Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (182 page)

The wind gusted, sending them down to
toward the ground in a heavy drop. Cody hovered, letting the wind
take him where it wanted.

"Cody, look there." His father
pointed to a turn off in the roads below. One set of tracks headed
to the right, leading to another large property. A second set of
tracks kept straight and headed straight up the
mountain.

"Is that Moltere's area in the
mountains?" Cody asked.

"It's one of them." Goran pointed to
the large property on the right. "We'll go check that out,
hopefully find a place to hole up until dark."

He swooped down closer to the old
stone mansion, coming to a graceful landing on the roof. Cody
followed. He'd never been this far away from home and didn't
recognize the area. There were statues or gargoyles on the corners
of the roof. The building had to be at least four, maybe five
stories high.

It was also dark. No lights of any
kind shone out. Looked like a vampire holding to him. He walked the
roof, looking at the outbuildings. Rhia had said to look for any
place big enough – like a barn – where a blood bank could be set
up. So even the basement of this house might suffice.

"What do you think, Dad?"

Goran studied the layout. "It's
definitely vampire. Now is it one of us, an import, or one of
Moltere's?"

"How do we find out?" Ian
asked.

Goran looked at him in surprise. "We
go in, of course."

Of
course.
Cody grinned.

"In the front door?" asked Ian.
Jewel, the only girl in their group, shot him a withering look. "We
should check out the outbuildings first. Just in case we're not
welcome inside the main house. We may not get a second
chance."

"Good idea." Cody turned to his dad.
"Let's split up. Jewel and I'll go check the outbuildings and you
and Ian can go inside."

With a sharp look, Goran nodded. "You
have half an hour only. We'll all meet at the front door then." He
motioned to Ian and they both turned and floated down from the
roof.

"Let's go." Jewel and Cody went
toward the back of the house where they leapt down to the two
outbuildings. One appeared to be a garage and the other…well, it
probably served as a storage shed. They walked through the garage
first and found nothing. No false floor, no hanging bodies, no
large walk-in cooler. Nothing suspicious anywhere.

The second building had no windows to
look through, nor did the door yield to their efforts. Cody tried
to pick the lock but didn't know how. He could break it down, but
didn't want to make any noise that would alert others to their
presence.

"We have to get in."

"I know. But how? And without making
any noise."

Jewel reached out and struggled with
the doorknob for a moment. "The knob is new, but the door is old.
Something important is behind here."

They stared at each other in
excitement.

Cody pressed his head against the
door and listened intently. He backed up several feet and rushed
forward, popping the door hard at the knob. It snapped open,
sending him rushing headlong into the dark interior. It was darker
inside than outside.

Jewel stepped in behind him. They
searched the corners and checked the loft. Empty. As they jumped
down, Cody noticed a clean spot on the floor. He crouched, his hand
tracing the square pattern where something had been. "Something was
here."

"Yes, but no longer." Jewel searched
the rest of the room. "Now what?"

"We meet up with the
others."

CHAPTER NINE

Tessa couldn't hide her fatigue. Her
legs were ready to give out and her stomach had long ago stopped
screaming for food. Now her stomach sat like a silent tiger waiting
to jump on prey. She could only imagine how the others felt. Of
course it was her human genes that made her require food. Her
vampire genes could go without for days.

They'd approached the darkened houses
one at a time and searched each building. And had found nothing.
Now they were in the basement of the third and last house. So far –
nothing. Had all this been a waste of precious time?

Tessa allowed herself a moment of
weakness. She leaned against the wall, her eyes closed, while she
rested and the others searched. Her feet were killing her. Why had
she thought heeled, fashionable boots were perfect for this
occasion?

Then she sensed it.

Whatever
it
was? She opened both types of vision and studied the energy
around the basement. Being as tired as she was, she had trouble
focusing. That's when she saw them. Energy lines, faded and thin,
spread out to the point of no longer being recognizable,
individually. All she could tell was that someone had been here
recently.

Studying the pattern, she slowly
recognized where the thickest collection of misty clouds sat.
Straightening up, she walked into the center of the low lying
mist.

The energy disappeared into the
floor.

With her finger, she traced each
stone, looking for missing mortar, loose rocks or a door. She
couldn't find anything.

"What are you looking for, Tess?" The
concern in her father's voice made her smile.

"The energy has pooled on the floor
slabs. As if someone went below."

The others moved to surround her,
cautious excitement permeating the air. Every block was checked,
every mark was examined until they finally sat back and looked at
each other.

"I don't think there's anything here,
Tessa," Wendy said. Jacob nodded in agreement.

"Yes, there is. I just don't know
what or where." She looked around. Energy lingered on the walls.
She hadn't thought it meaningful before, had thought of it only as
a remnant from the people who had traveled this way. Yet it
centered on just one wall – not several.

She walked closer. Acting on
instinct, she placed her hand into the center of the energy cloud
and pressed her palm firmly against the wall.

A groaning creaking sound in front of
her mixed with gasps of shock from behind her. She spun around to
find a section of the floor sliding down at an angle.

"Oh, well done, Tessa." Her father
strode to the opening and bent down, staring into the black abyss.
"Stairs, let's go."

One by one they filed down the
spiraling stairs. Tessa had to admit her nerves were getting the
best of her. She didn't want the floor to close and lock them in
while they were down there. Just the thought of that gave her the
heebie jeebies. So did being left behind alone. Bolting down the
stairs, she raced to catch up. As she reached them a horrible
grating noise sounded.

Tessa spun around. The floor was
rising – effectively sealing them in.

***

Jared let his head fall back. He
closed his eyes, relief coursing through him with the easing of his
tense muscles. So much pain. He wouldn't have thought it was
possible to live through so much and still be alive.

Death had to be better than
this.

Nutrients pumped into his body. Blood
pulsed out of his body. He was a captive. For the rest of his life.
And now the means of doing something about it had gone beyond
him.

Tears collected in his eyes, and he
hated that too. Anger stirred – faint at first… Then the beginning
of resolve bloomed into determination, washing away the moment of
weakness. He was Jared Enderby. He refused to let his life end like
this.

There had to be something he could
do. For the other humans who hung here at his side. For himself.
For those that hadn't yet been caught.

He opened his eyes and stared at the
rubber piping so close to him. His arms were encased in plastic to
stop him from moving around. His legs were similarly suspended. He
could bend slightly forward, but that was it.

Why couldn't he be unconscious like
everyone else? Through the wave of pain, he vaguely recognized one
of the orderlies standing in front of him, a look of concern on his
face. The orderly motioned to someone to come over.

Why?

***

Cody stepped inside the mausoleum of
a house and listened quietly. His gaze darted from side to side.
The time to meet Ian and his father had come and gone. There was no
sign of them. The door creaked behind him as Jewel joined
him.

"Where are they?" she hissed against
his ear.

"I don't know." Leaving the door wide
open, Cody crept further into the house. Was anyone living here?
And if they were, where were they? He was trespassing. For all he
knew the owners were waiting to smash him over the head.

"How do we find them?" she
whispered.

"I have no idea." They hadn't set up
a plan B.

Crap.
Cody looked around the
cavernous room. Sheets covered the furniture…and nothing indicated
that vampires lived here. Of course vampires often didn't inhabit
the main areas of the house, as they tended to have too many
windows that let in natural light.

"I don't want to call out – who knows
what we'll wake up." Jewel wandered over to the large fireplace
mantle, picking up photos before putting them down again. "Do we
just wait here?"

"It's either that or go looking for
them."

Jewel cast a long look around the
deserted space and shook her head. "Don't like that idea
much."

"So how long do we wait? And if they
still don't show up, then what?"

Jewel’s lips pursed as she considered
it. "Let's give them another fifteen minutes, and then we'll go and
look."

"Sounds fair."

Slam.

Cody and Jewel swiveled in shock. The
door had closed. Jewel rushed over and tugged on the handle. She
spun around in a panic. "It's locked."

Cody refused to believe her. He
tugged on the doorknob himself. "Damn it."

They were locked inside.

***

"Tessa, wait!" Her father raced
behind her as she tried to outrun the floor as it closed. "You
can't stop it. You'll end up getting hurt."

Clank!

The floor settled into
place.

Tessa's throat started to
close.

"Let's go." Her dad turned and
started back toward Wendy and Jacob. "Come on, Tessa. Let's catch
up with the others."

She spun around and watched him head
back down the passage as if nothing had happened. "Go where? Don't
you care that we're locked in?"

"No." His faint voice floated back to
her as the others raced behind him. Tessa spun around and realized
she was alone in the darkness.

"Wait for me," she yelled, and ran to
catch up. Her finger smacked against the first corner. "Shit."
Shoving it into her mouth she switched to her vampire vision. Why
didn't she just keep the damn thing on? She was such an
idiot.

You'd think she'd have learned by
now. Not. She sped through the darkness, barely keeping the others
in sight. The stone walls led her deeper underground. Stone floor
gave way to hard-packed dirt, then, finally to sand. A heavy chill
settled in. Ten minutes later, still running, she gasped for air
and grabbed her side. The others showed no sign of
slowing.

Purebloods. Sometimes she darned well
hated them. Still grumbling, she picked up the pace and tried to
catch up to her dad. Five minutes later she smacked into
someone.

"
Umph
."

Tessa sprawled backwards on the
floor.

"Damn it, Tess. Watch where you're
going." Jacob turned to glower down at her. "And what are you doing
on the floor?"

She glared at him as she scrambled to
her feet. "Why'd you stop?" She looked around. "Are we
here?"

"You tell us."

Tessa shot him a look as she
struggled past him to her dad's side. "What's the
matter?"

"Look." He pointed at the stone wall
in front of them. They'd reached the end of the line. The passage
stopped right in front of them. Tessa frowned. She spun around,
looking for another way out.

"That doesn't make sense." The energy
wisps had disappeared into the air a long time ago. "Maybe we
missed the exit."

"And maybe we didn't. Maybe this is a
dead end…a trap against intruders," Jacob scoffed at
her.

Tessa ignored him. She'd never really
liked this friend of David's. Not like she did some of the others.
That Jacob had come at all had surprised her. Now his presence just
irritated her.

"Dad, there has to be something we've
missed."

Jacob turned to stare at her."Then
you'd better find it."

"Me?" Her stomach hiccupped. "Why
me?"

"Because you got us into this mess,"
Jacob spouted again.

She glared around at the others. "You
could do something to help, too."