by Dale Mayer
“We’re wasting time,” David snapped. “We have to stop them.”
Bart snarled right back at him. “We are doing something. We just took out these couple assholes and got the canister back. The system won’t work if there is only one canister. They’d need to seal off this half of it first.”
David stared at Bart in surprise. Serus admitted he was a little surprised himself. All he’d seen of that vamp had been a sleepy disinterest. Now he was agitated…and angry.
Serus wished he understood what was behind it.
And apparently Tessa didn’t either as she studied Bart intently. “What’s the matter, Bart?”
“You,” he snapped. “All of you. You cause so much trouble.”
“It’s not me,” Tessa said in surprise. “We’re trying to fix the problem.”
“And the problem just keeps getting bigger. If you’d left well enough alone, we’d all be living our normal lives.”
Sadness whispered across Tessa’s face. Serus’s heart tugged at what she’d been through.
“That wasn’t possible,” Tessa said quietly. “People were getting hurt. It had to stop.”
“And now vamps are getting hurt because of it. When do our people not count?” There was so much bitterness in his voice that no one appeared to know what to say.
“It’s true that trying to help my friends brought on more problems than we could have ever understood ahead of time, but that didn’t mean I could let them be hurt and do nothing about it.”
“Whatever.” Bart turned away. “The hospital was doing a lot of good here too, you know. They were trying to help some vamps. It was a medical facility. A treatment center.” He headed to the door. “Now it’s just a disaster zone.”
And he walked through the doorway, canister in hand, leaving the others to stare behind him in wonder.
Goran walked forward, closing his phone. “What happened to him? The last time I saw him he was completely disinterested in the war going on around us. In fact, I think he was hoping it would pass by and not disturb his sleep.”
“He was.”
Serus, a glimmer of understanding trickling into his conscience, suggested, “Maybe the war has struck too close to home. While it was at the blood farms, as long as he didn’t take part in the consumption of the blood and had no caring for the humans involved, he wasn’t involved. But now that it’s here…”
“Where the hospital was doing testing and treatments.” Tessa added, “He does care.”
“And that would give rise to the assumption that he has someone here that he cares about who is being adversely affected.”
“Then again,” David said, “We all are. If he’d helped out early on, this stage might have been prevented. It’s not like Jewel or Wendy wanted to be drugged. Or Mom. Or how about Darren? He was one of the few vamps hanging up in the blood farm – it’s not like he asked for this. We’re all suffering. Bart has to decide which side he’s on.”
“I think he already did,” Serus said, following after Goran. “He left, didn’t he?”
“He said he was going after the second canister, but whether he does or not…” Cody said.
“Speaking of side,” Goran said, “Motre just filled me in. They were attacked trying to get to the elevator. They broke off and raced down the stairs. The fight was bad enough that they lost a few men before they managed to hole up on the second floor. They are safe but pinned down. He says the men need some time to recover, so don’t race to their rescue just yet.”
“Good. We’ll straighten this out then go to him.”
*
“Jared?”
The voice wove through his dreams. Tessa? Chelsea? No…Sian. He woke with a jolt and bolted upward, knocking out the chair from under him and falling backwards. Catching himself, he shuddered with shock as he stood frozen in place, trying to figure out where he was.
“Easy, Jared.” Sian stood in front of him, worry creasing her beautiful face. “You’re fine here.”
“Sorry.” He shook his head to loosen up the cobwebs. “I guess I fell asleep.”
“No wonder. You and Taz,” she turned her head to another man Jared only just now realized had crashed on the couch opposite him, “are working so hard.”
Taz opened his eyes and gazed at his beautiful wife. The look in his eyes made Jared wish for things he’d never had. Someone to love him. Someone to love.
The two people were so well suited to each other; he couldn’t imagine a better couple. And Taz was human. “You guys are great together,” Jared said warmly. “You’re very lucky.”
Sian laughed, her light caring voice rippling through the room. “Thank you. So many people would not agree with you.”
“And they’d be wrong.” In a smooth muscled movement, Taz came off the couch to stretch his arms to the ceiling. He walked the two steps over to his wife and gave her a loving kiss. “Did you get any rest?” he asked, staring down at her, his gaze studying her features.
Jared turned away from the intimate look into the relationship between two people he barely knew. Behind him, he heard the gentle murmurings but deliberately tuned it out. He walked to the window and stared out into the dark of night. God, he hoped Chelsea was safe and sound and tucked into bed somewhere warm. He couldn’t stand the thought of her lying in one of those horrible cells he’d lived in while they checked his blood out.
She was innocent and fragile. She had a loving family – and he hadn’t contacted them. Shit.
He spun around to look at the couple still talking quietly behind him. “I never contacted Chelsea’s parents.”
Sian nodded. “We tried but haven’t connected yet. We’ll keep trying.”
Jared pulled out his cell phone on the faint hope that Chelsea might have contacted him while he’d slept. But there were no messages. He immediately sent her one even though he knew the assholes had her phone. He just couldn’t help himself.
As soon as he hit send, he panicked. “I just sent another message to Chelsea. What was I thinking?” he exclaimed. “What if they can track it? What if they know I’m here now? They will come after me. And find you.”
Oh no, what had he done? He hadn’t meant to but hadn’t thought his actions through. He’d reacted, and not in a good way.
He raised his stricken gaze upward to stare at the other two.
“If that’s possible, which it likely is, then we’ll have to take your phone somewhere to lead them away from here,” Taz said calmly. “And you’ll end up losing yet another phone.”
Another phone? Jared stared at Taz in dismay. “But I just got this one.”
Sian laughed. “And we’ll help you get another one. The bottom line is if they can find you, they can kidnap you yet again. Once was enough, don’t you think?”
She held out her hand. With a sigh of disgust, he placed the phone in her hand then snatched it back up again. “Wait, I need to grab the numbers off of here.”
While the others waited, he wrote down all the contacts he’d worked so hard to regain these last few days. He didn’t want to lose those numbers. He ripped off the piece of paper from the pad that Sian had provided and folded it. Pulling out his wallet, he tucked it inside.
Immediately he felt better. Still connected. Sadly, he watched as Sian took the phone and tucked it into her purse.
“Uh, that’s not a good idea.”
She turned to look at him, a question in her eyes.
“If they come looking for that phone, they are going to find you instead. That’s not a decent alternative to finding me.”
“No, it’s not.” Taz walked over and fished it out of his wife’s purse. “We need someone on the Council to come and pick this up.”
Sian shrugged. “I could have taken on anyone they sent,” she muttered.
He chuckled softly, one arm reaching out to stroke her rounded belly. “I’m sure you could, but Junior needs his Amazonian mother.”
She blushed prettily. Jared sighed happily. This was anot
her thing he missed in his life. A family.
Maybe he’d be lucky enough to have one someday.
*
Rhia hated the woozy feeling in her brain. The drugs coursed through her blood, making her weak. God, what had she done? Surely there’d been another way. She’d only given herself a half dose – hoping to keep some of herself along with enough drugs to access some of the memories and knowledge she’d picked up while under the influence. A faint hope maybe, but she had no idea what else to do. The information she needed was inside her head. And maybe inside the computer equipment she’d help seize from the raids. She just needed a safe place to hole up while the drugs did their thing. She stared around the small room. It had a bathroom and a table and a bed. Surely that would be enough for her needs.
Then she looked at the locked door. No one else could get in if she didn’t want them to. The problem was if the drugs took over so strongly that she chose to unlock the door and leave the Council Hall. If that was the case, the drugs and whatever brainwashing had been done would be in control and she could cause untold damage to those she loved.
How to stop herself from doing that?
She couldn’t lock herself in.
She needed someone else to do that.
Wracking her brain for a solution, she sat still, letting her mind work. Letting her mind access the information. She had a computer in front of her. One taken from the blood farm and one from their own servers here at the Council. Surely that would provide the necessary tools she needed to sort this out.
Except for the damn door.
What was she going to do about that? She heard voices outside. She tensed, then forced herself to relax. No one could get in. It wouldn’t matter if someone was out there.
She watched, her nerves pulsing as the footsteps and voices came closer and closer. There were many locked doors in the Center. She didn’t even know what was behind many of the doors. She swallowed hard, hearing the noises right at her door. The knob turned.
Shit.
Then a key was inserted. Instead of the door being unlocked and the door opened, the lock clicked several times before a hard snap cracked. She bolted to her feet. What the hell happened?
The footsteps on the other side moved on down the hallway. Her throat clenching, Rhia raced to the door. Her hand out, she reached for the knob. It had to be the drugs making her tremble. She grasped the knob and, ready to peer around the edge, she turned it.
And pulled.
It didn’t budge. Frowning, she threw the bolt on the top of the door and turned the knob again.
It still didn’t move.
Panicking now, she flipped the bolt back and forth several times, trying anything she could to open the door.
Everything failed.
Knowingly or unknowingly – she’d been locked inside.
Chapter 10
Tessa followed the group chasing after Bart – only slower. If nothing else, they needed to know where the second canister was going to be attached and save it – and to make sure Bart did what he said he was going to do. A part of her felt they should go rescue Motre but as he said, they were safe for the moment. She understood the males were hoping to meet up with more bad guys, but she was still caught up in Bart’s words.
And the odd sense of betrayal that had taken over her consciousness. So she wasn’t the One? She was just Deanna’s last choice? A choice made in panic when Deanna found herself at the end of the road with no other place to go. How the hell did that make any sense?
“Are you okay?” Cody placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.
Slowing down, she gave him a wan look, noticing in spite of her own turmoil that he looked tired. Down. “Hey, I’m fine. Just processing.”
“You’re doing a lot of that lately,” he muttered. “It’s not the way things were supposed to go.”
“A lot of my life hasn’t gone the way I’d thought it would go.” She almost laughed given that a few short weeks ago, she’d been lovesick over a chance to sit beside Jared at the movies. God, she’d been young. And stupid. Who knew what she’d go through after that? And the impact on her life.
She felt old now. Tired.
Tired, yes. Old, no. That’s Deanna talking, Cody said calmly in her head. It’s not you.
Tessa stopped in her tracks. Give me a minute, she muttered.
She closed her eyes and checked the stupid filing system she’d put into place. The cabinet was there. The filing drawers were closed and didn’t appear to be bleeding energy. So where the hell was that Deanna influence coming from? Because she didn’t doubt it was mixed with her energy now that Cody had pointed it out.
You’re welcome.
His voice, warm and caring, brought unexpected stinging to her eyes. Her response. Not Deanna.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” she whispered, hating the fatigue now singing through her. Was it hers or Deanna’s? She was so tired of trying to sort this out. She hadn’t found much good in Deanna’s legacy. Just a confusing burden to carry.
“Sometimes legacies are just that,” he said, reaching out a gentle hand to rub her shoulder. “Kick her out if you don’t want it all. You don’t owe her anything.”
“Don’t I?” she asked sadly. “I can’t say that I agree at this point. Although I might get there eventually. I’m still shocked by Bart’s revelation. And the thought of Deanna having tried this with at least one other person. A person who didn’t survive. Had she done this before that? Had she killed other women – maybe ones who were willing and maybe ones who weren’t? It’s not like she gave me a choice. Did she give this other woman a choice before she died screaming from the chaos in her brain while her father watched yet unable to help her?”
“Deanna had a lot of power. According to what we’ve heard, she wasn’t a nice person, so I highly doubt she used all that power to help people. Maybe sometimes, but I think she wanted to live or at least have her heritage not go to waste.”
“So she dumped it all on me?” Tessa shook her head. “I’m not sure I want it. In fact, I’m pretty damn sure I don’t.”
“You need to stuff her inside into a sealed locked space so she doesn’t impact you as much as she’s doing. Wrap her up in your energy or something to keep her in her place.”
She could hear the worry in his voice, a worry her own mind was repeating. Surely there was something she could do. “I’m going to need to figure this out.”
“Do it now. The others can go fight the battles. Tessa, you need to fight the one going on inside of yourself. This is too important to put off.”
“I thought I had a warning system in place to let me know when her energy is influencing mine.”
“Then it’s not working,” Cody said patiently. “Or she has a work-around.”
Was that possible? Or was someone else involved in sabotaging her plans? Or maybe she’d just screwed up herself? That was so possible. She looked around. “I think I’d like to lie down and go inside. See if I can figure this out.”
“No problem,” he said. “I will watch over you.”
She smiled mistily. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Remember that when Deanna and I go up against each other,” he said in exasperation. “You’re Tessa, not a Deanna clone, and you need to show her energy who is boss.” He studied her face intently, as if looking to see who was peeking out of her eyes. “Can you do that for me?”
Her lips quirked. “I thought I had.”
“Not enough. Or you missed something. Time to go and do this right.” He looked around the long hallway, shrugged and said, “Here is as good a place as any.”
“It’s an odd place,” she said, lowering herself to the bare floor. “But short of taking time to go back upstairs to all the beds, this will do.”
“We’re not talking that kind of time.” Cody squatted down and leaned against the wall. “You’ve got fifteen minutes. Start when you’re ready.”
A laugh
escaped. In his own way, Cody was as indomitable as his father. And just as stubborn.
Obediently she lay down on the floor along the wall so he could get up and walk around her if need be. “Don’t let me be out for too long.” She closed her eyes.
“I won’t. So stop wasting your precious minutes.”
She grinned. Trust him. She’d been given an order. Go in and fix this. Then get back to him. Fast.
She felt comforted thanks to his grounding presence and his straightforward and practical personality. She could do no less than give him her best.
And luckily enough, so far her best had been good enough.
She took a deep breath and sank into her consciousness. Deanna, here I come, ready or not.
*
Goran stopped so suddenly, David slammed into his back.
“Damn it. What’s wrong?” David peered over his shoulder then looked around behind him. “We have to hurry or we’ll never catch up with Bart.”
“Not sure catching up to him matters,” Goran muttered. Something else was wrong.
But what? He shook his head to clear his thoughts, then turned back to face Serus. His friend looked old and traumatized. Damn Rhia for doing this to him. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like he’d have time to recover. Not with this odd feeling rolling around inside him. “Serus, do you sense anything wrong with Tessa?”
Serus glanced up at him in surprise. “No.” He spun around. “Where are they?”
“I don’t know. I just got this weird feeling. I figured it was maybe Cody. Then I realized they weren’t coming after us.”
“Oh, what the hell,” David groaned. “Why is it so hard to stick together?”
“Maybe they are just slow,” Serus said his voice slow, uneasy. “But you’re right, something…feels off.”
“Have the drugs been put into the system after all?” David asked, pulling out his cell phone. He sent Cody a text. Where are you?
The response came back within minutes. Watching over Tessa. She’s working on the energy stuff in her own system, trying to corral Deanna’s energy so it doesn’t impact her as badly.