by Dale Mayer
“I think so. We’ve fallen behind.”
“Crap. How is he moving so fast?”
“No idea. The ceiling is too low for me to fly, so running is my only option.” Cody picked up speed and took off in the direction where they’d last seen the vamp. Tessa shook her head. Like what the heck. She took one leap then another and then a third, catching Cody on the third. She passed him on the fourth.
“Hey, that’s cheating,” he cried out.
“Sucks to be you,” she said, laughing as she lost him in the distance on the fifth. A wall came out of nowhere. “Oh crap!”
In the back of her mind, she could hear Cody sniggering. Tessa, watch out for that w—
—all
Just before she hit it sideways.
“Ooomph.” She slid to the floor, Cody’s barely restrained laughter in her ear.
“No time. No time.” The frail vamp shuffled along the wall beside her. “We must go.”
And damn if he didn’t turn and skittle off into the darkness again.
Cody reached down and helped her to her feet. “Are you okay?”
Tessa gave herself a good shake. “I’m fine. Or I will be if we find out what’s going on.”
Still holding hands, Cody tugged her forward. “Let’s go. We can’t lose him.”
And the chase was on.
*
Cody didn’t think much of this latest development. Or the strange ghost-like vamp. And definitely not that these people knew about Tessa and him.
What the hell was going on?
All he wanted was to get Jewel and David and the rest and get the hell out of here. Get home where they could rest, relax, and be together. He wanted to take Tessa out on Friday. Enjoy an evening just being normal.
“Come on, Cody.” Tessa tugged on his hand. “Cody, are you okay?”
She stood in front of him, a confused look on her face. And he realized that he’d come to a complete stop. Like an idiot. A lovesick idiot.
The light in her eyes warmed and a twinkle lit up the bright depths. He didn’t know if she’d heard him or not. And he no longer cared.
He bent his head and kissed her. The touch of her lips against his was so sweet. So tender. So perfect. He couldn’t resist, he wrapped her up into his embrace and held her tight. Then he deepened the kiss.
“No, no. We don’t have time.” The frail vampire raced toward them.
Cody groaned. No. No.
Yes, Tessa whispered. He’s here. We must go.
Damn it. Cody loosened his arms and stepped back, already feeling the loss in his heart. The emptiness in his arms.
No. Not in your heart. Not in your head. Not in your arms. I’m always in there.
“Hurry,” the old vamp snapped. “We are late.”
Cody grabbed Tessa’s hand and turned to follow him once again. Their short interlude was already over.
Only for the moment. And Tessa laughed. The sound was light and airy as it flew through his heart.
She was making him nuts. And he wouldn’t want it any other way.
*
David watched the knowing smirk cross the big asshole’s face. Crap. Why hadn’t he gone straight to Jewel? They’d obviously tripped over something else going on here. To make matters worse, his own sister was on the way.
David had screwed up big time. He faced the two men. “What do you want with us?”
The first man never even glanced his way, dumping David into the category of ‘can’t be bothered to answer.’ And that pissed David off. “Hey, I’m talking to you.”
The big man suddenly extended his arm and plowed David in the chest. David grunted, falling back a step from the force.
The other man chuckled. “Maybe that will teach you to keep your smart mouth shut.”
David straightened slowly, holding his chest, wondering how the tank had moved so fast. Surely that wasn’t normal. Not that there was anything normal about this scenario.
He looked over at his father. Serus, a bored look on his face, studied their opponents, his arms crossed on his chest as if to say they weren’t anything to worry about. Only David knew he was seething on the inside. He looked so calm. So in control. Almost disinterested. As if these men weren’t worth bothering about.
Too bad David hadn’t thought to emulate his father. Damn, his chest still hurt.
“Now move.”
The two men pointed in the direction of the darker shadows to the left. Serus raised his eyebrows and asked, “Why should I?”
The second man spoke up, “’Cause we’ll kill the pup if you don’t.”
“In which case, I’ll kill you both,” Serus said, his voice so calm, his words spoken as if fact. There was no way the men wouldn’t have believed his threat. The men looked at each other then back at Serus. The first man opened his mouth when there was a shout coming from the opposite direction they were being pushed.
“Bloody hell. It’s Lamar. What’s the idiot up to now? He was supposed to be watching the left gate.”
Left gate? David filed that tidbit away. Good to know there were other exits to this mausoleum.
A third man, much smaller than the first two, arrived, out of breath and panicked. “Degan is dead.”
The two men stared. “What the hell are you talking about? There’s no way. No one could kill him. He’s too big. And he’s too mean.”
“He’s dead. Some punk ass kid managed to get the weapon away from him and turned it on him.”
Serus piped up. “Boy or girl?”
Lamar looked at him briefly and frowned. “Boy. The girl was standing and watching.”
David grinned. Damn good news. That had to be Cody. And Tessa. Some things just never changed.
“I hope to hell you killed them both?”
Lamar shook his head and stepped back. “No. They were with a ghost.”
The two men gasped. “What? Not possible. There aren’t any of those left anymore.”
Lamar shook his head vigorously this time. “There is. I saw him. And man, could he move.”
David had a dozen questions he wanted to ask. A ghost. Like what? And one that could move fast? These men were scared of it. He studied the look on his father’s face. If he’d heard or known about ghosts, he never said a word…except he’d lost the look of casual disinterest. Now his fists were clenched and he was glaring at Lamar like he’d kill him if he got the chance. Because he’d seen Cody and Tessa? Attacked them both perhaps? Or was something else going on here?
Either way, it wasn’t good for any of them.
*
Goran arrived at the hospital within ten minutes of leaving the Council Hall, and he was pissed at that. His damn wing. Had the doctor even mentioned it? Goran didn’t know if he’d broken it in that crappy accident or something else had happened, but he’d listed to the side more than normal while flying. He hoped no one had seen him. He’d be mocked for life.
With the hospital parking lot below filled with parked vehicles and vamps moving freely around, he opted to land on the roof where he couldn’t be seen. With his luck, the wing would give out just before landing and he’d tumble to the ground. Definitely not a good start to this operation. He snorted. Listen to him. It wasn’t like he was a soldier on a secret mission…yet he’d been a soldier, and this sure felt like a mission.
He just hadn’t figured out his priorities. Rescue Jewel. Find Ian and Motre, find David, find Serus, or go after his son and Tessa? Although the last one pulled at him the strongest, he figured that one he could easily slide to second place. Those two kids had proved to be remarkably resourceful and could take care of themselves. At least he hoped so.
It really bothered him that he couldn’t hear Serus in his head. Like any sense, when it was cut off, the sheer absence of it made it sound so much louder in his head.
Where could that damn idiot be?
He looked down over the edge of the hospital roof to stare at the vamps crawling around like ants below. For all their coming an
d goings, he didn’t sense any panic. Any sense of alarm. Any sense of urgency. They were calm. Organized. He studied as they moved vehicles to and from. It was almost like a military shift change. Dozens leaving and dozens arriving. An exchange of notes in the meantime. Weird.
He turned back to studying the side of the hospital building. He needed a way in. And preferably without setting off any major alarms. There appeared to be a dozen floors to the building. On this side, there were no decks or verandas that he could land on. Although he could always bust through a window. That appealed somewhat but with his gimpy wing, he was afraid he’d smack into the wall and miss the window altogether.
Wouldn’t that be a picture?
He was almost glad Serus wasn’t here. He’d have suggested they aim for the windows just to watch Goran crash into the wall. Feeling grumpy and not sure of his next step, he turned and walked to the far side of the roof. There had to be a way down. A way to get up.
Then he stopped and laughed. He was an idiot. The roof had to have access for maintenance.
He studied the large vents sticking out of the roof. Not that he planned to go down one, but there had to be a door for workmen to come up here. He strode to the largest mass of pipes and vents. Sure enough, he found a door on the far side. It was locked, but he made short work of that – by knocking the door clean off the hinges. Useless things. Who needed them anyway? Sometimes he wondered about all things man–made. They weren’t the brightest of species.
With the door open, stairs leading down appeared. With one last look around at the night sky and the empty gravel rooftop, Goran took the easy way down and jumped to the landing. With the exterior door closed, there was a flat hush to the air. And an antiseptic smell – even here. He reached for the door to the top floor.
*
After his friends left, Jared felt lighter and more at ease than he could remember. And he had Clarissa’s number. Of course he had several of the other people’s numbers too. But as he couldn’t have Tessa, it helped to know that Clarissa was interested. She was cute, nice, and seemed to genuinely care. There was a momentary qualm as he realized that the only people who appeared interested in his life had double-crossed him – then he remembered Tessa and her family and realized the vamps who’d appeared interested hadn’t. Just the humans. Clarissa had also helped him rescue the other humans and vamps. She’d already proven to be different. Besides, it sucked to be alone. He stared down at the cell phone when it beeped in his hand.
It’s Clarissa. Missing you already.
With a silly grin, Jared texted back. Me too.
As he hit send, he heard footsteps approaching. His stomach sank. It wasn’t late, but he was worn out. The best thing for him was sleep. In fact, as he looked over at his bed, he realized he should at least pretend to be sleeping. He turned out the light, crept to his bed, and slipped fully dressed under the covers…and waited.
The knock came again. But no one called his name. The footsteps carried on down past his door. He closed his eyes and relaxed until he realized the footsteps were coming back.
And damn it, it stopped in front of his door again.
This time, under his watchful gaze, the knob turned and the door opened.
*
Jewel opened her eyes, glanced around, recognized a hospital setting, and slammed her eyes shut. She struggled to control her breathing. Act natural. Breathe normally. Let no one know she was awake. If there was anyone around watching her. She cast her mind for some clarity on the situation. She remembered surfacing once or twice to see David, usually asleep with his head on his arms resting on the side of the bed. She must have given him a scare.
Then again, as visions of that damn blood farm filled her, she realized she’d scared herself, too. She’d felt so funny, as if her dreams were trying to take over again. Horrible feelings of fighting. Something being off in her psyche, her mind split into two parts and both of them fighting each other. As dreams went, that one had been kind of horrible.
As more and more images slipped into her brain, she realized that those dreams were actual memories. She’d been drugged again. She remembered meeting up with Rhia and Wendy…that brought a smile to her face. Wendy and Ian. Who’d have thought? Tessa had been right again.
At Tessa’s name, Jewel opened her eyes slightly and looked around. She was alone in a small room, a chair beside her. Empty. She frowned. This room was smaller. She was alone now. She hadn’t been before. Creepy. She didn’t want to be here. She hated being separated from the others. And where was David?
She shifted her position to something more comfortable when she realized it was hard to move. Her body didn’t want to respond. With a mounting panic, she focused on taking a deep breath. You can’t be that badly hurt. That didn’t make any sense. Likely just more drugs. She shuddered at the thought. She’d had more than enough drugs to last her a lifetime.
Take it easy. She took several deep breaths then opened her eyes fully and assessed her body. She was lying on her wings. Not the most comfortable position to begin with, her body was stretched out fully and she was covered in blankets. She lifted a hand to brush her hair back off her face, only to realize it had been braided down one side. She frowned. How long had she been here? With her other hand, she lifted the blanket and realized why she couldn’t move.
Across her legs, hips, and chest were bands keeping her immobile.
To stop her from hurting herself? To keep her from damaging something they’d fixed and hadn’t finished healing yet? Or just to keep her a prisoner?
At the sound of the doorknob turning, she dropped the blanket and closed her eyes at the same time. She’d wait to see just what the hell was going on before she let anyone know she was back.
At least until she found out which side was looking after her.
So far her luck hadn’t been too good in that department.
Chapter 5
Tessa raced behind the stranger. She had no idea how deep this space went. They were still in the cement building, yet it was empty. They might be going around in circles, though she couldn’t be sure. The darkness deepened up ahead. How could that be? They’d been running headfirst into complete darkness for what seemed like forever. The air up ahead is different, Cody.
Yeah, not sure why.
They hit the darkness at that time and she understood. There was no longer any cement and without the gray walls, there was only dirt, which explained the shift in the shade of black.
Instinctively she slowed, coming to a halting stop just inside the dirt walls.
“What’s the matter, Tessa? Tired?” Cody gasped, coming to a stop beside her.
She shook her head. “I’m tired, but that’s not why I stopped.”
Cody looked down the dirt hallway. “The stranger went that way.”
“Did he though?” she asked. “The shadows shifted here. I don’t think he did. It was an illusion.”
Cody stared at her for a long moment then turned to look down the hallway and back at her. “Can you see his energy?”
This was where it got tricky. “Um, not really.”
He frowned, his gaze narrowing. “What does that mean?”
“His energy was getting thinner and thinner a long time ago, I barely saw anything to begin with. Now it’s non–existent.”
“Meaning he didn’t come this way, or you can’t see him for some reason if he did.”
She wrinkled up her nose. “I saw him come this far, I think,” she admitted. “But it comes to a stop now. So either he’s still here and isn’t showing any energy for some reason, or he’s taken off so fast I can’t even see where he was.”
“Both,” said the stranger coming out from the shadows to the side. “I needed to observe you. See if you really are who you are.”
Cody stepped forward. “What?”
Tessa placed a gentle restraining hand on his arm. “You need us to be Cody and Tessa, right?”
At the stranger’s nod, she added. “Did we pass t
he test?”
Cody growled at her side. The stranger took a long slow look at Cody to make sure he wasn’t about to attack, and nodded. “You are indeed Tessa. Your watchdog is Cody.”
“And you doubted us, why?” Cody snarled.
“Because it’s too important to get it wrong.”
The stranger spun on his heels and called behind, “Come. There is someone waiting to see you.”
“We’re not going anywhere until we get an explanation,” Cody snapped.
Tessa stepped forward. Cody hauled her back and snarled, “Who are you? Who wants to meet us, and where are David and Serus?” At the stranger’s blank stare, Cody growled, “Don’t pretend to not know them.”
“Of course I know them. Our spies keep us very well informed,” the stranger said impatiently. “I am not allowed to explain. You’ll have to speak to she who waits for you.”
She. Tessa rolled that around in her head. A woman waited for them. One the stranger revered, if his tone of voice was anything to go by. Interesting.
She stepped forward. “Take us to her.”
The stranger bowed slightly, turned, and walked ahead in an unhurried pace.
Ah, Tessa…this isn’t a good idea.
I know, but we need to find out who she is and what’s going on here.
I get that. You notice that he’s not rushing anymore. There’s no panic apparently now that we’re here. Where ever that is?
I know. I think the shift from cement to dirt allowed us to enter… she stopped and considered, or maybe left a force field of some kind? It’s like we’re behind it all now.
He shot her a sideways look. You’re starting to sound pretty far out there. Force fields? Next you’ll say all that cement building was nothing but a mirage.
She gasped as the bits and pieces of the puzzle fell together.
That’s exactly what it was, she said excitedly. An illusion. No, not all of it, she said at the confused look on his face. But at the end where it seemed like it went on forever, that was the illusion. We were just going around in circles.
Maybe, he said doubtfully, but why?
“She is waiting for you. Please don’t delay.” The stranger appeared in front of them, reminding Tessa that they’d come to a stop while they discussed the issue. She flashed him a bright smile. “Sorry.”
