by Dale Mayer
"Let's keep moving. They have to run out of bad guys soon. And we need to find Cody."
On that note, Goran took to the air again. Serus, hating that sense of wanting to just go home, picked up the pace and jumped behind his best friend.
*.*.*
Cody flattened against the wall behind the door. His heart slammed against his chest. He wanted someone to enter so he could bash his head in. But whoever stood on the other side, hand on the knob, appeared to be talking to someone else. Only Cody couldn't hear their conversation.
But the knob on his side of the door kept twisting and then releasing. He closed his eyes, straining to make out the words.
"More traffic..."
"Greater numbers..."
"Need to solve this problem first."
This problem? Were they talking about him? Hell. He opened his eyes and glared at the stark white room, wishing they'd get on with it.
They were right. He was a problem. And he'd make sure they remembered that. But damn, he didn't have time for this crap. He had things to do and vamps to punch. And Tessa to get back to. Like what the heck, every time they got everyone back together again, someone went missing. With chagrin, he realized it was his turn. And boy, were Ian and David going to tease him over that.
The door opened, and he realized that anyone would see the empty bed without having to actually enter the room. So not good.
But the person was still talking as he entered. "Will do. Let me finish this up, then I'll—"
The door widened. Cody grabbed him, snapped his neck, and dropped him in place just inside the room.
Cody immediately grabbed the door and opened it wide enough for him to exit. And found two startled vamps on the other side. He stepped forward in a smooth motion, as if he was supposed to leave the room all along.
"Hey fellas. Were you looking for something?" He kicked out with his right boot and connected with the first guy's chin. His head snapped backward, but Cody was still moving, bringing his right fist forward and giving an award winning upper cut to the second vamp's chin. Both men howled and stumbled back. Cody brought out his silver stake and gave them a couple of quick jabs, dispatching both vamps efficiently.
Not wanting anyone left alive to rat about his escape, Cody went back to the first vamp in his holding room and stabbed him.
As he stood over the smoldering ashes, he felt worried for a moment. Were all assholes in this facility guilty? Or were some of them innocent – and therefore shouldn't be killed? As he glared down at the remains, he realized they had to know about the blood farm if they worked here. That made them guilty. As least as far as he was concerned.
With a grimace, he realized it was a little too late now to worry. They were all dead and he planned to take out every other one he met on his way back to the others as well.
Glancing in both directions, he realized the ashes were likely to arouse suspicion, but he could hardly sweep them away. Better to escape and hope he could get a head start before anyone found out.
To that end, he chose to go left.
Too bad his wing was still injured. Otherwise he'd try flying. If he could get into open air, he'd try regardless of his wing. He tested that by giving his wing a shake and gasped.
Shit.
Are you hurt? Tessa's warm voice popped into his mind. How odd to know she could hear him…know him that intensely. That intimately.
Shaking off the musings, he answered her, No. I'm fine.
And he would be. Soon.
Tessa trailed in last place again. But she didn't feel last. Not with Cody in her head. And what kind of miracle was that? One that made her toes wiggle with joy.
She didn't know how the system worked or why it happened, but she wasn't going to say no. It was too special. And so was he.
She gave a happy sigh and started to run. Somehow, the others had gotten ahead. It was not a safe distance. Not after all they'd been through. She so didn't want to get isolated again. The long hours had caught up with her though. And the lack of food. She hurt in places she didn't know existed. And that was just stupid.
Urging her vampire genes to give her flagging energy a boost, she was able to keep the others in sight. In a way, she was surprised she'd been allowed to fall behind. After having been kidnapped a couple of times, she thought her father and brother would keep a closer eye on her. Or else they'd figured she could look after herself.
Honestly, right now she doubted she could do much to defend herself.
"Hey sis, you look like you're ready to drop. You okay?"
David's voice pulled her out of her reverie. He'd stopped up ahead to wait for her. She gave him a bright smile. "I am. Although a couple of days in bed sounds good right about now."
He laughed. "To you and me both."
He waited until she stood in front of him before asking, "Any more word from Cody?"
"Not really." She added, "He's injured but I don't know how badly. Oh, and he's free."
David's eyebrows shot straight up. "You really can talk to him using mindspeak, can't you?"
She shrugged, a difficult move while jogging. "It seems like it."
"That's really unusual."
"Yeah, I got that. But right now, it's damn useful."
"Yeah." David sounded like he wanted to say something else but couldn't quite figure out what to say.
"Just spit it out." She fell into step beside him as they followed the others. "It’s obvious something is bugging you."
"You know Cody isn't exactly prime boyfriend material, right? I mean I love the guy, but he's got girls all over the place."
"Meaning I can't compete?" Tessa didn't mean to sound bitter about a lifetime of not being good enough, but she couldn’t help it.
"No," he rushed to say, "that's not what I meant. In fact, after this mess, you're likely to be overrun by interested males."
"That is so not what I want." She shuddered. "Ugh."
"Want it or not, it's still going to happen," he said seriously. "And Cody is definitely interested."
She cast a sidelong glance at her brother. And just what did that mean? "So are you warning me away or putting him up as a suggestion?"
He laughed, his features so young looking now he barely looked tired at all. How could that be without rest or food? She felt like a wreck beside him. She hated that. Or maybe not. But damn, she'd like to not be so tired right now.
"Like Cody would stand for either," David said, still chuckling. "I'm just warning you to take things slow. You're not used to men hanging around you like they will be soon enough."
Really? He was concerned for her? That was kinda cool actually. "I think you're exaggerating. I doubt any of the males will give a damn."
"And what about Jared." David added, a doubtful tone in his voice, "If you and Cody have this thing..."
"I didn't say I had a thing with Cody," she said. And if she did, she so didn't want her brother to know the extent of it. At least not yet. And she had no idea what to think about Jared. He'd been her first crush. And she still really liked him. But Cody sent her reeling sideways.
"And yet the two of you can mindspeak?"
She shrugged and moved faster. She didn't want to delve too deeply into her connection with Cody. The relationship was too new. Too private. And she was too uncertain of just what it was yet. "Obviously not for the same reason that mom and dad can though."
"You don't know that. We have no idea when they started doing this or why. They don't talk about it."
And that she could now understand.
She didn't want to share either.
*.*.*
Jared stared down at the computer monitor in front of him. He had a bottle of water in one hand from Taz and a candy bar from his pocket in the other. He took another bite of chocolate. Taz was munching on a granola bar. He had brought up his father's number. Figures scrolled down, bright green on black, a confusing and never ending stream. Date
s. Times. Quantities.
"What does all of this mean?" he asked, not understanding why there was so much.
"It means your father has been here for a long time. A long time." Taz shook his head but never took his gaze off the monitor. "How could no one have known?"
"They did know. But no one cared." Jared wanted to both cry and hit something. "How could they do this to their own brother?" he snapped. "It's despicable."
Taz nodded. "It is that. And it's criminal. Some big money had to go into keeping this quiet." He turned to study Jared's face. "Surely there were other people in your father's life? People that would have looked for him when he went missing. Friends? Coworkers? Bosses?"
"How would I know? As far as I knew, he died when I was little. That's all my aunt and uncle said."
"What about your grandparents? Other relatives." Taz hesitated. "Your mother?"
Jared shrugged. "My mother died when I was little and I never met any other family. As far as I knew, it was just my aunt and uncle. Neither of them are married anymore and neither have kids." He frowned. "I don't suppose they got rid of the spouses here too, did they?"
Taz's left eyebrow shot up. "Wow. That's a hell of a way to get out of a divorce." His lips twisted as he considered the matter. "We'd have to ask the police to follow up on their whereabouts today."
Jared could only snort at that. "I don't trust the police. One of the cops that questioned me is probably in on it. He wasn't helpful, friendly, or supportive. He basically accused me of making it all up!"
"Really? Do you remember his name?" Taz asked, a frown forming on his forehead. "There's got to be some police involvement in this operation for the vampires to have kept this many missing people a secret for so long. We're going to need to ferret out who we can trust. And who we can't."
"I say trust no one. Just think, both my aunt and uncle are involved along with that cop and I've only been free for what, a day – or is it two now?" How sad, he had no idea what day it was.
Taz nodded. "The problem is finding out who we can trust to help us."
"I think one of my friend's father is a cop."
"Do you know him though? Because he could be either good or bad. Somewhere along the line, we need to find an honest one and have him on our side."
"Sure, ask for a miracle, why don't you," Jared scoffed. "I'm starting to wonder if there is such a thing."
Then Taz narrowed his gaze and tapped the screen. "Look. There are cross-references here."
Jared leaned closer. "To files? Another system? Another person? What?"
"No idea. But we need to find out."
Just as the green numbers stopped scrolling, the lights in the room went out.
Taz whispered, "Shit."
*.*.*
Councilman Adamson held out his hand. "Let me see."
Rhia hesitated. She'd come here for help, but until now, this laptop had remained in her keeping. She was loath to let it out of her hands. She stared into the Councilman's black gaze, wishing she could see into his soul.
"We came this far," Sian murmured at her side, "But it's your decision. We can leave if you want to."
Gloria shook her head. "Don't be stupid. You came to us because you believed in us. Let's get past this foolishness and figure out what we can do to stop this war before it gets any worse."
Rhia hesitated a moment longer. With a sigh, she handed over the laptop. "So long as you know this isn't the only copy of the information."
The councilman gave her a hard but real smile. "Good. I suggest we make sure there are several copies so that the information can't be buried again."
Sian nodded. "True. Half the council is listed here."
Gloria's gaze sharpened. "Half?"
"At least," Rhia added. "There are a lot of names here. If I were to guess, I'd have to say that at least a tenth of the vamp population is involved."
"That is not good news."
"No." Councilman Adamson turned to his main seating area. "Come. Let's sort through the list and find the information we need, then come up with a way to clean out the clans. This time, let’s make sure it sticks."
*.*.*
Cody made his way down the hallway, urging his genes to speed up the healing. He hated feeling at a disadvantage with his injured wing. These guys were giving no quarter, and he hated going to war in less than perfect shape.
I knew you were injured.
Damn it Tessa, it's nothing.. Just a few bruises.
Even he could hear her snort in his head. How did that work again? How could she sound so clear and hear his every thought? He didn't think her parents could do that. Although they did finish each other's sentences and appeared to mindspeak easily. Maybe it was the exact same thing. How odd.
Odd? Is that what you call it?
He grinned at her aggrieved tone. Yes, odd.
I guess.
Then his mind went empty and he could only assume she was gone.
Are you there? He asked, testing the emptiness in his mind.
No. But there was laughter in her voice. And then a real emptiness filled him. And he knew she had left for real this time. So weird.
He grinned. "Okay. Now to get the hell out of here."
"You should have done that before, boyo. Now you left it a little too late."
Cody froze and closed his eyes. Damn. He turned around very slowly and came face to face with three vamps. Three overgrown vamps. Too big, too ugly, and too damn bad – for them.
Without warning, he spun forward and did a quick mid air twist and let his boot lash out, carried by the momentum, to connect with the biggest of the three vamp's jaw. He landed lightly on his feet on the other side. He crouched, spun, and slammed his right fist into the second vamp.
Crack!
Cody straightened, a sense of satisfaction surging through him. A sense of control. A sense of power. He'd be damned if these assholes would take him down.
Not Cody. No siree!
The third vamp stared at the biggest vamp crumpled on the floor then at the second one lying unconscious on the ground. He backed up a step. Then another.
Cody smirked. "What's the matter? Not so tough now that you’re all alone, are you?"
Meaning to scare the guy even more, Cody put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a spike. He held it up and shook it in front of the other guy. A bead of sweat formed on the other vamp's forehead. Cody laughed and took a step forward.
The other vamp's gaze widened in horror.
Cody had the asshole right where he wanted him. "See, I took this off a friend of yours. I've put it to good use since I confiscated it."
The big vamp swallowed. Cody shook his head. "So if you have something to say that might sway the case to not killing you, maybe you should speak now."
The other man's gaze went from the spike to Cody's face and back again. He appeared to be completely terrorized by the spike. Interesting. "Haven't you been issued any of these?"
The other vamp gave a frantic head shake.
"But you know what it is? Right? And what it does?"
Now the vamp nodded rapidly.
"So you know I can annihilate you and your friends very quickly?"
Cody felt like he was speaking to a mute child. He studied the vamp's face. He was seriously scared. Cody risked a quick glance behind him. The hallway was empty.
And now Cody understood a little of what Tessa had tried to explain but hadn't wanted to hear. Apparently not all the vamps were willingly on the wrong side. Some had been forced. Some had no choice. And he didn't know for sure, but he was starting to realize that the vamp in front of him didn't even want to fight.
He stood contemplating the man, trying to figure out what to do at this point. What was the right thing to do?
And then he heard Tessa's compassionate voice. Talk to him. Find out what you can. And give him a chance to choose his own future.
He groaned, startlin
g the other vamp, who hurriedly took another step back.
Damn it Tessa, I can't convert this guy. He's on their side.
By choice?
How the hell am I supposed to know?
Silence.
And he groaned again. "Okay. Why the hell are you here? Are you working for these guys? By choice?"
The vamp shook his head.
It was starting to piss Cody off. "Do you talk?"
The vamp nodded.
"Then say something."
The vamp wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. "I don't know what to say."
"How about – please don't kill me?" Cody glared at him. Jesus, was this guy dense or what?"
"Please don't kill me?"
Cody studied him, wondering what the hell had just happened. It seemed like he'd stepped off a cliff into another world. He didn't have a clue what to do. He couldn't just kill the vamp in cold blood. Killing in a fight was one thing. Killing in self-defense another. But killing a man that just stood there staring at him in terror – yeah, that was something else entirely.
And he realized he couldn't do it.
He dropped his arm. "What the hell."
The vamp’s gaze followed the spike in his hand. Really? Cody decided to test his theory. He moved the hand holding the spike to the right. The vamp's gaze followed. He moved his arm to the left. And again the vamp's gaze followed. Cody slipped his hand back into his pocket and let the spike go.
The vamp’s gaze locked on Cody's pocket. Slowly, Cody withdrew his hand and held up his open palm.
"See? I put it away."
The vamp stared. Looked at Cody's face and then grinned.
He jumped Cody and knocked him to the ground, landing on top of him.
The asshole brought his legs together and squeezed tight. "So glad you did that. See, I don't have a problem with you or this place. But now those spikes...."