by Dale Mayer
Jewel groaned and leaned back against the stairs. "I'm drunk on blood," she murmured. "Now I just want to sleep."
Tessa bit back her warning about sedatives being in the blood. If there were any, it was too late for her friends. Besides, they did need to sleep so maybe... just maybe, this was a good thing.
She'd love to sleep herself, but her stomach was still growling at her. It wasn't bad enough yet for Tessa to grab a blood bag and suck it back like the others. She could and she would...if and when her situation became bad enough. She wasn't there yet.
And given the unlimited number of nasty things the bad guys could have dissolved in the bags – she might never be.
She should try to power nap –boost her flagging energy and help her to heal.
With a quick glance around, she realized that whether as a result of overfeeding or the sedatives, most of her friends were already collapsed on the floor sleeping. At least they looked asleep. Her father was standing and talking to Goran at the far end. Neither appeared to be tired. And how the hell did that work? Still, if they were awake, then they'd stand guard and she could nod off. With a quick check on Jewel to make sure she was really just asleep, Tessa let her eyes close.
Ha. Thought you'd never stop worrying.
She smiled. I thought you were asleep.
Nope, just resting. We need this. So just sleep. Let your body relax.
His voice was hypnotic. Soothing. Comforting.
She felt the tension in her shoulders relax. The throbbing in her leg was distant, less of a pain and more of an ache.
Good. Now go deeper.
She sighed and felt her body drop off.
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here."
Tessa froze. Shit. Cody. What's going on?
She didn't move, although instinct had her wanting to run as far and as fast as she could. Which, given her leg, wasn't far at all.
Keep pretending to be asleep.
She heard footsteps as several people walked through the room. Where the hell had they come from? She thought there was no way out from this side. She assumed her father was still at the back of the room but she didn't know for sure. Cody was slumped against a wall and was pretending to be asleep. She peeked through her eyelids.
Humans. Armed humans.
Really? Like is this good news or bad news? Cody asked.
Not sure. She watched as one of the men dressed in an army green uniform prodded Ian with the end of his rifle.
"Hey, this lot is dead already," the guy said. He walked over to David and repeated his poking.
They think we're dead? Cody murmured.
She realized he was uncertain because they were humans. He'd had little to do with them compared to her.
"Good. Saves us the trouble of having to kill the assholes. What's with all the ash and crap floating in the air? What the hell were they doing in here anyway?"
"Who knows? Come on. There's nothing more here. The place has been destroyed. Let's head back to the tunnel and keep going."
A third man appeared in Tessa's line of vision. "Damn. I really wanted to kill something."
"Me too. But everything in here is dead already. Looks like the mountain did the work for us."
"Hell," muttered one male Tessa couldn't see. "I really want to kill something."
Tessa barely held back a shudder. She didn't dare let them see she was alive. They'd likely open fire on everyone to make sure they were dead.
"So fire into one of these corpses if you're so desperate to play with your gun. But remember, the mountain is already unstable. Start firing wildly in here and you might bring more rocks down."
"He's not going to start firing at anything," a clipped voice from behind her said. "We're here to take out the vampires who built this damn mountain. Not waste ammo riddling corpses with bullets. Now everyone head back to the tunnel before those rocks shift again and we can't squeeze our way back out again."
Tessa held her breath as she waited to hear the sounds of the men leaving. She heard so much noise then a slow drifting off as the men moved further away. She kept her ear tuned to their footsteps. As soon as they left, she was going to bolt over and check out the way they'd come in.
She wanted to peer around the railing and check if they'd all left, but what if one or two had stayed behind as a guard?
Wait. I can see the exit they used, but let's make sure they don't decide to come back and double check.
What a great thought.
It's what I'd do. What I've done, he admitted. Why would you leave anything to chance? Just because a vampire is dead doesn't mean he stays dead.
She'd done the same thing herself. Stabbing seemingly dead vamps with silver to make sure they didn't get back up again was just common sense.
Did they say they were killing vamps? he asked.
Sure, the ones involved in the blood farm.
Yeah, and how are they going to know who that is?
They aren't, she answered slowly, thinking about it. And the one sounded like he couldn't wait to kill any and all vampires.
A sudden movement from the side she couldn't see had her closing her eyes and holding her breath.
It's your father.
Oh. She straightened and peered over the railing. "Dad? Are they gone?"
He turned and nodded, a grim look on his face. "Yes. We couldn't take the chance of them mistaking us as the bastards who created this hellhole. Glad you stayed quiet."
"Cody is awake, too," she said, "But I think the other three are out cold."
Serus glanced at the others stretched out in various positions. "Good thing too. If they thought we were alive, I believe they'd have shot us first and asked questions later."
"Me too." Tessa stretched her injured leg. "I gather there is an exit we didn't see before?"
"One opened up with the earthquake. I watched them leave," her father said, adding, "How is the healing going?"
"Getting there. I was just about to take a nap when they arrived."
"Do. I'll stand watch. We were at the far end when the humans surprised us. They didn't even walk down to the back of the room." He snorted as if disgusted with their lack of thoroughness.
She smiled. "The room is trashed, and with all the ash they probably thought nothing else could be alive."
She studied the large room and realized that it really did look terrible. All the frames that had held the 'growing' or maturing vampires were hanging drunkenly off the supports. Most of the tiles had collapsed and pipes and tubing hung everywhere, still spewing whatever nastiness they'd held. In fact, the back half of the room slanted slightly and all the horrible liquids had pooled at that end.
No wonder the men hadn't gone down there.
She wouldn't have either.
Just looking at the pool of glistening horror made her stomach churn in protest. She closed her eyes and dropped her head to her knees.
She so didn't want to pass out. But feeling faint appeared to be the dominant emotion right now. She needed food.
The hairs on the back of her neck rose, and she jerked upright to find Cody's hard gaze blazing down at her. He held a bag of blood up to her face.
"Drink."
*.*.*
Goran was walking toward Serus when he saw Cody jump up and thrust a bag of blood into Tessa's face. She did look weak, and they appeared to be arguing about something. But she was also standing up to his boy just fine.
Only her mouth wasn't moving and he couldn't hear anything.
As he walked closer, he understood. They were fighting mentally. How weird was that? It was as if he was watching a movie with no sound. His boy was glaring something fierce. Then Tessa leaned in and dropped her head against Cody's chest.
He reached for Serus mentally. What's going on?
I think Tessa is getting weak. But she's afraid of the blood. She doesn’t drink much blood at the best of times. Hates the stuff.
Serus shrugged. What can I say? She's had some flavored stuff she could get down, but that the blood comes from here and might be drugged is adding to her objections.
Goran studied the three sleeping vampires. They were in a deep sleep. Do you think the blood was doctored?
I hope not. Serus added, Jewel and Ian have been drugged enough already?
Shit. Goran strode over to Ian and gave the boy's shoulder a good hard shake. No response. Ian's head lolled to one side, but there was no other movement. That's not good.
He spun around to see Serus shaking David awake. Goran tried to figure out how many times David had been drugged. Once for sure, but was this the second or third time?
David groaned. Serus shook him harder. "David. Wake up."
"Why?" David asked, not opening his eyes. "I'm so damn tired."
"Yeah, as long as you're just sleeping and not drugged."
David's eyes popped open. "You think I've been drugged?"
"It's possible." Serus squatted beside him. "Ian appears to be affected by something."
Back on his feet, David stretched. "I feel decent."
"It might have been a sedative to keep the vamps calm. Happy," Goran suggested.
"Well, I definitely feel like smiling," David said with a big grin. He turned to look at the others. "How is everyone else?"
"Tessa won't drink blood. Jewel, like Ian, is in a deeper sleep than she should be. Both Goran and I fed, but we had just enough to take off the edge. Hopefully not enough to absorb too many drugs. We don’t feel any different, which is good."
David made a mock face. "You might have told us that last part. Last I remember, you were handing out bags and telling us to drink."
"Yeah, but you missed the instructions – drink a little. Not the whole damn thing," Serus said in exasperation.
Cody walked over and joined them. "I had about a quarter. Kept the rest just in case."
David groaned. "I didn't. I had about half a bag."
Cody reached out and slugged him. "You always did eat too much."
"What about Jewel, is she okay?" He leaned around Cody.
But it was Tessa's voice that called back, "She's out. She's almost comatose. I can't get any response from her."
David stumbled to her side. Goran watched him, thinking that this was Jewel's third time. Maybe they were lucky and it was only a calming agent.
He caught Serus's eye. He motioned to Ian. "I think we should wake him up."
Everyone turned to look at Ian sprawled on the floor. "It's a good thing he was out like this when the humans walked through here," Serus said.
"Humans?" David called from the stairs. "What humans?"
Goran heard Tessa filling her brother in as he stepped to Ian's side. This boy kept getting knocked down. When was it one knock too many?
He tilted Ian's head toward him and lifted an eyelid. There was no flinch, no movement of any kind. With a heavy sigh, he reached out and whacked Ian hard across the face.
Ian didn't react.
Goran glanced over at Serus and Cody.
"He was hard to wake up last time. But he still made some response after I slapped him." Cody motioned to his friend. "He looks worse this time."
Serus reached over and hit Ian hard on the opposite cheek. "That means he's under the influence of some kind of drug."
"Possibly. I don't know how much he drank."
"How much is too much?" Cody asked, crouched beside Serus.
Goran glanced over at him. "One bag, two bags." He shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. Ian has been struggling since the first dose of drugs. His body might have just given up and needs to sleep for awhile."
"Only we don't have awhile." Serus straightened, his mouth twisting. "We can't just stay here until he wakes up."
"Why not?" Goran countered. "The humans checked us out and left. The mountain has stopped rumbling and for right now, we have several people that need to do just that – rest."
Serus twisted to gaze at the three clustered by the stairs. "How is Jewel?"
"No change," Tessa answered.
"How are you?"
Goran followed Serus's gaze to study Tessa's face. She was holding up, but exhaustion showed in the very way she stood. In fact, he'd swear she swayed on her feet.
"I'm fine."
"Like hell." Cody bounded to his feet. "You're ready to drop. You need to drink a little blood. Not enough to be affected like Ian and Jewel, but enough so you can heal and regain your strength, like what I did and what our fathers did."
She ran a hand over her forehead. "I'm not sure I can," she whispered. "It's likely to come straight back up." Indeed, a greenish cast had washed over her face.
"I don't have any synthetic blood here, Tessa. This is what's here and you need to feed. Even a little bit." Serus walked over to his daughter.
Goran stayed behind and tried not to listen. He couldn't imagine what his old friend was going through right now. Having raised Tessa through many problems already, he was the best equipped to handle this one.
Who knew how long she'd hold out?
*.*.*
Rhia stood beside Wendy and presented a calm, almost disinterested front. On the inside, she was a mess. She asked the leader, "Where's Jared?"
The second man glanced over at his leader, who was trying to make a phone call, before he answered. "Was that the kid waiting here for us? If so, he's gone with another group to some mine entrance with a mini railway." He shrugged. "We haven't seen anyone else alive."
That was good news about Jared. "Good. Jared escaped from that railway tunnel so he should be able to show the guys the way in."
The man nodded. "Apparently." He glanced over at the leader again.
Rhia could have told him that the phones would not work down here, but as she was the one who suggested he call...
The leader turned back, his face twisted in frustration. "I can't get any reception. I'm going to go up to the surface and try calling again." He stopped as if conflicted.
The second man nodded. "Go. We're fine here."
Undecided, then as if making a decision, the leader said, "I won't be long. We'd better sort this mess out now." He walked back toward the tunnel, calling back. "If I don't return, assume the worst."
He pivoted and glared at Rhia and Wendy. "Don't take any chances. Shoot them."
Tessa was vampire in more ways than she had realized. This had been brought home to her resoundingly fast. In her cosy life, with all her needs met, she could ignore that part of her heritage. Now she came face to face with it. She had to feed. And now with the thin veneer stripped away, she felt naked.
Uncomfortable.
Vulnerable.
Again.
She could handle the synthetic blood if she had to. It wasn't even bad. The fresh stuff, even if it had been filtered and cooled, made her stomach heave. That it was likely drugged would make it impossible to keep down. Could she roll it around in her mouth and spit it out? Would that do any good?
There should be clean blood here. Not everyone would be drinking the drugged stuff. Surely?
With that thought uppermost on her mind, she stood up and turned her back on her glowering father and pissed off Cody. She slowly navigated around Jewel's sprawled legs and her brother hovering close beside her to head toward the back of the room.
"Where are you going, sis?" David called after her.
"To see if I can find anything better than drugged blood to eat."
"Well, there won't be granola bars, that's for sure," he muttered.
"No, but maybe there is pure blood or synthetic blood." She limped forward until she came upon the remnants of Goran's actions to rid the world of his unplanned family. Piles of still smoldering ash covered the floor
She swallowed, lifted her gaze from the nasty floor, and searched the debris and hanging wires and pipes for another
cooler. Some kind of cold storage where the workers would have kept lunch. Surely they had access to the good stuff here?
With so much downed bits and pieces she struggled to make her way to the back of the room. When compared to the blood farm, this room was small. As in tiny. She reached the back wall in minutes – well, as close to the back wall as she could get and avoid the huge pile of liquid nastiness in front of her. She stood from her new position and turned to face the others. Everyone was resting or talking in small groups. Except for Cody. He stood and watched her. Glaring at her.
Tough.
She turned to study the funnels, pipes, filter system, and piping for the nutrients presumably being moved back and forth somehow. The growing pool of green brackish stuff still dripping from large pipes above her head told her no one had turned off the feeding system.
Or maybe they had, as the flow had slowed down to a trickle. Was that from the earthquake or maybe someone was watching them. Again
She studied the corners of the ceilings and the monitors hanging above them. Snow showed on the one while the other was a black screen.
"See anything?" Cody asked curiously.
She hadn't heard him come up behind her. Or inside her mind. Such a curious thing. Maybe she'd blocked him out because she was mad at him.
Are you still mad at me? he asked shortly, temper simmering in his voice.
The last thing she wanted to do was set his anger off, but he didn't understand what it was like for her. She sighed. No. It's just hard when the very act of swallowing this blood will make me puke.
I doubt you will find anything different here. The people here lived on the home-grown stuff. They farmed it, remember?
I know. I just thought maybe there was someone else like me out there.
His hand landed on her shoulder and squeezed. I doubt there is anyone else quite like you.