Family Blood Ties Set - 3 books in 1
Page 42
Tessa smiled, dropped her brother's arm, and fell back to link hers with her father. The other two walked on ahead. "Yeah, I am. Just thinking about having the longest bath ever, followed by several days in bed."
"I understand." He patted her arm. "Sounds good."
"What about Mom?" She couldn't help worrying. The enemy had powerful drugs.
Serus twisted to glance at the stretcher coming behind them. "She'll spend a few days in hospital, until the drugs work their way out of her system. She'll be fine. She just needs time."
"Good." Tessa smiled with relief. "I'm really happy to hear that."
"I know." He squeezed her arm. "Sian is going to stay at the house with you while I'm at the hospital, and Taz works here." They opened the door to the garage. The floor was still down.
Tessa walked straight over to the far wall, waited until everyone was on, and hit the trigger to make it rise. Once on top, they sent the floor down to the ground floor level again for the others. Not that it mattered. They'd been moving people back and forth constantly. Once outside, Tessa was surprised to find it was dark out.
Convenient.
Turning to the others, Tessa caught sight of her mother on the stretcher, and her smile dropped away. The medical team loaded her mother into the ambulance while she stood quietly beside David and Jewel.
Serus walked over to them. "I'm going with her to the hospital." He wrapped her in a hug. "I want to make sure she settles in okay. You go home with David, and Sian will follow you. Get some rest. I'll be there soon."
David hugged Tessa as the ambulance drove off. "Let's go, Tessa. We'll catch a ride with one of the elders."
"Sounds good."
Within minutes, they were on their way down the mountain. In the backseat of the SUV, the warmth of the vehicle and the slow growl of the engine lulled Tessa into a peaceful state. She closed her head back and smiled gently.
It was over. Finally.
She closed her eyes and slept.
Hours later, she woke up and yawned. The vehicle had stopped. The darkness was absolute.
"Thank God," she said. "Are we home?"
She sat up and looked around. The vehicle was empty. Looking out the window, she didn't recognize her location. Where was she? She opened the door and stepped out.
"David?"
No houses were close by. In fact, she didn't see any other vehicles. And there were definitely no other people, either human or vampire.
Circling the SUV, she couldn't stop her confusion and rising panic. Where had everyone gone? Where was her brother? And what about Jewel? Ian? And oh, God – Cody?
"Hello?" She spun around and searched the darkness. "Hello? Where is everyone?"
Tessa wasn't in the wooded area she recognized from either the mansion or the mountain. In fact, she didn't recognize the area at all. The place had no trees, no hills, no mountains.
Where the hell was she?
And why?
Vampire in Design
(Book 3 of Blood Ties Series)
Dale Mayer
Valley Publishing
Copyright © 2013
ISBN-13:978-1-927461-47-1
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidences either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to all my children, especially my daughter Kara, who started me on the road to writing young adult books. Enjoy!
Table of Contents
Back to Beginning
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Prologue
This is the last chapter of book 2, Vampire in Distress. We left Tessa after this point...
Tessa's high spirited, yet extremely tired group finally exited the warehouse three hours after the authorities arrived. Taz stayed behind to help assess the humans. The large group that had arrived earlier had already moved out, giving Tessa only a brief moment to say goodbye to Jared. The medical team had given him a quick look over and then taken blood samples to test for the type of drugs his captors had used on him. Now the team was taking him to a hospital for more tests. He hadn't been terribly impressed at the idea of more needles, but they'd convinced him to go anyway.
He also hadn't been thrilled about leaving Tessa. She'd tried to include him with her group, but the authorities had insisted he go with the others. He was human and had no adult representation. Plus, he needed care.
Several times, Jared had tried to explain his own family might be a danger to him. The end result was that they would take him somewhere safe until the authorities sorted out this mess. Tessa had asked to bring him home with her family and had been voted down by the human authorities. Something about keeping him with his people.
This wasn't the first time she'd come up against that barrier, but it had dimmed her joy. Still, as long as he was safe and content, she would be, too. In fact, going home was all she wanted for everyone.
"Come on, Tessa."
David slung an arm through hers, while Jewel hung on his other arm. As they walked down the long hallway to the surface, Tessa kept her face pointing forward. The last thing she wanted was for her last image of this place be of the hanging dead.
She smiled as they walked through the computer room. Things were so different now. And that was damned good. She was beyond tired. Several days in bed sounded good about now.
"Tired?" The cooler air revived her slightly as her father walked up behind her.
Tessa smiled, dropped her brother's arm, and fell back to link hers with her father. The other two walked on ahead. "Yeah, I am. Just thinking about having the longest bath ever, followed by several days in bed."
"I understand." He patted her arm. "Sounds good."
"What about Mom?" She couldn't help worrying. The enemy had powerful drugs.
Serus twisted to glance at the stretcher coming behind them. "She'll spend a few days in hospital, until the drugs work their way out of her system. She'll be fine. She just needs time."
"Good." Tessa smiled with relief. "I'm really happy to hear that."
"I know." He squeezed her arm. "Sian is going to stay at the house with you while I'm at the hospital, and Taz works here." They opened the door to the garage. The floor was still down.
Tessa walked straight over to the far wall, waited until everyone was on, and hit the trigger to make it rise. Once on top, they sent the floor down to the ground floor level again for the others. Not that it mattered. They'd been moving people back and forth constantly. Once outside, Tessa was surprised to find it was dark out.
Convenient.
Turning to the others, Tessa caught sight of her mother on the stretcher, and her smile dropped away. The medical team loaded her mother into the ambulance while she stood quietly beside David and Jewel.
Serus walked over to them. "I'm going with her to the hospital." He wrapped her in a hug. "I want to make sure sh
e settles in okay. You go home with David, and Sian will follow you. Get some rest. I'll be there soon."
David hugged Tessa as the ambulance drove off. "Let's go, Tessa. We'll catch a ride with one of the elders."
"Sounds good."
Within minutes, they were on their way down the mountain. In the backseat of the SUV, the warmth of the vehicle and the slow growl of the engine lulled Tessa into a peaceful state. She closed her head back and smiled gently.
It was over. Finally.
She closed her eyes and slept.
Hours later, she woke up and yawned. The vehicle had stopped. The darkness was absolute.
"Thank God," she said. "Are we home?"
She sat up and looked around. The vehicle was empty. Looking out the window, she didn't recognize her location. Where was she? She opened the door and stepped out.
"David?"
No houses were close by. In fact, she didn't see any other vehicles. And there were definitely no other people, either human or vampire.
Circling the SUV, she couldn't stop her confusion and rising panic. Where had everyone gone? Where was her brother? And what about Jewel? Ian? And oh, God – Cody?
"Hello?" She spun around and searched the darkness. "Hello? Where is everyone?"
Tessa wasn't in the wooded area she recognized from either the mansion or the mountain. In fact, she didn't recognize the area at all. The place had no trees, no hills, no mountains.
Where the hell was she?
And why?
Tessa stared at the complete change in terrain…and circumstances. On the horizon, a jet stream slowly dissipated across the sky. A long shudder rippled down her spine. This so shouldn't be happening. She should be back home with her family. Enjoying a well-earned rest. The danger…the nightmare…was over. Right?
So not.
She couldn't help it. Trying to fuel her anger to keep her fear submerged, she pinched herself. "Shit." Glaring down at the white then dark flushed skin at the point of the injury, she realized what a stupid thing it was to do. At least, now she knew. "So I'm not dreaming."
She turned around in a slow circle. "Maybe that's a good thing. 'Cause then this would be a nightmare, and I have enough of those."
And as the morning light crept out from behind a cloud, she realized there were no piles of ash either. So the others hadn't burned up either. Thankfully!
She ran her hand through her long hair, then scrubbed her face. She might be awake but she had no idea what the hell had happened. She stopped. Keys. Were they in the vehicle? She ran to the driver's side and opened the door. Leaning in, she checked the ignition. The keys had been removed. Figured. She slid in anyway and dropped the visor, like they did in the movies, hoping to find a spare set. Nothing. She moved on to check under the seats and around the center console. Again, nothing.
So she wasn't going to be driving anywhere. She slid across to the passenger seat and opened the glove box. It was totally empty. Hmm. Not even insurance or registration papers. Then the vampires' legal system was different to humans'. So was their lack of regard for rules and regulation.
A more comprehensive search turned up a coat left behind by one of the others.
She snatched it up before slamming the doors shut. There was no food, water, cell phones, or anything else helpful. And nothing even remotely like a communication system. Some vehicles had onboard computers. If this one did, it had either been removed or hidden, because she couldn't find it. She couldn't even find a cell phone charger in the vehicle, and every vehicle had those in today's world.
The bottom line was she had no way to communicate with anyone.
Still, she'd been here before.
She held up the coat, trying to figure out the owner. Long and black, duh, and way too big for her. She didn't think it could be David's, but maybe Ian's. She checked out the pockets. Empty. Inside under the back collar was a crest. Cody's family crest. She grinned, almost dancing in place.
Cody's coat. Perfect.
She slipped it on and felt better already. She couldn't wait to see his face when he saw her in it. He'd always been so particular about this coat. With good reason. It was nice. But for her, it was a connection to her friends and family. And that it was Cody's, well, that just made it more comforting.
She snuggled deeper and leaned against the vehicle. Should she wait around for the others to come back? That was presuming, of course, that they'd gone for a walk and left her behind to sleep. And if they had, she might kill them herself when they got back. Letting her rest was one thing, but forcing her to wake up alone was a totally different issue. They could have left one person to stay with her.
Then there was that nasty suspicion that they hadn't walked away on their own free will.
That scared her. And puzzled her. Why leave her behind? She doubted anyone who cared enough to take her friends by force would give a damn about letting Tessa catch a few more hours' sleep.
Besides, there were no energy signatures walking in any direction. There were puddles of it outside the vehicles as if they'd been standing around before taking off – and leaving her behind.
Tessa admitted to being confused and, stupidly, hurt. She hadn't been wanted. Like, what was wrong with her? And that was just silly. She didn't want to be taken. And, of course, if her friends had been forced to leave, maybe being left behind was a kindness.
Too confused to sort through everything and without enough information to actually understand, she tried to put the issue away.
She studied the odd terrain. She'd thought the snow-capped mountain had been disturbingly scary at the exit to the blood farm last time, but here there were no trees, no buildings, no signs of life at all. In fact, there was nothing. It was like a deserted wasteland. And maybe because she felt so exposed, she found herself wanting a place to hide. But there was only the vehicle.
She couldn't remember ever hearing about such a place in school. But then, rogue vampires and blood farms hadn't exactly been part of the school curriculum either.
Her father had always told her book learning would only help so much. That it was no replacement for real life experience. She gazed up at the blue sky and murmured, "Well, Dad, how do you feel about that now? And what's going on with Mom?"
The sound of her own voice was both soothing and lonely.
Damn. Why didn't she have a cell phone with her? Her father should know by now that she hadn't made it home. It was daylight. They had to be worried about her.
Daylight! She spun around. Of course. The others couldn't stay out like she could. Maybe they'd gone to the trees for cover or flown somewhere. Sure. That must be what happened. They hadn't really left her alone. No, they'd only left her to the last because she could stand in the sunshine.
She wondered how far they'd have to travel to get to safety from the sun. Assuming there was a reason why they hadn't stayed in the vehicle. Like maybe it had broken down? Run out of gas? She didn't know, but surely any number of things could go wrong with it.
If the others were close by, maybe she did have a way to communicate…
She paused. It had only happened that once or twice when she'd been really tired and really stressed. Still, it was worth a shot. Resolutely, she closed eyes, and called out. Cody.
No answer.
Cody, are you there?
Nothing. Damn it. Her eyes opened. What did she expect?
He wasn't standing beside her like the last time. Her parents had trouble communicating across distances, too. And when deep underground, even more problems existed.
Te..s..s..a
Goosebumps rose like soldiers all over her body. Had that been inside her head? Or had he called in some weird whisper? Had it even been him? She spun around. "Cody? Is that you? Where are you?"
There was no answer. Either inside her mind or out.
"Cody?" She walked around the SUV and studied the land with a new eye. Six people made a lot of disturbance. She didn't know their driver or the councilman who'
d been with them, but her father had trusted them to keep his family safe. Given this blood farm mess, she imagined her father would trust a lot fewer folk now.