by Dale Mayer
"You stay here. We can carry these guys without any trouble." Serus picked up one, while Goran laughed at him and reached for two of the limp bodies. "Hey. Stop showing off."
Serus reached down and snagged a second man. Cody and David looked at each other, then reached and grabbed one body each.
Ian groaned and stepped up beside them. "I don't see why Tessa and Jewel can't pick up the last two. One trip and we'd be done."
"If you weren't such weaklings you could each take two, and we'd be done in one trip anyway," Serus called back, laughing.
"Hell," Ian snagged one of the last two men and half dragged him after the others. His movements were slow. Tessa felt sorry for him. He was still fighting off the affect of the drugs, too.
Jewel slid over to Tessa and whispered, "Do we have to?"
"Nope." Tessa didn't bother opening her eyes. Instead, she let her head roll toward Jewel. "I'm past it."
"Thank God. So am I." Jewel sagged lower against the wall.
Letting herself relax for a moment, Tessa said, "But we should go back to Mom and Bart."
Her gaze strayed to the open doorway where the scaredy cat Bart had stayed hidden with her Mom. Or had he? Suspicious, she nodded in that direction. "I think we should check on them."
Jewel's gaze widened in fear. She nodded.
Tessa slid silently to the open doorway and cocked her head to listen. Not a peep from the room. She turned back to Jewel who'd slid up beside her. Holding her fingers to her lips, she turned back and peered around the corner of the room.
Bart was nowhere to be seen.
Her mom still sat at the edge of the bed. Still.
"How is she?" A pale Ian leaned against the door jamb. He surveyed the rest of the room, his gaze landing on Tessa for a long moment. "What happened to Bart?"
"I don't know." Tessa shrugged. "I figured he'd be hiding back here somewhere with all the fighting. But there's no sign of him."
Ian straightened. "I don't like that. He was supposed to watch over your Mom."
Jewel frowned. "Are we thinking something happened to them? That while we were busy fighting, another group took him? If so then why wouldn't they have taken Rhia?"
"Or Bart was really one of the bad guys and he fled while we were distracted." Ian looked from one to the other. "That's possible, isn't it?"
Tessa ran her fingers through her hair. "Or maybe he just found another room to lie down and have a nap where it was much quieter. He's an oddball."
David and Cody walked in, knocking Ian on the shoulder to get past him. "Is he hiding under the beds? It's Bart you're looking for, right?"
"Right." Tessa smiled. "And I've looked already. He's not in here."
Cody backed up so he could look up and down the hallway. "There's no sign of him out here."
"Of course not," scoffed David. "That's where the fighting was. He'd run the opposite way."
"Hmmm." Tessa walked over to where Cody stood and surveyed the area. There been too many people, too much commotion for her to sort through and see Bert's energy trail. "So now what?" She couldn't believe it. "Damn it, Cody, is this something to panic about or is he fine?"
Goran and Serus walked up to them. "The thugs are taken care of. Surely, if there's a rescue party on the way, they'd be here by now?"
Tessa had wondered about that. "In theory. But if they don't know about the garage then they could be all over the property and still not find us."
"And if Bart was fooling us all along, he may be warning the others or even bringing in reinforcements himself," Cody suggested, disgust lining his face.
Goran frowned. "Bart? That fat old wimp. What about him?"
Tessa explained about the missing Bart.
A shout called out behind them, with more noise gathering in the distance.
Tessa spun around. One room suddenly overflowed with people spilling out to the warehouse, filling the hallway at the far end.
"Who is that?" Serus asked, suspicion and astonishment in his voice.
Goran laughed. "Your daughter's rescue party from the looks of it."
Tessa recognized the male leading the way toward her. Jared stormed through the door and a large group of people flowed in behind him.
"Jared." Her face lit up in a huge smile. She ran over to him. He opened his arms and hugged her tight, lifting her off the ground.
Tessa laughed against his shoulder. Leaning back slightly, she looked up at his handsome face, the huge grin matching her own. "Finally."
Damn, he looked good.
"Hey, Jared, who's the vamp?"
"I'm hoping that as she's in his arms, she's not one of the blood suckers?"
"Who knows?"
Tessa's smile fell away as the comments registered. She glanced around and realized they were surrounded by the others. The human others. Jared hadn't known about her heritage before. Of course, after the mess of the last few days, he did now. She felt his instinctive withdrawal an instant before his arms dropped.
Her own system went into protective mode. She stepped back and smiled. "It's good to see you healthy, Jared. You scared me."
He smiled gently. "Apparently, seeing as how you mounted a full on rescue. Thank you for that, by the way."
She nodded formally and answered the same way. "You're welcome."
Cody walked over and stood at Tessa's side. She appreciated his support. After all she'd been through these last days she shouldn't care what the others thought of her, but just knowing something didn't make it happen instantly. She did care. And she didn't want to.
"Hey, Jared. Next time you want to let us know what you're doing?" Cody reached over and smacked him on the shoulder.
"We were afraid you'd been taken again," David said, smiling as he joined them.
Jared winced. "Yeah. That occurred to me somewhere in the middle of finding my way out. Sorry about that. I just couldn't stomach the thought of being taken again. Much better to get out and bring back reinforcements." He turned back to face Tessa, a second big grin breaking through. "Apparently, you contacted damn near everyone, huh?"
Tessa flushed. "I figured the more the merrier. At least this way, we have a better chance of getting real help."
"Yah think. Well, there's everyone here from the Council to the police. Half the school appears to have shown up and more are coming."
"Oh, my God."
A hushed silence filled the air.
Tessa turned to study the faces. The warehouse of bodies finally registered on the masses. "Yeah. Not nice is it."
She noticed several officials standing at the front. She walked over to them. "Don't let people wander. These are sensitive machines. We have to help these people not accidentally kill them. Also, we don't know that all the grunts have been caught. So please control this before it becomes uncontrollable."
The two men took one look at her then behind her. Tessa glanced behind her and saw the elders had walked up behind her. She turned to face the people crowding around. At least from this position, the entire warehouse was mostly hidden.
Cody added, "Keep everyone here. It's way worse down there."
The men's faces hardened. They turned and immediately took control of the crowd. Tessa watched with relief as the moving surge of people were corralled. Two other men, uniformed but not police, walked over to talk to her.
"You're Tessa?" the first man asked.
Tilting her head, she tried to figure out who they were. "Yes, that's correct."
The two men stood shoulder to shoulder and faced the elders, curiosity and formality on their faces. "Do you know who's responsible for this place?"
Goran bristled. "Not us, that's for damn sure."
"Easy Goran. I'm Serus. We've taken several prisoners and locked them up in one room, several others are...dead."
Cody interjected quickly, "Unavoidable given the war we've just waged on behalf of both people."
"Both people?" The second man, built like a semi truck with a neck that disappeare
d into his shoulders without a visible connection studied them curiously. "How's that?"
Serus took over. He was used to taking command and being listened to. And it came across in the commanding tone of voice. Everyone straightened, listening. "There are many different people involved in this monstrosity. Vampires, humans and some that are in between. Many of the ones we've taken prisoner are hybrids or something...not quite us or you. And just because a rogue group of my people have done this, don't think they did it alone. They had human help – and a lot of it."
Goran nodded, adding, "This is a huge issue that will affect thousands of people on both sides. I can tell you that not all vampires are in on this." He motioned to the group gathered behind him. "None of us are. We came here to help. Humans are involved, too."
Soft, horrified gasps swept the room. As Tessa looked out over the sea of faces, she realized more and more vamps had arrived. They had a huge mix of both now. Was that good? Or Bad? She didn't know. But someone needed to take the situation in hand.
Goran waved at someone on the far side of the room. "Good. The Council is here."
"Hopefully both Councils," the second officious looking man muttered. "And the medical team."
"We're a little leery of any team at the moment, as the last one tried to take some of us prisoner and actually drugged my mother with some horrible substance. She's not the woman we know personality-wise right now." Tessa chewed her lip. "In fact, I'd like to take a doctor to her first."
"They attacked you, too?" The first man's eyebrows shot up again. "Even though you're vampires?"
The doubt in the official's voice had her bristling. She didn't dare allow herself to show her anger. Instead, she had to remain diplomatic. Too bad her teachers hadn't taught that in school. She studied the many new faces as Council members, vamps and human alike, fought through the crowd to reach their sides.
"You see us as the enemy, and you're wrong," she said. "The people who did this, both vampires and humans, are the enemy – an enemy to all of us."
Silence surrounded her as everyone considered her words.
"We're not on different sides here. The fight belongs to us all," she reasserted.
The bullnecked man who'd spoken to her earlier asked, "You will help us to fight, then? Can we count on your support?"
The vampire members of the Council gazed at one another. Tessa lifted an eyebrow as she waited for them to all come to an agreement. She wasn't fooled by the numbers present. Chances were good that several people in this crowd were already on the wrong side. They could hardly go up against the popular vote without bringing attention to themselves, however.
"You have my vote." Surprisingly, Goran said the words first. He stood before them, tall, defiant, and aged. "I tried to stop the killing when it happened last time. That our enemies took the fight underground, only to rise again, is unacceptable. This time, we must wipe out those responsible and put a stop to this scourge forever."
Tessa studied the elder, who was showing his age right now. She didn't know if it was because of his failure to wipe out this scourge, as he put it, or the tough last few days, but he looked as if he needed a couple of days to sleep. Her father didn't look much better.
Serus nodded his agreement, and his eyes lit up. He stepped forward, grabbed Sian and Taz, who'd just worked their way through the crowd, and brought them up to the front of the group, Sean and Taz, with their mixed marriage further blurred the line between humans and vampires.
Sian stood firm and agreed to help fight the enemy, and Tessa smiled.
One by one, the other Council members gave their assent. Human and vampire alike reunited with each other to fight a common enemy.
Tessa knew the way ahead wouldn't be easy, and that they would probably slide back more often than they would move forward. And that everyone would no doubt drive her crazy with all of their discussions and talks, and that she would get annoyed because of the general lack of action, but still she thought this was a good thing. That this was progress.
The elders spoke among themselves as the next wave of people came in, mostly medical personnel and police. Tessa sighed with relief. Now maybe they could do something for those poor people.
After realizing the severity of the situation, the police immediately moved the large group of would-be-rescuers back up the hallway to the surface. Then the officials turned their attention to the room full of prisoners. Several of the captives were alive but unconscious. They took those out on stretchers, and walked those who were conscious past the crowd of hecklers.
Tessa stood off to one side to avoid the commotion. Taz, along with a vampire doctor Tessa didn't recognize, was with her mom. Doctors were also checking Ian and Jewel. And Goran...well, Serus and Cody had to hold him down so the medical team could check his injuries. In truth, they'd all gotten away pretty easily. No one was dead, and no one had been seriously injured. She hoped her Mom would recover fully.
War was coming. They'd started it. She didn't know how bad things might get, but she knew one thing: She had the right people on her team.
Jared stood off to one side with the group of teens he'd brought with him. Sure, the two of them had a few issues to work out, mainly her vampire heritage, and they'd either make it to staying friends, or they wouldn't.
Then there was Cody. He was just so damn special.
Besides, he'd kissed her. Not today or yesterday, but not so long ago that she'd forgotten. And from the awkward side glances he kept giving her, he hadn't either. He'd held her close and acted as if he'd cared. She grinned. Good.
She planned on repeating that kiss – only this time, she'd make it real. He wouldn't know what hit him.
Tessa had no idea what that one instance of telepathic communication meant, or if it was only a result of the fight they'd been involved in, but it would be interesting to find out.
They might have a future yet.
She let her gaze stray to Jared, and found him staring at her. He smiled, shyly at first, and then with real warmth that Tessa couldn't help but acknowledge. He did make her smile. And yet...he wasn't Cody.
She gave him a happy grin, and a small chuckle escaped her mouth. So maybe her life wasn't all that bad. She'd truly left shy, insecure Tessa behind. She couldn't really say who she was now, just that she wasn't done changing. And if the last week was anything to go by, then who knew who she'd be in a few short months?
For the first time ever, even with the war looming, she felt powerful, excited to be female, and even more overjoyed to be herself.
Tessa, the awkward vamp, was no more. She wasn't exactly the next hot thing on the market, thank God. But who and what she might become was someone she couldn't wait to meet.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Tessa's high spirited, yet extremely tired group finally exited the warehouse three hours after the authorities arrived. Taz stayed behind to help assess the humans. The large group that had arrived earlier had already moved out, giving Tessa only a brief moment to say goodbye to Jared. The medical team had given him a quick look over and then taken blood samples to test for the type of drugs his captors had used on him. Now the team was taking him to a hospital for more tests. He hadn't been terribly impressed at the idea of more needles, but they'd convinced him to go anyway.
He also hadn't been thrilled about leaving Tessa. She'd tried to include him with her group, but the authorities had insisted he go with the others. He was human and had no adult representation. Plus, he needed care.
Several times, Jared had tried to explain his own family might be a danger to him. The end result was that they would take him somewhere safe until the authorities sorted out this mess. Tessa had asked to bring him home with her family and had been voted down by the human authorities. Something about keeping him with his people.
This wasn't the first time she'd come up against that barrier, but it had dimmed her joy. Still, as long as he was safe and content, she would be, too. In fact, going home was all she wanted f
or everyone.
"Come on, Tessa."
David slung an arm through hers, while Jewel hung on his other arm. As they walked down the long hallway to the surface, Tessa kept her face pointing forward. The last thing she wanted was for her last image of this place be of the hanging dead.
She smiled as they walked through the computer room. Things were so different now. And that was damned good. She was beyond tired. Several days in bed sounded good about now.
"Tired?" The cooler air revived her slightly as her father walked up behind her.