by Dale Mayer
"I don't know." Stiff-necked, Serus glared at her. "What do you think we should do, oh Miss Genie-with-all-the-answers?"
"I think we should try to wake him." She tossed her long hair in a move that even she knew was a mannerism similar to one her mother would make. "We need every available person on our side."
Walking closer to Ian, she reached down and smacked him hard on the cheek. Her frustration caused her to use more force than she'd intended, and she immediately felt remorse.
Then he groaned.
She hit him a second time.
His eyelids fluttered open. "Whaa...at–"
"Hey. It's Tessa. Wakey upy time. Enough sleeping for you." She grabbed his shoulder and shook it to keep him from closing his eyes again. "Come on, Ian. Wake up."
"Okay, okay. Jesus." He struggled to sit up, but his left arm crumpled and he fell back against the pillows.
Merciless, Tessa smacked him again, this time on the shoulder. "You need to get up. Now. You have to walk off the drugs."
"Drugs?" His flat black eyes drilled into hers. "What do you–"
"You were taken prisoner, drugged, and hooked up to one of their damn machines."
"Jesus." Ian rolled his gaze toward the machine, and his eyes widened when her words registered. He bolted from the bed, swaying unsteadily as he scampered to lean weakly against the far wall. "So...they got me? They were going to hang me up?" Looking for answers, he swept his terrified gaze from Tessa to Serus to Goran.
Tessa shrugged. "I don't know what they were going to do. I just know we found you before they could do anything else."
"Who are they?" He stared at the people still in bed. "Where's Jewel? I was with her. What happened to her?"
"I don't know." Tessa frowned and shook her head. "We haven't found her yet."
He stiffened and turned to face the elders. "What about the others? Have you found any of them?"
"Not yet." Serus shook his head. "We found you first."
"Let's go, then." Ian stumbled to the door and out into the warehouse. His face turned green at the sight of the people hanging. "Which direction?"
"Left. We're moving left."
He lurched for several steps.
Tessa winced. They wouldn't be able to sneak up on anyone with him around. "Maybe you should wait here with the others until we come back."
"No." His eyes widened in revulsion. "We go as a group, or not at all. I may never close my eyes again."
"You and me both." She understood. "All right. Let's go find the others."
He took several more staggering steps before her father stepped up, slipped beneath Ian's arm, and wrapped his arm around Ian's waist. "Come on, son. We'll give your body time to acclimatize as the drugs leave your system."
"Thanks," Ian muttered. "Hate to think about what shit they shoved into my arm."
"The same shit they shoved into everyone else's arms," Goran muttered, bringing up the rear. "What, do you think you're special?"
He might be crusty and in pain, but he was still strong, Tessa had to admire Goran's perseverance. Even injured, he kept on coming – regardless.
Ian twisted his head to glare at Goren, and his gaze fell to the man's shoulder injury "What happened? Did someone attack you?"
"No." Goran's testy voice crackled, echoing in the huge space. "They got in my way."
Tessa kept her grin to herself. "We should have company soon. Let's see if we can put a stop to this war before it escalates."
"War." Her father narrowed his gaze at her. "Do you think anything we're doing in here right now is going to affect the war? This is only a small setback for these people. The war is so much bigger than you can imagine."
"Then it's good more people know about it." Tessa refused to back down. "It's about democracy and upholding our Council. This can't be shoved back under the rug while these guys go underground for another fifty years and become even stronger. This has to be crushed now."
"You're still in school. Just a kid." Goran snapped at her. "You don't know how hard that will be."
"No, I don't. But I know a hell of a lot more now than I did a week ago." She halted. "Wait. Do you hear that?"
The small party stilled, listening.
"I can't hear anything," Serus said.
"Singing. I thought I heard someone singing." At the weird sidelong looks she received, Tessa actually wondered if maybe she'd only imagined the music. "Okay, so maybe I was wrong."
Goran shook his head.
Tessa took another step and heard it again. "It's coming from up there."
She quickened her pace, and the singing stopped. Warily, she approached the next open doorway, her dad at her side.
"Mom? Jewel? Oh, my goodness." Tessa ran inside. "Are you okay?"
Serus rushed to Rhia's side. Tessa stopped and studied her mother. The woman in the bed looked like her mother, but... Rhia smiled, then continued to sing aloud, oblivious to the crowd crushing through the doorway.
Jewel sat against the head of the bed and grimaced. "Please make her shut up. She's been like this for the last half hour. I asked Bart to silence her, but he stuffed some earplugs in his ears and went to sleep." She pointed toward a bed on the far side of the room.
Tessa shook her head at the old rotund vampire snoring heavily on top of the blankets on the spare bed. "Who's he?"
"Apparently, Cody and David left him in charge." The disgust in Jewel's voice was evident as she stared at Bart. "Can you believe it? Just wait until they get back."
"Cody's all right?" Goran's husky voice, thick with emotion, interrupted her.
Surprised, Jewel focused on the elders. "Apparently, they both are. I vaguely remember seeing them, but the drugs were still affecting my mind. According to Bart, the two of them took off to go hunt bad guys. Rhia is still under the influence of some kind of weird drug. She won't shut up. She just kept talking and talking." Jewel rolled her eyes. "Then she started singing."
Serus shook Rhia's shoulder, but she wouldn't stop singing.
Tessa walked over to her mother, rested a hand on her shoulder, and shook it gently. "Mom? It's Tessa."
Rhia stopped singing and turned to look at her, a silly smile on her face. "Hi. Have you taken care of those intruders yet? They're causing us some trouble."
"Rhia, honey," he said, sitting on the bed beside her. "Are you feeling all right?"
"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" She frowned and darted her gaze from him to Tessa.
Tessa studied the ties keeping her mother secured to her bed. "Did David do this?"
"What?" Rhia looked at Tessa struggle to undo the straps. "Oh, yes. He did. Said something about it being for my own good."
As the straps dropped away, she rubbed her sore arms. "Thank you, dear."
Then she smiled. A smile so bright and empty, Tessa's stomach sank, and she couldn't stop herself from backing away. Serus shifted his gaze from his wife to his daughter.
"What's wrong with her?" He stared down at Rhia's face. "Rhia? Are you feeling okay?"
"Of course I am." She sat up and stretched her arms high above her head. "I'm Rhia." She beamed at him with that same empty look. "What's your name?"
Tessa and her father stared at each other in shock.
"Do you not know who I am?" he asked, worry accenting the fatigue on his face.
Goran and Ian hobbled closer.
"How about us?" Goran asked. "Do you know us?"
Rhia stared at Goran, and a heavy frown creased her forehead. Then she switched her gaze to Ian, and her eyes widened.
"Traitor!" she shrieked. "You're one of them."
She flew off the bed and attacked Ian. Standing close beside him, Goran stumbled backward.
Serus snagged Rhia up in his arms. "Stop that. Don't hurt him. He's been hurt enough."
She shrieked and fought like a madwoman. Tessa stepped away in fear and anger as the woman who looked like her mother fought with her father. And unfortunately, she was winning.
Tes
sa's dad didn't want to hurt her.
Shit. Tessa stepped up and pressed down hard on her mother's neck in the same knockout hold her dad had taught her a long time ago. Rhia collapsed in Serus's arms without making a sound.
"Damn it." Serus stared at his daughter, and then at his wife, horror rippling across his features. His eyes turned black with disbelief. "What did you do?"
"You know what I did. You're the one who taught me." Exasperated, Tessa pointed at the bed her mother had just left. "Lay her back down. We can't have her screaming like that."
"Hey, there. What's all the ruckus about?" Bart blinked at Tessa and yawned. He turned to stare at Rhia. "Her again, huh? Well, at least she's out now. Can that woman squawk, or what?" He rolled over again as if to fall asleep again.
"Hey. Don't go back to sleep. Where did David and Cody go?"
"They're hunting for the other team members." Bart twisted around and met her eyes. "Don't know how long they've been gone." He closed his eyes and settled back down.
"Don't worry about him. He's harmless." Jewel shifted on her bed and stood up carefully. "I was ready to walk out of here and find David myself, but I'm still not all that steady on my feet. And I didn't want to leave Rhia alone."
"No." Goran shook his head. "She shouldn't be left alone. I don't know what they've done to her, but...it isn't good."
"Come on, Goran. We need to find the others." Tessa led the way back to the doorway. "Dad?"
Keeping silent, Serus stared down at his wife.
"Serus?" Goran said.
"What did they do to her?" He lifted his head and stared at the others.
Tessa winced at the broken look on his face. "Dad, we'll figure it out. But first we need to find David and Cody. Bart and Jewel will watch over her."
He nodded but couldn't tear his gaze away from his unconscious wife.
Goran stood at the open doorway. "Serus, let's go. We can't help her right now."
"Ian, why don't you stay here with the others.. Regain your strength and be here just in case…" Tessa walked back to lay a hand on his shoulder. "Mom will be fine a little longer. Lock the door behind us."
She glanced over at Ian and Jewel, relieved when they both nodded.
"We'll mark the door so we can find you again, and we'll be back real quick," she said. "With any luck, the boys will be back here before we are." Turning to Ian, she added, "Don't let anyone leave. Do you understand? We're coming straight back."
"Go. We'll be fine." He lay down and struggled to get comfortable in one of the empty beds.
Goran tugged on Serus's arm and pulled him away from Rhia. Tessa walked over and snagged his other arm.
"Come on, Dad." She let go of him as they reached the door. "Time to find the assholes who did this to Mom."
That did it. Fire blazed in his eyes, and he strode out past both of them to lead the way.
***
Jared walked toward a light shining up ahead. He seemed to have been putting one foot in front of the other for miles. He couldn't image what time of day it might be, having been underground for days, or maybe even weeks. Why hadn't he asked what day it was, anyway? For all he knew, he'd been held prisoner for months. No, surely not. Tessa had gone looking for him right away. It had only been days, then.
Thank God.
He thought about the guy he'd knocked out. How had he made it through the chaos, when no one else had? Why was it so important that he make it? Unless it was because of the meeting he'd mentioned. Where was it supposed to be? Jared hadn't seen any offices or similar types of rooms inside the warehouse. Then again, who knew what they might have hidden in there? And if they had hiding places, how many more people had Tessa's group missed? People who knew the group was in the warehouse, and yet had stayed hidden themselves.
Damn. How could he warn them? He had no cell phone, and even if he did, it would likely be dead by now.
The circle of light up ahead grew larger. The silence in the tunnel unnerved him. Inside the warehouse, his head had been filled with the screams of the living dead, but out here the only thing screaming in his head were his own worries. And they were bad. Maybe the sense of being all alone amplified them. He'd loved silence prior to this week. Now he longed for noise, crowds of people, and loud music. Anything to fill the dead space and crowd out his fears.
The light was daylight. Relief washed through him. Thank God. He might make it out of here after all.
Then the crushing silence was broken.
By crowds. Angry crowds.
Shit.
***
The back of Cody's neck prickled. The warehouse seemed empty, and that couldn't be. The enemy had to be hiding somewhere. He held up his hand. David stopped behind him, and Cody searched the area. Nothing.
Hissing softly, he said, "I can sense them, but I can't see them."
"That's instinct, I suppose." David moved ahead, silently. Frowning, he too studied the same space. "Where are they, though? I don't get it."
"Me, either." Crouching down, Cody searched under the rows of hanging bodies. "There's no sign of anyone."
"Which means nothing, as we well know." Hands on his hips, David surveyed the long hallway. "Do you think they might be hiding in the rooms up ahead?"
"I don't see where else they could be. Let's go." Cody slipped close to the wall and raced down the hallway until he came to the first closed door. He waited until David settled in on the other side, then shoved it open and jumped inside.
Empty. A room full of empty beds.
Hearts pounding, they did the same to the second door.
This one held more empty beds and a desk. Nothing else.
"I don't get it." Cody stared at David in confusion, then walked out into the hallway. "I can still feel them."
"I can, too."
Without warning, a pair of long arms engulfed Cody and squeezed him in a vice so tight he couldn't get any air. He struggled frantically. He hadn't even seen his attacker. Next to him, David fought with another man.
The vice tightened around Cody's chest. He couldn't breathe. He gasped for air, and the fight slipped from his muscles. Just as he struggled against losing consciousness, his attacker lifted him off the ground and carried him aloft. Helpless, he watched as David's assailant did the same with him.
Cody's vision blurred, and then he couldn't see anything.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Tessa followed the elders out of the room. Goran should stay behind, but he'd refused. He was even more stubborn than her father. As if reading her mind, he walked faster. Tessa could only roll her eyes. She didn't know if all men were like this, or only old men but...talk about stubborn.
As much as she hated to admit it, she was wearing down – again. That shouldn't come as a surprise to her. Down here, she couldn't tell night from day. She had no idea how much time had passed since she'd been kidnapped. Worry and stress had taken their toll on her. She needed another shot of vampire adrenaline.
Casting one last backwards glance at the room where they'd left everyone, she asked, "Dad, do you really think we should leave them alone back there?"
"Now you're questioning our leaving them? What else can we do?" His face darkened. "Ian isn't back to full strength yet, Jewel is still suffering the effects of the drugs, and then there's Rhia. I'd love for us to stay together, but we need to find Cody."
Tessa knew that. But just ten minutes ago, her mother had also been missing. Leaving her behind again felt wrong, but necessary. It had been on the tip of her tongue to suggest that Goran also stay behind, to heal. She could just imagine Goran's response.
"Stay close, Tessa. If you can't keep up, we'll take you back." Goran's words made her snort.
She caught up with them again. "I'm right behind you. Go back if you need to lie down."
He spun around so fast, she could barely saw the movement. But the outrage on his face made her step back.
She giggled. "Okay, so maybe not."
Goran stared at her for a
long moment. Then he grinned. "Sass. You're just pure sass these days."
They made it to the long hallway and did a systematic search of each room. Nothing. Again.
"It's like they just disappeared. Where the he...ck is everyone?" Mystified, Tessa stood with her hands on her hips, surveying the empty hallway as the two men rejoined her.