by Dale Mayer
That incident had freaked him out. What he had to figure out was how he could tell when it was one or the other. If he could do that, then it wouldn’t matter as he wouldn’t be fooled anymore.
Definitely something worth learning. He studied Tessa, trying to see the energy she talked about so much. If he could see the energy shift when Deanna took control, then he’d do fine. But he had no idea what that looked like.
But you do inside, she whispered in his mind, reminding him once again that they were two parts of a whole. He could feel an odd discomfort that she’d heard his thoughts, but it was better this way. To know for sure was imperative. Otherwise, the doubts would poison what they had. And he didn’t want that.
Ever.
Look not at me, but past me, she whispered. The energy is there on all things but almost impossible to see if you are looking at it straight on.
He frowned and looked past her. He almost let out a cry of surprise when he realized that he could see something out of the corner of his eyes. Not clear enough to understand or close enough to capture for a better look, but a distinct waviness to her form.
That’s the energy, she said with no small amount of satisfaction. The trick now though is to see it all the time and to identify mine from someone else’s.
He tried to look at the tree branch and the rocks on the ground, but for all his efforts, he couldn’t see anything.
The only thing he had seen was a wired softening to her outline.
Apparently I suck at this, he said, grumbling.
No, you don’t suck at it, she said gently. I’m not sure why I see the colors and energy clearly, but apparently not everyone does.
Except Deanna.
She saw some stuff. I don’t know exactly what.
You could check though, right? he asked quietly, sensing her reluctance but not sure why.
I could, but not right now. We have friends we need to rescue.
He nodded in understanding. She was scared to look. Scared to open up the Deanna can of worms and find more than she was ready to accept.
“Ideas then?” Cody turned to Motre. “We have several teams converging on this spot in less than an hour. What exactly are we going to do to find an entrance to this underground mind?”
“If it’s even here,” Motre said. “If your GPS isn’t registering below ground, then chances are good the cell phone was tossed here to throw us off.”
“Doesn’t matter if it was,” Tessa said. “The cluster of energy moves this way.” She pointed to a small rise ahead. “There is likely an entrance close by.”
Motre shook his head. “We don’t really have time for likely at this point. We need to know for sure.”
She smoked him with a look. “Let me rephrase that. There is an opening over here according to the energy.”
A sharp crack ripped through the air, a bullet striking the ground between Motre and Cody.
Cody hit the ground, screaming, “Find cover, now.”
He lifted his head to find Motre behind a small dip in the ground. He searched for Tessa.
There was no sign of her.
*
Goran hated to drive when he could fly, yet the light was fading enough that he’d likely be able to do his thing soon enough.
By the time they reached the coordinates given, then maybe he could. For the moment, he was stuck in the back of a big Council vehicle that carried a team of four men and Serus. But like him, Serus looked as uncomfortable as hell. Good. Why should Goran suffer alone? This was ridiculous. He poked Serus in the ribs and nodded outside. There was only a small window higher up on this rig, and it used dark glass to keep the light out. “It’s getting dark.”
“Not dark enough,” his buddy growled.
“Almost,” Goran said cheerfully.
“So, we’re still stuck inside.” Serus slumped in place and glared at the driver.
Goran grinned. He felt better already. Serus had been moody since leaving, his thoughts heavy on his wife. So this way he had something else to grouse about. All good. He grinned at the men sitting stone-faced across from him. He barely recognized them. They were part of Motre’s security detail but having never used any himself, he didn’t recognize the faces.
He closed his eyes to slits as that thought drifted into his mind and wallowed. If he didn’t know who these men were, how could he be sure whose side they were on?
He couldn’t.
Serus, do you recognize these men, he asked using mindspeak.
He loved that Serus never shifted from his slouched position nor turned to look at the men in question as he answered, No. I was about to ask you the same thing.
Do we know where we’re going? Goran asked, wondering if they were being led into a trap.
Roughly where we rescued Tessa after she escaped into the snow and jumped down the mountain.
Goran tried to track that information in his head. He’d flown her out of there. And it hadn’t been all that far away from Moltere’s Mountain that they’d blasted. Son of a bitch. Are we thinking that they are at a new blood farm?
New, or an old one being brought back into service out of necessity, Serus growled, adding, or one we missed.
Made sense. But what if the guys with us are part of the blood farm?
Serus’s answer was succinct and clearly to the point as ever. Then we’re giving them a lift home. Permanently.
*
Rhia struggled to control the two warring parts of herself with each other. “I’m struggling here, Ian. I’m trying to help you and help myself.”
“Then why are you here?” He nodded at the medical kit in her hand.
“They sent me to take your blood.”
He shook his head. “They already have samples. They don’t need more.”
She stopped and considered his words. “Maybe they were destroyed.”
“And maybe they came here wondering if we’d try to kill you and if you would kill us.”
“As a test?” She shook her head even as the other part of her snapped inside her mind, You know they are suspicious. You know they need to find out for sure if you can be trusted, so of course this is a test.
She looked down at her kit. “What am I to do then? I have to return with blood or they’ll know.”
“Take mine. They’ve already got it in their database, so that will just confirm who we are. Leave Jared and Wendy alone.”
He waited quietly for her to sort out the ramifications of handing over the blood of only one person.
“We won’t have much time to get away if they get onto us,” she warned. “It might not be enough time to get away at all.”
“It will be if the vials are mixed up with others. They’d have to test them all before they conclude you didn’t get blood from the three of us.”
She frowned. “That might work.”
He waited with that gaze of his, that much younger gaze that had now hardened over the life experiences he’d been through himself. She suggested, “The men beside us have given blood, but I could go and take more.”
“Do that first,” Ian said. “That will give these two a little more time to wake up.” His gaze glittered as it locked on Wendy. “What did they do to her?”
“I think it was just a hold they used to knock you out. They didn’t hold you long enough, so you’re awake early. They are expecting the three of you to be out for at least another hour or so.”
“Good, that’s our window then.” He thought quickly, then rolled up his sleeve. “Take a vial from me, and then go take more blood from the men beside us. That will mean they’ve got the blood needed and won’t send anyone else for a while.”
A bit confusing, but Rhia thought she understood his thought process. She nodded. “Might be the easiest at this point.”
She quickly pulled out the needle from the bag and plunged it into his arm.
“How much time do you need to get the information on Seth?”
“An hour,” she said firmly. “That�
�s the time we have, then that’s the time I need. No more, no less.”
“And if you can’t get it in that time frame?”
“Then…” She stopped, unable to speak. “You have to understand. Failure is not an option.”
Ian nodded. “That doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”
*
Jewel pinned the last piece of paper on the wall. This was it. David studied the wall. The whole blueprint blown up and cut into twelve segments then printed now placed back together on the wall. He had a different perspective of the Council Hall now. This place was massive.
“What do you think?” Jewel said when she stood back and studied the image.
“I think this place was built to sustain a war and house the entire vampire clan.”
“It’s not that big.” She laughed at him until she saw where he was pointing. “What is that?”
“A long tunnel that says under Main Street.”
“But where does it go?” she cried out. “It’s a single tunnel.”
“And could be connected to three quarters of the city.”
“Or…” She turned to face him. “Maybe the hospital?”
“All those floors and tunnels…unbelievable.”
“Exactly. Do we have access to the blueprints of the hospital? Other major centers? Teams are on their way to the mountain,” she cried. “What if that was a lure to get everyone away from the Hall? How hard would it have been to have taken the cell phone and drive it up there and drop it? Set a trap there and lure everyone away from here.”
He stared at her in shock. “They’d take control of Council Hall before anyone even knew what had happened.”
Shit. “We need to talk to Sian, like now.”
Chapter 7
Tessa hit the ground rolling then got to her feet and ran. There was energy where the shooter had been, but there was a part of her that was already registering that none of the energy was familiar. It wasn’t Wendy, Ian’s, or Jared’s, so who? She dashed for cover then jumped high and hard over the top of where the shots had been. And came down in front of the vamp lining up for another shot.
Shit.
She threw herself to the left then kicked out and…missed. She shook her head and took to the air as the vamp tried to line up on her. She kicked a second time and this time took the gun out of his hand. She landed and stabbed her nails into his gun arm. He cried out, his left arm coming up to grab at her neck when she swung upwards with her spare hand under his chin and let her claws on that hand extend. He screamed as she tossed him out into the remaining sunlight as it peeked over the horizon.
He blew to ash, but not fast and not hot, more of a slow roast. It was terrible. Motre, his coat over his head, ran forward and stabbed the suffering vamp with a stake.
This time he blew to ash like normal.
Motre glanced over at her. “Are there more?”
“No,” she said. “Not only that, the three of our friends were never here. There’s no sign of their energy.”
“So a trap?” Cody crawled out from under the vehicle where he’d rolled to get away from the bullets and held up a cell phone. “We were led here like pigs to the slaughter.”
“With only one gunman?” Motre sounded insulted. “That’s shameful.”
Cody shook his head. His phone rang. Tessa took a last look around as Cody answered his phone. She couldn’t quite hear the conversation, but her mind was struggling to put all the pieces in place. One gunman only, so either they didn’t need more, or had more men on route, or they needed the men somewhere else and couldn’t afford to leave more than one man here right now. But why would they need the men elsewhere?
She froze.
“Tessa,” Cody’s sharp urgent voice called her. “That was David. He thinks this was a trap to lure everyone away from the Council Hall. A team is enroute here with the ancients and every other able-bodied man plus a top-notch human military team. Sian is trying to contact everyone.”
Shit shit shit…why hadn’t she seen it?
“They are going to take over Council Hall,” she screamed, jumping toward him. It took two leaps and she was at the vehicle. Both men scrambled inside to stay out of the waning sun’s rays. She leaned inside, her voice bubbling over with excitement. “That has to be what they are doing. It’s the perfect plan.”
Cody’s phone rang. Then Motre’s rang. Tessa shook her head. They needed to move and fast. They knew what was here and how to get inside of the blood farm, but they could do that afterwards. The Council Hall was a strategic location. They had to hold it.
She walked around to the driver’s side and motioned for Motre to move over. He was needed to coordinate their next move. Her best option was to drive.
Action was better than talking any day.
She grinned and fired up the engine. And froze. How did she know to drive? She didn’t know. Did she? Or was this Deanna’s knowledge? She shifted the gear shift, desperately trying to not show the other two the change in her demeanor. It’s not that Deanna was in control, but somehow she’d instinctively accessed Deanna’s knowledge base. Then she’d done it many times before and likely would again. Letting her energy use the memories of an experienced driver, she turned the vehicle around and started back the way they’d come.
Hortran, is this the right way to do this?
She didn’t know why she was asking him, but it seemed the thing to do. He was like a wise council member in her mind and yet he could just as easily be that relationship to Deanna. No, he was her brother. That’s why the two were so close. Hortran had been born decades ahead of Deanna and raised in the Ghost way.
As that knowledge flowed through her, she smiled. There was a lot to be said for having centuries of information at her fingertips. The driving showed she also had centuries of skills available as well.
Thanks, Deanna.
No answer.
Good.
Hortran, you still here?
A brief mellow wave washed through her. It wasn’t much, but it was enough.
She hit the gas pedal and drove them back to the Council Hall.
They were ten miles out when she caught sight of a Council vehicle up ahead. “Cody? Motre?”
The men stopped their conversations and peered through the windshield.
“No idea.”
She slowed to a stop and waited for the other vehicle to come toward her. “I wonder if the ancients are in there?”
“No idea,” Cody said. “Quite possibly. Father would fly rather than drive, but it’s just not possible for him to do that yet.”
The vehicle slowed.
That was when she realized she’d stopped in the middle of the road with no place for the other vehicle to drive around her because of rocks. There was no room. Given that the sun was an issue, the other vamps weren’t likely to leave the vehicle and come talk to her. She’d have to go to them. “I’m going over. But I can tell you right now, I don’t like anything about this.”
“Don’t go,” Cody snapped. “If they are rebels, then we’ll take them out.”
“But how do we tell?” Motre asked. “They can’t get out because of the sunlight and the way she’s parked, they can’t drive close enough for the two of us to talk.”
“Right. Time to change tactics.” Tessa said. She unbuckled and twisted in her seat to climb through to the back of the van. There she opened the back panel door and jumped out. She landed on the roof then jumped across to the roof of the other vehicle and down to the ground behind it. In a flash, she had the back door opened.
And saw black energy everywhere. She kicked out and slashed wildly as the men struggled to fight her off from the inside.
Suddenly there were only two men standing.
The ancients.
Her father groaned. “Damn it, Tessa, we were looking forward to doing that.”
She snorted. “Right. Then how about you take out the driver and the passenger before we get rained on with silver bullets?”
His grin turned feral as he turned to the front cab. The men there were pinned inside by late sunlight and couldn’t reach the men in the back because of the cage-like divider. Tessa watched her father dispatch both men efficiently.
Goran looked pissed.
She grinned at him. “Sorry, Goran. They should have been yours.”
“Your father should be at the Council Hall and resting,” Goran growled, but he was eyeing the smug look on Serus’s face with a satisfied smile of his own. “Nothing like a good dust up to make you feel better, huh?”
Serus grinned. “Always.”
“Good,” Tessa said. “Because we have lots of dust ups to come.”
She quickly explained what they’d figured out. “We still don’t have a location though for Mom and the others.”
Serus closed his eyes briefly, then said, “We have to protect the Council Hall. So many foreign dignitaries are there resting up before leaving. They might be in fighting form, but if they get more drugs…”
“And lots have left, too,” she said. “But we have to go back. At least we have a short window where the enemy won’t know we’re onto them, but that’s the only advantage we have. They’ll step up their timeline when they realize the tables have been turned.”
The men scrambled into place at the front of the truck. “We’ll meet you back at the Hall,” Serus called out.
She nodded and spun back to where Motre and Cody waited for her.
“Hey wait,” her father called out. “Did you drive that van?”
She laughed and said, “Yeah, but I had a little help.”
*
Cody hoped she was kidding. He studied her face as she crawled into the back of the van with him. He waited until she was settled and Motre, who’d taken the driver’s seat, was driving forward.
