Vampire in Denial (20 page)

"No. It’s a lot of human suffering. That’s all I see." Tessa strode over to the computers. "Are these monitoring the people’s vital signs? Like an alarm system or something?"

"It is a control center but I'd think a backup one. There should be a main system close to the rows of people for medical and security personnel to use." Cody stopped in front of one monitor. "Look, there's someone in a bed."

"Maybe a new arrival?" David suggested.

Tessa raced over to see if it was Jared. "I can't make out his features."

"Could also be someone sleeping off shift." Jewel shivered and stayed close to David.

"Look!" Tessa pointed at the farthest monitor to the left. "There’s someone walking around down there."

David joined them. He pursed his lips then tapped the screen. "It could be a doctor or nurse. They appear to be checking on that person. It’s probably like a first aid station or something."

Cody tapped a screen. "Where’s the security?"

"There may not be much." David glanced over at her. "Look around this place." He motioned at the computers and monitors. "It practically runs itself. No army needed here. No need for high security either. No one knows it exists, and even if they did, who could find it?"

"So where are mom and the others?" Tessa wandered around the large room.

"I’m searching. I can sense her and Goran, both of them, but can't reach them mentally." Serus studied the last row of monitors. "They could be almost anywhere. I doubt the entire place is under camera scrutiny."

Tessa walked around the room, overwhelmed at the concept and sheer size of the operation. "Is it even safe to unhook all these people? Will they die if we do?"

"I want to know what they are doing with all the blood. I’ve hardly tasted human blood and didn’t like what little I did have – so who is getting all this? And how? Do they have some sort of milk truck or something for storing and moving it all?" David studied the monitors, fascinated.

Cody wandered around. "The logistics required for an operation of this size would be unbelievable. It can’t be just Moltere. There have to be dozens of people and vampires involved, possibly hundreds. What if we’re the ones in the minority outside? And everyone around us outside is involved?"

"No." Serus’s voice brooked no argument. "The black market is huge, but that doesn’t make those involved the majority. This sophisticated system shows years of planning and execution."

"How could no one miss these humans?" Jewel stared in horrified fascination at the rows and rows of suspended people. "How could all these people disappear and no one care enough to search for them?"

"They could have been kidnapped anywhere around the world. You hear about human trafficking all the time. There is the huge network of smugglers, then there are thousands of runaways and the masses of homeless on the streets." Tessa pulled her jacket tighter around her belly. "I don’t think there’s any shortage of unloved humans – unfortunately."

"That’s horrible."

Tessa glanced over at Jewel’s face. Tears glimmered on the other girl’s cheeks. She was glad to see such compassion and caring from another vampire. "Yes, it is. Jared might have been targeted for that reason alone. Although, he also might have become a target after seeing the vampires' faces at the movie theater."

"Doesn’t he have anyone that cares about him?" Jewel cried out in horror.

"Apparently not." Tessa couldn't remember Jared's exact words, only something about how his uncle wouldn't care if he ever showed up again.

"Could the vampires have contacts within the human population? Human contacts giving over their own people?" Jewel’s eyes glistened with fresh tears.

David wrapped her up in a warm hug. "We’re going to help them. Don’t worry. We’ll get to the bottom of this."

Tessa watched the two of them. So that's how it was. She hid her grin. Then she caught Cody’s eye. She smirked at the look on his face. He already knew.

Then Cody winked at her.

Her eyes widened. Oh my goodness. Cody actually winked at her. She could feel heat climbing her cheeks again. She bent, hiding her face behind the fall of her hair.

Her stomach danced with butterflies.

No. She admonished herself for losing focus. Jared first. Then she’d sort out these confusing feelings. These last few days a lot of things had changed for her.

That much?

Maybe. She stole another look in Cody’s direction. He looked at her. Instead of hiding, this time she straightened and smiled at him directly. His eyes widened, then he grinned.

Cool.

First things first. Spinning around, she cornered her dad. "Who can we call for help? The Council? The police? Someone? Anyone? This is a big operation. We need to take down all the tentacles, not just this center."

"I know. But let's get your mother first."

As much as she wanted her mother back safe and sound, she needed to know that this would never happen again. "Why not at the same time?" she countered. "We should call people to come as backup and to help clean up while we go in and save mom and the others. These people are going to need help."

"They could be past that point, you know."

"I know, but I don’t want to consider that right now. We need humans to help us. This is too much for us to handle on our own."

Her dad frowned. "I don’t think it’s that simple."

"It’s only difficult if we make it difficult. Come on, Dad. This is beyond us."

Cody nodded. "Tessa’s right, sir. Even if we take this place down, the head honchos are just going to set up shop again somewhere else. They aren’t going to give up something this lucrative so easily."

Jewel gasped. Everyone spun around to look at her.

"Please tell me they don't have vampires hanging here?" Her voice rose in horror.

"I doubt it, Jewel. Why would they? Our blood is different." Tessa didn’t want to contemplate vampires feeding off their own.

"Then what about him?" She tapped the screen on the bottom corner. Everyone crowded around her. The camera focused on one single male.

Tessa frowned. "I’ve seen him before."

"Of course you have. That’s Daren. We saw a lot of him before he headed to Europe after his dad passed away a couple of months ago." Jewel’s jaw clenched on the last words. She wrapped her arms tightly around her chest as if warding off a chill.

David stared at the figure in the monitor. "Then why is he hanging beside those humans?"

It was Tessa who voiced the unspoken horror hanging heavy in the air. "Because he wouldn’t be missed."

***

Cody watched David with Jewel. And from the look on Serus's face, it was obvious this development was new to him too.

Now if only Cody knew why the hell he couldn’t take his eyes of Tessa. The kid sister of David – the Tessie thing – had disappeared long ago…somewhere around the time he noticed that Hooters outfit she'd worn at the Council house. Now he had trouble reconciling the two parts of a whole.

She kept surprising him. Like that energy stuff she kept seeing. Damn helpful, yet way weird. And then there was that locked-door thing. Kick yes, but in the right spot, more than once?

Not a coincidence. At least not to him.

He turned around in the large room, staring and contemplating the planning and organizing that must have gone into it. This was a professional operation – on a massive scale. As a vampire, he could understand the lure of the product. However, as a modern one, raised without having tasted human blood, he abhorred the idea. He didn’t have any close human friends. Still, he knew many. He wouldn’t drink their blood – not if he didn’t have to for survival.

To keep these people, kids like Tessa's friend, was just wrong. How long could they stay like this? Imprisoned until the bodies aged and could no longer pump out rich blood? He shook his head. This was murder. Long and slow. Plain and simple. And yet it was also so much worse.

"What about you, Cody?"

Cody shook his head, turning around to face the others. "What?"

"Cell phones don’t work down here. We need a flier to go for help."

Cody frowned. He was the strongest flier in the group. "I'm not leaving."

"You have to." Tessa walked over to stand in front of him, her eyes luminous in the dark. "You're the only one who can get there and back in any decent time. If we don't let someone from the outside know, what will happen if we're caught too?"

David held up his camera phone and said, "I've taken a bunch of pictures, but can't get them out of here."

Tessa pointed to the computers around them. "Can you download the pictures and email them to someone?"

"I don't have a cable with me or my flash card."

Jewel held up hers. "I have mine."

"Cool." David snatched it out of her hand and went around to all the monitors, taking a comprehensive series of shots detailing the images on the monitors. Then he backed up to take wider shots of the control room."

"Who do I send them to?"

"Someone who can do something for us. And not just one person."

As the others turned to face her, Tessa explained. "We don't know how high up this goes."

Serus frowned. "Send it to Markus, Tatia and Cleary, and better add Sian to that list. Make sure you send a set home too."

That was good. He’d named three ancient families. Sian and Taz could be a real help here, too. Taz's medical expertise would come in handy with the humans.

"Do you have their email addresses?" David checked the desk computers looking for a model not used for running the monitoring software. At the back he found one. He booted it up. "This one might have the Internet, if not..."

"Jewel can try to send the pictures over her phone, but we won't know if they've gone out properly."

"It's no longer a problem," David crowed. "This computer has Internet. Makes sense, they have to connect to the outside world somehow."

He brought up the browser then headed to his email account. Taking the flashcard out of Jewel's phone, he quickly downloaded the pictures into a specific folder and then compressed them. Within minutes he had everything attached to emails. "Okay, now what do I say?"

Everyone chimed in over and above each other as they brought up points to mention.

He read the draft aloud. "Good?"

"Yes, send them." Tessa couldn't help but glance around, a sense of urgency building inside her. "We’ve taken too long already."

"Done."

"Good. Shut down the machine and let’s go find your mother." Serus strode to the door, then turned back to David and asked, "Can you hide what you just did?"

"To a certain extent. I just cleared the history and the cache and deleted the pictures. I'm shutting it down now. Hopefully, that will fool anyone not specifically looking for trespassers. At least for a little while."

"Let's go then."

Everyone walked to the door. Tessa blurted out, "Do we all go? Shouldn't someone stay behind – just in case?"

"I'm not staying here." Jewel stood as close as she could to David without being on top of him. "I think we're better off sticking together. Safety in numbers and all that."

Serus nodded. "We'll stay together. It might take all of us to save your mother, as it is. If we could find Goran, he’d be a big help. The more on our side – the better the odds."

T
essa hated to think of everyone walking into a trap.

With those pictures and the email cry for help, someone should come to their assistance soon enough. At least she hoped so. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. "Fine. Let's go."

Her dad gave her a long look then nodded, as if satisfied. "Everyone, quiet."

Tessa rolled her eyes.

He rolled his eyes back at her. Then he opened the door. The corridor on the other side appeared to be similar to the stone walls and floor they’d already passed.

They walked forward cautiously. The lack of ventilation or lighting added to the weirdness factor. A series of doors connected shorter hallways. The temperature dropped a bit lower in each one. By the time they'd entered the hallway, the atmosphere had cooled considerably.

The reason behind it was obvious. They stood facing rows and rows of suspended humans contained in some kind of vacuum-sealed bags. Each had tubes running forward and back from various machines. Though the temperature here wasn’t cold she couldn’t imagine it was comfortable for them. Then again, they didn’t appear to be aware of their surroundings in any way.

"Wouldn’t a warmer temperature keep them alive longer?"

"I think the monsters in charge are more concerned about the product than the source," whispered Cody, pointing upward. Tessa tilted her head back to find large pipes entering some sort of vat with many more pipes exiting. "A blood cleansing process?"