Family Blood Ties Set - 3 books in 1

by Dale Mayer

  "And you stayed and talked with him?" He shook his head. "You should have killed him outright. Would have been kinder."

  "I couldn't," she admitted softly. "I tried to help him. Thought if I could get him out of the sun he'd heal, but I couldn't move him. He was huge." She sighed. "And he was dying. He told me what he'd been through before he died."

  She stared up at the ceiling for a long moment, hating the tears welling up. There hadn't been anything she could have done and, if circumstances had been different, she'd have killed him herself. But that didn't change how bad she felt.

  Pushing the heavy emotion away, she pinned Bart with her gaze. "I need to find my friends before they become the next experiments. You appear to know this maze. Give me the layout of this place and where are we in relation to that damn blood farm."

  If she could find her father and Goran, she'd finally have someone to watch her back. As she studied the rat Bart, his eyes darting in all the corners as if weighing up his options to run, she realized even if he were on her side, he would be of no help. She'd never be able to trust him.

  He'd take her out if it meant saving his ass.

  Something she'd have to keep in mind.

  And not give him a chance.

  "So?" she prodded. "Point me in the right direction."

  The relief that washed over his face made her laugh. "No, I don't expect you to come with me. Heaven forbid that you should do anything to help anyone else."

  Bart glared at her. "It's not my fight."

  What could she say to that? She stared at the oversized, elderly vamp in front of her. He was something she didn't recognize. She knew most vamps had a code of honor and sometimes it was a little hard to tell just what it was – women being the worst in that regard.

  "So you say. And that's fine, as long as you don't sic any of the other team on me. If you leave well enough alone, fine. If not, I'll come back and find you."

  He held up both hands. "Whoa. I'm not looking for trouble. I won't send anyone after you if you forget you ever saw me."

  She gave a curt nod. "Deal. Now, where the hell is the rest of the farm?"

  "That's the trouble. I'm thinking there are a couple here. Plus labs." He motioned at the machinery surrounding them. "This is too much blood. There has to be more supply feeding into it."

  "How much of the place have you explored?"

  He frowned. "Not much. When I slipped away yesterday, I followed the machinery to this depot."

  "Have you seen any other vamps?"

  He shook his head. "Hell no."

  "Tell me what you saw on your way."

  He gave her a description of the machinery, hallways, and rooms he'd passed. She asked a few more questions, then brought up the one issue she didn't plan on letting him argue about. "I need to keep the phone."

  "I don't think the reception is any good in here. Unless you turn it off when you're not making a call. Otherwise it's going to keep trying to connect. That will kill it." He nodded to the phone still in her hand. "Keep it. If it gets you away from me and won't lead anyone back here, I'm all for it."

  "You're so helpful." She didn't bother snorting. He wasn't worth the effort.

  She spun around to stare the closed doors. "Is there another way out of here?"

  As if realizing he'd be rid of her soon, Bart's face lit up. "Follow me." He turned and walked between two large containers taking her into the back.

  She followed him cautiously, still not sure if he was going to suddenly spin and attack. If he was really that scared of getting into the war, it almost made him more dangerous than those vamps who'd picked a side. How far would Bart go to avoid getting involved?

  With her out of the way, who'd know he was here?

  And what was he doing with all the machinery? Just hiding? Or making sure it all worked properly? She only had his word for his actions.

  Still, he appeared to be taking her to the closest exit as fast as he could. At the back of the warehouse, and after ten minutes of working their way through the machinery, he brought her to a small door. He stepped aside.

  "This is the best way out of here."

  She eyed the eagerness on his face. Was he that happy to get rid of her or was he sending her into a trap? Without his phone, he couldn't call and warn anyone, but it didn't mean there wasn't another way for him to communicate. In fact, there was probably some type of in-house communication system installed. It was too big an operation not to have something.

  With a last look at him, she pushed it open. Did she have any choice? Not really.

  As she walked through, she heard him call behind her. "Remember, you never met me."

  The door was snatched from her hand, slammed, and locked behind her.

  ***

  Rhia shifted in her bed. Soon she'd be back to full strength. She was itching to get out now. There'd been no updates on either David or Tessa.

  Still her movement was limited. She sat on the side of her bed and stretched. Everything ached.

  "Now, that's good to see." Sian walked into the room, her arms full of clothes and a laptop. "I brought you a change of clothes."

  "Have you heard from anyone?"

  Sian's face beamed. "I received a quick text from Serus. He spoke with Tessa. I didn't get all the details, but she's alone and working her way toward him and Goran."

  Rhia breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank heavens for that." She hesitated, then asked in a quiet voice, "Anything on David?"

  Sian's face sobered. "No. Nothing on the others."

  Rhia stared out the window at the black of night. She had to trust that Serus and Goran would find the kids. All of them. "Please let them be safe," she whispered.

  At the silence, she glanced over to see Sian rubbing her small baby bump. Rhia contemplated her friend for a long moment. "Why do I think you aren't telling me everything?"

  Sian's gaze zipped back to her. She swallowed hard. Her mouth opened, then closed. Helplessly, she shrugged her shoulders. "There's been no communication from Taz or any of the others who'd stayed behind to work on the humans."

  "Oh no," Rhia cried."

  Sian held up a hand. "We don't know that anything is wrong. It's too early to tell. Serus and Goran are checking on them."

  "And walking into a trap?" Rhia closed her eyes and reached out mentally to her beloved partner. There was no answering glimmer in her mind. It didn't have to mean the end of the world. If Serus was deep in that mine with all the electronics and heavy machinery, then they wouldn't be able to communicate mentally, as they'd learned already. Telepathic communication worked best when they were closer together physically. She glanced at her friend. "I'm going to go up there."

  Sian's eyes widened. She went as if to protest, then stopped and admitted, "Part of me says no way. Another part is begging for you to find Taz and make sure he's okay."

  "Understood." Rhia picked up the bag of clothing Sian had brought her. "I feel the same way. My whole family is up there."

  "Not quite." Seth stood at the doorway, a blood slushie in his hand. "I'm right here. And you are going nowhere."

  "You don't understand. They need my help." Rhia tried to think of all the logical arguments that would get her son on her side.

  "Don't bother. You aren't going. That's final." He raised an eyebrow at her in the cool arrogance she'd seen in so many vamps. It never failed to put her back up, and it really pissed her off when her son did it. She readied to blast him, but he spoke first. "Mom, you're not up to full strength and, even worse, after they've drugged you to the extent that they have already, if they give you one more round of cocktails it could kill you or turn you to their side permanently."

  Sian gasped. "Oh, he's right. You can't go."

  Rhia glared at them. "I'm not so old as to be feeble. My family is missing and I need to help them."

  "No." Seth shook his head. "Father would never forgive me."

  "Yes, he would," she said. "He knows we need everyone on our side that we ca—"<
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  "No." He stared at her. "Someone has to be the voice of reason here. You're not going."

  She drew herself up to her full height and hissed.

  He grinned. "Tough. You're still not going. If I have to lock you in here, I will." He turned and strode through the door, slamming it behind him.

  Sian giggled. "He's right, you know."

  "I don't care," Rhia said. "He's still my son and he should be doing what he's told. Not telling me what to do."

  "Nope. I'm thinking he's a man now and he's probably right. Serus would have his head if you went up there. Think about it. There's no way to warn them you're coming. You're far too vulnerable now." She stared, her brows furrowed at the closed door. "He's also done his research on your drugs and he's brought up an all-too-scary truth. If you go up there, we could lose you forever."

  She hated to be thwarted. "If I can't go, and you shouldn't go, then Seth is going to have to go. That's all there is to it."

  Sian brightened. "Perfect."

  "Except," Rhia sighed, "he hates fighting." He's book smart but not so great on the whole hero thing."

  "I heard that." Seth opened the door and glared at her. "I'd go, but I can't trust you two to stay here." His gaze zipped from one to the other. "Therefore I can't go."

  Rhia and Sian stared at each other. Rhia grinned. "Sure you can. We'll look after each other and make sure we both stay here."

  He snorted. "Like I'm going to fall for that." He pursed his lips. "I could leave Gittora to guard you. She'd never let you two leave. Or how about Rosha?" At their horrified looks, he said, "So what's it to be, a sister or me standing guard over you?"

  Rhia grimaced. "If you go help Serus, then we'll let Gittora stay."

  Seth stared at her suspiciously, then finally nodded. "Done."

  ***

  Cody had taken two more steps when he heard a whispering sound. He froze, turned, and caught a right hook under the jaw.

  The lights flickered in his head as he scrambled to catch up with reality. He couldn't tell how many vamps had attacked, but he had two on him. Something slashed and burned; an odd hissing sound filled the air.

  "What the hell?" He glanced down at the angry streak on his hand. Any more of that and he'd be a goner. They had freakin' silver spikes, too.

  He bolted for air, coming down behind the group. He jumped the last man, grabbing his arm to pull up and look at his hand. Damn. "David, look out. They've got silver spikes."

  "Saw that. A little help would be good."

  Cody pivoted and, with extra force, slammed the guy's arm, spike in hand, forward to bury it into the back of the vamp fighting David. David's opponent crumpled to the ground and turned to ash with bits of…something floating in the air.

  So gross. And the stench. Cody shuddered.

  "I'll get you for that, you bastard." The vamp in his arms tried to turn the spike in Cody's direction.

  Cody struggled to keep the vamp in his grip as fury made the other vamp super strong. Grunting, Cody shifted, hooked a leg around the back of the guy's knee, and tripped him. He was on him in an instant, his hand reaching for a hold on the guy's neck to knock him out. The guy dropped like a baby.

  Cody spun around to find David standing and catching his breath, and Motre snapping the neck of a fourth man. The third was already out on the ground. He took a deep breath before exhaling heavily. Cody stood and walked to the remains of the vamp he'd staked, crouching to study the weapon, barely visible in the heap of ashes.

  "Never seen one of these in real life," he said.

  "Don't touch it without gloves on," David said. "They all have gloves."

  Cody retracted his hand. "Shit." He turned back to the vamp lying out cold and tugged his gloves off. He pulled them on his own hands and returned to the weapon. He pulled the spike free, pivoted, and – without allowing David to question his actions – he plunged the spike into the guy he'd dropped.

  He backed up several paces as the vamp burned in front of him.

  "Holy shit," he whispered. He glanced over at the other two to find that both had followed his lead, dispatching the other three attackers. Cody kicked the pile of ashes, finding another spike. "Check that there aren't more spikes. They could have an extra one in their pockets."

  Motre pulled one free. "I've got three."

  David held up his. "We're definitely armed now."

  "And in a scary way. Did you see the damage those things did?"

  "Hell yeah." David turned the spike over in his hands. "Can't believe something this low-tech is so useful."

  "If they've brought these back, have they also brought back silver bullets?" Motre growled. "That's what we had to watch out for last time. Especially the fliers. The gunners could see them, but by the time the fliers knew what had happened, it was too late."

  David stared wordlessly at Cody.

  Nausea twisted Cody's stomach. What had happened that his world had come to this? And so fast. "We'd be dead now if these assholes had succeeded."

  "And that just scares me for the fate of Ian and Jewel." David glared at the remains on the floor. "And that smell…"

  "Let's get moving." Motre opened the door. "We have to be close. The more allies we can get the better at this point."

  "We also need to find the supplier of this shit. They came hunting vamp. And that is just so wrong."

  Cody picked up the pace. He had no plans of getting behind again.

  Enough was enough. Get their friends and get the hell out of here.

  Fast.

  If they wanted a war between the vamps, well, they were going to get it. But, as the other team had brutal vamp-killing equipment, Cody didn't think much of being shorted in that department.

  They needed vests and guns of their own.

  This hadn't gotten ugly. This had gotten deadly.

  And what the hell happened to Xana?

  ***

  The blow, when it came, was so fast, so powerful, it could have taken off Serus's head – if he'd still been in the same spot.

  He soared high above, trying to get a location on the asshole below. Whoever it was had taken out Goran, and damn if his friend hadn't been through enough already. No matter what Goran said, he wasn't in his prime anymore.

  But then, Serus wasn't either.

  Serus couldn't see into the dark for a spot to land. Not wanting to take a chance, he landed and soared again. The room was absent of sound. There should be noises of kind. Heavy breathing? Footsteps? How could the attacker be so quiet? It wasn't normal.

  He landed, spun, and waited. His nostrils flared. There. He pivoted and lashed out. His boot connected and bounced off something hard. A soft grunt filled the air, then something caught Serus under the jaw, snapping his head back and to the side. Even he heard the crack as his jaw snapped.

  Damn, that hurt.

  He rebounded and attacked fast and hard. This vamp was bigger, maybe younger – he might even be stronger. But there was no way he was as pissed off as Serus was. He'd lost so much already, and with Rhia in hospital and Goran hurt somewhere in the darkness, he'd be damned if he let this asshole get the upper hand.

  His fist came out and connected. His second hand crunched upward in a wicked undercut. He kicked and bodyslammed his opponent to the ground. By the time he caught his breath, he realized the other man was no longer moving. He own breath was so raspy and loud it was impossible to hear if the other male was still breathing.

  And damn, why were there no lights here?

  He bent over the downed man. A hand struck out and clamped about his throat…and squeezed. Serus stumbled to the floor, his own fingers reaching for the one spot in the side of the asshole's neck. Try to catch him unawares, huh? Not likely.

  The vamp went limp, but Serus didn't let up. This guy was not going to get up again. Ever.

  After a moment he eased back, then checked again. This time the other vamp was dead. Or should be. As he'd learned this last week, "dead" no longer had the same meaning
as before.

  First he had to find his friend. He searched the gloom. "Goran, are you in here?"

  No answer. He cast out a call telepathically. Still no answer.

  Goddamn it. Now he was really getting pissed.

  He straightened and slowly spun in a circle. There was no way they could have spirited his friend out of the room, and that meant Goran had to be here somewhere.