Darlings of Darkness: A Vampire Anthology Part 156

"Hey, wait up." David raced down behind her. "What's the panic?"

She didn't bother turning around. "Them. Always thinking I'm a baby."

"Huh, I think you blew that out of the water a day ago when you insisted on going after your friend."

"What?" Tessa paused at a landing and waited for him to catch up with her. She couldn't see anything below her but more stairs. "They always act like I don't know anything."

"I'm sure most parents would think their kids don't know how to pick a lock." He paused to catch his breath. "By the way, how did you learn to do that?"

She smirked. "I overheard you and Cody talking about it." She raced off down the stairs. "These steps need to end soon. We have to be hundreds of feet under the ground." She finally came to the last stair. "Any news from Cody?"

"No. I haven't heard back from any texts I sent. Either he can't or... he can't."

"If he's here, we'll find him. And if he's not here, we'll still find him...but somewhere else."

David jumped the last couple of stairs to land beside her. "This place looks empty."

"Empty doesn't mean empty anymore." She quickly filled him in on the floor from the other house that had dropped away and the stone wall that had lifted and let the water rush in. "I'm certainly learning that vampires are a devious lot."

"How do you think we stayed at the top of the food chain for so long?"

"Great." She grimaced. "Let's check this level out."

Ten minutes later, they'd circled once, looking for obvious rooms, hallways, any way forward. Nothing.

"They're not here."

"Maybe and maybe not." Tessa focused, or maybe defocused was a better way to describe the blending of her two types of visions, to discern the energy patterns on the floor. Five minutes of searching high and low and ...nothing. "You're right. There's nothing here."

"Let's go tell Mom and Dad."

Tessa looked up the long set of stairs and sighed. "I'm going to jump it if it's all right with you."

"Go for it. I'll run."

Tessa snorted. "Now that sounds like work." She took a jump and then another and another, going up more steps each time. She stopped on the landing where she'd waited for David earlier. She was gathering her energy for the next jump when something caught her eye. She spun around then crouched at the bottom of the back wall.

Energy. Pale, misty energy slunk around the bottom edge. From that position, she searched the stairs in both directions. Cody's energy had gone this far, but no further. "Someone was here."

David raced up to her. "What did you find?"

"Cody stopped here. There's another energy mixed with his. Probably Jewel's."

"Here? Then where is he?"

Tessa ran her hands over the stone walls, searching for that telltale creva.s.se. Yes. The door ran the full length of the landing. "There's a door here."

"What? Where?"

She grabbed David's hand and showed him the cracks delineating the break in the stone pattern. "Somehow, this must move."

"You think Cody is behind it?"

"Someone is or was, at least."

"Let's get it open then."

They bent their heads, searching for any mechanism to trigger the opening.

"David? Tessa?" her father's voice called down the long stairwell.

Tessa lifted her head. "Dad, we're down here on the landing. Looks like another hidden door."

"We're coming down."

"No, don't do that. If we're all stuck down here we won't be able to get out."

"Your mother is going to stay up here." A heavy whoosh and Serus landed beside them. "So what did you find?" he asked.

Tessa frowned. "Not sure. The energy is sitting down at the crack. We found a break in the walls as if for a door, but again, no visible latch to open it."

Cody sat with his head bent over his knees. He hated any sensation of weakness he was male after all. His dad said it was from all the growth spurts and getting his wings. He'd told Cody that his strength would come back bigger, better and stronger. He hoped so. Felt like he sucked at everything right now.

Jewel lounged beside him. She'd probably dropped off to sleep. He wished he could. Worry wouldn't let him though. He could only hope David had gotten the text message. Otherwise, he had no idea how to get out of here. He closed his eyes and rested. A weird sound caught his attention.

What was that? He bolted to his feet and spun around. The stone room was empty, the same as it had been when they'd first entered. How could they have known that the door would shut behind them like that?

Was he hearing voices?

He nudged Jewel awake. "I think someone's here."

She shuddered. "Good guys or bad guys?"

He grinned at the joke they'd been tossing back and forth to keep themselves entertained. To keep the panic at bay. "No idea. Maybe we should be ready for either."

"Yeah." They stood side by side, both tense and aware of the stakes. With their eyes on the wall, they waited for the door to open.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

Tessa, can't you open this door?" Her father pounded the stone under his fist.

"I'd love to. But I haven't found the mechanism yet. It's not the same as the one at the last house, and there's no k.n.o.b or anything similar." Tessa glared at the wall. Her exhaustion dragged at her she really wanted to be soaking in a hot bath with bubbles up to her chin.

p.i.s.sed, she lashed out and kicked the wall. Hard.

"s.h.i.+t!" She hopped around on one foot while the two males watched her in amazement. The wall groaned and creaked before swinging open.

"Wow!" David shot her an odd look before racing inside. "h.e.l.lo? Anyone here?"

"David? Oh thank heavens." Jewel ran up to him, gave him a quick hug, then tugged on his arm to drag him back out of the room.

Cody joined them, pus.h.i.+ng everyone out of the room. "We have to get out of here. The door shuts on its own. Thank G.o.d you got my message." Cody smacked David's shoulder.

David grinned and flexed his biceps. "Yeah, you're not kidding."

"Hey, Tessa. Didn't figure to see you here." Jewel smiled tentatively at Tessa.

David laughed and said proudly, "She's the one who figured out how to open the door."

"Yeah," Tessa snorted. "That took brains. I kicked it because I was angry that I couldn't figure it out."

They all grinned at her.

"Where're Goran and Ian?" Serus looked into the empty room behind them. "Aren't they with you?"

Cody quickly filled them in; told them the two men had not shown up at the arranged time. He and Jewel had gone into this room off the stairs while searching for his dad, only to have the door close behind them.

Uneasiness crept over Tessa. This place was bad news. And they'd left her mom upstairs. Alone. She turned to the dark stairwell. "Let's go. Mom's waiting."

She jumped effortlessly, maybe driven by apprehension. Before she'd really understood how, she stood at the top of the stairs. She beamed. So cool. Though she might not have the techniques down pat yet, she would with a little practice. She strode into the kitchen. "Mom...?"

"Where is she?" Serus stepped into the kitchen behind Tessa. "Rhia?"

No answer.

They looked at each other in horror.

"Oh, no!" In unison, they raced to the front door and outside. Her vehicle was there.

"Mom?" Tessa cried out. "Where are you?"

"Rhia?"

David, Cody and Jewel arrived a few minutes later. Tessa had already searched the area around the front door.

Jewel shook her head. "She could be anywhere inside the house. We shouldn't panic yet."

"Right." David raced back inside.

"Wait. David, don't go alone. We need to stay paired up." Tessa hated the thought of anyone else going missing.

He paused at the entrance, nodded once, then motioned to Cody. "Let's go."

"We'll take the outside." Tessa motioned to Jewel and her dad. "Sorry, I know you're tired, Jewel, but..."

Jewel shook her head, already heading to the outbuildings. "Forget about that. Let's find your mom."

The other three fanned out over the yard and methodically went through each of the outbuildings, one by one. It brought back horrible reminder of the previous property. "There's no sign of her."

They raced back to the front of the house. At the entrance, Tessa called out at the top of her lungs, "David? Cody?"

David answered. "We're here."

The two teens raced down the wide staircase toward Tessa. "She's not upstairs."

"Let's check out the main floor." As a large group they swept through the house for a second time. Nothing.

Back out at the car, Tessa's stomach heaved. If there was any food in there, it would have jumped out a long time ago. As it was, the sense of hopelessness, of loss, slammed into her. Where could her mother have gone?

"Her purse is missing and her jacket. Whoever took her might have taken those items as well. Or let her grab them?" Serus frowned as he studied the empty car.

"I suppose." David looked doubtful, but strode over to the car to look for anything else that might be helpful.

"Dad, they can't be far ahead of us. They haven't had time."

"She's right. We came straight up here. If they've taken Rhia, they could also have Goran and Ian. We were supposed to meet them at the front door, but they never showed up." Jewel wrapped her arms around her chest tightly. "What if the same person or group kidnapped everyone?"

Everyone stopped to stare at her.

"I was just thinking that same thing, only why would they?" Tessa couldn't get that question out of her mind. "It's one thing to kidnap a few hapless humans that people may or may not miss. But to kidnap vampires, particularly high profile ones like mom and Goran. That's suicide."

David b.u.t.ted in. "In fact, this whole mess is starting to look like a bad comedy film. We save someone only to find one of our group taken when we weren't looking. We all came to look for Jared, and now four of our original group are missing."

"Four?" Jewel turned to look at Cody. "Who else is missing?"

"My dad, Rhia, Ian and Jacob."

Tessa's wrinkled up her face. "Except Jacob didn't disappear. He was on the wrong side to begin with."

"Don't jump to conclusions." Her father's voice was sharp as he walked around her mom's car.

"Then form your own opinions." Quickly she told the others what she'd seen, gratified to watch their faces darken with fury. "Exactly."

"There's no sign another vehicle was driven on this road." Serus studied the tracks on the ground leading up to the house.

"Then either she's still here which is very possible given the timeframe or they are all fliers and took her with them," David suggested logically.

"Except Dad and Ian are fliers themselves and would be hard to take away like that." Cody shook his head at the others.