Family Blood Ties Set - 3 books in 1 Read online

  "Moltere dropped off the grid when?"

  "Hell if I know. Forty, maybe fifty years ago, maybe. 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 powered up a watt. "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 to one side. He gave her face the once over and walked to the next one and the next one.

  The bubbled wrap made it difficult to tell the vampires 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 taller.

  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 only those who were in their way? And were they just 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 back out of the way. Both elders stepped forward to get a better look. Cody watching his father’s face, saw the color bleach from his already white skin and saw him spread his legs in a wider stance as if 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 skin tone that worried her the most. His cheeks sagged like he wore skin 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 were dripping from him. Mom had said something about the nutrients having kept him in good shape, but without them…

  Whatever it was, this aged versions 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 to her. "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 back 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 to nothing."

  "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 wandered 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 dream state.

  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 to the macabre scene. He had enough visions to keep him in horror movies for a long time. "There isn’t much we can do now then, is there?"

  "Just be aware. 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, on my orders." 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 them, smiled slowly. "She did well, di
dn’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 up the folded blanket off the end of the bed, she threw it across her legs and pulled it up to her shoulders. Her clothing tugged 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 drawn 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 one 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 come 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. At the back was a door. 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.

  Vampire in Distress

  (Book 2 of Blood Ties Series)

  Dale Mayer

  Valley Publishing

  Copyright © 2012

  ISBN-13: 978-1-927461-07-5

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidences either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  DEDICATION

  This book is dedicated to all my children, especially my daughter Kara, who started me on the road to writing young adult books. Enjoy!

  Table of Contents

  Back to the Beginning

  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

  Prologue

  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 helping to rescue his old man, the legendary Goran. Kinda made him feel like an equal. Ian strode along on the other side of his father, quiet as always. Jewel, his best friend's girlfriend, 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.

  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 brained by her human friend, Jared. At the same time he had to admire a guy willing to fight when he was still 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 stage.

  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 days, he'd had a chance to understand her, gain some insights into her weird I-want-to-be-human thing she'd 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.