Darlings of Darkness: A Vampire Anthology Part 160

"You b.i.t.c.h."

Tessa picked up the chair as the woman went for Jewel. She crashed it down on her head.

The nurse crumpled. Tessa bent down, picked up the cell phone and removed the woman's set of keys from her pocket. Grinning, the girls made a fast exit and locked the door behind them. They were greeted by looks of new respect when they faced the males again.

"Wow."

Tessa held up the keys. "Thought we might need these."

They raced to the next door to find it locked. Tessa tried several keys before finding the right one. She quickly unlocked the door and looked inside.

Her mother lay crumpled on the floor, her legs and arms tied behind her. Tessa ran in. "Mom. Are you okay?"

"Look out!"

s.h.i.+t. Tessa had forgotten there was a guard. Spinning around, she barely saw Goran launch himself at the guard. Arms tied together, his fingers clawed into the guard's neck. Serus stepped up, blocking Tessa's view. The guard slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Tessa shuddered and raced to her mother's side to make sure she was all right. She wrapped her in a warm hug.

"Honey, I'm so glad to see you."

Serus joined them and quickly undid the bindings to help his wife to her feet. "Take it easy when you stand up. The blood is going to be painful as it moves through your limbs." He supported her gently, the love for his wife naked on his face. She gasped and leaned into his strength. With his arms around her, they looked so intimate that Tessa turned away to give them some privacy.

Goran wrapped an arm around Cody's shoulders. His voice shook with emotion as he said, "Thanks, son."

"Hey, Dad, I think you missed our meeting?"

They grinned at each other.

Serus looked at him over Rhia's head. "We've taken out three men and one woman. How many more?"

Goran frowned. "Of those we know of, one bada.s.s, one unknown and one of us. I'm going to kick that boy's a.r.s.e something fierce when I catch up to him."

"Jacob?" Tessa spun around at his comment.

Almost backing up in surprise, Goran glared at her. "You know about him?"

"I saw him talking with strangers when he shouldn't have been at one of the vampire holdings." She glanced toward the open door. "Is he here?"

"I don't know. Saw him a while ago. Dumb punka.s.s kid."

"If you can travel, we need to get going." Tessa shot Goran a questioning look.

He glared at her. "I am always ready to get down to business."

"Easy, Dad, Tessa's had a hard day."

"Like how," snorted David, easing back to the front door. "My kid sister was kidnapped and when they gave her back to us she had this Wonder Woman thing going on."

Tessa grinned, pride straightening her spine. "Yeah, Wonder Woman. That's me. Not."

Her mother reached over and gave her a quick hug. "I really want to get away from whatever h.e.l.l is going on here. We are not enforcers."

"Enforcers?" David turned back to face her, a question written all over his face. "Weren't they like a vampire army that kept the peace among the clans?"

"They were. There are only a few of them left. Without the need for their skills any longer, they've pretty well disbanded."

"That's too bad. That's exactly who we need right now." Cody turned to face his dad. "Do you know any of them we could call for help?"

Goran hesitated. "Maybe, but there's no guarantee they'd be on our side and not with this lot." He nodded out to the warehouse and its gruesome contents. "They believe human blood makes them fierce hunters." He exchanged grim looks with Serus. "Had you considered them?"

Serus glanced down at Rhia tucked up tight in his arms. "No, I hadn't, and honestly, that thought is enough to make me want to pack up my family and run. That means there's war ahead. For all of us with humans becoming the discarded, undervalued casualty."

"I don't understand."

Tessa and David stared at each other. "You're saying these old enforcers could be behind this factory?"

"Or they could be the beneficiaries of the blood."

Tessa's eyes widened. "But how many are there? Surely, they couldn't consume this quant.i.ty?"

"Not unless someone is building an army of them."

Jared couldn't stop his legs from trembling. He wouldn't make it out of the room in this condition. His feet had turned to mini glaciers.

There. Noise sounded next door to him. Men approached.

He waited, his fingers tense on the makes.h.i.+ft weapon.

"The next door is open, I'll check it out."

"I'm coming, too," a female voice said.

Jared closed his eyes and prayed. He didn't want to die. But he really didn't want to endure this undead existence.

Footsteps sounded. A tall male entered, followed by a shorter one.

Jared swung. Hard.

"Ouch." Both men spun around. The pole bounced harmlessly off the first man's arm. Jared watched in horror as fangs slid down. He kicked out, helpless as he was picked up and tossed onto his bed. His head bounced twice before he slid to the floor. So great was his disappointment, he barely felt the pain. He'd failed.

Jared lay staring up at the ceiling, defeated. He had no more energy for a second attempt. It was all over.

"Wait."

Jared heard a female voice. Almost recognized it. Then everything started to waver before him. The next thing he knew Tessa was bending over him, a huge smile on her face. "Jared," she cried. "We found you."

He smiled at the vision. She'd dyed her hair again. And, d.a.m.n, did she look good.

Just like an angel should.

He closed his eyes and let unconsciousness take him out.

"You hurt him," Tessa accused Cody in outrage. "Why did you do that?"

"Because he beaned me with this." Cody held up the IV pole and shook it at her. "Besides, I hardly touched him. I just threw him onto the bed."

Tessa looked from the pole to him and sighed. "Okay, so you were justified in defending yourself, but look at him. He looks terrible."

Then she stopped and peered closer. "Actually, he doesn't look all that bad. They must be giving him vitamin injections or something."

Her mother dropped to the floor beside Jared. "This is the boy?" she asked as her hands ran over him quickly looking for injuries.

"Yes, he's the one." Tessa chewed on her bottom lip. She wished he'd wake up. They weren't out of danger yet. She'd like to get a long ways away before someone else came into this picture. "Is he going to be okay?"

"I'm sure he will be."

Tessa glanced out the doorway to the macabre laundry line of hanging humans. "They were going to hang Jared up like those other people, weren't they? Put him a plastic bag and turn him into a milking machine?" Anger burned inside, overwhelming the relief at having found Jared safe. They'd almost been too late. Look at what these animals had put him through. Put her through for that matter.

Angry tears filled her eyes. She wiped them away.

"It's all right, honey. We found him in time. You found him. You did good."

Tessa sniffled. She was so tired. And it wasn't over. Not by a long shot. There were still a few a.s.sholes here to find and deal with, and all these poor humans to help. "Mom, will taking these people down kill them? Or do you think Taz might be able to save them? At least some of them?"

Rhia glanced at the rows and rows of suspended blood donors, then looked away quickly. A shudder rippled over her. "I don't know sweetheart. I hope he can."

"If they've been up there for a long time, their muscles won't work anymore, will they?" Tessa's voice thickened at the thought.

"They'd probably have to recover slowly, like a patient waking up after being in a long coma."

Tessa ran her hand down over her face. "I guess the professionals will have to make that decision. They can't stay like this. It's obscene. They're the real living dead."

"You think they'd be better off dead?" Rhia studied Tessa's face. "I can see how most people would believe that." She glanced back at the men, who'd finished checking the other rooms and were slowly returning to the group again. Lowering her voice, she added, "This has been a hard couple of days for you, honey. But as tough as it's been, you've grown...matured. You've really come into yourself. And I, for one, am very proud of you."

Tessa's eyes filled with tears again. Her emotions were so close to the surface now. She smiled as she stared down at Jared still lying on the cold floor. "I couldn't do anything less."

"And that's the change I see. I'm sorry it came through such painful circ.u.mstances, but you are better for it."

With a sniffle and a half smile of thanks, Tessa looked around. "He's really cold. Isn't there anything warm he could wear?"

David piped up. "We found a store room with a bunch of clothing. Any idea of his size?"

Tessa shrugged.

But her mother leaned over with an a.s.sessing eye and said, "I wouldn't worry about size too much. Better to go large anyways. Get something warm with long sleeves. Oh, and make sure to look for socks, too." She busied herself with an extra blanket and tucked it in around him. Placing the back of her hand against his forehead, she frowned again. "Serus. Can you lift this boy back onto the bed? I don't like his color."

Tessa cried out, "What's wrong?"

Her mom reached over and pulled her back out of the way. "I don't know what they've been giving him, but he could be going through withdrawal from their drugs."

"Oh no." Too upset to say anything, Tessa watched as her father bent down and scooped up Jared like he was a four-year-old and carried him across the room to a clean bed.

David arrived with an armload of clothes. Rhia pushed Tessa and David out. "Serus, give me a hand getting him dressed, please. This boy is freezing."

Outside, Tessa wandered back and forth, refusing to look at the rows of undead hanging amongst the crazed network of tubing and piping. A weird pumping suction noise made her bones cold. The sound had something to do with the blood collection system. She didn't want to know any more than that.

"Are you all right?" David walked up and hooked his arm through hers. "We found Mom and him, thanks to you."

A wan smile escaped. "And to all of you. I can't believe all this." She motioned to the mess around them. "So ugly. Shameful. I hate that our people created this."

He raised an eyebrow at her phrasing. "I know. I'm not feeling very proud either. Just remember, it's not us. There are bad humans and bad vampires."

She closed her eyes and felt herself sway gently.

"Hey. Stay awake. There's still a lot to be done."

A sudden thought hit. "We still have to find the other guards too, don't we? Not to mention check on the ones we knocked out earlier. I don't want them to wake up and come after us." She spun around. "What're the chances that pudgy guy has gone for reinforcements?"

"Calm down. There're a lot more of us now. We can do this. Goran has gone with Cody, Jewel and Ian to look for others and move the ones we've captured into a locked room. Mom and Jared can't take much more. Not sure you can either." He studied her face, frowning. "You're exhausted. But I have to tell you, you've done a fine thing these last two days, and I'm really proud of you."

Tessa stared at him. His words slowly penetrated the fog in her brain. She smiled slowly, brilliantly, some of her fatigue melting away at his words. "Thanks. It's nice to hear."

"You deserve it. I'm not sure how you knew to kick the doors or how you can see this energy stuff... I'm just glad you had the skills to put into use when we needed them." He shook his head as if remembering her actions.

She grinned. "The kicks were easy. I was just mad. The energy stuff is something I've always seen. It never occurred to me that I saw things differently from the way you do. My skills, as you call them, never showed up before because there was no need for them. I haven't been trying to develop my vampire abilities because, well, I didn't think I had any to develop."

"Jared owes you a lot. I'd never have believed this..." David waved his arm around, adding, "If you'd just told me. I'm glad I'm here to see it for myself."

"And I wish I'd never seen it. Chances are it will remain in my nightmares for decades."

"Mine too, Tessa. Mine too," he added softly. Wrapping his arms around her he tugged her in for a brotherly hug. "Let's go check on Jared."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

Cody strode down the south side of the warehouse at his father's side. He couldn't help but feel a little c.o.c.ky after helping to rescue his old man. Kinda made him feel like an equal. Ian strode along on the other side of his father, quiet as always. Jewel almost ran at Cody's side to keep up. She was one of the rare shorter vampires. But then Jewel was unique in other ways, too. Like her coloring. Her hair was more charcoal-colored than jet black.