Vampire in Crisis (11 page)

At the instant silence in his mind, he wondered if he’d gone too far. Shit. He closed his eyes. This woman was going to be the death of him.

That’s exactly what I’m trying to avoid.

He heard her take a deep breath before she said in a small voice
, And I’m sorry. I’m not sure who I am anymore.

You’re Tessa. Just stay true to her and keep that damn Deanna bitch locked away.

Is that what I am doing wrong? Is she changing me?

I don’t know if she had something to do with it or not but there’s no doubt you’re changing.

In a bad way?
she asked, her voice shaking, making him feel horrible instantly.

No.
He sighed.
Not in a bad way. Just don’t play games,
he pleaded.
Please don’t ever play mind games.

Okay, I promise.

And that was the best he could hope for. If she did get into that mode, he’d know it was Deanna’s influence and he’d have to haul her back. He couldn’t imagine her struggles right now, but it was important to stop her from becoming Deanna #2.

He couldn’t imagine anything worse.

*

David hurried behind
his father. Both ancients had already moved well ahead of him. He didn’t know what Cody was planning on doing, but he wanted to go and shut down the heating system. That made the most sense to him. But the ancients didn’t work off logic as much as instinct and they were looking for a fight. It would be hard to steer them in any other direction. They’d been duped and wanted to get their own back.

He could understand that, but he wanted this damn war over. He hadn’t heard from Jewel yet, and that worried him, too. She’d been in the doctor’s care at the Council Hall but after so much espionage and so many traitors in their midst, how did he know who to trust? Jewel had been through enough already. She needed rest and to know she was safe. That couldn’t happen yet.

But neither had he thought to roust out a phone for her to use. She’d lost hers earlier. He chastised himself for not considering it. Hopefully she was still sleeping. Although if he could grab a moment, he would ask Sian or Wendy to see if they could get one to her.

“What the hell is taking you so long, son?”

David shook his head. His father was maybe ten feet ahead of him. Hardly far enough to worry. “We need to get to the heating system first. Especially if you’re looking for a fight.”

The two men came to a dead stop and spun around to look at him. “Why is that?”

“If they are planning to do something like Tessa suggested, then they have to guard the delivery system.”

“Humph. Maybe.” Serus stared at the door ahead. “Let’s find out what’s on the other side of the door then go to the mechanical room.”

David groaned. Herding ancients was like herding cats – each had a mind of its own and knew exactly what to do – and it never matched up with the others.

*

Wendy was out
the door and running down the hallway seconds behind Sian. She’d seen what was on Sian’s monitor briefly, but not enough to comprehend the significance. Even now, her mind was trying to sort through the information. Something about the database of drugs and the location of a small stockpile of drugs. Surely Rhia would know most of the drugs anyway. Besides, as she’d been injected herself, it was common sense to research the drugs she’d been given. Wendy would. How else would you know what to expect if she’d been drugged?

Being younger and not pregnant should have made it easy to catch up with Sian, but instead the woman was running down the hallway at a rate that was making Wendy panic.

Just as she geared up for another burst of energy to catch up, Sian turned left. Wendy couldn’t hit the brakes fast enough; she bolted past before managing to stop and retrace her steps and go down the correct hallway. Sian was nowhere to be found. Wendy approached the doors – three of them – carefully. She didn’t know anything about the Council Hall or who and what could be behind these doors. Did she just open them and ask for Sian if she couldn’t find her?

The first door was locked. Wendy moved to the second one and tried that knob. It turned and the door opened easily. She stepped inside to find a lab room full of refrigerated coolers.

She frowned, staring at all the glass walls containing small vials of liquids. Her gaze carried along the wall and found Sian standing in front of one, her fingers punching numbers on some kind of mini computerized lock system guarding the door.

Wendy walked over cautiously, not sure she wanted to know what was going on, but she knew it concerned Rhia somehow.

“Sian?” she asked carefully, “What’s the matter?”

Sian dropped her forehead to the glass door and closed her eyes. “Someone has been inside the drug vault. We keep samples of each of the drugs we’ve found and work to make an antidote.”

“Someone?” Wendy still wasn’t sure what this meant. “As in Rhia?”

She nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

“But why?” Wendy didn’t get it. Rhia had been through so much. She wouldn’t want more drugs – why would she? She laid a hand on Sian’s shoulder, her gaze locked on the mini screen that said the lock had been released; the door had been opened approximately two hours earlier. That matched the time frame that they’d left Rhia alone. “What reason could she possibly have for taking out some of the same drugs that had been used on her?”

The term junkie come to mind and Wendy knew that was always a possibility, but given Rhia’s strong constitution, it wasn’t likely. Still, she’d been injected many times. Another dose might kill her.

Surely she knew that.

“I don’t know. But it appears to be what she’s done.”

“Do you think she injected herself with it?”

Sian glanced at Wendy, then turned to look around the room. She pointed wordlessly at the empty syringe package lying on the counter. “Under normal circumstances, that would never be left lying around. I think it’s from her.”

Uh no.
Wendy walked over to study the package. Unless…

“Could someone have forced her down here to let them in to grab drugs they wanted?” Wendy motioned around the cool room full of stainless steel and glass. “There are drugs of all kinds here – why would that one be of any value?” Wendy struggled to make sense of this.

“She might have been weak, but Rhia is a formidable fighter even at the worst of times. Someone looking to take her out would not find it easy to do so. If they’d wanted these drugs and she wouldn’t comply, then they’d have to have major leverage to face her.”

Wendy groaned, “You mean like holding one of her kids hostage, for example.” What a horrible thought, but given the mess of nastiness she’d already seen, that didn’t seem too far out of line.

Sian’s gaze flew up to lock on Wendy’s as she added, “Or to help one of her kids.”

Sian turned her attention back to the missing vial and said, “What if she couldn’t remember anything important – like where she’d sent Seth? You know how much that bothered her. She’d do anything she could to retrieve that information.”

“Find it how? She couldn’t remember anything she’d done.”

“Exactly. And she needs to. So what better way than to give herself a little bit of the same drug and hope that she could straddle both worlds to find out what she’d done with Seth, yet not have so much of the drugs in her system that she lost herself again?”

“She knows how dangerous that world is. One of these times she’s not going to wake up.” Wendy shook her head. “Besides, she’d never risk losing Tessa, David, or Serus. She just wouldn’t.”

Sian looked at Wendy, the sadness in her expression bringing a stinging to Wendy’s eyes. She shivered and, not able to help herself, she reached out to stroke the other woman’s shoulder.

“That’s true,” Sian said, her voice heavy, “But she’s a mother and she feels guilty. She won’t abandon her child. Especially not when she’s responsible for his current plight. And as I’m learning, we’d do anything to save our child – even sacrifice ourselves.”

*

Ian woke up,
rolled over, and fell back asleep. When he woke up the second time, there was still a heaviness to his mind, making it hard to be aware enough to stay awake. He didn’t have an explanation for why he was so tired, but he was. Just rolling over made him groan. Hell, the ancients would laugh like crazy if they could see him now.

How the hell could they keep going when all he wanted to do was lie down and die? Keeping up with those two was killer. Motre was no better. He hoped he aged as well as the others did because it seemed like youth wasn’t a gift. He was weaker, tired more easily, and didn’t have their endurance.

Oh well. He sat up, biting back a groan as his muscles engaged. Why the hell was he so sore? Sure, he’d been in a fight or two, been knocked around a few times – okay, more than a few times.

The room was empty. He glanced around, searching for signs of where Wendy had gone. He knew she’d been working with Sian to help identify the survivors and had also been involved in trying to track down the ambulance carrying away Jared’s friend. Likely Taz was involved then.

With Taz working at the human hospital and both councils involved, everything was getting mixed up. He’d heard something about the humans wanting Tessa to go and identify the bad guys in their ranks like she’d done once before, but Ian didn’t think she’d be the right person for the job. In many ways she was a complete pushover. A smart one, but still a big softie.

And then there was Wendy. He really respected the woman she was becoming. This blood farm mess had truly brought out the best – and the worst – in many of his friends. He thought back to Jacob who’d died weeks ago. Who knew he’d be someone to hate his people and the humans so much as to want to destroy all of them?

Ian certainly hadn’t.

He yawned and thought about lying back down when the door burst open.

Wendy flew in. “We need help. We can’t find Rhia.”

*

Jared snuck out
of the house and raced down the street toward Chelsea’s home. He knew vaguely where it was but didn’t know the exact address, and he couldn’t confirm that’s where she was. Her message hadn’t exactly been full of details. He’d texted her back but hadn’t heard anything. Still, it was a place to start.