by Dale Mayer
Cody turned around, looking for more attackers, but came up empty. Too empty.
"Where'd Motre go?" He stood up and did a slow turn. "And where are the rest of this group? We sent back, what, eight people?"
"Yeah, but most were humans. If our friends have been drugged, just imagine what's happened to them." David glared down at Ian. "What the hell do we do now? This is the second time for both of them."
"And that's probably why it worked faster this time. It's like they are getting mini doses. For all we know, if they get another one this state of mind will become permanent."
David stared down at Jewel in his arms. "That's so not going to happen."
"Then no more splitting up. I don't care what the reason is – we stay together. How hard is that to understand?"
Anguish in his voice, David said, "And what do we do now? Motre appears to be gone, and I'm not leaving our friends here. Who the hell knows where they'll be by the time we come back."
"That's easy. Wake them up and snap them back to normal," Cody said. "We can't know how much of the drug the assholes got into them, but we saw how fast it worked. It should snap off just as fast. At least, I hope so." He didn't mention Rhia, who was possibly still dealing with the drugs they'd given her. He reached down and gave Ian's shoulder a hard shake. "Ian. Wake up."
No response. In fact, the more Cody shook Ian's shoulder, the looser his head wobbled, as if he wasn't even there.
"Damn." Cody sat back on his heels. "How did we wake him up last time?"
David snorted. He walked over to his friend, bent over, reached an arm back and belted Ian across the face – hard.
Ian groaned.
David repeated the heavy-handed motion with his other hand.
The crack resounded around the room.
Ian's eyes popped open.
He blinked. His gaze wide and unfocused. David shoved his face into Ian's. "Wake up! The vamps got you – again."
Ian blinked, then blinked again. He turned his gaze to Cody, a cloudy question in his eyes.
Cody nodded. "More drugs, Ian. At this rate, they won't have to hang you up in the blood farm – you'll be a walking convert to their side."
Ian blinked yet again, then comprehension hit. He surged to his feet…and scrambled to the far end of the room, where he stumbled and swayed in place. He turned, his gaze frantic, spinning from one person to the next as he tried to orient himself.
Cody approached slowly. "Easy, Ian. It's okay. We're friends."
Ian's gaze landed on him, and hardened. "What?"
Cody sighed, then slowly and patiently explained about him and Jewel coming back with the group of humans to collect the others that had been drugged. By the time he finished talking, some of the confusion had slipped from Ian's gaze and he looked less like he was ready to run over Cody to get the hell out.
He shook his head slowly and finally said, "This place is the house of horrors. I swear I'm never going to sleep again."
"How do you feel?"
Ian snorted. "Like I've been drugged and had the shit kicked out of me."
Cody grinned. "You almost sound normal."
Ian frowned. "Almost?"
Cody tilted his head, as if considering what about Ian didn't seem quite…right. "Oh yeah, you're looking smarter. That's so not a good look on you."
Ian snickered. "You mean you look dumber than me. That is normal."
Cody slugged his friend in the shoulder. "Let's go see if Jewel is awake."
"Yeah, I remember bits and pieces." Ian studied Jewel as they approached. "I don't know how she's going to be; she put up a hell of a fight."
David glared at him. "And you didn't?
"Sure, I did. But by the time the others were subdued I ended up under a half dozen of those assholes." He rubbed the back of his head. "Like, what the hell? Those guys are getting bigger and uglier all the time."
"Yeah, they're doing drug testing and some weird genetic stuff on them."
Ian looked horrified. "Shit. They better not have done anything like that to me."
"They couldn't have had you long. We've only been separated…what? An hour? If that."
"I really don't want any more drugs." Ian ran a hand down his face.
"Not only that, but every time it seems like the effects work faster."
Ian shuddered. He nodded toward Jewel. "What about her? How come she's not coming out of it?"
Cody snickered. "Because David walloped you up the side of the head to help you come back. He doesn't want to hurt Jewel."
David leaned protectively over his girlfriend. "We can't hurt her."
Ian snorted. "So, it's all right to beat the crap out of me, but not her?"
Cody grinned as David shot a lethal glare at Ian. "Absolutely."
"You might want to consider that the drugs are damaging her system more effectively while she's out. Awake she can fight the drugs and," Cody took a deep breath, "any programming they might have tried to do."
Alarm flashed in David's eyes. "Programming?"
With a worried glance at Jewel, Cody said, "Rhia believed Ian was one of the bad guys, remember?"
David gazed down at Jewel still slumped in his arms. "Crap." He closed his eyes, then stared up at Cody. "You're going to have to do it."
Cody glared right back. "Hell no. She's going to hate me for it when she wakes up."
"You don't have to hurt her." He shot Cody a dark look. "You just have to wake her up."
Cody snorted. "Like you did to Ian."
Both Cody and David turned to look at Ian. He glared back. "What did you hit me with, a baseball bat?"
David grinned. "My fist."
Ian's gaze widened. "I owe you one."
"Like hell."
David looked up imploringly at Cody. "You do it. It's okay if she hates you. I just can't have her hating me," he said in a reasonable tone of voice. "Right?"
"But it's all right for her to hate me?"
"Sure." David's grin widened. "Absolutely."
Cody knew his friend didn't have what it took to hurt Jewel. Love did that to a person. But he'd also be pissed off if Cody hurt her more than was necessary. A fine line indeed.
Glaring down at David, in a move so fast neither of his friends saw it, Cody smacked Jewel hard on the side of the head.
"Hey." David shoved him back.
Cody rolled his eyes at him. "What the hell, David."
David shrugged, then studied Jewel's lax face. "It didn't work."
"Of course not," Cody muttered. "I'm not allowed to hurt her. Remember?"
David took a deep breath, then closed his eyes. "Do it again."
Cody studied his face, then turned down to Jewel. With a deep breath, knowing that Jewel was a girl and a friend, and knowing it's what they needed to do, he struck Jewel harder. A solid, flat clip on the side of her head. And followed it up with another one right after.
Jewel groaned.
David whispered, "Thank God."
Cody backed off, and watched as David finished waking up Jewel in a much gentler way.
When her eyes opened, Cody was close enough to watch the same reaction Ian had gone through. Confusion, awareness, disbelief.
"Jewel?" Cody studied her face warily. She could still be on the other side in her head.
She blinked rapidly – then, in a soft, broken voice, said, "David? What's going on?"
David smiled down at her, his face beaming. "You were attacked and drugged, then tried to beat Cody up."
Her gaze opened wide as she twisted her head to look up at Cody. He grinned at her. "Of course, I let you."
She rolled her eyes and tried to stand. Cody reached out an arm to steady her. "Easy, slugger."
She swayed in place. David wrapped his arms around her. "Take it easy. Ian was drugged again too, but either they didn't have time to get much into you or you are already starting to fight the effects."
"And while we were drugged," she murmured, "what did we do?"
&nb
sp; Ian answered, "I think we fought on the bad guy's' side."
Jewel shuddered. "So we became like Rhia?"
Cody laughed. "I don't think you were singing off key like her, but we just got here, so who knows. I know you attacked me. And David here was forced to wrestle with Ian until we could knock you guys out."
Jewel's gaze locked on Cody's face. Then narrowed. "You hit me?"
He widened his innocent look and sidestepped the question. "I used my dad's hold to knock you down."
She moved her jaw experimentally. And winced. "Then why does my face hurt?"
Cody backed up. "Cause we had to bring you around so you could combat the drugs. They move faster through your system unchecked like that."
She pursed her lips. "So you not only put me out, but you smacked me awake?" Temper was starting to build in her tone.
Cody didn't mind taking a hit for hurting her, but he'd be damned if he'd do so in this case. "Fine. Next time, we'll leave you here and let you become a vampire slave," he snapped, glaring at her and David. His friend was keeping out of the fight. Smart man, but he wasn't helping Cody's situation. Pissed, he strode ahead and opened the next door. "This damn rat maze is nothing but a tunnel cordoned off into small sections by doors. And I, for one, want out."
He let it slam closed behind him. This hell had to have an end. There were miles of tunnels, but were the hell was the equipment, the living quarters, the cafeteria? There had to be large machine shops, storage, and miles of venting. Where was the main farm? He knew how to get out from there.
The room he'd entered appeared to be a central spot with multiple doors heading off in a circle. Freakin' ridiculous! That's what all this was. He strode to the first one and tossed the door open. Empty. Just like everything else in the damn place. Without giving himself time to consider other options, he strode from one door to the other and checked them all. All empty. He glared at the sheer, vast whiteness that surrounded him, then lashed out and kicked the wall. One hard slam and his foot went through the wall.
He pulled back and kicked it again. The hole widened.
"What are you doing?" David's voice held curiosity but little understanding.
Cody kicked again. "What do you see?"
"I see you venting your temper on a wall. Not exactly the best way to deal with the situation."
Cody spun to face his friend. "Damn it. I'm not that out of control. There's nothing behind the wall. I don't get it."
David frowned, then walked over to the hole Cody had made. He squatted and peered onto the other side.
"Can you see anything?"
Jewel shuffled closer until she was right behind David. Cody watched the two in disgust. "How can you see anything from down there? Let me make it bigger." He judged the distance and lashed out to hit the wall above the hole he'd already made.
David pulled out several chunks of wood and pulled it free. In no time, he had a spot big enough to step through. He disappeared from sight.
"Hell." Cody followed him quickly, with Jewel and the ever-silent Ian coming in behind him.
***
Jared hated to wait. At least he was out of sight from anyone on the street. Tessa's family property had a huge hedge in the front. He stared at it, wondering if vampires did yard work at night like humans did in the daytime? Did they have mail delivery during the night, too? For vampire letters.
The whole concept was quite mind-boggling.
Did the vamps consider humans as backward and as useless as humans tended to think of vampires, if they thought of them at all? Jared considered the little bit of conversation he'd heard over the years. Mostly it had been done in hushed voices and awkward glances tossed over the shoulder to make sure they weren't being listened to. Vampires were still feared from long ago – with humans not realizing the feeling as being fear but still caught under its spell, anyway. Like the ancestral memory of always being prey to a bigger faster, larger species.
He laughed at his musings. The vampires had always been peaceful in his lifetime. He didn't count the rogue ones they were battling right now. Every society had a group of renegades.
His was no different. Look at his uncle.
Dark, angry clouds gathered in the sky. There were hours of sunlight left in the day. His guts warred impatience with fear. He so didn't want to go back up that mountain.
A voice – so quiet and calm he almost missed it – spoke behind him. "Are you ready?"
He spun around as the question was repeated. There was still no sign of Tessa's brother. He swallowed hard and said, "Yes. As soon as you are able to."
There was a slight pause, as if the other man was considering his words.
"I'm not used to understanding from humans," Seth said.
Jared's gaze widened. He'd never considered that Tessa's brother had experienced prejudice from humans. "I guess I'm viewing your species a little differently after having your family rescue me," he said.
Jared couldn't see Seth. Yet he knew he was there. Staring at him. Dissecting him. He squashed a shudder that was threatening to destroy his facade of calm. He hadn't felt this way with Tessa's family at the blood farm, but there was no doubt this vamp was a whole different animal.
Then, all of a sudden, the intense scrutiny stopped and Jared felt like he'd been released from some crazy, unseen hold.
He released a deep breath slowly. "How long before we can leave?"
Silence.
Then, in a more businesslike voice, Seth answered, "My car has tinted windows, so we should be able to go soon.
Jared nodded while he puzzled over yet another unknown aspect of vampire life. They drove vehicles – modified, apparently. He stared at the open hallway, feeling even more like an outsider. It was dark inside the house. Did they have lights? Did they need them to see, or did they have a type of animal vision that could peer into the depths of night to make hunting easier? So many things he didn't know.
And now, because of Tessa, he was wondering just how their lifestyle fitted in with the humans. Or maybe it didn't. Then again, look at Tessa. She'd made it work. But at what cost? The more he saw the differences between humans and vamps, the more he realized how much Tessa had given up in her journey into the human world. To be the only one to go out in sunshine had to be unbelievably difficult. Like, how did they find out she could go out on her own the first time? Of all the dangers that could befall an infant vampire, keeping them out of the sun had to be paramount. So did Tessa just unbolt a door and run out? And by her survival they knew she was different? Did her brothers then go try the same trick themselves?
For all Jared knew, there were another half-dozen siblings until the parents managed to stop them from trying out sunshine.
He shook his head. He didn't even want to step inside Tessa's house. Yet Tessa had gone to school with him. She'd attended classes, eaten lunch, done all kinds of human things…like it was natural.
And maybe it was…now. But how did that start? Did she wake up one day and say "Screw it, I'm going to be human and go to a human school?"
No. No one did that. Even kids who hated their parents didn't do stuff like that. They ran away from home. Or defied their families and spent all the time a long ways away.
They didn't just change who they were – not at that level. Tessa had not only bridged the two species successfully – she'd done it with style. From what he'd seen, she was comfortable with both.
And that was amazing.
"Are you ready?"
Jared turned to hear the sound of a car door opening. He stared at the open door, then toward the side of the house where the car engine purred, and made a fast decision. If he wanted to get back up the mountain, he'd have to catch his ride.
He jumped down the stairs and, just as he went to turn the corner, the front door slammed behind him.
He spun around. Long shadows had fallen across the lawn, giving it an eerie look.
Shit. He'd assumed that there'd been just Tessa's brother inside the house
.
And, if that was the case, who the hell was driving the powerful black car that was coming straight at him?
***
"Goran. Wake up." Serus smacked his friend several times, hoping the shock would bring him back to awareness. There was no sound or movement. Serus ran his hands over his friend's body, looking for breaks or other signs of injury. Instead he found a needle jabbed into Goran's arm. Serus pulled it out and threw it across the room. "Damned drugs, why can't they play fair?"