by Dale Mayer
Cody gasped for breath but he couldn't get any air. His injured wing screamed at him. Damn, he was a fool.
Then the asshole punched Cody in the face – hard.
Damn. Cody realized the big-assed vamp had been waiting for just this moment. And he'd taken the opening Cody had so foolishly given him. What an idiot.
Another fist hit his chin, knocking his head to the side. "Shit."
"Yeah. Like what are you going to do now?" The vamp gave him a huge toothy grin.
Cody glared back. He could hardly breathe with this guy on his chest but he'd be damned if he'd give in so easily. He had to get free. Somehow.
"Don't like a fair fight, do you?" he gasped.
The toothy bastard's grin widened. "It was fair. You just let down your guard. You were worried about me." He imitated Cody's voice in a mocking tone. "And look where it got you."
And because he could, he punched Cody in the face again.
Under the guise of groaning in pain, Cody worked his left hand into his pocket and smiled as his gloved fingers closed around the spike in his pocket. He clutched it tight, then stabbed upward – through the material of his pocket, through the jeans the vamp wore – right into the inside of the vamp's thigh.
Cody barely had time to take a breath and turn his face away as the vamp screamed and his body combusted. Cody rolled to one side as the ashes floated down on him. He scrambled to his feet, shudders wracking his frame.
So gross. So horrifying. And so wrong.
If this big guy could die so easily, what kind of chance did any of them have? On a bad day – none.
And he so wanted to live.
Then he heard a sound that sent shards of ice down his back. A scream. Tessa's scream.
Cody! Help!
Tessa hadn't sensed the attack until the vamps were on top of them. There seemed to be dozens. She and David were surrounded, but up ahead she saw another cluster surrounding her friends. Damn it. They'd been split into two groups. She felt like an idiot. A mad idiot. A really pissed off idiot.
She stood with her back to her brother and glared at the three vamps in front of her. "David?"
"Easy, sis. There are a lot of them."
"I don't care. I'm not being taken."
"We can't fight them all."
"Goran and Dad wouldn't have been taken," she snapped. "They'll come to the rescue."
"Maybe, but possibly not in time." His calm voice helped steady her own nerves. She was jumpy, but that was from trying to hold back killing these assholes. "We need the element of surprise here." She studied the circle of vamps. "Something to break their concentration."
"We could use Dad's help right about now."
"Or Ian. Or Jewel. Or hey, Cody would work too."
"They've probably got him locked up tight."
"Nah, he's on his way toward us."
She turned, catching David's surprised look. "Yes, I'm talking to him. Okay?"
"Tell me he's just around the corner. Then it will be fine." David motioned to the leader of the group in front of them. "He wants us to move toward the others."
"At least then we’ll all be together." She took a quick glance around to see who could hear her, then whispered, "And Cody is coming, but he's not that close yet."
"Like that's a help." Still, he grasped her arm and tugged her toward the others. She stumbled behind him, loath to take his pacifist way. She wanted to kill more vamps. In fact, a surge of bloodlust ran through her with such force that it shocked her. Scared her.
She didn't consider herself a vamp in the traditional sense. Angry, cold, and aggressive – she wasn’t any of that. But she was learning that in some ways – she was all vamp.
Someone shoved her forward to stand beside Jewel and Ian. Too bad they were still suffering from the effects of the drugs and couldn't fly out of here. Motre was there with another half dozen vamps. What the hell? There were enough on her side to fight. Why were they giving in so easily?
It didn't make any sense.
"Finally we have you all." A formidable looking vamp spoke to the right of Tessa. She studied his features. She should know him but couldn't remember who he was. Except she thought he might be yet another councilman. Taking a chance, she gave him a cold smile. "What a surprise seeing you here, Councilman."
His cold gaze drifted over her, stopping to study her face before moving to David beside her. His gaze narrowed as if recognizing her brother. His gaze zipped back to her face. "Do I know you?"
"Yeah, I'm Councilman Serus's freak daughter," she answered, her voice equally cold. In the distance, not taking her attention off the dangerous man in front of her, she heard gasps coming from both sides. But she was so done with respect where it wasn't due. And these assholes were not vamps deserving respect.
His thin lips moved in a parody of a smile. "Ah. The lab rat."
She snorted. "In your dreams, asshole."
The smile dropped away. "No one speaks to me like that."
"Easy, sis." David was standing still beside her, but his muscles were knotted with tension, desperate to fight but not knowing when or what move to make first.
"I just did." She shrugged. "I reserve respect for those that deserve it."
"Oh, a do-gooder." He laughed. "Feel sorry for animals, do you? Feel a kinship to your ancestors by any chance?" he mocked.
"Only to the good vamps. You're the animals here. Not us. Not the humans you have hanging in the blood farm. No, you're the animals."
That same thin cruel smile showed up. If she had any sense, she'd be backtracking right now. Even the vamps on either side of him were shuffling their feet uneasily. "You got part of it right. We're the predators and you, the humans, and the weaker vampires are the prey."
"I wonder what the rest of the council will think of that?" she asked, deliberately keeping her tone of voice thoughtful. Inside, her mind was racing, seeking answers. They needed a distraction.
Shit. Come on, Cody. Where the hell are you?
"Grab her. The rest of the group will be so much easier to deal with without her influence." He motioned to a group of six vamps standing to one side. "Take her to the lab and keep her secured. Don't return. And if you lose her, you'd better keep running because your punishment will be death."
The six vamps approached.
And Tessa did the only thing she could think of. She screamed in her head again. Cody! Help.
*.*.*
Serus watched from the shadows high above the group as his daughter was surrounded and corralled away from the others. Damn. There had to be forty plus assholes down there. At any time, he'd take it as a compliment, but in this instance they needed to narrow the odds in order to have a chance of success. His group was tiring and they weren't taking enhanced drugs like these guys were.
That they were separating Tessa from the rest of the group made him sick to his stomach. She had proven that she could handle everything that had been thrown at her these last few days, but this could be too much.
"What do you want to do?" Goran asked from behind him.
"Kill some vamps," Serus growled. "They are separating Tessa again. Going to take her to the damn labs."
"That we can't have. We need a distraction. Something to scatter the bad guys and give us an opening."
"If they’re planning to drug the rest of our friends and family, we might have time. But they might just as likely decide that our group is too much trouble and kill them off immediately."
The air thickened as Goran and Serus watched the vampires tighten the circle around the remaining group. Serus hated to see David and Tessa split up. He needed to help them both. Torn, he did nothing but watch helplessly as the second group was herded in the opposite direction from Tessa.
"Damn," whispered Goran. "We need reinforcements."
"I don't think there are any more we can call."
"Not that we have a way to call them either. I sure hope Rhia a
nd Sian are getting somewhere."
"Yeah. They can send reinforcements any time."
Goran nudged him in the direction where they'd taken Tessa. "She can't take on six herself, can she?"
"I suggest we split up and find out," Serus said, twisting around to see Goran's features. He smiled and was rewarded by an equally cold smile on Goran’s face.
*.*.*
Rhia still had misgivings but settled on the couch beside Councilman Adamson. Gloria chose the other side. Sian, not to be left out, walked around behind the three of them and watched as they searched through the information on the laptop. Gloria had a tablet in front of her where she made notes as they worked slowly, page by page.
It wasn't long before Rhia and Sian switched places so Sian could get off her feet. Her pregnancy wasn't showing yet, but Rhia knew she needed to rest. Tessa wasn't so old that Rhia had forgotten the fatigue that came with pregnancy.
Gloria rose and retrieved several sheets of paper they had printed. "This is the list of warehouses that they are using for distribution." She held up several pages clipped together. "These are the supplies they are using to make the warehouses operate smoothly." She held up other clipped pages and tapped a long bloodred nail on the top sheet. "These are the main players behind the warehouse."
"Not quite." Council Adamson studied the laptop. "I only see up to the top echelons, but not the main players. I see the councilmen, several high hitting businessmen, and even several ancients, scholars, and scientists, but I don't see a clear indication of who is running this place. This is like the who's who list of everyone down the line – but not showing who is sitting at the top.
Rhia understood. She paced the living room, wondering how to find the final names that could clinch this problem. She stopped and turned to Councilman Adamson. "Who owns the laptop? He's the boss. If I were making a list, I wouldn't put my name on the top. I'd put those below me. So whoever owns the laptop is the boss."
"Or one of them. But how do we sort out who owns the laptop?"
"Check the logs. I wish David or Ian were here. They’re both computer nerds." Rhia was good, but she didn't know how to hack into a system. Those two did.
"Adamson, hand it over. Let me see what I can find."
Gloria resettled the machine on her knees and started clicking away. She opened up a black screen with a little text, but what was there seemed to make her happy. She clicked and clicked and clicked. Eventually, her joy turned to a frown, then into frustration and finally, she looked downright pissed off.
"There's nothing to identify the owner on this laptop. Damn."
"That makes sense." Sian said, "If I was involved in something like this, I wouldn't leave my name on anything."
Gloria nodded. "I know, but I had hoped." She glanced over at the paperwork she'd set aside. "We have a lot to go on, but we need to coordinate this carefully. We need to take down all the suppliers and the councilmen at the same time. Make sure they are all under house arrest and separated where there is no communication between them while we round up the others. The warehouses have to be shut down and..." she tapped the laptop screen, "we have to find the last of the blood farms and put them under heavy guard."
Rhia loved the sound of all of it. She just wasn't sure they had the manpower or the time to do all of it. "How?" she demanded. "We barely know who is involved. There have to be hundreds and we're going to accidentally contact some of them. There's no way to avoid it."
Councilman Adamson narrowed his gaze, deep in thought. "There must be a group of people we can call on to help us."
"Humans."
Sian's suggestion came out of the blue and shocked them all. Rhia stared at her oldest friend. It wasn't hard to understand where she was coming from. After all, she had married a human and knew the species better than all of them in the room. She had insider knowledge that could help them. "Do you think Taz would know who to contact?"
Sian nodded. "There have to be humans involved in this as well, but I doubt it’s to the extent that the vamps are."
Gloria said, "That's true. Some of the cops will be involved. Accepting payoffs to look the other way, to bury missing persons' files, etc. But I doubt the Human Council is involved. The vamps wouldn't want to let anyone in power know. They'd have to split the profits. And the council has no purpose in letting their own people become victims like this. Even many of the cops might not know exactly what was happening to the people they chose to turn their backs on."
"And yet Jared had some suspicion that his uncle might have had something to do with him being in the blood farm."
"Jared? Hmmm. He was the young man that started all this, wasn't he?" asked Councilman Adamson.
"He's the young man whose disappearance started this chain of events, yes," Rhia corrected him. She wasn't going to have any more misunderstandings. Jared was not to blame. And that just reminded her that she hadn't heard from Goran or her family in way too long. She thought she'd have heard back from Seth by now. She pulled her phone out and checked yet again. Still no messages.
Sian cleared her throat. Rhia looked up, caught her questioning look, and shook her head.
Rhia watched as Sian dropped her gaze, her shoulders slumping. She hadn't heard from Taz either then. They were both waiting for word knowing that the longer it took, the worse the news was likely to be.
"We could contact the Human Council for a meeting today. See what they have to suggest and go from there." Gloria turned to Sian. "Can you coordinate that? Maybe you'll get a better reception with them because of Taz."
Sian nodded. "I can't guarantee anything, but I'm willing to contact them. Most of them know Taz and me." She shrugged. "Like the vamps, that doesn't mean they like us."
Councilman Adamson stared at her. "You have an interesting relationship. I'm sure there have been many challenges along the way."
Sian's gaze lit up at his understanding. Rhia assumed this was the first he'd mentioned anything to her. Her best friend had gone through a lot with Taz but she knew how strong and loving their marriage was. She also knew the difficulty Sian would face when Taz aged and she didn't. To have loved one lifetime might make it worthwhile for Taz, but at the end of his life, he'd be leaving Sian alone for eternity.
She had to wonder if Sian had considered turning Taz and if Taz would be receptive to the idea. It was illegal, but Sian could petition the council with a request. The response would be interesting. Like her own daughter, both Sian and Taz had faced a backlash of prejudice.
And like Sian and Taz, Tessa had learned to live with it gracefully.
Now if only they could all live in peace again.
Tessa's muscles were starting to cramp, she'd locked them down so tightly. How the hell had these assholes gotten the drop on her? On them? Somehow, these guys had come out of nowhere and surrounded them all. Their numbers were so vast, the thought of fighting never entered the picture. She didn't know where the ancients were or if they'd even been seen. She'd been quickly segregated and shoved into a tunnel away from the others.
She desperately wanted to make a move but knew it was too early. She had six guards. Six. Like what the heck was she going to do against all of them? She could handle one. Might be able to handle two. Would still try against three, but six? So not doable.
And that just pissed her off even more.
None of them were fliers though. And that could be her ace in the hole.
She needed one chance to jump and get clear of them. But she was in a tunnel with a low ceiling. She couldn't take advantage of her skills here. She'd have to make a run for it. Anything was better than being locked up and drugged. That whole lab rat thing was so not going to happen.
"Look at her. She's like a trapped mouse, looking desperately for a way to escape." One of the men behind her laughed coarsely. "Too bad she doesn't understand her days of running away are done. She's here as our guest for all eternity."
More laughter, this tim
e from several assholes. Boy, were they delusional. "Must be the drugs they gave you," she said in a conversational tone.
Up ahead, the tunnel was coming to an end. If she was lucky, it would lead to that big cavern and the half finished medical rooms where she'd found Cody and the others a little while ago. The ceiling there was high enough for her to jump up and hopefully hide out in the nooks and crannies of the cave. At least long enough to formulate plan B.
"Hey now. What's she talking about?"
"Forget her. She don't know nothing."
That last speaker had to be the slouched oversized soft-looking vamp slightly behind her. She thought he might be stronger than he looked. She'd seen guys like him before. They looked out of shape and huge but somehow they had the power and strength of two smaller men. And she didn't doubt this lumbering oaf would be even more powerful. He'd be the one to put down first..
But she had to choose her moment carefully. And get a hold of the spikes in her pocket. She couldn't slip her hand inside because her arms were being manhandled.
"Come on, stop struggling."
She laughed. "What? I'm supposed to just walk to my slaughter. Like you guys? Do you really think I'm as stupid as you?"
"Shut up. You don't know nothing." The vamp holding her left arm jerked her forward. "You don't scare me."
"Good. You shouldn't be scared of me, you should be terrified of what you let them do to you." She smirked.
"What are you talking about?" The vamp holding her right arm scoffed. "You're just trying to save yourself."
"Really," she muttered, "why would I do that?" Idiots. They were so not strong in the IQ department. Like that was a surprise.
"Stop listening to her. She's just trying to rattle you."
"And I'm getting rattled," growled one of the vamps from behind Tessa.
She kept her grin hidden. A little more of this and she might actually set them against each other. Good.
"Just shut up. And keep her quiet too." That was the big sluggard one. He was the leader here. The boss. And the one she'd take down first.