondered if he'd known anything about her before. They'd talked, but always about other stuff. Then he'd avoided that subject entirely because of his own family situation.
"What would you like to do when you're done with school?"
Figuring she was just asking to be polite, he told her about his wish to be an engineer. They talked a few more minutes about his degree choice and how many years it would take for him to finish school, and then her phone rang.
"The team is coming down." She glanced toward at the cold display of suspended humans. "I'm glad they're here. Maybe now we can figure out what to do with these po
or people."
The return to the one topic they'd both avoided brought reality crashing back to Jared. "Will they die?"
"I don't know." She stood and walked over to the first person hanging in the first row. She studied the middle aged woman carefully. "If they haven't been up here for very long, they will probably recover. I just don't know what very long is in terms of muscle damage for a human. We also don't know what drugs they were given."
"Is there a date of some kind on them? Something to show when each person was strung up?" He really didn't want to get up and look closer. Like, he really didn't want to.
"I see a series of numbers, but nothing that makes sense in terms of dates. I suspect they have an in depth computer file on each person for medical purposes, though."
"There has to be at least hundreds of people in there," Jacob whispered, staring in horrified disbelief at the rows upon unending rows of bodies. This was his first chance to view the warehouse in its entirety. "I can't imagine–"
"I'm afraid there are quite a few more than that. And I don't think anyone in town has the medical facilities to deal with so many patients at once. We're going to have to make sure this place is secure and have the medical personnel come here." She stood with her hands on her hips, a look of dismay on her face. "This woman can't be more than forty-year-old. Where's her family? Her friends? Why is it we never heard about all of these people going missing?"
"The one person I spoke with said he'd been homeless for years. He couldn't have been more than twenty-three or twenty-four." Jared frowned. "Talking to him was really weird. He wasn't terribly bothered about being up there. Said it kept him warm and fed. That there are worse things in life." He paused, thinking about the odd acceptance in the guy's voice. "I just don't understand it."
"Could be a couple of reasons for that." Rhia turned her attention back to the long rows of prisoners. "It's sad to think his life could have been so bad that this is preferable. However, it is possible their captors put a drug in the mixture that keeps the prisoners calm. Maybe not something that will keep them exactly happy, but that lowers their aggressiveness."
"So that even if he did care, he couldn't have been able to work up any enthusiasm to fight."
"Something like that."
Jared needed to find the man with whom he'd spoken. To make sure he was one of the first released. Jared knew the guy would recover quickly. As he stared into the faces of those in front of them, he wasn't so sure about the others. Some were middle aged, and some were actually old. How healthy were they, that the vampires still coveted their blood? Or had they once been healthy, then held in stasis ever since? His stomach churned at the thought.
"How long do you think these people have been here?"
"To have created an operation this size must have taken years, probably decades. I imagine the operation started small and grew over the years. So most of these people have probably been here for a couple of years. Others? Possibly decades."
"Decades?" Jared gulped as she walked up and down a row of bodies. "Then some of them have been here most of their adult lives, haven't they? We aren't like you. We don't live forever. Most of us never reach ninety."
"Yes, of course. I didn't mean to minimize the time frame." She sighed. "Each person apparently has a small monitor attached to them to regulate the flow of fluids into their bodies. We should be able to download a lot of information from those machines."
"You might." Jared shuddered. "Not me, though. I like computers but not body fluids, thank you very much."
He turned at the rumble of voices and hunched his shoulders. Feeling comfortable talking to a lone vampire female was one thing, but to have more come...now, that was a different story. He could only hope it was the team, and he wouldn't have to deal with anymore of Tessa's family.
He moved back into the doorway. "Who's that?"
"Rhia? Where are you?"
"I'm here." With a quick apologetic smile aimed at Jared, Rhia excused herself.
He followed her slowly. Hidden among the rows, he watched as a huge male, dressed in black – as were the other two standing behind him – wrapped her in his arms.
"The team is here," he said in a deep, commanding, gravelly voice once he released her, He motioned behind him. "We have several doctors prepared to do an initial assessment."
The team members, all dressed in different styles of clothing but wearing similar lab coats, came to a dead stop and stared in shock at the macabre sight of the hanging bodies filling the warehouse. Their mouths dropped open, and horror flashed across their faces.
"Oh, no. Please...no," one of them whispered.
"Look at the sheer number of people," another one said.
"Yes. Logistically, we're going to have a hell of a time with this." These words came from a male who stood head and shoulders above the others, his gaze riveted grimly on the scene before him. Jared understood. Rows and rows of people bound in plastic wrap and hung like meat. Pretty gross.
The big man tore his gaze away from the bodies and looked at Rhia. "Hello, Rhia. Sad circumstances. Let's focus on the injured young man you found."
He pulled out a clipboard from a large medical kit and walked over to her.
Jared stood motionless, horror choking his throat. The guy's medical bag was the same as those used by the people who had brought him here.
All eyes turned his way.
"Come out, Jared." Rhia smiled reassuringly at him. "They won't hurt you. I promise."
"Says you." Jared wasn't having any of it. He pointed at the massive, grim man who stared at him with his eyebrows beetled in the center of his forehead. "What about him? That black kit he's carrying is the same kind the people who run this place use."
Silence.
Everyone turned to face the man and his bag. His brows shot up. He looked down at the black bag in his hand. "Really? Exactly like this?"
"You're one of them," Jared snapped, as anger coursed through him. "Not a rescue team. What are you going to do, try and silence Tessa's entire family? Or are they in this with you?"
The man who'd hugged Rhia stepped forward. He'd made some attempt to put a soothing look on his face, but instead he looked like a deranged serial killer. And that look scared Jared shitless.
"Now, that's enough, Jared," Rhia's husband – if that's who he was – said. "We called these people to come help us. We need to take care of all these people." He waved at the rows of hanging bodies. "Let him check you out first to make sure you aren't still suffering the ill effects of the drugs they gave you."
"I'm fine, thanks. There's no way in hell any of you are getting close to me. You're all vampires, and you're here to protect your own. If you cared about helping these people, you'd have brought human doctors, too. How can you know what these people need when you treat them like animals?"
A young male walked toward Jared.
He backed up quickly.
"Whoa," he said, putting up both hands. "I'm David, Tessa's brother. You need to calm down and stop seeing boogey men around every corner. I know your experience hasn't been exactly easy, and I understand why you blame the vampires. You're certainly justified. But we're not all the same. Remember Tessa? She's the one who brought us here – to save you. To save them."
"So where is she, then? How do you know this team didn't take care of her already? Have you seen her?" Jared asked, a bitter tone in his voice. He scowled at the supposed doctor. "That bag he's carrying tells me everything I need to know. He's one of the assholes who strung up these people."
With that, he bolted down the far end of the room. The further away from them, the better.
***
Cody groaned and stumbled to his feet. "Damn it, Ian. What hit us?"
"I don't know." Ian clutched his head and tried to stand up. "Man, my head is killing me."
"Yeah. Mine, too." With a wince, Cody walked to the end of the hall. "No one's here. All I see is that bloody cupboard. Could it have fallen when we came through?"
He stared at the partially damaged shelving and the gaping hole in the wall.
"I suppose it's possible. It's not like we were calm and quiet. If the hinges were only secured to the drywall, they might have loosened when we jumped through.
"Great. I suggest we don't tell the others. This could be a little embarrassing. And speaking of that, let's go find them." Still rubbing his temple, Cody walked out to where the hallway joined the warehouse. Just the look of all those hanging bodies made his stomach lurch again. Damn scary. With Ian close behind him, he headed in the direction where they'd left Rhia and Jewel.
"I wonder if anyone has news on Tessa yet."