by Dale Mayer
Now Cody flew like an archangel, strong and sure, confident in his abilities. She relaxed into his arms and enjoyed the novelty of being carried through the night.
"What happened?" she murmured softly. She didn't know if he could hear her with the wind whistling around them. The wind's chill cut through her clothing and attacked her skin. A shiver slid down her spine. A mallet beat on the inside of her skull, increasing its tempo every time she moved. She dared not make a sudden move and send them both crashing to the ground.
"We were attacked back at the house. You were hit in the side of the head – again."
"Don't remember."
She felt his concerned gaze on her. Interesting. Then again, her family was liable to roast him alive when they found out what they'd been doing. She dimly remembered the earlier part of the evening, but the head smacking part didn't ring any bells. Maybe that was just as well. She shivered again, loving the male warmth that wrapped around her as he snuggled her up closer in his arms.
"We're almost there. Hang on."
She couldn't actually hang onto anything. Her arms were caught up against her chest and she was tucked up against Cody's heart. All kinds of weird feelings churned around in her stomach, making her wonder if she were going to be sick. She'd never felt this type of connection and warmth before.
Cody had always been there – in the background. Part of the family, but not family. She'd never considered him anything other than David's irritating best friend. Now all kinds of feelings were washing through her, and heat was just one of them. Was this, as she suspected, all due to her head injury?
Cody descended so quickly, the wind rushed past her face, lifting and tossing her long hair. The moon shone behind him, raising his features in relief. How had she never noticed the clean, chiseled lines of his jaw and high cheekbones? Or the way the breeze picked up those jet-black curls to play in the wind? Good thing her hands were tucked out of the way, or they'd be reaching to see if those strands were as silky as they looked. Waves of warm delight washed over her, making her tingle. She frowned with confusion.
What was going on here? She'd never considered Cody in this light. She'd been too busy drooling over Jared.
The landing, despite all his efforts at gentleness, jarred her.
"Ohh." She moaned in pain as her head bounced.
"Sorry." He straightened and stared down at her, worry etched into his features. "I tried to be careful."
"It's okay." It wasn't really, because now the hammer inside her head had been replaced by a sledgehammer. As she gasped for breath she tried to hold back the tears. "It's not your fault."
"I don't think anyone else is going to believe that," he muttered.
She almost didn't catch his tone. And couldn't come up with one good reason why people wouldn't believe him. Cody was one of the good guys. Everyone knew that.
"Oh, my God."
Tessa stirred at the voice. "Where are we?"
Cody never broke stride as he walked down the back pathway. If anything, his back stiffened as he entered the house to the concerned cries of everyone present.
"We're home."
"Oh, no." She so wasn't ready for this. She turned her face further into his chest.
He cuddled her closer. "Sorry. Your mom needs to see to that injury. This is the second one tonight. Any more than this and it could be the end of you."
"I'm tougher than I look," she muttered so only he could hear. She refused to open her eyes and face the glaring accusations she knew would surround her.
"What the hell happened?" Her father's roar filled the room, followed by startled silence. "Is that Tessa? Now what did she do to her hair?"
Tessa moaned, as her dad's voice turned the sledgehammer in her head into a jackhammer.
"She's been hurt – again. It's her head. She's in a lot of pain. Can I lay her down somewhere?" Cody stood in the middle of the living room, turning around, looking for a place to put her.
Tessa's mother rushed over to them. Tessa tried to open her eyes but couldn't stand the light from the kitchen. "Light hurts," she mumbled.
"Let's take her to her room." Her mother led the way and Cody followed, still carrying Tessa. In his arms, she didn't feel she was large and awkward or any other of the other million mixed-up feelings she usually had to deal with.
Now there were new ones.
"Here. I'll pull back her covers." Blankets rustled, then Tessa felt the coolness of cotton sheets under her back as the beautiful warmth of Cody's body lifted away. She protested.
"Shhh. You'll be fine now. Let your mother take care of you."
Cold on both sides, Tessa curled into a ball while her mother pulled the blankets over her.
"Cody?"
"I'm here." He reached over to take her hand gently in his.
"Thanks," she whispered and let the darkness take her away.
***
"Go. I'll look after her. You need to explain what happened to Serus. I don't know what's going on, but this has to stop. She's not like us."
Cody looked over at Tessa's mom in surprise. "Rhia, I think she's more like us than you realize."
Rhia stopped stroking a white streak of Tessa's hair to glance up him. She looked surprised. "What do you mean?"
"I spent more time alone with her tonight than I think I ever have, and I know she surprised me. Maybe I've been as guilty as everyone else of assuming her genetics made her less of a vampire." He shook his head. "I have to tell you, I think it's made her a better one." With that cryptic comment, he cast one final look at Tessa and walked out to face the gathering of angry vampires below.
There was only one way to handle this and that was to give the truth. Tessa wouldn't appreciate it. It could mean she might never be allowed free on her own again, at least for a good long time. That didn't change the fact that something ugly brewed in their vampire world, and everyone needed to know what was going on. Cody, for one, wanted the others to help him find out what that was. The best he could do would be to minimize Tessa's involvement.
Or better yet, accent the strengths she'd showed tonight. Foolish and impulsive actions, maybe…except her heart had been in the right place.
Then again, as he thought about it, he didn't need to embellish anything. Tessa had done just fine tonight – all on her own.
CHAPTER SIX
Tessa woke to a darkened room. She surged upright, wincing at the pounding in her head, as memories of last night crowded into her awareness. Her panicked glance showed the same curtains on the window of her childhood room and the cozy blanket David had bought for her birthday last year. Home. Sighing, she relaxed into the pillows.
Not wanting to face the day and not yet truly rested, she pulled the blanket up to her neck and tried to snuggle deeper.
Loud noises from below disturbed her peace. She didn't know what they were arguing about, but it had gone beyond normal family fighting. That's probably what had awakened her. She lifted her hand to her head and gently explored her skull, wincing as her fingers caught on the dried blood matting her hair. A shower would be wonderful. Just the thought of putting out that much effort made the rest of her body scream in protest. The events from last night were still shady, still sapped her energy.
Images and feelings mixed with odd impressions and partial memories, leaving her unsure of what had actually happened. And then there was Cody. Even as she thought his name, a gentle sense of connection swept through her. She sighed. She needed to get a grip before Cody got wind of that. He'd laugh her into tomorrow.
Speaking of Cody. Was that his voice? Shit. She glanced at the clock and groaned. She'd hardly slept. Less than an hour had gone by since her return. As her father's blustery voice whipped through the house, Tessa cringed. Cody had saved her. She'd been the one who hadn't wanted to go back and get help. Please don’t let him get ripped by her father.
Cody had been the hero. She'd been the idiot.
They could blame her if they wanted. They would anyway
, to a certain extent. But they shouldn't be treating Cody badly. Knowing she'd never rest if she didn't do her part to right the injustice, she slowly sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
The room spun around for a few seconds, then calmed down. Using her night table for support, she stood up and carefully made her way to the doorway. She didn't want to face her father's wrath. In truth, no vampire in the world would. But she couldn't let Cody take the blame for her actions.
Good intentions were fine, in theory, navigating the stairs to make good on them was a different matter.
She accidentally stepped down on the last stair hard and gasped as spikes drove into her temple. Biting her bottom lip, she forged ahead into the living room. The room swelled with vampires.
Great, there'd be an audience to hear her admit her stupidity. Bitterness washed over her in waves. Surely, for once in her life, some things could be private? Not this, apparently. Then again, of all her actions, this one would have the most widespread repercussions.
"I don't want to hear it," snapped her father, his barely leashed temper adding a cutting edge to his voice.
Tessa couldn't suppress the moan that slipped out. His voice… Could he please remove the spike now deeply embedded in her brain by his raised voice? She massaged her temple and fell back against the doorway.
"Tessa?"
The room erupted into chaos.
Her mother rushed to her side. Cody beat her.
"Why the hell aren't you sleeping?" he snapped.
"Uh, gee, maybe because of all the yelling going on," she snapped back. She didn't argue as he slipped a hand under her elbow and led her to the closest chair. Sinking in deep, she closed her eyes briefly. Opened them to see her mother glaring at her father.
"I told you to keep your voice down," Rhia said.
His glare swiveled from Rhia to Tessa and back again. "Maybe it's better this way."
Tessa watched her mother draw herself up to her full height, in no way prepared to give an inch. "You will not question her right now. She's injured. Twice now, I might add."
"I know that. I'm not going to beat her, for Christ's sake," he muttered. "I just want to ask her some questions. Get some answers we need."
Any other time, Tessa would have grinned at her father backing down in the face of her mother's wrath. Those two had been together for centuries. They knew just what boundaries they could cross and which ones they couldn't. Then the sooner everyone knew what had happened then maybe something could be done to save Jared. "Mom, it's okay. I'm fine."
Her mother spun on her heels, frustration firing her voice with heat "No, you are not fine. I want you to march upstairs and get yourself back into bed. And stay there. Do you hear me?"
Tessa heard the words, and when she looked in her mother's eyes she recognized real fear behind the tone. Tessa smiled gently. "I love you, too, Mom."
Her mother's eyes filled with tears and she rushed over to hug her only daughter. "Tessa, you could have been killed. Do you understand that?"
"Yes," Tessa whispered against her mother's blue-black locks.
Her mother wiped away her tears and pulled back a little to look down at Tessa. "Please, wait until you're feeling better. I don't know much about the kinds of injuries you have. Maybe I should call a human doctor…? Taz." She brightened at the idea. "Yes, that's what I'll do. Let's go back upstairs. Taz will be happy to come."
Tessa glanced over at David and Seth, who both rolled their eyes at her. "Mom. I'm not human, remember. And Taz isn't going to want to come into the house with this gathering going on." She motioned to the room full of black-clad vampires. "Though I might get injured a little more than the rest of you, and I might take longer to recuperate, that doesn't mean I don't have any vampire traits."
Cody stepped closer. "And I'd be the first one to say I've seen more than a few of them in action over the last few hours."
Her father glared in Tessa's general direction, effectively including the entire family and Cody.
Tessa glared back, and then winced. The tempo in her head clashed with the movement, and a fine tremor ran through down her spine.
"Tessa?" Her mother crouched down in front of her. "Honey, please go back up and lie down."
But Cody placed a hand on her shoulder. Heat crept up her face. Maybe she hadn't imagined those solicitous touches earlier. Did he really care, or was she just the little sister he didn't have in his life? What a depressing thought.
"She can go back up in a few minutes. She's my daughter, not some weak lily-livered human." Serus's tone brooked no argument.
Straightening her spine, Tessa stared at her father. Showing weakness hadn't gotten her anywhere with him before. Maybe showing some backbone would. "What do you want to know?"
"I want to know what the hell you were doing ignoring my orders."
Her chin jutted out on its own. Any attempt to force some stiffness into her spine was forgotten. It slid in on its own now. She wasn't going to put up with a dressing down for not listening to her father – not in this instance. Jared was in trouble. And if her father still refused to help her – well she knew where the front door was. She refused to consider that the knock on the head might have had something to do with that answer. "I'm not even going to discuss that with you. Not here and not now." Tessa's words were quiet, but clear as she stared her father down.
His jaw dropped.
She'd have laughed if the subject weren't so important. "I came down here to make sure you weren't taking chunks out of Cody and to tell you what happened so you could help. But if you're just planning to tell me off, to ground me for doing what I felt was right…" she stood up slowly, her temper putting steel into her rubbery legs, "And to tell me that you wouldn't have done the same, then I'm leaving."
Silence. Tessa didn't think she'd ever heard such an absolute absence of sound. She refused to tear her gaze away from her father, who looked like he'd been struck by lightning. The rest of the audience held their breaths, waiting for the explosion.
"Tessa, that's hardly fair. You know your father needed to speak with the Council first." Her mothered hovered between them.
"And second? And third?" Tessa scoffed. "While Cody and I tracked Jared's kidnapper and the men – who attacked me, I might add – to the house where we found a human, chained and dead."
Soft gasps rippled through the house.
"I know perfectly well how incompetent and incapable you believe me to be. I, however, won't let your opinion stop me from helping someone I care about. Whose predicament I feel responsible for."
Dimly in the back of her mind, she felt Cody's withdrawal. She'd have to reason that out later; right now, in the vampire den, she dared not show weakness. "There are times when you just have to stand up for what's right. This was one of them."
Her piece said, the steel morphed into marshmallows and she collapsed into her chair.
"You care about this…this human?" The question came from her father's sister. Aunt Rosha was cold, hard, and a bitch…but all bitches had families and she happened to be part of Tessa's.
Letting her lip curl in disdain, Tessa cut through the implication hanging in the air. "Yes, Aunt Rosha. He's a friend."
"A friend?" she asked delicately. Her tone implied so much more.
And just like that, Tessa had enough of it all. Of Aunt Rosha's innuendos, her criticisms, her belief that Tessa was stupid and naïve – the constant nastiness Tessa had endured from this relative. "Think whatever you want, Rosha. You will anyway."
Her mother's soft shocked gasp at her side would have made the old Tessa cringe in horror at being so bold. This Tessa, the beaten, chased and now attacked-on-all-sides Tessa, could no longer afford to be anyone's doormat. "He's a friend. That means he's someone I go to school with. Someone I went to the movies with. He's not my lover." More murmurs wafted through the room. "He's a friend."
"Interesting," Rosha murmured, studying her long nails, a sneer on her face.
"Yeah, it's a human thing and a friend thing. Obviously, you wouldn't understand."
David, who came to sit on the armrest of her chair, gently nudged her shoulder. Tessa half leaned into his touch, accepting both the comfort and the warning. At least for the moment.
Her dad knew his sister was being insulted and, it was obvious he didn't know what to do about it. "I think it's time Tessa went to lie down."
"No, Dad, it's time for someone to help me find Jared." She took a deep breath. "Before whoever took him kills him, like they did the other man."
