by Dale Mayer
“Maybe, but we don’t know what they’ve done to you. And we can’t take the chance of you being drugged again. So helping Sian it is. No…” He held a finger to her lips. “No arguments. There are enough able-bodied males to handle this, and you are needed here. Sian and Taz need you. Do you have any idea how many sick vamps are here?”
“Then your sister should be here too, helping,” Jewel argued. “Those are my friends too. And I want to help them.”
“I know you do. And thank heavens for that. But the bottom line is, we need you to help upstairs.” David was already leading her up the first flight of stairs. “Sian isn’t recovering well after that last attack in the middle of the street. She’s been holding it together but if you look at her carefully, you’ll see the strain. She’s terrified these assholes will try again for her and the baby’s DNA. She has to look after herself for the baby’s sake. Therefore, you need to help.”
Her shoulders slumped, but he knew he’d made the right decision. She looked so much better than the last time he’d seen her, but the bottom line was she didn’t have her full strength back.
“While you are with Sian, you will also feel safer.”
She nodded. “I wasn’t sure if I was safe in that medical room or not. It felt wrong…so when I could, I left.”
“And maybe that was the right decision.” David admitted. “I never did find the nurse who’d been looking after you. I don’t know if she was a plant, or if she’s dead, or if she just left to go home, but the doctor said he hasn’t seen her either.”
Jewel gasped, her hand going to her mouth as she studied his face. “So I was right?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But let’s make sure you are with friends and not strangers this time.”
She smiled and reached up and kissed him. “Thank you.”
*
Ian opened his eyes to see Wendy lying beside him. He smiled. Damn, she looked fine. She was draped across his chest and he had his arms wrapped around her. He loved this woman so much, but he hadn’t told her yet. Maybe today was the day. He lifted his head to see where he was when he realized they weren’t alone. Jared was with them.
Crap. So he hadn’t gone to bed snuggling with the most beautiful woman in the world. Then what the hell had he done? He glanced around everywhere and realized they were in a single room. Two beds. Him and Wendy in one, and Jared in the other. Weird.
Then he remembered. The three of them had been looking at a room full of monitors when they’d been attacked. They’d been taken prisoner again. God damn it. He wanted to lash out at the world that was constantly against them. Why couldn’t they catch a break? That’s all they needed. One decent break. Was that too much to ask for?
He realized then that Wendy was lying in a too deep, too unnatural sleep. He bolted upright, his fingers checking to see if she was breathing. She was. Thank God. But there was blood on the back of her head. The bastards had hit her.
He’d kill them for that.
Now all he had to do was figure out where the hell they were. He rolled over and laid Wendy down beside him on the bed. Getting to his feet, he walked over to Jared and studied the slack face. Drugs or injury? He reached out and moved the man’s head to the side, but there didn’t appear to be any blood flowing. Yet there were black and blue marks on his neck and arms. He’d fought. Good on him, but completely useless against the vamps. As his gaze wandered down Jared’s body, he realized there were no tubes in his arm.
That was a relief. The last thing any of the three of them needed was more drugs. He spun around and assessed the otherwise empty room. There were no other beds. No window, no cupboards, and only the one door. Most likely a locked door. The beds explained Wendy on his bed – maybe, but they could have just as easily dumped one of them on the floor.
He turned his attention to the ceiling. Tiles. He frowned and remembered the many rooms he’d seen, larger and holding more beds than this room, but the same colored walls and ceiling tiles. Were they really in another damn blood farm? And if they were, was this the missing one they’d been looking for? Surely there couldn’t be more – right? Then again, if it was a blood farm, why was Jared here with him and Wendy? He’d be hanging up again. Poor guy. His lips thinned as he remembered the few vampires they’d found strung up, too. Not to mention the vamp guinea pigs forced to take enhancements.
Shitty way to live. So not going to happen to him. He glanced back at his unconscious friends and realized this time the rescue was up to him. He studied the door in front of him. No lock on the inside. Checking his pockets, he realized he still had his cell phone. Gleefully, he pulled it out and checked for a signal. None. Right, so they’d been allowed to keep their phones because they wouldn’t work down here. He stopped and rolled the word ‘down’ around in his head. How was it he assumed they were down anywhere? Because it was cooler. The air thinner. The floor…stone?
Yeah. Blood farm. Instead of being afraid, he was fiercely glad. They’d bring this one down now, too.
*
Rhia wasn’t sure how long she could do this. Her head was splitting with pain and the effects of fighting the drugs still pouring through her system. Her mind was split and fighting to think coherently. She had to keep this up for a little longer. She’d been assigned to work on the patients on the lower floors. Fine. She’d be under surveillance after her odd arrival. She knew that. She could handle that. But she had to find Seth. And that was in the moments when she was lucid. Then there were moments when she could feel and sense her body following orders, the drugs and brainwashing commanding in a way her mind couldn’t fight.
Please let her not have taken too strong a dose that she couldn’t recover from. She had no wish to be a part of this mess – ever. At least her lucid mind was saying that. Her drugged-out mind couldn’t say please and thank you to these assholes fast enough. Rhia needed to save Seth and after that…well, she’d bring this nightmare down to the ground.
Her lucid mind smiled joyously. Her drugged mind hissed in fear. Then she remembered those she’d seen in the van. Jared, Wendy, Ian. Her children’s poor friends.
Yes, they will make great additions to the blood farm and testing programs, her drugged mind said in a sartorial whisper. Good luck saving them.
Chapter 4
Tessa wandered the parking lot. “We must have taken a wrong turn somewhere,” she cried. “This isn’t where the others were.”
“Does it matter?” Motre called from the far side. “There is only the one door in and out of here. No one is here now and it’s obviously not a well-used place.”
“Right. But we won’t get any answers here.”
“No, but we have a vehicle available, so let’s grab this one and go.” Cody walked to the front of the Council vehicle and opened the door. “Of course keys would help.”
“We can do without them if need be,” Motre said, approaching rapidly from his quick search of the lot. “I’ll hot wire it in two seconds.”
He reached the two of them and opened the driver’s side. He quickly opened the plastic under the dash and fiddled with a few wires. Less than a minute later, the engine fired up. He grinned and hopped into the driver’s seat. “Ha, I’m driving.”
Cody rolled his eyes and walked around to the passenger side and found Tessa grinning at him from the front seat. “You get to ride in the back.”
“Right.” He opened the side panel of the truck and let out a startled grunt. Tessa turned around to look in the back of the large vehicle. There were two dead men, eyes open and staring upward in the back. Motre turned on an inside light and twisted to look at the men. His voice grim and hard, he said, “We rescued these two men from the hospital. They were part of one of the foreign dignitaries group.”
“Then why are they dead?” Cody asked, studying them. “Not disease, or energy shit. They look to be…”
“Frozen,” Tessa said, her voice hushed in shock. “They look frozen.”
Cody shot her a hard l
ook and reached out to touch the men. “They are damn cold.”
“From the morgue,” she said. “They were in the drawers in the morgue. Not frozen, but so cold that they have very low body temperature.”
“But they are dead, right?” Motre exclaimed. He got out of the van and came around to where Cody stood staring. “Tessa, are they dead?”
She was trying to figure that out. She’d seen some pretty strange things already and this was just one more. “I’m not sure,” she whispered. “I can’t see any energy lingering on their bodies that would normally say there’s life here, but neither is there blackness of death or drugs. In fact, I’m not seeing anything at all.”
Cody looked over at her. “And has anything changed in your ability to see?”
She looked over at him and shook her head. “Not that I know of.” But she knew he could hear the doubt in her voice. Was she losing some of her newfound abilities? Had her confrontation with Deanna changed her abilities? Done anything to them in any way?
No. She couldn’t have that. Still…she closed her eyes and said mentally, Vampire genes, fire up please. I need to be able to read energy again.
She could feel the heat from inside surge forward and bathe her body in warm light, the sensation moving upward in a continuous wave. When it reached her neck then her face, she smiled. As it hit her eyes, she opened them and looked at the two men standing and staring at her. Men who were less physical and more energy than she’d ever seen before. She hadn’t lost her abilities. She’d tucked them away, and now when she called them into play, they were there for her. She was more in control than ever.
She turned her gaze toward the two prone men in the back of the van and could see a faint blueness to their body. So slim as to not be there. But it was there. She scrambled over the center console and reached out a hand each toward them. She slammed a wave of hot color toward the two men, forcing it into the bodies to blend with the icy blue. She poured energy down into the hearts and willed them to beat. More and more energy rippled inside the two men, filling them.
Suddenly, the man on top gave a huge sigh then gulped for air. Again and again.
He groaned as the second man started to gulp for air. Then both men opened their eyes.
“What the…” The first man sat up slowly then grabbed for his head. “What did you guys do to us?”
“Nothing,” Tessa said tartly. “We saved you. Now, who are you and what are you doing here?”
The first man looked over at the second. “We’re from England. Came over for the conference. All I remember is our arrival and the panic for everyone to get organized for the meetings. We were just settling in when something happened.” He looked around at the van in confusion. “I just woke up here.”
“You came over for the Clan Summit?”
He nodded, still rubbing his head. “There were four of us.” He glanced around at the back of the van. “Where are the others?”
“We don’t know. We’ve only seen you two. But we found part of the Nordic party and some of the Germans.”
He frowned. “There was a lot of arguing at the start. The Germans weren’t happy about something. A change in venue if I’m not mistaken. They had a reason for us staying where we were, I believe, but the organizers had felt a change was necessarily. Something about a security breach.”
“Well, there was that.” Motre shook his head. “We need to ask Sian to check who attended that Clan Summit and cross check against the people we’ve found. For all we know, there might be dozens still missing.”
“Missing? What happened?” The second man sat up gasping as his body struggled to function properly. “What the hell happened to us?”
“We can’t say for sure, but what we do know is a group of rebel vampires appeared to have crashed the summit and taken everyone hostage. They are after your DNA for their experiments.”
Both men paled and quickly checked their arms. Both showed signs of punctures. “Jesus. I can’t believe this,” the first man cried.
But the other man was shaking his head. “The Germans were yelling something about that. Saying that something had to happen as the vampire races were becoming diluted. I didn’t hear all the conversation though.”
“Yeah, I don’t think there are many in the German delegation left. And the foreign dignitaries that we’ve managed to find and help haven’t been too eager to join with the rebel group, hence the party crashing and mass kidnapping.”
“What type of experiments?” the first man asked. “I’m Alexander of Cheshire. Our clan is one of the oldest in existence. The leader, Rothberg, was supposed to come, but there was a meeting and sudden change of plans and I was ordered to come in his place.”
Tessa glanced over at Cody. “Sian needs to have a look at Rothberg.” She turned her gaze back to Alexander. “I’m thinking he didn’t like you – did he?”
Alexander shook his head. “No, but he was our leader and of course I respected him for that.”
“But you didn’t like his policies?” Cody asked shrewdly. “He wanted to return to the old ways. Bring back more fresh blood. Blood farms perhaps. And you…you wanted to keep the clans progressing forward.”
Alexander stared at him in shock. “How do you know?”
“Because the people who kidnapped you have a massive blood production system with over four blood farms in operation, and we think they’ve gone international. We’ve rescued more than a few people with powerful enemies who found the blood farms an easy way to remove the competition.”
“Oh my God,” the second man cried. “Alexander was supposed to be leader, but he became so sick at the time of his rising, he couldn’t attend so Rothberg, who was second-in-command, took over. He has yet to hand the leadership back to Alexander.”
“Well, he wouldn’t, would he? He’s planned it so you don’t ever go back.” Motre was already talking on the phone. “Sian, we’ve got Alexander and…” he looked at the second vamp, who responded with Rupert. “And Rupert from the British clan. They were at the summit as well. They were dead in the back of a van we found on some deserted parking level.”
He snorted. “Yeah, you heard me, dead.”
The two men turned to stare at each other then back at Tessa. She shrugged and turned away to retake her seat. Like hell she was answering. Her fatigue levels were really rising now, and it didn’t look like there was any rest in sight for her.
She could hear the men talking in low tones in the background. She didn’t need to be part of that conversation to know what was being discussed. She could feel the shock waves from where she sat. She stared out the window and waited. They needed to hurry up and make a decision on their next move before she collapsed. To that end, she closed her eyes and tried to rest.
*
“That’s not possible.” Alexander shook his head in disbelief. “Besides, if she could do that, these assholes would want her DNA.”
There was an awkward silence before Cody answered, his voice cold and harsh. “They’ve tried several times.”
“And failed,” Motre added. “Another reason we’re going after them. They have gone after several of our Councilmen. Ancients.”
“Shit,” Rupert said. “This is messed up.”
“You don’t know the half of what we’ve been through, but this girl is the reason we’re still alive. She’s saved our asses more times than we can count.”
“And she’s learned to do more as well.” Cody laughed. “Hell, this was a shy insecure girl when this mess started, and now she’s one of the most powerful women in all the clans.”
“Ha, the strongest woman I know is Deanna. That old witch is powerful.”
Motre looked at Cody. Cody stared at him.
“What are we missing?” Alexander asked curiously.
“Deanna is dead. And she did transfer her knowledge to Tessa.” Motre nodded to Tessa at the front seat. “Quiet.”
Cody leaned forward and whispered in his mind, Tessa?
No answer, just a gentle hum.
He nodded. “Good. She is asleep.” He glanced at the inside of the van, wondering about the blood supply. “She also needs food.”
“We’re dead short on time,” Motre said. “But we’re going to need to swing past Council Hall and drop these two off. We can grab what we need then.”
“Whoa, I want to go home, not to Council Hall,” Alexander said.
“And that’s not a choice. You’re alive because of Tessa, however, your full recovery could take a day or two. Besides, we haven’t the time to fill you in on all the rest. You’ll have to get up to speed to keep yourself safe from the head of your clan at home.”
Alexander subsided in the back of the van, a gray cast to his skin. “Great. I’m not feeling so good now, and if he saw me, he’d finish me off in a heartbeat. Call me weak and a taint to the blood.”
Motre snorted. “Sounds like a nice guy, but we have our own just like him. We’re in a full-blown war here, and it’s going global if we can’t stop it in time.”
Cody nodded. “It’s already gone global by attacking all the foreign dignitaries. The Nordic group almost lost the son of the leader. So many died until Tessa managed to get them back.”
There was an odd silence as Motre hopped into the driver’s seat. Cody found a place to sit in the back.
“And how did she do that exactly?” Rupert asked delicately. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful, but…”
“Yeah. No one really knows, but she sees energy, including the energy inside our bodies, and can tell by that amount if she were to add more to it if it would save us. She’s helped all of us in many ways.” Cody really didn’t want to have this discussion, and worse, he knew Tessa was sleeping, but it was likely a light doze and he didn’t want her to think they were talking about her. Or insulting her. People tended to speak their mind more if the person wasn’t there or was sleeping.
“How is that possible?” Alexander said in shock. “There have always been people who see energy, not many, but one or two per generation I’d say, so that in itself is not unusual, but the rest… yeah, it is.”