And d.a.m.n, Serus watched in amus.e.m.e.nt as color washed up his best friend's cheek. It was a good thing she'd done. Goran would never admit it, but he was as hooked on her as everyone else was.

He snickered.

Goran pressed the close door b.u.t.ton with more force than necessary. And ignored Serus. But as Serus glanced over, he caught Goran glancing back at Tessa, an affectionate look in his eye.

d.a.m.n, his girl was good. She'd tamed the worst of the growly bears.

Wendy woke up and stretched. Her body groaned as she straightened her back. Too many hours on the computer. She sat up and looked around. Ian slept soundly, his back to her. She wouldn't mind a few more hours herself. Snuggling back down, she closed her eyes...and they popped open instantly. There was something wrong. Something she needed to do. Or check on.

She frowned, letting her mind roll over the actions she'd taken before her nap. Sian had set up the computers to do something while they'd slept.

And they'd left Rhia alone with the computers.

As she lay there, unease snaked around inside. She couldn't do it. She couldn't go back to sleep. She had to go and check on Rhia and the computer search. See if there'd been any results yet.

And most of all, to see if Rhia was doing okay.

She slipped out of the room, careful to not disturb Ian. He needed his rest. So did Sian. Wendy walked down to the computer room. The hallway appeared deserted, her footsteps giving off an odd clipped echo as she walked toward the computer room. She stopped at the doorway, but there was no sign of either Sian or Rhia. Wendy could hope that Rhia had followed their lead and lay down to get some rest as well.

She walked into the empty room to find the computers asleep. She brought the main two up so she could check out the searches Sian had set up before she left.

The machine blinked the results. Interesting. Wendy sat down and quickly became immersed in the names of those reported missing or dead and those with no report, then cross-referenced them to those numbers a.s.signed to the victims found hanging. There were over a thousand victims and less than three hundred reports of missing people. Another fifty were reported deceased. She had to wonder if bodies had been found to match the reports. Or were they fake reports to cover kidnappings for the blood farm?

Gooseb.u.mps rose on her arms. How could people do this to each other? She understood it was her people who'd set this up and were the ones buying, accepting the victims, probably actively soliciting more victims but what made the humans buy and sell their own people? Sell off a parent, a brother, a daughter? How could they? This wasn't about sibling rivalry or distant relations; this was about hate. You'd have to hate someone to sign them up for this. Or want what they had and be in a position to take it. She pondered the quirks of human nature as she saved the information.

They had survivors from the blood farm in the hospital but as most hadn't come out with numbers attached, they hadn't all been identified. Some had. But no names had been released until the police figured out how the people had ended up in the farm in the first place. If the people didn't regain consciousness, then that would be a long process as well. Several had died already.

She sighed and leaned back to stare out the window. It was getting dark. The day was almost starting.

The door opened beside her, letting in a sleepy Sian. "Hey, did you have a good rest?"

"I did. Not long enough, but that seems to be par for the course these days." She covered a yawn as she looked around. "Where's Rhia?" she asked abruptly, a frown creasing her beautiful face.

"No idea. I haven't seen her yet."

Sian walked to the computers, saw the search results on the screen, and smiled. "Glad to see we got something to work with here."

"We did. Hopefully enough so the humans can identify the survivors."

"And figure out who was responsible for them getting strung up there in the first place."

She plunked down on the second computer and stared at the normal desktop screen. She frowned and slowly went to the history on the computer, her spare hand gently ma.s.saging her baby b.u.mp.

Wendy watched her closely, hating to see Sian's frown deepen. "What's the matter?"

"Maybe nothing." She shrugged. "But I feel like I need to check what Rhia did while she was here alone. I can't quite forget the heavy drugs she's been given."

"Are you thinking they are still affecting her? As in she might do something to sabotage us?" As much as she tried not to, her voice rose at the end.

Sian shook her head slowly. "I hope not. Normally I'd trust her with my life. But she's not herself and not necessarily thinking straight."

"True." Curious, Wendy rolled her chair closer and watched as Sian checked out what Rhia had being doing.

She caught sight of the pages at the same time Sian did. She leaned closer, trying to understand what it meant.

"Oh no," Sian cried. "Why is she looking for the drug storehouse?"

Sian pushed her chair back and raced to the door, leaving Wendy staring behind her.

Jared stood outside the school, tired and confused. He hadn't heard from Taz all day and the several texts he'd sent hadn't been answered.

Where did he go from here? It was late by the time he'd gone to each of his teachers and caught up on what a.s.signments were missing. He was heading into midterms soon too. Midterms on what? He'd barely had a chance to look the work over as he'd missed so much.

He rubbed his temple. This wasn't the way today was supposed to go. He thought to have answers and a place to stay. He'd planned to ask Taz if he could stay with him, but while talking to the good doctor, it had seemed like a huge imposition. And he'd held back. He also hadn't seen Chelsea all day. That worried him too.

But not as much as her not answering his texts. His phone was working. He'd checked several times, however, something in his life was definitely not working.

And he didn't know what to do. Forlornly, he walked down the hallway to the front entrance. It was almost five. The group home and dinner was d.a.m.n appealing, and yet he knew there was no way he could go back. He walked out the door into the late afternoon sun. It was gloomy and gray outside.

With few options left, he walked in the direction of his aunt's house, half wondering about moving in there. He'd considered it several times but hadn't really come up with a decision. It was empty. It belonged to his father. So maybe to him then in a few months. If he was lucky. But she'd hung around with some unsavory guys, and who could forget that she'd been murdered?

Would he be safe there?

In a way, his uncle's house would be better as he was known around there, having lived there most of his life. The neighbors wouldn't be surprised to see him. It was also a more unsavory neighborhood then over at his aunt's place. Chances were good that no neighbors would call in his presence for any reason. More likely they'd keep to themselves and hope no one turned them in. But he had to remember that his uncle had been murdered as well.

His aunt's house was closer.

Maybe she had food. He could hole up there for a day or two. There was money available. He could salvage what he might need.

At least until he'd had a chance to come up with a plan.

The house was only a couple of blocks away. He crossed the distance in less than ten minutes and, acting as if he belonged there, he walked around to the back door and let himself in.

It appeared the same.

He walked over to where he'd stashed her purse and found it in the same place. A quick search found the money still in the wallet. "Well, thank heavens for that." Helping himself to fifty bucks and adding it the bit he still had, he hid the rest away again. He could order a pizza now. Or save it in case of emergencies and find something else to eat.

Making sure he was alone first, he did a quick search of the property and smiled happily. Not only was he alone, but it looked undisturbed since he'd been there last. He walked into the spare bedroom and dumped his bag. He could sleep here. He could make this work. He checked out the bathroom, turning on taps to make sure there was running water. There was and even better it was hot.

Feeling relieved, he headed back down to the kitchen to rummage for food. The fridge was half full, but considering how long his aunt had been gone, he couldn't be sure anything was still good to eat. He grabbed a garbage bag from the drawer and started tossing anything that looked dubious. By the time he was done, there wasn't much left. A couple of apples, a tomato, and several bottles of sauces.

He turned to the freezer and was delighted to see it fully stocked. It had everything from pork chops, veggies, fruit, and ice cream. A real feast. He couldn't resist. With a big grin, he grabbed the carton of chocolate ice cream and a spoon. Between spoonfuls, he continued to check out the food. There were cans too. He could make something for dinner for himself. It might not be as good as what he'd get from the home but as long as he didn't burn it, it should be fine. He'd done some cooking at his uncle's house, enough that he could look after himself.

He laughed, the sound odd and comforting in the kitchen. "I never thought I'd be grateful to that old b.a.s.t.a.r.d for anything."

But he was.

An hour later, he was feeling pretty decent. He'd eaten, had a hot shower, had his clothes going through the laundry, and had cash in his pocket. d.a.m.n, it was the best life had been in a long time. He grabbed his phone and checked for messages.

Chelsea.

His face splitting into a big grin, he clicked on it. Instantly his smile was wiped off. The message was only two words. Help me.

Chapter 5.

As the elevator door closed in front of her, Tessa caught sight of the two men in the beds. She frowned, surprised that she'd missed them. She tried to peer through the s.p.a.ce before it closed, but she was at the wrong angle to see them clearly.

"What's wrong with them?" she asked. She hadn't been able to see how badly hurt they were, but it wasn't like the ancients to leave injured men alone especially not given the number of times she'd been called in to help lately.

"Nothing," Serus said. "They are only pretending to be ill. They are going to watch for anyone coming up this elevator."

"Except no one will go up if we have it full of people coming down all the time."

"True," Goran conceded. "But if we have someone watching what's going on, then they might see a stranger arrive that we might have otherwise missed. It's definitely a problem right now. We don't want to have anyone infiltrate our organization through a doorway we didn't know about."

"Too late," Tessa said dryly. She didn't think those two men would make a bit of difference.

"We can hope not." Serus stepped in front of her. "How are you?"

Tessa smiled. "I'm okay. A little more tired than I'd like and still not sure of how to handle all this, but I'm working on it."

"Good. Keep working."

She nodded, her mind caught on his earlier words. She frowned and said, "Sorry, did you say those two men aren't sick?"

"No. We just wanted a couple of men to stand guard in case anyone from the other side used this elevator. Seemed like a good idea for them to appear sick. That's all."

"Why, Tessa?" Cody asked quietly.

She turned to look at Cody when David groaned. "They looked sick to you, didn't they?"

"Sorry, yeah, their systems had both gray and black," she said.

"What?" roared Serus. "We just grabbed the first two men we saw."

He glared at Goran as if this was entirely his fault.

Goran groaned. "What if they'd just arrived and that's why they were the closest?"

Tessa snickered. Her father spun and glared at her. "If you knew, why didn't you say so?"

"I only caught sight of them as I entered the elevator. I didn't know for sure," she replied. "And I don't honestly know how black. I'm finding out that black is different now."

"Harrumph." He turned and glared at Goran again. Goran grinned back at him. "Too bad she took so long to join us. She could have told us what we were doing wrong."

Stiff, Serus turned his back on all of them.

Holding back a giggle at the ancients' antics, Tessa watched the elevator lights flash as the machine descended to the lowest floor.

Cody slid an arm around her waist, tugging her backwards against his chest. She loved these moments. They didn't happen often or last long enough. They were stolen bits of time. Special time. She grabbed his hand and laced her fingers with his. She squeezed gently, loving the instant response.

Too soon the double doors opened. Goran and Serus immediately slid out of the elevator, each taking a different side and crouching low, ready for anything.

Tessa a.s.sessed the weird energy, with nothing feeling right anymore since Deanna, and strode out. Ten feet ahead, she stopped and studied the vast empty area. It had a familiar look to it but was that familiar to Deanna or to Tessa? She opened her vision wider when the colors slammed into her head; she cut that back by half. The place had a gray cast to it. Lots of energy having come and gone in years past, but much less recently. But there'd been some activity on the right.

She pointed in the direction of the energy trails. "The energy disappears in that direction." She did a slow circle to make sure she didn't miss anything. Satisfied, she walked toward the energy trails. "A dozen or so slightly older energies, likely the ones Goran met up with and a half dozen that are fresher. Like an advanced party arriving."

"Well, the new arrivals...they won't be given a chance to warn the others, that's for sure," Goran snapped, pulling out his phone. "And these two men at the top need to be sequestered until we know for sure which side they are on."

Tessa, realizing he'd be calling Motre up above, turned to make sure all the new energies had actually gone into the elevator and not come out as the older ones had. It took her a moment to sort the colors before she realized. "Six arrived as a single group. One came here and went back the same way. Five went up the elevator."

"s.h.i.t."

David shook his head and kept moving forward. "Let's make sure no more are coming. The others upstairs can deal with the trojans in their midst."

"Can they, though?" Cody wondered out loud. "Or is it going to take Tessa to see who is good and bad again?"

"If so, then she needs to go back up and find the traitors," Serus snapped. "We will follow this direction and find out where they came from."

Tessa hated to be sent back but if she didn't go, could the others find the right men? If they didn't, how much damage could the men do on their own? Her footsteps slowed. And those two 'guards' needed to be checked over. But given the potential drug issue through the vents, it was dangerous. Too dangerous. Especially for those she loved.

"d.a.m.n it."

Cody stopped a step ahead of her and turned, his gaze piercing. "What's the matter?"

"We need to get those men out of there. What if there are other elevators here like this one? Or hidden staircases or something," she cried out in frustration. "Our people won't know until it's too late."

"Are you wanting to go back upstairs?" he asked.

"I don't want to leave my family alone to face whatever is around the corner," she said.

Serus tossed back, "We'll be fine. Go find those sneaky b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."

c.r.a.p. She could see the energy trails in the distance but had no idea what lay off in the shadows beyond.

As if sensing her uncertainty, Goran stopped and faced her and said, "We've been fighting wars like this for a long time. Don't worry. Go get the others separated so they can't do more damage to the place."