by Dale Mayer
“You sure you don’t remember anything?” David asked for the third time.
“If I did, I’d have said something,” she said for the third time. “Honestly, I remember being in the conference room with several councilmen and support staff then turned to walk back into my room. That’s where I don’t know what came next. My head hurts,” she murmured. “So I presume I was attacked. I remember being tossed over someone’s back and carried off. I thought I heard Goran talking to me, tried to warn him, but it’s all mixed up and foggy,” she added.
“Well, you didn’t tie yourself up, and neither did you get up here on your own,” Jewel said. “My concern is that we’ll get you back downstairs to your room, but the person responsible will be able to blend in and no one will be the wiser. In fact, they are likely to be so solicitous of your welfare that we’d never suspect them.”
“We’ll have to look at everyone who is at the Hall and see where they were when you were attacked. Hopefully we can account for everyone but that bastard,” David said with feeling. “Except he might have done this at someone else’s orders.”
“I’m sure they did,” Sian said in a calm voice. “Think about it, every boss in the blood farm is looking for me. Wouldn’t be surprised if there was a price on my head.” She laughed. “Hope it’s a decent amount. I’d hate for anyone to consider me an unimportant job.”
“Hardly,” David said. “And thankfully it appears they want you alive.”
“They want my baby alive,” she said, her voice thinning to a fine edge of steel. “Well, they didn’t get me—and won’t get her.”
“And from now on, you get a personal guard,” Serus growled, surprising them all from the bottom of the next landing.
David grinned at him. He hated to admit, but he was damn relieved to pass the responsibility of Sian over to the ancient. She had a better chance with him than anyone.
Serus took one look at her and snorted. “Of course you had to make your way downstairs on your own. Even though you’re tired and sore.”
Her smile faltered.
David was going to protest, saying that he’d offered to carry her, but the relationship between the two vamps was different. Caring. They’d been friends for a long time.
“I thought I could make it,” she whispered, but her voice was fatigued. “But…”
Serus nodded and opened his arms. She stepped into them and hugged him tight. Serus swung her up into his arms and glided his way down the stairs. David and Jewel were hard pressed to keep up, as were the men that had come with Serus. By the time they made it to the ground floor and out to the hallway, David could see Serus already walking at the far end of the hallway. He shook his head, grabbed Jewel’s hand, and ran to catch up. At least they’d found Sian before the bastards had a chance to hurt her or the baby. All in all, it was a good day.
*
Rhia hissed and crouched, her gaze flitting from vamp to vamp. Like hell they were going to do to her son what they’d done to every other asshole in their world. He was hers, and if he’d gone bad and there was no going back, well, as hard as it would be, he was her responsibility and she’d punish him herself.
She wasn’t going to allow him to become a twisted abomination of what he used to be.
“Damn it, Rhia, what’s gotten into you?” the doctor cried. “He asked for this. You know he wants to be the biggest and the best.”
“He’s a kid,” she cried. “Of course he wants that. But that doesn’t mean we should give it to him.”
“He’s not a kid,” the doctor snapped. “He’s a respected member of our council.”
For the moment, Ian was confused.
Seth had never been on the Vampire Council. What was the doctor talking about? Then as he heard a little more, he realized the doctor was talking about their council, as in a council that ran the blood farms. He didn’t know what to do with that piece of information. There shouldn’t be two councils, but the warring faction had created their own copy of the main vampire clans’ government. In their need to organize, they’d copied their enemy while espousing their superiority. A fact that amused him. He doubted the doctor would appreciate that point.
Ian slipped around behind the others. He wanted to make sure it was Seth on the table. While the three people in his room had their attention on Rhia, he had a chance to look. And it was. With that confirmed, Ian stood and studied the man he’d seen around and would have been happy to have called a friend if Seth had shown any interest. But he hadn’t. He’d been with his own crowd. Like every kid found their own friends.
He reached down and touched Seth’s neck. Was he drugged? Would they have a problem getting him out of here? Not that he had any idea where here was.
The young man’s pulse was strong, but he was out cold.
He studied the frozen tableau in front of him, Rhia glared at him and nodded to Seth. He realized that meant get Seth out—now. He bent, scooped the good-sized male into his arms, and walked back out the hallway.
He couldn’t help Rhia this way. He could only help save Seth.
Wendy gasped when she saw him. She peered around him at the room and cried, “No.”
She darted past him. Jared gave Ian a weak smile. “Hey, Ian. You found him, didn’t you?”
“I did, but Rhia’s in trouble.” Ian didn’t want to lay Seth down and have the man wake up and disappear on them, but he could hardly leave Jared in charge. Neither could he leave Rhia to face the three vamps.
Damn it to hell for shitty choices.
At a high-pitched howl, he spun around to find Rhia going berserk, but in a good way. She stabbed the doctor in the throat and was busy slashing and kicking the hell out of the other two vamps. Wendy jumped in and added her spike to the doctor’s shoulder, and he disappeared into a pile of ash. As Wendy turned to help Rhia, Ian wanted to laugh. There was no one left to fight. The other two people were dead and gone. Rhia herself was slowly coming down from her fiery adrenaline rush.
Ian hoped she didn’t come down too much. They needed her to be strong and fiery in order to get out of this hellhole. He had no idea where they were and with two of their group either down or so weak they couldn’t move, Ian needed her help.
She burst through the double doors, her gaze wild until they landed on Seth still held protectively in Ian’s arms.
“He’s fine. He’s still out cold though,” Ian cautioned. “We need to get out of here and get him back home where our doctors can help.”
She nodded and reached out a gentle hand to Seth’s forehead. “And Tessa. If she can do what you all say she can do, we need her to remove all the black from his system.”
Ian stayed silent, but he caught Wendy’s worried gaze with his own. It might be well past the point of Tessa helping Seth in any way. And in helping him, she might just kill him.
“Let’s go,” Rhia called behind her as she strode forward. “We have to move it. Now.”
*
Goran strode down the tunnel. There were no pretty white walls or ceiling tiles anywhere. This was a ventilation shaft for something, but they hadn’t had a chance to figure it out. He knew what was likely down here – after all, what else could it be? – but they hadn’t seen any proof of it.
And they’d been walking for a while. He could hear the military grumble behind him.
So far, he’d been referred to as an old geezer, geriatric wannabe warrior, and a few other choice names. He didn’t care. He was a vamp, and being a seriously old vamp, he could still run circles around the human kids.
He had no need to prove anything anymore.
Unless they called him old to his face. Then he was going to kick their ass.
He knew he’d been delighted to get out of the office and into the field, but this walking trip was hardly the type of action he was looking for.
Up ahead, he could see the darkness ease. There were lights ahead.
Holding up his hand for silence, he cautiously stepped forward.
C
hapter 14
Tessa stood up, woozy and disoriented but…maybe fine. She wasn’t exactly sure what had happened and was fairly certain that what had gone on hadn’t been done by her hand.
But she couldn’t be sure.
Cody sat up slowly, his body moving in as graceful a movement as she’d ever seen. So weird. He’d always moved well, strong muscles functioning at their prime, but now there was a smoothness, a panther-like grace to him. As if everything was working better than before. She could see the blue energy vibrating through his system. There was a wonderfully coordinated rhythm to it.
From sitting, Cody leapt to full standing and gave a huge stretch. She watched him in wonder. Beast studied him, seemingly for the same reason. Cody…felt different.
“Hey,” he said, that smile of his triggering warmth inside. She studied his blue eyes, melting a little more.
Hey back, she whispered in his mind. How do you feel?
Better than ever. Strong. Powerful.
What happened, she asked cautiously. Do you know?
Some. He gave her a crooked grin and said out loud, “I took a hit that affected my energy, scattering it everywhere. Someone in my head kept saying I had a choice. Did I want to stay there or want to come back here? To you.”
She gasped. “Who said that?”
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. He opened his arms and tugged her close. “But if I didn’t come back, someone else was going to take my place in your life. Or I could come back and look after you.”
He laughed at the look on her face. “I didn’t argue. The thought of someone else holding you like this…I couldn’t stand it.”
And he tucked her up close against his heart and cuddled her. Held her. Cherished her.
“I’m so glad you came back then,” she whispered. “I wouldn’t have wanted to go on without you.”
“Wouldn’t have mattered what you wanted. According to the voice in my head, you are doing what you need to do. You are the One, and it was my job to stand by and protect you – in all ways.”
She shook her head, finding it hard to believe. “Who could that have been?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I wondered if it wasn’t Hortran.”
“Hortran? I don’t even know what to stay.” Motre was standing beside them, looking worse for wear, but his face glowed as he looked at Cody. “I thought you were done this time. What would we do without Tessa, huh?”
“I didn’t fix him this time,” she said with a big smile. “He did most of that on his own.”
Cody laughed. “Well, I did, but it took Tessa to make it happen.”
“What?” Motre stared at the two of them in shock.
Tessa listened from the circle of Cody’s arms as he tried to explain.
She was still in shock herself. That he’d experienced such a breakthrough was wonderful. It helped him to understand much of what she’d gone through. There was no way to explain what she’d been through, he had to experience it himself.
As she listened to Cody’s explanation, she wondered at what all he’d seen and experienced.
Motre, on the other hand looked…shell-shocked.
She grinned up at him. “Amazing, isn’t it?”
Motre’s gaze kept going from one to the other. “Well, I don’t know what to think.”
“I knew,” Cody admitted. “But no idea that this was possible until I came so close to dying.”
“Were you that close,” Motre asked. “Really?”
“Yes,” he said. “I was. Everything was so faint and thin and emotionless.”
He shook his head slowly as if remembering. “There was a voice talking to me in a calm, natural tone and I could hear him clearly.”
Motre shook his head. “Well, I sure hope that never happens to me.” He turned to look at the door that had blown up. “What do we make of that? Was it a weapon?”
Cody glanced from the door to Tessa. “I think it was a bomb of some kind.”
“I can’t imagine anything else having that effect.” She shrugged. “Then again, who knows?”
“Well, I’m not opening any more doors.” Motre crossed his arms and studied the door. “Besides, if it was a bomb, why is the door still standing?”
“It blew open with the blast then shut again.” Tess walked closer. She wasn’t too eager to touch it either but given the blast had already happened, she couldn’t imagine there would be much more danger involved. Then it was a whole new world again.
She reached out for the knob that was looking a little worse for wear but still attached.
“Easy,” Motre cried, backing up several yards.
Cody stood beside her. “Go ahead, it’s probably fine now.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” She grabbed the knob and tugged the door open.
And stared. Inside, the damage was much worse. “Wow, the floor and walls were blown to crap in here.”
She couldn’t imagine the damage if Cody had been any closer to the bomb. Or indeed if it had gone off at a different time.
She stepped inside carefully. The plaster was hanging drunkenly down from the ceiling and the walls appeared to have been torn off. There was wood underneath it, and although that appeared distressed, it was still standing. Good for the original builders. Who knew they’d be looking at protecting the structure against bombs? With Motre finally inside, the three, Beast at Tessa’s side, gingerly walked down the hallway. This was a small side hallway specifically for this exit. She’d used it before when she wanted to get away from the noise and crowds of a gathering.
Sad in a way. She’d never felt a part of the clan before, and now she was an important member. At least she hoped some vamps thought so. It would be sad to consider that she could be an outsider again after all of this.
Then again, she no longer felt the need to be accepted. If she wasn’t, then she wasn’t. She was no longer a young girl with easily hurt feelings. She was a full-grown woman who felt a wrath she barely recognized building deep inside. If more of Council Hall was like this hallway, she might let that rage blow at that damn blood farm.
*
Cody studied the blast zone in awe. It had taken a lot of balls to do this. Of course it was an insider job. Unfortunately, if there was one bomb, there was a chance there were more. They’d been expecting an attack from the outside of the hall, but he was afraid as he studied the blast radius that the enemy was still within the inner circle. How the hell was that still happening?
He walked down the hallway slowly. There was no sound. No music, no voices. No arguing. Council Hall was famous for its arguments. Right now, he’d do a lot to hear raised voices. Stealthily, afraid the Hall had already been taken, Cody slipped into the main chamber. The huge room rose above his head in a domed roof. He’d never really studied the architecture of the place before. But looking at it now and seeing the damage one small blast had done to the single hallway, he could just imagine the damage several of those charges would do in a room like this. All the floors above would collapse. He gazed upstairs. And who the hell was up there? Tessa was right. They needed to find that out.
According to David’s text, they’d found Sian at the top of a hidden staircase. No windows to see out of, so it had been impossible to keep track of how high they’d gone or why. There were secrets to this building they needed to uncover.
He looked around the Main Hall. It was empty.
That room, the main community space, was never empty. Even if the place was shut down for a day or so, as soon as people entered, they were in that room. So that made no sense either.
He was filled with the sudden urge to see who or what was on the top floor of the Hall. He had no idea how to get there though. And the main floor was too damn silent to leave right now. Unless there was something that connected the two incidents?
“Where is everyone?”
“I have no idea.” Tessa’s tone was odd though.
He glanced at her, Beast as always walking calmly at h
er side. “You okay?”
She nodded. “I am. Slightly off, maybe, but not sure why.”
“Good.” That sounded better but not quite right. He studied her face. “Any more signs of Deanna?”
A shade of guilt whispered over her face.
“You did?”
She shrugged. “I’m not sure if I did or not. When you were having your experience, Hortran spoke to me. At least I think it was Hortran. But there was an odd energy there as well. I think it was Deanna’s energy.”
“So, her energy fills you.” He lifted his eyebrow as he stared at her. “That shouldn’t worry you.”
Her sideways smile slipped out. “I know, but it was different. It wasn’t like the energy of the memories. It was livelier.”
“As in she was still inside you and capable of taking over? Or just that there was more liveliness because of the Hortran connection?”
She walked forward and froze, her foot off the ground. Her shocked gasp was hoarse, raw. More of a gurgling cough.
He raced to her side. “What is it?”
“It’s Deanna.”
“What? She’s still there?”
“Yes, but so much smaller. Lesser. Weaker. But she is giving me a warning.”
“About what?”
Tessa shook her head and groaned.
“Now what?” he whispered in harsh tones. “You’re acting like you’re in pain.”
“I am. I tried to move closer to the middle of the Hall and she’s…shocking me into paying attention?”
“As in a warning?”
Tessa looked puzzled. “Maybe?”
Cody turned to look toward the main part of the Hall. “I’m willing to listen to it.” He looked behind him. “Do you have any idea how to get to the upstairs apartment?”
She shook her head, apparently struggling to pull her gaze from the Main Hall. He tugged her backwards slightly. Motre had stayed behind them. As Cody glanced at him, he realized that Motre was holding his hand to his head. Had the blast caught him, too? Damn it. Cody had been so involved in his own experience that he’d had forgotten to see if Motre was okay.