by Dale Mayer
Cody urged her to the left. She resisted, asking instead,. "Are you hurt?"
"Me? No, I'm fine."
"You hurt your wing earlier. Are you sure it's okay? "
"Sure," he glanced at her curiously, "What's the matter?"
She sighed and motioned upward. "I was just remembering last time how the vamps grabbed you and David and took you to that little room up top. What if they’re up there again?"
He cast a glance toward the high ceiling and twisted his lips in thought. "I suppose I could fly up there. But I'd have to take you with me. There's no way I'd leave you behind. Especially when you're still not at full strength."
"I'm fine. Just tired. And that's normal. At least the new normal for these last few days," she said. "And I wouldn't mind going up there. But I don't want to hurt you."
He glared at her, puffed out his chest, and snatched her up into his arms. "I'm fine." And he lunged upward, his huge wings unfurling behind him.
Tessa gave a small gasp and threw her arms around him.
Damn if that didn't make him feel even more powerful. He clasped her tightly against his chest, grateful when he only felt a slight tug from his wings. He healed fast for a vampire, but these constant injuries required more recovery time than normal.
He could really use a couple of days off. Go see a movie, watch a game, catch up on all the meals he'd missed. Something laid back and normally taken for granted in his old life. This seemed to be the new world and although he loved the action, making a mistake here had fatal consequences.
He had centuries ahead of him. He had no intention of dying in this nasty place.
Good.
He glanced down at Tessa. She'd become a woman these last few days. A light chuckle rippled through his mind. Damn if he didn't feel some heat rising up his neck. He shook his head. This was so not easy.
No, it's not. Sorry. I'll stop listening.
Instantly his mind felt empty. Bereft. And he didn't like that much either.
"How did you do that?"
"I just thought it and it happened. Cool huh?"
"Absolutely. And a little weird."
"Weird maybe, but at least now we know it's possible. If we try to respect each other's privacy, then it should make it easier."
"Yeah, but how are we going to know when that is?"
He flew high up to the office space and hovered off on one side. If there was someone there, he didn't want to alert them of their presence. He could hardly fight off an attack with Tessa in his arms.
Thankfully it was empty.
"See? There is no one here." He landed lightly and let her stand on her own. He watched as she walked across the small space and looked over the side.
"Everything is amazingly clear from up here."
"Which is of course why it's here." He stood beside her and looked down on the blood farm. "It's hard to pick out the immobile humans from the mobile ones from down there."
"Yeah, but I can see loads of colourful energy from here. It's quite pretty."
"Pretty or helpful? Are there energies down there that shouldn't be there?"
She glanced over at him. "I'm not sure. There are a lot of energy signatures below, but it’s not surprising. Over a dozen of us entered, plus there’s Taz and whoever is helping him."
"I suggest you take a closer look and see if there are energies you recognize and ones you don't. The lights are off here for a reason. We don't want them off because someone is sneaking up on or has already taken Taz."
"I wonder if I can pick out Taz's energy here."
Cody walked to the far side. "Check over here. He should be in the computer lab room. The individual monitors were downloading information to that set of computers. He was trying to figure out what nutrients these people were being given to keep them alive. To see if they could duplicate the process and bring these people out slowly without killing them. Although I'm pretty sure anyone who's been hanging for longer than a few months is likely already dead."
"But we don't know that." Tessa cried out. "And we have to remember that these people are brothers and sisters, sons and daughters to someone. There has to be someone who cares about them. For them."
"There might have been at one time, but this many people? Makes me think no one cared about them at all."
She studied the layout below them then stiffened.
He glanced over at her curiously. "What do you see?"
"It's not what – it's who." She turned to stare at him. "I see Jared's energy."
Cody shrugged. "So? He was here for a long time. His energy should be here."
"Yes. But this is fresh."
*.*.*
Rhia studied the looks on the faces of those around her. No one appeared bothered by the locked door. But she sure as hell was.
So was Sian, for that matter. "Who locked the door?" Sian asked the leader of the humans.
"What? Oh, that door. It locks automatically once we start our meeting. Just a precautionary measure. It's fine, I assure you."
Sian glanced over at Rhia and nodded. Rhia frowned and sat down. They'd come to have this talk and regardless of how spooky things were, they needed to clear the air.
Councilman Adamson opened the talks while Rhia and Sian stayed quietly in the background. No one said a word while he spoke. When he was done and fell quiet, the humans looked at each other, then at him.
It's as if they didn't believe him or didn't know if they should believe him.
"It's true," Rhia said. Somehow they had to get through to these people. And fast. She couldn't get rid of that horrible feeling of impending disaster. She wanted to go up there herself.
Sian nodded.
"We've heard about the blood farm. How could we not these last few days? But I had no idea the corruption was that widespread in the vampire world."
Gloria reared back and raised her nose to a haughty angle. "It's not just the vampires. The humans are involved in a big way, too."
The Human Council stared at her. Not accepting, but not arguing either. As if to say they were too polite to discuss it.
Sian snorted. "Do you really think this many people could go missing and stay missing without the humans involved?" She swept her arm open wide in the direction where they'd found the blood farm. "There has to be a large vein of corruption to keep something of this scale quiet. Humans have been turning a blind eye on the problem. Or worse, have been selling off their own kin."
The human leader gasped in shock. He pulled his heavy sweater tighter around his chest. "Sian, that is a grave charge."
One of the other men at the table spoke up. "Obviously there has to be some humans involved. But it doesn't have to be a large percentage of the population."
The other members nodded their heads. One of them said, "There is always going to be a certain amount of corruption at all levels of the government. A few crooked law enforcement officers can easily make files disappear. That's bad, but it's not at the level you appear to be suggesting."
Rhia leaned forward, her gaze hard and angry.
"They were able to make a thousand files disappear. Or is that not serious enough for you either?"
Tessa gasped in shock. What the hell?
Cody spun to look at her.
"My brother Seth is here, too." She stared down at the confusing energy below.
Cody stared down below. "Are you sure? I can't see him."
"He's not here here, but he's here. As in I can see his energy. It's older though. It's already starting to dissipate. It’s a few hours old at least."
"Was he supposed to come?"
Distracted by the myriad of colors floating on the ground below, she took a moment before turning to face him. "There's no reason I know of, but if he and Mom got worried, he might have come up looking for us. Mom should be still be in the hospital and she might have sent him in her stead." She frowned and studied the energy. "He headed out the way we came in
, so we should have met up with him here."
"And how did Jared get back here? Not to mention why?"
Distracted again, she looked at him. "I don’t know. As long as he's not one of the hanging dead, then I'm fine with it. He said something about other young men hanging that he wanted to make sure they were brought down safely." She shrugged. "He's that kind of guy."
"What kind of guy?'
That caught her attention. His tone of voice wasn't one she was used to hearing from him. Cool. Controlled. Distant.
Like what was his problem? She studied his face and wondered if she should open her doorway to his mind. Or was that one of those times when she'd be intruding? Then again, they needed to be open if they were going ahead. And something about Jared had set him off on this tangent. Now if she only knew why.
"He cares about others," she explained. "If he knew some of the other people hanging here, then I could see him wanting to make sure they were taken down and given the care they needed to pull through this."
"But enough to come back up here? I doubt most people would."
She automatically answered, "Jared isn't most people." She pursed her lips and thought about it. "If it was someone he really cared about, he would."
"Like your friends?"
Her eyes widened. "Exactly.
She turned to look over the edge again.
"There appears to be a lot going on here that we don't know about. For instance, Jared and Seth." He studied her face. "Maybe we should focus on those two problems while we can?"
She knew he was right. "Fine." She leaned over to judge the distance. She could jump that. She was feeling much better now. So much stronger. She didn't know how or why, but she'd take it.
"Forget it."
"Forget what?"
Then she let out a squeal as Cody gathered her up in his arms and jumped over the edge.
"A little warning would have been nice," she muttered against his neck.
He grinned. "Sorry."
She laughed lightly. "So not."
Then she realized he wasn't landing. She twisted in his arms, loving the steely strength of him. He rarely showed off his strength and given that all vampires were strong, maybe he wasn't super elite but to her, he seemed it.
Thanks.
She laughed. "So where are we going?"
"I thought maybe we'd make a pass around the room and make sure it's safe to land."
She shrugged. "We haven't heard any sounds of fighting yet from either side, and we should have if things had gone wrong."
He snorted, his eyes peeled below. "Really. Are you actually thinking that all this 'dead' silence around us is natural? That there is nothing wrong because we haven't heard anything wrong yet?"
"I never thought of that." She tried to look around, but it was hard to do when she was crushed up against his chest.
"Quit wiggling. I might drop you."
She gasped, then caught his smirk. "You are so going to get it when I get down on the ground."
"Get what?" He leered at her, making her heart jump and her body so aware of the strong physical male holding her.
She giggled. And then laughed when she heard the sound coming out of her mouth. She sounded like the girls in school when they were with their boyfriends. A sound burned into her memory as always being the one on the outside. She'd often wondered if such a day would ever come for her. And now here she was in Cody's arms.
Yeah, and what's wrong with me? he growled under his breath.
Oh no. He'd read her mind. Again.
But not on purpose. He flew around the suspended office to the other side. "And you didn't answer. What's wrong with me?"
"Nothing. It's more that you're Cody – dreamboat, hunky Cody."
The look he sent her way had her giggling again. "Are you blushing?"
"No." He said shortly. "And you should know better than to listen to crazy gossip."
"I didn't have to listen to anyone. I could see it with my own eyes. You were always surrounded by gorgeous women and you played with lots these last few years."
Now no amount of darkness could hide the flush on his skin. She smiled. "Of course, as a female, I could also hear the girls squeal about you at every gathering."
"They did not." But his voice was gruff. Was he embarrassed? Maybe?
She shouldn't tease him, but it was too much fun not to.
"And you, did you gossip with them?"
"No," she said gently. "I never did. And I never heard them be mean. Everyone adores you. They all wanted to be with you." Some of the stiffness in his shoulders relaxed and she reached up to cup his cheek. "You never crossed my radar because I never thought you'd even look at me. I was just David's kid sister."
He snorted at that. "That last part is so true. And as David's kid sister, you were out of bounds."
She reared back slightly to see his face better. "Really?"
"Of course. And then sometime in this last week you stopped being his kid sister." Cody sighed. "And now we're here."
She loved his humor. "And the worst is over."
He glanced down at her, as if considering her words before saying, "You could be right."
"My dad and brother both know. Your dad knows and your closest friends know. The rest will gossip regardless." She leaned against his shoulder. "And who cares what they think?"
She felt the rumble in his chest at his warm laughter. Still, he didn't know what it was like to be the butt of every joke.
"That is exactly how we should look at it."
"It will be harder for you."
"In what way?" His tone was amused, as if he was just humoring her.
"I'm used to being laughed at," she said honestly, realizing the pain of having fingers pointed at her all the time no longer affected her. She'd come so far that the Tessa of last week was hard to even imagine.
His arms tightened gently and he cuddled her closer. What a feeling. Held against his heart, flying through the air. For all the danger, there was magic in the moment. Too bad they weren't flying outside instead of inside this vast monstrosity.
"They won't laugh anymore," he said, his voice cool.
"No. They won't." She grinned. "And if they do, I won't care. Not now."
He looked down at her, one eyebrow raised.
She stretched up and dropped a kiss on his chin. "I'm not that Tessa anymore."
The heat in his gaze made her heart sigh, but his words warmed her soul.
"No, you sure aren't. And I for one am damned glad."
*.*.*
David slammed into his father. Ooops. Serus turned and glared at him. David grinned and lifted his shoulders in a shrug. He kept quiet though. Who knew what was out there?
His father turned and strode forward, his steps soundless in the empty room. How did he do that? David tried to imitate it, but he couldn't pull off that same stealthy move. And then there was Ian clomping behind him. Jewel was much quieter, but fatigue was making her clumsy. Considering that their wings were still paralyzed, this trip had been more brutal for them – probably more so than anyone realized.
Goran had been drugged too, but he was bigger and too damn ornery to let the chemicals stop him from flying. Also, unlike Ian and Jewel, he was an ancient – the drugs seemed to have a different effect on him and Cody, allowing them to retain their ability to fly.
Or maybe they'd just been given different drugs.
The group had been through so much already that it was hard to believe they were finally back here safe and sound.
His father stopped up ahead. He held up a hand in warning.
David turned to nudge Ian and wrap an arm around Jewel. "There's something ahead. Be ready," he whispered into her ear.
She nodded and visibly tried to pull herself together. She might have been exhausted but she was a trooper, always ready to step up to the plate. He was damn proud of her.
Ian nudged them from b
ehind. "If you two would stop mooning over each other, we'd have caught up to your father."
Startled, David realized his father had gone on ahead and David had missed his signal. "Shit," he said under his breath. Slightly louder he said, "Let's go."
And they raced ahead.
*.*.*
Goran kept his back against the wall and methodically swept through his half of the warehouse. Something was off. His instincts were telling him to go up high and get out of a waiting trap, but with every step that he expected a trap to be sprung – there was nothing. He couldn't believe it. Something had to have happened for the lights to be off. He could see lights still flashing on the individual computer boxes on the victims. He stopped and stared at the rows of victims. Would turning the backup power off be one way of determining who could still survive? If they lived then they were viable, and if turning off the power killed them, so be it.
It sounded harsh, but many of these people had been hanging dead for decades. If they could find the newest arrivals and start with those, they would quickly understand how far back they could go to save these people. He didn't think anyone hanging for longer than six months could be saved. They were humans after all.
Then he remembered there were also vampires hanging. Moltere himself might be saved as their line could essentially last forever. The man shouldn't have survived the last war – to think he could survive this one was not acceptable.
But a couple of his kid's friends were here too, and they needed to be helped. Everyone had jumped to the assistance of the humans, but where were the vamps to help out the vamp victims?
He strode ahead. There were several of Motre's vamps with him. He didn't know any of them, but they'd fought bravely in the last skirmish. He'd seen his son fly overhead with Tessa and knew Serus had the other kids. Making him the only one without friend or family to guard his back.
He wanted to count on the men behind him, but it didn't feel right. Since entering the warehouse, the vibe of those behind him had changed.. And this inactivity, this sense of waiting for something bad to happen was driving him nuts.