by C.M. Owens
She spun around at the sound of Cody's voice. She loved that he hadn't left her alone. "No." She walked the perimeter of the room. This place was huge. At the far end, the room curved down and around. Her nostrils flared. Her weird knowing sense kicked in. Animal. Death. Fear. Pain.
This area had been used as housing for animals during the cold winter months. Horses, most likely. Ancient farm smells permeated the air. Hay. Manure. Blood.
"What's the matter?" Cody whispered.
She looked at him. "Can't you smell it?"
"Smell what?"
"Death. Pain. And overwhelming fear."
"I can't sense any of that. What are you talking about?"
Tessa looked at him strangely. "Not even with your vampire senses?"
He turned and lifted his nose and smelled the air. After a moment, he shook his head and laughed. "You don't have a clue, do you? There's nothing here." He dropped the smile. "The fun's over. Let's go home."
Tessa turned her back on him. Moving closer to one side, Tessa concentrated harder, not really knowing what she was doing, but knowing something was working. There. Jared. Relief washed over her. He was alive. "Jared's in there."
"What?"
But Cody was talking to empty space.
***
Tessa darted ahead of him.
He shook his head.What happened to David's kid sister?David had always been protective of her, and Cody had naturally picked that up. She was different from the rest of them. The oldest brother, Seth, didn't treat her with the same patience. And her dad, well, he didn't know what patience was. If it weren't for her mom, Tessa's life would have been much different – and not in a good way.
On the outside, she looked vampire. Hell, she looked hot. He hadn't believed his eyes when he'd seen her tonight. He knew most of the gorgeous females in their area and he'd never thought of her as one of them. He'd followed her to check her out, initially.
Then he'd caught her scent. A familiar scent. When she'd turned, he'd caught a glimpse of Tessa in that wicked outfit. But she had rebuffed him. Confused, he'd withdrawn but still kept a close watch. When she'd disappeared out back, he followed her. He hadn't believed his eyes when he'd seen her in the moonlight. He still hadn't been sure it was her until she'd jumped.
Jumped.
Vampires did a lot of things, like flying, floating, and even racing, but everything they did, they did with grace.
Not her. Her jumps were awkward, disjointed movements. It was all hard landings and gawky take-offs. Little Tessa had somehow morphed into Hot Tessa – until she traveled.
His curiosity and doubt turned to horror as another realization hit. She'd led a restricted life. She'd only been allowed at vampire meetings with a chaperone, and she sure as hell hadn't ever been out in a come-hither-and-get-laid outfit.
Christ, she'd looked good. And vampire-ish. Good enough to fool everyone there. But if her family found out, that would be the end of life as she knew it. They'd never let her take a step out of the house unchaperoned again.
***
Tessa followed her instincts to the blank wall at the deepest, mustiest section of the cellar. She'd recognized the presence of a human further ahead in front of her. Why couldn't Cody? Frowning, she turned her attention to a more immediate problem.
There was no door.
She ran her hands over the stone wall and couldn't find a crack, a break, or any type of lever or door handle. Jared was behind this wall. And she knew this as clearly as if she could see him in front of her. Somehow, when she'd needed them, her senses had intensified, sharpened. Clarified. Now if only they'd show her a way to bypass this door.
"Tessa?"
"They're on the other side of this wall." She continued to run her hands over the wall.
"Are you sure?"
She shot him a withering look. "Yes, I'm sure."
"Take it easy; I'm just asking."
Tessa backed up slightly. An old door sat off to the left, hidden slightly by a corner. "Here. Give me a hand."
Cody walked over and put his shoulder to the stiff, rusty door. "No one went in this way. This entrance hasn't been used in centuries." Panting, Cody stopped when the door shifted, now open slightly wider than required. "There." He stepped back and stared into the murky depths. Musty air wafted toward them. "That doesn't smell very fresh either."
"I know. Let's go."
He shook his head, refusing to let her pass. "No." He stepped forward instead and led the way.
Choking on the nasty air, Tessa followed silently. Cold brick or stone lined both sides. The passage was long and narrow. It seemed to follow the same curve they'd taken to the wall. It also appeared endless.
Following blindly, she smashed into Cody when he stopped unexpectedly.
"What the––?"
"Shhhh."
"What's the matter?" she hissed. He took up the entire space in front of her. She couldn't see over or around him.
"I hear something up ahead."
"Good. It'll be them. Let's hurry."
"It's a vampire."
Tessa strained her ears, unsure of just what the strange sounds meant. "Can you move closer?"
"No. There's a door. I don't want to alert them to our presence."
"Right. But neither do I want them to kill Jared because we're too late."
"No one takes humans anymore. Stop over-dramatizing."
"Over-dramatizing?" She felt like hitting him. Who was he kidding? Jared had alreadybeentaken. Put rogue vampires and captive humans together and her first instinctive thought was a blood fest. Why couldn't Cody see the danger here?
Through the thick plank door, voices drifted their way.
"Hey, this one's dead."
Tessa gasped. Cody grabbed her, slapped a hand over her mouth and murmured against her ear, "Shhh." The two stood locked together, frozen, as they listened.
"Again? What the shit?"
"Did you hit him?"
"Hell no. And neither did I bite him. I like young blood; you know that. This guy is definitely mature meat. Not my style at all."
Tessa bowed her head against Cody's chest, her shoulders slumping in relief. Mature meat – so not Jared. Cody squeezed her lightly.
"We gotta take him out and dump him. Before he starts to smell."
"Why'd he die, though? Christ, humans are so damn delicate. The potential losses are huge."
"Human blood beats that synthetic crap all to hell though."
"That's why the new method. As long as all those do-gooders don't know about it. If they find out, they'll holler about it being inhumane, a form of cruelty to animals or some such nonsense. Vampires are supposed to rule this species, not 'get along' with them."
"Right. So where do we dump him?"
"Out with the others."
Cody stiffened in front of her. And finally, Tessa felt some kind of reaction from him. There, let him stew on that bit of information. Make fun of her, would he? Not believe her, huh? Now, who wouldn't believe whom? She jabbed him lightly in the stomach to make her point. Cody grabbed her hand and glared narrow-eyed at her.
The voices continued. "What about these two?"
"I think they're fine. We're going to need to feed and water them though."
"Right. The young man looks a little screwy though. Do you think he's okay?"
"He's fine. Just asleep."
"They're so stupid, aren't they? To them we're some kind of predator, yet here he is, throat lying exposed like that. Do they all just lie down and wait to die? No wonder they multiply like animals and go about their days blindly. Fucking beef is all they are."
"Like I said. Time's wasting. Let's get them out of here. You take the older one." A heavy grunting sound could be heard. Tessa strained her ears to hear what was going to happen next. "We'll come back for the dead one later. He won't start smelling too bad at least for an hour or two. Let's go."
Silence.
Tessa sucked in her breath. She nudged Cody. "We have t
o stop them. We won't know where they’ll take Jared if they leave now."
He reached around and pinched her to shut up.
"What was that?"
Shit.She'd forgotten to keep her voice down. She stared horrified into Cody's grim gaze.
"I didn't hear anything."
"Really? Thought I heard voices."
"In this mausoleum? Don't think so. There's only us here. And the dead guy. Maybe his ghost is talking to you."
"Hey, that's not funny."
But apparently it was, as Tessa and Cody were treated to the sounds of raucous laughter that faded as the men walked away. They both relaxed slightly as they waited to hear if the men would return.
Tessa knew better than to push Cody, but waiting for him to give the all clear had her pressing her nails into her palms as she fisted her hands together.
"Now, quietly." Cody pushed open the door and stepped into the fetid-smelling room.
"Oh, that's gross," she hissed, following him out. She'd thought the air in the tunnel had been bad – this was ten times worse.
"Look." Cody pointed at the floor where a grey-haired male lay crumpled and still.
"Do you recognize him?" she asked, walking closer to the body. She'd never seen a dead person before. She didn't think she'd ever want to see one again, either.
"No."
Gritting her teeth, Tessa bent down over the dead man to look for identification. He had a wallet in his back pocket. Gross. But necessary.
"What are you doing?" Cody hissed.
"Finding out who he is. Remember, humans carry identification with them all the time."
"Yeah, I'’ve heard about that." He shook his head. "I just don't understand why."
"They have to have it for their monetary and legal system. That's part of their system we haven't taken over – unlike their credit cards that we probably couldn't live without."
The wallet was thick and the pocket narrow. She struggled to pull it out without touching the body. With a final tug, it yanked free. Standing up, she walked toward Cody, flicking through it. "His name is Carstairs Wallace."
"Now that you know, what difference does it make?"
"I can let the police know he's dead."
Cody shook his head. "Don't be naive. You can't go to the police. They're going to think you killed him."
True. She glanced down at the dead man. "Maybe, but we have to do something for him."
"It's too late for that."
Cody suddenly shushed her, his head cocked toward the exit.
"Let's go. I hear vehicles."
"Shit." Tessa raced out the same doorway that the men had disappeared through. Cody flew ahead of her, disappearing into an exterior doorway. Tessa burst out in the moonless night seconds later.
The front yard was empty.
The Escalade and the Nitro were gone.
So was Cody. She heard the distant beat of wings as Cody gave chase. She studied the night sky, watching as he swooped overhead, intent on the hunt.
Could she catch up?
She wouldn't know unless she tried. And she hated being left behind. Tucking Carstairs's wallet into her back pocket, she pulled as much energy from her vampire genetics as she could and took off.
Her loping gait and crab jump smoothed out slightly as she slipped back into the movement.
She wished she'd learned how this skill worked a long time ago. Like a lot of things in her vampire life. She took another jump and winced at her heavy landing. If anyone were awake under these rooftops, they were going to wonder what was going on.
She took off again, then again. It did get easier. Flying would be even easier.
Not to mention faster.
Already Cody had vanished from sight. She raced from rooftop to rooftop then hopped to the ground and cut across the back field. She'd seen the vehicle turn off up here. Speeding along on the ground was like running through molasses compared to her weird jumping strategy.
She glanced around. There wasn't much to jump up to or off from here. She ran and took a ballet leap and found that she could easily cover twenty feet. She did it again. Weird.
Maybe there was something out there for her after all. She'd always felt like the defective ugly duckling of the family, so it had never occurred to her that she could be a hybrid with two sets of skills, human and vampire.
She raced forward, more confident in her leaps and she came down more securely during her landings. This was actually cool. If only she could do this with a touch of class.
She took another leap and then another. Before long, she'd reached the point where the vehicle had turned. Staring up in the sky, she searched for Cody. There was no sign of him. He should have gotten to his destination within minutes. She needed to get higher so she could see where to go next. There was only one tree. She winced at the poor landing spot. Taking a deep breath, she jumped.
And hit Cody broadside.
He nearly fell and scrambled to grab onto the trunk to regain his balance. His wings automatically opened and got caught in the branches. Luckily he caught hold and stabilized himself.
"Jesus, watch what you're doing, Tessa."
Tessa was too worried about finding a firm hold on the tree branches to worry about him. Once she caught her balance and her breath, she gasped, "Sorry. Didn't mean to hit you."
"If you'd opened your damn eyes, you'd have seen me."
Thank goodness for the dark of night that hid the heat washing over her face. Tessa groaned silently because of course, he was right. For some reason, she'd switched back to her human vision, which explained why she hadn't seen him in the sky. She was an idiot. Still, she'd found him and she'd made it to the right spot – accidentally or not.
"What did you find out?"
"That you're not a little kid anymore. You pack a hell of a punch and almost knocked me out of the tree."
Exasperated, she scolded him. "Quit your whining. Geez, you're acting like a big baby."
He snorted and hunkered back down on his heels. She envied his natural grace. His sense of humor was pretty good too. Not to mention he was in really good shape. She was still huffing, and damn if she didn't have a stitch in her side.
"They drove into that yard."
"Did they move the humans inside?" She felt his sideways look and sighed. "Humans. That's the correct term. Just because I count several of them as friends doesn't mean I don't understand the problem between the races."
"Oh. I figured you just didn't like vampires."
"Iama vampire, remember?"
"How could I forget, especially with you in that outfit? Even if these last couple of years it seemed like you'd turned your back on us."
Horrified, she could only stare at him in shock. "I have not."
"You have, you know. Everything you did was with humans. Your vampire friends were shoved off to the side."
"No, they weren't," she answered quietly. "They shovedmeoff to the side – because I'm not likethem. That's when I cultivated human friends. Figured if I couldn't get along with one species, maybe I could fit in with the other."
Silence drifted through the night air, broken only by the occasional whisper of tree branches bending in the wind. His heavy sigh hung between them for a moment. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. Did you explain that to your parents?"
She raised one eyebrow. "No. Why would I? They couldn't do anything about it, and besides, I figured it was common knowledge."
"Your family cares about you, Tessa."
"I know." A comfortable silence narrowed the gap between them. "Thanks for that."
"Anytime."
Tessa studied the building. "We have to get in there. If they move Jared again, we may never find him."
Cody considered her words for a moment. "Just the two of us? That is a seriously bad idea."
"I know." Tessa pondered their next move. "Thanks for sticking around to help me."
"I'm sorry I didn't believe you before," he admitted slowly. The energy around them sh
ifted, warmed with his quick grin. "So are you going to sit up here and wait, or are you coming with me?"
Tessa snorted and jumped, only to find Cody already at ground level. "I hate that you can do that."
"What, fly?"
"No, make me look like an idiot."
He laughed. "Let's go."
They raced around to the back of the house and stopped outside the circle of bright lights.
"What's wrong with this picture?" Tessa stood with her hands on her hips, studying the area.
"It looks like they're expecting company."
"That's not good. Anyone connected to this kidnapping is bad news."
Cody's face thinned with distaste. "True. Let's go. As much as it would help to know who's coming, I don't think it's safe to stick around."
A growl erupted behind them. "Too bad, as you're both going to be our guests for a while."
Tessa spun around, ready to bolt.
Pain exploded on the back of her head, and for the second time that night she collapsed on the cold ground, unconscious. The last sound she heard was the beating of heavy wings.
CHAPTER FIVE
Cody knew the power of his wings, even if he had yet to test them in battle. And that was a little hard to do since there hadn't been a battle during his lifetime. Energy rushed through him.
From the corner of his eye he could see Tessa crumpled on the floor, blood seeping from her temple. Anger slammed into him.
Rage drove him forward in a mad rush. Both vampires fought back. Suddenly Cody found himself fighting for his life – and Tessa's. Rearing back to recoup, he rushed them again, raining blows on the two men from above, trying to chase them from Tessa. Teeth bared as long claws slashed. He fought with brutal precision, knowing that to lose was to lose Tessa. He could not lose Tessa.
"Hell. What is he?"
"He's a fucking vampire, you idiot." The older of the two rushed towards him, slashing Cody deeply across the chest.
"So what? I am, too, but I don't fucking fly. Why can he?" The two men circled Cody, trying to stay out of reach of his wings and claws. "What the hell do we do with him?"
"We take him down."
The younger vampire gazed at Cody in astonishment. "And how do you expect to do that? He's like us. Killing him isn't going to be easy until there's sunlight. He's not likely to run away and hide."
Cody grinned. A deep fanged smirk that made the other men back up. "Even then, I won't be going and hiding anywhere." He swooped down and caught the younger one up in a chokehold. "I'm not like you. I'm better." Squeezing tightly, he backed up, struggling with the man's weight. What the hell had this one been eating? Vampires were rarely fat; they couldn't consume enough blood to get that way. This one, though, had some serious poundage on him already. Cody tucked that tidbit away in the back of his mind as he squeezed tighter and moved back another couple steps.