by Dale Mayer
"Tessa?" Her father's anxious voice carried outside.
"It's beautiful out here." She bent down and ducked her head under the wall so she could see her father. "Do you want to try to come out?"
"No." Serus gnashed his teeth. "Damn it. It's too bright out there already."
Tessa stopped and looked around at the bright morning sun. "I’ll go look around and come back." She tossed a confident smile back at him. "No worries."
Leaving him spluttering, Tessa circled the outside of the house, searching for a place for the others to hide out. A safe, dark place. They could stay where they were, but it was hardly ideal. What if the owners returned?
She leaned against the wall. She'd been through so much already. She was so tired. Think, damn it, think. There had to be an answer. What about gloves and helmets? That might do it. Where could she find such things? There had to be another option. Steal the vehicle? She headed back to the others to discuss their options.
The wall was closed.
"Crap." With one hand on the wall, she walked the full length, looking for the same crack in the wall. Surely having a mechanism to operate the door from the outside was just a normal safeguard? Her stomach wanted to heave. Tremors wracked her legs. Why hadn't she stayed in there with the others?
The early morning light showed her footprints sunk into the wet ground. She stepped to where she'd stepped out from under the wall. That should be about right. Turning around to face the stone, she ran her hands back and forth looking for the edge – and couldn't find it.
She considered her options. She could go back inside and down to the basement where the others were or she could look around and see if she could find a place for everyone to hide. Wanting to make the most of the time she had, she decided to search the outbuildings.
Twenty minutes later, frustration mirrored her fatigue. She'd found nothing. She circled the last outbuilding, some kind of garage or shed. Windowless. The doorknob turned easily under her hand. This building, like everything else she'd seen so far, was empty. She walked through the interior carefully, searching for some sign. Any sign.
In the far corners, she found several empty water bottles. Signs of humans. Vampires rarely drank water. Generally, if it didn't have blood or caffeine in it, they wouldn't touch it. She crouched down beside the bottles. No sign of blood.
Good. Maybe she was getting somewhere.
The plank floor had been well scuffed. The walls had been scraped up, but she couldn't tell if the marks were old or new. The ring pounded into the wall was definitely new.
Humans had been here. They were gone now.
To where?
And how?
There were two vehicles outside now. But the driveway could hold dozens. The place was so remote no one would know if human trafficking were going on here.
She wrinkled her nose. Could be two or ten or a hundred vampires involved. She walked back out into the morning sun and leaned against the open door. A sound came from the front door. Dad? She raced back toward them. Just as she started around the large SUV the heights of the people standing in the shadows of the front entrance stalled her forward rush.
That wasn't Dad.
But it was Jacob standing inside the dark shadows of the porch.
And someone else. No. Two someone elses.
Tessa dropped down behind the vehicle. What was going on? Another male, much bigger and decked out in the full motorcycle suit, stood on guard off to one side. From where she stood, Tessa couldn't identify the others. Jacob appeared to know them well though.
He had to be in on this. Maybe he'd been responsible for the floor and the wall closing, locking them in?
Just then the bigger man motioned around the yard while the others immediately spun around to look. Crap. Her stomach knotted. They were looking for her.
Where were her dad and Wendy?
She reared back, finally cluing in. Jacob carried gloves and a motorcycle helmet. So this was preplanned? How? How could anyone have known about their group coming here? Unless Jacob had told them. He could have texted or called anytime. Her group hadn't been secretly tracking each other's movements.
She crouched lower to the ground, wondering where she could hide.
Jacob and the smaller man split up to search the outside grounds. The bigger man loped toward her. Tessa slid under the front bumper, scraping along the ground. She closed her eyes and held her breath.
Black boots thudded past, heading toward the shed she'd just vacated.
She breathed gently and rolled carefully out from under the vehicle, on the house side. She sprinted the short distance to the front door and slid inside. She needed to find her father and Wendy. She could only hope Jacob had just locked them in the basement. She raced down but also checked behind to make sure she wasn't being followed.
The floor was closed. Placing her sweaty palms on the wall in the right spot, she waited nervously as the floor fell away. She cringed at the noise this time, glancing behind her several times to make sure she hadn't attracted any unwanted attention.
She was still alone. She raced down to her father. "Dad?" She picked up the pace and half ran, half jumped down the long passage. "Are you here?"
"Tessa?"
"Yeah." Tessa ran toward his voice. She found them halfway down the passage, sitting in a heap on the dirt floor. She fell to the floor beside him. "Are you okay?" She ran her hands over his face, then his shoulders. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine. Wendy's tired, but she'll do." Serus stood up. "Did you see Jacob? We haven't seen him since he headed back to the stairs around the same time you snuck out."
Tessa sneered. "Yes, he's out front with two other men looking for me."
"What?" Her father stilled. Then he reached out and grabbed her by her shoulders. "But that's good. Why are you acting like this?"
"Not good guys. And he's in cahoots with them. He could have gotten you out anytime."
Serus and Wendy stared at each other. "Surely not." Serus frowned.
"Tell me how he left." Tessa stepped past Wendy. "Come on. Let's get you two out of here while we talk."
"Why this way?" Wendy followed along obediently.
"Because I don’t trust them," Tessa said flatly.
No one questioned her again. At the door, she switched on the mechanism. When the wall had risen enough, she sneaked under, the others right behind her.
Into the sunlight.
Damn it.
Tessa ripped off her black jacket and threw it over Wendy's head. Her dad had already done the same thing with his coat, leaving his arms still in the sleeves. They hobbled toward the tree line as fast as they could. Once in the bushes, Tessa found a large fir and motioned the other two deep under the boughs. "Dad, will this work? There are a lot of empty outbuildings, but we could be seen."
"If we can get deep enough, we'll be fine for a while."
Tessa worked to lift the lower boughs so they could create a hollow underneath. "After a rest, could you drive out? Wendy, do you drive?"
Wendy, her voice muffled from the coat and branches, said, "I drive but can only tolerate mild sunlight so the windshield would need to be heavily tinted."
Serus coughed slightly, clearing his throat. "I think Jacob could. I recall he's good in partial light, like through a tinted windshield too. I've never tried it."
"Figures. So how do you feel about trying it today?" Tessa grinned at the disgruntled look on his face.
"I’d rather you had your learner's license." He rolled deeper under the boughs.
Tessa snorted. "Yeah, right about now, so do I." She crouched down, looking for a corner in their hidey-hole for herself. "We need to call Mom or David. They could come pick us up."
Serus grimaced. "She'd love that."
"That's hardly the issue right now." And it wasn't. Not today, not when they needed help.
"Damn it." Her dad went to reach inside his pocket then stopped. "Except if Jacob is involved then she’d be driving into
a trap." He put the phone away. "We got into this mess, we’ll have to get ourselves out of it."
Tessa groaned and settled down.
It was going to be a long wait.
***
"Jared?"
"Wake up, Jared."
A harsh slap helped pull Jared out from his drug induced dreams. He swam through swaths of cotton batting to the surface way above him. Opening his eyes a few minutes later, he groaned and slammed them shut again. "The light," he gasped. "It hurts."
The lights dimmed.
Jared tried to open his eyes again. "Thanks, that’s better." He studied the face in front of him. "What happened?" Two other people moved around the room, both in white lab coats. "Am I in the hospital?"
"Not really. But you weren't absorbing the drugs as you should have been. We had to bring you down to run some more tests."
A small prick in his arm had him glancing down.
"There. Nothing to worry about. We’ll do the tests in the morning when some of the drugs clear your system. Just try to rest and have a good night’s sleep."
With that the room emptied. Jared took a quick glance around his half of the room. Empty beds lined both walls. In the windowless room, he struggled to get his bearings. Fluorescent lights flooded the room. It resembled a hospital ward, but not quite. He tried to sit up.
And stopped.
He was strapped down. His hand went to the buckles and tried to loosen them.
"Don’t even bother."
Startled, he turned slightly to face his neighbor. Another young male, strapped into a bed similar to his, stared at him.
"Where are we?" Jared asked.
"In the infirmary – at the blood farm."
***
Tessa woke to heavy snoring.
Yawning, she sat up and groaned softly. Her back screeched in outrage. Sleeping under a tree did nothing for her spine. Looking around, she studied the other two sleeping vamps. Hard to imagine anyone would be afraid of her species if they could see these two. Her dad was curled up in fetal position that mocked his large frame and height. On the other side, still curled under Tessa’s jacket, Wendy slumbered like a baby. They were all tired from having powered through those miles last night. They had a right to be tired. Tessa didn’t feel too lively this afternoon, herself.
She peered through the heavy boughs. They were missing a lot of the basic amenities, like a toilet, but as a hiding place, the dense branches had done the job.
Both vehicles had left. She’d never even heard them start up. She’d been so tired it would have taken a bomb going off at her side to wake her.
With one last look around, she nudged her father’s shoulder. "Dad, wake up. It’s almost evening again."
"Whaaat?" Groggy, and rubbing his eyes, Serus sat up and banged his head on the low branches. "Ouch," he bellowed.
"Shh. I think we’re alone, but I wouldn’t want to find out the hard way that we aren’t."
Now that he was finally awake and aware, understanding filtered into his eyes. "Have you seen anyone?"
"No. The vehicles are gone, too."
He shot her a quick look. "You didn’t hear them?"
"No. And no, I don’t know where Jacob is either."
He pursed his lips as he studied the layout of the place. "He’s probably worried he lost us and has gone for help."
"I highly doubt it," Tessa muttered. She scrambled to her feet and slipped out from under the boughs. Straightening her back, she couldn’t stop moaning. What a relief to be able to stretch all the way up again. They’d only been under there for half a day, yet her spine felt like it had been compressed into a Slinky.
The afternoon heat still lingered, making pine and spruce the flavor of the day. She sniffed appreciatively. It reminded her of her childhood and the one time they’d gone camping. That was during her mom’s attempts to help her get in touch with her human side. Camping, was apparently a common activity for humans.
She could see the fresh air and open skies might make it appealing, but sleeping on the ground sucked. She glanced down at Wendy. "We should wake her up and get moving."
Her dad nodded. "Yeah, I want to go home and fill up."
Tessa frowned. Yet another difference. She was starving too, but she'd eaten before leaving and had a granola bar stuffed in her pocket. They'd had smoothies earlier and usually could last longer than her but this amount of expended energy must have drained them quickly.
"I’m fine. Don’t give me that look. I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time now. Don’t need my daughter to fuss over me like I’m in my dotage."
Tessa hid her grin. At least he didn’t sound like he’d pass out on her.
Wendy sat up and yawned. "Is it safe to leave now? I could use a shower."
"I think so." Tessa strode toward the house and tested the front door. "It’s locked."
The two had walked up behind her. Serus said, "Good. Let’s head home."
The return journey was faster than she’d expected, and they were home in just under two hours.
The house was full.
Her mother came running. "There you are."
Serus gave her a warm hug. "Time ran out and we had to hide out."
Rhia cast a long look at Tessa’s face, the worry easing from her features. "That’s what we figured. Goran isn’t back yet, either."
"Really?" Tessa frowned. The fliers should have made it home in half the time. "That’s not good. They should have been home a long time ago."
"We were just organizing a search party. We haven’t heard from them since dawn."
Serus straightened. "Let’s go. There’s no time to lose."
She nodded. "Tessa, you need to eat and rest. There’s a whole group of people here who are going to be waiting with you."
"That’s nice. They can wait without me."
"Don’t you start," bellowed Serus. "Haven't you had enough excitement for one night?"
"Absolutely. However, as Jared may not get a second night, I’m not going to bail on him because I might be tired. Cody could also need help. For all we know the flying group found something. Or worse, someone found them. I’ll grab something to go, thank you very much."
Father and daughter glared at each other.
Rhia stepped between them. "No. You’re not going this time. This could be dangerous."
Tessa snorted. "Like it hasn’t been already? Jacob has likely betrayed us. You did notice he didn’t return with us, didn’t you?"
At the shocked look on her mother’s face, Tessa shrugged. "I saw him standing with several men after Dad and Wendy were locked in a basement. I’d left the three of them together while I scouted the outbuildings in the daylight. When I came back after doing a search, Jacob stood outside with two other men. They searched the outbuildings, presumably for me." She glared at her father. "So I’m coming. Don’t talk to me about danger."
Her mother gasped and turned on Serus. "Is she right?"
"I don’t know. I didn’t see Jacob with anyone. All I know is after he went to look for another way out, we never saw him again. Then Tessa showed and told me this." Serus held up his hand to forestall both women from speaking. "We can’t assume anything at this point." He patted Rhia’s shoulder. "Maybe the house belongs to friends of his and he headed them off to protect us."
"Did you consider that he might have been captured? That maybe he’s in danger right now?" Rhia spun around at the gathered crowd. "What am I going to say to his father?"
"I haven’t seen Bret in weeks – if not months. Matter of fact, Marie hasn’t been around much either."
Her parent’s gazes locked.
Tessa hated that. They always seemed in perfect communication. Telepathy wasn’t something vampires were known for, but long-time unions tended to develop the skill over the years. Not only was it freaky to those on the outside, but it made her envious. What she wouldn’t give to have someone who knew her so well that speech wasn’t required.
David wa
lked over to them, studied the intent look on his parents' faces and sighed. "Whenever you’re done? Hello?"
His mom blinked. "Oh, I’m sorry. We’re just discussing some things."
"Yeah, we know. Can we get this show on the road? Cody is in trouble," David snapped.
"How do you know that?" Tessa grabbed his arm. "Did you hear from him?"
