by Dale Mayer
"David asked a moment ago if the others of their group ever made it up here."
Serus's piercing blue eyes pinned her in place, as if fire stoked deep inside him. His shoulders straightened and a battle-ready look came over his features. "We have to assume they've all been taken. We took seven members down, and left six of our people. If our group has been split up, they could be overpowered easily."
She gulped. "Or they're on the run and can't text us."
He looked around the area. "We don't have much time." He opened the back of the truck and studied the interior. "If we stick them in here, they might wake up and get out."
"I vote we stick them in that nasty little room inside the house halfway down the stairs.
His eyes lit up. "Perfect." He bent down and hoisted the first man onto his shoulders. "You lead the way and open the door."
Glad to have something to do, Tessa raced ahead of him. Her father's innate strength had never been something she'd dwelled on before, but he'd lifted that man like a bag of potatoes. Once he put him into the room, he went back for the other one.
Finally, it was done. They locked them up and then Tessa jumped up the last flight of stairs and walked out into the parking lot.
Two other vehicles sat at the curb, and both drivers' doors were open.
"Oh, shit."
*.*.*
"No one made it to surface." David choked out the words.
Cody snatched the cell phone from his hand and read Tessa's text. Where the hell had Jewel and Ian gone then?
"Maybe they just need a few more minutes." Cody stared at Rhia and David. "Ian isn't an idiot. He'd have done whatever he could to avoid a confrontation. Just because they haven't made it to the surface yet doesn't mean he isn't still working on it. Or maybe he has decided things look bad and they're returning. It's too early to know."
"Yes, it is." Rhia's face was pinched. "I don't like it, though. I can't reach your father through these miles of walls."
"Tessa says they have company," he continued.
With horror etched on their faces, everyone stared at each other.
"This is ridiculous," Cody snapped. "With them up there and us down here, our numbers are halved. Split up like this, we'll be easy to pick off one at a time."
Rhia's face paled, and she swayed. David put a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"I'm damned glad Tessa's up there with Goran and Serus," he said. "They'll not only protect her, but they're also the answer to our problem as well."
"We have to have better communication. One lousy cell phone isn't doing it."
"Both Jewel's and mine are dead." Cody looked at his dead phone in disgust. Maybe their surroundings had something to do with the phones dying so fast. He didn't know. It didn't make sense. They should have been good for days. "I don't know about Ian's."
"You don’t? ’Cause we're liable to lose that one soon, too, if it's not dead already. Mine's almost done. I doubt Tessa's is much better. She's been on the run longer than we have."
"Poor baby," Rhia murmured. "She has to be exhausted."
"She's tough. We just never knew how tough."
"None of us did." Jared straightened and walked over to them. "Let me get this straight. We know the tunnel is a potential way out, and yet we're still sitting here. Why? Particularly now, when we figure Ian and Jewel have most likely been taken captive."
"We don't know where the tunnel goes."
"So?" Jared raised an eyebrow. "There's only one way to find out."
"I hate to say it, but he's right." Cody grimaced. "If we wait here, they're liable to come after us anyway."
"I vote we check out the tunnel." Jared stuck out his jaw.
Cody studied him. His damn stubborn chin was one thing he'd always remember about Jared and this mess.
"I can't leave Jewel or Ian. I'll never be able to face their parents if anything happens to them." Rhia shook her head. "You three, get out of here. Join up with the men and Tessa and figure out how to get us out."
"No, Mom." David hated the thought of leaving her with these assholes. "I don't want you going out there."
"I'll be fine. They'll think twice about hurting me. Besides, they have no idea of my skills. Go and get help. The three of us down here need you."
"You know," Cody said slowly. "Considering you do have some serious skills, and we have the three outside on our side – why don't we go on the offensive?"
David studied him. He hated the answer that popped into his head. Even after all they'd been through, they were still thinking like kids and not men. He hit Cody on the shoulder. "You're right. We should be doing to them what they're doing to us-picking them off one at a time. We should have done that right from the beginning."
"Do you think we can take them?" Jared gazed from one to the other. "I'm only human and don't know what kind of serious skills you're talking about, but I'm game. I'm more than fed up with being a victim."
"No." Rhia shook her head rapidly. "Oh no, you could get hurt. We're not doing that, and that's final."
"Sorry, Mom, but we're not ten anymore." David grinned down at her. "I don't feel like running from this. We don't know where that tunnel goes anyway. What if it's a dead end and we get locked down there forever? No. Cody's right. I hate to say it, but we've been acting like scared teens. Tessa's done better than we have."
"Then, I'll go. They'll take me captive and put me with Ian and Jewel. Then we'll be together." Rhia walked to the doorway. She looked out at the warehouse, and then turned back. "Hurry up."
She disappeared around the corner.
"Shit. Now Mom's going on the offensive, too," David said. "We're not looking so good here."
"Speak for yourself," Cody muttered. "I've done plenty so far, thank you."
"Yeah, so have I. Not." David shot his friend a disgusted look. "You got to play all the hero roles this time."
"What do you mean 'this time'? I'm always the hero." He grinned as David came up and slugged him across the shoulder. "Okay, Sir Galahad, let's figure out how you're going to save Jewel."
"Oh, shit." Tessa backed up several steps until she butted up against her father. "Dad?"
"Damn it," he murmured softly. "Did they see you?"
"I'd say yes, but let's retreat and maybe they'll think we belong here." She spun and walked into the other room as calmly as she could. If nothing else, there was a door to one of the back decks off to the left. Stairs were good-in fact, stairs would be perfect right now.
Her father trailed along behind her.
"Dad, come on," she hissed, eager for him to catch up. "Let's go out the back way."
"I'm coming."
Heavy footsteps pounded on the front stairs.
"You're not fast enough." Tessa reached the back door and damned near ripped it off the hinges trying to open it. "It's getting light out there."
Damn this time of year. They were coming up to the longest day of all which sucked big time for vampires who got short changed on the hours of darkness.
"Go, go."
She and her father raced outside, and the door slammed shut behind them. Tessa didn't waste any time choosing a direction. She darted to the left.
"Tessa," her father hissed. "Go up, damn it, now."
A whispering gathering rushed above her. Of course…she wasted one more second to see if they were being followed, then jumped as high and as fast as she could. She glided to the top of a large, majestic fir tree standing down the hill beside the house. Deep branches slashed at her as she plowed into the top.
"Crap," she said, wrapping her arms around the trunk. She got a mouthful of needles in her panic to stay upright. As landings went, this one had to be at the top of her shitty list. The tree swayed.
Before she could fall, a pair of strong arms grabbed her and held her tight.
"You're safe," her father murmured in her ear. "Take it easy."
"Sorry, I must be more ti
red than I thought. I didn't judge my speed very well." Pressed close against him, she tempered her voice. Even the smallest sound sat heavy in the early morning hours. "I just–"
"You panicked, most likely."
"Well..." She struggled to come up with another word for it, but he was right. Standing secure in his arms, she loosened her hold on the tree and looked around. "Do you think they saw us?"
"I don't think so."
"Good. We're visible here though." She couldn't see any sign of the new arrivals. "We have to do something. We can't let them go into the warehouse."
"Goran's taking care of it. He's jamming the lift down."
"Oh." Tessa frowned. That might stop them from getting down, but then their friends and family members couldn't get up again. Not a good situation. "So they're trapped down there."
"For now, but don't worry. He's not going to break it. He's merely buying us enough time to take these guys out." He shifted his position and made the tree sway again. Wondering what he was up to, she held on more tightly.
He looked at her. "You stay here. Don't come down. I need to know where you are at all times."
Just like that, he leaned backwards and fell.
Tessa almost cried out, but choked back the scream at the last minute. A moment later, her father, confident and sure, strode toward the house. Damn. She would have liked to go with him. She kept him in sight for as long as she could.
Once he had disappeared, she wished she weren't alone. Being left behind sucked and she wished Cody were with her. They'd made a good team. Cody or Jared? She frowned. Jared or Cody?
Jared was a good friend, and Cody had been anything but. And then he'd kissed her. She hadn't really given Jared a chance, and he certainly hadn't kissed her. She couldn't compare kisses if she hadn't sampled both of them. Now, could she? She grinned at the thought. That might be the only reason Cody had sneaked into her heart.
He was dynamite, after all. And he'd carried her through the night. She'd loved sweeping through the sky in his arms. He was so strong, so tender, so caring.
She sighed again. He was so-o-o nice and cute.
Talk about being a sad case.
Now he was locked in that horrible warehouse...with Jared. Even after mounting a rescue, they still hadn't gotten him out yet.
Tessa grinned. Now she could save them both. That would irritate Cody to no end.
She couldn't help but wonder how they were getting along together. She chuckled. She couldn't imagine them in the same room for too long. She shifted her grip on the tree trunk.
And then slipped…
She panicked and lunged for the trunk and lost her footing. And fell.
Out of the tree.
*.*.*
Cody stared at Jared. It was easy to ignore him in a group setting. But when there were just the three of them, not so much. He really wanted to hate the guy. Sometimes, he even managed to.
Like right now. Jared was arguing for the sake of arguing. Tyson, Cody's brother, did that, too. He always had to have the last word in any argument.
"Can we please stop this?" David said. "The way I see it, we only have two choices. We can either run, or we can attack."
"Let’s attack." Both Jared and Cody spoke at the same time.
They glared at each other, and then at David. Cody snapped, "See? The answer's obvious."
"Great. Fine." David threw up his hands "But we still need a plan. We can't just run out there. We need to take them out one at a time, or find a way to free Ian and Jewel so they can help us."
Cody stretched and rotated his head to ease the pressure on his shoulders. He needed some serious action to wear off the stress knotting his muscles.
"Not Jewel," David said. "She shouldn't be involved."
"That you're sweet on her isn't the issue. She's still a powerful vamp," Cody said, shooting a disparaging look at David. "She also wouldn't want us to cut her out of the action."
"She might not want to be cut out, but she's also hoping to not do anything more." David frowned and shook his head. "Like Tessa, she's worn out. They need to rest."
"Maybe so," Jared said. "But none of us are going to get a break anytime soon."
"Hey, what is this-some kind of boy session or something?"
Cody started at the feminine voice behind him. It belonged to the daughter of Rhia's friend, Tami – the team member with the wrong name tag. Turning toward her, he gave her his famous drop dead gorgeous look.
"It'd be much more fun if you joined us." He waggled his eyebrows at her and then with a sweep of his arm, he invited her into their circle. He kept a close watch on her face.
Light-hearted laughter accompanied her grin. Only, she didn't move any closer. "Thanks, but no thanks. I have work to do. Why don't you come out here so we can talk?"
David stiffened.
Cody made a subtle movement to take the attention away from him. "We're discussing the dates we have lined up for the weekend. When the boy talk's done, we'll come on out. It's a little too gruesome out there for us delicate guys, you know."
She laughed and turned back to eye the warehouse's gory contents. "I suppose. They do look like sides of beef, don't they?"
Struggling to keep a smile on his face, Cody swallowed. He didn't think so. That she'd compared the humans to dead animals made his stomach roil. Maybe she was in on it. How could they know for sure? Was someone waiting for them outside the door?
He pursed his lips and stepped closer to her.
David grabbed his arm. "Don't."
"We have to do something other than just stand here." Cody kept his voice low. "Follow a few steps after me. In case they try to take me out."
"Fine," David said so softly Cody had to lean over to hear him. He released Cody's arm. "But be careful. I don't trust her."
Neither did Cody, but damn...she was pretty. He swallowed, gave her a carefree grin, and then shot a warning look at David and Jared. Her waiting for him right at the doorway was another big fat warning sign. So just why was he walking into a trap? Because their options were disappearing pretty damn fast.
The door was only a few feet in front of him when Rhia appeared at Tami's side. Cody reared back and frowned.
"I think there's something wrong with the person on monitor twenty-three-fifty-five," Rhia said hurriedly.
Cody didn't know what to make of that statement. She hadn't been gone but twenty minutes. Was something wrong? Or was she maybe creating a diversion? Damn it.
The nurse took one look at Rhia and headed back into the warehouse.
Rhia turned to him. "Are you okay, Cody? You're not looking so good. Maybe you should lie down for a bit."
He stared at her in shock. "Are you serious?"
She frowned. "Of course I am. What are you doing hiding away in here, anyway?"
"I'm never going to lie down inside this place. Remember what happened to the last person who did?"
"Cody, what are you talking about?" Her frown deepened. "If you're not going to take a nap, then I highly suggest you get back to work. We don't have time for this. We need your help. These people have to be moved, and fast. That means you and the others are going to need to pitch in." She gave him an even darker frown before turning on her heels and walking out of sight of the doorway.
"What others?" Jared asked carefully.
"Who took my mother and replaced her with that imposter?" The shock in David's face made Cody realize just how bizarre Rhia's actions and words had truly been.
"She's been brainwashed," Jared said. "Although I hadn't seen any sign of it before, that's the only thing that makes any sense."
"Brainwashing isn't likely with vampires. Our brains are physiologically different from yours." Cody continued to stare at the open doorway. It now represented the entrance to another world. A place so foreign and strange he scrambled to find an explanation for it. What had they done to David's mother? And how had they done it so fast?
/>
"Now what do we do?" Shock threaded through David's voice. "I figured they had an ambush sitting right there waiting for you."
"So did I and they may still have one set up." Cody stared at David as the answer came to him. "Drugs. That's the only explanation."
"Explanation for what, for Christ's sakes?"
"For Rhia's behavior of course – she never would have acted like that otherwise." He spun around. "Think about it. This place is crawling with drugs and experiments. They had to have injected her with something. There are loads of mind-altering, personality-shifting drugs on the black market."
"I remember hearing Mom and Dad talking about it awhile ago."
"Well, that does it. I'm not going out there." Jared backed up several feet and crossed his arms over his chest. "That's why the only guy I managed to have a conversation with in here wasn't upset about being hung up as a stuck pig for the rest of his life."
The other two looked at him.
"He actually seemed happy," Jared explained. "I couldn't understand it. Your mom suggested they'd given him drugs, telling me how powerful vampire drugs can be. Now…yeah, now I'm convinced."
"But how does all this change things?" Cody couldn't help but think that it had. He just hadn't worked his way through all the ramifications.
"I can't leave Mom and Jewel behind. And we have Ian to consider, as well. They're counting on us," David uttered with a finality that made Cody's stomach sink. "We have to save them."
"That's not what I wanted to hear."
David stared up at him. "We have no choice. They've done something to Mom. We have to believe the worst about Jewel...and Ian."
Jared snorted. "Sure we have a choice. We make a quick getaway or we go out there and end up as happy zombies."
David spun around to face him, furry etched on his face. Cody pulled him back. "Easy. He wasn't trying to insult Rhia."
Unappeased, David glared at Jared. "Go ahead. You make a solo trek out of here and get help. We'll stay and rescue the others."
Jared scowled back. "And maybe I will. Tessa could also need help. Did you think of that?"