by Dale Mayer
The spotty communication could also be from her head injury.
At the reminder, her head started pounding. She moaned lightly and shifted yet again to try and get comfortable. Before she'd realized her hand was chained to the bed, she'd been fine, but now that she knew, she felt so uncomfortable that all she could think about was changing positions.
Arggg. Where were they? She wanted out of here.
Shh. There's something going on. Your dad and I are trying to find out what. Rest up. It's likely to get hairy soon.
Rest? she shrieked. I'm chained up. Switch places with me and you can be the one to lie here and rest, she snarled.
She felt his smile. And sighed. Just hurry up then.
He left her mind and she opened her eyes to study her room. She was in the Council hall supposedly. When did they have all these rooms? It looked like a bedroom that had been converted into a hospital room. It made sense to have space for their own people, but she didn't think anyone lived here full time. But she could be wrong.
Vampire Council operated in a very different way. She'd always been on the outside, but she'd kept her ears open over the years. She'd wanted to be part of the Council since forever. Follow in her parents’ and her siblings’ footsteps. Yet that wasn't likely to happen. Although she'd changed the vampire landscape, she doubted it had changed enough to be of any value to her.
It could be centuries before she'd find acceptance with the older members. Especially if they understood how many of their own she'd helped kill. There was probably some archaic law that stopped her from being part of the Council forever because of that. Her brothers were already apprentices of the Council, so chances were good they were operating on the Council's behalf by taking out the poison. She was on the outside and wouldn't be given the same consideration.
She had to wonder if the Council was sexist. Her mother was on there, but there were only a couple of other women that held similar positions. Most didn't show up to meetings anymore. One of them was seriously old.
Tessa had never met her but had heard her mother talk about her. She'd been a powerhouse in her time. She was over a dozen centuries old and still in good health, but she'd apparently made some comment a while back about how time had given her new meaning to life and she'd return when they were over their foolishness.
As that comment had been long made before Tessa had been born, she wasn't sure what foolishness she'd been talking about. What would she think of this blood farm mess? As an old vampire, she had sustained herself on human blood all her life. Or maybe animal blood. Tessa didn't know. Many of the older vampires were similar.
This old lady, Deanna, was also a glider like Tessa's father. They'd been friends since forever. Her father said she'd done her time and if she wanted to retire in peace and quiet and avoid the young punk vampires, which to her meant anyone under three centuries, who could blame her?
Besides, as an ancient, her bloodline was one of the purest. And that said a lot. Tessa wondered how she'd feel about this damn genetic testing on vampires. She was sure the blood farm scientist would love to get their hands on her.
And how horrible would that be?
The old lady would be devastated to be hunted by her own.
Tessa hated the thought. She understood greed and the need for power, lust and the need for revenge. She didn't understand using her friends and enemies as lab rats. But they were. They also looked at the vampire population as a whole sample pack. They could open it at any time and grab what they wanted and when they wanted it.
There was something very wrong with that way of thinking.
A noise outside in the hallway alerted her to the fact that she was about to have some company. About time. She wanted to get the hell away from here.
The door opened.
"Are you awake, honey?" Her mother whispered from the door.
Tessa tensed. She'd tried hard not to, but it was impossible. Horrible thoughts about her mother being involved with the damn vamps again made her skin crawl. She desperately wanted to jump up and run away – and she'd drag the damn bed with her if she had to.
She lay quiet and waited. Then the door was pushed wider open. Damn it. It sounded as if her mother was coming inside. Sure enough, soft footsteps crept closer to the bed.
Her arm was lifted up. The sleeve pulled back.
Ah shit. Please let her not have a needle in her hand. Cody. I need help, Cody.
And damn if she didn't feel the prick of a needle against her skin.
Her scream ripped out. Cody!
***
Cody heard the scream rip through his mind. Damn it. Tessa. I'm coming.
"Serus, Tessa is screaming for help. Rhia is trying to give her a needle."
"It can't be Rhia," Serus said, running in the direction of Tessa's room. "She knows how terrified Tessa is of needles now."
"Would she do that to try and protect her?"
Serus shot him a look as if to say Cody was stupid.
"I just mean she's so upset, how far would she go to keep Tessa safe?" And away from me, but he didn’t add that part. Serus already thought he was crazy.
"Another option – albeit a crazy one – is cloning. We know they have our DNA – at least DNA from some of us – what if they are making reproductions of us? Not cloning in terms of building an army with the best of many vamps, but what if they had Rhia in a different room and this Rhia was a copy?"
"What?" Serus ran faster, as if he could outrun Cody's words. "I don't want to hear crazy talk like that."
They whipped around a corner and came to a single door on the right. Serus pushed it open and stepped inside. Cody was on his heels.
It was the first time he'd seen Tessa since the accident. She'd been unconscious then.
She wasn't now.
She was standing against the wall, holding her hands in front of her as a shield. And damn if there wasn't a rusted chain attached to her arm, dragging the bed with every hand movement Tessa made. Rhia stood, a needle in one hand, a metal sheet of some kind in the other, and was trying to reach Tessa. The bed, dumped on its side, was between them.
He couldn't believe it. He'd heard Tessa tell him what was going on, but the reality was so much scarier.
Serus appeared too shocked to know what to do.
Rhia turned to face them, but the look in her eyes was a terrible thing to see. "Serus, I will not have her killed over this mess. I've arranged for her to leave. She'll go to my relatives until we've solved this."
He stared at her.
Rhia tried to convince him. "I can't lose her."
"Oh, but you are willing to sacrifice David and Seth."
She snorted. "Seth is already gone. The doctors in Europe have said they can help him. If I send Tessa too, we'll know they are safe. We can protect David, and if things get crazier, then we'll ship him out as well."
Serus took one step closer. "You would do this to her. Knowing she's terrified of needles. Knowing that she would be lost if she woke up alone. Knowing that she'd think she was a prisoner again."
"But…" Rhia snapped. "She'd wake up."
Serus shook his head slowly. "I can't believe you would do that to her."
Rhia straightened up, and even Cody could see the effort it took her.
She was hurting. And badly.
Cody walked around Serus. Rhia's leg looked odd. As if it was broken. "When did you get hurt, Rhia?"
"What?" She glanced down at her leg and she flinched. "Oh, I don't remember."
"Honey, give me the needle. Let me take a look at your leg."
She looked from the needle in her hand to her daughter and then glanced down at her leg. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she collapsed.
***
Ian waited for Motre to give the word, then he stepped around the corner. Two orderlies rushed up to him. "Sir, you shouldn't be out of bed. Let's get you back to your ro—" and the first man went down.
Motre had his hand clamped aroun
d the second man's neck before he'd had a chance to make a sound. He caught him in his arms and carried him around the corner.
"Grab the other one. We need to find a place to stash these two so they can't raise the alarm," Motre called back to Ian.
That was the last thing on Ian's mind. He'd already judged this guy to be closest in size. And while Motre had grabbed the one man, Ian was already busy stripping the clothes off the man in front of him. He'd be damned if he was heading into another major fight with his crown jewels hanging out. Why the hell had they stripped him to the skin? They should have left his boxers on. He didn't want to wear another man's underwear so he made do with his pants, shirt, socks, and eureka – the shoes were a fit, too. A bad fit, but anything was better than running through this place barefoot.
He'd almost gotten the shoes tied up when Motre came barreling around the corner. Ian hopped to his feet, feeling like a vamp once again. He grinned evilly at Motre. "Now I'm ready to kick ass."
"You mean now that yours is covered up, right?"
And Ian's grin widened. "I was feeling a little too cool for my liking."
Motre shook his head, grabbed the guy's lab coat off the floor, and threw it at him. "You might as well put this on to complete the costume."
He threw the unconscious vamp over his shoulder and disappeared. Ian struggled to get into the lab coat just as he heard voices behind him. He took a deep breath, walked a few steps forward so he stood where Motre would be able to see him, and stopped as if he were searching for something he'd lost in his pocket. Motre approached from the side. Ian held his hand up in front of his body in warning, but in such a way that the people coming up behind him wouldn't be able to see.
"Are you lost, or what?" said someone from behind him.
"Sorry. Just looking for the notes I had on me this morning. Can't find them now." He rustled around, searching an inside pocket in an absentminded way.
The two men passed him. "Look at what kind of help we have now."
As they walked past, Ian jumped one and Motre took down the other. Quickly, they delivered the two men to the same room as the other two.
"I wonder how many more we'll have stashed in here before we're done," Ian growled.
"No idea. Let's move it."
"Who are we trying to rescue?"
"All the ones we rescued from the mine were brought here for observation," Motre said. "So far, no one has been released."
Ian shook his head. "So we managed to accomplish nothing by bringing down the blood farm?"
"I didn't say that. I'm sure many of the hospital staff are honest vamps. Once they started moving people to new rooms for all kinds of different reasons, I knew we had something odd going on."
"They moved me just after Wendy left. She was going to pick up some clothes for me and my cell phone. And she never came back, until…" and he quickly explained what he'd heard and seen from his window. "So I don't even know if she's alive or dead. If she's dead, I'll be razing this damn place to the ground."
He could feel the same panic welling up inside that he had before watching her run for her life away from these bastards.
Motre had his cell phone in his pocket. He nudged Ian close to a fire exit door and started pushing him up the stairs. "I'll call Goran and see if he has any news."
He tried once and got no answer. "Not sure what's going on, but we need to move. I'll try later."
He tried once again. Still nothing.
Chapter 18
Tessa dropped the bed frame and stared shakily over to her mother. If that creature was her mother. "Dad, what's going on?"
"I'm not sure, Tessa. She's definitely not acting normal. But I don’t know if what happened to everyone in the mine is the reason why she’s being so afraid now. Or if this is something else. Maybe she's been drugged again." He brushed her hair back from her forehead. "I really don't know." He glanced over at Tessa. "Can't you tell?"
"There is a little darkness there. But I don't know if it's residual blackness from before."
She looked down at her wrist still chained to the bed. "She did this to me. She came at me with a needle and that metal sheet so I couldn't just knock her out. That's when I fought back." She shook her head. "I didn't want to hurt her, but she left me no choice."
"Did you break her leg?" Serus asked incredulously. "Your own mother?"
Tessa's eyes filled with tears. She studied her mother's energy, her heart singing at the slight blackness in her system. Less than before, but there was still some. Maybe she'd been given a different dose or a different type of drug.
"Yes," she said quietly. "I did. I kicked out once while I was on the bed, and that was all it took. And if you came at me with a needle after having chained me to something, you can be damn sure I'd do my damnedest to hurt you, too."
She stared at him, proud and defiant. Bitterness clogged her throat. "Do you really think I wanted to hurt her?" She glared at him, her own temper working up to a blinding rage. "Do you know what it's like after everything I've been through to wake up and find out my own mother had done this?" She lifted her arm, the bed rattling with the movement. "What was I supposed to do? Let her drug me, too?"
He shook his head. "No. No, of course not. I'm sorry. This is so messed up. Everything is backwards and people aren't acting rational."
The last he muttered so low, she barely caught it. "Like who else?"
He heard her but didn't acknowledge her question. Just then, Cody returned. A medic raced to Rhia's side. Cody came to Tessa's side. He had a long-handled tool in his hand.
She glanced at it, one eyebrow raised. He smirked. "For your chains. Although you'd make a great slave girl."
Relieved, she held out her arm while threatening in a mocking voice, "You really don't want to go there."
Cody positioned it at the one link wrapped around her wrist and closed the long handles. It snapped instantly.
She rubbed her arm. "Thank you. I hated that feeling. I never want to be anyone's prisoner again." She stepped further back as more people crowded into the room. Overwhelmed with what had just happened, she could only think about escaping. She inched around behind the crowd and ran out the door.
Cody called out, "Hey, wait for me."
But she'd already booked it.
She didn't know where to go, but she had to get out. Somewhere where she would have a chance to deal with the confusion and pain, the sense of betrayal in her head. God, she'd actually hurt her mother. Even though she'd chained and drugged her, Tessa couldn't help feeling terrible. Surely there'd been something else she could have done instead. She'd tried to interrupt her energy like normal but when that hadn't worked, she'd panicked. She'd just reacted.
Just like she'd run from the room now. Running from the horror of what her mother had done. From what she'd tried to do and the words that had poured out of her mouth.
It made Tessa wonder now what she meant by that. What did she know? Tessa found an empty room and went in and closed it behind her. She didn't mean to shut Cody out. Hadn't thought about it. She'd just wanted to be alone.
A gentle knock on the door had her spinning around. She eased open the door in her mind. And smiled.
Cody. Sorry, I just needed to be alone for a bit.
Are you sure? I'm okay for you to be in there on your own to deal with this, but I need to know that you're okay. That you aren't going to do anything stupid.
I'll be fine. Just give me few moments. I need… I don't know what I need.
She heard the confusion in his voice, the pain in his own emotion. It's not you, Cody. I just feel like my foundation is gone.
And yet you won't let me help? Be there for you? Now he was getting pissed. And she realized she'd turned her back on him the same way she felt her parents had turned their backs on her.
She walked back to the door and opened it. Cody stood in front of her. She stared at him, wondering how he'd become such a huge part of her life, when the tears started to fall.
***
Cody held her close, loving the chance to be here for her. She was so special. He wasn't sure exactly what had happened between her mother and her but knew it had hit her hard. He cuddled her close as he moved her inside and closed the door. He wasn't sure what this room was, but there were easy chairs and a big couch as if it were a lounge for visitors or something similar. The best thing about it was it was private, and he hadn't had her alone to himself in a long time. And never like this. He urged her toward the couch, making sure the door was locked behind him first. There were too many people in this place. She needed some downtime and so did he. He wanted to give that much to her.
Even if it was only for a few moments.
She moved like an automaton to the couch and collapsed. He sat down beside her and tugged her into his arms. She curled up against his chest.
It was the silence that bothered him. The quiet inside and out. He didn't know what to say. If anything…maybe just holding her was the best thing to do. He dropped a kiss on her forehead while gently stroking up and down her back. Her body was long and lean yet so fragile. He knew how strong she was, how much she'd coped with. She'd deal with this, too. And he'd be there to help her.
He was so grateful she'd opened the door for him. When she'd run, he'd been afraid she'd run from him, too. Thank heavens she hadn't. They had so much going for them; he wanted them to make it. So few did. And they had nothing like what he already had with her.
She was his and he'd do everything he could to help her through this.
"She hasn't been quite normal since the blood farm," Tessa murmured.
Cody didn't have to ask who 'she' was. "No, she hasn't. Maybe someone slipped her another dose. We thought we were safe so we let down our guards. Instead, it's like those around us were placed where we hadn't expected them to be and pulled off a secret attack while we relaxed our guard."
"When could that have happened?" she asked.
