Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (178 page)

She wanted to give it to her father,
but as there was no give in his face she handed it off to Cody
before sitting down again.

As Cody walked forward an oversized
vampire stormed into the room. Goran's temper moved ahead of him,
automatically clearing a space. "What the hell is going on here?"
He spun around in a circle, his gaze taking in everyone in the room
in an instant. When his eyes lit on Cody, some of the anger drained
from his face. "There you are. What's this all about?"

"It's a long story, sir."

"Then you'd better get at it, hadn't
you?"

As succinctly as he could, Cody
relayed the evening's events for his father. It made interesting
listening for Tessa, who could only vaguely remember some of the
details and none at all about the fight or that he'd defended her.
Her insides turned to mush at the thought. Tidbits of memories
flashed through her mind, some of them heating her insides and
making her face flush.

"Are you warm, Tessa? Your face is
turning pink," David asked in concern. Tessa rolled her eyes. That
was yet one more human trait the others couldn't understand. Maybe
that was a good thing. Blushing wasn't something she wanted
interrogated or advertised.

"I'm fine," she murmured, keeping an
eye on the two most powerful men in this part of the world. Her
father and Goran had been friends forever. They held the same
beliefs, followed the same code…and generally viewed life from the
same vantage point. If Cody's father sided with Tessa's father,
then Cody and she could both end up in deep shit.

Goran's heavy brows beetled together.
His gaze lit on Tessa once before bouncing to Rhia then off to
stare at Tessa's father.

"So, what are we going to do about
this, Serus?"

"Hell if I know. I'm trying to get to
the bottom of this mess."

"Pssshaw. You and your talking. This
is a time for action. If vampires are breaking the treaty we have
to stop them. That's all there is to it. We can't go back to the
war zone we once lived in."

Serus shook his head. "No, we can't
do that. However, we don't know who took the humans."

Goran turned to study his youngest
child. "Cody?"

"I can show you the house and the
vehicles. I'd definitely recognize the vampires again..." He
hesitated. "One called the other Benji, but I've never seen them
before."

"Imported?"

Cody nodded. "I think so."

"What?" roared Serus. "You never
mentioned that."

"I didn't get a chance,
sir."

Goran stomped his feet, a big grin
splitting his face. The bones of the house quaked with the
movement. "Well, boy, what else did you not get a chance to
tell?"

Cody glanced down at Tessa. She
frowned. He was holding back something…but what? That it had to do
with her was obvious, but what she couldn't imagine.

"What? Just say it," Goran
urged.

Cody hesitated. He looked over at his
father. "I'm not sure they were normal vampires."

For the second time that night
silence overtook the room.

Serus, his voice tempered steel,
asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Everyone in the room leaned forward
to hear Cody.

"They didn't know anything about my
family line, and they didn't know Tessa."

Serus frowned, not
understanding.

Goran whistled. "Now that's
interesting."

Seth stepped forward, surprising
Tessa. She hadn't seen her oldest brother since she'd made her way
downstairs. "Why does that matter? Not everyone knows Tessa. Or
your line, Cody."

Frowning, Rhia stood up and walked
over to stand in front of Cody. She searched his face carefully.
"When you say 'normal' are you suggesting they were 'turned'
vampires?"

Tessa sat back stunned. The practice
of turning victims into vampires had been outlawed centuries ago.
That was considered an even worse transgression than kidnapping
humans, and if the two went together… She whistled
softly.

"Exactly, young lady." Goran nodded,
despite the serious anger building on his face.

Cody frowned. "I couldn't be sure,
but there was something very odd about them."

"In what way?" Rhia stepped closer to
Serus, new worry creasing her face. Serus wrapped an arm around her
shoulders, hugging her close.

"They looked wrong." Cody shrugged,
not knowing how else to say it.

"Come to think of it, they smelled
wrong and they did look different." Tessa pondered just what it was
about them that made that way.

Goran
pounced on her. "
Different?
How?"

Closing her eyes, Tessa tried to
retrieve the memory of what had bothered her. She'd managed to see
the attackers through both her kinds of vision. What had been so
different? "Their energy lines."

Silence.

Serus reared back, then scoffed at
her, "Energy lines. What are you talking about?"

Rhia spun back to Tessa. "You can see
energy lines?" Shock and disbelief couldn't cover the interest
running through her voice.

"I think that's what they're called.
When I open my vampire vision at the same time as my human vision,
I can see the energy pulsating through everyone."

David interrupted.
"Everyone?"

She nodded. "Yes, everyone. At least
I think so. I haven't tried it all that often, but I see both
vampire and human energy, alike."

Goran and Serus exchanged glances.
Some silent message moved between them.

"Like that," Tessa said, nodding
toward them. "I can see the energy move between you two as you
communicate."

Rhia spun around to face the two
elders. "You were mind-speaking?" she asked incredulously. "I
thought you said you couldn't do that?"

Both men looked uncomfortable, but
both looked down their long noses at Rhia. "We've been able to do
it since we were kids, but only with each other."

Rhia narrowed her gaze at Serus. "We
will speak of this later. But for now…"

All three adults spun around to stare
at Tessa. She shrugged and leaned back to close her eyes. Her
headache was returning. And so what if she could open both visions
at the same time to see energy? It's not like it helped her in any
way. In fact, it made her even more 'odd.' Great.

"Could you identify the men by these
energy lines?" Rhia stared at Tessa, confusion lighting her dark
eyes.

"I think so, and by their smell."
Tessa shrugged. She couldn't explain it.

"You can differentiate the smell of
human from vampire and from other animals?" Rhia's gaze widened
again, making her eyes appear jet black.

"Of course, so can you," Tessa said
wearily. "These two smelled more like an unusual animal species. I
didn't recognize it, but it wasn't human or vampire. The two men
had smells distinct from vampires, but also from each
other."

Literally everyone in the room stared at her. She glared from
one to the other.
"What?"

It was
David who filled her in. "Vampire sense of smell isn't very acute,
if you remember. It's mostly blood that stirs up our olfactory
senses. And,
of course, our senses are
strongest when we need to drink."

Tessa stared at him in puzzlement.
"So?"

"We can recognize an animal from a
vampire, but I highly doubt most of us would be able to tell any
individual animals apart within one species. For us," he motioned
to those in the room and then at her, "and for you, humans are
animals. That you can smell the differences between them is very
unusual."

It didn't seem unusual to her. "That
would be from my human throwback genes then," she murmured
quietly.

"No, I'm not so sure about that."
Rhia walked over to stand in front of Tessa. She stood there for a
long second, her finger tapping her chin thoughtfully. "How long
have you known you could do these things?"

"Mom, I never noticed. They are
natural to me. I've always done them."

"Hmmm." She pursed her lips
thoughtfully. "Have you tried to fly?"

"Ah, I'm missing something important
here, Mom – wings, remember?" Geesh, everyone was looking at her
oddly now. Even her father.

"What?" she snapped, hating the
attention. "Why are you all staring at me? Don't I get gawked at
enough without having to put up with it in my own home?"

"Who gawks at you?" Serus
bristled.

"Oh Dad, everyone does. Even
you."

Tessa slumped back and stared out the
window. What difference did all this make? They'd grab any excuse
to stay off topic. Jared might already be dead for all she
knew.

Exhaustion settled in on her
shoulders. She wanted to weep. How could she be this tired? What
good was she to Jared if she didn't have the energy to go out again
and rescue him?

"Where's the house, Cody?" Goran
asked, all businesslike.

Cody filled them in on the details,
adding in the warning he'd been given – that this situation was
bigger than it appeared and that he wouldn't get away with
interfering in their business.

Goran frowned at the
threat.

Though
the conversation flowed on around her, she blanked it all out. It's
not like anyone would do anything tonight. Everyone would talk
about it and then discuss it some more. How could
she
find those
assholes?

They hadn't been able to fly, yet
they'd had wheels. She couldn't drive. The rest of her family could
though. In the background, she dimly heard Cody ask her mom about
the flying stuff. Like what kind of question was that? Cody had
wings, thus Cody could fly. Tessa had no wings, thus Tessa couldn't
fly.

Easy.

Rhia spoke to her. "My great
grandmother on my father's side was a Leant. One of the originals.
She couldn't fly, but she jumped like you wouldn't
believe."

Jumped?
Tessa sat up
straighter.

"I never saw her, but apparently she
could jump to the tops of trees and rooftops. Something to do with
her spine and leg joints. She was hell on wheels, that woman. Serus
is classed as a glider, whereas she'd be classed as a jumper – with
a style all her own."

"Where is she now?" Vampires were
notoriously long-lived, so where was she and why was Tessa just
hearing about her now. She desperately wanted to meet this
relative.

"She, along with most of her family,
was killed during one of the uprisings. The townsfolk administered
some kind of sleeping drug during a big celebration, then they went
in and sliced off all their heads." Rhia paused, her face pulling
at the painful memories. "She was a beautiful woman."

"Tessa jumps." Cody spoke up
helpfully.

"What?" Rhia spun around to look down
at her. "Do you? Really?"

"No, not really." When her mother's
face fell she couldn't help modify her statement, unable to let go
of that little bit of pride in her mother's face. "At least not
that well. According to Cody here, I kind of crab walk through
life." She glared at him and his remembered insult.

He grinned back at her. "It's pretty
freaky looking. If I hadn't seen it before, I'd have thought we had
a new breed of vampire out there."

"Maybe it's not a new breed as much
as the return of an old breed." Rhia brightened with excitement. "I
must speak with someone."

"Mom, wait." But she was already
gone.

Tessa watched her scuttle into the
next room, before turning her frustration on Cody. "Now look what
you've done. She's going to think I have some kind of special
talent, and you and I both know how stupid my jumping is. Hardly a
talent…more like a handicap."

"Stop knocking yourself. You could
have all sorts of talents. You're at the right age for them to show
up. Who knows? Maybe being a throwback means you're more like the
originals."

"Whatever that means," Tessa
muttered. Serus and Goran were arguing. She raised her voice,
calling out, "Is anyone going to do anything about Jared? Or do I
have to go back out?"

Cody straightened, automatically
placing a restraining hand on her shoulder. "Whoa. Hang on there.
You're not going anywhere. I didn't bring you home so you could
take off again."

"Then you should have left me there.
If they'd taken me prisoner, then maybe they'd have kept me with
Jared and maybe I could have found a way to get both of us free."
She stared down at her long fingernails in disgust. She'd been so
concerned earlier about the right color to wear on them. Now that
part of her life seemed so long ago. It all seemed so frivolous
now, so useless. "I feel like I'm deserting him."

"Don't talk like that," he snapped.
"They'll help."