Vampire in Crisis (28 page)

“Good. Then we don’t have to worry about them.”

“What are you going to do to keep them from moving back into this place – if you can actually get it cleared out?”

“No idea,” she answered cheerfully. “Not my problem.”

Cody laughed. “It might become your problem.”

“No,” she said calmly. “Someone else needs to take that on.”

“So delegate,” he said. “They listen to you. You can set up a team and set them on it.”

“They won’t like me making those decisions.”

“So? You’re in a special position now. You hold Deanna’s information. In theory, you’re the one with the most information. The vast wisdom of the elders.”

“Ha. Not sure how wise Deanna was. She made some shitty choices.”

“So have we, Tessa. So have we.”

She glanced at him. “Well, the one decision I want to finalize right now is the one that lets me leave this hospital. I’m starting to hate anything that stops me from doing or going where I want.”

Behind her, she overheard Motre and Serus discussing the attack on Sian. She couldn’t believe they’d been so brazen and had attacked Sian so close to the Council Hall. And what about Taz and Jared? She still struggled with the concept of Jared in the Council Hall. And she hadn’t even heard it firsthand from him. No, Ian had texted Cody. Like who’d have thought that a human would be allowed?

Things must be changing for him to be there. Then again, it was also overflowing with the intruders and foreign visitors. She’d like to be there herself. What to do with an empty building wasn’t her priority. Getting out was.

Motre had said he had the last of the injured vamps, but she couldn’t trust the enemy.

She pushed open the double doors leading to the first floor and walked through. The others followed. Ahead was a large group of vamps. A cry rose in front of her and they raced toward her.

The hallway was narrow here. There’d only be a skirmish up front, and no one else would be able to get into the action.

The group behind her groaned, and she could hear the collective back straightening and shoulder squaring as the fight approached. They might be injured and drugged and weak, but they were game. She could respect that. But they didn’t have to fight.

In fact, no one did.

She’d take them out before the first punch was thrown.

Just one of the benefits of having fought Deanna and won. She understood so much more.

In fact…she drew on Hortran’s bit of energy, wrapped it around her, and walked faster. Keeping ahead of the rest of her group, she added more wattage to Hortran’s old bits and felt herself power up. She almost laughed. The system he’d used to kill was so easy a child could do it. In fact, she’d been using a form like that to do her healing work.

The lesson always was energy couldn’t disappear. It could only change form. In this case, it was the energy of his enemies that kept Hortran alive.

And likely Deanna, too. Memories bounced inside her head. Of Hortran teaching Deanna. Of her practice runs that hadn’t gone so well. And her successful attempts.

Later, much later, she’d have to analyze how she felt about Deanna’s methodology for having such a long life, but at the moment she realized the trick was damn good.

Cody, stay back.

Like hell.

You need to. You’ll get caught in the backlash.

*

His footsteps faltered.

Good. Keep the others back too.

He instinctively threw out both arms to stop Serus and Motre from following too close.

Neither man appreciated it, sending him dark looks.

“Let us follow, Cody,” Serus said impatiently.

“You can’t seriously expect her to face them alone,” protested Motre.

Only Cody wasn’t listening. Instead, he was watching as the men approached Tessa and fell, dead or dying at her feet. She never paused or slowed down. She kept walking in a straight line, and the men peeled off on both sides and everyone – as if they hit a wall of energy as she approached – everyone at the right time – collapsed dead.

She walked to the end of the crowd, a sea of bodies at her feet, and turned. She had a big grin on her face as she said, “What’s taking you so long?”

With that, she spun around and carried on down the hall.

Damn, she was good.

Such class. He knew he looked like an idiot standing there with a foolish grin on his face, but it was hard to shake off the moment.

The others had no such problem.

“What did she just do?”

“Holy crap.”

“How did she do that?”

And from Motre: “Damn, that was fine.”

Cody laughed. “Hey, Tessa!”

She turned, a smirk on her face. “Yes.”

“You wouldn’t want to teach all of us to do that, would you?”

She laughed. “Sure. As soon as you can see energy, I can easily teach you this.” She waved her hands at the pile of dead vamps in front of her. “No problem.”

“You did that with energy.”

“Yep, now that I understand how Hortran did it.”

Then Cody understood. They’d been told a Ghost could kill by just walking past someone. “Are they dead?” He was in the middle of the row, walking slowly as he tried to see just how they’d been left. He nudged one, but there was no corresponding groan. In fact, there was nothing.

“I believe so. We should probably check, but we don’t really have time.” She shrugged. “Let’s get moving. Our men need some help.”

And she proceeded to lead the way, the group slowly picking a pathway through the debris she’d left behind her.

*

Serus had seen
a lot of things in his life, but he’d never seen anything like what his daughter had just done. It was…scary. As if the men just brushed up against something lethal and never had a chance. He followed behind Cody, studying the pale faces around him on the floor. They didn’t look like they’d been burned or died in pain, but more like they were so tired they didn’t have the energy to live anymore.

Energy.

Had she stolen their energy from them?

Made them die because of it?

It was an odd feeling. He almost felt sorry for them. And he almost felt afraid of his daughter. He knew Hortran had somehow shown her how to do this, but she was becoming something he barely recognized.

He thought he’d hidden his confusion well, but Motre leaned over and asked, “What the hell just happened?”

Serus shrugged and explained what Motre had missed out on. The Hortran and Deanna mystery and what had happened to Tessa. Although he’d heard about that part through the grapevine, he hadn’t gotten all the details. The telling took quite a while, with Cody interjecting at various parts.

The group following behind listened in as their shock quickly turned to curiosity, demanding answers.

“Wow, I wish I’d met him. I’d heard about Ghosts but never actually thought to see one.”

“And chances are you won’t now either. I think Hortran was the last of his kind.”

“And you think he taught Tessa his tricks?” Motre asked. “Because that was seriously wild.”

“It was. She must have learned from him, although I don’t know how.”

Serus frowned. “How do we stop it from getting worse?” Serus muttered. Was this a problem, or was she capable of handling this Deanna mess? It was not what he’d hoped for his little girl. Then again, he hoped she’d just managed to have a somewhat normal life, knowing that being different had already cost her a lot.

He’d never considered a future like this. It worried him. Carrying Deanna’s knowledge was something others were going to covet. They’d want the information from her if they couldn’t get it any other way.

*

Jewel kept walking
through the hallways. She was beyond lost. The damn Council Hall was a maze as soon as you got away from the main meeting area and Council chambers.

She’d taken a wrong turn and ended up at a dead end, and somehow in the retracing of her steps, she’d gotten even more lost. All the while the crying woman was in her head, something she couldn’t forget. If she could go back now, she would. And damn if she could find her way.

She stopped at the next hallway intersecting her path. Where the hell was she?

And why hadn’t she managed to find a phone yet? She could send out a call for help. If she’d had a phone, she’d likely have never left her room; she’d have waited for someone to rescue her. Now she seemed to be actually going deeper into the damn building.

Why did the Council Hall have to be so big?

Her curiosity piqued, looking behind because she really didn’t want to retrace her steps, she forged on. The hallway coming up looked promising. She peered around the corner, hating that she was so nervous but given what she’d been through, maybe that was normal.

The hallway was empty. More doors, but they were a darker color. Maybe older.

As she wondered what to do, one of the doors close to her opened.

She gasped and quickly pulled back behind the wall.

Had they seen her?

Shit. Her mind immediately asked,
Why should it matter
? She was lost. Not hurting anything.

Her heart pounded, her hands clenched, all the while her mind wondered if the newcomers could help her find her way back to the main floor. Or should they be avoided at all costs?

When no one barreled around the corner into her, she took a cautious peek. Two men strode down the hallway in the opposite direction. Two men so wide in the shoulders they almost touched the walls as they walked away.

She glanced at the door where they’d come from. It was slightly ajar.

Damn it.

Should she open it and look?

Nah. That would invade their privacy. So not a good idea.

Yet…

*

Rhia swallowed, her
throat dry and hard. She’d been locked in and had yet to find a way out. She thought she’d brought her cell phone with her. She never went anywhere without it – yet it wasn’t here. She had to wonder if someone had come while she’d been out cold and taken it.

She’d woken up on the floor, sore, stiff, and physically exhausted. She’d also woken with a clear head. Just not sure which side she was on.

That she questioned that mental state at all said that she should be herself. Information and questions swirled through her head. Seth. Could she find out anything about her son? Had she shipped him out of town? Was he safe?