by Dale Mayer
"If you ever treat my daughter like a Sunday special to throw off on a Monday morning…if you ever whisper your exploits with my daughter to your buddies or…" Her voice grew ominous, "If you ever hurt her, you know I'm going to gut you and hang you on the remains of Moltere's Mountain…right?"
Dead silence.
Cody swallowed hard and said, "Yes. I understand."
"And you're still willing to have a relationship with Tessa knowing this?" Her sharp eyes assessed his every moment.
"Yes." He said calmly. "What you don't understand is that I have no choice. Neither of us do. This relationship is here in front of us. It doesn't understand if we're ready or not. It's either take this walk or forever wonder what we missed out on. And I'm not prepared to do that."
Goran's hand came up on his shoulder. "He's a good boy, Rhia. Serus grilled him earlier, and now you. I say we leave them alone and see how it goes. For all we know, they'll break up in a few months."
Rhia brightened. Cody shook his head, but Tessa…Tessa spun around and glared at Goran. Cody almost laughed as his father backed up several steps.
Goran took a deep breath. "Easy, Tessa. I was just joking."
She stood up. "Not a joking matter."
Studying him to make sure he understood, she switched her gaze to Cody, caught his grin, and glared at him as well.
"Now do you think I could have a shower and maybe a bit more sleep? I have school tomorrow and need to know that roasting Cody is no longer on the menu," she asked in a plaintive voice. "Or…" She lowered her voice in a threatening tone, "Do I need to keep him in my room so I can be assured that he will be safe?"
Cody and Goran grinned.
Rhia glared at her daughter. "Not funny."
"Yeah well, there hasn't been much funny about any of this."
Just then David came racing inside. "Oh, thank God. You're all here." He gasped for breath. "I just got a text from Jared. He thinks there's a human uprising going on. To take out the vampires. The blood farm news has tilted the balance and now the humans are out for revenge."
Cody watched as everyone but Tessa surrounded David. "You aren't concerned?" he asked her quietly, stepping closer.
She nodded. "Yes, I am, but I'm also ready to have a normal life again. I'm supposed to go to school in a few hours." She yawned. "And before then I need food and a shower."
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tugged her closer. She ignored the fact that everyone else might see and cuddled in closer. "My head is really sore, too."
"Not healing?"
"Yes, it is, but the dried blood is tugging on my hair. I need a shower."
"Why don't you slip out now and grab one. I'll catch up with David and get the news and pass it on as I find out."
She grinned. "One of the advantages of telepathic communication." She cast a quick glance around, saw everyone was paying attention to David, and turned back to Cody. She reached up and kissed him gently. "Keep me updated."
And she left.
Cody couldn’t help himself. He lifted several fingers to his mouth as if he could hold it there. After a moment, he rejoined the group and listened in as David showed him Jared's texts.
"That could explain what happened to Tessa. Maybe someone recognized her at the hospital. It might be as simple as someone wanting to get payback for a missing loved one," Cody said.
"We can only guess at what happened to her," Serus said, frowning.
Rhia’s gaze flew to Serus, "Speaking of which, we haven't heard anything back from the hospital security department."
"I'll call Sian. We need to contact the Human Council and let them know."
Goran spoke up. "And that's where our input ends. The Human Council needs to handle this. But…" he added, "We need to talk to our Council so they are prepared."
"Do you have any security here, Serus?" Goran looked around. "Just in case the humans do know where to find us?"
"Which they do, because Jared came here and spoke with Seth. That's when Seth and his friends took Jared back up the mountain. So if he found us, others will."
There was a long thoughtful silence as everyone considered their predicament. Cody didn't want to add anything. He was surprised that Jared could even find his pants in the morning, but the thought of anyone coming here to throw poison gas at Tessa's family filled him with dread. Had they fought one war only to end up in the middle of another?
***
Serus shook his head. "Not enough security for this." He knew he looked bad, aggressive. Bullish. He didn't give a damn. "This is wrong. I understand that they want revenge, but this is anger looking for a target, any target."
"I agree, old friend," Goran said, studying him closely. "What do you want to do about this?"
"Do? Nothing. I want to tell the right people and I want to leave this well enough alone. Look at us; we're a ragtag group of tired, worn out people."
"Warriors. We're tired and worn out, but we're refueling and can be ready to go now if necessary," David said, excitement in his voice. "I know we lost a lot of people, but we've regained a lot as well. There are many vamps who'd want to step up and fight."
"Fight humans?" Serus drew himself up to his full height. "Like Taz. Like Jared? Is that what you want?"
"No, of course not, but if they come at us and try to kill us, I'm not going to lose any sleep over taking them out," David said hotly. "If they want a war, they can have it."
"Easy, David. You don't mean that." Cody hoped he didn't mean it. David was the gentle one in the group.
"Maybe I don't, but I don't feel like this is over. Sure, the blood farm is gone, but what about all the humans that were in collusion with the vamps? What if those same asshole humans are the ones that are driving this uprising to hide their involvement?"
Cody had to admit that was a hell of an idea. "But we can't just blame everyone that is charging at vamps right now. They aren't going to be the ones that were involved in the blood farm. They are going to be people that lost someone or whose loved ones have gone missing. The ones fanning the flames, pushing life into the cool embers, are the ones we need to find."
"But it wouldn't take much sniffing around in the background to figure out who is pushing these people forward. Maybe they have an agenda, maybe not, but some humans were feeding their friends and family to the blood farm. Getting paid to get rid of unwanted people. Those same people don't dare get caught, and they are the ones we need." David said. "Assholes like Jared's uncle. That man needs to be picked up. Someone should sit him down and give him a serious talking to. I doubt anyone else has had a chance to yet."
David looked around expectantly at the group. The silent group. "Oh, come on. Are you serious? Are you really happy to be able to just walk away at this point? Don't you want answers?"
"We've got answers. And all I want is right here at home," Rhia said firmly. "You should be fine with that, too."
Serus realized that Rhia wanted to be done with this issue after the hell they'd been through. As if they dealt with the vampire side of the problem and now the humans needed to deal with their side.
Goran whispered in Serus's head. She's right, but it won't be that easy. We have to make sure we warn our people.
And that's likely to set off another war.
Then war it is. We did what was right, Serus, but we can't lie down to be slaughtered in our sleep.
No, we can't. We're going to have to stop this before it goes any further.
Damn.
***
Ian waited behind the door for the person to enter. The door was pushed open. He sucked back his breath and froze.
No one came in.
Shit.
The door slowly swung closed, and damned if he didn't hear it snick shut then click as the person locked the door. He'd been locked in? Why?
He stepped in front of the door and studied the room. There was no way to have seen him behind the door. Then again, if he hadn't been in the bed, he was either behind the door or gone.
And he'd locked the door just in case.
Except there were no sounds of his footsteps leaving. So the asshole was waiting on the other side of the door. But waiting for what? Ian reached out a hand to turn the knob and stopped.
If he turned it, then the other guy would know Ian was locked inside. But if he didn't, then the other guy would have no idea if Ian was here or snuck out.
He slowly dropped his hand.
And waited.
And waited.
Just when he figured the guy must have left already, Ian heard someone call out. "There you are, Dr. Horander. I've been looking for you."
And the footsteps started up again and faded soon out.
Ian sagged against the wall.
The guy had been waiting for him to make a move. All this time.
Ian studied the room, trying to find anything to make sense of what was going on. There wasn't even a big enough window to deserve that name. It looked more like a hastily converted cupboard.
He knew he'd been moved from one room to another. But why the downgrade?
Even more importantly – why had he been locked in?
***
Jared glared at the clock on his cell phone. If he were a vampire, this would be his time of day. He didn't like the hot sun or early mornings. He was a nighttime kind of guy. Talk about living the wrong lifestyle. Then again, he wouldn't want to live on blood. His phone had stopped ringing as his friends had dropped off to sleep and his vampire friends were apparently heading out to contact more vampires for a meeting.
He lay there staring at his phone and realized something. For all he'd hated the last week, there were so many things he'd enjoyed. The action. The adventure. The sheer joy of feeling alive and doing something good. That whole hero thing. And now he felt left out. Alone. And damn it, he didn't want to be cut out of the action.
He wanted to be fighting for what was right. He wanted to do…something.
Throwing off his covers, he paced his tiny room. What could he do?
Sleep was necessary, but every time he closed his eyes, the whole saga kept running through his head.
Tessa wouldn't be sleeping with this going on. She'd be telling everyone what to do. Hell, she'd likely be leading the next charge.
As always.
And damn it, he wanted to be there, too.
Chapter 7
Tessa loved the hot shower, except for the stinging of her scalp from the heavy spray. The warmth also did wonders for improving her mood. Washing her hair, however, was a pain. She was tired from the injury and the requirements of healing her body yet again. It wasn’t supposed to wear her out like this but today…it was.
The wound had closed on her head, but the area was super sensitized. Just trying to work shampoo into the long strands made her wince. It took several tries, but eventually she got the blood off. Turning off the shower, she took a moment to listen. No yelling. No arguments. No fighting downstairs. Good. Maybe they'd get through this after all.
She was glad she'd thought to pass over the phone numbers to Jared at school. They'd all made connections this last week. They'd been through so much, she knew David had come to respect Jared – a lot.
So did she. But he wasn't Cody.
This last week had taught her so much about vamps, humans, Cody and especially herself. They were lessons she could have taken a decade to learn any other way. She was glad she'd had the short intense course. Self-confidence flowed through her body now, and that made her look at the world different, too.
It wasn't any rosier, but it was more manageable this way.
One of the biggest differences was she was no longer alone. Cody, for better or for worse, was always there.
She hoped this was a lifelong thing. She'd always expected to have a relationship like her parents had. And hadn't ever really thought, deep inside, that she'd get it.
Relationships had looked to be for other people. Not Tessa. That she'd started down that path with Jared and made a sudden detour bothered her a little, yet she could see how important that detour was to her life. And considering how Jared was handling it, he was better off, too.
She hadn't really thought of it as a human to human relationship or vamp to vamp relationship, but more that as much as the thought of going to the movies with Jared had made her happy, the thought of going anywhere with Cody made her toes curl and her heart sigh with a sense of rightness.
She half expected Cody to pop in with a snide comment as he so often did when she thought about Jared, but he'd gotten better. Maybe also because she was choosing Cody over Jared, he didn't feel the need to step in and let her know how things stood.
As if she'd let him make that decision.
She snickered. That was something else that had changed. Tessa had grown a backbone.
In her room, she checked her own phone and realized Jared had sent her a message as well. She read it quickly. Shit. As she hadn't responded, there'd been no follow up message. She dressed quickly.
Are you done? Cody asked.
Hey. Yeah, just trying to braid my hair then I'll be down.
Come here and I'll braid it for you.
She paused, hairbrush in midair. You know how to braid a woman's hair?
Yes. His tone was more of a smirk than anything. She thought about that, the door between them open, so he could read her thoughts as she worked her way through what that meant. His presence was there, but in the background. If he knew how to braid hair, that meant he'd done it before. And if he'd done it before, he'd have braided his old girlfriend's hair. Cody did not have a mother or sisters to practice on. How did she feel about that? Odd, but it was before her time. And besides, she was going to reap the benefit.
Decision made.
Sure. I'll bring a brush and hair tie.
Good. Laughter rumbled through her mind. Glad you worked your way through that.
Me too. You have a past. I wasn't part of it. I can't change that. So…she gave a mental shrug. Here we are.
And within seconds she was walking down the stairs and heading to the living room. There appeared to be some major discussion going on. She walked over to Cody and handed him the brush, then turned so he could access her hair.
"You cut your hair," he said in surprise.
She flung him a saucy look. "I did, thanks for noticing."
He grinned. "Oh there's not much about you I don't notice." He stroked the brush through her hair. "I like the look. Makes you look older too."
"That's a good thing right now." She stared at the others. "David, I got a text from Jared as well. Did he send you more?"
David looked up, saw her, and walked over. He quickly explained.
Her heart sank and she groaned. "Ah crap. I guess they want revenge." She winced as her head was tugged gently on the tender side. Cody was being very efficient and kind, but there was a certain amount of brushing required to braid her hair. She said to David, "We did too, if you remember?"
"I do remember," David said, "I still want revenge for what those assholes did to our own people."
David studied Cody behind Tessa's shoulder. "I wonder what we can do to stave this off."
"If the Human Council would step up and say they are doing a full investigation…" Cody said, "Maybe that won't stop everyone, but it would stop the bulk of them.
Tessa said, "There are always going to be some that don't think the government does enough."
She thought about it. "I should talk to the principal at my school and ask him to make an announcement about this issue."
"He'll probably kick you out of the school when he realizes that you're a vamp. Or if he already knows, he'll likely tell you to leave voluntarily to stay safe."
"Still, the school kids need to understand." And maybe he'd make the decision she didn't want to make or wasn't ready to make. He might kick her out of the human school, giving her no option but to go to school with her vampire people.
"What are you thinking?" Cody's warm voic
e drifted down the nape of her neck, sending chills down to her toes. Damn, he was good. And special.
She smiled, knowing he could hear that last thought.
There was a weird smooch in her head. She shook her head slightly, then turned to cast him a sideways look. "Did you just blow a kiss in my mind?
He grinned. "I did."
She shook her head. "That was the most bizarre sound."
"Yoohoo? Are you two there?" David glared at them mockingly. "It would be good to have some input here."
The ancients walked over. "We're heading to the Council offices," her father said. "Your mother, Sian, and I are going to the Human Council," he glanced down at his watch, "In a few hours. We'll call them in early." He glanced over at Goran. "Goran and you three should go to Councilman Adamson and discuss options with him."
Tessa straightened. Inside, she beamed. She was being included. Then he took away her sense of satisfaction.
"I'd prefer to leave you home, Tessa, but if the threat is real, I can't leave you alone in bed unprotected."
Damn. She glared at him. "Thanks for nothing, Dad. Here I was happy thinking I was being included in Council business, instead you're wanting me to tag along because you don't have a babysitter to look after me."
Cody's whispered in her mind, Easy, Tessa.
Why? She said in disgust. Has nothing changed?
But as she watched her father's expression, she realized something had changed. He knew it too, but didn't know how to adapt – what to do differently.
"Let me rephrase what you just said. The three of you go with Goran and speak with Councilman Adamson. We'll meet up before Tessa heads off to school." And she waited, her gaze steady as she watched her father fumble through this shift.
He smiled and nodded. "Okay. That works."
As he tugged Rhia toward the kitchen, he said to her, "We need to contact Sian and get Taz involved. He's overworked now, but there's no help for it. He doesn’t need hundreds more humans landing in his morgue either."
"Oh no, Serus," Rhia cried. "That would be terrible."