Vampire in Crisis (31 page)
She shrugged, her hooded, unblinking gaze locked on Bart. A nervous, suddenly worried Bart.
“Can you really help her?” he asked in a low voice.
Cody shrugged. “She won’t know until she tries, and as you can see, she’s not leaning toward trying anything.”
It was painful to watch Bart look for a reverse gear. Now that the possibility had arisen, that his daughter might actually have a chance, he didn’t know how to make it happen.
“Then do it for her sake and not mine,” he said in a deep voice, having dropped all the hatred from his tone. “It was Deanna that did this.”
Silence.
Bart slowly disintegrated. Cody hated to watch it. He understood Tessa’s stance and knew he’d be the same way if it had been his father. The fact that she hadn’t taken Bart out already gave him hope that she could be reached.
The big man, now visibly shaken from being on the verge of being destroyed from the inside out, finally burst out with, “Please. I don’t care what you do to me, but help her.”
Suddenly, as if a switch had been thrown, Tessa walked over to the bed where the young woman lay in a stasis state. She had an IV connected with blood running into one arm, keeping her sustained. From a blood farm most likely. Cody still hated to see it. To see one of his own people like this – it hurt. To know that Deanna had caused this – that was even worse.
He still didn’t trust that bitch but as she wasn’t here to face her actions, he could only hope one of her victims could help the other.
Tessa never did anything for a long moment. Bart shifted uneasily at her side.
“Deanna put her hands on either side of her face and said ‘You are the One. You are the vessel I need right now.’ And she started doing something to my Lacy. Lacy cried out and told her to stop. She was in such pain and crying out that it hurt too much and to stop. Only Deanna wouldn’t. She said it’s the way it had to be. She’d left it too long. There was stuff that needed to be done. Rulers needed to rule.”
Bart frowned when he finished quoting Deanna, and the anger had returned to his voice. “What ruler? Deanna was no ruler then, and my Lacy is no ruler now. What does any of this have to do with ruling?”
Tessa sighed. In front of them, she reached out and placed a hand on Lacy’s abdomen and lowered her head.
Cody stepped up, wondering what she was doing. Bart crouched beside her.
After a long moment, Bart asked, “Can you help her?”
Tessa slowly shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. In fact, I’m pretty sure this is exactly how Deanna expected her to be.”
Cody started.
“What?”
Bart stepped closer to Lacy’s head. “What do you mean?” he cried. “It was an accident, she said.”
Tessa shook her head. “No, this was no accident. This was a setup right from the start.”
“A setup?” Cody felt stupid, but he didn’t get it. “What are you talking about, Tessa?”
She shook her head and reached out a second hand, which she placed on Lacy’s forehead.
There was a weird static in the air. Enough that the tiny strands of hair around Tessa’s face actually lifted up.
“What’s happening?” Bart cried out behind her as he leaned closer.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” Tessa said. She tilted her head back, her face to the ceiling, and closed her eyes.
Cody could see something happening, but he was lost as to an explanation.
Lacy suddenly arched her back as if a string was pulling her up from her belly.
“Lacy!” Bart reached out to touch her when the invisible cord attached to her snapped and she dropped back to the bed.
She gave a great gulping sound that rattled all the way up her chest then her chest sank down, down, and down.
It never rose again.
“No.” Bart dropped to the floor, sobbing. “Lacy.”
Still shocked at seeing Tessa fail at something – if she’d failed – Cody didn’t know what to say.
Bart looked up, anger and hate back in his eyes.
“You killed her,” he cried. A meaty fist reached out to hit her and came up against something she held in her hand.
The silver bolt she’d pulled from her father’s body.
Bart blew to ash right in front of him.
“What the hell, Tessa?” snapped Cody stepping back and waving his arms from the explosion in front of him. “What happened?”
Tessa looked up, her gaze going from Bart’s floating remains then back to Cody.
“See, that’s your first misunderstanding.”
“What?” Lord, he felt like something major had just happened, but he didn’t know what. And damn it, he wanted to. He needed to understand.
What the hell was going on here?
“I’m not Tessa.”
Thank you for reading Vampire in Crisis! If you enjoyed my book, I’d appreciate it if you’d leave a review.
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Stay tuned for the next book in this series. If you’d like to read about other books I’ve written, please turn the page.
Cheers,
Dale Mayer
Thank you for reading
Vampire in Crisis
. If you enjoyed reading about Tessa’s story the series continues with
Vampire in Control
.
Drawing is her world…but when her new pencil comes alive, it’s his world too.
Her…Storey Dalton is seventeen and now boyfriendless after being dumped via Facebook. Drawing is her escape. It’s like as soon as she gets down one image, a dozen more are pressing in on her. Then she realizes her pictures are almost drawing themselves…or is it that her new pencil is alive?
Him…Eric Jordan is a new Ranger and the only son of the Councilman to his world. He’s crossed the veil between dimensions to retrieve a lost stylus. But Storey is already experimenting with her new pencil and what her drawings can do – like open portals.
It …The stylus is a soul-bound intelligence from Eric’s dimension on Earth and uses Storey’s unsuspecting mind to seek its way home, giving her an unbelievable power. She unwittingly opens a third dimension, one that held a dangerous predatory species banished from Eric’s world centuries ago, releasing these animals into both dimensions.
Them…Once in Eric’s homeland, Storey is blamed for the calamity and sentenced to death. When she escapes, Eric is ordered to bring her back or face that same death penalty. With nothing to lose, can they work together across dimensions to save both their worlds?
Gem Stone (a Gemma Stone Mystery)
A juvie kid trying to stay on the right path stumbles into trouble…
Gemma takes her camera everywhere. From juvie hall to a halfway home, the new hobby gives her a focus she’d never had before and… hope in a future. Until she takes pictures of something that could get her killed.
And not just her…after she and another juvie girl are chased by a stranger to the halfway home that same night, the other girl goes missing and Gemma knows she needs help. But who can she trust?
Not the authorities that’s for sure. Trusting them is impossible for a girl with her damaged history, and besides, who cares about a troubled kid…especially when trouble just naturally seems to find her.
Faith and loyalty are tested as a young girl learns what it is to believe – in herself, in her friends, and in life after death.
Cassie’s best friend, bad boy Todd, is gone. Gone as in dead. Gone as in he’s now a ghost.
But she doesn’t realize that when he wakes her in her bedroom and begs her not to believe what they say about him. It’s not until the next day when her parents tell her about the accident that she learns the truth…
The police believe Todd was living up to the family name, drinking and driving and coming to a predictable end. It’s up to her to find out the truth and clear his name.
Todd is shocked at his sudden change in circumstances…and angry. He struggles with his new ghostly reality, realizing all he’s lost as he watches his brother build a relationship with Cassie as the two pair up to find out what really happened to him.
The truth isn’t always pretty, and Cassie has to be stronger than ever before. Especially when the whole world seems to be against her.
Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).
She honors the stories that come to her – and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!
To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.
Dale’s Website –
www.dalemayer.com
Twitter –
@DaleMayer
Facebook –
facebook.com/DaleMayer.author
Psychic Vision Series
By Death Series
Touched by Death – Part 1 –
FREE
Second Chances – complete book (Parts 1 & 2)
Broken and… Mending
Scales (of Justice) – Coming Soon
Collections
Standalone Novellas
Published Young Adult Books:
Family Blood Ties Series
Sian’s Solution – A Family Blood Ties Short Story
Standalone
Gem Stone (a Gemma Stone Mystery)
Career Essentials
Career Essentials: The Cover Letter