Vampire in Distress E-Book

Mayer Dale

• Herausgeber: Valley Publishing Ltd.
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

When Tessa rallies friends and family to find her missing date, they uncover a secret...and start a war that causes ripples in all aspects of their lives.

A vampire with throwback human genes. Sixteen-year-old Tessa finds more than just her friend in this journey...she also finds herself in need of rescue ... Imprisoned, she has to find a way to escape and reunite with her family before this war takes out those she loves.

The youngest of his ancient line. Eighteen-year-old Cody descends from flyer vampires wants Tessa back at his side where she belongs – even as he struggles with conflicting emotions about his best friend's kid sister...

A human determined to protect his people. Seventeen year-old Jared thought his life was over then he finds out that his rescuers are vampires...how can he trust them? And then he finds out the truth about Tessa...and that she's been taken, too...

Three brave souls struggle as war breaks out around them...a war that shows them no mercy.

Leseprobe

Vampire in Distress

Book #2 of Family Blood Ties

Dale Mayer

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

About This Book

Complimentary Download

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

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Sneak Peek from Vampire in Design

Author’s Note

Complimentary Download

About the Author

Copyright Page

About This Book

Sixteen-year-old Tessa finds herself at the center of a war that a violent faction of vampires who want a steady supply of humans to feed from has started. Her boyfriend Jared has been kidnapped by the vicious vamps, and, without the unique genetic abilities the others in her peaceful clan possess, her only option is to rally friends and family to help her rescue him. In the process, they uncover a secret that disrupts everything they’ve ever believed and known.

The youngest of his ancient line, eighteen-year-old Cody, descends from a race of flyer vampires. When Tessa is imprisoned by the vampires holding her boyfriend, Cody’s only thought is getting her back. She’s the kid sister of his best friend…but the conflicting emotions he feels at her plight suggest that maybe she means something more, much more, to him.

Jared assumes his life is forfeit at the hands of the vampires who have nefarious plans for him and the other humans they’ve caged with him. When another clan of vampires rescues him, he’s left with no idea who to trust. The last thing he expects is for the girl he was falling for prior to his kidnapping, Tessa, to be one of the vamps. But, since she’s also imprisoned, does that mean she’s a good one? His life is turned upside-down as his beliefs about the world as he’s always known it are drastically altered.

A war between humans and good and bad vampires is on the precipice of breaking loose all around Tessa, Jared and Cody – a war that promises to show them no mercy.

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Prologue

This is the last chapter of book 1, Vampire in Denial. We left Tessa after this point…

Cody strode down the south side of the warehouse at his father’s side. He couldn’t help but feel a little cocky after rescuing his old man. Made him feel like an equal. Ian strode along on the other side of his father, quiet as always. Jewel was almost running at Cody’s other side to keep up. She was one of the rare short vampires. But then Jewel was unique in other ways. Like her coloring. Her hair was more charcoal-colored than jet black.

And Jewel had a big heart. She’d accompanied them on this search to give David’s family time together. He could understand that. He wanted to put some distance between him and Tessa, too.

He was still pissed off over getting hit by her friend Jared. At the same time, he had to admire a guy willing to fight when he was so drugged he could hardly stand. Cody frowned. Jared’s health was in question, if he’d read Rhia’s expression correctly. Tessa would be devastated if anything happened to him at this point.

And Cody wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Tessa was only sixteen…okay, almost seventeen. David had mentioned her upcoming birthday was just a couple weeks away. Was she too young for him? At least right now? With vampires living for centuries, age stopped being a factor once they became adults. Still, Tessa was a long way from being an adult. These last few days, he’d had a chance to understand her, gain some insights into her weird I-want-to-be-human thing she’d had going on before. He figured she’d let most of that go now.

In fact, she looked and acted more like a vampire pureblood than most of them did.

She wore it well. And had she suddenly developed overnight? Where had that figure come from? She almost popped out of her shirt or whatever that thing was called. He’d caught himself watching, waiting for just that to happen. He shook his head. Stupid.

“What’s bothering you?” His father nudged his shoulder.

Like he was going to tell the truth. Cody shrugged. “Just this whole mess. We seriously need to find out what’s going on here and who the ringleaders are.”

“I know. This has Moltere’s touch. But he can’t be working alone. That brings up the possibility of a human accomplice…or many of them. And given the size of the operation, we have to consider that Council members all over the world could also be involved.”

“If it’s that high up, we’re going to have a lot of trouble ferreting out who is involved.”

“I know.”

They arrived at yet another series of doors like the ones where they’d left Tessa’s family. With a grin at the other two, Cody opened the first one with a flourish. And wrinkled his nose. This room resembled a storeroom. Steel drawers and cupboards lined two walls and the temperature was even colder than the rest of the warehouse. Thankfully, there didn’t appear to be any bodies lying around.

Closing it again, he stepped up to the second door.

“My turn.” Goran pushed the door open and frowned. There’d been someone here recently, from the looks of things. It appeared to be some kind of staff break room. Furniture, a small kitchenette. Dirty bottles littered the table. Two doors lined the back walls.

Pushing the door wide enough for everyone else to see, he pointed out the two doors down the back. “We need to check out those.”

Ian and Cody headed to the left door first. A series of bunk beds suggested the room was designated as a sleeping area. It was empty, but clothes lay strewn across bedding. Again, someone had been here recently. The two turned and followed Goran and Jewel into the next room.

Entering, Cody was barely in time to see his father’s face darken as he reached out and bent over the lone sleeper. Cody tried to get closer to see what his father was doing, but before he could shift around his dad’s large frame, Goran straightened, saying, “He’s not going anywhere.”

“Did you kill him?” Cody cast a last look at the male in the bed. Not that he really wanted to know.

“No. Used a special hold on him. He’ll be out for a good many hours. We’ll come back and move him after we do this first sweep.”

Smooth. But then again, Cody hadn’t expected anything else from his old man.

“That leaves the brute still missing and possibly more.”

Leaving the quarters, they systematically went around the warehouse and checked each room for the missing staff member. An hour later, they ended up back where they started, with David and his family.

Cody gave David a high five when they met up. “There’s no sign of the other personnel yet. We need to find them before they can warn the outside world.”

“I’d say that’s probably too late. We haven’t exactly been quiet in here.”

Looking around the small group, Cody frowned and asked, “Where’s Tessa?”

“She’s with Jared. He’s unconscious and Mom’s worried about him.” A weird look came over David’s face.

Cody frowned. “What aren’t you telling me?”

With a shrug, David tried to brush him off.

“No. Tell me. Is he going to make it?” Cody asked.

David leaned in. “Tessa says he looks different than a few days ago. Better. As if he’d been given something to improve him.”

And how was he supposed to take that? Cody studied David’s eyes. “Improve? How?”

“We don’t know. Mom is wondering if there was something odd in the drugs they were giving him. Like an enhancer of some kind.”

“Are you thinking they were doing experiments of some kind? On humans? Oh gross.” Not a thought he wanted to dwell on. “Remember when we were in the monitor room and we saw what appeared to be a couple of vampires suspended? Possibly our missing friend Daren? Jewel thought she saw him, remember? That doesn’t make any sense, right? It’s not like our blood is hard to come by or special or what they want to drink, so…?”

“Right. Then why are they up there?” David stared up at the rows of suspended bodies. “I wonder if they’re being punished? Maybe they found out about this place and threatened to expose it or had invested initially and then wanted out,” he said enthusiastically, warming to his ideas. “This could be a way of keeping them from talking.”

Cody studied the rows. “As much as I don’t want to, maybe we should walk up and down and see if we know any of them.” He almost laughed at the look of revulsion on his friend’s face.

“Yeah, I guess,” David said.

Turning, Cody looked around to get his bearings. “They should be in the corner, according to the monitors we saw. That would make it…” he spun around slowly, trying to place the scene from the monitor with the right area in the room. “It would make it over there.” He pointed to the corner on his left at the far side. “And the more of us that go and look, the better the chance that we might recognize someone.”

“I think our fathers should come take a look. Keep the girls out of this step of the process.”

“Good idea.”

“What’s a good idea?” Serus came up behind them.

Within minutes he was calling Goran over. The four males headed in the direction Cody pointed out. As they walked, Cody tried not to stare. Every person was distorted by the plastic wrapped around them, giving them an unreal, almost un-human aspect. It was more than freaky. It was like a bad science fiction movie.

There had to be dozens of people in every row. His stomach clenched when he did the math. “David, do you realize how many people are hanging here? They couldn’t all have disappeared around the same time.”

“I’m sure they’ve been disappearing, a few here and a few there, for a very long time.” David glanced up, grimaced, and turned his face forward resolutely.

Serus and Goran spoke quietly ahead of them. Cody couldn’t quite hear what they were talking about. Motioning to David, he picked up the pace so the bits of conversation were understandable.

“Moltere dropped off the grid when?”

“Hell if I know. Forty, maybe fifty years ago. After Taz was rescued. But Moltere wasn’t actually seen or recovered during that rescue. He could have disappeared a lot earlier.”

Cody frowned. Damn it. His father always did that. Spoke in half sentences, half thoughts. He glanced around. They should be in the area they’d seen on the monitors.

“Hey. Old guys.”

Both men stopped and spun.

Cody grinned. “At least I have your attention.” At the disgruntled look on their faces, his grin widened. “I think we’re here. You should be looking at these people’s faces to see if you know any of them.”

Everyone turned to study the woman hanging beside them. Cody tried to keep his eyes on her face, but it was hard. There was a lot of skin showing wrapped in bubble wrap or something just as gross, with body fluids pooling off on one side. He gave her face the once over and walked to the next one and the next one.

The bubble wrap made it difficult to tell the vampires apart from the humans. He thought these were all humans. But then how could you tell? Vampires were taller, slimmer, and had a few distinct features, like the eyes and fangs. But everyone here had their eyes and mouths closed. None, however, appeared super tall. He kept walking, his eyes going from face to face.

“I don’t think these are the vampires yet.”

“Nor do I.”

“Then we keep looking.” Cody came to the last one in the row. He studied the wall and the layout. It definitely resembled what they’d seen on the monitor. He backed up until he could see the people hanging at the end of the next row. The last body, a male. was tall.

And a vampire.

An old one at that. He frowned. As vampires could live almost forever, to keep them suspended like this was like a permanent living hell for the vampire in question. Studying the tubing connected to this vampire, Cody realized his blood was heading in a different direction altogether. But why? Who would want it? What were they doing with vampires? Were they harvesting vampires on a regular basis, or was it only those who were in their way? And were they here to keep them from talking…or were they running experiments on them?

A chill ran down his back. Shit. This could be David or him. Or worse – Tessa.

“Dad. Do you know this one?” He stepped out of the way. Both elders stepped forward to get a better look. Cody watched his father’s face, saw the color leach from his already-white skin, and saw him spread his legs in a wider stance as if he was trying to recover from a blow.

“Oh no.”

“Who is he?” David walked around Cody to take a closer look, then shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know him.”

“It’s Moltere. The man we thought was behind all this.”

“What?” Cody and David turned to stare at the plastic-wrapped legend. “Tessa said we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Looks like she was right again. So if he isn’t behind this mess, then who is?”

“That’s what we need to find out.”

David said, “Maybe he started it and had a falling out with his partners?”

“If this is what happens to anyone who crosses them, then we’d better not get on their bad side,” Serus said, half joking.

There was nothing funny about this, though. Cody frowned, “Too late. We already are.”

*

Tessa sat on the side of Jared’s bed. He was pale and lifeless, but it was the sudden lack of vitality that worried her the most. His cheeks sagged like his skin was a size too big for him. He’d looked pretty good when they’d first seen him, but now it was as if the life was slowly dripping out of him. Mom had said something about the nutrients keeping him in good shape, but without them…

Whatever it was, this aged version no longer looked like Jared.

She sniffled again. Then she shook her head. What a maudlin teenager she was turning out to be. She didn’t like that at all. She sniffled harder and wiped her eyes. Straightening her back, she took another quick glance at her mother, whose head was tilted toward her father in deep discussion. Her dad had arrived just a moment ago, a wild look on his face. Her mother had raced over and they’d been there ever since.

As much as she wanted in on it, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know more. This had been an unbelievable couple of days.

Her guilt had subsided – but not abated. She hoped Jared made a full recovery. She knew now she wasn’t responsible for his getting kidnapped, and honestly, she didn’t know that anyone could have found him any faster – but still, her people had done this to him.

Her mother came over. “Tessa, do you want to lie down here for a bit? Help is on the way, but they’re going to be a couple of hours yet.”

Tessa cringed. “No. I don’t want to sleep in this place. It gives me the creeps.” All she saw when she closed her eyes was that damn tubing running through every person, pumping out their life force. She couldn’t imagine a worse type of existence.

“Oh honey. You’re safe now. No one is going to get you here.” She brushed Tessa’s long hair off her face. “I love what you did with your hair. Did I tell you that?”

“No. The last time…didn’t you ask what happened to my beautiful hair?” Tessa grinned at the pinched look she got in return.

“Yes, well, I think that’s when I was looking at my daughter’s beautiful black hair bleached white.”

“Oh. I thought it was the length.”

Her mother looked puzzled for a moment. Then her eyes widened and she came rushing around the end of the bed. “You didn’t cut it, did you?”

“Just kidding, Mom.” Tessa laughed out loud. It felt good to find something humorous among the living dead here. “I didn’t cut it. I wouldn’t.”

“Damn right.” Rhia sniffed and walked back toward Serus, who stood guard at the entrance. “I’m going to discuss strategy with your father. You get some rest. Sleep or not, but at least lie down. There are plenty of beds here; you might as well use them.”

Tessa considered the rows of empty beds. She was tired. There wasn’t anything more she could do at this point. And there were plenty of vampires here to watch over Jared. It honestly felt like a major crash-and-burn session had hit her, with the crash part winning.

She studied Jared’s face. He didn’t look like he’d be coming around any time soon. How they were going to move him and all these other people was beyond her.

“Maybe I should. Just for a minute.” She walked along the long line of beds, then chose one across from Jared. She didn’t want to be where she could be seen from the warehouse or where she could see who and what hung there. What a horrible last vision to take into her dreams.

She stretched out and closed her eyes.

*

Cody walked over to where the adults were deep in discussion. “How long will it take for the teams to get here?”

“Probably another hour, possibly two. We’ve connected with Sian and Taz. They’re sending an assessment team in first to determine what needs to be done, followed closely by medical teams and equipment.”

“Right. That could take a bit.” He turned his back on the macabre scene. He had enough visions to last for a long time. “There isn’t much we can do now, is there?”

“Be careful. Just because we couldn’t find anyone else doesn’t mean there aren’t any others – waiting for an opportunity to pick us off one by one. Everyone needs to stay together, at least in pairs.”

“Speaking of everyone, where’s Tessa?”

“She’s lying down, exactly as I ordered.” Rhia frowned. “She’s exhausted.”

Serus patted her arm. “She’ll be fine. She comes from good stock.”

“That may be, but she’s only a girl. She shouldn’t be exposed to horrors like this at her age.” She rubbed her eyes. “I hate what she’s gone through.”

“So do I. However, it’s happened, and she’s come out a trooper. She’s really come into herself over this. I wouldn’t want to have cheated her of that.” Serus snagged her shoulder in a quick hug.

Rhia looked up at him and smiled slowly. “She did well, didn’t she?”

“Yes, she did.” He smiled proudly down at her.

Cody couldn’t help adding. “She’s really grown these last couple of days. It’s been amazing to see.”

“Thank you, Cody. For helping her and believing in her.”

Not used to compliments, Cody felt something uncomfortable crawl across his skin. He turned away mumbling, “No problem.”

He headed back to the sick room to check on Tessa and Jared.

*

Tessa couldn’t sleep. She kept thinking about needles and tubing and blood. So much blood. Once, she’d opened her eyes thinking she’d heard Jared and had sat up, but there hadn’t appeared to be any change in him. After a moment, she lay back down. The room was otherwise empty. Her friends and family stood just around the corner. She could hear their voices, a distant murmur, but normal sounding.

Everything was fine.

She yawned. Grabbing the folded blanket off the end of the bed, she threw it across her legs and pulled it up to her shoulders. Her clothing shifted every time she tried to get comfy.

This time when she closed her eyes, she slept.

Once again she dreamed. She dreamed of her blanket being pulled back. Of a needle being slipped into her arm and of a piece of tubing being attached. She stretched out her arm and the tubing dangled down on the bed. Drip, drip, drip went the drugs into her veins. Her dreams took her deeper and deeper.

*

Cody rounded the open doorway and found Jared sleeping, if that’s what you called sleeping – more like being comatose – on the bed on the right. He walked over to him and stared down at the slack face. So this was Tessa’s friend. His competition.

He straightened and snorted. This sack of meat was no competition for him. Disgusted and more than a little concerned that he’d even had that thought, he turned around to search for Tessa. Only she wasn’t there.

Hadn’t her mom said she came in to lie down? Tessa had already proven she didn’t take orders well. Puzzled, he walked down the center aisle. At the end of the room, he turned around and walked back. As he approached Jared again, he frowned. One bed had a blanket tossed to the floor. A series of indents showed on the sheets of the still-made bed.

Just then, Rhia came in.

“Where did you say Tessa was?” Cody asked her, an inkling of worry attaching itself to his spine.

“In here.” She stopped, put her hands on her hips, frowned, and looked around. “She was right there on that bed beside you. I saw her just a moment ago. She didn’t go past me. We’ve been standing here at the doorway the whole time.”

Cody pointed to the blanket on the floor. “Was this here before?”

She shook her head slowly. “No.” She hurried over. “She was lying here with the blanket pulled up to her shoulders.” She walked to the front of the bed. “Where is she?”

Bending down, Cody picked up a plastic tip. Like the kind that protected the end of a needle. Worry turned to fear. “Look what I found.”

Rhia stared at it uncomprehendingly. Then her eyes widened, fear turning them to dark obsidian. “Please no.”

Cody stared at the piece of plastic, unable to look away. Just the thought of a needle being used on Tessa made his heart pound in fear. Who knew what they’d do to her?

“Dear God, I hope not,” he whispered. He spun around. There was a door at the end of the room. They’d checked it earlier. He thought it was just a supply cupboard. But it was the only other way for Tessa to have left this room…willingly or not. He raced toward it, calling over his shoulder, “Go get the others.”

“Oh, my God!” Rhia raced out to get help.

*

Tessa opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the tube in her arm. She frowned, blinked several times to clear her vision, and then reached for the tubing. Her hand touched the needle taped to her wrist – her eyes widened in comprehension. She tried to close her fingers around the needle to pull it free. Her fingers didn’t want to work.

Drugs dripped steadily into her arm. Pulling at her, drawing her down, deeper and deeper.

Oh, dear God, no!

She screamed – endlessly – soundlessly – in her mind.

Chapter 1

Shit happened. But why did it always happen to her?

Tessa rolled over for the umpteenth time as nausea washed up the back of her throat. Dry heaves wracked her spine as her body tried to rid itself of the drugs coursing through her arm. She made a feeble attempt to wipe her mouth with the corner of the sheet. The bedding was going to need to be changed soon. How could she still have anything left inside to throw up?

“Hey, no more of that,” snapped the disgusted voice beside her. “What the hell is wrong with her? None of the others ever puked like her. It’s gross.”

She shuddered at the gravelly voice and hard arms that twisted and yanked her around. Why couldn’t they leave her alone and let her sink back into nothingness? Huge hands gripped her shoulders and held her head off the side of the bed as she gagged yet again. Cold, exhaustion, and drugs had stolen her voice.

If it weren’t for her mixed vampire heritage, she’d have been unconscious since the beginning. They obviously didn’t know about her and her unique genetics, or they’d have used different drugs. And as much as she’d welcome oblivion, she needed her wits about her.

Her family had to know she was missing by now.

Surely, they’d be here soon.

Wherever here was…

*

Cody watched, his fists clenched and his spine rigid, as both Tessa’s father and his father argued about how to proceed. Time was racing by. Tessa had to have been missing for at least a half hour already. They should be out searching by now.

“Hey, will you two stop it?”

Rhia, Tessa’s mother, placed a calming hand on his forearm. “You know this is how they work best.”

“This isn’t working at all.” Cody shot her a look of outrage. Turning back to the two tall ancient vampires in stark black, he called out, “Hey elders.”

They ignored him.

“Serus and Goran?”

Still he couldn’t stop their argument.

With that, his frustration peaked. He screamed, “Hey, old guys!”

Silence. Both elders spun on their heels. Shocked and irate, they glared at Cody. Rhia choked back a snicker. Serus frowned at her before turning his icy stare on Cody. Drawing himself up to his full height, the elder looked down his long nose and opened his mouth to speak.

Cody’s father jumped in ahead of him. “Did you just call me old?”

“Hell, yes. You are old. You’re also wasting time. Tessa has been kidnapped from right under our noses, and once again, you two are more concerned with winning an argument than you are about her fate.”

Rhia gasped.

Too bad that Cody was long past caring about other peoples’ reactions. This war had changed him. It had changed all of them. And it was just gearing up.

Tessa’s mother was a good person, but she was all about her Serus. Goran, Cody’s own father, was too protective and focused on him.

“That’s a terrible thing to say.” Rage contorted Serus’s face.

“Is it?” Cody asked, his lips curling into a sneer. “I don’t mean you don’t care, but Tessa was right. You’re all talk and no action.” Straightening up and putting his hands on his hips, he added, “Now she’s the one in trouble, and I won’t let you get sidetracked.”

The stuffing went out of Serus. His shoulders slumped. His skin sagged, and he seemed to age under Cody’s reproachful gaze. “The team will be here in twenty minutes. I can’t leave the kids here. Goran, please take the others. Go find my little girl.”

Rhia gripped Serus’s arm. “I’ll stay. You go find our daughter.”

“That isn’t going to work.” He pinched his lips together. “I can’t leave you alone in case there are more of these assholes around. I can’t leave any of the kids here, either. No. Everyone else go. As much as I wouldn’t admit it at any other time, Goran is the best flier, and he’ll cover more ground faster.”

“Goran,” Rhia’s bottom lip trembled. “Please find my daughter. I need to stay here for Jared. He’s too sick to travel, and I don’t dare leave him. Besides, one adult needs to be here with the others.”

“All right,” With a gentleness that Cody had rarely seen before, his father wrapped Rhia in a tight hug. “Cody and I will fly out and see if they’ve left any trace. There could be another level to this building, too. Maybe we can split up the others and send half of them to search for Tessa.” He turned as if to leave.

Cody caught him before he’d taken a full step. “There’s another place I want to check out.” He spun around. “At the time I had assumed it just led to more storage space, but now…” Glancing back at his father, he added, “Why don’t you fly alone and see what you can find? You might see a vehicle. They can’t have gone too far. Besides, one flier will attract less attention.”

David walked over. “What are you thinking, Cody?”

“I’m thinking she’s been stashed somewhere close by. I don’t think they could’ve taken her very far in the time we’ve missed her. It’s possible she’s still inside this warehouse… or in the mausoleum above ground.”

With a sharp nod, David said, “I agree. Let’s break into groups, with one staying here. Another will go up, and the last one will head out to search the lower levels.”

“Good plan.” Serus stepped in. “David and Jewel, search the house. Cody, you stay here with Rhia and search with Ian. Goran, if you wouldn’t mind doing an aerial search, and everyone should check back within, say…” he checked his watch, “an hour. That should be enough time to figure out which way they might have taken my daughter.”

Spinning around, Cody nodded to Ian, then led the way out of the room. Finally, there was some action. But damn it, why hadn’t they done this ten minutes ago? Not wanting to waste any more time, he headed toward the door he vaguely remembered seeing.

“Hey, wait up,” Ian called. “Jesus, slow down. Geez, you’re as bad as your father. He’s always racing around at top speed.”

“I can’t.” Cody slowed down just long enough for Ian to catch up. “Tessa’s running out of time.”

“I know there were a couple of smaller doors we didn’t open, but at the time, we assumed they weren’t important.” At Cody’s hard look, he quickly added, “But we will now.”

“Damn straight. Tessa led us here to find Jared. We’re not losing her, too.” Worry ate at him. Poor Tessa.

They walked hard and fast toward the room where they had last seen Tessa.

By keeping his gaze forward, Cody could almost avoid the sight of the hundreds of bodies hanging in their macabre midair dance. All of the victims were blind and mute in the face of their fate – and yet, still alive. He slowed. He sure hoped they had no idea of their fate.

Ian spoke up, “Funny how this all came about. Look at us. We’re fighting a war we didn’t even know existed, and all because Tessa went to a friggin’ movie where her date got kidnapped.”

As much as Cody hated to dwell on Tessa’s date with Jared, he couldn’t deny the sequence of events that had led to this mess. Tessa had fought her parents and the Vampire Council, then went and looked for Jared on her own when she couldn’t drum up help. In the process, she’d transformed herself from a naive schoolgirl into a classy vamp.

He shook his head, remembering how his blood had fired up at the first sight of the mysterious vampire who’d walked so confidently through the Vampire Council gathering. Christ, she’d been hot. Every male eye had turned her way. He’d followed her out of the house, questioned her, and then let her go. Only something about her had been hauntingly familiar.

Then he’d seen her signature crab hop up in the trees and had realized the truth. His heart had recognized the true Tessa, but his hormones had been sidelined by her hot new look. His mind hadn’t been able to reconcile the two parts. Even now, he was still trying to figure out just who and what she’d become. And he desperately wanted a chance to find out.

He had to find her.

His jaw clenched. He just wanted a couple of minutes alone with the damned asshole who had snatched her up while she’d slept. She must have been so exhausted after days of hunting and eventually finally finding Jared that nothing could have woken her.

The asshole who did this to her had a surprise coming. Tessa was his, damn it. And he wasn’t about to let anyone else have her.

He stopped, and Ian slammed into him.

“Hey, what the hell….?” Ian peered around the corner.

Cody shook his head. “Sorry,” he muttered, rushing forward again. His own thoughts about Tessa had shocked him. He’d never thought about a girl like that before. At sixteen, Tessa had been his best friend’s kid sister – up until now, that is.

They reached the door. It seemed harmless, like all the rest. Cody sniffed the air. An odd scent lingered. Someone had been this way recently, but who knew how recently? He jerked the door open.

A staircase. With an excited look at Ian, he started down into the darkness.

*

David raced up the long white hallway that would take them to the surface with his father and Goran. Jewel had elected to stay with his mom.

“Do you think Tessa could still be here?” he asked. His kid sister had really showed her colors these last couple of days, and damn – he was proud of her. To think someone had taken her now, from right under their noses, bit into his gut like he wanted to bite into the asshole responsible. She didn’t deserve this. But then, the thousand or more people suspended like never-ending blood bottles in that warehouse didn’t deserve their fate either.

“I hope so. Finding her outside could be brutal.”

Glancing up at his father, David asked, “Didn’t you put some kind of electronic tracker on us when we were little?”

Serus half laughed. “We tried, but we found it hard to justify the problems the electronics stirred up in your systems. The devices were meant for humans, and your bodies fought the implants. Tessa’s reaction was the worst. Her body kept trying to get rid of it. She went through a bad time until we had it taken out.”

He exchanged a grim look with Goran. “Too bad she reacted that way.”

They passed by several doors in the empty hallway.

Goran slapped his best friend on the shoulder. “We’ll find her. She might even get free before then. She’s got gumption, that girl. And she has brains as well.”

David grinned as they went through the last of the doors and finally reached the weird garage floor thing they’d found when they’d first arrived. He couldn’t help remembering it was Tessa and Cody who’d figured out how the entire floor lowered. He hoped the three of them would be able to figure out how it worked. That would be their last hurdle before reaching the surface.

They studied the mechanism at the far end of the loading area. Both elders looked over David’s shoulder.

“How does it operate?” his father asked.

“Cody did something like this.” David put his hand on the metal plate and pushed hard. Instantly, the entire wooden floor rose up slowly. He grinned. “Easy.”

Within minutes, the mechanism ground to a halt at the top. The windows were so dirty he couldn’t tell how much light shone outside. Was it day or night? The three men walked forward cautiously.

Daylight.

Shit.

Chapter 2

Tessa lay quietly on her side. Her guards sat on the other end of the room. Every once in a while, one of them would walk over and poke her. She hadn’t reacted since regaining consciousness. She needed time. Time to think. To plan. To escape.

She’d seen no sign of her mom or her dad, or David and Cody. She vaguely remembered lying down on a bed across from Jared to grab an hour or two of sleep. The extraordinary physical exertion she’d expended would have dropped a human a long time ago, but not her. Then again, she wasn’t exactly human. Neither was she a vampire. Her weird throwback genes had left her suspended somewhere in between.

As far as she could tell, she was alone in this room except for the guards. When she’d woken, only one had been there. A second one had arrived about an hour ago, while she was tossing her cookies. Or she would have been, if she’d had any cookies left in there. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten – another symptom of her mixed heritage. She needed food. If she could find nothing else, blood would do. And she had to have nothing else available for her to drink that.

Now David, her brother, loved blood. In slushies, in coolers, even mixed with juice. Tessa cringed at the memories. Where was David? And Cody?

Her heart hiccupped at the thought of her brother’s best friend. Cody, tall and dark like all vampires, was one of the ancient ones. And like his father, he was a flier. His sideways grin and the flash of sheer animal magnetism in his eyes were what had caught her attention. And she didn’t even know how or when.

Somehow in these last few days, Cody had gone from simply being her irritating older brother’s best friend to something so much more. She just didn’t know what yet.

But she desperately wanted to.

She definitely didn’t want to spend the rest of her life hanging like a side of beef.

The men’s voices rose. Closing her eyes, Tessa tried to hear what they were saying. The first voice belonged to the new guy.

“You shouldn’t have taken her. She’s gonna be trouble.”

“She’s already trouble. And what was I supposed to do? These interfering SOBs came in like they owned the place and grabbed everyone. I heard one of them on the phone calling in a team.”

Tessa gasped softly. He’d been there, where the rest of them were, listening in. She remembered him as being huge. Every time she’d tried to fight him off, she’d felt as if she was trying to arm wrestle a tank. She didn’t even know if he was a vampire. Although given the circumstances, he had to be. Or maybe he was that new breed Cody had mentioned – a turned vampire. They had been outlawed centuries ago. Yet so had attacking humans, for that matter. Thanks to that, the two species had co-existed peacefully for over a century – until now.

“Yeah. See, that’s the part I really don’t like. I get that they aren’t our people,” the first man said. “So who are they? Council members? Not our Council members, obviously. And why are they here? How’d they find this place, anyway?”

Tessa’s hopes plummeted at the words ‘our Council members’. Talk about betrayal at the highest level. Wait until she told the elders.

“Let’s ask her, okay? Right now.”

An alarming silence fell over the room, followed by scrapes and bangs from the men rising and pushing back their chairs.

Tessa froze, her heart sliding up the back of her throat as they walked closer.

*

Cody paused in the stairway for Ian to catch up. The steps appeared to go on forever. That they were hundreds of feet below ground gave the flier in him claustrophobia. It was as if the ground was pressing down on him and the air was thicker and heavier.

“Why did you stop?” Ian peered around his shoulder to see. “Does this thing ever quit?”

“It has to somewhere. I can’t imagine why we’re still going down. Why would anyone build something like this? You’d think they had enough space all around without carving deeper into the rocks.” Cody smoothed a hand over the stone wall next to him, so cold it appeared almost moist. “How deep underground do you think we are?”

“Who knows?”

“Let’s keep going. It can’t be too much further.” Cody continued his mad dash down into the darkness, grateful for his vampire vision that allowed him to see through the blackness. “They must be vampires to work down here without lights.”

“Or there could be lights. It’s not like we looked.”

True enough. Ten more minutes of continuous descent left him dizzy. The air had chilled, and he could almost feel a breeze. That had to mean there was access to fresh air.

Then, without warning, the stairs ran out and Ian slammed into him. Cody grabbed the railing, teetering on the bottom step.

“What the hell?” Ian asked, peering over his shoulder.

“Exactly!”