by Dale Mayer
"Tessa? What are you doing? Don't you want to go see your mother? Or are you worried about your father?" Goran's voice dropped gently. "You don't have to be. He's very capable and strong. Almost as strong as I am."
He said it so modestly that Tessa had to shoot him a grin. If her father were here right now, he'd argue the same thing of himself.
"No, I'm not worried about him. The vehicles are bothering me."
His face lit with understanding. "Oh, they’re just from the medical team. We'll need a lot of specialists to help these people."
"I know that." Tessa crossed toward the first vehicle. "But the energy from this vehicle hasn't dissipated like it should have."
"Energy?"
"Yeah. Energy." Her lips twitched at the confusion in his voice. "There's something inside this van-something big; something alive."
"What are you talking about?"
"I can't explain it. It has to do with the energy of each person." She reached the van at the same time she finished talking. Walking around it, she studied the large black windowless vehicle. It was tall enough for people to stand inside, and wider than normal to make room for both medics and stretchers. The driver and passenger side doors sported the Ministry of Vampires logo. "In this case, that vehicle still contains energy. I'd say people are inside."
"Oh, I don't think so." Goran swept his arm toward the big house. "We'd just finished searching the house for you when the team arrived. So we took them all down with us. And I know we've been looking for you for a couple of hours, but I doubt anyone has returned to the surface again – and if they had, they certainly wouldn't have stayed up here. Not with the mess going on below."
Tessa glanced toward the house, then back at the vehicles. The old energy definitely hung low to the ground but it was pale and wispy. The energy surrounding the van was anything but dispersing – it pulsed.
She walked to the rear of the van in time to see her father arrive at Groan's side.
"About time. Please convince your stubborn daughter to go down to her mother. She's going on about some weird energy around the vehicle."
"Tessa?" Serus strode toward her, his face full of parental concern. "You should be resting after your ordeal."
"I know," she said patiently, struggling against her fatigue. She'd like nothing better than to lie down. Only right now, she couldn't. "This is more important. I need to make sure the ordeal, as you call it, doesn't happen again."
"Of course it won't. You won't be alone until we get home. And the team," he said, sweeping his arm toward the vehicles, "has arrived as you can see."
Frustrated, Tessa stalked to the back of the van, grabbed the silver handles, and opened the doors.
Two people, bound with rope, lay motionless in the back, partially covered by a blanket.
Tessa gulped. Oh, no.
"Dad, Goran," she said, a shakiness to her voice. "You'd better come here."
Silence surrounded her.
Irritated, she stuck her head around the door and yelled, "Come here now!"
Both Goran and her father walked over to the van.
"What is it?" her dad asked.
Tessa shook her head, reached into the back, and whipped off the blanket covering the floor. Goran's shocked gasp was music to her ears.
She turned to look at her father. His face had turned pure white; only his eyes gleamed black in the night.
"Jesus." He climbed inside and studied the two people tied up and tossed into the back. "Who are these people?"
"Well, you could try waking them up and asking them," Tessa said," but I'd say they're a part of the original team that was supposed to go below."
"If these two are members of team," Goran said grimly, staring at Serus, "then who the hell did we take down below?"
*.*.*
"There you are. I was starting to worry." Rhia ran toward Cody and David. "Don't take off like that again, please. Things have been just too weird lately."
For the first time in Cody's memory, David's tall, calm mother appeared rattled and tired. Being vampires, looking less than gorgeous wasn't normal. They all aged so slowly and had such stunning healing abilities and dynamic genetics that they always looked wonderful.
Now, Rhia looked edgy, and close to losing control.
David reached out and gave his mom a hug, obviously seeing the same thing that Cody did.
Cody patted her shoulder and walked past them. Ian and Jewel followed.
"Tough day, Mom?" David asked.
She nodded. "The worst."
Walking into the main warehouse, Cody cringed. The sight of all those bodies never got any easier. Remembering his earlier suspicions, he walked casually down the left side to the patient rooms. Along the way, he saw only one member of the team, a woman writing down numbers from bodies on a particular row. He walked over and smiled down at her. So young and innocent looking, he couldn't imagine her being on the wrong side of this war – but what did he know?
"What are you doing?" he asked.
She gave a delightful little laugh and held up her clipboard. "Writing down the serial numbers to check against the database; we're looking for some kind of pattern or system to the way the people have been hung here."
"What difference does that make?" He found it easier to keep an eye on her than to let his gaze wander over all that plastic-looking flesh. "Why not cut them down, remove the tubes, and just ask them who they are and where they're from?"
The laughter slid off her face. "Because some of them might not wake up."
"Oh." Cody winced. To be hung up like that temporarily was one thing, but to never wake up – that was another thing entirely. He almost didn't want to know but couldn't stop himself from blurting out, "Meaning that if you cut them down, you might kill them?"
"Yes. If they've been up there for years, their muscles will have atrophied, rendering them incapable of movement. They may not be able to breathe on their own. Chances are good their hearts won't pump blood without assistance."
"But you don't know that. Medical breakthroughs in the human condition have been huge. They can now bring people out of comas who have been stuck in that state for years."
"True enough, but years, not decades."
"Well, they can't stay suspended like this."
"No, they can't." Her smile returned. "That's why we're trying to figure out who is who. How and why did they select each person? Do they have any similarities? We need to know everything."
That made sense. He had to ask, "When will the human team arrive?"
She frowned. "I didn't know they were coming."
Cody reared back in exaggerated surprise. "Why wouldn't they? These are humans. Who better to look after them than their own?"
"I suppose that makes sense." She raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. "But I'm not the one making the decisions."
"So tell me who is, so I can ask them."
"Dr. Morgan and Dr. Thane," she offered. Then she turned back to the woman hanging before them.
Nodding agreeably to names he'd never heard before, he asked, "Where can I find them?"
"That way." She nodded in the direction of the computer room that had served as the main monitoring station. "The last time I saw them, they were working on the computer system."
"Thanks." Cody spun around and stepped on the toe of Ian's shoes, their noses an inch away. His eyebrows shot up. Ian jumped back, glaring at him. Striding away from Ian, Cody headed back to where Rhia and David stood, speaking in hushed voices. Jewel stood close enough to be a part of the group but far enough away to give them some privacy. Jared leaned against the wall next to her.
"Hey, Cody, Tessa's back. She has just texted me from up top." David held up his phone.
"Great." Cody grinned. What a relief. Maybe now they could all get clear of here. "Glad she's back safe and sound."
"Except for one thing." David motioned Jewel to come closer. When the five were al
l close together, David shared Tessa's next text with them.
Cody's blood ran cold. "Shit."
"Say what?" Ian shook his head.
Jared walked over to them. "What did I miss?"
David quickly explained.
Jewel didn't waste any time with words. She leaned against David's shoulder, her gaze horrified.
"So there are two unwelcome team members? What about the others? Are they good, or bad?" Jared demanded.
Ian's face darkened. "There's no way to tell."
"Great. We're once again surrounded by bad guys." Cody couldn't believe it. He glared in the general direction of the warehouse – two of seven. And these were the ones they knew about.
Jared spoke for the first time. "I told you."
"Yes, you did." David sent him a hard look. "But we didn't have any proof. Now we do."
"What can we do about it?" Rhia wrinkled her face. Fatigue and worry were taking their toll. "Both Serus and Goran are up there. And honestly, at this point, I'd like to be with them. Or even better, back home with this mess over."
"I second that notion," Jewel whispered, her shoulders slumping.
David's phone jingled again. Quickly, he read the new text. "Tessa wants to contact the human authorities."
Silence.
"At this point, we might cause a war." David raised his eyebrows as if querying the others.
Countering, Cody suggested, "Or we might cause one if we don't."
"I have no doubt that someone broke the treaty," Rhia said. "We definitely need to call Taz. The longer we keep the Human Council in the dark, the worse the war will be."
"I'm not letting one of your vampire doctors get close to me," Jared said. "And I hardly think anyone hanging out there is going to feel any different."
Stumped by that bit of commonsense, Cody asked, "Who would we even call?"
"The Council and the police; they run my side of the population and will contact the correct authorities." Jared looked at him. "And they'd bring human doctors."
David shook his head. "It's not that easy. You're assuming vampires are the only bad guys here. There might be bad humans, too."
Jared immediately opened his mouth to protest, but Cody cut him off with a wave of his hand.
"Right," Cody said. "To have this many humans go missing without raising an alarm means there has to be some human involvement."
Jared's features pinched. He glared at both Cody and David. "That's a stretch."
"No, it's not." Rhia shook her head. "This is a huge organization. Just think about it. There should have been a missing person's file on everyone here. If that had happened, then I'm sure the police would have pulled together a special task force to find out why so many had gone missing. A serial killer might be responsible for doing away with a couple of dozen or so, and the police might solve fifty to a hundred unexplained disappearances – but five hundred? Five thousand? That's just not reasonable. There could be more warehouses like this one. Have you considered that?"
"No." Jared shook his head and stared down at his feet, as if considering her words. Finally, he said, "If we can't trust anyone, then what are we going to do?"
They all stared at one another in silence. No one had an answer.
Tessa watched anxiously as her Dad tried to wake up the two men collapsed in the back of the medical van. She didn't hold out much hope that they would recover any time soon; at least not in time to help them out.
She turned to Goran. "We need to bring more people in on this mess."
"How do we know whom we can trust?"
"We don't. But that doesn't mean we have to do this all on our own. We can't." Tessa rubbed her temples in an effort to combat the exhaustion pounding away inside her head. "Can we?"
"The problem is we don't know how many we're up against here." He frowned at the surrounding area, and then glanced over at the house yet again, as if expecting an attack from that corner. "Do we?"
"No, we don't. What if we retake the warehouse, sort out the team, and bring in new people from both sides," she said, unsurprised when Goran raised his brows. She shrugged in response. "Hey, it's only fair."
"It's no use. I can't wake them," Serus broke in, hopping down out of the van. He stared back into the vehicle in frustration. "I don't know if they've been drugged or just knocked unconscious."
"It doesn't matter, does it?" Tessa asked. "They might need medical attention, too."
Serus nodded and pulled out his cell phone. Glancing over at Goran, he said, "I think we need a Council meeting, here on the spot?"
Goran brightened. Then he laughed. "Now that's a good idea. Why didn't I think of that?"
Tessa groaned. "Then you have to invite the Human Council, as well."
They stared at her.
She glared back at them, frustrated enough to want to stamp her foot. "This is a problem for both sides, not a situation for vampires alone to police. The humans need to know what's happening to their people."
"But not right now," Goran said. "We first have to sort out who's doing this. Bringing them in at this point will only confuse the issue. We need to have answers to give them, plus the names of the offenders we capture so we can give them the assurance that it's over and won't ever happen again."
Tessa had to stop and think, and that required effort. A lot of effort – and damn it, that hurt now. Her brain swam as she struggled to come up with a solution. Keeping the humans out was wrong, but was it wrong to keep them out of the mess for just a little while longer? Her dad was right in that bringing them in would confuse the issue, especially if they arrived right now. How could they find the two people who had infiltrated the team below if they had to sort through more confusion?
She met her father's eyes. "Do we know if there are only two people below who shouldn't be there? Or do we have reason to think the rest of the team members might also be from the other side?"
"You're not thinking straight," Goran said, motioning toward the van. "If more imposters were inside, then they would have left more people out here that they replaced."
Serus wrapped his arm around her. "You need to go home, Tessa. This could get ugly. I don't want you involved."
"Dad, I'm already involved." A strangled laugh, more of a groan really, escaped Tessa's throat. A sound so foreign even she didn't recognize it. She rubbed her eyes. "Yes, I could use some rest and some food. But an hour of sleep should do it."
"No. You're out of this now." He held up a finger to stop her protests. "I don't want to hear anymore about it. We'll bring in the enforcers, and they can sort out this mess."
His comment triggered a faint memory. Tessa narrowed her eyes. "Do you mean the same enforcers who believe that human blood is the only true food source? The same enforcers who were part of the problem last time? Dad, you're not thinking. I'm sure they would be delighted to come. To join with this group, if they haven't already." Her voice rose to a small roar.
With a shake of her head, she subsided and leaned against her father.
Goran winced. "She's right. As much as I'd like to bring them in, I'm not sure it's the right thing to do."
"Then what is?" Serus shot his hands up into the air. "Whom can we trust?"
"No one." Tessa rotated her shoulders and neck, easing the achiness. Now that she was safe and warming up, her energy had returned; her vampire heritage was stepping in to heal her and about damn time too. "Especially not the team below. For all we know, they replaced these two people," she said, waving her hand at the van, "because they were the only non-enemy team members." She paused before repeating, "We can't trust anyone."
Goran stared at her in frustration.
"We can't handle this alone," Serus snapped. "We took seven people down there. Two of them, at least two of them, have already replaced part of the original team."
"Do you not know any others in the Council or on committees we can trust? Are all the elders untrustworthy?"
/> Shocked silence surrounded her.
She closed her eyes and groaned softly. Oh, the fragile egos of the elders. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded." She tried again. "I'm trying to understand why you don't trust more people."
"We have elders we trust with many issues. This problem, however...well, it divided the Council when it happened before. It's looking to do the same again, but on a much larger scale."
Rubbing the back of her neck, Tessa stared at the two men. "Surely there has to be someone you can trust to take control. You suggested the Council, and then switched to the enforcers. Why?"
"I don't know," Serus muttered, "I started thinking about the members who'd been pro blood farming decades ago."
"It is an ancient problem," she said. "But if you don't trust the older vampires, then bring in young blood-ones who don't have the same prejudices and beliefs. My generation."
Both men snorted, and Goran said, "We're not bringing in children to do a man's job."
"Why not?" She snapped at him. "I dare you to say that to Cody, Ian, or David."
"That's different. They're men."
Even Serus winced and closed his eyes, as if waiting for Tessa to strike Goran a mortal blow.
"I'll ignore that comment, thank you," Tessa said stiffly. Once again, she realized that they had got a group of vampires together and nothing had gotten done. They had talked themselves into circles without achieving anything. Pulling out her cell phone, she texted David, repeating her words aloud as she typed. "Who can we contact to help? Dad suggests the Council and the enforcers, and yet has admitted both are problematic."
"Who are you texting?" Serus stared down at the phone in her hand suspiciously.
She smothered a smile. "David."
"David? Why not your mother?"
"Because I figure she's your age and will hold the same prejudiced suggestions that you do." She shot him a wry glance. "Am I wrong?"
He grimaced. "Probably not."
The wind picked up, chilling them as she waited to hear back.
The longer she waited, the more worried she became. Finally, she looked at her father. "Do we know if our group is still safe? That the people you called in haven't overpowered our people and locked them up?"