Vampire in Chaos (9 page)

He shot her a sideways look.
You’re starting to sound pretty far out there. Force fields? Next you’ll say all that cement building was nothing but a mirage.

She gasped as the bits and pieces of the puzzle fell together.

That’s exactly what it was,
she said excitedly.
An illusion. No, not all of it,
she said at the confused look on his face.
But at the end where it seemed like it went on forever, that was the illusion. We were just going around in circles.

Maybe,
he said doubtfully,
but why?

“She is waiting for you. Please don’t delay.” The stranger appeared in front of them, reminding Tessa that they’d come to a stop while they discussed the issue. She flashed him a bright smile. “Sorry.”

He nodded his head in a regal manner and turned once again.

We need to go to her and find out what’s happening down here.

So you say. But I’m all for getting David and Serus out of here and heading back to the surface. What in all of this looks normal to you?

She smiled at the dirt walls.
Nothing. Except it looks like a mine, and that is enough to make me want to find out what’s going on.

At the word
mine
, she felt his spurt of shock.

Ah hell
, he whispered.
That can’t be
.

It not only can be, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was.

She took a step forward when a booming voice filled her head.
You know nothing!
It was so loud, so dominant, so controlling, she cried out, her hands clapping over her ears as she fell to her knees.

“Tessa?” Cody cried, “What’s the matter?”

“Someone is in my head,” she gasped. “Can’t you hear it?”

“No. I can’t hear anything.”

You must come to me. Hurry. It’s not safe.

And the voice fell silent.

*

Cody helped her
back on her feet, but she bent over and took several large gulps of air.

“Are you okay?” What a stupid thing to say. Of course she wasn’t okay. She wouldn’t be looking shell–shocked if she was. “What did the voice say?”

“Something about needing to hurry. That we weren’t safe.” On the last word, she lunged to her feet, looking around warily. “We need to go.”

“Go where?” Cody motioned to where the stranger had been. “He’s gone.”

She blinked several times, then pointed. “He’s waiting for us up ahead.”

Cody peered into the darkness. He couldn’t see anything, even with vampire night vision. “If you say so.”

Keeping a firm grip on her arm in case she collapsed again, he walked toward the waiting stranger. A stranger who was getting stranger all the time.

They hadn’t gone a dozen feet when the stranger appeared in the mist, his features working in agitation. “Hurry, we must hurry.”

“Yeah, so she said,” Tessa muttered.

The stranger looked at her shock. “You have spoken to
her
?”

“I didn’t get a chance to say anything,” Tessa snapped. “She did all the talking.”

A beatific smile crossed his face. “Truly you are blessed to have heard her voice.”

He reached out a gnarly hand. “Let me help you. We’ll go faster.”

Cody opened his mouth to protest, but Tessa already spoke. “I’m fine. Let’s go.”

He smiled again. “Indeed, you are worthy.”

Tessa raised an eyebrow at Cody. He shrugged. He’d always thought she was worthy.

Really?

He snickered.
Always
.

A tiny smile wrinkled through his mind. He squeezed her hand in response. How did one ever get used to that intimacy? That level of knowing someone so well that you could hear their very breath in your mind?

Feelings overwhelmed him, and all he wanted to do was pick Tessa up and carry her away to keep her safe. To keep her with him from this day forward. Like his primitive ancestors, he wanted to find a hidden lair for just the two of them.

Her gentle voice rippled into his mind. Shock, laughter, and was that a warm hug at his words? He hadn’t meant for her to know the depth of his feelings, but it seemed like it was almost impossible to hide it. He hadn’t closed the door between them in a long time. He hoped she never did.

And just like that, the door slammed shut.

Snick.

He stared at her in disbelief. Not only had she closed it with way more force than necessary, she’d locked it. As in locked him out.

She turned to face him, her head shaking rapidly. “It wasn’t me,” she said. “It was that same being who yelled in my head earlier.”

“But why?” Already he was frantically trying to open it. But the door refused to budge. The stranger waited impatiently for them.

“I don’t know,” she said. “We need to go and find out.”

“Oh, we’ll do that, all right.” Cody glared at the stranger. “Why aren’t we there yet?”

“We are here,” he said with a nod behind Cody.

He spun around, immediately tugging Tessa closer. Before them sat a vampire he’d never seen before. But she – if it was a she – was so old, it was as if she was one step away from being dust.

*

Goran opened the
door and peered around the corner. The hospital hallway was empty. Good. This place was big, like seriously big. He didn’t really expect to meet many people up here. And certainly none he knew. There were many doors on both sides of the hallway. He studied them. Should he explore? The last thing he wanted to see was more people or vamps hooked up to tubing where they were being fed drugs. Still, any number of his friends and family could be in here. Damn. Making a decision, he walked to the first one and opened it. Empty. Good.

He walked to the next one. Empty. Feeling much better, he walked to the next and then the next. On the last one, he was already closing the door when he registered it as full of people. Shit. He paused and pushed it open again. And that was when he realized he knew two of the people.

“Well, well, well.” He walked over to Motre and slugged him on the shoulder. “It’s good to see you.”

Motre’s grin was wide and wonderful as always. What the hell was going on? As his gaze wandered the room, he caught sight of Ian, standing in the corner, two big vamps in white lab coats pinning him in place, and finally he understood. “Looks like I came just in time, Motre.”

Motre snickered. “We can handle it. These guys aren’t going to make us break a sweat.”

“That’s all right,” Goran said with a ferocious grin, “I’ve been looking for something to pound into the ground since I woke up.”

“Wait,” said one of the two men standing in front of them. “No pounding required. I’m Dr. Horander.”

Motre snapped, “Right. You’re the doctor who kept Ian a prisoner here.”

“No, you don’t understand. Ian is on special medication. He’s reacting to the drugs he was given in the mine,” the doctor cried. “Don’t you understand?” He motioned to the big guards holding Ian. “They need to take Ian back so he can get his next dose.”

“No! No drugs.” Ian cried. “Besides, you wouldn’t let Wendy see me.”

“Of course we couldn’t let her see you,” Dr. Horander said. “She wouldn’t understand. Then she panicked and started this chaos.” He calmed down and turned that genial smarmy voice on Goran. “Don’t you see, it’s all a big misunderstanding.”

Goran smiled and stepped closer. “I understand perfectly.”

He reached out an arm and placed it across the man’s back. As it slid across the man’s shoulders, his fingers splayed out like claws and he grasped the one spot at the back of the doctor’s neck and squeezed. Hard.

The doctor went down without a fight. Motre took out both orderlies who’d been holding Ian. They never felt a thing. They both dropped to the floor. Too damn easy. He turned back to the second doctor, who now held a syringe in his hand.

“No, don’t come any closer. Or I’ll have to use this.”

Motre took one step closer.

Goran eyed Motre. He had on a thick leather coat and his shirt under that. It would have to be a very sharp needle to go through to his skin, so as long as he could keep his face and neck protected…

“What’s in the syringe?” he said in a conversational tone that had the man shaking in his boots.

“It’s a weapon,” he cried out. “It’s new, just out of our labs.”

“And what labs are those?” Motre asked in a hard voice. Ian joined them a few moments later, his color back now that he wasn’t in danger of being drugged again.

“Our testing labs,” the man said. “It’s to make you docile.”

“Really? That doesn’t sound like much of a weapon to me,” Motre said, his voice cold and clear. “If you mean knock–out drugs, then that would make more sense.”

“That’s what it’s going to be,” Ian said. “Knock-out drugs that make you docile.”

He snorted. “Think of the mind control drugs. They use this and give you a new program,” the doctor said, “As long as you are receiving the drugs, then you are going to follow the program.”

Ian added, his voice curiously detached, “Is that what you gave to me?”

The doctor shrugged. “Everyone gets a certain amount of it. It can’t be helped.”

“Ah.” Ian smiled, then reached out and snatched the syringe out of the man’s hand.

The doctor backed up. “No, wait. Don’t hurt me.”

“Why not?” Goran asked. “You had no problem hurting any of us.”

“No, you don’t understand. I could be useful.”

Motre stepped closer and he cowered back. “No. Don’t let him hurt me.”

“What kind of help could you be to us?” Goran asked.

“I know things,” he said. “Big things.”

Motre stopped and stared at him. “What kind of things?”

The doctor smiled. “For starters, I could tell you about what’s beneath this hospital building.”

Motre stopped and stared. “What? There’s something under us? What the heck?” He turned to the other two. “Now what do you want to do?”

Goran glared at him. “I already know what’s under here. We don’t need you.”

Motre stepped forward.

“No, wait. There are cameras down there. People.”

With a shrug, Goran figured Serus could fill him in later. He motioned to Motre.

Motre was on him in an instant.

*

Ghosts? Serus couldn’t
believe what he was hearing. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he remembered hearing about such vampires. You only saw them if they wanted to be seen. There were whispers about Ghosts living where they wanted, how they wanted. There had only ever been a small group of them. He remembered that. He thought they’d all died out.

Interesting twist. He wouldn’t mind having a talk with one of those Ghosts himself. They were supposed to be the eyes and ears of vamp society. That was another reason their presence gave vamps the willies way back when they could be in places where you least expected them – and often were.

They made the best spies.

Then suddenly they were gone.

He couldn’t remember why.

He studied the three men more panicked than he’d seen them before. He glanced surreptitiously over at David to see him tense, muscles ready to attack. They had their diversion.

He jumped without warning and hit the bigger of the two men sideways. His attack was so fast, he had the vamp knocked down and out without warning. He hopped to his feet and spun around. David had taken out the other large vamp, a spike in his hand still smoldering.