Family Blood Ties Set 5 in 1 Read online

  "I have." Cody sighed. "But I have to believe that she will be fine with the two elders. Our family and friends need us down here."

  "And someone needs to go for help. I'll try the tunnel."

  "And maybe get caught and shipped out to yet another warehouse. Haven't you realized that every time we split up something happens to one of us?"

  "Hi, Cody. Aren't you coming out?" Cody stiffened, closing his eyes as Tami spoke from the warehouse just past the door. Whatever window of time they had was now gone. "Shit," he whispered.

  David's face shut down as he looked past Cody. He called out, "Did you fix the problem with that poor person?"

  "No. It's beyond me." Tami called back. "One of the men has gone to see what he can do about it."

  "Oh. Well, I know Cody said he'd go out there, but honestly all those people are giving him the heebie-jeebies. He's quite shy."

  The same light tinkling laugh washed over them. "I'll hold his hand. Take him down to where the others are and introduce him."

  "Oh, who's down there?"

  Cody stared at his friend. How the hell had David managed to keep his voice so even and neutral when he just wanted to run and hide – that mind stuff that had happened to Rhia was plain freaky. He wanted nothing to do with it.

  "Your friends. We have made a fresh pot of coffee and everyone's sitting down and visiting. I'm here to coax you to join us." She gave that same tinkling laugh as before. Why had he thought she was cute? Not anymore. A viper came to mind instead. Cody shuddered and made sure a warning was plain in his eyes as he fixed his gaze on David.

  David grinned at him, but his tone never wavered. "Sounds good. We'll finish our private discussion, and then come join you."

  "You won't come back with me now?" She stepped closer.

  From his position, Cody could see her face, but he doubted David could.

  "In a minute," David said from behind him. ,

  A hint, just a flash of something akin to fury, hatred even, flashed in her eyes. If Cody hadn't seen it for himself, he would never have believed it. His wings loosened, and the energy in the room changed.

  He tossed her a haughty look. "Private boy talk. Sorry. We'll be finished soon."

  "Well..." She struggled to maintain her friendly face which made for fascinating watching. Eventually, she conceded with a curt nod and added, "I'll go tell the others you're on your way then." She spun on her heel and left the doorway, the sound of her clipped steps echoing in the cavernous warehouse.

  "We need to get out of this room." Cody led the way to the door without waiting to see if the others agreed with him. "She'll return with backup in just a few seconds."

  "Yeah. That's my take on it, too," David said, hurrying to follow Cody.

  The two of them slipped out the door and turned right, in the opposite direction from the way she'd gone.

  *.*.*

  Jared paused as Cody and David dashed out of the room. He wanted to follow them, but at the same time, couldn't make himself do it. They were going to get caught. Or maybe he was going to. But he didn't have their abilities, and as much as that pissed him off, his sense of inferiority made him even madder. They were vampires; he was human. That was like comparing apples to oranges. They each had their strengths.

  Right. If he kept telling himself that, he might actually believe it.

  He knew one thing. No way in hell he was ever going be taken prisoner again, not in this lifetime. He felt sorry for the others, but the best thing he could do was to bring in more people to rescue them. Humans, this time. God only knew there were enough vampires wandering around. He couldn't tell friend from foe – and neither could they.

  With one last look around him, he opened the door leading to the stairs and closed it tightly behind him. They probably wouldn't even notice that he'd left.

  Desperate to get her feet under her before she hit the ground, Tessa twisted in mid-air. Somehow, glide training hadn't included 'fall' training. "Shit!"

  Out of options, she flipped over in a comical imitation of a summersault and somehow – and she wished she knew how – she ended up feet first in a hard landing. A bone jarring landing was more like it. She still ended up on her backside, but hit the ground much more softly than she deserved to.

  Back on her feet, she searched around, hoping no one had seen her – like she needed to hear about this incident for the rest of her life. Thankfully, she was alone. The early morning sun had risen, although it was still hidden behind heavy cloud cover. Her father could manage for a little while longer. Goran, too, except that she had no idea where he'd ended up. She hoped he was with her father. Dad needed him. With a grimace, she realized that even if her oomph had gotten up and left, the scenario hadn't. She needed to get it together and fast.

  Sneaking around the corner of the mansion, she studied the layout. Empty, as usual. So where were the elders? Moving snug against the wall, she peered far enough around the next corner to see the vehicles.

  And then the horrific mess.

  "If you don't come out, we'll kill him," The sarcastic, arrogant voice floated over her, sounding as if he were looking forward to the job.

  Tessa pulled back, her heart hammering in her chest. She couldn't see who they'd caught.

  "Or maybe we won't kill him. We'll start by breaking his wings. A maimed ancient is just another vampire, no matter how kingly he thinks he is."

  A bellow ripped through the air.

  "Oh, no," she whispered. They had Goran. They'd probably caught him in the air. She knew those damn fliers had to have been out there somewhere. She hadn't seen them fly in, but the fortress had too many avenues in and out for them to watch them all.

  "So what's it going to be?" the first man asked. "Give it up and live to fight another day or we'll maim this one and you as well when we get a hold of you."

  "And tell that retarded daughter of yours to get over here, too," another clammy almost recognizable voice said, the sound chilling Tessa to the bone. "I'm tired of chasing her around the countryside."

  Her heart locked down. Who was that? She almost recognized it – just not quite.

  "Serus, forget about me," Goran snapped in a hard voice. "Get out of here."

  Yeah, that made sense. But with a sinking feeling, Tessa realized her Dad was more likely to think she was still safe up in the damn tree and that his friend, once free, could help him kick ass. She looked around for something, anything to break the deadlock before he gave in.

  She could create a diversion, but they had plenty of people available to chase her. She wracked her brain. Chasing her would still even the odds for the elders, but would it be enough? Or would they take her down as well?

  Just in case...she pulled out her phone. Writing up a message, she sent it to everyone on her phone list. Most of her friends were safe, and she had a lot of her brother's friends on the list. Not to mention all of her teachers from both the vampire and human schools. She hated the limitations of the damn characters on a single message. Why hadn't she bought that stupid app that would allow her to send longer messages? With a short explanation, she gave them the license plate numbers of the vans and directions to the place. Took three messages to get it all out and after having sent the last one, she understood the implications of what she'd done. She'd hit the equivalent of a panic button.

  Only time would tell what help would come.

  Being virtually invisible to most of her egotistical species had given her many chances to watch their interactions. They all thought they could do whatever they wanted and get away with it. Her aunt Gittora, Rhia's oldest sister, especially. Then again, she hated Tessa. She had suggested euthanasia at Tessa's birth.

  Her mom had kicked her sister out of the house at the time and it had taken until the last couple of years for the two to become friendly again. David had told Tessa about it a few years ago, after one of Gittora's nastier visits had left Tessa bristling. Unfortunately, being a bitch didn
't make her one of the bad guys.

  And just wanting her to be one of them didn't make it so, either.

  Tessa groaned at the weariness chasing through her body. She had to do something. She couldn't let the others down. How did the vampires go for so long without exhaustion weakening them?

  Her vampire heritage needed to kick in soon.

  Even as she wished it, a wave of energy slipped into her veins. She straightened, relishing the sense of power racing up and down her body and through her blood, empowering her muscles and clearing her mind.

  Whoa! Did that mean she could access the energy just by asking?

  Who knew?

  Stepping out in front of the house she stopped, put her hands on her hips, and surveyed the four men dressed in black, including their motorcycle helmets. Except Goran didn't have the same protection. They weren't going to have to injure him. If the clouds continued to break up and the sun fulfilled its promise, he'd burn to ash in minutes.

  She still wore her father's heavy coat. Stripping it off, she walked up to the group.

  "Hi everyone." Coat in hand, she smiled innocently and tossed it over Goran, covering his injured wing, head, and shoulders. Thankfully, the long coat also covered his hands tied behind his back. "There you go. In about five minutes, you're going to be glad to have that."

  "Damn it, Tessa," he snapped. "Your father told you to stay back there."

  Ignoring him and keeping her eyes focused on the leader, Tessa smiled. "Hey. Nice outfit."

  Just then the sun peeked through the clouds. She grinned. Walking closer to the first two, and in a surprise move, she ripped the helmet off his head, and then smacked a high kick into the second guy's throat. He howled and instinctively bent over. Blood poured out of his mouth. Before he could do anything to save himself, Tessa ripped off his helmet, too.

  "Dad, catch." She tossed the first helmet in her father's direction as he raced toward them. He caught it. Goran lifted the coat above his head, and she flung the second one his way. Now the battle was even. Two on two.

  The other two men rushed at her. She laughed, jumped to the top of the porch roof, from where she surveyed the chaos below.

  "Hey, assholes!" she called out. "What are you doing down there?"

  "Bitch." One of the men still with a helmet took a step toward her. "We'll get you for th–"

  Tessa's father lifted his body, stopping him mid-word, and flung him with the fury of a man getting payback for someone who'd hurt his family. The second man turned to flee, but Goran caught him. The man never made a sound. Instead, his bones crunched.

  Tessa shuddered at the sound. She jumped down and came face to face with the crumpled ashes of one of the men from whom she'd stripped his helmet.

  She'd killed him.

  Her eyes slammed shut and she spun away from the evidence, her gut clenching and threatening to ditch the acid bubbling inside it. She opened her eyes to see the remains of the second man the sun had burned. She stared down at him, her breath coming out in hard gasps. She'd done this. She'd killed. Not once but twice.

  It didn't matter that the men had been trying to kill the three of them. She was now responsible for two deaths. She had to find peace with that – somehow.

  Goran placed a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Don't look at them, Tessa. I'm sorry you were forced to do that but they got what they deserved."

  Swallowing, she nodded. Walking over to the man lying barely conscious on the ground in the shade of one of the vans, she stripped off his helmet. It was Jacob.

  "Well, that answers that question." Serus grabbed the teen who had spent many long hours in his home and tossed him into the sunlight.

  Tessa cried out, but it was too late. Jacob burned to ash right in front of her. Jacob wasn't a nameless bad guy. She'd known him. That made it so much worse.

  She stood still, trembling, unable to believe what had just happened.

  Serus reached out and pulled her into a hug. He squeezed her tight, then released her and stepped back. His face, stern and intense, looked down at her.

  "Tessa, I'd do anything for you to have missed this last half hour – but I can't change that you didn't. You were supposed to stay in that damn tree." He gave her shoulders a shake. "This is war. No one is going to remain unscathed. The sooner we clean up this mess, the better."

  Her father studied her face, worry lining his features and filling his gaze. Then he gave her a short nod and released her. He glanced over at Goran. "Looks like the vampire clan is going to go through a major population reduction."

  "And about time. Used to be, we had space to roam and a whole country to enjoy. Now the world is full – everywhere." Goran walked over to join them, holding his injured shoulder with his right hand. He stood tall in front of Tessa. "Tessa, I owe you my life. Another couple of minutes, and I'd have gone up in flames instead of them."

  She gave him a small smile. "No thanks needed. I was trying to figure out what I could do to even the odds, and then I realized Mother Nature could do it all on her own." Desperate to find some semblance of control, she glanced around, careful to avoid the remains on the ground. "Dad, I thought there were more than just these four."

  "Yeah and more joined those." He grinned, a smile that made her blood run cold. "I took out several, and Goran caught another couple before they injured him. We left them where they fell. If the sun has reached them in the meantime, so be it."

  Such a cavalier attitude belied the look in his eye. Tessa had no doubt that they were dead before he left them. Her father was nothing if not thorough. Now to add to his rage, his wife of several hundred years and his youngest son had been taken prisoner. The death count would rise. From the look on Goran's face, he wanted a heavier role in the slaughter as well.

  "We need to go get Mom and the rest of them out of there." She started in the direction of the outbuilding.

  "Think you're old enough to take charge, do you?" Goran called out after her. "You haven't been alive long enough to know what that means."

  "Maybe, but you two are so old you've reached your second childhood so one of us has to act like an adult." She halted and snickered at the looks on their faces. She doubted anyone had ever spoken to them like that before. As ancients, they had always garnered respect without having to do anything. Being powerful Council members had only added to their potent images. She wasn't sure why she'd done it. Except she'd hit some kind of wall – and then had climbed over it.

  Serus's eyes rounded at her teasing. The he laughed and laughed. "She's got us there, Goran."

  "Harrumph!"

  Tessa strode over to a hidden mechanism that should lower the floor and studied the changes Goran had made to keep the men out of the building. Reaching over, she reconnected the plug he'd popped out. She didn't dare comment about how quickly the others would have been able to figure it out as well.

  Goran and her father joined her inside the shed, removed their helmets, and dropped them on the ground. Setting the floor to descend, Tessa walked over to Goran.

  "Will that heal on its own?" She motioned toward his injured wing.

  "Eventually." He rotated it slowly and winced. "I don't think it's broken, but I won't try flying for a bit."

  "Not to worry. More than a few doctors are down below. I'm sure one of them can fix you up." She grinned at the look of horror on his face.

  Serus grabbed her and pulled her into a close hug. "I'm really proud of the way you handled yourself out there."

  "Thank you." Almost euphoric from his praise and her sense of accomplishment, Tessa grinned up at him. "I guess being able to walk in the sunshine has some uses, huh? And I'm sorry if I'm a little sassier or should I say...disrespectful right now." She wrinkled her nose. "I feel like a different person."

  "I have to admit I've always been jealous that you could walk in the sunshine," he admitted.

  Rearing back, she stared up at him. "What? Are you kidding me? I've spent my whole
life trying to be more like you, and now you tell me that!"

  "Don't." He shook his head. "Don't ever try to imitate anyone else. You're fine the way you are. After seeing how you've grown these last few days, let me change that – you're perfect just the way you are."

  "Well, look at this. We've got company. And don't they look so close. This must be the infamous Serus and his retarded daughter, Tessa."

  Both Serus and Tessa stiffened, and then gazed at each other in horrified realization.

  Turning slowly, still in the protective circle of her father's arms, Tessa stared at the four men in white lab coats, two of whom carried guns, as they waited for the floor to fully descend. She glanced at the opening above them. The clouds had moved in again to blot out the sun. She and her Dad could jump up, but they wouldn't be able to out jump bullets. And what about Goran, could he still fly?

  "I don't remember seeing any of you before," she said carefully. Her father tightened his grip on her shoulder.

  The biggest man, a heavy set guy with an oversized jaw, gazed at her with venom in his beady eyes. "Don't worry. I'll make sure my face is the last one you'll ever see."

  *.*.*

  The warehouse was huge, but had limited hiding places. Cody halted at the end of the hallway, and David stepped up beside him. Cody looked in both directions, and then shrugged, confused. "Where to?" he asked.

  David met his eyes. "Maybe the computer rooms as there shouldn't be any but one or two techs there – if any at all."

  "Except that is where Ian and Jewel went, and they didn't make it. We need to avoid any cameras as well."

  Racing toward the end of the warehouse, they passed endless rows of bodies. Cody had to admit he was becoming a little paranoid. These people were the living dead, something vampires were often called. But these poor souls were the real thing. He gulped and turned the last corner. The maintenance room should be up ahead. They might find a place to hide near the large machinery – if the room was empty. It would give them enough breathing space in which to formulate an attack.