Now that's not good. Stay where you are, I'll meet you there.

No. You have to tell the others.

Uh...I can't.

Why not? she asked in exasperation. They are right there with you.

Silence. And she knew. She groaned. You are on your way up, aren't you?

Not quite, he said in a quietly humorous voice. A very close voice. She turned to see him enter the hallway behind her. She glared at him.

"Don't bother," he said mildly. "I don't take orders from you or that Deanna b.i.t.c.h. I'm here to keep an eye on you. If you don't like it, too bad."

She opened her mouth then realized she had nothing to say that would make him change his mind so she closed it, turned, and carried on down the hallway.

He raced behind her. Just as he was about to catch up to her, her arm was grabbed, she was spun around, and the world shifted as she was pulled into his arms.

And he kissed her.

Heat enveloped her. Him. The two of them were wrapped in caring energy. She sighed against his lips. This was Cody. Her Cody. And her world slipped back into position again.

d.a.m.n right, he said.

She smiled, but then she couldn't do anything as he deepened the kiss until all resistance was gone. He lifted his head, smiled down into her eyes, and held her close.

She lay against his chest, her whole body trembling with need.

Now that's more like it.

What is? she whispered, desperately trying to clear her head.

This is the response I know, he said, and love... And lowered his head again.

Cody didn't want to stop. The touch of her lips, the gentle tentative strokes of her tongue it was ambrosia to a starving man. Lord, he wanted her. But he wanted to have time with her, all night, several nights. He'd take what he could get, but there was no way he'd take her in this scenario. He was just torturing himself doing this all the time. The more he kissed her, the more he wanted to kiss her. She was like a drug he couldn't get enough of. He broke away and tugged her hard against his body. She should be able to hear his heart pounding inside his chest. The need coursing through his loins. He shuddered, trying to think of something else, anything else before he lowered her to the floor right here.

Then she did something that completely disarmed him. She giggled.

He rested his chin on top of her head and smiled. "What is so funny?"

She twisted in his arms so she could look up at him. "The timing is always terrible. I wish we were anywhere else but here."

He closed his eyes, her words undoing all his hard-won control. He asked incredulously, "And that's funny?"

Her shoulders shook as a laugh broke free. Frustrated and confused but as always charmed by her natural freedom, he watched her laugh at his expense.

"It's not that it's funny, but..."

He glared at her, but there was no heat in his expression. "Meaning you're laughing at the state I'm in. Well, thanks a lot."

She gave him a lopsided grin. "I'm not much better if that helps."

Cody brightened. It did help. He'd hate to think he was alone with his frustration. She'd been with him every step of the way. Thank G.o.d.

She turned around to look down the long hallway. "Now that another ten minutes have gone by and no one is here, where do you think they are and why?"

"No idea." He dropped his arms and walked in front of her. "I see the cameras are still functioning."

"Hmmm." She narrowed her gaze at the red blinking light where the wall met the ceiling ten feet ahead. "Maybe we should find the security room and look at the cameras. They should have recorded what happened to the others. Maybe it will also help to sort out who's on which side."

"The security room is in the bas.e.m.e.nt," he said absently. Then stopped. "At least I think it is."

"Deanna's memories say they are too." Tessa gave a long hard look at the empty hallway. "Rather than going floor by floor, I suggest we go and take the security room. Those video feeds should be able to tell us all sorts of things."

Cody rolled his eyes. At least they were going in the right direction now. Maybe they could catch up with their fathers after all.

"We need to contact Motre, too."

They walked back to the elevator, both holding their cell phones in their hands and looking for messages from any of the missing people, when Tessa's phone beeped. Thinking it was from Motre or one of the family members, he read the text over her shoulder. A message from Jared.

d.a.m.n if he didn't want to kill the pipsqueak. Especially when Tessa's face went all soft and glowing. Like what the h.e.l.l? How had Jared gotten into her psyche so easily? That was just wrong.

She laughed. "It's from Jared."

She scrolled through the long message, her footsteps slowing before finally halting altogether. "He's in trouble. Or rather, a friend of his is. Two of them," she said in slight confusion. "At least I think so. He's fine but... he's been threatened."

Horrified, she gasped and looked up at him in shock. "Why would anyone do that?" she cried. "Hasn't he been through enough already?"

Cody could think of a half dozen reasons why, but getting to Tessa via Jared was the first and primary reason. Cody liked Jared. He seemed to be a decent human being. But he didn't like his interest in Tessa.

She was his.

"Oh my. Someone kidnapped this boy from the home where he stayed, then he met this same girl he'd met on the way to the blood farm rescue. They joined forces to help the kid that had been taken away on the ambulance, only now she's been kidnapped too." She looked up at Cody, sadness in her eyes. "This is terrible, Cody."

Part of it was terrible. Still...another girl. Perfect. Jared was starting to be a nicer person already.

Goran spun around, saw the stricken look on Serus's face, and raced toward him. "What's the matter?"

"It's Rhia. She's done something."

"Something? What something?"

Serus shook his head. "I don't know, but it has to do with Seth. She said she had to do this but didn't explain what. Something about she can't live with having done something that might hurt him."

Uh oh. "You can't sense what she's up to?" He worried about Serus. Rhia hadn't been herself in a long time. Not that it was her fault, but her actions were now suspect. What the h.e.l.l could she be doing?

David raced over to them. "Okay, Cody has gone up to join Tessa."

"Like she'll let him," Goran scoffed.

"Maybe she will. Cody seemed pretty determined."

Goran nodded, his gaze switching back to Serus, who was still trying to pull himself together. Likely to avoid alarming David.

Too late.

"Dad," David said, leaning in, worry crinkling his face, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Serus's attempts at a smile failed. He tried to walk past them.

Goran winced as David's features set with determination.

David stepped in his father's path. "What's wrong?"

Serus glanced over at Goran. Inside he said, What do I tell the boy?

The truth. He's not a youngster anymore, and he's been through too much lately to hide the truth. Who knows, maybe he can help.

"Dad. Stop talking to Goran in mindspeak. Tell me what's going on," David urged, adding, "Please."

Running a tired hand over the back of his head, Serus said, "It's your mother. She basically said goodbye and that she was doing something she had to do. No other explanation except for that fact that it has something to do with your brother."

"When?" David's voice was all business. He had his phone out in his hand. Before Goran even understood who he'd called, he was speaking to someone.

"Hi, Wendy, it's David. Can you give me an update on my mother?"

Goran watched as David spun sideways to stare into his father's worried eyes.

Over the years, he'd watched Serus and his close-knit family with envy. For all his efforts, Goran hadn't managed to find one woman to stay with. Whether the fault was his or the timing or maybe he was never meant to be monogamous, he'd always been jealous of the relationship Serus had with his wife and kids. Goran had lost track of his oldest son Tyson, and look what had happened there. He'd had many partners over the centuries, but not so many that he'd lost track of them. He did well for fifty years, even seventy years or so, then they all seemed to hit the rocks. Typical.

Still, right now watching the pain of what Serus was going through...what he'd gone through...it was horrible.

He hated to see his buddy suffer like this.

He loved Rhia like a sister, but d.a.m.n, what the h.e.l.l was she up to?

He turned to David, seeing the little bit of color washing from his face as he listened to Wendy's tale.

This was not going to be good.

Jared came to a shuddering stop outside the tall Victorian-looking house with black window coverings. He had to once again consider the complications of a human and vampire co-existing. Like how the h.e.l.l did they work through the very basic issues of just the night and daytime shifts? Except with Taz being a doctor, chances were good he worked a lot of night shifts. That would be ideal. Jared pulled out his cell phone to check the address against the numbers showing on the front of the house by the mailbox. This was it.

He glanced around the affluent neighborhood, the large properties, seeing the major upscale houses versus the area where he'd been raised. Must be nice to have money. Then again, he'd seen firsthand how hard the doctor worked. Any money he had, he deserved. The same for Sian; she'd done a lot for the human/vampire communications and treaties.

Besides, he didn't understand how a.s.sets and money worked in the vamp world. It might be completely different from the human system.

Hesitantly, he approached the front door. There didn't appear to be any activity at the house or on the block. It was late, but not so late as to make him uncomfortable.

At the double front doors, he took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure, then knocked.

The sound echoed gently. He rapped a second time, searching for the doorbell. But there didn't appear to be one. His gaze landed on a long pull attached to a chain. He grinned and gave it a hard yank.

Bells tolled heavily in the dusky light.

"Whoa." He took several steps backward as the noise rolled and rolled and rolled.

He spun to look around him. Seeing nothing, he turned back to the front door and stumbled back with a startled cry. Taz stood on the front steps. "Jared?"

"Sorry, Taz, I didn't mean for the bell to sound like that." And he felt like an idiot for making the neighborhood ring.

"No problem. That's a typical vampire doorbell. Helps to wake them when they're asleep."

"Yeah, I'd say so." Jared took a second deep breath, hating that he was still shaking, his voice thin. He held out his phone with Chelsea's texts. "I got this."

Taz's genial air disappeared. He shot Jared a hard look and grabbed the phone out of his hand. He read the series of texts, his features darkening. With a narrowed gaze, he looked at Jared. "Who have you contacted about this?"

"Only Tessa. I just came back from the hospital." Jared gave him a lopsided grin. "For some reason I figured you'd be there."

"I mostly am." Taz smiled. "Come in." He pushed the door open and backed inside, his attention once again on the cell phone. "What is going on here?"

"I don't know. But they know me. And they've got Chelsea."

Taz nodded. "And we can guess why they've got her and what they are likely to do with her, but where? That's the question. If we could find her, we'd also likely find yet another of their blood farms."

"I don't care about the other blood farms," Jared burst out. "I have to find Chelsea. She's in trouble because of me."

"How do you figure?" Taz stopped to look at him.

"I told her about Tobias."

The look on Taz's face was enough to make Jared wince. "She was looking for him. I didn't know who to tell. Then we came to you. Now look what happened. The only way they'd know who was looking for Tobias is if they'd overheard us at the hospital or maybe the school."

"You think there are humans at the hospital involved?" But there was no note of incredulity in his tone.

"You already suspect that, don't you?" Jared accused, his gaze narrowing. "You've seen something. Someone."

"Not anything specific. But there was always that possibility and since the survivors were brought into the hospital, my suspicions have been aroused."

"Why?" Jared didn't get it. "What do these people have to gain at this point?"

"I think there is one person, maybe more, making sure that specific individuals aren't identified. And if they are...that they don't survive long enough for any legal issues to arise."

"What? You're saying that those poor survivors haven't been through enough?" Jared said in shock. "Someone is hurting them now?"