Marked by Destiny

by C.M. Owens

  "Yes, they are. They’re probably in a drug-induced coma."

  Tessa studied the people suspended in some weird apparatus. Tubes went into one arm and came out the other. Probably vitamins, nutrients and minerals in; blood out.

  David shook his head, his eyes wide with disbelief. "God, I hope these people don’t know what’s going on."

  "I hope Jared isn’t one of those," Tessa whispered.

  "Most likely he is." Her father’s grim voice sliced through the air. "We need to find your mother before they make a decision as to what to do with their unwanted visitor."

  "How will we find herhere? This place is huge." Tessa moved from screen to screen. She couldn’t help feeling overwhelmed at what they faced.

  Cody placed a hand on her shoulder. "We'll find her. There can't be too many people working here. Everything is automated. Look at the machines attached to each person. It would take very few people to keep this system running."

  "Why aren’t they in beds or something? It looks like they’re covered in saran wrap." A shudder rippled down Tessa's back. These poor people.

  "Probably to keep a sterile environment." Cody walked around the room to check the other monitors.

  Jewel whispered behind her, "Are they nude?"

  Tessa leaned in for a closer look. "Yes, they are. Completely."

  "Oh Lord." Jewel gasped and closed her eyes briefly. Looking very pained, she added, "That’s a lot of flesh down there."

  "No. It’s a lot of human suffering. That’s all I see." Tessa strode over to the computers. "Are these monitoring the people’s vital signs? Like an alarm system or something?"

  "It’s a control center, but I think it’s the backup one. There should be a main system close to the rows of people for medical and security personnel to use." Cody stopped in front of one monitor. "Look, there's someone in a bed."

  "Maybe a new arrival?" David suggested.

  Tessa raced over to see if it was Jared. "I can't make out his features."

  "Could also be someone sleeping after his shift." Jewel shivered and stayed close to David.

  "Look!" Tessa pointed at the farthest monitor to the left. "There’s someone walking around down there."

  David joined them. He pursed his lips then tapped the screen. "It could be a doctor or a nurse. They appear to be checking on that person. It’s probably like a first aid station or something."

  Cody tapped a screen. "Where’s the security?"

  "There may not be much." David glanced over at her. "Look around this place." He motioned to the computers and monitors. "It practically runs itself. No army needed here. No need for high security either. No one knows it exists, and even if they did, who could find it?"

  "So where are mom and the others?" Tessa asked.

  "I’m searching. I can sense her and Goran but can't reach them mentally." Serus studied the last row of monitors. "They could be almost anywhere. I doubt the entire place is under camera scrutiny."

  Tessa walked around the room, overwhelmed at the concept and sheer size of the operation. "Is it even safe to unhook all these people? Will they die if we do?"

  "I want to know what they are doing with all the blood. I’ve hardly tasted human blood and didn’t like what little I did have – so who is getting all this? And how? Do they have some sort of milk truck or something for storing and moving it all?" David studied the monitors, fascinated.

  Cody wandered around. "The logistics required for an operation of this size would be unbelievable. It can’t be just Moltere. There have to be dozens of people and vampires involved, possibly hundreds. What if we’re in the minority? And everyone around us outside is involved?"

  "No." Serus’s voice brooked no argument. "The black market is huge, but that doesn’t make those involved the majority. This sophisticated system shows years of planning and execution."

  "How could no one miss these humans?" Jewel stared in horrified fascination at the rows and rows of suspended people. "How did all these people disappear and no one cared enough to search for them?"

  "They could have been kidnapped anywhere around the world. You hear about human trafficking all the time. There is a huge network of smugglers, then there are thousands of runaways and the masses of homeless on the streets." Tessa pulled her jacket tighter around her belly. "I don’t think there’s any shortage of unloved humans – unfortunately."

  "That’s horrible."

  Tessa glanced over at Jewel’s face. Tears glimmered on the other girl’s cheeks. She was glad to see such compassion and caring from another vampire. "Yes, it is. Jared might have been targeted for that reason alone. Although he also might have become a target after seeing the vampires' faces at the movie theater."

  "Doesn’t he have anyone that cares about him?" Jewel cried out in horror.

  "Apparently not." Tessa couldn't remember Jared's exact words, only something about how his uncle wouldn't care if he never showed up again.

  "Could the vampires have contacts within the human population? Human contacts giving over their own people?" Jewel’s eyes glistened with fresh tears.

  David wrapped her up in a warm hug. "We’re going to help them. Don’t worry. We’ll get to the bottom of this."

  Tessa watched the two of them. So that's how it was. She hid her grin. Then she caught Cody’s eye. She smirked at the look on his face. He already knew.

  Then Cody winked at her.

  Her eyes widened. Oh my goodness. Cody actually winked at her. She could feel the heat suffusing her cheeks again. She bent, hiding her face behind a curtain of her hair.

  Her stomach danced with butterflies.

  No. She admonished herself for losing focus. Jared first. Then she’d sort out these confusing feelings. A lot of things had changed for her these last few days.

  That much?

  Maybe. She stole another look in Cody’s direction. He looked at her. Instead of hiding, this time she straightened and smiled at him directly. His eyes widened, then he grinned.

  Cool.

  First things first. Spinning around, she cornered her dad. "Who can we call for help? The Council? The police? Someone? Anyone? This is a big operation. We need to take down all the tentacles, not just this center."

  "I know. But let's get your mother first."

  As much as she wanted her mother back safe and sound, she needed to know that this would never happen again. "Why not at the same time?" she countered. "We should call people to come as backup and to help clean up while we go in and save Mom and the others. These people are going to need help."

  "They could be past that point, you know."

  "I know, but I don’t want to consider that right now. We need humans to help us. This is too much for us to handle on our own."

  Her dad frowned. "I don’t think it’s that simple."

  "It’s only difficult if we make it difficult. Come on, Dad. This is beyond us."

  Cody nodded. "Tessa’s right, sir. Even if we take this place down, the head honchos are just going to set up shop again somewhere else. They aren’t going to give up something this lucrative so easily."

  Jewel gasped. Everyone spun around to look at her.

  "Please tell me they don't have vampires hanging here?" Her voice rose in horror.

  "I doubt it, Jewel. Why would they? Our blood is different." Tessa didn’t want to contemplate vampires feeding off their own.

  "Then what about him?" She tapped the screen on the bottom corner. Everyone crowded around her. The camera focused on one single male.

  Tessa frowned. "I’ve seen him before."

  "Of course you have. That’s Daren. We saw a lot of him before he headed to Europe after his dad passed away a couple of months ago." Jewel’s jaw clenched on the last words. She wrapped her arms tightly around her chest as if warding off a chill.

  David stared at the figure in the monitor. "Then why is he hanging beside those humans?"

  It was Tessa who voiced the unspoken horror hanging heavily in the air. "Becaus
e he wouldn’t be missed."

  ***

  Cody watched David with Jewel. And from the look on Serus's face, it was obvious this development was new to him too.

  Now if only Cody knew why the hell he couldn’t take his eyes of Tessa. The kid sister of David – the Tessie thing – had disappeared long ago…somewhere around the time he noticed that Hooters outfit she'd worn at the Council house. Now he had trouble reconciling the two parts of a whole.

  She kept surprising him. Like that energy stuff she kept seeing. Damn helpful, yet way weird. And then there was that locked door thing. Kicking it, yes, but in the right spot more than once?

  Not a coincidence. At least not to him.

  He turned around in the large room, staring and contemplating the planning and organizing that must have gone into it. This was a professional operation – on a massive scale. As a vampire, he could understand the lure of the product. However, as a modern one, raised without having tasted human blood, he abhorred the idea. He didn’t have any close human friends. Still, he knew many. He wouldn’t drink their blood – not if he didn’t have to for survival.

  To keep these people suspended, kids like Tessa's friend, was just wrong. How long could they stay like this? Imprisoned until their bodies aged and could no longer pump out blood? He shook his head. This was murder. Long and slow. Plain and simple. And yet it was also so much worse.

  "What about you, Cody?"

  Cody shook his head, turning around to face the others. "What?"

  "Cell phones don’t work down here. We need a flier to go for help."

  Cody frowned. He was the strongest flier in the group. "I'm not leaving."

  "You have to." Tessa walked over to stand in front of him, her eyes luminous in the dark. "You're the only one who can get there and back in time. If we don't let someone from the outside know about this, then what will happen if we get caught too?"

  David held up his camera phone and said, "I've taken a bunch of pictures, but can't get them out of here."

  Tessa pointed to the computers around them. "Can you download the pictures and email them to someone?"

  "I don't have a cable or memory card with me."

  Jewel held up hers. "I have mine."

  "Cool." David snatched it out of her hand and went around all the monitors, taking a comprehensive series of shots detailing the images on the screens. Then he backed up to take wider shots of the control room.

  "Who do I send them to?"

  "Someone who can do something for us. And not just one person."

  As the others turned to face her, Tessa explained. "We don't know how high up this goes."

  Serus frowned. "Send it to Markus, Tatia and Cleary. Better add Sian to that list. Make sure you send a set home too."

  That was good. He’d named three ancient families. Sian and Taz could be a real help here, too. Taz's medical expertise would come in handy with the humans.

  "Do you have their email addresses?" David checked the desk computers, looking for a model not used for running the monitoring software. He found one at the back. He booted it up. "This one might have an internet connection, if not..."

  "Jewel can try to send the pictures over her phone, but we won't know if they've gone out properly."

  "It's no longer a problem," David crowed. "This computer has Internet. Makes sense, they have to connect to the outside world somehow."

  He brought up the browser then opened to his email account. Taking the memory card out of Jewel's phone, he quickly downloaded the pictures into a specific folder and then compressed them. Within minutes, he had everything attached to the emails. "Okay, now what do I say?"

  Everyone chimed in over and above each other as they brought up points to mention.

  He read the draft aloud. "Good?"

  "Yes, send them." Tessa couldn't help but glance around, a sense of urgency building inside her. "We’ve taken too long already."

  "Done."

  "Good. Shut down the machine and let’s go find your mother." Serus strode to the door, then turned back to David and asked, "Can you hide what you just did?"

  "To a certain extent. I just cleared the history and the cache and deleted the pictures. I'm shutting it down now. Hopefully, that will fool anyone not specifically looking for trespassers. At least for a little while."

  "Let's go then."

  Everyone walked to the door. Tessa blurted out, "Do we all go? Shouldn't someone stay behind – just in case?"

  "I'm not staying here." Jewel stood as close as she could to David without being on top of him. "I think we're better off sticking together. Safety in numbers and all that."

  Serus nodded. "We'll stay together. It might take all of us to save your mother, as it is. If we can find Goran, he’d be a big help. The more on our side – the better the odds."

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Tessa hated the thought that everyone might be walking into a trap.

  With those pictures and the email cry for help, someone should come to their assistance soon enough. At least she hoped so. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. "Fine. Let's go."

  Her dad gave her a long look then nodded, as if satisfied. "Everyone, quiet."

  Tessa rolled her eyes.

  He rolled his eyes back at her. Then he opened the door. The corridor on the other side appeared to be similar to the stone walls and floor they’d already passed.

  They walked forward cautiously. The lack of ventilation or lighting added to the weirdness factor. A series of doors connected shorter hallways. The temperature dropped a bit lower in each one. By the time they'd entered the hallway, the atmosphere had cooled considerably.

  The reason behind it was obvious. They stood facing rows and rows of suspended humans contained in some kind of vacuum-sealed bags. Each had tubes running forward and back from various machines. Though the temperature here wasn’t cold, she couldn’t imagine it was comfortable for them. Then again, they didn’t appear to be aware of their surroundings in any way.

  "Wouldn’t a warmer temperature keep them alive longer?"

  "I think the monsters in charge are more concerned about the product than the source," whispered Cody, pointing upward. Tessa tilted her head back to find large pipes entering some sort of vat with many more pipes exiting. "A blood cleansing process?"

  "That is so gross. I didn’t like human blood before, but now I’m never going to drink any."

  Jewel’s tone reminded Tessa of her human friend Susan, who’d vowed to be vegetarian after going to an abattoir.

  "Where do we go from here?"

  Serus had already started to move along the back wall toward a series of large doors ahead of him. The others hurried to keep up. Cody grabbed Tessa by the shoulders. "Remember the monitors in the computer room. That means there are cameras everywhere. Keep your face down in case we're being watched."

  "Shit." It was all she could do to not look up and search for the damn things. A frisson of fear slid down her back at the thought of being watched. Up ahead, her dad held out his hand in warning. Then a soft intense look came over his face.

  "Oh my God, he’s found Mom. Look, he’s talking to her telepathically," she whispered to Cody.

  Thank heavens for that. Serus stayed still for another long moment while the others crouched behind a cart piled high with machine parts. Tessa shivered. The lack of food and sleep was giving her the shakes in this temperature. She huddled up close to the person next to her.

  Serus moved back and squatted down beside them. "They’re being held on the far side. Stay down and we’ll sneak along the perimeter."

  "Did she mention my father?" Cody's husky voice sounded against Tessa's ear, startling her. She realized that he was the one she’d huddled against.

  "They are all being held together in the one room and they’re fine, although the thirst is starting to affect them." Serus stood up cautiously.

  Tessa frowned. Being hungry in this place couldn't be easy. Vampires would respond to the metallic smell of
blood, regardless of their discerning tastes. Even she would do the same if she went too long without food or wore herself down too much. And she hated the stuff. They needed to get out as soon as possible. Following Serus's lead, everyone stood up beside him. Tessa was thrilled when she realized Cody had left his arm around her shoulder.

  "She also saw four guards, one huge male, and two more vampires working with the patients."

  David did the math. "Seven against four."

  "Not if we rescue our family and friends first."

  "I’ll take those odds." Tessa had never fought but figured she could handle herself somewhat. Desperation did that, but with her jumping skills, she was liable to get away easier than the others – except for the fliers of course. "So go rescue Mom and then what? Take down the seven personnelthat we know ofand lock them up while we wait for reinforcements?"

  The three males turned to stare at her. "Yeah, something like that. Only it won’t be quite that easy – these are vampires, not people. They are every bit as fast and as strong as we are."

  Tessa knew that. She nodded. "Unless they are 'turned' vampires. Then who knows? Let’s go."

  Just as they were ready to move, they heard voices.

  ***

  Jared didn’t dare sit up again, not when it was likely to bring the nurses back. His window of opportunity was closing…fast. They could come for him at any moment. He’d already removed the catheter, almost passing out in the process. He could only hope removing the IVs wouldn’t be as bad. Under the cover of the sheets, he removed the tape holding the needles against his wrist, wincing as hairs tore off with it. One of the needles slipped out with the tape. Now for the other one.

  Rolling his head into the pillow against the pain, he pressed the backs of his hands against the sheet to stop the bleeding.

  Free for the first time, he searched for a weapon. Anything. The IV pole was feeble, but it was all he had available. Sliding out of bed, away from the camera's view, he grabbed a sheet off the bed and wrapped it around him like a toga. It wasn’t much, but maybe his clothes were here somewhere. He ducked down to check under the bed but found nothing. With no cupboards or furniture in the room other than the beds, he figured he’d have to go out Roman style.

  He walked over to the open door and peered out.

  A flash of movement on the left side had him pulling back. Someone was out there.Shit.He readied the IV pole and waited.