by W. J. May
That much?
Maybe. She stole another look in Cody’s direction. He looked at her. Instead of hiding, this time she straightened and smiled at him directly. His eyes widened, then he grinned.
Cool.
First things first. Spinning around, she cornered her dad. "Who can we call for help? The Council? The police? Someone? Anyone? This is a big operation. We need to take down all the tentacles, not just this center."
"I know. But let's get your mother first."
As much as she wanted her mother back safe and sound, she needed to know that this would never happen again. "Why not at the same time?" she countered. "We should call people to come as backup and to help clean up while we go in and save mom and the others. These people are going to need help."
"They could be past that point, you know."
"I know, but I don’t want to consider that right now. We need humans to help us. This is too much for us to handle on our own."
Her dad frowned. "I don’t think it’s that simple."
"It’s only difficult if we make it difficult. Come on, Dad. This is beyond us."
Cody nodded. "Tessa’s right, sir. Even if we take this place down, the head honchos are just going to set up shop again somewhere else. They aren’t going to give up something this lucrative so easily."
Jewel gasped. Everyone spun around to look at her.
"Please tell me they don't have vampires hanging here?" Her voice rose in horror.
"I doubt it, Jewel. Why would they? Our blood is different." Tessa didn’t want to contemplate vampires feeding off their own.
"Then what about him?" She tapped the screen on the bottom corner. Everyone crowded around her. The camera focused on one single male.
Tessa frowned. "I’ve seen him before."
"Of course you have. That’s Daren. We saw a lot of him before he headed to Europe after his dad passed away a couple of months ago." Jewel’s jaw clenched on the last words. She wrapped her arms tightly around her chest as if warding off a chill.
David stared at the figure in the monitor. "Then why is he hanging beside those humans?"
It was Tessa who voiced the unspoken horror hanging heavy in the air. "Because he wouldn’t be missed."
***
Cody watched David with Jewel. And from the look on Serus's face, it was obvious this development was new to him too.
Now if only Cody knew why the hell he couldn’t take his eyes of Tessa. The kid sister of David – the Tessie thing – had disappeared long ago…somewhere around the time he noticed that Hooters outfit she'd worn at the Council house. Now he had trouble reconciling the two parts of a whole.
She kept surprising him. Like that energy stuff she kept seeing. Damn helpful, yet way weird. And then there was that locked-door thing. Kick yes, but in the right spot, more than once?
Not a coincidence. At least not to him.
He turned around in the large room, staring and contemplating the planning and organizing that must have gone into it. This was a professional operation – on a massive scale. As a vampire, he could understand the lure of the product. However, as a modern one, raised without having tasted human blood, he abhorred the idea. He didn’t have any close human friends. Still, he knew many. He wouldn’t drink their blood – not if he didn’t have to for survival.
To keep these people, kids like Tessa's friend, was just wrong. How long could they stay like this? Imprisoned until the bodies aged and could no longer pump out rich blood? He shook his head. This was murder. Long and slow. Plain and simple. And yet it was also so much worse.
"What about you, Cody?"
Cody shook his head, turning around to face the others. "What?"
"Cell phones don’t work down here. We need a flier to go for help."
Cody frowned. He was the only flier in the group. "I'm not leaving."
"You have to." Tessa walked over to stand in front of him, her eyes luminous in the dark. "You're the only one who can get there and back in any decent time. If we don't let someone from the outside know, what will happen if we're caught too?"
David held up his camera phone and said, "I've taken a bunch of pictures, but can't get them out of here."
Tessa pointed to the computers around them. "Can you download the pictures and email them to someone?"
"I don't have a cable with me or my flash card."
Jewel held up hers. "I have mine."
"Cool." David snatched it out of her hand and went around to all the monitors, taking a comprehensive series of shots detailing the images on the monitors. Then he backed up to take wider shots of the control room."
"Who do I send them to?"
"Someone who can do something for us. And not just one person."
As the others turned to face her, Tessa explained. "We don't know how high up this goes."
Serus frowned. "Send it to Markus, Tatia and Cleary, and better add Sian to that list. Make sure you send a set home too."
That was good. He’d named three ancient families. Sian and Taz could be a real help here, too. Taz's medical expertise would come in handy with the humans.
"Do you have their email addresses?" David checked the desk computers looking for a model not used for running the monitoring software. At the back he found one. He booted it up. "This one might have the Internet, if not..."
"Jewel can try to send the pictures over her phone, but we won't know if they've gone out properly."
"It's no longer a problem," David crowed. "This computer has Internet. Makes sense, they have to connect to the outside world somehow."
He brought up the browser then headed to his email account. Taking the flashcard out of Jewel's phone, he quickly downloaded the pictures into a specific folder and then compressed them. Within minutes he had everything attached to emails. "Okay, now what do I say?"
Everyone chimed in over and above each other as they brought up points to mention.
He read the draft aloud. "Good?"
"Yes, send them." Tessa couldn't help but glance around, a sense of urgency building inside her. "We’ve taken too long already."
"Done."
"Good. Shut down the machine and let’s go find your mother." Serus strode to the door, then turned back to David and asked, "Can you hide what you just did?"
"To a certain extent. I just cleared the history and the cache and deleted the pictures. I'm shutting it down now. Hopefully, that will fool anyone not specifically looking for trespassers. At least for a little while."
"Let's go then."
Everyone walked to the door. Tessa blurted out, "Do we all go? Shouldn't someone stay behind – just in case?"
"I'm not staying here." Jewel stood as close as she could to David without being on top of him. "I think we're better off sticking together. Safety in numbers and all that."
Serus nodded. "We'll stay together. It might take all of us to save your mother, as it is. If we could find Goran, he’d be a big help. The more on our side – the better the odds."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Tessa hated to think of everyone walking into a trap.
With those pictures and the email cry for help, someone should come to their assistance soon enough. At least she hoped so. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. "Fine. Let's go."
Her dad gave her a long look then nodded, as if satisfied. "Everyone, quiet."
Tessa rolled her eyes.
He rolled his eyes back at her. Then he opened the door. The corridor on the other side appeared to be similar to the stone walls and floor they’d already passed.
They walked forward cautiously. The lack of ventilation or lighting added to the weirdness factor. A series of doors connected shorter hallways. The temperature dropped a bit lower in each one. By the time they'd entered the hallway, the atmosphere had cooled considerably.
The reason behind it was obvious. They stood facing rows and rows of suspended humans contained in some kind of vacuum-sealed bags. Each had tubes running forward and back from various m
achines. Though the temperature here wasn’t cold she couldn’t imagine it was comfortable for them. Then again, they didn’t appear to be aware of their surroundings in any way.
"Wouldn’t a warmer temperature keep them alive longer?"
"I think the monsters in charge are more concerned about the product than the source," whispered Cody, pointing upward. Tessa tilted her head back to find large pipes entering some sort of vat with many more pipes exiting. "A blood cleansing process?"
"That is so gross. I didn’t like human blood before, but now I’m never gonna drink any."
Jewel’s tone reminded Tessa of her human friend Susan, who’d vowed to be vegetarian after going to an abattoir.
"Where do we go from here?"
Serus had already started to move along the back wall toward a series of large doors ahead of him. The others hurried to keep up. Cody grabbed Tessa by the shoulders, "Remember the monitors from the computer room. That means cameras everywhere. Keep your face down in case we're being watched."
"Shit." It was all she could do to not look up and search for the damn things. A frisson of fear slid down her back at the thought of being watched. Up ahead, her dad held out his hand in warning. Then a soft, intense look came over his face.
"Oh, my God, he’s found mom. Look, he’s talking to her telepathically," she whispered to Cody.
Thank heavens for that. Serus stayed still for another long moment while the others crouched behind a cart piled high with machine parts. Tessa shivered. Lack of food and sleep was giving her the shakes in these temperatures. She huddled up close to the person next to her.
Serus moved back and squatted down beside them. "They’re being held on the far side. Stay down and we’ll sneak along the perimeter."
"Did she mention my father?" Cody's husky voice sounded against Tessa's ear, startling her. It's the first time she realized she'd snuggled into his arms.
"They are all being held together in the one room and they’re fine, although the thirst is starting to affect a couple of them." Serus stood up cautiously.
Tessa frowned. Being hungry, so close to this operation, couldn't be easy. Vampires would respond to the metallic smell of blood, regardless of their discerning tastes. Even she would herself if she went too long without food or wore herself down too much. And she hated the stuff. They needed to get out as soon as possible. Following Serus's lead, everyone stood up beside him. Tessa was thrilled when she realized Cody had left his arm around her shoulder.
"She also saw four guards, one huge male and two more vampires working with the patients."
David did the math. "Seven against four."
"Not if we rescue our family and friends first."
"I’ll take those odds." Tessa had never fought, but figured she could handle herself somewhat. Desperation did that, but with her jumping skills, she was liable to get away easier than the others – except for the fliers of course. "So go to rescue Mom and then what? Take down the seven personnel that we know of and lock them up while we wait for reinforcements?"
The three males turned to stare at her. "Yeah, something like that. Only it won’t be quite that easy – these are vampires, not people. They are every bit as fast and as strong as we are."
Tessa knew that. She nodded. "Unless they are 'turned' vampires. Then who knows. Let’s go then."
Just as they were ready to move, they heard voices.
***
Jared didn’t dare sit up again, not when it was likely to bring the nurses back. His window of opportunity was closing…fast. They could come for him any moment. He’d already removed the catheter, almost passing out in the process. He could only hope removing the IVs wouldn’t be as bad. Under the cover of the sheets, he removed the tape holding the needles flush against his wrist, wincing as hairs tore off with it. One of the needles slipped out with the tape. Now for the other one.
Rolling his head into the pillow against the pain, he pressed the backs of his hands against the sheet to stop the bleeding.
Free for the first time, he searched for a weapon. Anything. The IV pole was feeble, but all he had available. Sliding out of bed, away from the camera's view, he grabbed a blanket off the bed and wrapped it around him like a toga. It wasn’t much, but maybe his clothes were here somewhere. He ducked down to check under the bed but found nothing. With no cupboards or furniture in the room, other than the beds, he figured he’d have to go out Roman style.
He slipped over to the open door and peered out.
A flash of movement on the left side had him pulling back. Someone was out there. Shit. He readied his IV pole weapon and waited.
***
Tessa hunched lower down, out of the men’s way. Neither she nor Jewel wanted anything to do with the fighting. She'd be happy to leave that part to the men. Between the cold temperature and the sinister location, her shakes hadn't eased any. The absence of smells also bothered her. It was probably too cold for any to linger. Fans hummed in the background, an ominous reminder of the industrial level of this center.
She listened as footsteps clipped closer. Her father's fangs slid out. Tessa winced. He had some seriously long fangs. It went along with his age and lineage. She blinked.
And missed it.
It was over so quickly, so quietly she didn’t understand what had happened until her father dragged the guy around the cart to her side. "Is he dead?" she whispered hoarsely. She winced at her father's glare. She'd take that as a yes. "That’s the short older guy from the house," she whispered. "He was with the really big pudgy guy. The big guy must be here too."
David groaned. "Why do the bad guys always come in extra large sizes?"
Her father bent down. "Come on, stay focused. Your mother says there's one guard in the room with them, too."
"Can't Serus and the others take him down then?" David suggested.
"No. They are tied up, I think. She said they were restrained."
Tessa didn’t want the details, she wanted the solution. "Come on. Let’s go."
Her father led the way with Tessa right behind him. They managed to remain undetected as they traveled down along the long back curved wall. Coming around the corner was a different story.
"Hey. Who are you?" A man in a lab coat walked toward them.
Serus stepped forward with a genial smile to greet him. "Sorry, son. Didn’t mean to scare you. Just came to check out my investment."
"Oh." The man looked around uncertainly. "We weren’t expecting anyone today."
"No, I wasn’t supposed to make it this early. But like most things in life, change happens." Serus smiled and chills ran down Tessa’s back. She’d never seen that look on her father's face.
Her father reached out as if to pat the guy on his back, but his hand clamped around the guy’s throat, pressing hard on the carotid artery. The guy slid toward the floor. Her dad caught him before he hit, then dragged him around a large laundry cart and dumped him behind it, out of sight.
"That’s two," David crowed.
Optimistic, they picked up their pace and made it around the corner to find a series of doors dotting the long wall. Tessa counted six. Two were open. "Can you tell which one Mom is in?"
"No. Just that she’s here somewhere. She's waiting for an opportunity to move on their guard, too."
"Good." David slipped around in front of them and casually opened the first door. He stuck his head in and pulled back. "Empty, except for long rows of beds."
They slipped down to the second door, with David once again opening the door. He motioned for someone to go with him. Cody entered behind him. Tessa and Jewel stared at each other wide-eyed when they heard muffled noises. Then David and Cody came back out. Something had changed. If they were Native Americans then it would be as if they’d have gone through a manhood ritual of some kind. There was a thirst in their eyes but they were calm, taller and straighter. Tessa shook her head and smiled.
"Another male down."
"Next."
The next do
or was open. A woman sat at a desk checking over sheets of paper stacked beside her. The men all looked over at Tessa. Her eyes widened. "What?"
David answered. "It’s a woman; we don’t want to have to hurt her."
"But I do?" Shaking her head, Tessa dragged Jewel in behind her.
"Hello." The woman jumped up. "What are you doing here? Get out. No one is allowed down here." As Tessa steadily approached, the woman pulled out a phone. "I’m calling security."
"I don’t think so." Jewel hissed, her fangs sliding out as the other woman bared hers.
"You bitch."
Tessa picked up the chair as the woman went for Jewel. She crashed it down on her head.
The nurse crumpled. Tessa bent down, picked up the cell phone and removed the woman’s set of keys from her pocket. Grinning, the girls made a fast exit and locked the door behind them. They were greeted by looks of new respect when they faced the males again.
"Wow."
Tessa held up the keys. "Thought we might need these."
They raced to the next door to find it locked. Tessa tried several keys before finding the right one. She quickly unlocked the door and looked inside.
Her mother lay crumpled on the floor, her legs and arms tied behind her. Tessa ran in. "Mom. Are you okay?"
"Look out!"
Shit. Tessa had forgotten there was a guard. Spinning around, she barely saw Goran launch himself at the guard. Arms tied together, his fingers clawed into the guard's neck. Serus stepped up, blocking Tessa's view. The guard slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Tessa shuddered and raced to her mother's side to make sure she was all right. She wrapped her in a warm hug.
"Honey, I’m so glad to see you."
Serus joined them and quickly undid the bindings to help his wife to her feet. "Take it easy when you stand up. The blood is going to be painful as it moves through your limbs." He supported her gently, the love for his wife naked on his face. She gasped and leaned into his strength. With his arms around her, they looked so intimate that Tessa turned away to give them some privacy.
