Vampire in Chaos (13 page)

“Yes.” Tessa said gently. “We did not kill him. He said he’d been attacked by two young vamps possibly following orders by his upcoming—”

“Tyson,” Deanna growled, rising up from her seat until she towered above them. “It was that little prick, wasn’t it?”

Cody stiffened.

Tessa answered. “Yes, we believe so.”

“My love thought it might happen, but not this soon. I will have my vengeance. He will not live through this night,” She spun to face the Ghost. Her face worked with the emotions and confirmation she’d expected but had hoped not to get. Her mouth opened to issue orders to the Ghost, who was now awake and ready.

“Wait,” Cody said. “The job is done. He’s dead.”

She froze. Her body vibrated with unnamed emotion. Slowly, she turned back to Cody. “Did you do it?”

Now what the hell was he to say? He wished he’d done it, but he hadn’t. As this woman was already unbalanced, if the truth came out, would she take it out on them?

Then the decision was taken from him.

Tessa took a half step forward and said, “No. He didn’t. I did.”

Deanna stared at her in shock and anger, then the anger faded and a weariness like he’d never seen replaced it.

“Then I owe you.” She collapsed back in her chair as grief rolled through her.

Tessa stood quiet, as if not sure what she was to do or say.

Cody knew she’d killed Tyson out of necessity and had hated doing so. She didn’t want to be thanked. He asked, “Can you tell us about any of his colleagues? We’re trying to clean up the group so that humans can live free again.”

Deanna wasn’t so lost in grief that she didn’t snort at that.

“Mayhap you should look to the humans involved,” she said with a heavy sigh. “My love always said that he was going to keep an eye on the humans. He worked with one or two he didn’t trust. And several he said deserved to be strung up in the very farms they were profiting from.”

“A bit of superiority in that attitude?” Cody asked, his voice hard.

She gazed at him. “Meaning that he could laugh at others profiting? Except you must remember, we’ve been drinking human blood since we were born. This was a simplistic system that’s been tried many times over the centuries.”

“Times have changed,” Tessa said smoothly. “I call many humans as my friends.”

“Really?” The concept appeared to be odd to Deanna. She raised her eyebrows. “Whatever. I wouldn’t trust any of them.”

“The question is, can you identify some of them for us to capture?” Cody asked.

She nodded, looked over at the Ghost. “Hortran can take you to their headquarters. As they use fake names, the ones I know them by won’t help you.”

Tessa started. “Thank you, that would be helpful.”

“Go now. I’m getting very tired.”

No, not tired. Cody studied her face that was ravaged by emotion, the tsunami of grief no longer capable of being held back.

It was definitely time to leave.

Cody turned to face the Ghost. Only to find he’d disappeared. He turned around, looking behind him. When there was no sign of him, he turned back to Deanna.

“He’ll meet you outside.” And she turned away.

Dismissed. Tessa reached out for Cody’s hand to find it already reaching for hers. The door between them clicked open. Tessa smiled at him. They walked straight back, expecting to see the Ghost arrive from somewhere. But the further out they walked, the less they saw. It was back to the mirage of the cement building.

“Creepy. You’re right on that point.”

“Yeah, but did any of that make any sense?” Tessa asked. “It’s weird, like we’re peeling back layers. It seems the more problems we solve, the more we find.”

“Dad. David.” She came to a dead stop.

She felt sick to her stomach. “How could I forget?” she cried out. “We must go back and ask Deanna about them.” She didn’t give him a chance to argue; she turned and raced back. Cody pounded the cement behind her.

They raced back the way they’d come. She stopped a moment later. “Surely it was here, wasn’t it?”

They were standing in the same place where they’d spoken to Deanna. She turned to glance at Cody for confirmation. He walked around and appeared to fix his gaze on a mark on the dirt wall he’d seen earlier. “Yes, I think it was.”

“If it was, where are they?”

*

Goran smacked Motre
on the shoulder. “Let’s go. There should be a mess of people out here that need saving.”

The look on Motre’s face was scary at best, but it was definitely heartwarming for Goran. He did love a good fight. And there were a few due to come. Like himself, Motre was looking forward to it. He looked at the crumpled doctors. “We need to secure these men. Make sure that they can’t come after us.”

Motre’s grin turned ferocious. “Vamps don’t need doctors.” He pulled something out of his pocket and stabbed the remaining men.

Ash filled the small room.

Goran watched as some of the savagery retreated from Motre’s face. With his sleeve covering his face, he choked out, “We’re all good then?”

Motre nodded.

Ian walked over the door and after a quick look at the other two, he opened it. They filed out to the silent hallway and quickly checked the rest of the rooms. There were a few men, drugged and unconscious, but that was all. They unplugged the men from machines and undid all the restraints. They couldn’t wake the men, so they left them alone to rouse when they could. And they headed back out to the hallway. And proceeded to the next floor.

It was a systematic search they had down pat by the time they made their way back across that floor. Goran was primed for a fight, and he couldn’t find one. All they could see were drugged vamps. Just the thought made his stomach cringe, but to know that they were all here and kept prisoner where they should have been safe just made him angry. He stepped back out to the hallway ready to open the next door and hoping for something more violent when he came face to face with several vamps. Men in lab coats. Large men. As in too large men. They had to be enhanced.

He grinned. “Finally. A worthy opponent.”

They reached into their pockets, intent on pulling something out. He didn’t dare give them time to use whatever they were planning on using. He cried out a war cry and jumped the first man, a fist jabbing in the closest man’s jaw. The man stumbled back, but he didn’t go down. His head barely shook from the blow. But the unholy grin on his face was terrifying.

“What the hell are you?” Goran cried out.

“I’m the wave of the future, old man. Any day and time, you can come and fight me.” And he dropped whatever had been in his hands, reached out, and punched Goran.

It must have been due to his earlier injury that had his body being picked up as if by a huge cannon ball and tossing him ten feet down the hallway. He lay there stunned for a long moment. He could hear sounds of a fight going on around him, then a cry and the sound of another body landing beside him. He looked over to see Ian, crumpled and unconscious. Damn.

“What’s the matter, old man? I thought you wanted to fight.”

The snigger was the final straw.

Old man?
Goran felt that same old bitterness rise up from where it normally lay quiet and calm inside. He said, “Old man?”

He bounced to his feet. The man had turned partly away from him, giving him his back. Dismissing him. “I’ll have you know,” he said, “That I’m not even close to being an old man.”

And he launched himself onto the mammoth–sized vamp’s back and found the spot on the back of the neck. The man collapsed to his knees, but he wasn’t down and he wasn’t out. He roared as he fought against the hold.

Goran squeezed tighter. It was hard to hit the sweet spot with so much oversized muscle in the way. He looked around for a weapon, but there was nothing.

And caught sight of Motre suspended off the ground, held in a death grip by the other man. There was no help for it. Goran bent his head and used his fangs to hit the sweet spot. Just like that, the huge male was out. Goran got up in time to see Motre’s legs kick the air in a macabre death dance.

Goran launched himself on the back of the second man and bit him in the neck. He roared like the dying bull he was then dropped like a mountain, Motre still clutched in his hands.

Motre crashed to the floor and lay there gulping like a fish, staring up at the ceiling. When Motre could finally speak, he asked, “What the hell are these guys on?”

“I don’t know,” Goran replied. “But I want some.” He collapsed to his knees beside Ian. He checked, grateful for the pulse beating strong in the kid’s neck. He sat beside him to catch his breath. He motioned to Motre. “If you want to finish them off, I’d really like to not have to do that again.”

“With pleasure.” Motre scrambled to his feet, pulled the stake out of his pocket, and turned both men to ash. As they lay burning, a weird hissing and awful smell taking over the air, Ian woke up choking and gasping for breath. Goran dragged Ian, Motre hobbling slowly behind him, to the stairwell where the air was fresher. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’d say we got our asses well and truly kicked.”

“Not so,” said Motre. “We’re alive and they aren’t.”

“True. But it was close. Too damn close.”

*

David turned from
the vamp in disgust. His father could deal with him. He was more concerned with finding his sister. And there was no sign of her.

He walked around to the other side when he heard murmured voices.

“Shh,” he hissed to his father. Serus immediately froze, every inch alert. He grabbed the other vampire by the back of his neck in warning, leaving no doubt what his fate would be should he displease Serus.

David slipped back into the shadows, straining to hear the conversation, the tone of the voices. And then he knew. He smiled. “Tessa?” he called out. “Is that you?”

There was a shocked silence followed by a shout of joy and running feet. He’d barely turned to the sound when Tessa bolted from the shadows and launched herself into his arms.

“There you are,” she cried. “We’ve been so worried.”

We?
David looked over his sister’s shoulders to see Cody sauntering toward him, a big grin on his face.

Tessa backed up slightly and spun to the side after hearing something. She gasped in shock. “Dad!” She launched herself into their father’s arms. David could only shake his head. A couple of weeks ago, this would never have happened. It was a good thing to see.

Cody walked closer. “What the hell happened to you?”

David winced. “Yeah, I wasn’t sure what was down here, and instead of meeting Motre and Ian up top, I decided to make a quick trip down.”

Cody shook his head. “And you never said a word.”

“The reception down here is crappy. No one can send or receive properly. It takes like ten minutes to send out a message if you’re lucky.”

Cody nodded. “I haven’t tried honestly. Been a little too busy.” David watched Cody’s gaze narrow as he studied Serus and the vamp he was holding onto. “Who’s the extra?”

“Who knows? He’s trying to save his skin by offering us information.”

“Hmmm.”

Serus stepped closer. “Cody, what took you so long?” His grin flashed deep and wide.

“Good to see you didn’t smash like a bug on your landing, sir. As Tessa was afraid you’d done.”

Serus gave her a startled look then laughed uproariously.

“Well, you didn’t answer when I called,” she said, flushing. “I was afraid you were seriously hurt or dead even.”

As he laughed louder, she added, “Obviously I knew you hadn’t died when we got here,” she said in exasperation, “But you were nowhere to be found.”

Still grinning, Serus reached back to tug the stranger forward. “That’s because we found this guy’s buddies. Only they weren’t very friendly.”

“But I am,” the stranger said. “Lamar is my name.”

David snorted. “Whatever. Let’s move. I’ve wasted enough time down here.” He looked up the long stairwell above him and groaned. “It’s going to take forever to get up here.”

“Wait,” Tessa said. “The Ghost is supposed to show us another way.”

“So was Lamar.” Serus shook his new friend hard. Then he stopped, glanced over at Tessa, and said, “A Ghost? Did you see one?”