by Dale Mayer
She tried to understand his position. Given what they were facing, it was hard. "They're dangerous in any hand. Come on, Dad, let's go help the others. I'd like to go home one day."
"Leave the guns here. We'll pick them up later if we need them."
She hesitated, studying the look in his eyes. Was that fear? She hefted the heavy firearms. She didn't really want to carry them...or to use them. Yet she found it hard to leave them behind for others to use against them again. A crumpled tarp lay in one corner. She walked over and hid the guns underneath it.
Standing up again, she faced her father and raised one eyebrow. "Happy now?"
"Yes. Thank you." Serus nodded at her, and then slipped through the metal door. She hid her grin.
In single file, the three of them strode down the long passage. This trip was faster than she remembered. Ten minutes later, and she stepped ahead of Goran and her father and opened the last door.
"Tessa, wait." Her father grabbed her arm. "Let us go first."
"No one is here." She halted with the door wide open. She couldn't see anyone. There should have been a tech or two at the computers, if not more than that.
"What about David?" Serus reached her side. "Did he say anything more?"
"No, his last transmission was garbled." She glanced back at Goran. "I managed to tell him we had company, and I never heard back from him."
"We have to watch out for everyone now," Goran growled. "Those vamps we found tied up in the van didn't get that way all on their own."
"Right. So trust no one. Got it," she said.
Serus tugged her back, shot her a warning look telling her to be silent, and led the way. Falling into step behind him, Tessa studied the massive warehouse. The impact of the bodies was no less devastating this time. They hung in the massive room like the sides of a living morgue, giving her a glimpse into the enormity of the process. She shuddered. How could the rescue team even begin? This was too big a job.
That's what the team was supposed to be doing...figuring out a way to deal with this. So what the hell were they doing now? They should be here moving around like worker bees. Instead, she saw no sign of them.
Her dad halted and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Ready?"
"Sure." She gave him a smile more confident than how she felt. "How do we tell the good guys from the bad guys?"
"Hopefully the others will be able to help us with that. Ian and Jewel didn't make it to the surface, and I'm guessing the men who attacked us are the reason. Maybe the team isn't involved at all. We can't judge everyone the same. We just don't know."
Goran snorted. "That's exactly what we should do. Lock them all up and sort it out later. It's the only way."
Tessa was inclined to agree. "Maybe that way, I can be assured I won't end up drugged and kidnapped again."
"That's not going to happen ever again. Don't you dare leave my side – do you hear me?" Her father glared as he waited for her to nod. Once she did, he nodded sharply back. "Good. Now, let's go find your mother."
*.*.*
"Tunnel?" The mechanic stared at Cody and David in growing confusion. "I don't understand."
"There were four of us together at first. One, we think, went to explore a tunnel, and the other changed drastically – a personality change." Cody gave David a sideways look as he said it. "She'd only been gone from our sight for maybe twenty minutes, and when she came back, she was like a different person."
Bart narrowed his gaze in thought. "Twenty minutes is hardly enough time for any drugs to get into her blood stream, considering that’s she's a vampire. Humans yes, their blood is different."
"How different? You did see that at least one vampire is slung up there with the others, didn't you?"
"No!" His gaze widened in horror, and his jaw dropped. "I'd assumed they were all human. That's no good. Vampire blood is very different. They'd need a separate collection system. Their nutrients would be different, too. Just think about it. You'd have to use the same blood – your good blood – just to keep the vampires alive so they'd continue to produce vampire blood." Bart shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense. No profit in that."
"Not unless they need something from those vampires, making them valuable." Cody didn't want to think of what that might be. Just the thought made goosebumps rise on his arms.
Bart swallowed heavily. "I don't like the sound of that. Do you know the name of that vampire?"
"Moltere"
He closed his eyes as a shudder rippled through him, strong enough for Cody to see. "I was really hoping you wouldn't say that name."
Cody nodded. "We'd assumed he was behind this whole operation–"
"Until my father found him hanging," David added.
Bart opened his eyes. "Your father?"
"My father is Serus," David said formally. "Cody's father is Goran."
"Council members Serus and Goran. They'd certainly recognize Moltere." At the boys’ nods, he grimaced. "Not good. The devil you know is one thing, but not knowing the devil behind this racket is something else again."
"We need to get a plan in motion, if we want to find the others. And Jared, damn it, I'm pissed he's not here." Cody's eyes glittered as he remembered Jared's suggestions. "I'm pretty sure he's inside that tunnel."
"At least we won't have to worry about him while we go hunting."
"Hunting?" Bart held up his hands. "Whoa! You're not leaving me behind. They may have left me alone to figure out this mess, but they'll be looking for me soon enough. We need to stay together."
"Are you sure?" David grinned. "We might have to fight."
"Let's go." Bart snapped, and his back stiffened as he strode toward the open door.
Once the three of them had entered the main warehouse, David and Cody stepped forward, and Bart took up the rear position, muttering all the way. "I'm not saying I buy all this conspiracy stuff. But if...if it's true, then one in every five vampires could be involved."
Cody strode to the end row where Moltere hung. He stopped and pointed at the vampire. "There he is."
Horrified fascination filled twisted Bart's features. Cody grinned. Showing him Moltere probably wasn't a nice thing to do, but actually seeing it for himself would be more real than just telling him.
After that first horrified glance, Bart turned away. "That's him, all right. I don't need to see anymore." He brushed past the boys and headed toward a pair of doors facing them. "I haven't been in there. Have you?"
"I think so. Have we, David?" Cody thought they'd gone into every corner of this damned place, but couldn't remember ever seeing these two doors. The longer they went without seeing anyone, the more prickles rose on the back of his neck. He muttered, "Where is everyone?"
"I'm not sure." Bart opened the first door and stood there with his hands on his hips. "I want to know what they do with all of this stuff."
"What stuff?" David poked his head around the corner. "Oh, God. What are those? Spare parts? Research?"
Cody stepped up behind him and paled. "Nasty is what all of it is. I think they're doing medical research on their victims."
"Oh, my." Bart backed up several steps. "That wouldn't be very nice."
"And hanging here like the living dead forever is better?" Cody snapped. He backed out of the room before his mind could catalogue the hundreds of jars and tubs holding unmentionable but definitely organic looking body parts. Human body parts. Gross.
They moved to the second door, and he gasped as he pushed it open.
Jewel lay there, fully dressed, in the center of the room on a bed, with tubes running in and out of her arms. Her face had a lax look, and her skin was pasty.
"Oh, my God." David raced to her bedside. "Jewel? Jewel, wake up, honey. Oh, God, Cody. Look what they've done to her."
"Do you think we can unplug her?" Cody stared down at the needles and tubes invading their friend's body. He desperately wanted to pull them from her arms, but
wasn't sure what damage he might cause by removing them. He nudged David who was busy tapping Jewel's cheek. "Look."
"What?" His friend turned and forced his attention on to Bart, who stood beside a large, portable machine connected to the tubes leading from Jewel. David gasped. "What's that for?"
"I don't know, but I'm not sure we should disconnect her just yet." Bart circled the waist-high machine that resembled a shop vacuum on steroids, and appeared to study the valves. "I'm thinking it's a blood purifier. She doesn't have any major disease, does she? Like a kidney condition?"
"What? No. She's exhausted. That's why she wanted to go to the surface. I wanted her to lie down and rest." Anger radiated from David's body as he flung out a hand toward the machine. "They did this to her. I just wish I knew what they were doing."
"I think they're testing her blood." Cody watched the pulsing flashing lights, and his stomach sank. "Checking to see if it's good enough for them."
"No." Horrified, David bounded to his feet, reached down, and ripped the needles out of Jewel's arm so hard, it bounced with the force. "They won't get her. She's mine, damn it. No way in hell are they going to string her up with the others."
He flung the bloody tubes to the floor. Using the blankets, he put pressure on her oozing wounds. Then he glared at Cody and Bart, who were too stunned to move.
"Now...we're getting the hell out of here," he snapped, fear adding a razor's edge to his voice. "Even if we have to go back down to that damn tunnel."
Cody cocked an ear at a muffled thud out in the hallway. He glanced around the room. Someone had done this to Jewel. Surely they'd come back and check on her sometime. David was still trying to wake Jewel up from the drugs and wasn't paying any attention.
"Shh. Listen," Cody said, walking to the open doorway. "What was that?"
"Huh?" David finally stopped shaking Jewel's shoulder and looked up. "What?"
"I hear footsteps."
"Good." The fire in David's eyes promised retribution. He shot up off the bed. "Let me at them."
"Wait." Cody grabbed him. "We need to know who it is first."
David refused to listen and shrugged off Cody's arm. He slid over to the doorway and waited beside it, a feral look on his face.
Damn it. Cody hoped the visitor wasn't one of their own. Glancing around, he saw Bart had taken refuge behind the blood cleansing machine on the other side of the bed. Even crouching down, he barely fit into the small space. Maybe he could be their secret weapon. Cody took a second look at Bart. Then again maybe not. Cody wasn't sure how to read him. He was an older vampire, but he didn't appear to be much of a fighter. Maybe he was really old. Then again, so was Cody's father and no one would never catch him hiding away from the action.
David held up a hand in warning. Cody slipped behind the door, eager tension radiating down his limbs. He glanced around. Jewel still lay unconscious on the bed, her arm dangling off its side. Anyone looking in would immediately notice the lack of tubes in her body. Taking a chance, he stepped out from behind the door and tucked her arm against her side. He raced back to his hiding place and waited.
The footsteps moved down the hall at a consistent clip, then came to a sudden halt.
Cody peered around the edge of the door and met David's worried gaze. Had they given themselves away? Surely not.
The footsteps started up again.
Cody held his breath, and flattened himself tight behind the door. The person stopped just out of sight, computer tablet in their hands and clicked a few keys. Cody figured he or she was probably entering information. He'd seen one of them do that very same thing earlier today.
A soft moan escaped Jewel's mouth.
Cody spun around.
She moaned again. Shit. Now she had decided to wake up. Both sounds hung in the air like a baby's breath. Without warning, the technician outside the door appeared in the doorway. Cody recognized the white lab coat he glimpsed through the crack behind the door.
"You shouldn't be awake already," a woman's voice said. "No, no, no. We can't have that."
Cody froze. No, it couldn't be.
The visitor approached the bed. She was a tall female vampire, stunning for her age.
Rhia.
*.*.*
Jared approached the cart with apprehension. Why had it been abandoned here? He had no idea where the driver might have gone. Weird. Then again, weird had become almost the new 'normal.' Just look at what had happened over the last few days.
The small white vehicle contained a series of stacked boxes. Jared eyed the writing on the side of the first box. It appeared to be a label stating the carton contained medical supplies.
"Why bring this stuff in through here?" he mumbled to himself.
Then again, the people who ran this place were vampires. Tireless and strong.
He stood with his hands on his hips. Where was the driver? This wasn't exactly a parking spot or a coffee station. As far as he could see, this section of the tunnel appeared to be no different than the others.
So why stop here?
He didn't know what to do. Riding would be nicer than walking but would the cart make more noise once it started to move? And would that alert anyone he really didn't want to see? Puzzled, he stood at the rear of the small vehicle until he figured out that it could go in either direction. Meaning he didn't know for sure which way it had been heading before it stopped.
Driving it would save energy, and right now, he needed that. It would be so easy. Hopping on, he released the brake, and the cart trundled forward at a slow, steady rate. He wouldn't win any races this way, but at least he'd be rested when he arrived.
Wherever that was…
Jared let the cart putter along mile after mile. He'd yet to see anyone. There'd been no other doors or platforms. Why would someone leave the cart like this? It made no sense.
He chuckled. If only Tessa could see him now. He couldn't wait to see her again. She'd changed. Then again, so had he – hopefully for the better.
The vampire concept was still hard to accept, though. Tessa, his tall, graceful, understated and super brainy lab partner from two years ago was actually a full-blooded vampire. Or was she? She did walk in the sunshine and she did go to a human school. They were so going to have to sit down and talk when this mess was over.
That last thought made him pause.
What was the chance they'd be embroiled in an all out war instead?
Grim faced, her jaw stiff and unyielding, Tessa forced herself to walk down the row of bodies. She could only function if she didn't look at them too closely. Their nakedness wasn't the issue, although it gave her more info than she wanted to know about human anatomy. And some of the uglier sides of it, too. Weird pools of bloody liquid had seeped in between the layers of plastic, and some of the wrappers contained a yellow liquid that looked way too similar to urine. She shuddered. This was all too gross and heartbreaking to deal with.
"Tessa, stay close."
"I am." She turned her back on the silent witnesses and asked her father, "Where should we start?"
He grinned. "How about in the place where I left your mother?" He led the way to the series of rooms that Tessa vaguely remembered from earlier. As she passed through one long room filled with empty beds, her face hardened with memories from her last visit. She'd never forget this awful place.
"They should be around here somewhere," Goran said, as he and her father opened a series of doors. Unfortunately, each one opened only to reveal an empty room.
"At least, this is where I thought we had left her." Her dad frowned. "Can you get through to David at all?"
Tessa had actually forgotten to try. She pulled out her phone and quickly sent her brother a message, telling him where they were. Damn, her battery was almost dead. "Done."
"Good. Let's keep looking." Leading them in single file, with Goran bringing up the rear, her father continued down the right side of the warehouse.
> They found no one at all.
Her heart sank. "Dad? Where could they be?"
"I have no idea," Goran answered instead of Serus. "But I don't like it."
"Me, either." Tessa turned to study his grim face. Pain had set in, deepening the wrinkles around his mouth. She winced. "You know, we should be able to find something around here for pain, if you want us to look."
"I don't need anything." He glared at her, something akin to horror filling his eyes. "Especially not from here."
She shrugged. "Okay. I wouldn't either." She turned her back on him and eyed two doors up ahead. "I remember this area. Didn't we find Jared somewhere around here?"
"Yes, I think so." Serus walked over to the first door and pushed it open. "It's empty now, too."
"Did you expect anything different?" The cold, sarcastic female voice sliced through the room. "We're not just sitting back drinking coffee."
Tessa pivoted. She didn't recognize the young blonde. Her pale features weren't normal for a vamp. Her nametag read Cathy. "Where is everyone, then?"
"Two of the men are working on the computers, two are working on the machinery, and I'm doing the computer monitor numbers and readings. I'm not sure about the others, but they're around, I can assure you."
Her voice, so smooth and assured, drove Tessa nuts. It had that same haughtiness she'd come to associate with vampire arrogance.
"Good." Serus stepped up beside Tessa. "We'd like to find Rhia. Can you tell us where she is?"
A subtle ripple moved over the young woman's face. She hesitated.
Tessa narrowed her gaze. "Yes?"
"She wasn't feeling well. I think she's gone to lie down. She said something about being a little more worn out than she'd expected to be."
"She wouldn't go lie down. It's not in her nature." Serus frowned and looked around. "Where is she?"
"I think down at the far end." Cathy motioned to the right. "Do you want me to show you the way?"
"No." Tessa hadn't meant the word to come out so abruptly, but the last thing she wanted was to have this woman go with them. She contemplated trying to take her out right now. The men didn't seem to have the same instinct screaming at them she did. Tessa was sure Cathy wasn't on their side, only she had no concrete proof. "We'll be fine. Thanks. I don't want to pull you away from your work."