Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (180 page)

Silence.

She nodded a second time. "Right.
This is serious business."

Turning around to face Cody, she
asked him, "In or out?"

"In," he snapped. "There's no option
for me. I can identify them, and I was there with you when you were
attacked. I'm going."

"So am I." David stepped forward, and
that started the surge in the crowd.

"Hey, I want to come. At least we'd
be doing something vampire-ish. It's like we've lost our souls
these days."

Tessa, with a question on her face,
turned to face Ian, the speaker.

The tall quiet member of David's
group explained. "We're vampires, Tessa. We're born to hunt.
Denying our basic instinct is like being one of the living
dead."

Laughter greeted his words. Jacob,
the oldest and most intimidating to Tessa, nodded. "He's right. We
all feel we are a kind of living dead. Truthfully."

"Keep in mind," said Cody. "We'll be
trying to save the treaty so that our easy life
continues."

Goran stepped up. "That's enough. You
younglings can't go alone."

David turned on him, surprising
everyone. "Well, she tried to get your support and Dad's. Now she's
given up and is going regardless."

Rhia stepped forward. "If you aren't
going with them, Serus, then I am. Actually…" She thought about it
for a half second. "I'm going, regardless. They don't know all the
vampires. I do."

"Hey, that's great." Goran smacked
Serus on the back. "We haven't had a good rumble for
ages."

"Who said I wanted one now? I'm too
old for this shit," grumbled Serus.

"Then stay home and tend the fires,
Dad. We'll say hello to Moltere for you," David said.

Shock lined Serus's face. "What does
Moltere have to do with this?"

"Moltere?" Sian's shocked voice cut through the noise. Sian
was so beautiful, everyone instinctively paid attention when she
spoke. "Are you sure it's
him
?" Her penetrating gaze locked
onto David's face.

"No one is sure of anything yet. But
he's certainly the first one that comes to mind," responded
David.

Taz slid an arm around Sian’s
shoulder then dropped a kiss on her forehead. "It's okay. It's not
likely to be the same thing again," he said, lifting his head and
explained the group watching, "I was kidnapped by Moltere's men a
long time ago. Sian here, rescued me." He smiled tenderly at his
partner.

Goran stepped forward, understanding
dawning in his eyes. "On the other hand, Taz, if you're right, he's
been quiet for so long he could have built an army in secret. We
assumed he died a long time ago."

"Maybe he did. But think about this.
Someone old, with a taste for blood, who has money and the power to
create new vampires for his own purposes. Someone of the ancient
lines, maybe with ancient beliefs." David stared the adults
down.

Tessa stepped forward. "Who it is at
this point isn't the issue. We can't jump to conclusions or we
might miss seeing the truth." Except if David was right, the fight
ahead of them was huge. The more she thought about what little she
knew about Moltere, she realized the points David had brought up
were all true. And no one had said he was dead. Moltere was one of
the originals, along with her father and Goran. There were others,
but their names rarely came up. In fact, no one discussed anything
from that era. Something big had gone down – so big it split their
group apart.

She almost missed the horrified looks
passing between Sian and her mom. She barely caught Sian's
whispered, "Not again."

Rhia reached out to hug
her.

Tessa watched, wondering if they'd
all get an explanation – but doubting they would. Adult vampires
were great at not sharing. There had to be a mess of hidden
history. She saw her father look over at Sian and Taz, one eyebrow
raised. Taz reached around Sian, one large hand sliding across her
belly as if to comfort. Serus gaze widened and he grinned. He
smacked Taz on the shoulder. "Congratulations! I hope you'll man
the house in case of any injuries and also help coordinate with
Sian?"

Taz nodded, his brows pulling
together. "Of course, anything you need. Let's not have a repeat of
what I went through."

Tessa barely tracked the
conversation. Confusing, it jumped from some history that her mom
knew about, to the possibility that Sian was pregnant – and that
was something to ponder seriously as Taz was human – then to a
reference about some nasty event from the past…one they'd do a lot
to avoid happening again. Why couldn't adults make things
clear?

Sian beamed at Serus. "That we can
do. And work out a plan to approach Council."

Tessa shook her head, wishing she
understood the undercurrents. Still, David was right. The issue
wasn't just about Jared's abduction, although his kidnapping was a
problem. The crisis was bigger. Much bigger. If this rogue group
were turning humans to vampire, they had to have a reason. The idea
someone was creating an army for their own purposes, to be used
against the common good of vampire and human alike, couldn't be
ignored.

That thought spurred her to action.
She didn't want to be disrespectful, she loved her father, but he
did need prodding occasionally.

"Hey, Dad, you can stay with Sian and
Taz, if you'd prefer. Afterwards, we'll let you know how it goes."
She deliberately turned her back on him, hoping to hide her grin.
There's no way her Dad would let her get away with that
comment.

He spluttered. She grinned and bowed
her head. Cody nudged her gently. She glanced up at him, to see the
same laughter reflected in his eyes. "Ready?"

"Oh, yeah. Let's go." Tessa's
shoulder was grabbed before she could take a step.

"No way you're going to treat me like
a senior citizen. I'm leading this team, and you're the one staying
home," barked her father.

She turned on him. "Oh I don't think
so. You might want to finally step up, but leaving me behind isn't
an option."

Frustration lined his face.
Opposition he was used to. Just not from his daughter. Tessa stood
tall and stared him straight in the eye. She refused to back down.
She didn't want to go against him if she didn't have to. She had
too much respect and love for him. She'd like to have him at her
side. Chances of that happening, however were…

And for the first time that night,
her father laughed. Tessa stared at him in disbelief. Was that
pride gleaming from his eyes? A warm glow wrapped around her
heart.

"I guess that means you're coming."
She laughed with him and turned to her mother, one eyebrow raised
in question.

"Don't think you're leaving without
me." Rhia stepped forward. "But we aren't going to waste the
manpower. We'll split into groups. Serus, Goran, and I will take
one group each. My group will drive to the house where you found
the dead man. David, you are driving with me. Goran will take the
fliers to where we last heard Moltere lived. That will let us know
if that area has any recent activity. Serus and his gliders will
search from the air, picking up the trail from where Cody and Tessa
last saw the vehicles and search the direction they were heading.
Keep an eye out for any place large enough to house a blood
farm."

"A blood farm?" Tessa's gaze widened.
Sian swallowed loudly enough to catch Tessa's attention. Tessa
watched as Sian snuggled deeper into Taz's arms. Right. Now that
made sense of the adults' half-filled-in conversations. They'd seen
one before. Go, Mom. Still a leap in deduction, but she'd consider
it a possibility…for now.

Rhia surveyed the open-mouthed group
staring at her and then spoke. "If they took more than one human,
they are looking for sources of blood. Moltere went into hiding
after the clans found out he was keeping humans alive to produce
blood for him and his family line. If – and it's a big if – if he's
involved then that's what he's doing. Some of his farms continued
to exist long after he'd gone underground. Sian found one not all
that long ago."

Goran beamed. "Love, love and love
this. Cody will fly with me. Serus, pick your team."

Serus shook his head. "Well, if your
son is going with you, you know my daughter is going with me." He
reached out a hand. "If she wants to, that is."

Tessa grinned and it felt like a
light beamed from inside of her heart as she grabbed his hand. "I
couldn't ask for a better partner." At the look on his face, she
burst out laughing. "Okay, team leader."

Everyone cracked up as Goran punched
Serus on the shoulder. "She's good stuff, Serus. Take care of
her."

"Don't you dare let her get hurt
again." Rhia turned to face the large crowd. "We don't have to tell
you where you belong. Line up behind the leaders and let's get
moving." With a final glance around, she added, "Everyone stay in
close contact with each other. No one goes off alone. Serus and
Goran, regular check-ins please."

Cody grinned. "Ian and Jewel, are you
coming?"

Both nodded.

With that, the four fliers took to
the air.

Tessa just wished she knew what they
were in for.

***

Jared opened his eyes.
The same stone walls stared back at him. Surely this nightmare had
to end soon – or at least his awareness of it. He couldn't have
said how long it had been now. People had come and gone. The other
captive had been taken away. Only Jared remained in the
cell.

The door opened. And yet another new
person entered. What was out there, a freakin’ vampire city? He
didn't think they were looking after his welfare though, or they'd
have given him a bed and blankets, maybe some medicine for the
headache threatening to split his skull wide open.

"Hello there. It's nice to see you
looking more awake." The newcomer pulled a chair over to where
Jared slouched, manacled to his chair. "We have the test results
back. Interesting reading. You're a very healthy young man, did you
know that?" He opened the file he brought with him. "It also
appears that you may have some vampire in your blood."

Jared stared at him in
shock.

"Oh, not
in any recent generation. The line is very diluted with you. And
that's a good thing. Because we need you
human
. We've finished our tests now,
so we can move you onto the next stage of the program. There's been
no decision yet as to which program you're going to go into;
however, rest assured that your well-being is most important to
us." A swarmy smile formed on his mouth.

"Programs? Do I get a
choice?

"So you do speak. Very good. Now I
can't tell you about our programs just yet and, as much as I'd like
to give you a choice, that is being made for you, based on these
test results. Not to worry. You're in good hands."

At the nasty smirk on the guy's face,
the last bit of hope died. None of the options would be good. He
was never going home. He couldn't help wondering at the what-ifs.
What if he'd not been kidnapped? What kind of future would he have
had? What kind of relationship could he have had with Tessa? Was
she even thinking of him?

CHAPTER EIGHT

Apparently a little rebellion was
good for a father-daughter relationship. Tessa would never have
believed it. Still, she had to admit owning a piece of his
admiration had done wonders for her self-confidence. She actually
held herself straighter. Like she needed more height. She towered
over her human girlfriends. Although, her companions tonight were
vampires and they were all tall. It made her reconsider her notion
that she didn't belong with them.

And there was the weird stirring in
her belly every time she got close to Cody. Like what was with
that? Vampires were notoriously faithful – once they'd found their
one true love. Until that point however, it was a well-known fact
they liked to do a lot of searching.

Tessa, like every other little girl
in the world, often tried to picture her perfect prince. One week
he appeared as a tall blond Adonis, the next a dark-haired bad boy.
She'd never pictured Cody as 'the one.' Now she had to
wonder.

"Tessa. We're going to drive to
Moltere's old hangout. The adults are fixed on him as the one
behind this mess," David said as he walked toward her.

Serus spoke from behind her. "I think
you should go with them, too, Tessa. You are just learning to jump,
whereas Wendy and Jacob are experienced gliders. We can't have you
slowing us down. And I don't want you to get separated from us out
there and get lost."

Tessa glared at her father. "Then
you'd better lead off now, before you take this conversation down
that road any further. I'm jumping. I may not have much experience,
and I know I don't look very pretty doing it…however, I can only
get better. So let's go."

Her dad's jaw jutted out – he
obviously took offence to her tone. She knew she was overstepping,
she knew she was pushing the limit, but damn it, Jared needed help
and she wanted to participate in his rescue…if that were possible.
So when her father opened his mouth, she cut him off.