Darlings of Darkness: A Vampire Anthology Part 157

"They could have forced them to fly on their own. Any kind of leverage like threatening to harm you and your dad would have gone easily," David pointed out.

Cody winced.

Tessa nodded. "That could be, but I don't think that's what happened. I can't see the energy, which you'd think would be floating around here if they had. My take is everyone is still here somewhere."

"Then find them. Look for the energy. Surely, if you can find Cody behind a secret door, you can track your own mother." Serus glared at Tessa.

Tessa's cheeks flushed hot at his wording. "I'm working on it. If they're here, there has to be an energy trail showing what direction they went."

She walked a good thirty feet away from the group that stood there watching her. But no pressure, of course. A blanket of midnight covered the stars. There was a refres.h.i.+ng stillness to the air, the coolness easing the mugginess from the day's heat. That might help her get a clearer picture. She turned around to face the others. Switching on both vision systems, she studied the bright lights of the group. Energy flashed and pulsed in a big ball because they stood so close together.

Because everyone already wandered over the yard, energy sat low and wide with new trails over old. She backed up further, looking for a heavy concentration of energy leading off in one direction. She walked around looking at the various pathways from different angles.

d.a.m.n it. They didn't have time for this. Jared had been missing for way too long, already. Who knew how much longer he could survive? Had he even survived this long? She couldn't let herself doubt it. And where were Cody's dad and her own mother? Just the thought of them captive somewhere made her stomach heave.

She walked toward the others. The bulk of the glowing ma.s.s appeared to be white light. It took precious moments to see the different personalities. She could separate Cody's and Jewel's energy easily, as theirs looked slightly different, darker. Something about being fliers, she supposed, which meant if she saw Goran's energy then she might be able to distinguish where he'd gone.

Her dad's was heavier, thicker. David's was faster moving and resembled slim ribbon-looking waves. She stopped about ten feet away from them and studied the ground and the energy paths. The last outbuilding in the row had a heavy track of mixed energies. But everyone here had been looking for her mom.

A flyer had gone in there. That energy had a more masculine look. There was also a feminine energy.

Her mother's.

She crouched lower to the ground and changed the angle so she could see the mist better. And then she knew. She bolted upright and raced to the outbuilding. "She's gone in here."

Pounding footsteps followed her. She barely heard them over the thudding of her heart. What she hadn't said was that her mother hadn't been alone.

Arriving at the entrance first, her father wrenched open the double barn doors. With both open, the vacant s.p.a.ce appeared larger, emptier than the first time she'd check it.

Tessa was no longer fooled.

She stood at the entrance and studied the energy patterns as the others searched the area. Her mother had pa.s.sed this way and stopped. From the look of the energy, she'd have to say she'd gone down.

Where and how?

"Tessa?" Serus walked up to stand beside her.

"It looks like the floor again."

"Really." Her dad crouched down to stare at the plank floor, as if it would give up its answers that way. "Any idea where?"

Tessa walked forward a few steps. "It's almost like the whole floor moves. I don't get it."

There was energy everywhere. Yet all of it sat just above the planks. She walked back over to the doorway and searched the walls on either side. There had to be a lever or something here. A weird spot glowed on the left side. She placed the palm of her hand flat on the wall like she had last time. Nothing. She pushed. Still nothing. Moving her hand slowly, her fingers spread apart, she searched the small area, certain there was something there.

"What are you looking for?" David spoke at her ear. She started, surprised to find everyone crowding around her.

"A way to open the floor."

"Open?"

"Raise and lower it then. Somehow the floor moves."

Cody reached above her and placed his hand flat where hers had been. He pushed hard. Instantly the sound of gears had them all spinning around. The entire floor descended with them on it.

David backed up, only there was no place to go. "Okay, this is beyond weird. Shouldn't someone stay above in case we get locked in down here?"

Tessa suggested, "I think this time we should all stay together. Every time we split up, we lose someone."

"Besides," said Cody. "It may take all of us to get everyone out of here safely."

The floor moved at an incredibly slow pace.

"I presume this was used to move heavy equipment. That gear system is seriously engineered." Cody studied the large pulley system as the floor dropped. "I mean this thing is old."

"Not that old." Serus crouched down to try to see where they were going. "Makes me realize how d.a.m.n lucky we've been to not run afoul of more of his inventions." He turned and appeared to count heads as if rea.s.suring himself that they hadn't lost someone else. "When Moltere was under fire from the rest of the vampire clan he was rumored to have built in a lot of self-defense systems and getaway chambers. I thought the gossip was all rumors."

The floor came to a gentle rest so slowly that it took a moment for everyone to realize they'd stopped moving.

Another empty room.

Tessa headed for the door on the far side, not bothering to explain. She could see the energy wisps, proving she was on the right track. "This way."

A flat steel door with a short handle faced them.

"d.a.m.n." Tessa fished in her pocket for her dad's credit card again and slid it down the seam to find the locking mechanism. After a few frustrating minutes, she realized she couldn't open this door. "This isn't working. I can't get it open."

"Step aside, maybe I can rip it off its hinges." Her father grasped both sides of the steel door and pulled. The steel refused to s.h.i.+ft. He refused to give up.

Finally, Tessa tapped him on the shoulder. "It's not doing anything."

He glared at her. "Then what do you suggest?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "It has to open somehow."

David leaned closer. "Sure, with a special key like sound, electricity, pressure...the options are endless." David studied the lever.

"Well we have to figure it out. Mom's behind this door." Tessa's frustration was mounting. Rescue was so close and yet so far.

"And just how do you suggest we do that?" David's sarcasm was getting to be a pain in the a.s.s.

She'd had enough. "I don't know, David. Feel free to step up to the plate anytime."

"That's enough," Serus snapped at them. "Worse case is we have to wait until someone else comes in or out."

Cody frowned at the steel door in front of them. "Yep, I considered that but was hoping we'd find another way."

Too tired and confused to make any more decisions, Tessa sat down on the floor and waited for the others to decide. She'd gotten them this far. Someone else would have to get them inside.

Jared waited until the nurse left. Then he sat up and rolled over. He had different company. A young, incredibly skinny male somewhere around Jared's age slept in the bed beside him. Jared waited until he saw signs of movement from the kid. "Hey, are you awake?"

"Yeah, for a little bit, then the drugs will take over." The male yawned. "I'm Bryce."

"I'm Jared. How long have you been here? Isn't there any way to get out? Like I don't want to just be a milking machine for the rest of my life."

"No one's ever gotten out of here. Except for the last guy."

"Who?" Jared could hardly keep his voice down. "How'd he get out? Do you know if he made it?"

"Nah, he died."

"What the h.e.l.l?" Anger surged through Jared. "How can you be so complacent? Don't you want to escape?" He glared at the open door. "This is brutal. I'm too young to end up like this."

"Maybe." Bryce was silent for a long moment. "I bet you don't have much in the way of family and no one is going to care if you don't come home." He suddenly looked Jared in the eye. "Am I wrong?"

s.h.i.+t. Jared's uncle would be happy if he never saw him again. He slowly shook his head. "No, you're probably right. They might wonder when I'll walk through the door again, but less and less as time goes on."

"Right, even if they go to the police, chances are good that you'll be listed as just another runaway, like so many of the others here."

Jared paled to think there were more like him out in that horror factory. "That is so wrong."

"Like they care. Something about being on the top of the food chain." Bryce's eyes flitted closed.

Jared rushed to ask another question before he lost Bryce to the drugs. "What about you? Why aren't you out there?"

"I overheard them mention that my blood isn't flowing like they want it to."

"Oh. How long have you been here?"

"d.a.m.ned if I know. What day is it?"

Jared had to think about it hard. "I think it's Sunday night or maybe Monday?"

"Yeah and what month?"

"August."

"Then I've been here since around Valentine's Day."

Jared fell back on the bed in shock. Dear G.o.d, please no.

"Although I don't know about the year. But don't tell me that. I don't want to know."

Jared bolted upright. "How can you say that? Surely, someone will rescue us."

"Yeah?" Bryce hawked up spit from his throat. "Who?"

"I don't know. My friends? I was out with them when I was kidnapped. I'm sure they're worried."

"Worried maybe, but enough to go to the police? I doubt it. Even if they did, we're back to that whole scenario of you being a troubled teen who'd had enough and run away."

"I can't believe no one cares."

"That's why this has worked for so long. Some of these people have been here for years, decades even."

Jared gulped. "Decades?" he whispered.

Bryce looked at him. "Decades," he said. Then he lay back down and pulled the blankets up over his shoulders.

"I don't get why you're so calm."

"Must be the drugs. Besides, the alternative is death. I think I'll stay in suspended animation. I don't have to worry about three meals, where I'm going to sleep or how I'm going to pay for my drugs. They're all free here." He chuckled at his own words, and before they'd tapered off he started snoring, leaving Jared sh.e.l.l-shocked.

Could anyone's life be so bad that this place would be considered an improvement? He pulled back the covers, only to realize that he had a catheter attached to a urine bag and his right arm had an IV connected to a pole. Was it safe to just pull all this stuff out?

The door opened just then.

"Whoa, where are you going?"

Jared pretended to be half asleep. "Water, need water." He pretended to have trouble swallowing.

"We'll get that for you. You just lie back down again." Two men came in behind the nurse and helped him back under the covers. The nurse adjusted something on his IV. More drugs, he thought bitterly. He lay down as if ready to sleep, hoping they wouldn't increase his medication.

"Thanks," he whispered after his drink and rolled over.

The nurse covered him up and patted him gently on the back. "Go back to sleep. You'll feel better in the morning."

He doubted that. What difference would a night make?

Two orderlies moved over to Bryce's bed and wheeled it out of the room. Jared wished he knew why. He watched under his almost closed eyes to make sure everyone left. They left the door open. His heart pounded. Why had they done that? To hear if he moved?

Or had they forgotten about the door because they were moving a captive? The thought of escape tantalized him. Could he get out? He'd rip the d.a.m.n needles from his body if it meant freedom.

After ten minutes without feeling any sleepier, he figured the nurse hadn't increased his drugs. No one came in or out. Maybe they didn't need to be in the room to see him. To monitor him.

Why hadn't he considered cameras before? Is that what had brought the nurses into the room? He rolled over as if still asleep. There was a camera at the far end directed toward his neighbor's side of the room. So that's what had happened. When his buddy started to move around they'd came running. Could he be out of camera range? Not with the lousy luck he'd had so far.

Chances were they'd come back and check on him.

Speaking of which, they had yet to give him his test results. They probably wouldn't.

One didn't discuss outcomes with lab rats.