by Dale Mayer
Just as he decided the tunnel was a dead end, noises rang out up ahead. Running along the track closest to the far wall where the light was less bright, he rounded a wide corner and stopped.
A cart of some sort idled on the tracks up ahead with no driver in sight.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Tessa couldn't believe it. They'd been so close and yet...now they were nowhere again. Were they ever going to win the war? She tried to study the men staring at her. They looked like vampires...almost. Something about them appeared off, but she couldn't quite identify what.
"You, we want in the lab." One of them grabbed Tessa's arm with a claw-like grip and jerked her away from her father. It happened so fast, she didn't have time to react.
"Hey," Serus grabbed her other arm, and yanked her back to his side. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Two of the four men stepped forward and pointed their guns at the elders.
"Don't touch my daughter." Serus snarled. "Got it?"
One of the men pulled the hammer back on his gun. "We'll do whatever the fuck we want with your daughter."
"Stop." The leader of the group, the biggest man holding the largest of the guns, nudged Serus with the tip of firearm. He studied Serus, and then Tessa. Finally, he snickered. " I don't think she's your daughter at all. She doesn't look at all like you. Just another wanna be." He nodded to the first man. "Take her to the lab and get her prepped."
Serus opened his mouth, and the sound ripping out of his throat made Tessa cringe. She hunched her shoulders protectively as the howl resounded around the small room.
Uh, that guy shouldn't have said that. Upsetting her dad was one thing, but making him furious – yeah, these guys should have started running already. The leader slapped his free hand over his ear and raised his gun.
"Shut up, or I'll shoot."
Keeping her eye on the four men, she looked for her chance. The leader's gaze widened as the unholy sound screamed even louder. "What the hell"
He bent ever so slightly as the sound penetrated deeper in his psyche. Tessa launched herself at him, surprised when she hit him full on the chest without a bullet ripping into her. Her quick move had shocked them all, giving her the upper hand as she fought for control of the gun.
A long arm wrapped around her neck.
"Nice try, but not nice enough." Warm, mocking laughter filled her ear. She stared down at the bunched forearm banded around her neck and smiled. Her nails elongated and she locked them on his arm. Then she lowered her head and bit him – deep.
He screamed and released her. She turned and launched herself at him a second time. This time, she went for the jugular. Generations of vampire hunting instinct flowed through her veins and she bent low and tore at the man's throat. Power surged through her. She'd never experienced anything like this in her life.
The man tried to twist away from her, fighting to get free. She sank her teeth in all the way. A pair of gunshots cut through the man's screams and he jerked once, twice.
Tessa dropped him. She didn't recognize herself at that moment. She stared at the man bleeding from multiple wounds. Refusing to feel guilty, she turned to face the others, who stared at her in frozen wall of shock. Her father had two men locked under his arms, until he slammed them together and the cracking of their skulls reverberated through the room.
Tessa straightened and spun around. She wiped the dripping blood from her chin and spat out a wad of bloody mucous. "Nasty little bastard."
"That's supposed to be a delicacy." Goran chuckled as he held the fourth man by the throat.
Giving his victim a quick glance, Tessa determined he was gone, or at least well past the point where they should consider him a threat. The taste of the blood finally penetrated her mind, and she spat again and again.
"Blech!" she cried out. Young male blood was one thing, but this guy was something else altogether. She wasn't sure if he was turned or what…but his blood was just ugly. "That's gross. He doesn't taste right."
Nauseous now that the unavoidable had happened and the taste had taken over her mouth, she danced around try to spit clean her mouth. Her face twisted in disgust. "Water," she croaked.
Serus chuckled. "If these guys could see you now, they'd never believe what you just did. Neither will your mother." His chuckles grew into a rolling laugh. "But what you're doing now...priceless."
Tessa straightened, gave one more shudder, and turned to face him with a hopeful look. "You could just not tell her."
"He may not, but I will." Goran chuckled. "Can't tell which would shock her most, though. That you ripped into that guy's throat with your fangs, or that you danced around trying to clean out your mouth afterwards."
Fangs? She stilled, automatically reaching up to touch her teeth. Only her own nails were still too long. Her gaze widened. She stared at her father even as her tongue checked out her teeth. "Dad?"
The elders watched, smiles on their faces as Tessa held up her hands and retracted her long sharp nails. Her teeth receded at the same time.
"Well now. I guess they just needed a reason to come out." He grinned. "Those are quite the secretive weapons you've got."
Goran chuckled. "Wait to the young males see her now. They are going to be all over her."
Rolling her eyes, she decided it was time get back to the point.
"Can we go now?" She looked at the two men still hanging in Serus's arms. "Unless you've planned something special for them, of course."
Serus looked at the two men still hanging from his grasp. He opened his arms and let the two men drop to the ground. Neither of them moved.
"Let's go." Serus turned toward the open steel door.
"I think we should take their guns." Tessa reached down and snagged the one closest to her. The weight of the cold metal surprised her. She turned it over in her palm. "Wow. This is heavy."
"Put it down. You shouldn't play with something like that," Her father snapped.
"Really?" She peered up at him in shock, not understanding the look in his eyes. "I just helped kill how many men? And you say I'm not allowed to carry a gun?"
A chagrined look came over his face. "You might hurt yourself. Guns are dangerous for those who don't know how to operate them."
"I don't want to carry one." Disbelief made her shake her head. "However, we don't want to leave these weapons for anyone else to find. We don't need to face the wrong end again, either."
She walked over and grabbed the second weapon from the floor. "Remember that there are humans down here like Jared. He won't let himself be taken again." She lifted one of the guns. "He won't say no."
"But he has no training. A weapon in an untrained hand is very dangerous." Adamant, Serus fixed her a hard look.
She tried to understand his position. Given what they were facing it was hard. "They're dangerous in any hand. Come on, Dad, let's go help the others. I'd like to go home one day."
"Leave the guns here. We'll pick them up later if we need them."
She hesitated, studying the look in his eyes. Was that fear? She hefted the heavy firearms. She didn't really want to carry them...or to use them. Yet she found it hard to leave them behind for others to use against them again. A crumpled tarp lay in one corner. She walked over and hid the guns underneath it.
Standing up again, she faced her father and raised one eyebrow. "Happy now?"
"Yes. Thank you." Serus nodded at her, and then slipped through the metal door. She hid her grin.
Single file, the three of them strode down the long passage. This trip was faster than she remembered. Ten minutes more, and she stepped ahead of Goran and her father and opened the last door.
"Tessa, wait." Her father grabbed her arm. "Let us go first."
"No one is here." She halted with the door wide open. She couldn't see anyone. There should have been a tech or two at the computers if not more than that.
"What about David?" Serus reached her side. "Did he say anything more?"
"No
, his last transmission was garbled." She glanced back at Goran. "I managed to tell him we had company, and I never heard back from him."
"We have to watch out for everyone now," Goran growled. "Those vamps we found tied up in the van didn't get that way on their own."
"Right. So trust no one. Got it," she said.
Serus tugged her back, shot her a warning look telling her to be silent, and led the way. Falling into step behind him, Tessa studied the massive warehouse. The impact of the bodies was no less devastating this time. They hung in the massive room like sides of living morgue, giving her glimpse into the enormity of the process. She shuddered. How could the rescue team even begin? This was too big a job.
That's what the team was supposed to be doing...figuring out a way to deal with this. So what the hell were they doing now? They should be here moving around like worker bees. Instead, she saw no sign of them.
Her dad halted and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Ready?"
"Sure." She gave him a smile more confident that she felt. "How do we tell the good guys from the bad guys?"
"Hopefully the others will be able to help us with that. Ian and Jewel didn't make it to the surface, and I'm guessing the men who attacked us are the reason. Maybe the team isn't involved at all. We can't judge everyone the same. We just don't know."
Goran snorted. "That's exactly what we should do. Lock them all up and sort it out later. It's the only way."
Tessa was inclined to agree. "Maybe that way, I can be assured I won't end up drugged and kidnapped again."
"That's not going to happen ever again. Don't you dare leave my side. Do you hear me?" Her father glared as he waited for her nod. Once she gave it, he nodded sharply back. "Good. Now, let's go find your mother."
***
"Tunnel?" The mechanic stared at Cody and David in growing confusion. "I don't understand."
"There were four of us together at first. One we think went to explore a tunnel, and the other changed drastically – a personality change." Cody gave David a sideways look as he said it. "She'd only been gone from our sight maybe twenty minutes, and when she came back, she was like a different person."
Bart reared back and narrowed his gaze in thought. "Twenty minutes is hardly enough time for any drugs to get into her blood stream considering she's vampire. Human yes, their blood is different."
"How different? You did see that at least one vampire is slung up there with the others, didn't you?"
"No!" His gaze widened in horror, and his jaw dropped. "I'd assumed they were all human. That's no good. Vampire blood is very different. They'd need a separate collection system. Their nutrients would be different, too. Just think about it. You'd have to use the same blood – your good blood – just to keep the vampires alive so they'd continue to produce vampire blood." Bart shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense. No profit in that."
"Unless they need something from those vampires, making them valuable." Cody didn't want to think of what that might be. Just the thought made goosebumps rise on his arms.
Bart swallowed heavily. "I don't like the sound of that. Do you know the name of that vampire?"
"Moltere"
He closed his eyes as a shudder rippled through him, strong enough for Cody to see. "I was really hoping you wouldn't say that name."
Cody nodded. "We'd assumed he was behind this whole operation–"
"Until my father found him hanging," David added.
Bart opened his eyes. "Your father?"
"My father is Serus," David said formally. "Cody's father is Goran."
"Council members Serus and Goran. They'd certainly recognize Moltere." At the boy's nods, he grimaced. "Not good. The devil you know is one thing, but not knowing the devil behind this racket is something else again."
"We need to get a plan in motion, if we want to find the others. And Jared. Damn it, I'm pissed he's not here." Cody's eyes glittered as he remembered Jared's suggestions. "I'm pretty sure he's inside that tunnel."
"At least we won't have to worry about him while we go hunting."
"Hunting?" Bart held up his hands. "Whoa. You're not leaving me behind. They may have left me alone to figure out this mess, but they'll be looking for me soon enough. We need to stay together."
"Are you sure?" David grinned. "We might have to fight."
"Let's go." Bart snapped, his back stiffening, then strode toward the open door.
Once the three of them entered the main warehouse, David and Cody stepped forward, and Bart took up the rear position, muttering all the way. "I'm not saying I buy all this conspiracy stuff. But if...if it's true, then one in every five vampires could be involved."
Cody strode to the end row where Moltere hung. He stopped and pointed at the vampire. "There he is."
Horrified fascination filled twisted Bart's features. Cody grinned. Showing him Moltere probably wasn't a nice thing to do, but seeing it for himself would be more real than just telling him.
After that first horrified glance, Bart turned away. "That's him, all right. I don't need to see anymore." He brushed past the boys and headed toward a pair of doors facing them. "I haven't been in there. Have you?"
"I think so. Have we, David?" Cody thought they'd gone into every corner of this damned place, but couldn't remember ever seeing these two doors. The longer they went without seeing anyone, the more prickles rose on the back of his neck. He muttered, "Where is everyone?"
"I'm not sure." Bart opened the first door and stood there with his hands on his hips. "I want to know what they do with all of this stuff."
"What stuff?" David poked his head around the corner. "Oh, God. What are those? Spare parts? Research?"
Cody stepped up behind him and paled. "Nasty is what all of it is. I think they're doing medical research on their victims."
"Oh, my." Bart backed up several steps. "That wouldn't be very nice."
"And hanging here like the living dead forever is better?" Cody snapped. He backed out of the room before his mind could catalogue the hundreds of jars and tubs holding unmentionable but definitely organic looking parts. Human body parts. Gross.
They moved to the second door, and he held his breath as he pushed it open.
Jewel lay, fully dressed, in the center of the room on a bed, with tubes running in and out of her arms. Her face had a lax look, and her skin was pasty.
"Oh, my God." David raced to her bedside. "Jewel? Jewel, wake up, honey. Oh, God, Cody. Look what they've done to her."
"Do you think we can unplug her?" Cody stared down at the needles and tubes invading their friend's body. He desperately wanted to pull them from her arms, but wasn't sure what damage he might cause by removing them. He nudged David who was busy tapping Jewel's cheek. "Look."
"Yeah?" His friend turned and forced his attention to Bart, who stood beside a large, portable machine connected to the tubes leading from Jewel. David gasped. "What's that for?"
"I don't know, but I'm not sure we should disconnect her just yet." Bart circled the waist-high machine that resembled a shop vacuum on steroids, and appeared to study the valves. "I'm thinking it's a blood purifier. She doesn't have any major disease, does she? Like a kidney condition?"
"What? No. She's exhausted. That's why she wanted to go to the surface. I wanted her to lie down and rest." Anger radiated from David's body as he flung out a hand toward the machine. "They did this to her. I just wish I knew what they were doing."
"I think they're testing her blood." Cody watched the pulsing flashing lights, and his stomach sank. "Checking to see if it's good for them."
"No." Horror on his face, David bounded to his feet, reached down, and ripped the needles out of Jewel's arm so hard, it bounced with the force. "They won't get her. She's mine, damn it. No way in hell are they going to string her up with the others."
He flung the bloody tubes to the floor. Using the blankets, he put pressure on her oozing wounds. Then he glared at Cody and Bart, who were too stunned to move.
"Now...we're getting the hell out of here," he snapped, fear adding a razor's edge to his voice. "Even if we have to go back down to that damn tunnel."
Cody cocked an ear at a muffled thud out in the hallway. He glanced around the room. Someone had done this to Jewel. Surely they'd come back and check on her sometime. David was still trying to wake Jewel up from the drugs and wasn't paying any attention.